The original version of this story appeared in Quanta Magazine. Imagine a town with two widget merchants. Customers prefer cheaper widgets, so the merchants must compete to set the lowest price.

A new study published in Nature has found that X's algorithm—the hidden system or "recipe" that governs which posts appear in your feed and in which order—shifts users' political opinions in a more ...

Meta announced on Tuesday a new Facebook algorithm update that will showcase more Reels videos tailored to users’ preferences. The update includes features that offer users greater control over the ...

Instagram is rolling out a new update that addresses a long-standing frustration among users. The Reels algorithm is finally becoming more transparent and customizable. Users can now manually select ...

Many companies are searching for tools to help them hire diverse, productive workforces. Even if diversity is not the main hiring goal, they may want to ensure they’re not overlooking talented ...

Everyone seems to agree that social media has become a cesspit, with cancel-culture mobs enforcing ideological purity on one side and trolls spreading conspiracy theories on the other. X and Facebook ...

An exclusive excerpt from Every Screen On The Planet reveals how the social media app’s powerful recommendation engine was shaped by a bunch of ordinary, twentysomething curators—including a guy named ...

Hamza Tariq has received funding from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Council (NSERC) of Canada. University of Waterloo provides funding as a founding partner of The Conversation CA. University ...

The original version of this story appeared in Quanta Magazine. If you’ve been making the same commute for a long time, you’ve probably settled on what seems like the best route. But “best” is a ...

Whether on the web or the app, the home page of The New York Times is a crucial gateway, setting the stage for readers’ experiences and guiding them to the most important news of the day. The Times ...

Courtney Gibbons is affiliated with the Association for Women in Mathematics and the American Mathematical Society. You might remember learning about the quadratic formula to figure out the solutions ...