Marianne Freiberger

Article

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.

Article
Donuts

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.

Article

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.

Article

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.

News story
Strasbourg

Mathematics without borders

The International Mathematical Union has celebrated its 100th anniversary with a conference entitled Mathematics without borders.
Article

Our changing picture of gravity

To celebrate the recent centenary of the first major test of Einstein's general theory of relativity, we look back over how our picture of gravity has changed.