Flu Season Never Came to the Southern Hemisphere

Pi in the Sky: General Relativity Passes the Ratio’s Test

Share this on WhatsApp At least 3,700 years ago, Babylonian mathematicians approximated the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter. They inscribed their answer, the first discovered value of pi, on a humble clay tablet: 25/8, or 3.125. Now Carl-Johan Haster, a theoretical astrophysicist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has managed to do […]

Coronavirus Test Shortages Trigger a New Strategy: Group Screening

Share this on WhatsApp Unless there is widespread testing for COVID-19, experts warn, cases will surge as governments reopen more businesses and public spaces. But there is still a woeful shortage of diagnostic tests for coronavirus infections, because of unprecedented demand for chemicals and supplies. The U.S., for instance, does hundreds of thousands of tests […]

Keeping Schools Closed Next Fall Could Worsen Science’s Diversity Problem

Share this on WhatsApp Out of necessity, local school systems worldwide have reacted quickly to the COVID-19 pandemic by transitioning education for young people to a virtual setting. A screen with a grid of faces is replacing classrooms, exacerbating inequalities in attendance and engagement in math and science for students in minority-predominant and low-income communities. […]