Egypt, third millennium b.c. The Great Pyramid of Giza is both the oldest of the Seven Wonders and the only one still standing. Built by the pharaoh Khufu (reigned ca. 2551–2528 b.c.) to serve as his ...

New research has uncovered pyramid-shaped structures hidden deep beneath the sands of Egypt. These underground formations suggest a much larger and more complex ancient landscape than we ever imagined ...

Most of us have little trouble working out how many millilitres are in 2.4 litres of water (it’s 2,400). But the same can’t be said when we’re asked how many minutes are in 2.4 hours (it’s 144).

Jean-Charles Pelland's work has been made possible by financial support from the ‘QUANTA: Evolution of Cognitive Tools for Quantification’ project, which has received funding from the European ...

Most of us have little trouble working out how many milliliters are in 2.4 liters of water (it's 2,400). But the same can't be said when we're asked how many minutes are in 2.4 hours (it's 144).

Lateralization of the brain—the tendency for the left and right hemispheres to specialize in different functions—underlies the development of a left-to-right mental number line, according to a study ...

The original version of this story appeared in Quanta Magazine. In 360 BC, Plato envisioned the cosmos as an arrangement of five geometric shapes: flat-sided solids called polyhedra. These immediately ...

A tetrahedron is the simplest Platonic solid. Mathematicians have now made one that’s stable only on one side, confirming a decades-old conjecture. In 360 BCE, Plato envisioned the cosmos as an ...

There is a set of very special numbers, known as the fundamental constants of nature, that cannot be explained. Where do they come from? Finding out if they are, in fact, constant is the key to ...