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An illustration shows a diverse menagerie of modern life forms — human, fern, fish, bird, lion, octopus, crab, tree, and more — inside a cell membrane.

Robert Neubecker for Quanta Magazine

Latest Articles

All Life on Earth Today Descended From a Single Cell. Meet LUCA.

The clearest picture yet of our “last universal common ancestor” suggests it was a relatively complex organism living 4.2 billion years ago, a time long considered too harsh for life to flourish.

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Mathematical Thinking Isn’t What You Think It Is

The mathematician David Bessis claims that everyone is capable of, and can benefit greatly from, mathematical thinking.

How Public Key Cryptography Really Works, Using Only Simple Math

The security system that underlies the internet makes use of a curious fact: You can broadcast part of your encryption to make your information much more secure.

New Elliptic Curve Breaks 18-Year-Old Record

Two mathematicians have renewed a debate about the fundamental nature of some of math’s most important equations.

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Space-Time: The Biggest Problem in Physics

Emily Buder/Quanta Magazine

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The Thought Experiments That Fray the Fabric of Space-Time

These three imagined scenarios lead many physicists to doubt that space-time is fundamental.

The Joy of Why


Shapes and patterns emerge form a black box
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With lots of data, a strong model and statistical thinking, scientists can make predictions about all sorts of complex phenomena. Today, this practice is evolving to harness the power of machine learning and massive datasets. In this episode, co-host Steven Strogatz speaks with statistician Emmanuel Candès about black boxes, uncertainty and the power of inductive reasoning.

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Illuminating basic science and math research through public service journalism.

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Quanta Magazine is committed to in-depth, accurate journalism that serves the public interest. Each article braids the complexities of science with the malleable art of storytelling and is meticulously reported, edited and fact-checked. Launched and funded by the Simons Foundation, Quanta is editorially independent — our articles do not reflect or represent the views of the foundation.

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