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Dec 17, 2019

5 Habits That Will Help Your Brain Stay in Peak Condition

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, health, neuroscience

Yes, the simple act of juggling has recently been linked with better brain function. A new study reveals that learning to juggle may cause certain areas of your brain to grow.

The study found that volunteers who participated in a juggling exercise improved white matter in two areas of their brains involved in visual and motor activity.

‘We have demonstrated that there are changes in the white matter of the brain — the bundles of nerve fibres that connect different parts of the brain — as a result of learning an entirely new skill,’ explains Dr Heidi Johansen-Berg of the Department of Clinical Neurology, University of Oxford, who led the work.

Dec 16, 2019

3 Million Bitcoin in 2 Seconds: Google Quantum Computer

Posted by in categories: bitcoin, computing, quantum physics

Less than 3 million Bitcoin (BTC) remain to be mined, with the process expected to take around 121 years. Some allege however, that Google’s quantum computer, Sycamore, could do it in “less than 2 seconds”. But is that really possible?

One computer to rule them all

Despite having the most difficult network to mine, Bitcoin (BTC) could have met its match in the face of the Google’s quantum processor, Sycamore. According to one medium post, the device has enough computational power to mine all the remaining BTC in less than two seconds.

Dec 16, 2019

How to use entanglement for long-distance or free-space quantum communication

Posted by in categories: encryption, internet, quantum physics

Entanglement, once called “spooky action at a distance” by Einstein, is the phenomenon in which the quantum states of separated particles cannot be described independently. This puzzling phenomenon is widely exploited in the quantum physicist’s toolbox, and is a key resource for applications in secure quantum communication over long distances and quantum cryptography protocols. Unfortunately, entangled particles are easily disturbed by their surroundings, and their entanglement is readily diminished by the slightest interaction with the environment.

In a recent study published in the journal Physical Review X, an international team of physicists from Austria, Scotland, Canada, Finland and Germany have demonstrated how quantum can be strengthened to overcome particle loss or very high levels of noise, which are inevitable in real-life applications outside the laboratory. This strengthening is accomplished by departing from commonly used two-level quantum bits, or qubits. Qubits are bi-dimensional systems, the quantum analogue to the classical bit, with values zero or one. In this study, the researchers instead employed entanglement of systems with more than two levels. By entangling particles of light through their spatial and temporal properties, scientists have now observed the survival of quantum entanglement under harsh environmental conditions for the first time.

When it comes to distributing particles of light outside of a protected laboratory, the environmental conditions are identical to the tested ones. Therefore, the experiment is not only a proof-of-principle implementation, but is ready for long-distance quantum communication under real-world conditions. This new method could hence prove helpful for distributing entanglement in a future quantum internet.

Dec 16, 2019

Eating chilies cuts risk of death from heart attack and stroke, study says

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, food

For many years, chili has been hailed for its therapeutic properties, and now researchers have found that eating chili peppers regularly can cut the risk of death from heart disease and stroke.

Carried out in Italy, where chili is a common ingredient, the study compared the risk of death among 23,000 people, some of whom ate chili and some of whom didn’t.

Dec 16, 2019

Sleeping Brain Waves Draw a Healthy Bath for Neurons

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, neuroscience

An organized tide of brain waves, blood and spinal fluid pulsing through a sleeping brain may flush away neural toxins that cause Alzheimer’s and other diseases.

Dec 16, 2019

Scientists Are Searching for a Mysterious Force to Explain the Universe’s Anomalies

Posted by in categories: cosmology, particle physics

Teams have looked for a “fifth force” in the universe within the Earth’s mantle, ultra-vacuum chambers, and in hypothetical particles such as “X17.” Finding it could help explain mysteries around dark matter and dark energy.

Dec 16, 2019

Quantum Computing Playground

Posted by in categories: computing, quantum physics

Learn about all our projects.

Dec 16, 2019

How to Mine Bitcoin for Free With Google BigQuery

Posted by in category: bitcoin

You won’t get rich, but it’s a pretty neat mining hack.

Dec 16, 2019

Rapamycin has anti-aging effect on human skin

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, life extension

A small study reveals that rapamycin, a drug with a long history as an immune suppressor, can improve tone and reduce wrinkles and sagging in human skin.

Dec 16, 2019

Physicist proposes a new approach in modeling the evolution of the universe

Posted by in categories: cosmology, evolution

A physicist from RUDN University has proposed a new theoretical model for the interaction of spinor and gravitational fields. He considered the evolution of the universe within one of the variants of the widespread Bianchi cosmological model. In this case, a change in the calculated field parameters led to changes in the evolution of the universe under consideration. Upon reaching certain values, it began to shrink down to the Big Bang. The article was published in the journal The European Physical Journal Plus.

The spinor field is characterized by its behavior in interaction with gravitational fields. Dr. Bijan Saha of RUDN University focused on the study of a nonlinear spinor field. With its help, he explained the accelerated expansion of the universe. The study of a spinor field with a non-minimal coupling made it possible to describe not only the expansion of the universe, but also its subsequent contraction and the resulting Big Bang within the framework of the standard Bianchi .

The basic calculations performed by Bijan Saha allow moving away from the isotropic of the Friedman-Robertson-Walker universe (FRW) that is most often used. According to this traditional model, the properties of the universe are independent of the direction in which they are considered. The physicist has put forward an alternative: an anisotropic model in which such dependence exists. On the one hand, the “classical” isotropic model describes the of the modern universe with great precision. On the other hand, there are theoretical arguments and that lead to the conclusion that an anisotropic phase existed in the distant past.