NASA
Recent flybys of the fiery world refute a leading theory of its inner structure — and reveal how little is understood about geologically active moons.
Rose Yu has a plan for how to make AI better, faster and smarter — and it’s already yielding results.
Micro decisions can have macro consequences. A soft matter physicist reveals how interactions within simple cellular collectives can lead to emergent physical traits.
According to mathematical legend, Peter Sarnak and Noga Alon made a bet about optimal graphs in the late 1980s. They’ve now both been proved wrong.
Every soft caress of wind, searing burn and seismic rumble is detected by our skin’s tangle of touch sensors. David Ginty has spent his career cataloging the neurons beneath everyday sensations.
A new proposal makes the case that paraparticles — a new category of quantum particle — could be created in exotic materials.
The mathematician Tai-Danae Bradley is using category theory to try to understand both human and AI-generated language.
Complex neural pathways likely arose independently in birds and mammals, suggesting that vertebrates evolved intelligence multiple times.
Christopher W. Young/Quanta Magazine
These three imagined scenarios lead many physicists to doubt that space-time is fundamental.
Quantum gravity could help physicists unite the currently incompatible worlds of quantum mechanics and gravity. In this episode, Monika Schleier-Smith discusses her pioneering experimental approach, using laser-cooled atoms to explore whether gravity could emerge from quantum entanglement.
Illuminating basic science and math research through public service journalism.
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![An array of images of protoplanetary disks with bright suns at the centers surrounded by rings, arcs, filaments and spirals.]](https://www.quantamagazine.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Planet-Formation_300.jpg)