This article is the first part of a series about quantum field theory published by Quanta Magazine. Other stories in the series can be found here. Over the past century, quantum field theory has ...

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The cosmological constant is the mathematical description of the energy that drives the ever-accelerating expansion of the ...

The laws of physics imply that the passage of time is an illusion. To avoid this conclusion, we might have to rethink the reality of infinitely precise numbers. Strangely, although we feel as if we ...

(This program is no longer available for online streaming.) Revisit "The Great Math Mystery," fresh from the archives and just nominated for an Emmy Award. Join NOVA on a mathematical mystery tour—a ...

At the frontiers of theoretical physics, many of the most popular ideas have one thing in common: they begin from a mathematical framework that seeks to explain more things than our currently ...

Researchers from Stanford and UC Berkeley are being celebrated like celebrities for advancing mathematics and developing ...

MIP * = RE is not a typo. It is a groundbreaking discovery and the catchy title of a recent paper in the field of quantum complexity theory. Complexity theory is a zoo of “complexity classes” – ...

Sitting in the front row of a "General Chemistry" class at McCosh last fall, tracking questions and taking notes as earnestly as any undergraduate, Ana Mostafavi was a reassuring fixture in one of the ...

Even scientists and educators who have an abiding love of physics acknowledge that much of society at large doesn’t share their affection. The study of force and motion has long been regarded as the ...