A new scientific breakthrough could drastically speed up the internet

One of the biggest first world probs? A slow internet connection. But that could soon be a relic of the past, thanks to a new breakthrough from UK researchers.

In a recent experiment, scientists from Aston University achieved download speeds of 301 million megabits/second using traditional fiber optic cables – or 1.2 million times faster than the average US broadband performance (242 Mbps).

And, while the number itself is remarkable, the researchers say the novel method they used is the truly exciting part.

The breakthrough: The researchers, using custom-built devices, figured out a way to send data via new wavelengths of light that were previously inaccessible in fiber optic cables (how fiber optic cables work). The scientists described their new wavelength bands as “equivalent to different colors of light being transmitted down the optical fiber.”

• Thanks to these new “colors” of light, the researchers were able to transmit far greater amounts of data in a shorter period of time compared to traditional methods.
• This solution is especially noteworthy because it works on most existing fiber optic cables, and doesn’t require any new infrastructure to drastically improve internet speeds.

👀 Looking ahead… The researchers’ next goal is to refine the method so that it can be rolled out by internet providers. For context, if implemented widely, scientists say the system would make downloading movies and large files near-instantaneous. Or put another way: you could download The Flash in a…really short amount of time.