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How Hard Is It to Untie a Knot?
Season 1 Episode 37
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 knot…
9 months, 2 weeks ago
Audio Edition: How a Problem About Pigeons Powers Complexity Theory
Season 1 Episode 36
When pigeons outnumber pigeonholes, some birds must double up. This obvious statement — and its inverse — have deep connections to many areas of math…
9 months, 2 weeks ago
What Happens When Lakes Stop Mixing
Season 1 Episode 35
Every summer since 1983, scientists at Crater Lake National Park have gathered data about the lake’s famous clarity. This past summer, Quanta contrib…
9 months, 3 weeks ago
Game Theory, Algorithms and High Prices
Season 1 Episode 34
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 th…
9 months, 4 weeks ago
Why Are Waves So Hard to Grasp?
Season 1 Episode 33
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 a…
10 months ago
Sleep Is Not All or Nothing
Season 1 Episode 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 Sami…
10 months, 1 week ago
Audio Edition: A New Proof Smooths Out the Math of Melting
Season 1 Episode 32
A powerful mathematical technique is used to model melting ice and other phenomena. But it has long been imperiled by certain “nightmare scenarios.” …
10 months, 2 weeks ago
The Mystery of the Early Universe’s Little Red Dots
Season 1 Episode 33
Recently, astrophysicists identified something peculiar: An enormous “naked” black hole with no galaxy in sight. On this week’s episode, host Samir P…
10 months, 2 weeks ago
A Biography of Earth Across the Age of Animals
Season 1 Episode 32
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 ye…
10 months, 3 weeks ago
Audio Edition: ‘Paraparticles’ Would Be a Third Kingdom of Quantum Particle
Season 1 Episode 31
A new proposal makes the case that paraparticles — a new category of quantum particle — could be created in exotic materials.
The story ‘Paraparticles…
11 months ago