In the allegory of Plato’s cave, prisoners see the world only through shadows. Extending this metaphor to AI, AI models are the prisoners and the shadows are streams of data. Are all models converging on a singular representation of reality? On this week’s episode of The Quanta Podcast, host Samir Patel speaks with staff writer Ben Brubaker about how, despite being trained on entirely different data types, different models can somehow develop similar internal representations. This topic was cove...
Feb 03, 2026•29 min
Particle physics hasn't yet found the new physics needed to resolve its deepest mysteries. It’s hard to know what to think about or look for. But the most devoted particle physicists are thinking and looking all the same. On this episode, host Samir Patel and columnist Natalie Wolchover discuss the first of our new series of curiosity-driven essays, Qualia, where Natalie asks particle physicists whether the field is facing a profound crisis. This topic was covered in a recent story for Quanta Ma...
Jan 27, 2026•26 min
Reversible programs run backward as easily as they run forward, saving energy in theory. After decades of research, they may soon power AI. The story How Can AI Researchers Save Energy? By Going Backward first appeared on Quanta Magazine.
Jan 22, 2026•10 min
We already know that what we eat, drink, and inhale can affect which parts of our DNA are expressed, and which aren’t. But recent research poses a shocking idea: A dad’s habits may be encoded in molecules and transmitted to his future kids. On this episode, host Samir Patel and biology editor Hannah Waters dig into the new epigenetic mouse studies exploring whether sperm cells carry more than just genetic information. This topic was covered in a recent story for Quanta Magazine. Each week on The...
Jan 20, 2026•32 min
Imagine you’re holding two equal-size dice. Is it possible to bore a tunnel through one die that’s big enough for the other to slide through? It is — but what about other shapes? In a paper posted online in August, two researchers describe a shape with 90 vertices and 152 faces that they’ve named the Noperthedron, the first convex polyhedron that definitely cannot pass through itself. In this episode, Quanta contributor Erica Klarriech tells host Samir Patel about how the researchers discovered ...
Jan 13, 2026•27 min
Studies of neural metabolism reveal our brain’s effort to keep us alive and the evolutionary constraints that sculpted our most complex organ. The story How Much Energy Does It Take To Think? first appeared on Quanta Magazine .
Jan 08, 2026•12 min
Ask ChatGPT how to build a bomb, and it will flatly respond that it “can’t help with that.” But users have long played a cat-and-mouse game to try to trick language models into providing forbidden information. Just as quickly as these “jailbreaks” appear, AI companies patch them by simply filtering out forbidden prompts before they ever reach the model itself. Recently, cryptographers have shown how the defensive filters put around powerful language models can be subverted by well-studied crypto...
Jan 06, 2026•26 min
(This episode was first published in June 2025.) Changes in the number, shape, efficiency and interconnectedness of organelles in the cells of flight muscles provide extra energy for birds’ continent-spanning feats. This is the fifth episode of The Quanta Podcast. 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.
Dec 30, 2025•20 min
(This episode was first published in July 2025.) Where does gravity come from? In both general relativity and quantum mechanics, this question is a big problem. One controversial theory proposes that the force arises from the universe's tendency toward disorder, or entropy. In this episode, host Samir Patel speaks with contributing writer George Musser about the long-shot idea called "entropic gravity," which Musser covered in a recent story for Quanta Magazine. Each week on The Quanta Podcast, ...
Dec 23, 2025•29 min
By extending the scope of the key insight behind Fermat’s Last Theorem, four mathematicians have made great strides toward building a “grand unified theory” of math. The story The Core of Fermat’s Last Theorem Just Got Superpowered first appeared on Quanta Magazine.
Dec 18, 2025•13 min•Season 1Ep. 39
We all know that hot coffee cools down. But quantum mechanics can enable heat to flow the “wrong” way, making hot objects hotter and cold objects colder. Now physicists think this might have an ingenious use. On this week’s episode, host Samir Patel speaks with writer Philip Ball about how a new "quantum demon” may allow information to be processed in ways that classical physics does not permit. This topic was covered in a recent story for Quanta Magazine . Each week on The Quanta Podcast, Quant...
Dec 16, 2025•25 min•Season 1Ep. 38
In math and science, knots do far more than keep shoes on feet. For more than a century, mathematicians have studied the properties of different knots and been rewarded by a wide range of useful applications across science. Classifying how some knots are different from others is an important part of this work. Earlier this year, two mathematicians found that a theory for how to differentiate between knots is false. In fact, they found infinitely many counterexamples that prove that this method f...
Dec 09, 2025•26 min•Season 1Ep. 37
When pigeons outnumber pigeonholes, some birds must double up. This obvious statement — and its inverse — have deep connections to many areas of math and computer science. The story How a Problem About Pigeons Powers Complexity Theory first appeared on Quanta Magazine.
Dec 04, 2025•9 min•Season 1Ep. 36
Every summer since 1983, scientists at Crater Lake National Park have gathered data about the lake’s famous clarity. This past summer, Quanta contributing writer Rachel Nuwer journeyed with them as they conducted their annual tests. On this week’s episode, Nuwer and host Samir Patel discuss what gives the lake its vivid blue color, and what its data can tell us about the way water moves through a deep temperate lake. Each week on The Quanta Podcast, Quanta Magazine editor in chief Samir Patel sp...
Dec 02, 2025•30 min•Season 1Ep. 35
How do sellers decide how to price their goods? Competition should keep prices down, while collusion can rig higher prices (and break the law). On this week’s episode, host Samir Patel speaks with staff writer Ben Brubaker about how computer scientists are using game theory to see how algorithms might result in high prices without shady backroom deals. This topic was covered in a recent story for Quanta Magazine. Each week on The Quanta Podcast, Quanta Magazine editor in chief Samir Patel speaks...
Nov 25, 2025•30 min•Season 1Ep. 34
At first glance, studying the math of waves seems like it should be smooth sailing. But the equations that describe even the gentlest rolling waves are a mathematical nightmare to solve. On this week’s episode, host Samir Patel speaks with math staff writer Joseph Howlett why waves are so elusive, even in a simplified world of equations. This topic was covered in a recent story for Quanta Magazine. Each week on The Quanta Podcast, Quanta Magazine editor in chief Samir Patel speaks with the peopl...
Nov 18, 2025•27 min•Season 1Ep. 33
Salvador Dalí, Thomas Edison and Edgar Allan Poe all took inspiration from the state between sleep and waking life. On this week’s episode, host Samir Patel speaks with biology staff writer Yasemin Saplakoglu about how brain systems dictate the strange transitions into and out of sleep. This topic was covered in a recent story for Quanta Magazine. Each week on The Quanta Podcast, Quanta Magazine editor in chief Samir Patel speaks with the people behind the award-winning publication to navigate t...
Nov 11, 2025•27 min•Season 1Ep. 33
A powerful mathematical technique is used to model melting ice and other phenomena. But it has long been imperiled by certain “nightmare scenarios.” A new proof has removed that obstacle. The story A New Proof Smooths Out the Math of Melting first appeared on Quanta Magazine....
Nov 06, 2025•13 min•Season 1Ep. 32
Recently, astrophysicists identified something peculiar: An enormous “naked” black hole with no galaxy in sight. On this week’s episode, host Samir Patel speaks with physics staff writer Charlie Wood about how the strange little red dot is upending our assumptions of the first billion years of cosmic history. This topic was covered in a recent story for Quanta Magazine. Each week on The Quanta Podcast, Quanta Magazine editor in chief Samir Patel speaks with the people behind the award-winning pu...
Nov 04, 2025•25 min•Season 1Ep. 33
Thanks to a delicate interplay between plate tectonics and life, Earth’s thermostat has kept animal life thriving on our planet for half a billion years. On this week’s episode, host Samir Patel speaks with contributing writer Peter Brannen about our planetary highs and lows, and the precarious goldilocks zone our animal-filled finds itself in now. This topic was covered in a recent story for Quanta Magazine. Each week on The Quanta Podcast, Quanta Magazine editor in chief Samir Patel speaks wit...
Oct 28, 2025•27 min•Season 1Ep. 32
A new proposal makes the case that paraparticles — a new category of quantum particle — could be created in exotic materials. The story ‘Paraparticles’ Would Be a Third Kingdom of Quantum Particle first appeared on Quanta Magazine.
Oct 23, 2025•14 min•Season 1Ep. 31
Imagine a set of simple building blocks that can self-assemble into any shape you want. The possibilities for such a technology could be boundless. Inspired by nature, “complexity engineering” seeks to design such blocks, building on a classic computer simulation. On this week’s episode, host Samir Patel speaks with contributing writer George Musser about recent developments in so-called cellular automata. This topic was covered in a recent story for Quanta Magazine. Each week on The Quanta Podc...
Oct 21, 2025•25 min•Season 1Ep. 30
Around 6,000 years ago, the Sahara was a lush grassland. Then, as if a switch flipped, it began to dry out, becoming the desert that we know today. Tipping points are moments in Earth’s history where gradual change suddenly becomes rapid and forms a new equilibrium. They’re one of the most alarming threats of our planet’s near future — and one of the most uncertain. When will a tipping point occur? Mathematicians are attempting to turn vague, apocalyptic visions into something that we can actual...
Oct 14, 2025•28 min•Season 1Ep. 29
It’s been difficult to find important questions that quantum computers can answer faster than classical machines, but a new algorithm appears to do it for some critical optimization tasks. The story Quantum Speedup Found for Huge Class of Hard Problems first appeared on Quanta Magazine.
Oct 09, 2025•12 min•Season 1Ep. 28
“ Memory” means many things to many people, and in many fields. We tend to understand memory to be a phenomenon that happens primarily in the brain, but in recent years, researchers have understood memory as a physical phenomenon that can occur in plenty of systems. On this episode, contributing writer Claire L. Evans tells host Samir Patel about how neuroscientists are probing the memory of individual cells . Audio coda courtesy of YACHT....
Oct 07, 2025•24 min•Season 1Ep. 27
The climate is changing. So is the way we understand the climate. On this week's episode, contributing writer Zack Savitsky joins host Samir Patel to discuss his recent reporting on the rich history and uncertain future of climate modeling, the field of science that blends math, physics, and earth science to predict the behavior of our planet's complex climate system. Audio coda courtesy of Princeton University...
Sep 30, 2025•27 min•Season 1Ep. 26
Rare and powerful compounds, known as keystone molecules, can build a web of invisible interactions among species. The story A New, Chemical View of Ecosystems first appeared on Quanta Magazine.
Sep 25, 2025•15 min•Season 1Ep. 26
In order to trust machines with important jobs, we need a high level of confidence that they share our values and goals. Recent work shows that this “alignment” can be brittle, superficial, even unstable. In one study, a few training adjustments led a popular chatbot to recommend murder. On this episode, contributing writer Stephen Ornes tells host Samir Patel about what this research reveals . Audio coda from The National Archives and Records Administration....
Sep 23, 2025•24 min•Season 1Ep. 25
For most of us, the word “climate” immediately generates thoughts of melting ice, rising seas, wildfires and gathering storms. However, in the course of working to understand this pressing challenge, scientists have revealed so much more: A fundamental understanding of how Earth’s climate works . Quanta recently published a nine-story series that investigates this basic science. On this episode of The Quanta Podcast , senior editor Hannah Waters joins editor in chief Samir Patel to discuss how h...
Sep 16, 2025•25 min•Season 1Ep. 24
The deceptively simple Kakeya conjecture has bedeviled mathematicians for 50 years. A new proof of the conjecture in three dimensions illuminates a whole crop of related problems. The story ‘Once in a Century’ Proof Settles Math’s Kakeya Conjecture first appeared on Quanta Magazine....
Sep 11, 2025•11 min•Season 1Ep. 24
