The Quanta Podcast

In a hot spring at Yellowstone National Park, a microbe does something that life shouldn’t be able to do: It breathes oxygen and sulfur at the same time.
The story The Cells That Breathe Two Ways first appeared on Quanta Magazine.

Together, Charles Bennett and Gilles Brassard figured out how to use the laws of quantum physics to keep secret messages safe from eavesdroppers. Their efforts have earned them one of the highest awards in computing and a $1 million prize. On this episode of The Quanta Podcast, host Samir Patel speaks with staff writer Ben Brubaker about this year’s Turing Prize winners, and some of the most important concepts in quantum information science. This topic was covered in a recent column 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 by Charles Bennett/IBM

Is string theory the one true “theory of everything?” Some physicists swear it’s a fundamental ingredient of nature. Others wish it would just go away. On this episode of The Quanta Podcast, host Samir Patel speaks with columnist Natalie Wolchover about the mathematical developments that are keeping the theory relevant — much to the chagrin of its rather vocal critics. This topic was covered in a recent column 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.
This episode's audio coda is a clip from a 2024 live show of Alchemical String Theory (AST), a collective of avant-garde string artists from Atlanta's Improvisational Underground, performing a round at the Red Light Cafe in Atlanta.

For decades, mathematicians have struggled to understand matrices that reflect both order and randomness, like those that model semiconductors. A new method could change that.
The story New Physics-Inspired Proof Probes the Borders of Disorder first appeared on Quanta Magazine.

At the center of little holes in cell nuclei is a mystery. Here, clumps of proteins wiggle disordered tails around like seaweed. They drive a molecular machine that moves countless molecules in and out of the nucleus efficiently, with little room for error. On this episode of The Quanta Podcast, host Samir Patel speaks with biology writer Yasemin Saplakoglu about how new high-def microscopy is revealing the intricacies of these nuclear pore complexes like never before. 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.