News

Maths in a minute: St Paul's dome
The dome of St Paul's, rising elegantly above London since the cathedral was rebuilt late in the seventeenth century, hides an intriguing early example of the interplay between maths and architecture.
Born to count?
People as well as animals are born with a sense for numbers. But is this inborn number sense related to mathematical ability? A new study suggests that it is.
We've got a winner!

We've found our lucky winner of a £50 Amazon voucher, as a reward for doing our Constructing our lives survey! Check your email to see if it's you!
Students keep falling in love with maths
Who said that people don't like maths? Numbers of entries to maths A and AS levels across the UK have again increased this year. The number of students taking maths A level has risen by 7.8% compared to last year and A level further maths entries have risen by 5.2% At AS level maths has seen an increase of 25.3% compared to last year and further maths an increase of 24.7%. The number of students taking A level maths is now higher than it has been for almost two decades.
Tell us what you think and win a £50 Amazon voucher!
Have you read any of the articles, or listened to any of the podcasts, from our project Constructing our lives: the mathematics of engineering? If yes, then please take the time to complete our 3-minute online survey about the project. It will remain open until Friday 26th August and when it's closed, one lucky participant will win a £50 voucher from Amazon.
Want to run a maths masterclass?
Would you like to present engaging mathematics sessions to young people? The Royal Institution of Great Britain (Ri) is offering development sessions for new Ri mathematics masterclass speakers as part of the celebration of the 30th anniversary of the programme. The network stretches from Aberdeen to Truro, including Jersey and Northern Ireland, and is ever-expanding.
CERN needs you!
Here's your chance to venture to the frontiers of physics using your very own computer. This week CERN began public testing of LHC@home 2.0, a project that enlists the computing power of volunteers from around the world to help simulate high-energy collisions of protons in the LHC.
Stretch, but without the wrinkles
A team of nanoengineers have constructed new materials that don't wrinkle when you stretch them. This makes them similar to tissue found in the human body, so they may in the future be used to repair damaged heart walls, blood vessels and skin.
Enigma in Cambridge
If you live in or near Cambridge, you've got the chance to see a genuine World War II Enigma machine in action and watch the movie Enigma starring Kate Winslet and Dougray Scott afterwards!
Convex is complex
3D graph
Convex or concave? It's a question we usually answer just by looking at something. It's convex if it bulges outwards, and concave if it bulges inwards. But when it comes to mathematical functions, things aren't that simple. A team of computer scientists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have recently shown that deciding whether a mathematical function is convex can be very hard indeed.
Engineering — it is rocket science
This summer the Royal Institution is running a series of workshops as part of its Engineering Week where you will have a chance to try your hand at engineering and discover it is rocket science, underwater robotics, hip joint design, crash testing and much more!
Get code cracking tonight!
Whatever you're planning to do tonight, cancel it! Because tonight at 9pm on BBC Two it's the first episode of Marcus du Sautoy's new series The Code. It's a three-part series about maths in the world around us, exploring anything from honeycombs to flocks of birds, nautilus shells to planetary motion.