Janna Levin – Quanta Magazine https://www.quantamagazine.org Illuminating science Mon, 16 Sep 2024 14:10:47 -0400 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.2 Do We Need a New Theory of Gravity? https://www.quantamagazine.org/do-we-need-a-new-theory-of-gravity-20240829/ https://www.quantamagazine.org/do-we-need-a-new-theory-of-gravity-20240829/#respond Thu, 29 Aug 2024 13:35:49 +0000 https://www.quantamagazine.org/?p=140166 The post Do We Need a New Theory of Gravity? first appeared on Quanta Magazine

]]> Observations of the cosmos suggest that unseen sources of gravity — dark matter — tug at the stars in galaxies, while another mysterious force — dark energy — drives the universe to expand at an ever-increasing rate. The evidence for both of them, however, hinges on assumptions that gravity works the same way at all scales. What if that’s not true? In this episode, theoretical physicist Claudia de...

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]]> https://www.quantamagazine.org/do-we-need-a-new-theory-of-gravity-20240829/feed/ 0 How Does Math Keep Secrets? https://www.quantamagazine.org/how-does-math-keep-secrets-20240801/ https://www.quantamagazine.org/how-does-math-keep-secrets-20240801/#respond Thu, 01 Aug 2024 13:30:04 +0000 https://www.quantamagazine.org/?p=139467 The post How Does Math Keep Secrets? first appeared on Quanta Magazine

]]> Can you keep a secret? Modern techniques for maintaining the confidentiality of information are based on mathematical problems that are inherently too difficult for anyone to solve without the right hints. Yet what does that mean when quantum computers capable of solving many problems astronomically faster are on the horizon? In this episode, host Janna Levin talks with computer scientist Boaz...

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]]> https://www.quantamagazine.org/how-does-math-keep-secrets-20240801/feed/ 0 What Can Tiling Patterns Teach Us? https://www.quantamagazine.org/what-can-tiling-patterns-teach-us-20240703/ https://www.quantamagazine.org/what-can-tiling-patterns-teach-us-20240703/#respond Wed, 03 Jul 2024 13:20:01 +0000 https://www.quantamagazine.org/?p=138915 The post What Can Tiling Patterns Teach Us? first appeared on Quanta Magazine

]]> In the tiling of wallpaper and bathroom floors, collective repeated patterns often emerge. Mathematicians have long tried to find a tiling shape that never repeats in this way. In 2023, they lauded an unexpected amateur victor. That discovery of the elusive aperiodic monotile propelled the field into new dimensions. The study of tessellation is much more than a fun thought exercise: Peculiar...

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]]> https://www.quantamagazine.org/what-can-tiling-patterns-teach-us-20240703/feed/ 0 Can Psychedelics Improve Mental Health? https://www.quantamagazine.org/can-psychedelics-improve-mental-health-20240606/ https://www.quantamagazine.org/can-psychedelics-improve-mental-health-20240606/#respond Thu, 06 Jun 2024 13:00:01 +0000 https://www.quantamagazine.org/?p=138356 The post Can Psychedelics Improve Mental Health? first appeared on Quanta Magazine

]]> During traumatic periods and their aftermath, our brains can fall into habitual ways of thinking that may be helpful in the short run but become maladaptive years later. For the brain to readjust to new situations later in life, it needs to be restored to the malleable state it was in when the habits first formed. That is exactly what Gül Dölen, a neuroscientist and psychiatric researcher at the...

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]]> https://www.quantamagazine.org/can-psychedelics-improve-mental-health-20240606/feed/ 0 Will Better Superconductors Transform the World? https://www.quantamagazine.org/will-better-superconductors-transform-the-world-20240509/ https://www.quantamagazine.org/will-better-superconductors-transform-the-world-20240509/#respond Thu, 09 May 2024 13:03:57 +0000 https://www.quantamagazine.org/?p=137831 The post Will Better Superconductors Transform the World? first appeared on Quanta Magazine

]]> If superconductors — materials that conduct electricity without any resistance — worked at temperatures and pressures close to what we would consider normal, they would be world-changing. They could dramatically amplify power grids, levitate high-speed trains and enable more affordable medical technologies. For more than a century, physicists have tinkered with different compounds and...

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