Beam Me Up, Scotty!

Beam Me Up, Scotty!

From Curious Cases by BBC Radio 4

November 14, 2025 · 29 min

About this episode

The episode explores the possibility of teleportation through the lens of quantum physics, inspired by Star Trek's Transporter.

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

People in this episode

Hosts: Hannah, Dara

Guests: Ivette Fuentes, Winfried Hensinger, Helen Beebee

Topics covered

  • teleportation
  • quantum physics
  • Star Trek
  • entanglement
  • superposition
  • science fiction

Keywords

  • teleportation
  • quantum physics
  • Star Trek
  • entanglement
  • superposition
  • science fiction
  • transportation

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: University of Southampton, University of Sussex, University of Leeds, BBC Studios

More episodes of Curious Cases

Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the Curious Cases podcast page.