Lifeboat Foundation

While tech-industry heavyweights strive for quantum supremacy, IDC’s latest research reveals the current state of quantum computing and explains why real-world applications are only a qubit away.

The theory of relativity describes black holes as being spherical, smooth and simple. Quantum theory describes them as being extremely complex and full of information. New research now proposes a surprising solution to this apparent duality.

Researchers from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, joined by a colleague from Argonne National Laboratory, U.S., have implemented an advanced quantum algorithm for measuring physical quantities using simple optical tools. Published in Scientific Reports, their study takes us a step closer to affordable linear optics-based sensors with high performance characteristics. Such tools are sought after in diverse research fields, from astronomy to biology.

Maximizing the sensitivity of measurement tools is crucial for any field of science and technology. Astronomers seek to detect remote cosmic phenomena, biologists need to discern exceedingly tiny organic structures, and engineers have to measure the positions and velocities of objects, to name a few examples.

Until recently, no measurement tool could ensure precision above the so-called shot noise limit, which has to do with the statistical features inherent in classical observations. Quantum technology has provided a way around this, boosting precision to the fundamental Heisenberg limit, stemming from the basic principles of quantum mechanics. The LIGO experiment, which detected gravitational waves for the first time in 2016, shows it is possible to achieve Heisenberg-limited sensitivity by combining complex optical interference schemes and quantum techniques.

SpaceX just launched humans to space for the first time.

DARPA is developing bioelectronic devices that would dwell in the gut and produce therapeutic drugs on demand.

This tall and narrow battery-powered vehicle made in China by Changli isn’t really a car, but it will get you places and it’s extremely cheap.

In this new installment of our series on the highest-mileage Tesla Model X (and one of the highest mileage EVs in the world), we look into battery degradation and replacement on a Tesla with over 400,000 miles.

Earlier this year, I bought one of the cheapest and most high-mileage Tesla Model X vehicles ever.

Continue reading “A look at Tesla battery degradation and replacement after 400,000 miles” »

FCA’s commercial vehicle arm Fiat Professional presents the production version of its all-electric Ducato van, the Fiat E-Ducato, a year after the first prototype was shown in mid-2019. It will be the first electric Ducato in the 39-year history of the model.

It’s expected to enter the European market within the next few months, starting from selected countries, and will be available in all body variants, offering a payload of up to 1,950 kg and load volume from 10 to 17 m3.

In the consumer electronics industry, quantum dots are used to dramatically improve color reproduction in TV displays. That’s because LCD TV displays, the kind in most of our living rooms, require a backlight. This light is typically made up of white, or white-ish LEDs. The LCD filters the white light into red, green, and blue pixels; their combinations create the colors that appear on the screen.

Before quantum dots, filtering meant that much of the light didn’t make it to the screen. Putting a layer of quantum dots between the LEDs and the LCD, however, changes that equation. QD TVs use blue LEDs as the light source, then take advantage of the quantum effect to shift some of that light to tightly constrained red and green wavelengths. Because only this purified light reaches the filters—instead of the full spectrum that makes up white light—far less is blocked and wasted.

It turns out that this same approach to making your TV picture better can make plants grow faster, because plants, like LCD filters, are tuned to certain colors of light.