Can geometry save democracy from gerrymandering? Mathematician Moon Duchin discusses the possibilities with host Steven Strogatz.
Samuel Velasco/Quanta Magazine
Renormalization has become perhaps the single most important advance in theoretical physics in 50 years.
Two computer scientists found — in the unlikeliest of places — just the idea they needed to make a big leap in graph theory.
A novel form of immunological memory that was mostly ignored for a century extends the benefits of vaccines. It could be of help in ending the COVID-19 pandemic.
Mathematicians have long grappled with the reality that some problems just don’t have solutions.
For millennia, mathematicians have wondered whether odd perfect numbers exist, establishing an extraordinary list of restrictions for the hypothetical objects in the process. Insight on this question could come from studying the next best things.
Can geometry save democracy from gerrymandering? Mathematician Moon Duchin discusses the possibilities with host Steven Strogatz.
Carpenter ants need endosymbiotic bacteria to guide the early development of their embryos. New work has reconstructed how this deep partnership evolved.
Cosmologists have concluded that the universe doesn’t appear to clump as much as it should. Could both of cosmology’s big puzzles share a single fix?
Emily Riehl is rewriting the foundations of higher category theory while also working to make mathematics more inclusive.
Only 170 million years ago, new plankton evolved. Their demand for carbon and calcium permanently transformed the seas as homes for life.
Awash in coronavirus data, misinformation and tremendous uncertainty, we need to put our risk analysis skills to the ultimate test.
The human mind has long grappled with the elusive nature of time: what it is, how to record it, how it regulates life, and whether it exists as a fundamental building block of the universe.
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.
