math

What would it sound like to be inside the Big Bang?

The hottest material ever created in the laboratory makes an eerie drone. A similar sound may have pervaded the universe just after the big bang, when space was a seething cauldron of matter. The lab-made material was created at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider in Upton, New York. The particle smasher slams gold ions together,…

io9 Rachel Courtland - New Scientist Jun 3

Only math can prevent forest fires

Why does smoke from cigarettes, smokestacks, and volcanoes rise in a straight line before spreading out into a billowing cloud? And how does this help Forest Service workers spot wildfires early? Although most people have seen the way smoke moves, it’s mostly one of those visible-but-invisible physics phenomena. Once people have seen it a certain…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell Jun 3

Aliens Leave a Pop Quiz In a Rapeseed Field

Apparently bored with abducting yokels and being shot at by Will Smith, some erudite extraterrestrial has deposited a crop circle in England that puts our left brains to the test. What you’re looking at, Earthlings, is a complex mathematical theorem. The pattern showed up recently in a field in Wiltshire, and looks to contain a…

Tech News Brian Barrett May 25

R.I.P. Martin Gardner, “Mathemagician”, Writer.

Sadly I wasn’t familiar with mathematician and science writer Martin Gardner‘s work. Fortunately, although he passed away this weekend at age 95, he’s left a huge body of work to absorb; this show is a fine place to start. [Vimeo]

Tech News Joel Johnson May 24

Finally A Comment Thread That Gets Down And Dirty With Higher Math

An erudite, intense discussion is taking place in the comments, over at the Computational Complexity blog. At issue: Is complexity theory (a discipline which studies “the power and limitations of efficient computation”) a form of math, or physics? You can use it to describe physical processes, but does that make it a scientific discipline? The…

io9 Charlie Jane Anders May 10

And The Answer To One Of Cryptography’s Mysteries Is . . . 42

Generating truly random numbers is notoriously difficult. But now, using a quantum system, researchers have managed to create 42 genuinely random numbers. Their discovery is a major breakthrough for cryptography, and could one day enable truly private communication online. Violating Bell’s inequalities In today’s issue of Nature, a group of scientists describe how they generated…

io9 Annalee Newitz Apr 14

“Nature By Numbers” Explains The Math In Nature – Beautifully

Created by Cristóbal Vila, this video manages to explain how everything, from snails to flowers, is built according to predictable mathematical principles. Numbers have never been more sublime. [via Etérea Studios]

io9 Annalee Newitz Mar 25

First Quantum Effects Seen in Visible Object

Does Schrödinger’s cat really exist? You bet. The first ever quantum superposition in an object visible to the naked eye has been observed. Aaron O’Connell and colleagues at the University of California, Santa Barbara, did not actually produce a cat that was dead and alive at the same time, as Erwin Schrödinger proposed in a…

io9 New Scientist Mar 19

Happy Pi Day, Math Nerds!

Today’s March 14th, which everyone knows is the day high school math club members further cement their alienation by celebrating their love of math, or circles, or whatever. But today’s Sunday, so let’s everyone celebrate nerddom in the comments! [Wiki]

Tech News Dan Nosowitz Mar 14

Fancy Math Allows For Near-Perfect Enhancement of Poor-Quality Images

It’s a common thing to see on TV: the cops get a dark, blurry image of a perp, and using the magic of computers, are able to zoom in and see his face. But now that might be actually possible. The technique, called compressed sensing, won’t work like those fake programs do on TV. And…

Tech News Adam Frucci Mar 1

The First Three-Dimensional Image of a Mandelbrot Fractal Is Stunning

Behold the “Mandelbulb.” This is a three-dimensional image created using the Mandelbrot set, a mathematical structure whose edges form fractals. The result is something that looks like an alien tree. Which isn’t surprising, since fractals emulate patterns in nature. According to Nature, this is the “first true three-dimensional representations of the Mandelbrot set.” It was…

io9 Annalee Newitz Dec 25

Video Game Calculator Is Pure Torture

What makes being stuck in math class even worse? Doing math on a calculator that reminds you of something much more fun: video games. Unless you love math more than video games, in which case, congrats. [DealsDirect via NerdApproved]

Tech News Adam Frucci Dec 15

As You Kick Her Head, Lady Gaga Would See Dozens of Reflections in These Mirrored Shoes

Combining art and maths, much like the Mobius Strip bagel, these mirrored Invisible Shoes reflect the ground, causing small animals to headbutt your ankles. Imagine kicking Lady Gaga in them. [CNET Asia] https://gizmodo.com/have-some-math-with-your-breakfast-5424946

Tech News Kat Hannaford Dec 14

Why You Should Ignore Black Friday Cellphone Deals

Forget TVs, laptops and Blu-ray players, this year’s go-to Black Friday doorbusters are smartphones. And as tantalizing as the deals might look, do yourself a favor. Pretend you never saw them. https://gizmodo.com/black-friday-deals-the-only-list-you-need-5409460 It’s a reliable rule of thumb for the rest of the year, made invaluable by the Black Friday hype: Unless you are planning…

Tech News John Herrman Nov 25

Photographs Show the Tasty Side of Math and Science

Kevin Van Aelst‘s photographs display scientific and mathematical concepts using donuts, eggs, candy, and cake, creating images that are both informative and mouth-watering. Much of Van Aelst’s work is focused on unconventional representations of information, and he is especially interested in using ordinary household objects to illustrate the key concepts that hold life and the…

io9 Lauren Davis Sep 27

Pi Calculation Record Destroyed: 2.5 Trillion Decimals

Researchers at the University of Tsukuba, Japan, have demolished the previous world record on the constant pi, more than doubling the amount of decimals to 2.5 trillion. They used a massive parallel computer called the T2K Tsukuba System. The T2K Tsukuba System is a 640-computer cluster with a processing speed of 95 trillion floating-point operations…

Tech News Jesus Diaz Aug 18

Canucks Create Mathematical Model for Outbreak and Containment of Zombie Invasions

A handful of stats students at the University of Ottawa decided to create a working mathematical model for zombie outbreaks, and possible ways of thwarting the attack. What did they learn? We’re screwed. Kind of. https://gizmodo.com/a-mathematical-model-for-surviving-the-zombie-apocalyps-5337596 First, some background. They based their methodology around three groups: zombies, those susceptible to zombie attacks, and those who…

Tech News Adrian Covert Aug 14

Vintage Desk Coughs Up Vintage General Electric Abacus

Those young whipper snappers back in 1979 couldn’t hold a candle to this archaic computational device, the abacus. Gizmodo 600 BC, anyone? Reader Robin says this little guy was hiding out in the drawer of a recent vintage purchase: My wife, Deborah, recently bought a secretary style vintage desk from an estate seller. In one…

Tech News Jack Loftus Jul 19

Whiz Kids Shows Science and Math Students Kicking Ass, Taking Names

Whiz Kids is a documentary about kids competing in the Science Talent Search, showing that not every American kid is a lazy deadbeat only good at texting and Halo. Like Revenge of the Nerds, but with less madcap zaniness. [YouTube]

Movies Adam Frucci Jun 23

Did a Meteor Take Down Air France Flight 447?

Could a meteor strike be the reason behind the crash of Air France flight 447? The math geeks at Discover crunched some numbers and it turns out that it’s not as implausible as you might think. According to their calculations, there’s a 1-in-20 chance that a meteor would hit one flight over the past 20…

Space & Spaceflight Adam Frucci Jun 5

What would it sound like to be inside the Big Bang?

Only math can prevent forest fires

Aliens Leave a Pop Quiz In a Rapeseed Field

R.I.P. Martin Gardner, “Mathemagician”, Writer.

Finally A Comment Thread That Gets Down And Dirty With Higher Math

And The Answer To One Of Cryptography’s Mysteries Is . . . 42

“Nature By Numbers” Explains The Math In Nature – Beautifully

First Quantum Effects Seen in Visible Object

Happy Pi Day, Math Nerds!

Fancy Math Allows For Near-Perfect Enhancement of Poor-Quality Images

The First Three-Dimensional Image of a Mandelbrot Fractal Is Stunning

Video Game Calculator Is Pure Torture

As You Kick Her Head, Lady Gaga Would See Dozens of Reflections in These Mirrored Shoes

Why You Should Ignore Black Friday Cellphone Deals

Photographs Show the Tasty Side of Math and Science

Pi Calculation Record Destroyed: 2.5 Trillion Decimals

Canucks Create Mathematical Model for Outbreak and Containment of Zombie Invasions

Vintage Desk Coughs Up Vintage General Electric Abacus

Whiz Kids Shows Science and Math Students Kicking Ass, Taking Names

Did a Meteor Take Down Air France Flight 447?

Someone Finally Took a Good iPhone Photo of the Moon. Good Luck Copying Their Trick

In Letter, OpenAI Reportedly Says Elon Musk and Meta Are Coordinating ‘Attacks’ Against It

Artemis 2 Day 6: Follow the Mission With Our Live Updates 🔴

Anonymous Sources Detail Sam Altman’s Alleged Untrustworthiness in New Report

Steven Spielberg Still Wants to Make a Horror Film ‘Someday’

Waymo Has Stopped Testing Its Robotaxis in New York City and No One Knows What Happens Next

Samsung Pushes Monitor Deals Further, the 34″ ViewFinity Hits a Record Low at Nearly 40% Off

The Best Anti-Meta Smart Glasses Are About to Have Tough Competition

HP Omen Max 45L Review: 4K60 Gaming Has Never Been So Easy

Ecovacs Winbot W3 Omni Review: Window Cleaning Robots Have a Long Way to Go

AirPods Max 2 vs. Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen): Which ANC Headphones Win?

The Best Gadgets of March 2026

AirPods Max 2 Review: Still Ridiculously Expensive and Ridiculously Nice

DJI Osmo 360 Review: The Best 360 Camera for the DJI-Pilled

Aqara Smart Lock U400 Review: Hands-free Unlocking at Its Best

MSI Prestige 14 Flip AI+ Review: A Solid 2-in-1 Laptop With Some Glaring Flaws

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