In an advance that will thrill fans of Star Trek, scientists have for the first time teleported atoms. They say their research will help to develop ultra-fast quantum computers - but Trekkies should not expect teleportation machines to beam objects or people between distant locations in the foreseeable future. Previous experiments have succeeded in teleporting only photons (particles of light). The step up to atoms - far larger and more complex particles - was made almost simultaneously by two separate research teams, one at the University of Innsbruck in Austria and the other at the US National Institute of Standards and Technology in Boulder, Colorado.The scientists agreed to report their results together in the journal Nature on Thursday.
