Plus: Undergrad upends a decades-old data science conjecture; The origin of perfect quantum theories

Math and Science News from Quanta Magazine View this email in your browser GEOMETRY | ALL TOPICS   The Largest Sofa You Can Move Around a Corner By RICHARD GREEN A new proof reveals the answer to the decades-old "moving sofa" problem. It highlights how even the simplest optimization problems can have counterintuitive answers. Read the article ALGORITHMS   Undergraduate Upends a 40-Year-Old Data Science Conjecture By STEVE NADIS A young computer scientist and two colleagues show that searches within data structures called hash tables can be much faster than previously deemed possible. Read the article QUANTUM PHYSICS   How Hans Bethe Stumbled Upon Perfect Quantum Theories By MATT VON HIPPEL Quantum calculations amount to sophisticated estimates. But in 1931, Hans Bethe intuited precisely how a chain of particles would behave — an insight that had far-reaching consequences. Read the article Follow Quanta Unsubscribe | About Quanta | My Bookmarks Privacy Policy | Terms | Contact Us   Copyright © 2025 Quanta Magazine, an editorially independent division of the Simons Foundation Simons Foundation 160 5th Avenue, 7th Floor New York, NY 10010