OT: Slowing the speed of light to improve networking?

["Fergie (Paul Ferguson)" <fergdawg () netzero net>]

A colleague brought this article to my attention. Slightly off-topic,
but interesting nonetheless:

 "Researchers at UC Berkeley, along with scientists from
 the University of Oregon and the University of Illinois,
 say they can slow the speed of light in a way that could
 help speed the delivery of movies to your PC.

 "Scientists at the university managed to slow the speed
 of light traveling through a semiconductor to 6 miles a
 second, or 31,000 times slower than the 186,000 miles per
 second that light normally travels in a vacuum.

 "Slowing the light pulses could lead to a more orderly
 traffic flow in networks, ....."

Full article:

http://news.com.com/Slowing+the+speed+of+light+to+improve+networking/2100-1033_3-5387842.html?tag=cd.lede

- ferg

--
"Fergie", a.k.a. Paul Ferguson
 Engineering Architecture for the Internet
 fergdawg () netzero net or
 fergdawg () sbcglobal net