Star Trek brought us the famous popular culture quote “Beam me up, Scotty,” and now Chinese physicists are making quantum teleportation a reality.
In layman’s terms, quantum teleportation involves using powerful lasers and optics to manipulate photons, or units of light.
In 2010, Chinese researchers set a record for teleporting a photon more than 10 miles (16 km), now a different team of researchers has shattered that record by sending 1,100 photons more than 60 miles (97 km) across a lake.
Okay, so quantum teleportation isn’t going to teleport a human being from one area to another, but it can instantaneously transport data without fear of being hacked or intercepted.
The researchers think the quantum teleportation of data will be used by governments to transfer classified information across data networks.
Secure data is great and all, but we're wondering when they're going to work on teleporting humans. Think about it, you won't have to pay for pizza delivery when you're without a car because you'll be able to teleport to the pizzeria and back. You can also say good-bye to long commutes to work. Seriously, think about all the free-time you'll have.
Since many of us are still waiting for the hover cars we thought we'd be driving (flying?) by the year 2000, we're not going to put all our money on human teleportation, but quantum teleportation sounds like a beam in the right direction.
