quantum physics

The 9 Weirdest Implications Of The Many Worlds Interpretation

According to the Many Worlds Interpretation of quantum physics, we live in an infinite web of alternate timelines. It’s a serious claim that carries some rather serious scientific, philosophical, and existential baggage. And here are the nine weirdest possible implications. Illustration by Tara Jacoby. A few years ago we did an explainer on the Many…

Here’s How You Can Help Build a Quantum Computer

Quantum computers—theoretical machines which can process certain large and difficult problems exponentially faster than classical computers—have been a mainstay of science fiction for decades. But actually building one has proven incredibly challenging. A group of researchers at Aarhus University believes the secret to creating a quantum computer lies in understanding human cognition. So, they’ve built…

Did We Really See Light Acting as a Particle and a Wave at Once?

Several weeks ago, the internet lit up with the colorful image shown above, accompanied by headlines claiming that physicists had accomplished the extraordinary: We’d finally managed to see light as both a particle and a wave at the same time. (Your friends at Giz reported it too.) But…it’s not exactly true. As Ben Stein of…

10 Reasons Our Universe Might Actually Be Virtual Reality

Physical realism is the view that the physical world we see is real and exists by itself, alone. Most people think this is self-evident, but physical realism has been struggling with the facts of physics for some time now. The paradoxes that baffled physics last century still baffle it today, and its great hopes of…

How to Choose Your Destiny in the Multiverse

According to quantum physics, there isn’t a single reality, but a huge tree of all possible physical outcomes. So can you choose the right destiny for yourself? This video by New Scientist explains—interactively!—how you can shape your destiny. It does a pretty neat job of providing some insight into the multiverse and the effects it…

New ‘Quantum Bounce’ Theory Explains How Black Holes Become White

Some cosmologists speculate that black holes end their lives by transforming into their exact opposite — so-called ‘white holes‘ that pour all the material they gobbled up back into space. A new theory based on quantum gravity could explain how this is possible. https://gizmodo.com/what-are-white-holes-5545135 Black holes form when a dying star collapses under its own…

Are Quantum Computers Just as Slow as Conventional Ones?

A new study claims that the D-Wave quantum computer is no faster than the PC on your desk, leading many to proclaim the technology as overhyped. Trouble is, the performance tests were too easy and not a true measure of what these machines are capable of doing. The study, which now appears in Science, claims…

This Algae Can Switch Its Internal Quantum Computer On And Off

Scientists have shown that certain algae which use quantum effects to optimize photosynthesis are also capable of switching it off. It’s a discovery that could lead to highly efficient organic solar cells and quantum-based electronics. Like quantum computers, some organisms are capable of scanning all possible options in order to choose the most efficient path…

Scientists have teleported quantum information between two bits of diamond located 10 feet apart. It’s a prime example of “spooky action at a distance” — and an achievement that could lead to quantum networks exponentially more powerful and secure than today’s supercomputers. Image: Artistic impression of quantum teleportation of a spin state between two distant…

New Method of Quantum Teleportation Could Bring Us a Quantum Internet

A team of Dutch scientists just announced a new method of quantum teleportation that uses entanglement as a form of communication. They can successfully teleport data over a distance of ten feet. But, more importantly, they can also do so with 100 percent reliability. The feat in and of itself isn’t such a big breakthrough.…

A radical new theory by a well-respected scientist suggests that consciousness is a state of matter, like a liquid or gas. According to MIT’s Max Tegmark, “perceptronium” gives rise to various types of consciousness when certain mathematical and physical conditions are met. Conceivably, the theory could be formulated as a set of problems that can…

Scientists Are Going to Create the Coldest Spot in the Known Universe

The universe is freezing. In spots like the Boomerang Nebula the temperature drops all the way down to one degree Kelvin. But if NASA scientists have their way, the known universe will have a new coldest place, and it’s going to be inside the International Space Station. The Cold Atom Lab will be an atomic…

Physicists say energy can be teleported ‘without a limit of distance’

A team of physicists has proposed a way of teleporting energy over long distances. The technique, which is purely theoretical at this point, takes advantage of the strange quantum phenomenon of entanglement where two particles share the same existence. The researchers, who work out of Tohoku University in Japan, and led by Masahiro Hotta, describe…

An apparent discovery of quantum vibrations in microtubules inside neurons is rekindling a 20-year old debate on the nature of consciousness. Called the Orch OR model, it suggests there’s a connection between the brainʼs biomolecular processes and the basic structure of the universe.

Student Rickrolls his teacher in this ingenious quantum physics essay

We’ve seen creative Rickrolls before, but this one takes the cake. Physics student Sairam Gudiseva Rickrolled his teacher by surreptitiously inserting every word of Rick Astley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up” into — of all things — a quantum physics essay that still makes perfect sense. This had to have been tedious work. I can’t…

New evidence that plants get their energy using quantum entanglement

Biophysicists theorize that plants tap into the eerie world of quantum entanglement during photosynthesis. But the evidence to date has been purely circumstantial. Now, scientists have discovered a feature of plants that cannot be explained by classical physics alone — but which quantum mechanics answers quite nicely. https://gizmodo.com/are-plants-really-using-quantum-entanglement-in-photosy-5452755 The fact that biological systems can exploit…

New research on wormholes suggests that these theoretical shortcuts that connect distant points in the universe might be linked with the spooky phenomenon of quantum entanglement. As Charles Q. Choi writes in LiveScience, this would allow particles to be connected regardless of how far apart they are — a finding that could help scientists explain…

​What will NASA be doing with its new quantum computer?

Earlier this year, NASA, in partnership with Google, acquired the world’s largest quantum computer. But just what does the space agency plan to do with a device with such revolutionary potential? We talked to one of their lead researchers to find out. https://gizmodo.com/a-sneak-peak-inside-google-and-nasas-new-quantum-ai-la-1444007785 Above: Artistic impression of an exoplanet. Once scaled-up sufficiently, NASA will use…

Quantum Computing Takes a Gigantic Leap Forward

An international team of scientists have just held a qubit’s memory state for 39 minutes. That might not sound like much, but it’s 100 times longer than the previous record. It’s a groundbreaking achievement that could pave the way to freakishly fast computers. Above: A quantum computer chip. Credit: Erick Lucero. Unlike conventional computers and…

A sneak peak inside Google and NASA’s new quantum AI lab

Wanna see what a super-futuristic quantum computer lab looks like? Press play and sit back. Back in May, Google and NASA launched the Quantum Artificial Intelligence Lab. The uber-sleek facility uses two Canadian-built Quantum D-Wave computers which currently crunch at 512-qubits. Admittedly that’s not much, but the potential for quantum computers is enormous. It’s a…