quantum physics

Teleportation just got easier – but not for you, unfortunately

Thanks to two studies published in Nature last Thursday, the chance of successful teleportation has considerably increased. Which is a good thing, right? Top image by Photon™ via flickr Whether or not you’ve ever been on a long-haul flight, you’ve probably fantasised about being able to magically disappear from one place and reappear in another.…

io9 Ben Buchler, Australian National University – The Conversation

Why Programming a Quantum Computer Is So Damn Hard

Someday, somehow, quantum computing is going to change the world as we know it. Even the lamest quantum computer is orders of magnitude more powerful than anything we could ever make today. But figuring out how to program one is ridiculously hard. https://gizmodo.com/quantum-computer-kicks-pc-ass-in-first-ever-head-to-hea-499681531 As this fantastic animation from PHD TV explains, the true power of…

Tech News Eric Limer

Scientists teleport information in an electronic circuit

We’re still a far way’s off from being able to beam people through space, but in a science first, physicists have successfully transported information across a solid state system similar to a computer chip. The breakthrough could lead to more powerful processors and highly sophisticated encryption schemes. https://gizmodo.com/human-teleportation-is-far-more-impractical-than-we-tho-988408753 Top image: An ant placed atop the…

io9 George Dvorsky

This Is a Heat Map of a Single, Living Cell

By using a microscopic diamond and some gold nanoparticles, researchers at Harvard have measured the internal temperature of a living human embryonic cell. This groundbreaking new ‘nanothermometer’ could lead to therapies in which specific cells are treated. Indeed, while it might seem weird to measure the internal temperature of a living cell, there are some…

io9 George Dvorsky

Does infinity really exist?

Our universe appears to be bound by a finite set of laws, yet we often talk about things that go on for an eternity. “Infinity” is a strange idea. But it’s crucial if you want to understand anything from philosophy to mathematics. Here’s why. There are three broad domains where infinity can be applied. It’s…

io9 George Dvorsky

If this theory is correct, we may live in a web of alternate timelines

The Many Worlds Interpretation of quantum physics has been around for nearly 60 years. It’s a highly controversial idea which suggests that our world — and everything in it — is constantly splitting into alternative timelines. If it’s correct, here’s what your true existence might actually be like. Over a hundred years ago, the discovery…

io9 George Dvorsky

The Webcomic Guide to Quantum Physics

Last year, Jorge Cham of the webcomic Piled Higher and Deeper (a.k.a. PhD comics) combined animation with expert interviews to explain the Higgs Boson and black body radiation. Now, he’s trying his hand at quantum physics – a subject, he admits, he is somewhat mystified by. https://gizmodo.com/the-webcomic-guide-to-the-higgs-boson-5905897 https://gizmodo.com/the-webcomic-guide-to-black-body-radiation-and-the-colo-5968656 But then, says Cham, the mystifying nature…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez

Photons Can Communicate From Beyond the Grave

Everyone knows that quantum physics is weird—but it just got weirder. Because a team of scientists from the University of Jerusalem have used quantum entanglement to allow two photons that never existed at the same time to communicate with each other. Quantum entanglement is a weird old phenomena that means some particles, like photons and…

Physics & Chemistry Jamie Condliffe

The First Image Ever of a Hydrogen Atom’s Orbital Structure

What you’re looking at is the first direct observation of an atom’s electron orbital — an atom’s actual wave function! To capture the image, researchers utilized a new quantum microscope — an incredible new device that literally allows scientists to gaze into the quantum realm. An orbital structure is the space in an atom that’s…

io9 George Dvorsky

Did government scientists really create a secret quantum internet?

No, not really. But for two years, researchers at Los Alamos National Labs have been working on something they call network-centric quantum communications — and this could usher in the next generation of hyper-secure, scalable, and affordable quantum cryptographic techniques. We spoke to the lead researcher to find out more. Earlier this week, MIT’s Technology…

io9 George Dvorsky

Why Scientists Think Our Timeline Could Be Splitting

It’s simultaneously comforting and terrifying to imagine that everything that ever could happen does happen. You didn’t make that horribly tasteless joke that got you fired and somehow the new Daft Punk single sucks! This isn’t just a thought experiment; it’s a very real possibility teased by every quantum physics experiment ever. Our buddy MinutePhysics…

Physics & Chemistry Eric Limer

Why quantum mechanics is the biggest embarrassment in all of modern physics

It’s been close to a century since we established how quantum mechanics “works,” and we still don’t know what it really means — and that, says cosmologist Sean Carroll in the video up top, may make QM the most embarrassing subject in all of modern physics. What’s embarrassing, says Carroll, isn’t that there remain unanswered…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez

Is light a particle, a wave, or a bunch of tiny, photon-gathering horses?

Check out the wave-particle duality as presented by Colm Kelleher and animated by Nelson Diaz for TEDEd; it’s a clever explanation to a longtime quantum conundrum. Even better: it’s delivered with a lilting Irish accent — which makes the historical bit about the eye-horses that much more entertaining. [TEDEd]

io9 Robbie Gonzalez

Poll shows that quantum physicists agree to disagree about the nature of reality

Quantum mechanics is real. It’s spooky as hell, but it’s real. Without its microscopically small probabilistic effects, we wouldn’t have superconductors, lasers, and many forms of computing and cryptography. But despite our laboratory certainty, what’s less clear is the role it plays in the fundamental nature of reality. And as a recent survey published by…

io9 George Dvorsky

Quantum Physics Can Make an Unjammable Radar

Radar has been the way to spot enemy aircraft zooming across the sky for decades, but (un)fortunately, it doesn’t always work. If you’ve got the right tech, you can fool it. A new kind developed by researchers at the University of Rochester however, dips into quantum physics and is unjammable and infallible. There are a…

Tech News Eric Limer

What It Looks Like to Learn Quantum Physics

You probably don’t know much about quantum physics beyond the fact that it’s really complicated. Allow us to add to your pseudo-knowledge a little more; this is what it looks like to learn it. Granted, if you are actually learning quantum physics, all these scrawled characters actually represent meaningful ideas, whereas for most of us,…

Tech News Eric Limer

The birth of quantum theory (deliciously, it involves cookies)

This is the story of how quantum mechanics — that physical science of the very, very small — came to be. It’s a fascinating tale involving Max Planck, Albert Einstein, cookies and fussy light. But what makes this video-narrative all the more enjoyable is that it emerged out of a collaboration between Henry Reich (creator…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez

Scientists Now Uncertain About Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle

An experiment conducted at the University of Toronto has thrown a fundamental aspect of the Heisenberg uncertainty principle into doubt. For decades, we’ve believed that you can’t measure a quantum state without inducing uncertainty — but now, we’re not so sure about that. While this new discovery doesn’t overturn the uncertainty principle as a whole,…

io9 George Dvorsky

David Deutsch’s The Fabric of Reality connects the spookier elements of quantum mechanics

In his book The Fabric of Reality, physicist David Deutsch presents four key concepts which define the universe: quantum theory, computation, evolution by natural selection and Popperian epistemology. Deutsch calls these four concepts the strands of the fabric of reality. The Four Strands It would be impossible to do justice to the totality of Deutsch’s…

io9 Jason Shankel

Egyptian Teenager Invents New Space Propulsion System Based On Quantum Physics

Precocious young physicist Aisha Mustafa just patented a new system that could propel spacecrafts to the final frontier without using a drop of fuel. In short her system taps one of the odder facets of quantum theory, which posits that space isn’t really a vacuum. It’s really filled with particles and anti-particles that exist for…

Space & Spaceflight Mario Aguilar

Teleportation just got easier – but not for you, unfortunately

Why Programming a Quantum Computer Is So Damn Hard

Scientists teleport information in an electronic circuit

This Is a Heat Map of a Single, Living Cell

Does infinity really exist?

If this theory is correct, we may live in a web of alternate timelines

The Webcomic Guide to Quantum Physics

Photons Can Communicate From Beyond the Grave

The First Image Ever of a Hydrogen Atom’s Orbital Structure

Did government scientists really create a secret quantum internet?

Why Scientists Think Our Timeline Could Be Splitting

Why quantum mechanics is the biggest embarrassment in all of modern physics

Is light a particle, a wave, or a bunch of tiny, photon-gathering horses?

Poll shows that quantum physicists agree to disagree about the nature of reality

Quantum Physics Can Make an Unjammable Radar

What It Looks Like to Learn Quantum Physics

The birth of quantum theory (deliciously, it involves cookies)

Scientists Now Uncertain About Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle

David Deutsch’s The Fabric of Reality connects the spookier elements of quantum mechanics

Egyptian Teenager Invents New Space Propulsion System Based On Quantum Physics

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