Schrödinger’s cat

In the world’s most famous thought experiment, physicist Erwin Schrödinger described how a cat in a box could be in an uncertain predicament. (AnatolyTiplyashin/Getty)

Reimagining of Schrödinger’s cat breaks quantum mechanics A thought experiment that replaces the cat in Schrödinger’s imaginary box with physicists doing experiments has shocking implications. In the original, the peculiar rules of quantum theory meant that the cat could be both dead and alive, until the box was opened and the cat’s state measured. But in the latest version, different experimenters can reach opposite conclusions about what the physicist in the box has measured. This means that quantum theory contradicts itself. “I think this is a whole new level of weirdness,” says theoretical physicist Matthew Leifer. Nature | 6 min read Reference: Nature Communications paper