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Colorized transmission electron micrograph of a polyribosome.

Elena Kiseleva/Science Source

origins of life

Life’s First Peptides May Have Grown on RNA Strands

By Yasemin Saplakoglu
―

RNA and peptides coevolving in the primordial world might have jointly served as a precursor to the modern ribosome.

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By Yasemin Saplakoglu

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computational complexity

How Computer Scientists Learned to Reinvent the Proof

By Mordechai Rorvig
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Why verify every line of a proof, when just a few checks will do?

Cells growing in a dish glow in seven different fluorescent colors.
synthetic biology

Simple Gene Circuits Hint at How Stem Cells Find New Identities

By Veronique Greenwood
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Synthetic biology experiments suggest a “MultiFate” model for how genetically identical cells become the many different types found in complex organisms like us.

Two red loops connected by a ghostly tube.
topology

How Complex Is a Knot? New Proof Reveals Ranking System That Works.

By Leila Sloman
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“Ribbon concordance” will let mathematicians compare knots by linking them across four-dimensional space.

Illustration of a glass box illuminated inside by a red lightbulb. A ray of green light shoots out of the box.
quantum physics

Puzzling Quantum Scenario Appears Not to Conserve Energy

By Katie McCormick
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By resolving a paradox about light in a box, researchers hope to clarify the concept of energy in quantum theory.

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The Joy of Why

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Illustration of a woman astronomer looking at a map that shows the James Webb Space Telescope capturing images of a distant planet.

Will the James Webb Space Telescope Reveal Another Earth?

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The space telescope is one of the most ambitious scientific projects ever undertaken. Marcia Rieke and Nikole Lewis, two of the scientists leading JWST investigations, talk to Steven Strogatz about how it may transform our understanding of the universe.


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Outdoor photo of Leslie Lamport wearing a blue shirt with his hand up to his shoulder
Q&A

How to Write Software With Mathematical Perfection

By Sheon Han
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astrophysics

Black Hole Image Reveals the Beast Inside the Milky Way’s Heart

By Jonathan O'Callaghan
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In 2019, the Event Horizon Telescope released a historic image of a supermassive black hole in another galaxy. The follow-up — an image of Sagittarius A* — shows it shimmering at the center of our own.

Illustration of an ornate balance demonstrating that the expression x2 + 2x + 1 weighs more than the equivalent expression (x + 1)(x + 1)
computational complexity

Computer Scientists Prove That Certain Problems Are Truly Hard

By Mordechai Rorvig
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Finding out whether a question is too difficult to ever solve efficiently depends on figuring out just how hard it is. Researchers have now shown how to do that for a major class of problems.

Illustration of pieces of paper with scientific images on them feeding into a machine. A human hand turns a crank, and equations come out of the machine.
algorithms

Powerful ‘Machine Scientists’ Distill the Laws of Physics From Raw Data

By Charlie Wood
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Researchers say we’re on the cusp of “GoPro physics,” where a camera can point at an event and an algorithm can identify the underlying physics equation.

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3D illustration of a complex atomic structure.

Origin-of-Life Study Points to Chemical Chimeras, Not RNA

By Jordana Cepelewicz
RNA Peptide 520

The End of the RNA World Is Near, Biochemists Argue

By Jordana Cepelewicz
An illustration of a polyglycine molecule among the constellations.

Peptides on Stardust May Have Provided a Shortcut to Life

By Yasemin Saplakoglu

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neuroscience

New Map of Meaning in the Brain Changes Ideas About Memory

By Jordana Cepelewicz
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Researchers have mapped hundreds of semantic categories to the tiny bits of the cortex that represent them in our thoughts and perceptions. What they discovered might change our view of memory.


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Puzzle

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A red-headed man in a purple suit runs alongside a white rabbit against a bright teal background. Large white numbers are falling out of his top hat.
Insights puzzle

Think of a Number. How Do Math Magicians Know What It Is?

By Pradeep Mutalik
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Mathematical magic can seem like mind reading. Your job is to reveal the secret behind these four tricks.


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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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