Lewis R. B. Picard

Physicists built a chain of Rydberg atoms — atoms with electrons in enormous orbits, comparable to planetary paths. These giant atoms feel their neighbors intensely, turning the chain into a quantum analog of a string.

Instead of millions of rigidly fixed particles — 10,000 atoms, working as beads on a quantum abacus. Each bead can be both zero and one at the same time. But the key is: if an error creeps into the calculation, the atoms can be physically moved: as if you could rearrange the abacus on the fly so that the glitch doesn't ruin the result.