Quanta Writers and Editors Discuss Trends in Science and Math

FromQuanta Science Podcast

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Quanta Writers and Editors Discuss Trends in Science and Math

FromQuanta Science Podcast

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Length:

66 minutes

Released:

Nov 21, 2018

Format:

Podcast episode

Description

On November 16, 2018, more than 200 readers joined writers and editors from Quanta Magazine for a wide-ranging panel discussion that examined the newest ideas in fundamental physics, biology and mathematics research.

Released:

Nov 21, 2018

Format:

Podcast episode

Titles in the series (100)

In-depth news about mathematics, physics, biology and computer science.

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Einstein’s Parable of Quantum Insanity: Einstein refused to believe in the inherent unpredictability of the world. Is the subatomic world insane, or just subtle? by Quanta Science Podcast
24 min listen
How Humans Evolved Supersize Brains: Scientists have begun to identify the symphony of biological triggers that powered the extraordinary expansion of the human brain. by Quanta Science Podcast
37 min listen
How the Body’s Trillions of Clocks Keep Time: Cellular clocks are almost everywhere. Clues to how they work are coming from the places that they’re not. by Quanta Science Podcast
31 min listen
New Letters Added to the Genetic Alphabet: Scientists hope that new genetic letters, created in the lab, will endow DNA with new powers. by Quanta Science Podcast
24 min listen
The New Laws of Explosive Networks: How explosive networks form. by Quanta Science Podcast
22 min listen
The Mutant Genes Behind the Black Death: Only a few genetic changes were enough to turn an ordinary stomach bug into the bacteria responsible for the plague. by Quanta Science Podcast
27 min listen
Visions of Future Physics: Nima Arkani-Hamed is championing a campaign to build the world’s largest particle collider, even as he pursues a new vision of the laws of nature. by Quanta Science Podcast
33 min listen
How Neanderthal DNA Helps Humanity: Neanderthals and Denisovans may have endowed modern humans with genetic variants that helped them thrive in new environments. by Quanta Science Podcast
10 min listen
At Tiny Scales, a Giant Burst on Tree of Life: At tiny scales, a giant burst on tree of life. by Quanta Science Podcast
20 min listen
How Life and Luck Changed Earth’s Minerals: How life and luck changed Earth's minerals. by Quanta Science Podcast
34 min listen
A Surprise Source of Life’s Code: A surprise source of life’s code. by Quanta Science Podcast
34 min listen
A New Map Traces the Limits of Computation: A major advance in computational complexity reveals deep connections between the classes of problems that computers can — and can’t — possibly do. by Quanta Science Podcast
27 min listen
A New Design for Cryptography’s Black Box: A two-year-old cryptographic breakthrough has proven difficult to put into practice. But new advances show how near-perfect computer security might be surprisingly close at hand. by Quanta Science Podcast
25 min listen
Mongrel Microbe Tests Story of Complex Life: A newly discovered class of microbe could help to resolve one of the biggest and most controversial mysteries in evolution — how simple microbes transformed into the complex cells that produced animals, plants and fungi. by Quanta Science Podcast
30 min listen
How Mutant Viral Swarms Spread Disease: A new understanding of viral swarms is helping researchers predict how viruses will evolve and where disease is likely to spread. by Quanta Science Podcast
28 min listen
Math Quartet Joins Forces on Unified Theory: A new breakthrough that bridges number theory and geometry is just the latest triumph for a close-knit group of mathematicians. by Quanta Science Podcast
31 min listen
Theorists Draw Closer to Perfect Coloring: A theorem for coloring a large class of “perfect” mathematical networks could ease the way for a long-sought general coloring proof. by Quanta Science Podcast
20 min listen
Quantum Weirdness Now a Matter of Time: Bizarre quantum bonds connect distinct moments in time, suggesting that quantum links — not space-time — constitute the fundamental structure of the universe. by Quanta Science Podcast
34 min listen
Sphere Packing Solved in Higher Dimensions: The Ukrainian mathematician Maryna Viazovska has solved the centuries-old sphere-packing problem in dimensions eight and 24. by Quanta Science Podcast
22 min listen
Nature’s Critical Warning System: Scientists are homing in on a warning signal that arises in complex systems like ecological food webs, the brain and the Earth’s climate. Could it help prevent future catastrophes? by Quanta Science Podcast
34 min listen
Simple Set Game Proof Stuns Mathematicians: A new series of papers has settled a long-standing question related to the popular game in which players seek patterned sets of three cards. by Quanta Science Podcast
16 min listen
Giant Genetic Map Shows Life’s Hidden Links: In a monumental set of experiments, spread out over nearly two decades, biologists removed genes two at a time to uncover the secret workings of the cell. by Quanta Science Podcast
9 min listen
A Life in Games: The mathematician John Horton Conway’s myriad accomplishments — including the Game of Life, sprouts and the surreal numbers — are the product of a mind at play. by Quanta Science Podcast
34 min listen
A Twisted Path to Equation-Free Prediction: Complex natural systems defy standard mathematical analysis, so one ecologist is throwing out the equations. by Quanta Science Podcast
32 min listen
New Clues to How the Brain Maps Time: The same brain cells that track location in space appear to also count beats in time. The research suggests that our thoughts may take place on a mental space-time canvas. by Quanta Science Podcast
26 min listen
New Support for Alternative Quantum View: An experiment claims to have invalidated a decades-old criticism against pilot-wave theory, an alternative formulation of quantum mechanics that eliminates the most baffling features of the subatomic universe. by Quanta Science Podcast
13 min listen
New Evidence for the Necessity of Loneliness: A specific set of neurons deep in the brain may motivate us to seek company, holding social species together. by Quanta Science Podcast
13 min listen
A Bird’s-Eye View of Nature’s Hidden Order: Scientists are exploring a mysterious pattern, found in birds’ eyes, boxes of marbles and other surprising places, that is neither regular nor random. by Quanta Science Podcast
14 min listen
Debate Intensifies Over Dark Disk Theory: In the new, free-for-all era of dark matter research, the controversial idea that dark matter is concentrated in thin disks is being rescued from scientific oblivion. by Quanta Science Podcast
14 min listen
A Secret Flexibility Found in Life’s Blueprints: A new study reveals that individual genes can create many different versions of the molecular machinery that powers the cell. by Quanta Science Podcast
12 min listen

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During Pregnancy, a Fake 'Infection' Protects the Fetus: The placenta has a unique trick for keeping immune defenses on standby, even when no viral infections threaten a pregnancy. by Quanta Science Podcast
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Why the Human Brain Perceives Small Numbers Better: A recent neurological study provides an unprecedented look at how number sense works in the human brain. by Quanta Science Podcast
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Inside Scientists' Life-Saving Prediction of the Iceland Eruption: An Icelandic peninsula that hadn't seen any volcanism for 800 years has now awoken. Eruptions could continue for decades or even centuries. by Quanta Science Podcast
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Echoes of Electromagnetism Found in Number Theory: Physics is a rich well of inspiration for mathematicians to draw from. by Quanta Science Podcast
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Tiny Language Models Come of Age: Using large language models to generate training data for smaller models might be more effective than vacuuming up text from the internet and filtering out the garbage. by Quanta Science Podcast
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Rogue Worlds Throw Planetary Ideas Out of Orbit: Astronomers have long known of rogue worlds - cosmic loners that drift through space, untethered to a star. Now JWST is spotting them in pairs. by Quanta Science Podcast
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What Makes Life Tick? Mitochondria May Keep Time for Cells: We're all used to hearing about mitochondria as the powerhouse of the cell. It turns out that they are also the timekeepers. by Quanta Science Podcast
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An Old Conjecture Falls, Making Spheres a Lot More Complicated: Many discoveries in mathematics make things simpler, but a recent disproof instead creates a universe of new, complicated possibilities. by Quanta Science Podcast
17 min listen
Even Synthetic Life Forms With a Tiny Genome Can Evolve: Biologists have discovered that even one of the weakest, simplest self-replicating organisms on the planet can evolve. by Quanta Science Podcast
15 min listen
Selfish, Virus-Like DNA Can Carry Genes Between Species: Genetic elements known as "Mavericks" may be responsible for transferring genes between different species throughout the history of life. by Quanta Science Podcast
13 min listen
Exoplanets Could Help Us Learn How Planets Make Magnetism: Earth has a magnetic field, but Venus, Earth's sister planet, doesn't. Why does one rocky planet have a magnetic field while the other does not? by Quanta Science Podcast
13 min listen
To Move Fast, Quantum Maze Solvers Must Forget the Past: If you've ever entered a room, and then completely forgotten how you got there, you may have something in common with a quantum computer. by Quanta Science Podcast
16 min listen
Underground Cells Make 'Dark Oxygen' Without Light: In the groundwaters beneath Alberta, Canada, researchers have found microbes that can produce abundant oxygen, even in the absence of light. by Quanta Science Podcast
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How the Brain Protects Itself From Blood-Borne Threats: A system of sophisticated pumps and receptors protects the brain like bouncers at the door of an elite club. by Quanta Science Podcast
12 min listen
JWST Spots Giant Black Holes All Over the Early Universe: There's never been a more exciting time to study black holes. by Quanta Science Podcast
25 min listen
Is It Real or Imagined? How Your Brain Tells the Difference.: A recent neuroscience study reveals how human brains differentiate between the imagined and the observed. by Quanta Science Podcast
18 min listen
Chatbots Don't Know What Stuff Isn't: Researchers still don't understand whether machines will ever truly know the word "no." by Quanta Science Podcast
17 min listen
Global Microbiome Study Gives New View of Shared Health Risks: A recent study found that the more time you spend with someone, the more likely you are to share strains of species in your microbiome. by Quanta Science Podcast
21 min listen
Physicists Use Quantum Mechanics to Pull Energy out of Nothing: A recently demonstrated quantum protocol teleports energy from one location to another without violating any sacred physical principles. by Quanta Science Podcast
19 min listen
How Loneliness Reshapes the Brain: Loneliness doesn't just make people feel isolated. It alters their brain in ways that can hinder their ability to trust and connect to others. by Quanta Science Podcast
21 min listen
Gene Expression in Neurons Solves a Brain Evolution Puzzle: Our brains have even less in common with reptile brains than was once thought. by Quanta Science Podcast
20 min listen
Machines Learn Better if We Teach Them the Basics: To improve reinforcement learning algorithms, computer scientists are training them as if they were human. by Quanta Science Podcast
21 min listen
The Cause of Depression Is Probably Not What You Think: Better treatments for depression may require a clear-eyed look at the condition's nuance. by Quanta Science Podcast
22 min listen
Ants Live 10 Times Longer by Altering Their Insulin Responses: A tapeworm has evolved the ability to make its ant hosts live longer. Researchers recently discovered how the parasite does it. by Quanta Science Podcast
18 min listen
How the Brain Distinguishes Memories From Perceptions: The "blurriness" of remembered images may help our brains distinguish memories from current perceptions. by Quanta Science Podcast
14 min listen
What Causes Alzheimer's? Scientists Are Rethinking the Answer. (Pt 2): Researchers investigating alternatives to amyloid plaques as the possible cause of Alzheimer's disease have faced resistance, but intriguing new theories have emerged. by Quanta Science Podcast
41 min listen
What Causes Alzheimer's? Scientists Are Rethinking the Answer. (Pt. 1): For three decades, most Alzheimer's researchers have stuck by the theory that aggregations of proteins called amyloid plaques cause the disease. But unsatisfied with the slow pace of progress, some are now exploring other hypotheses. by Quanta Science Podcast
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Astronomers Say They Have Spotted the Universe's First Stars: Thanks to the James Webb Space Telescope, we may have just gotten a glimpse of the first generation of stars. by Quanta Science Podcast
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New Chip Expands the Possibilities for AI: Chips that run on an analog spectrum of memory rather than 0s and 1s could transform energy-efficient AI. by Quanta Science Podcast
19 min listen
How Supergenes Fuel Evolution Despite Harmful Mutations: "Supergenes" lock several genes together into a single inheritable unit. This type of evolution offers both risks and rewards. by Quanta Science Podcast
19 min listen

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Quanta Writers and Editors Discuss Trends in Science and Math

Quanta Writers and Editors Discuss Trends in Science and Math

Description

Titles in the series (100)

More Episodes from Quanta Science Podcast

Related podcast episodes