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Nature 436, 633-634 (4 August 2005) | doi:10.1038/436633a; Published online 3 August 2005

Quantum Information:  Putting certainty in the bank

Patrick Hayden1

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A new way to manipulate quantum states resolves a long-standing conundrum about who knows what, and when and how, in the quantum world. The result is, as one has come to expect, startling and counterintuitive.

Claude Shannon's landmark 1948 theory of communication1 tackles a nuts-and-bolts question: how do we find the best way to communicate using a given resource, such as a telegraph line or a satellite antenna? To answer that question, Shannon first took a detour into more philosophical territory by working out how to quantify the elusive concepts 'uncertainty' and 'information'.

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