[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"branding":3,"analytics":7,"article-ai-agents-rediscover-a-tricky-wave-formula-then-find-a-new-one":10,"sections":35},{"siteName":4,"siteTagline":5,"publisherName":4,"contactEmail":6},"The Revision","Tech news, decoded.","editor@therevision.news",{"gaMeasurementId":8,"adsenseClientId":9},"G-ZW2MV82GYR","ca-pub-8533917693782264",{"article":11},{"id":12,"slug":13,"title":14,"dek":15,"body_md":16,"tags_json":17,"published_at":18,"created_at":19,"updated_at":20,"status":21,"review_note":22,"review_notes":23,"image_url":22,"persona_id":22,"persona_name":22,"section":24,"tags":25,"sources":30,"feedback":34,"feedback_at":22,"cost_usd":34,"total_tokens":34},9634,"ai-agents-rediscover-a-tricky-wave-formula-then-find-a-new-one","AI Agents Rediscover a Tricky Wave Formula, Then Find a New One","A team-based AI workflow rediscovered a hard wave-scattering formula where solo agents failed, then derived a new one nobody had written before.","A team of AI agents just solved a messy physics formula that stumped most AI agents working alone.\n\nResearchers tested how AI systems rediscover scientific formulas, using the \"hydrotope\" as a case study: a geometric formula that describes how nonlinear water waves scatter, stitching together different polynomial expressions depending on the frequency region involved. They ran 18 single-agent attempts, with no hints, a false hint representing a wrong assumption, and a true hint representing real domain knowledge. Only four of those runs recovered the complete formula across every region. Most agents found the right polynomial for a given region but couldn't figure out how to combine the pieces or confirm the result held everywhere. Standard symbolic regression tools, including LLM-assisted versions, and conventional machine-learning regressors failed too.\n\nThe fix wasn't a smarter model, it was a different org chart. The researchers built a workflow with one \"lead\" agent that assigned analytic and numerical sub-tasks to two \"student\" agents and independently checked their work. That setup rediscovered the full hydrotope formula, then went further: applied to a harder variant of the problem, it derived a new, independently verified formula for a six-point wave amplitude that hadn't been published before.\n\nIt's one case study on one wave-physics problem, but the failure pattern matches other agent benchmarks: solo agents stall on problems that require combining partial results, while splitting the work across roles with a supervisor checking the output does better.","[\"ai-agents\",\"multi-agent-systems\",\"scientific-discovery\",\"symbolic-regression\"]","2026-10-02T04:00:00.000Z","2026-10-03T04:00:15.382Z","2026-10-03T04:00:20.291Z","published",null,[],"ai",[26,27,28,29],"ai-agents","multi-agent-systems","scientific-discovery","symbolic-regression",[31],{"name":32,"url":33},"arXiv cs.AI","https:\u002F\u002Farxiv.org\u002Fabs\u002F2610.00435",0,{"sections":36},[37,40,44,48,53,57,61,66,71,76,81,86,91,96],{"name":38,"slug":24,"count":39,"latest_published_at":18},"AI",5977,{"name":41,"slug":42,"count":43,"latest_published_at":18},"Security","security",842,{"name":45,"slug":46,"count":47,"latest_published_at":18},"Policy","policy",438,{"name":49,"slug":50,"count":51,"latest_published_at":52},"Deals","deals",317,"2026-10-01T22:00:00.000Z",{"name":54,"slug":55,"count":56,"latest_published_at":18},"Hardware","hardware",199,{"name":58,"slug":59,"count":60,"latest_published_at":18},"Science","science",173,{"name":62,"slug":63,"count":64,"latest_published_at":65},"Consumer Tech","consumer-tech",155,"2026-10-01T19:54:10.000Z",{"name":67,"slug":68,"count":69,"latest_published_at":70},"Dev Tools","dev-tools",96,"2026-10-01T16:57:03.000Z",{"name":72,"slug":73,"count":74,"latest_published_at":75},"Software","software",93,"2026-09-30T21:41:11.000Z",{"name":77,"slug":78,"count":79,"latest_published_at":80},"Startups","startups",90,"2026-10-01T21:55:22.000Z",{"name":82,"slug":83,"count":84,"latest_published_at":85},"Gaming","gaming",53,"2026-10-02T02:50:39.000Z",{"name":87,"slug":88,"count":89,"latest_published_at":90},"General","general",50,"2026-09-30T21:37:54.000Z",{"name":92,"slug":93,"count":94,"latest_published_at":95},"Reviews","reviews",31,"2026-09-28T14:31:34.000Z",{"name":97,"slug":98,"count":99,"latest_published_at":100},"How-To","how-to",7,"2026-10-01T09:00:00.000Z"]