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If You Think Quantum Physics Is Weird, Try These Theories
As strange as quantum entanglement is, the world would have been even stranger without it.
event August 31, 2017

Experimental setup at Ronald Hanson’s lab at the Delft University of Technology, which in 2015 conducted one of the most definitive tests ever of quantum nonlocal correlations. Photo by Frank Auperle

FAQ: How Are Entangled Particles Created? [Video]
Shine a laser on a nonlinear optical crystal to get streams of entangled photons.
 By George Musser on February 21, 2016
A Hologram Shows How Space Could Pop Into Existence
The holographic principle—with a real hologram
 By George Musser on July 22, 2015
Does Some Deeper Level of Physics Underlie Quantum Mechanics? An Interview with Nobelist Gerard ’t Hooft
Is the notorious randomness of quantum mechanics just a front?
 By George Musser on October 7, 2013
George and John's Excellent Adventures in Quantum Entanglement, Part 2 [Video]
Here’s what an entanglement experiment actually looks like.
 By George Musser on March 16, 2013
When You Fall into a Black Hole, How Long Have You Got?
Maybe not long at all, if black holes are ringed by “firewalls.”
 By George Musser on December 14, 2012
How Do You Count Parallel Universes? You Can't Just Go 1, 2, 3, ...
Introducing a whole new breed of number, the p-adics.
 By George Musser on August 6, 2012
Does It Matter If Black Holes Are Popping into Existence Around Us All the Time?
Black holes are not just distant cosmic monsters. Microscopic ones may exist all around us, with potentially momentous consequences.
 By George Musser on July 16, 2012
Quantum Horse Races and Crystals of Light
Start with a row of rubidium atoms, place your bets, let ’em go.
 By George Musser on June 25, 2012
Is Dark Matter a Glimpse of a Deeper Level of Reality?
Many theoretical physicists speculate that space and time arise from deeper physics. Erik Verlinde goes them one further.
 By George Musser on June 11, 2012
Where Do Space and Time Come From? New Theory Offers Answers, If Only Physicists Can Figure It Out
Vasiliev theory might extend string-theoretic ideas to new settings. But dang, is it hard.
 By George Musser on April 12, 2012
The Emperor, Darth Vader and the Ultimate Ultimate Theory of Physics
This physics theory is like Darth Vader: you think it’s the ultimate power, until you meet the Emperor.
 By George Musser on March 30, 2012
Could Simple Experiments Reveal the Quantum Nature of Spacetime?
Gravity might muck with the quantum by distorting the uncertainty principle and introducing ambiguities in sequences of cause and effect.
 By George Musser on February 2, 2012
George and John's Excellent Adventures in Quantum Entanglement [Video]
A metaphorical version of John Bell’s famous entanglement.
 By George Musser on January 30, 2012
Proving You Are Where You Say You Are
Philandering spouses and students playing hookey, beware: quantum cryptography may make it impossible for you to hide your location.
 By George Musser on December 11, 2011
Quantum Cheshire Cat: Even Weirder Than Schrödinger's
A box can contain all the properties of a particle, even though no particle is there.
 By George Musser on September 21, 2011
Free Will and Quantum Clones: How Your Choices Today Affect the Universe at its Origin
Just when you thought the debates over free will couldn’t get any weirder.
 By George Musser on September 19, 2011
Deep in Thought: What Is a “Law of Physics,” Anyway?
Physicists and philosophers struggle with the most basic of questions.
 By George Musser on June 4, 2010