Physicists at the University of Michigan brought one of Einstein's experiments in quantum physics to new lengths. The scientists managed to change the state of one atom by manipulating another atom that's a considerable distance away. The findings could eventually lead to the construction of a quantum computer, or even a quantum internet.

The process where one atom affects another that's far away is called "entanglement" and is one of the many strange qualities of quantum physics. There's no known way of how these two particles interact with each other; scientists liken the process to flipping two coins, where the result of one affects the other.

The experiment had two atoms of ytterbium trapped in enclosures a meter apart. By entangling the two atoms, the state of one dictated the state of the other. This will still be the case even if one were taken "to Jupiter." A very mysterious quirk, and as Einstein once described it, very "spooky."

While current tech transmits data through the air or through cables, quantum tech (if developed the right way) could transmit data directly from one atom to another in no time at all, which could lead to a whole new era of quantum computers and a quantum internet.

We've reported before on Spintronics and its potential applications in information technology. But what exactly is Spintronics? Okay, the term sounds like a name for an audio sound system group for a rave, but Spintronics, otherwise known as spin electronics, is an emerging technology that looks to develop devices that exploit the atomic level world of quantum physics.

Bottom line: conventional electronics use the charge of the electron (+ or -), but Spintronic devices also use the "spin" of the electron (a unique characteristic of the subatomic particles) and the charge achieving new functionality. Scientists claim that Spintronics can bring us steps closer to quantum computing.

One of the current problems with Spintronics is that you need huge superconducting magnets. This won't work in today's age of handheld gadgets. But there is some good news though.

Roland Winkler of Regensburg University, Germany, had this to say: "We believe we've discovered a much simpler way for inducing spin polarization. We don't need a big magnet. The only requirement in our case is an electrical current in the sample, which is much easier to achieve than putting the sample in a magnetic coil."

One step closer to Star Trek speed processing?

It's that part of Nature where the formerly solid line between Science and Spirituality starts to blur.

If proof of the Existence of the God/Goddess (or whatever you perceive He/She to Be) is ever to be found, it will be at the subatomic level - arguing in favor of what philosophers from Buddha and Aristotle to the present have been saying all along, that the Divine is present in all things.

The topic, of course is quantum physics, the science of the tiniest particles known. These particles, known as "quarks," exhibit what we mortals would consider very odd behavior. 

Six different types of quarks are held together by "gluons" to from protons.  The oddest of these is the recently identified "strange" quark. It literally "boils up" inside a proton and then "simmers back out of existence".

"Technically the strange quark contribution to the proton's charge distribution has proven elusive," said Dr. Derek Leinweber of the the University of Adelaide in Australia.  Working with researchers in Scotland and the U.S., the Australian team has come up with way of more precisely calculate  the properties of these subatomic particles. They used a method called "Lattice Simulations" on high-powered "supercomputers" and combined this with a separate field of physics known as Effective Field Theory. Combining these in a new an novel way has revealed many new clues to the behavior of the elusive "strange" quark.

"There is a huge industry in particle physics with groups of researchers around the world making new measurements that could reveal physics beyond the standard model of the universe," adds Leinweber. "Our result presents a huge challenge to experimental physicists in planning the next generation of experiments."

The Black Hole Information Paradox comes from the combination of quantum mechanics and general relativity and has been the topic of nearly 30 years of debate. In 1976, Stephen Hawking calculated that as soon as a black hole forms, it starts losing mass by radiating energy ("Hawking radiation"). Hawking radiation contains no information about the matter inside the black hole and once the black hole fizzles, all information is lost.

Nice theory but unfortunately it violates the laws of quantum physics which say information can never be completely destroyed. Hawking argued that the intense gravitational fields of black holes somehow turns the laws of quantum physics upside down and inside out. Other physicists have forwarded their own theories that could make sense of this cosmic chicken-or-egg paradox.

One of them suggests black holes are not smooth, featureless entities but stringy "fuzzballs. According to the string theory, proposed by Ohio State University physicists, all particles in the universe are made of tiny vibrating strings. The contentious information continues to exist bound up in a giant tangle of strings that fills a black hole from its core to its surface.

NASA says it has the answer to the Black Hole Paradox. But you have to wait for a few days to know what it is. Astronomers using NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory will host a media teleconference on June 21 (1 p.m. EDT) to explain how black holes light up the universe. Briefing participants include:

• Jon Miller, assistant professor, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
• John Raymond, astrophysicist, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, Mass.
• Meg Urry, professor, Yale University, New Haven, Conn.

A video file about the discovery will also be aired on NASA TV.