Free Republic

Roger Highfield describes a heroic mathematical enterprise that could lay bare the fundamentals of the cosmosMathematicians have successfully scaled their equivalent of Mount Everest. Today they unveil the answer to a problem that, if written out in tiny print, would cover an area the size of Manhattan. At the most basic level, the calculation is an arcane investigation of symmetry – in this case of an object that is 57 dimensional, rather than the usual three dimensional ones that we are familiar with. Although this object was first discovered in the 19th century. there is evidence that it could contain...

President Bush shines spotlight on softer side of U.S. military MAYPORT NAVAL STATION, Fla. — When President Bush came here Thursday to rally the troops, the news media focused largely on his speech about the threat posed by Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, the possibility of going to war soon and the display of American military muscle arrayed around him. But what most missed, or at least failed to report, was a poignant sidelight to the event: the president's attempt to show, honor and encourage the softer, more human side of the men and women who serve in U.S. armed...