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News from the world of maths

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Thursday, December 03, 2009

The Plus podcast: Protecting the nation

Vaccination is an emotive business. The furore around the MMR vaccine and autism has shown that vaccination health scares can cause considerable damage: stop vaccinating, and epidemics are sure to follow. But how do scientists decide whether a vaccine and a vaccination strategy are effective and safe? We talk to Paddy Farrington, Professor of Statistics at the Open University. You can also read the accompanying article.

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Tuesday, September 29, 2009

The Plus podcast: How does gravity work?

As part of our celebration of the International Year of Astronomy 2009 we brought you the article How does gravity work?, in which Bangalore Sathyaprakash takes us from Newton's theory of gravitation to Einstein's general theory of relativity. Now hear Sathyaprakash explain gravity in his own words in this podcast.

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If this has whetted your appetite for astronomy, then why not take part in our current online poll to nominate the next question we'll put to the experts.

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Thursday, September 03, 2009

The Plus podcast : The story of the Gömböc

A Gömböc is a strange thing. It looks like an egg with sharp edges, and when you put it down it starts wriggling and rolling around as if it were alive. Until quite recently, no-one knew whether Gömböcs even existed. Even now, Gábor Domokos, one of their discoverers, reckons that in some sense they barely exists at all. So what are Gömböcs and what makes them special?

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Thursday, July 23, 2009

Plus podcast: Are the constants of nature really constant?

As part of our celebration of the International Year of Astronomy 2009 we brought you the article Are the constants of nature really constant?, in which John D. Barrow tells us how it all depends on which constants you choose. In the podcast of this interview you can hear how changes in the constants that define our Universe might have implications for extra dimensions, gravity, and climbing flies...

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If this has whetted your appetite for astronomy, then why not take part in our online poll to nominate the next question we'll put to the experts.

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Friday, April 24, 2009

The Plus Careers Podcast: Maths educator and author

From string theory to maths education via investment banking

If you're worried that a mathematics degree might limit your career options, then there couldn't be a better person to talk to than Steve Hewson. Find out how his varied career has taken him from the lofty heights of theoretical physics, via the trading floor of a major investment bank, into the maths classroom, and has also seen him writing his very own maths book.

This podcast accompanies the career interview from issue 50 of Plus.

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Wednesday, April 08, 2009

The Plus podcast: What happened before the Big Bang?

As part of our celebration of the International Year of Astronomy 2009 we brought you the article What happened before the Big Bang?, in which John D. Barrow tells us all about the bubbly multiverse we apparantly live in. Here is the podcast of this interview, so you can listen to these strange ideas with your own ears.

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If this has whetted your appetite for astronomy, then why not take part in our online poll to nominate the next question we'll put to the experts.

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Friday, March 06, 2009

The Plus podcast : Lewis Carroll in numberland

The mathematical work of Charles Dodgson aka Lewis Carroll

Writing, mathematics, photography — Charles Dodgson had many talents, and if he hadn't become famous for his Alice books, he would almost certainly have become famous for something else. In this podcast we talk to Robin Wilson, Professor of Pure Mathematics at the Open University and a prolific author himself, about Dodgson's mathematical work, which included an influential theory of elections and a play on Euclid's Elements. Robin Wilson is the author of the book Lewis Carroll in numberland, which has been reviewed in Plus.

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Thursday, February 05, 2009

The Plus Podcast: A disappearing number

The mathematics behind the Complicite production

Mathematics takes to the stage with A disappearing number, a work by Complicite, inspired by the mathematical collaboration of Hardy and Ramanujan. Plus spoke to Victoria Gould and Marcus du Sautoy about the mathematical and creative process of developing this show.

This podcast accompanies the career podcast with Victoria and the article A disappearing number from issue 49 of Plus.

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Tuesday, December 23, 2008

The Plus Careers Podcast: Actor and mathematician

Combining a love of maths with a successful acting career

Victoria Gould has always known she would be an actor, and went straight from studying arts at school to running her own theatre company. But she eventually had to come clean about her guilty secret - she loves maths - and has since managed to combine a career as a research mathematician and teacher with a successful acting career on television and in theatre. In this, the first of a two part podcast, Victoria tells Plus why she needs to use boths sides of her brain.

This podcast accompanies the career interview from issue 49 of Plus.

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Stay tuned for the second part of this podcast, where Plus talks to Victoria and Professor Marcus du Sautoy about Complicite's recent theatre production of A disappearing number.

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Monday, December 01, 2008

The Plus podcast: Small worlds on the brain

The science of complexity

What do the human brain, the Internet and climate change have in common? They're all hugely complex, and while they're very different, the tools used to grapple with this complexity are likely to be similar. We visited the Cambridge complex systems consortium, dedicated to building an over-arching science of complexity, and talked to neuroscientist Ed Bullmore, mathematician Frank Kelly and climate scientist Hans Graf about their take on complexity. Listen to the podcast of the interviews.

This podcast accompanies the article Catching terrorists with maths.

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Tuesday, November 18, 2008

The Plus Podcast: Is maths to blame?

Who is to blame for the credit crunch?

According to media reports there are two suspects in the dock: the rocket scientists' (a.k.a. the financial mathematicians) who provided the information behind the market's decisions, or the greedy bankers who only thought about quick profits and their end-of-year bonuses. In our latest podcast, we talk to David Hand, Chris Rogers and John Coates to find out who is guilty.

This podcast accompanies the article Is maths to blame?

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Monday, September 01, 2008

The Plus careers podcast: Systems engineer

Chuck Gill caught the space bug as a child when watching Alan Shepherd launch into space. Since then he's worked as a US Air Force navigator, a satellite operator, and in the US intelligence service. These days he's busy reducing carbon emissions and preparing London for the 2012 Olympics. Plus went to see him to find out more about his career. This podcast accompanies the career interview from issue 48 of Plus.

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The Plus podcast: Universal pictures

Peter Markowich is a mathematician who likes to take pictures. At first his two interest seemed completely separate to him, but then he realised that behind every picture there is a mathematical story to tell. Plus went to see him to find out more, and ended up with an introduction to partial differential equations. This podcast accompanies the article Universal pictures.

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Tuesday, June 10, 2008

The Plus podcast: Maths in the movies

Maths has long been a theme in the movies. Plus talks to Madeleine Shepherd, organiser of the maths film festival at the recent Edinburgh science festival, about how maths has been presented in the movies over the years, with particular reference to three more recent films, Cube, Pi and Flatland. For more on maths in the movies read the Plus article Maths, madness and movies.

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The Plus podcast: Catching waves

The Fourier transform is a piece of maths that is, almost single-handedly, responsible for the digital revolution. Digital music and images would be impossible without it, and it has applications in anything from medical imaging to landmine detection. We asked Chris Budd what the Fourier transform does, and how it does it. This podcast accompanies the Plus article Saving lives: The mathematics of tomography.

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Sunday, June 01, 2008

The Plus career podcast: Exhibition curator

Barry Phipps is the first interdisciplinary fellow with the Kettle's Yard gallery in Cambridge. His remit is to develop projects of an interdisciplinary nature, to find the common ground between things. Plus talks to Barry about breaking down the barriers between artists and scientists and creating greater dialogue because, as Barry says, science and art are intrinsically related at the centre, and there is no stepping away from one to be another. This podcast accompanies the career interview in issue 47 of Plus.

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Thursday, May 15, 2008

The Plus podcast: Cosmic imagery

From the complexity of the snowflake, to the London tube map and the spiralling Andromeda galaxy, imagery has always been a vitally important ingredient of science. Plus talks to John Barrow, professor of mathematics at Cambridge University and author of the new book Cosmic Imagery, about the images that have changed science, and how we have viewed science, over the centuries.

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This podcast is also available in an enhanced version, which shows all the images mentioned in this podcast as you listen. You can view the enhanced podcast in your browser, or download the MP4 file to to your computer and for playing on your MP4 player (for example iPod).

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Tuesday, April 15, 2008

The Plus podcast: Codes and codebreaking — The Enigma machine

The Enigma machine was once considered unbreakable, and the cracking of the "unbreakable code" by the allies changed the course of World War 2. Plus talks to Nadia Baker from the Enigma Project about the history of codes and code-breaking, why the Enigma machine was considered unbreakable, the mathematics behind codes, and how it was finally cracked. The Enigma Project travels all over the United Kingdom and abroad, visiting over 100 schools and organisations, reaching over 12,000 people of all ages every year.

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Saturday, March 01, 2008

The Plus podcast: Biostatistics — from cradle to grave

Bacon sandwiches, drinking while pregnant, obesity — health risks are a favourite with the media. But behind the simple numbers quoted in the headlines lies a huge and sophisticated body of statistical research. We talk to Professor Sheila Bird of the Biostatistics Unit in Cambridge about her work in public health and its impact on policy, and discuss bias in pharmaceutical studies, as recently highlighted by the controversy around antidepressants.

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Tuesday, January 15, 2008

The Plus podcast: Interdisciplinary maths, from life on Mars to cancer development

We talk to four researchers from UCL's centre for mathematics and physics in the life sciences and experimental biology (COMPLEX) about the role of maths in such fields as astrobiology, cancer modelling and biology.

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Saturday, December 15, 2007

The Plus podcast: Stadium maths

We talk to Paul Shepherd about the maths of the Arsenal football stadium and to David Youdan about applied maths in the classroom.

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Saturday, December 01, 2007

The Plus careers podcast: Mathematical modelling consultant

We talk to Nira Chamberlain about his job as a modelling consultant involving aircraft carriers, telecommunication networks, staying slim and speaking French. This podcast accompanies the career interview from issue 45 of Plus.

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Friday, November 02, 2007

The Plus podcast: Leonard Euler and maths communication

As you probably know by know if you're a regular Plus reader, this year marks the 300th anniversary of Leonhard Euler's birth.

In our fourth Plus podcast we meet Professor Chris Budd to look at Euler's most famous bits of work and also investigate Celtic and African maths, how maths saves lives, and the maths of Christmas.

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The following Plus articles give some background to the topics that come up in this podcast:

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Monday, October 15, 2007

The Plus podcast: Women in mathematics

We visit the European Women in Mathematics conference and talk to two leading mathematicians, Caroline Series and Cheryl Praeger.

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Monday, October 01, 2007

The Plus podcast: The geometry of viruses

We update you on the BA Festival of Science and talk to Reidun Twarock, who finds symmetry in viruses and uses maths to understand them.

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Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Listen to the first Plus Podcast!

If you enjoy stepping into the world of mathematics through the Plus website, now you can take maths on the move with you and enjoy Plus whereever you are! We are pleased to release our first Plus PodcastBreaking the ice: Maths reshaping geometry and combating climate change. In this podcast we talk to Shahn Majid about a whole new geometry of space, find out about how mathematics is combatting climate change, as well as all the latest news from the world of maths. You can subscribe to the podcasts, or just stay tuned to Plus for the next podcast due late September.

Happy listening!

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