Conflicting signals are painting a confusing picture for a space economy caught between short-term caution and long-term optimism.
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BAE Systems won a $230.6 million contract to deliver spacecraft for NOAA's Lagrange 1 Series space weather project.
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The Seattle-based startup will attempt to demonstrate metasurface antenna technology for space-based radar
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Spanish company PLD Space plans to conduct launches of its Miura 5 small launch vehicle from a new spaceport in Oman starting as soon as 2027.
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We’ve had the LEGO Large Hadron Collider, a LEGO-based quantum computer and even a LEGO Kibble balance. But now you can now add a LEGO interferometer to that list thanks to researchers from the University of Nottingham.
Working with “student LEGO enthusiasts”, they have developed a fully functional LEGO interferometer kit that consists of lasers, mirrors, beamsplitters and, of course, some LEGO bricks.
The set, designed as a teaching aid for secondary-school pupils and older, is aimed at making quantum science more accessible and engaging as well as demonstrating the basic principles of interferometry such as interference patterns.
“Developing this project made me realise just how incredibly similar my work as a quantum scientist is to the hands-on creativity of building with LEGO,” notes Nottingham quantum physicist Patrik Svancara. “It’s an absolute thrill to show the public that cutting-edge research isn’t just complex equations. It’s so much more about curiosity, problem-solving, and gradually bringing ideas to life, brick by brick!”
A team at Cardiff University will now work on the design and develop materials that can be used to train science teachers with the hope that the sets will eventually be made available throughout the UK.
“We are sharing our experiences, LEGO interferometer blueprints, and instruction manuals across various online platforms to ensure our activities have a lasting impact and reach their full potential,” adds Svancara.
If you want to see the LEGO interferometer in action for yourself then it is being showcased at the Cosmic Titans: Art, Science, and the Quantum Universe exhibition at Nottingham’s Djanogly Art Gallery, which runs until 27 April.
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1 Can you name the mascot for IYQ 2025?
2 In quantum cryptography, who eavesdrops on Alice and Bob?
3 Which artist made the Quantum Cloud sculpture in London?
4 IBM used which kind of atoms to create its Quantum Mirage image?
5 When Werner Heisenberg developed quantum mechanics on Helgoland in June 1925, he had travelled to the island to seek respite from what?
A His allergies
B His creditors
C His funders
D His lovers
6 According to the State of Quantum 2024 report, how many countries around the world had government initiatives in quantum technology at the time of writing?
A 6
B 17
C 24
D 33
7 The E91 quantum cryptography protocol was invented in 1991. What does the E stand for?
A Edison
B Ehrenfest
C Einstein
D Ekert
8 British multinational consumer-goods firm Reckitt sells a “Quantum” version of which of its household products?
A Air Wick freshener
B Finish dishwasher tablets
C Harpic toilet cleaner
D Vanish stain remover
9 John Bell’s famous theorem of 1964 provides a mathematical framework for understanding what quantum paradox?
A Einstein–Podolsky–Rosen
B Quantum indefinite causal order
C Schrödinger’s cat
D Wigner’s friend
10 Which celebrated writer popularized the notion of Schrödinger’s cat in the mid-1970s?
A Douglas Adams
B Margaret Atwood
C Arthur C Clarke
D Ursula K le Guin
11 Which of these isn’t an interpretation of quantum mechanics?
A Copenhagen
B Einsteinian
C Many worlds
D Pilot wave
12 Which of these companies is not a real quantum company?
A Qblox
B Qruise
C Qrypt
D Qtips
13 Which celebrity was spotted in the audience at a meeting about quantum computers and music in London in December 2022?
A Peter Andre
B Peter Capaldi
C Peter Gabriel
D Peter Schmeichel
14 What of the following birds has not yet been chosen by IBM as the name for different versions of its quantum hardware?
A Condor
B Eagle
C Flamingo
D Peregrine
15 When quantum theorist Erwin Schrödinger fled Nazi-controlled Vienna in 1938, where did he hide his Nobel-prize medal?
A In a filing cabinet
B Under a pot plant
C Behind a sofa
D In a desk drawer
16 Which of the following versions of the quantum Hall effect has not been observed so far in the lab?
A Fractional quantum Hall effect
B Anomalous fractional quantum Hall effect
C Anyonic fractional quantum Hall effect
D Excitonic fractional quantum Hall effect
17 What did Quantum Coffee on Front Street West in Toronto call its recently launched pastry, which is a superposition of a croissant and muffin?
A Croissin
B Cruffin
C Muffant
D Muffcro
18 What destroyed the Helgoland guest house where Heisenberg stayed in 1925 while developing quantum mechanics?
A A bomb
B A gas leak
C A rat infestation
D A storm
This article forms part of Physics World‘s contribution to the 2025 International Year of Quantum Science and Technology (IYQ), which aims to raise global awareness of quantum physics and its applications.
Stayed tuned to Physics World and our international partners throughout the next 12 months for more coverage of the IYQ.
Find out more on our quantum channel.
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HELSINKI — Researchers are examining how artificial intelligence technologies could support a planned Chinese mission to the boundaries of the solar system, according to a new paper. Artificial intelligence can […]
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German launch vehicle company Isar Aerospace has completed tests of its first Spectrum rocket and is ready to launch, pending a license.
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The company will offer deployable missile defense and hypersonic test solutions
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SpaceX Chief Executive Elon Musk said that NASA should deorbit the International Space Station “as soon as possible,” preferably in the next two years.
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Airbus is taking an additional 300 million euros in charges on its space projects as it continues talks with two other European companies about combining their satellite businesses.
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CoRe Flow Controls combine legacy expertise with high volume production to support launch vehicle applications in commercial space sector. MONTVILLE, N.J. — February 19, 2025 — Marotta Controls, a rapidly […]
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HELSINKI — The spacecraft for China’s Tianwen-2 combined near-Earth asteroid sample return and comet rendezvous mission has arrived at Xichang spaceport for launch preparations. The Tianwen-2 spacecraft arrived at Xichang […]
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Building space policy is hard enough. It’s harder when trying to make a future-focused policy decision based on abstract concepts. That’s really the problem with the space critical infrastructure conversation, […]
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As physicists, we like to think that physics and politics are – indeed, ought to be – unconnected. And a lot of the time, that’s true.
Certainly, the value of the magnetic moment of the muon or the behaviour of superconductors in a fusion reactor (look out for our feature article next week) have nothing do with where anyone sits on the political spectrum. It’s subjects like climate change, evolution and medical research that tend to get caught in the political firing line.
But scientists of all disciplines in the US are now feeling the impact of politics at first hand. The new administration of Donald Trump has ordered the National Institutes of Health to slash the “indirect” costs of its research projects, threatening medical science and putting the universities that support it at risk. The National Science Foundation, which funds much of US physics, is under fire too, with staff sacked and grant funding paused.
Trump has also signed a flurry of executive orders that, among other things, ban federal government initiatives to boost diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) and instruct government departments to “combat illegal private-sector DEI preferences, mandates, policies, programs and activities”. Some organizations are already abandoning such efforts for fear of these future repercussions.
What’s troubling for physics is that attacks on diversity initiatives fall most heavily on people from under-represented groups, who are more likely to quit physics or not go into it in the first place. That’s bad news for our subject as a whole because we know that a diverse community brings in smart ideas, new approaches and clever thinking.
The speed of changes in the US is bewildering too. Yes, the proportion from federal grants for indirect costs might be too high, but making dramatic changes at short notice, with no consultation is bizarre. There’s also a danger that universities will try to recoup lost money by raising tuition fees, which will hit poorer students the hardest.
US science has long been a beacon of excellence, a top destination especially for researchers from other nations. But many scientists are fearful of speaking out, scared that they or their institutions will pay a price for any opposition.
So far, it’s been left to senior leaders such as James Gates – a theoretical physicist at the University of Maryland – to warn of the dangers in store. “My country,” he said at an event earlier this month, “is in for a 50-year period of a new dark ages.”
I sincerely hope he’s wrong.
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This episode of the Physics World Weekly podcast features an interview with the theoretical physicist Jim Gates who is at the University of Maryland and Brown University – both in the US.
He updates his theorist’s bucket list, which he first shared with Physics World back in 2014. This is a list of breakthroughs in physics that Gates would like to see happen before he dies.
One list item – the observation or gravitational waves – happened in 2015 and Gates explains the importance of the discovery. He also explains why the observation of gravitons, which are central to a theory of quantum gravity, is on his bucket list.
Gates is known for his work on supersymmetry and superstring theory, so it is not surprising that experimental evidence for those phenomena are on the bucket list. Gates also talks about a new item on his list that concerns the connections between quantum physics and information theory.
In this interview with Physics World’s Margaret Harris, Gates also reflects on how the current political upheaval in the US is affecting science and society – and what scientists can do ensure that the public has faith in science.
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