When you think of a fearsome, sharp-toothed predator, a squid probably isn’t the first animal that comes to mind. But these complex creatures have sophisticated eyesight[1], a strong beak to crush shells[2] and agile tentacles that help them snatch up prey.
Oh, and they have teeth in their suckers. The serrated teeth inside the suction...
Like most mathematicians[1], I hear confessions from complete strangers: the inevitable “I was always bad at math.” I suppress the response, “You are forgiven, my child.”
Why does it feel like a sin to struggle in math? Why are so many traumatized by their mathematics education? Is learning math worthwhile?
Sometimes agreeing and...
Did you know that the bananas you eat today are not the same type[1] as the ones people were eating a few generations ago? The banana you might have had with your breakfast today is a variety called the Cavendish banana, while the one that was in grocery stores up to the 1950s was a variety called Gros Michel, which was wiped out by...
The racially motivated tragedy in Charleston, South Carolina, in 2015, when a white supremacist murdered nine Black worshippers[1], and the deadly white nationalist rally in Charlottesville[2], Virginia, two years later compelled Americans to confront the role played by memorials, monuments and other symbols in glorifying racist ideologies[3].
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