Our latest vacancies capture the scope of the mathematics that takes place in our home, the Andrew Wiles Building. Such a range of research areas - we have 16 research groups - enable our mathematicians to share ideas with colleagues working across the discipline. www.maths.ox.ac.uk/vacancies

New maps of brain folds from 26 carnivoran species show how differences in behaviour and ecology appear in their anatomy. buff.ly/IQvBHbh

Where on earth is the best laboratory to demonstrate the beauty of fluid dynamics? Actually, it’s not on Earth. Here is the story of the soft cell. Read more ⬇️ https://www.maths.ox.ac.uk/node/74308 @oxfordmathematics.bsky.social | Axiom Space | NASA

Let's break some structures imposed by higher-order interactions! We compute how things deform and what remains when continuous symmetries are broken. For now freely available at www.aimsciences.org/article/doi/... (but also at arXiv:2408.02119).

I am looking to hire a postdoc to work with me on fluid-structure interactions in complex and active fluids. Ideally the candidate will have a strong background in numerical/asymptotic analysis and fluid mechanics (complex fluids / LCs even better). www.mathjobs.org/jobs/list/26...

Active matter physics studies living beings as open, out of equilibrium, and emergent systems. In this perspective on plant morphogenesis, we show how such features arise from the basic hydromechanics of plant tissue and how to capture them in models. 🌱💧 Preprint 👇 arxiv.org/abs/2512.05554

O little town of Oxford, How still we see thee lie. But above thy deep and dreamless sleep, Complex thoughts go by. Still not convinced? Don't worry, you have all Christmas to 'mull' it over. Closes 12 January. Full details of the role: www.maths.ox.ac.uk/node/74844

Selfie, selfie, it's your call, who's the fairest of them all? Sam Howison, obviously. Except for one thing.

This week, the work we did as part of my research internship at IBM is being presented at the MLxOR workshop at NeurIPS. We look at uncertainty quantification for GFlowNets using PCEs. See the poster below:

How much human hyperbole has been spent on job descriptions and advertisements? We're looking for two researchers in stochastic analysis. Details together with other vacancies: www.maths.ox.ac.uk/vacancies

This new #JRSocInterface Perspective, using #neuroscience as an example, argues for a new paradigm of holistic #mathematical modelling that attempts to incorporate the necessary complexity into models of biological systems: royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/... @rnartallo.bsky.social

Way to go Chris!

The future of modelling

It is a great piece. Soft and filling.

It's funny how in space all intuition about basic stuff - like water - goes out the window

The coolest math object is now in space.

Our inaugural Regius Professor of Mathematics, Andrew Wiles, retires in 2026 (not that mathematicians ever truly retire) and we are looking for his successor, starting in October of that year. Full details: www.maths.ox.ac.uk/node/74751

Introducing Pluto, a small, hungry cat and, like all his fellow Aristocats, an optical superhero. Everyone wants to be a cat.

You never know who'll you meet round here. People working in functional analysis or probability, mathematical physicists, applied mathematicians trying to model our environment, to name just a few. All of us hanging out in the same building. Come and join us: www.maths.ox.ac.uk/vacancies

How fast do plants actually grow? And which growth processes matter most for organ size? We dived into 176 papers, extracted and re-analyzed the data so you don’t have to! nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... @newphyt.bsky.social @virajalim.bsky.social @elvisbranchini.bsky.social

🚨PREPRINT Coarse-graining diffusions with discrete-state approximations is an easy and effective way to build stochastic models from observed trajectories, but how valid is this approximation? arxiv.org/pdf/2511.05366 We focus on this problem, with an emphasis on the nonequilibrium steady-state.

These will go quickly - if you can join me on 3rd Dec in London, then grab a free ticket quickly.

A new paper with Bogdan Georgiev, Javier Gomez-Serrano, and Adam Zsolt Wagner: "Mathematical exploration and discovery at scale" arxiv.org/abs/2511.02864. Further discussion is at terrytao.wordpress.com/2025/11/05/m...

If it can cook potatoes, it can cook you!

Do you take your work home with you? It's kinda hard to avoid if you are a mathematician. The maths just follows you wherever you go. Sam Howison prepares vegetables.

Now published in Phys. Rev. E doi.org/10.1103/5l56...

Modelling bulk mechanical effects in a planar cellular monolayer arxiv.org/abs/2505.23935

New paper!💡 Amir Ohad developed this nifty setup to measure weak forces generated by freely moving plants, based on the deflection of a pendulum (straw from the cafeteria 😎), which does not require any tethering of the plant: academic.oup.com/jxb/advance-... Plant-obstacle interactions here we come!

Independent researcher fellowships (non-tenure track) at OIST, with a focus on broadly defined theory www.oist.jp/research/bur...

🧪⚛️ Here is a terrific research opportunity at OIST. Basically a Principle-Investigator position that prepares advanced postdocs for tenure-track faculty positions in Japan or abroad. Deadline is 30 November 2026. I know OIST well - an excellent research environment. www.oist.jp/research/bur...

New paper with @math-martens.bsky.social on "Multiple timescale dynamics of network adaptation with constraints" now available Open Access in Chaos: doi.org/10.1063/5.02...

Before then, I'm chairing two excellent @greshamcollege.bsky.social lectures this week - 'Music of Animals' with the awesome Milky Mermikides (www.gresham.ac.uk/whats-on/mus...) and then @helenczerski.bsky.social on Oceans (www.gresham.ac.uk/whats-on/liq...). Both free to attend or watch online.

Our review paper on nonequilibrium physics in the brain is now out in Physics Reports! doi.org/10.1016/j.ph...

The freedom to go for it for three years? Our Hooke and Titchmarsh Fellowships in pure and applied mathematics give you the space to follow a research path of your choice, a path that has proved instrumental in the careers of many previous fellows. Details: www.maths.ox.ac.uk/vacancies

How does the 🧠 process information? In this review we show how to use the tools of non-equilibrium thermodynamics to understand brain dynamics in discrete and continuous state spaces Great work led by Ramon as part of his PhD kwnsfk27.r.eu-west-1.awstrack.me/L0/https:%2F...

We just advertised the Hooke Fellowships for exceptional researchers (typically after their first post-doc). You are completely free to set up your own research agenda for three years. RT please my.corehr.com/pls/uoxrecru...

The illusion of illusions One of the oldest myths in human history is that the Parthenon was cleverly built with curves so that it looks straight, to correct some visual illusions In this paper I demonstrate that there are NO optical corrections in the Parthenon arxiv.org/abs/2510.16831. [1/n]

👏👏

James, ManyThanks for cleaning the board after your lecture (just before mine)

DO LOOK UP! Fascinating research on collective motion by Christiana, a new Hooke Fellow in Oxford.

You'd think all Olympic athletics tracks would be the same. And even if they aren't, as long as they are 400 metres, it won't affect the results. But you'd be wrong on both counts. Amandine Aftalion explains. @cnrs.fr

Another very nice example of monohedric soft tiling. academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/ar...

Talking Maths in Public is the UK's network for people who communicate maths to the public in any format - writing, speaking, video making, podcasting and performing, and a bunch of other ways too. Find out more and join our network at https://tmip.uk

Oh joy, this is wonderful. And a great choice for the recipients. I had a great chat with Michel at the Helgoland quantum centenary: he's such a modest guy.

Scientists have often too little faith in maths, but some time too much faith. In his 1934 book "Le Vol des Insectes", Antoine Magnan, a zoologist and aeronautical engineer concluded that, based on aerodynamics and mathematics, insect flight was impossible. Yet, they fly.

That sinking feeling. In our latest foray into the mathematics of the kitchen, Sam Howison is chained to the kitchen sink. Quite right. Only another 170 or so episodes to go.

I am super excited to announce that we have a tenure-track faculty position in biophysics open in the Department of Physics at Carnegie Mellon! 🧪 Interfolio link: apply.interfolio.com/174360 PLEASE, share widely across the blue skies! Let me briefly explain what we're looking for: 1/10

Another graduation in the Sheldonian today in Oxford. (started in 1670). With parents around, it is a good day to check the almost universal law that boys are taller than their mother.

Come fly with us, let's fly, let's fly away. Full details: www.maths.ox.ac.uk/node/74169

Great song from Tom Lehrer courtesy of Gillian Grindstaff and Oxford Math. " I am never forget the day I first meet the great Lobachevsky In one word he told me secret of success in mathematics: Plagiarize" www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCr-...