Articles

  • article
    cup of tea

    Maths in a minute: Diffusion

    Whenever you smell the lovely smell of fresh coffee or drop a tea bag into hot water you're benefiting from diffusion. Find a quick introduction to the concept here.

  • article
    design

    Sci-art competition

    If you're an artist with an interest in mathematical ideas and patterns then here's a competition for you. Enter by March 31, 2025 to win cash prizes up to £750 !

  • article
    atoms

    Maths in a minute: Phase transitions

    We experience phase transitions every day, but they are some of the most dramatic events natur presents us with. Here's a quick introduction.

  • article
    Network of people

    Six degrees of separation

    We explore the maths that helps explain this well-known phenomenon, which says that any two people around the world are likely to be connected through a surprisingly short chain of acquaintance links.

  • article
    Random walk

    Maths in a minute: Random walks

    Random walks are great for modelling anything that moves, from particles to people. They're also fun, versatile and beautiful!

  • article
    Julian Sahasrabudhe

    Counting on connections

    Julian Sahasrabudhe wins a Whitehead Prize for combining different areas of maths using the power of combinatorics.

  • article
    dice

    Stochastic spread

    When a new infectious disease enters a population everything depends on who catches it — superspreaders or people with few contacts who don't pass it on.  We investigate the stochastic nature of the early stages of an outbreak.

  • article
    simulation

    Boson stars: Beyond vanilla

    Physicists have figured out how we might detect hypothetical boson stars. If we do, then this would count as a major step towards solving the riddle of dark matter,