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Introducing The Quanta Podcast
...advances in basic or fundamental science and math, from astrophysics and quantum computing, to molecular biology and classic unsolved math problems. Quanta’s been doing this for more than a decade...
Does Form Really Shape Function?
...whose career has been devoted to using mathematics and physics to explore the form and function of common phenomena. Mahadevan, or Maha to his friends and colleagues, has long been...
A ‘Rebel’ Without a Ph.D.
...bit of biology, sometimes a little bit of chemistry. Mathematics applies to all kinds of things. That’s one of the joys of being a mathematician. Why math? I think the...
What Is the Fourier Transform?
Amid the chaos of revolutionary France, one man’s mathematical obsession gave way to a calculation that now underpins much of mathematics and physics. The calculation, called the Fourier transform, decomposes...
The End of Theoretical Physics as We Know It
...With quantum simulations, the mathematical model is of secondary relevance. We currently use the math to identify a suitable system because the math tells us what properties we should look...
Scientists Discover Exotic New Patterns of Synchronization
...crickets inspired the American theoretical biologist Art Winfree to propose a mathematical model of synchronization. Winfree’s equation was too difficult to solve, but in 1974, a Japanese physicist named Yoshiki...
Hologram Within a Hologram Hints at Fate of Black Holes
...so — or where Hawking’s math went wrong. The latest paper, posted online in late August, went further, offering a new way to think about Hawking’s math. Holographers usually walk...
Cosmic Triangles Open a Window to the Origin of Time
...have a different menu of cosmological correlations.” Those are additional calculations to pursue with the new mathematical tools. But the researchers are also continuing to explore the math itself. Arkani-Hamed...
Brian Keating’s Quest for the Origin of the Universe
...to build a tiny (equals cheap) telescope to detect this pattern of the aftershocks, the gravitational aftermath of inflation. Strogatz: The BICEP2 team thought that it saw a fantastically strong...