All of the matter in the universe—everything we see, feel and smell—has a certain predictable structure, thanks to the tiny electrons spinning around their atomic nuclei in a series of concentric shells or atomic levels. A fundamental tenet of this orderly structure is that no two electrons can occupy the same atomic level (quantum state) at the same time—a principle called the Pauli exclusion principle, which is based on Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity and quantum theory. However, a team of Syracuse University physicists recently developed a new theoretical model to explain how the Pauli exclusion principle can be violated...