Probably no technology from the Star Trek universe is more fervently wished for than the transporter. After all, who wouldn’t want to be able to get from Point a to Point B without all the tedious waiting in lines, sitting in traffic, and shoving through crowds that comes with travel through the physical world? It’d be so much more convenient to simply step up onto a platform, see some pretty sparkling lights, and rematerialize exactly at your destination.
Of course, as much as we might like to have the ability to teleport from place to place, it’s probably not possible. The laws of physics cannot be surpassed by even the most talented Starfleet engineers, alas, and the laws of physics mean it’s probably impossible to teleport real objects the way they do on Star Trek.
There is, however, a very real process known as “quantum teleportation” (type that into Google and you’ll find several hundred thousand hits). The name is a bit of a stretch, but it’s a fascinating application of the non-local properties of quantum physics, so it’s worth talking about how it does and does not resemble its fictional counterpart.
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