Computers

When people are asked to draw the flower of a sunflower plant, almost everyone draws a large circle encircled by yellow petals. "Actually, that structure is the flower head, or the capitulum, which may be composed of hundreds of flowers, also known as florets. The surrounding 'petals' are florets different in structure and function to those closer to the centre," says Professor … [Read more...] about Auxin makes the spirals in gerbera inflorescences follow the Fibonacci sequence

Reconfigurable materials can do amazing things. Flat sheets transform into a face. An extruded cube transforms into dozens of different shapes. But there's one thing a reconfigurable material has yet to be able to change: its underlying topology. A reconfigurable material with 100 cells will always have 100 cells, even if those cells are stretched or squashed. Now, researchers … [Read more...] about Transforming circles into squares: Researchers reconfigure material topology on the microscale

Studies show wearing masks and social distancing can contain the spread of the COVID-19 virus, but their combined effectiveness is not precisely known. In Chaos, by AIP Publishing, researchers at New York University and Politecnico di Torino in Italy developed a network model to study the effects of these two measures on the spread of airborne diseases like COVID-19. The model … [Read more...] about Combining mask wearing, social distancing suppresses COVID-19 virus spread: Network model findings could shape public health policy for airborne viruses

The "three-body problem," the term coined for predicting the motion of three gravitating bodies in space, is essential for understanding a variety of astrophysical processes as well as a large class of mechanical problems, and has occupied some of the world's best physicists, astronomers and mathematicians for over three centuries. Their attempts have led to the discovery of … [Read more...] about New approach to centuries-old ‘three-body problem’

Artificial intelligence could be one of the keys for limiting the spread of infection in future pandemics. In a new study, researchers at the University of Gothenburg have investigated how machine learning can be used to find effective testing methods during epidemic outbreaks, thereby helping to better control the outbreaks. In the study, the researchers developed a method to … [Read more...] about Machine learning can help slow down future pandemics