2011 Science News of the Year: Matter & Energy

Baile Zhang and G. Barbastathis/SMART Centre

Quantum theory gets physical

Reality can be understood not only in terms of the flow of energy, but also in terms of the flow of information. So says a team of physicists with a new take on quantum theory (SN: 8/13/11, p. 12). This theory, which explains how matter behaves at the atomic scale, is built on abstract mathematical formulations that seem to defy common sense.