Karmela Padavic-Callaghan

Pioneer of quantum mechanics Erwin Schrödinger's look at living organisms is one of the most influential popular-science books of the 20th century. So how does it hold up today, asks Karmela Padavic-Callaghan

The laws of physics that concern heat and work could gain a firmer mathematical footing thanks to “gauge theory”, which already helps us understand quantum fields

An experiment with a charged molecule of bismuth and carbon reveals how effects from Albert Einstein’s special relativity reshape the standard understanding of chemical bonds

Marine bristle worms have jaws made from a mix of proteins and metal ions that may constitute a whole new kind of material, with possible applications in engineering

A mathematical analysis suggests that the notion of agency, which is a prerequisite for consciousness, cannot be purely quantum in nature

Mathematicians who helped unify laws of physics and cracked decades-old problems in geometry are among this year's recipients of the Fields medal

When researchers found evidence of a black hole flying out of its galaxy, nobody knew how that could happen. Now we have an explanation

Three problems that are out of reach for conventional computers have been cracked by quantum computers and show how important the machines could become for scientific research

To predict when we’ll have a truly useful quantum computer, we need to know precisely what one is. Columnist Karmela Padavic-Callaghan finds that’s harder to pin down than you might think

Jacob Tsimerman won a Fields medal last month – now he is leaving mathematics to work on AI safety