An international team of researchers has shown that it can control the quantum state of a single electron in a silicon transistor–even putting the electron in two places at once. Their discovery could help pave the way toward a practical quantum computer.

The electronc could be in one of three states. At low electric fields, the electron remained bound to an arsenic atom. At high electric fields, the electron was pulled away from the atom. But when the electric field was at just the right level, the electron would be in both places at once.

Quantum technology effects on the world over the next 20 years will include ubiquitous computers, a human-brain-imitating neural network and true (or near-true) artificial intelligence, and “network-enabled telepathy” (headbands with direct coupling into the right side of the brain).