Beaming people in Star Trek fashion is still in the realms of science fiction but physicists in Denmark have teleported information from light to matter bringing quantum communication and computing closer to reality.

Until now scientists have teleported similar objects such as light or single atoms over short distances from one spot to another in a split second.

But Professor Eugene Polzik and his team at the Niels Bohr Institute at Copenhagen University in Denmark have made a breakthrough by using both light and matter.

"It is one step further because for the first time it involves teleportation between light and matter, two different objects. One is the carrier of information and the other one is the storage medium," Polzik explained in an interview on Wednesday.

The experiment involved for the first time a macroscopic atomic object containing thousands of billions of atoms. They also teleported the information a distance of half a meter but believe it can be extended further.

For the rest of the story:
http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/science/10/04/teleportation.reut/index.html

They aren't moving stuff, they are moving quantum state information. It's cute but should be considered in context rather than as Media hype.

I'm with Al on this one. It is, however, an interesting thing. Who knows, maybe something interesting will come of it.

Dr. R.

I heard that before that point, scientists have been able to teleport things to up to a few milimeters away (well thats what my newspaper article said, at least). But yeah, this teleportation that the scientists did will lead to, well use your imagination.............

One must keep in mind the ultimate question ... is a teleport moving something or duplicating something?
Thinking about physics ... not StarTek.

The jury is a long way from in on this one.

Just wondering DA Morgan, how are they duplicating the object if they are moving the object from one place to another?Isnt that the point of teleporting?

The point of teleporting is to create the object at a different location.

In the world of normal human experience this means going from London to Paris without traversing the space between. But in a quantum world it may, and I emphasize "may" mean that the object at the second location is identical to the one that had been at the first location. It does not mean that we put little shipping labels on each and every gluon and quark and package them for shipment.

An alternative explanation of Star Trek technology might go something like this:

In the transporter room I record the quantum state of Captain Kirk and then destroy him. Then I create an entity, identical in all respects on the planet's surface. There is no requirement that "he" be "transported". The result is indistinguishable.