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Aug 26, 2020

Researchers on a path to build powerful and practical quantum computer

Posted by in categories: computing, quantum physics

For the first time, researchers have designed a fully connected 32-qubit trapped-ion quantum computer register operating at cryogenic temperatures. The new system represents an important step toward developing practical quantum computers.

Junki Kim from Duke University will present the new hardware design at the inaugural OSA Quantum 2.0 conference to be co-located as an all-virtual event with OSA Frontiers in Optics and Laser Science APS/DLS (FiO + LS) conference 14—17 September.

Instead of using traditional bits that can only be a zero or a one, quantum computers use qubits that can be in a superposition of computational states. This allows quantum computers to solve problems that are too complex for traditional computers.

Aug 26, 2020

Space station crew spend extra night in Russian segment as air leak investigation continues

Posted by in category: space

Astronauts will spend another night in the International Space Station’s Russian segment while ground controllers continue to search for the source of an air leak on the orbiting lab.

Aug 26, 2020

Mosquitoes armed with bacteria beat back dengue virus

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, health

Nov 2019 NATIONAL HARBOR, MARYLAND

—In a handful of cities around the world, mosquitoes have been armed with a microscopic weapon against disease. The bacterium Wolbachia pipientis blocks the insects’ ability to spread fearsome viruses such as dengue, Zika, and chikungunya. Since 2011, researchers have been injecting Wolbachia into the eggs of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes and releasing the hatched insects, which spread this protection to their offspring. But the field has been waiting for evidence that this approach actually reduces disease in people.

Field trials suggest public health benefit to spreading Wolbachia.

Aug 26, 2020

Learning to pilot a real-life GIANT mech suit

Posted by in category: futurism

Your dreams of piloting a giant mech are now reality.

Aug 26, 2020

Why are clothing sizes so erratic and can they be fixed?

Posted by in category: mobile phones

New apps are allowing users to record their dimensions, and recommend what size to buy at different outlets.


New apps use your phone to record your dimensions and recommend what size to buy at shops.

Aug 25, 2020

Benjamin Franklin

Posted by in categories: education, physics

Benjamin Franklin FRS FRSA FRSE (January 17, 1706 [O.S. January 6, 1706] – April 17, 1790) was an American polymath and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. Franklin was a leading writer, printer, political philosopher, politician, Freemason, postmaster, scientist, inventor, humorist, civic activist, statesman, and diplomat. As a scientist, he was a major figure in the American Enlightenment and the history of physics for his discoveries and theories regarding electricity. As an inventor, he is known for the lightning rod, bifocals, and the Franklin stove, among other inventions.[1] He founded many civic organizations, including the Library Company, Philadelphia’s first fire department,[2] and the University of Pennsylvania.[3]

Franklin earned the title of “The First American” for his early and indefatigable campaigning for colonial unity, initially as an author and spokesman in London for several colonies. As the first United States ambassador to France, he exemplified the emerging American nation.[4] Franklin was foundational in defining the American ethos as a marriage of the practical values of thrift, hard work, education, community spirit, self-governing institutions, and opposition to authoritarianism both political and religious, with the scientific and tolerant values of the Enlightenment. In the words of historian Henry Steele Commager, “In a Franklin could be merged the virtues of Puritanism without its defects, the illumination of the Enlightenment without its heat.”[5] To Walter Isaacson, this makes Franklin “the most accomplished American of his age and the most influential in inventing the type of society America would become.

Aug 25, 2020

Jeep previews 2022 Grand Wagoneer, plug-in hybrid Wrangler 4xe

Posted by in category: futurism

Jeep published a pair of preview videos that shed light on the 2022 Grand Wagoneer and the plug-in hybrid Wrangler 4xe. Both are due out in September 2020.

Aug 25, 2020

As researchers race to find successful treatments and an eventual cure for COVID-19, everyone is getting a real-time glimpse into the messiness of scientific discovery

Posted by in category: biotech/medical

We’re all impatient for solid recommendations based on rigorous testing and established facts, but in a fast-moving field, that’s rarely possible. And someone always has to be the guinea pig. This was just as true 130 years ago when Niels Ryberg Finsen began experimenting with treating disease with UV light. He started by testing on himself.


Niels Ryberg Finsen pioneered therapeutic ultraviolet lamps and won himself a Nobel Prize.

Aug 25, 2020

Artificial Intelligence Will Surveil And Study Released Prisoners

Posted by in categories: habitats, internet, robotics/AI

Artificial intelligence applications are popping up everywhere these days, from our Internet browsing to smart homes and self-driving cars. Now a group of researchers is launching a new AI-led study that will collect data from recently released prisoners. The ultimate goal of the project is to identify – and, ostensibly, one day eliminate – the psychological and physiological triggers that cause recidivism among parolees.

According to project-leads Marcus Rogers and Umit Karabiyik, the resulting data will assist them in conducting a forensic psychological analysis. While the monitoring will be gauged in intervals – not real-time – they believe it will help build a profile of the risky behaviors and stressful triggers that recent parolees face when returning to the outside world.

Aug 25, 2020

Nano-diamond self-charging batteries could disrupt energy as we know it

Posted by in categories: information science, nanotechnology, nuclear energy, particle physics, sustainability, transportation

https://youtube.com/watch?v=ksMXbhftBbM

California company NDB says its nano-diamond batteries will absolutely upend the energy equation, acting like tiny nuclear generators. They will blow any energy density comparison out of the water, lasting anywhere from a decade to 28,000 years without ever needing a charge. They will offer higher power density than lithium-ion. They will be nigh-on indestructible and totally safe in an electric car crash. And in some applications, like electric cars, they stand to be considerably cheaper than current lithium-ion packs despite their huge advantages.

The heart of each cell is a small piece of recycled nuclear waste. NDB uses graphite nuclear reactor parts that have absorbed radiation from nuclear fuel rods and have themselves become radioactive. Untreated, it’s high-grade nuclear waste: dangerous, difficult and expensive to store, with a very long half-life.

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