Welcome to the Quanta Audio Edition.

In each of these bi-weekly episodes, we bring you a story direct from the Quanta website about developments in basic science and mathematics.

I'm Susan Vallett.

By having people screen films in a brain scanner,

neuroscientists have uncovered how the human brain

constructs narrative memories.

We have a rich library of neural scripts, from a trip through an airport to a marriage

proposal.

These form scaffolds for memories of our experiences.

That's next.

I'm Steve Strogatz.

And I'm Janelle Levin.

And this season on The Joy of Why from Quantum Magazine, we're sitting down together.

We have our own research areas, but we don't always get the chance to speak deeply about science and math beyond our fields.

We'll ask researchers about moments big and small that inspire them and lead to incredible discoveries. Lots of science news outlets provide coverage on applied work like health and tech,

but we cover big questions in the study of life, reality, numbers, and information.

We hope these stories spark your curiosity, too.

Join us for the Joy of Why from Quanta magazine.

After shuffling the cards in a standard 52 card deck,

Alex Mullen, a three-time world memory champion, can memorize their order in under 20 seconds.

As he flips through the cards, he takes a mental walk through a house.

At each point in his journey, the mailbox, front door, staircase, and so on, he attaches a card. To recall the cards,

...