The Quanta Podcast
The Quanta Podcast
Quanta Magazine
How Math Brings Together Classical Chaos, Quantum Mechanics, and Fractals
29 minutes Posted Oct 13, 2026 at 10:00 am.
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Show notes
The uncertainty principle tells us that the more you know about where a quantum particle is, the less you can know about how fast it’s moving, and vice versa. In 2023, graduate student Alex Cohen stunned the math world when he posted a proof of the fractal uncertainty principle. The math, which combines chaos, quantum theory, and infinitely complex fractal structures, has been called a “foundational result.”
On this episode of The Quanta Podcast, host Samir Patel speaks with writer Shalma Wegsman on this incredible breakthrough and how this principle has revealed a new deep way that quantum particles differ from classical ones.
This topic was covered in a recent story for Quanta Magazine.  
Each week on The Quanta Podcast, Quanta Magazine editor-in-chief Samir Patel and Senior Editor Hannah Waters speak with the people behind the award-winning publication to navigate through some of the most important and mind-expanding questions in science and math.