Half a decade on from the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, a study by the University of Surrey highlights the significant impact of combined public health measures in reducing airborne viral transmission. High-quality face masks were shown to reduce transmission risk by ninefold, while doubling...

A collaborative study between the University of Helsinki, Aarhus University, the National Museum of Denmark and Seattle University examined the cognitive, cultural and historical significance of traditional string figures. The study explored whether certain string figures evolved independently in...

Nonlinear dynamical systems are systems that can undergo sudden shifts not due to changes in their state or stability, but in response to the rate at which external conditions or parameters change. These sudden shifts, known as noise-induced and rate-induced tipping, can make predicting how the...

We know a knight can move across the chessboard faster than the king, but exactly how much faster? Christian Táfula Santos, a doctoral student in UdeM's Department of Mathematics, has done the math and his proof has been published on the pre-print server arXiv....

A mathematician at Yonsei University, in Korea, claims to have solved the moving sofa problem. Jineon Baek has posted a 100+-page proof of the problem on the arXiv preprint server....

A breakthrough in the theory of climate change science has given scientists the most robust way yet to link observed climate change to both human-made and natural causes and to spot early warning signals for potential climate disasters....

Finding a reasonable hypothesis can pose a challenge when there are thousands of possibilities. This is why Dr. Joseph Sang-II Kwon is trying to make hypotheses in a generalizable and systematic manner....

In fields ranging from immunology and ecology to economics and thermodynamics, multi-scale complex systems are ubiquitous. They are also notoriously difficult to model. Conventional approaches take either a bottom-up or top-down approach. But in disturbed systems, such as a post-fire forest...

Helping out your neighbor or minding your own business? A challenging choice with different benefits for each decision. Game theory provides guidance in making such choices—from a theoretical perspective....

Human activities are causing atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) levels to rise, which increases the global average surface temperature—and poses a threat to crop growth. Escalating concerns about climate change's impact on global food security inspired researchers from Banaras Hindu University in...