Maggie Miller explains why our intuition about three dimensions breaks down in four, and how she visualizes 4D spaces as a reel of three-dimensional snapshots.

A weekly dispatch exploring the latest news in math and AI...

Podcast Episode · The Quanta Podcast · September 29 · 27m

Scientists reconstructed 500 million years of evolutionary history to reveal which came first: colorful signals or the color vision needed to see them.

Unexpected patterns traveling across the human brain may be reorganizing its activity in real time.

Earth’s climate is chaotic and volatile. Climate change is simple and predictable. How can both be true?

Podcast Episode · The Quanta Podcast · September 29 · 27m

After a long hiatus, the problem, which was likely inspired by juggling, has finally been resolved by a group of young mathematicians.

Half of our genome is made of transposons — snips of DNA that can move and copy themselves. But they’re more than parasites or genetic junk.

Scientists have a history of trying — and failing — to link biology and quantum mechanics. The real connection between them may be in the math.

A $1 million prize awaits anyone who can show where the math of fluid flow breaks down. With specially trained AI systems, researchers have found a slew of new candidates in simpler versions of the problem.

The biggest breakthrough in modern theoretical physics is the discovery that gravity can collapse the dimensions of space. Physicists don’t yet understand the implications.

Podcast Episode · The Quanta Podcast · February 17 · 24m

The biggest breakthrough in modern theoretical physics is the discovery that gravity can collapse the dimensions of space. Physicists don’t yet understand the implications.

A weekly dispatch exploring the latest news in math and AI…

Tensors are instrumental in physics, machine learning and even biology. Einstein once begged a friend to help him understand them, fearing he was going mad. Joseph Howlett explains how they work: https://t.co/OAkmeNPoEl

Scientists have a history of trying — and failing — to link biology and quantum mechanics. The real connection between them may be in the math.

A weekly dispatch exploring the latest news in math and AI…

The brain's astounding cellular diversity and networked complexity could show how to make AI better.

Podcast Episode · The Quanta Podcast · September 22 · 34m

Half of our genome is made of transposons — snips of DNA that can move and copy themselves. But they’re more than parasites or genetic junk.

Hundreds of physicists (and a few journalists) journeyed to Helgoland, the birthplace of quantum mechanics, and grappled with what they have and haven’t learned about reality.

The planet is getting hotter, but one factor in particular makes it hard to tell just how hot it will get. Physicists and computer scientists are racing to solve the problem of clouds.