2020 in Review
Latest Articles
Seven Perfect Shuffles Randomize a Deck of Cards. But How Many Sloppy Ones?
A decades-old proof showed that seven shuffles are enough to mix up a deck of cards. But it requires you to cut the deck with the precision of a professional magician. A new proof gets around that obstacle.
How Many Elementary Particles Are There, Really?
Plausible answers range from 17 to — in all seriousness — 995.5.
Where Did Earth Get Its Oceans? Maybe It Made Them Itself.
At first, scientists thought Earth’s water came from comets. Then, asteroids. Now, they wonder if Earth’s water is homegrown.
What’s the Future of Gene Editing?
In the first episode of the new season of ‘The Joy of Why,’ Nobel Laureate Jennifer Doudna discusses how she discovered CRISPR’s genome-editing power, the breakthroughs and hurdles during its explosive growth, and what lies ahead for this groundbreaking technology.
An Early Step on the Long, Strange Road to Photosynthesis
An ancient lineage of cyanobacteria is helping biologists uncover an early evolutionary stage of the mind-boggling process that turns light into life.
How Terry Tao Became an Evangelist for AI in Math
With automated proof-checkers, a problem can be broken up into small chunks, solved bit-by-bit, then reassembled with confidence that every piece is correct. For some, this heralds a new area in mathematical research.
Are Memories Transferable — or Edible?
In the 1960s, worm-training experiments and their strange implications captivated the nation. Columnist Claire L. Evans follows the neuroscientists who attempted to recapture the magic.
More Conversations, Complex Questions, and Bold Ideas in Season Five of ‘The Joy of Why’
The podcast returns with 12 all-new episodes that explore the biggest questions in basic science and mathematics.
Entanglement Builds Space-Time. Now “Magic” Gives It Gravity.
In holographic theories, physicists may have traced the pliability of space-time to its quantum roots: a measure of quantumness known as “magic.”