How Disorder Rules the World
From materials to traffic systems and natural disasters, disorder is all around us. Shumaila Firoz writes about Pinaki Chaudhuri’s talk on disordered systems.
Features
2025
A Gentle Invitation to Number Theory
Basic concepts are all one needs to understand one of number theory’s ancient unsolved problems. Janaki Pande covers UK Anandavardhan’s talk on the Congruent Number Problem.
Shadows and Light: The Thrilling Odyssey of Trusted AI
AI walks a tight rope between its benefits to creativity and social good, amidst concerns about its biases and misuse. Keerthivas S reports on Richa Singh’s talk.
The Great Ant Migration: A Tiny World in Motion
Leading by hand, porting luggage, foiling thieves and navigating the unknown. Shivani Lamba writes about the challenges of ant relocation based on Annagiri Sumana’s talk.
A carnival of kanitam
We trace the history of Kanita Kanagam, an IMSc outreach program which introduces school students to the playful and explorative nature of mathematics.
The making of a children's science magazine
We trace the history of Jantar Mantar, an English children's science magazine running for over three decades, and its association with IMSc.
The cosmos, in four pieces
Four cosmologists chart the history of the universe, from its origins to the birth and the death of stars, featuring landmark discoveries and ambitious future missions.
From equations to the laws of nature
Divya M, an undergraduate student at DG Vaishnav College, Chennai, shares her experience of attending the Foundation Series in Theoretical Physics at IMSc.
Remembering the marvelous Maryam Mirzakhani
On 12 May, IMSc celebrated the International Women in Mathematics Day, commemorating the birthday of Maryam Mirzakhani, who made pathbreaking contributions to geometry.
Preserving a long reel of institute history
The photo archive at the IMSc library preserves a large trove of photographs, a record of the institute's history for over six decades.
Bringing together women mathematicians
We speak to Sanoli Gun about the inception of the Asian Oceanian Women in Mathematics, her academic journey, challenges faced by women in science, and initiatives to support them.
2024
Places that take science to the public
Drishti, a student at the Asian College of Journalism, Chennai speaks to the participants of outreach events at the Periyar Science and Technology Centre and The Institute of Mathematical Sciences, Chennai.
From magnets to the mind: How Hopfield and Hinton bridged physics to AI
Sitabhra Sinha writes about this year’s Nobel Prize given to John Hopfield and Geoffrey Hinton, which is a “…nod towards science finally breaking down the millenia-old division between physical and living systems.”
Pulsars, served three ways
A pulsar is one of the final stages in a star’s life cycle, where it spins really fast, sending out a strong beam of electromagnetic radiation. Pulsars have allowed us to probe gravitational waves, which cause ripples in space-time.
A trapdoor to another mathematical realm
“These things don’t happen very often, I still remember seeing that picture and this really clear pattern,” Amri recalls, about an image that led to an unexpected insight connecting fractals to symmetric groups.
On the trail of Euclid’s Elements
More than two millennia after Elements was written by the Greek mathematician Euclid, it made its appearance in Tamil. Mani recounts his search for this translation, writing about the influence of Elements and its many translations through the ages.