'Peekaboo' Reveals Babies Understanding of Quantum Mechanics

Quantum mechanics, the bizarre set of rules that govern the behavior of elementary particles, is notoriously confounding. Even Albert Einstein - winner of a Nobel Prize for his work in the field - thought there was something dicey about the whole business. But at the time again, he was a grown man.

Newborn babies are the only people alive who intuitively understand quantum mechanics, says Seth Lloyd, an expert on quantum computing and professor of mechanical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Innovation. At a panel discussion held Friday at the fifth annual World Science Festival in New York, Lloyd discussed the strange behavior of the elementary particles, and why babies get it.