When fluid dynamics mimic quantum mechanics

In the early days of quantum physics, in an attempt to explain the wavelike behavior of quantum particles, the French physicist Louis de Broglie proposed what he called a “pilot wave” theory. According to de Broglie, moving particles—such as electrons, or the photons in a beam of light—are borne along on waves of some type, like driftwood on a tide.

What is life? The physicist who sparked a revolution in biology

Insights from biology and computing built upon Schrödinger’s genius, changing our view of life forever. Photograph: Rick Sammon/AP

Matthew Cobb
Seventy years ago, on 5 February 1943, the Nobel prizewinning quantum physicist Erwin Schrödinger gave the first of three public lectures at Trinity College, Dublin. His topic was an unusual one for a physicist: “What is Life?” The following year the lectures were turned into a book of the same name.

Is Quantum Reality Analog after All?

Last year the Foundational Questions Institute's third essay contest posed the following question to physicists and philosophers: “Is Reality Digital or Analog?”

Cracking the Quantum Safe

THIS summer, physicists celebrated a triumph that many consider fundamental to our understanding of the physical world: the discovery, after a multibillion-dollar effort, of the Higgs boson.

Manipulators of quantum world win physics Nobel

When quantum theory was born, practical applications such as quantum computers and super-accurate atomic clocks would have seemed virtually impossible. This year's Nobel prize in physics, announced this morning, rewards two pioneers who made today's quantum technology possible.

Quantum test pricks uncertainty

The experiment requires preparing pairs of "entangled" photons, the particles from which light is made

Pioneering experiments have cast doubt on a founding idea of the branch of physics called quantum mechanics.

'Eye bath' to thank for quantum vision in birds

Bird's eye view (Image: Design Pics Inc/Rex Features)

The bath of cells in avian eyes could prolong a delicate quantum state that helps to explain how some birds navigate using Earth's magnetic field.