News by Subject Mathematics

Engineers at MIT have devised a framework for identifying key patterns that precede an extreme event. The framework can be applied to a wide range of complicated, multidimensional systems to pick out the warning signs that are most likely to occur in the real world.

How do multilingual people solve arithmetical tasks presented to them in different languages? The question will gain in importance in the future, as an increasingly globalized job market and accelerated migration will mean that ever more people seek work and study outside of the linguistic area of their home countries. This question was investigated by a research team led by Dr Amandine Van Rinsveld and Professor Dr Christine Schiltz from the Cognitive Science and Assessment Institute (COSA) at the University of Luxembourg.

The era of fully fledged quantum computers threatens to destroy internet security as we know it. Researchers are in a race against time to prepare new cryptographic techniques before the arrival of quantum computers, as cryptographers Tanja Lange (Eindhoven University of Technology, the Netherlands) and Daniel J. Bernstein (University of Illinois at Chicago, USA) describe today in the journal Nature. In their publication they analyze the options available for this so-called post-quantum cryptography.

Scientists compared the data on the coordinates of quasars obtained by Gaia and VLBI and suggested a method for revealing structure indirectly by means of combining the data from existing telescopes. Moreover, the precision they've got is superior to what is possible with ordinary optical telescopes and even with Hubble.

Programmers from ITMO University created a computer algorithm that allows tourists to find places of interest that are most popular with locals based on their instagram posts. To test the algorithm, the team analyzed Instagram photos taken in Saint Petersburg and compiled a list of museums, cafes, streets, and event venues preferred by the residents of Russia's northern capital, thus providing local suggestions to tourists.