Ode to Tau

Math has long been at the foundation of music.  

In fact, in ancient Greece, "music" referred to the study of numerical ratios, and around the time of Plato, "harmony" originally emerged as a branch of physics.  

Now, composers such as Michael Blake are combining music and math in new and creative ways.  To some, tau (τ) brings to mind the golden ratio or the divisor function, but to Blake, this mathematical constant is the inspiration for a musical composition.


 Right now, there is not a single math museum in the United States.

But that’s about to change.  In 2012, former math professor Glen Whitney will open his multi-million-dollar project, The Museum of Math.  Mr. Whitney acknowledges that he’s fighting deeply-held beliefs; he knows that people think math is boring, pointless, and unnecessary in the real world.  And he’s determined to prove them wrong.

Read the New York Times article or visit MoMath’s official website to learn more.

Computer Vision

What makes a nose a nose?

In the field of computer vision, scientists frequently find themselves asking such questions.  Creating an algorithm to help computers identify shapes has turned out to be a task ridden with problems.  

With traditional shape-identification methods, an algorithm would have to cover thousands of nose-shape variations, not to mention exhaustive definitions for the numerous other objects a computer may have to identify.  A human can identify a nose as a nose regardless of deformities, lighting conditions, etc., but it’s proven infinitely more difficult for a computer to achieve this same flexibility.  

However, a new computer-vision technique has taken a huge step to overcoming this barrier.  Read the full article about the closest we’ve come to giving computers sight.

Warning: Connection Not Secure

In the field of cryptography, eavesdropping is a major problem. 

Imagine you’re talking on the phone with a good friend, both of you chatting away and assuming your personal information is safe, only to later discover that a third party had been eavesdropping the entire time. 

Just like someone listening in on a phone conversation, eavesdropping often goes undetected in cryptography.  Using classical key distribution, there’s no way for the sender or receiver to detect if the key has been intercepted en route.  In this case, the participants just have to trust that the math used to hide the code is complex enough that it won’t be cracked.  However, this is increasingly difficult to guarantee; with ever-faster computers and ever-smarter mathematicians, virtually no encryption key is safe. 

For these and other reasons, classical key distribution is quickly being replaced by quantum key distribution.  This newer cryptography protocol relies on the laws of physics rather than on mathematical conjectures to keep encryption keys private, meaning quantum key distributions should be infinitely harder to crack.  Indeed, no one has been able to carry out a full field-implemented hack of QKD security—until now.  Will it ever be possible to ensure that an encoded message is completely secure?

Get the full ScienceDaily article here.


DNA Calculators

 Turns out that DNA, the molecule of life, can double as a calculator.  

Researchers at Caltech have designed a circuit made from strands of DNA that can add and subtract numbers and even calculate square roots.  In this new method, each strand of DNA represents 1’s and 0’s, the binary numbers used in digital circuits. Researchers can design a DNA molecule to represent a specific number then coax this molecule to interact with other DNA molecules.  After the strands of DNA undergo their natural processes of zipping and unzipping, new DNA strands emerge, and the original strand now represents a new binary number–the solution to the math problem.  Read more about the amazing study that has major implications for both genetics and mathematics.