Maths on the Move

In this episode, we meet the CEO of one of the most important institutions in mathematics - arXiV. Around since 1991, the website is a publicly accessible home for mathematical research before it is officially published in journals. Around 1,000 articles are published on arXiv every day — it has hosted everything from the proof of the Poincaré Conjecture to some of the newest research from AI companies like DeepSeek and Gemini. 

We spoke to Ramin Zabih, a Professor at Cornell Tech and Interim Chief Executive Officer at ArXiv, about the organisation and how it supports the very best of mathematical research. Ramin explains why early access is so important, the site’s role in making maths more robust, and why arXiv can publish things that journals can’t. Particularly importantly, he talks about the impact of AI on arXiv’s work. 

To learn more:

Watch a recording of Ramin speaking at the INI

What is the Poincaré conjecture?  

Another approach to the current state of artificial intelligence in mathematics 

All of our content on artificial intelligence 

Maths on the Move, is the podcast from plus.maths.org. We speak to researchers from the frontiers of mathematical science so you can connect with the maths that shapes and explains our world. Hosted by Plus editors Rachel Thomas and Marianne Freiberger.

What is the potential of artificial intelligence (AI) in scientific research? In this episode, Cambridge Professor James Fergusson talks about some cutting-edge research which addresses this question. James is Director of the Infosys-Cambridge AI Centre, an innovative partnership between traditional academia and industry. James showed us how AI is quickly becoming the most effective tool for some kinds of data analysis, and even highlighted successful experiments he ran using AI to write research papers.

James is also Executive Director of the University of Cambridge's new Master's programme in Data Intensive Science, which is training up the next leaders in the field. He talked us through the programme’s benefits, the institutional approach to AI and the best ways to advance the field. 

If you'd like to find out more, you might be interested in:

An introduction to artificial intelligence

Are we entering the 'centaur-stage' of maths and AI?

All of our content on AI 

Maths on the Move, is the podcast from plus.maths.org. We speak to researchers from the frontiers of mathematical science so you can connect with the maths that shapes and explains our world. Hosted by Plus editors Rachel Thomas and Marianne Freiberger.

Welcome to the latest episode of Maths on the Move! In this episode we spoke to Cambridge Professor of Theoretical Physics Ulrich Sperhake and his graduate student, Seppe Staelens, about boson stars: hypothetical objects that might be masquerading as black holes.

Our conversation with Ulrich and Seppe marked the tenth anniversary of the first detection of gravitational waves. As Ulrich explained back then, gravitational waves "opened our ears to the Universe in a waveband in which we have been 100% deaf up to now" and they also help us understand black holes and boson stars. In this podcast Seppe and Uli explain more, taking us to the frontiers of current research..

To find out more about the topics discussed in this podcast, you might like:

A short explainer of gravitational waves

Gravitational waves reveal cosmic hum: another podcast with Ulrich

Dark stars: an article on gravitational waves and boson stars

Maths on the Move, is the podcast from plus.maths.org. We speak to researchers from the frontiers of mathematical science so you can connect with the maths that shapes and explains our world. Hosted by Plus editors Rachel Thomas and Marianne Freiberger.

Plus is based at the Maths Faculty at the University of Cambridge so we have lots of opportunities to talk to interesting mathematicians about their work and their working lives. This week we speak to Holly Krieger, who is a professor here in a podcast that we originally produced for the Maths Faculty.



Holly works in the overlap of two areas of mathematics: number theory – which is famous for problems such as Fermat's Last Theorem – and complex dynamics, which gives rise to beautiful fractals. This intersection is known as arithmetic dynamics and it's an exciting, relatively young area of research. Holly's work has been very successful, being awarded several prestigious prizes. And she is also known for her appearances on the Numberphile channel where she has shared the beauty of maths in a range of areas, from centrifuge to the Mandelbrot set.



Holly told us about how she came to her current research, the benefits of a career in maths, advice for younger mathematicians, and her appearances on Numberphile.



Find out more about:



Holly's work


Number theory


Fermat's Last Theorem


Mandelbrot set


Holly's appearances on Numberphile



Maths on the Move, is the podcast from plus.maths.org. We speak to researchers from the frontiers of mathematical science so you can connect with the maths that shapes and explains our world. Hosted by Plus editors Rachel Thomas and Marianne Freiberger.

Hannah Fry, Cambridge's first Professor of the Public Understanding of Mathematics, has been awarded the Leelavati Prize at this year's International Congress of Mathematicians (ICM). The Leelavati Prize is awarded every four years by the International Mathematical Union and Infosys for outstanding contributions for increasing public awareness of mathematics.

We talked to Hannah in the run-up to the ICM about how she feels about being awarded the prize, the role of mathematics in culture, and her favourite experience as a maths communicator.

As Hannah puts it, "I feel as though there are these wonderful secrets that are completely invisible to almost everybody in the world who are mathematicians and it doesn’t make sense to me we would keep them to ourselves — I feel as though I have this really good bit of gossip that I just want to share."

To hear Hannah talk about her favourite mathematical moment, which is mentioned in this episode, see this podcast recorded when she became Professor of the Public Understanding of Mathematics at the University of Cambridge.

You can see the part of Hannah Fry's RI Christmas lecture mentioned in this podcast on YouTube.

The photo of Hannah is courtesy of the Simons Foundation.

Maths on the Move, is the podcast from plus.maths.org. We speak to researchers from the frontiers of mathematical science so you can connect with the maths that shapes and explains our world. Hosted by Plus editors Rachel Thomas and Marianne Freiberger.