Quantum Engines Powered by a Look express
In the quantum world, particles can walk through walls: this is quantum tunneling. If you place a detector right in the path of such a 'ghostly' passage, the moment of detection acts like a starting pistol: the particle gets a sharp kick and flies out of the barrier with excess energy, turning into a tiny engine. The device needs no batteries or external voltage — the observation itself serves as fuel.
This engine obeys the strict laws of thermodynamics and can simultaneously heat and cool its surroundings. In a certain regime, it reaches a 'dark state'—ceasing to exchange heat with the outside world, as if vanishing for any thermometer. Such motors, inspired by methods of spectroscopy, could one day power nanorobots or cool quantum computers simply by existing.
As John von Neumann predicted, measurement is a physical action, and now it literally becomes fuel.
Without the tunnel effect, the Sun wouldn't shine: protons couldn't overcome electric repulsion and fuse into helium: it's tunneling that kick-starts thermonuclear fusion in stars.