Steven Strogatz

Podcast Host

Latest Articles

How Can Some Infinities Be Bigger Than Others?

April 19, 2023

All infinities go on forever, so how is it possible for some infinities to be larger than others? The mathematician Justin Moore discusses the mysteries of infinity with Steven Strogatz.

What Has the Pandemic Taught Us About Vaccines?

April 5, 2023

Should Covid-19 vaccines be judged by how well they prevent disease or how well they prevent death? Anna Durbin, a public health expert and vaccine researcher, talks with Steven Strogatz about the science behind vaccines.

Is There Math Beyond the Equal Sign?

March 22, 2023

Can mathematics handle things that are essentially the same without being exactly equal? Category theorist Eugenia Cheng and host Steven Strogatz discuss the power and pleasures of abstraction.

Can We Program Our Cells?

March 8, 2023

By genetically instructing cells to perform tasks that they wouldn’t in nature, synthetic biologists can learn deep secrets about how life works. Steven Strogatz discusses the potential of this young field with researcher Michael Elowitz.

How Will the Universe End?

February 22, 2023

Big Freeze, Big Rip, Big Crunch, Bounce or vacuum decay? Steven Strogatz speaks with theoretical cosmologist Katie Mack about the five ways that scientists think the universe could come to an end.

How Isaac Newton Discovered the Binomial Power Series

August 31, 2022

Rethinking questions and chasing patterns led Newton to find the connection between curves and infinite sums.

Why and How Do We Dream?

August 24, 2022

Dreams are subjective, but there are ways to peer into the minds of people while they are dreaming. Steven Strogatz speaks with sleep researcher Antonio Zadra about how new experimental methods have changed our understanding of dreams.

What Is Quantum Field Theory and Why Is It Incomplete?

August 10, 2022

Quantum field theory may be the most successful scientific theory of all time, but there’s reason to think it’s missing something. Steven Strogatz speaks with theoretical physicist David Tong about this enigmatic theory.

Why Do We Get Old, and Can Aging Be Reversed?

July 27, 2022

Everybody gets older, but not everyone ages in the same way. In this episode, Steven Strogatz speaks with Judith Campisi and Dena Dubal, two biomedical researchers who study the aging process.

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