The original version of this story appeared in Quanta Magazine. Imagine a town with two widget merchants. Customers prefer cheaper widgets, so the merchants must compete to set the lowest price.

All of modern mathematics is built on the foundation of set theory, the study of how to organize abstract collections of objects. But in general, research mathematicians don’t need to think about it ...

Our basement bedroom has a huge desktop computer that we never, ever touch -- except to dust. Why are we keeping it? A recent CNET survey found that nearly a third of us are hoarding old electronics, ...

Copilot’s limitations are ever-present, and it can lead you astray on even the basics. If you buy something from a Verge link, Vox Media may earn a commission. See our ethics statement. is a reviewer ...

Every advisor today is inundated with headlines telling them that artificial intelligence is about to change everything. (And by headlines, I mean the slightly panicked conversations you hear at every ...

The U.S. Treasury Department announced that it has stopped producing pennies, ending more than 230 years of minting the 1-cent coin. The penny will remain legal tender and will still be accepted at ...

Your laptop won't make it through an entire day of use without connecting it to a power source at least once. It's the price you pay for the convenience of having a portable computer, but there are ...

Quantum computers are coming. And when they arrive, they are going to upend the way we protect sensitive data. Unlike classical computers, quantum computers harness quantum mechanical effects — like ...

Acclaimed as a mathematical genius, Ada Lovelace is said to have understood the potential of the first computer blueprints better than their inventor. A serendipitous friendship with the mathematician ...