It took 70 years for computer scientists to determine how to cut a cake fairly

How the number 15 solved a longstanding math challenge

The “packing coloring” problem asks how many numbers are needed to fill an infinite grid so that identical numbers never get too close to one another. A new computer-assisted proof finds a surprisingly straightforward answer—only 15. While...

Watch the iterative process of successfully printing a slice of vegan cheesecake

3D printing food requires integrating ingredients with a variety of properties, which may not all resist the physical stress of stacking. This means successful 3D printing of food may require rethinking how ingredients are layered and modifying ratios of each, potentially sacrificing taste for structural integrity.

Computer scientists first started trying to optimize dating using computers in the 1950s

Although early dating sites like Match.com weren't launched until the 1990s, the history of dating apps dates arguably back to the mid-1900s when computer scientists used IBM computers to solve matchmaking and compatibility problems.

How a competition honoring a king's birthday uncovered history's first chaotic system

A committee established a contest for King Oscar II's 60th birthday, featuring four unsolved problems in mathematics, including one on proving the stability of a system of more than two objects held together by gravity. Focusing on three celestial objects, Henri Poincaré won the prize for his proof, which he later learned was incorrect and, upon correcting it, instead proved these systems to be unstable.

Google’s quantum computer completes a 10,000-year task in about 3 minutes

Google used its 53-qubit processor on an extremely difficult problem for traditional computers to simulate to showcase quantum supremacy. IBM later challenged Google’s claim by arguing that its Summit supercomputer could solve the same problem in just 2.5 days using a more efficient method.

Cookies were originally used as low-stakes ways to test the temperature of an oven

In 7th century Persia, bakers used small mounds of dough to test the heat in ovens before baking larger cakes. Afterward, they'd add honey, nuts, and other items to the small mounds, creating early cookies.

Visualize how data becomes organized through a variety of sorting algorithms

This interactive shows how different algorithms shift elements in a randomized set to order them from smallest to largest. By comparing the different procedures and their corresponding functions, users can explore how runtimes vary across algorithms that complete the same task.

Pizza boxes are square for practical reasons

Although circular pies have sometimes appeared in circular boxes, they usually travel in square, cardboard boxes. That's because the cardboard industry manufactures them with edges so they can be made in one piece and be easily stacked.

English mathematician Ada Lovelace wrote the first computer algorithm a century before computers existed and hypothesized that computing devices would one day be able to compose music—foreseeing the generative AI systems of today.

Steve Jobs designed the original Mac calculator in 10 minutes

Unsatisfied with the designs provided by Chris Espinosa—Apple's youngest employee when he was hired at 14 in 1976—the engineer designed a program that gave Jobs access to every visual parameter, which he used to build the calculator's user interface.

Understanding the Diffie-Hellman key exchange, an example of public key cryptography

Published in 1976 by Whitfield Diffie and Martin Hellman, the system involves two parties combining each of their unique private keys with a public key using a mathematical function. The combinations are exchanged and mixed to establish a common key that no third party can determine. The Diffie-Hellman system underlies many encryption protocols for internet traffic.

Moore's Law came from observing exponential computing growth in the 1960s

In 1965, Gordon Moore, cofounder of Intel Corporation, observed a four-year trend of constant growth rate in computing power. Hypothesizing the trend would continue, his observation became the benchmark that the computing industry has worked to maintain for 60 years.

Can animals understand fairness?

Academics have long wondered if fairness is solely a concern of humans. In the largest meta-analysis to date, UC Berkeley researchers tested whether monkeys felt jealousy after receiving unequal rewards. The patterns showed low evidence for inequity aversion and instead frustration due to their expectations not being met by humans. These findings suggest that pursuing fairness and equality is uniquely human.

Against his wishes, Albert Einstein's brain was removed before his cremation, and the pathologist responsible stored it for decades in mason jars within a beer cooler.

Why did the US make it illegal to sell sliced bread during WWII?

Pre-sliced bread has only been with us for almost 100 years, but during the course of World War II it was briefly banned to save on supplies like wax paper and stainless steel for the war effort. This Atlas Obscura article explores this amusing (though not at the time) bit of food during wartime history.

'All the world is birthday cake, so take a piece, but not too much.'

- Musician George Harrison (1943–2001)

Blockchain, explained in five layers of difficulty

Blockchain, the key technology behind bitcoin, is a new network that helps decentralize trade and allows for more peer-to-peer transactions. Wired challenged political scientist and blockchain researcher Bettina Warburg to explain blockchain technology to five different people: a child, a teen, a college student, a grad student, and an expert.

Watch how algorithms can be designed to train themselves and self-improve without human input, to the point where the optimized code is too complex for programmers to understand.

One of the Widow Clicquot’s many innovations was the process of riddling

Riddling involves storing Champagne bottles at an angle and methodically turning them in order to collect any sediment in the neck of the bottle. The technique—which was kept a strict secret—cut down on both time and waste, allowing the House of Clicquot to outsell its competitors for decades until word inevitably leaked and riddling became the standard.

Think we decoded the genome in 2000? Nope. It was 2022.

Two decades after the draft sequence of the human genome was unveiled to great fanfare, a team of 99 scientists has finally deciphered the entire thing. They have filled in vast gaps and corrected a long list of errors in previous versions, giving us a new view of our DNA.

Hitchcock believed film editing was a form of mosaic

In this interview, Hitchcock explains why he doesn't like the term "cutting" because it implies "severing something." Instead, he believes cuts in film allow for a fuller picture and uses the famous shower scene from 1960's "Psycho," which he says uses over 78 different cuts, as an example.

How AI helped the Beatles win their eighth Grammy

It’s been decades since the legendary British rock band broke up, yet they still managed to snag a Grammy at the 2025 awards ceremony. This feat is thanks to AI, specifically machine-learning technology, to isolate and clean up different components of a late 1970s recording. This mini-documentary shows how the band's surviving members crafted “Now and Then” with the modern technology.

'The $64,000 Question' took the quiz show formula to new levels

Creator Louis G. Cowan upped the potential winnings and had his team scour through contestant applications in search of everyday people with exceptional knowledge in a particular area. When the show premiered in 1955, they made the game appear high-tech by using cutting-edge IBM technology to deliver questions. The gambit worked: At one point, 55 million Americans tuned in.

Against his wishes, Albert Einstein's brain was removed before his cremation, and the pathologist responsible stored it for decades in mason jars within a beer cooler.

Try to balance the budget

This interactive calculator challenges users to rebalance the federal budget by adjusting taxes and spending. Try your hand at weighing difficult trade-offs that shape long-term deficits, debt growth, and the sustainability of US public finances.

See who sat where at the US-China state dinner and why

This graphic maps the seating arrangements at the May 2026 dinner, showing how Chinese banquet etiquette shaped the placement of officials and executives from both delegations, along with details on the food served.

How people imagine a calendar year

It turns out everybody imagines the abstract calendar year in a simple, concrete way, though there are surprising differences between the exact model and shape of each image. Dive into one writer's collection of tens of thousands of questionnaire responses showing the fascinating consistency and divergence of how people visualize time.

European powers carved up nearly all of Africa in just 4 decades

This video explains the "Scramble for Africa," when seven European nations seized over 90% of the continent between 1870 and 1910. Only Liberia and Ethiopia remained sovereign as imperial competition redrew Africa’s borders and reshaped its future.

As of 2025, the most cited papers in science include a review of graphene, methods to improve image recognition, streamlining electron density calculations, and optimizing protein studies.

Clever Hans was a 1900s horse that was believed to be able to solve math equations, tell time, and read and comprehend German, until a psychology student discovered how he got his answers.

Gerrymandering works through two techniques: cracking opposing voters across districts to dilute their power, and packing them into a few to waste their votes in lopsided majorities.

Up to a million Girl Scouts sell about 200 million cookie boxes every spring, generating $800 million, largely because refusing a child is frowned upon

Crows are believed to have intelligence on par with a seven-year-old child and demonstrate complex behaviors, from problem-solving with tools to recognizing human faces.

Explore chaos in this simulation of two double pendulums, where small differences in the release angles produce wildly different outcomes.

Some coin denominations have ridges etched on their sides, partly to prevent counterfeiting, in a practice called 'reeding.'

According to the physics of black holes, our 4D reality may be a hologram—a projection of information coded on a 2D surface on the edge of the universe.

Use this tool to calculate the dollar value of your parental mental load, from meal planning to coordinating after-school care, then see resources that help generate solutions.

The name 'Silicon Valley' arose from the founding of Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory in Fairchild Semiconductor in 1956-57, founded near Stanford University in Palo Alto

Indefinite cloning of some endangered species may not sustain their longevity because cloning success rates decrease as genetic mutations accumulate.

The Brothers Grimm were lawyers before they were storytellers, but became interested in fairy tales as they began investigating how rules and customs had been passed down through cultures.

Cultural norms about how to handle the bodies of loved ones in communities in West Africa have hampered Ebola responses.

Explore fun facts from the USPS, including unique post office buildings, a stamp that traveled past Pluto, and more.

Domino's Pizza's 30-minute delivery guarantee was responsible for the chain's 1980s surge, but it was discontinued after the company was found liable for delivery driver accidents.

See how fireworks are made and learn how metals like magnesium and copper are responsible for different colors.

In 2026, Finland was named the world's happiest country for the ninth consecutive year based on its wealth, social safety network, and high life expectancy, among other factors.

Trace how the Bill of Rights, inspired by centuries of political theory, took shape between 1774 and 1789.

Hear 50 years of iconic hip-hop samples, the genre's foundational looped tracks

US intelligence allegedly pursued more than 600 schemes to assassinate Cuban revolutionary Fidel Castro.

The hormonal disorder PCOS was renamed PMOS in 2026, a move designed to improve care and research by shifting the focus to the hormonal causes of this condition that affects 1 in 8 women.

For centuries, it was common to sleep in two shifts: a few hours at the beginning of the night, and a longer period beginning around midnight