As computers become progressively faster and more powerful, they’ve gained the impressive capacity to simulate increasingly realistic environments. Which raises a question familiar to aficionados of The Matrix—might life and the world as we know it be a simulation on a super advanced computer?

Nowadays, the tools for tracing your family tree have advanced far beyond looking back at names in the family Bible or compiling a scrapbook of paper records. Using your genetic information to find long-lost relatives is easier and cheaper than ever before—and scientists are looking to push the technology even further by analyzing our skin and facial features.

#YourDailyEquation with Brian Greene offers brief and breezy discussions of the most pivotal equations of the ages. Even if your math is a bit rusty, these accessible and exciting stories …

In this highly entertaining performance combining math with magic, Arthur Benjamin—aka, the the “Mathemagician”—displays amazing feats of mental mathematical gymnastics and explains the secrets behind his lightning-fast math skills. How does the Mathemagician best an electronic calculator?

Is our response to music hard-wired or culturally determined? Is the reaction to rhythm and melody universal or influenced by environment? John Schaefer, scientist Daniel Levitin, and musical artist Bobby McFerrin engage in live performances and cross-cultural demonstrations to illustrate music’s noteworthy interaction with the brain and our emotions.

Join Turing Prize winner Yann LeCun and other pioneers in artificial intelligence for a no-nonsense discussion of whether a truly intelligent machine can be created—and, if so, how and when. …