A new topological model connects a centuries-old voting paradox to a surface with no distinct inside or outside.

To invade red blood cells, the deadly protists create temporary molecular portals that disappear behind them — doors we can now see in fine detail.

Moritz Hardt, author of a new book on benchmarks, believes these “standardized tests” for artificial intelligence are ...

Unlike other recent AI proofs, this one has been unpacked by human experts. The implications, one mathematician said, are ...

About the author Leila Sloman is a math writer based in Princeton, New Jersey. She received her Ph.D. in mathematics from Stanford University in 2021, and has also written for Popular Mechanics and ...

A straightforward conjecture about runners moving around a track turns out to be equivalent to many complex mathematical questions. Three new proofs mark the first significant progress on the problem ...

Lauren Williams tells 'The Joy of Why' how studying a fundamental object in algebraic combinatorics led to a career full of surprises. The Quanta Newsletter ...

Paul Nelson has solved the subconvexity problem, bringing mathematicians one step closer to understanding the Riemann hypothesis and the distribution of prime numbers. A number theorist recalls his ...

Primordial black holes could rewrite our understanding of dark matter and the early universe. A record-breaking detection at the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea has some physicists wondering if we ...

Marijn Heule turns mathematical statements into something like Sudoku puzzles, then has computers go to work on them. His proofs have been called “disgusting,” but they go beyond what any human can do ...