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A quantum boat engine speeding past a normal board

Daniel Garcia for Quanta Magazine

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Quantum Speedup Found for Huge Class of Hard Problems

It’s been difficult to find important questions that quantum computers can answer faster than classical machines, but a new algorithm appears to do it for some critical optimization tasks.

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‘Once in a Century’ Proof Settles Math’s Kakeya Conjecture

The deceptively simple Kakeya conjecture has bedeviled mathematicians for 50 years. A new proof of the conjecture in three dimensions illuminates a whole crop of related problems.

The Road Map to Alien Life Passes Through the ‘Cosmic Shoreline’

Astronomers are ready to search for the fingerprints of life in faraway planetary atmospheres. But first, they need to know where to look — and that means figuring out which planets are likely to have atmospheres in the first place.

Why Do Researchers Care About Small Language Models?

Larger models can pull off greater feats, but the accessibility and efficiency of smaller models make them attractive tools.

‘Next-Level’ Chaos Traces the True Limit of Predictability

In math and computer science, researchers have long understood that some questions are fundamentally unanswerable. Now physicists are exploring how even ordinary physical systems put hard limits on what we can predict, even in principle.

A photo college shows organisms that produce or are affected by different keystone molecules, including a seabird; plants; a California newt; an Alderia sea slug; and a scallop.

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Why Some People Don’t ‘See’ Mental Imagery: Aphantasia

Christopher W. Young/Quanta Magazine

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The Thought Experiments That Fray the Fabric of Space-Time

These three imagined scenarios lead many physicists to doubt that space-time is fundamental.

Quanta Podcast


How the Human Brain Contends With the Strangeness of Zero

Zero, which was invented late in history, is special among numbers. New studies are uncovering how the brain creates something out of nothing.

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Illuminating basic science and math research through public service journalism.

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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.

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