mathematics

I heard about this question several years ago. I was surprised to know the answer: we just need four colors to be able to color any map without two colors touching each other. However, I couldn't clearly understand why. It is not surprise, this questions haunted geographers and mathematicians for 125 years, until it was proofed to be right in the 1970's... However, the proof of 'the four color map theorem', as it is called among mathematicians, it remains as a not "beautiful" proof.

There is an interesting discussion brewing on the blogoshere about the relationship between math and science in general. It started with an article by a prominent biologist, E.O.Wilson (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323611604578398943650327184.html), who claimed that "Many of the most successful scientists in the world today are mathematically no more than semiliterate". That is including himself.