Fictions

Of the latest flash fiction shortlist, shortlisting judge Michael Brooks said, “The stories were truly engaging: sometimes touching, sometimes funny, sometimes ingenious, sometimes just hilariously crazy! I had great difficulty choosing my favourites, as all of them had something to offer a curious reader.” Vote for your favourite to win the People's Choice prize!

2024

Shortlisted
0
No votes yet
by Mahnoor Fatima
January 09, 2024
It looked like a fever dream, just like he had mentioned
Shortlisted
0
No votes yet
by Pippa Storey
January 06, 2024
The history of physics contains ’til this day A little-known secret surrounding Solvay.
Shortlisted
0
No votes yet
by Dan Goodman
January 09, 2024
Hal was grumpy that day, anchoring himself in the universe he was observing
Shortlisted
0
No votes yet
by Kathryn Aldridge-Morris
January 02, 2024
In a week my eighteen-year-old daughter will have left home
Shortlisted
0
No votes yet
by Acadia Reynolds
January 09, 2024
Ezra is born with a red line of probability wrapped around her fingers like the string of a balloon
Shortlisted
0
No votes yet
by S.A. McNaughton
January 02, 2024
If my plan is going to work, then they have to believe I’m asleep
Shortlisted
0
No votes yet
by Dave Chua
January 08, 2024
The dollhouse had a message for Melissa
Shortlisted
0
No votes yet
by Tony Tsoi
January 08, 2024
“Find Wei-ling. Tell her I love her.”
Shortlisted
0
No votes yet
by Janel Comeau
January 09, 2024
The machine needed only two small drops of blood, one taken from each of them
Shortlisted
0
No votes yet
by Ioana Burtea
January 07, 2024
Mark always thought that entanglement theory was a bit romantic
Honorable Mention
0
No votes yet
by Liam Hogan
January 01, 2024
It was a job delivering qubits
Honorable Mention
0
No votes yet
by Lily Turaski
January 09, 2024
Equantum, Inc. is seeking a skilled horse rider and trained physicist to assist in testing an exciting new breakthrough
Honorable Mention
0
No votes yet
by Cadence Mandybura
January 09, 2024
My wife Gemma has another life, and I’m not in it
Honorable Mention
0
No votes yet
by Natasha Irving
January 03, 2024
Lucille stood in front of her open refrigerator wondering how her life had become such an incredible waste
Honorable Mention
0
No votes yet
by Max Gallagher
January 01, 2024
There was once a nightclub called The Solvay where everyone was on the same wavelength

2021

Winner
0
No votes yet
by Álvaro Buendía
December 16, 2021
A conversation between a computers: classical vs quantum
Winner
0
No votes yet
by Sabrina Patsch
December 16, 2021
In the arena, do you have what it takes to get to the other side coherent?
Winner
0
No votes yet
by Cora Valderas
December 02, 2021
Do Not Put Hand Into or Under Quantum Machinery
Shortlisted
0
No votes yet
by Giancarla Aritao
December 16, 2021
Ana did not know where all those socks were coming from
Shortlisted
0
No votes yet
by Colm O'Shea
December 14, 2021
In the chamber of the quantum computer, there was a fly
Shortlisted
0
No votes yet
by Connie Chen
December 04, 2021
Evan only wanted to find a cure
Shortlisted
0
No votes yet
by S.G. Phillips
December 16, 2021
Your life was laid out for you, every step, every action. But even the best-laid plans go awry...
Shortlisted
0
No votes yet
by Charmaine Smith
December 03, 2021
"Observer wanted", the ad read
Shortlisted
0
No votes yet
by Michael Haiden
December 16, 2021
Cynthia and Aaron were feeding Lewis' cat(s?)
Shortlisted
0
No votes yet
by Brian Wells
December 16, 2021
Captain Brinks had expected a hero's welcome

2020

Winner
0
No votes yet
by C.R. Long
February 09, 2020
The flat black box can solve almost any problem. Just make sure you read the contract.
Winner
3
Average: 3 (1 vote)
by Ariadne Blayde
February 29, 2020
Shinichi pedals as fast as he could on his tricycle. He is four years old but wants to be older
Winner
3
Average: 3 (1 vote)
by Meg Sipos
February 24, 2020
As the rips multiplied, Lea never knew what version of her husband would come home
Shortlisted
3
Average: 3 (1 vote)
by Griffin Ayaz Tyree
March 01, 2020
They call it Selective Decoherence Insufficiency: a person senses themselves existing like a wave; uncollapsed, present across all places where they had any probability of being
Shortlisted
3
Average: 3 (1 vote)
by Emma Marcos
February 29, 2020
A quantum processor can watch more than just particle collisions
Shortlisted
3
Average: 3 (1 vote)
by Anjelica Grey
February 27, 2020
Jason was dead. But right on time, Lucy's device pinged
Shortlisted
3
Average: 3 (1 vote)
by Lewis Freer
February 11, 2020
They were only meant to be simulations of the war...
Shortlisted
3
Average: 3 (1 vote)
by Thomas M. Brooks
March 01, 2020
It's hard to relax once you know about the working conditions of your entanglement partners
Shortlisted
0
No votes yet
by Gunnar De Winter
January 25, 2020
It’s complicated and confusing. It's life and death. But really it's just the different energy states of a system, so why not give it a go?
Shortlisted
3
Average: 3 (1 vote)
by Annie Tupek
March 01, 2020
Fortuna had caused a sensation when six months after its inauguration each of the thousands of couples it matched were still together...But it had never found a match for Sandra
Honorable Mention
3
Average: 3 (1 vote)
by Medardo M. Manrique, Jr.
March 01, 2020
Nowadays, you have to make sure that your date is not an alt-person – fraternising with a fugitive from another universe can land you in a lot of trouble
Honorable Mention
3
Average: 3 (1 vote)
by Krati Shukla
March 01, 2020
This is one circulation list you don't mind being left off
Honorable Mention
3
Average: 3 (1 vote)
by D. A. Quiñones
February 04, 2020
Carl and Bob had a plan. Robbing the bank was going to be easy
Honorable Mention
3
Average: 3 (1 vote)
by Jerome Edward Malenfant
January 01, 2020
Down the rabbit hole, Alice finds herself hopelessly lost

2017

Winner
0
No votes yet
by Przemyslaw Zanko
December 01, 2017
The portals to those other worlds allowed people to run away from their problems. It's time for this to end...
Winner
3.5
Average: 3.5 (2 votes)
by Nick Maslov
November 26, 2017
Here at the end of things, time has lost its meaning
Winner
3
Average: 3 (1 vote)
by Lily Turaski
December 01, 2017
Online dating brings a girl and her granny together
Winner
3.5
Average: 3.5 (2 votes)
by Morgan Long
December 01, 2017
Terry's Commodore Quantum Supercomputer has arrived...
Winner
3
Average: 3 (1 vote)
by Andrew Neil Gray
November 24, 2017
Speculation abounds. From where comes the noise in the quantum machines?
Shortlisted
3
Average: 3 (1 vote)
by Peter Childs
December 01, 2017
The neural lace is just part of marriage these days – if the bride and groom can survive the consequences
Shortlisted
3
Average: 3 (1 vote)
by Laura Campbell
November 27, 2017
Sometimes reality is hard to face
Shortlisted
3
Average: 3 (1 vote)
by Brian
December 01, 2017
He would risk it all to see her again...
Shortlisted
3
Average: 3 (1 vote)
by J M Kinnear
November 30, 2017
There's a whiff of something new at the labs today
Shortlisted
4.333335
Average: 4.3 (3 votes)
by Ricky Nathvani
December 01, 2017
It's so cruel that all they can do is give me probabilities, fatal wagers on my son’s life
Shortlisted
4
Average: 4 (2 votes)
by Joey
October 20, 2017
Luna is done with living in the dark
Shortlisted
3
Average: 3 (1 vote)
by D. Archer
November 29, 2017
There may be more to these strange blossoms than meets the eye...
Shortlisted
3
Average: 3 (1 vote)
December 01, 2017
Rule number one for Elise and Esile: never tell anyone about the bond they share
Shortlisted
3
Average: 3 (1 vote)
by Jenni Juvonen
November 30, 2017
When Andreus said “We need to talk”, Lizzie broke into a thousand pieces
Shortlisted
3
Average: 3 (1 vote)
by Khadija Niazi
November 30, 2017
When a particle loves a wave, nothing should come between them
Shortlisted
3
Average: 3 (1 vote)
by D. Archer
December 01, 2017
The first discovery at the HEV supercollider is entirely unexpected
Shortlisted
0
No votes yet
December 01, 2017
Arya matters. She mustn't be allowed to disappear
Shortlisted
3
Average: 3 (1 vote)
by Judy Helfrich
November 26, 2017
The perfect life is just a collapsed wavefunction away

2015

Winner
3
Average: 3 (1 vote)
by Tara Abrishami
November 29, 2015
The time has finally arrived - we can look for an alternate reality
Winner
3
Average: 3 (1 vote)
by Lily Turaski
November 24, 2015
It is not the envelopes that decide Lily's fate; it is her choice to observe their contents
Winner
0
No votes yet
by Liam Hogan
November 02, 2015
More than most children, Ana has good reason to worry about what's under her bed
Winner
4
Average: 4 (2 votes)
by Andrew Neil Gray
September 23, 2015
What message would you want to send through a wormhole?
Shortlisted
3
Average: 3 (1 vote)
December 01, 2015
There's always a universe where things work out
Shortlisted
3
Average: 3 (1 vote)
by Jesus Chua
November 30, 2015
Despite the possibility of losing Eyla, despite the stigma, despite the threat of war, their first child was going to survive...
Shortlisted
3
Average: 3 (1 vote)
October 13, 2015
Some people will do anything to be your friend. And that's ok.
Shortlisted
3
Average: 3 (1 vote)
by Aaric Tan Xiang Yeow
November 29, 2015
What is a life but a clump of tangled knots, a journey with no definite beginning and no traceable end?
Shortlisted
3
Average: 3 (1 vote)
by Jack Ellert-Beck
November 26, 2015
Her phone beeps. Is this the message from the future Eloise has been waiting for?
Shortlisted
3
Average: 3 (1 vote)
by Lee Yang Peng
November 29, 2015
The top secret military facility in CERN explores frontiers that even science fiction fears to imagine
Shortlisted
3
Average: 3 (1 vote)
by Stewart C. Baker
October 07, 2015
Welcome to the only user manual you'll ever need - in this part of the multiverse, at least
Shortlisted
3
Average: 3 (1 vote)
December 01, 2015
Fighting back a shiver, she flicked off the lights. In that instant, she could almost have sworn to seeing a pair of eyes, staring back at her in the darkness…
Shortlisted
3
Average: 3 (1 vote)
by Ritika
November 29, 2015
When he first laid eyes on her he knew they had an undeniable attraction...
Shortlisted
3
Average: 3 (1 vote)
by J. E. Bates
November 11, 2015
Tamm might be critically ill, but he has a friend that can get him through
Shortlisted
3
Average: 3 (1 vote)
by .
November 30, 2015
"This, my dear, is how we govern. This is how we rule the world."
Shortlisted
3
Average: 3 (1 vote)
by Judy Helfrich
December 01, 2015
The nanotherapy goes in. Neural connections come alive, snapping together like impatient fingers. I try to scream...
Shortlisted
3
Average: 3 (1 vote)
by Daniel Swindlehurst
November 28, 2015
Once you're in the simulation, there's only one way to check whether it's the real world
Shortlisted
3
Average: 3 (1 vote)
by Khadija Niazi
November 27, 2015
Vincent Reese is having a near death experience, and it isn't anything like they said it would be
Shortlisted
3
Average: 3 (1 vote)
by Gunnar De Winter
November 29, 2015
A fugitive for as long as she can remember, Lisa finally has some luck
Shortlisted
3
Average: 3 (1 vote)
by Przemysław Zańko
December 01, 2015
All things considered, The End wasn’t that bad

2013

Winner
3
Average: 3 (1 vote)
by Brian Crawford
October 22, 2013
Rider Quinn has set up the ultimate physics stunt, and Q-Day is almost here
Winner
3
Average: 3 (1 vote)
by Rebecca Baron
November 30, 2013
It wasn't that Juana wanted her experiment to fail. She just wanted to have a soul
Winner
3
Average: 3 (1 vote)
by Abel James Tilda
December 01, 2013
Gran died on a Wednesday, but lucky for us she was back within a week
Winner
3
Average: 3 (1 vote)
by Aaron Rosario Jeyaraj
November 29, 2013
And so, I stepped into the machine, and it closed around me...
Winner
3
Average: 3 (1 vote)
by Claire Cheong U-Er
December 01, 2013
Linden has a different way of seeing things...
Winner
3
Average: 3 (1 vote)
by Betony Adams
November 12, 2013
The casino lights are as relentless as a headache, but God lingers anyway. These days, he can barely remember what it felt like to be lucky...
Shortlisted
3
Average: 3 (1 vote)
December 02, 2013
Over 6 million QubitCoins have gone missing from the Southeast Asian Online Bank. CEO John Wong faces the press
Shortlisted
3
Average: 3 (1 vote)
by Andrew J. Manera
November 16, 2013
If you just wait a while and stare, the light will tell you what to do...
Shortlisted
3
Average: 3 (1 vote)
by Joseph Miles
September 20, 2013
Raff thinks he will destroy the tattered volume in his hands. The book knows better...
Shortlisted
3
Average: 3 (1 vote)
by Vina Jie-Min Prasad
December 01, 2013
If Anna and Henry can make it through their 720-hour entanglement, their relationship can withstand anything
Shortlisted
4
Average: 4 (2 votes)
by Kenton K. Yee
November 30, 2013
When your father contracts wave particle duality, you know things are going to get messy...
Shortlisted
3
Average: 3 (1 vote)
November 22, 2013
It happened every time Michael's birthday came around...
Shortlisted
3
Average: 3 (1 vote)
by Rebecca Montange
December 01, 2013
Meow. I really need out now
Shortlisted
3
Average: 3 (1 vote)
by Shadab Hafiz Choudhury
November 15, 2013
Sitting on a cliff edge, two figures are watching the world's end
Shortlisted
3
Average: 3 (1 vote)
by Yuen Xiang Hao
November 30, 2013
Commuting is easy. Connecting? Much harder...
Shortlisted
3
Average: 3 (1 vote)
November 24, 2013
With every choice made comes a dozen others unmade...
Shortlisted
4
Average: 4 (2 votes)
by Clifton Rumsey
December 02, 2013
Gravity Girl is up to her usual tricks - can Quantum Man and his trusty feline sidekick save the day?
Shortlisted
0
No votes yet
November 27, 2013
With his wife in a seven-month coma, Tom has a difficult choice to make
Shortlisted
3
Average: 3 (1 vote)
by Charles Dittell
September 06, 2013
A radioactive atom seeks answers to life's fundamental questions
Shortlisted
3
Average: 3 (1 vote)
by Sumit Dam
December 02, 2013
Will he jump? Quanting requires a steady mind when the network, the viewers and the agents are all crying out for you to outdo yourself.

Quantum Theories: A to Z

Z is for ...
Zero-point energy

Even at absolute zero, the lowest temperature possible, nothing has zero energy. In these conditions, particles and fields are in their lowest energy state, with an energy proportional to Planck’s constant.

A is for ...
Atom

This is the basic building block of matter that creates the world of chemical elements – although it is made up of more fundamental particles.

P is for ...
Probability

Quantum mechanics is a probabilistic theory: it does not give definite answers, but only the probability that an experiment will come up with a particular answer. This was the source of Einstein’s objection that God “does not play dice” with the universe.

O is for ...
Objective reality

Niels Bohr, one of the founding fathers of quantum physics, said there is no such thing as objective reality. All we can talk about, he said, is the results of measurements we make.

C is for ...
Clocks

The most precise clocks we have are atomic clocks which are powered by quantum mechanics. Besides keeping time, they can also let your smartphone know where you are.

Q is for ...
Quantum States

Quantum states, which represent the state of affairs of a quantum system, change by a different set of rules than classical states.

R is for ...
Randomness

Unpredictability lies at the heart of quantum mechanics. It bothered Einstein, but it also bothers the Dalai Lama.

P is for ...
Planck's Constant

This is one of the universal constants of nature, and relates the energy of a single quantum of radiation to its frequency. It is central to quantum theory and appears in many important formulae, including the Schrödinger Equation.

F is for ...
Free Will

Ideas at the heart of quantum theory, to do with randomness and the character of the molecules that make up the physical matter of our brains, lead some researchers to suggest humans can’t have free will.

D is for ...
Dice

Albert Einstein decided quantum theory couldn’t be right because its reliance on probability means everything is a result of chance. “God doesn’t play dice with the world,” he said.

X is for ...
X-ray

In 1923 Arthur Compton shone X-rays onto a block of graphite and found that they bounced off with their energy reduced exactly as would be expected if they were composed of particles colliding with electrons in the graphite. This was the first indication of radiation’s particle-like nature.

G is for ...
Gluon

These elementary particles hold together the quarks that lie at the heart of matter.

B is for ...
Bose-Einstein Condensate (BEC)

At extremely low temperatures, quantum rules mean that atoms can come together and behave as if they are one giant super-atom.

E is for ...
Ethics

As the world makes more advances in quantum science and technologies, it is time to think about how it will impact lives and how society should respond. This mini-documentary by the Quantum Daily is a good starting point to think about these ethical issues. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qc7gpabEhQ&t=2s 

M is for ...
Many Worlds Theory

Some researchers think the best way to explain the strange characteristics of the quantum world is to allow that each quantum event creates a new universe.

I is for ...
Information

Many researchers working in quantum theory believe that information is the most fundamental building block of reality.

W is for ...
Wave-particle duality

It is possible to describe an atom, an electron, or a photon as either a wave or a particle. In reality, they are both: a wave and a particle.

L is for ...
Large Hadron Collider (LHC)

At CERN in Geneva, Switzerland, this machine is smashing apart particles in order to discover their constituent parts and the quantum laws that govern their behaviour.

H is for ...
Hidden Variables

One school of thought says that the strangeness of quantum theory can be put down to a lack of information; if we could find the “hidden variables” the mysteries would all go away.

I is for ...
Interferometer

Some of the strangest characteristics of quantum theory can be demonstrated by firing a photon into an interferometer

M is for ...
Multiverse

Our most successful theories of cosmology suggest that our universe is one of many universes that bubble off from one another. It’s not clear whether it will ever be possible to detect these other universes.

T is for ...
Time

The arrow of time is “irreversible”—time goes forward. On microscopic quantum scales, this seems less certain. A recent experiment shows that the forward pointing of the arrow of time remains a fundamental rule for quantum measurements.

C is for ...
Cryptography

People have been hiding information in messages for millennia, but the quantum world provides a whole new way to do it.

S is for ...
Superposition

The feature of a quantum system whereby it exists in several separate quantum states at the same time.

C is for ...
Computing

The rules of the quantum world mean that we can process information much faster than is possible using the computers we use now. This column from Quanta Magazine ​delves into the fundamental physics behind quantum computing.

D is for ...
Decoherence

Unless it is carefully isolated, a quantum system will “leak” information into its surroundings. This can destroy delicate states such as superposition and entanglement.

G is for ...
Gravity

Our best theory of gravity no longer belongs to Isaac Newton. It’s Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity. There’s just one problem: it is incompatible with quantum theory. The effort to tie the two together provides the greatest challenge to physics in the 21st century.

V is for ...
Virtual particles

Quantum theory’s uncertainty principle says that since not even empty space can have zero energy, the universe is fizzing with particle-antiparticle pairs that pop in and out of existence. These “virtual” particles are the source of Hawking radiation.

Q is for ...
Quantum biology

A new and growing field that explores whether many biological processes depend on uniquely quantum processes to work. Under particular scrutiny at the moment are photosynthesis, smell and the navigation of migratory birds.

A is for ...
Alice and Bob

In quantum experiments, these are the names traditionally given to the people transmitting and receiving information. In quantum cryptography, an eavesdropper called Eve tries to intercept the information.

Y is for ...
Young's Double Slit Experiment

In 1801, Thomas Young proved light was a wave, and overthrew Newton’s idea that light was a “corpuscle”.

K is for ...
Key

Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) is a way to create secure cryptographic keys, allowing for more secure communication.

E is for ...
Entanglement

When two quantum objects interact, the information they contain becomes shared. This can result in a kind of link between them, where an action performed on one will affect the outcome of an action performed on the other. This “entanglement” applies even if the two particles are half a universe apart.

S is for ...
Schrödinger Equation

This is the central equation of quantum theory, and describes how any quantum system will behave, and how its observable qualities are likely to manifest in an experiment.

M is for ...
Maths

Quantum physics is the study of nature at the very small. Mathematics is one language used to formalise or describe quantum phenomena.

L is for ...
Light

We used to believe light was a wave, then we discovered it had the properties of a particle that we call a photon. Now we know it, like all elementary quantum objects, is both a wave and a particle!

U is for ...
Universe

To many researchers, the universe behaves like a gigantic quantum computer that is busy processing all the information it contains.

H is for ...
Hawking Radiation

In 1975, Stephen Hawking showed that the principles of quantum mechanics would mean that a black hole emits a slow stream of particles and would eventually evaporate.

J is for ...
Josephson Junction

This is a narrow constriction in a ring of superconductor. Current can only move around the ring because of quantum laws; the apparatus provides a neat way to investigate the properties of quantum mechanics and is a technology to build qubits for quantum computers.

A is for ...
Act of observation

Some people believe this changes everything in the quantum world, even bringing things into existence.

T is for ...
Tunnelling

This happens when quantum objects “borrow” energy in order to bypass an obstacle such as a gap in an electrical circuit. It is possible thanks to the uncertainty principle, and enables quantum particles to do things other particles can’t.

W is for ...
Wavefunction

The mathematics of quantum theory associates each quantum object with a wavefunction that appears in the Schrödinger equation and gives the probability of finding it in any given state.

T is for ...
Time travel

Is time travel really possible? This article looks at what relativity and quantum mechanics has to say.

N is for ...
Nonlocality

When two quantum particles are entangled, it can also be said they are “nonlocal”: their physical proximity does not affect the way their quantum states are linked.

S is for ...
Sensors

Researchers are harnessing the intricacies of quantum mechanics to develop powerful quantum sensors. These sensors could open up a wide range of applications.

S is for ...
Schrödinger’s Cat

A hypothetical experiment in which a cat kept in a closed box can be alive and dead at the same time – as long as nobody lifts the lid to take a look.

R is for ...
Reality

Since the predictions of quantum theory have been right in every experiment ever done, many researchers think it is the best guide we have to the nature of reality. Unfortunately, that still leaves room for plenty of ideas about what reality really is!

B is for ...
Bell's Theorem

In 1964, John Bell came up with a way of testing whether quantum theory was a true reflection of reality. In 1982, the results came in – and the world has never been the same since!

Q is for ...
Qubit

One quantum bit of information is known as a qubit (pronounced Q-bit). The ability of quantum particles to exist in many different states at once means a single quantum object can represent multiple qubits at once, opening up the possibility of extremely fast information processing.

K is for ...
Kaon

These are particles that carry a quantum property called strangeness. Some fundamental particles have the property known as charm!

T is for ...
Teleportation

Quantum tricks allow a particle to be transported from one location to another without passing through the intervening space – or that’s how it appears. The reality is that the process is more like faxing, where the information held by one particle is written onto a distant particle.

U is for ...
Uncertainty Principle

One of the most famous ideas in science, this declares that it is impossible to know all the physical attributes of a quantum particle or system simultaneously.

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