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Physicists Use Quantum Mechanics to Pull Energy out of Nothing

February 22, 2023

The quantum energy teleportation protocol was proposed in 2008 and largely ignored. Now two independent experiments have shown that it works.

How Quantum Physicists ‘Flipped Time’ (and How They Didn’t)

January 27, 2023

Two teams have made photons act as if time were simultaneously flowing in two directions. The experiments demonstrate a way to potentially boost the performance of quantum devices.

Q&A

She Turns Fluids Into ‘Black Holes’ and ‘Inflating Universes’

December 12, 2022

By using fluids to model inaccessible realms of the cosmos, Silke Weinfurtner is “looking for a deeper truth beyond one system.” But what can such experiments teach us?

Physicists Create a Holographic Wormhole Using a Quantum Computer

November 30, 2022

The unprecedented experiment explores the possibility that space-time somehow emerges from quantum information.

Experiments Spell Doom for Decades-Old Explanation of Quantum Weirdness

October 20, 2022

Physical-collapse theories have long offered a natural solution to the central mystery of the quantum world. But a series of increasingly precise experiments are making them untenable.

High-Temperature Superconductivity Understood at Last

September 21, 2022

A new atomic-scale experiment all but settles the origin of the strong form of superconductivity seen in cuprate crystals, confirming a 35-year-old theory.

Controversy Continues Over Whether Hot Water Freezes Faster Than Cold

June 29, 2022

Decades after a Tanzanian teenager initiated study of the “Mpemba effect,” the effort to confirm or refute it is leading physicists toward new theories about how substances relax to equilibrium.

How to Make the Universe Think for Us

May 31, 2022

Physicists are building neural networks out of vibrations, voltages and lasers, arguing that the future of computing lies in exploiting the universe’s complex physical behaviors.

Physicists Pin Down How Quantum Uncertainty Sharpens Measurements

May 3, 2022

Throwing out data seems to make measurements of distances and angles more precise. The reason why has been traced to Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle.

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