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Why Hasn’t the World Been Destroyed in a Nuclear War Yet?
The precariousness of game theory.
How Enormous Dominoes Can Help You Rethink Saving for Retirement
Can the spectacle of crashing dominoes shock people out of old habits?
Meet the 17-Year-Old, Award-Winning, Rube Goldberg Parts Manufacturer
Tommy George and the Agents of SHIELD shot a Nerf ball and erased a whiteboard.
In Mathematics, Mistakes Aren’t What They Used to Be
Computers can’t invent, but they’re changing the field anyway.
Why the Flash Crash Really Matters
The debate about what caused the 2010 stock market Flash Crash is missing the point.
Nobody Knows the Real Price of a Forest—and That’s a Problem
A Cambridge economist discusses wealth, health, and disaster.
How the Computer Got Its Revenge on the Soviet Union
Condemned as a capitalist tool, the computer would help expose the USSR’s weakness.
The Amazing, Autotuning Sandpile
A simple mathematical model of a sandpile shows remarkably complex behavior.