Archive

Queen ants live far longer than genetically identical workers. Researchers are learning what their longevity secrets could mean for aging in other species.

Random circuit sampling, a popular technique for showing the power of quantum computers, doesn’t scale up if errors go unchecked.

Diffusion models generate incredible images by learning to reverse the process that, among other things, causes ink to spread through water.

A new radiation-based mechanism adds to the ways that amino acids could have been made in space and brought to the young Earth.

On nights and weekends, Justin Gilmer attacked an old question in pure math using the tools of information theory.

While the internet is awash in the noise of unmoderated comments, Quanta has attempted to provide a quiet, information-rich spot where readers, listeners and viewers can contemplate the complexity of nature.

Four Fields Medals were awarded for major breakthroughs in geometry, combinatorics, statistical physics and number theory, even as mathematicians continued to wrestle with how computers are changing the discipline.

In a year filled with sweet new observations in astronomy and tantalizing breakthroughs in condensed matter physics, the brand-new space telescope takes the cake.

Computer scientists this year learned how to transmit perfect secrets, why transformers seem so good at everything, and how to improve on decades-old algorithms (with a little help from AI).