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In this newsletter: - Latest news - Browse with Plus - Mathematical moments - Live maths ********** Latest news from Plus Come and meet the Plus team and help us celebrate 1000 subscribers to our newsletter! http://plus.maths.org/latestnews/jan-apr04/plusnews/index.html Understanding the noise - A mathematical approach could simplify the study of how our genes operate. http://plus.maths.org/latestnews/jan-apr04/genesums/index.html ********** Browse with Plus Sodaplay - If you've ever had the urge to play God, you'll enjoy breathing life into the little wire-frame creatures on this site. Built from only simple elements - masses and springs which obey the normal rules of Newtonian physics, and muscles which bend and stretch according to a sine wave pattern - they can behave in surprisingly life-like ways. You can submit your favourites, and view the creations of others, in the sodazoo, and even race against the best in the sodarace. May the best mathematical life-form win! http://www.sodaplay.com More on the physics of motion from Plus: http://plus.maths.org/issue4/henwood1/ http://plus.maths.org/issue13/features/walking/index-gifd.html Play in another mathematical universe with John Conway on Plus: http://plus.maths.org/issue20/features/conway/index.html ********** Mathematical moments Galileo Galilei - Born 15 Feb 1564, died 8 Jan 1642. Supposed to train as a medical doctor, but lured by a love of mathematics, his discoveries changed the way humanity viewed the universe and physical world. However, his scientific understanding was also dangerous - he was condemned by the Inquisition for his belief that the Earth rotated around the Sun, and lived out his life under house arrest. "[The universe] cannot be read until we have learnt the language and become familiar with the characters in which it is written. It is written in mathematical language, and the letters are triangles, circles and other geometrical figures, without which means it is humanly impossible to comprehend a single word." Opere Il Saggiatore p. 171. Read more about Galileo Galilei... from the MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive: http://www-gap.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Mathematicians/Galileo.html from The Galileo Project: http://es.rice.edu/ES/humsoc/Galileo/index.html from Plus: http://plus.maths.org/issue26/features/budd/ ********** Live Maths Meet Plus! - Come and meet the Plus team during the Cambridge Science Festival in March. You can meet us between 10 and 4 on Saturday 13 March in the Large Exam Hall in the Arts School, New Museums Site, and on the following Saturday 20 March at the Centre for Mathematical Sciences on Wilberforce Road. Map for the Arts School, New Museums Site: http://shrunk.net/?c=71497cd0 Map for the Centre for Mathematical Sciences, Wilberforce Road: http://shrunk.net/?c=1093bec0 Happy reading from the Plus team. ********** If you received this message you have subscribed yourself to the PLUS-ANNOUNCE mailing list via our website. If you do not wish to remain on the list please visit http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/wa.exe?SUBED1=plus-announce&A=1 and follow the instructions to leave the list. If you have any comments on this newsletter, or Plus Magazine, please contact us at [log in to unmask] - we are always happy to hear from our readers! Feel free to forward this email to anyone you think might be interested.