We publish articles in the press, promoting our mission to get discovery done, and shaping the debate on how to fund and organise British science. Sometimes, too, our fundamental breakthroughs and organisational innovations attract the attention of the worldwide press.

  • The Times

    Ukraine war1 Nov

    Re-ordering Russia

    Mikhail Khodorkovsky talks to Thomas W. Hodgkinson about the future of Russia and why he supports Fellowships at the London Institute.

  • AI-assisted maths30 Oct

    Launch of Irix

    The London Institute, which uses humans to speed up fundamental discovery, launches Irix, a company that harnesses machines to do the same.

  • The Spectator

    Ukraine war11 Oct

    Science needs Russians

    Like chess, theoretical research is an international game played in the language of patterns. Its intrinsic value transcends politics.

  • Nautilus

    Physics4 Sep

    From physics into maths

    Why are physical insights from the real world proving so useful for solving abstruse problems in pure mathematics, Ananyo Bhattacharya asks.

  • HBR

    Knowledge-sharing29 Aug

    Spreading the word

    In the Harvard Business Review, our trustee Martin Reeves and co-authors explain how ‘evolvable scripts’ greatly improve knowledge-sharing.

  • The Times

    The Times15 Aug

    Life of Riley

    The Times' science editor interviews our new Trustee, Talulah Riley, about her love of physics and her work with the London Institute.

  • The times

    Ukraine war11 Jun

    Beyond politics

    Russia's brain drain is Britain’s gain. Yet the pursuit of knowledge, through global scientific collaboration, should transcend politics.

  • Nature

    AI-assisted maths14 May

    Conjuring conjectures

    In a Nature World View piece, our director Thomas Fink argues that mathematics is an ideal testing ground for AI-assisted discovery.

  • The Spectator

    Cognition13 Apr

    Talking is thinking

    Talking engages robust muscles of thought—not least when mathematicians take their problems to the blackboard, argues Thomas Hodgkinson.

  • Nature

    Nature21 Mar

    Roll over, Newton

    A robotic metamaterial has been made that violates Newton’s third law of motion, allowing for the propagation of topological solitons.

  • Mood podcast

    Creativity18 Mar

    Creative convergence

    The advertising guru Graham Fink waxes lyrical about equations and working with the London Institute on the How Do You Feel Today? podcast.

  • The spectator

    Science history16 Mar

    Let's talk about science

    For its 225th birthday, our writer Thomas Hodgkinson hails the Royal Institution as proof of the vital importance of science communication.

  • Quanta

    Number theory5 Mar

    Elliptic curve mystery

    Quanta reports on work by Yang-Hui He, who co-discovered unexpected patterns in a property related to the curves’ integer roots using AI.

  • Ri

    Geometry29 Feb

    Geometry’s dominion

    Following his popular Discourse, Yang-Hui He joins writer Madeleine Hall to talk about the mysteries of geometry on the Ri Science podcast.

  • Bloomberg

    Ukraine war20 Feb

    Security and freedom

    A Bloomberg piece names our Arnold and Landau Fellowships as one of the few programmes offering help to Russian and Ukrainian scientists.

  • Nautilus

    Creativity11 Jan

    The art of blackboards

    In a piece in Nautilus, our scientists talk about why they prefer the 1,000-year-old technology of blackboards to their digital equivalents.

  • Nature

    AI-assisted maths9 Jan

    A Birch for AI's back

    In a Nature correspondence, our scientists argue that, by the terms of "the Birch test", no AI has yet made a genuine mathematical discovery.

  • The telegraph

    Discovery5 Sep 2023

    Science goes pro

    Professional sport has a lot to teach scientists about pushing the limits of human achievement—so why are we still content to be amateurs?

  • interview

    Ukraine war22 May 2023

    The language of maths

    A piece in The Times explains how, thanks to our Arnold and Landau Fellowships, mathematicians divided by war can find a common denominator.

  • The spectator

    Probability4 Apr 2023

    What are the chances?

    In The Spectator, our writer Madeleine Hall hails John Venn, who pioneered not only Venn diagrams but also frequentist probability.

  • Nautilus

    Science history14 Mar 2023

    The big bang

    A century ago, in our rooms in Mayfair, Sir James Dewar died. Our writer Thomas Hodgkinson pays tribute to the inventor of cordite in Nautilus.

  • Troitsky variant

    Ukraine war23 Feb 2023

    Science without borders

    Our Arnold and Landau Fellowships continue a tradition of contact and collaboration between British and Russian scientists dating back to Newton.

  • opinions

    Discovery13 Feb 2023

    Accelerating science

    In a letter in The Times, our Director Thomas Fink argues that supporting independent research centres will accelerate discovery for Britain.

  • The times

    Mathematics9 Dec 2022

    The beautiful game

    The beautiful game of mathematics, accelerating discovery by seeing patterns among the patterns, deserves a Nobel prize all of its own.

  • The Times

    Ukraine war10 Oct 2022

    Landau lives on

    In the Thunderer column of The Times, Thomas Fink argues that Britain should open its doors to Russia’s top physicists and mathematicians.

  • Nature

    Ukraine war6 Oct 2022

    Boost for British science

    In Nature, the London Institute argues that its five new Research Fellowships for Russian theorists will be a boost for British science.

  • The telegraph

    Evolvability11 Aug 2022

    Price of immortality

    Like Orpheus in the Underworld, the London Institute is challenging mortality, says our writer Thomas Hodgkinson in The Sunday Telegraph.

  • The telegraph

    Ukraine war1 Jul 2022

    History repeats itself

    The Royal Institution supported scientists fleeing 1930s authoritarianism. Now, thanks to our Arnold Fellowships, history repeats itself.

  • New Scientist

    AI-assisted maths6 Jun 2022

    AI helps with maths

    An AI that can turn mathematics problems written in English into a formal proving language could make them easier for other AIs to solve.

  • The telegraph

    Ukraine war13 May 2022

    From Russia with math

    History suggests our new posts for physicists and mathematicians from Russia, Ukraine and Belarus will have an enduring impact on UK science.

  • The Washington Post

    Evolvability1 May 2022

    Death, be not proud

    The Washington Post explains how man's mad search for immortality is getting serious in our cell programming collaboration with bit.bio.

  • LIMS

    Design21 Apr 2022

    Designing web design

    To mark our Webby nomination, we describe the design principles behind our website and how they evolved in tandem with the Institute itself.

  • the times

    23 challenges12 Jun 2021

    Challenging Times

    Is free will a mathematical problem? How about immortality? Or the quest for AI? The Times reports on our 23 Mathematical Challenges.

  • the telegraph

    Work7 Jun 2021

    Intelligent organisation

    Showing up for work makes organisations more intelligent, because it let’s workers switch between focus and interaction in an unplanned way.

  • The spectator

    Discovery7 Mar 2021

    Britain’s DARPA

    As the government creates its Advanced Research and Invention Agency, it could learn from the exceptional history of the Royal Institution.

  • SCIENCE IN PARLIAMENT

    Discovery29 Jan 2021

    Independent science

    Supporting non-university research institutes with core funding will finally give aspiring researchers an alternative to a university job.

  • THE SPECTATOR

    Interview17 Dec 2020

    A singular mind

    In an interview with Thomas Fink, Sir Roger Penrose talks about his Nobel Prize, the beauty of physics—and why AI is nothing to fear.

  • The guardian

    Discovery8 Dec 2020

    The value of theory

    From Newton to Maxwell to Penrose, Britain has always excelled at theoretical science—so why doesn't the government do more to support it?

  • FORBES

    Partnership13 Nov 2020

    LIMS-bit.bio

    Forbes explains how the London Institute, working with the biologists at bit.bio, may revolutionise our understanding of human life.

  • the times

    Partnership27 Oct 2020

    LIMS-bit.bio

    The Times welcomes the collaboration between London Institute mathematicians and the biologists at bit.bio to crack cell reprogramming.

  • Verdict

    Partnership22 Oct 2020

    Maths, meet biology

    Verdict reports on the collaboration between the London Institute and cell coding company bit.bio to decode the operating system of life.

  • The Spectator

    Discovery14 Mar 2020

    Back to basic science

    Basic science—the kind done without consideration of its usefulness—leads to the biggest breakthroughs, which is why we need to protect it.

  • Harvard Business Review

    Innovation24 Feb 2020

    Taming complexity

    Complexity may be hard to unpick, without being inherently bad. Ensure the benefits of any addition to company systems outweigh its costs.

  • Science|Business

    Discovery30 Jan 2020

    Taking back research

    In today’s Science|Business, the London Institute welcomes the prospect of a UK DARPA and calls for shorter turn-around times for funding.

  • Open access goverment

    Discovery5 Nov 2019

    Basic science after Brexit

    EU funding favours applied research over basic science, but Brexit is a chance to redress the bias and protect curiosity-driven research.

  • Times Higher Education

    Discovery4 Apr 2019

    A new kind of science

    More independent research centres would provide an alternative to the university model of research, where teaching is bolted to science.

  • High Life

    Discovery1 Apr 2019

    Sage of discovery

    British Airways’ inflight magazine runs a three-page profile of the London Institute, its founder and its new approach to doing science.

  • APS Physics

    Thermodynamics31 Jul 2018

    Slurry in a hurry

    The 3D structures of slurries—fluids full of solid particles—can be swiftly measured using a single 2D shot and electron diffraction data.

  • The Washington Post

    Discoveries3 Mar 2018

    Whatever you say

    If you meet a conspiracy theorist, don't bother trying to change their views. Encountering the truth only makes them more pig-headed.

  • Nature Physics

    Innovation25 Sep 2017

    Yes you cayenne

    In innovation, the most apparently niche ingredients may turn out to be the most useful, as the structures of recipes become more complex.

  • Bloomberg Opinion

    Discoveries10 Jun 2017

    Moore means less

    Following Moore's law, solar power will become ever cheaper as an energy source—and there’s nothing Donald Trump can do about it.

  • Bloomberg

    Markets10 Apr 2017

    A little bird told me

    Twitter sentiment during busy periods, such as ahead of quarterly earnings releases, provides some indication if a stock will rise or fall.

  • Phys.org

    Financial risk5 Apr 2017

    Fools rush in

    Measures meant to stabilise economies may have the opposite effect, creating cyclical structures in the networks of contracts between banks.

  • Scientific American

    Innovation6 Jan 2017

    Harnessing Serendipity

    Quirky and apparently mysterious, innovation is critical to sustained economic growth—and mathematics can help us understand how it works.

  • INC.

    Tech progress12 May 2016

    The future’s bright

    Architects are designing rotating homes to increase the efficiency of solar power, while its cost is set to keep falling by 10% annually.

  • The Guardian

    Tech progress26 Jan 2016

    Here comes the sun

    The cost of solar power will continue to fall by 10% annually, meeting 20% of global energy needs far sooner than has been predicted.

  • Science News

    Markets25 Jan 2015

    A stock response

    The simultaneous study of news sentiment and browsing behaviour, even on small time-scales, can help to predict stock market fluctuations.

  • Nature World News

    Network theory4 Oct 2014

    Beauty in repairability

    The hunt for networks that best combine efficiency with repairability, to avoid breakdown, leads to structural designs that resemble snowflakes.

  • Discoveries

    Network theory3 Oct 2014

    Snowflakes don't break

    Snowflake-shaped networks, with redundant arms that come into use when main branches break down, are easiest to fix when disaster strikes.

  • Discoveries

    Fractals20 Feb 2013

    Towers of strength

    The Eiffel tower is now a longstanding example of hierarchical design due to its non-trivial internal structure spanning many length scales.