Quantum Teleporting, Yes; the Rest Is Movie Magic
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A screening of the movie âJumperâ at M.I.T. brought Hollywood and scientists together to discuss quantum physics and teleportation.
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Plus: Was Einstein a plagiarist? [News.com Extra]
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David Bolinsky's animated journey through a white blood cell is a surprise hit. Even The Matrix's Wachowski brothers are calling. Wired News interview by Kim Zetter.
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Austrian researchers have teleported photons, or particles of light, for the first time outside a laboratory using the same technological principles imagined by Star Trek.
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NEC Corp. researchers have developed a quantum cryptography system with sufficient speed and range to make it commercially viable. It could go on sale in the second half of 2005, the researchers said Thursday.
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Light at the end of the tunnel - let's hope it's not a train...
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Only 12 years old, the field of ultracold physics is already leading scientists to discoveries that seemed like science fiction just a decade ago. Think quantum supercomputers and modeling the big bang.
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Analog box in disguise? Few start-ups would have the guts or audacity to unveil their first product at the Computer History Museum. D-Wave Systems, however, did just that today by unveiling the world's most advanced quantum computer - a product that may one day be displayed at the museum as a breakthrough system or simply as a curious relic.â¦
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Scientists have manipulated carbon atoms to create a material that could be used to create light-based, versus electronic, switches. The material could lead to a supercharged Internet based entirely on light, scientists say.
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MIT scientists perfect the use of light beams as a tweezer-like tool for manipulating microscopic objects.
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After spending billions on Rube Goldberg contraptions, the military notices commercial devices already exist. Could a TiVo-like gizmo help them find a car bomber? In Danger Room.
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I met an old friend for coffee in San Francisco yesterday afternoon, and had a few hours to kill before stopping in at the Wired reunion party. I didn't want to drive back to Berkeley because the weather was so crummy, and I was just across teh street from a movie theater and was just in time for the start of a movie that lots of people had been telling me to see. So I went. The movie -- The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, I had no idea what it was about until the movie started, then I remembered hearing a Fresh Air show about it and finding it too painful to listen to. Now here I was in the theater, not just being asked to listen to it, but being asked to live it. Through some very wonderful film-making, you feel as if what is happening to the main character is happening to you. Or more accurately, probably, you get the slightest hint of what it's like to be this person. My immediate impulse, one which I gave serious consideration to, was to pack up my things and leave. Anything would be better than spending three hours living this guy's life.  Two things happen over time: 1. You get over it. 2. They change perspective, and instead of being inside his body, you move outside it.  I think those two things are the story we all live as we mature and learn to live inside our own bodies, with their limits. You learn to step outside and see the humor in your predicament. The main character says he lives in a diving bell because it's as hard for him to communicate with other people as it would be at the bottom of the ocean inside a diving bell. The movie teaches that it's not much easier for the rest of us, even though we can manipulate symbols better. On the other hand, of course it is. The film develops a relationship between the hero and his father, between the hero and his own children, his ex-wife, his lover.  We strive for deeper understanding of ourselves and each other. But it may be ridiculously easy to find the only meaning that exists, without language, without intellect, by just being. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly should probably be the picture of the year for 2007, it's that good. But like all great art it shows you something truthful about yourself, and you may or may not want to see it.
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(InfoWorld) - Researchers at Toshiba have developed a method that they say makes it possible -- barring a change in the laws of physics -- to absolutely secure distribution of encryption keys across a network. Their system, which was unveiled at this week's NanoTech 2007 exhibition in Tokyo, builds onÂ quantum key distribution, which has been the subject for research and development work for some time because it promises to make possible the secure distribution of encryption keys across a network. Currently encryption keys must be sent offline, typically on physical media in tamper-proof packages, to ensure their integrity. "With quantum key distribution we can guarantee unconditional security of the key," said Andrew Shields, quantum information group leader at Toshiba Research Europe. "What that means is it's secure from all advances in mathematics, engineering and computing." Using the system, each bit of an encryption key is encoded on a single photon of light. The quantum status of photons is changed once they are read, so if an eavesdropper snoops the key while it is being distributed, the action is immediately noticeable by the intended recipient and the key can be discarded as insecure and a new one sent. Thus it's possible for encryption keys to be securely distributed across a network and for Shields to make such a bold statement. Or at least that's the theory. In practice is very difficult to control a laser so that it reliably generates a single photon of light with each data pulse. The power can be turned down so that a single photon is emitted almost all the time but occasionally two or more photons are produced. That opens the possibility for an eavesdropper to read the second photon while allowing the first to continue on its way. Such an attack wouldn't be detectable. The Toshiba scientists say this can be guarded against by transmitting decoy photons. For these, the power of the laser is ratcheted down even further so that fewer photons are produced and proportionally fewer double photons. If an eavesdropper attempts to read part of the key by pulling off the second of each double photon, the receiver would get proportionally fewer decoy photons and so the eavesdropping could be detected, said Shields. The system on display at NanoTech 2007 involved encryption of a video link. Images from a camera were fed into an encryption device via Ethernet. The device was connected to a decryptor via two fiber optic cable runs of 25 kilometers each. One link was used for transmission of the key and another for transmission of the encrypted data. The new system with decoy photons also allows the data rate of the key-transmission link to be increased to 5.5Kbps. At that rate many keys can be transmitted per second thus helping to guard against cracking of the link through crypto-analysis. "We're looking at the possibility of commercializing this fairly soon," said Shields. One problem that remains with the technology is that it requires end-to-end connection to be across a single fiber optic cable. Routers and switches can't be used because that would involve measuring or in some way interrupting the photon, which would look the same as an eavesdropping attempt. Currently most quantum key distribution systems work over distances of up to about 100 kilometers. The technology could be made to work over a network or longer distances, but would require that each switch or routing point was in a location physically trusted to be secure from eavesdroppers, said Shields.
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Materials that could allow levitating trains and ultra powerful computers to become commonplace are coming of age
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Researchers are trying to turn the simulated realities of science-fiction movies into the armchair realities of everyday life
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Device boosts prospects for inexpensive quantum cryptography and quantum computing.
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A method for linking ultraviolet photons is a step toward semiconductor-based quantum computing and communications