Scientists built a synthetic cell that combines more lifelike properties than ever before — proof of concept that it’s possible to bring nonliving materials to life, or something close to it, in the ...

Decades ago, Paul Erdős used randomness to illuminate the vast and weird world of networks. Now mathematicians are making his ...

The mechanical process of cell division exerts powerful, if microscopic, forces. How do the molecular machines that power it ...

Raymond Davis Jr. is dwarfed by the giant tank used by the Homestake detector in South Dakota, which first detected solar ...

For those who see the world as a dark place, the universe seems to offer little solace. According to current estimates, ...

Our genetic heritage is not a blueprint or an algorithm, as many biologists have imagined, but something else entirely.

Maria Chudnovsky reflects on her journey in graph theory, her groundbreaking solution to the long-standing perfect graph problem, and the unexpected ways this abstract field intersects with everyday ...

The recipient of the 2024 Crafoord Prize in Mathematics discusses math as art, math as language, and math as abstract thought. The Quanta Newsletter ...

A powerful mathematical technique is used to model melting ice and other phenomena. But it has long been imperiled by certain “nightmare scenarios.” A new proof has removed that obstacle.

Quantum mechanics has at last been formulated exclusively with real numbers, bringing a mathematical puzzle at the heart of the theory into a new era of inquiry. The theoretical physicist and ...

Decades of weird experimental results appeared to support the existence of the sterile neutrino, a hypothetical particle that would solve multiple mysteries. But recent experiments have killed hope of ...