Content about “

quantum mechanics

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Most of us know what we mean when we say that something has happened. For theoretical physicists, however, this isn't an easy question. Sean Carroll of the California Institute of Technology explains why it's hard to define events and what to do about it.

Most of us know what we mean when we say that something has happened. Theoretical physicists, however, struggle with the concept of an event. Why?

Imagine if your body weight depended on the colour of your underwear. Strangely, something quite similar happens when you make measurements in quantum mechanics. Discover more about contextuality in this video interview with Jeremy Butterfield, philosopher of physics.

Quantum mechanics seems to suggest that passive observation is impossible: the very act of looking at something can change what's being looked at. In this video interview, we talk to David Wallace and Adrian Kent to find out more.

Imagine your weight depended on the colour of your underwear! Something quite similar happens with measurements in quantum physics. Find out more here...

What does contextually mean for real-life measurements and what does it have to do with religious questions?

Imagine your weight depended on the colour of your underwear! Something quite similar may be happening when you are measuring things in quantum physics. Find out more here...

Pilot wave theory is an extension of quantum mechanics that doesn't exhibit any of that weird randomness or fuzziness. But that doesn't mean it's totally sane. Here is a quick introduction.

The Kochen-Specker theorem shows that quantum mechanics is always going to be strange. Its proof is surprisingly simple!

One way of making quantum mechanics independent of observers is to accept that we live in many parallel worlds.

Since quantum mechanics predicts such strange things about the world, should we replace it by a better theory, or perhaps extend it?

If observers can influence the outcomes of measurements, then do these observes need to be conscious? Does consciousness play a special role in physics at all?