Fwd: Math and Computer Science Pioneers Win the Abel Prize

[yuri lumer]

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From: Quanta Magazine <Qua...@simonsfoundation.org>
Date: Fri, Mar 19, 2021 at 12:10 PM
Subject: Math and Computer Science Pioneers Win the Abel Prize
To: <yuri...@gmail.com>

Math and Science News from Quanta Magazine View this email in your browser ABEL PRIZE | ALL TOPICS   Pioneers Linking Math and Computer Science Win the Abel Prize By KEVIN HARTNETT Avi Wigderson and László Lovász won for their work developing complexity theory and graph theory, respectively, and for connecting the two fields. Read the article CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS   A New Twist Reveals Superconductivity’s Secrets By CHARLIE WOOD An unexpected superconductor was beginning to look like a fluke, but a new theory and a second discovery have revealed that emergent quasiparticles may be behind the effect. Read the article Related:  Room-Temperature Superconductivity Achieved for the First Time by Charlie Wood (2020) QUANTIZED ACADEMY   The Mysterious Math of Perfection By PATRICK HONNER 2,000 years after Euclid created a formula for finding perfect numbers, Leonhard Euler proved that the Euclidean method is the only way to get even perfect numbers. The question of whether odd perfect numbers exist and what they might be like remains open. Read the column Related:  Mathematicians Open a New Front on an Ancient Number Problem by Steve Nadis (2020) Q&A   Why Extraterrestrial Life May Not Seem Entirely Alien By DAN FALK Science hasn’t yet found any aliens to study, but Arik Kershenbaum, a zoologist at the University of Cambridge, says that there are still certain things we can say with reasonable certainty about them. Read the interview | Watch the video Related:  Scientists Debate Signatures of Alien Life by Natalie Wolchover (2016) THE JOY OF X   Frank Wilczek on the Strong Force, Quarks and Dark Matter Podcast hosted by STEVEN STROGATZ; Produced by DANA BIALEK The theoretical physicist Frank Wilczek explained what holds atomic nuclei together, and he is still pushing at the limits of what the standard model can tell us.  Listen to the podcast Read the transcript   QUANTA SCIENCE PODCAST   The Mystery of Mistletoe’s Missing Genes Podcast produced by SUSAN VALOT; Story by CHRISTIE WILCOX Scientists are still trying to understand mistletoe’s unorthodox survival strategy. Listen to the podcast Read the article Around the Web Mesmerizing Murmurations The Danish photographer Søren Solkær captures the dramatic patterns formed by hundreds of thousands of starlings in flight and under attack, Lauryn Hill writes for WIRED. Giant flocks of birds and swarms of midges can move almost like smoothly flowing substances. Physicists have imagined such hordes as thick fluids, Jordana Cepelewicz reported for Quanta in 2019. Measured Solar Magnetism With a rocket-mounted instrument and a minutes-long peek at the sun, heliophysicists have measured one elusive strip of the sun’s magnetic field for the first time, Chris Wright reports for WIRED. Because the sun’s mysterious magnetic field is the key to many of our star’s enigmas, researchers are also trying to mimic the ball of plasma in the lab, Erika Carlson reported for Quanta in 2019. Life from Lightning New scrutiny of fossil remnants left by lightning strikes eons ago suggests that the bolts could have littered the surface of the young Earth with phosphorus, an element essential for life, Riley Black reports for Smithsonian Magazine. Meteorological and geological processes on our planet seem to have supported life in a variety of ways. The jostling of continental plates may have mixed around essential elements, helped keep the temperature steady, and even contributed to today’s high oxygen levels, Rebecca Boyle reported for Quanta in 2018.  Follow Quanta Simons Foundation 160 5th Avenue, 7th Floor New York, NY 10010 Unsubscribe | About Quanta Privacy Policy | Terms | Contact Us   Copyright © 2021 Quanta Magazine, an editorially independent division of the Simons Foundation