Michael R. R. Good

In 1989, John Wheeler proposed a bold idea: "it from bit," meaning everything that exists arises from information. For a long time, this remained a beautiful metaphor, but now physicists have found a concrete mechanism that turns bits into particles.

Two massive spheres slowly drift apart in empty space. From the standpoint of ordinary mechanics, nothing special is happening. But Einstein's equations say otherwise: accelerating masses stir spacetime itself, and from them spread gravitational waves — ripples that stretch and squeeze everything in their path.

When an electric charge moves with acceleration, it emits electromagnetic radiation, i.e., light — a familiar phenomenon in physics. However, researchers have found that when moving along a specially chosen trajectory, the radiation acquires unusual properties.