IKR! I feel so ashamed to be American. Been considering to leave the country.

So does the concept of a piece of cloth you could hold in your hand that is so black you can't see it. Yet, they did it.

@JeffMurray Sorry - I call bs.

@gater On the material or the laser?

@JeffMurray both - you can not tear empty space. You clearly don't have an understanding of physics

@gater
Well, the material exists already, so I don't know what there is to call BS on... Search for Vantablack. Considering that, I'd be willing to bet it is you, sir, that is failing to understand.

@JeffMurray what I am saying is that you can tear matter - but not empty space.

It only sounds impossible because there really is no such thing as empty space. Quantun theory doesn't allow it.

@Coffeo what? no empty space? care to explain?

@gater Even in the best possible vacuum, there are always particles popping in and out of existence. Sort of continuously on the boil, in a manner of speaking. So if you zap it the right way, you can maybe provide enough energy to stop them from popping out of existence again. Hence they would appear to come out of nothing. But all you've really done is capture them before they can disappear. And to do that you need to provide a lot of energy very fast.

@Coffeo let me explain why you are wrong - there is empty space, lets say we have 1 cubic foot of space, maybe what you said is accurate as far as single molecules entering - however, there would be cubic inches in the cube that are empty - empty space. No one put a qualifier on the size.

@gater You need to read up on quantum theory. Try this for starters:
[scientificamerican.com]

@Coffeo this article seems irrelevant to the original topic

@gater Not by any means. It's where the particles come from. Give them some energy quickly enough and they'll stick around. Very relevant indeed.

@Coffeo I thought the original topic was about a laser that tears empty space

@gater Yes. That is exactly the point. Except there is no such thing as empty space. You may think that by continually subdividing a volume smaller and smaller, you will eventually have a volume that contains no particles. Quantum theory says no. There are always virtual particles, It doesn't matter how good your pumps are or how leak-proof your container. These virtual particles can't last long because if they did they would violate energy conservation. But Heisenberg's uncertainty principle allows (indeed requires) them to exist very briefly. If you're fast enough (and that means really, really fast, like this laser) you might give them enough energy to go on existing, and voilà! particles created from empty space!

If you didn't find the article that I linked for you to be relevant (I thought it was), there's plenty more stuff on the web about it; I don't need to spoon-feed you. But it has been experimentally verified in a number of ways that these virtual particles do exist.

@Coffeo I say there is empty space

@gater Flat Earth too?

@Coffeo I think your problem is that you don't understand the definition of empty

@gater I do not have a problem with that. But maybe you should save that unfortunate Chinese scientist time and money by pointing out that his experiment won't work.

Yes, this is basically right. I don't think it is that interesting as "fundamental physics" because our particle accelerators have been beyond that energy level for many decades and create matter out of the vacuum easily. However, it is a significant advance in laser technology itself and may have unforeseen and interesting applications.

@DavidLaDeau -- Not quite and definitely not from nothing. The Higgs is a subatomic particle that exists in matter. What they did at CERN was release it in a collision at a level of energy higher than anything ever attempted so that it could be observed. "Why has the Higgs been the subject of so much hype, funding, and (mis)information? For two reasons. One, it was the last hold-out particle remaining hidden during the quest to check the accuracy of the Standard Model of Physics. This meant its discovery would validate more than a generation of scientific publication. Two, the Higgs is the particle which gives other particles their mass, making it both centrally important and seemingly magical. We tend to think of mass as an intrinsic property of all things, yet physicists believe that without the Higgs boson, mass fundamentally doesn’t exist."

I know, it sounds weird, but explaining it here without significant loss of the real importance of this particular particle would be close to impossible.

@evidentialist Thank you for the correction, It was my understanding it actually became matter for somthing like a trillionth of a second. You you have any links to share for someone with a rudamentry understanding?

@DavidLaDeau -- You might enjoy this video with one of my favorite people. It is a friendly presentation with excellent explanations without being overly rigorous.

@evidentialist Thank You, I'm a history geek, but I try to keep up with science and other things.

@TheMiddleWay Interesting article: thanks for the link.

@evidentialist Thank you!!!!

@NerdyOkieDude -- Nah, just a stable segment of a nation somewhere.

My concern is more weighted on the fact our priorities in science are dropping like a rock under the current political atmosphere in this country. We used to be a country of dreamers, visionaries, and pioneers. What have we become?

Just to think about, we sent three adult men in an oversized lunch bucket, with less computing power on board than my current cell phone, all the way to the moon and back! And now? All we care about is getting a cheaper cell phone to text animated emojis. It's pathetic.

@LucifersPen -- Morale in the scientific community is ebbing as the cuts keep happening. Not enough funding to go around will soon have us doing triage with projects. Leaner and meaner doesn't work in research.

My misguided understanding of quantum mechanics and physics probably is the best answer.
How is it that 2 particles can 'communicate' over vast distances instantaneously.

That needs high energy. This has high power.