Reality is made up of matter, but if we zoom in... there is no vacuum. We used to think of this space as a true vacuum, but quantum mechanics tells us it's a seething, bubbling frenzy of activity.
Wave /particle duality:
All that is, is an excitation in a quantum field, and the "wave" and "particle" are just two facets of its behavior that we see depending on how we look at it.
When we observe an object we turn his image inside brain to separate it from field, to separate us from field and to separate us from the observed.
The quantum field is not being observed by something separate from itself. The field is observing itself.
Consciousness is not a product of the brain but a fundamental feature of the universe. The brain filters and localizes consciousness, creating the experience of being a separate observer inside a skull, looking out at a separate world.
So there are no particles in emptiness, but excitations in fields that are everywhere.
Their dynamics are described by equations that allow for self-interaction and complex evolution.
What we call a particle is just a point-like event where the field excitation interacts strongly with another field (like the measuring device field or the atoms in your eye).
The bird doesn't have a map. It has a built-in quantum compass that allows it to literally perceive the invisible lines of the Earth's magnetic field as a visual overlay on the world, thanks to: quantum Entanglement ("no separation" between particles),the interaction of fields (light field + magnetic field + quantum electron fields) and biological system that has evolved to harness these quantum effects.
