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The Quanta Podcast

Science Podcasts

Every Tuesday, editor in chief Samir Patel sits down with writers and editors to discuss our most thought-provoking stories in science and math. Audio editions of Quanta's stories with Susan Valot will appear biweekly on Thursdays.

Location:

United States

Description:

Every Tuesday, editor in chief Samir Patel sits down with writers and editors to discuss our most thought-provoking stories in science and math. Audio editions of Quanta's stories with Susan Valot will appear biweekly on Thursdays.

Language:

English


Episodes
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Earth's Core Appears To Be Leaking Up and Out of Earth's Surface

9/2/2025
In science textbooks, Earth looks like a round layer cake. There’s a hard line between the liquid metal core and the putty-like rock mantle. But maybe that boundary is a little fuzzier than we previously thought. Strange, continent sized blobs rest on the dividing line. These blobs are leaching material from the Earth’s core, extending arms out into the mantle, and sending core material up and out through magmatic plumes. No one’s completely sure how it’s happening. On this week’s episode, host Samir Patel and writer Robin George Andrews dig into the ancient isotopic signatures that are helping us better understand the material bubbling up from the depths of our planet. 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 through some of the most important and mind-expanding questions in science and math. Audio coda courtesy of wildlife photographers Gudmann & Gyda

Duration:00:27:56

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Audio Edition: The Road Map to Alien Life Passes Through the 'Cosmic Shoreline'

8/28/2025
Astronomers are ready to search for the fingerprints of life in faraway planetary atmospheres. But first, they need to know where to look — and that means figuring out which planets are likely to have atmospheres in the first place. The story How Undergraduate The Road Map to Alien Life Passes Through the ‘Cosmic Shoreline’ first appeared on Quanta Magazine.

Duration:00:17:36

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A New Quantum Math of Cryptography

8/26/2025
We’re living in the golden age of cryptography. Since the 1970s, we’ve had more confidence in encryption than ever before. But there’s a difference between confidence and absolute certainty. And computer scientists care a lot about that difference. The search is always on for better, more secure secrets. But is it possible for digital security to be truly, provably unbreakable? Maybe, with a little help from math and physics. On this week’s episode, host Samir Patel talks with ???????????????????????? computer science staff writer Ben Brubaker about a developing frontier of digital security: quantum cryptography. 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 through some of the most important and mind-expanding questions in science and math. Audio Coda from the Bletchley Park Trust.

Duration:00:27:12

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How an Outsider Optimized Sphere-Packing

8/19/2025
How many oranges can you fit in a box? Mathematicians are obsessed with perfecting their answer to this question in not just our familiar three-dimensional world, but in higher and higher dimensions beyond it. For several decades, they’ve made only minimal progress toward finding an optimal solution. Then, this past April, an outsider to the field named Boaz Klartag posted a proof that bested these previous records by a significant margin. In this episode of The Quanta Podcast, host Samir Patel and Quanta math staff writer Joseph Howlett discuss how Klartag resuscitated an old technique that experts had abandoned decades earlier to optimize sphere packing in any arbitrarily high dimension. 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 through some of the most important and mind-expanding questions in science and math. Audio coda created by Daniel Simion

Duration:00:28:56

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Audio Edition: Undergraduate Upends a 40-Year-Old Data Science Conjecture

8/14/2025
A young computer scientist and two colleagues show that searches within data structures called hash tables can be much faster than previously deemed possible. The story How Undergraduate Upends a 40-Year-Old Data Science Conjecture first appeared on Quanta Magazine.

Duration:00:09:40

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'It's a Mess': A Brain-Bending Trip to Quantum Theory's 100th Birthday Party

8/12/2025
As far as we know, quantum mechanics is a universal theory that explains matter and light more or less perfectly. It shows us why atoms don’t collapse and why electrons don’t spiral into the nucleus of the atom. It explains why glass is clear, why grass is green, why the sky is blue. But no one fully understands how the math of quantum mechanics connects with the reality we live in. One could spend a lifetime getting into the weeds and still have unanswered questions. In honor of quantum mechanics’ 100th birthday, host Samir Patel talks with Quanta physics staff writer Charlie Wood about his recent journey to the birthplace of quantum mechanics, a German island in the North Sea. On Helgoland, Charlie asked physicists many questions about many worlds over many beers. This topic was covered in a recent story for Quanta Magazine Each week on The Quanta Podcast editor in chief Samir Patel speaks with the people behind the award-winning publication to navigate through some of the most important and mind-expanding questions in science and math.

Duration:00:29:28

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How Smell Guides Our Inner World

8/5/2025
When some people smell the molecule benzyl acetate, they identify a distinctly banana-y scent. But when others sniff the same compound, they get hints of nail polish remover. How can this be? Smell is a tricky sensory process to pin down. Our perception of scents is wide-ranging and often depends on lived experience. But researchers are building a deeper understanding of the processes underlying our noses’ elusive machinery. In this episode, host Samir Patel and Quanta biology staff writer Yasemin Saplakoglu explore the invisible sense that shapes our reality, from nostalgic childhood fragrances — lavender, old books — to familiar irksome odors — skunks, garbage. This topic was covered in a recent story for Quanta Magazine. Each week on The Quanta Podcast editor in chief Samir Patel speaks with the people behind the award-winning publication to navigate through some of the most important and mind-expanding questions in science and math.

Duration:00:22:14

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Audio Edition: How 'Event Scripts' Structure Our Personal Memories

7/31/2025
By screening films in a brain scanner, neuroscientists discovered a rich library of neural scripts — from a trip through an airport to a marriage proposal — that form scaffolds for memories of our experiences. The story How ‘Event Scripts’ Structure Our Personal Memories first appeared on Quanta Magazine.

Duration:00:24:57

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When ChatGPT Broke an Entire Field

7/29/2025
The study of natural language processing, or NLP, dates back to the 1940s. It gave Stephen Hawking a voice, Siri a brain and social media companies another way to target us with ads. In less than five years, large language models broke NLP and made it anew. In 2019, Quanta reported on a then-groundbreaking NLP system called BERT without once using the phrase “large language model.” A mere five and a half years later, LLMs are everywhere, igniting discovery, disruption and debate in whatever scientific community they touch. But the one they touched first — for better, worse and everything in between — was natural language processing. What did that impact feel like to the people experiencing it firsthand? Recently, John Pavlus interviewed 19 current and former NLP researchers to tell that story. In this episode, Pavlus speaks with host and Quanta Editor in Chief Samir Patel about this oral history of “When ChatGPT Broke an Entire Field.” Each week on The Quanta Podcast, Quanta Magazine editor in chief Samir Patel speaks with the people behind the award-winning publication to navigate through some of the most important and mind-expanding questions in science and math.

Duration:00:29:47

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Is Mathematics Mostly Chaos or Mostly Order?

7/22/2025
As weird as it sounds, infinity comes in many shapes and sizes. And attempting to quantify it is sort of like a dog chasing its own tail. Or like infinities chasing infinities infinite numbers of times. But some mathematicians are obsessed with the quest. In this episode, host Samir Patel and ???????????????????????? math editor Jordana Cepelewicz probe the bizarre edges of the mathematical universe, a realm *almost* impossible to put into words. This topic was covered by Greg Barber in a recent story for ???????????????????????? ????????????????????????????????. Each week on ???????????? ???????????????????????? ????????????????????????????, ???????????????????????? ???????????????????????????????? editor in chief Samir Patel speaks with the people behind the award-winning publication to navigate through some of the most important and mind-expanding questions in science and math.

Duration:00:27:48

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Audio Edition: After 20 Years, Math Couple Solves Major Group Theory Problem

7/17/2025
Britta Späth has dedicated her career to proving a single, central conjecture. She’s finally succeeded, alongside her partner, Marc Cabanes.

Duration:00:17:23

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When Did Nature Burst Into Vivid Color?

7/15/2025
Colorful messages are constantly being exchanged across the natural world, to communicate everything from sexual attraction to self defense. But which came first: these evocative signals or the sophisticated vision needed to see them? In this episode, host Samir Patel speaks with contributing writer Molly Herring about free diving, mantis shrimp, and the challenges of tracking coloration through evolutionary 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 minds behind the award-winning publication to navigate through some of the most important and mind-expanding questions in science and math.

Duration:00:20:44

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Is Gravity Just Rising Entropy?

7/8/2025
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, 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. Audio coda provided by Cosmic Perspective.

Duration:00:29:13

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Audio Edition: How Noether's Theorem Revolutionized Physics

7/3/2025
Emmy Noether showed that fundamental physical laws are just a consequence of simple symmetries. A century later, her insights continue to shape physics. “The post How Noether’s Theorem Revolutionized Physics first appeared on Quanta Magazine.

Duration:00:07:48

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How Amateurs Solved a Major Computer Science Puzzle

7/1/2025
The Busy Beaver Challenge, an open online collaboration, started in 2022 to finally solve a major problem in theoretical computer science. Over time, the online community grew to include more than 20 contributors from around the world, most of them without traditional academic credentials. In July 2024, the group announced that they finally solved the puzzle, bringing a conclusion to over 40 years of effort. On this week’s episode of The Quanta Podcast, computer science staff writer Ben Brubaker explains the tantalizing Busy Beaver puzzle, which he covered in depth last year, in “With Fifth Busy Beaver, Researchers Approach Computation’s Limits.” Each week on The Quanta Podcast, 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.

Duration:00:24:38

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New 'Superdiffusion' Proof Probes the Mysterious Math of Turbulence

6/24/2025
Turbulence is a notoriously difficult phenomenon to study. Mathematicians are now starting to untangle it at its smallest scales. This is the sixth 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. Audio coda provided by Mount Washington Observatory

Duration:00:26:10

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Audio Edition: Concept Cells Help Your Brain Abstract Information and Build Memories

6/19/2025
Individual cells in the brain light up for specific ideas. These concept neurons, once known as “Jennifer Aniston cells,” help us think, imagine and remember episodes from our lives.

Duration:00:19:33

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'Turbocharged' Mitochondria Power Birds' Epic Migratory Journeys

6/17/2025
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.

Duration:00:19:29

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Singularities in Space-Time Prove Hard to Kill

6/10/2025
Black hole and Big Bang singularities break our best theory of gravity. A trilogy of theorems hints that physicists must go to the ends of space and time to find a fix.

Duration:00:23:38

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Audio Edition: Heat Destroys All Order. Except for in This One Special Case.

6/5/2025
Heat is supposed to ruin anything it touches. But physicists have shown that an idealized form of magnetism is heatproof.

Duration:00:08:41