Kevin Hartnett
Quanta Magazine
Columbia, SC, United States
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Past articles by Kevin:
The Brain Uses Calculus to Control Fast Movements
Researchers discover that to sharpen its control over precise maneuvers, the brain uses comparisons between control signals — not the signals themselves. → Read More
How Claude Shannon’s Concept of Entropy Quantifies Information
What’s a message, really? Claude Shannon recognized that the elemental ingredient is surprise. → Read More
Surfaces So Different Even a Fourth Dimension Can’t Make Them the Same
For decades mathematicians have searched for a specific pair of surfaces that can’t be transformed into each other in four-dimensional space. Now they’ve found them. → Read More
In Topology, When Are Two Shapes the Same?
As topologists seek to classify shapes, the effort hinges on how to define a manifold and what it means for two of them to be equivalent. → Read More
Proof Assistant Makes Jump to Big-League Math
Mathematicians using the computer program Lean have verified the accuracy of a difficult theorem at the cutting edge of research mathematics. → Read More
New Shape Opens ‘Wormhole’ Between Numbers and Geometry
Laurent Fargues and Peter Scholze have found a new, more powerful way of connecting number theory and geometry as part of the sweeping Langlands program. → Read More
The Mystery at the Heart of Physics That Only Math Can Solve
The accelerating effort to understand the mathematics of quantum field theory will have profound consequences for both math and physics. → Read More
Mathematicians Answer Old Question About Odd Graphs
To cement the question, consider a simple example: a graph with three connected vertices in the shape of a triangle. You can isolate any two vertices and see that they share an odd number of connections (1) with each other. Put another way, it’s possible to identify a subgraph of the triangle containing two-thirds of its total vertices, in which all the vertices have odd degree. About 50 years… → Read More
Pioneers Linking Math and Computer Science Win the Abel Prize
Avi Wigderson and László Lovász won for their work developing complexity theory and graph theory, respectively, and for connecting the two fields. → Read More
Undergraduates Hunt for Special Tetrahedra That Fit Together
A group of MIT undergraduates is searching for tetrahedra that tile space, the latest effort in a millennia-long inquiry. They've already made a new discovery. → Read More
Tetrahedron Solutions Finally Proved Decades After Computer Search
Four mathematicians have cataloged all the tetrahedra with rational angles, resolving a question about basic geometric shapes using techniques from number theory. → Read More
A Mathematician’s Unanticipated Journey Through the Physical World
Lauren Williams has charted an adventurous mathematical career out of the pieces of a fundamental object called the positive Grassmannian. → Read More
Disorder Persists in Larger Graphs, New Math Proof Finds
David Conlon and Asaf Ferber have raised the lower bound for multicolor “Ramsey numbers,” which quantify how big graphs can get before patterns inevitably → Read More
At the Math Olympiad, Computers Prepare to Go for the Gold
Computer scientists are trying to build an AI system that can win a gold medal at the world’s premier math competition. → Read More
In Mathematics, It Often Takes a Good Map to Find Answers
Mathematicians try to figure out when problems can be solved using current knowledge — and when they have to chart a new path instead. → Read More
In Mathematics, It Often Takes a Good Map to Find Answers
Mathematicians try to figure out when problems can be solved using current knowledge — and when they have to chart a new path instead. → Read More
Graced With Knowledge, Mathematicians Seek to Understand
A landmark proof in computer science has also solved an important problem called the Connes embedding conjecture. Mathematicians are working to understand it. → Read More
‘Rainbows’ Are a Mathematician’s Best Friend
“Rainbow colorings” recently led to a new proof. It’s not the first time they’ve come in handy. → Read More
Landmark Computer Science Proof Cascades Through Physics and Math
Computer scientists established a new boundary on computationally verifiable knowledge. In doing so, they solved major open problems in quantum mechanics and → Read More
Mathematicians Prove Universal Law of Turbulence
By exploiting randomness, three mathematicians have proved an elegant law that underlies the chaotic motion of turbulent systems. → Read More