What's up in

Q&A

Latest Articles

Q&A

The Physicist Decoding the Nonbinary Nature of the Subatomic World

January 10, 2025

Inside the proton, quarks and gluons shift and morph their properties in ways that physicists are still struggling to understand. Rithya Kunnawalkam Elayavalli brings to the problem a perspective unlike many of their peers.

Q&A

Mathematical Thinking Isn’t What You Think It Is

November 18, 2024

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

Q&A

He’s Gleaning the Design Rules of Life to Re-Create It

November 4, 2024

Yizhi “Patrick” Cai is coordinating a global effort to write a complete synthetic yeast genome. If he succeeds, the resulting cell will be the artificial life most closely related to humans to date.

Q&A

The Computer Scientist Who Builds Big Pictures From Small Details

October 7, 2024

To better understand machine learning algorithms, Lenka Zdeborová treats them like physical materials.

A man in variable-tint glasses leans on a stone balustrade overlooking a lawn at the University of Edinburgh.

Can Space-Time Be Saved?

Curious connections between physics and math suggest to Latham Boyle that space-time may survive the jump to the next theory of reality.

Q&A

The Logic That Must Lie Behind a New Physics

September 25, 2024

The philosopher Karen Crowther digs into how the space-time fabric could possibly emerge from something non-spatiotemporal.

Q&A

Perplexing the Web, One Probability Puzzle at a Time

August 29, 2024

The mathematician Daniel Litt has driven social media users to distraction with a series of simple-seeming but counterintuitive probability puzzles.

Q&A

With ‘Digital Twins,’ The Doctor Will See You Now

July 26, 2024

By creating digital twins of patients, Amanda Randles wants to bring unprecedented precision to medical forecasts.

He Seeks Mystery Magnetic Fields With His Quantum Compass

May 17, 2024

Alex Sushkov is updating an old technology with new quantum tricks in hopes of sensing the magnetic influence of dark matter.

Get highlights of the most important news delivered to your email inbox