The quantum world is a strange territory where matter has no regard for the real place we live in. A particle will exist in many places at the same time and behave differently in each. Immediately we try to find out where it is all these alternatives collapse into one. This 'other world' is the playground of theoretical physicists and mathematicians. But one practical application — quantum computing — is becoming reality. If it works it will make today's supercomputers look as primitive as counting on a child's fingers, as well as opening up new areas of chemistry and physics. Experimental researchers in the US have shown that quantum computers already exist in nature. They argue that if we accept that quantum mechanics fundamentally controls our world, information must be quantum too. Each little bit of the universe is undergoing some form of quantum computation as every molecule is calculating what it will be doing or where it will be next. In effect, they say, each molecule is a quantum computer.
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