‘Alien Calculus’ Could Save Particle Physics From Infinities

Plus: The aperiodic hat tile; How randomness helps algorithms; Animal mutation rates revealed; Vaccines on The Joy of Why

Math and Science News from Quanta Magazine View this email in your browser MATHEMATICAL PHYSICS | ALL TOPICS   How to Tame the Endless Infinities Hiding in the Heart of Particle Physics By CHARLIE WOOD In the math of particle physics, every calculation should result in infinity. Physicists get around this by just ignoring certain parts of the equations — an approach that provides approximate answers. But by using the techniques known as "resurgence," researchers hope to end the infinities and end up with perfectly precise predictions. Read the article GEOMETRY   Hobbyist Finds Math's Elusive 'Einstein' Tile By ERICA KLARREICH The surprisingly simple tile is the first single, connected tile that can fill the entire plane aperiodically. Read the article Related:  'Nasty' Geometry Breaks Decades-Old Tiling Conjecture By Jordana Cepelewicz (2022) ALGORITHMS   How Randomness Improves Algorithms By BEN BRUBAKER Unpredictability can help computer scientists solve otherwise intractable problems. Read the blog Related:  How Randomness Can Make Math Easier By Kevin Hartnett (2019) THE JOY OF WHY   What Has the Pandemic Taught Us About Vaccines? Podcast hosted by STEVEN STROGATZ Should Covid-19 vaccines be judged by how well they prevent disease or how well they prevent death? Anna Durbin, a public health expert and vaccine researcher, talks about the science behind vaccines. Listen to the podcast Read the transcript EVOLUTION   Animal Mutation Rates Reveal Traits That Speed Evolution By YASEMIN SAPLAKOGLU The first large-scale comparison of mutation rates gives insights into how quickly species can evolve. Read the blog Related:  Unexpected 'Germline' Plant Cells May Shield New Generations By Charlie Wood (2019) Around the Web Unreliable Narrator New research shows that our memory can become unreliable in as little as a few seconds after an event, reports Nicola Davis for The Guardian. Unreliable memories are a universal experience that we've only recently begun to understand neurologically. Last year, Veronique Greenwood wrote for Quanta about how the uncertainty in our memories appears to be reflected in the electrical chatter in our brain signals. Offsite Parasite Toxoplasma gondii is one of the most widespread parasites in the world, but it only reproduces sexually in the intestines of cats. Now researchers have figured out how to grow the toxoplasma cells in a lab, reports Catherine Offord for Science Magazine. Although it's a far cry from the mind-controlling fungus in "The Last of Us," some evidence hints that Toxoplasma might subtly change the behavior of infected humans. Tara C. Smith explained the science of zombie-like infections for Quanta in February. Follow Quanta Simons Foundation 160 5th Avenue, 7th Floor New York, NY 10010 Unsubscribe | About Quanta Privacy Policy | Terms | Contact Us   Copyright © 2023 Quanta Magazine, an editorially independent division of the Simons Foundation