EurekAlert! News by Subject: Mathematics - News by Subject: Mathematics

Mathematics

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 29-Apr-2025 00:08 ET (29-Apr-2025 04:08 GMT/UTC)

New technique overcomes spurious correlations problem in AI

North Carolina State University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

AI models often rely on “spurious correlations,” making decisions based on unimportant and potentially misleading information. Researchers have now discovered these learned spurious correlations can be traced to a very small subset of the training data and have demonstrated a technique that overcomes the problem.

Meeting: International Conference on Learning Representations (ICLR)

Unlocking the secrets of phase transitions in quantum hardware

Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne
Peer-Reviewed Publication

EPFL researchers have achieved a remarkable result: capturing and studying phase changes in quantum hardware, which hold hold promise for next-generation technologies like quantum computing and ultra-sensitive sensors.

Journal: Nature Communications
Funder: Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF), State Secretariat for Education, Research, and Innovation (SERI), École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Academy of Finland

Worldwide study finds high rates of depression and anxiety in people with chronic pain

Johns Hopkins Medicine
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A novel analysis of more than 375 published studies concluded that the association between chronic pain and rates of depression and anxiety is staggering. The study, led by investigators at Johns Hopkins Medicine found that 40% of adults with chronic pain experienced “clinically significant depression and anxiety.” Among those most at risk, the analysis showed, were women, younger adults and people with fibromyalgia.

Journal: JAMA Network Open

Quantum control of collisions beyond ultralow temperatures

University of Warsaw, Faculty of Physics
Peer-Reviewed Publication

At ultracold temperatures, interatomic collisions are relatively simple, and their outcome can be controlled using a magnetic field. However, research by scientists led by Prof. Michal Tomza from the Faculty of Physics of the University of Warsaw and prof. Roee Ozeri from the Weizmann Institute of Science shows that this is also possible at higher temperatures. The scientists published their observations in the scientific journal Science Advances.

Journal: Science Advances
Funder: European Research Council, National Science Center, Poland, Poland’s high-performance computing infrastructure PLGrid, Israeli Science Foundation

IOP Publishing and Songshan Lake Materials Laboratory launch AI for Science, a new diamond open access journal

IOP Publishing
Business Announcement

IOP Publishing (IOPP) and the Songshan Lake Materials Laboratory (SLAB) have launched a new diamond open access journal, AI for Science (AI4S). The interdisciplinary journal will cover key Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) topics including applied physics, materials science, chemical science, biological science, and mathematics.

Researchers successfully prove the solution to Dudeney’s 120-year-old dissection puzzle

Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology
Reports and Proceedings

Over 120 years ago, Henry Ernest Dudeney posed the famous dissection problem of transforming a triangle into a square by cutting it into as few pieces as possible. In a new study, researchers have finally proved that the original solution, which involves only four pieces, is optimal by using a new proof technique. This technique shows for the first time that it is possible to prove the optimality of the solution to a dissection problem.

Funder: Japan Society for the Promotion of Science
Meeting: The 23rd EATCS/LA Workshop on TCS

Hiring strategies

Sissa Medialab
Peer-Reviewed Publication

When it comes to hiring new staff, large companies often have to choose from hundreds of candidates, a process that requires time and resources. Can mathematics help streamline these procedures? At least in the broadest sense, probably yes. A paper recently published in Journal of Statistical Mechanics: Theory and Experiment JSTAT by Pavel Krapivsky, a statistical physicist at Boston University, proposes an algorithm that identifies three hiring strategies, each corresponding to different objectives a company might have.

Journal: Journal of Statistical Mechanics Theory and Experiment

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