Quanta Magazine
Illuminating mathematics, physics, biology and computer science research through public service journalism.
quantamagazine.orgOne of the best science publications on the internet. Quanta covers breakthroughs in mathematics, physics, biology, and computer science with the kind of narrative depth that makes you feel like you actually understand the research. Funded by the Simons Foundation and editorially independent, it manages to be both rigorous and genuinely enjoyable to read.
Publishing since 2013.
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The Man Who Stole Infinity
When Demian Goos followed Karin Richter into her office on March 12 of last year, the first thing he noticed was the bust. It sat atop a tall pedestal in the corner of the room, depicting a bald, elderly gentleman with a stoic countenance. Goos saw no trace of the anxious, lonely man who had obsessed him for over a year. Instead, this was Georg Cantor as history saw him. An intellectual giant… Source
How Can Infinity Come in Many Sizes?
Intuition breaks down once we’re dealing with the endless. To begin with: Some infinities are bigger than others. The post How Can Infinity Come in Many Sizes? first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Climate Physicists Face the Ghosts in Their Machines: Clouds
In October 2008, Chris Bretherton lifted off from the coast of northern Chile in a C-130 turboprop plane. It was too dark to see the sandy hills of the Atacama Desert below, but the darkness suited Bretherton just fine. The researcher wasn’t going sightseeing. Seated directly behind the pilots, he kept his focus entirely on the sky. The plane was stuffed with instruments, and its wings bristled… Source
The Biophysical World Inside a Jam-Packed Cell
It’s a familiar image, reprinted in countless biology textbooks: an illustration of a typical cell, halved like a grapefruit to reveal its innards. Strands of endoplasmic reticulum encircle a nucleus that floats in the center like a raft. RNA molecules wait patiently at ribosomes to deliver recipes for making proteins. A few vacuoles and Golgi bodies bob about. A mostly deserted cytosol offers a… Source
A New Complexity Theory for the Quantum Age
Computer science, at its most fundamental, is all about inputs and outputs. Consider the simple case of multiplying two numbers on a pocket calculator. You punch in some inputs — the specific numbers you want to multiply — and the screen displays an output representing their product. The reverse problem of breaking a number into its prime factors can be much harder, but it has the same basic… Source
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