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Testing Quantum Behavior — From Earth to the ISS

Posted by timothy on from the houston-will-you-have-heard-me dept.

KentuckyFC writes "Einstein famously believed that the instantaeous effect of quantum entanglement would allow 'spooky action-at-a-distance' in violation of special relativity. Every test of entanglement on Earth has so far agreed with quantum mechanics but naysayers continue to point out various loopholes that might allow the results of these experiments to be determined in advance rather than instantaneously as QM suggests. Today, an international team of scientists is proposing the mother of all entanglement experiments, to be performed in space. The plan is to send entangled photons between an observer on the ground and one on the International Space Station. By the peculiarities of special relativity, the high relative velocity between the observers means that both will always be able to claim to have carried out their measurement first, thereby ruling out the naysayers' arguments (abstract). The experiment, called Space-QUEST, would be housed aboard Europe's Columbus module and would give the much-derided ISS a stab at doing some decent science for a change."

13 of 196 comments (clear)

  1. Post by Stooshie · · Score: 5, Funny

    I posted this next week and it's still the first post.

    --
    America, Home of the Brave. ... .and the Squaw.
    1. Re:Post by rugatero · · Score: 5, Funny

      No fair! You changed the outcome by measuring it!

      --
      This comment is for entertainment purposes only. Any similarity to real insight or information is purely coincidental.
    2. Re:Post by kclittle · · Score: 4, Funny

      Frist posts like this are just sooooo tomorrow, don't you think?

      --
      Generally, bash is superior to python in those environments where python is not installed.
    3. Re:Post by skuzzlebutt · · Score: 4, Funny

      Your comment has been moderated: SqRt(-1): Will Be Insightful

      --
      My debut novel AMITY now available: http://jeremydbrooks.c
  2. Slashdotted already? by Thornburg · · Score: 4, Funny

    Apparently the entangled photon link they were using to host the webpage couldn't hold up under the strain of Slashdot.

    1. Re:Slashdotted already? by andrewd18 · · Score: 4, Funny

      It was working fine until you tried to observe it.

  3. Re:How do you entangle a photon in the first place by Daimanta · · Score: 4, Funny

    Scientist used Entangle!

    It's super effective!

    Photon capture device go!

    You entangled a photon!

    It was added to your photondex.

    --
    Knowledge is power. Knowledge shared is power lost.
  4. Re:sounds more like a metaphysical question by morgan_greywolf · · Score: 2, Funny

    First was egg.
    It was produced by chicken's ancestor.
    Nope. First was chicken. It was intelligently designed 6000 years ago to lay eggs.
    --
    My blog
  5. Noooo! by FireIron · · Score: 5, Funny

    Please don't break reality. It's where I keep my stuff.

  6. Re:Robust enough? by Thuktun · · Score: 2, Funny

    Plus, I assume they'll be using hundreds or thousands of photons over the coarse of the experiment An experiment involving entangled photons is hardly likely to be coarse.
  7. Re:Science coverage on /. is crappy by gregbot9000 · · Score: 2, Funny

    Why do they need to put it on the ISS any way? Isn't there another side to the planet that we could work on? Or is it just easier to go to space than try and do science in China?

  8. Re:On Liberal Slashdot, we hate the ISS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    They hate us the most right now.

  9. Re:Science coverage on /. is crappy by Wanderer1 · · Score: 3, Funny

    Keep it up guys. This is the best debate I've seen in ages!

    W