The race to beat AI's 'unique games' proof

How life unfolds through a rolling landscape; The week that changed math forever; New podcast episode

Math and Science News from Quanta Magazine View this email in your browser COMPUTATIONAL COMPLEXITY | ALL TOPICS   As AI Closed In on ‘Unique Games’ Proof, Researchers Raced to Beat the Machines By BEN BRUBAKER In the shadow of a rumored AI proof of one of the biggest problems in their field, three computer scientists rushed to publish their own milestone result. Read the article DEVELOPMENT   How Does Life Unfold? By PHILIP BALL C.H. Waddington’s powerful image of embryonic stem cells specializing on a rolling landscape has captivated biologists since the 1950s. Experimental data is finally confirming, and complicating, his visionary ideas. Read the article QUALIA   Is AI the End of Math As We Know It? By JORDANA CEPELEWICZ Mathematicians are facing the sudden shift with grief, anger, and a desperate search for fresh ideas: “If we don’t adapt, there’s just no more math in 50 years.” Read the article TRANSFORMATION   Deluge of 377 OpenAI proofs bewilders the math world By KONSTANTIN KAKAES The technology firm has announced the solutions to 377 open questions across nearly every mathematical subdiscipline. Read the update THE QUANTA PODCAST   Sea Monkeys, Jupiter, and the Mystery of Turbulence Podcast hosted by SAMIR PATEL with STEPHEN ORNES A recent study used sea monkeys to complicate one of turbulence’s many mysteries. Listen (Apple) | Listen (Spotify) Read the article Follow Quanta Unsubscribe | About Quanta | My Bookmarks Privacy Policy | Terms | Contact Us   Copyright © 2026 Quanta Magazine, an editorially independent division of the Simons Foundation Simons Foundation 160 5th Avenue, 7th Floor New York, NY 10010