In Theory

Barbara Liskov addresses the challenges that confront computer science.

Virginia Trimble discusses how astronomy has changed over the course of her half-century career.

Wehner discusses the advantages of transmitting qubits rather than bits across a long-distance communication network.

Craig Callender explains why the connection between black holes and thermodynamics is little more than an analogy.

The behavior of algorithms is so complex and surprising that we need to study them as though they were animals in the wild.

Carlo Rubbia explains why he thinks particle physicists should take the next step by building a “Higgs factory.”

Greg Johnson, a computer vision researcher at the Allen Institute for Cell Science, explains how his deep learning vision systems can advance the state of cell biology.

The roboticist Hod Lipson, the director of the Creative Machines Lab at Columbia University, uses robots to explore ancient questions about how people think.

Lee Smolin explores the problem of understanding the universe from the perspective of being inside the universe, as well as the need for physicists to know philosophy.