HeyJaredThe Quanta Podcast
Exploring the distant universe, the insides of cells, the abstractions of math, the complexity of information itself, and much more, The Quanta Podcast is a tour of the frontier between the known and the unknown.
- Indexed episodes, last 90 days
- 17
- Latest publication
- Sep 22, 2026
- Audience
- Checking…
- Earliest in this view
- Jul 7, 2026
Latest episodes
Are the Little Red Dots Actually Black Hole Suns? (opens the original)
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When all you can see is a speck, it’s hard to tell what you’re looking at. Astronomers first argued that little red dots spotted by the James Webb Space Telescope in 2022 were distant galaxies on the cosmic horizon, mainly because of their brightness. Later, they concluded that little red dots look more like the supermassive black holes that sit at the heart of most galaxies. But in the spring of 2025, two teams of astronomers simultaneously announced observations of a pair of little red dots th
Four-Color Theorem Is Still a Math Favorite (opens the original)
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In 1852, the mathematician Francis Guthrie was coloring in a map of English counties when he noticed that he needed only four colors. Was this always true, he wondered? The question captured the imagination of hobbyists and professionals alike — and in 1976, the mathematicians Kenneth Appel and Wolfgang Haken proved it, rather controversially using computers. Recently, mathematicians have revisited the four-color theorem and found a more efficient way to color maps with just four colors. On this
Audio Edition: ‘Reverse Mathematics’ Illuminates Why Hard Problems Are Hard (opens the original)
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Researchers have used metamathematical techniques to show that certain theorems that look superficially distinct are in fact logically equivalent. The article ‘Reverse Mathematics’ Illuminates Why Hard Problems Are Hard first appeared on Quanta Magazine.
Does Computer Science Need Computers? (opens the original)
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In popular culture, computer science is practically synonymous with programming. There are obviously branches of computer science in which computer hardware and software are essential, such as in the design of operating systems or the study of memory management. But in the theoretical side of the field, researchers need not ever touch a real, physical computer. Do computers play an essential conceptual role in that kind of theoretical work? On this episode of The Quanta Podcast, host Samir Patel
How the Brain Compresses Our Noisy World (opens the original)
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If you are well rested and full, your brain tells you that a bruised overripe apple is a piece of subpar fruit to be passed over. However, if you are exhausted and hungry, an overripe apple is categorized as much-needed food. But how is the brain able to categorize that same apple in these situations? On this episode of The Quanta Podcast, co-host Hannah Waters speaks with contributing writer Conor Feehly about how the brain manages to categorize similar sets of sensory signals in radically diff
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