Interviews
Searching for Dark Matter with a Tabletop ‘Quantum Compass’
The physicist Alex Sushkov has developed one of the most targeted magnetic resonance experiments to date with the aim of detecting a hypothetical dark matter particle called the axion.
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Searching for Dark Matter with a Tabletop ‘Quantum Compass’
Can Large Language Models Understand ‘Meaning’?
Understanding Cryptography With These Five Worlds
How a New X-Ray Technique Sees Black Holes
The Math Hiding in Plain Sight
How AI Learns to ‘See’
How to Build a Telescope to See the Early Universe
When Computers Write Proofs, What’s the Point of Mathematicians?
The Cryptographer Working to Protect Computations
A Bet Against Quantum Gravity
The Digital Quest for Quantum Gravity
She Tracks Wildlife eDNA on Everest and in the Andes
The Computer Scientist Taking on Big Tech: Privacy, Lies and AI
One Man’s Mission to Unveil Math’s Beauty
The Deep Mystery at the Heart of Life on Earth
The Man Who Revolutionized Computer Science With Math
A Polymath on Physics, Computer Science, Neuroscience and Literature
How Geometry Shapes Our Lives
The Cosmologist Challenging Einstein
Biology Meets Computer Science
This Astronomer Is Determined to Find Another Earth
The Scientific Problem of Consciousness
How Scientists Finally Finished the Human Genome
The Missing Link in Artificial Intelligence
The Bridge Between Math and Quantum Field Theory
What’s Inside an Exoplanet?
The Theory That Could Rewrite the Laws of Physics
Plate Tectonics: The Mystery of Earth’s Many Faces
Fighting for Equality in Computer Science and Beyond
Why Extraterrestrial Life Might Not Be So Alien
This U.S. Olympiad Coach Has a Unique Approach to Math
How Cosmic Dust Reveals the Secrets of the Universe
Meet One of NASA’s Pioneering Women
What Makes Physics Beautiful, According to a Nobel Prize Winner
New Clues in the Age-Old Question of the ‘Male’ and ‘Female’ Brain
This Computer Scientist’s Streaming Algorithms Shrink Big Data
Inside Dynamical Systems and the Mathematics of Change
The Cosmologist Who Dreams in the Universe’s Dark Threads
The Extraordinary Math Hidden in Everyday Life
The Bold Quest to Launch the Internet in Space
Physicist Jeff Gore’s Statistical Approach to Ecology
Urban Traffic and Complex Systems — Carlos Gershenson
Emily Riehl Is Rewriting Higher Category Theory
Emily Riehl: Mathematician, Musician, Educator
Claudia de Rham: “Gravity Is the Law That Makes Everything Happen”
John Priscu and the Search for Life Under Ice
Liz MacDonald on the strangest auroras in the world.
James Maynard Solves the Hardest Easy Math Problems
Katie Mack Knows How It’s All Going to End
Pincelli Hull Explains What Killed Off the Dinosaurs
Ronald Rivest on Building Better Elections
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Omololu Akin-Ojo: Doing Cutting-Edge Physics in Africa
Nobel Laureate James P. Allison on the Origins of His Cancer Immunotherapy Research
Scarlett Howard on the Lessons of Teaching Bees Math
Barbara Liskov on the Future of Computer Science
Virginia Trimble on How Astronomy Has Changed
Stephanie Wehner Aims to Build a Quantum Internet
Craig Callender on the Trouble With Black Hole Thermodynamics
Iyad Rahwan: Why We Need a Science of Machine Behavior
Carlo Rubbia on the Future of Particle Physics
Greg Johnson on A.I. That Sees Inside Cells
Hod Lipson Builds Consciousness Into a Robot
Lee Smolin on the Impossibility of Studying the Universe
Amie Wilkinson on the Mathematics of Change
Edward O. Wilson on the Evolution of Social Behaviors
Jim Gunn on Building Astronomical Instruments
Ecologist Jennifer Dunne on Humans’ Place in Food Webs
CRISPR Pioneer Jennifer Doudna on Its Research Promise
Priyamvada Natarajan: How Black Holes Shape Galaxies
Carolina Araujo on Supporting Women in Mathematics
Been Kim: A New Approach to Understanding How Machines Think
Meenakshi Wadhwa on Meteorites and the Solar System
Martin Rees on the Future of Science and Humanity
Why Different Parts of a Coffee Mug Produce Different Pitches
Valeria Pettorino on Learning About Dark Energy With the Euclid Satellite
Mario Jurić on How Astronomy Is Changing
Renee Reijo Pera on the Importance of Timing in Embryo Development
Tomas Bohr on Performing the Double-Slit Experiment with Bouncing Droplets
Rosaly Lopes on Volcanoes Throughout the Solar System
Cohl Furey on the Octonions and Particle Physics
Jessica Whited on Limb Regeneration and the Axolotl Genome
Carina Curto on How Physicists Can Think About Neuroscience
Lisa Manning on the Dynamics of Glasses and Embryos
Michela Massimi: Defending the Philosophy of Science
Donald Richards: A Revealer of Secrets in the Data of Life and the Universe
Günter Ziegler Seeks God’s Perfect Math Proofs
Barbara Engelhardt on How to Improve Statistical Analyses of Genomes
Daniel Goldman and His Smart Robots
Gil Kalai: Why Quantum Computers Won’t Work
Erich Jarvis on Theories About the Origin of Vocal Learning
Ed Boyden on the Promise of Expansion Microscopy
Richard Schwartz: In Praise of Simple Problems
Corina Tarnita: First Understand Nature’s Rules
Minhyong Kim: Connecting Number Theory to Physics
Federico Ardila: A Mathematician Who Dances to the Joys and Sorrows of Discovery
Michael Assis: The Atomic Theory of Origami
Rebecca Goldin: Why Math Is the Best Way to Make Sense of the World
Nigel Goldenfeld: Seeing Emergent Physics Behind Evolution
Neil Johnson: A Physicist Who Models ISIS and the Alt-Right
Svitlana Mayboroda: Taming Rogue Waves
Jay Pasachoff: Eclipse Hunter Reveals the Science That Can Only Be Done in the Dark
Andrea Ghez: Black-Hole Hunter Takes Aim at Einstein
Jessica Flack: How Nature Solves Problems Through Computation
Purvesh Khatri: More Data — the Dirtier the Better
Tim Maudlin: A Defense of the Reality of Time
John Novembre: A Map of Human History, Hidden in DNA
Sharon Glotzer: ‘Digital Alchemist’ Seeks Rules of Emergence
Sylvia Serfaty: In Mathematics, ‘You Cannot Be Lied To’
Francis Su: Math and the Good Life
Francis Su: Math Is for Everybody
Marcus Feldman: In Search of Actions That Alter Evolution
Elena Aprile: In the Deep, a Drive to Find Dark Matter
Janet Conrad: On a Hunt for a Ghost of a Particle
Erik Verlinde: The Case Against Dark Matter
Cynthia Dwork: How to Force Our Machines to Play Fair
Richard Lenski: A Conductor of Evolution’s Subtle Symphony
Michael Costanzo: Giant Genetic Map Reveals Life’s Hidden Links
Peter and Rosemary Grant: Watching Evolution Happen in Two Lifetimes
Tracy Slatyer: A Seeker of Dark Matter’s Hidden Light
Miranda Cheng: A Moonshine Master Toys With String Theory
Suchitra Sebastian: An Explorer of Quantum Borderlands
Ken Ono: A Life Inspired by an Unexpected Genius
Janna Levin on Science and Culture
Tiny Tests Seek the Universe’s Big Mysteries
David Moore: Tabletop Physics
The Evolutionary Argument Against Reality
David Deamer: How We’re Studying the Origins of Life
Michael Atiyah’s Imaginative State of Mind
Leslie Valiant: Searching for the Algorithms Underlying Life
Richard Dawid: Why Trust a Theory?
Christoph Adami: The Information Theory of Life
Joan Strassmann: The Woman Who Stared at Wasps
Gabriela González: Searching the Sky for the Wobbles of Gravity
Nima Arkani-Hamed’s Visions of Future Physics
Nancy Moran: An Explorer of Life’s Deepest Partnerships
James Bullock: The Case for Complex Dark Matter
Hiranya Peiris: How to Test If We Live in a Multiverse
Alan Guth: How Many Two-Headed Cows in a Multiverse?
A ‘Rebel’ Without a Ph.D.
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A Polymath on Physics, Computer Science, Neuroscience and Literature
Vijay Balasubramanian discusses the connections he sees between physics, computer science, neuroscience and literature and the humanities.
Steven Strogatz’s Secrets of Math Communication
Steven Strogatz — the acclaimed mathematician and author — hosts the new Quanta Magazine podcast “The Joy of Why.” On March 18, 2022, he joined Quanta editor Thomas Lin for a Simons Foundation Presents conversation about teaching, writing and podcasting.
The Mechanical Secret of a Brainless Animal
For years, a pair of scientists have studied how a simple multicellular animal called Trichoplax coordinates its complex behavior without neurons or muscles. Their work shows that mechanical interactions alone can explain how the organism moves, seeks food and reproduces.
How Geometry Shapes Our Lives
Jordan Ellenberg, a mathematician at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, enjoys studying the math underlying everyday phenomena. “Mathematics is part of the creative world,” Ellenberg says. “We create things all the time.”
The Cosmologist Challenging Einstein
Celia Escamilla-Rivera discusses how she is using the tools of precision cosmology to hunt for a theory of gravity that incorporates dark energy more naturally than general relativity does.
2021’s Biggest Breakthroughs in Math and Computer Science
It was a big year. Researchers found a way to idealize deep neural networks using kernel machines—an important step toward opening these black boxes. There were major developments toward an answer about the nature of infinity. And a mathematician finally managed to model quantum gravity.
2021’s Biggest Breakthroughs in Physics
It was a big year. Fermilab discovered possible evidence of new physics with the muon G-2 experiment. Physicists created a time crystal, a new phase of matter that appears to violate one of nature’s most cherished laws. And we got a glimpse of an enormous pair of bubbles towering over the Milky Way.
2021’s Biggest Breakthroughs in Biology
A paradigm shift in how we think about the functions of the human brain. A long-awaited genetic sequence of Rafflesia arnoldii, the strangest flower in the world. A revelation in sleep science. These are some of the year’s biggest discoveries in neuroscience and other areas of biology.
How NASA’s Webb Telescope Will Transform Our Place in the Universe
The James Webb Space Telescope is like nothing ever launched into space. It could explore the universe’s very first stars, uncover evidence of extraterrestrial life — or literally hit a snag and become worthless.