Hidden correspondences hint at a deeper structure to the mathematical universe. Our columnist unpacks one of those connections and asks mathematicians what they might mean. The post What Is Math’s Mysterious Langlands Program Really About? first appeared on Quanta Mag … | Continue reading
Mathematicians at OpenAI showed that the Navier-Stokes equations, which describe how fluids flow, can sometimes “blow up.” But the massive result is not without controversy. The post AI Has Solved One of Math’s $1 Million Millennium Prize Problems first appeared on Qua … | Continue reading
In this special live recording from the International Congress of Mathematicians in Philadelphia, July 2026, the central question discussed was what do mathematicians really value about doing mathematics in the first place? The post Live from ICM 2026: What Is Math For … | Continue reading
Sarah Demers, chair of the physics department at Yale University, sees the potential for large language models to both help and harm her field. The post In an Age of AI, a Physicist Seeks What Endures first appeared on Quanta Magazine | Continue reading
By doubling their entire genome, organisms can evolve extremely rapidly — or they can lose it all. New studies reveal how to survive the high-risk, high-reward evolutionary event. The post Genome Duplication Is a Radical Evolutionary Gamble first appeared on Quanta Mag … | Continue reading
Mathematicians found that a broad class of networks will abruptly shift behavior past a critical point. The post ‘Stunning’ Percolation Proof Solves Decades-Old Puzzle About Phase Transitions first appeared on Quanta Magazine | Continue reading
Mathematicians found that a broad class of networks will abruptly shift behavior past a critical point. The post ‘Stunning’ Percolation Proof Solves Decades-Old Puzzle About Phase Transitions first appeared on Quanta Magazine | Continue reading
The theoretical side of the field doesn’t require computing machines. But many questions would never have been posed without them. The post Does Computer Science Need Computers? first appeared on Quanta Magazine | Continue reading
To explore quantum phenomena, we must leave the familiar world and enter the abstract realm of Hilbert space. The post In Hilbert Space, All Things Are Quantumly Possible first appeared on Quanta Magazine | Continue reading
An updated view of categorization reflects the modern understanding that the nervous system is more of a prediction engine than a filing cabinet. The post A New Framework for How the Brain Compresses Our Noisy World first appeared on Quanta Magazine | Continue reading
For the first time in 30 years, computer scientists have found a better way to allocate objects evenly between two groups. The post ‘Huge Breakthrough’ in the Math of Imbalance first appeared on Quanta Magazine | Continue reading
Computer scientist Melanie Mitchell discusses why artificial intelligence doesn’t “think” or “reason” like humans, and how we can create better methods for measuring machine cognition. The post Are We Thinking Correctly About AI Intelligence? first appeared on Quanta M … | Continue reading
No one yet knows which technology will power the quantum computers of the future, but the race to create them has already produced some of science’s most intricate machinery. The post Building a Quantum Computer, One Fragile Qubit at a Time first appeared on Quanta Mag … | Continue reading
From the 1800s to the early 2000s, physicists used the same theory to understand the behavior of fluids. Now, using a modern insight, they have redefined fluids from the bottom up. The post Theory of Fluids Enters the 21st Century first appeared on Quanta Magazine | Continue reading
By deciphering the molecular signatures of millions of mouse cells, Junyue Cao has found that aging is not haphazard wear and tear but rather a “remodeling of the cell society.” The post Why Aging May Be a Program, Not a Breakdown first appeared on Quanta Magazine | Continue reading
The math, which combines chaos, quantum theory, and infinitely complex fractal structures, has been called a “foundational result.” The post Graduate Student Proves a Quantum Uncertainty Principle for Fractals first appeared on Quanta Magazine | Continue reading
A simple scaling law brings order to the chaos of flowing water, rock, and sediment. New findings have extended the law even further. The post Why Are Rivers So Mathematical? first appeared on Quanta Magazine | Continue reading
A global constellation of neutrino detectors is creating a never-before-seen view of the radioactive elements that power Earth’s tectonic heat engine. The post Neutrinos From Deep Inside Earth Provide a New Picture of the Mantle first appeared on Quanta Magazine | Continue reading
Neuroscientist Ishmail Abdus-Saboor discusses efforts to understand how skin contact can be painful or pleasurable, and what touch-obsessed naked mole rats might teach us about human social behavior. The post How Does Touch Lead To Pain Or Pleasure? first appeared on Q … | Continue reading
New research is helping biologists understand how an overlooked aspect of coral physiology may affect their fate under climate change. The post Corals Spin Tiny Vortices to Get Oxygen, but Not if It’s Too Hot first appeared on Quanta Magazine | Continue reading
AI’s greatest mathematical successes have come from answers to problems posed by a mid-20th century iconoclast. By examining what makes the Erdős problems unique, mathematicians are trying to understand how AI might change the rest of math. The post Why the Legendary E … | Continue reading
The idea that artificial intelligence can “reason” is more intuitive than ever. But intuitions can be wrong, and the science is far from settled. The post Is AI Reasoning Right for the Wrong Reasons? first appeared on Quanta Magazine | Continue reading
New calculations seem to have put a 25-year-old particle physics puzzle to rest. But they’ve also created a clash with other experimental results. The post Physicists Solve a Big Quantum Mystery. Now, Old Results Don’t Add Up. first appeared on Quanta Magazine | Continue reading
An organelle discovered inside a microbe inside a cow’s gut helps explain how livestock burps contribute to warming our planet. The post A New Way That a Cow’s Inner World Shapes Earth’s Atmosphere first appeared on Quanta Magazine | Continue reading
One of the most contested issues in astrophysics is our understanding of the Universe’s expansion. Adam Riess discusses why there is disagreement and what might resolve it. The post How Fast Is the Universe Really Expanding? first appeared on Quanta Magazine | Continue reading
Every four years, the math world’s preeminent awards are given to the finest minds of a generation. The young winners — all under 40 on the first day of the year — have reshaped mathematics and theoretical computer science. Here are their stories. The post Fields and … | Continue reading
Shayan Oveis Gharan has won the Abacus Medal for using tools from across mathematics to boost the power of algorithms. The post A Master of the Traveling Salesperson Problem Finds His Own Path first appeared on Quanta Magazine | Continue reading
Focus, commitment, and insight resulted in a “once in a century” proof. Hong Wang is now just the third woman to win a Fields Medal. The post Living Fully in the Math World Means Threading the Needle first appeared on Quanta Magazine | Continue reading
Determination and effort propelled Jacob Tsimerman to the top of the math world. But now that he’s won a Fields Medal, he worries that the field is in jeopardy. The post Sometimes Being First Means Seeing the End Before Anyone Else first appeared on Quanta Magazine | Continue reading
John Pardon sees connections between different areas of math that others don’t. For that vision, he’s now been awarded a Fields Medal. The post The Quietest Mathematician Has Always Been Worth Listening To first appeared on Quanta Magazine | Continue reading
Before he won a Fields Medal for his pioneering work balancing randomness and order, Yu Deng first had to achieve equilibrium in his own life. The post Amid Life’s Chaos, a Meticulous Mathematician Finds Stability first appeared on Quanta Magazine | Continue reading
Extremophiles that thrive in the most unforgiving environments aren’t just biological curiosities. Understanding their resilience has many implications for us. The post The Organisms That Make Earth’s Harshest Places Home first appeared on Quanta Magazine | Continue reading
The biologist’s bold “energetic view of life” looks to the body’s strangest organelles as the link between cells, health, and mind and the foundation of our experience of being alive. The post Martin Picard’s Mitochondrial Theory of Mind first appeared on Quanta Magazi … | Continue reading
Today’s computers need safeguards against random energy fluctuations. Thermodynamic computers would put those fluctuations to use. The post Thermodynamic Computers Go With the (Energy) Flow first appeared on Quanta Magazine | Continue reading
An invisible difference in 10% of humans poses deep mysteries in several fields at once. The post Why Am I Left-Handed? first appeared on Quanta Magazine | Continue reading
Researchers thought that what enabled complex fluids to break apart was their elasticity. But a crack in a nonelastic simple fluid has them questioning that idea. The post We Know Simple Fluids Can Flow. Turns Out, Some Can Fracture. first appeared on Quanta Magazine | Continue reading
Astronomer David Kipping discusses why claims of extraterrestrial life keep dissolving under scrutiny, why we need a more statistically grounded approach to searching for life beyond Earth, and why it’s rational to believe that we may be alone. The post Will We Ever F … | Continue reading
The idea of ‘biological agency’ — that life devises its own goals and behaves accordingly — complicates our understanding of what it means to be alive. But does it serve a scientific purpose? The post Is Life Just Different? first appeared on Quanta Magazine | Continue reading
When checking that solutions to certain problems are correct, it turns out, you can’t get around the inherent complexity of the quantum world. The post Researchers Reveal the Power of ‘Quantum Proofs’ first appeared on Quanta Magazine | Continue reading
Faced with observations of early black holes and galaxies that weren’t expected to exist, scientists have come up with a wealth of new theories to explain them. Now they just need to figure out which ones are true. The post Astrophysicists Puzzle Over Webb’s New Univer … | Continue reading
Scientists built a synthetic cell that combines more lifelike properties than ever before — proof of concept that it’s possible to bring nonliving materials to life, or something close to it, in the lab. The post For the First Time, a Cell Built From Scratch Grows and … | Continue reading
The mechanical process of cell division exerts powerful, if microscopic, forces. How do the molecular machines that power it manage the strain? The post What Breaks a Cell’s Ribs Can Make It Stronger first appeared on Quanta Magazine | Continue reading
Decades ago, Paul Erdős used randomness to illuminate the vast and weird world of networks. Now mathematicians are making his technique even more powerful. The post After 80 Years, Mathematicians Give Famed ‘Erdős Method’ an Upgrade first appeared on Quanta Magazine | Continue reading
Lauren Williams tells 'The Joy of Why' how studying a fundamental object in algebraic combinatorics led to a career full of surprises. The post What Is the Positive Grassmannian and Why Does It Show Up Everywhere? first appeared on Quanta Magazine | Continue reading
The hunt for these ghostly particles has required some of the most audacious experiment setups ever built. The post How Physicists Track and Trap the Elusive Neutrino first appeared on Quanta Magazine | Continue reading
Recent observations suggest that dark energy is changing over time. Theorists wonder if dark matter is, too. The post A Dark Dimension Could Link Two of the Universe’s Great Unknowns first appeared on Quanta Magazine | Continue reading
Our genetic heritage is not a blueprint or an algorithm, as many biologists have imagined, but something else entirely. The post Why the Human Genome’s Tangled Physicality May Confound AI first appeared on Quanta Magazine | Continue reading
Our genetic heritage is not a blueprint or an algorithm, as many biologists have imagined, but something else entirely. The post Why the Human Genome’s Tangled Physicality May Confound AI first appeared on Quanta Magazine | Continue reading