The Quanta Podcast
In-depth news about mathematics, physics, biology and computer science.
Quanta Magazine
Show overview
The Quanta Podcast has been publishing since 2015, and across the 11 years since has built a catalogue of 347 episodes, alongside 1 trailer or bonus episode. That works out to roughly 120 hours of audio in total. Releases follow a fortnightly cadence.
Episodes typically run ten to twenty minutes — most land between 15 min and 25 min — though episode length varies meaningfully from one episode to the next. None of the episodes are flagged explicit by the publisher. It is catalogued as a EN-US-language Science show.
The show is actively publishing — the most recent episode landed 1 months ago, with 37 episodes already out so far this year. The busiest year was 2025, with 58 episodes published. Published by Quanta Magazine.
From the publisher
Exploring the distant universe, the insides of cells, the abstractions of math, the complexity of information itself, and much more, The Quanta Podcast is a tour of the frontier between the known and the unknown. In each episode, Quanta Magazine Editor-in-Chief Samir Patel speaks with the minds behind the award-winning publication to navigate through some of the most important and mind-expanding questions in science and math. Quanta specifically covers fundamental research — driven by curiosity, discovery and the overwhelming desire to know why and how. Join us every Tuesday for a stimulating conversation about the biggest ideas and the tiniest details.(If you've been a fan of the Quanta Science Podcast, it will continue here. You'll see those episodes marked as audio edition episodes every two weeks.)
Latest Episodes
View all 347 episodesHow Many Elementary Particles Are There, Really?
Audio Edition: What Is the Fourier Transform?
The 'Truth Machine' That Is Changing Math
Ecotypes Make the Idea of a Species Even Fuzzier
What Actually Causes Lightning?
Audio Edition: Astrophysicists Find No ‘Hair’ on Black Holes
The AI Revolution in Math Has Arrived
Ice Is Way More Complex Than It Seems
Audio Edition: How Distillation Makes AI Models Smaller and Cheaper
Our Immune Systems Are Full of Ancient Weapons
What Can We Gain by Losing Infinity?
Audio Edition: The Cells That Breathe Two Ways
Quantum Mechanics Might Be a Secret Key to Secure Communication
Is String Theory Still Our Best Hope?
Audio Edition: New Physics-Inspired Proof Probes the Borders of Disorder
One of Nature’s Most Complex Molecular Machines
The Fundamental Tension at the Heart of Math
Audio Edition: AI Comes Up With Bizarre Physics Experiments. But They Work.
Artificial intelligence software is designing novel experimental protocols that improve upon the work of human physicists, although the humans are still “doing a lot of baby-sitting.”The story AI Comes Up With Bizarre Physics Experiments. But They Work. first appeared on Quanta Magazine.
Why Do Humanoid Robots Still Struggle With the Small Stuff?
Humanoid robots can run, crawl, and sort objects in flashy demos. So why can’t they reliably climb stairs or open doors? On this episode of The Quanta Podcast, host Samir Patel speaks with contributing writer John Pavlus on why robots still struggle with the messy physics of the real world. This topic was covered in a recent story for Quanta Magazine. Each week on The Quanta Podcast, Quanta Magazine editor in chief Samir Patel speaks with the people behind the award-winning publication to navigate through some of the most important and mind-expanding questions in science and math.In this video, Atlas walks, runs and crawls using reinforcement learning. This work was done as part of a research partnership between Boston Dynamics and the Robots and AI (RAI) Institute:https://youtu.be/I44_zbEwz_w?si=KuKC34o_PiKs8zJP
Uniting a Century of Digital and Analog Astronomy
To better understand our cosmos, some astronomers and astrophysicists go old school. Preserved beautifully on a hundred years of glass plate photographs are images of our night sky and its ever changing variations. On this episode of The Quanta Podcast, host Samir Patel speaks with writer Liz Kruesi about how these antique plates are updating our modern understanding of the universe. This topic was covered in a recent story for Quanta Magazine. Each week on The Quanta Podcast, Quanta Magazine editor in chief Samir Patel speaks with the people behind the award-winning publication to navigate through some of the most important and mind-expanding questions in science and math.Audio coda by Diana Chester. This project by Diana Chester was made possible through a Powerhouse Research Fellowship at the Museum of Arts and Applied Sciences in Sydney, Australia, a collaboration with Dr. Anna Raupach, and with the support of the Sydney Observatory and the New South Wales archives.