Lifeboat Foundation

MIT researchers demonstrate a way to sharply reduce errors in two-qubit gates, a significant advance toward fully realizing quantum computation.

MIT researchers have made a significant advance on the road toward the full realization of quantum computation, demonstrating a technique that eliminates common errors in the most essential operation of quantum algorithms, the two-qubit operation or “gate.”

“Despite tremendous progress toward being able to perform computations with low error rates with superconducting quantum bits (qubits), errors in two-qubit gates, one of the building blocks of quantum computation, persist,” says Youngkyu Sung, an MIT graduate student in electrical engineering and computer science who is the lead author of a paper on this topic published on June 16, 2021, in Physical Review X. “We have demonstrated a way to sharply reduce those errors.”

Move over, gene-editing proteins—there’s a smaller, cheaper, more specific genetic engineering tool on the block: DNAzymes—small DNA molecules that can function like protein enzymes.

Researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign have developed a technique that, for the first time, allows DNAzymes to target and cut double-stranded DNA, overcoming a significant limitation of the technology. DNAzymes have been used in biosensing, DNA computing and many other applications. However, when it comes to genetic engineering applications such as gene editing or gene therapy, they have faced a challenge: DNAzymes have only been able to target sites on single-stranded DNA, while the DNA coding for genes in cells is double-stranded. The researchers published their new technique in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.

“DNAzymes have many advantages, including higher stability, smaller size and lower cost than protein enzymes. These advantages perfectly fit the requirement for genetic engineering tools,” said study leader Yi Lu, a professor of chemistry at Illinois. “No DNAzymes could alter double-stranded DNA until this work. By making that happen, we open the door for DNAzymes to enter the entire world of genetic engineering.”

Rather than steal credentials or hold data for ransom, a recent campaign observed by Sophos prevents people from visiting sites that offer illegal downloads.

The objective of most malware is some kind of gain — financial or otherwise — for the attackers who use it. However, researchers recently observed a unique malware with a single intent: Blocking the infected computers from visiting websites dedicated to software piracy.

The malware (which SophosLabs principal researcher Andrew Brandt called “one of the strangest cases I’ve seen in a while”) works by modifying the HOSTS file on the infected system, in a “a crude but effective method to prevent a computer from being able to reach a web address,” he wrote in a report published Thursday.

Dual system could lead to compact facilities for particle physics and X-ray analysis.

Loyal founder Celine Halioua talks about the inspiration behind her journey into aging science and why dog longevity has relevance in humans.

A malware called Crackonosh infected 222000 PCs in order to mine $2 million worth of Monero cryptocurrency.

Cybersecurity experts reported the detection of at least four flaws in Dell SupportAsist’s BIOSConnect feature, the exploitation of which would allow threat actors to deploy remote code to affected devices. It should be noted that this software is preinstalled by default on most Dell computers running Windows systems, and BIOSConnect allows remote firmware update and some operating system recovery features.

This set of flaws received a score of 8.3÷10 on the Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) scale, and its exploitation would allow privileged remote hackers on the target system to impersonate an official Dell service in order to take control of the operating system boot process and thus break any security controls enabled. So far no active exploitation attempts or a functional attack have been detected for the abuse of these flaws.

Continue reading “Vulnerabilities in Dell laptops’ software allow hackers to execute code remotely in millions of devices” »

Tardigrades have previously survived in the vacuum of space.

Indestructible water-dwelling creatures called tardigrades will be subject to a series of experiments at the International Space Station to reveal how they survive in extreme environments.

A massive maelstrom that raged in the universe’s youth could help scientists better understand how galaxies and their central black holes interact.

Most, if not all, galaxies harbor a supermassive black hole at their core. Our own Milky Way has one, for example — a behemoth known as Sagittarius A*, which is about as massive as 4.3 million suns.