Maths on the Move

Should a life-saving, but expensive, cancer drug be made available on the NHS even though it only benefits very few people? Or should the money be allocated to drugs that lower blood pressure, which help vast swathes of the population? For the final episode of this season, we spoke to Joe Hilton, a health economist, to understand more about how difficult decisions like this one are made.  Joe is a...

“He asked me this question because I'm his sister and he loves me.”  Mathematics can often be seen as a solitary endeavour, but as this quote from one of our latest podcast guests show, that is far from the truth. In this episode, we learn how a new proof has developed from one young mathematician talking to his sister – and then collaborating with their father and close family friend. We spoke to...

In this episode, we meet the CEO of one of the most important institutions in mathematics - arXiV . Around since 1991, the website is a publicly accessible home for mathematical research before it is officially published in journals. Around 1,000 articles are published on arXiv every day — it has hosted everything from the proof of the Poincaré Conjecture to some of the newest research from AI com...

What is the potential of artificial intelligence (AI) in scientific research? In this episode, Cambridge Professor James Fergusson talks about some cutting-edge research which addresses this question. James is Director of the Infosys-Cambridge AI Centre, an innovative partnership between traditional academia and industry. James showed us how AI is quickly becoming the most effective tool for some...

Welcome to the latest episode of Maths on the Move! In this episode we spoke to Cambridge Professor of Theoretical Physics Ulrich Sperhake and his graduate student, Seppe Staelens, about boson stars: hypothetical objects that might be masquerading as black holes. Our conversation with Ulrich and Seppe marked the tenth anniversary of the first detection of gravitational waves . As Ulrich explained...

Plus is based at the Maths Faculty at the University of Cambridge so we have lots of opportunities to talk to interesting mathematicians about their work and their working lives. This week we speak to Holly Krieger , who is a professor here in a podcast that we originally produced for the Maths Faculty. Holly works in the overlap of two areas of mathematics: number theory – which is famous for pro...

Hannah Fry, Cambridge's first Professor of the Public Understanding of Mathematics , has been awarded the Leelavati Prize at this year's International Congress of Mathematicians (ICM). The Leelavati Prize is awarded every four years by the International Mathematical Union and Infosys for outstanding contributions for increasing public awareness of mathematics. We talked to Hannah in the run-up to...

We are continuing our conversations with mathematician colleagues at the University of Cambridge, part of the podcast we produce for the Maths Faculty here. Today we meet Julian Sahasrabudhe , Professor of Mathematics, and one of the invited speakers at the International Congress of Mathematicians (ICM) in July this year. The ICM is one of the biggest events in the mathematics world and is the hos...

We are very lucky to be based at the Centre for Mathematical Sciences at the University of Cambridge. To start our latest podcast season we bring you a series of conversations with our mathematician colleagues, part of the podcast we produce for the Maths Faculty here. In our first podcast we meet Richard Samworth , Professor of Statistical Science and Director of the Statistical Laboratory. We sp...

Imagine if your doctor had a digital model of your heart, personalised to you and updated with your latest medical information. This isn't science fiction – this revolutionary healthcare is being tested now. In this podcast we speak to  Steven Niederer , who leads the  CVDNet  project developing and testing these ideas, and his colleague  Richard Wilkinson , from the University of Nottingham. Rich...

"I have learnt that even if you are not a master in mathematics and science you are still able to grasp the essence." This is Céline Broeckaert talking, believe it or not, about the famously difficult theory of quantum mechanics. Céline knows what she's talking about. She's not a physicist, in fact she's a Romance languages scholar, author and playwright. Yet she's written a book about quantum mec...

You are blue, and are surrounded by other blue people: swirling together in a dot, identical and indistinguishable. From somewhere above you hear the ticking of a clock, and suddenly find yourself and some of your fellows pulled upwards, sucked through a tube arcing high above... Intrigued? That is a description of one of  Jess Enright's  adventures in her mathematical models. This is an exciting...

There's been a lot of talk recently about whether artificial intelligence is becoming just as good as maths as humans are. But quietly in the background there's been another development regarding the use of computers in maths. It involves proof assistants: computer programmes that can check whether a mathematical proof is correct; whether it can be derived from a set of basic axioms of mathematics...

In this episode of the Living Proof podcast we're delighted to meet  Moustapha Fall . Moustapha is the Center President of the  African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS) in Senegal  and winner of a prestigious  Ramanujan Prize for Young Mathematicians from Developing Countries . He also plays an important role on the international stage as Member-at-Large of the Executive Committee of the...

Earlier this year the the  anomalous mathematical patterns sci-art competition  attracted some  jaw-dropping entries . The competition was held in connection to the  Stochastic systems for anomalous diffusion  research programme which took place at the  Isaac Newton Institute for Mathematical Sciences  (INI) in Cambridge last year.  In this episode of Maths on the Move we talk to  Codina Cotar , w...

The mathematical area of topology is all about figuring out what truly defines a shape. Famously, topologists consider a coffee cup to be the same as a doughnut because one can be turned into the other without cutting or gluing — what defines and relates these two shapes for a topologist is that they have a single hole. As you might imagine, if you have ever tried to drink coffee out of a doughnut...

Welcome to the new season of the Maths on the Move podcast!  We start the season with theoretical physicist  David Tong  of the University of Cambridge looking at an important milestone in the history of physics: the 100th birthday of quantum mechanics which we celebrate this year. David tells us why a new theory was needed, which of the many strange aspects of quantum mechanics is, in his opinion...

We may not notice it, but mathematics impacts our lives on a daily basis.  Mathematical models  inform policy decisions around the economy and  public health . They are used to understand  climate change  and how to respond to it. They are vital in the design of  public buildings  and spaces. They are even used to try and  prevent crime .  It seems reasonable, then, that the mathematical models sh...

On May 30th 2024 seminar goers at Princeton University witnessed a thrilling moment. The mathematician  Zhouli Xu  of the University of California, LA, announced that, together with colleagues he had sorted out the 126th dimension. Not in general, but in regards to a problem that has taunted mathematicians since the 1960s. The problem involves strange shapes and is called the Kervaire invariant pr...

The capabilities of artificial intelligence may appear to be galloping ahead, but there are still many challenges that need to be solved. Last month we joined members of the Maths4DL  research project for a hackathon — an intensive two-day brainstorming session designed to figure out how one might teach machine learning techniques for solving differential equations and how best to test those techn...

Imagine we could have a digital version of our entire body which could help us, and our doctors, decide what life style is good for us, predict which diseases we might get, and how to best treat them? In short, what if we could all have our very own digital twin? The idea isn't quite as sci-fi as it sounds. A gigantic scientific effort called the Physiome Project  is about piecing together a mathe...

In this podcast we hope to give you some interesting information.  This information is encoded in terms of 0s and 1s – the classical bits in your computer or phone.  But what if instead we were using a quantum computer?  Then we'd be dealing with quantum bits, or qubits, opening up exciting new possibilities.  And quantum information theory is the area of mathematics that explores how we can do th...

From sunny parks to banquets in castles – come with us on an exciting adventure in Oslo as we join the celebrations for the  2025 Abel Prize !  We meet  Masaki Kashiwara , winner of this year's prize, who tells us about the importance of collaborations and creating new things.   Ragni Piene , previous chair of the Abel Prize Committee, gives us a look behind the scenes.  And  Andrea D'Agnolo , one...

Sarah Hart is a mathematician who is interested, not just in the maths itself, but also its connections to other areas of culture and art. She's done an amazing number of things throughout her career — from research in pure mathematics and heading up a maths department, to being the first woman  Gresham Professor of Geometry  and President of the  British Society for the History of Mathematics . ...

One thing we all have in common is that we did maths at school. Those of us from the English speaking world most likely also did Shakespeare at school. Do these two things have anything in common? It turns out that they do! Our friend  Rob Eastaway , author and Director of the amazing  Maths Inspiration  project, has written a book called  Much Ado About Numbers: Shakespeare's mathematical life an...