With Hugo Duminil-Copin, thinking rarely happens without moving. His insights into the flow-related properties of complex networks have earned him the Fields Medal.

On his way to winning a Fields Medal, James Maynard has cut a path through simple-sounding questions about prime numbers that have stumped mathematicians for centuries.

Mark Braverman has spent his career translating thorny problems into the language of information complexity.

Computer scientists have found a new type of problem that quantum computers can solve dramatically faster than their classical counterparts.

Patterns that guide the development of feathers and other features can be set by mechanical forces in the embryo, not just by gradients of chemicals.

Surprisingly, 107 years after the introduction of general relativity, the meanings of basic concepts are still being worked out.

What makes a proof stronger than a guess? What does evidence look like in the realm of mathematical abstraction? Hear the mathematician Melanie Matchett Wood explain how probability helps to guide number theorists toward certainty.

In 1973, Paul Erdős asked if it was possible to assemble sets of “triples” — three points on a graph — so that they abide by two seemingly incompatible rules. A new proof shows it can always be done.

Three computer scientists have solved the NLTS conjecture, proving that systems of entangled particles can remain difficult to analyze even away from extremes.

Structural studies of the robust material called sporopollenin reveal how it made plants hardy enough to reproduce on dry land.

Nia Imara is working to understand the mysterious clouds of gas and dust that collapse into stars.

Mathematicians have been studying the distribution of prime numbers for thousands of years. Recent results about a curious kind of prime offer a new take on how spread out they can be.

In the days after the mega-telescope started delivering data, astronomers reported new discoveries about galaxies, stars, exoplanets and even Jupiter.

The Kakeya conjecture predicts how much room you need to point a line in every direction. In one number system after another — with one important exception — mathematicians have been proving it true.

New research finds that chaos plays a bigger role in population dynamics than decades of ecological data seemed to suggest.

Everybody gets older, but not everyone ages in the same way. In this episode, Steven Strogatz speaks with Judith Campisi and Dena Dubal, two biomedical researchers who study the aging process.

Perineuronal nets, rigid structures that hold certain neurons in place, affect a surprising amount of brain activity, including some associated with chronic pain.

Readers balanced logical reasoning and mathematical insights to find phony coins with a double-pan balance scale.

A hidden link has been found between two seemingly unrelated particle collision outcomes. It’s the latest example of a mysterious web of mathematical connections between disparate theories of physics.

Christopher Kanan is building algorithms that can continuously learn over time — the way we do.

Partnerships between engineers and biologists have begun to reveal how birds evolved their superb maneuverability.