Math and Science News from Quanta Magazine View this email in your browser INFORMATION THEORY | ALL TOPICS   New Graphs Create Ideal Code by Avoiding Randomness By MORDECHAI RORVIG By carefully constructing a multidimensional and well-connected graph, a team of researchers has finally created a long-sought locally testable code that can immediately betray whether it's been corrupted. Read the article PARTICLE PHYSICS   The Algorithm That Lets Particle Physicists Count Higher Than Two By CHARLIE WOOD Through his encyclopedic study of the electron, an obscure figure named Stefano Laporta found a handle on the subatomic world's fearsome complexity. His algorithm has swept the field. Read the blog Related:  The Mathematical Structure of Particle Collisions Comes Into View by Charlie Wood (2020) ORIGINS OF LIFE   At the Dawn of Life, Heat May Have Driven Cell Division By CARRIE ARNOLD A single differential equation hints at how thermodynamics may have enabled ancient protocells to divide without the proteins found in today's cells. It's a starting point for experiments probing the origins of life. Read the blog Related:  First Support for a Physics Theory of Life by Natalie Wolchover (2017) INSIGHTS PUZZLE   Why e, the Transcendental Math Constant, Is Just the Best By PRADEEP MUTALIK The solution to our puzzle about Euler's number explains why e pops up in situations that involve optimality. Read the puzzle solution Related:  Where Transcendental Numbers Hide in Everyday Math by Pradeep Mutalik QUANTA SCIENCE PODCAST   One Lab's Quest to Build Space-Time Out of Quantum Particles Podcast hosted by SUSAN VALOT; Story by ADAM BECKER Physicists are one step closer to testing quantum gravity by inducing space-time to emerge from quantum entanglement. Listen to the podcast Read the article Around the Web Fast Radio Bursts Get Fresh Answers An explanation for the intense pulses of radiation called fast radio bursts (FRBs) has eluded astronomers until now. Recent observations and in-depth studies have started fitting the puzzle pieces together, Adam Mann reports for Scientific American. One of the FRB puzzle pieces is the role of magnetars, highly magnetized neutron stars. In 2019 Josh Sokol reported for Quanta on a new model explaining how FRBs occur when magnetars make shockwaves by hurling charged particles outward. Pregnancy, Placentas and Autoimmune Disease  Why do 80% of autoimmune disease cases afflict women? During pregnancy, the placenta helps to lower immune defenses. A new theory suggests that lower pregnancy rates are leaving women's immune system hypervigilant, Olga Khazan reports for The Atlantic. The placenta's ability to foil immunological defenses resembles that of cancer cells. Earlier this year Max Kozlov reported for Quanta about scientists who are studying the placenta to better understand and beat cancer. Follow Quanta Simons Foundation 160 5th Avenue, 7th Floor New York, NY 10010 Unsubscribe | About Quanta Privacy Policy | Terms | Contact Us   Copyright © 2021 Quanta Magazine, an editorially independent division of the Simons Foundation