ed insights have relied on simplified scenarios that shed light on scientific questions, such as Bell’s theorem or heredity, or on philosophical questions, such as elegance in mathematics or randomness. At other times, we’ve explored cutting-edge discoveries such as superconductivity in rotated sheets of graphene.
But insights can also be found in the very act of solving the puzzle itself, just as illumination may come from contemplating a Zen koan. This month, we present some classical puzzles that do exactly that.
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