In the 1970s, some basic ideas in supposedly useless number theory were deployed by Ron Rivest, Adi Shamir and Leonard Adleman. They developed the RSA algorithm, which enables public key cryptography, ...

Arnita Jones of the American Historical Association has been kind enough to bring to my attention something that Waldo Leland, the executive director of the American Council of Learned Societies, ...

IN conversation with a learned friend lately, our talk ran on various definitions of culture, and on the fact that for one reason or another we found them all unsatisfactory. This led us to ponder the ...

How a chemical in lizard spit inspired one of the most important medical advancements. Our lizard friend the Gila monster probably has no idea that a chemical in its spit inspired one of the most ...

This is how fundamental discoveries — aka, “useless knowledge” — are usually made: not so much by hunting for something specific, but by wandering with an interested eye amid the unknown. It’s also ...

Discouraged by a steady decline in the number of U. S. students studying languages, and by the racial and religious discriminations against teachers in other lands —which they deplored*—2,500 members ...

The address for the Institute for Advanced Study is 1 Einstein Drive, named after undoubtedly the most famous scientist to work here. The campus lies amid sprawling green meadows, oak trees and a ...

‘O mighty reservoir of useless information! Nothing about thee is more wonderful than this, that thou daredst to remain uneducated. Who shall say that thy supremacy among men is not due to thy being ...

In response to the discussion I posted yesterday regarding exceptions, rules, and the nature of the word "proves," I received complaints that this kind of thing doesn't belong in an IT publication.