Researchers had suggested it should be possible, in principle, to make measurements that are "gentle" enough not to destroy the superposition. The idea was to measure something less direct than whether the bit is a 1 or a 0 -- the equivalent of looking at Schrödinger's cat through blurry glasses.
MORE: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn22336-quantum-measurements-leave-schrodingers-cat-alive.html
See also...
More Certainty On Uncertainty's Quantum Mechanical Role
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/10/121004121638.htm
Entangled in the Past: "Entanglement Between Photons that have Never Coexisted"
http://scienceblogs.com/principles/2012/10/05/entangled-in-the-past-entanglement-between-photons-that-have-never-coexisted/
And...
How Order Arises from the Random Motion of Particles in the Cosmos
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/10/121005092939.htm
Surprising Black Hole Discovery Changes Picture of Globular Star Clusters
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/10/121003132119.htm
