Subatomic Weirdness

The Bizarre, Baffling, Beautiful Design of Nothing (& Everything)

What scientists have discovered about physical reality over the last 100 years is so bizarre that we cannot begin to visualize, let alone comprehend, the magically weird essence of our existence. Everything is made up of just three different quantum fields: the electron, the up quark, and the down quark. The up and down quarks combine to make protons and neutrons, which then combine with electrons to make atoms. Atoms combine to make molecules that then make everything else. Everything you see, feel, hear, taste, and smell, including you, is made of vast, amazingly intricate patterns of these three quantum fields.

It is almost impossible to comprehend how tiny quantum fields are. If quantum fields were the size of marbles, your...