Researchers hope that the genes of a glowing squid can illuminate how animals evolved organs for beneficial bacteria.
The new work promises to give researchers a better grip on the core mystery of quantum mechanics.
The brain can’t directly encode the passage of time, but recent work hints at a workaround for putting timestamps on memories of events.
If highly repetitive gene-regulating sequences in DNA are easily lost, that may explain why some adaptations evolve quickly and repeatedly.
Priyamvada Natarajan has pioneered the mapping and modeling of the universe’s invisible contents, especially dark matter and supermassive black holes.
Neural networks can be as unpredictable as they are powerful. Now mathematicians are beginning to reveal how a neural network’s form will influence its function.
Perfect black holes are versatile mathematical tools. Just don’t mistake them for the real thing.
People have known about magnets since ancient times, but the physics of ferromagnetism remains a mystery. Now a familiar puzzle is getting physicists closer to the answer.
In new computer experiments, artificial-intelligence algorithms can tell the future of chaotic systems.
Turbulence is everywhere, yet it is one of the most difficult concepts for physicists to understand.
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.