Today, people use complex computing networks to search for prime numbers with millions of digits. But early mathematicians were running these calculations by hand.

Researchers are finally close to solving the great mysteries surrounding prime numbers and why they are so seemingly infinite.

Prime numbers are absolutely essential to modern computer security -- and, possibly, to communicating with alien life forms. Here's how they work.

The ongoing search for ever-larger prime numbers continues apace. Primes are the atoms of arithmetic: every whole number is a unique product of primes. For example, 21 is the product of primes ...