Brent Nelson Associate Professor of Physics, Associate Dean of the College of Science b.nelson@northeastern.edu 617.373.2956 Expertise physics, Theoretical Elementary Particle Physics Brent Nelson for Northeastern Global News Why you need a computer to understand strings and knots Why you need a computer to understand strings and knots Some questions are simply too big for humans to answer alone. “How does the universe work?” is a good example. James Halverson and Brent Nelson, physicists at Northeastern, are getting a little extra help from artificial intelligence to uncover the secrets of why we exist.