6 Science Breakthroughs You Might Have Missed
▼ Summary
– The publication is experimenting with monthly collections of interesting science stories they previously missed, including October’s topics like gluten-free spaghetti and Martian gullies.
– Software engineer Dan Vanderkam created a computational proof to find the highest-scoring Boggle board, which has a total of 3,625 points and over 1,000 possible words.
– Vanderkam’s Boggle board configuration, featuring “replastering” as the longest word, was previously suspected to be optimal but was difficult to prove with standard search methods.
– His solution used a “branch and bound” technique, grouping similar board patterns and setting upper bounds to eliminate weaker configurations efficiently.
– Although Vanderkam felt he was the only one interested in this problem, a 1982 attempt had found a lower-scoring optimal board with 2,195 points.
Keeping up with every fascinating scientific development can feel impossible, given the sheer volume of discoveries announced each month. To help you stay informed, we’ve gathered a handful of the most compelling recent breakthroughs you might have overlooked. This month’s highlights include investigations into the structural makeup of gluten-free pasta, high-speed footage of snake strikes, new theories about how gullies form on Mars, and, for those who love word puzzles, a computational proof identifying the highest-scoring Boggle board ever possible.
Software developer Dan Vanderkam recently shared his preprint on the physics arXiv server, revealing his successful hunt for the ultimate Boggle board arrangement. The configuration shown here, discovered by Vanderkam, is now officially proven to achieve the maximum score of 3,625 points. In the game of Boggle, players race to find words by connecting adjacent letters on a four-by-four grid of dice. Vanderkam’s optimal board contains more than a thousand valid words, with “replastering” standing as the longest.
Vanderkam has thoroughly chronicled his search, including the code he wrote, on his personal blog. He joked to the Financial Times, “As far as I can tell, I’m the only person who is actually interested in this problem.” That isn’t entirely accurate, however. Back in 1982, another effort identified a top-scoring board that earned 2,195 points. Vanderkam’s board had been suspected of being the best, but proving it through conventional search methods was extraordinarily difficult. His innovative approach grouped similar board patterns into classes and established upper scoring limits, allowing him to eliminate weaker candidates without calculating every single board’s total, a classic “branch and bound” strategy.
(Source: Ars Technica)
