Applied mathematics articles within Nature

Featured

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Analysis of a large dataset of scanning transmission X-ray microscopy images of carbon-coated lithium iron phosphate nanoparticles shows that the heterogeneous reaction kinetics of battery materials can be learned from such videos pixel by pixel.

    • Hongbo Zhao
    • , Haitao Dean Deng
    •  & Martin Z. Bazant

  • Article |

    An algorithm is developed to design a shape, a trajectoid, that can trace any given infinite periodic trajectory when rolling down a slope, finding unexpected implications for quantum and classical optics.

    • Yaroslav I. Sobolev
    • , Ruoyu Dong
    •  & Bartosz A. Grzybowski

  • Article |

    Heat-assisted detection and ranging is experimentally shown to see texture and depth through darkness as if it were day, and also perceives decluttered physical attributes beyond RGB or thermal vision.

    • Fanglin Bao
    • , Xueji Wang
    •  & Zubin Jacob

  • Article |

    A mechanical integrated circuit material based on Boolean mathematics and reconfigurable electrical circuits is created to demonstrate scalable information processing in synthetic, engineered soft matter.

    • Charles El Helou
    • , Benjamin Grossmann
    •  & Ryan L. Harne

  • Perspective |

    Standards and recommendations for transitioning organizations to quantum-secure cryptographic protocols are outlined, including a discussion of transition timelines and the leading strategies to protect systems against quantum attacks.

    • David Joseph
    • , Rafael Misoczki
    •  & Royal Hansen

  • Article |

    A theoretical study of non-reciprocity in collective phenomena reveals the emergence of time-dependent phases heralded by exceptional points in contexts ranging from synchronization and flocking to pattern formation.

    • Michel Fruchart
    • , Ryo Hanai
    •  & Vincenzo Vitelli

  • Article |

    A theoretical framework describing the hydrodynamic interactions between a passive particle and an active medium in out-of-equilibrium systems predicts long-range Lévy flights for the diffusing particle driven by the density of the active component.

    • Kiyoshi Kanazawa
    • , Tomohiko G. Sano
    •  & Adrian Baule

  • Letter |

    In a voter game, information gerrymandering can sway the outcome of the vote towards one party, even when both parties have equal sizes and each player has the same influence; and this effect can be exaggerated by strategically placed zealots or automated bots.

    • Alexander J. Stewart
    • , Mohsen Mosleh
    •  & Joshua B. Plotkin

  • Letter |

    A faint penumbra in a photograph of a diffuse surface enables recovery of the position of the object creating the penumbra and an image of the scene behind it.

    • Charles Saunders
    • , John Murray-Bruce
    •  & Vivek K Goyal

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Local-level analyses show that, despite marked progress in educational attainment from 2000 to 2015 across Africa, substantial differences persist between locations and sexes that have widened in many countries.

    • Nicholas Graetz
    • , Joseph Friedman
    •  & Simon I. Hay

  • Letter |

    Giga-voxel-resolution computational morphogenesis is used to optimize the internal structure of a full-scale aeroplane wing, yielding light-weight designs with more similarities to animal bone structures than to current aeroplane wing designs.

    • Niels Aage
    • , Erik Andreassen
    •  & Ole Sigmund

  • Article |

    A mesoscopic cellular automaton arising from a microscopic reaction–diffusion system as a function of skin thickness is observed in ocellated lizards, showing that cellular automata are not merely abstract computational systems, but can directly correspond to processes generated by biological evolution.

    • Liana Manukyan
    • , Sophie A. Montandon
    •  & Michel C. Milinkovitch

  • Letter |

    The authors derive a condition for how natural selection chooses between two competing strategies on any graph for weak selection, elucidating which population structures promote certain behaviours, such as cooperation.

    • Benjamin Allen
    • , Gabor Lippner
    •  & Martin A. Nowak

  • Letter |

    A data-analytical approach that can extract the history and dynamics of complex systems from noisy snapshots on timescales much shorter than the uncertainty with which the data were recorded is described; the approach is demonstrated by extracting the dynamics on the few-femtosecond timescale from experimental data recorded with 300-femtosecond timing uncertainty.

    • R. Fung
    • , A. M. Hanna
    •  & A. Ourmazd

  • Letter |

    Experiments, asymptotic theory and computer simulations of wall-bounded shear flow uncover a bifurcation scenario that explains the transition from localized turbulent patches to fully turbulent flow.

    • Dwight Barkley
    • , Baofang Song
    •  & Björn Hof

  • Letter |

    A magnetohydrodynamic simulation of a magnetized plasma at high conductivity shows that, whereas the magnetic flux can be considered ‘frozen’ into the medium for laminar flow, in a turbulent medium the motion of the field lines can become indeterministic, leading to a breakdown in flux freezing.

    • Gregory Eyink
    • , Ethan Vishniac
    •  & Alexander Szalay

  • Letter |

    Topologically distinct colloidal particles introduced into a nematic liquid crystal align and generate topology-constrained three-dimensional director fields and defects in the liquid crystal fluid that can be manipulated with a variety of methods, opening up a new area of exploration in the field of soft matter.

    • Bohdan Senyuk
    • , Qingkun Liu
    •  & Ivan I. Smalyukh

  • Books & Arts |

    Mathematician Glen Whitney left a job in finance to set up the Museum of Mathematics (MoMath), which is due to open in Manhattan, New York, on 15 December. He wants to spread the word that mathematics is a beautiful discipline and all around us, from the geometry of soap bubbles to the algorithms that control traffic lights.

    • Jascha Hoffman

  • Books & Arts |

    Mathematician Persi Diaconis of Stanford University in California ran away from home in his teens to perform card tricks. As he publishes a book on the mathematics of magic, co-authored with juggler and fellow mathematician Ron Graham, he explains what makes a good trick.

    • Jascha Hoffman

  • Books & Arts |

    Biology is too complex to be unified by mathematics, finds Marc Feldman.

    • Marc Feldman

  • News & Views |

    Generations of physicists have spent much of their lives using Richard Feynman's famous diagrams to calculate how particles interact. New mathematical tools are simplifying the results and suggesting improved underlying principles.

    • Neil Turok

  • News Feature |

    Many researchers believe that quantitative metrics determine who gets hired and who gets promoted at their institutions. With an exclusive poll and interviews, Nature probes to what extent metrics are really used that way.

    • Alison Abbott
    • , David Cyranoski
    •  & Richard Van Noorden

  • Opinion |

    Since the invention of the science citation index in the 1960s, quantitative measuring of the performance of researchers has become ever more prevalent, controversial and influential. Six commentators tell Nature what changes might ensure that individuals are assessed more fairly.

  • News Feature |

    Scientific performance indicators are proliferating — leading researchers to ask afresh what they are measuring and why. Richard Van Noorden surveys the rapidly evolving ecosystem.

    • Richard Van Noorden

  • News & Views |

    A mathematical method has been developed that distinguishes between the paintings of Pieter Bruegel the Elder and those of his imitators. But can the approach be used to spot imitations of works by any artist?

    • Bruno A. Olshausen
    •  & Michael R. DeWeese

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