Math
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We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Science & Society
Year in review: Scientists tackle the irreproducibility problem
In 2015, several research groups reported the extent to which experimental results don't hold up to replication.
- Math
Year in review: New algorithm quickly spots identical networks
In what may be a once-in-a-decade advance, a computer scientist claimed to have devised an algorithm that efficiently solves the notorious graph isomorphism problem.
By Andrew Grant - Computing
New algorithm cracks graph problem
A new algorithm efficiently solves the graph isomorphism problem, which has puzzled computer scientists for decades.
By Andrew Grant - Science & Society
Happy Birthday to Boole, with 11001000 binary candles
George Boole’s 200th birthday is occasion to celebrate the 1s and 0s of computer language.
- Science & Society
Unreliable science impairs its ability to serve society
Science’s reproducibility problem impairs the ability of basic research to inform the search for better medicinal drugs.
- Quantum Physics
Light mimics hotel with limitless vacancies
By mimicking a mathematician’s method for creating vacancies in a hotel with an infinite number of rooms, physicists may have found a way of increasing the amount of data that can be carried via light.
By Andrew Grant - Math
83-year-old math problem solved
An 83-year-old math problem concerning sequences of 1s and –1s has been solved.
By Andrew Grant - Science & Society
Short memory can be good strategy
Game theory reveals that there’s a limit to the effectiveness of relying on prior results to predict competitors’ behavior.
By Andrew Grant - Math
Evidence-based medicine lacks solid supporting evidence
Saving science from its statistical flaws will require radical revision in its methods
- Math
Top 10 ways to save science from its statistical self
Saving science from its statistical flaws will require radical revision in its methods.
- Math
Science is heroic, with a tragic (statistical) flaw
Science falls short of its own standards because of the mindless use of ritualistic statistical tests.
- Science & Society
Nash’s mind left a beautiful legacy
The death of game theory pioneer John Nash ends a dramatic story of genius.