Explainers

Richard Feynman’s path integral is both a powerful prediction machine and a philosophy about how the world is. But physicists are still struggling to figure out how to use it, and what it means.

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.

Lattice cryptography promises to protect secrets from the attacks of far-future quantum computers.

A growing catalog of huge but dim galaxies such as Dragonfly 44 is forcing astronomers to invent new theories of galactic evolution.

Zero-knowledge proofs allow researchers to prove their knowledge without divulging the knowledge itself.

Even though we’ve learned a lot about this relative of smallpox, some mysteries remain due to a lack of political will.

A simple geometric idea has been used to power advances in information theory, cryptography and even blockchain technology.

Robots can surpass the limitations on how high and far animals can jump, but their success only underscores nature’s ingenuity in making the most of what’s available.