Can Quantum Gravity Be Created in the Lab?

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1. 

   S4 · E8 · 26 Jun 2025 · 34 min

   How Does Graph Theory Shape Our World?

   Born in the 18th century when Leonhard Euler solved the puzzle of the seven bridges of Königsberg, graph theory has become a foundational tool in mathematics. It studies relationships through nodes (vertices) and the links (edges) that connect them, transforming the complexity of systems — from friendship networks to airline routes — into elegant abstractions that reveal underlying structure and interaction. Maria Chudnovsky from Princeton University is a leading mathematician in the field. In this episode of The Joy of Why, Chudnovsky talks with co-host Janna Levin about how she got into…

2. 

   S4 · E7 · 12 Jun 2025 · 47 min

   Does Form Really Shape Function?

   What links a Möbius strip, brain folds and termite mounds? The answer is Harvard University’s L. Mahadevan, whose career has been devoted to using mathematics and physics to explore the form and function of common phenomena. Mahadevan, or Maha to his friends and colleagues, has long been fascinated by questions one wouldn’t normally ask — from the equilibrium shape of inert objects like a Möbius strip, to the complex factors that drive biological systems like morphogenesis or social insect colonies. In this episode of The Joy of Why, Mahadevan tells co-host Steven Strogatz what inspires him…

3. 

   S4 · E6 · 29 May 2025 · 49 min

   Will We Ever Prove String Theory?

   For decades, string theory has been hailed as the leading candidate for the theory of everything in our universe. Yet despite its mathematical elegance, the theory still lacks empirical evidence. One of its most intriguing, yet vexing, implications is that if all matter and forces are composed of vibrations of tiny strands of energy, then this allows for a vast landscape of possible universes with different physical properties, varieties of particles and complex spacetimes. How, then, can we possibly pinpoint our own universe within a field of almost infinite possibilities? Since 2005,…

4. 

   S4 · E5 · 15 May 2025 · 46 min

   How Did Geometry Create Modern Physics?

   Geometry is one of the oldest disciplines in human history, yet the worlds it can describe extend far beyond its original use. What began thousands of years ago as a way to measure land and build pyramids was given rigor by Euclid in ancient Greece, became applied to curves and surfaces in the 19th century, and eventually helped Einstein understand the universe. Yang-Hui He sees geometry as a unifying language for modern physics, a mutual exchange in which each discipline can influence and shape the other. In the latest episode of The Joy of Why, He tells co-host Steven Strogatz how geometry…

5. 

   S4 · E4 · 1 May 2025 · 42 min

   Will AI Ever Understand Language Like Humans?

   Large language models (LLMs) are becoming increasingly more impressive at creating human-like text and answering questions, but whether they can understand the meaning of the words they generate is a hotly debated issue. A big challenge is that LLMs are black boxes; they can make predictions and decisions on the order of words, but they cannot communicate the reasons for doing so. Ellie Pavlick at Brown University is building models that could help understand how LLMs process language compared with humans. In this episode of The Joy of Why, Pavlick discusses what we know and don’t know about…

6. 

   S4 · E2 · 3 Apr 2025 · 39 min

   What Is the True Promise of Quantum Computing?

   Quantum computing promises unprecedented speed, but in practice, it’s proven remarkably difficult to find important questions that quantum machines can solve faster than classical ones. One of the most notable demonstrations of this came from Ewin Tang who rose to prominence in the field as a teenager. When quantum algorithms had in principle cracked the so-called recommendation problem, Tang designed classical algorithms that could match them . So began the approach of “dequantizing,” in which computer scientists look at quantum algorithms and try to achieve the same speeds with classical…

7. 

   S4 · E1 · 20 Mar 2025 · 46 min

   How Did Multicellular Life Evolve?

   At first, life on Earth was simple. Cells existed, functioned and reproduced as free-living individuals. But then, something remarkable happened. Some cells joined forces, working together instead of being alone. This transition, known as multicellularity, was a pivotal event in the history of life on Earth. Multicellularity enabled greater biological complexity, which sparked an extraordinary diversity of organisms and structures. How life evolved from unicellular to multicellular organisms remains a mystery, though evidence indicates that this may have occurred multiple times…

8. 

   S4 · 13 Mar 2025 · 18 min

   S4 Preview: More Big Questions and No Sasquatches

   How did complex life evolve? Where did space-time come from? Will computers ever understand language like we do? How did geometry create modern physics? These are just a few of the big and bold questions that we’ll be exploring in the latest season of Quanta’s interview podcast, “The Joy of Why,” starting March 20, and released every other Thursday. As ever, we will be talking to researchers and exploring the latest thinking on great scientific and mathematical questions of our time. But this season sees a new format, with the two of us — mathematician Steven Strogatz and physicist Janna…

9. 

   S3 · E24 · 19 Dec 2024 · 38 min

   How Will We Know We’re Not Alone?

   We have identified thousands of planets just in our neighborhood in the Milky Way, mostly from the way they impact their host stars. Basic calculations suggest that there are countless more across the galaxy, and that billions of them could potentially support life. But what kind of life they host, and how we would be able to detect the presence of those biological processes from Earth, remain big questions in the world of exoplanets and astrobiology. What technologies might lie ahead to help us answer the question of whether we are alone in the universe? Lisa Kaltenegger, an astrophysicist…

10. 

    S3 · E23 · 5 Dec 2024 · 39 min

    How Is Cell Death Essential to Life?

    Death might seem like a pure loss, the disappearance of what makes a living thing distinct from everything else on our planet. But zoom in closer, to the cellular level, and death takes on a different, more nuanced meaning. There is a challenge in simply defining what makes an individual cell alive or dead. Scientists today are working to understand the various ways and reasons that cells disappear, and what these processes mean to biological systems. In this episode, cellular biologist Shai Shaham talks to Steven Strogatz about the different forms of cell death, their roles in evolution and…