Latest Articles

Brain’s ‘Background Noise’ May Explain Value of Shock Therapy

March 18, 2024

Electroconvulsive therapy is highly effective in treating major depressive disorder, but no one knows why it works. New research suggests it may restore balance between excitation and inhibition in the brain.

Swirling Forces, Crushing Pressures Measured in the Proton

March 14, 2024

Long-anticipated experiments that use light to mimic gravity are revealing the distribution of energies, forces and pressures inside a subatomic particle for the first time.

What Is Quantum Teleportation?

March 14, 2024

Teleporting people through space is still science fiction. But quantum teleportation is dramatically different and entirely real. In this episode, Janna Levin interviews the theoretical physicist John Preskill about teleporting bits and the promise of quantum technology.

Q&A

‘The Rest of the World Disappears’: Claire Voisin on Mathematical Creativity

March 13, 2024

The recipient of the 2024 Crafoord Prize in Mathematics discusses math as art, math as language, and math as abstract thought.

Physicists Finally Find a Problem That Only Quantum Computers Can Do

March 12, 2024

Researchers have shown that a problem relating to the energy of a quantum system is easy for quantum computers but hard for classical ones.

Tiny Tweaks to Neurons Can Rewire Animal Motion

March 11, 2024

Altering a protein in the neurons that coordinate a rattlesnake’s movement made a slow slither neuron more like a speedy rattle neuron, showing one way evolution can generate new ways of moving.

New Breakthrough Brings Matrix Multiplication Closer to Ideal

March 7, 2024

By eliminating a hidden inefficiency, computer scientists have come up with a new way to multiply large matrices that’s faster than ever.

Cellular Self-Destruction May Be Ancient. But Why?

March 6, 2024

How did cells evolve a process to end their own lives? Recent research suggests that apoptosis, a form of programmed cell death, first arose billions of years ago in bacteria with a primitive sociality.

Elliptic Curve ‘Murmurations’ Found With AI Take Flight

March 5, 2024

Mathematicians are working to fully explain unusual behaviors uncovered using artificial intelligence.

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