This object is a small ball made of silica, which can rotate around billions of times per second and that can be used as a sensor capable of measuring torque forces to a quadrillionth of a newton-meter. This is around 700 times more sensitive than was possible with the existing technology. The device provides sufficient sensitivity to be able to detect the small amounts of drag caused by the friction within vacuum.

Wait a minute, an attentive reader could say, vacuum is empty, right? How come is there any drag force? But it seems like this space, some time back named as empty space, is not empty at all. Researchers already know that vacuum is filled with quantum fluctuations. Quantum mechanics suggests that there is a drag due to electromagnetic fields that constantly fluctuate: appear and disappear, which leads to a friction drag forces acting on any spinning object in vacuum. These forces are extremely small and measuring them is not trivial at all. Currently researchers are only starting to develop capable detection devices.