Jianan Wang

A short laser pulse strikes the air, and a tiny lightning bolt flashes at the point of impact. It lives longer than you'd think: the bright glow is visible for half a millisecond, and a faint one for nearly twenty milliseconds.

A patient with schizophrenia comes in for a procedure that feels like a mild tingling in the ear. The doctor switches on a small electrical stimulator attached to the earlobe, and after a few weeks, some people find their apathy and withdrawal receding, while others see no change at all. Until now, predicting this was impossible.