podcasts

The Quanta Podcast

Every Tuesday, editor in chief Samir Patel sits down with writers and editors to discuss our most thought-provoking stories in science and math. Audio editions of Quanta’s stories with Susan Valot will appear biweekly on Thursdays.

All Episodes about biology

An illustration shows a human brain. Colorful flowers and plants burst from the left side, while wires and computing notes innervate the right side.

AI Is Nothing Like a Brain, and That’s OK

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The Quanta Podcast logo

Introducing The Quanta Podcast

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Fish swimming with outlined brains and microbes within them

Fish Have a Brain Microbiome. Could Humans Have One Too?

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An illustration shows zero lit by spotlight; it flickers in a cave that looks like a brain.

How the Human Brain Contends With the Strangeness of Zero

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An illustration shows a bee, decorated with positive charges, approaching a field of flowers that wear negative charges. An electric field emerges between them.

The Hidden World of Electrostatic Ecology

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A translucent comb jelly collected from the deep sea.

The Cellular Secret to Resisting the Pressure of the Deep Sea

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What Happens in a Mind That Can’t ‘See’ Mental Images

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Marbles representing memories fall onto an abstracted head which contains a maze with holes. Some of the marbles land in the holes or roll into them, while others fall off the side.

Electric ‘Ripples’ in the Resting Brain Tag Memories for Storage

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A close-up of a bee’s head, showing its large eyes, antennae and fuzzy body.

Insects and Other Animals Have Consciousness, Experts Declare

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An illustration shows a bright ball of light slowing down brain waves.

Brain’s ‘Background Noise’ May Explain Value of Shock Therapy

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New Cell Atlases Reveal Untold Variety in the Brain and Beyond

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In the Gut’s ‘Second Brain,’ Key Agents of Health Emerge

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During Pregnancy, a Fake ‘Infection’ Protects the Fetus

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Why the Human Brain Perceives Small Numbers Better

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What Makes Life Tick? Mitochondria May Keep Time for Cells

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Illustration of a bacterial cell in mid-fission. Its threads of DNA and other internal molecules are divided between the cells. A constriction on the midline marks where the daughter cells are splitting.

Even Synthetic Life Forms With a Tiny Genome Can Evolve

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