Scientists seek out what’s new — discovery is at the core of science, and scientific journals and news organizations often focus on the latest breakthroughs. But getting to an innovation is usually a long game. In this issue, we note the 100th anniversary of the framework of quantum mechanics, the theory that describes how physics at very small scales behaves very differently from the classical world we live in.
The quantum world is more like a fun house with seriously warped mirrors: Quantum effects can connect two objects at great distances, or make it possible for a hypothetical cat to be both alive and dead at the same time. Over the last century, that quantum revolution has led to many innovations, including semiconductor technologies, MRIs, lasers and the atomic clocks that make GPS navigation possible.
The next quantum revolution is already under way, senior physics writer Emily Conover reports. Physicists are developing new ways to manipulate quantum weirdness for advances in computing and timekeeping — and even to discover if birds use a quantum compass to detect magnetic fields.
We also note another significant scientific milestone: the 35th anniversary of the Hubble Space Telescope. This spacecraft has observed more than 100 million objects since its launch, freelance journalist Katherine Kornei reports, and researchers have written more than 21,000 studies using its data. (Kornei, a former astronomer, wrote two of them.) Because Hubble captures high-resolution images in ultraviolet light, which neither terrestrial telescopes nor the James Webb Space Telescope can do, the telescope still excels at recording some of the hottest objects in space, such as massive stars.
Closer to home, we revisit the fraught history of studying whether nonhuman primates can use language, a skill long presumed to be unique to humans. March marked the passing of Kanzi, a bonobo who became famous as one of a handful of apes used in research. Kanzi mastered symbols to communicate with humans, and even learned to play a version of Minecraft. But such feats came with losses. As managing editor Erin Wayman notes in our new history column, researchers also learned that apes have rich inner lives, and that by isolating the animals from their community, they forced these intelligent, social creatures to live in a strange limbo between the human and ape worlds.