Celsius Pictor for Quanta Magazine
Larger models can pull off greater feats, but the accessibility and efficiency of smaller models make them attractive tools.
In math and computer science, researchers have long understood that some questions are fundamentally unanswerable. Now physicists are exploring how even ordinary physical systems put hard limits on what we can predict, even in principle.
Rare and powerful compounds, known as keystone molecules, can build a web of invisible interactions among species.
A new proof extends the work of the late Maryam Mirzakhani, cementing her legacy as a pioneer of alien mathematical realms.
By training machine learning models with enough examples of basic science, Miles Cranmer hopes to push the pace of scientific discovery forward.
Physicists hope that understanding the churning region near singularities might help them reconcile gravity and quantum mechanics.
By screening films in a brain scanner, neuroscientists discovered a rich library of neural scripts — from a trip through an airport to a marriage proposal — that form scaffolds for memories of our experiences.
Britta Späth has dedicated her career to proving a single, central conjecture. She’s finally succeeded, alongside her partner, Marc Cabanes.
Christopher W. Young/Quanta Magazine
These three imagined scenarios lead many physicists to doubt that space-time is fundamental.
The first planet beyond our solar system was identified just 30 years ago. Since then, thousands have been found and characterized. As we look for more, exoplanet experts are also probing for signs of alien biospheres hundreds of light-years away. In this episode, co-host Janna Levin speaks with astrophysicist and astrobiologist Lisa Kaltenegger about how we’ll know we’re not alone in the cosmos.
Illuminating basic science and math research through public service journalism.
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