These will eventually replace the comparatively clunky components now central to solid state electronics. But quantum engineering isn't merely about shrinking technology. It's about exploiting the properties of the quantum world to do what conventional technology can't. One the most exciting new possibilities under development is the quantum computer. Quantum cosmology Because quantum mechanics explains the behavior of matter with unparalleled precision, it should also say something about the origin of matter, which is to say the universe.
Most scientists agree the universe erupted from the ''big bang'' explosion.
Quantum mechanics is perhaps the only science that attempts to answer that, and the answer is nothing. But nothing in quantum mechanics doesn't mean the same as it does in the conventional sense, namely empty space. Nothing in quantum mechanics refers to what is called the ''quantum vacuum,'' a void that seethes with possibilities, but no realities to speak of. Here particles arise and vanish like bubbles on boiling water, bubbles so ephemeral as to be essentially nothing, possibility without actuality. The words really get tricky here,'' University of California cosmologist Andreas Albrecht cautioned. ''In this vacuum, there is actually a lot going on.