How should offices and other indoor spaces be ventilated to keep people safe from COVID-19? A recent paper by mathematicians at the University of Cambridge has some answers — and shows that wearing masks does make a difference.

Holly Krieger is one of this year's winners of a Whitehead Prize, which is awarded annually by the London Mathematical Society to mathematicians who are in an early stage of their career. Krieger works at the University of Cambridge, the home of Plus, so we took the opportunity to talk to her to find out about her work.

Maria Bruna is one of this year's winners of a Whitehead Prize, which is awarded annually by the London Mathematical Society to mathematicians who are in an early stage of their career. Bruna works at the University of Cambridge, the home of Plus, so we took the opportunity to talk to her to find out about her work.

How can we all get back to work safely in the face of a lingering pandemic? To answer this question we need hard science about the virus and its transmission. But we also need people who can solve tricky organisational problems, logically think through possible scenarios, and keep track of the limitations of proposed solutions. In other words, we need mathematicians.