Quanta Magazine https://www.quantamagazine.org Illuminating science Fri, 21 Feb 2025 21:18:44 -0500 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.6.2 How ‘Event Scripts’ Structure Our Personal Memories https://www.quantamagazine.org/how-event-scripts-structure-our-personal-memories-20250221/ https://www.quantamagazine.org/how-event-scripts-structure-our-personal-memories-20250221/#respond Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:18:14 +0000 https://www.quantamagazine.org/?p=146781 The post How ‘Event Scripts’ Structure Our Personal Memories first appeared on Quanta Magazine

]]> After shuffling the cards in a standard 52-card deck, Alex Mullen, a three-time world memory champion, can memorize their order in under 20 seconds. As he flips though the cards, he takes a mental walk through a house. At each point in his journey — the mailbox, front door, staircase and so on — he attaches a card. To recall the cards, he relives the trip. This technique, called “method of loci”…

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]]> https://www.quantamagazine.org/how-event-scripts-structure-our-personal-memories-20250221/feed/ 0 After 20 Years, Math Couple Solves Major Group Theory Problem https://www.quantamagazine.org/after-20-years-math-couple-solves-major-group-theory-problem-20250219/ https://www.quantamagazine.org/after-20-years-math-couple-solves-major-group-theory-problem-20250219/#respond Wed, 19 Feb 2025 15:45:12 +0000 https://www.quantamagazine.org/?p=146706 The post After 20 Years, Math Couple Solves Major Group Theory Problem first appeared on Quanta Magazine

]]> In 2003, a German graduate student named Britta Späth encountered the McKay conjecture, one of the biggest open problems in the mathematical realm known as group theory. At first her goals were relatively modest: She hoped to prove a theorem or two that would make incremental progress on the problem, as many other mathematicians had done before her. But over the years, she was drawn back to it…

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]]> https://www.quantamagazine.org/after-20-years-math-couple-solves-major-group-theory-problem-20250219/feed/ 0 Catalytic Computing Taps the Full Power of a Full Hard Drive https://www.quantamagazine.org/catalytic-computing-taps-the-full-power-of-a-full-hard-drive-20250218/ https://www.quantamagazine.org/catalytic-computing-taps-the-full-power-of-a-full-hard-drive-20250218/#respond Tue, 18 Feb 2025 15:15:12 +0000 https://www.quantamagazine.org/?p=146655 The post Catalytic Computing Taps the Full Power of a Full Hard Drive first appeared on Quanta Magazine

]]> “Obviously” is a dangerous word, even in scenarios that seem simple. Suppose, for instance, you need to do an important computation. You get to choose between two computers that are almost identical, except that one has an extra hard drive full of precious family photos. It’s natural to assume that the two options are equally good — that an extra drive with no space remaining won’t aid your…

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]]> https://www.quantamagazine.org/catalytic-computing-taps-the-full-power-of-a-full-hard-drive-20250218/feed/ 0 The Largest Sofa You Can Move Around a Corner https://www.quantamagazine.org/the-largest-sofa-you-can-move-around-a-corner-20250214/ https://www.quantamagazine.org/the-largest-sofa-you-can-move-around-a-corner-20250214/#respond Fri, 14 Feb 2025 14:35:53 +0000 https://www.quantamagazine.org/?p=146584 The post The Largest Sofa You Can Move Around a Corner first appeared on Quanta Magazine

]]> If you’ve ever moved into a new home, then you know how difficult it can be to steer bulky furniture through narrow hallways or around awkward corners. Mathematicians have been trying to solve this problem, too, ever since 1966, when Leo Moser framed it in quantitative terms. Say you want to move a two-dimensional shape — your sofa (disregarding its height) — through an L-shaped hallway.

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]]> https://www.quantamagazine.org/the-largest-sofa-you-can-move-around-a-corner-20250214/feed/ 0 How Hans Bethe Stumbled Upon Perfect Quantum Theories https://www.quantamagazine.org/how-hans-bethe-stumbled-upon-perfect-quantum-theories-20250212/ https://www.quantamagazine.org/how-hans-bethe-stumbled-upon-perfect-quantum-theories-20250212/#respond Wed, 12 Feb 2025 14:55:38 +0000 https://www.quantamagazine.org/?p=146538 The post How Hans Bethe Stumbled Upon Perfect Quantum Theories first appeared on Quanta Magazine

]]> By 1928, quantum physicists seemed poised to unravel matter’s final secrets. The German researcher Walter Gordon had applied the emerging theory of quantum mechanics to the hydrogen atom, the universe’s simplest atom, and worked out exactly how it behaved. A mastery of all atoms seemed sure to follow. It did not. When quantum particles influence each other, their possibilities intertwine in such…

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