Quanta

A single genetic change and some clever geometry show how single-celled organisms can band together to form cooperative multicellular entities.

The physicist Gabriela González is on the cusp of finding the first direct evidence of gravitational waves — soundlike wobbles in space-time produced by black holes and their kin.

A theorem for coloring a large class of “perfect” mathematical networks could ease the way for a long-sought general coloring proof.

Complex natural systems defy standard mathematical analysis, so one ecologist is throwing out the equations.

Only a few genetic changes were enough to turn an ordinary stomach bug into the bacteria responsible for the plague.

A major advance reveals deep connections between the classes of problems that computers can — and can’t — possibly do.

Nima Arkani-Hamed is championing a campaign to build the world’s largest particle collider, even as he pursues a new vision of the laws of nature.

Einstein refused to believe in the inherent unpredictability of the world. Is the subatomic world insane, or just subtle?

John Horton Conway claims to have never worked a day in his life. This adaptation from the biography Genius at Play shows how serious advances such as the surreal numbers […]