MathLinks Ahead...

...actually, several this week that are only tangential to math:

1)  More on Alex Bellos' new loop pool game:
http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-34015430

2)  Madore mazes, hyperbolic surfaces, and Evelyn Lamb:
http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/roots-of-unity/an-epic-quest-on-an-8-812-holed-donut/

3)  A new "Math Teachers At Play" blog carnival is up here:
http://mrseteachesmath.blogspot.com/2015/08/math-teachers-at-play-89.html

4)  The math of chicken nugget numbers:
http://datagenetics.com/blog/august22015/index.html

5)  Last year's Brazilian Fields Medalist winner:
http://www.ozy.com/rising-stars/artur-vila-brazils-shining-math-star/61190

6)  The 5 latest "Mathgems" from Resourceaholic:
http://www.resourceaholic.com/2015/08/gems39.html

7)  Interesting piece on quantum cryptography:
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/unbreakable-quantum-password/

8)  The phenomenal physics of friction and phone books:
https://theconversation.com/solved-the-mystery-of-why-its-impossible-to-pull-apart-interleaved-phone-books-46697

9)  Psychology, research, and replication, covered by:
FiveThirtyEight:
http://fivethirtyeight.com/datalab/psychology-is-starting-to-deal-with-its-replication-problem/

RetractionWatch:
http://retractionwatch.com/2015/08/27/yes-many-psychology-findings-may-be-too-good-to-be-true-now-what/

...and, The Atlantic:
http://tinyurl.com/ngdpf7e

10)  And pertaining to music, not math (but of course the two are intertwined): an interesting experiment in real-time "crowdsourcing" of a musical composition:
http://crowdsound.net/ 

11)  Among other things, Mike Lawler played with triangular numbers this week:
https://mikesmathpage.wordpress.com/2015/08/27/what-math-is-like-for-me-sometimes/

12)  A lot of talk these days about the importance of STEM jobs (including math-related ones) in the near future, but this "FiveThirtyEight" piece stresses the importance of interpersonal skills as well:
http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-best-jobs-now-require-you-to-be-a-people-person/


Potpourri BONUS! (extra NON-mathematical links of interest):

1)  I don't follow many Quora threads, but found some interesting, thoughtful ideas in this one on 'lessons that people learn too late in life':
http://www.quora.com/What-are-the-lessons-people-most-often-learn-too-late-in-life

2)  Science writer George Johnson muses about the "bubbles," science and otherwise, we live within, in the digital age:
http://tinyurl.com/qxc7u24