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

Ben Brubaker

Staff Writer

Email

Latest Articles

Shang-Hua Teng in a blazer on a street
Q&A

The Computer Scientist Who Finds Life Lessons in Games

By Ben Brubaker
January 25, 2023
Comment
Read Later

In Shang-Hua Teng’s work, theoretical and practical questions have long been intertwined. Now he’s turning his focus to the impractical.

graph theory

Finally, a Fast Algorithm for Shortest Paths on Negative Graphs

By Ben Brubaker
January 18, 2023
Comment
Read Later

Researchers can now find the shortest route through a network nearly as fast as theoretically possible, even when some steps can cancel out others.

Purple illustration of round qubits pointing to rows of blocks that progressively become more chaotic.
quantum computing

New Algorithm Closes Quantum Supremacy Window

By Ben Brubaker
January 9, 2023
Comment
Read Later

Random circuit sampling, a popular technique for showing the power of quantum computers, doesn’t scale up if errors go unchecked.

neural networks

AI Reveals New Possibilities in Matrix Multiplication

By Ben Brubaker
November 23, 2022
Comment
Read Later

Inspired by the results of a game-playing neural network, mathematicians have been making unexpected advances on an age-old math problem.

A video of a large chunk of ice breaking off of a glacier and crashing into the ocean.]
complex systems

Chaos Researchers Can Now Predict Perilous Points of No Return

By Ben Brubaker
September 15, 2022
Comment
Read Later

A custom-built machine learning algorithm can predict when a complex system is about to switch to a wildly different mode of behavior.

Illustration of a wheel made of motors connected by arms. The wheel is shown in different stretched and squashed configurations.
complex systems

Wheel Made of ‘Odd Matter’ Spontaneously Rolls Uphill

By Ben Brubaker
June 15, 2022
Comment
Read Later

Physicists have solved a key problem of robotic locomotion by revising the usual rules of interaction between simple component parts.

An illustration of calipers that look blurry
quantum physics

Physicists Pin Down How Quantum Uncertainty Sharpens Measurements

By Ben Brubaker
May 3, 2022
Comment
Read Later

Throwing out data seems to make measurements of distances and angles more precise. The reason why has been traced to Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle.

astronomy

Four Years On, New Experiment Sees No Sign of ‘Cosmic Dawn’

By Ben Brubaker
February 28, 2022
Comment
Read Later

When astronomers tried to confirm a signal from the birth of the first stars after the Big Bang, they saw nothing.

Illustration of a subatomic particle inside a wineglass.
explainers

How the Physics of Resonance Shapes Reality

By Ben Brubaker
January 26, 2022
Comment
Read Later

The same phenomenon by which an opera singer can shatter a wineglass also underlies the very existence of subatomic particles.


Previous
  • 1
  • 2
Next

About the author

Ben Brubaker is a staff writer covering computer science for Quanta Magazine. He previously covered physics as a freelance journalist, and his writing has also appeared in Scientific American, Physics Today, and elsewhere. He has a Ph.D. in physics from Yale University and conducted postdoctoral research at the University of Colorado, Boulder.
Follow Quanta
Facebook
Facebook

Twitter
Twitter

Youtube
YouTube

Instagram
Instagram

RSS
RSS

Newsletter

All Time

Most Read From Ben Brubaker

This Data is Current Loading...
This Data is Current Loading...
This Data is Current Loading...
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