Study Offers Proof That Observing Quantum Physics Affects Reality

Israeli researchers have provided the first physical proof of the bizarre quantum mechanical theory that, by the very act of watching, the observer affects the viewed reality. A team from the Weizmann Institute of Science studied electrons, which can behave either as a wave or a particle. When unwatched electrons go through two very small, adjacent openings in a barrier, they act as a wave, producing an interference pattern that can be observed afterward.

The researchers constructed a sophisticated device that allowed them to observe individual electrons as they passed through the barrier. When the detector was not functioning, the electrons behaved as a wave, the researchers report in Nature. When it was functioning, acting as an observer, the electrons behaved more like particles.