Breakthru in quantum computing: salty nanoscale bar magnets!

[DetlefK]

9. re

1. I don't think anybody funding scientific projects will have his mind swayed either way by this kind of article. And for the goal to induce some scientific curiosity into the readers and society: Maybe the "it's-new-and-barely-understood"-factor is more important to the author/editor than the physics behind interesting examples which are already understood.
Sounds like sensationalism to me.

2. Science for science's sake? To be honest: That's the domain of mad scientists. (A mathematician working on the same abstract proof or theoreme for years, just because it's there...)
But your point is fair: Maybe the experiment will yield something that could be useful far down the road in a totally different discipline.
(For example: neutronium. It's just a bizzare thought-experiment about particle-physics and thermodynamics, until you take into account that neutron-stars are made of this and suddenly it becomes relevant in astronomy.)