Quantum particles, it turns out, are just as wily as Odysseus, as we have shown in an experiment published in Physical Review Letters. Photons dwelling with atomsOur experiment used photons – quantum particles of light – and the against-the-odds journey they must undertake to pass straight through a cloud of rubidium atoms. After an initial experiment with inconclusive results, he asked me, as a quantum theorist, for help in working out what to expect. But it does show that negative dwell time is not an artifact. And it reminds us that there are still lands to discover on the odyssey that is quantum research.