The Quanta Podcast

Simple physical principles can be used to describe how rivers grow everywhere from Florida to Mars. The post A Universal Law for the ‘Blood of the Earth’ first appeared on Quanta Magazine

How does evolution select the fittest “individuals” when they are ecosystems made up of hosts and their microbiomes? Biologist debate the need to revise theories. The post Should Evolution Treat Our Microbes as Part of Us? first appeared on Quanta Magazine

Through exacting geometric calculations, Philip Gibbs has found the smallest known cover for any possible shape. The post Amateur Mathematician Finds Smallest Universal Cover first appeared on Quanta Magazine

Using a new CRISPR-based technique, researchers are examining how the position of DNA within the nucleus affects gene expression and cell function. The post In the Nucleus, Genes’ Activity Might Depend on Their Location first appeared on Quanta Magazine

A visual prank exposes an Achilles’ heel of computer vision systems: Unlike humans, they can’t do a double take. The post Machine Learning Confronts the Elephant in the Room first appeared on Quanta Magazine

Computer vision researchers have uncovered a world of visual signals hiding in our midst, including subtle motions that betray what’s being said and faint images of what’s around a corner. The post The New Science of Seeing Around Corners first appeared on Quanta Magazine

18-year-old Ewin Tang has proven that classical computers can solve the “recommendation problem” nearly as fast as quantum computers. The result eliminates one of the best examples of quantum speedup. The post Major Quantum Computing Advance Made Obsolete by Teenager first appeared on Quanta Magazine

Psychedelic drugs can trigger characteristic hallucinations, which have long been thought to hold clues about the brain’s circuitry. After nearly a century of study, a possible explanation is crystallizing. The post A Math Theory for Why People Hallucinate first appeared on Quanta Magazine

A quickly closed loophole has proved that the “great smoky dragon” of quantum mechanics may forever elude capture. The post Closed Loophole Confirms the Unreality of the Quantum World first appeared on Quanta Magazine

Researchers find evidence that neural systems actively remove memories, suggesting that forgetting may be the default mode of the brain. The post To Remember, the Brain Must Actively Forget first appeared on Quanta Magazine

New findings are fueling an old suspicion that fundamental particles and forces spring from strange eight-part numbers called “octonions.” The post The Peculiar Math That Could Underlie the Laws of Nature first appeared on Quanta Magazine

A controversial theory suggests that perception, motor control, memory and other brain functions all depend on comparisons between ongoing actual experiences and the brain’s modeled expectations. The post To Make Sense of the Present, Brains May Predict the Future first appeared on Quanta Magazine

Computer scientists have been searching for years for a type of problem that a quantum computer can solve but that any possible future classical computer cannot. Now they’ve found one. The post Finally, a Problem That Only Quantum Computers Will Ever Be Able to Solve first appeared on Quanta Magazine

Life needs more than water alone. Recent discoveries suggest that plate tectonics has played a critical role in nourishing life on Earth. The findings carry major consequences for the search for life elsewhere in the universe. The post Why Earth’s Cracked Crust May Be Essential for Life first appeared on Quanta Magazine

Researchers find that when working memory gets overburdened, dialogue between three brain regions breaks down. The discovery provides new support for a larger concept about how the brain works. The post Overtaxed Working Memory Knocks the Brain Out of Sync first appeared on Quanta Magazine

Astronomers argue that there’s an undiscovered giant planet far beyond the orbit of Neptune. A newly discovered rocky body has added evidence to the circumstantial case for it. The post A New World’s Extraordinary Orbit Points to Planet Nine first appeared on Quanta Magazine

New modeling studies suggest that birds migrate to strike a favorable balance between their input and output of energy. The post A Thermodynamic Answer to Why Birds Migrate first appeared on Quanta Magazine

In new computer experiments, artificial-intelligence algorithms can tell the future of chaotic systems. The post Machine Learning’s ‘Amazing’ Ability to Predict Chaos first appeared on Quanta Magazine

By making the first progress on the “chromatic number of the plane” problem in over 60 years, an anti-aging pundit has achieved mathematical immortality. The post Decades-Old Graph Problem Yields to Amateur Mathematician first appeared on Quanta Magazine

An unlikely team offers a controversial hypothesis about what enabled animal life to get more complex during the Cambrian explosion. The post Oxygen and Stem Cells May Have Reshaped Early Complex Animals first appeared on Quanta Magazine

Two teams of researchers have made significant progress toward proving the black hole stability conjecture, a critical mathematical test of Einstein’s theory of general relativity. The post To Test Einstein’s Equations, Poke a Black Hole first appeared on Quanta Magazine

A recently proposed experiment would confirm that gravity is a quantum force. The post Physicists Find a Way to See the ‘Grin’ of Quantum Gravity first appeared on Quanta Magazine

On November 16, 2018, more than 200 readers joined writers and editors from Quanta Magazine for a wide-ranging panel discussion that examined the newest ideas in fundamental physics, biology and mathematics research. The post Quanta Writers and Editors Discuss Trends in Science and Math first appeared on Quanta Magazine

The long, variable times that some diseases incubate after infection defies simple explanation. An idealized model of tumor growth offers a statistical solution. The post Why Don’t Patients Get Sick in Sync? Modelers Find Statistical Clues. first appeared on Quanta Magazine

The latest artificial intelligence systems start from zero knowledge of a game and grow to world-beating in a matter of hours. But researchers are struggling to apply these systems beyond the arcade. The post Why Artificial Intelligence Like AlphaZero Has Trouble With the Real World first appeared on Quanta Magazine

A new study challenges one of the most celebrated and controversial ideas in network science. The post Scant Evidence of Power Laws Found in Real-World Networks first appeared on Quanta Magazine

New algorithms show how swarms of very simple robots can be made to work together as a group. The post Smart Swarms Seek New Ways to Cooperate first appeared on Quanta Magazine

Cosmologists have shown that it’s theoretically possible for a contracting universe to bounce and expand. The new work resuscitates an old idea that directly challenges the Big Bang theory of cosmic origins. The post How the Universe Got Its Bounce Back first appeared on Quanta Magazine

Near an Australian desert mining camp, wild dingoes are losing their fear of humans. Their genetic and behavioral changes may echo those from the domestication of dogs. The post A Domesticated Dingo? No, but Some Are Getting Less Wild first appeared on Quanta Magazine

A series of fossil finds suggests that life on Earth started earlier than anyone thought, calling into question a widely held theory of the solar system’s beginnings. The post Fossil Discoveries Challenge Ideas About Earth’s Start first appeared on Quanta Magazine

Two mathematicians prove that under certain extreme conditions, the Navier-Stokes equations output nonsense. The post Mathematicians Find Wrinkle in Famed Fluid Equations first appeared on Quanta Magazine

Nobel laureate Susumu Tonegawa’s lab is overturning old assumptions about how memories form, how recall works and whether lost memories might be restored from "silent engrams." The post Light-Triggered Genes Reveal the Hidden Workings of Memory first appeared on Quanta Magazine

An eminent mathematician reveals that his advances in the study of millennia-old mathematical questions owe to concepts derived from physics. The post Secret Link Uncovered Between Pure Math and Physics first appeared on Quanta Magazine

Kidneys sniff out signals from gut bacteria for cues to lower blood pressure after meals. Our understanding of how the symbiotic microbes affect health is becoming much more molecular. The post How Bacteria Help Regulate Blood Pressure first appeared on Quanta Magazine

The oldest law of genetics says that gametes combine randomly, but experiments hint that sometimes eggs select sperm actively for their genetic assets. The post Choosy Eggs May Pick Sperm for Their Genes, Defying Mendel’s Law first appeared on Quanta Magazine

Elephants did not evolve to become huge animals until after they turned a bit of genetic junk into a unique defense against inevitable tumors. The post A Zombie Gene Protects Elephants From Cancer first appeared on Quanta Magazine

To efficiently analyze a firehose of data, scientists first have to break big numbers into bits. The post Best-Ever Algorithm Found for Huge Streams of Data first appeared on Quanta Magazine

Physicists theorize that a new “traversable” kind of wormhole could resolve a baffling paradox and rescue information that falls into black holes. The post Newfound Wormhole Allows Information to Escape Black Holes first appeared on Quanta Magazine

Researchers are building a case that long before the nervous system works, the brain sends crucial bioelectric signals to guide the growth of embryonic tissues. The post Brainless Embryos Suggest Bioelectricity Guides Growth first appeared on Quanta Magazine

A new idea is helping to explain the puzzling success of today’s artificial-intelligence algorithms — and might also explain how human brains learn. The post New Theory Cracks Open the Black Box of Deep Learning first appeared on Quanta Magazine

Computer scientists are finding ways to code curiosity into intelligent machines. The post Clever Machines Learn How to Be Curious first appeared on Quanta Magazine

The mathematician Svitlana Mayboroda and collaborators have figured out how to predict the behavior of electrons — a mathematical discovery that could have immediate practical effects. The post Mathematicians Tame Rogue Waves, Lighting Up Future of LEDs first appeared on Quanta Magazine

Hybrids, once treated as biological misfits, play a vital role in the evolution of many animal species. Now conservationists are trying to reconcile that truth with policies. The post Interspecies Hybrids Play a Vital Role in Evolution first appeared on Quanta Magazine

Textbooks say that the moon was formed after a Mars-size mass smashed the young Earth. But new evidence has cast doubt on that story, leaving researchers to dream up new ways to get a giant rock into orbit. The post What Made the Moon? New Ideas Try to Rescue a Troubled Theory first appeared on Quanta Magazine

John Nash’s notion of equilibrium is ubiquitous in economic theory, but a new study shows that it is often impossible to reach efficiently. The post In Game Theory, No Clear Path to Equilibrium first appeared on Quanta Magazine

A French mathematician has completed the classification of all convex pentagons, and therefore all convex polygons, that tile the plane. The post Pentagon Tiling Proof Solves Century-Old Math Problem first appeared on Quanta Magazine

If gut bacteria can sway their hosts to be selfless, it could answer a riddle that goes back to Darwin. The post Can Microbes Encourage Altruism? first appeared on Quanta Magazine

A different kind of dark matter could help to resolve an old celestial conundrum. The post Dark Matter Recipe Calls for One Part Superfluid first appeared on Quanta Magazine

The three young friends who devised the “happy ending” problem would become some of the most influential mathematicians of the 20th century, but were never able to solve their own puzzle. Now it receives its first big breakthrough. The post A Puzzle of Clever Connections Nears a Happy End first appeared on Quanta Magazine

Spiders appear to offload cognitive tasks to their webs, making them one of a number of species with a mind that isn’t fully confined within the head. The post The Thoughts of a Spiderweb first appeared on Quanta Magazine