Philip Ball

Embryonic cells can self-assemble into new living forms that don’t resemble the bodies they usually generate, challenging old ideas of what defines an organism.

Researchers have shown how to effectively transform one material into another using a finely shaped laser pulse.

A proposal for building wormhole-connected black holes offers a way to probe the paradoxes of quantum information.

Three experiments have vetted quantum Darwinism, a theory that explains how quantum possibilities can give rise to objective, classical reality.

A recent test has confirmed the predictions of quantum trajectory theory.

An experiment caught a quantum system in the middle of a jump — something the originators of quantum mechanics assumed was impossible.

To make headway on the mystery of consciousness, some researchers are trying a rigorous new way to test competing theories.

The new work promises to give researchers a better grip on the core mystery of quantum mechanics.

The idea that the universe splits into multiple realities with every measurement has become an increasingly popular proposed solution to the mysteries of quantum mechanics. But this “many-worlds interpretation” is incoherent, Philip Ball argues in this adapted excerpt from his new book Beyond Weird.