Lifeboat Foundation

One of the cornerstones of the implementation of quantum technology is the creation and manipulation of the shape of external fields that can optimize the performance of quantum devices. Known as quantum optimal control, this set of methods comprises a field that has rapidly evolved and expanded over recent years.

A new review paper published in EPJ Quantum Technology and authored by Christiane P. Koch, Dahlem Center for Complex Quantum Systems and Fachbereich Physik, Freie Universität Berlin along with colleagues from across Europe assesses recent progress in the understanding of the controllability of quantum systems as well as the application of quantum control to quantum technologies. As such, it lays out a potential roadmap for future technology.

While quantum optimal control builds on conventional control theory encompassing the interface of applied mathematics, engineering, and physics, it must also factor in the quirks and counter-intuitive nature of quantum physics.

DNA-based information is a new interdisciplinary field linking information technology and biotechnology. The field hopes to meet the enormous need for long-term data storage by using DNA as an information storage medium. Despite DNA’s promise of strong stability, high storage density and low maintenance cost, however, researchers face problems accurately rewriting digital information encoded in DNA sequences.

Generally, DNA data storage technology has two modes, i.e., the “in vitro hard disk mode” and the “in vivo CD mode.” The primary advantage of the in vivo mode is its low-cost, reliable replication of chromosomal DNA by cell replication. Due to this characteristic, it can be used for rapid and low-cost data copy dissemination. Since encoded DNA sequences for some information contain a large number of repeats and the appearance of homopolymers, however, such information can only be “written” and “read,” but cannot be accurately “rewritten.”

To solve the rewriting problem, Prof. Liu Kai from the Department of Chemistry, Tsinghua University, Prof. LI Jingjing from the Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry (CIAC) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Prof. Chen Dong from Zhejiang University led a research team that recently developed a dual-plasmid editing system for accurately processing digital information in a microbial vector. Their findings were published in Science Advances.

In trying to understand the nature of the cosmos, some theorists propose that the universe expands and contracts in endless cycles.

Because this behavior is hypothesized to be perpetual, the universe should have no beginning and no end—only eternal cycles of growing and shrinking that extend forever into the future, and forever into the past.

It’s an appealing concept in part because it removes the need for a state called a singularity that corresponds to “beginning of time” in other models.

A research team led by the Technical University of Munich (TUM) has succeeded for the first time in producing a molecular electric motor using the DNA origami method. The tiny machine made of genetic material self-assembles and converts electrical energy into kinetic energy. The new nanomotors can be switched on and off, and the researchers can control the rotation speed and rotational direction.

Be it in our cars, drills or automatic coffee grinders—motors help us perform work in our everyday lives to accomplish a wide variety of tasks. On a much smaller scale, natural molecular motors perform vital tasks in our bodies. For instance, a motor protein known as ATP synthase produces the molecule adenosine triphosphate (ATP), which our body uses for short-term storage and transfer of energy.

While natural molecular motors are essential, it has been quite difficult to recreate motors on this scale with mechanical properties roughly similar to those of natural molecular motors like ATP synthase. A research team has now constructed a working nanoscale molecular rotary motor using the DNA origami method and published their results in Nature. The team was led by Hendrik Dietz, Professor of Biomolecular Nanotechnology at TUM, Friedrich Simmel, Professor of Physics of Synthetic Biological Systems at TUM, and Ramin Golestanian, director at the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization.

Holographic teleportation is when a hologram is transmitted to a different location instantaneously.

While it is something that was only seen in SciFi movies like Star Wars, on July 27 at the Western Institute for Space Exploration (Western Space), the world’s first-ever international holoport was demonstrated.

Continue reading “VIDEO: World’s first international holographic teleportation” »

Summary: Zooming out to image larger areas of the brain while using fMRI technology allows researchers to capture additional relevant information, offering a better understanding of neural interplay.

Source: Yale.

Researchers have learned a lot about the human brain through functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), a technique that can yield insight into brain function. But typical fMRI methods may be missing key information and providing only part of the picture, Yale researchers say.

Here are my thoughts on attending the 2022 Tesla Annual Shareholders Meeting.

Just as human counts are incomplete, so are animal counts. But the first worldwide compilation of animal cases is a start at understanding the extent of human-to-animal transmission, scientists say.

The researchers wanted to create robots that could pick up and sort molecules within a designated space. This makes it possible for DNA molecules to serve as the building blocks for 3D nanostructures that self-assemble in a predetermined shape. Tiny DNA-based robots and other nanodevices will deliver medicine inside our bodies, detect the presence of deadly pathogens, and help manufacture increasingly smaller electronics.

This enabled the researchers to design a nano-robot composed of three DNA origami structures. To help it maneuver within the designated space, the robot had a “leg” with a pair of feet. An “arm” with a “hand” allowed it to carry cargo, and a third component was added to tell the hand when a specific drop-off point had been reached so it would know to release the cargo. It allows researchers to carry out the entire design truly in 3D. Earlier design tools only allowed creation in 2D, forcing researchers to map their creations into 3D.

The software helps researchers design ways to take tiny strands of DNA and combine them into complex structures with parts like rotors and hinges that can move and complete a variety of tasks, including drug delivery. The robot will also enable researchers to more precisely determine important signaling pathways for a variety of biological and pathological processes that are stimulated at the cellular level during the application of force.