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.

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Animation of a neuron that periodically alters its responses to stimuli when it is reset into a new state by another input.

Artificial Neural Nets Finally Yield Clues to How Brains Learn

An illustration of a human brain against “pink noise” static.

Brain’s ‘Background Noise’ May Hold Clues to Persistent Mysteries

Blue faults of Cerberus Fossae

Rumbles on Mars Raise Hopes of Underground Magma Flows

Illustration of mathematicians descending through a cavern whose walls are lined with polynomials.

Mathematicians Resurrect Hilbert’s 13th Problem

Video artwork showing yellow blobs move, merge, split, shrink and enlarge inside a clear cube.

A Newfound Source of Cellular Order in the Chemistry of Life

The Mystery of Mistletoe’s Missing Genes

A computer simulation of two galaxies colliding.

The New History of the Milky Way

Graphical model of a cubic earth.

Scientists Uncover the Universal Geometry of Geology

Illustration of a black hole

The Most Famous Paradox in Physics Nears Its End

Particle going through a barrier

Quantum Tunnels Show How Particles Can Break the Speed of Light

An illustration of computer scientists looking down a new road that breaks open a traveling salesperson route.

Computer Scientists Break Traveling Salesperson Record

Illustration of anxious woman surrounded by mitochondria.

Mitochondria May Hold Keys to Anxiety and Mental Health

Magnetic fields in the universe.

The Hidden Magnetic Universe Begins to Come Into View

Graduate Student Solves Decades-Old Conway Knot Problem

A rogue wave and a sailboat.

The Grand Unified Theory of Rogue Waves

Micrograph of a cortical neuron, showing its many dendrites.

Hidden Computational Power Found in the Arms of Neurons