Lifeboat Foundation

It may seem like something from science fiction, but researchers have found a group of microorganisms that can live off of pure electricity, reports. All life uses electricity, but scientists long thought it impossible for a cell to directly consume and expel electrons. That’s because fatty cell membranes act as insulators, preventing the flow of electricity. Scientists have now found evidence that some cells can discharge electrons through specialized proteins in their membranes, and others can ingest electrons from an electrode by using an enzyme that creates hydrogen atoms. Still others might be able to directly consume electrons, though that research has yet to be published. The findings could help researchers understand how life thrives under a variety of conditions, and how it could exist on places like Mars.

Excellent story and highlights how Quantum computers may provide a way to overcome the obstacles around particle physics because QC can simulate certain aspects of elementary particle physics in a well-controlled quantum system.

Physicists in Innsbruck have realized the first quantum simulation of lattice gauge theories, building a bridge between high-energy theory and atomic physics. In the journal Nature, Rainer Blatt’s and Peter Zoller’s research teams describe how they simulated the creation of elementary particle pairs out of the vacuum by using a quantum computer.

Using numerical modelling, researchers from Russia, the US, and China have discovered previously unknown features of rutile TiO2, which is a promising photocatalyst. The calculations were performed at an MIPT laboratory on the supercomputer Rurik. A paper detailing the results has been published in the journal Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics.

It’s all on the surface

Special substances called catalysts are needed to accelerate or induce certain chemical reactions. Titanium dioxide (TiO2) is a good photocatalyst—when exposed to light, it effectively breaks down water molecules as well as hazardous organic contaminants. TiO2 is naturally found in the form of rutile and other minerals. One of the two most active surfaces of rutile R-TiO2 is a surface that is denoted as (011). The photocatalytic activity is linked to the way in which oxygen and titanium atoms are arranged on the surface. This is why it is important to understand which forms the surface of rutile can take.

A high-tech version of an old-fashioned balance scale at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has just brought scientists a critical step closer toward a new and improved definition of the kilogram. The scale, called the NIST-4 watt balance, has conducted its first measurement of a fundamental physical quantity called Planck’s constant to within 34 parts per billion — demonstrating the scale is accurate enough to assist the international community with the redefinition of the kilogram, an event slated for 2018.

The redefinition-which is not intended to alter the value of the kilogram’s mass, but rather to define it in terms of unchanging fundamental constants of nature-will have little noticeable effect on everyday life. But it will remove a nagging uncertainty in the official kilogram’s mass, owing to its potential to change slightly in value over time, such as when someone touches the metal artifact that currently defines it.

Planck’s constant lies at the heart of quantum mechanics, the theory that is used to describe physics at the scale of the atom and smaller. Quantum mechanics began in 1900 when Max Planck described how objects radiate energy in tiny packets known as “quanta.” The amount of energy is proportional to a very small quantity called h, known as Planck’s constant, which subsequently shows up in almost all equations in quantum mechanics. The value of h — according to NIST’s new measurement — is 6.62606983×10−34 kg?m2/s, with an uncertainty of plus or minus 22 in the last two digits.

Robert Dunleavy had just started his sophomore year at Lehigh University when he decided he wanted to take part in a research project. He sent an email to Bryan Berger, an assistant professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering, who invited Dunleavy to his lab.

Berger and his colleagues were conducting experiments on tiny semiconductor particles called quantum dots. The optical and electronic properties of QDs make them useful in lasers, light-emitting diodes (LEDs), medical imaging, solar cells, and other applications.

Dunleavy joined Berger’s group and began working with cadmium sulfide (CdS), one of the compounds from which QDs are fabricated. The group’s goal was to find a better way of producing CdS quantum dots, which are currently made with toxic chemicals in an expensive process that requires high pressure and temperature.

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This is excellent; being able to ensuring that 2 particles can act as 1 molecule through tunneling.

Researchers have theoretically shown that in certain conditions, two particles will begin to act as if they are one molecule and undergo quantum tunneling together.

Nice.

Albert Einstein is famous for his theories on relativity, but what of his other grand hypothesis, the unified field theory that consumed the last 30 years of his life without resolution? So will a unified theory of everything ever be realized?

Scientists have mixed a molecule with light between gold particles, creating a new way to manipulate the physical and chemical properties of matter.

Light and matter are usually separate and have distinct properties. However, molecules of matter can emit particles of light called photons. Normally, emitted photons leave the molecule and the two do not mix again.

Now, scientists have trapped a single molecule in such a tiny space that when it emits a photon, the photon cannot escape. This produces an oscillation of energy between the molecule and the photon, creating a mixing of the properties of matter and light.

Over 20 years ago, I was interviewed by a group that asked me about the future of technology. I told them due to advancements such as nanotechnology that technology will definitely go beyond laptops, networks, servers, etc.; that we would see even the threads/ fibers in our clothing be digitized. I was then given a look by the interviewers that I must have walked of the planet Mars. However, I was proven correct. And, in the recent 10 years, again I informed others how and where Quantum would change our lives forever. Again, same looks and comments.

And, lately folks have been coming out with articles that they have spoken with or interviewed QC experts. And, they in many cases added their own commentary and cherry picked people comments to discredit the efforts of Google, D-Wave, UNSW, MIT, etc. which is very misleading and negatively impacts QC efforts. When I come across such articles, I often share where and why the authors have misinformed their readers as well as negatively impacted efforts and set folks up for failure who should be trying to plan for QC in their longer term future state strategy so that they can plan for budgets, people can be brought up to date in their understanding of QC because once QC goes live on a larger scale, companies and governments will not have time to catch up because once hackers (foreign government hackers, etc.) have this technology and you’re not QC enabled then you are exposed, and your customers are exposed. The QC revolution will be costly and digital transformation in general across a large company takes years to complete so best to plan and prepare early this time for QC because it is not the same as implementing a new cloud, or ERP, or a new data center, or rationalizing a silo enterprise environment.

The recent misguided view is that we’re 30 or 50 years away from a scalable quantum chip; and that is definitely incorrect. UNSW has proven scalable QC is achievable and Google has been working on making a scalable QC chip. And, lately RMIT researchers have shared with us how they have proven method to be able to trace particles in the deepest layers of entanglement which means that we now can build QC without the need of analog technology and take full advantage of quantum properties in QC which has not been the case.

Continue reading “Google’s quantum computer inches nearer after landmark performance breakthrough” »