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.”

 

#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