The Quanta Podcast

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.

Plausible answers range from 17 to — in all seriousness — 995.5.

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.

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.

Evolutionary biologists are uncovering genomic mechanisms that allow populations to adapt quickly to different, hyperlocal habitats without splitting into new species.

It should be possible, but getting there will require a greater understanding of subsurface physics.

Armed with a slew of new instruments, physicists are closing in on one of nature’s oldest mysteries — and finding that storm clouds are seething with violent and unexpected phenomena.

Ultrafinitism, a philosophy that rejects the infinite, has long been dismissed as mathematical heresy. But it is also producing new insights in math and beyond.

Scientists keep detecting new forms of ice. According to simulations, there could be many more left to find.