Simone Barr
@simonebarr.bsky.social
audience producer @ quanta magazine
imbuing scientific research with a sense of excitement and urgency.
also writes short fiction.
imbuing scientific research with a sense of excitement and urgency.
also writes short fiction.
Reposted by Simone Barr
“Decay” is a word that shows up often in science. 🧵
1/12
1/12
November 20, 2025 at 8:51 PM
“Decay” is a word that shows up often in science. 🧵
1/12
1/12
The strange way that fluid behaves
When it flows in an ocean of waves
Stays oddly mysterious
And makes experts delirious
But new findings give math what it craves.
www.quantamagazine.org/the-hidden-m...
When it flows in an ocean of waves
Stays oddly mysterious
And makes experts delirious
But new findings give math what it craves.
www.quantamagazine.org/the-hidden-m...
The Hidden Math of Ocean Waves Crashes Into View | Quanta Magazine
The math of even the simplest ocean waves is notoriously uncooperative. A team of Italian mathematicians has made major advances toward understanding it.
www.quantamagazine.org
October 15, 2025 at 2:44 PM
The strange way that fluid behaves
When it flows in an ocean of waves
Stays oddly mysterious
And makes experts delirious
But new findings give math what it craves.
www.quantamagazine.org/the-hidden-m...
When it flows in an ocean of waves
Stays oddly mysterious
And makes experts delirious
But new findings give math what it craves.
www.quantamagazine.org/the-hidden-m...
Quanta staff are answering your questions about “How We Came to Know Earth,” our latest special issue, this afternoon on Reddit. www.reddit.com/r/askscience...
September 25, 2025 at 4:02 PM
Reposted by Simone Barr
From methane-eaters to rain-makers, the microbial powers of the Earth’s smallest organisms read like something out of a fantasy novel.
Microbes Also Change the Climate. Could That Help Us? | Quanta Magazine
A collection of short dispatches from the field of climate microbiology conveys the contributions that single-celled life forms make to our climate system, and how we can work with them to address…
www.quantamagazine.org
September 16, 2025 at 8:04 PM
From methane-eaters to rain-makers, the microbial powers of the Earth’s smallest organisms read like something out of a fantasy novel.
Reposted by Simone Barr
After a long break, my podcast 'Why This Universe?' is starting up again! In our first episode of the season, Nobel prize-winner Adam Riess shares his story of the discovery that dark energy is powering the expansion of space.
Listen to the whole episode here: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/9...
Listen to the whole episode here: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/9...
September 15, 2025 at 5:43 PM
After a long break, my podcast 'Why This Universe?' is starting up again! In our first episode of the season, Nobel prize-winner Adam Riess shares his story of the discovery that dark energy is powering the expansion of space.
Listen to the whole episode here: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/9...
Listen to the whole episode here: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/9...
Reposted by Simone Barr
A photoessay by @yaseminsaplakoglu.bsky.social highlights researchers' labor & collaboration: "Through the haze of doom that shrouds climate science shines the passion behind the quest to understand and solve one of the greatest challenges humanity has faced." www.quantamagazine.org/photos-captu...
Photos Capture the Extreme, Beautiful Work of Climate Science | Quanta Magazine
Building an accurate model of Earth’s climate requires a lot of data. Photography reveals the extreme efforts scientists have undertaken to measure gases, glaciers, clouds and more.
www.quantamagazine.org
September 15, 2025 at 8:08 PM
A photoessay by @yaseminsaplakoglu.bsky.social highlights researchers' labor & collaboration: "Through the haze of doom that shrouds climate science shines the passion behind the quest to understand and solve one of the greatest challenges humanity has faced." www.quantamagazine.org/photos-captu...
Favorite little ditty of social copy that I wrote for our climate series :-)
Time wears on us all; Venus was also a lot cooler when it was younger. www.quantamagazine.org/why-is-venus...
Why Is Venus Hell and Earth an Eden? | Quanta Magazine
A team of scientists has investigated how Earth’s twin became so inhospitable, and whether the same will happen to our planet.
www.quantamagazine.org
September 15, 2025 at 8:37 PM
Favorite little ditty of social copy that I wrote for our climate series :-)
Reposted by Simone Barr
This summer, staff writer Charlie Wood (@walkingthedot.bsky.social) joined hundreds of physicists on the island of Helgoland, the birthplace of quantum mechanics. There, he encountered a bewildering array of opinions about what quantum mechanics means: 🧵
August 8, 2025 at 5:38 PM
This summer, staff writer Charlie Wood (@walkingthedot.bsky.social) joined hundreds of physicists on the island of Helgoland, the birthplace of quantum mechanics. There, he encountered a bewildering array of opinions about what quantum mechanics means: 🧵
Reposted by Simone Barr
Strong new evidence suggests that liquid metal from the center of the Earth is making its way up to the planet’s surface, potentially ferried through two monster-size blobs sitting at the core-mantle boundary. @squigglyvolcano.bsky.social reports: www.quantamagazine.org/earths-core-...
Earth’s Core Appears To Be Leaking Up and Out of Earth’s Surface | Quanta Magazine
Strong new evidence suggests that primordial material from the planet’s center is somehow making its way out. Continent-size entities anchored to the core-mantle boundary might be involved.
www.quantamagazine.org
August 4, 2025 at 2:09 PM
Strong new evidence suggests that liquid metal from the center of the Earth is making its way up to the planet’s surface, potentially ferried through two monster-size blobs sitting at the core-mantle boundary. @squigglyvolcano.bsky.social reports: www.quantamagazine.org/earths-core-...
Reposted by Simone Barr
Most organic molecules have a mirror-image twin. This concept is known as chirality. 🧵
1/10
1/10
July 31, 2025 at 8:16 PM
Most organic molecules have a mirror-image twin. This concept is known as chirality. 🧵
1/10
1/10
Reposted by Simone Barr
The impacts of climate change will not be distributed evenly across the globe. How can regional models help individual communities adapt? Tune in to “The Joy of Why” from @prx.org and @quantamagazine.bsky.social with co-host @stevenstrogatz.com.
www.quantamagazine.org/how-can-regi...
www.quantamagazine.org/how-can-regi...
How Can Regional Models Advance Climate Science? | Quanta Magazine
Elfatih Eltahir explains why we need more local and social data, like disease spread and population growth, to better predict and address climate-related challenges.
www.quantamagazine.org
July 10, 2025 at 6:23 PM
The impacts of climate change will not be distributed evenly across the globe. How can regional models help individual communities adapt? Tune in to “The Joy of Why” from @prx.org and @quantamagazine.bsky.social with co-host @stevenstrogatz.com.
www.quantamagazine.org/how-can-regi...
www.quantamagazine.org/how-can-regi...
Reposted by Simone Barr
Do you smell that?
July 3, 2025 at 6:58 PM
Do you smell that?
Mmmmm, what's that smell? Oh! It's the whiff of a delicious new @yaseminsaplakoglu.bsky.social story, fresh from Quanta Bakery. www.quantamagazine.org/how-smell-gu...
How Smell Guides Our Inner World | Quanta Magazine
A better understanding of human smell is emerging as scientists interrogate its fundamental elements: the odor molecules that enter your nose and the individual neurons that translate them into percep...
www.quantamagazine.org
July 3, 2025 at 2:50 PM
Mmmmm, what's that smell? Oh! It's the whiff of a delicious new @yaseminsaplakoglu.bsky.social story, fresh from Quanta Bakery. www.quantamagazine.org/how-smell-gu...
Reposted by Simone Barr
I found an article here yesterday that fascinated me so much it inspired today’s tune. Link to original article included.
#originalmusic #composition #composer #music #musician #sheetmusic #originalmusicSky #compositionSky #composerLife #composerSky
philipdewalt.substack.com/p/177-monost...
#originalmusic #composition #composer #music #musician #sheetmusic #originalmusicSky #compositionSky #composerLife #composerSky
philipdewalt.substack.com/p/177-monost...
177 - Monostable Tetrahedron
This fascinated me today - after way more time, energy and money that you would think necessary, somebody finally made a monostable tetrahedron.
philipdewalt.substack.com
June 26, 2025 at 7:29 PM
I found an article here yesterday that fascinated me so much it inspired today’s tune. Link to original article included.
#originalmusic #composition #composer #music #musician #sheetmusic #originalmusicSky #compositionSky #composerLife #composerSky
philipdewalt.substack.com/p/177-monost...
#originalmusic #composition #composer #music #musician #sheetmusic #originalmusicSky #compositionSky #composerLife #composerSky
philipdewalt.substack.com/p/177-monost...
Roses are red,
Violets are blue,
My friend @mollyherring.bsky.social wrote another banger for you:
www.quantamagazine.org/when-did-nat...
Violets are blue,
My friend @mollyherring.bsky.social wrote another banger for you:
www.quantamagazine.org/when-did-nat...
When Did Nature Burst Into Vivid Color? | Quanta Magazine
Scientists reconstructed 500 million years of evolutionary history to reveal which came first: colorful signals or the color vision needed to see them.
www.quantamagazine.org
June 27, 2025 at 2:32 PM
Roses are red,
Violets are blue,
My friend @mollyherring.bsky.social wrote another banger for you:
www.quantamagazine.org/when-did-nat...
Violets are blue,
My friend @mollyherring.bsky.social wrote another banger for you:
www.quantamagazine.org/when-did-nat...
Reposted by Simone Barr
Termites build self-ventilating mounds that can be as tall as seven meters. L. Mahadevan digs into the environmental and biological interplay that sets the size and shape of these miraculous structures. Tune in to "The Joy of Why":
www.quantamagazine.org/does-form-re...
www.quantamagazine.org/does-form-re...
June 18, 2025 at 11:03 AM
Termites build self-ventilating mounds that can be as tall as seven meters. L. Mahadevan digs into the environmental and biological interplay that sets the size and shape of these miraculous structures. Tune in to "The Joy of Why":
www.quantamagazine.org/does-form-re...
www.quantamagazine.org/does-form-re...
Reposted by Simone Barr
How do human brains fold? Some of the clues may lie in the palm of your hand — specifically in its creases. Tune in to "The Joy of Why" with L. Mahadevan and co-host @stevenstrogatz.com from @prx.org and @quantamagazine.bsky.social:
www.quantamagazine.org/does-form-re...
www.quantamagazine.org/does-form-re...
Does Form Really Shape Function? | Quanta Magazine
From brain folds to insect architecture, L. Mahadevan explains how complex biological forms and behaviors emerge through the interplay of physical forces, environment and embodiment.
www.quantamagazine.org
June 12, 2025 at 2:27 PM
How do human brains fold? Some of the clues may lie in the palm of your hand — specifically in its creases. Tune in to "The Joy of Why" with L. Mahadevan and co-host @stevenstrogatz.com from @prx.org and @quantamagazine.bsky.social:
www.quantamagazine.org/does-form-re...
www.quantamagazine.org/does-form-re...
Reposted by Simone Barr
Nobody asked, but here’s a video of me explaining the Penrose diagram I embroidered on my pants.
April 3, 2025 at 2:15 PM
Nobody asked, but here’s a video of me explaining the Penrose diagram I embroidered on my pants.
Reposted by Simone Barr
Today, we’re launching something new. The Quanta Podcast is your weekly dispatch from the frontiers of science and mathematics.
In each episode, editor in chief @pateljournalist.bsky.social will talk to the writers and editors behind our stories.
In each episode, editor in chief @pateljournalist.bsky.social will talk to the writers and editors behind our stories.
May 13, 2025 at 2:28 PM
Today, we’re launching something new. The Quanta Podcast is your weekly dispatch from the frontiers of science and mathematics.
In each episode, editor in chief @pateljournalist.bsky.social will talk to the writers and editors behind our stories.
In each episode, editor in chief @pateljournalist.bsky.social will talk to the writers and editors behind our stories.
One of my favorite parts of Quanta's new AI series is @markabelan.bsky.social and @benbenbrubaker.bsky.social's visual explainer on how AI makes heads or tails of the internet's cats: www.quantamagazine.org/how-can-ai-i...
May 5, 2025 at 7:02 PM
One of my favorite parts of Quanta's new AI series is @markabelan.bsky.social and @benbenbrubaker.bsky.social's visual explainer on how AI makes heads or tails of the internet's cats: www.quantamagazine.org/how-can-ai-i...
Reposted by Simone Barr
Sunlight powers almost every organism on #Earth, directly or indirectly. Scientists are still uncovering the mysteries of life’s intimate bond with solar radiation.
🧵
Credit: Josue Moura Romao/Nature in Motion
🧵
Credit: Josue Moura Romao/Nature in Motion
April 22, 2025 at 9:15 PM
Sunlight powers almost every organism on #Earth, directly or indirectly. Scientists are still uncovering the mysteries of life’s intimate bond with solar radiation.
🧵
Credit: Josue Moura Romao/Nature in Motion
🧵
Credit: Josue Moura Romao/Nature in Motion
I can't stop soundtracking our stories
I feel it in my fingers, I feel it in my toes. And in the underlayers of my glabrous and hairy skin.
Touch, Our Most Complex Sense, Is a Landscape of Cellular Sensors | Quanta Magazine
Every soft caress of wind, searing burn and seismic rumble is detected by our skin’s tangle of touch sensors. David Ginty has spent his career cataloging the neurons beneath everyday sensations.
www.quantamagazine.org
April 17, 2025 at 3:47 PM
I can't stop soundtracking our stories
Reposted by Simone Barr
Many of the moons orbiting Jupiter and Saturn appear to host subsurface oceans. Mysteries abound as to what fills these deep sea worlds. But the hints that we’ve already gathered make them tantalizing targets in the search for life beyond Earth.
🧵
🧵
April 16, 2025 at 3:54 PM
Many of the moons orbiting Jupiter and Saturn appear to host subsurface oceans. Mysteries abound as to what fills these deep sea worlds. But the hints that we’ve already gathered make them tantalizing targets in the search for life beyond Earth.
🧵
🧵
I love my job because I get to write the words "cosmic baked ziti" on social media
Physicists suspect that spinning neutron stars, known as pulsars, resemble something of a cosmic baked ziti: solid outer crust, with an interior of pressurized neutrons that can bear an uncanny resemblance to gnocchi, spaghetti, and lasagna. www.quantamagazine.org/physicists-s...
April 15, 2025 at 8:07 PM
I love my job because I get to write the words "cosmic baked ziti" on social media
Go team!
Quanta has been recognized with a National Magazine Award for Best Single Topic Issue for “The Unraveling of Space-Time.”
April 10, 2025 at 8:28 PM
Go team!