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The Quanta Podcast

Quanta Magazine

Exploring the distant universe, the insides of cells, the abstractions of math, the complexity of information itself, and much more, The Quanta Podcast is a tour of the frontier between the known and the unknown. In each episode, Quanta Magazine Editor-in-Chief Samir Patel speaks with the minds behind the award-winning publication to navigate through some of the most important and mind-expanding questions in science and math. Quanta specifically covers fundamental research — driven by curiosity, discovery and the overwhelming desire to know why and how. Join us every Tuesday for a stimulating conversation about the biggest ideas and the tiniest details.

(If you've been a fan of the Quanta Science Podcast, it will continue here. You'll see those episodes marked as audio edition episodes every two weeks.)

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29 episodes
weekly
Avg 25 min
English

Episodes 29

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Tuesday · 29 min
Four-Color Theorem Is Still a Math Favorite
In the mid-19th century, a brain teaser about map colors quickly turned into an obsession. Today, the hunt is still on for a simpler solution to the deceptively tricky problem.
September 10 · 11 min
Audio Edition: ‘Reverse Mathematics’ Illuminates Why Hard Problems Are Hard
Computer scientists know that certain problems in their field are hard, but proving their difficulty is a hard problem unto itself. A topsy-turvy approach to mathematics has helped show why.
September 8 · 29 min
Does Computer Science Need Computers?
Is computer science about computers? If not, then what is it about?
September 1 · 31 min
How the Brain Compresses Our Noisy World
A process called categorization allows the brain to use past experiences that resemble a new situation to implement actions and behaviors.
August 27 · 16 min
Audio Edition: A Cell So Minimal That It Challenges Definitions of Life
Genome sequencing technology is introducing biologists to a world of quasi-life forms that they’ve never met before.
August 25 · 31 min
Picking Teams With the Math of Imbalance
A recent breakthrough in combinatorial discrepancy theory helps even things out.
August 18 · 36 min
What Makes a Fluid a Fluid?
A strange connection between black holes and quantum soups helped scientists to understand the elusive math behind fluid dynamics.
August 13 · 14 min
Audio Edition: New Proofs Probe Soap-Film Singularities
In 3D, area-minimizing surfaces are smooth, making them widely useful. But in higher dimensions, complicated singularities might form.
August 11 · 38 min
Is AI Reasoning Right for the Wrong Reasons?
Are we at the point where our technology is actually “reasoning,” or should that word still live within its scare quotes?
August 4 · 26 min
Why Am I Left-Handed?
Columnist Natalie Wolchover tracks the secret of left-handedness through developmental biology, genetics, evolution, and culture.
July 30 · 21 min
Audio Edition: Old ‘Ghost’ Theory of Quantum Gravity Makes a Comeback
In a theory called quadratic gravity, “ghost” particles violate physicists’ intuition of quantum fields. This made the theory unpopular for decades. Now, it’s experiencing a resurgence.
July 28 · 29 min
A Dark Dimension Could Link Two of the Universe’s Great Unknowns
Generally, dark energy and dark matter are regarded as separate entities. But what if the two are in fact physically intertwined?
July 21 · 35 min
Is Life Just Different?
Living things have goals: to find food, to reproduce, and to survive. Are those just genetically programmed, or do organisms have actual agency?
July 16 · 9 min
Audio Edition: ‘World Models,’ an Old Idea in AI, Mount a Comeback
AI understands discrete tasks, and can often extrapolate its training to other tasks, but it still lacks a full model of the real world. Researchers are racing to construct a ‘world model’ that would bring about more general artificial intelligence.
July 14 · 29 min
How Many Shuffles Do You Really Need to Randomize Your Deck?
Sloppy shufflers, fret not: A new proof confirms how many shuffles it takes to randomize an imprecisely cut deck.
July 7 · 22 min
Will We Ever Be Able To Forecast Volcanic Eruptions Like Weather?
Volcano forecasting can save countless lives. But most of the time warnings are more like educated guesses.
July 2 · 13 min
Audio Edition: Tiny Tubes Reveal Clues to the Evolution of Complex Life
Ancient cells called Asgard archaea were first discovered at the hydrothermal vent site called Loki's Castle in 2010. Their discovery has shaken up our view of the Tree of Life.
June 30 · 32 min
Are Memories Transferable — or Edible?
Decades ago, scientists allegedly fed a memory to a worm. Then, 36 labs reported similar results. But today, when scientists tried to recreate the experiments, using the same protocol and with the help of the 1960s scientists, they came up empty. What happened?
June 23 · 36 min
How Many Elementary Particles Are There, Really?
We have a full tally of the elementary particles, but the deeper you go into that count, the more complicated — and weirder — the answer becomes.
June 18 · 12 min
Audio Edition: What Is the Fourier Transform?
The Fourier transform breaks tricky functions down into their wavelike building blocks. This has made it a crucial tool for mathematicians: If they are stumped by a problem, they can try transforming it.

Showing 1–20 of 29 episodes