Quantum computing is something that computer scientist hope to have working in the near future, but they realize that it will be very difficult. Basically, quantum computing will allow for very fast calculations because these quantum computers can perform many operations at once, while conventional computers are limited to performing one operation at a time for each processor.

I don't want to say any more than I have because it is easy to understand that quantum computers will work by performing many operations at once, but it is very difficult to understand the details of how they might work. If you are feeling adventurous, you might look at the June 1998 issue of Scientific American for an article on quantum computing.

As a last note, I should mention that some scientists think that the human brain is a quantum computer. One famous scientist, Roger Penrose, wrote a book called "The Emperor's New Mind" which examined this theory. Recently, other scientist have published convincing articles which claim that the brain is not a quantum computer.