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Silence sounds like … random numbers

Researchers have developed the world’s fastest random number generator by ‘listening’ to the continuous quantum fluctuations that occur in a complete vacuum.

The spontaneous appearance and disappearance of subatomic particles in a vacuum creates a constant level of quantum ‘noise’, which can be detected with very sensitive light detectors. Because these variations in light intensity are very quick and entirely unpredictable, they make an excellent source of random numbers.

Read more at Australian National University

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