Articles

It's a match!"It's a match!" cries the CSI. At first glance it might seem that if the police have matched a suspect's DNA to evidence from the crime scene, then the case is closed. But some statistical thinking is required to understand exactly what a match is, and importantly, how juries should assess this as part of the evidence in a trial.

Solving the genome puzzleThe human genome is represented by a sequence of 3 billion As, Cs, Gs, and Ts. With such large numbers, sequencing the entire genome of a complex organism isn't just a challenge in biochemistry. It's a logistical nightmare, which can only be solved with clever algorithms.

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Modelling cell suicideMartino Barenco and Mike Hubank shed light on suicidal cells and a mathematical model that could help fight cancer.

Mathematicians rival octopus in World Cup final predictionA new mathematical analysis of team tactics predicts a Spanish win in Sunday's FIFA World Cup final and also sheds some light on why England were trashed by Germany.

How do insects find their way home?When insects go foraging, they zoom off from their nest in complex zig-zag paths. How do they manage to find their way back home? And how do they manage to do so along a straight path? These questions are explored in an exhibit at the Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition, currently taking place at the Southbank Centre in London.

Shining a light on goldPeople have been using gold particles dispersed in water — gold hydrosols — for medical purposes for over 1000 years. Recently, hydrosols containing gold nanoparticles have become particularly popular because they have exciting potential in cancer therapies, pregnancy tests and blood sugar monitoring.

What can birds tell us about flying through ash clouds?

Why does a financial mathematician think about birds when trying to understand the grounding of aeroplanes after the Icelandic volcano eruption?

The economics of healthWhen is a medical treatment worth its cost?

Evaluating a medical treatment - how do you know it works?How to evaluate medical treatments

Intriguing integrals: Part I

What's the integral of x^k? If you're up to speed with your calculus, you can probably rattle the answer off by heart. But can you prove it? Chris Sangwin introduces an ingenious method for deriving the integral from first principles.

Outer space: Cushioning the blowWhere's the sweet spot?