Take the 2-minute tour ×  Most of us are at least somewhat
curious about what's going on in areas of mathematics outside
our own area of research. If a significant breakthrough is made,
and can be stated in language that we understand, then we would
enjoy hearing about it. Now, for truly fantastic breakthroughs
like Fermat's Last Theorem or the Poincaré conjecture, the
mathematical grapevine functions quite well and we all hear
about it pretty quickly. For anything below that level, however,
I for one feel that there is no good way to find out what is
going on in fields other than my own. Every four years I seem to
have the following conversation: "Did you hear? So-and-so won
the Fields Medal!" "No. And, uh, who in the world is so-and-so?"
Shameful.  What I'm wondering is, am I doing something wrong?
Does anyone else have a better way of keeping abreast, even at a
superficial level, of what major advances are happening in other
areas of mathematics? At one time, Mathematical Reviews would
select some articles