Quanta Science Podcast

To efficiently analyze a firehose of data, scientists first have to break big numbers into bits. The post Best-Ever Algorithm Found for Huge Streams of Data first appeared on Quanta Magazine

Physicists theorize that a new “traversable” kind of wormhole could resolve a baffling paradox and rescue information that falls into black holes. The post Newfound Wormhole Allows Information to Escape Black Holes first appeared on Quanta Magazine

Researchers are building a case that long before the nervous system works, the brain sends crucial bioelectric signals to guide the growth of embryonic tissues. The post Brainless Embryos Suggest Bioelectricity Guides Growth first appeared on Quanta Magazine

A new idea is helping to explain the puzzling success of today’s artificial-intelligence algorithms — and might also explain how human brains learn. The post New Theory Cracks Open the Black Box of Deep Learning first appeared on Quanta Magazine

Computer scientists are finding ways to code curiosity into intelligent machines. The post Clever Machines Learn How to Be Curious first appeared on Quanta Magazine

The mathematician Svitlana Mayboroda and collaborators have figured out how to predict the behavior of electrons — a mathematical discovery that could have immediate practical effects. The post Mathematicians Tame Rogue Waves, Lighting Up Future of LEDs first appeared on Quanta Magazine

Hybrids, once treated as biological misfits, play a vital role in the evolution of many animal species. Now conservationists are trying to reconcile that truth with policies. The post Interspecies Hybrids Play a Vital Role in Evolution first appeared on Quanta Magazine

Textbooks say that the moon was formed after a Mars-size mass smashed the young Earth. But new evidence has cast doubt on that story, leaving researchers to dream up new ways to get a giant rock into orbit. The post What Made the Moon? New Ideas Try to Rescue a Troubled Theory first appeared on Quanta Magazine

John Nash’s notion of equilibrium is ubiquitous in economic theory, but a new study shows that it is often impossible to reach efficiently. The post In Game Theory, No Clear Path to Equilibrium first appeared on Quanta Magazine

A French mathematician has completed the classification of all convex pentagons, and therefore all convex polygons, that tile the plane. The post Pentagon Tiling Proof Solves Century-Old Math Problem first appeared on Quanta Magazine

If gut bacteria can sway their hosts to be selfless, it could answer a riddle that goes back to Darwin. The post Can Microbes Encourage Altruism? first appeared on Quanta Magazine

A different kind of dark matter could help to resolve an old celestial conundrum. The post Dark Matter Recipe Calls for One Part Superfluid first appeared on Quanta Magazine

The three young friends who devised the “happy ending” problem would become some of the most influential mathematicians of the 20th century, but were never able to solve their own puzzle. Now it receives its first big breakthrough. The post A Puzzle of Clever Connections Nears a Happy End first appeared on Quanta Magazine

Spiders appear to offload cognitive tasks to their webs, making them one of a number of species with a mind that isn’t fully confined within the head. The post The Thoughts of a Spiderweb first appeared on Quanta Magazine

Powerful new quantitative tools are now available to combat partisan bias in the drawing of voting districts. The post How to Quantify (and Fight) Gerrymandering first appeared on Quanta Magazine

When a German retiree proved a famous long-standing mathematical conjecture, the response was underwhelming. The post A Long-Sought Proof, Found and Almost Lost first appeared on Quanta Magazine

For decades, researchers believed that violent supernovas forged gold and other heavy elements. But many now argue for a different cosmic quarry. The post A New Blast May Have Forged Cosmic Gold first appeared on Quanta Magazine

The ancient creatures who first crawled onto land may have been lured by the informational benefit that comes from seeing through air. The post Why Did Life Move to Land? For the View first appeared on Quanta Magazine

For centuries, mathematicians tried to solve problems by adding new values to the usual numbers. Now they’re investigating the unintended consequences of that tinkering. The post New Number Systems Seek Their Lost Primes first appeared on Quanta Magazine

Powerful new experiments have uncovered some of the molecular underpinnings of sleep. The post Researchers Tap a Sleep Switch in the Brain first appeared on Quanta Magazine