Strong and Elusive
A new theoretical model explains the strange observations made in a 2017 particle physics experiment, reports Allison Parshall for Scientific American. The phenomenon can be explained by accounting for small-distance fluctuations in the strong force. Interactions involving the strong force are notoriously difficult to calculate. In 2022, Charlie Wood wrote for Quanta about recent progress in calculating and experimentally probing "nature's most inscrutable force."
Trying to Even the Odds
In 2006, the statistician Richard Gill discovered that flawed statistical methods had resulted in the wrongful conviction of a nurse. After a retrial, the nurse was released. To help prevent such miscarriages of justice in the future, Gill has now written guidelines on how to use statistics in court, writes Cathleen O'Grady for Science. Like Gill, the computer scientist Rediet Abebe pays attention to how mathematics can be a tool of injustice. In 2021, she spoke about how she uses algorithms to fight social inequity to Rachel Crowell for Quanta. You can also hear Rediet Abebe in conversation with Steven Strogatz on an episode of "The Joy of x" podcast from 2021. | |
