Quantum Mechanics for a General Audience

Aerial shot of the University of Washington’s Seattle campus. Media credit: Mark Stone/University of Washington

Early in life, we start to learn the rules of this world. We memorize simple lessons — like “what goes up, must come down” — that help us begin to make sense of our world. In time, we’re no longer surprised that rain is wet, food can spoil or the sun rises in the east and sets in the west.

Miguel Morales believes we have entered an era where quantum mechanics plays an ever-greater role in our lives.

But more than a century ago, scientists started to learn that all of those rules, patterns and lessons lie on a...