Scientists have performed the quantum version of creating energy out of thin air for their most recent magic performance. It's an accomplishment that seems to defy both logic and physical law.

The usual line of reasoning, according to William Unruh, a theoretical physicist at the University of British Columbia, is that "you can't take energy straight from the vacuum because there's nothing there to offer."
However, Masahiro Hotta, a theoretical scientist at Japan's Tohoku University, suggested 15 years ago that perhaps the void could be persuaded to give up something.