Parallel universes, mysterious collapses, divided worlds. These are among the interpretations of quantum theory’s relationship with reality. It’s no wonder that everyone still has questions. But a century after quantum theory emerged, some of its old mysteries may be finally dissolving. On this episode of The Quanta Podcast, host Samir Patel and contributing writer Philip Ball check in on the age-old question: What 𝘪𝘴 reality? 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.

Audio coda courtesy of the Institute for Quantum Computing, University of Waterloo.

By mathematically proving how individual molecules create the complex motion of fluids, three mathematicians have illuminated why time can’t flow in reverse.

The story Epic Effort to Ground Physics in Math Opens Up the Secrets of Time first appeared on Quanta Magazine.

What guides a bat’s internal compass? It’s not the stars in the sky, or the Earth’s magnetic field. On this episode of The Quanta Podcast, host Samir Patel speaks with staff writer Yasemin Saplakoglu about how new research into animals’ sense of direction could help explain the feeling of getting “turned around,” or even why some of us are so bad at finding our way. 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.

Audio Coda from Prat, Y., Taub, M. & Yovel, Y.
Everyday bat vocalizations contain information about emitter, addressee, context, and behavior.
Sci Rep 6, 39419 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/srep39419