Interviews

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Is Information a Fundamental Force of the Universe?

Robert Hazen and Michael Wong discuss their bold proposal for a new law of nature, centered around the idea that information is as fundamental to the cosmos as mass, energy or charge.


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The Mechanical Secret of a Brainless Animal

March 17, 2022

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.

How Geometry Shapes Our Lives

March 7, 2022

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.”

The Cosmologist Challenging Einstein

February 23, 2022

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.

2021’s Biggest Breakthroughs in Math and Computer Science

December 23, 2021

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.

2021’s Biggest Breakthroughs in Physics

December 22, 2021

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.

2021’s Biggest Breakthroughs in Biology

December 21, 2021

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.

How NASA’s Webb Telescope Will Transform Our Place in the Universe

December 3, 2021

The James Webb Space Telescope is like nothing ever launched into space. It could explore the universe’s very first stars, uncover evidence of extraterrestrial life — or literally hit a snag and become worthless.

Biology Meets Computer Science

November 2, 2021

Anne Carpenter, senior director of the Imaging Platform of the Broad Institute of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University, describes how her interest in developing new medicines led her to work at the interface of biology and computer science.

This Astronomer Is Determined to Find Another Earth

October 13, 2021

Laura Kreidberg discusses how she’ll use NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope to peer into the skies of rocky planets orbiting other stars and look for signs of habitability, or even life.