Quanta Magazine

 

NUMBER THEORY | ALL TOPICS   Mathematicians Open a New Front on an Ancient Number Problem By STEVE NADIS For millennia, mathematicians have wondered whether odd perfect numbers exist, establishing an extraordinary list of restrictions for the hypothetical objects in the process. Insight on this question could come from studying the next best things. Read the article Share Tweet Forward

EVOLUTION   How Two Became One: Origins of a Mysterious Symbiosis Found By VIVIANE CALLIER Carpenter ants need endosymbiotic bacteria to guide the early development of their embryos. New work has reconstructed how this deep partnership evolved. Read the article Share Tweet Forward ABSTRACTIONS BLOG   A New Cosmic Tension: The Universe Might Be Too Thin By CHARLIE WOOD Cosmologists have concluded that the universe doesn’t appear to clump as much as it should. Could both of cosmology’s big puzzles share a single fix? Read the blog