Mathematics

Researchers at The University of Texas at Dallas and Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corp. have developed a computer-based drug discovery platform that could make the process more effective, efficient, and cost-effective. Dr. Baris Coskunuzer, professor of mathematical sciences at UT Dallas, and his colleagues developed a method based on topological data analysis to virtually screen thousands of potential drug candidates and significantly narrow the compound candidates to those most suitable for laboratory and clinical testing. The findings will be presented at the 36th Conference on Neural Information Processing Systems. In the early stages of drug discovery, researchers typically identify a biological target,

Fireflies, also known as lightning bugs, are beetles. The larval stage (1-2 years) is where they spend the majority of their life, feeding on snails, worms, and smaller insects in the leaf litter on the forest floor. They only live for about 3-4 weeks after maturing into adults, and many do not feed. The flash patterns of fireflies are part of their mating display. Each species has a distinct pattern that aids male and female individuals in recognizing and locating one another. Most species emit a greenish-yellow light, while others emit a blue or white light. Males typically flash while

A new study looks at mathematical models that are used to infer how evolution works at the population level of organisms. The study concludes that such models must be built with extreme caution, avoiding unwarranted initial assumptions, weighing the quality of existing knowledge, and remaining open to alternative explanations. Claudius Ptolemy, an Alexandrian astronomer, and mathematician in the second century, had lofty goals. In order to make sense of the motion of stars and the paths of planets, he wrote the Almagest, a magisterial treatise on the subject. Ptolemy devised a complex mathematical model of the universe that appeared to