Mechanical engineer, broadcaster, and 7x STEM author, Dr. Shini Somara, is doing great work socializing science, engineering, and innovation by creating STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) content in the form of books, TV, and digital media.
With a background in mechanical engineering and specialization in the research and development of computational fluid dynamics, Dr. Shini shares her interests in scientific research and technological advancement as a STEM media producer and broadcaster in the UK. This makes her the perfect candidate to chat more about some of the science mysteries.
The science mystery that keeps Dr. Shini up at night, wishing she could solve it, is quantum physics—entanglement and superposition in particular.
They are often described as scientific mysteries, as the phenomena can be observed and mathematically described, but they continue to raise profound questions about the nature of reality.
In the simplest way possible, quantum entanglement is a kind of relationship between two particles that makes them connected even when they are separated by billions of light-years. A change in one instantly influences the other, no matter how far apart they are. Talk about one seriously long-distance relationship.
This odd connection seemingly breaks a fundamental law of the universe. Albert Einstein even famously called this phenomenon "spooky action at a distance."
Not so long ago, in 2022, the Nobel Prize in physics recognized three scientists who made groundbreaking contributions in understanding this most mysterious natural phenomenon, quantum entanglement.
Whereas superposition in quantum physics, mentioned by Dr. Shini, describes the ability of particles, such as electrons and photons, to be in more than one state at the same time.
A popular example that is used to explain this is the analogy of a coin. Usually, when we flip a coin, it lands on one side, either heads or tails. But in quantum physics, before you look, the coin, or rather a particle, could be both heads and tails at once. Once we look at it or measure it, it falls into one specific state. Some strange world we live in, huh?
At its heart, science’s main goal is to build knowledge and understanding. It achieves this by utilizing the human senses to observe and investigate the physical world, thereby understanding how various mechanisms function in our universe.
“It deals with observations of phenomena that take place on a daily basis and makes an attempt at explaining the various relationships that exist between them through either direct or indirect means. The observations are empirical, i.e. they rely on the human capacity to use the senses to perceive them,” Dr. Mohamed Ghilan explained.
That said, science works under strict boundaries, which (ironically) limit what it can do. The first one is that it aims to explain how, not why. This essentially means that science describes how mechanisms and processes work and occur rather than trying to find explanations for why this is happening or occurring in the first place. For example, science can tell us how our brain works, but can’t answer why consciousness exists and what ultimate purpose it might have.
