Quanta Magazine | Science and Math News
Wei-An Jin/Quanta Magazine
Latest Articles
RNA Is the Cell’s Emergency Alert System
How does a cell know when it’s been damaged? A molecular alarm, set off by mutated RNA and colliding ribosomes, signals danger.
The Biggest-Ever Digital Camera Is This Cosmologist’s Magnum Opus
Tony Tyson’s cameras revealed the universe’s dark contents. Now, with the Rubin Observatory’s 3.2-billion-pixel camera, he’s ready to study dark matter and dark energy in unprecedented detail.
Computer Scientists Figure Out How To Prove Lies
An attack on a fundamental proof technique reveals a glaring security issue for blockchains and other digital encryption schemes.
New Sphere-Packing Record Stems From an Unexpected Source
After just a few months of work, a complete newcomer to the world of sphere packing has solved one of its biggest open problems.
How Smell Guides Our Inner World
A better understanding of human smell is emerging as scientists interrogate its fundamental elements: the odor molecules that enter your nose and the individual neurons that translate them into perception in your brain.
Researchers Uncover Hidden Ingredients Behind AI Creativity
Image generators are designed to mimic their training data, so where does their apparent creativity come from? A recent study suggests that it’s an inevitable by-product of their architecture.
When Did Nature Burst Into Vivid Color?
Scientists reconstructed 500 million years of evolutionary history to reveal which came first: colorful signals or the color vision needed to see them.
A New Pyramid-Like Shape Always Lands the Same Side Up
A tetrahedron is the simplest Platonic solid. Mathematicians have now made one that’s stable only on one side, confirming a decades-old conjecture.
Featured Videos
See all videos
Mirror Molecules: The Symmetry Rule Life Never Breaks
Emily Buder/Quanta Magazine
Special Features
Quanta Podcast
Is Gravity Just Entropy Rising? Long-Shot Idea Gets Another Look.
A new argument explores how the growth of disorder could cause massive objects to move toward one another. Physicists are both interested and skeptical.
Recommended Features
Multimedia
How Can AI ID a Cat? An Illustrated Guide.
Neural networks power today’s AI boom. To understand them, all we need is a map, a cat and a few thousand dimensions.
About Quanta Magazine
Illuminating basic science and math research through public service journalism.
More about usQuanta 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.
