Beam Me Up, Scotty!

Whether you’re stuck in traffic, waiting at the airport whilst delay after delay is announced or just really missing someone far away, a lot of us have probably wished we could teleport. But is this superpower the stuff of science fiction? Or could it, one day, become a reality?

Listener Faith wants to know whether Star Trek’s Transporter could ever deconstruct and reconstruct humans in the real world, and it turns out quantum physics holds some tantalising potential for this seemingly impossible task. To search for answers Hannah and Dara dive down the quantum rabbit hole, exploring entanglement, superposition, and trying on some very special socks.

Contributors
Ivette Fuentes - Professor of Quantum Physics at University of Southampton
Winfried Hensinger - Professor of Quantum Technologies at the University of Sussex
Helen Beebee - Professor of the Philosophy of Science at the University of Leeds

Producer: Emily Bird
Executive Producer: Sasha Feachem
A BBC Studios Production