polyalphabetic cipher

In the first of two articles, Artur Ekert takes a tour through the history of codes and the prospects for truly unbreakable quantum cryptography.

Maths in a minute

Want facts and want them fast? Our Maths in a minute series explores key mathematical concepts in just a few words.

Who's watching: Can maths exist if you can't see it?

We explore non-constructive proofs and what happens if you try and avoid them.
Maths in a minute: Transcendental numbers (and politics)

A quick introduction to transcendental numbers, a famous problem which relates to them, and how the person who solved it became a victim of political tensions.
What can we see?

Physics is all about observation. But how much can we actually see with the naked eye?
Heisenberg's uncertainty principle

There are limits to how much you can simultaneously squeeze the quantum fuzziness of an electron's position and momentum
Maths and politics

Mathematicians like to think that their field transcends politics, but as this brief history of the International Congress of Mathematicians shows, international mathematics has always been coloured by world events.