The Quanta Podcast

Latest Episodes:

Are Memories Transferable — or Edible? Jun 30, 2026

Show notes

In the 60s, an eccentric behavioral psychologist pureed a bunch of planarian worms and fed them to other ones. For years after, he claimed that the cannibal worms learned the ground-up worms’ memories. Could he have been… right? On this episode of The Quanta Podcast, host Samir Patel and columnist Claire L. Evans discuss the weird history of memory transfer experiments, and their recent resurgence — and some them appear to be working. This topic was covered in a recent story for Quanta Magazine.

Each week on The Quanta Podcast, Quanta Magazine editor in chief Samir Patel speaks with the people behind the award-winning publication to navigate through some of the most important and mind-expanding questions in science and math.

At the end of the episode is a clip from a 1966 Sound Seminars lecture by Dr. James V. McConnell called Cannibals, Chemicals and Memory, where he describes how his experimental work led to the conclusion that flatworms can learn.

Audio coda credit: The Drs. Nicholas and Dorothy Cummings Center for the History of Psychology, The University of Akron, Ohio.

How Many Elementary Particles Are There, Really? Jun 23, 2026

Show notes

How many pieces are there in the Standard Model of particle physics? 17, 30, 37, 61, 118? Or is the true answer much larger — and not even an integer? It depends on your taste for complexity — and mystery. On this episode of The Quanta Podcast, host Samir Patel and columnist Natalie Wolchover plummet down another rabbit hole, and this one goes down to the very building blocks of our reality. This topic was covered in a recent story for Quanta Magazine.

Audio Edition: What Is the Fourier Transform? Jun 18, 2026

Show notes

Amid the chaos of revolutionary France, one man’s mathematical obsession gave way to a calculation that now underpins much of mathematics and physics. The calculation, called the Fourier transform, decomposes any function into its parts.

The story What Is the Fourier Transform? first appeared on Quanta Magazine.

The 'Truth Machine' That Is Changing Math Jun 16, 2026

Show notes

The groundbreaking proof assistant Lean acts as a sort of automatic quality control. It’s gaining ground in the math world — in part because it can interact with AI to open new avenues of inquiry. But there are concerns, too. On this episode of The Quanta Podcast, host Samir Patel speaks with author Kevin Harnett about his new book, the first release from Quanta Books, “The Proof in the Code.” It was featured in a recent excerpt for Quanta Magazine.

Ecotypes Make the Idea of a Species Even Fuzzier Jun 09, 2026

Show notes

How do you define a species? The question has been controversial since the days of Darwin. On this episode of The Quanta Podcast, host Samir Patel speaks with writer Marlowe Starling about how recent advances in genomics have both clarified and complicated the picture. This topic was covered in a recent story for Quanta Magazine.

What Actually Causes Lightning? Jun 02, 2026

Show notes

Thunderstorms have captivated humanity for millennia, and yet their inner workings remain deeply mysterious. On this episode of The Quanta Podcast, guest host and Quanta senior editor Hannah Waters speaks with staff writer Charlie Wood about the new technologies that are helping physicists better understand the phenomena. This topic was covered in a recent story for Quanta Magazine.

Each week on The Quanta Podcast, hear the people behind the award-winning publication navigate through some of the most important and mind-expanding questions in science and math.

At the end of the episode, listen to an excerpt of the fourth movement of Beethoven's Sixth Symphony, which depicts a violent thunderstorm. Piccolo represents lightning and timpani represents thunder. Courtesy of Symphony Orchestra.
Deed - Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported - Creative Commons

Audio Edition: Astrophysicists Find No ‘Hair’ on Black Holes May 28, 2026

Show notes

According to Einstein’s theory of gravity, black holes have only a small handful of distinguishing characteristics. Quantum theory implies they may have more. Now an experimental search finds that any of this extra ‘hair’ has to be pretty short.

The story Astrophysicists Find No ‘Hair’ on Black Holes first appeared on Quanta Magazine.

The AI Revolution in Math Has Arrived May 26, 2026

Show notes

In 2026, shock at AI’s growing mathematical abilities turned into something more like wonder — and concern. On this episode of The Quanta Podcast, host Samir Patel speaks with writer Konstantin Kakaes about how AI is changing not only how mathematicians do math, but also why they do it. This topic was covered in a recent story for Quanta Magazine.

Ice Is Way More Complex Than It Seems May 19, 2026

Show notes

Over the past decade, computer simulations have predicted tens of thousands of possible forms of ice. Though uncommon on our planet, exotic ice may exist in off-Earth environments, from cold and amorphous comet tails to the hot and crushing cores of icy planets. On this episode of The Quanta Podcast, host Samir Patel speaks with math writer Shalma Wegsman about why water is exceptionally versatile under pressure. This topic was covered in a recent story for Quanta Magazine.