When particle physicists try to model experiments, they confront an impossible calculation — an infinitely long equation that lies beyond the reach of modern mathematics. Fortunately, they can ...

Most of us first hear about the irrational number π (pi)—rounded off as 3.14, with an infinite number of decimal digits—in school, where we learn about its use in the context of a circle. More ...

Enormous disks of stars or debris can operate under the same rules as subatomic particles, changing based on the Schrodinger equation, which physicists use to model quantum-mechanical systems. Viewing ...

Materials scientists lead a project to turn strong, light and compressible schwarzites from theory to reality with three-dimensional printers. The resulting materials share their properties from the ...

Chinese Money Plant leaves hide a mathematical pattern shaping leaf veins in Voronoi geometry. This discovery shows nature ...

Mathematical truths are often born of the conflict between order and disorder. Mathematicians discover patterns, and, to better understand the mysterious forces at play, they look for countervailing ...