For every popular list of unsolved problems, there are scholars and students dreaming of -- and working towards -- solving the puzzles they contain. Many search for creative solutions, only to reach ...

Curiosity-driven research has long sparked technological transformations. A century ago, curiosity about atoms led to quantum mechanics, and eventually the transistor at the heart of modern computing.

In 2004, the Clay Mathematics Institute picked seven outstanding problems in mathematics, physics, and computer science, whose solution would win its solver a prize of $1 million. Since the offering ...