Quantum Physics May Change the World (Submitted by Mariano Ramirez)

This continues our "time travel" conversation.

Ever wonder what life would be like if you could travel back in time? Would you assassinate Hitler? Join the Roman legions and see the ancient world? Ask the head cheerleader to the prom? While we've all got fantasies of what we'd do if given the opportunity, scientists at the University of California Santa Barbara may have cleared the path to righting the wrongs of years gone by.

In a 2010 experiment, the scientists proved that an object may exist simultaneously in two different worlds. They isolated a tiny piece of metal, struck it like a tuning fork and observed that it moved and stood still at the same time. While you probably would have just racked this observation up to delirium caused by overwork, these physicists say it proves that observing an object and action splits the universe into two parts -- one we can see and one we can't. The parallel universe theory says everything freezes during observation -- and then splits.

Scientists are trying to figure out how to jump at the moment of that split from the world we will enter into the one we won't. This parallel universe time-travel theory should work, scientists say, because quantum particles move backward and forward through time [source:Fox]. Now, all scientists have to do is build a time-bending machine using these quantum particles.

More can be found at: http://curiosity.discovery.com/topic/quantum-physics/10-ways-quantum-physics-will-change-world3.htm