Explainers

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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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Richard Dawid: Why Trust a Theory?

December 16, 2015

Richard Dawid discusses the fine line between science and speculation.

Christoph Adami: The Information Theory of Life

November 19, 2015

Christoph Adami explains how information theory can explain the persistence of life.

Joan Strassmann: The Woman Who Stared at Wasps

November 5, 2015

Joan Strassmann explains the benefits of studying social amoebas.

Gabriela González: Searching the Sky for the Wobbles of Gravity

October 22, 2015

Gabriela González explains how to measure black-hole collisions using gravitational waves.

What Is a Species?

September 24, 2015

David Kaplan explains why a simple definition of “species” is hard to come by.

Nima Arkani-Hamed’s Visions of Future Physics

September 22, 2015

Nima Arkani-Hamed makes his “big-picture” case for building a 100-TeV particle collider.

Nancy Moran: An Explorer of Life’s Deepest Partnerships

September 17, 2015

Nancy Moran explains how colony collapse disorder led her to study the bacteria that live in the guts of bees.

James Bullock: The Case for Complex Dark Matter

August 20, 2015

James Bullock explains why dark matter might be more complicated than astronomers have assumed.

How Does Symmetry Shape Nature’s Laws?

August 13, 2015

David Kaplan explains how the search for hidden symmetries leads to discoveries like the Higgs boson.