Mathematical Beauty: A Q&A with Fields Medalist Michael Atiyah
The mathematician is a scientific matchmaker, famous for collaborating with researchers from many disciplines and pairing others
Quanta Magazine
Taming Superconductors with String Theory
The physicist Subir Sachdev borrows tools from string theory to understand the puzzling behavior of superconductors
How Strange Twists in DNA Orchestrate Life
So-called “supercoils” change the behavior of DNA, opening a new role for topology in the study of life
The Physical Origin of Universal Computing
The physical nature of computers might reveal deep truths about their uniquely powerful abstract abilities
The Woman Who Stared at Wasps
The biologist Joan Strassmann discusses the evolution of cooperation, how amoebas can teach us about competition, and why the definition of “organism” needs an overhaul
Mongrel Microbe Tests Story of Complex Life
A newly discovered class of microbe could help to resolve one of the biggest and most controversial mysteries in evolution—how simple microbes transformed into the complex cells that produced animals, plants and fungi...
The Mutant Genes behind the Black Death
Only a few genetic changes were enough to turn an ordinary stomach bug into the bacteria responsible for the plague
Networks Untangle Malaria's Deadly Shuffle
The world’s most dangerous malaria parasite shuffles its genes in a clever attempt to avoid the immune system. A new approach has begun to reveal how the process works
Bee Symbiosis Reveals Life's Deepest Partnerships: Q&A
The biologist Nancy Moran has spent a career investigating the surprising nature of symbiosis, a phenomenon in which two species can appear to merge into one
Einstein's Parable of Quantum Insanity
Einstein refused to believe in the inherent unpredictability of the world. Is the subatomic world insane, or just subtle?
