Olena Shmahalo/Quanta Magazine
Three experiments have vetted quantum Darwinism, a theory that explains how quantum possibilities can give rise to objective, classical reality.
Theories about how animals became multicellular are shifting as researchers find greater complexity in our single-celled ancestors.
After an interstellar asteroid shot past the sun, scientists realized that there’s probably a lot of itinerant rocks out there.
The discovery that apparently dead cells can sometimes resurrect themselves has researchers exploring how far they can push the point of no return.
Mathematicians have proved that a random process applied to a random surface will yield consistent patterns.
To researchers’ surprise, deep learning vision algorithms often fail at classifying images because they mostly take cues from textures, not shapes.
Lee Smolin’s radical idea to reimagine how we view the universe.
Lurking behind Einstein’s theory of gravity and our modern understanding of particle physics is the deceptively simple idea of symmetry. But physicists are beginning to question whether focusing on symmetry is still as productive as it once was.
18-year-old Ewin Tang has proven that classical computers can solve the “recommendation problem” nearly as fast as quantum computers. The result eliminates one of the best examples of quantum speedup.
What do moiré patterns seen in optics, art, photography and color printing have to do with superconducting layers of graphene?
In the late 1940s, Richard Feynman invented a visual tool for simplifying particle calculations that forever changed theoretical physics.
Quanta 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.
