Lifeboat News: The Blog – Safeguarding Humanity

Get the latest international news and world events from around the world.

Oct 19
2025

Simplified Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev model simulated on trapped-ion quantum computer

The simulation of strongly interacting many-body systems is a key objective of quantum physics research, as it can help to test the predictions of physics theories and yield new valuable insight. Researchers at Quantinuum, a quantum computing company, recently simulated a simplified version of a well-known theoretical model, the so-called Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev (SYK) model, using a trapped-ion quantum computer and a previously introduced randomized quantum algorithm.

Their simulation, outlined in a paper published on the arXiv preprint server, improves the present understanding of chaotic quantum systems that cannot be simulated using classical computers. In the future, their work could contribute to the simulation of other complex quantum systems and theoretical models.

“We were interested in the SYK model for two reasons: on one hand it is a prototypical model of strongly interacting fermions in condensed matter physics, and on the other hand it is the simplest toy model for studying quantum gravity in the lab via the holographic duality,” said Enrico Rinaldi, Lead R&D Scientist at Quantinuum and senior author of the paper.

Oct 19
2025

Scientists May Have Found a Simple Way to Reverse Aging Eyes

UC Irvine researchers have discovered that supplementing the eye with special fatty acids can reverse vision loss caused by aging—at least in mice.

Oct 19
2025

A logical calculus of the ideas immanent in nervous activity

Because of the “all-or-none” character of nervous activity, neural events and the relations among them can be treated by means of propositional logic. It is found that the behavior of every net can be described in these terms, with the addition of more complicated logical means for nets containing circles; and that for any logical expression satisfying certain conditions, one can find a net behaving in the fashion it describes. It is shown that many particular choices among possible neurophysiological assumptions are equivalent, in the sense that for every net behaving under one assumption, there exists another net which behaves under the other and gives the same results, although perhaps not in the same time. Various applications of the calculus are discussed.

Oct 19
2025

Shapeshifting soft robot uses electric fields to swing like a gymnast

Researchers have invented a new super agile robot that can cleverly change shape thanks to amorphous characteristics akin to the popular Marvel anti-hero Venom.

The unique soft morphing creation, developed by the University of Bristol and Queen Mary University of London, is much more adaptable than current soft robots. The study, published in the journal Advanced Materials, showcases an electro-morphing gel jelly-like humanoid gymnast that can move from one place to another using its flexible body and limbs.

Researchers used a special material called electro-morphing gel (e-MG) which allows the robot to show shapeshifting functions, allowing them to bend, stretch, and move in ways that were previously difficult or impossible, through manipulation of electric fields from ultralightweight electrodes.

Oct 19
2025

Rainbow-on-a-chip‘ could help keep AI energy demands in check — and it was created by accident

A new photonics chip that generates multicolored laser beams could supercharge data center technology and ease the strain of AI’s surging data demands.

Oct 19
2025

New smart ring is a novel way to control your computer — it has the humble mouse firmly in its sights

The picoRing device ditches Bluetooth for a novel magnetic relay system linked to a wristband, slashing its power consumption to mere microwatts.

Oct 19
2025

Mother’s voice seems to boost language development in premature babies

Babies born too soon seem to have stronger connections in one of the major brain areas that supports language processing if they regularly heard their mother read them a story while in intensive care

Oct 19
2025

Disease-associated radial glia-like cells with epigenetically dysregulated interferon response in MS

Li et al. report that Edwardsiella piscicida employs HigA, an anti-toxin protein, to facilitate the diversion of tryptophan metabolism to the kynurenine pathway, rather than the serotonin pathway, by directly activating IDO1 in a T6SS-dependent manner as a cross-kingdom effector. The serotonin-level fluctuation modulates host intestinal histological damage and bacterial infection.