Preferably less science? Perhaps he had overestimated her intelligence; he had thought that the Times would have sent at least an apprentice science correspondent, not the society page editor. Or as is more likely from her appearance, the horoscope writer.
“Perhaps I should not have used the quantum electrodynamic picture of the device. Consider instead the quantum mechanics of the simple harmonic oscillator, the ‘spherical cow’ if you will”. He inwardly smiled at the old joke. “As I am sure you are aware, the energy content of a simple harmonic oscillator is proportional to the number of excitations plus one-half, so that even when there are no excitations, there is still some energy in the oscillator. This is what physicists mean by ‘zero point energy’, but what has long been a mainstay of science fiction has now been turned to reality: a device that feeds from the zero point energy of the universe.”
She just doesn't get it; neither does he
“Perhaps I should not have used the quantum electrodynamic picture of the device. Consider instead the quantum mechanics of the simple harmonic oscillator, the ‘spherical cow’ if you will”. He inwardly smiled at the old joke. “As I am sure you are aware, the energy content of a simple harmonic oscillator is proportional to the number of excitations plus one-half, so that even when there are no excitations, there is still some energy in the oscillator. This is what physicists mean by ‘zero point energy’, but what has long been a mainstay of science fiction has now been turned to reality: a device that feeds from the zero point energy of the universe.”
Surely she was able to follow that!