How do we study the boundary between structure and randomness? Mathematics is full of this phenomenon, such as in the fields of nonlinear dynamics and emergent processes. There are also fields of science that deal with chaos theory, like our climate system. In my opinion, this is where math and…

The atmosphere exists as a complex interplay between a wide variety of different processes. These interactions work together to create wind, rain, hurricanes, clouds, and many more phenomena. Many things we take for granted only exist because of these balances. For example, Earth is only at a habitable temperature due…

Human-caused climate change has become an overwhelmingly agreed-upon scientific truth. Many climate scientists have become worried about the impact that we are having on the atmosphere and how that is going to negatively affect us in the future. However, naysayers continue to come up with arguments to downplay humans' true…

It has become a common trend in modern engineering to reuse what nature has already created. We see this in Velcro, copied from burrs, and wind turbines which are inspired by the ridges on a humpback whale. …

Sending messages in secret has been around since the invention of writing. Historians have discovered clay tablets from Mesopotamia around 1500 B.C. containing a protected craftsman recipe written in code. The image shown above is an encoded letter sent from France to the Ottoman Empire containing important diplomatic information. In…

Archaeologists have a tough job! They have to reconstruct entire nations from scattered sets of ruins and whatever happened to be preserved. This has led to many different interpretations of findings and multiple combating narratives. For centuries, archaeologists only had whatever they could unearth as evidence for their theories. The…

If you’ve ever seen a field full of fireflies at night, then you know how awe-inspiring it can be. Some species of fireflies are even able to synchronize their flashes in incredible displays of beauty. What makes this even more remarkable is that it happens without any central order; the…

Designing your own world can be incredibly fun! It’s a great exercise in creativity that challenges you to think outside the box. One of my favorite pastimes as a kid was to design cool maps with different biomes and continents. Now I do the same for my Dungeons and Dragons…

Game theory is easily one of the most interesting areas of mathematics. It deals with strategies and interactions among many different agents. What makes it so interesting is the wide variety of applications that have been discovered, like in social science and economics. Over time, a rich set of various…