Blog – Page 2 – C. Sean Bohun

A Poll at the Forum

March 1, 2014February 27, 2014 by seanmathmodelguy

Often I see polls saying that Rob Ford has a political base that is either made of concrete or completely at odds with the reality of what it means to be a responsible leader that represents the people. The most recent example is a tweet in #TOpoli today citing an article in the Toronto Star … Read moreA Poll at the Forum

Confirming a New Years resolution

February 10, 2014February 9, 2014 by admin

Over the last year I have been taking note of some of the stories in the various science/tech news feeds with of hope of eventually finding the time to expound on them in a format such as this. There is really no perfect time to commence such an activity and over the winter break I … Read moreConfirming a New Years resolution

ICIAM has a newsletter

January 25, 2013 by seanmathmodelguy

I’ve received the following email from ICIAM and wanted to bring this to the wider mathematics community. Dear Colleagues, The January 2013 issue — Volume 1, No 1 — of the ICIAM Newsletter is now available. Please visit www.iciam.org/news to download a PDF copy of the Newsletter from the link that you will find there, … Read moreICIAM has a newsletter

On the origin of \(x\)

August 16, 2012 by seanmathmodelguy

Recently I had the opportunity to watch Why the \(x\) is Unknown TED talk from Terry Moore but I soon realized after talking to a colleague that the explanation Terry gives is much too simplified. Since there are cultural aspects to this question I’ve asked my colleague Carmen for her opinion. Have a listen in. Carmen, … Read moreOn the origin of \(x\)

Harvard scientists turn knitting into shape-shifting smart fabric September 4, 2026

Harvard researchers have transformed ordinary knitting into a platform for creating fabrics that can snap between different shapes and perform useful functions. Using elastic yarns and industrial knitting techniques, the team engineered thick textiles that naturally curve and lock into multiple stable configurations, much like a light switch flipping between on and off. By adding […]

This strange “spacetime crystal” can suddenly become a black hole August 30, 2026

Physicists have mathematically captured a bizarre “spacetime crystal” that can either dissolve or collapse into a microscopic black hole after only a tiny change in energy. Their breakthrough came from an unusual trick involving infinitely many dimensions, potentially giving researchers a new tool for studying primordial and microscopic black holes.

Tiny graphene wrinkles create surprisingly powerful electrical effects August 17, 2026

Scientists have discovered that tiny, sharply curved wrinkles in graphene can dramatically alter its electrical behavior, creating surprisingly strong charge separation. The finding suggests future electronics could be tuned by reshaping materials at the atomic scale instead of changing what they’re made of.

Claude Fable 5 AI finds a tiny formula that topples an 87-year-old math conjecture August 6, 2026

A mathematician working at Anthropic says he used the AI model Claude Fable 5 to uncover a remarkably simple counterexample to the Jacobian conjecture, a famous problem that has resisted mathematicians for more than a century. The result shows that the conjecture is false in three dimensions and above, although the original two-dimensional version remains […]

Mathematicians prove perfectly fair elections are impossible August 2, 2026

Mathematicians have shown that no electoral system can perfectly balance local representation, proportional national results, and a fixed-size parliament once enough parties compete. A newly proposed voting method could soften these unavoidable trade-offs and produce outcomes that are much closer to fair.