The Quanta Podcast

A new study reveals that individual genes can create many different versions of the molecular machinery that powers the cell. The post A Secret Flexibility Found in Life’s Blueprints first appeared on Quanta Magazine

The story of the universe’s birth — and evidence for string theory — could be found in triangles and myriad other shapes in the sky. The post Physicists Hunt for the Big Bang’s Triangles first appeared on Quanta Magazine

In the new, free-for-all era of dark matter research, the controversial idea that dark matter is concentrated in thin disks is being rescued from scientific oblivion. The post Debate Intensifies Over Dark Disk Theory first appeared on Quanta Magazine

A project to decipher the brain’s learning rules could revolutionize machine learning. The post Mapping the Brain to Build Better Machines first appeared on Quanta Magazine

The Ukrainian mathematician Maryna Viazovska has solved the centuries-old sphere-packing problem in dimensions eight and 24. The post Sphere Packing Solved in Higher Dimensions first appeared on Quanta Magazine

New insights from neuroscience — aided by a small zoo’s worth of dancing animals — are revealing the biological origins of rhythm. The post The Beasts That Keep the Beat first appeared on Quanta Magazine

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. The post A Life in Games first appeared on Quanta Magazine

A previously unnoticed property of prime numbers seems to violate a long-standing assumption about how they behave. The post Mathematicians Discover Prime Conspiracy first appeared on Quanta Magazine

A satellite spotted a burst of light just as gravitational waves rolled in from the collision of two black holes. Was the flash a cosmic coincidence, or do astrophysicists need to rethink what black holes can do? The post After Black Holes Collide, a Puzzling Flash first appeared on Quanta Magazine

In a virtuoso experiment, physicists have revealed details of a “quantum critical point” that underlies high-temperature superconductivity. The post The Quantum Secret to Superconductivity first appeared on Quanta Magazine

Perhaps chemistry played a more instrumental role in the origin of life than scientists thought. The post How to Build Life in a Pre-Darwinian World first appeared on Quanta Magazine

Ripples in space-time have been detected a century after Einstein predicted them, launching a new era in astronomy. The post Gravitational Waves Discovered at Long Last first appeared on Quanta Magazine

Searching for signs of life on faraway planets, astrobiologists must decide which telltale biosignature gases to target. The post Scientists Debate Signatures of Alien Life first appeared on Quanta Magazine

The same brain cells that track location in space appear to also count beats in time. The research suggests that our thoughts may take place on a mental space-time canvas. The post New Clues to How the Brain Maps Time first appeared on Quanta Magazine

Bizarre quantum bonds connect distinct moments in time, suggesting that quantum links — not space-time — constitute the fundamental structure of the universe. The post Quantum Weirdness Now a Matter of Time first appeared on Quanta Magazine

Computer scientists are abuzz over a fast new algorithm for solving one of the central problems in the field. The post Landmark Algorithm Breaks 30-Year Impasse first appeared on Quanta Magazine

A new breakthrough that bridges number theory and geometry is just the latest triumph for a close-knit group of mathematicians. The post Math Quartet Joins Forces on Unified Theory first appeared on Quanta Magazine

Nature offers species a panoply of ways to determine an organism’s sex. That flexibility suggests we need not be concerned about losing sex chromosomes, but it raises the question of why such a fundamental property is so variable. The post The Incredible Shrinking Sex Chromosome first appeared on Quanta Magazine

Scientists are homing in on a warning signal that arises in complex systems like ecological food webs, the brain and the Earth’s climate. Could it help prevent future catastrophes? The post Nature’s Critical Warning System first appeared on Quanta Magazine

Scientists have begun to identify the symphony of biological triggers that powered the extraordinary expansion of the human brain. The post How Humans Evolved Supersize Brains first appeared on Quanta Magazine

A newly discovered class of microbe could help to resolve one of the biggest and most controversial mysteries in evolution — how simple microbes transformed into the complex cells that produced animals, plants and fungi. The post Mongrel Microbe Tests Story of Complex Life first appeared on Quanta Magazine

Complex natural systems defy analysis using a standard mathematical toolkit, so one ecologist is throwing out the equations. The post A Twisted Path to Equation-Free Prediction first appeared on Quanta Magazine

Only a few genetic changes were enough to change an ordinary stomach bug into the bacteria responsible for the plague. The post The Mutant Genes Behind the Black Death first appeared on Quanta Magazine

A major advance in computational complexity reveals deep connections between the classes of problems that computers can — and can’t — possibly do. The post A New Map Traces the Limits of Computation first appeared on Quanta Magazine

Nima Arkani-Hamed is championing a campaign to build the world’s largest particle collider, even as he pursues a new vision of the laws of nature. The post Visions of Future Physics first appeared on Quanta Magazine

Cellular clocks are almost everywhere. Clues to how they work are coming from the places they’re not. The post How the Body’s Trillions of Clocks Keep Time first appeared on Quanta Magazine

Einstein refused to believe in the inherent unpredictability of the world. Is the subatomic world insane, or just subtle? The post Einstein’s Parable of Quantum Insanity first appeared on Quanta Magazine

A recent cryptographic breakthrough has proven difficult to put into practice. But new advances show how near-perfect computer security might be surprisingly close at hand. The post A New Design for Cryptography’s Black Box first appeared on Quanta Magazine

A new understanding of viral swarms is helping researchers predict how viruses will evolve and where disease is likely to spread. The post How Mutant Viral Swarms Spread Disease first appeared on Quanta Magazine

Emerging data suggests the seemingly impossible — that mysterious new genes arise from “junk” DNA. The post A Surprise Source of Life’s Code first appeared on Quanta Magazine

Did the minerals on our planet arise in a predictable fashion, or did they result from chance events? The answers could eventually help scientists identify planets likely to harbor life. The post How Life and Luck Changed Earth’s Minerals first appeared on Quanta Magazine

A new technique for finding and characterizing microbes has boosted the number of known bacteria by almost 50 percent, revealing a hidden world all around us. The post At Tiny Scales, a Giant Burst on Tree of Life first appeared on Quanta Magazine

Scientists hope that new genetic letters, created in the lab, will endow DNA with new powers. The post New Letters Added to the Genetic Alphabet first appeared on Quanta Magazine

Researchers are uncovering the hidden laws that reveal how the Internet grows, how viruses spread, and how financial bubbles burst. The post The New Laws of Explosive Networks first appeared on Quanta Magazine