Friday Math Wrap-up

Math from the week...

1)  Evelyn Lamb covered the topologist winner of the Breakthrough Prize award this week:
http://tinyurl.com/q4cpbwb

 ...and long, interesting Michael Harris post on the Breakthrough Prizes here:
https://mathematicswithoutapologies.wordpress.com/2015/11/09/working-the-red-carpet-part-2/

2)  From fivethirtyeight blog a cautionary tale on scientific method:
http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/how-to-tell-good-studies-from-bad-bet-on-them/
 
3)  For M.C. Escher fans:
https://www.maths.ox.ac.uk/node/15386

4)  For those who like a little cosmology in their potpourri, this piece on Bayesian probability and the Anthropic Principle:
https://telescoper.wordpress.com/2015/11/07/life-as-a-condition-of-cosmology/

5)  A very simple introduction to statistical inference:
https://learnandteachstatistics.wordpress.com/2015/11/09/understanding-statistical-inference/

6)  ICYMI, Mathaloger explored various curves, cardiods, and more on YouTube this week:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhbuKbxJsk8

7)  This one's a couple weeks' old, but I just learned of this wonderful Colm Mulcahy piece on another recreational math problem:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/colm-mulcahy/the-search-for-a-most-mag_b_8341550.html

8)  The big news in complexity theory:
http://news.sciencemag.org/math/2015/11/mathematician-claims-breakthrough-complexity-theory
...and great write-up by Jeremy Kun:
http://jeremykun.com/2015/11/12/a-quasipolynomial-time-algorithm-for-graph-isomorphism-the-details/
 
 9)  Math is so useless, it's useful... as Ben Orlin explains:
http://mathwithbaddrawings.com/2015/11/11/theres-no-such-thing-as-triangles/

10)  Not new, but I don't think I've linked to these math podcasts before:
http://furthermaths.org.uk/podcasts

11)  Hey!, I love Bob Ross's old painting show too (403 episodes), but I still think maybe this guy had a wee bit too much time on his hands ;-):
http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/a-statistical-analysis-of-the-work-of-bob-ross/

12) This month's puzzle from Quanta Magazine:
https://www.quantamagazine.org/20151112-integer-sequence-puzzle/

13)  H/T to John Golden for pointing out this interesting Dan Meyer post and series of comments (on "understanding" and "explaining" math):
http://blog.mrmeyer.com/2015/understanding-math-v-explaining-answers/#comment-2414104 

14)  Lastly, in case some of you have never heard this one, Futility Closet crossed over into the math-humor business last week:
http://www.futilitycloset.com/2015/11/08/reckoning/


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

1)  A fascinating Nautilus read on first (or native) languages:
http://nautil.us/issue/30/identity/the-strange-persistence-of-first-languages

2)  This Oatmeal comic made quite a few rounds this week, as well it should... but in case you missed it:
http://theoatmeal.com/comics/plane