Category: Quantum Stuff

Theorists brainstormed new ways of pairing electrons. The higher-temperature superconductors seemed to have atoms arranged in a way that slows electrons down. And when electrons get the chance to mingle in a leisurely fashion, they collectively generate an ornate electric field that can make them do novel things, like form pairs rather than repel. Physicists… Continue reading Exotic New Superconductors Delight and Confound

“The whole story hinges on that kind of scaling,” said David Hayes, a physicist at the quantum computing company Quantinuum. “It’s really exciting to see that become a reality.” Majority Rules The simplest version of error correction works on ordinary “classical” computers, which represent information as a string of bits, or 0s and 1s. Any… Continue reading Quantum Computers Cross Critical Error Threshold

CLIMATEWIRE | President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to run the department in charge of disaster recovery has been skeptical of climate change, declined to accept federal climate money and been criticized for her own handling of a natural catastrophe. Trump named Gov. Kristi Noem of South Dakota on Tuesday to run the Department of Homeland Security,… Continue reading Kristi Noem, Set to Oversee Disaster Agency, Has Rejected Climate Science

A new proof has brought mathematicians one step closer to understanding the hidden order of those “atoms of arithmetic,” the prime numbers. The primes — numbers that are only divisible by themselves and 1 — are the most fundamental building blocks in math. They’re also the most mysterious. At first glance, they seem to be… Continue reading Mathematicians Uncover a New Way to Count Prime Numbers

A decade ago then president Barack Obama proposed spending $75 million over three years to help states buy police body cameras to expand their use. The move came in the wake of the killing of teenager Michael Brown, for which no body camera footage existed, and was designed to increase transparency and build trust between… Continue reading AI Analysis of Body Camera Videos Offers a Data-Driven Approach to Police Reform

This story was produced in partnership with the Pulitzer Center’s Ocean Reporting Network. BAKU, Azerbaijan—During 2024, the hottest year on record, snowpack in the Himalaya Mountains has plummeted to unprecedented lows, the Arctic has become a net carbon emitter, and once stable Antarctic sea ice appears to be permanently melting. The deterioration of the planet’s… Continue reading Melting Glaciers Are Causing Billions of Dollars of Damage

Menger’s statement didn’t distinguish between homeomorphic curves. His proof only guaranteed, for instance, that the circle could be found in his sponge — not that all homeomorphic knots could be, their loops and tangles still intact. Malors wanted to prove that you could find every knot within the sponge. It seemed like the right mashup… Continue reading Teen Mathematicians Tie Knots Through a Mind-Blowing Fractal

The human gut microbiome plays a critical role in the body, communicating with the brain and maintaining the immune system through the gut-brain axis. So it isn’t totally far-fetched to suggest that microbes could play an even larger role in our neurobiology. Fishing for Microbes For years, Irene Salinas has been fascinated by a simple… Continue reading Fish Have a Brain Microbiome. Could Humans Have One Too?

Before he became a decorated pioneer of artificial intelligence, Raj Reddy grew up far from a computer lab. As a child in the 1940s, he lived in rural Katur, Andhra Pradesh, India. His one-room schoolhouse had no paper or pencils, so he learned to write letters in a plot of sand. On hot nights in… Continue reading The AI Pioneer With Provocative Plans for Humanity