Quantum entanglement – once dismissed by Albert Einstein as “spooky action at a distance” – has long captured the public imagination and puzzled even seasoned scientists.

But for today’s quantum practitioners, the reality is rather more mundane: entanglement is a kind of connection between particles that is the quintessential feature of quantum computers.

Though these devices are still in their infancy, entanglement is what will allow them to do things classical computers cannot, such as better simulating natural quantum systems like molecules, pharmaceuticals, or catalysts.