It doesn't get much more futuristic than "universal quantum network," but we're going to have to find something else to pine over, since a UQN now exists. A group from the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics has tied the quantum states of two atoms together using photons, creating the first network of qubits.

Creating light is something that's usually done with a light switch, right? But what if you didn't have a light switch? A team of Swedish physicists were presented with such a conundrum, so they've gone and convinced a bunch of photons to spontaneously create themselves out of nothingness.

Have you watched the news lately? It's all war, calamity, and recession out there. Yes, things are rather bleak at this particular point in history. If only there was some way we could travel back to the past so as to avoid all these messes — or failing that, just cut our losses and jump forward to a future time when our descendents will have fixed everything with all their space ray guns and future doohickey whatnots. If only. Well, as it turns out, lots of people are actively working towards the dream of expanding the one-way street of time into a multi-lane superhighway! Of course, many of these time pioneers are completely whackadoodle. But within the temporal engineering profession, you can also find accomplished researchers pursuing serious, science-based approaches to time travel. Yesterday, we looked at various time travel theories inspired by science fiction. Here, we highlight three of these proposed methods of temporal manipulation that aren't only attracting serious consideration, but might be available sooner than you think.

As it turns out, the universe is totally out of its mind. Not that we don't love the universe with all its bizarre eccentricities and flagrant violations of its own physical laws — we do! There's lots of cool stuff out there. However, we simply can't ignore the fact that the science describing the gritty true nature of all things inevitably leads to one conclusion: the cosmos is completely crazy pants. To help sort through the giant logic purée that is our universe, we have picked out five of the most counter-intuitive, hair-melting scientific ideas for closer inspection. Come join us as we try our best to machete through the dense jungle of formulas and brain-sizzling conclusions and clear the path to comprehension. Or something approaching it. Wish your brain "good luck and safe travels." It's going to need it.