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An illustration shows a strand of RNA broken on the ground, as if it is a train track. Alarmed human figures gather around with bullhorns and sirens to draw attention to the broken RNA strand.

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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.

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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.

An illustration of people assembling a giant atomic nucleus out of blue and yellow balls by following the steps of an Ikea-style instruction manual.

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.

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.

Matter vs. Force: Why There Are Exactly Two Types of Particles

Every elementary particle falls into one of two categories. Collectivist bosons account for the forces that move us while individualist fermions keep our atoms from collapsing.

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Mirror Molecules: The Symmetry Rule Life Never Breaks

Emily Buder/Quanta Magazine

Special Features

The Joy of Why


00:00 / 45:05

Elfatih Eltahir explains why we need more local and social data, like disease spread and population growth, to better predict and address climate-related challenges.

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.

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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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