How to safely reopen offices, schools and other public spaces while keeping people six feet apart comes down to a question mathematicians have been studying for centuries.

His incompleteness theorems destroyed the search for a mathematical theory of everything. Nearly a century later, we’re still coming to grips with the

Can we test speculations about how quantum physics affects black holes and the Big Bang?

To recognize strange extraterrestrial life and solve biological mysteries on this planet, scientists are searching for an objective definition for life’s basic units.

John Priscu’s search for life that thrives under ice took him to subglacial lakes at the South Pole. Now he has his eye on Mars and Europa.

Earth’s climate has fluctuated through deep time, pushed by these 10 different causes. Here’s how each compares with modern climate change.

Why do mathematicians enjoy proving the same results in different ways?

New calculations show how hypothetical particles called gravitons would give rise to a special kind of noise.

Researchers are examining the power of subtle genetic weaknesses in the immune system to affect the severity of infectious diseases, including COVID-19.

Modified gravity theories have never been able to describe the universe’s first light. A new formulation does.

Symplectic geometry is a relatively new field with implications for much of modern mathematics. Here’s what it’s all about.

Plants ignore the most energy-rich part of sunlight because stability matters more than efficiency, according to a new model of photosynthesis.

Readers simulated the genetics of dog breeding to solve a puzzle about mixed breed percentages and sexual reproduction.

Two mathematicians have proved the first leg of Paul Erdős’ all-time favorite problem about number patterns.

Detailed computer simulations have found that a cosmic contraction can generate features of the universe that we observe today.

The unintentional creation of “sturddlefish” hybrids may illuminate the genomic mechanisms that govern whether species can interbreed.

Awash in coronavirus data, misinformation and tremendous uncertainty, we need to put our risk analysis skills to the ultimate test.

Research hints that the energy-generating organelles of cells may play a surprisingly pivotal role in mediating anxiety and depression.

Professional astronomers may not point their telescopes by hand anymore, but COVID-19 has still closed observatories and impeded research.

A new model shows that the denizens of a vast, ancient biome beneath the seafloor use barely enough energy to stay alive — and broadens understanding of what life can look like.

An 18th-century physicist first predicted the existence of a chorus of atmospheric waves that swoop around Earth. Scientists have finally found them.