Maths news, articles and features | New Scientist

Terence Tao: AI is outrunning our ability to control it

Karmela Padavic-Callaghan — Wed, 28 Oct 2026 18:00:00 +0000

The rise of artificial intelligence has pushed mathematics to a crisis point. In our latest video, we speak with Terence Tao, one of the world’s top mathematicians and author of Six Maths Essentials, to diagnose the state of the field right now and explore if it has a future even in the face of increasing automation.

Why should anyone learn to do maths with a pen and a piece of paper right now? What is the power of abstract thinking and can we afford to lose it? And what is on the research wish list of one of the most prolific and decorated mathematicians of our time? Join us as we take a grand tour of modern mathematics, following one of its best guides through the rapidly changing science. We’ll explore the fundamental character of mathematics research, as well as the principles and questions that guide the field – and how AI can be in discord with them.

Why prime numbers might not be random after all

The Riemann hypothesis may hold the answer to the distribution of the primes, the only problem is, no-one has yet been able to prove it

Why do mathematicians keep proving things they already know?

Jacob Aron — Fri, 23 Oct 2026 08:00:00 +0000

What exactly is a mathematical proof? Columnist Jacob Aron breaks down how mathematicians plot a course to answer open questions, and how finding several solutions to the same problem is an important part of the whole endeavour of maths

Benjamin Labatut has written an utterly haunting novella about science

Jacklin Kwan — Wed, 30 Sep 2026 17:00:00 +0000

Using real scientists as characters, When We Cease to Understand the World looks at what happens when science unravels the conceit that we can understand reality. It is a brilliant piece of writing, says Jacklin Kwan

I made a free AI chatbot solve a decade-long maths problem in 13 minutes

Matthew Sparkes — Mon, 07 Sep 2026 16:09:29 +0000

After months covering the shocking rise of AI mathematics, reporter Matthew Sparkes decided to put a free chatbot to the test – and was shocked at the speed at which it solved an outstanding problem

A mathematical measure of surprise explains why we fall for clickbait

Jacob Aron — Fri, 07 Aug 2026 08:00:00 +0000

Why are we so susceptible to clickbait? Columnist Jacob Aron traces it to a surprising source: a mathematical framework that paved the way for much of how the modern world works

The sneaky maths trick for solving problems without answering them

Jacob Aron — Fri, 10 Jul 2026 08:00:57 +0000

How can you have a proof without proving anything? Mathematicians found a way and, in the process, came to blows over it – but 100 years on, this trick is a common part of modern maths, says columnist Jacob Aron

The maths meme that has been distracting mathematicians for a century

Jacob Aron — Fri, 05 Jun 2026 08:00:46 +0000

A seemingly simple set of rules kicks off a kind of mathematical magic trick, which has kept great minds busy since the 1930s. Columnist Jacob Aron explores the origins of the Collatz conjecture, why it is so addictive to mathematicians and whether AI could help us solve it once and for all

The mathematician who doesn’t exist

Jacob Aron — Fri, 08 May 2026 08:00:34 +0000

A secret society of French mathematicians has been revolutionising the field of mathematics under a pseudonym for nearly a century. Columnist Jacob Aron finds that this mythic collective provided maths a rigorous and useful foundation, and did some real harm along the way

The secret project to settle controversial maths proof with a computer

Alex Wilkins — Fri, 10 Apr 2026 15:30:13 +0000

Working in secret for more than two years, a group of mathematicians has set out to resolve one of the longest and most bitter battles in modern mathematics

The man who ruined mathematics

Jacob Aron — Fri, 10 Apr 2026 08:00:35 +0000

The incompleteness theorem is accepted as part of the mathematical canon today, but columnist Jacob Aron says it was a bombshell when Kurt Gödel first introduced it. Gödel’s seminal work directly contradicted one of the great minds of mathematics and limited the field forever