At the other end of the range, in objects larger than 50nm the laws of classical physics become increasingly dominant.

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It better accounted for oddities of nature, such as anomalies in the orbit of Mercury, that classical physics, as formulated by Newton, could not explain.

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The sensors rely on quantum tunnelling, in which electrons take journeys that would not be allowed by the laws of classical physics, as long as the distances involved are tiny.

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What Rushkoff and Malik are describing is a new experience of physics for humans, more akin to magic or at least quantum mechanics than to the classical Newtonian physics on which the modern world was based.

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Here's why that matters so greatly: When we get down to this small size, the classical laws of physics change.

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"It is true that any task a classical computer can do, a quantum computer can do, " says Jeff Kimble, a professor of physics at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.

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