Welcome to Quantum Magazine's podcast.

Each episode we bring you stories about developments in science and mathematics.

I'm Susan Vallett.

Chromosomes are the bundles of DNA that play a leading role in complex life.

The question of how chromosomes came to exist and evolve has long been

discouragingly hard to answer. But now there's a new clue. That's next.

Imagine you're in a lab where you've synthesized ancient DNA sequences

and spliced them into modern bacteria just to see how they'd react.

They needed each other, but they didn't want each other.

So, you know, it was like a very complicated relationship unfolding in front of me.

This isn't Jurassic Park or some sci-fi movie.

I'm Steve Strogetz and this is the Joy of Why.

A new podcast from Quantum Magazine that takes you into some of the biggest unanswered mysteries

in science and math today.

You don't have to be a scientist or a mathematician

to wonder why. That's the point. The joy is in asking and trying to understand. I'm a mathematician

and I would love to get closer to answering the big questions, not only in math, but in all

of science. How did life begin on Earth?

Why do we have to sleep?

Why are mathematical not so hard to untangle?

And what can the most powerful telescope ever built

tell us about deep space?

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