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Category: computing – Page 32

Optical writing of antiferromagnets points toward new storage devices and energy efficient information systems

A German-Japanese research team involving the University of Augsburg has made a significant breakthrough in the use of antiferromagnets. For the first time, the team has succeeded in writing magnetic information using only ultrashort laser pulses—without the need for electric currents or magnetic fields.

Antiferromagnetic materials are considered promising for the next generation of data storage devices because they react particularly quickly and are insensitive to external disturbances. Until now, however, their application has been limited because their magnetic states are difficult to control precisely.

The research team led by experimental physicist Prof. Dr. István Kézsmárki has now developed a new method in which it is not the polarization of the light, but its direction of propagation (“pulse”), that is used for control. Through targeted irradiation, it is possible to switch between different magnetic states and write information. Furthermore, this information can also be read out using purely optical means. The paper is published in the journal Nature Materials.

Quantum computing: Laser-optical system offers full control over 2,000 trapped Rydberg atoms

Fraunhofer ILT in Aachen has developed a highly complex laser-optical system for a quantum computer currently under construction at the 5th Institute of Physics at the University of Stuttgart. This system enables 2,000 Rydberg atoms to be positioned with submicrometer precision in the computer’s highly compact vacuum chamber. To do this, the system projects an array of 2,000 individually controllable laser beams into the chamber. These beams act as optical tweezers and hold the trapped Rydberg atoms precisely at the distance required for them to interact with each other. The computer’s quantum logic processes are based on these interactions.

The task was formidable: to develop a system capable of controlling 2,000 trapped strontium atoms using optical tweezers and positioning them with an accuracy of less than 100 nanometers (nm) within the vacuum chamber of a Rydberg quantum computer. The vacuum chamber is the computer’s processing unit, where two adjacent atoms are brought into a state through laser excitation in which they interact with one another. These interactions can be controlled and measured. Scientists refer to them as two-qubit logic gates; they are the building blocks of quantum logic in a Rydberg quantum computer.

Rydberg atoms are particularly well suited for quantum computing. In their laser-excited state, they are more than one micrometer (µm) in size because, as a result of the excitation, their outermost electron briefly moves to an orbital far from the atomic nucleus, where it nevertheless remains bound. However, due to the weak binding of the outer electron, the atoms are highly sensitive to electric fields, which can also originate from neighboring atoms. Scientists are leveraging this property for the highly precise electromagnetic control of quantum operations.

Controlling magnetic chirality could help memory pack in more data

Magnetic storage devices, like a computer’s hard disk drive, utilize magnets to represent binary data. However, as these devices are downsized, stray magnetic fields generated by individual magnetic components can interact with neighboring elements to cause operational malfunctions, limiting how much data we can densely pack into memory devices.

A joint research team led by Hidetoshi Masuda and Yoshinori Onose from Tohoku University’s Institute for Materials Research—in collaboration with CROSS, J-PARC, Keio University, and Kyoto University—has successfully demonstrated precise, deterministic control over the spiral-handedness (magnetic chirality) in a metallic helimagnet, a material that inherently avoids malfunction-causing crosstalk. Details of their findings were published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on June 16, 2026.

A helimagnet features microscopic atomic magnets arranged in a twisted, spiral pattern. Utilizing its chirality (right-or left-handed mirror images) to represent binary data (“0” and “1”) could enable ultra-high-density storage. While some experiments suggested that this chirality could be controlled by simultaneously applying an electric current and a magnetic field, previous confirmations relied on indirect, macroscopic electrical measurements highly susceptible to experimental artifacts.

Antibiotics reverse damage caused to blood stem cells by chronic Salmonella

2 Helen Diller Comprehensive Cancer Center, UCSF, San Francisco, California, USA.

3Department of Computational Biology, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Memphis, Tennessee, USA.

4Department of Neurological Surgery, Malnati Brain Tumor Institute of the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois, USA.

What could humans build in 2000 years

What does humanity look like two thousand years into the future?
In this cinematic 4K documentary, we embark on an extraordinary voyage to the year 4001. For over five centuries, star ships have departed from the third arm of the Milky Way galaxy, gradually piecing together a complete map of our cosmic neighborhood. From harvesting the energy of entire stars to exploring the unseen boundaries of higher dimensions, this is the blueprint of a civilization that has outgrown its cradle.

▶A Film by: Scienshell Studio.

What began as a fragile step into orbit has evolved into a grand interstellar federation. Guided by advanced computing minds and fueled by cosmic mega-structures, human intelligence now spreads across distant territories light-years away, flourishing under the light of alien suns.

In this video, you’ll discover:
00:00 Introduction.
02:26 The Grand Era of Space Exploration.
04:02 Dyson Power Station No. 22
06:18 The Mind: The Galactic Brain and Reversible Computing.
09:38 Gravitational Dams and Artificial Black Holes.
12:04 Antimatter Batteries and Space Travel.
13:13 The Oasis Rings and the Dinosaur Renaissance.
15:56 Project Asgard: Unlocking the extra Dimensions of Space.

▶ About This Video.
Two millennia after our first steps into space, humanity has transformed from planetary inhabitants into cosmic architects. Through cinematic 3D visuals and detailed scientific narration, this film explores the reality of a Type II civilization: Dyson spheres draining entire stars for energy, gravitational dams capturing the mass of artificial black holes, and orbital evolutionary rings designed to replicate ancient Earth and trigger a prehistoric renaissance. Finally, we look at Project Asgard, an experiment tracking graviton escape to map the hidden nine dimensions of space.

This documentary is perfect for anyone fascinated by speculative future technology, Dyson spheres, advanced civilizations, black hole energy extraction, and the ultimate destiny of human exploration.

Continue reading “What could humans build in 2000 years” | >

The world’s first ultra-compact semiconductor chip for biosignal measurement

A research team led by Prof. Junghyup Lee of the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at DGIST has become the first in the world to develop a “time-interleaved noise-shaping SAR ADC (analog-to-digital converter)” semiconductor chip capable of simultaneously measuring multiple biosignals, including electrocardiograms (ECG) and electromyograms (EMG). The team developed this technology in an actual semiconductor chip and successfully completed functional validation. Their findings were presented at the IEEE Symposium on VLSI Technology & Circuits (VLSI 2026), held in Honolulu, June 14–18.

Accurately measuring multiple biosignals using wearable devices such as smartwatches requires meeting several demanding conditions. These include “ultra-high input impedance (resistance)” to prevent signal loss even when no sweat is present on the skin or when contact is loose (dry or non-contact electrodes), a “wide input range” to prevent signal distortion caused by vigorous movement, and “ultra-low power consumption” for long-term operation. However, conventional measurement approaches have struggled to satisfy all these requirements simultaneously within a single chip.

Lee’s research team addressed this challenge by proposing a novel “time-interleaved third-order noise-shaping SAR ADC” architecture in which circuit blocks that consume significant power and chip area are shared across multiple channels, while only essential components (the residual capacitor banks) are allocated separately to each channel. This approach dramatically reduced the circuit area and power consumption required for multichannel systems, enabling an ultra-compact, ultra-low-power chip.

Scientists Turned Human Cells into Tiny Biological Computers

The researchers also built in a warning signal. When the cell received a confusing instruction—the biological equivalent of two commands arriving at once—it produced a separate alert instead of continuing as if nothing had happened.

To show how the system might one day be used in medicine, the team programmed cells to secrete IL-15, an immune protein that can help activate cancer-fighting immune cells.

The experiments relied on engineered circuits delivered into cells under controlled lab conditions. The authors note several challenges ahead, including avoiding unwanted RNA interactions, limiting leaky genetic switches, and finding reliable ways to insert larger circuits into cell genomes.

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