News by Subject Mathematics

Research technician Natalie Jones is the lead author on a paper that looked at how scientists model the vulnerability of karst formations around the Grand Canyon. Along with professor Abe Springer, she created a new model that can give land and water managers more information so they can better protect the water system.

A model invented by researchers at MIT and Qatar Computing Research Institute (QCRI) that uses satellite imagery to tag road features in digital maps could help improve GPS navigation.

The genomics revolution has provided powerful insights into genetic risk factors for human disease while also revealing the limits of genetic determinants, which account for only a fraction of total disease risk. A new article in the journal Science argues that a similar large-scale effort is needed to ensure a more complete picture of disease risk by accounting for the exposome, defined as our cumulative exposure to environmental agents such as chemical pollutants.

Mathematicians, physicists and materials experts might not spring to mind as the first people to consult about whether you are brewing your coffee right. But a team of such researchers including Dr. Jamie Foster, a mathematician at the University of Portsmouth, are challenging common espresso wisdom.

Espresso delivers a desired jolt of caffeine but getting a consistent good-taste is difficult. New research is offering a roadmap to reproducibility and a potential savings of $3.1 million a day for coffee shops across the United States.

Recent research finds that repeated flooding events have a cumulative effect on the structural integrity of earthen levees, suggesting that the increase in extreme weather events associated with climate change could pose significant challenges for the nation's aging levee system.