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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.

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The Quantum Hall Effect: Protected by topology

The quantum Hall effect is a curious phenomenon: not only does it make effects from quantum physics visible in the macroscopic world, it also links physics to the pure mathematical area of topology. Find out more in this article.

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Water, ice and broken symmetry

What does water feeding to ice have to do with symmetry? This article provides an answer and begins to tell the astonishing story of how theory once denounced as "abstract nonsense" may help us build quantum computers.

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Dark stars

Gravitational waves have provided a wealth of information about black holes. But could other objects be hiding in this data too? Researchers are exploring this idea, which may also help resolve the mystery of dark matter.

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Helping maths to help us

The mathematics of the future needs more specialist maths teachers, stronger university provision, and sustained research funding.

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Talking about truth with ChatGPT

How confident is the Large Language Model chatbot that its answers are correct? And how confident can we be about this confidence? This article investigates.

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Proof assistants

Human mathematicians make errors. Proof assistants are here to help and while they're at it they turn maths into a highly collaborative experience.

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Sci-art competition: The results are in!

The Anomalous Mathematical Patterns Sci-Art Contest was held as part of the Stochastic systems for anomalous diffusion research program at the Isaac Newton Institute.