“...which can only exist while flying at an incredible speed and vanish if they touch anything...”
Man it’s tough to wade through pop science article written by journalism majors.
Well these funny fotons “touched” lenses and mirrors and then went into “channels” == according to the article. But if they “touch” anything the article also says the fotons no longer exist. So then I knew to stop reading. I don’t know much about fisics, but you can tell when the article’s author knows even less.