Math Universal patterns emerge across 22 languages, mapping how vocabularies evolve Human languages are known to have grown and changed considerably over the course of history,... We think norms spread by imitation, but one deceptively simple rule tells a more human story A paper appearing in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences offers a strikingly simple... World's largest collection of Olympiad-level math problems now available to everyone Every year, the countries competing in the International Mathematical Olympiad arrive with a booklet of... Mental math's shortcut—pupil dilation suggests people start solving before all numbers are in People often solve simple arithmetic problems, such as basic addition, subtraction, multiplication or division, in... Crowd flow measurements reveal hidden slowdowns and standstills in dense public spaces How can public spaces remain safe when large crowds move through them? Engineers and researchers... What is the chance of a message in a bottle being found? Recently, a cheerful 100-year-old message in a bottle was found on the south-west coast of... Mathematical signature spots when competition is fair, winner-take-all, or too soft A University of Houston researcher and his collaborators have developed a mathematical model that helps... Ranks of Disparity: New approach fixes flaw in fairness algorithms As organizations increasingly rely on algorithms to rank candidates for jobs, university spots, and financial... 'Voorhees law' explains why the slower car often catches up Many drivers will know the feeling: you pull ahead of the slower car you've been... Analysis finds geometric thinking may come from wandering, not a human-only math module Debates over how geometry is understood and learned date back at least to the days... Alignment during conversations is highly situation-dependent, study finds When people are talking, they can start to unconsciously mirror each other, for instance, in... Crushing soda cans and the mathematics of corrugation formation Many people have likely found themselves watching oddly satisfying videos of random objects being squashed... How systems science helps keep my flower delivery costs low When you go out to run errands on the weekend, you're on a "tour" as... Mathematical framework maps landscape of student knowledge via short quizzes When we learn something new, that information does not exist in isolation. It integrates into... Neutrality can speed up and stabilize collective decisions, new study shows Trying to persuade people to abandon deeply held views often backfires, leaving groups entrenched and... Older posts