Is the whole universe one big computer program? Nobody really knows. But if you read some news stories this week you might be excused in thinking we've got it all sorted out. Many news outlets reported on a scientific article recently published in the journal Science Advances as proof that our universe is not a simulation. However, the truth is a little more complicated. For decades, researchers have been trying to use computers to simulate quantum systems. If scientists could learn how to create functional systems of quantum particles, it would be much easier to study how they behave. In particular, if scientists can simulate a quantum computer using a standard computer, there would be no need