Aircraft anti-detection systems have gotten incredibly complex. So complex, in fact, that they can intercept a radar signal and send back a picture of something other than the aircraft (see the images below). Researchers at the University of Rochester in New York have figured out a better way to outsmart the outsmarters by exploiting the quantum properties of photons. Attempting to measure a photon always destroys its quantum properties, so the team posited that they could shoot polarized photons at aircraft to create images of the craft.

If an enemy were to intercept those photons and send them back in a deceptive pattern to indicate that the measured object is a different shape or in a different location, it would be immediately obvious. This is because the act of manipulating the photons would always change their delicate quantum properties. As seen in the sample images above, a manipulated image is simple to detect thanks to the high rate of polarization errors in the returned signal. The system isn’t flawless as there are still ways for very savvy adversaries to crack it – but there are also ways to fix those vulnerabilities.

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There are so many things we don’t yet understand about quantum physics, and it seems like the things we don’t get are far outpacing the things we do. A new experiment conducted at the University of Vienna demonstrates that perfectly. In it, cause and effect seem to swap places  – at least, from the point of view of a “traditional” world view.

The experiment involves two pairs of particles, either entangled or not. One person decides whether the particles are entangled, and a pair of people observes the particles to see if they are entangled. But the kicker: the measurement takes place before the decision, and it’s always accurate. The team doing the research calls it “quantum steering into the past,” which is kind of a nice way of saying that the world is an amazing, freaky place that we’ve probably been looking at all wrong this whole time.

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We all know most geeks aren’t really the outdoorsy type, right? So it’s very fitting that scientists at the National Physical Laboratory built a microscopic snowman that you can’t even see with the naked eye. This happy little fellow was put together by Dr. David Cox of the Quantum Detection group at the laboratory. When cast in a blue light as it is above, it really does look like it could be a life-size snowman.

But the itty-bitty snowman is only .001mm across, or about one-fifth the width of a human hair. Dr. Cox made it with two tiny tin beads that are usually used to calibrate electron microscope lenses. The pieces were welded together with tiny pieces of platinum, and a focused ion beam was used to carve the face and place the platinum nose.

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