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An international team of scientists led by The Australian National University (ANU) researchers has developed a new robust type of light technology that could lead to cheaper and faster devices. The team created a laser that is immune to fabrication imperfections and external disturbances, such as unwanted light reflections and scatterings.

If physical distancing measures in the United States are relaxed while there is still no COVID-19 vaccine or treatment and while personal protective equipment remains in short supply, the number of resulting infections could be about the same as if distancing had never been implemented to begin with, according to a UCLA-led team of mathematicians and scientists.

Seasonal fluctuations drive the dynamics of many infectious diseases. For instance, the flu spreads more readily in winter. Two scientists from the University of Nantes 1 and the CNRS 2 in Montpellier have developed a mathematical model to predict the risk of the emergence of an epidemic, depending on the time of the year at which the pathogen is introduced.

Sperm cells moving their long tail to swim through the body in search of an egg is a familiar image, but a fully 'powered' tail may not be the key to success, according to a new UK study which could be crucial for improving the outcomes of assisted fertility treatments. Propulsion of sperm and how the cell uses its tail to move through the thick fluids of the reproductive tract to reach and fertilise an egg has been well studied.

What makes ships mysteriously slow down or even stop as they travel, even though their engines are working properly? This was first observed in 1893 and was described experimentally in 1904 without all the secrets of this "dead water" being understood. An interdisciplinary team from the CNRS and the University of Poitiers has explained this phenomenon for the first time: the speed changes in ships trapped in dead water are due to waves that act like an undulating conveyor belt on which the boats move back and forth.

A new mathematical principle has been designed to combat AI bias towards making unethical and costly commercial choices. Researchers from the University of Warwick, Imperial College London, EPFL (Lausanne) and Sciteb Ltd have found a mathematical means of helping regulators and businesses manage artificial intelligence (AI) systems' biases towards making unethical, and potentially very costly and damaging, commercial choices.

MBPhD researcher Sam Ereira (UCL Medical School) shares his research on brains and discusses how we distinguish between thinking about our minds versus those of others. We are highly sensitive to people around us. As infants, we observe our parents and teachers, and from them we learn how to walk, talk, read - and use smartphones.

The software behind a major Imperial study warning of a potential US coronavirus resurgence has received a Codecheck endorsement. The key findings in the 'Report 23' from Imperial College were reproducible. Dr Stephen Eglen University of Cambridge The independent review of the Imperial COVID-19 Response Team's code for Report 23 was led by Dr Stephen Eglen, Reader in Computational Neuroscience in the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics at the University of Cambridge.

In a paper published by the Royal Society, a team of Bristol researchers observed the exploratory behaviour of ants to inform the development of a more efficient mathematical sampling technique. Animals like ants have the challenge of exploring their environment to look for food and potential places to live.

Not all sand is the same, but scientists have been using one model to measure how all sand flows. Geoscientists have now developed new mathematical equations that will help engineers manage coastline susceptible to the effects of climate change. Humans see sand as an infinite resource. We are astounded to discover there are more stars in the universe than grains of sand on our beaches.

Imperial's COVID-19 Response Team has published the script to reproduce its high-profile 16 March coronavirus report, as it passes a codecheck. The code, script and documentation, which is available on Github , was subject to an independent review led by Dr Stephen Eglen , Reader in Computational Neuroscience in the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics at the University of Cambridge.

A data analytics study from the University of Sydney suggests the timing of COVID-19 restrictions in Australia stopped a significant growth in infections. The techniques used could help guide decision-making during the pandemic. The paper , from the University's NHMRC Clinical trials Centre, published in Epidemiology and Infection , shows social distancing measures and border closures during the initial stages of the COVID-19 pandemic coincided with a substantial reduction in new infections.

A Bristol academic has achieved a milestone in statistical/mathematical physics by solving a 100-year-old physics problem - the discrete diffusion equation in finite space. The long-sought-after solution could be used to accurately predict encounter and transmission probability between individuals in a closed environment, without the need for time-consuming computer simulations.

ETH researchers are using a new mathematical model to calculate a possible second wave of the pandemic in Switzerland. Even though such a wave would probably grow more slowly than the first without overloading hospitals, its death toll may turn out to be significantly higher. Should Switzerland see a second wave of the coro rus pandemic, it would proceed more slowly than the first.

An international research collaboration led by ETH Zurich and MIT has developed a mathematical method that can speed up search and rescue operations at sea. The new algorithm accurately predicts locations to which objects and people floating in water will drift. Hundreds of people die at sea every year due to vessel and airplane accidents.

Distress initially affecting a small part of the economy can potentially spread to the entire system, as seen in the global financial crisis and most likely reconfirmed during the ongoing corona virus crisis. April 2020 Researchers from the Informatics Institute of the University of Amsterdam have developed data-driven methods that can be used to estimate contagion effects, and incorporated these in computational models for pricing and risk management.

By Birgit Baustädter Oswin Aichholzer does basic research - he doesn't invent, he discovers. The theoretical computer scientist is on the trail of basic mathematical rules which he can model and teach the computer. Oswin Aichholzer is wearing a light blue pullover, has a headset on, and is sitting in front of the computer.

Usain Bolt's 200m record has not been beaten for ten years and Florence Griffith Joyner's for more than thirty years. And what about if the secret behind beating records was to use mathematics' Thanks to a mathematical model, Amandine Aftalion, CNRS researcher at the Centre d'analyse et de mathématique sociales (CNRS/EHESS), and Emmanuel Trélat, a Sorbonne Université researcher at the Laboratoire Jacques-Louis Lions (CNRS/Sorbonne Université/ Université de Paris) have proved that the geometry of athletic tracks could be optimised to improve records.

A Research Fellow from the University of Sussex has worked with a team of mathematicians to help Natural England identify the most beneficial places to plant 10,000 hectares of new woodland. Eduard Campillo-Funollet collaborated with a team from the University of Bath to produce mathematical models and maps to help identify the hotspots for tree planting throughout England.

Using microscopy and mathematics, researchers have discovered the invisible pattern that growing neurons follow to form a brain. The technique could one day allow bioengineers to coax stem cells to grow into replacement body parts. Life is rife with patterns. It's common for living things to create a repeating series of similar features as they grow: think of feathers that vary slightly in length on a bird's wing or shorter and longer petals on a rose.