Oxford Mathematician Tom Oliver talks about his research in to the rich mine of mathematical information that are L-functions.
Americans drink an average of 3.1 cups of coffee per day (and mathematicans probably even more). When carrying a liquid, common sense says walk slowly and refrain from overfilling the container. But easier said than followed. Cue sloshing.
Oxford Mathematician Soumya Banerjee talks about his current work in progress.
"On warm summer days, fireflies mesmerise us with their glowing lights. They produce this cold light using a light-emitting molecule, the luciferin, and a complementary enzyme, luciferase. This process is known as bioluminescence.
Oxford Mathematician Christian Bick talks about his and colleagues' research into oscillator networks and how it could be valuable in understanding diseases such as Parkinson's.
Precise forecasting in the first few days of an infectious disease outbreak is challenging. However, Oxford Mathematical Biologist Robin Thompson and colleagues at Cambridge University have used mathematical modelling to show that for accurate epidemic prediction, it is necessary to develop and deploy diagnostic tests that can distinguish between hosts that are healthy and those that are infected but not yet showing symptoms. The data derived from these tests must then be integrated into epidemic models.
The investment decisions made by the construction sector have an obvious impact on the supply of housing. Furthermore, Local Planning Authorities play a fundamental role in shaping this supply via town planning and, in particular, by approving or rejecting planning applications submitted by developers. However, the role of these two factors, as well as their interaction, has so far been largely neglected in models of the housing market.
Over the last five decades, software and computation has grown to become integral to the scientific process, for both theory and experimentation. A recent survey of RCUK-funded research being undertaken in 15 Russell Group universities found that 92% of researchers used research software, 67% reported that it was fundamental to their research, and 56% said they developed their own software.
How can solar panels become cheaper? Part of the cost is in the production of silicon, which is manufactured in electrode-heated furnaces through a reaction between carbon and naturally occurring quartz rock. Making these furnaces more efficient could lead to a reduction in the financial cost of silicon and everything made from it, including computer chips, textiles, and solar panels. Greater efficiency also means reduced pollution.
West Nile virus (WNV) is responsible for viral encephalitis in humans, a condition that causes inflammation of the brain and can have longer-lasting physical effects. WNV is also related to similar viruses such as Dengue and Zika that are also of significant public health concern.
For many years networks have been a fruitful source of study for mathematicians, one of the first notable examples of network analysis being Leonard Euler's study of paths on the Königsberg bridges. Since that time the field of graph theory and network science has developed greatly and the problems we want to model have also changed.
Oxford Mathematician Kristian Kiradjiev has been awarded the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications (IMA) Early Career Mathematicians Catherine Richards Prize 2017 for his article on 'Exploring Steiner Chains with Möbius Transformations.' Here he explains his work.
Oxford Mathematician Dmitry Belyaev is interested in the interface between analysis and probability. Here he discusses his latest work.
"There are two areas of mathematics that clearly have nothing to do with each other: projective geometry and conformally invariant critical models of statistical physics. It turns out that the situation is not as simple as it looks and these two areas might be connected.
As part of our series of research articles focusing on the rigour and intricacies of mathematics and its problems, Oxford Mathematician Andrew Dancer discusses his work on Ricci Flow.
As part of our series of research articles focusing on the rigour and intricacies of mathematics and its problems, Oxford Mathematician David Hume discusses his work on networks and expanders.
Researchers from Oxford Mathematics and Imperial College London have provided a “'mathematical thought experiment' to inspire caution in biologists measuring heterogeneity in cell populations.
Taxation and death may be inevitable but what about crime? It is ubiquitous and seems to have been around for as long as human beings themselves. A disease we cannot shake. However, therein lies an idea, one that Oxford Mathematician Soumya Banerjee and colleagues have used as the basis for understanding and quantifying crime.
How does the skin develop follicles and eventually sprout hair? Research from a team including Oxford Mathematicians Ruth Baker and Linus Schumacher addresses this question using insights gleaned from organoids, 3D assemblies of cells possessing rudimentary skin structure and function, including the ability to grow hair.
It is an intriguing fact that the 3-dimensional world in which we live is, from a mathematical point of view, rather special. Dimension 3 is very different from dimension 4 and these both have very different theories from that of dimensions 5 and above. The study of space in dimensions 2, 3 and 4 is the field of low-dimensional topology, the research area of Oxford Mathematician Marc Lackenby.