The Joy of Why podcast

The Joy of Why

“The Joy of Why” is a Quanta Magazine podcast about curiosity and the pursuit of knowledge. The mathematician and author Steven Strogatz and the cosmologist and author Janna Levin take turns interviewing leading researchers about the great scientific and mathematical questions of our time. New episodes are released every other Wednesday. Quanta Magazine is a Pulitzer Prize–winning, editorially independent online publication launched and supported by the Simons Foundation to illuminate big ideas in science and math through public service journalism. Quanta’s reporters and editors focus on developments in mathematics, theoretical physics, theoretical computer science and the basic life sciences, emphasizing timely, accurate, in-depth and well-crafted articles for its broad discerning audience. In 2023, Steven Strogatz received a National Academies Eric and Wendy Schmidt Award for Excellence in Science Communications partly for his work on “The Joy of Why.”

“The Joy of Why” is a Quanta Magazine podcast about curiosity and the pursuit of knowledge. The mathematician and author Steven Strogatz and the cosmologist and author Janna Levin take turns interviewing leading researchers about the great scientific and mathematical questions of our time. New episodes are released every other Wednesday. Quanta Magazine is a Pulitzer Prize–winning, editorially independent online publication launched and supported by the Simons Foundation to illuminate big ideas in science and math through public service journalism. Quanta’s reporters and editors focus on developments in mathematics, theoretical physics, theoretical computer science and the basic life sciences, emphasizing timely, accurate, in-depth and well-crafted articles for its broad discerning audience. In 2023, Steven Strogatz received a National Academies Eric and Wendy Schmidt Award for Excellence in Science Communications partly for his work on “The Joy of Why.”

 

#66

Do Beautiful Birds Have an Evolutionary Advantage?

Birds are not merely descendants of dinosaurs — they are dinosaurs. For Yale evolutionary ... more

21 Aug 2025

46 MINS

46:06

21 Aug 2025


#65

How Can Math Protect Our Data?

Every time data travels — from smartphones to the cloud, or across the vacuum of space — i... more

07 Aug 2025

39 MINS

39:39

07 Aug 2025


#64

Why Did The Universe Begin?

Most cosmologists agree that our universe had a beginning. But the finer details about the... more

24 Jul 2025

52 MINS

52:08

24 Jul 2025


#63

How Can Regional Models Advance Climate Science?

Climate models have changed the way we view the world. While effective, these models are i... more

10 Jul 2025

45 MINS

45:04

10 Jul 2025


#62

How Does Graph Theory Shape Our World?

Born in the 18th century when Leonhard Euler solved the puzzle of the seven bridges of Kön... more

26 Jun 2025

34 MINS

34:13

26 Jun 2025


#61

Does Form Really Shape Function?

What links a Möbius strip, brain folds and termite mounds? The answer is Harvard Universit... more

12 Jun 2025

47 MINS

47:24

12 Jun 2025


#60

Will We Ever Prove String Theory?

For decades, string theory has been hailed as the leading candidate for the theory of ever... more

29 May 2025

48 MINS

48:39

29 May 2025


#59

How Did Geometry Create Modern Physics?

Geometry is one of the oldest disciplines in human history, yet the worlds it can describe... more

15 May 2025

46 MINS

46:07

15 May 2025


#58

Will AI Ever Understand Language Like Humans?

Large language models (LLMs) are becoming increasingly more impressive at creating human-l... more

01 May 2025

41 MINS

41:47

01 May 2025


#57

Can Quantum Gravity Be Created in the Lab?

Quantum gravity is one of the biggest unresolved and challenging problems in physics, as i... more

17 Apr 2025

42 MINS

42:33

17 Apr 2025


#56

What Is the True Promise of Quantum Computing?

Quantum computing promises unprecedented speed, but in practice, it’s proven remarkably di... more

03 Apr 2025

38 MINS

38:47

03 Apr 2025


#55

How Did Multicellular Life Evolve?

At first, life on Earth was simple. Cells existed, functioned and reproduced as free-livin... more

20 Mar 2025

46 MINS

46:06

20 Mar 2025


#54

S4 Preview: More Big Questions and No Sasquatches

How did complex life evolve? Where did space-time come from? Will computers ever understan... more

13 Mar 2025

17 MINS

17:55

13 Mar 2025


#53

How Will We Know We’re Not Alone?

We have identified thousands of planets just in our neighborhood in the Milky Way, mostly ... more

19 Dec 2024

37 MINS

37:55

19 Dec 2024


#52

How Is Cell Death Essential to Life?

Death might seem like a pure loss, the disappearance of what makes a living thing distinct... more

05 Dec 2024

38 MINS

38:57

05 Dec 2024


#51

What Can Birdsong Teach Us About Human Language?

It’s fair to say that enjoyment of a podcast would be severely limited without the human c... more

21 Nov 2024

42 MINS

42:15

21 Nov 2024


#50

How Is AI Changing the Science of Prediction?

Scientists routinely build quantitative models — of, say, the weather or an epidemic — and... more

07 Nov 2024

37 MINS

37:01

07 Nov 2024


#49

Why Is It So Hard to Define a Species?

The “species” category is almost certainly the best known of all the taxonomic classificat... more

24 Oct 2024

30 MINS

30:19

24 Oct 2024


#48

How Can Math Help Beat Cancer?

When we think about medicine’s war on cancer, treatments such as surgery, radiation and ch... more

10 Oct 2024

42 MINS

42:58

10 Oct 2024


#47

What Can Cave Life Tell Us About Alien Ecosystems?

If instruments do someday detect evidence of life beyond Earth, whether it’s in this solar... more

26 Sep 2024

44 MINS

44:42

26 Sep 2024


#46

From Sidedoor — Cosmic Journey I: "Stellar Buffoonery"

As a treat to our listeners, we are posting a full episode of Sidedoor, a podcast that exp... more

19 Sep 2024

34 MINS

34:37

19 Sep 2024


#45

Can Thermodynamics Go Quantum?

The principles of thermodynamics are cornerstones of our understanding of physics. But the... more

12 Sep 2024

43 MINS

43:00

12 Sep 2024


#44

Do We Need a New Theory of Gravity?

Observations of the cosmos suggest that unseen sources of gravity — dark matter — tug at t... more

29 Aug 2024

42 MINS

42:25

29 Aug 2024


#43

Are Robots About to Level Up?

Within just a few years, artificial intelligence systems that sometimes seem to display al... more

15 Aug 2024

38 MINS

38:29

15 Aug 2024


#42

How Does Math Keep Our Secrets?

Can you keep a secret? Modern techniques for maintaining the confidentiality of informatio... more

01 Aug 2024

23 MINS

23:59

01 Aug 2024


#41

Will AI Ever Have Common Sense?

Common sense rules our world. This fundamental, sometimes trivial knowledge is inherent to... more

18 Jul 2024

44 MINS

44:16

18 Jul 2024