“The Joy of Why” is a Quanta Magazine podcast about curiosity and the pursuit of knowledge. The mathematician and author Steven Strogatz and the cosmologist and author Janna Levin take turns interviewing leading researchers about the great scientific and mathematical questions of our time. New episodes are released every other Wednesday. Quanta Magazine is a Pulitzer Prize–winning, editorially independent online publication launched and supported by the Simons Foundation to illuminate big ideas in science and math through public service journalism. Quanta ’s reporters and editors focus on developments in mathematics, theoretical physics, theoretical computer science and the basic life sciences, emphasizing timely, accurate, in-depth and well-crafted articles for its broad discerning audience. In 2023, Steven Strogatz received a National Academies Eric and Wendy Schmidt Award for Excellence in Science Communications partly for his work on “The Joy of Why.”
Black holes, long considered elusive, are now observable through the Event Horizon Telescope, a global network of synchronized radio observatories. By utilizing very long baseline interferometry and ultra-precise atomic clocks, researchers successfully captured the first direct images of the supermassive black holes in...
Mycorrhizal fungi networks, or the "wood wide web," function as a vital, invisible circulatory system connecting over 80% of terrestrial plant species. Evolutionary biologist Toby Kiers highlights how these fungi facilitate a complex underground economy where plants trade carbon for essential phosphorus, nitrogen, and ...
Topology examines the global connectedness of abstract spaces by focusing on continuous deformation rather than fixed distances. Unlike geometry, which relies on rigid measurements, this field treats objects as if they are made of flexible rubber. Maggie Miller, an assistant professor at the University of Texas at Aust...
Quantum mechanics functions as a wave-based theory where the transition to a classical macroscopic world occurs through decoherence. As quantum systems interact with their environment, stray particles and fields suppress interference, rendering objects like the moon or everyday items seemingly classical. Theoretical ph...
Artificial intelligence is fundamentally reshaping the landscape of mathematical research and education, prompting a reevaluation of what constitutes the core activity of the field. While AI models can now achieve gold-medal performance in competitions like the International Mathematical Olympiad, the true essence of m...
Artificial intelligence systems exhibit an alien form of intelligence that requires rigorous scientific evaluation rather than reliance on simple performance benchmarks. Cognitive scientist Melanie Mitchell argues that current models often achieve results through spurious associations rather than genuine understanding,...
The skin-brain axis serves as a critical interface for understanding how physical sensations like touch and pain translate into conscious experience. Neuroscientist Ishmael Abdus-Saboor examines the molecular specificity of sensory neurons, noting that distinct receptor proteins—such as TRPV1 for heat and Piezo for mec...
The accelerating expansion of the universe challenges fundamental cosmological models, specifically the Lambda CDM framework. Nobel laureate Adam Riess details how Type 1a supernovae serve as "standard candles" to measure cosmic distances, providing the empirical evidence that the universe's expansion is speeding up ra...
The scientific search for extraterrestrial life relies on rigorous statistical frameworks rather than speculative assumptions. Astronomer David Kipping argues that the traditional Drake equation often suffers from arbitrary parameterization, proposing instead a birth-death formalism that highlights the ratio of civiliz...
In "The Joy of Why," Janna Levin and Steve Strogatz explore the origin of the universe with theoretical physicist Thomas Hertog. Hertog, who collaborated with Stephen Hawking, discusses their work on understanding the Big Bang and the fine-tuning of the universe for life. They delve into the concept of the multiverse, ...
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