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Jul 21, 2016

Scientists Built a Biological Computer Inside a Cell

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, computing

Building bio/ living computers in cells to combat diseases such as cancer, etc. as well as advance our evolution track towards sincularity.


Chemically hacking bacterial DNA allows for a whole new world of biological computation.

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Jul 21, 2016

Researchers make leap in measuring quantum states

Posted by in categories: computing, quantum physics

Another major leap forward in controlling system noise in QC.


A breakthrough into the full characterisation of quantum states has been published today as a Editors’ Suggestion in the journal Physical Review Letters.

The full characterisation (tomography) of quantum states is a necessity for future quantum computing. However, standard techniques are inadequate for the large quantum bit-strings necessary in full scale quantum computers.

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Jul 21, 2016

World’s most powerful quantum computer now online at USC

Posted by in categories: computing, information science, quantum physics, robotics/AI

Good for USC.


Following a recent upgrade, the USC-Lockheed Martin Quantum Computing Center (QCC) based at the USC Information Sciences Institute (ISI) is now the leader in quantum processing capacity.

With the upgrade — to 1,098 qubits from 512 — the D-Wave 2X™ processor is enabling QCC researchers to continue their efforts to close the gap between academic research in quantum computation and real-world critical problems.

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Jul 21, 2016

Carbon Nanospheres Overcome Electron Spin Decoherence

Posted by in categories: computing, quantum physics

Another spin on spin in QC.


Monitoring electron spins for a prolonged time period poses to be a major barrier in quantum computing. Scientists from EPFL have discovered the possibility of carbon nanospheres to overcome such barriers, even at room temperature.

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Jul 21, 2016

NYC’s next subway cars have WiFi and USB ports built-in

Posted by in categories: internet, security

The New York City subway system is gearing up for a major overhaul meant to bring a “modernized look and feel” to lighting, wayfinding and subway cars by the year 2020. At a press conference on Monday, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s $27 billion, five-year plan to add 1,025 new subway cars, more informative digital screens, better security features and — most importantly for anyone who needs to get some work done underground – WiFi and USB charging ports in the cars and stations.

“People want to work, and they want their device to work 24 hours a day,” Governor Cuomo during the event at the New York Transit Museum in Brooklyn. “They don’t want to have to look up. There has to be WiFi, and there need to be charging ports.”

In addition to free juice and an internet connection, the new subway cars will sport “full color digital customer information displays,” as well as new digital ad space. On a practical level, the cars will offer wider doors to expedite boarding times and up to 750 of new cars will feature an open-ended design that allows for more passenger space.

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Jul 21, 2016

This Swedish Grocery Store Has No Employees

Posted by in category: futurism

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Jul 21, 2016

Large X-shaped structure spotted in the center of our galaxy

Posted by in category: space

X literally marks the spot in the center of the Milky Way, a phenomenon that offers clues about the galaxy’s formation.

Bryan Nelson

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Jul 21, 2016

Facebook’s flock of drones

Posted by in categories: drones, internet, solar power, sustainability

Facebook plans to use solar-powered drones to extend internet access to remote parts of the planet.

Read the latest on these ambitious plans: http://bbc.in/29WgEvF

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Jul 21, 2016

Facebook plans to beam fast Internet to remote areas using lasers

Posted by in categories: drones, internet, solar power, sustainability

So far the system can be used to receive signals carrying data at rates of up to 2.1 gigabits per second, though the team claims it could go faster if it were built to absorb infrared, rather than blue, light.

It’s worth pointing out that this isn’t the first piece of hardware to emerge from the Connectivity Lab. Famously, it’s been working on a solar-powered drone to deliver Internet access. That particular project is progressing slowly, though, so despite the fact that the team behind the new laser device plans to test it in a real-world setting, there’s likely still much development ahead before it’s used widely.

The social network is, however, busy pursuing plenty of other projects to take data to the sticks. Most notably, its Telecom Infra Project will use open-source cellular networks to achieve similar results. That way, you see, anyone will be able to sign up on Facebook.

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Jul 21, 2016

Facebook details a way to offer laser-based internet access

Posted by in categories: internet, materials

Have you wondered how Facebook might offer high-speed internet access using lasers? The company’s Connectivity Lab is happy to show you. It just published a research paper explaining laser beam technology can deliver up to 2Gbps to remote places. The trick, it says, is to use fluorescent optical fibers to collect the light instead of relying on traditional optics. Since the fibers don’t emit the same color that they’re absorbing, you can shine a brighter light at them (similar to a solar concentrator) and manage an extremely quick turnaround time of under 2 nanoseconds. Combine that with multi-stream data encoding and you get the ample bandwidth that’s normally reserved for WiFi and wired networks.

Facebook says it’s “investigating the feasibility” of shipping laser internet hardware based on this technology, but that may be more realistic than you think. The social network managed this feat using readily available materials that weren’t even meant for the purpose. It’s hoping that other organizations will craft optimized materials that are better-suited, and notes that an infrared-based system might hit speeds of up to 10Gbps. As important as Facebook’s findings might be, they’re only just the beginning.

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