Cloudscape

Updated article: Condensed Light

"It may also be possible all energy has the same constituents as photons are themselves composed of, which would likewise always have the speed of light. What those may be, however, is highly speculative, as they would be beyond the level even of elementary particles. If all elementary particles have the same basic constituents, however, this would explain how elementary particles can bring others into being. Photons themselves can be converted into any kinds of other particles, for instance. Usually, when two particles interact (read collide) with one another with enough energy, their kinetic energy is converted into other particles. However, if two photons interact with one another with enough energy, they are entirely converted into other particles. This is basically the time reversal transformation of the combination of matter and antimatter particles, which yields photons.

When photons are converted into matter, its energy is transferred into these particles. Thus, it is obvious that the energy in the photons is of the same form of that of the particles, and therefore, has the same particles at some level. That all forms of energy can be converted into one another seems to indicate that all energy fundamentally has the same constituents. Otherwise they could interact, but no more.

All this is, however, mere guesswork."

Perhaps vacuum energy serves as an “ether” through which quanta propagate. The vast majority of the waves in vacuum energy would be a noise called vacuum fluctuations, consisting of virtual particles - these would in some respect be much like the waves of the sea.
Through interference, these wavelets could then cohere to collectively form a coherent whole, just like any other wave. This would explain why quantums can be at two positions simultaneously - much like a wave. Rather than fundamentally being both waves and particles, they would then be waves on small scale which manifest as particles on a large scale: if a large number of waves are superimposed, a single crest results. This single crest is a particle.
So, elementary particles aren't both particles and waves - they're just waves. Only the collective whole of elementary particles behaves as a system of particles.