In the late 19th century, Karl Weierstrass invented a fractal-like function that was decried as nothing less than a “deplorable evil.” In time, it would transform the foundations of mathematics.

Solomon Adams is a freelance journalist who covers mathematics, culture and other topics. He graduated from Yale University in 2024 with a bachelor’s degree in math and philosophy.

Individual cells in the brain light up for specific ideas. These concept neurons, once known as “Jennifer Aniston cells,” ...

Heat is supposed to ruin anything it touches. But physicists have shown that an idealized form of magnetism is heatproof.

Certain grammatical rules never appear in any known language. By constructing artificial languages that have these rules, ...

A new proof marks the first progress in decades on important cases of the so-called kissing problem. Getting there meant ...

Inside the proton, quarks and gluons shift and morph their properties in ways that physicists are still struggling to understand. Rithya Kunnawalkam Elayavalli brings to the problem a perspective ...

Heat is supposed to ruin anything it touches. But physicists have shown that an idealized form of magnetism is heatproof. Researchers got a better look at the thoughts of chatbots, amateurs learned ...