Am I retarded? I still have no clue what this thing does. Is it a photo editor that adds more life like qualities to pictures?

"Maxwell is a new render engine based on the physics of real light. Its algorithms and equations reproduce the behavior of light in a completely accurate way. All of the elements in Maxwell, such as light emitters, material shaders, cameras etc., are entirely based on physically accurate models."
^^
That is just not english folks.