Quanta Science Podcast
By Quanta Magazine
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Description
Listen to Quanta Magazine's in-depth news stories about developments in mathematics, theoretical physics, theoretical computer science and the basic life sciences. Quanta, an editorially independent magazine published by the Simons Foundation, seeks to enhance public understanding of basic research.
| Name | Description | Released | Price | ||
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CleanA Zombie Gene Protects Elephants From Cancer | A Zombie Gene Protects Elephants From Cancer | 11/7/2017 | Free | View in iTunes |
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2 |
CleanBest-Ever Algorithm Found for Huge Streams of Data | Best-Ever Algorithm | 10/24/2017 | Free | View in iTunes |
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3 |
CleanNewfound Wormhole Allows Information to Escape Black Holes | Newfound Wormhole Allows Information to Escape Black Holes | 10/23/2017 | Free | View in iTunes |
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4 |
CleanNew Theory Cracks Open the Black Box of Deep Learning | New Theory Cracks Open the Black Box of Deep Learning | 9/21/2017 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanClever Machines Learn How to Be Curious | Programming curiosity in AI | 9/19/2017 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanInterspecies Hybrids Play a Vital Role in Evolution | Hybrids play a surprising role in helping to create and preserve many species — a discovery that complicates some conservation efforts. | 8/24/2017 | Free | View in iTunes |
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7 |
CleanMathematicians Tame Rogue Waves, Lighting Up Future of LEDs | The Future of LEDs | 8/22/2017 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanWhat Made the Moon? New Ideas Try to Rescue a Troubled Theory | New evidence has researchers spinning new tales about the moon’s origin. | 8/1/2017 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanIn Game Theory, No Clear Path to Equilibrium | All game players have a Nash equilibrium, but will they be able to reach it? | 7/18/2017 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanPentagon Tiling Proof Solves Century-Old Math Problem | A proof about pentagons has solved a 100-year-old math problem. | 7/11/2017 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanCan Microbes Encourage Altruism? | Can gut bacteria persuade their hosts to be selfless? | 6/29/2017 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanDark Matter Recipe Calls for One Part Superfluid | A different kind of dark matter could help solve a celestial conundrum. | 6/13/2017 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanA Puzzle of Clever Connections Nears a Happy End | Three young mathematicians created a puzzle they never solved. | 5/30/2017 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanThe Thoughts of a Spiderweb | A spider’s mind isn’t confined to its head — it extends to its web. | 5/23/2017 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanHow to Quantify (and Fight) Gerrymandering | Powerful new mathematical tools can help identify biased voting districts. | 4/4/2017 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanA Long-Sought Proof, Found and Almost Lost | A German retiree solved a long-standing problem — but no one noticed. | 3/28/2017 | Free | View in iTunes |
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17 |
CleanA New Blast May Have Forged Cosmic Gold | Gravitational waves breathe new life into an old argument: How did the universe make gold? | 3/23/2017 | Free | View in iTunes |
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18 |
CleanWhy Did Life Move to Land? For the View | The ancient creatures who first crawled onto land may have been lured by the informational benefit that comes from seeing through air. | 3/7/2017 | Free | View in iTunes |
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19 |
CleanNew Number Systems Seek Their Lost Primes | For centuries, mathematicians tried to solve problems by adding new values to the usual numbers. Now they’re investigating the unintended consequences of that tinkering. | 3/2/2017 | Free | View in iTunes |
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20 |
CleanResearchers Tap a Sleep Switch in the Brain | Powerful new experiments have uncovered some of the molecular underpinnings of sleep. | 2/14/2017 | Free | View in iTunes |
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21 |
CleanExperiment Reaffirms Quantum Weirdness | Physicists are closing the door on an intriguing loophole around the quantum phenomenon Einstein called “spooky action at a distance.” | 2/7/2017 | Free | View in iTunes |
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22 |
CleanTo Live Your Best Life, Do Mathematics | The ancient Greeks argued that the best life was filled with beauty, truth, justice, play and love. The mathematician Francis Su knows just where to find them. | 2/2/2017 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanDividing Droplets Could Explain Life’s Origin | Researchers have discovered that simple “chemically active” droplets grow to the size of cells and spontaneously divide, suggesting they might have evolved into the first living cells. | 1/19/2017 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanInfant Brains Reveal How the Mind Gets Built | Is the brain a blank slate, or is it wired from birth to understand the world? | 1/10/2017 | Free | View in iTunes |
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25 |
Clean3-D Fractals Offer Clues to Complex Systems | By folding fractals into 3-D objects, a mathematical duo hopes to gain new insight into simple equations. | 1/3/2017 | Free | View in iTunes |
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26 |
CleanGrand Unification Dream Kept at Bay | Physicists have failed to find disintegrating protons, throwing into limbo the beloved theory that the forces of nature were unified at the beginning of time. | 12/15/2016 | Free | View in iTunes |
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27 |
CleanThe Case Against Dark Matter | A proposed theory of gravity does away with dark matter, even as new astrophysical findings challenge the need for galaxies full of the invisible mystery particles. | 11/29/2016 | Free | View in iTunes |
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28 |
CleanWhat Sonic Black Holes Say About Real Ones | Can a fluid analogue of a black hole point physicists toward the theory of quantum gravity, or is it a red herring? | 11/8/2016 | Free | View in iTunes |
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29 |
CleanGiant Genetic Map Shows Life’s Hidden Links | In a monumental set of experiments, spread out over nearly two decades, biologists removed genes two at a time to uncover the secret workings of the cell. | 10/25/2016 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanThe Art of Teaching Math and Science | The impasse in math and science instruction runs deeper than test scores or the latest educational theory. What can we learn from the best teachers on the front lines? | 10/11/2016 | Free | View in iTunes |
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31 |
CleanHow to Cut Cake Fairly and Finally Eat It Too | Computer scientists have come up with a bounded algorithm that can fairly divide a cake among any number of people. | 10/6/2016 | Free | View in iTunes |
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32 |
CleanStrange Dark Galaxy Puzzles Astrophysicists | The surprising discovery of a massive, Milky Way–size galaxy that is made of 99.99 percent dark matter has astronomers dreaming up new ideas about how galaxies form. | 9/27/2016 | Free | View in iTunes |
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33 |
CleanHacker-Proof Code Confirmed | Computer scientists can prove certain programs to be error-free with the same certainty that mathematicians prove theorems. | 9/20/2016 | Free | View in iTunes |
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34 |
CleanColliding Black Holes Tell New Story of Stars | Just months after their discovery, gravitational waves coming from the mergers of black holes are shaking up astrophysics. | 9/6/2016 | Free | View in iTunes |
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35 |
CleanThe Neuroscience Behind Bad Decisions | Irrationality may be a consequence of the brain’s ravenous energy needs. | 8/23/2016 | Free | View in iTunes |
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36 |
CleanWhat No New Particles Means for Physics | Physicists are confronting their “nightmare scenario.” What does the absence of new particles suggest about how nature works? | 8/9/2016 | Free | View in iTunes |
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37 |
CleanNeutrinos Hint of Matter-Antimatter Rift | A hint that neutrinos behave differently than antineutrinos suggests an answer to one the biggest questions in physics. | 7/28/2016 | Free | View in iTunes |
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38 |
CleanBiologists Search for New Model Organisms | The bulk of biological research is centered on a handful of species. Are we missing a huge chunk of interesting biology? | 7/26/2016 | Free | View in iTunes |
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39 |
CleanA Debate Over the Physics of Time | According to our best theories of physics, the universe is a fixed block where time only appears to pass. | 7/19/2016 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanA Bird’s-Eye View of Nature’s Hidden Order | Scientists are exploring a mysterious pattern, found in birds’ eyes, boxes of marbles and other surprising places, that is neither regular nor random. | 7/12/2016 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanHow Feynman Diagrams Almost Saved Space | Richard Feynman's famous diagrams weren’t just a way to do calculations. They represented a deep shift in thinking about how the universe is put together. | 7/5/2016 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanThe Oracle of Arithmetic | At 28, Peter Scholze is uncovering deep connections between number theory and geometry. | 6/28/2016 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanNew Life Found That Lives Off Electricity | Scientists have figured out how microbes can suck energy from rocks. Such lifeforms might be more widespread than anyone anticipated. | 6/21/2016 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanComputing’s Search for Quantum Questions | Are we asking quantum computers the right questions? | 6/2/2016 | Free | View in iTunes |
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45 |
CleanSimple Set Game Proof Stuns Mathematicians | A new series of papers has settled a long-standing question related to the popular game in which players seek patterned sets of three cards. | 5/31/2016 | Free | View in iTunes |
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46 |
CleanHow Neanderthal DNA Helps Humanity | Neanderthals and Denisovans may have endowed modern humans with genetic variants that helped them thrive in new environments. | 5/26/2016 | Free | View in iTunes |
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47 |
CleanNew Support for Alternative Quantum View | An experiment claims to have invalidated a decades-old criticism against pilot-wave theory, an alternative formulation of quantum mechanics that eliminates the most baffling features of the subatomic universe. | 5/16/2016 | Free | View in iTunes |
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48 |
CleanNew Evidence for the Necessity of Loneliness | A specific set of neurons deep in the brain may motivate us to seek company, holding social species together. | 5/10/2016 | Free | View in iTunes |
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49 |
CleanTiny Tests Seek the Universe’s Big Mysteries | The search for exotic new physical phenomena is being led by huge experiments like the Large Hadron Collider. But at the other end of the spectrum lie tabletop experiments — small-scale probes of hidden dimensions, dark matter and dark energy. | 5/3/2016 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanA Secret Flexibility Found in Life’s Blueprints | A new study reveals that individual genes can create many different versions of the molecular machinery that powers the cell. | 4/26/2016 | Free | View in iTunes |
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51 |
CleanPhysicists Hunt for the Big Bang’s Triangles | The story of the universe’s birth — and evidence for string theory — could be found in triangles and myriad other shapes in the sky. | 4/19/2016 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanDebate Intensifies Over Dark Disk Theory | In the new, free-for-all era of dark matter research, the controversial idea that dark matter is concentrated in thin disks is being rescued from scientific oblivion. | 4/12/2016 | Free | View in iTunes |
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53 |
CleanMapping the Brain to Build Better Machines | A project to decipher the brain’s learning rules could revolutionize machine learning. | 4/6/2016 | Free | View in iTunes |
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54 |
CleanSphere Packing Solved in Higher Dimensions | The Ukrainian mathematician Maryna Viazovska has solved the centuries-old sphere-packing problem in dimensions eight and 24. | 3/30/2016 | Free | View in iTunes |
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55 |
CleanThe Beasts That Keep the Beat | New insights from neuroscience — aided by a small zoo’s worth of dancing animals — are revealing the biological origins of rhythm. | 3/22/2016 | Free | View in iTunes |
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56 |
CleanMathematicians Discover Prime Conspiracy | A previously unnoticed property of prime numbers seems to violate a long-standing assumption about how they behave. | 3/13/2016 | Free | View in iTunes |
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57 |
CleanAfter Black Holes Collide, a Puzzling Flash | A satellite spotted a burst of light just as gravitational waves rolled in from the collision of two black holes. Was the flash a cosmic coincidence, or do astrophysicists need to rethink what black holes can do? | 3/2/2016 | Free | View in iTunes |
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58 |
CleanThe Quantum Secret to Superconductivity | In a virtuoso experiment, physicists have revealed details of a “quantum critical point” that underlies high-temperature superconductivity. | 2/22/2016 | Free | View in iTunes |
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59 |
CleanHow to Build Life in a Pre-Darwinian World | Perhaps chemistry played a more instrumental role in the origin of life than scientists thought. | 2/16/2016 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanGravitational Waves Discovered at Long Last | This week: Long sought-after gravitational waves are found and a proposed fuzzball fix for a black hole paradox. | 2/11/2016 | Free | View in iTunes |
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61 |
CleanScientists Debate Signatures of Alien Life | Searching for signs of life on faraway planets, astrobiologists must decide which telltale biosignature gases to target. | 2/2/2016 | Free | View in iTunes |
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62 |
CleanNew Clues to How the Brain Maps Time | The same brain cells that track location in space appear to also count beats in time. The research suggests that our thoughts may take place on a mental space-time canvas. | 1/26/2016 | Free | View in iTunes |
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63 |
CleanQuantum Weirdness Now a Matter of Time | Bizarre quantum bonds connect distinct moments in time, suggesting that quantum links — not space-time — constitute the fundamental structure of the universe. | 1/19/2016 | Free | View in iTunes |
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64 |
CleanString Theory Meets Loop Quantum Gravity | Two leading candidates for a “theory of everything,” long thought to be incompatible, may be two sides of the same coin. | 1/12/2016 | Free | View in iTunes |
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65 |
CleanLandmark Algorithm Breaks 30-Year Impasse | Computer scientists are abuzz over a fast new algorithm for solving one of the central problems in the field. | 12/14/2015 | Free | View in iTunes |
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66 |
CleanMath Quartet Joins Forces on Unified Theory | A new breakthrough that bridges number theory and geometry is just the latest triumph for a close-knit group of mathematicians. | 12/8/2015 | Free | View in iTunes |
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67 |
CleanThe Incredible Shrinking Sex Chromosome | Nature offers species a panoply of ways to determine an organism’s sex. That flexibility suggests we need not be concerned about losing sex chromosomes, but it raises the question of why such a fundamental property is so variable. | 12/1/2015 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanNature’s Critical Warning System | Scientists are homing in on a warning signal that arises in complex systems like ecological food webs, the brain and the Earth’s climate. Could it help prevent future catastrophes? | 11/18/2015 | Free | View in iTunes |
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69 |
CleanHow Humans Evolved Supersize Brains | Scientists have begun to identify the symphony of biological triggers that powered the extraordinary expansion of the human brain. | 11/10/2015 | Free | View in iTunes |
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70 |
CleanMongrel Microbe Tests Story of Complex Life | A newly discovered class of microbe could help to resolve one of the biggest and most controversial mysteries in evolution — how simple microbes transformed into the complex cells that produced animals, plants and fungi. | 10/29/2015 | Free | View in iTunes |
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71 |
CleanTheorists Draw Closer to Perfect Coloring | A theorem for coloring a large class of “perfect” mathematical networks could ease the way for a long-sought general coloring proof. | 10/20/2015 | Free | View in iTunes |
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72 |
CleanA Twisted Path to Equation-Free Prediction | Complex natural systems defy analysis using a standard mathematical toolkit, so one ecologist is throwing out the equations. | 10/13/2015 | Free | View in iTunes |
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73 |
CleanThe Mutant Genes Behind the Black Death | Only a few genetic changes were enough to change an ordinary stomach bug into the bacteria responsible for the plague. | 10/6/2015 | Free | View in iTunes |
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74 |
CleanA New Map Traces the Limits of Computation | A major advance in computational complexity reveals deep connections between the classes of problems that computers can — and can’t — possibly do. | 9/29/2015 | Free | View in iTunes |
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75 |
CleanVisions of Future Physics | Nima Arkani-Hamed is championing a campaign to build the world’s largest particle collider, even as he pursues a new vision of the laws of nature. | 9/22/2015 | Free | View in iTunes |
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76 |
CleanHow the Body’s Trillions of Clocks Keep Time | Cellular clocks are almost everywhere. Clues to how they work are coming from the places they’re not. | 9/15/2015 | Free | View in iTunes |
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77 |
CleanEinstein’s Parable of Quantum Insanity | Einstein refused to believe in the inherent unpredictability of the world. Is the subatomic world insane, or just subtle? | 9/10/2015 | Free | View in iTunes |
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78 |
CleanA New Design for Cryptography’s Black Box | A recent cryptographic breakthrough has proven difficult to put into practice. But new advances show how near-perfect computer security might be surprisingly close at hand. | 9/2/2015 | Free | View in iTunes |
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79 |
CleanA Life in Games | The mathematician John Horton Conway’s myriad accomplishments — including the Game of Life, sprouts and the surreal numbers — are the product of a mind at play. | 8/28/2015 | Free | View in iTunes |
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80 |
CleanHow Mutant Viral Swarms Spread Disease | A new understanding of viral swarms is helping researchers predict how viruses will evolve and where disease is likely to spread. | 8/25/2015 | Free | View in iTunes |
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81 |
CleanA Surprise Source of Life’s Code | A surprise source of life’s code | 8/18/2015 | Free | View in iTunes |
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82 |
CleanHow Life and Luck Changed Earth’s Minerals | How life and luck changed Earth's minerals | 8/11/2015 | Free | View in iTunes |
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83 |
CleanAt Tiny Scales, a Giant Burst on Tree of Life | At tiny scales, a giant burst on tree of life | 7/28/2015 | Free | View in iTunes |
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84 |
CleanThe New Laws of Explosive Networks | How explosive networks form | 7/14/2015 | Free | View in iTunes |
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85 |
CleanNew Letters Added to the Genetic Alphabet | Scientists hope that new genetic letters, created in the lab, will endow DNA with new powers. | 7/10/2015 | Free | View in iTunes |
| 85 Items |
Customer Reviews
Quanta podcast... for when you can't fall asleep.
The content is OK. But the delivery is so dry and uninteresting.
Great podcast
As a scientist, I really enjoy this podcast. The material is fascinating and covers topics not normally seen as “sexy” in a lot of popularizations of science. They do a great job with attributions and making sure to get several views on a subject. It’s not meant to be funny, so I’m not sure what the other reviewer was expecting. They do a great job turning the science into a story, and in that way it is very entertaining. Overall, these are extremely informative podcasts. A scientist or science enthusiast would likely enjoy these.
Please keep them coming!
Love this
One of the best science podcasts out there. It covers new and cutting edge ideas, for people who understand, or want to understand, how scientific reasoning actually works.
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