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.

The original version of this story appeared in Quanta Magazine. If you want to solve a tricky problem, it often helps to get organized. You might, for example, break the problem into pieces and tackle ...

Children often surprise us with their natural problem-solving skills. A new study shows that they can discover efficient algorithms on their own. Researchers Huiwen Alex Yang, Bill D. Thompson, and ...

Social media algorithms are pushing unsolicited pornographic content into children’s feeds, according to a report by the Children’s Commissioner. The data was collected prior to the implementation of ...

Researchers at FIU’s College of Engineering and Computing have developed an encryption algorithm to defend videos from attackers with access to the world's most powerful computers. The encryption ...

Combining art, science, engineering, and the psychology of human perception and interaction, computer graphics involves the creation and manipulation of visual content used in applications ranging ...

The library sorting problem is used across computer science for organizing far more than just books. A new solution is less than a page-width away from the theoretical ideal. Computer scientists often ...

Discover how algorithms influence what kids watch and why it’s important to stay aware. Children wonder how their favorite videos are always next in line. Enter an adult who explains algorithms — ...

If you’ve been making the same commute for a long time, you’ve probably settled on what seems like the best route. But “best” is a slippery concept. Perhaps one day there’s an accident or road closure ...

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works. Researchers in China say they've used a quantum computer to break RSA encryption. But that ...

Researchers said it was the first time a quantum computer “posed a real and substantial threat” to encryption, but multiple limitations still hamper a full-scale hack. Chinese researchers using a ...