Quantum Reactivity

An article on chemistry in the quantum vacuum. In English, the idea is that the Casimir effect within quantum field theory, wherein two plates in close proximity cause a spontaneous field effect, can be used as a catalyst for accelerating or retarding chemical reactions. Or at least that's what I got from it:

So what, those few of you who are still reading would like to know, does this have to do with chemistry? Well, when a real molecule is placed between such plates, its energy levels behave in strange ways. And this latest paper demonstrates that with a photochemical rearrangement - the reaction rates change completely depending on whether or not the starting material is confined in the right sort of space, and they change exactly as the cavity is tuned more closely to the absorption taking place. In effect, the molecule is now part of a completely new system (molecule-plus-cavity), and this new system has different energy levels - and can do different chemistry.

So what's the money shot? New materials -- probably very exotic new materials. And exotic materials permit the creation of exotic machines.