00:00In 2017, Chinese scientists achieved what seemed impossible. They managed to teleport
00:06a light particle. And not just by a few inches, but from Earth up to their space satellite,
00:12which is 310 miles away. Now, teleporting a photon might not sound impressive to you,
00:18you buzzkill. But it was a historic moment for quantum mechanics and space technology.
00:24Sure, we're not zapping people back and forth like in Star Trek yet, but it's the first step.
00:31The satellite, which is a celebrity now, is named Myseus. It's equipped with special tech to receive
00:37and read the quantum state of the teleported particle. Myseus is the first place in the
00:42universe with which our planet has a quantum lane. So, what's next?
00:48The experiment had to be conducted in a super-controlled environment,
00:52in full peace and silence. So, no wonder they decided to do it in Tibet.
00:58A ground station in Negeri is located over two and a half miles above sea level,
01:04about half of Mount Everest's height. At such heights, the air is noticeably clear,
01:09and not even the tiniest dust particle can mess the teleportation up.
01:14This teleportation technology is based on extraordinarily complex theories,
01:19including ideas of Stephen Hawking. And the main trick here is that it's not traditional
01:24teleportation. Not in a sense we're used to. Everything there works on a funky concept
01:30called quantum entanglement. Basically, it says that two particles, like photons in our example,
01:37can be linked together in such a way that if you change something about one,
01:42the other one changes instantly, no matter how far apart they are. Even if there's an entire universe
01:48between them, they'll still feel the changes in each other right away.
01:53And that's not the creepiest part. All electrons, photons, atoms have their own quantum state,
02:01which describes all the information about them. Stuff like their properties, position, and energy.
02:06Scientists can read this information getting to know the particle. And for some crazy, unexplainable
02:12reason, as soon as we learn information about one entangled particle, the other one becomes its copy.
02:19Imagine there's a brother and sister who live in different towns. But when you get to know the
02:24brother, the sister suddenly becomes his twin. Weird analogy, but you get the idea.
02:30Nothing traveled between these particles. They didn't exchange any information with each other.
02:35They just know that we know. It's like they have a strange, invisible bond that nothing can break.
02:42This really unnerved Albert Einstein back in the day, since he believed that nothing can travel
02:47faster than the speed of light. But this communication happened faster. Einstein called this
02:53a spooky action at a distance. In any case, here's how the Chinese scientists pulled off their experiment.
03:00First, they entangled, or linked, some pairs of these photons in a lab on Earth. They kept one photon of
03:08each pair on the ground and transmitted the other one up to Mysias using a high-precision optical system,
03:14and equipment on the satellite caught it. After that, they read info about both photons,
03:20the one on Earth and the one in space. And, you guessed it, the ones in space copied the information about
03:27their buddies right away. So, by reading info about a particle at spot A, we can transfer its state to
03:35spot B through that invisible quantum link. Which means that actual real-life teleportation is not
03:42about literally moving you from Earth to space, but about creating a full quantum copy of you somewhere
03:49else. Now, isn't that insane? It's actually quite horrifying and opens up a lot of questions.
03:56So, imagine you have a famous old ship. It's so cherished that, over time, as parts of it wear out,
04:03each piece is replaced with a brand new one – an exact copy of the original. After many years,
04:09every single part and nail of the ship has been replaced by their identical copy. Now, the fun
04:15question pops up. Is this shiny ship still the one you had? Or is it something entirely new?
04:22That's a famous philosophical riddle called the Ship of Theseus. You can see how we ask the same
04:28about people and photons. So, let's take this Chinese technology and teleport you from Earth to Mars.
04:35Every part of you, every particle, is recreated perfectly on Mars based on the quantum information
04:42sent through space. Are you on Mars still you? That's a tricky one. Both versions would feel
04:50like the real you to themselves. So, here are some possible options.
04:55Option 1. Nope, that's not you. Because we only transferred information about you,
05:00and not your literal physical atoms that you're made up of. The original ship was always the real one,
05:06because its particles never changed. Now, on the other hand, okay, maybe the atoms are different,
05:12but this person literally thinks like you and remembers everything that you remember. From a
05:18quantum perspective, if you guys have the same quantum information, you are literally indistinguishable.
05:25So, both ships are the real ones. And the final option is that it's not just about atoms or
05:31consciousness, but about your life experience. You're still in the lab talking to scientists,
05:37while the other one is now enjoying the Martian sunset. No matter how similar you are, it's your
05:43history in life that makes you, you. Was that some kind of crazy philosophical puzzle?
05:51But let's get back to reality. How can this teleportation change our lives?
05:56One of the coolest things will be the quantum internet that spans our entire planet.
06:01The internet is basically a superhighway, where information zips back and forth like cars.
06:07But it still takes some time for light particles to travel from their servers to your phone or PC.
06:14Now, imagine a world where all this data appears on your device instantly,
06:18and all computers work much, much faster than they do now. Plus, all communication would be super secure.
06:26After Chinese scientists made this discovery, things have been progressing crazy fast,
06:31in the world of quantum mechanics. Just this year, scientists achieved another huge feat.
06:37They managed to teleport quantum states with nearly 90% accuracy, even in noisy conditions.
06:44Remember how we said that Tibet was the perfect place for our experiment? That's because there's
06:48no greater enemy for quantum teleportation than noise. The entanglement is a very delicate thing,
06:55more fragile than houseplants. Literally anything from the outside can easily disturb it and destroy it.
07:02Before, scientists tried their best to teleport stuff in noisy conditions. They designed special
07:08paths for the light to travel, and used some cool gadgets to keep the light particles stable and not
07:14get all fuzzy and mixed up. But now, they went a step further. They made a cool machine that helps
07:20particles avoid the noise. Even though there are still disturbances around, like bumps and stuff,
07:26the magic machine made sure that the connection between the photons stayed strong and the teleportation
07:33worked properly. So now this teleportation almost always works.
07:38Another cool experiment was conducted in Germany. They found a way to send quantum information through
07:44our regular internet, the ones you used to watch this video. Hooking the quantum internet up to the
07:50regular one is tricky, because they work differently. Remember what we said about noise?
07:55Well, this would be like trying to have a very delicate private chat in the middle of a noisy party
08:01without anyone else hearing it. All the regular internet noise usually breaks quantum information
08:07instantly. Which is why, usually, it needed a quantum link, its own quiet road. But the German
08:14scientists wanted to see if they could somehow send quantum information along with regular internet
08:20data down the same road. So they used this cool technique where they gave quantum and regular data
08:27a special rhythm so they don't bump into each other along the way. And that's how they managed to send
08:33quantum states through our regular optical fiber, the internet's main road. Nothing got mixed up,
08:40and things are still super secure. Now we just need to find a way to make this work on very big distances,
08:46and the online world will be faster and safer. Quantum internet! We're all waiting for you!
08:53Maybe then I'll be able to watch YouTube normally when someone downloads stuff in the other room.
08:58That's it for today! So hey, if you pacified your curiosity,
09:02then give the video a like and share it with your friends. Or if you want more,
09:05just click on these videos and stay on the Bright Side!
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