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

Archive

Latest Articles

Langlands program

‘Amazing’ Math Bridge Extended Beyond Fermat’s Last Theorem

By Erica Klarreich
April 6, 2020
Comment
Read Later

Mathematicians have figured out how to expand the reach of a mysterious bridge connecting two distant continents in the mathematical world.

Image of LIGO’s mirror.
Abstractions blog

To Make the Perfect Mirror, Physicists Confront the Mystery of Glass

By Natalie Wolchover
April 2, 2020
Comment
Read Later

Sometimes a mirror that reflects 99.9999% of light isn’t good enough.

Insights puzzle

How to Design a Perpetual Energy Machine

By Pradeep Mutalik
April 1, 2020
Comment
Read Later

This April, find the fatal flaws in two paradoxical claims — one about a perpetual source of energy and the other about whether you will ever see the solution to these puzzles.

Photo of two mathematicians drawing on a chalkboard
topology

Mathematics as a Team Sport

By Kevin Hartnett
March 31, 2020
Comment
Read Later

When 50 mathematicians spend a week in the woods, there’s no telling what will happen. And that’s the point.

Abstractions blog

Why Do Matter Particles Come in Threes? A Physics Titan Weighs In.

By Charlie Wood
March 30, 2020
Comment
Read Later

Three progressively heavier copies of each type of matter particle exist, and no one knows why. A new paper by Steven Weinberg takes a stab at explaining the pattern.

Insights puzzle

Solution: ‘Is It Turtles All the Way Down?’

By Pradeep Mutalik
March 27, 2020
Comment
Read Later

While the age-old chicken-and-egg paradox is easily answered, the question of infinite regress in physics is far from resolved.

A split level photo shows algae growing on rocks both above and below the surface of the water at a margin of a Welsh glacial lake.
Abstractions blog

Billion-Year-Old Algae and Newer Genes Hint at Land Plants’ Origin

By Dana Najjar
March 26, 2020
Comment
Read Later

A recently unearthed fossil and new genomic discoveries are filling important gaps in scientists’ understanding of how primitive green algae eventually evolved into land vegetation.

Paleontologist Pincelli Hull
Q&A

A Rapid End Strikes the Dinosaur Extinction Debate

By Joshua Sokol
March 25, 2020
Comment
Read Later

The paleontologist Pincelli Hull has nailed down the timing and speed of the extinction that killed off the dinosaurs — details that carry ominous warnings for today.

An artist’s conception of how sensory signals from the eye are map onto the brain in a slightly distorted way.
Quantized Columns

The Brain Reshapes Our Malleable Senses to Fit the World

By Richard Masland
March 24, 2020
Comment
Read Later

How does experience alter our perceptions? This adapted book excerpt from We Know It When We See It describes how the brain’s visual system rewires itself to make the best use of its neural resources.


Previous
  • 1
  • ...
  • 61
  • 62
  • 63
  • 64
  • 65
  • 66
  • 67
  • ...
  • 175
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 © 2022