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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.

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Chatbots Don’t Know What Stuff Isn’t

Global Microbiome Study Gives New View of Shared Health Risks

Human figures in fetal positions float through a dim, twilit space.

How Loneliness Reshapes the Brain

A shining lightbulb with a cord that’s not plugged in.

Physicists Use Quantum Mechanics to Pull Energy out of Nothing

A stylized illustration showing half the heads and brains of a lizard and a mouse in cross-section side by side.

Gene Expression in Neurons Solves a Brain Evolution Puzzle

illustration of abstract, boxy-looking robot surrounded by household items such as a knife and a guitar, all of which have labels attached.

Machines Learn Better if We Teach Them the Basics

A graphical illustration showing a number of well-known stars in the present-day universe, along with the edge of a far bigger star.

Astronomers Say They Have Spotted the Universe’s First Stars

A sad woman stands under an umbrella that is decorated with images of brains, molecules and DNA. Rain falls on her under the umbrella but the day is otherwise clear.

The Cause of Depression Is Probably Not What You Think

An African army ant queen and worker against a white background, emphasizing the huge difference in their sizes

Ants Live 10 Times Longer by Altering Their Insulin Responses

Illustration in which a forest scene is mirrored in a person’s right eye while the left eye shows a clock.

How the Brain Distinguishes Memories From Perceptions

What Causes Alzheimer’s? Scientists Are Rethinking the Answer. (Pt. 2)

What Causes Alzheimer’s? Scientists Are Rethinking the Answer.

New Chip Expands the Possibilities for AI

Illustration of butterflies with similar wing-color patterns holding bundles of DNA.

How Supergenes Fuel Evolution Despite Harmful Mutations

A bright purple splotch surrounded by concentric purple rings.

Brightest-Ever Space Explosion Reveals Possible Hints of Dark Matter

Inside the Proton, the ‘Most Complicated Thing You Could Possibly Imagine’