Scientists successfully teleport beam of light

[KennyR]

Don't get too excited guys. Teleportation by this method simply doesn't work - the quantum uncertaintly principle means that you can never know the position and momentum of a particle simultaneously, therefore you cannot know where it is to teleport it somewhere else. This is a fundamental law of the universe and can't be "got around", changed, or denied. Teleportation is an absolute impossibility. Anyone who says otherwise is wrong. The laws of physics themselves prove them wrong.

All these scientists did was to instantaneously transfer a photon from one place to another, one out of a trillion trillion trillion they fired at their equipment (probably by using some kind of LPR setup). This could mean a revolution in quantum computing and secure, instantaneous communication (uncrackable even by the smartest). Its not as fast as lightning - its *faster*.

However, real teleportation itself, if it comes, will probably be a phenomenon of bending space or creating wormholes. That means you won't be taken apart into energy - which is a stupid idea anyway because of the enormous practical difficulties and ethical implications.

Star Trek has a lot to answer for. You all watch it for 7 of 9. Come on, admit it! ;-)

[KennyR]

Yes EPR - in my last post I mistakenly referred to it as LPR.

EPR is a quantum mechanical phenomenon that only occurs in very special situations, i.e. at close to absolute zero and with very little external forces. It only works with single pairs of particles too. Now if you try to use this effect to duplicate anything bigger than a photon at room temperature, quantum decoherence quickly destroys the EPR pairing - returning physics to the "classical" or "Einsteinian" realm.

EPR is just a curiosity right now. It could be used for communication, but not, at the time of writing, for much else.