 |
 |
######################################################################## Latest news from <em>Plus</em> magazine — http://plus.maths.org ######################################################################## To ensure that this newsletter is delivered to your inbox, add [log in to unmask] to your address book. ######################################################################## * Latest news - http://plus.maths.org/content/News?nl=0* <a href="http://plus.maths.org/content/first-swirling-glimpse-inflation-and-gravity-waves">A first swirling glimpse of inflation and gravity waves</a> Data from BICEP2 gathered in the South Pole reveals swirls in the cosmic microwave background, providing evidence for gravitational waves and a theory of inflation. <a href="http://plus.maths.org/content/eye-chicken?nl=0">In the eye of the chicken</a> How chickens' eyes solve a subtle maths problem. <a href="http://plus.maths.org/content/finding-new-worlds-statistics?nl=0">Finding new worlds with statistics</a> A clever statistical technique helped the Kepler mission to find the huge haul of new planets it announced last week. <a href="http://plus.maths.org/content/el-duende-flamenco-de-paco-de-lucia?nl=0">El duende flamenco de Paco de Lucía</a> The recent funeral of the great flamenco guitarist Paco de Lucía reminded us of the mathematical and musical reasons we love flamenco. * Latest articles - http://plus.maths.org/content/Article * <a href="http://plus.maths.org/content/satanic-science?nl=0">Satanic science</a> There's no doubt that information is power, but could it be converted into physical energy you could heat a room with or run a machine on? In the 19th century James Clerk Maxwell invented a hypothetical being — a "demon" — that seemed to be able to do just that. The problem was that the little devil blatantly contravened the laws of physics. What is Maxwell's demon and how was it resolved? <a href="http://plus.maths.org/content/bridges-networks-0?nl=0">From bridges to networks</a> How a cute 18th century puzzle laid the foundations for one of the most modern areas of maths: network theory. <a href="http://plus.maths.org/content/what-cosmology?nl=0">What is cosmology?</a> How big is the Universe? Where did it come from and where is it going? Why is it the way it is? These are just some of the questions cosmologists study. <a href="http://plus.maths.org/content/gomboc-object-barely-exists?nl=0">The Gömböc: The object that shouldn't exist</a> A Gömböc is a strange thing. It wriggles and rolls around with an apparent will of its own. Until quite recently, no-one knew whether Gömböcs even existed. Even now, Gábor Domokos, one of their discoverers, reckons that in some sense they barely exists at all. <a href="http://plus.maths.org/content/mysterious-neutrinos?nl=0">Mysterious neutrinos</a> Research into the bizarre world of neutrinos helps to piece together the creation story of the Universe. <a href="http://plus.maths.org/content/influenza-virus-its-all-packaging-0?nl=0">Sending flu packaging</a> How are researchers in disease dynamics using mathematics to understand how the influenza virus replicates? This short, accessible article investigates. * Maths in a minute: Polar roses - * Most of us are familiar with the Cartesian coordinate system which assigns a pair of coordinates (x,y) to each point p in the plane: to get to p from the point (0,0) you walk a distance x along the x-axis and a distance y along the y-axis. But there's another way of locating points on the plane, which is very nice too. You could assign to each point p the pair of numbers (r, φ), where r is the distance from p to (0,0) along a straight radial line, and φ is the angle formed by that radial line and the x-axis. These new coordinates are called <em>polar coordinates</em>. For example ( measuring angles in degrees), the point with Cartesian coordinates (0,1) has polar coordinates (1,90) and the point with Cartesian coordinates (-2,0) has polar coordinates (2,180). Polar equations give you a nice and easy way to describe shapes that are harder to describe in Cartesian coordinates. For example, a circle with radius 2 centred around (0,0) is given by the simple expression r = 2, since it captures all points at distance 2 from (0,0). But our favourite is the equation <em>r</em> = <em>a</em> sin(<em>b</em> φ). It gives you a pretty rose petal where the number <em>b</em> (positive or negative) controls the number of petals: if <em>b</em> is odd then the rose will have <em>b</em> petals and if it's even then the rose will have 2<em>b</em> petals. The number <em>a</em> (positive or negative) determines how long the petals are. It's amazing what you can do by changing coordinates! * - * * - * * Stay in touch with <em>Plus</em> * Follow <em>Plus</em> on <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/plusmathsorg">Twitter</a> or <a href="http://www.facebook.com/plusmagazine">Facebook</a>! * Information about information * We live in a golden age of information. Never has so much of it been available so easily to so many of us. Information is power, it's money and, given how much of our life is lived online, defines part of our reality. But what exactly is information? Tell us what you would like to know and we'll bring you the answers from the experts. To start you off we've chosen a few key questions philosophers, physicists and mathematicians are currently thinking about. <a href="http://plus.maths.org/content/information-about-information?nl=0">Come and vote for your favourite question or suggest your own!</a> * Support <em>Plus</em> - make a difference to mathematics * <em>Plus</em> is free for all, but to support our activities we depend entirely on donations and grants. If you'd consider supporting <em>Plus</em> we'd be really grateful. Your generosity has a real impact, helping <em>Plus</em> to continue making a difference to mathematics. <a href="http://plus.maths.org/content/support-plus?nl=0">Support <em>Plus</em>! 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. Happy reading! ######################################################################## * Subscription Details * You are subscribed to Latest news from Plus Magazine. To unsubscribe, visit: https://JISCMAIL.AC.UK/cgi-bin/webadmin?SUBED1=PLUS-ANNOUNCE&A=1 ######################################################################## ########################################################################