New 'Quantum Teleportation' Record Wows Scientists

Quantum teleportation won't beam you up to the Starship Enterprise—at least not yet. But scientists are able to tweak "entangled" photons at greater distances than ever before, Scientific American reports. In case you haven't been freaked out yet: Scientists can separate two photons by dozens of miles, measure one of them, and find (at the speed of light) that the other has moved into an "opposing orientation."

Back in May, Chinese scientists reported quantum teleportation at a distance of 60 miles. Then European and Canadian scientists said they had done it at 89 miles, although their study is not peer-reviewed. What's the upshot for the rest of us? Research is still "in the gee-whiz exploratory phase," notes Scientific American, but outer-space teleportation could allow us to beam quantum information up to satellites in the blink of an eye. (More quantum mechanics stories.)