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Quantum mechanics is a branch of Physics that describes the world at the microscopic scale.ÌýSome of the phenomena it reveals are bizarre, and even leading physicists are struggling to come up with reasonable explanations of what's going on.

But even when the particles are fired one at a time so they can't interfere, they still produced a wave interference pattern. This means that after being fired the atom must be splitting in 2, going through both slits at the same time and interfering with itself, which is clearly bizarre and completely at odds with how we assume the world works.

But here's the weirdest bit, as soon as you set up detectors at each slit to try to observe exactly what is going on, the atoms go back to behaving like normal golf balls again. It's as if they know they're being watched and don't want to give away their secret.

The conclusion is that the mere act of observing changes the way things happen.
The tragedy is, I could have told these boffins all that years ago. When I started surfing I was desperate to a ripper.Ìý

I'd go out in all conditions and so would often find myself surfing alone.ÌýQuite often, I'd be surfing really well (for me) and in my head would be planning my route to the world crown when suddenly, half way through the surf I'd start surfing terribly, wiping out on take-off and generally looking like a donkey.Ìý

I noticed that this always seemed to coincide with either my girlfriend or my sister having arrived on the beach to watch. The fact I was being observed was affecting the way I performed. It was just as reliable as the double slit experiment.Ìý

It's a fact of physics! When your mates watch you surf, even without your knowledge, it affects the way you surf.Ìý I am in fact the world class ripper I always wanted to be, it's just that when the world watches, I can't stand up.

Meanwhile my mate Tyson actually CAN'T stand up, except when someone's looking, which transforms him into a legend. This is a scientific truth, there's no denying it. Ask Tys, he'll tell you. He's actually pants.

The world of quantum mechanics obviously doesn't just affect surfing. It also affects appearances. While I have a full head of hair and all of my mates are bald, just the act of being observed makes it appear the other way round (see Albert Einstein's "Quantum theory and receding hair anomalies", 1941). Amazing.

Thruster