The Quanta Podcast
Exploring the distant universe, the insides of cells, the abstractions of math, the complexity of information itself, and much more, The Quanta Podcast is a tour of the frontier between the known and the unknown. In each episode, Quanta Magazine Editor-in-Chief Samir Patel speaks with the minds behind the award-winning publication to navigate through some of the most important and mind-expanding questions in science and math. Quanta specifically covers fundamental research — driven by curiosity, discovery and the overwhelming desire to know why and how. Join us every Tuesday for a stimulating conversation about the biggest ideas and the tiniest details.
(If you've been a fan of the Quanta Science Podcast, it will continue here. You'll see those episodes marked as audio edition episodes every two weeks.)
- Update frequency
- every 11 days
- Average duration
- 19 minutes
- Episodes
- 286
- Years Active
- 2015 - 2025
A Deepening Crisis Forces Physicists to Rethink Structure of Nature's Laws
Physicists are reexamining a longstanding assumption: that big stuff consists of smaller stuff.
The post A Deepening Crisis Forces Physicists to Rethink Structure of Nature’s Laws first appeared on Q…
00:40:29 |
Wed 25 May 2022
New Map of Meaning in the Brain Changes Ideas About Memory
Researchers have mapped hundreds of semantic categories to the tiny bits of the cortex that represent them in our thoughts and perceptions. What they discovered might change our view of memory.
The p…
00:19:43 |
Wed 11 May 2022
Machine Learning Gets a Quantum Speedup
Two teams have shown how quantum approaches can solve problems faster than classical computers, bringing physics and computer science closer together.
The post Machine Learning Gets a Quantum Speedup…
00:20:35 |
Wed 27 Apr 2022
Secrets of Early Animal Evolution Revealed by Chromosome 'Tectonics'
Large blocks of genes conserved through hundreds of millions of years of evolution hint at how the first animal chromosomes came to be.
The post Secrets of Early Animal Evolution Revealed by Chromoso…
00:18:23 |
Thu 14 Apr 2022
A Solution to the Faint-Sun Paradox Reveals a Narrow Window for Life
We might have a past faint sun to owe for life’s existence. This has consequences for the possibility of life outside Earth.
The post A Solution to the Faint-Sun Paradox Reveals a Narrow Window for L…
00:25:22 |
Thu 31 Mar 2022
Evolution 'Landscapes' Predict What's Next for COVID Virus
Studies that map the adaptive value of viral mutations hint at how the COVID-19 pandemic might progress next.
The post Evolution ‘Landscapes’ Predict What’s Next for COVID Virus first appeared on Qua…
00:25:30 |
Fri 18 Mar 2022
Flying Fish and Aquarium Pets Yield Secrets of Evolution
New studies reveal the ancient, shared genetic “grammar” underpinning the diverse evolution of fish fins and tetrapod limbs.
The post Flying Fish and Aquarium Pets Yield Secrets of Evolution first ap…
00:17:00 |
Thu 03 Mar 2022
Mathematicians Outwit Hidden Number Conspiracy
Decades ago, a mathematician posed a warmup problem for some of the most difficult questions about prime numbers. It turned out to be just as difficult to solve, until now.
The post Mathematicians Ou…
00:21:30 |
Thu 17 Feb 2022
Mathematician Hurls Structure and Disorder Into Century-Old Problem
A new paper shows how to create longer disordered strings than mathematicians had thought possible, proving that a well-known recent conjecture is “spectacularly wrong.”
The post Mathematician Hurls …
00:17:08 |
Thu 03 Feb 2022
Researchers Defeat Randomness to Create Ideal Code
By carefully constructing a multidimensional and well-connected graph, a team of researchers has finally created a long-sought locally testable code that can immediately betray whether it’s been corr…
00:23:36 |
Thu 20 Jan 2022
The Brain Processes Speech in Parallel With Other Sounds
Scientists thought that the brain’s hearing centers might just process speech along with other sounds. But new work suggests that speech gets some special treatment very early on.
The post The Brain …
00:19:27 |
Thu 06 Jan 2022
Biologists Rethink the Logic Behind Cells' Molecular Signals
The molecular signaling systems of complex cells are nothing like simple electronic circuits. The logic governing their operation is riotously complex — but it has advantages.
The post Biologists Ret…
00:24:54 |
Thu 23 Dec 2021
A Massive Subterranean ‘Tree’ Is Moving Magma to Earth’s Surface
Deep in the mantle, a branching plume of intensely hot material appears to be the engine powering vast volcanic activity.
The post A Massive Subterranean ‘Tree’ Is Moving Magma to Earth’s Surface fir…
00:22:41 |
Thu 09 Dec 2021
One Lab’s Quest to Build Space-Time Out of Quantum Particles
For over two decades, physicists have pondered how the fabric of space-time may emerge from some kind of quantum entanglement. In Monika Schleier-Smith’s lab at Stanford University, the thought exper…
00:21:31 |
Wed 24 Nov 2021
The New Thermodynamic Understanding of Clocks
Investigations of the simplest possible clocks have revealed their fundamental limitations — as well as insights into the nature of time itself.
The post The New Thermodynamic Understanding of Clocks…
00:18:14 |
Thu 11 Nov 2021
The Brain Doesn’t Think the Way You Think It Does
Familiar categories of mental functions such as perception, memory and attention reflect our experience of ourselves, but they are misleading about how the brain works. More revealing approaches are …
00:26:56 |
Thu 28 Oct 2021
Eternal Change for No Energy: A Time Crystal Finally Made Real
Like a perpetual motion machine, a time crystal forever cycles between states without consuming energy. Physicists claim to have built this new phase of matter inside a quantum computer.
00:22:21 |
Thu 14 Oct 2021
How Many Numbers Exist? Infinity Proof Moves Math Closer to an Answer.
For 50 years, mathematicians have believed that the total number of real numbers is unknowable. A new proof suggests otherwise.
The post How Many Numbers Exist? Infinity Proof Moves Math Closer to an…
00:27:44 |
Thu 30 Sep 2021
DNA Has Four Bases. Some Viruses Swap in a Fifth.
The DNA of some viruses doesn’t use the same four nucleotide bases found in all other life. New work shows how this exception is possible and hints that it could be more common than we think.
The pos…
00:15:01 |
Thu 16 Sep 2021
The Mystery at the Heart of Physics That Only Math Can Solve
The accelerating effort to understand the mathematics of quantum field theory will have profound consequences for both math and physics.
The post The Mystery at the Heart of Physics That Only Math Ca…
00:36:48 |
Thu 02 Sep 2021
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