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1 week ago | 
quantamagazine.org | Shalma Wegsman |Philip Ball |Charlie Wood |Steven Strogatz
Introduction Quantum gravity is one of the biggest unresolved and challenging problems in physics, as it seeks to reconcile quantum mechanics, which governs the microscopic world, and general relativity, which describes the macroscopic world of gravity and space-time.
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Jan 6, 2025 | 
quantamagazine.org | Veronique Greenwood |Molly Herring |Hannah Waters |Steven Strogatz
Introduction Prochlorococcus bacteria are so small that you’d have to line up around a thousand of them to match the thickness of a human thumbnail. The ocean seethes with them: The microbes are likely the most abundant photosynthetic organism on the planet, and they create a significant portion — 10% to 20% — of the atmosphere’s oxygen. That means that life on Earth depends on the roughly 3 octillion (or 3 × 1027) tiny individual cells toiling away.
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Dec 5, 2024 | 
quantamagazine.org | Steven Strogatz |Yasemin Saplakoglu |Janna Levin |Jonathan Lambert
Introduction Death might seem like a pure loss, the disappearance of what makes a living thing distinct from everything else on our planet. But zoom in closer, to the cellular level, and it takes on a different, more nuanced meaning. There is a challenge in simply defining what makes an individual cell alive or dead. Scientists today are working to understand the various ways and reasons that cells disappear, and what these processes mean to biological systems.
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Nov 11, 2024 | 
quantamagazine.org | Steven Strogatz |Jordana Cepelewicz
Introduction In August, a pair of mathematicians discovered an exotic, record-breaking curve. In doing so, they tapped into a major open question about one of the oldest and most fundamental kinds of equations in mathematics. Elliptic curves, which date back to at least ancient Greece, are central to many areas of study. They have a rich underlying structure that mathematicians have used to develop powerful techniques and theories.
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Nov 7, 2024 | 
flipboard.com | Steven Strogatz
Learning Portuguese can greatly enhance your travel experience in Portugal. Here are some tips and basic phrases to help you get started. By following …
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Nov 7, 2024 | 
quantamagazine.org | Steven Strogatz |Jordana Cepelewicz |Erica Klarreich
Scientists routinely build quantitative models — of, say, the weather or an epidemic — and then use them to make predictions, which they can then test against the real thing. This work can reveal how well we understand complex phenomena, and also dictate where research should go next. In recent years, the remarkable successes of “black box” systems such as large language models suggest that it is sometimes possible to make successful predictions without knowing how something works at all.
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Oct 24, 2024 | 
quantamagazine.org | Janna Levin |Yasemin Saplakoglu |Elizabeth Landau |Steven Strogatz
Introduction The “species” category is almost certainly the best known of all the taxonomic classifications that biologists use to organize life’s vast diversity. It’s a linchpin of both conservation policy and evolutionary theory, though in practice biologists have struggled to find a definition that works across the natural world.
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Oct 11, 2024 | 
codeproject.com | Elizabeth Landau |Steven Strogatz |Max Levy |Janna Levin
Introduction Every year, in latitudes far enough north or south, a huge swath of life on Earth senses that winter is coming. Leaves fall from trees, sparrows fly to the tropics, raccoons grow thick winter coats, and we unpack our sweaters from storage.
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Oct 10, 2024 | 
flipboard.com | Steven Strogatz
1 hour agoAuthor Sophie Kinsella reveals brain tumour left her unable to hold pen in first TV interview after diagnosisThe Independent - Lucy Leeson • 1hAuthor Sophie Kinsella has revealed she was left unable to hold a pen after undergoing a gruelling eight-hour surgery to remove a brain tumour. The Confessions of a Shopaholic author gave her first live TV interview with Lorraine Kelly on Thursday (10 October), after going public with her diagnosis back in April.
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Oct 10, 2024 | 
quantamagazine.org | Steven Strogatz |Max G. Levy |Janna Levin |Annie Melchor
When we think about medicine’s war on cancer, treatments such as surgery, radiation and chemotherapy spring to mind first. Now there is another potential weapon for defeating tumors: statistics and mathematical models that can optimize the selection, combination or timing of treatment. Building and feeding these models requires accounting for the complexity of the body, and recognizing that cancer cells are constantly evolving.
