Peeking into the box

Ambarish Ganesh, has a CrazyEngineers.com article about Schrodinger's cat:

Want to know whether the cat is dead or alive? Just peek into Schrodinger's box... University of Rochester scientists have devised a novel method wherein you can measure quantum state pretty easily. This single-experiment measurement process to multidimensional quantum states is called direct measurement, and is way faster than the traditional technique. Earlier, to measure a 27-dimension quantum state, you needed to employ a costly, highly time-consuming multi-stage procedure called quantum tomography, which was like creating a 3D image using several 2D images. Robert Boyd, Professor of Optics and Physics at the University of Rochester and Canada Excellence Research Chair in Quantum Nonlinear Optics at the University of Ottawa stated: "Our work shows that direct measurement offers an exciting alternative to quantum tomography."
Direct measurement prides its genius in its two-stage measuring process. Generally, measuring a quantum state alters it irreversibly. For the first stage, also called the 'weak' stage, these researchers measure the stage so gently that the system changes just slightly and doesn't case a collapse in the wave function. As this remains as it is, it allows for a 'strong' measurement of the other variable.
Lead author Dr. Mehul Malik said: "It is sort of like peeking into the box to see if Schrödinger’s cat is alive, without fully opening the box. The weak measurement is essentially a bad measurement, which leaves you mostly uncertain about whether the cat is alive or dead. It does, however, give partial information on the health of the cat, which when repeated many times can lead to near certain information as to whether the cat is alive or dead."
To the uninitiated, Schrödinger’s Cat is a thought experiment (also referred to as a paradox) presented by Edwin Schrödinger in 1935. It illustrates what he thought of as the problem of the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics applied to daily objects. The scene presents cat who could be dead or alive in a box, depending on an earlier random event. You may check out this animated video to understand the paradox better:

Rico says this stuff makes his head hurt...