It's been nearly 18 months since the Large Hadron Collider at CERN started up and scientists are eagerly awaiting their first glimpse into the cosmic mysteries it was designed to explore. But when can we realistically expect the first ground-breaking discoveries to come through? Last week, John Ellis, outgoing leader of the theory division at CERN, addressed an audience of physicists at the University of Cambridge to update them on the current state of play. Plus went along and also managed to catch Ellis for a quick interview.

Sixteen-yeat-old Rebecca Simpson has won a national competition to produce a creative photo connected to maths. The competition was run by Maths Inspiration, who organise maths lecture events in theatres around the country. Rebecca's entry, entitled Box and whiskers, depicts a cat being measured for its level of cuteness. It's a play on box and whiskers diagrams, which will be familiar to any GCSE maths pupil.

This is it! The holidays have started, the turkey is defrosting and the presents are all wrapped ... all you have to do now is relax and be kind to one another. So the very last door of our advent calendar is devoted to love. The Plus team wish you a very merry Christmas and a happy new year!

Oh, Christmas is so magical! But of course magic often boils down to being surprised. Find out how mathemagicians trade off the fact that you can usually predict precisely the outcome of doing something in mathematics, but only if you know the secret beforehand. Here's for some maths and magic!

Mathematicians are often good musicians. To prove this, here are some impressive compositions. Enjoy!

Oh, those beautiful snowflakes! They've put us in the mood for fractals, so let's celebrate some favourite shapes.

For those of you whose holiday has already started, here are a couple of christmassy puzzles to cuddle up on the sofa with.