In this episode of the Physics World Weekly podcast the physicist and entrepreneur Daniel Shaddock explains how building gravitational-wave detectors inspired him to co-found a company that takes a novel approach to creating test and measurement equipment. Shaddock is CEO of Liquid Instruments, and he explains how the firm uses field programmable gate arrays to create instruments that can be reconfigured for a wide range of uses.

Also in the episode, we delve into the elusive Unruh effect – the curious quantum mechanical prediction that an accelerating object is bathed in a warm glow of radiation that bubbles up from empty space. Our expert guide is Morgan Lynch of Seoul National University, who explains how the effect can be observed in the lab.