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David Kaplan explores the leading theories for the origin of life on our planet.

How Did Life Begin on Earth?

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David Kaplan explores the leading theories for the origin of life on our planet.

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Filming for this video by Petr Stepanek. Editing and motion graphics by Ryan Griffin. Music by Kai Engel.


In Theory

Art for "What Are Feynman Diagrams?"

What Are Feynman Diagrams?

03:58
Art for "The Trouble With Turbulence"

What Is Turbulence?

03:35

What Is Emergence?

03:27
Art for "How Holography Could Help Solve Quantum Gravity"

Albert Einstein, Holograms and Quantum Gravity

03:44

What Is Universality?

04:58
Journey to the Birth of the Solar System

Journey to the Birth of the Solar System

06:29

How Does Life Come From Randomness?

2:30

Is That ‘Bump’ a New Particle?

2:25

Are We Alone in the Universe?

4:31

What Is a Species?

2:49

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Conversations

The Man Who Revolutionized Computer Science With Math

Photo by Talia Herman for Quanta Magazine; video by Emily Buder and Marcos Rocha for Quanta Magazine

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Leslie Lamport talks about the importance of programming instead of coding, how he developed distributed systems and his favorite algorithm.

A smiling man in a blue and white wool sweater sits at a desk. A guitar hangs on an adjacent wall.
Conversations

A Polymath on Physics, Computer Science, Neuroscience and Literature

Photo by Caroline Gutman for Quanta Magazine; video by Emily Buder and Rick Cook for Quanta Magazine

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Vijay Balasubramanian discusses the connections he sees between physics, computer science, neuroscience and literature and the humanities.

Conversations

Steven Strogatz’s Secrets of Math Communication

Quanta Magazine

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Steven Strogatz — the acclaimed mathematician and author — hosts the new Quanta Magazine podcast “The Joy of Why.” On March 18, 2022, he joined Quanta editor Thomas Lin for a Simons Foundation Presents conversation about teaching, writing and podcasting.

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Discoveries

The Mechanical Secret of a Brainless Animal

Taylor Hess, Noah Hutton, and Rui Braz for Quanta Magazine

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For years, a pair of scientists have studied how a simple multicellular animal called Trichoplax coordinates its complex behavior without neurons or muscles. Their work shows that mechanical interactions alone can explain how the organism moves, seeks food and reproduces.

Interviews

How Geometry Shapes Our Lives

Video cover: Lauren Justice for Quanta Magazine; Noah Hutton for Quanta Magazine

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Jordan Ellenberg, a mathematician at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, enjoys studying the math underlying everyday phenomena. “Mathematics is part of the creative world,” Ellenberg says. “We create things all the time.”

Interviews

The Cosmologist Challenging Einstein

Video cover: Meghan Dhaliwal for Quanta Magazine; Emily Buder/Quanta Magazine; Noah Hutton for Quanta Magazine

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Celia Escamilla-Rivera discusses how she is using the tools of precision cosmology to hunt for a theory of gravity that incorporates dark energy more naturally than general relativity does.

Year in Review

2021’s Biggest Breakthroughs in Math and Computer Science

Emily Buder/Quanta Magazine; Myriam Wares for Quanta Magazine

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It was a big year. Researchers found a way to idealize deep neural networks using kernel machines—an important step toward opening these black boxes. There were major developments toward an answer about the nature of infinity. And a mathematician finally managed to model quantum gravity.

Year in Review

2021’s Biggest Breakthroughs in Physics

Emily Buder/Quanta Magazine; Myriam Wares for Quanta Magazine

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It was a big year. Fermilab discovered possible evidence of new physics with the muon G-2 experiment. Physicists created a time crystal, a new phase of matter that appears to violate one of nature’s most cherished laws. And we got a glimpse of an enormous pair of bubbles towering over the Milky Way.

Year in Review

2021’s Biggest Breakthroughs in Biology

Emily Buder/Quanta Magazine; Rui Braz and Maggie Chiang for Quanta Magazine

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A paradigm shift in how we think about the functions of the human brain. A long-awaited genetic sequence of Rafflesia arnoldii, the strangest flower in the world. A revelation in sleep science. These are some of the year’s biggest discoveries in neuroscience and other areas of biology.


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