Physicists in Geneva were able to quantum-entangle a pair of photons and send them down separate fiber optic cables to two different villages 18km apart.
“The team simultaneously measured several properties of both photons, such as phase, when they arrived at their villages and found that they did indeed have a spooky awareness of each other’s behaviour. On the basis of their measurements, the team concluded that if the photons had communicated, they must have done so at least 100,000 times faster than the speed of light — something nearly all physicists thought would be impossible.”
The online comments at the end of the article raise some interesting questions– the jury’s still out as to whether this means faster-than-light communications is actually possible. But if it is, looks like the “ansible device” from Ender’s Game could become a reality…