BEAM me up, Scotty!

Admit it, you’ve always wanted to be teleported like Captain Kirk and Mr Spock.

As a kid watching the original Star Trek TV series I was always fascinated - and jealous - of the scenes where the crew of the Starship Enterprise were reduced to their constituent particles and miraculously reassembled somewhere else (usually on the surface of an alien planet).

The chances of it happening for real were beyond impossible. Which is why it was such a tantalising idea.

Well, I’ve news for you. Teleportation is not a fantasy any more.

Scientists have toyed with the concept for years. But now they are beginning to make a real breakthrough in the field.

It’s not possible as yet to teleport a human being. But scientists are able to perform teleportation in the microscopic world.

I’ll try not to get too technical (mainly because I don’t really understand it).

There are believed to be three sorts of teleportation. The first is where the state of a particle is teleported to another distant particle, but without either moving.

The second is where energy is teleported, and in the third it is believed particles are able to be teleported.

Got it?

It is this final one that has been making worldwide headlines this week.

The breakthrough has huge implications for how we communicate in the future, say scientists.

In recent tests, two separate teams of scientists teleported information across several kilometres of optical fibre network in two cities.

By information, scientists mean quantum states of light particle.

You’re looking blankly at me. Don’t ask me to explain further.

What I do understand is that it could see the development of an ultra-secure means of communication, a ‘quantum internet’ if you will.

Professor Michio Kaku of New York University believes human teleportation will not be a fantasy forever. He believes we are only a few generations away from the notions of the Star Trek writers being reality.

There’s a good chance our great great grandchildren will view teleportation the same way we treat stepping into a lift.

Aside from the obvious effects on traffic jams, public transport and holiday travel, teleportation could have other uses, I reckon.

How about tackling the clutter at home?

I can see television programmes about interior designers - a 22nd century Laurence Llewellyn Bowen? - offering storage solutions using the latest technology.

Teleport all your stuff and the rubbish in the spare room to a remote spot. A warehouse in the Shetlands, say.

Then teleport it back to your house only when you need it, one thing at a time. Then send it back again when you’ve finished with it.

Think I might take that idea on Dragons’ Den.