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  • Lockheed Martin eyes quantum entanglement radar

    by 
    Darren Murph
    Darren Murph
    03.11.2007

    We've got quantum dot lasers, cryptographic data networks, teleportation (saywha?), and a pesky company to boot, but the (in)famous defense contractor Lockheed Martin has apparently hit the loony sauce a bit too quickly on its latest patent application. In a proposed effort to concoct the ultimate omniscient radar, the firm is suggesting that it can break the boundaries of theoretical physics and create a "quantum entanglement" scanner that can "penetrate any type of defense to identify hidden weapons and roadside bombs from hundreds of miles away." The theory -- which hasn't been realized in a product just yet -- suggests that two particles can be joined so that whatever happens to one must also happen to its partner, however far apart they are, which could be used to detect contraband from faraway locales (or peek through suspicious garb). Interestingly, it doesn't seem that we're the only ones wondering just what type of Kool-Aid the outfit's R&D department is sipping, as a physicist at Manchester University has reportedly insinuated that even in the far-reaching world of quantum physics, "the mechanics are just wrong." Seriously, isn't a Big Brother blimp enough for you guys?[Via Wired]