All articles from Quanta Magazine
‘It’s a Mess’: A Brain-Bending Trip to Quantum Theory’s 100th Birthday Party
“Happy 100th birthday, quantum mechanics!” a physicist bellowed into a microphone one evening in June, and the cavernous banquet hall of Hamburg’s Hotel Atlantic erupted into cheers and applause. Some 300 quantum physicists had traveled from around the world to attend the opening r
Earth’s Core Appears To Be Leaking Up and Out of Earth’s Surface
All the activity on Earth’s surface — erupting volcanoes, shifting tectonic plates, restless seas and myriad forms of life — depends on the two-part engine under the hood. Directly beneath Earth’s crust lies the mantle: rock that melts, churns and flows like putty, driving th
How Can Math Protect Our Data?
Every time data travels — from smartphones to the cloud, or across the vacuum of space — it relies on a silent but vigilant guardian in the form of error-correcting codes. These codes, baked into nearly every digital system, are designed to detect and repair any errors that noise, interf
At 17, Hannah Cairo Solved a Major Math Mystery
It’s not that anyone ever said sophisticated math problems can’t be solved by teenagers who haven’t finished high school. But the odds of such a result would have seemed long. Yet a paper posted on February 10 left the math world by turns stunned, delighted and ready to welcome a b
What can a cell remember? More than we once thought, a revelation that's altering the meaning of memory
What can a cell remember? More than we once thought, a revelation that's altering the meaning of memory
New Method Is the Fastest Way To Find the Best Routes
If you want to solve a tricky problem, it often helps to get organized. You might, for example, break the problem into pieces and tackle the easiest pieces first. But this kind of sorting has a cost. You may end up spending too much time putting the pieces in order. This dilemma is especially releva
What Can a Cell Remember?
In 1983, the octogenarian geneticist Barbara McClintock stood at the lectern of the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm. She was famously publicity averse — nearly a hermit — but it’s customary for people to speak when they’re awarded a Nobel Prize, so she delivered a halting a