Marianne Freiberger is Editor of Plus. She joined Plus in 2005 after doing a PhD and then a three year postdoc at Queen Mary, University of London. As a researcher she worked in complex dynamics, the area of pure maths that has given us the Mandelbrot set. During her time as a researcher she also held various teaching engagements. In the world of maths communication she has been Editor-in-Chief of the Mathscareers website, given presentations to mathematicians about how to communicate their work to a wider audience, and to journalists about how to deal with maths in the media. She has been a TEDx speaker and an invited speaker at the International Congress of Mathematicians in 2010.
El Niño is a climate event without equal, causing droughts, floods, hurricanes and typhoons around the globe. How can we understand and predict it?
What are mathematical proofs, why do we need them and what can they say about sheep?
If I tell you something you already know, then that's not very informative. So perhaps information should be measured in terms of unexpectedness, or surprise?
