Best Steven Strogatz Podcasts (2024)

1
Will AI Ever Have Common Sense? 44:10

2h ago44:10

44:10

Common sense has been viewed as one of the hardest challenges in AI. That said, ChatGPT4 has acquired what some believe is an impressive sense of humanity. How is this possible? Listen to this week’s “The Joy of Why” with co-host Steven Strogatz. The post Will AI Ever Have Common Sense? first appeared on Quanta Magazine…

1
How Is Tiling Without Repetition Possible? 39:17

10d ago39:17

39:17

If you cover a surface with tiles, repetitive patterns always emerge — or do they? In this week’s episode, mathematician Natalie Priebe Frank and co-host Janna Levin discuss how recent breakthroughs in tiling can unlock structural secrets in the natural world. The post What Can Tiling Patterns Teach Us? first appeared on Quanta Magazine…

1
How Is Science Even Possible? 35:44

23d ago35:44

35:44

How are scientists able to crack fundamental questions about nature and life? How does math make the complex cosmos understandable? In this episode, the physicist Nigel Goldenfeld and co-host Steven Strogatz explore the deep foundations of the scientific process. The post How Is Science Even Possible? first appeared on Quanta Magazine…

1
Can Psychedelics Improve Mental Health? 13:03

1M ago13:03

13:03

Research suggests that psychedelic drugs can reopen critical periods of brain development to create opportunities for re-learning and psychological healing. In this episode, co-host Janna Levin speaks with Gül Dölen, a neuroscientist studying the therapeutic potential of psychedelic substances. The post Can Psychedelics Improve Mental Health? first…

1
What Happens in the Brain to Cause Depression? 33:19

2M ago33:19

33:19

Drugs that target the neurotransmitter serotonin have long been prescribed to treat depression. Now the spotlight is turning to other aspects of brain chemistry. In this episode, the neuropharmacologist John Krystal shares findings that are overturning our understanding of depression. The post What Happens in the Brain to Cause Depression? first ap…

1
Will Better Superconductors Transform the World? 28:50

2M ago28:50

28:50

Scientists are pursuing materials that can conduct electricity with perfect efficiency under ambient conditions. In this episode, the physicist Siddharth Shanker Saxena tells co-host Janna Levin about what makes this hunt so difficult and consequential. The post Will Better Superconductors Transform the World? first appeared on Quanta Magazine…

1
What Does Milk Do for Babies? 34:36

3M ago34:36

34:36

Human nutrition begins with milk, but the wondrous biofluid does much more than feed babies. In this episode, co-host Steven Strogatz speaks with molecular nutritionist Elizabeth Johnson about her research into the impact of human milk on a healthy microbiome. The post What Does Milk Do for Babies? first appeared on Quanta Magazine…

1
Can Information Escape a Black Hole? 29:20

3M ago29:20

29:20

Black holes are inescapable traps for most of what falls into them — but there can be exceptions. The theoretical physicist Leonard Susskind speaks with co-host Janna Levin about the black hole information paradox and how it has propelled modern physics. The post Can Information Escape a Black Hole? first appeared on Quanta Magazine…

1
How Is Flocking Like Computing? 39:38

4M ago39:38

39:38

Birds flock. Locusts swarm. Fish school. From chaotic assemblies of life, order somehow emerges. In this episode, co-host Steven Strogatz interviews the evolutionary ecologist Iain Couzin about how and why collective behaviors arise. The post How Is Flocking Like Computing? first appeared on Quanta Magazine…

1
What Is Quantum Teleportation? 29:57

4M ago29:57

29:57

Teleporting people through space is still science fiction. But quantum teleportation is dramatically different and entirely real. In this episode, Janna Levin interviews the theoretical physicist John Preskill about teleporting bits and the promise of quantum technology. The post What Is Quantum Teleportation? first appeared on Quanta Magazine…

1
What Is the Nature of Time? 30:39

5M ago30:39

30:39

Time seems linear to us: We remember the past, experience the present and predict the future, moving consecutively from one moment to the next. But why is it that way, and could time ultimately be a kind of illusion? In this episode, the Nobel Prize-winning physicist Frank Wilczek speaks with host Steven Strogatz about the many “arrows” of time and…

1
How Did Altruism Evolve? 34:18

5M ago34:18

34:18

We often talk about evolution in terms of competition, as the survival of the fittest. But if it is, then where did the widespread (and widely admired) impulse to help others even at great cost to ourselves come from? In this episode, Stephanie Preston, a professor of psychology and head of the Ecological Neuroscience Lab at the University of Michi…

1
What Makes for 'Good' Math? 35:42

6M ago35:42

35:42

We tend to think of mathematics as purely logical, but the teaching of math, its usefulness and its workings are packed with nuance. So what is “good” mathematics? In 2007, the mathematician Terence Tao wrote an essay for the “Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society” that sought to answer this question. Today, as the recipient of a Fields Med…

1
Why Locusts Swarm, Humans Do Good and Time Marches On 2:10

6M ago2:10

2:10

“The Joy of Why” is a Quanta Magazine podcast about curiosity and the pursuit of knowledge. The mathematician and author Steven Strogatz and the astrophysicist and author Janna Levin take turns interviewing leading researchers about the great scientific and mathematical questions of our time. New episodes are released every other Thursday.…

1
Does Nothingness Exist? 44:59

12M ago44:59

44:59

Aristotle argued almost 2,400 years ago that a perfect vacuum could never exist. Today, the concept of nothingness figures at least implicitly into almost every theory of modern physics. In this episode closing out season 2 of “The Joy of Why,” the theoretical physicist Isabel Garcia Garcia of New York University and the Institute for Advanced Stud…

1
Can Math and Physics Save an Arrhythmic Heart? 46:12

1y ago46:12

46:12

The heart’s electrical system keeps all its muscle cells beating in sync. A hard whack to the chest at the wrong moment, however, can set up unruly waves of abnormal electrical excitation that are potentially deadly. The resulting kind of arrhythmia may be what caused the football player Damar Hamlin of the Buffalo Bills to collapse on the field af…

1
What Can Jellyfish Teach Us About Fluid Dynamics? 43:43

1y ago43:43

43:43

The jellyfish that move through the seas by gently pulsing their saclike bodies may not seem to hold many secrets that would interest human engineers. But simple as the creatures are, jellyfish are masterful at harnessing and controlling the flow of the water around them, sometimes with surprising efficiency. As such, they embody sophisticated solu…

1
What Causes Giant Rogue Waves? 40:15

1y ago40:15

40:15

Sailors have spun yarns for centuries about gigantic rogue waves that could suddenly come out of nowhere to capsize the ships of unwary mariners. Scientists didn’t believe them because the stories seemed at odds with everything else known about waves. Then cameras and other instruments began to capture undeniable proof of the existence of rogue wav…

1
What Is the Nature of Consciousness? 52:14

1y ago52:14

52:14

Neuroscience has made progress in deciphering how our brains think and perceive our surroundings, but a central feature of cognition is still deeply mysterious: namely, that many of our perceptions and thoughts are accompanied by the subjective experience of having them. Consciousness, the name we give to that experience, can’t yet be explained — b…

1
Are There Reasons to Believe in a Multiverse? 48:49

1y ago48:49

48:49

By definition, the universe seems like it should be the totality of everything that exists. Yet a variety of arguments emerging from cosmology, particle physics and quantum mechanics hint that there could also be unobservable universes beyond our own that follow different laws of nature. While the existence of a multiverse is speculative, for many …

1
Is Perpetual Motion Possible at the Quantum Level? 36:40

1y ago36:40

36:40

Perpetual motion machines are impossible, at least in our everyday world. But down at the level of quantum mechanics, the laws of thermodynamics don’t always apply in quite the same way. In 2021, after years of effort, physicists successfully demonstrated the reality of a “time crystal,” a new state of matter that is both stable and ever-changing w…

1
How Can Some Infinities Be Bigger Than Others? 46:11

1y ago46:11

46:11

The idea of infinity is probably about as old as numbers themselves, going back to whenever people first realized that they could keep counting forever. But even though we have a sign for infinity and can refer to the concept in casual conversation, infinity remains profoundly mysterious, even to mathematicians. In this episode, Steven Strogatz cha…

1
What Has the Pandemic Taught Us About Vaccines? 42:54

1+ y ago42:54

42:54

Should Covid-19 vaccines be judged by how well they prevent disease or how well they prevent death? Anna Durbin, a public health expert and vaccine researcher, talks with Steven Strogatz about the science behind vaccines.By Quanta Magazine

1
Is There Math Beyond the Equal Sign? 49:40

1+ y ago49:40

49:40

Can mathematics handle things that are essentially the same without being exactly equal? Category theorist Eugenia Cheng and host Steven Strogatz discuss the power and pleasures of abstraction.By Steven Strogatz

1
Can We Program Our Cells? 45:11

1+ y ago45:11

45:11

Making living cells blink fluorescently like party lights may sound frivolous. But the demonstration that it’s possible could be a step toward someday programming our body’s immune cells to attack cancers more effectively and safely. That’s the promise of synthetic biology. While molecular biologists strip cells down to their component genes and mo…

1
How Will the Universe End? 43:54

1+ y ago43:54

43:54

“The Joy of Why” is a podcast about curiosity and the pursuit of knowledge from Quanta Magazine. The acclaimed mathematician and author Steven Strogatz interviews leading researchers about the great scientific and mathematical questions of our time.By Steven Strogatz and Quanta Magazine

1
The Joy of Asking About Infinity, Jellyfish and the End of the Universe 2:32

1+ y ago2:32

2:32

As The Joy of Why podcast returns for a second season, producer Polly Stryker and host Steven Strogatz invite listeners to join them and their brilliant new guests on another voyage of discovery.By Steven Strogatz and Quanta Magazine

1
Why and How Do We Dream? 45:23

2y ago45:23

45:23

Dreams are so personal, subjective and fleeting, they might seem impossible to study directly and with scientific objectivity. But in recent decades, laboratories around the world have developed sophisticated techniques for getting into the minds of people while they are dreaming. In the process, they are learning more about why we need these stran…

1
What Is Quantum Field Theory and Why Is It Incomplete? 42:04

2y ago42:04

42:04

Quantum field theory may be the most successful scientific theory of all time, predicting experimental results with stunning accuracy and advancing the study of higher dimensional mathematics. Yet, there’s also reason to believe that it is missing something. Steven Strogatz speaks with David Tong, a theoretical physicist at the University of Cambri…

1
Why Do We Get Old, and Can Aging Be Reversed? 38:25

2y ago38:25

38:25

Everybody gets older, but not everyone ages in the same way. For many people, late life includes a deterioration of health brought on by age-related disease. But that’s not true for everyone, and around the world, women typically live longer than men. Why is that? In this episode, Steven Strogatz speaks with Judith Campisi and Dena Dubal, two biome…

1
How Do Mathematicians Know Their Proofs Are Correct? 28:26

2y ago28:26

28:26

How can anyone say something with certainty about infinity? What can we really know about the mysterious prime numbers without knowing all of them? Just as scientists need data to assess their hypotheses, mathematicians need evidence to prove or disprove conjectures. But what counts as evidence in the intangible realm of number theory? In this epis…

1
Can Computers Be Mathematicians? 32:50

2y ago32:50

32:50

How do you teach mathematics to an artificial intelligence? AI has already bested humans at various problem-solving tasks, including games like chess and Go. But before any task can be tackled by a machine, it must be reinterpreted as directions in language that computers can understand. For the last few years, researchers and amateurs all over the…

1
What Is Life? 41:58

2y ago41:58

41:58

Scientists don’t really agree on a definition for life. We may recognize life instinctively most of the time, but any time we try to nail it down with set criteria, some stubborn counterexample spoils the effort. Still, can we really search for life on other worlds, or understand the earliest stages of life on this planet, if we don’t know what to …

1
How Could Life Evolve From Cyanide? 39:23

2y ago39:23

39:23

How did life begin on Earth? It’s one of the greatest and most ancient mysteries in all of science — and the clues to solving it are all around us. Biologists have sometimes imagined evolutionary history as a recorded “tape of life” that might turn out differently if it were replayed again and again. In this episode, Steven Strogatz speaks with two…

1
Will the James Webb Space Telescope Reveal Another Earth? 49:44

2y ago49:44

49:44

The space telescope is one of the most ambitious scientific projects ever undertaken. Marcia Rieke and Nikole Lewis, two of the scientists leading JWST investigations, talk to Steven Strogatz about how it may transform our understanding of the universe. The post Will the James Webb Space Telescope Reveal Another Earth? first appeared on Quanta Maga…

1
Where Do Space, Time and Gravity Come From? 42:04

2y ago42:04

42:04

Einstein’s description of curved space-time doesn’t easily mesh with a universe made up of quantum wavefunctions. Theoretical physicist Sean Carroll discusses the quest for quantum gravity with host Steven Strogatz. The post Where Do Space, Time and Gravity Come From? first appeared on Quanta Magazine…

1
Why Is Inflammation a Dangerous Necessity? 40:13

2y ago40:13

40:13

The immune system protects us from a full spectrum of pathogens, but without balance, it can end up hurting us over time, too. The immunologist Shruti Naik explains how our defenses can turn on us. The post Why Is Inflammation a Dangerous Necessity? first appeared on Quanta MagazineBy Steven Strogatz and Quanta Magazine

1
Untangling Why Knots Are Important 44:15

2+ y ago44:15

44:15

Steven Strogatz explores the mysteries of knots with the mathematicians Colin Adams and Lisa Piccirillo. The post Untangling Why Knots Are Important first appeared on Quanta MagazineBy Steven Strogatz and Quanta Magazine

1
Why Do We Die Without Sleep? 43:47

2+ y ago43:47

43:47

The reasons why sleep is so vital often hide in unexpected parts of the body, as host Steven Strogatz discovers in conversations with researchers Dragana Rogulja and Alex Keene. The post Why Do We Die Without Sleep? first appeared on Quanta MagazineBy Quanta Magazine and Steven Strogatz

1
Trailer: The Joy of Why 2:43

2+ y ago2:43

2:43

The noted mathematician and author Steven Strogatz explains how the conversations with experts in his new Quanta Magazine podcast address his lifelong fascination with timeless mysteries. The post Deep Curiosity Inspires The Joy of Why Podcast first appeared on Quanta MagazineBy Quanta Magazine and Steven Strogatz

1
5 - Tai-Danae Bradley: Where math meets language 1:36:05

3y ago1:36:05

1:36:05

Tai-Danae Bradley does research applying tools from physics to understanding language models, all under the broader umbrella of category theory. She is also the brilliant mind behind the blog https://www.math3ma.com/ Try out the episode sponsor: http://brilliant.org/3b1b

1
4 - Dianna Cowern: Dead or Alive 1:24:46

3y ago1:24:46

1:24:46

Dianna Cowern is the host of Physics Girl: https://www.youtube.com/c/physicsgirl Try out the episode sponsor: http://brilliant.org/3b1b Contents: 0:00 - Intro 0:47 - Ad, Brilliant 2:03 - Relationship with math growing up 9:05 - Thoughts on teaching 16:36 - When students are genuinely curious 22:02 - Physics at MIT 27:53 - Alternate value systems 35…

1
3 - Steven Strogatz: In and out of love with math 1:54:07

3y ago1:54:07

1:54:07

Steven Strogatz, an applied mathematician at Cornell, is a prominent figure in the field of nonlinear dynamics and chaos, and a widely beloved popularizer of math. Episode sponsor: https://brilliant.org/3b1b Brilliant is a great site/app for being more active in learning math. --- Books by Strogatz which we discussed --- Chaos and Nonlinear dynamic…

1
2 - Sal Khan: Beyond Khan Academy 44:42

3y ago44:42

44:42

In this conversation with Sal Khan, we discuss his new project (Schoolhouse.world) as well as the Khan Lab School that he started in 2014. Sal's new tutoring platform: https://schoolhouse.world/ The Khan Lab School: https://www.khanlabschool.org/ Learn more about this episode's sponsor, Brilliant: https://brilliant.org/3b1b Visit that link to get 2…

1
1 - Alex Kontorovich: Improving math 1:24:22

3y ago1:24:22

1:24:22

Alex Kontorovich is a research mathematician at Rutgers University, a distinguished visiting professor at the MoMath Museum, and Editor-in-Chief of Experimental Mathematics, among other things. The tweet referenced at the end: https://twitter.com/AlexKontorovich/status/1172715174786228224

1
Eve Marder on the Crucial Resilience of Neurons 40:37

3y ago40:37

40:37

Eve Marder’s research into the plasticity and resilience of nervous systems finds universal principles guiding life’s responses to stress. The post Eve Marder on the Crucial Resilience of Neurons first appeared on Quanta MagazineBy Steven Strogatz and Quanta Magazine

1
Charlie Marcus Knows That Quantum Facts Aren’t Complicated 49:14

3y ago49:14

49:14

The secret to making a qubit for future quantum computers might depend on knowing how to tie knots in unusual materials, argues the physicist Charlie Marcus. The post Charlie Marcus Knows That Quantum Facts Aren’t Complicated first appeared on Quanta MagazineBy Steven Strogatz and Quanta Magazine

1
Amie Wilkinson Sees the Dynamic Chaos in Puff Pastry 42:27

3y ago42:27

42:27

To a dynamicist like Amie Wilkinson, understanding the universe is about knowing all the right moves. The post Amie Wilkinson Sees the Dynamic Chaos in Puff Pastry first appeared on Quanta MagazineBy Steven Strogatz and Quanta Magazine

1
Emery Brown and the Truth About Anesthesia 40:49

3y ago40:49

40:49

Anesthesia is very different from sleep — which is why it offers unique opportunities for studying the human brain, says the physician-researcher and statistician Emery Brown. The post Emery Brown and the Truth About Anesthesia first appeared on Quanta MagazineBy Steven Strogatz and Quanta Magazine

1
Melanie Mitchell Takes AI Research Back to Its Roots 40:59

3+ y ago40:59

40:59

To build a general artificial intelligence, we may need to know more about our own minds, argues the computer scientist Melanie Mitchell. The post Melanie Mitchell Takes AI Research Back to Its Roots first appeared on Quanta MagazineBy Steven Strogatz and Quanta Magazine

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