By Bryan Gardiner They are road signs for your daily rituals – the instantly recognized symbols and icons you press, click and ogle countless times a day when you interact with your computer.

The symbol’s modern obscurity ended in 1971, when a computer scientist named Ray Tomlinson was facing a vexing problem: how to connect people who programmed computers with one another.

In 1993, Prince frustrated contract lawyers and computer users everywhere when he changed his name to glyph known as “The Love Symbol.” Though he never said so explicitly, it’s generally ...

Computer programmers helped scholars ... He transcribed more symbols than any other of the 1,000 people who entered — helping to crack a 163-year-old mystery about one of the world’s most ...