WSJ.com - Science Journal

WSJ.com - Science Journal: "The most famous feline in science belongs to Erwin Schrödinger, or at least to his fertile imagination. A founder of quantum physics in the early 20th century, Schrödinger wondered what would happen if the seemingly magical behavior of subatomic particles occurred not only in the micro realm but also up here in the macro world. Which is how he found himself in 1935 with an imaginary cat that was both alive and dead.

Time was, physicists could blithely dismiss such Alice-in-Wonderland phenomena as irrelevant to the macro world. Sure, quantum physics allows paradoxical behavior such as particles that exist in two opposite states at the same time or that get over hills even though they don't have enough energy to do so. But once objects are much bigger than electrons or atoms, they behave. At least, they're supposed to.

In experiments unveiled last month, though, physicists managed to get quantum weirdness into larger systems than ever. In doing so, they have not only challenged conventional notions of reality but brought closer the day when quantum magic might find practical uses. Teleportation, anyone?"