Articles

Not just a matter of time: The busy beaver

Journey to the limits of computation with a number that's easy to describe but can't be calculated.

Maths in a minute: How many primes?

Here's the ancient proof that there are infinitely many prime numbers.

Maths in a minute: The prosecutor's fallacy

Why a DNA match doesn't necessarily prove your guilt.

Easy as ABC?

Mathematicians are working hard to understand an impenetrable proof of the famous ABC conjecture.

What is a block universe?

Has the future already already been written? Is time just an illusion? Take a step outside of spacetime with cosmologist Marina Cortês to discover the block universe.

Time in a block universe

Fundamental physics says time is symmetric - so why does time move forwards for us in a block universe?

Why not block time?

Is time real? Are we just puppets living out a future already written? Marina Cortês explains why she thinks time is fundamental and that we don't live in a block universe.

The future is time

Marina Cortês is one of a growing number of physicists who believe time is fundamental. We ask her about the alternatives theories to the block universe, where time comes first.

There may be more than one of you

The possibility that there might be many parallel worlds has just become a little more likely.

Have you heard? The maths of rumour spreading

Mathematical models predict how fast a rumour will spread and how many people it's likely to reach.

Hunting and being hunted

A model of the interaction between predators and prey explains why sometimes frogs appear to eat snakes.

Maths in a minute: Einstein's general theory of relativity

What would happen if the Sun suddenly exploded? Einstein wondered the same thing, and completely changed our understanding of the Universe.