Quanta Magazine
Illuminating mathematics, physics, biology and computer science research through public service journalism.
quantamagazine.orgOne of the best science publications on the internet. Quanta covers breakthroughs in mathematics, physics, biology, and computer science with the kind of narrative depth that makes you feel like you actually understand the research. Funded by the Simons Foundation and editorially independent, it manages to be both rigorous and genuinely enjoyable to read.
Publishing since 2013.
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Why Do Humanoid Robots Still Struggle With the Small Stuff?
The last time I covered the science of humanoid robots, the state of the art looked downright Orwellian — by which I mean, “four legs good, two legs bad.” It was 2015. Boston Dynamics’ first “Spot” quadruped had taken YouTube by storm, confidently trotting up stairs and recovering from vicious kicks. Also popular at the time: humanoids falling down. Constantly. I felt sorrier for those tottering… Source
Where Some See Strings, She Sees a Space-Time Made of Fractals
Astrid Eichhorn spends her days thinking about how the laws of physics change at the tiniest scales. Imagine zooming in closer and closer to the device on which you’re reading this article. Its apparently smooth screen quickly dissolves into a jiggling lattice of molecules, which in turn resolve into clouds of electrons buzzing around atomic nuclei. You dive into a nucleus… Source
Disorder Drives One of Nature’s Most Complex Machines
At the dawn of complex life, evolution created a container for DNA, its most treasured item. A few billion years later, 20th-century microscopists looked at this container — the nucleus — up close and saw that it was covered in tiny openings. At the time, they didn’t know what to make of these structures, but as microscopy improved, something grand came into focus: what we now call “nuclear pore… Source
New Strides Made on Deceptively Simple ‘Lonely Runner’ Problem
Picture a bizarre training exercise: A group of runners starts jogging around a circular track, with each runner maintaining a unique, constant pace. Will every runner end up “lonely,” or relatively far from everyone else, at least once, no matter their speeds? Mathematicians conjecture that the answer is yes. The “lonely runner” problem might seem simple and inconsequential, but it crops up… Source
Can the Most Abstract Math Make the World a Better Place?
“I’ve spent a long time exploring the crystalline beauty of traditional mathematics, but now I’m feeling an urge to study something slightly more earthy,” John Baez wrote on his blog in 2011. An influential mathematical physicist who splits his time between the University of California, Riverside and the University of Edinburgh, Baez had grown increasingly concerned about the state of the planet… Source
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