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Quanta Magazine | Science and Math News

Maggie Chiang for Quanta Magazine

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combinatorics

First-Year Graduate Student Finds Paradoxical Set

By Alex Stone
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No two pairs have the same sum; add three numbers together, and you can get any whole number.

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A video depiction of shifting boundaries in Colorado illustrates the endless possibilities for drawing Congressional districts.
applied math

How Math Has Changed the Shape of Gerrymandering

By Mike Orcutt
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New tools make it possible to detect hidden manipulation of maps.

A cube full of colorful shapes is connected to a smaller cube stuffed with the same shapes.
information theory

Data Compression Drives the Internet. Here’s How It Works.

By Elliot Lichtman
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One student’s desire to get out of a final exam led to the ubiquitous algorithm that shrinks data without sacrificing information.

Underside of a skate embryo, stained in blue, on a salmon pink background.
evolution

How 3D Changes in the Genome Turned Sharks Into Skates

By Viviane Callier
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Changes in the 3D structure of their genome gave skates and rays their distinctive winglike fins and pancake flatness.

quantum gravity

The Physicist Who Glues Together Universes

By Charlie Wood
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Renate Loll has helped pioneer a radically new approach to quantum gravity. She assumes that the fabric of space-time is a blend of all possible fabrics, and she has developed the computational tools needed to calculate the far-reaching implications of that assumption.

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The Joy of Why

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A representation of a human head examining its experiences.

What Is the Nature of Consciousness?

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Consciousness, our experience of being in the world, is one of the mind’s greatest mysteries, but as the neuroscientist Anil Seth explains to Steven Strogatz, research is making progress in understanding this elusive phenomenon.


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A person stares at a thought bubble.
cognition

Is It Real or Imagined? How Your Brain Tells the Difference.

By Yasemin Saplakoglu
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Quantized Academy

Math Patterns That Go On Forever but Never Repeat

By Patrick Honner
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Simple math can help explain the complexities of the newly discovered aperiodic monotile.

machine learning

Some Neural Networks Learn Language Like Humans

By Steve Nadis
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Researchers uncover striking parallels in the ways that humans and machine learning models acquire language skills.

information theory

Secret Messages Can Hide in AI-Generated Media

By Stephen Ornes
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In steganography, an ordinary message masks the presence of a secret communication. Humans can never do it perfectly, but a new study shows it’s possible for machines.

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Quanta Podcast

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How the Brain Distinguishes Memories From Perceptions
By Yasemin Saplakoglu
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The neural representations of a perceived image and the memory of it are almost the same. New work shows how and why they are different.

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Blue numbers moving down an assembly line being picked up by mechanical claw hands.

From Systems in Motion, Infinite Patterns Appear

By Leila Sloman
An illustration of a sequence that avoid arithmetic progression, shown as a blue staircase jumping among numbers from one to forty.

Surprise Computer Science Proof Stuns Mathematicians

By Leila Sloman
An illustration of a woman sitting in a field embroidering a flower pattern. Around her grow wildflowers that appear to be randomly distributed but whose colors reveal a hidden pattern.

Mathematicians Catch a Pattern by Figuring Out How to Avoid It

By Kevin Hartnett

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Multimedia

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red and orange rocket ship surrounded by purple planets with numbers on them
Puzzles
How Many Exoplanets Can You Visit in Quanta’s New Math Game?
By Thomas Lin
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Explore a universe of numbers and arithmetic in our new interactive math game, Hyperjumps!


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About Quanta Magazine

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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