NEUROSCIENCE | ALL TOPICS

What Your Brain Is Doing When You're Not Doing Anything

By NORA BRADFORD

When your mind is wandering, your brain's "default mode" network is active. Its discovery 20 years ago inspired a raft of research into networks of brain regions and how they interact with each other.

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PROBABILITY

Maze Proof Establishes a 'Backbone' for Statistical Mechanics

By LEILA SLOMAN

Four mathematicians have estimated the chances that there's a clear path through a random maze.

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Related:
A Close-Up View Reveals the
'Melting' Point of an Infinite Graph
By Kelsey-Houston Edwards (2023)

ALGORITHMS

Scientists Find Optimal Balance of Data Storage and Time

By STEVE NADIS

Seventy years after the invention of a data structure called a hash table, theoreticians have found its most efficient configuration.

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How Big Data Carried Graph
Theory Into New Dimensions
By Stephen Ornes (2021)

ASTRONOMY

Radio Maps May Reveal the Universe's Biggest Magnetic Fields

By JONATHAN O'CALLAGHAN

A controversial technique has produced detailed maps of the magnetic fields in colossal galaxy clusters. If confirmed, the approach could be used to reveal where cosmic magnetic fields come from.

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Related:
Astronomers Find Secret Planet-Making Ingredient: Magnetic Fields
By Robin George Andrews (2021)

QUANTA SCIENCE PODCAST

What Makes Life Tick? Mitochondria May Keep Time for Cells

By VIVIANE CALLIER;
Podcast hosted by SUSAN VALOT

Every species develops at its own unique tempo, leaving scientists to wonder what governs their timing. A suite of new findings suggests that cells use basic metabolic processes as clocks.

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