Is it cold outside? Yes! The fire warm? Yes! Snow on its way? Yes! Do we love Christmas? YES! Celebrate the countdown with the Plus advent calendar featuring our favourite bits of maths.

Now, what's behind today's door...?

What is information and how does it shape our reality?

Science is much stranger than fiction. It suggests that our Universe may just be one of infinitely many which constantly pop in and out of existence like bubbles in a bubble bath. There may be many more dimensions that the three we can see and our Universe is riddled with black holes at whose centres time and space tear themselves apart. Intrigued? This ongoing project will bring you the latest research in physics with the help of researchers from Queen Mary University of London.

Space is the stage on which physics happens. It's unaffected by what happens inside it and it would still be there if everything in it disappeared. This is how we learn to think about space at school. But the idea is as novel as it is out-dated.

Are there parallel universes? In the latest online poll of our Science fiction, science fact project you told us that you'd like an answer to this question. So we spoke to physicists Adrian Kent and David Wallace to find out more. Happy reading!

What's that we hear? Sleigh bells! What's that we smell? Chestnuts roasting on an open fire! What can that mean? Christmas is coming! Celebrate the countdown with the Plus advent calendar featuring our favourite mathematical moments from 2012. Now, what's behind today's door...?

How many dimensions are there? In the latest online poll of our Science fiction, science fact project you told us that you'd like an answer to this question. So we asked theoretical physicist David Berman to find out more. We also bring you a range of other Plus articles exploring the question, as well as two articles from FQXi who are our partners on this project. Happy reading!

The Isaac Newton Institute celebrates its 20th birthday this year, having opened in July 1992. To join in the celebrations we bring you a selection of articles exploring some of the research programmes that have been held there. The Institute asked us to produce these articles in 2010 and we were honoured by being afforded this rare glimpse behind its venerable doors. And as you'll see, what started out as abstract mathematics scribbled on the back of a napkin can have major impact in the real world.