Split the Universe

Explanation: Just now, before you hit the button, two future universes are possible. After pressing the button, though, you will live in only one. A real-web version of the famous Schrdinger's cat experiment , clicking the red button in the featured astronaut image should transform that image into a picture of the same astronaut holding one of two cats -- one living, or one dead. The timing of your click, combined with the wiring of your brain and the millisecond timing of your device, will all conspire together to create a result dominated , potentially, by the randomness of quantum mechanics . Some believe that your personally-initiated quantum decision will split the universe in two, and that both the live-cat and dead-cat universes exist in separate parts of a larger multiverse . Others believe that the result of your click will collapse the two possible universes into one -- in a way that could not have been predicted beforehand. Yet others believe that the universe is classically deterministic , so that by pressing the button you did not really split the universe, but just carried out an action predestined since time began. We at APOD believe that however f o o l i s h you may feel clicking the red button, and regardless of the outcome, you should have a happy April Fool's Day .