Samuel Rubio for Quanta Magazine
To better understand machine learning algorithms, Lenka Zdeborová treats them like physical materials.
Three researchers have figured out how to craft a proof that spreads out information while keeping it perfectly secret.
Across the social and biological sciences, statisticians use a technique that leverages randomness to deal with the unknown.
Invisibly to us, insects and other tiny creatures use static electricity to travel, avoid predators, collect pollen and more. New experiments explore how evolution may have influenced this phenomenon.
This special issue of Quanta Magazine explores the ultimate scientific quest: the search for the fundamental nature of reality.
Machines work with words by embedding their relationships with other words in a string of numbers.
Cells across the tree of life can swap short-lived messages encoded by RNA — missives that resemble a quick text rather than a formal memo on letterhead.
Last year, an immense but brief outburst of seismic energy was soon followed by a long hum that made the world ring. Finding its cause took 68 scientists and an assist by the Danish military.
Emily Buder/Quanta Magazine; Rui Braz for Quanta Magazine
These three imagined scenarios lead many physicists to doubt that space-time is fundamental.
Extremophiles, or microbes that live in the most seemingly hostile environments, are the darlings of astrobiologists, who study the potential for life beyond Earth. In this episode, co-host Janna Levin speaks with astrobiologist and cave explorer Penelope Boston about how life finds a way — and whether it might have found a way elsewhere in our solar system or around a distant star.
Illuminating basic science and math research through public service journalism.
More about usQuanta Magazine is committed to in-depth, accurate journalism that serves the public interest. Each article braids the complexities of science with the malleable art of storytelling and is meticulously reported, edited and fact-checked. Launched and funded by the Simons Foundation, Quanta is editorially independent — our articles do not reflect or represent the views of the foundation.
