Major Milestone Reached in the Quest For Star Trek Style Teleportation

Dan Nosowitz — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 16:00:00 EST

I don't understand quantum mechanics. Physicists don't even really understand it. But somehow, information was successfully teleported over a full meter, which means we're that much closer to making Star Trek a dorktastic reality.

A team at the University of Maryland was able to successfully teleport a quantum state (like spin or polarization) from one atom to another over the distance of one meter. How they did it is incredibly complicated: the explanation sounds like half advanced physics and half existential philosophy (i.e. "each photon is in an unknowable superposition of states"). But the end result is that the information doesn't travel the distance between the two atoms. It merely appears at the second and disappears from the first.

The tech is still very young, so there isn't much speculation on, say, when I can stop taking that awful 14-hour bus from Philly to Montreal in favor of teleporting. But it is suggested that this kind of instant transfer of information could be useful in mass exchanges of data, like the Internet. [Live Science]

Question of the Day: Which Star Trek Technology Would You Like to See Most?

Sean Fallon — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 17:10:34 EST

We have all seen the futuristic sci fi movies and TV shows with their fancy technology, and the question we all ask ourselves at one point or another is "when are we going to get some of that?" Unfortunately, the answer is "not very soon" when it comes to most of the choices listed below. So the question is: which future technology would you like to see most? Teleportation, time travel, laser weapons, gadgets that can miraculously cure illness, robots that will do your bidding, or robots you can have sex with (a guy can dream can't he?)

Gizmodo: teleportation

Major Milestone Reached in the Quest For Star Trek Style Teleportation

Question of the Day: Which Star Trek Technology Would You Like to See Most?