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Space-Time: The Biggest Problem in Physics

What is the deepest level of reality? In this Quanta explainer, Vijay Balasubramanian, a physicist at the University of Pennsylvania, takes us on a journey through space-time to investigate what it’s made of, why it’s failing us, and where physics can go next.


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2022’s Biggest Breakthroughs in Math

December 22, 2022

In 2022, mathematicians solved a centuries-old geometry question, proved the best way to minimize the surface area of clusters of up to five bubbles and proved a sweeping statement about how structure emerges in random sets and graphs.

Wormhole in the Lab

November 30, 2022

Wormholes were first envisioned almost a century ago, but it would take a number of theoretical leaps and a “crazy” team of experimentalists to build one on a quantum computer.

The High Schooler Who Solved a Prime Number Theorem

October 13, 2022

Daniel Larsen wouldn’t let go of an old question about Carmichael numbers. “It was just stubbornness on my part,” he said.

One Man’s Mission to Unveil Math’s Beauty

September 13, 2022

Richard Rusczyk, founder of Art of Problem Solving, discusses how to bring out the joy, creativity and beauty in math.

How Two Physicists Unlocked the Secrets of Two Dimensions

August 16, 2022

Condensed matter physics is the most active field of contemporary physics and has yielded some of the biggest breakthroughs of the past century.  Now for the first time, Jie Shan and Fai Mak, a husband-and-wife team at Cornell University, have figured out a way to create artificial atoms in the lab, opening the door to a new era in research.

The Deep Mystery at the Heart of Life on Earth

August 8, 2022

As an evolutionary biochemist at University College London, Nick Lane explores the deep mystery of how life evolved on Earth. His hypothesis that life started with primitive metabolic reactions in deep-sea hydrothermal vents illuminates the outsized role that energy may have played in shaping evolution.

The Biggest Project in Modern Mathematics

June 1, 2022

Rutgers University mathematician Alex Kontorovich takes us on a journey through the continents of mathematics to learn about the awe-inspiring symmetries at the heart of the Langlands program.

Inside the Big Reveal of the Milky Way’s Supermassive Black Hole

May 19, 2022

Astrophysicists and data scientists on the Event Horizon Telescope team give the backstory behind their new image of Sagittarius A*, the Milky Way’s central supermassive black hole.

The Man Who Revolutionized Computer Science With Math

May 17, 2022

Leslie Lamport talks about the importance of programming instead of coding, how he developed distributed systems and his favorite algorithm.