By changing the rules, or "protocols," that govern data transmission over the Internet, scientists have more than tripled the highest speed at which large blocks of information can be transported. In a recent test, the new protocol sustained transfer rates of 8,609 megabits per second of uncompressed data -- about 6,000 times faster than a typical home broadband link.

Researchers who created the protocol at California Institute of Technology have dubbed it FAST transmission control protocol. (FAST is an acronym, but you don't want to know.) It uses complex algorithms to make more efficient use of existing bandwidth. Over a given Internet link, the current protocol tops out at 25% of maximum throughput. FAST is 95% efficient, says Steven Low, a computer scientist who leads the Caltech project. And it offers the same boost over any connection, be it a home DSL line or a T3 at the office.

FAST is being developed to help distribute scientific data and enhance "GRID" computing, in which big problems are parceled out to many computers running concurrently. The protocol is now being tested at several high-energy physics labs. These are home to the world's largest databases, measured in petabytes, or millions of gigabytes. In the latest tests, 21,000 gigabytes of data were shipped over shared networks in just six hours -- a third the time it takes without FAST.

Hollywood could benefit next. Because FAST excels at sending big files over large distances, it's a natural for helping Tinseltown distribute its vast trove, says Low. Using FAST, it would take under five seconds to download a DVD-quality movie.

These are heady times in the world of quantum physics. A team of scientists at Japan's NEC (NIPNY) reported a breakthrough that could hasten the arrival of lightning-fast quantum computers. Such devices would have the power to make complex calculations in just a fraction of a second, solving mathematical problems that would require millions of years to solve on today's supercomputers.

The NEC team, led by principal researcher Jaw-Shen Tsai, produced a circuit out of two quantum bits, or qubits. Using microelectronics technology, the team connected a pair of qubits so that they acted as one entity, making it possible to hold the pair in a state known as quantum entanglement for one-billionth of a second. Soon, Tsai expects to increase the duration of entanglement, a key to quantum computing, by 1,000 times. "We just used our old method this time, but we have ideas on how to improve performance," he says. The next goal is to create a "universal gate," or logic gate, a building block of quantum computers, later this year.