Here's how to generate a truly random number with quantum physics

Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent every weekday. Very little in this life is truly random. A coin flip is influenced by the flipper's force, its surrounding airflow, and gravity. Similar variables dictate rolling a pair of dice or shuffling a deck of cards, while even classical computing's cryptographic algorithms are theoretically susceptible to outside influence or bias. "True randomness is something that nothing in the universe can predict in advance," explained Krister Shalm, a physicist at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).