What better time to contemplate the conundrum that is zero than the start of a new year? Zero is a fairly new concept in human history and even more recent as a number. It wasn't until around the 7th century that zero was used as a number. That's when it showed up in the records of Indian mathematicians. Since then, zero has, at times, been met with some fear — at one point the city of Florence, Italy banned the number. Today, scientists seek to understand how much humans truly comprehend zero — and why it seems to be different from other numbers. That's how we ended up talking to science writer <a href="https://www.yaseminsaplakoglu.com/"target="_blank" >Yasemin Saplakoglu</a> in this encore episode about the neuroscience of this number that means nothing. <a href="https://www.quantamagazine.org/how-the-human-brain-contends-with-the-strangeness-of-zero-20241018/"target="_blank" >Read more</a> of Yasemin's reporting on zero for Quanta Magazine. Plus, <a href="https://www.npr.org/2024/01/03/1198909057/brain-struggles-big-numbers-neuroscience"target="_blank" >check out</a> our episode on why big numbers break our brains.Interested in more math episodes? Let us know what kind of stories you want to hear from us in 2026 by emailing <a href="mailto:shortwave@npr.org"target="_blank" >shortwave@npr.org</a>!Listen to every episode of Short Wave sponsor-free and support our work at NPR by signing up for Short Wave+ at <a href="http://plus.npr.org/shortwave"target="_blank" >plus.npr.org/shortwave</a>. Learn more about sponsor message choices: <a href="https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices">podcastchoices.com/adchoices</a> <a href="https://www.npr.org/about-npr/179878450/privacy-policy">NPR Privacy Policy</a>

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