Explore mind-bending developments in basic science and math research. Quanta Magazine is an award-winning, editorially independent magazine published by the Simons Foundation.
Showing Season 2017 of 9
Season 2017
2017
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01. Marcus Feldman: In Search of Actions That Alter Evolution
2017-01-05
Marcus Feldman explains how he models the effects of a cultural preference — in this case, a preference for sons over daughters in China.
02. Francis Su: Math and the Good Life
2017-02-03
Francis Su explains how mathematics can help a person to live well.
03. Francis Su: Math Is for Everybody
2017-02-04
Francis Su discusses how the community of mathematicians tends to exclude certain people.
04. Sylvia Serfaty: In Mathematics, ‘You Cannot Be Lied To’
2017-02-21
Sylvia Serfaty explains why you don’t have to be a genius to become a mathematician.
05. Sharon Glotzer: ‘Digital Alchemist’ Seeks Rules of Emergence
2017-03-08
Sharon Glotzer explains how emergence, entropy and order can all fit together.
06. John Novembre: A Map of Human History, Hidden in DNA
2017-04-20
John Novembre explains how he uses genomic data to map human history.
07. Tim Maudlin: A Defense of the Reality of Time
2017-05-19
A Defense of the Reality of Time
08. Journey to the Birth of the Solar System 360 VR
2017-05-25
Join David Kaplan on a virtual-reality tour showing how the sun, the Earth and the other planets came to be.
09. Purvesh Khatri: More Data — the Dirtier the Better
2017-06-07
Khatri learned that by working with 'messy' clinical data sets, he could find genes that the human body expresses in response to diverse forms of a disease.
10. Jessica Flack: How Nature Solves Problems Through Computation
2017-07-10
Jessica Flack describes the special challenges of applying collective computation to the understanding of complex biological systems.
11. Jay Pasachoff: Eclipse Hunter Reveals the Science That Can Only Be Done in the Dark
2017-08-10
Jay Pasachoff explains what scientists can learn during a total solar eclipse.
12. How Andrea Ghez Found a Supermassive Black Hole
2017-08-21
The UCLA astrophysicist explains how tracking the movement of stars revealed the existence of a supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way galaxy.
13. Svitlana Mayboroda: Taming Rogue Waves
2017-08-22
Svitlana Mayboroda describes how the landscape function helps solve the mystery of wave localization.
14. Neil Johnson: A Physicist Who Models ISIS and the Alt-Right
2017-08-23
Neil Johnson on the physics of collective human behavior.
15. Nigel Goldenfeld: Seeing Emergent Physics Behind Evolution
2017-08-31
Nigel Goldenfeld explains how condensed matter physics provides insights into the collective state of early life on Earth.
16. Rebecca Goldin: Why Math Is the Best Way to Make Sense of the World
2017-09-11
Rebecca Goldin explains why quantitative literacy is so important.
17. Michael Assis: Atomic Origami
2017-10-31
Michael Assis demonstrates how defects can be used to tune the properties of Miura-ori origami.
18. Federico Ardila: A Mathematician Who Dances to the Joys and Sorrows of Discovery
2017-11-20
A Mathematician Who Dances to the Joys and Sorrows of Discovery
19. Minhyong Kim: Connecting Number Theory to Physics
2017-12-01
Minhyong Kim wanted to make sure he had concrete results in number theory before he admitted that his ideas were inspired by physics.
20. Corina Tarnita: First Understand Nature’s Rules
2017-12-20
Corina Tarnita argues that to fully appreciate nature, you must first understand its rules.