Mar 15 How global warming leads to tiny horses and other shrinking mammals By Nsikan Akpan Ancient teeth reveal when the Earth gets warmer, mammals shrink consistently in size. Continue reading
Mar 14 This Pi Day, use math to beat your friends at classic toy games By Kristin Hugo On this most circular of pi days, we present three classic toys -- hula hoops, yo-yo's and Connect Four -- and explore their mechanics with mathematicians and physicists. Continue reading
Mar 14 This insurance company wants to analyze your saliva to predict when you’ll die By Rebecca Robbins, STAT A life insurance company is turning to the hot, but still unproven, field of epigenetics to try to bet on how long you’re likely to live. Continue reading
Mar 14 Meet the farm boy from Wales who gave the world ‘pi’ By Gareth Ffowc Roberts for The Conversation One of the most important numbers in maths might today be named after the Greek letter π or “pi”, but the convention of representing it this way actually doesn’t come from Greece at all. Continue reading
Mar 10 Why did humans evolve big brains? We don’t know, but math can help By Kristin Hugo Evolutionary biologists can use this new equation to test their ideas for how the human brain got so big. Continue reading
Mar 09 Watch 6:12 Stamping out smallpox is just one chapter of his Brilliant life story By PBS News Hour Larry Brilliant jokes that he doesn't live up to his last name, but he has lived a remarkable life, from his early days in the San Francisco hippie scene, to his work as one of the world’s leading disease fighters… Continue watching
Mar 09 Watch 4:38 When smart devices are always on, vulnerability may be a trade-off of convenience By PBS News Hour WikiLeaks' release of a trove of documents about the CIA's ability to breach smartphone and TV encryption was a revelation of potential vulnerabilities that surprised many. Hari Sreenivasan separates fact from fiction about their capabilities to take advantage of those… Continue watching
Mar 09 EPA environmental justice head resigns By Associated Press WASHINGTON — The head of the Environmental Protection Agency’s office on environmental justice has resigned in protest over the Trump administration’s proposal to slash funding for programs that help poor and minority communities nationwide. Mustafa Ali, an associate assistant EPA… Continue reading
Mar 09 Top U.S. hospitals promote unproven medicine with a side of mysticism By Casey Ross, Max Blau, Kate Sheridan, STAT The embrace of alternative medicine has been building for years. But an examination of 15 academic research centers across the U.S. underscores just how deeply these therapies have become embedded in prestigious hospitals and medical schools. Continue reading
Mar 09 Column: What fax machines can teach us about electric cars By Jonathan Coopersmith for The Conversation The electric car marketplace is filled with competing standards. A Texas A&M history professor argues the industry should take a hint from fax machines. Continue reading