Physicists discovered “a new kind of quantum time order” from an experiment designed to bring together elements of general relativity and quantum mechanics, the two big, but seemingly contradictory, physics theories developed in the past century.

What are you doing for our comfortable living? It's a strawman, and the notion that research must apply to you is a nonsequitar. The work is on quantum gravity, the most difficult topic in theoretical physics. Nothing I say as a physicist will convey anything about the topic or its importance without diluting every aspect of the conversation into attempting to convince you or the general public that research is good, because velcro and microwaves.

If you actually want a more topical answer, the research has possible applications as a futute quantum computing resource. But then I have to explain why quantum computers are useful, and how this relates to them and they relate to you. Basically, if you want to learn the topic then try, otherwise it just doesn't relate to you at all.

/r/space Thread Parent Link - uq.edu.au