## Mathematicians prove result tied to the Riemann hypothesis

MathJax TeX Test PageMathJax.Hub.Config({tex2jax: {inlineMath: [[‘$’,’$’], [‘\$$‘,’\$$’]]}});

Ken Ono, Emory University

Don Zagier, Max Planck Institute

Michael Griffin, BYU

Larry Rolen, Vanderbilt University

Introduction

Four mathematicians, Michael Griffin of Brigham Young University, Ken Ono of Emory University (now at University of Virginia), Larry Rolen of Vanderbilt University and Don Zagier of the Max Planck Institute, have proven a significant result that is thought to be on the roadmap to a proof of the most celebrated of unsolved mathematical conjecture, namely the Riemann hypothesis. First, here is some background:

The Riemann hypothesis

The Riemann hypothesis was first posed by the German

Continue reading Mathematicians prove result tied to the Riemann hypothesis

## Computational tools help create new living organism

A colony of the new Syn61 bacteria; credit: BBC

Creating life

In a remarkable development with far-reaching consequences, researchers at the Cambridge Laboratory of Molecular Biology have used a computer program to rewrite the DNA of the well-known bacteria Escherichia coli (more commonly known as “E. coli”) to produce a functioning, reproducing species that is far more complex than any previous similar synthetic biology effort.

Venter’s 2010 project

This effort has its roots in a project spearheaded by J. Craig Venter, the well-known maverick biomedical researcher known for the “shotgun” approach to genome sequencing pioneered by his team at

Continue reading Computational tools help create new living organism

## Researchers use “magic functions” to prove sphere-packing results

Optimal stacking of oranges.

The sphere-packing problem

The Kepler conjecture is the assertion that the simple scheme of stacking oranges typically seen in a supermarket has the highest possible average density, namely pi/(3 sqrt(2)) = 0.740480489…, for any possible arrangement, regular or irregular. It is named after 17th-century astronomer Johannes Kepler, who first proposed that planets orbited in elliptical paths around the sun.

Hales’ proof of the Kepler conjecture

In the early 1990s, Thomas Hales, following an approach first suggested by Laszlo Fejes Toth in 1953, determined that the maximum density of all possible arrangements could be obtained