Exploring the distant universe, the insides of cells, the abstractions of math, the complexity of information itself, and much more, The Quanta Podcast is a tour of the frontier between the known and the unknown. In each episode, Quanta Magazine Editor-in-Chief Samir Patel speaks with the minds behind the award-winning publication to navigate through some of the most important and mind-expanding questions in science and math. Quanta specifically covers fundamental research — driven by curiosity, discovery and the overwhelming desire to know why and how. Join us every Tuesday for a stimulating conversation about the biggest ideas and the tiniest details.(If you've been a fan of the Quanta Science Podcast, it will continue here. You'll see those episodes marked as audio edition episodes every two weeks.)
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Is Life Just Different?
Jul 21, 2026
There’s no scientific consensus about what makes living things so different from inorganic material. Some scientists cite replication or metabolism. Others have another answer: Living organisms are…
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Audio Edition: ‘World Models,’ an Old Idea in AI, Mount a Comeback
Jul 16, 2026
You’re carrying around in your head a model of how the world works. Will AI systems need to do the same?
The article ‘World Models,’ an Old Idea in AI, Mount a Comeback first appeared on Quanta…
How Many Shuffles Do You Really Need to Randomize Your Deck?
Jul 14, 2026
In 1992, mathematicians Dave Bayer and Persi Diaconis proved that seven riffle shuffles are enough to shuffle a deck of cards — but only if you can cut your deck with precision. Decades later, a new…
Will We Ever Be Able To Forecast Volcanic Eruptions Like Weather?
Jul 07, 2026
Volcano forecasting can save countless lives. But most of the time warnings are more like educated guesses. How close are we to forecasting volcano behavior the way we forecast the weather? On this…
Audio Edition: Tiny Tubes Reveal Clues to the Evolution of Complex Life
Jul 02, 2026
Scientists have identified tubulin structures in primitive Asgard archea that may have been the precursor of our own cellular skeletons.
The article Tiny Tubes Reveal Clues to the Evolution of…
Are Memories Transferable — or Edible?
Jun 30, 2026
In the 60s, an eccentric behavioral psychologist pureed a bunch of planarian worms and fed them to other ones. For years after, he claimed that the cannibal worms learned the ground-up worms’…
How Many Elementary Particles Are There, Really?
Jun 23, 2026
How many pieces are there in the Standard Model of particle physics? 17, 30, 37, 61, 118? Or is the true answer much larger — and not even an integer? It depends on your taste for complexity — and…
Audio Edition: What Is the Fourier Transform?
Jun 18, 2026
Amid the chaos of revolutionary France, one man’s mathematical obsession gave way to a calculation that now underpins much of mathematics and physics. The calculation, called the Fourier transform…
The 'Truth Machine' That Is Changing Math
Jun 16, 2026
The groundbreaking proof assistant Lean acts as a sort of automatic quality control. It’s gaining ground in the math world — in part because it can interact with AI to open new avenues of inquiry…
Ecotypes Make the Idea of a Species Even Fuzzier
Jun 09, 2026
How do you define a species? The question has been controversial since the days of Darwin. On this episode of The Quanta Podcast, host Samir Patel speaks with writer Marlowe Starling about how recent…
What Actually Causes Lightning?
Jun 02, 2026
Thunderstorms have captivated humanity for millennia, and yet their inner workings remain deeply mysterious. On this episode of The Quanta Podcast, guest host and Quanta senior editor Hannah Waters…
Audio Edition: Astrophysicists Find No ‘Hair’ on Black Holes
May 28, 2026
According to Einstein’s theory of gravity, black holes have only a small handful of distinguishing characteristics. Quantum theory implies they may have more. Now an experimental search finds that…
The AI Revolution in Math Has Arrived
May 26, 2026
In 2026, shock at AI’s growing mathematical abilities turned into something more like wonder — and concern. On this episode of The Quanta Podcast, host Samir Patel speaks with writer Konstantin…
Ice Is Way More Complex Than It Seems
May 19, 2026
Over the past decade, computer simulations have predicted tens of thousands of possible forms of ice. Though uncommon on our planet, exotic ice may exist in off-Earth environments, from cold and…
Audio Edition: How Distillation Makes AI Models Smaller and Cheaper
May 14, 2026
Fundamental technique lets researchers use a big, expensive “teacher” model to train a “student” model for less.
The story How Distillation Makes AI Models Smaller and Cheaper first appeared on…
Our Immune Systems Are Full of Ancient Weapons
May 12, 2026
Billions of years ago, battles between bacteria and viruses wrote the rulebook for how hosts and pathogens behave. Today, our immune system follows suit. On this episode of The Quanta Podcast, host…
What Can We Gain by Losing Infinity?
May 05, 2026
Most mathematicians take the notion of infinity for granted — it’s deeply rooted in math’s most fundamental assumptions. But a small group of researchers hopes to banish infinity completely. On this…
Audio Edition: The Cells That Breathe Two Ways
Apr 30, 2026
In a hot spring at Yellowstone National Park, a microbe does something that life shouldn’t be able to do: It breathes oxygen and sulfur at the same time.
The story The Cells That Breathe Two Ways…
Quantum Mechanics Might Be a Secret Key to Secure Communication
Apr 28, 2026
Together, Charles Bennett and Gilles Brassard figured out how to use the laws of quantum physics to keep secret messages safe from eavesdroppers. Their efforts have earned them one of the highest…
Is String Theory Still Our Best Hope?
Apr 21, 2026
Is string theory the one true “theory of everything?” Some physicists swear it’s a fundamental ingredient of nature. Others wish it would just go away. On this episode of The Quanta Podcast, host…
Audio Edition: New Physics-Inspired Proof Probes the Borders of Disorder
Apr 16, 2026
For decades, mathematicians have struggled to understand matrices that reflect both order and randomness, like those that model semiconductors. A new method could change that.
The story New…
One of Nature’s Most Complex Molecular Machines
Apr 14, 2026
At the center of little holes in cell nuclei is a mystery. Here, clumps of proteins wiggle disordered tails around like seaweed. They drive a molecular machine that moves countless molecules in and…
The Fundamental Tension at the Heart of Math
Apr 07, 2026
We tend to think of math as all about logic and rigor. But what “rigor” actually means has been shaken up quite a few times over the past few centuries. The newest attempt to formalize math comes in…
Audio Edition: AI Comes Up With Bizarre Physics Experiments. But They Work.
Apr 02, 2026
Artificial intelligence software is designing novel experimental protocols that improve upon the work of human physicists, although the humans are still “doing a lot of baby-sitting.”
The story AI…
Why Do Humanoid Robots Still Struggle With the Small Stuff?
Mar 31, 2026
Humanoid robots can run, crawl, and sort objects in flashy demos. So why can’t they reliably climb stairs or open doors? On this episode of The Quanta Podcast, host Samir Patel speaks with…
Uniting a Century of Digital and Analog Astronomy
Mar 24, 2026
To better understand our cosmos, some astronomers and astrophysicists go old school. Preserved beautifully on a hundred years of glass plate photographs are images of our night sky and its ever…
Audio Edition: Researchers Uncover Hidden Ingredients Behind AI Creativity
Mar 19, 2026
Image generators are designed to mimic their training data, so where does their apparent creativity come from? A recent study suggests that it’s an inevitable by-product of their architecture.
The…
Astrocytes Might Be in Charge of the Brain
Mar 17, 2026
We tend to think of neurons as the sole engine of our thoughts, emotions, and everything in between. For decades, a group of large brain cells called astrocytes have been thought of as mere packing…
The Infinite Heist - Part 2
Mar 10, 2026
In 1874, Georg Cantor published one of the most important papers in math’s 4,000-year history. Some ideas in it were stolen. On this episode of The Quanta Podcast, the second of a two-parter, host…
Audio Edition: The Ecosystem Dynamics That Can Make or Break an Invasion
Mar 05, 2026
By simulating ecological networks with microbes, researchers revealed properties that may make natural communities susceptible to invasion.
The story The Ecosystem Dynamics That Can Make or Break…
