Spooky Action
     TEN OUT OF TEN PHYSICISTS AGREE: NOTHING CAN TRAVEL FASTER THAN LIGHT. 
EINSTEIN SAID IT FIRST AND NO ONE'S BEEN ABLE TO DISPROVE IT SINCE.  WHICH IS WHY
NO ONE COMPLETELY UNDERSTANDS HOW A RECENT EXPERIMENT DONE IN
SWITZERLAND WORKS.  TWO PHOTONS TEN KILOMETERS APART SEEM TO BE ABLE TO
COMMUNICATE FASTER THAN THE SPEED OF LIGHT, SAYS NICOLAS GISIN.  HE SAYS
EINSTEIN CALLED IT SPOOKY ACTION AT A DISTANCE.

     Gisin: "These two photons were produced together so they are twins in some
sense."

     AND LIKE TWINS WHO CLAIM THEY ALWAYS KNOW WHEN SOMETHING HAPPENS
TO THE OTHER, THESE PHOTONS HAVE AN UNCANNY CONNECTION.  NO MATTER HOW
FAR APART THEY GET, THE PAIR OF PHOTONS WILL ALWAYS SHARE CERTAIN
CHARACTERISTICS.  IT'S AS IF ONE PHOTON ALWAYS HAD TO BE RED AND THE OTHER
ONE ALWAYS HAD TO BE BLUE.  IF YOU MAKE ONE OF THE PHOTONS RED, THEN NO
MATTER HOW FAR AWAY THE OTHER ONE IS, IT'S GOING TO HAVE TO SWITCH TO BLUE. 
INSTANTLY.  FASTER THAN EVEN A MESSAGE TRAVELLING AT THE SPEED OF LIGHT COULD
TELL IT TO CHANGE. 

     Gisin: "Spooky action at a distance is instantaneous. . . now the . . . says that
nothing can go faster than the speed of light . . so there is clearly a tension between
these two theories which are both basic for our understanding of physics and of the
universe."

     THE WHOLE SITUATION IS KNOWN AS THE EPR PARADOX AND GISIN WHO'S A
PHYSICIST AT THE UNIVERSITY OF GENEVA RECENTLY TESTED IT.  ONE PHOTON ENDED UP
IN THE NORTH PART OF GENEVA, AND THE OTHER ONE TRAVELED TO A TOWN JUST
SOUTH--AND YET EACH PHOTON STILL KNEW INSTANTLY WHAT WAS HAPPENING TO ITS
TWIN.  NO ONE KNOWS HOW THE PHOTONS DO IT.  FOR NOW SCIENTISTS JUST HAVE TO
AGREE THAT SOMETHING SPOOKY IS GOING ON.