9. A Milestone in Formalization: The Sphere Packing Problem in Dimension 8 (www.alphaxiv.org)

View recent discussion. Abstract: In 2016, Viazovska famously solved the sphere packing problem in dimension $8$, using modular forms to construct a 'magic' function satisfying optimality conditions determined by Cohn and Elkies in 2003. In March 2024, Hariharan and Viazovska launched a project to formalize this solution and related mathematical facts in the Lean Theorem Prover. A significant milestone was achieved in February 2026: the result was formally verified, with the final stages of the verification done by Math, Inc.'s autoformalization model 'Gauss'. We discuss the techniques used to achieve this milestone, reflect on the unique collaboration between humans and Gauss, and discuss project objectives that remain.

10. We Run iSCSI over the Internet (scsipub.com)

iSCSI was designed for the SAN inside a rack, not the open internet. Here's the pile of small decisions that makes scsipub work anyway β€” Ranch 2.x listeners, a BEAM process per session, COW overlays, Caddy-terminated TLS, multi-LUN + SCSI-3 Persistent Reservations for cluster software, and a handful of open-iscsi quirks that cost us a day each.

15. The Accidental Ancestor – How Verifying Numbers Shaped Modern Hashing (0xkrt26.github.io)

1954, Hans Peter Luhn filed for a US patent on a Computer for Verifying Numbers. This is one of the earliest examples of using mathematical transformations to verify data integrity, a concept that became a foundation for modern hashes. Today you can find it under names Luhn Algorithm, Luhn Formula or Modulus 10 Algorithm.

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