behavior: The way something (often a person or other organism) conducts itself or acts towards others.
Bell test: A physics experiment used to check whether a result is genuinely random. Named after physicist John Bell, it works by comparing measurements from two separate sources. If the results match a specific pattern that only true randomness can produce, scientists know the outcome couldn’t have been faked.
bias: The tendency to hold a particular perspective or preference that favors some thing, some group or some choice. Scientists often “blind” subjects to the details of a test (don’t tell them what it is) so that their biases will not affect the results.
cybersecurity: A type of investigative field, sometime in law enforcement, that works to scout threats to computer systems and/or ways to thwart attacks.
data: Facts and/or statistics collected together for analysis but not necessarily organized in a way that gives them meaning. For digital information (the type stored by computers), those data typically are numbers stored in a binary code, portrayed as strings of zeros and ones.
encryption: (v. encrypt) A system that can convert data or information into code that other people can’t easily decipher.
physical: (adj.) A term for things that exist in the real world, as opposed to in memories or the imagination. It can also refer to properties of materials that are due to their size and non-chemical interactions (such as when one block slams with force into another). (in biology and medicine) The term can refer to the body, as in a physical exam or physical activity. (in job titles) It can refer to a type of research that focuses on attributes grounded in the physical sciences (chemistry, physics or materials science).
proof: (in math) The showing, step-by-step, that a given statement is true.
protocol: An accepted or agreed-upon procedure for doing something. For instance, a recipe is a protocol used by bakers and cooks.
quantum: (pl. quanta) A term that refers to the smallest amount of anything, especially of energy or subatomic mass.
quantum physics: A field of study that explains the tiny motions and behavior of matter about the size of electrons. A scientist who works in such areas is known as a quantum physicist.
random: Something that occurs haphazardly or without reason, based on no intention or purpose. Or an adjective that describes some thing that found itself selected for no particular reason, or even chaotically.
sequence: The precise order of related things within some series.
speed of light: A constant often used in physics, corresponding to 1.08 billion kilometers (671 million miles) per hour.
system: A network of parts that together work to achieve some function. For instance, the blood, vessels and heart are primary components of the human body’s circulatory system. Similarly, trains, platforms, tracks, roadway signals and overpasses are among the potential components of a nation’s railway system. System can even be applied to the processes or ideas that are part of some method or ordered set of procedures for getting a task done.
telegraph: A device used to send coded messages across a wire.
unique: Something that is unlike anything else; the only one of its kind.