The article follows how a bold 2012 idea from Nobel laureate Frank Wilczek—about objects that could tick forever without energy—transformed from theoretical physics to lab reality. These objects, called time crystals, break the usual sense of time by repeating patterns over time itself rather than through space. Experiments using quantum systems—from trapped ions and diamond qubits to Google’s Sycamore quantum computer—have confirmed the existence of these non-equilibrium phases that oscillate in time without energy loss
