In another of an occasional series, we take a look at a headline that simply must be repeated far and wide, even if maybe a dozen people in the world understand it. From the Science 2.0 site, we have:
Superbradyonic Vacuum And Quantum Entanglement
The unusual feature of this headline is that I actually know what part of it is talking about. "Quantum entanglement" is the feature of some pairs subatomic particles that allows them to affect each other instantaneously, which should be impossible. If you pair up a couple of electrons, some of their physical attributes will correlate. If one has a clockwise spin, then the other will have a counter-clockwise spin, for example. If something changes the spin of the first electron, then the second one will change as well. This will happen no matter how far apart they later become. and the second change will be instantaneous.
That's impossible because even light, the fastest phenomenon in existence, has a finite speed and there is no way that the information about the change could reach the second particle any faster than light could. Since light takes a definite, if incredibly small, time to go from one particle to another, then information should as well.
Albert Einstein, Boris Podolsky and Nathan Rosen described this effect in a paper in 1935. Einstein never liked entanglement, calling it "spooky."
"Superbradyonic vacuum," on the other hand, I got no idea about, unless it happens to be a description of what's inside the footballs used by the quarterback of the New England Patriots.
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