In work to be presented at this week’s American Physical Society, Andrew Cleland and his team will describe results from an experiment where they have effectively supersized the effects of quantum physics.

Normally, quantum effects are only apparent at the very smallest of scales.  However, scientists at the University of California at Santa Barbara recently created a quantum mechanical drum about 30 micrometers across, and were able to show this drum being in a state of vibrating and not vibrating at the same time. 

This is the weirdness that makes quantum physics both fascinating and frustrating at the same time.  The work, in addition to being presented at the APS meeting, is also being published in the next issue of Nature.

You can read the article here…