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In-depth news about mathematics, physics, biology and computer science. Read more at QuantaMagazine.org.
The acclaimed mathematician and author Steven Strogatz interviews some of the world’s leading scientists about their lives and work.
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Quantum Tunnels Show How Particles Can Break the Speed of Light
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Recent experiments show that particles should be able to go faster than light when they quantum mechanically “tunnel” through walls.By Quanta Magazine
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Computer Scientists Break Traveling Salesperson Record
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After 44 years, there’s finally a better way to find approximate solutions to the notoriously difficult traveling salesperson problem.By Quanta Magazine
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Mitochondria May Hold Keys to Anxiety and Mental Health
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Research hints that the energy-generating organelles of cells may play a surprisingly pivotal role in mediating anxiety and depression.By Quanta Magazine
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The Hidden Magnetic Universe Begins to Come Into View
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Astronomers are discovering that magnetic fields permeate much of the cosmos. If these fields date back to the Big Bang, they could solve a major cosmological mystery.By Quanta Magazine
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Graduate Student Solves Decades-Old Conway Knot Problem
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It took Lisa Piccirillo less than a week to answer a long-standing question about a strange knot discovered over half a century ago by the legendary John Conway.By Quanta Magazine
Rogue waves — enigmatic giants of the sea — were thought to be caused by two different mechanisms. But a new idea that borrows from the hinterlands of probability theory has the potential to predict them all.By Quanta Magazine
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Hidden Computational Power Found in the Arms of Neurons
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The dendritic arms of some human neurons can perform logic operations that once seemed to require whole neural networks.By Quanta Magazine
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Neutrinos Lead to Unexpected Discovery in Basic Math
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Three physicists stumbled across an unexpected relationship between some of the most ubiquitous objects in math.By Quanta Magazine
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Machines Beat Humans on a Reading Test. But Do They Understand?
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A tool known as BERT can now beat humans on advanced reading-comprehension tests. But it's also revealed how far AI has to go.By Quanta Magazine
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How Jurassic Plankton Stole Control of the Ocean’s Chemistry
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Only 170 million years ago, new plankton evolved. Their demand for carbon and calcium permanently transformed the seas as homes for life.By Quanta Magazine
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To Pay Attention, the Brain Uses Filters, Not a Spotlight
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A brain circuit that suppresses distracting sensory information holds important clues about attention and other cognitive processes.By Quanta Magazine
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Fossil DNA Reveals New Twists in Modern Human Origins
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Modern humans and more ancient hominins interbred many times throughout Eurasia and Africa, and the genetic flow went both ways.By Quanta Magazine
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For Embryo’s Cells, Size Can Determine Fate
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Modeling suggests that many embryonic cells commit to a developmental fate when they become too small to divide unevenly anymore.By Quanta Magazine
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Scientists Debate the Origin of Cell Types in the First Animals
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Theories about how animals became multicellular are shifting as researchers find greater complexity in our single-celled ancestors.By Quanta Magazine
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Wandering Space Rocks Help Solve Mysteries of Planet Formation
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After an interstellar asteroid shot past the sun, scientists realized that there’s probably a lot of itinerant rocks out there.By Quanta Magazine
Mathematicians have proved that a random process applied to a random surface will yield consistent patterns.By Quanta Magazine
To researchers’ surprise, deep learning vision algorithms often fail at classifying images because they mostly take cues from textures, not shapes.By Quanta Magazine
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What’s in a Name? Taxonomy Problems Vex Biologists
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Researchers struggle to incorporate ongoing evolutionary discoveries into an animal classification scheme older than Darwin.By Quanta Magazine
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Bacterial Complexity Revises Ideas About ‘Which Came First?’
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Contrary to popular belief, bacteria have organelles too. Scientists are now studying them for insights into how complex cells evolved.By Quanta Magazine
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John Conway’s Life in Games | Quanta Magazine
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The mathematician John Horton Conway’s myriad accomplishments — including the Game of Life, sprouts and the surreal numbers — are the product of a mind at play.By Siobhan Roberts
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Tesla cancels plans to bring workers back to US car plant this week
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After asking workers back to its U.S. car plant this week, Tesla canceled its plans and California authorities extended health orders which limit the car maker to “minimum basic operations” there.By Lora Kolodny
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Damien Patton, founder of surveillance startup Banjo, has a secret racist past
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Damien Patton, the founder of Banjo, was a Nazi as a teenager, running with groups like the Dixie Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. It raises questions about Banjo’s surveillance technology.By Bijan Stephen
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Elon Musk goes on anti-lockdown Twitter spree
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The Tesla CEO seemingly still thinks the coronavirus panic is “dumb.”By Stan Schroeder
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Google Duo for Android may lose phone number requirement - 9to5Google
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Google Duo is a great app for video calls, but requiring a phone number can rule it out for some users. Now, the android app might be losing that.By Ben Schoon
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New CDC criteria points to Apple and Google contact tracing system as a ‘preferred’ choice - 9to5Mac
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The CDC has shared a new document today that covers some of the minimum as well as preferred criteria for digital contact tracing apps. No surprise here but Apple and Google’s exposure notification system lines up with many of the “preferred” criteria elements and looks like it will offer a good cho……
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Google travel data shows lockdown fatigue in U.S
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More people stayed home in Brazil, Japan and Singapore in April as those countries’ novel coronavirus cases surged, while people in the United States and Australia returned to parks and jobs as infection rates flattened, data from Google show.By Fox Business
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Ancient DNA Yields Snapshots of Vanished Ecosystems
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Surviving fragments of genetic material preserved in sediments allow scientists to see the full diversity of past life — even microbes.By Quanta Magazine
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Computer Scientists Expand the Frontier of Verifiable Knowledge
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The universe of problems that a computer can check has grown. The researchers’ secret ingredient? Quantum entanglement.By Quanta Magazine
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Moon Duchin on Fair Voting and Random Walks
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Can geometry save democracy from gerrymandering? Mathematician Moon Duchin discusses the possibilities with host Steven Strogatz.By Steven Strogatz and Quanta Magazine
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Brian Keating’s Quest for the Origin of the Universe
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The astrophysicist Brian Keating talks to host Steven Strogatz about chasing the universe’s greatest mysteries — and what it’s like to have a major discovery slip through his fingers.By Steven Strogatz and Quanta Magazine
Two women programmers played a pivotal role in the birth of chaos theory. Their previously untold story illustrates the changing status of computation in science.By Quanta Magazine
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Rebecca Goldin and Brian Nosek on Hard Truths in Math and Psychology
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The mathematician Rebecca Goldin and the psychology researcher Brian Nosek speak with host Steven Strogatz about what it’s like to be the bearers of unpopular truths.By Steven Strogatz and Quanta Magazine
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Cori Bargmann on the Genetics of Transparent Worms, Supertasters and Cancer
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The neurogenetics pioneer Cori Bargmann speaks with host Steven Strogatz about why a transparent worm became her favorite animal and how a genetic discovery she made inspired a revolutionary cancer treatment.By Steven Strogatz and Quanta Magazine
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Heat-Loving Microbes, Once Dormant, Thrive Over Decades-Old Fire
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In harsh ecosystems around the world, microbiologists are finding evidence that “microbial seed banks” protect biodiversity from changing conditions.By Quanta Magazine
The mathematician Tadashi Tokieda and host Steven Strogatz explore what we can learn about the world from simple “toys” with remarkable physical or mathematical properties.By Steven Strogatz and Quanta Magazine
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Janna Levin on Seeing and Hearing Black Holes
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The astrophysicist Janna Levin describes the fierce scientific beauty she finds in black holes and reveals why she took a major risk early in her career.By Steven Strogatz and Quanta Magazine
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Scientists Discover Exotic New Patterns of Synchronization
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In a world seemingly filled with chaos, physicists have discovered new forms of synchronization and are learning how to predict and control them.By Quanta Magazine
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John Urschel: From NFL Player to Mathematician
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John Urschel, who retired from playing professional football with the Baltimore Ravens to become a mathematician, talks to host Steven Strogatz about the fascinations of graph theory that lured him away from the NFL.By Steven Strogatz and Quanta Magazine
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Google just published 25 million free datasets
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By Tom Waterman
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Corina Tarnita and the Deep Mathematics of Social Insects
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The mathematical biologist Corina Tarnita explains to host Steven Strogatz how quantitative modeling solved the mystery of fairy circles.By Steven Strogatz and Quanta Magazine
By Mike Bursell (Red Hat, Correspondent)
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Robbert Dijkgraaf on Exploring Quantum Reality
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The mathematical physicist Robbert Dijkgraaf and host Steven Strogatz discuss the frontiers of string theory and why space and time might not be the most fundamental things in the universe.By Steven Strogatz and Quanta Magazine
Researchers have just released hacker-proof cryptographic code — programs with the same level of invincibility as a mathematical proof.By Quanta Magazine
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Leslie Vosshall on Designer Mosquitoes and Dude Walls
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Events take an interesting turn after the neurogeneticist Leslie Vosshall speaks with host Steven Strogatz about ways to make mosquitoes less deadly and the obstacles facing educational inclusiveness.By Steven Strogatz and Quanta Magazine
During development, cells seem to decode their fate through optimal information processing, which could hint at a more general principle of life.By Quanta Magazine
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Alex Kontorovich on the Absolute Truth of Pure Math
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The mathematician Alex Kontorovich speaks with host Steven Strogatz about regaining his creative freedom in an intimidating collaboration and about the pleasures of spherical geometry.By Steven Strogatz and Quanta Magazine
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Priya Natarajan on Black Holes and Mapping the Universe
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In this episode, Priya Natarajan, professor of astronomy and physics at Yale University, speaks with Steven Strogatz about her lifelong fascinations, including black holes, mapping the universe and early personal computers.By Steven Strogatz and Quanta Magazine
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Which Tech Company Is Really the Most Evil?
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By Slate
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How Artificial Intelligence Is Changing Science
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The latest AI algorithms are probing the evolution of galaxies, calculating quantum wave functions, discovering new chemical compounds and more. Is there anything that scientists do that can’t be automated?By Quanta Magazine
