Category: Analysis

  • Chaos. Numbers. Simulations.

    Chaos. Numbers. Simulations.

    Digital computers use numbers based on flawed representations of real numbers, which may lead to inaccuracies when simulating the motion of molecules, weather systems and fluids, find scientists. The study, published today in Advanced Theory and Simulations, shows that digital computers cannot reliably reproduce the behaviour of ‘chaotic systems’ which are widespread. This fundamental limitation […]

  • Old mathematics… Broken cosmos… Blurry image…

    Old mathematics… Broken cosmos… Blurry image…

    By combining cutting-edge machine learning with 19th-century mathematics, a Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) mathematician worked to make NASA spacecraft lighter and more damage tolerant by developing methods to detect imperfections in carbon nanomaterials used to make composite rocket fuel tanks and other spacecraft structures. Using machine learning, neural networks, and an old mathematical equation, Randy […]

  • 1+1 = ?

    1+1 = ?

    Researchers from UNIGE and the University of Bourgogne Franche-Comté tested the degree to which our worldly knowledge and perspective interferes with mathematical reasoning by presenting twelve problems to two distinct groups. The first group consisted of adults who had taken a standard university course, while the second was composed of high-level mathematicians. When faced with […]

  • Bias. For bias!

    Bias. For bias!

    A new study suggests people stop gathering evidence earlier when the data supports their desired conclusion than when it supports the conclusion they wish was false. (1) So much bias. Why care? Why being so much biased against bias? Bias is useful after all! It helps you concentrate to the things you want. Otherwise you […]

  • Non-water. Inside the dead forest.

    Non-water. Inside the dead forest.

    Led by Professors Raffaele Mezzenga and Ehud Landau, a group of physicists and chemists from ETH Zurich and the University of Zurich have identified an unusual way to prevent water from forming ice crystals, so even at extreme sub-zero temperatures it retains the amorphous characteristics of a liquid. In a first step, the researchers designed and […]