Illuminating math and science. Supported by the Simons Foundation. 2022 Pulitzer Prize in Explanatory Reporting. www.quantamagazine.org
On May 20, 2026, OpenAI made an announcement that shook the mathematical world. An internal AI model had come up with a counterexample to Paul Erdős’ “unit distance” problem, making it the first historically significant proof to come from AI. www.quantamagazine.org/why-the-lege...
Across the living surface of coral, a frantic dance of survival takes place. The tiny dancers are hairlike cilia, and new research into these microscopic structures is revealing just how active corals are in determining their own fate. www.quantamagazine.org/corals-spin-...
Corals Spin Tiny Vortices to Get Oxygen, but Not if It’s Too Hot | Quanta MagazineNew research is helping biologists understand how an overlooked aspect of coral physiology may affect their fate under climate change.www.quantamagazine.orgIf you’re left-handed, you’re in good company. While lefties only account for 10% of the population, they’re overrepresented among U.S. presidents, famous artists and musicians, and top athletes. But why is that? Tune in to The Quanta Podcast to find out: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/w...
Why Am I Left-Handed?Podcast Episode · The Quanta Podcast · August 4 · 26mpodcasts.apple.comHungarian mathematician Paul Erdős’ conjectures have long fascinated mathematicians — and now, AI companies. OpenAI and Google DeepMind are solving Erdős problems with remarkable speed. But what does this mean for the field of mathematics? www.quantamagazine.org/why-the-lege...
Why are only 10% of people left-handed? Natalie Wolchover stops by The Quanta Podcast this week to talk through the astronomical amount of research done to understand the fundamental mystery of southpaws. Listen now: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/w...
Why Am I Left-Handed?Podcast Episode · The Quanta Podcast · August 4 · 26mpodcasts.apple.comWhy do some people wake up feeling well rested, while others feel perpetually groggy? The answer may lie in arousal systems deep in the center of the brain. https://www.quantamagazine.org/how-the-brain-moves-from-waking-life-to-sleep-and-back-again-20251017/
How the Brain Moves From Waking Life to Sleep (and Back Again) | Quanta MagazineNeuroscientists probing the boundary between sleep and awareness are finding many types of liminal states, which help explain the sleep disorders that can result when sleep transitions go wrong.www.quantamagazine.orgAre we at the point where our technology is actually “reasoning,” or should that word still live within its quotation marks? https://www.quantamagazine.org/is-ai-reasoning-right-for-the-wrong-reasons-20260731/
Is AI Reasoning Right for the Wrong Reasons? | Quanta MagazineThe idea that artificial intelligence can “reason” is more intuitive than ever. But intuitions can be wrong, and the science is far from settled.www.quantamagazine.orgA new clue from a particle collider in Siberia has sparked a flurry of activity as physicists race to determine whether its data may suggest the presence of a new particle. https://www.quantamagazine.org/physicists-solve-a-muon-mystery-now-old-results-dont-add-up-20260729/
Physicists Solve a Muon Mystery. Now, Old Results Don’t Add Up. | Quanta MagazineNew calculations seem to have put a 25-year-old particle physics puzzle to rest. But they’ve also created a clash with other experimental results.www.quantamagazine.orgOn Saturday, OpenAI announced solutions to three Erdős problems. These solutions, along with May’s high-profile counterexample to the “unit distance” problem, are quickly changing how mathematicians approach their work. @kkakaes.bsky.social reports: www.quantamagazine.org/why-the-lege...
Why the Legendary Erdős Problems Are Falling to AI | Quanta MagazineAI’s greatest mathematical successes have come from answers to problems posed by a mid-20th century iconoclast. By examining what makes the Erdős problems unique, mathematicians are trying to understa...www.quantamagazine.orgCan AIs actually reason, or does that involve some wishful thinking? https://www.quantamagazine.org/is-ai-reasoning-right-for-the-wrong-reasons-20260731/
What are AI systems actually doing when we say they’re busy “reasoning”? In this week’s Qualia column, John Pavlus reckons with the intellectual whiplash of the last few years. https://www.quantamagazine.org/is-ai-reasoning-right-for-the-wrong-reasons-20260731/
From this week’s Qualia column: “I’ll just say it: What the hell is going on with AI ‘reasoning’?” www.quantamagazine.org/is-ai-reason...
Is AI Reasoning Right for the Wrong Reasons? | Quanta MagazineThe idea that artificial intelligence can “reason” is more intuitive than ever. But intuitions can be wrong, and the science is far from settled.www.quantamagazine.orgMore than 2 billion years ago, there may have been a time when dark energy grew stronger, in defiance of the law of energy conservation. Tune into The Quanta Podcast for the full story: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/a-dark-dimension-could-link-two-of-the/id1021340531?i=1000778686446
A Dark Dimension Could Link Two of the Universe's Great UnknownsPodcast Episode · The Quanta Podcast · July 28 · 30mpodcasts.apple.comWhen Fields Medalist Yu Deng and collaborators Zaher Hani and Xiao Ma solved David Hilbert’s 124-year-old “sixth problem,” it took months for the rest of the mathematical community to even start to digest it
Yu Deng Wins the Fields Medal 2026 for His Work on the Random Data Problem | Quanta MagazineBefore he won a Fields Medal for his pioneering work balancing randomness and order, Yu Deng first had to achieve equilibrium in his own life.www.quantamagazine.orgFields Medalist Hong Wang has faced doubt throughout her career. It is a feeling that drew her to mathematics: the least doubtful thing.
Hong Wang Wins 2026 Fields Medal, the Third Woman Ever | Quanta MagazineFocus, commitment, and insight resulted in a “once in a century” proof. Hong Wang is now just the third woman to win a Fields Medal.www.quantamagazine.orgEven when IMU Abacus Medal winner Shayan Oveis Gharan isn’t working, his competitive spirit still comes through. “My kids believe that he’s the best cook in the world,” his sister said. “I’m like, ‘Dude, relax, you don't have to be the best in everything.’”
Shayan Oveis Gharan Wins 2026 IMU Abacus Medal | Quanta MagazineShayan Oveis Gharan has won the Abacus Medal for using tools from across mathematics to boost the power of algorithms.www.quantamagazine.orgA few years ago, physicists at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Illinois used a giant magnetic ring to measure precisely how much the muon wobbles. Now they’re puzzling over the way that this measurement clashes with older experiments. www.quantamagazine.org/physicists-s...
Physicists Solve a Muon Mystery. Now, Old Results Don’t Add Up. | Quanta MagazineNew calculations seem to have put a 25-year-old particle physics puzzle to rest. But they’ve also created a clash with other experimental results.www.quantamagazine.orgFields Medalist Yu Deng has always been focused. As an undergraduate, he once went line-by-line through a highly technical PDE paper, all 75 pages. It took him a week, eight hours per day. “I just checked every single detail,” he said. www.quantamagazine.org/yu-deng-wins...
Written by Li Shangyin in the ninth century, “The Brocade Zither” is a poem famous for its ambiguity, where a simple phrase might have scores of diverging interpretations. It’s also one of Fields Medalist Yu Deng’s favorites. www.quantamagazine.org/yu-deng-wins...
John Pardon’s work is not centered around a particular mathematical area or theme. He simply solves problems that are, to him, interesting. His efforts have won him a 2026 Fields Medal.
John Pardon Wins the 2026 Fields Medal for Work in Symplectic Geometry | Quanta MagazineJohn Pardon sees connections between different areas of math that others don’t. For that vision, he’s now been awarded a Fields Medal.www.quantamagazine.org