The Quanta Podcast
Quanta Magazine
Exploring the distant universe, the insides of cells, the abstractions of math, the complexity of information itself, and much more, The Quanta Podcast is a tour of the frontier between the known and the unknown. 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. Quanta specifically covers fundamental research — driven by curiosity, discovery and the overwhelming desire to know why and how. Join us every Tuesday for a stimulating conversation about the biggest ideas and the tiniest details.(If you've been a fan of the Quanta Science Podcast, it will continue here. You'll see those episodes marked as audio edition episodes every two weeks.)
Episodes
Mentioned books
25 snips
Feb 19, 2026 • 17min
Audio Edition: Epic Effort to Ground Physics in Math Opens Up the Secrets of Time
Mathematicians prove how individual particle collisions build up fluid behavior and why time seems to flow one way. The work completes a long-sought link from Newtonian particles to Boltzmann and then to Navier-Stokes. Innovative counting of collision patterns and wave-inspired decompositions make rare recollisions negligible. The result illuminates the mathematical roots of irreversibility and points toward broader extensions.
20 snips
Feb 17, 2026 • 24min
How Animals Build a Sense of Direction
Yasemin Saplakoglu, a science journalist covering neuroscience and animal navigation, explores how animals find their way. She explains place, grid and head-direction cells. She describes field studies tracking bats on an island and debates whether animals use a global compass or local landmarks. The conversation ends with questions about human navigation and why people vary in directional ability.
36 snips
Feb 10, 2026 • 24min
Mathematicians Want To Make Fluid Equations Glitch Out
Charlie Wood, a Quanta Magazine staff writer who covers physics and math, discusses the math behind rivers, whirlpools and breezes. He explains how Navier‑Stokes equations can allow mathematical “glitches” called singularities. Conversation covers what blowups mean, how simulations and AI help find unstable candidates, and why viscosity and stability matter.
21 snips
Feb 5, 2026 • 8min
Audio Edition: Matter vs. Force: Why There Are Exactly Two Types of Particles
A tour of the two fundamental kinds of particles: collectivist bosons that produce forces and individualist fermions that build matter. A historical look at Bose, Planck, Fermi and Dirac and how their ideas shaped quantum theory. An accessible explanation of spin and the spin–statistics connection. A surprising note on how dimensionality can change which particle types can exist.
49 snips
Feb 3, 2026 • 29min
Do AI Models Agree On How They Encode Reality?
Ben Brubaker, a computer science writer for Quanta Magazine, explores whether different AI systems develop similar internal representations. He uses Plato’s cave as a framing device. The conversation covers how models encode inputs as vectors, methods for comparing representations across architectures and modalities, and evidence that more capable systems may converge on shared structures.
35 snips
Jan 27, 2026 • 26min
Is Particle Physics Dead, Dying, or Just Hard?
Natalie Wolchover, physics writer and Quanta columnist known for clear takes on foundational particle physics, explores whether the field is stuck. She surveys the rise of the Standard Model, dark matter and the hierarchy problem. Discussion covers LHC surprises, novel theory work on scattering amplitudes, and the hopes and worries about AI aiding future breakthroughs.
16 snips
Jan 22, 2026 • 10min
Audio Edition: How Can AI Researchers Save Energy? By Going Backward.
Discover how reversible programs could revolutionize energy use in AI by running backward. Learn about Michael Frank's transition from AI to efficiency research and the link between entropy and information. Delve into Landauer's principle revealing the heat costs of deletion and Bennett's concept of uncomputation. Explore challenges of creating reversible hardware and the renewed interest sparked by chip-scaling limits. Finally, see how parallel processing with reversible chips could lead to significant energy savings for AI applications.
10 snips
Jan 20, 2026 • 32min
Does Dad's Fitness Make Its Way Into Sperm?
Hannah Waters, a biology editor at Quanta Magazine, dives into fascinating epigenetic research suggesting that a father's lifestyle can influence his future children. They explore how sperm might carry more than just genetic info, examining studies on the impact of diet, stress, and exercise on sperm RNA. Insights about how environmental factors can modify gene expression and potentially pass traits to offspring are discussed. Hannah outlines the hurdles in translating these findings to humans, while emphasizing that maintaining a healthy lifestyle remains important for dads-to-be.
18 snips
Jan 13, 2026 • 27min
The Shape That Can’t Pass Through Itself
Erica Klarich, a science and math writer and longtime Quanta contributor, dives into the intriguing world of geometry. She discusses the Noperthedron, a groundbreaking discovery that challenges the Rupert tunnel conjecture, revealing a shape that cannot pass through itself. Klarich explains the historical context behind the puzzle, the complex characteristics of the Noperthedron, and the creative use of computer searches in its discovery. She also touches on the implications for geometry and recommends Jane Austen's Emma as a literary delight.
27 snips
Jan 8, 2026 • 12min
Audio Edition: How Much Energy Does It Take To Think?
Explore the fascinating balance of energy in our brains, which consume about 20% of our body's energy even at rest. Insightful research reveals that effortful thinking only slightly boosts energy use. Background processes dominate, keeping our neural systems running efficiently. The discussion connects evolutionary energy constraints to cognitive fatigue, illustrating how our brains prioritize prediction over reaction. Dive into the evolutionary trade-offs that shaped our brain's complexity and functionality.
