A Mathematical ‘Fever Dream’ Hits the Road

A Mathematical ‘Fever Dream’ Hits the Road

Ingrid Daubechies, a mathematician at Duke University, is an expert on many matters, not least the baking of cookies in the shape of pi, the mathematical constant that equals the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter, or roughly 3.14159. A sugar cookie recipe works fine, Dr. Daubechies says. …

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Artisans in Japan Uphold the Indigenous Ainu Culture

Artisans in Japan Uphold the Indigenous Ainu Culture

At the entrance to Akan-Mashu National Park, known for its lakes and bubbling mud pools, red torii gates stood out against the white snow that had blanketed this part of eastern Hokkaido, Japan’s northernmost main island. On a park path, I suddenly saw a Yezo sika deer, with its spotted …

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Sweeping Tariffs Threaten to Undo a 30-Year Trade Alliance

Sweeping Tariffs Threaten to Undo a 30-Year Trade Alliance

When the United States signed a free-trade agreement with Canada and Mexico more than 30 years ago, the premise was that partnering with two other thriving economies would also benefit America. This week, President Trump abruptly scrapped that idea. He imposed a sweeping 25 percent tariff on the roughly $1 …

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In Sardinia, a Showcase for Craft and Culture Rises From Ruins

In Sardinia, a Showcase for Craft and Culture Rises From Ruins

This article is part of our Design special section about the reverence for handmade objects. It took nearly five years for Kyre Chenven and Ivano Atzori to buy a cluster of ruined houses in southern Sardinia. The single-story buildings, or rather, the skeletons that remained, once made up a furriadroxu, …

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