We care about your data, and we'd like to use cookies to give you a smooth browsing experience. Please agree and read more about our privacy policy.
Quanta Homepage
  • Physics
  • Mathematics
  • Biology
  • Computer Science
  • Topics
  • Archive

What's up in

Abstractions blog

Latest Articles

An animation showing a 3-by-3 Latin square, with numbers color coded, and the equivalent graph.
Abstractions blog

‘Rainbows’ Are a Mathematician’s Best Friend

By Kevin Hartnett
March 18, 2020
Comment
Read Later

“Rainbow colorings” recently led to a new proof. It’s not the first time they’ve come in handy.

Swirling video.
Abstractions blog

Axions Would Solve Another Major Problem in Physics

By Natalie Wolchover
March 17, 2020
Comment
Read Later

In a new paper, physicists argue that hypothetical particles called axions could explain why the universe isn’t empty.

Cosmic reionization video.
Abstractions blog

How the Cosmic Dark Ages Snuffed Out All Light

By Dana Najjar
March 2, 2020
Comment
Read Later

The recent discovery of some of the first galaxies in the universe illuminates the darkest era in cosmic history.

Antares photograph.
Abstractions blog

New Wrinkle Added to Cosmology’s Hubble Crisis

By Natalie Wolchover
February 26, 2020
Comment
Read Later

A problem confronts cosmology: Two independent measurements of the universe’s expansion give incompatible answers. Now a third method, advanced by an astronomy pioneer, appears to bridge the divide.

Two arrows that are intertwined for most of their length but then point in different directions.
Abstractions blog

In Brain Waves, Scientists See Neurons Juggle Possible Futures

By Jordana Cepelewicz
February 24, 2020
Comment
Read Later

Faced with a decision, the brain weighs its options by bundling them into rapidly alternating cycles of brain waves.

Computer simulation of gravitational waves produced by a binary neutron star merger.
Abstractions blog

‘Radical Change’ Needed After Latest Neutron Star Collision

By Dana Najjar
February 20, 2020
Comment
Read Later

A recent neutron star merger has defied astronomers’ expectations, leading them to question longstanding ideas about neutron stars and the supernovas that create them. “We have to go back to the drawing board.”

Illustration of an RNA sequence, with an arrow pointing from one end to the other, and a sequence of complementary nucleotides, with an arrow pointing the other way.
Abstractions blog

New Clues About ‘Ambigram’ Viruses With Strange Reversible Genes

By Jordana Cepelewicz
February 12, 2020
Comment
Read Later

For decades, scientists have been intrigued by tiny viruses whose genetic material can be read both forward and backward. New research begins to explain this puzzling property.

Photo of a complicated knot.
Abstractions blog

Color-Changing Material Unites the Math and Physics of Knots

By Devin Powell
February 10, 2020
Comment
Read Later

Mathematicians have studied knots for centuries, but a new material is showing why some knots are better than others.

Gif of a spinning sphere that has a dappled blue, green and red pattern.
Abstractions blog

How Ancient Light Reveals the Universe’s Contents

By Charlie Wood
January 28, 2020
Comment
Read Later

A photograph of the infant cosmos reveals the precise amounts of dark matter and dark energy in the universe, leaving precious little room for argument.


Previous
  • 1
  • ...
  • 24
  • 25
  • 26
  • 27
  • 28
  • 29
  • 30
  • ...
  • 49
Next
The Quanta Newsletter

Get highlights of the most important news delivered to your email inbox

Recent newsletters
Quanta Homepage
Facebook
Twitter
Youtube
Instagram

  • About Quanta
  • Archive
  • Contact Us
  • Terms & Conditions
  • Privacy Policy
  • Simons Foundation
All Rights Reserved © 2023