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The Quanta Podcast

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Is Mathematics Mostly Chaos or Mostly Order?

June 20, 2025

Two new notions of infinity challenge a long-standing plan to define the mathematical universe.

Is Gravity Just Entropy Rising? Long-Shot Idea Gets Another Look.

June 13, 2025

A new argument explores how the growth of disorder could cause massive objects to move toward one another. Physicists are both interested and skeptical.

Singularities in Space-Time Prove Hard to Kill

May 27, 2025

Black hole and Big Bang singularities break our best theory of gravity. A trilogy of theorems hints that physicists must go to the ends of space and time to find a fix.

For Algorithms, a Little Memory Outweighs a Lot of Time

May 21, 2025

One computer scientist’s “stunning” proof is the first progress in 50 years on one of the most famous questions in computer science.

‘Turbocharged’ Mitochondria Power Birds’ Epic Migratory Journeys

May 19, 2025

Slight changes in the number, shape, efficiency and interconnectedness of organelles in the cells of flight muscles provide extra energy for birds’ continent-spanning feats.

New ‘Superdiffusion’ Proof Probes the Mysterious Math of Turbulence

May 16, 2025

Turbulence is a notoriously difficult phenomenon to study. Mathematicians are now starting to untangle it at its smallest scales.

Mathematical Beauty, Truth and Proof in the Age of AI

April 30, 2025

Mathematicians have started to prepare for a profound shift in what it means to do math.

When ChatGPT Broke an Entire Field: An Oral History

April 30, 2025

Researchers in “natural language processing” tried to tame human language. Then came the transformer.

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

April 30, 2025

The brain’s astounding cellular diversity and networked complexity could show how to make AI better.

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