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The shape of things to come: part i

This year's Nobel Prize for Physics brings together the physics of materials with one of our favourite areas of maths – topology.
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Watching the cosmos

When it comes to the entire cosmos, we humans are incredibly small and insignificant. But that's precisely why we need to take ourselves into account when thinking about the Universe. Find out why.
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Watch and learn

A brief introduction to the strange theory of quantum mechanics and how it appears to afford a special role to observers.
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Maths in a minute: Maths and navigation

How the need to locate your location at sea led to some interesting mathematics.
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Taming big data
A new institute on the maths of information has just been launched at the Faculty of Mathematics in Cambridge, which is also the home of Plus. Led by Carola-Bibiane Schönlieb, the Cantab Capital Institute for the Mathematics of Information (CCIMI) will explore fundamental mathematical problems and methods for understanding, analysing, processing and simulating data.

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A new institute on the maths of information has just been launched at the Faculty of Mathematics in Cambridge.
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Maths in a minute: The square root of 2 is irrational

Here's one of the most elegant proofs in all of maths. Rejoice in its simplicity!
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Maths in a minute: Maths and communication

A quick look at the role of mathematics in communication — from making and breaking codes to making sure messages arrive intact.
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The happy ending problem

So easy to describe, yet so hard to prove.
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The mathematics of kindness

If only the fittest survive, how can we explain the evolution of altruism? Mathematics has some answers.
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Maths in a minute: False positives

Why a positive test result doesn't necessarily mean you have the disease.
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Not just a matter of time: Measuring complexity

Are there problems computers will never be able to solve, no matter how powerful they become?
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Not just a matter of time: The halting problem

In the 1930s Alan Turing discovered a computer program that is logically impossible. What other limits are there to computation?