The computer scientist Erik Demaine and his artist and computer scientist father, Martin Demaine, have been pushing the limits of paper folding for years. Their intricate origami sculptures are part of the permanent collection at […]
Tag: quantamagazine
Since the steam engine began modernizing the world, the second law of thermodynamics has reigned over physics, chemistry, engineering and biology. Now, an upgrade is underway. Thermodynamics — the study of energy — originated during […]
Lillian Pierce vividly remembers a moment when she was 4 years old, waiting in her family’s station wagon for her older brother and sister to get out of school, magnolia trees forming pink and white […]
When two black holes collide, the titanic crash ripples out through the very fabric of the cosmos. Physicists have used Albert Einstein’s theory of gravity to predict the rough contours of these gravitational waves as […]
Even when it’s not apparent, cells in our tissues and organs are constantly on the move. In fact, the ability of cells to get where they need to go is essential to our health and […]
Now that pandemic restrictions are easing up, people are getting together again. But it’s been a while, so if you and your friends need some help breaking the ice, here’s a mathematical party game you […]
Dennis Sullivan has always been driven by mathematical insights that are general and beautiful and have the power to amaze — “something that grabs you, like a piece of music,” he said. An encounter with […]
Every time you reach for your coffee mug, a neuroscientific mystery takes shape. Moments before you voluntarily extend your arm, thousands of neurons in the motor regions of your brain erupt in a pattern of […]
Even the strongest gravitational waves that pass through the planet, created by the distant collisions of black holes, only stretch and compress each mile of Earth’s surface by one-thousandth the diameter of an atom. It’s […]
As a little boy I used to love reading books about dinosaurs and gems and the different kinds of lightning. My favorite was a book entitled Tell Me Why. Written by Arkady Leokum, it gave […]
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