The Joy of x

Quanta Magazine
  • 4.8 (249)
  • PHYSICS
The Joy of x

The acclaimed mathematician and author Steven Strogatz interviews some of the world's leading scientists about their lives and work. You've learned from Quanta. Now we want to learn from you! Quanta is conducting a series of surveys to better serve our audience. Take our podcast listener survey and you will be entered to win a free Quanta book, t-shirt or tote bag: quantamag.typeform.com/podcast

  1. 05/17/2021

    Eve Marder on the Crucial Resilience of Neurons

    Behaviors are sometimes described as being "hardwired," but the work of the celebrated neuroscientist Eve Marder of Brandeis University has explored a crucial difference between neural circuits and engineered ones: Neurons need to be resilient in the face of their own ongoing biomolecular transformation. In this episode, host Steven Strogatz talks with Marder about "multiple solutions" as a key feature of life, the similarities between a crab's stomach and our shoulders, and the secret to a satisfying career in science. Read more at https://www.quantamagazine.org/eve-marder-on-the-crucial-resilience-of-neurons-20210517/.

    41 min

  2. 05/10/2021

    Charlie Marcus Knows That Quantum Facts Aren’t Complicated

    The quantum physicist Charlie Marcus - a principal researcher at Microsoft Quantum Research and a professor at the Niels Bohr Institute of the University of Copenhagen - is engaged in one of the most ambitious quests in modern technology: the creation of a true quantum computer. In this episode, Marcus talks with host Steven Strogatz about why facts are never complicated, what working in a music store taught him about doing science, and the parallels between the use of knots in early Mesoamerican culture and his quantum computing work today. Read more at https://www.quantamagazine.org/charlie-marcus-knows-that-quantum-facts-arent-complicated-20210510/.

    49 min

  3. 05/03/2021

    Amie Wilkinson Sees the Dynamic Chaos in Puff Pastry

    Amie Wilkinson of the University of Chicago works in the rarefied area of mathematics called pure dynamics, studying how complex systems transform under the influence of simple rules. In this episode, she speaks with her fellow dynamicist, host Steven Strogatz, about the challenges of finding a place in mathematics as a woman, why groups can be understood as collections of moves, and what the recipe for puff pastry illustrates about chaos. Read more at https://www.quantamagazine.org/amie-wilkinson-sees-the-dynamic-chaos-in-puff-pastry-20210503/.

    42 min

  4. 04/26/2021

    Emery Brown and the Truth About Anesthesia

    Anesthetics transformed surgical medicine, but even a century and a half after their introduction, much of the science behind them is still not well understood, especially by the public. In this episode, the noted physician-scientist Emery Brown of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology talks with host Steven Strogatz about how anesthesia differs from sleep, what anesthesiologists should tell patients before surgery, and why recordings of brain waves should be collected from patients much more routinely. Read more at https://www.quantamagazine.org/emery-brown-and-the-truth-about-anesthesia-20210426/.

    41 min

  5. 04/19/2021

    Melanie Mitchell Takes AI Research Back to Its Roots

    Melanie Mitchell, a professor of complexity at the Santa Fe Institute and a professor of computer science at Portland State University, acknowledges the powerful accomplishments of "black box" deep learning neural networks. But she also thinks that artificial intelligence research would benefit most from getting back to its roots and exchanging more ideas with research into cognition in living brains. This week, she speaks with host Steven Strogatz about the challenges of building a general intelligence, why we should think about the road rage of self-driving cars, and why AIs might need good parents. Read more at https://www.quantamagazine.org/melanie-mitchell-takes-ai-research-back-to-its-roots-20210419/.

    41 min

  6. 04/12/2021

    Trachette Jackson Fights Cancer With Math

    The term "mathematical biology" might have been considered an oxymoron more than a few decades ago: How could mathematics enrich the largely descriptive disciplines of biology? But Trachette Jackson of the University of Michigan has become a pioneer in this area, bringing deep mathematical insights to cancer therapeutics. In this episode, Jackson tells host Steve Strogatz how a tumor resembles a box of pencils, and how she came to appreciate the usefulness of mathematics for piercing biological mysteries. Read more at https://www.quantamagazine.org/trachette-jackson-fights-cancer-with-math-20210412/. Production and original music by Story Mechanics.

    43 min

  7. 04/05/2021

    Rediet Abebe on Using Algorithms for Social Justice

    Can algorithms make society more equitable? Rediet Abebe, a computer scientist at the University of California, Berkeley, has shown that data-driven machine learning can help to optimize the results of social and economic strategies. In this week's episode, host Steven Strogatz speaks with Abebe about how her Ethiopian upbringing helps her see discrimination in the U.S. in a different light, and why her research interests and here concerns with poverty, inclusion and diversity are inseparable. This episode was produced by Dana Bialek. Read more at https://www.quantamagazine.org/rediet-abebe-on-using-algorithms-for-social-justice-20210405/. Production and original music by Story Mechanics.

    44 min

  8. 03/29/2021

    Federico Ardila on Math, Music and the Space of Possibilities

    Federico Ardila, born in Colombia and now a professor mathematics at San Francisco State University, is an expert in the field of combinatorics, the study of all the possible configurations of finite systems. This week, Ardila talks with host Steven Strogatz about the importance of feelings in mathematics, the music of collaboration, imagining higher dimensional spaces, and the art and science of exploring "the space of possibilities." This episode was produced by Dana Bialek. Read more at https://www.quantamagazine.org/federico-ardila-on-math-music-and-the-space-of-possibilities-20210329/. Production and original music by Story Mechanics.

    51 min
See All (27)

Hosts & Guests

4.8
out of 5
249 Ratings

About

The acclaimed mathematician and author Steven Strogatz interviews some of the world's leading scientists about their lives and work. You've learned from Quanta. Now we want to learn from you! Quanta is conducting a series of surveys to better serve our audience. Take our podcast listener survey and you will be entered to win a free Quanta book, t-shirt or tote bag: quantamag.typeform.com/podcast

Information

  • Channel
    Quanta Magazine
  • Creator
    Steven Strogatz and Quanta Magazine
  • Years Active
    2020 - 2021
  • Episodes
    27
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Quanta Magazine
  • Show Website
    The Joy of x

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