news 2010

Mathematics - Social Sciences - 25.04
Twist to the Story of the Number Line
Yupno of Papua New Guinea provide clues to the concept's origins - and suggest familiar notion of time may not be straightforward, either Confirming a Yupno participant's understanding of numbers. All images courtesy of Embodied Cognition Laboratory, UC San Diego.

Mathematics - 26.03
Reintegration of work life remains an important issue for Canadian mothers and public policy
Study considers effects of motherhood on employment across generations of Canadian women Both childless women and mothers of an only child have seen their likelihood of re-entering the labour market after a first work interruption increase across generations, according to a new study.

Mathematics - 20.02
The beat goes on: the geometry that makes music pleasing
Researchers uncover mathematical formula for rhythm and suggest our brains may be hardwired to respond to it Whether it's Bach or Brubeck, a new study shows that composers repeat rhythmic patterns in their works in such a way that the part is a copy of the larger whole.

Mathematics - 12.01
Bowlers strike with a hot hand, too
Is the so-called "hot hand" phenomenon in sports a reality or just an illusion based on misperception of random sequences? For the second time in recent months, a Yale study supports the notion that it is real.

Mathematics - Life Sciences - 17.10.2011
Computers learn to turn biological processes into equations
Computers learn to turn biological processes into equations First it was chess. Then it was Jeopardy. Now computers are at it again, but this time they are trying to automate the scientific process itself.

Mathematics - 6.09.2011
Researchers create new Urban Network Analysis toolbox
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - MIT researchers have created a new Urban Network Analysis (UNA) toolbox that enables urban designers and planners to describe the spatial patterns of cities using mathematical network analysis methods.

Medicine/Pharmacology - Mathematics - 8.07.2011
How best to excite brain cells
ANN ARBOR, Mich.—Oh, the challenges of being a neuron, responsible for essential things like muscle contraction, gland secretion and sensitivity to touch, sound and light, yet constantly bombarded with signals from here, there and everywhere.

Computer Science/Telecom - Mathematics - 28.06.2011
The math of the Rubik’s cube
New research establishes the relationship between the number of squares in a Rubik?s-cube-type puzzle and the maximum number of moves required to solve it. Last August, 30 years after the Rubik's cube first appeared, an international team of researchers proved that no matter how scrambled a cube got, it could be solved in no more than 20 moves.

Mathematics - 24.06.2011
When things go wrong, who’s to blame?
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - If you flip a light switch and nothing happens, there are a couple of possible explanations. One is that something has gone wrong in the external world - maybe the bulb has burned out.

Mathematics - Psychology - 26.05.2011
Inside the infant mind
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - Over the past two decades, scientists have shown that babies only a few months old have a solid grasp on basic rules of the physical world. They understand that objects can‘t wink in and out of existence, and that objects can't 'teleport' from one spot to another.

Physics/Astronomy - Mathematics - 21.03.2011
Physics Professor Brian Greene Explores the Multiverse
You might think it's hard to have a conversation with theoretical physicist Brian Greene. His research specialty is superstring theory, the hypothesis that everything in the universe is made up of miniscule, vibrating strands of energy.

Mathematics - Computer Science/Telecom - 3.01.2011
Mathematical model shows how groups split into factions
The school dance committee is split; one group wants an "Alice in Wonderland" theme; the other insists on "Vampire Jamboree." Mathematics could have predicted it. Social scientists have long argued that when under stress, social networks either end up all agreeing or splitting into two opposing factions.

Physics/Astronomy - Mathematics - 16.11.2010
Linking geometric problems to physics could open door to new solutions
A Princeton scientist with an interdisciplinary bent has taken two well-known problems in mathematics and reformulated them as a physics question, offering new tools to solve challenges relevant to a host of subjects ranging from improving data compression to detecting gravitational waves.

Mathematics - Physics/Astronomy - 27.09.2010
Fungal spores travel farther by surfing their own wind
BERKELEY — Long before geese started flying in chevron formation or cyclists learned the value of drafting, fungi discovered an aerodynamic way to reduce drag on their spores so as to spread them as high and as far as possible.

Mathematics - Psychology - 30.08.2010
The roots of gamblers' fallacies and other superstitions
Research helps explain causes of seemingly irrational human decision-making MINNEAPOLIS - Gamblers who think they have a “hot hand,” only to end up walking away with a loss, may nonetheless be making “rational” decisions, according to new research from University of Minnesota psychologists.