Like a bunch of mad scientists, Google has a group of employees working in a secretive in-house laboratory often referred to as the Google X labs. The department has been the driving force behind ideas like Google Glass and Google’s self-driving smart cars.

Google X is the search giant’s factory for moonshots, those million-to-one scientific bets that require generous amounts of capital, massive leaps of faith, and a willingness to break things.

According to Businessweek Google is quite selective about the projects they greenlight, even if some of them may be a little far-fetched and wild. Google engineers apparently mulled over the idea of developing some kind of teleportation project. The idea was quickly thrown out because “any unique item that you would want to teleport… would have to be completely destroyed before it could be reconstituted on the other end.” In other words, engineers believe that you would first have to destroy an object during the teleportation process.

While teleportation might be out of the question, Google is still considering several unorthodox projects. Businessweek disclosed that engineers may very well start research on projects related to levitation, “inflatable robots,” and even wind-powered drones.

Apparently, there’s some crazy stuff going on at Google’s headquarters, but that’s a good thing. The only way to advance technology is to experiment and research extensively. Still, it’s hard to imagine a world where a company like Google –known for its massive internet search engine and mobile operating system Android- is responsible for producing a quantum teleportation device.

For a closer look at the bizarre world of the Google X labs check out the Bloomberg Businessweek article sourced below.

[via Businessweek]