At a fundamental level, the physical universe can be thought of as information. All the stuff we observe arises from chains of yes-or-no questions. This “it from bit” concept was introduced in 1990 by the theoretical physicist John Wheeler. Now, however, a new idea has arrived that is even more fundamental, where the universe is conceptualized in terms of quantum bits of information – “qubits”.

This radical “it from qubit” was the subject of a feature in the January issue of Physics World. Authors Patrick Hayden and Robert Myers describe how collaborations between the high-energy physics and quantum-information communities may hold the key to a unified theory of quantum gravity. Find out how to access that article here.