The Isaac Newton Institute: Creating eureka moments

One of the most exciting places in the mathematical world is the Isaac Newton Institute for Mathematical Sciences (INI), an international research centre and our neighbour here on the University of Cambridge's maths campus.

The INI attracts leading mathematical scientists from all over the world, and is open to all. We are proud to be collaborating with the INI to bring the cutting edge mathematics that is being done there to the general public. The following content is part of this collaboration.

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A plate of spagetti hoops

Dive into the loop soup!

Fields Medallist Wendelin Werner loves Brownian loop soups. We explore what they are, why he finds them so "natural", and how they are linked to the physics of elementary particles.

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scrabble letters spelling bias

From data to decisions

Causal inference is the art of discerning cause and effect from data. Find out more in this introduction.

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Blood test tubes

Maths in a minute: Randomised controlled trials

RCTs are the gold standard when it comes to testing whether an intervention, such as a new medical drug, works.

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Chalkboard saying Survivorship bias, surrounded by little planes

Maths in a minute: Selection (and survivorship) bias

Data can give us incredibly useful insight, but they can also mislead. Here's an example.

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Two people running in a park

The DAG behind the data

How do you discern cause and effect when you can't do a controlled experiment? Directed acyclic graphs (DAGs) are a fun and important tool.

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Chalkboard saying Survivorship bias, surrounded by little planes

Causal inference: Identifying cause and effect

A research programme at the Isaac Newton Institute is investigating how to best discern cause and effect from data.

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scrabble letters spelling bias

Maths in a minute: Cognitive bias

Cognitive biases shape how we understand data. Being aware of them gives us a better chance of avoiding bias.

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Apple falling into an outstretched hand

Maths in a minute: Newton's law of universal gravitation

A law of nature that was reportedly inspired by an apple falling from a tree.

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Blueprints: How mathematics shapes creativity

In this excerpt from his new book, Blueprints, Marcus du Sautoy makes a case for the suprising connections between maths and art.

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Maths in a minute: Category Theory

A short explanation of the fundamentals of category theory.

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From abstract nonsense to essential tool

Pure mathematics has a habit of eventually becoming useful. This series of articles explores an example: the rise of category theory in physics and the quest to build quantum computers.

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New phases of matter: Abstract nonsense comes good

Category theory, which has previously been described as "abstract nonsense" turns out to be just the language we need to describe materials that may help us build quantum computers. Find out more in this article.