ScientistPankaj: ‘Stunning’ percolation proof solves decades-old puzzle about phase transitions

Friday, September 4, 2026

‘Stunning’ percolation proof solves decades-old puzzle about phase transitions

Math and Science News from Quanta Magazine

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GRAPH THEORY | ALL TOPICS

‘Stunning’ Percolation Proof Solves Decades-Old Puzzle About Phase Transitions

By LEILA SLOMAN

Mathematicians found that a broad class of networks will abruptly shift behavior past a critical point.

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Q&A

In an Age of AI, a Physicist Seeks What Endures

By REBECCA BOYLE

Sarah Demers, chair of the physics department at Yale University, sees the potential for large language models to both help and harm her field.

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EVOLUTION

Genome Duplication Is a Radical Evolutionary Gamble

By CARRIE ARNOLD

By doubling their entire genome, organisms can evolve extremely rapidly — or they can lose it all. New studies reveal how to survive the high-risk, high-reward evolutionary event.

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THE JOY OF WHY

Live from ICM 2026: What Is Math For in the Age of AI?

Podcast hosted by JANNA LEVIN and STEVEN STROGATZ
with AKSHAY VENKATESH, RAVI VAKIL and ALEX KONTOROVICH

In this special live recording from the International Congress of Mathematicians, the central question discussed was what do mathematicians really value about doing mathematics in the first place?

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THE QUANTA PODCAST

How the Brain Compresses
Our Noisy World

Podcast hosted by HANNAH WATERS with CONOR FEEHLY

On this episode of The Quanta Podcast, co-host Hannah Waters speaks with contributing writer Conor Feehly about how the brain manages to categorize similar sets of sensory signals in radically different ways.

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