Math
- Math
Scientists Say: Prime number
Prime numbers’ unique quality — being divisible only by themselves and one — makes them useful for encrypting secret information.
- Math
A twisty mystery about Möbius strips has been solved at last
Turning to paper and scissors helped one mathematician finally figure out just how short the twisted loops can be.
- Math
Scientists Say: Imaginary Number
These numbers may not be “real,” but they sure aren’t make-believe.
- Math
Bees and wasps devised the same clever math trick to build nests
During nest building, these insects add five- and seven-sided cells in pairs. This helps their colony fit together hexagonal cells of different sizes.
- Physics
Explainer: What is chaos theory?
Chaos can help scientists explore subjects from climate change to human brains. Learn about the theory behind this field of science.
- Math
Math explains why dense crowds form surprisingly orderly lines
New research into the behavior of moving groups of people adds to decades of study on the wisdom of crowds.
- Math
Scientists Say: Parabola
A parabola is a U-shaped curve, where every point along that curve is the same distance from another point and a line.
- Math
Scientists Say: Ellipse
Ellipse describes the shapes of planetary orbits around their stars and explains the wacky acoustic phenomenon of “whispering chambers.”
- Math
An ‘einstein’ shape eluded mathematicians for 50 years. Now they found one
The shapes can form an infinite tiled pattern that never repeats. The first is a 13-sided shape nicknamed “the hat.”
- Math
Scientists Say: Möbius strip
Möbius strips may be easy to make, but they have some pretty mind-bending properties.
- Earth
Scientists Say: Altitude
Altitude is used to describe heights in geography, astronomy and math.
- Animals
Random hops always bring jumping beans to shade — eventually
It’s not fast, but jumping beans use randomness to maximize their chances of getting out of the sun’s heat.
