Iyad Rahwan: Why We Need a Science of Machine Behavior Quanta Magazine 2024-10-23 | Iyad Rahwan: Why We Need a Science of Machine Behavior
When Computers Write Proofs, Whats the Point of Mathematicians? Quanta Magazine 2023-08-31 | Andrew Granville knows that artificial intelligence will profoundly change math. The programming language Lean already plays a role in theorem proving. That's why the University of Montreal number theorist has started talking to philosophers about the nature of mathematical proof — and how the discipline of mathematics might evolve in the age of AI.Read the full article at Quanta Magazine: quantamagazine.org/why-mathematical-proof-is-a-social-compact-20230831How Close Are Computers to Automating Mathematical Reasoning?quantamagazine.org/can-computers-be-mathematicians-20220629- VISIT our Website: quantamagazine.org - LIKE us on Facebook: facebook.com/QuantaNews- FOLLOW us Twitter: twitter.com/QuantaMagazineQuanta Magazine is an editorially independent publication supported by the Simons Foundation: simonsfoundation.org#math #proof #computerscience
How Math’s Famous Map Theorem Was Solved With Computers Quanta Magazine 2023-08-08 | Can you fill in any map with just four colors? The so-called Four-Color theorem says that you can always do so in a way that neighboring regions never share the same color. But a proof eluded mathematicians for more than a century before Wolfgang Haken and Kenneth Appel controversially used a computer to show it must be true. This breakthrough forever changed mathematics.Featuring David S. Richeson, Professor of Mathematics and the John J. & Ann Curley Faculty Chair in the Liberal Arts, Dickinson CollegeRead the full article at Quanta Magazine: quantamagazine.org/only-computers-can-solve-this-map-coloring-problem-from-the-1800s-20230329Learn more about graph theory: quantamagazine.org/tag/graph-theory00:00 What is the to the Four Color Problem01:12 Historical origins of the map coloring theorem01:49 Kempe's first proof techniques using planar graphs and unavoidable sets04:49 Heawood finds a flaw in Kempe's proof05:49 How Appel and Haken used a computer to verify their proof08:15 Applications of the proof in the study of network theory- VISIT our Website: quantamagazine.org - LIKE us on Facebook: facebook.com/QuantaNews- FOLLOW us Twitter: twitter.com/QuantaMagazineQuanta Magazine is an editorially independent publication supported by the Simons Foundation: simonsfoundation.org#math #proof #computerscience
The Cryptographer Working to Protect Computations Quanta Magazine 2023-07-27 | Yael Tauman Kalai is a theoretical computer scientist and cryptographer. Her breakthroughs in interactive proofs have had a major impact on everything from how cell phones communicate to a more secure blockchain.She and her collaborators are updating their cryptographic schemes for a future in which quantum computers could threaten the security of today’s most commonly used cryptographic methods. Kalai is Senior Principal Researcher at Microsoft Research New England and an adjunct professor at MIT. She was awarded the 2022 ACM Prize in Computing.Read the full article at Quanta Magazine: quantamagazine.org/the-cryptographer-who-ensures-we-can-trust-our-computers-2023072700:00 What is cryptography and where is it used?00:54 History of modern cryptography, securing communications01:40 Securing computations with weak devices by delegating to strong devices02:55 Interactive proofs: a method to prove computational correctness4:07 Creating SNARG certificates using Fiat-Shamir Paradigm 05:30 SNARGS on the blockchain and Etherium05:45 Quantum computers and the future of cryptography- VISIT our Website: quantamagazine.org - LIKE us on Facebook: facebook.com/QuantaNews- FOLLOW us Twitter: twitter.com/QuantaMagazineQuanta Magazine is an editorially independent publication supported by the Simons Foundation: simonsfoundation.org#cryptography #computerscience #blockchain #quantumcomputer
A Bet Against Quantum Gravity Quanta Magazine 2023-07-10 | Is gravity quantum in nature, just like all the other particles and forces? Or is it fundamentally different? For nearly a century, physicists have attempted to define gravity using the framework of quantum mechanics. But it turns out that “quantizing” gravity leads to some thorny dead ends.To chart a path forward, the physicist Jonathan Oppenheim and his students have proposed a different idea: What if gravity simply can’t be quantized? Building on work from the 1990s, Oppenheim’s theory keeps gravity classical and then searches for a way to couple the quantum and classical realms.Such hybrid theories could solve long-standing problems in physics. But they also lead to a conclusion that many physicists may find unsettling: the universe is deeply random. To make his point, Oppenheim made a bet with two quantum gravity researchers that he’s right. Upcoming experiments could determine the winner of the bet.Read the full article at Quanta Magazine: quantamagazine.org/the-physicist-who-bets-that-gravity-cant-be-quantized-20230710- VISIT our Website: quantamagazine.org - LIKE us on Facebook: facebook.com/QuantaNews- FOLLOW us Twitter: twitter.com/QuantaMagazineQuanta Magazine is an editorially independent publication supported by the Simons Foundation: simonsfoundation.org#quantum #blackhole #physics #gravity #spacetime
Can a New Law of Physics Explain a Black Hole Paradox? Quanta Magazine 2023-06-06 | When the theoretical physicist Leonard Susskind encountered a head-scratching paradox about black holes, he turned to an unexpected place: computer science. In nature, most self-contained systems eventually reach thermodynamic equilibrium ... but not black holes. The interior volume of a black hole appears to forever expand without limit. But why? Susskind had a suspicion that a concept called computational complexity, which underpins everything from cryptography to quantum computing to the blockchain and AI, might provide an explanation.He and his colleagues believe that the complexity of quantum entanglement continues to evolve inside a black hole long past the point of what’s called “heat death.” Now Susskind and his collaborator, Adam Brown, have used this insight to propose a new law of physics: the second law of quantum complexity, a quantum analogue of the second law of thermodynamics.Read the full article at Quanta Magazine: quantamagazine.org/in-new-paradox-black-holes-appear-to-evade-heat-death-20230606Also appearing in the video: Xie Chen of CalTech, Adam Bouland of Stanford and Umesh Vazirani of UC Berkeley.00:00 Intro to a second law of quantum complexity01:16 Entropy drives most closed systems to thermal equilibrium. Why are black holes different?03:34 History of the concept of "entropy" and "heat death"05:01 Quantum complexity and entanglement might explain black holes07:32 A turn to computational circuit complexity to describe black holes08:47 Using a block cipher and cryptography to test the theory10:16 A new law of physics is proposed11:23 Embracing a quantum universe leads to new insights12:20 When quantum complexity reaches an end...the universe begins againThumbnail / title card image designed by Olena Shmahalo - VISIT our Website: quantamagazine.org - LIKE us on Facebook: facebook.com/QuantaNews- FOLLOW us Twitter: twitter.com/QuantaMagazineQuanta Magazine is an editorially independent publication supported by the Simons Foundation: simonsfoundation.org#quantum #blackhole #physics #entanglement #computerscience #cryptography
The Digital Quest for Quantum Gravity Quanta Magazine 2023-05-25 | Could the key to understanding quantum gravity, one of the most sought-after theories in physics, be much more elementary than many physicists believe? Theoretical physicist Renate Loll has developed an elegant theory called Causal Dynamical Triangulations (CDT) that has produced surprising findings while simulating quantum gravity inside a computer. Her research may one day lead to new insights into how the fabric of space-time formed.00:00 Is string theory and loop quantum gravity theory wrong?01:40 What is quantum gravity and how do you develop a theory of it?02:05 Causal Dynamical Triangulations theory (CDT)03:27 Computer-simulated quantum gravity revealed a 4D universe04:28 The future of quantum gravity researchRead the full article at Quanta Magazine: quantamagazine.org/renate-loll-blends-universes-to-unlock-quantum-gravity-20230525Learn more about Quantum Field Theory: quantamagazine.org/what-is-quantum-field-theory-and-why-is-it-incomplete-20220810Read an explainer of the path integral in Quanta: quantamagazine.org/how-our-reality-may-be-a-sum-of-all-possible-realities-20230206- VISIT our Website: quantamagazine.org - LIKE us on Facebook: facebook.com/QuantaNews- FOLLOW us Twitter: twitter.com/QuantaMagazineQuanta Magazine is an editorially independent publication supported by the Simons Foundation: simonsfoundation.org#Quantum #Gravity #physics #generalrelativity
How a Computer Broke a 50-Year Math Record Quanta Magazine 2023-05-22 | Researchers at Google research lab DeepMind trained an AI system called AlphaTensor to find new, faster algorithms to tackle an age-old math problem: matrix multiplication. Advances in matrix multiplication could lead to breakthroughs in physics, engineering and computer science.AlphaTensor quickly rediscovered - and surpassed, for some cases - the reigning algorithm discovered by German mathematician Volker Strassen in 1969. However, mathematicians soon took inspiration from the results of the game-playing neural network to make advances of their own.Read the full article at Quanta Magazine: quantamagazine.org/ai-reveals-new-possibilities-in-matrix-multiplication-20221123Correction: At 2:53 in the video, the text previously read "67% less" but has been changed to "67%" for accuracy.00:00 What is matrix multiplication?01:06 The standard algorithm for multiplying matrices02:06 Strassen's faster algorithm for faster matrix multiplication methods03:55 DeepMind AlphaGo beats a human04:28 DeepMind uses AI system AlphaTensor to search for new algorithms05:18 A computer helps prove the four color theorem06:17 What is a tensor?07:16 Tensor decomposition explained08:48 AlphaTensor discovers new and faster faster matrix multiplication algorithms11:09 Mathematician Manuel Kauers improves on AlphaTensor's results- VISIT our Website: quantamagazine.org - LIKE us on Facebook: facebook.com/QuantaNews- FOLLOW us Twitter: twitter.com/QuantaMagazineQuanta Magazine is an editorially independent publication supported by the Simons Foundation: simonsfoundation.org#math #AlphaTensor #matrices
She Tracks Wildlife eDNA on Everest and in the Andes Quanta Magazine 2023-04-17 | As the director of the Wildlife Conservation Society’s Molecular Diagnostics Laboratory, Tracie Seimon develops cutting-edge techniques for the detection of pathogens that infect wild animals. She is also pushing the boundaries of conservation biology, employing eDNA (environmental DNA) collection and analysis to search for endangered species and assess biodiversity in some of the most remote ecosystems on Earth. In 2019, her team’s work on Mount Everest revealed surprising results about the wide diversity of species, which range across the tree of life, that call this hostile, high-elevation mountain environment home.The Wildlife Conservation Society runs four zoos and the aquarium in New York City and supports conservation and research projects in more than 60 countries around the world.Read the full article at Quanta Magazine: quantamagazine.org/she-tracks-the-dna-of-elusive-species-on-everest-and-in-the-andes-2023041700:00 Why protecting biodiversity important and the role of science00:20 The Wildlife Conservation Society's Molecular Lab00:50 How Dr. Tracie Simon ending up studying amphibians in the high Andes01:39 How climate change is impacting high mountain environments02:49 Researching environmental DNA (eDNA) in wild environments03:27 Biodiversity eDNA analysis of life on Mt. Everest04:16 Surprising results from the survey of the tree of life on Everest05:45 Pushing boundaries of eDNA analysis to save the Yangtze Giant Softshell Turtle- VISIT our Website: quantamagazine.org - LIKE us on Facebook: facebook.com/QuantaNews- FOLLOW us Twitter: twitter.com/QuantaMagazineQuanta Magazine is an editorially independent publication supported by the Simons Foundation simonsfoundation.org#wildlife #biology #conservation #dna
Truth, Privacy and AI: The Computer Scientist Who Battles Big Tech Quanta Magazine 2023-03-10 | Arvind Narayanan has built a career deflating the hype around claims made by Big Tech. He took on Netflix on user privacy and is now setting his sights on the latest neural networks and generative artificial intelligence. Can AI algorithms really predict our future behavior? Should programmers decide what invasive technologies are implemented, or should the public? How do so called "objective" machine learning algorithms actually reflect the biases and prejudices of society at large?Narayanan is a professor of computer science at Princeton University, affiliated with the Center for Information Technology Policy. He studies the societal impact of digital technologies.Read the full article at Quanta Magazine: quantamagazine.org/he-protects-privacy-and-ai-fairness-with-statistics-202303100:00 Who is Dr. Arvind Narayanan?0:27 Taking on Netflix and privacy1:17 Your apps are tracking you everywhere1:58 An unexpected defender of digital privacy2:10 Do AI technologies predicting behavior actually work?3:40 Does tech amply the best and and worst of society?- VISIT our Website: quantamagazine.org - LIKE us on Facebook: facebook.com/QuantaNews- FOLLOW us Twitter: twitter.com/QuantaMagazineQuanta Magazine is an editorially independent publication supported by the Simons Foundation simonsfoundation.org #artificialintelligence #technology #privacy
Could One Physics Theory Unlock the Mysteries of the Brain? Quanta Magazine 2023-01-31 | The ability of the phenomenon of criticality to explain the sudden emergence of new properties in complex systems has fascinated scientists in recent decades. When systems are balanced at their “critical point,” small changes in individual units can trigger outsized events, just as falling pebbles can start an avalanche. That abrupt shift in behavior describes the phase changes of water from ice to liquid to gas, but it’s also relevant to many other situations, from flocks of starlings on the wing to stock market crashes. In the 1990s, the physicist Per Bak and other scientists suggested that the brain might be operating near its own critical point. Ever since then, neuroscientists have been searching for evidence of fractal patterns and power laws at work in the brain’s networks of neurons. What was once a fringe theory has begun to attract more mainstream attention, with researchers now hunting for mechanisms capable of tuning brains toward criticality.Learn more about the critical brain hypothesis: quantamagazine.org/a-physical-theory-for-when-the-brain-performs-best-20230131- VISIT our Website: quantamagazine.org - LIKE us on Facebook: facebook.com/QuantaNews- FOLLOW us Twitter: twitter.com/QuantaMagazineQuanta Magazine is an editorially independent publication supported by the Simons Foundation simonsfoundation.org
2022s Biggest Breakthroughs in Math Quanta Magazine 2022-12-23 | Mathematicians made major progress in 2022, solving a centuries-old geometry question called the interpolation problem, proving the best way to minimize the surface area of clusters of three, four and five bubbles, and proving a sweeping statement about how structure emerges in random sets and graphs. Read more about these and other mathematical advances at Quanta Magazine: quantamagazine.org/the-year-in-math-20221222 You can read also about the biggest breakthroughs of 2022 in physics, biology, and computer science on our magazine website: quantamagazine.org/tag/2022-in-review- VISIT our Website: quantamagazine.org - LIKE us on Facebook: facebook.com/QuantaNews- FOLLOW us Twitter: twitter.com/QuantaMagazineQuanta Magazine is an editorially independent publication supported by the Simons Foundation simonsfoundation.orgCorrection: An earlier version of this video incorrectly suggested that Vogt and Larson solved the Brill-Noether theorem and has been deleted. Instead, the couple solved the interpolation problem. This video more accurately reflects what they proved. We regret the error.
How Physicists Created a Holographic Wormhole in a Quantum Computer Quanta Magazine 2022-11-30 | UPDATE: In February 2023, an independent team of physicists presented evidence that the research described in this video did not create any wormholes, holographic or otherwise. Read our coverage of these developments at Quanta Magazine: quantamagazine.org/wormhole-experiment-called-into-question-20230323-------------------------Almost a century ago, Albert Einstein realized that the equations of general relativity could produce wormholes. But it would take a number of theoretical leaps and a “crazy” team of experimentalists to build one on Google's quantum computer. Read the full article at Quanta Magazine: quantamagazine.org/physicists-create-a-wormhole-using-a-quantum-computer-20221130- VISIT our Website: quantamagazine.org - LIKE us on Facebook: facebook.com/QuantaNews- FOLLOW us Twitter: twitter.com/QuantaMagazineQuanta Magazine is an editorially independent publication supported by the Simons Foundation simonsfoundation.org
The High Schooler Who Solved a Prime Number Theorem Quanta Magazine 2022-10-13 | In his senior year of high school, Daniel Larsen proved a key theorem about Carmichael numbers — strange entities that mimic the primes. “It would be a paper that any mathematician would be really proud to have written,” said one mathematician. Read more at Quanta Magazine: quantamagazine.org/teenager-solves-stubborn-riddle-about-prime-number-look-alikes-20221013- VISIT our Website: quantamagazine.org - LIKE us on Facebook: facebook.com/QuantaNews- FOLLOW us Twitter: twitter.com/QuantaMagazineQuanta Magazine is an editorially independent publication supported by the Simons Foundation simonsfoundation.org
One Mans Mission to Unveil Maths Beauty Quanta Magazine 2022-09-13 | "Students haven't been taught that math is discovery," says Richard Rusczyk, founder of Art of Problem Solving. "Math is a creative discipline—you're creating castles in the sky." Rusczyk has a vision for bringing “joyous, beautiful math” — and problem-solving — to classrooms everywhere. Read more at Quanta Magazine: quantamagazine.org/richard-rusczyk-is-a-math-evangelist-who-preaches-problem-solving-20220913- VISIT our Website: quantamagazine.org - LIKE us on Facebook: facebook.com/QuantaNews- FOLLOW us Twitter: twitter.com/QuantaMagazineQuanta Magazine is an editorially independent publication supported by the Simons Foundation simonsfoundation.org
How Two Physicists Unlocked the Secrets of Two Dimensions Quanta Magazine 2022-08-16 | Condensed matter physics is the most active field of contemporary physics and has yielded some of the biggest breakthroughs of the past century. But as rapidly as technology has advanced, scientists have only scratched the surface. Now for the first time, Jie Shan and Fai Mak, a married couple of physicists at Cornell University, have figured out a way to create artificial atoms in the lab, opening the door to a new era in research.Read the full article at Quanta Magazine: quantamagazine.org/husband-and-wife-physicists-unlock-the-secrets-of-2d-crystals-20220816 - VISIT our Website: quantamagazine.org - LIKE us on Facebook: facebook.com/QuantaNews- FOLLOW us Twitter: twitter.com/QuantaMagazineQuanta Magazine is an editorially independent publication supported by the Simons Foundation simonsfoundation.org
Exploring the Deep Mystery of Lifes Origins Quanta Magazine 2022-08-08 | As an evolutionary biochemist at University College London, Nick Lane explores the deep mystery of how life evolved on Earth. His hypothesis that life arose through primitive metabolic reactions in deep-sea hydrothermal vents illuminates the outsized role that energy may have played in shaping evolution. Read more at Quanta: quantamagazine.org/a-biochemists-view-of-lifes-origin-reframes-cancer-and-aging-20500804- VISIT our Website: quantamagazine.org - LIKE us on Facebook: facebook.com/QuantaNews- FOLLOW us Twitter: twitter.com/QuantaMagazineQuanta Magazine is an editorially independent publication supported by the Simons Foundation simonsfoundation.org
The Biggest Project in Modern Mathematics Quanta Magazine 2022-06-01 | In a 1967 letter to the number theorist André Weil, a 30-year-old mathematician named Robert Langlands outlined striking conjectures that predicted a correspondence between two objects from completely different fields of math. The Langlands program was born. Today, it's one of the most ambitious mathematical feats ever attempted. Its symmetries imply deep, powerful and beautiful connections between the most important branches of mathematics. Many mathematicians agree that it has the potential to solve some of math's most intractable problems, in time, becoming a kind of “grand unified theory of mathematics," as the mathematician Edward Frenkel has described it. In a new video explainer, Rutgers University mathematician Alex Kontorovich takes us on a journey through the continents of mathematics to learn about the awe-inspiring symmetries at the heart of the Langlands program, including how Andrew Wiles solved Fermat's Last Theorem.Read more at Quanta Magazine: quantamagazine.org/what-is-the-langlands-program-2022053100:00 A map of the mathematical world00:25 The land of Number Theory"00:39 The continent of Harmonic Analysis01:20 A bridge: the Langlands Program01:46 Robert Langlands' conjectures link the two worlds02:40 Ramanujan Discriminant Function03:00 Modular Forms04:36 Pierre Deligne's proof of Ramanujan's conjecture04:47 Functoriality05:03 Pierre De Fermat's Last Theorem06:13 Andrew Wiles builds a bridge06:30 Elliptic curves07:07 Modular arithmetic08:56 Infinite power series09:20 Taniyama - Shimura - Weil conjecture10:40 Frey's counterexample to Frey's last theorem11:30 Wiles' proof of Fermat's Last Theorem- VISIT our Website: quantamagazine.org - LIKE us on Facebook: facebook.com/QuantaNews- FOLLOW us Twitter: twitter.com/QuantaMagazineQuanta Magazine is an editorially independent publication supported by the Simons Foundation simonsfoundation.org
Finally, a Picture of the Milky Ways Supermassive Black Hole Quanta Magazine 2022-05-18 | More than three years after the release of the first-ever image of a black hole, scientists from the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) shared an image of Sagittarius A* (pronounced A-star) — the supermassive specimen sitting at the center of our own Milky Way galaxy. In this video, EHT's astronomers, astrophysicists and data scientists explain the science behind the big discovery. Read more at Quanta Magazine: quantamagazine.org/black-hole-image-reveals-sagittarius-a-20220512- VISIT our Website: quantamagazine.org - LIKE us on Facebook: facebook.com/QuantaNews- FOLLOW us Twitter: twitter.com/QuantaMagazineQuanta Magazine is an editorially independent publication supported by the Simons Foundation simonsfoundation.org
The Man Who Revolutionized Computer Science With Math Quanta Magazine 2022-05-17 | Leslie Lamport revolutionized how computers talk to each other. The Turing Award-winning computer scientist pioneered the field of distributed systems, where multiple components on different networks coordinate to achieve a common objective. (Internet searches, cloud computing and artificial intelligence all involve orchestrating legions of powerful computing machines to work together.) In the early 1980s, Lamport also created LaTeX, a document preparation system that provides sophisticated ways to typeset complex formulas and format scientific documents. In 1989, Lamport invented Paxos, a “consensus algorithm” that allows multiple computers to execute complex tasks; without it, modern computing could not exist. He’s also brought more attention to a handful of problems, giving them distinctive names like the bakery algorithm and the Byzantine Generals Problem. Lamport’s work since the 1990s has focused on “formal verification,” the use of mathematical proofs to verify the correctness of software and hardware systems. Notably, he created a “specification language” called TLA+ (for Temporal Logic of Actions), which employs the precise language of mathematics to prevent bugs and avoid design flaws. Read more at Quanta Magazine: quantamagazine.org/bringing-mathematical-perfection-to-software-20220516- VISIT our Website: quantamagazine.org - LIKE us on Facebook: facebook.com/QuantaNews- FOLLOW us Twitter: twitter.com/QuantaMagazineQuanta Magazine is an editorially independent publication supported by the Simons Foundation simonsfoundation.org#computerscience #math
The Physicist Who Travels Across Disciplines, Space and Time Quanta Magazine 2022-04-20 | A playful polymath who is prone to leaping from string theory to Proust in mid-conversation, Vijay Balasubramanian of the University of Pennsylvania is a physicist, computer scientist and neuroscientist. He has made fundamental contributions to theories of black holes and quantum gravity by studying the information content of various systems, and he directs an entire second research group at Penn that details how the world’s physical features have sculpted the brain. In this video, Balasubramanian discusses his interdisciplinary work and the importance of education in the humanities. Read more at Quanta Magazine: quantamagazine.org/pondering-the-bits-that-build-space-time-and-brains-20220420- VISIT our Website: quantamagazine.org - LIKE us on Facebook: facebook.com/QuantaNews- FOLLOW us Twitter: twitter.com/QuantaMagazineQuanta Magazine is an editorially independent publication supported by the Simons Foundation simonsfoundation.org
Steven Strogatz’s Secrets of Math Communication Quanta Magazine 2022-03-25 | Steven Strogatz — the acclaimed mathematician and author — hosts the new Quanta Magazine podcast "The Joy of Why." On March 18, 2022, he joined Quanta editor Thomas Lin for a Simons Foundation Presents conversation about teaching, writing and podcasting."The Joy of Why" is a Quanta Magazine podcast about curiosity and the pursuit of knowledge, featuring interviews with leading researchers about the great scientific and mathematical questions of our time. Listen now: link.chtbl.com/the-joy-of-why-youtubeQuanta Magazine is an editorially independent publication supported by the Simons Foundation.
The Biophysics of a Brainless Animal Quanta Magazine 2022-03-17 | Trichoplax adhaerens is a species of placozoa, the simplest animals at the base of the tree of life. It doesn't have a nervous system, yet it exhibits complex behaviors. How is this possible? The answer could illuminate the origins of the nervous system—and the future of robotics. “It’s a tour de force of biophysics,” said Orit Peleg of the University of Colorado, Boulder.Read the full article at Quanta Magazine: quantamagazine.org/this-animals-behavior-is-mechanically-programmed-20220316- VISIT our Website: quantamagazine.org - LIKE us on Facebook: facebook.com/QuantaNews- FOLLOW us Twitter: twitter.com/QuantaMagazineQuanta Magazine is an editorially independent publication supported by the Simons Foundation simonsfoundation.org
Unlocking the Hidden Power of Geometry in Everyday Life Quanta Magazine 2022-03-07 | Jordan Ellenberg, a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, is a renowned mathematician with expertise in diverse areas such as number theory, geometry, algebra, and probability theory. He is recognized for his ability to elucidate complex mathematical concepts in an approachable and relevant manner. By leveraging mathematical principles, Ellenberg tackles real-world issues ranging from politics and sports to economics, underscoring the significance of mathematical thinking in our day-to-day lives. According to Ellenberg, mathematics is a creative pursuit that involves constant innovation and creation.Read the full interview at Quanta Magazine: quantamagazine.org/a-number-theorist-who-connects-math-to-other-creative-pursuits-20210527- VISIT our Website: quantamagazine.org - LIKE us on Facebook: facebook.com/QuantaNews- FOLLOW us Twitter: twitter.com/QuantaMagazineQuanta Magazine is an editorially independent publication supported by the Simons Foundation simonsfoundation.org#math
The Cosmologist Challenging Einstein Quanta Magazine 2022-02-23 | Celia Escamilla-Rivera discusses how she is using the tools of precision cosmology to hunt for a theory of gravity—in particular, teleparallel gravity—that incorporates dark energy more naturally than general relativity does. Read more at Quanta Magazine: quantamagazine.org/in-mexico-cosmologist-hunts-for-cracks-in-einsteins-gravity-theory-20220223- VISIT our Website: quantamagazine.org - LIKE us on Facebook: facebook.com/QuantaNews- FOLLOW us Twitter: twitter.com/QuantaMagazineQuanta Magazine is an editorially independent publication supported by the Simons Foundation simonsfoundation.org
2021s Biggest Breakthroughs in Math and Computer Science Quanta Magazine 2021-12-23 | It was a big year. Researchers found a way to idealize deep neural networks using kernel machines—an important step toward opening these black boxes. There were major developments toward an answer about the nature of infinity. And a mathematician finally managed to model quantum gravity. Read the articles in full at Quanta Magazine: quantamagazine.org/the-year-in-math-and-computer-science-20211223- VISIT our Website: quantamagazine.org - LIKE us on Facebook: facebook.com/QuantaNews- FOLLOW us Twitter: twitter.com/QuantaMagazineQuanta Magazine is an editorially independent publication supported by the Simons Foundation simonsfoundation.org
2021s Biggest Breakthroughs in Physics Quanta Magazine 2021-12-22 | It was a big year. Fermilab discovered possible evidence of new physics with the muon G-2 experiment. Physicists created a time crystal, a new phase of matter that appears to violate one of nature’s most cherished laws. And we got a glimpse of an enormous pair of bubbles towering over the Milky Way. Read the articles in full at Quanta: quantamagazine.org/the-year-in-physics-20211222- VISIT our Website: quantamagazine.org - LIKE us on Facebook: facebook.com/QuantaNews- FOLLOW us Twitter: twitter.com/QuantaMagazineQuanta Magazine is an editorially independent publication supported by the Simons Foundation simonsfoundation.org
2021s Breakthroughs in Neuroscience and Other Biology Quanta Magazine 2021-12-21 | A paradigm shift in how we think about the functions of the human brain. A long-awaited genetic sequence of Rafflesia arnoldii, the strangest flower in the world. A revelation in sleep science. These are some of the year's biggest discoveries in neuroscience and other areas of biology. Read the articles in full at Quanta: quantamagazine.org/the-year-in-biology-20211221- VISIT our Website: quantamagazine.org - LIKE us on Facebook: facebook.com/QuantaNews- FOLLOW us Twitter: twitter.com/QuantaMagazineQuanta Magazine is an editorially independent publication supported by the Simons Foundation simonsfoundation.org
How Will NASA’s Webb Telescope Transform Our Place in the Universe? Quanta Magazine 2021-12-03 | NASA's James Webb Space Telescope is the most powerful telescope in the history of humanity, and one of the most ambitious engineering projects ever attempted. It will witness the birth of stars and galaxies at the edge of time and probe alien skies for signs of life. In this new documentary from Quanta, JWST’s lead scientists and engineers discuss what inspired the telescope, how it was built, the extraordinary challenges it will face upon launch, and its potential discoveries. Read the feature article at Quanta: quantamagazine.org/why-nasas-james-webb-space-telescope-matters-so-much-20211203Quanta Magazine is an editorially independent publication supported by the Simons Foundation simonsfoundation.org/.- VISIT or Website: quantamagazine.org - LIKE us on Facebook: facebook.com/QuantaNews- FOLLOW us Twitter: twitter.com/QuantaMagazine
When Biology Meets Computer Science Quanta Magazine 2021-11-02 | Anne Carpenter, a computational biologist and senior director of the Imaging Platform of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, brings the power of machine learning to researchers seeking answers in mountains of cell images. She developed CellProfiler, a widely used open-source software for measuring phenotypes (sets of observable traits) from cell images. It has been cited in more than 12,000 publications since its release in 2005. Read more at Quanta: quantamagazine.org/her-profiling-tools-turn-cell-images-into-cellular-insights-20211102Quanta Magazine is an editorially independent publication supported by the Simons Foundation.
Exoplanets: The Astronomer Looking into Alien Worlds Quanta Magazine 2021-10-13 | We know next to nothing about the other 6 billion or so Earth-like exoplanets in the galaxy. With the imminent launch of the largest, most powerful space telescope ever built, Laura Kreidberg is optimistic this will soon change. Kreidberg is the founding director of a new department at the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in Heidelberg, Germany, devoted to studying what the weather is like on alien worlds. NASA’s $10 billion James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), set to launch in December after decades of planning and construction, will allow her to peer into alien skies and, she said, “turn these planets into places.” Read more at Quanta: quantamagazine.org/with-a-new-space-telescope-laura-kreidberg-will-probe-exoplanet-skies-20211012Quanta Magazine is an editorially independent publication supported by the Simons Foundation.
The Scientific Problem of Consciousness Quanta Magazine 2021-09-30 | Anil Seth wants to understand how minds work. As a neuroscientist at the University of Sussex in England, Seth has seen firsthand how neurons do what they do — but he knows that the puzzle of consciousness spills over from neuroscience into other branches of science, and even into philosophy. Read more at Quanta: quantamagazine.org/anil-seth-finds-consciousness-in-lifes-push-against-entropy-20210930Warning: This video may potentially trigger seizures for people with photosensitive epilepsy. Viewer discretion is advised.Quanta Magazine is an editorially independent publication supported by the Simons Foundation.
How Scientists Finally Finished the Human Genome Quanta Magazine 2021-09-08 | In 2003, the Human Genome Project announced that it had successfully sequenced the entire human genome. That wasn’t quite true. Nearly 10% of human DNA was still missing from the map. Karen Miga, a geneticist at the University of California, Santa Cruz, co-founded an effort to sequence the missing DNA. Read more at Quanta: quantamagazine.org/karen-miga-fills-in-the-missing-pieces-of-our-genome-20210908Quanta Magazine is an editorially independent publication supported by the Simons Foundation.
How to Build Truly Intelligent AI Quanta Magazine 2021-08-04 | Melanie Mitchell, the Davis professor of complexity at the Santa Fe Institute, has worked on digital minds for decades. She says AI will never truly be "intelligent" until it can do something uniquely human: make analogies. Read more at Quanta: quantamagazine.org/melanie-mitchell-trains-ai-to-think-with-analogies-20210714
The Standard Model of Particle Physics: A Triumph of Science Quanta Magazine 2021-07-16 | The Standard Model of particle physics is the most successful scientific theory of all time. It describes how everything in the universe is made of 12 different types of matter particles, interacting with three forces, all bound together by a rather special particle called the Higgs boson. It’s the pinnacle of 400 years of science and gives the correct answer to hundreds of thousands of experiments. In this explainer, Cambridge University physicist David Tong recreates the model, piece by piece, to provide some intuition for how the fundamental building blocks of our universe fit together. At the end of the video, he also points out what’s missing from the model and what work is left to do in order to complete the Theory of Everything.**Correction: At 13'50", the photon should be included with the three fundamental forces. The animation here is incorrect, while the narration is correct.00:00 The long search for a Theory of Everything00:33 The Standard Model01:43 Gravity: the mysterious force02:29 Quantum Field Theory and wave-particle duality03:05 Fermions and Bosons04:00 Electrons and quarks, protons and neutrons04:45 Neutrinos05:22 Muons and Taus05:59 Strange and Bottom Quarks, Charm and Top Quarks06:13 Electron Neutrinos, Muon Neutrinos, and Tao Neutrinos06:26 How do we detect the elusive particles?06:49 Why do particles come in sets of four?07:17 The Dirac Equation describes all of the particles07:49 The three fundamental forces08:13 Bosons08:32 Electromagnetism and photons09:17 The Strong Force, gluons and flux tubes10:38 The Weak Force, Radioactive Beta Decay, W and Z bosons12:04 The Higgs boson and the Higgs field13:20 Beyond the Standard Model: a Grand Unified Theory14:12 How does gravity fit in the picture?14:41 Where is the missing dark matter and dark energy?15:03 Unsolved mysteries of the Standard Model- VISIT or Website: quantamagazine.org - LIKE us on Facebook: facebook.com/QuantaNews- FOLLOW us Twitter: twitter.com/QuantaMagazineQuanta Magazine is an editorially independent publication supported by the Simons Foundation simonsfoundation.org/.
The Bridge Between Math and Quantum Field Theory Quanta Magazine 2021-06-24 | Even in an incomplete state, quantum field theory is the most successful physical theory ever discovered. Nathan Seiberg, one of its leading architects, reveals where math and QFT converge. Read more at Quanta: quantamagazine.org/nathan-seiberg-on-how-math-might-reveal-quantum-gravity-20210624
What’s Inside an Exoplanet Quanta Magazine 2021-06-15 | Out in the vast universe, unknown billions of strange worlds drift around other stars. Many of them are quite unlike anything in our solar system. While astronomers hope to use immense upcoming observatories to get a better look at their outsides, Federica Coppari has been using the world’s largest laser to investigate their insides. Coppari compresses familiar substances, including rocks and water, into new forms. Her work has yielded insights into the inner workings of frozen giants such as Uranus and Neptune, as well as the potential habitability of super-Earths — rocky planets that dwarf our own. Read more at Quanta Magazine: quantamagazine.org/federica-coppari-uses-a-giant-laser-to-look-inside-exoplanets-20210615
Quantum Computers, Explained With Quantum Physics Quanta Magazine 2021-06-08 | Quantum computers aren’t the next generation of supercomputers—they’re something else entirely. Before we can even begin to talk about their potential applications, we need to understand the fundamental physics that drives the theory of quantum computing. (Featuring Scott Aaronson, John Preskill, and Dorit Aharonov.) For more, read "Why Quantum Computers Are So Hard to Explain": quantamagazine.org/why-is-quantum-computing-so-hard-to-explain-20210608- VISIT our Website: quantamagazine.org - LIKE us on Facebook: facebook.com/QuantaNews- FOLLOW us Twitter: twitter.com/QuantaMagazineQuanta Magazine is an editorially independent publication supported by the Simons Foundation simonsfoundation.org#quantumphysics #computerscience #quantumcomputer
Black Hole Jets: One of the Biggest Mysteries in the Universe Quanta Magazine 2021-05-20 | At the heart of every galaxy lies one of the most mysterious objects in the universe: a supermassive black hole. Millions to billions of times the mass of our sun, these giants power astrophysical jets, one of the most energetic processes known to physics. Read the full article at Quanta Magazine: quantamagazine.org/physicists-identify-the-engine-powering-black-hole-energy-beams-20210520Now, through the work of the black hole-observing Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) team, the mystery of what's powering these jets has started to unravel. Several weeks ago, the EHT released its second-ever photo of a black hole — another view of the same fiery ring pitted by darkness seen in 2019. Both images show the glowing plasma around the supermassive black hole at the center of the galaxy M87, whose giant jet rises outside the frame. Unlike in the first photo, the ring in the new image has stripes, indicating that the light is strongly polarized. Experts say the spiral pattern of the stripes results from a strong, orderly magnetic field around the M87 black hole, and that this represents the first significant empirical evidence in favor of a popular 44-year-old theory of jet launching, known as the Blandford-Znajek process.
The Theory That Could Rewrite the Laws of Physics Quanta Magazine 2021-04-29 | Chiara Marletto is trying to build a master theory — a set of ideas so fundamental that all other theories would spring from it. Her first step: Invoke the impossible. Read more about Marletto and David Deutsch's constructor theory at Quanta Magazine: quantamagazine.org/how-to-rewrite-the-laws-of-physics-in-the-language-of-impossibility-20210429
Plate Tectonics: The Mystery of Earths Many Faces Quanta Magazine 2021-04-14 | Plate tectonics is the narrative arc that ties every episode in Earth’s geologic history together. Thanks to the magnetic compasses hidden in volcanic rocks, scientists know where each tectonic jigsaw piece has been over eons of time. They can replicate the plates’ odysseys in beautiful and precise simulations that reveal the destruction and creation of Earth’s many faces. Lucía Pérez-Díaz, a geologist at Oxford, studies our planet's stunning ability to constantly change its face.
Iceland Is Mars, on Earth Quanta Magazine 2021-04-06 | Volcanoes are intimately connected with life. Scientists are using the current eruptions in Iceland to understand the possible history of life on Mars. Read the full article at Quanta Magazine: quantamagazine.org/icelands-volcanoes-reveal-the-hot-history-of-mars-20210406
Fighting for Equality in Computer Science and Beyond Quanta Magazine 2021-04-01 | Rediet Abebe uses the tools of theoretical computer science to understand pressing social problems — and try to fix them. Read more at Quanta Magazine: quantamagazine.org/a-computer-scientist-who-tackles-inequality-through-algorithms-20210401
Why Extraterrestrial Life Might Not Be So Alien Quanta Magazine 2021-03-18 | On the website for the department of zoology of the University of Cambridge, the page for Arik Kershenbaum lists his three main areas of research, one of which stands out from the others. Kershenbaum studies “Wolves and other canids,” “Dolphins and cetaceans” — and “Aliens.” Granted, science hasn’t yet found any aliens to study, but Kershenbaum says that there are certain things we can still say about them with reasonable certainty. Topping the list: They evolved. Read the full article at Quanta Magazine: quantamagazine.org/arik-kershenbaum-on-why-alien-life-may-be-like-life-on-earth-20210318
This U.S. Olympiad Coach Has a Unique Approach to Math Quanta Magazine 2021-02-18 | Po-Shen Loh believes math education needs an overhaul. And he knows a thing or two about it—he's resurrected the United States International Mathematical Olympiad team, leading it to four first-place rankings in the last six years as the team’s head coach.Read the full article at Quanta Magazine: quantamagazine.org/po-shen-loh-led-the-u-s-math-team-back-to-first-place-20210216
Why Scientists Cant Predict the Spread of COVID Quanta Magazine 2021-02-12 | To understand what epidemiological models can tell us, it helps to first understand what they can’t. In this explainer, we break down how epidemiological models are built and dispel some of the common misunderstandings about their applications.Read the full article at Quanta Magazine: quantamagazine.org/the-hard-lessons-of-modeling-the-coronavirus-pandemic-20210128
How Cosmic Dust Reveals the Secrets of the Universe Quanta Magazine 2021-02-04 | Every year, roughly 10 particles of space dust land on each square meter of Earth’s surface. Matthew Genge, a planetary scientist at Imperial College London, specializes in these alien dust grains, known as micrometeorites. They float here from space rocks hundreds of millions of miles away, bearing tiny messages about the mysteries of our solar system. Read the full article at Quanta Magazine: quantamagazine.org/matt-genge-uses-dust-from-space-to-tell-the-story-of-the-solar-system-20210204
Meet One of NASAs Pioneering Women Quanta Magazine 2021-01-19 | In 1967, Christine Darden was added to the pool of "human computers" who wrote complex programs and tediously crunched numbers for engineers at NASA's Langley Research Center. But Darden wanted to do more than process the data — she wanted to create it. After wading through daily calculations for eight years, Darden approached her supervisor to ask why men with the same educational background as her (a master of science in applied mathematics) were being hired as engineers. Impressed by her skills, her supervisor transferred her to the engineering section, where she was one of few female aerospace engineers at NASA Langley during that time. Her first assignment was to write a computer program for sonic boom. That program launched a 25-year career of working sonic boom minimization.
What Makes Physics Beautiful, According to a Nobel Prize Winner Quanta Magazine 2021-01-12 | In 1972, Frank Wilczek and his thesis adviser, David Gross, discovered the basic theory of the strong force — the final pillar of the Standard Model of particle physics. Their work revealed the strange alchemy at work inside the nucleus of an atom. It also turned out to underpin almost all subsequent research into the early universe. Wilczek and Gross went on to share the 2004 Nobel Prize in Physics for the work. At the time it was done, Wilczek was just 21 years old. His influence in the decades since has been profound. He predicted the existence of a hypothetical particle called the axion, which today is a leading candidate for dark matter. He published groundbreaking papers on the nature of the early universe. And just last year, his prediction of the “anyon” — a strange type of particle that only shows up in two-dimensional systems — was experimentally confirmed.In this new video, Wilczek reflects on his life's work and describes what he believes to be the most beautiful equations in physics. Read the full article at Quanta: quantamagazine.org/frank-wilczek-cracked-open-the-cosmos-20210112
The Riemann Hypothesis, Explained Quanta Magazine 2021-01-04 | The Riemann Hypothesis is the most notorious unsolved problem in all of mathematics. Ever since it was first proposed by Bernhard Riemann in 1859, the conjecture has maintained the status of the "Holy Grail" of mathematics. In fact, the person who solves it will win a $1 million prize from the Clay Institute of Mathematics. So, what is the Riemann hypothesis? Why is it so important? What can it tell us about the chaotic universe of prime numbers? And why is its proof so elusive? Alex Kontorovich, professor of mathematics at Rutgers University, breaks it all down in this comprehensive explainer. 00:00 A glimpse into the mystery of the Riemann Hypothesis 01:42 The world of prime numbers02:30 Carl Friedrich Gauss looks for primes, Prime Counting Function03:30 Logarithm Function and Gauss's Conjecture04:39 Leonard Euler and infinite series06:30 Euler and the Zeta Function07:30 Bernhard Riemann enters the prime number picture08:18 Imaginary and complex numbers09:40 Complex Analysis and the Zeta Function10:25 Analytic Continuation: two functions at work at once11:14 Zeta Zeros and the critical strip12:20 The critical line12:51 Why the Riemann's Hypothesis has a profound consequence to number theory13:04 Riemann's Hypothesis shows the distribution of prime numbers can be predicted14:59 The search for a proof of the Riemann HypothesisRead more at Quanta Magazine: quantamagazine.org/how-i-learned-to-love-and-fear-the-riemann-hypothesis-20201214- VISIT our Website: quantamagazine.org - LIKE us on Facebook: facebook.com/QuantaNews- FOLLOW us Twitter: twitter.com/QuantaMagazineQuanta Magazine is an editorially independent publication supported by the Simons Foundation: simonsfoundation.org
2020s Biggest Breakthroughs in Biology Quanta Magazine 2020-12-23 | In 2020, the study of the SARS-CoV-2 virus was undoubtedly the most urgent priority. But there were also some major breakthroughs in other areas. We'd like to take a moment to recognize them. 1. This year, we learned that we had severely underestimated the human brain's computing power. Researchers are coming to understand that even the dendritic arms of neurons seem capable of processing information, which means that every neuron might be more like a small computer by itself. 2. The new Information Theory of Individuality completely reimagines the way biologists have traditionally thought about individuality. Armed with information theory, the researchers found objective criteria for defining degrees of individuality in organisms. 3. Deprived of sleep, we and other animals die within weeks. More than a century of scrutiny failed to explain why lack of sleep is so deadly. This year, an answer was finally found — not inside the brain, as expected, but inside the gut.Learn more: quantamagazine.org/quantas-year-in-biology-2020-20201223
