Lifeboat Foundation

In the future, communications networks and computers will use information stored in objects governed by the microscopic laws of quantum mechanics. This capability can potentially underpin communication with greatly enhanced security and computers with unprecedented power. A vital component of these technologies will be memory devices capable of storing quantum information to be retrieved at will.

Virginia Lorenz, a professor of physics at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, studies Lambda-type optical quantum memory devices, a promising technology that relies on light interacting with a large group of atoms. She is developing a device based on hot metallic vapor with graduate student Kai Shinbrough.

As the researchers work towards a practical device, they are also providing some of the first theoretical analyses of Lambda-type devices. Most recently, they reported the first variance-based sensitivity analysis describing the effects of experimental noise and imperfections in Physical Review A.

Ed Boyden shows how, by inserting genes for light-sensitive proteins into brain cells, he can selectively activate or de-activate specific neurons with fiber-optic implants. With this unprecedented level of control, he’s managed to cure mice of analogs of PTSD and certain forms of blindness. On the horizon: neural prosthetics. Session host Juan Enriquez leads a brief post-talk Q&A.

Year 2021 😗😁

Researchers say algorithms can simulate an infinite quantum system on finite quantum computers in interesting advance for quantum tech.

Scientists have recently identified a unique form of cell messaging occurring in the human brain that’s not been seen before.

Excitingly, the discovery hints that our brains might be even more powerful units of computation than we realized.

Back in 2020, researchers from institutes in Germany and Greece reported a mechanism in the brain’s outer cortical cells that produces a novel ‘graded’ signal all on its own, one that could provide individual neurons with another way to carry out their logical functions.

So-called “higher symmetries” are illuminating everything from particle decays to the behavior of complex quantum systems.

Physicists have recreated the double-slit experiment in time rather than space, using materials that change their optical properties in femtoseconds. This research could lead to ultrafast optical switches and advancements in time crystals and metamaterials.

Metamaterials are engineered materials that have properties not usually found in nature.

RIKEN physicists have created an exotic quantum state in a device with a disk-like geometry for the first time, showing that edges are not required. This demonstration opens the way for realizing other novel electronic behavior. Their findings are published in Nature Physics.

Physics has long moved on from the three classic states of matter: solid, liquid and gas. A better theoretical understanding of quantum effects in crystals and the development of advanced experimental tools to probe and measure them has revealed a whole host of exotic states of matter.

A prominent example of this is the topological insulator: a kind of crystalline solid that exhibits wildly different properties on their surfaces than in the rest of the material. The best-known manifestation of this is that topological insulators conduct electricity on their surfaces but are insulating in their interiors.

Microsoft has been secretly developing the chips since 2019.

Microsoft is reportedly working on its own AI chips to train complex language models. The move is thought to be intended to free the corporation from reliance on Nvidia chips, which are in high demand.

Select Microsoft and OpenAI staff members have been granted access to the chips to verify their functionality, The Information reported on Tuesday.

ChatGPT, The artificial intelligence tool being used to kickstart brains, and in some cases, standing in for real ones, has reached automotive showrooms to assist shoppers in their searches and dealers in managing their customers.