Some days, I feel like I’m living in the future. Then I remember that I don’t have a flying car, a hyperintelligent monkey sidekick or a quantum computer. Granted, I’ve always suspected a flying car would be a terrible idea (and the less said about the monkey, the better), but I still want my iQuantum. So, what’s the hold up?

Quantum computing is one of those ideas that has enormous potential but is so cutting-edge that even its most basic aspects, like storing and reading data, require a large assortment of people with advanced degrees. Recently, two researchers worked out a way to read quantum states using entanglement, the “spooky action at a distance” that links two quantum particles under certain conditions. The method, which they hit upon while exploring electron-electron interactions, could solve the problem of reading quantum bits (aka “qubits”) once and for all.

ASU researchers untangle quantum quirk