If you want to pick a winner in a drawing, take samples for statistical purposes, or any of hundreds of other technical tasks you are going to need a source of random numbers. If you have ever looked ...

MADS Haahr is in no doubt. “Generating randomness is not a task that should be left to humans,” he says. You might expect him to say that. A computer scientist at Trinity College Dublin, he is the ...

Look, I hate to bring this up, but there’s something we need to discuss: Why haven’t I heard from you recently? (No, not you, you’ve been in touch. It’s this ...

You indirectly use random numbers online every day—to establish secure connections, to encrypt data, perhaps even to satisfy your gambling problem. But their ubiquity belies the fact that they’re ...

Randomness is incredibly useful. People often draw straws, throw dice or flip coins to make fair choices. Random numbers can enable auditors to make completely unbiased selections. Randomness is also ...

Researchers have uncovered deep connections among different types of random objects, illuminating hidden geometric structures. These are not the kinds of objects that concern Scott Sheffield.