Quantum batteries (QBs) are energy storage devices that could serve as an alternative to classical batteries, potentially charging faster and enabling the extraction of more energy. In contrast with existing batteries, these batteries leverage effects rooted in quantum mechanics, such as entanglement and superposition.
Despite their promise, QBs have not yet reached optimal performances, partly because they are prone to decoherence simultaneously. This is a loss of coherence (i.e., the ability of quantum systems to exist in a superposition of multiple states), prompted by interactions between a system and its surrounding environment.
Decoherence causes QBs to self-discharge, or in other words, to spontaneously start releasing the energy they are storing. This self-discharging process has so far prevented the batteries’ practical application.
Federal regulators have given approval for U.S. clinical trials of a Cuban-developed lung cancer vaccine.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced the Food and Drug Administration’s decision Wednesday at the Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo.
Lung cancer is the second most commonly diagnosed cancer in both men and women, according to the American Cancer Society, which estimates nearly 160,000 Americans will die from the disease this year, with non-small cell cancer the most frequently diagnosed type, by far.
The Cuban lung cancer vaccine, called CIMAvax, was developed by the Center of Molecular Immunology in Havana. It works as a form of immunotherapy.
(October 26 2016)
The FDA allows a landmark test of a Cuban vaccine that uses the body’s immune system to starve lung-cancer cells.
There are currently over 750,000 patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) in the United States. Globally, 2.6 million patients receive renal replacement therapy with either dialysis or a kidney transplant, which is estimated to double in number by 2030. Kidney care was revolutionized by the invention of the dialysis machine in 1943 by Willem Kolff and the subsequent development of the arteriovenous fistula in 1960 by Belding Scribner. The first successful human kidney transplantation was performed in 1954 by Joseph Murray, teaming with John Merrill, and has since become the treatment of choice for patients with ESRD. Although there have been only incremental innovations since that time, recent exciting developments in kidney research have the potential to transform treatment beyond dialysis and transplantation. Here, we highlight five emerging approaches for ESRD.
(Circa 2022)
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A new study has revealed that autoantibodies—immune proteins traditionally associated with autoimmune disease—may profoundly influence how cancer patients respond to immunotherapy.
The study, published in Nature, offers a potential breakthrough in solving one of modern-day oncology’s most frustrating mysteries: why checkpoint inhibitors work for some patients but not others—and how we can extend their benefits to more people.
“Our analysis shows that certain naturally occurring autoantibodies can tilt the odds dramatically toward shrinking tumors,” said senior author Aaron Ring, MD, Ph.D., an associate professor at Fred Hutch Cancer Center. “We saw some cases where autoantibodies boosted a patient’s likelihood of responding to checkpoint blockade by as much as five-to ten-fold.”
In a breakthrough for antimatter research, the BASE collaboration at CERN has kept an antiproton—the antimatter counterpart of a proton—oscillating smoothly between two different quantum states for almost a minute while trapped. The achievement, reported in a paper published today in the journal Nature, marks the first demonstration of an antimatter quantum bit, or qubit, and paves the way for substantially improved comparisons between the behavior of matter and antimatter.
Using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) and the Gemini Observatory, European astronomers have observed a nearby cold brown dwarf known as WISE 1738. Results of the observational campaign, published July 16 on the arXiv preprint server, deliver important insights into the physical properties and atmospheric chemistry of this object.
The secret to how steel hardens and shape-memory alloys snap into place lies in rapid, atomic-scale shifts that scientists have struggled to observe in materials. Now, Cornell researchers are revealing how these transformations unfold, particle by particle, through advanced modeling techniques.
Using custom-built computer simulations, Julia Dshemuchadse, assistant professor of materials science and engineering at Cornell Engineering, and Hillary Pan, Ph.D., have visualized solid-solid phase transitions in unprecedented detail, capturing the motion of every particle in a theoretical material as its crystal structure morphs into another.
Their findings, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, reveal not only classical transformation mechanisms, but also entirely new ones, reshaping how scientists understand this fundamental process in materials science.
What do children’s building blocks and quantum computing have in common? The answer is modularity.
It is difficult for scientists to build quantum computers monolithically—that is, as a single large unit. Quantum computing relies on the manipulation of millions of information units called qubits, but these qubits are difficult to assemble. The solution? Finding modular ways to construct quantum computers. Like plastic children’s bricks that lock together to create larger, more intricate structures, scientists can build smaller, higher-quality modules and string them together to form a comprehensive system.
Recognizing the potential of these modular systems, researchers from The Grainger College of Engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign have presented an enhanced approach to scalable quantum computing by demonstrating a viable and high-performance modular architecture for superconducting quantum processors.