Sometimes, it’s easy for a computer to predict the future. Simple phenomena, such as how sap flows down a tree trunk, are straightforward and can be captured in a few lines of code using what ...

Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Frank Merle studies nonlinear equations, which respond in dramatic ways to tiny shifts in their input. Frank Merle is used to ...

Frank Merle is used to confronting a messy world. He works on the mathematics of highly nonlinear systems—ones that respond in dramatic, unpredictable ways to even the smallest changes. It’s the same ...