In a Tokyo lab, a remarkable experiment is exploring the meeting of worlds. This is not a boring old metaphor for a meeting between East and West, it's a description of the interface between the world we live in and the frankly insane world of quantum objects.
Quantum physics is famously difficult. Renowned Danish physicist Niels Bohr described it ominously: "Those who are not shocked when they first come across quantum mechanics cannot possibly have understood it."
I'll try not to let that put me off. Today, I'm going to explore a small part of the quantum world, courtesy of the laboratory of Yasuhiro Ohshima in the Department of Chemistry at Tokyo Institute of Technology.