Math Digest

Summaries of Media Coverage of Math

Edited by Allyn Jackson, AMS
Contributors: Mike Breen (AMS), Claudia Clark (freelance science writer), Lisa DeKeukelaere (2004 AMS Media Fellow), Annette Emerson (AMS), Brie Finegold (University of Arizona), Baldur Hedinsson (2009 AMS Media Fellow), and Ben Polletta (Harvard Medical School)

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2012 Math Digest

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December

• Blogs on a trick with coins and the Menger Sponge
• "The Life of Pi, and Other Infinities," New York Times, 31 December 2012
• "Tim Gowers: Seed of Discontent," Nature, 20/27 December 2012
• "Juggling by numbers: How notation revealed new tricks," BBC News Magazine, 19 December 2012
• "The maths of the pop-up tent," Nature, 18 December 2012
  "How the Slinky Buckles," Scientific American, March 2013
• "Opening the Doors to the Life of Pi," The New York Times, 13 December 2012
• "Know when your numbers are significant," Nature, 13 December 2012
• "Symmetry Wars": Review of I Died for Beauty: Dorothy Wrinch and the Cultures of Science by Marjorie Senechal, Nature, 6 December 2012
• "Poet of the infinite": Review of Henri Poincaré: A Scientific Biography by Jeremy Gray, Nature, 6 December 2012
• "The Cooperation Instinct," Discover, December 2012

November

• Blogs on math and a non-reversing mirror invention and math for fiction writers
• "Forecasting cancer," Nature, 22 November 2012
• "Math is behind cozy penguin huddles," NBC News, 16 November 2012
• "Brain-zapping Kinect game boosts mathematical skills," New Scientist TV, 16 November 2012
• "Our brain can do unconscious mathematics," New Scientist, 13 November 2012
• "Daniel Tammet: 'Maths is as rich, inspiring and human as literature'," The Guardian, 10 November 2012
• "Math takes center stage as experts predict storms, elections and more." Oregon Live, 10 November 2012
• "Math expert helped end WWII," The Chronicle Herald, 9 November 2012
• "John Mighton's The Little Years offers inspiration," Toronto Star, 9 November 2012
• "Mathematical proof reveals magic of Ramanujan's genius," New Scientist, 8 November 2012
• "Africa's counting house," Nature, 8 November 2012
• Articles on math causing pain: "High Anxiety: How Worrying About Math Hurts Your Brain," Time, 8 November 2012; "Math Can Be Truly Painful, Brain Study Shows," National Geographic News, 8 November 2012; "Math Problems Can Be Physically Painful," Wired, 5 November 2012; "Fear of math can cause real pain," CBS News, 2 November 2012; "Brain Scan Shows That Thinking About Math Is As Painful As A Hot Stove Burn, If You're Anxious," Popular Science, 1 November 2012
• "MIT algorithm predicts Twitter trending topics up to five hours in advance," Wired, 2 November 12
• "The Natural Beauty of Math," Smithsonian Magazine, November 2012
• "The Science of Sticky Spheres," American Scientist, November-December 2012

October

• Blogs on visualizing big numbers and on Martin Gardner
• "A Mathematician Hacked Into Google Because He Thought It Was Part Of A Job Interview," Business Insider, 25 October 2012
• "The maths that made Voyager possible," BBC Four, 22 October 2012
• "Economics Nobel Honors Matchmaking Finesse," Science, 19 October 2012
• "Penn State offensive lineman's life is proof that higher mathematics and college football can mix," Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 17 October 2012
• "Mathematics and What It Means to Be Human, Part 1," The Chronicle of Higher Education, 12 October 2012
• "A mathematician and computer scientist with area ties wins a MacArthur fellowship," The Philadelphia Inquirer, 3 October 2012
  "Israeli mathematician among 'genius grant' recipients," The Times of Israel, 3 October 2012
• "Mandelbrot: Art, math, science, and works in progress," Ars Technica, 1 October 2012

September

• Blogs on MOOCs and mathematical patterns
• "To the Selfish Go the Spoils?" The Chronicle of Higher Education, 28 September 2012
• "Retrospective: R. Duncan Luce (1925-2012)," Science, 28 September 2012
• "Unlocking ponytail's secrets cost a bundle," Cambridge News, 24 September 2012
• "When Networks Network," Science News, 22 September 2012
• "The SciFri Book Club Visits 'Flatland'," Science Friday Book Club, National Public Radio, 21 September 2012
• "Mathematics of Opinion Formation Reveals How Moderation Trumps Extremism," Technology Review, 20 September 2012
• "UNC-CH mathematician studies how little hearts develop," News & Observer, 16 September 2012
• "Planes write out pi over the skies of San Francisco Bay Area," CNET, 13 September 2012
• "Predicting scientific success," Nature, 13 September 2012
• "Proof claimed for deep connection between primes," Nature News, 10 September 2012
• "Making Data Work," Science News, 8 September 2012
• "Maths demystifier: Q&A Glen Whitney," Nature, 6 September 2012
• "Slicing a Cone for Art and Science," American Scientist, September-October 2012

August

• Blogs on cosmology and a mathematics potpourri
• "What's in a Name?" News, Science, 24 August 2012
• "Nothing nerdy about math’s role in society," San Diego Union-Tribune, 23 August 2012
• Articles about the death of William Thurston
• "Searching for Russia's Reclusive Math Genius," The Daily Telegraph, 22 August 2012
• "Wert von x ein fü alle Mal auf 5 festgesetzt (Value of x determined once and for all to be 5)," Der Postillon, 21 August 2012
• Coverage of Danica McKellar's new book
• "Simulation helps forecast fighting in Afghanistan," Science News, 11 August 2012
• "Olympics: are the fastest and strongest reaching their mathematical limits?" Guardian, 11 August 2012
• "Mathematicians grow an 11-set Venn diagram rose," Wired.Co.UK, 10 August 2012
• "UNH professor connects math with wonders of digital world," Union Leader, 5 August 2012
• "History as science," Nature, 2 August 2012
  "Mathematicians Predict the Future With Data From the Past," Wired, 10 April 2013

July

• Blogs on Numberplay and the Khan Academy
• "Is Algebra Necessary? The New York Times, 29 July 2012
  "Abandoning Algebra Is Not the Answer," Scientific American, 30 July 2012
• "Olympic fever should extend to math contests," Miami Herald, 21 July 2012
• "Deep Spaces: Geometry Labs Bring Beautiful Math to the Masses [Slide Show]," Scientific American, 15 July 2012
• "Google Easter Egg: Search 'Conway’s Game of Life'," Search Engine Watch, 13 July 2012
• "Mathematicians Are Working On Equations That Could Help Us Determine The Future Of Humanity,"Business Insider, 12 July 2012
• "For Manufacturing Jobs, Workers Brush Up On Math," NPR Morning Edition, 10 July 2012
• "Mathematics makes girls more anxious than boys," MSNBC, 9 July 2012
• "Math is more than the sum of its parts," New York Daily News, 8 July 2012
• "How to Be Sure You've Found a Higgs Boson," Wall Street Journal, 6 July 2012
• "Maths journals open up," The Australian, 6 July 2012
• "'Best Doughnut' Discoverer Wins Ramanujan Prize." News, Science, 6 July 2012
• "Mathematician has formula for success at Olympics," The Globe and Mail, 2 July 2012
• "Secret Formulas that Rule the World," Discover, July/August 2012

June

• Blog: "Scientists--They're Just Like Us! They Don't Like Equations Either. Scientific American, Observations Blog, 28 June 2012
• "World's hardest sudoku: can you crack it?," Telegraph, 28 June 2012
• "Speech algorithm detects early Parkinson's symptoms," Wired, 26 June 2012
• "Too much math is tough for scientists: study." Daily Telegraph (from Agence France Presse), 26 June 2012
• "What the golden ratio sounds like," New Scientist TV, 18 June 2012
• "U of I sees record math number," Des Moines Register, 17 June 2012
• "The highly productive habits of Alan Turing," Ars Technica, 17 June 2012
• "Algorithm beats jigsaw-solving record," New Scientist, 16 June 2012
• "Making space: where art meets physics," Guardian, 13 June 2012
• "Friedrich Hirzebruch, Mathematician, Is Dead at 84," The New York Times, 10 June 2012
• "Beer Bubbles: Guinness Stout Mystery Solved By Mathematicians," Huffington Post, 4 June 2012
• "The Case of the Traveling Salesman," Scientific American, June 2012
• "Do the Math," Smithsonian, June 2012

May

• Blogs on games and toys
• "The Ancient Sexual Revolution that May Have Spurred Human Monogamy," Time Magazine, 29 May 2012
• "Space-filling solution could boost Wi-Fi security," New Scientist, 17 May 2012
• Math and Obesity
• "The Case For A Presidential Science Debate." NPR's Talk of the Nation--Science Friday, 11 May 2012
• "'Invisible' planet found by 150-year old gravity measuring technique," by Rob Waugh. Mail Online, 11 May 2012
• "Roulette beater spills physics behind victory," New Scientist, 10 May 2012
• "Letter from Germany: There's billions and Billions," The Age, 7 May 2012
• "Physicists go totally random," Science News, 6 May 2012
• "First Spinoff of African Math Institute Takes Root in Senegal," Science, 4 May 2012
• "A Math-Free Guide to the Math of Alice in Wonderland," io9.com, 3 May 2012
• "Is Origami the Future of Tech?" Bloomberg Business Week, 3 May 2012
• "Goldbach's Prime Numbers," Scientific American, May 2012

April

• Blogs on the best geometric shape for a doughnut, and a "toroflux"
• "Wrinkled doughnut solves geometrical mystery," New Scientist, 30 April 2012
• "Interview: Matt Parker on being a stand up mathematician," TNT Magazine, 20 April 2012
• "For Women to Think Mathematically, Colleges Should Think Creatively," The Chronicle of Higher Education, 20 April 2012
• "Now that's calculated! Physicist writes four-page math paper to beat $400 traffic ticket, Daily Mail, 16 April 2012, and "Victory of science over traffic ticket debunked," U-T San Diego, 23 April 2012
• "Cancer research wins top prize in science contest, " Science News, 7 April 2012
• "Pi master relates secrets of recall," Science News, 7 April 2012
• "New IBM App Presents Nearly 1,000 Years of Math History," Wired, 6 April 2012
• "Turing's Ideas Blossom," Science, 6 April 2012
• "Logical Liars, Paradoxical Politicians," ABC News, 3 April 2012
• "How Long Is A Piece Of String?, " WGBH-TV, 2 April 2012
• "Quantum Gravity in Flatland," Scientific American, April 2012

March

• Blogs on a proof of the Virtual Haken Conjecture and on the Abel Prize
• "Geometer Tries a New Angle: Leading a College," The Chronicle of Higher Education, 30 March 2012
• "What the theory of everything might look like," New Scientist TV, 28 March 2012
• The Mighty Mathematician You’ve Never Heard Of," The New York Times, 26 March 2012
• Coverage of the 2012 Abel Prize
• "Q&A Barry Mazur: The maths raconteur," Nature, 22 March 2012
• "Peterborough Math Teacher Saves Choking Student."WMUR-TV, 16 March 2012
• Articles about origami exhibition at UCSC and about Erik Demaine, one of the exhibitors
• "ACM Awards Judea Pearl the Turing Award for Work on Artificial Intelligence," PC Magazine, 15 March 2012
• "The Best of Our Knowledge," WAMC, 14 March 2012
• "Sydney has our tower!," The Age, 12 March 2012
• "Khan Academy: Model for future of U.S. education?" 60 Minutes, 11 March 2012
• "Raytheon math exhibit to open at Smithsonian," Boston Herald, 9 March 2012
  "Using math in the real world adds up to a cool job," The Washington Post, 17 April 2012
• "Demi Moore Enters Celebrity Math Rehab," The Spoof!, 9 March 2012

February

• Brie Finegold summarizes blogs on Chaos theory and weather forecasting, and Recent difficulties with RSA
• "Math equations could save drug-overdose patients," ABC Action News, Salt Lake Tribune, 28 February 2012
• "Road Scholars Solve Pothole Problem." Science, 24 February 2012
• "Playing with infinity on Rikers Island," Prospect, 22 February 2012
• "Finally, The Physics Of The Ponytail Explained," Weekend Edition Saturday, National Public Radio, 18 February 2012
• How Companies Learn Your Secrets, New York Times Magazine, 16 February 2012
• "Seven equations that rule your world," New Scientist, 13 February 2012
• "Big Ideas Monday: Maths," ABC-Canberra, 13 February 2012
• "At the Blackjack Ball, Card Counter Dr. Edward Thorp Is King," Daily Beast and Newsweek, 13 February 2012
• "The Age of Big Data," New York Times, 12 February 2012
• "Self as Symbol," Science News, 11 February 2012
• "Born in the USSR," Inside Higher Ed, 9 February 2012
• "An Israeli professor's 'Eureqa' moment," Haaretz.com, 3 February 2012
• "Beauty, Truth, Math, Art," Studio360 and National Public Radio, 3 February 2012

January

• Blogs about the Elsevier boycott
• "Wall Street's Sexiest Model," Forbes, 27 January 2012
• "A Math Study Provides Hints About the Game’s Gender Gap," The New York Times, 21 January 2012
• "Better mathematics boosts image-processing algorithm," New Scientist, 20 January 2012
• "Plot Thickens on Oscar Ballot," The Wall Street Journal, 14 January 2012
• "Spot check." The Economist, 14 January 2012
• "Pasta Graduates from Alphabet Soup to Advanced Geometry," The New York Times, 9 January 2012
• "Blue Valley West freshman wins $10k in math contest," The Kansas City Star, 10 January 2012
• "A Unique Expression Of Love For Math," NPR's All Things Considered, 10 January 2012
• "Mathematician claims breakthrough in Sudoku puzzle," Nature, 6 January 2012
• "Supercomputer Wins Jeopardy!," Discover, January 2012

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