The Quanta Podcast

Even Synthetic Life Forms With a Tiny Genome Can Evolve

10 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

By watching “minimal” cells regain the fitness they lost, researchers are testing whether a genome can be too simple to evolve. Read more at Quant...

Selfish, Virus-Like DNA Can Carry Genes Between Species

20 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Genetic elements called Mavericks that have some viral features could be responsible for the large-scale smuggling of DNA between species. Read more a...

Exoplanets Could Help Us Learn How Planets Make Magnetism

06 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

New observations of a faraway rocky world that might have its own magnetic field could help astronomers understand the seemingly haphazard magnetic fi...

To Move Fast, Quantum Maze Solvers Must Forget the Past

21 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Quantum algorithms can find their way out of mazes exponentially faster than classical ones, at the cost of forgetting the paths they took. A new resu...

Underground Cells Make 'Dark Oxygen' Without Light

08 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In some deep subterranean aquifers, cells have a chemical trick for making oxygen that could sustain whole underground ecosystems. Read more at Quanta...

How the Brain Protects Itself From Blood-Borne Threats

25 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

To buffer the brain against menaces in the blood, a dynamic, multi-tiered system of protection is built into the brain’s blood vessels. Read more at...

JWST Spots Giant Black Holes All Over the Early Universe

11 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Giant black holes were supposed to be bit players in the early cosmic story. But recent James Webb Space Telescope observations are finding an unexpec...

Is It Real or Imagined? How Your Brain Tells the Difference.

27 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

New experiments show that the brain distinguishes between perceived and imagined mental images by checking whether they cross a “reality threshold.”...

Chatbots Don't Know What Stuff Isn't

13 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Today’s language models are more sophisticated than ever, but they still struggle with the concept of negation. That’s unlikely to change anytime ...

Global Microbiome Study Gives New View of Shared Health Risks

30 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The most comprehensive survey of how we share our microbiomes suggests a new way of thinking about the risks of developing some diseases that aren’t...

Physicists Use Quantum Mechanics to Pull Energy out of Nothing

16 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The quantum energy teleportation protocol was proposed in 2008 and largely ignored. Now two independent experiments have shown that it works. Read mor...

How Loneliness Reshapes the Brain

02 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Feelings of loneliness prompt changes in the brain that further isolate people from social contact. Read more at QuantaMagazine.org. Music is “Slow ...

Gene Expression in Neurons Solves a Brain Evolution Puzzle

19 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The neocortex of our brain is the seat of our intellect. New data suggests that mammals created it with new types of cells that they developed only af...

Machines Learn Better if We Teach Them the Basics

05 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

A wave of research improves reinforcement learning algorithms by pre-training them as if they were human. Read more at QuantaMagazine.org. Music is “...

The Cause of Depression Is Probably Not What You Think

21 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Depression has often been blamed on low levels of serotonin in the brain. That answer is insufficient, but alternatives are coming into view and chang...

Ants Live 10 Times Longer by Altering Their Insulin Responses

07 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Queen ants live far longer than genetically identical workers. Researchers are learning what their longevity secrets could mean for aging in other spe...

How the Brain Distinguishes Memories From Perceptions

24 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The neural representations of a perceived image and the memory of it are almost the same. New work shows how and why they are different. Read more at ...

What Causes Alzheimer's? Scientists Are Rethinking the Answer. (Pt 2)

10 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

If plaques of amyloid protein in the brain aren’t the root cause of Alzheimer’s disease, what is? Researchers investigating alternative possibilit...

What Causes Alzheimer's? Scientists Are Rethinking the Answer. (Pt. 1)

26 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

After decades in the shadow of the reigning model for Alzheimer’s disease, alternative explanations are finally getting the attention they deserve. ...

Astronomers Say They Have Spotted the Universe's First Stars

12 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Theory has it that “Population III” stars brought light to the cosmos. The James Webb Space Telescope may have just glimpsed them. Read more at Qu...

New Chip Expands the Possibilities for AI

29 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

An energy-efficient chip called NeuRRAM fixes an old design flaw to run large-scale AI algorithms on smaller devices, reaching the same accuracy as wa...

How Supergenes Fuel Evolution Despite Harmful Mutations

15 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Supergenes that lock inherited traits together are widespread in nature. Recent work shows that their blend of genetic benefits and risks for species ...

Brightest-Ever Space Explosion Reveals Possible Hints of Dark Matter

01 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

A recent gamma-ray burst known as the BOAT — “brightest of all time” — appears to have produced a high-energy particle that shouldn’t exist....

Inside the Proton, the 'Most Complicated Thing You Could Possibly Imagine'

16 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The positively charged particle at the heart of the atom is an object of unspeakable complexity, one that changes its appearance depending on how it i...

High-Temperature Superconductivity Understood at Last

01 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

A new atomic-scale experiment all but settles the origin of the strong form of superconductivity seen in cuprate crystals, confirming a 35-year-old th...

Record-Breaking Robot Highlights How Animals Excel at Jumping

18 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Robots can surpass the limitations on how high and far animals can jump, but their success only underscores nature’s ingenuity in making the most of...

A Good Memory or a Bad One? One Brain Molecule Decides.

04 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

When the brain encodes memories as positive or negative, one molecule determines which way they will go. Read more at QuantaMagazine.org. Music is “...

Old Problem About Mathematical Curves Falls to Young Couple

21 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Eric Larson and Isabel Vogt have solved the interpolation problem — a centuries-old question about some of the most basic objects in geometry. Some ...

How the Physics of Nothing Underlies Everything

07 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The key to understanding the origin and fate of the universe may be a more complete understanding of the vacuum. Read more at QuantaMagazine.org. Musi...

Geometric Analysis Reveals How Birds Mastered Flight

23 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Partnerships between engineers and biologists have begun to reveal how birds evolved their superb maneuverability. Read more at QuantaMagazine.org. Mu...

How the 'Diamond of the Plant World' Helped Land Plants Evolve

09 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Structural studies of the robust material called sporopollenin reveal how it made plants hardy enough to reproduce on dry land. Read more at QuantaMag...

Protein Blobs Linked to Alzheimer's Affect Aging in All Cells

26 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Protein buildups like those seen around neurons in Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and other brain diseases occur in all aging cells, a new study suggest...

The Brain Has a 'Low-Power Mode' That Blunts Our Senses

12 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Neuroscientists uncovered an energy-saving mode in vision-system neurons that works at the cost of being able to see fine-grained details. Read more a...

Researchers Achieve 'Absurdly Fast' Algorithm for Network Flow

28 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Computer scientists can now solve a decades-old problem in practically the time it takes to write it down. Read more at quantamagazine.org. Music is “...

Graduate Student's Side Project Proves Prime Number Conjecture

14 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Jared Duker Lichtman, 26, has proved a longstanding conjecture relating prime numbers to a broad class of “primitive” sets. To his adviser, it cam...

Physicists Rewrite the Fundamental Law That Leads to Disorder

31 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The second law of thermodynamics is among the most sacred in all of science, but it has always rested on 19th century arguments about probability. New...

Secrets of the Moon's Permanent Shadows Are Coming to Light

17 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Robots are about to venture into the sunless depths of lunar craters to investigate ancient water ice trapped there, while remote studies find hints a...

Deep Learning Poised to 'Blow Up' Famed Fluid Equations

03 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

For centuries, mathematicians have tried to prove that Euler’s fluid equations can produce nonsensical answers. A new approach to machine learning h...

Researchers Identify 'Master Problem' Underlying All Cryptography

19 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The existence of secure cryptography depends on one of the oldest questions in computational complexity. Read more at QuantaMagazine.org. Music is “...

Brain Chemical Helps Signal to Neurons When to Start a Movement

06 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Dopamine, a neurochemical often associated with reward behavior, also seems to help organize precisely when the brain initiates movements. It’s the ...

This Animal's Behavior Is Mechanically Programmed

22 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Biomechanical interactions, rather than neurons, control the movements of one of the simplest animals. The discovery offers a glimpse into how animal ...

Tiny Galaxies Reveal Secrets of Supermassive Black Holes

08 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Dwarf galaxies weren’t supposed to have big black holes. Their surprise discovery has revealed clues about how the universe’s biggest black holes ...

A Deepening Crisis Forces Physicists to Rethink Structure of Nature's Laws

25 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Physicists are reexamining a longstanding assumption: that big stuff consists of smaller stuff. The post A Deepening Crisis Forces Physicists to Rethi...

New Map of Meaning in the Brain Changes Ideas About Memory

11 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Researchers have mapped hundreds of semantic categories to the tiny bits of the cortex that represent them in our thoughts and perceptions. What they ...

Machine Learning Gets a Quantum Speedup

27 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Two teams have shown how quantum approaches can solve problems faster than classical computers, bringing physics and computer science closer together....

Secrets of Early Animal Evolution Revealed by Chromosome 'Tectonics'

14 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

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 Secre...

A Solution to the Faint-Sun Paradox Reveals a Narrow Window for Life

31 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

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 ...

Evolution 'Landscapes' Predict What's Next for COVID Virus

18 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Studies that map the adaptive value of viral mutations hint at how the COVID-19 pandemic might progress next. The post Evolution ‘Landscapes’ Pred...

Flying Fish and Aquarium Pets Yield Secrets of Evolution

03 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

New studies reveal the ancient, shared genetic “grammar” underpinning the diverse evolution of fish fins and tetrapod limbs. The post Flying Fish ...

Mathematicians Outwit Hidden Number Conspiracy

17 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

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 difficul...

Mathematician Hurls Structure and Disorder Into Century-Old Problem

03 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

A new paper shows how to create longer disordered strings than mathematicians had thought possible, proving that a well-known recent conjecture is “...

Researchers Defeat Randomness to Create Ideal Code

20 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

By carefully constructing a multidimensional and well-connected graph, a team of researchers has finally created a long-sought locally testable code t...

The Brain Processes Speech in Parallel With Other Sounds

06 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Scientists thought that the brain’s hearing centers might just process speech along with other sounds. But new work suggests that speech gets some s...

Biologists Rethink the Logic Behind Cells' Molecular Signals

23 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The molecular signaling systems of complex cells are nothing like simple electronic circuits. The logic governing their operation is riotously complex...

A Massive Subterranean ‘Tree’ Is Moving Magma to Earth’s Surface

09 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Deep in the mantle, a branching plume of intensely hot material appears to be the engine powering vast volcanic activity. The post A Massive Subterran...

One Lab’s Quest to Build Space-Time Out of Quantum Particles

24 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

For over two decades, physicists have pondered how the fabric of space-time may emerge from some kind of quantum entanglement. In Monika Schleier-Smit...

The New Thermodynamic Understanding of Clocks

11 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Investigations of the simplest possible clocks have revealed their fundamental limitations — as well as insights into the nature of time itself. The...

The Brain Doesn’t Think the Way You Think It Does

28 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Familiar categories of mental functions such as perception, memory and attention reflect our experience of ourselves, but they are misleading about ho...

Eternal Change for No Energy: A Time Crystal Finally Made Real

14 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Like a perpetual motion machine, a time crystal forever cycles between states without consuming energy. Physicists claim to have built this new phase ...

How Many Numbers Exist? Infinity Proof Moves Math Closer to an Answer.

30 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

For 50 years, mathematicians have believed that the total number of real numbers is unknowable. A new proof suggests otherwise. The post How Many Numb...

DNA Has Four Bases. Some Viruses Swap in a Fifth.

16 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

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 ...

The Mystery at the Heart of Physics That Only Math Can Solve

02 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The accelerating effort to understand the mathematics of quantum field theory will have profound consequences for both math and physics. The post The ...

Radioactivity May Fuel Life Deep Underground and Inside Other Worlds

19 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

New work suggests that the radiolytic splitting of water supports giant subsurface ecosystems of life on Earth — and could do it elsewhere, too. The...

DNA of Giant ‘Corpse Flower’ Parasite Surprises Biologists

05 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The bizarre genome of the world’s most mysterious flowering plants shows how far parasites will go in stealing, deleting and duplicating DNA. The po...

Scientists Pin Down When Earth’s Crust Cracked, Then Came to Life

22 Jul 2021

Contributed by Lukas

New data indicating that Earth’s surface broke up about 3.2 billion years ago helps clarify how plate tectonics drove the evolution of complex life....

A New Twist Reveals Superconductivity’s Secrets

08 Jul 2021

Contributed by Lukas

An unexpected superconductor was beginning to look like a fluke, but a new theory and a second discovery have revealed that emergent quasiparticles ma...

Statistics Postdoc Tames Decades-Old Geometry Problem

24 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

To the surprise of experts in the field, a postdoctoral statistician has solved one of the most important problems in high-dimensional convex geometry...

Mathematicians Set Numbers in Motion to Unlock Their Secrets

10 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

A new proof demonstrates the power of arithmetic dynamics, an emerging discipline that combines insights from number theory and dynamical systems. The...

Artificial Neural Nets Finally Yield Clues to How Brains Learn

27 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The learning algorithm that enables the runaway success of deep neural networks doesn’t work in biological brains, but researchers are finding alter...

Brain’s ‘Background Noise’ May Hold Clues to Persistent Mysteries

13 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

By digging out signals hidden within the brain’s electrical chatter, scientists are getting new insights into sleep, aging and more. The post Brain’...

Rumbles on Mars Raise Hopes of Underground Magma Flows

29 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Small and cold, Mars has long been considered a dead planet. But a series of recent discoveries has forced scientists to rethink how recently its insi...

Mathematicians Resurrect Hilbert’s 13th Problem

15 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Long considered solved, David Hilbert’s question about seventh-degree polynomials is leading researchers to a new web of mathematical connections. T...

A Newfound Source of Cellular Order in the Chemistry of Life

01 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Inside cells, droplets of biomolecules called condensates merge, divide and dissolve. Their dance may regulate vital processes. The post A Newfound So...

The Mystery of Mistletoe’s Missing Genes

18 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Mistletoes have all but shut down the powerhouses of their cells. Scientists are still trying to understand the plants’ unorthodox survival strategy...

The New History of the Milky Way

04 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Over the past two years, astronomers have rewritten the story of our galaxy. The post The New History of the Milky Way first appeared on Quanta Magazi...

Scientists Uncover the Universal Geometry of Geology

18 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

An exercise in pure mathematics has led to a wide-ranging theory of how the world comes together. The post Scientists Uncover the Universal Geometry o...

The Most Famous Paradox in Physics Nears Its End

04 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

In a landmark series of calculations, physicists have proved that black holes can shed information. The post The Most Famous Paradox in Physics Nears ...

Quantum Tunnels Show How Particles Can Break the Speed of Light

21 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Recent experiments show that particles should be able to go faster than light when they quantum mechanically “tunnel” through walls. The post Quan...

Computer Scientists Break Traveling Salesperson Record

07 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

After 44 years, there’s finally a better way to find approximate solutions to the notoriously difficult traveling salesperson problem. The post Comp...

Mitochondria May Hold Keys to Anxiety and Mental Health

16 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Research hints that the energy-generating organelles of cells may play a surprisingly pivotal role in mediating anxiety and depression. The post Mitoc...

The Hidden Magnetic Universe Begins to Come Into View

03 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Astronomers are discovering that magnetic fields permeate much of the cosmos. If these fields date back to the Big Bang, they could solve a major cosm...

Graduate Student Solves Decades-Old Conway Knot Problem

19 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

It took Lisa Piccirillo less than a week to answer a long-standing question about a strange knot discovered over half a century ago by the legendary J...

The Grand Unified Theory of Rogue Waves

05 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Rogue waves — enigmatic giants of the sea — were thought to be caused by two different mechanisms. But a new idea that borrows from the hinterland...

Hidden Computational Power Found in the Arms of Neurons

22 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

The dendritic arms of some human neurons can perform logic operations that once seemed to require whole neural networks. The post Hidden Computational...

Neutrinos Lead to Unexpected Discovery in Basic Math

08 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Three physicists stumbled across an unexpected relationship between some of the most ubiquitous objects in math. The post Neutrinos Lead to Unexpected...

Machines Beat Humans on a Reading Test. But Do They Understand?

24 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

A tool known as BERT can now beat humans on advanced reading-comprehension tests. But it's also revealed how far AI has to go. The post Machines Beat ...

How Jurassic Plankton Stole Control of the Ocean’s Chemistry

10 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Only 170 million years ago, new plankton evolved. Their demand for carbon and calcium permanently transformed the seas as homes for life. The post How...

To Pay Attention, the Brain Uses Filters, Not a Spotlight

27 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

A brain circuit that suppresses distracting sensory information holds important clues about attention and other cognitive processes. The post To Pay A...

Fossil DNA Reveals New Twists in Modern Human Origins

13 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Modern humans and more ancient hominins interbred many times throughout Eurasia and Africa, and the genetic flow went both ways. The post Fossil DNA R...

For Embryo's Cells, Size Can Determine Fate

30 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Modeling suggests that many embryonic cells commit to a developmental fate when they become too small to divide unevenly anymore. The post For Embryo’...

Scientists Debate the Origin of Cell Types in the First Animals

16 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Theories about how animals became multicellular are shifting as researchers find greater complexity in our single-celled ancestors. The post Scientist...

Wandering Space Rocks Help Solve Mysteries of Planet Formation

02 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

After an interstellar asteroid shot past the sun, scientists realized that there’s probably a lot of itinerant rocks out there. The post Wandering S...

Random Surfaces Hide an Intricate Order

18 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Mathematicians have proved that a random process applied to a random surface will yield consistent patterns. The post Random Surfaces Hide an Intricat...

Where We See Shapes, AI Sees Textures

04 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

To researchers’ surprise, deep learning vision algorithms often fail at classifying images because they mostly take cues from textures, not shapes. ...

What’s in a Name? Taxonomy Problems Vex Biologists

21 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Researchers struggle to incorporate ongoing evolutionary discoveries into an animal classification scheme older than Darwin. The post What’s in a Na...

Bacterial Complexity Revises Ideas About ‘Which Came First?’

07 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Contrary to popular belief, bacteria have organelles too. Scientists are now studying them for insights into how complex cells evolved. The post Bacte...

Ancient DNA Yields Snapshots of Vanished Ecosystems

23 Apr 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Surviving fragments of genetic material preserved in sediments allow scientists to see the full diversity of past life — even microbes. The post Anc...

Computer Scientists Expand the Frontier of Verifiable Knowledge

09 Apr 2020

Contributed by Lukas

The universe of problems that a computer can check has grown. The researchers’ secret ingredient? Quantum entanglement. The post Computer Scientists...

The Hidden Heroines of Chaos

26 Mar 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Two women programmers played a pivotal role in the birth of chaos theory. Their previously untold story illustrates the changing status of computation...

Heat-Loving Microbes, Once Dormant, Thrive Over Decades-Old Fire

12 Mar 2020

Contributed by Lukas

In harsh ecosystems around the world, microbiologists are finding evidence that “microbial seed banks” protect biodiversity from changing conditio...