Researchers have today published findings on newly observed challenges of using ‘twisted’ light as a form of wireless, high-capacity data transmission in urban environments that could one day render fibre-optical communication obsolete. The work, published in Science Advances, will enable new approaches to be taken by researchers in adaptive optics to address the observed challenges, which could to lead fibre optics being replaced by free space optics as a functional mode of communication in urban environments and remote sensing systems.