Why is ‘quantum underwear’ being sold in China?

In the age of Gwyneth Paltrow's Goop and ill-advised internet health trends, one trend coming out of China is betting on cutting-edge technology: Quantum computing. At least that’s what they claim.

These various products online appear to be peddling fake quantum technology, or experimental tech based on the principles of quantum mechanics like quantum computing. And the key word here is experimental. Despite Google’s claim last year of reaching quantum supremacy -- the point at which a quantum computer can solve problems a traditional computer can’t -- scientists are still struggling to create quantum computers that can be used in real-life applications.

"How can something that hasn't been achieved in the laboratory become widely popular on the market?” Jin Xianmin, a physics professor at Shanghai's Jiaotong University, said to Xinhua in a report covering the new marketing phenomenon. For him, the reasoning was simple: If the quantum socks don’t rely on quantum superposition -- the fundamental principle of quantum mechanics -- they’re not a quantum product.

But this hasn’t stopped sellers from jumping on the tech buzzword bandwagon. The trend came to light in October last year when an education training center in Beijing was found to be offering “quantum speed-reading” classes. It claimed to teach kids how to read 100,000 Chinese characters in five minutes.