Another step forward for Quantum — The Quantum Current. US Dept. of Energy has a new method to generate very low-resistance electric (Quantum) current which will improve our methods for energy, quantum computing, and medical imaging, and possibly even a new mechanism for inducing superconductivity—the ability of some materials (zirconium pentatelluride) to carry current with no energy loss.
Me and one of my friends on LinkedIn both knew it was only a matter of time that AI & Quantum together would be announced. And, Google with D-Wave indeed would be leading this charge. BTW — once this pairing of technologies is done; get ready for some amazing AI technology including robotics to come out.
But there may not be any competitors for a while if Google’s “Ace of Spades” newbie performs as they predict. According to Hartmut Neven, head of its Quantum Al Lab, this baby can run:
“We found that for problem instances involving nearly 1,000 binary variables, quantum annealing significantly outperforms its classical counterpart, simulated annealing. It is more than 10 to the power of 8 times faster than simulated annealing running on a single core.”
In layperson’s lingo: this sucker will run 100 million times faster than the clunker on your desk. Problem is, it may not be on the production line for a while.
We all have “Quantum Spark”.
For centuries philosophers have grappled with the question of what makes life, and thanks to the science of quantum mechanics we might just have the answer, writes Johnjoe McFadden.
What is life? Why is the stuff of life — flesh — so different from inanimate material? Does life obey the same laws as the inanimate world? And what happens when we die?
These questions have been pondered by philosophers, scientists and the rest of us for centuries. For most of human history the answer was that life was special. It was animated by some kind of spirit, soul or qui, a vital spark that was absent from the non-living. But, by the end of the 19th century, this theory, known as vitalism, was pretty much discredited by the discovery that living organisms are made from the same chemicals as the inanimate world — atoms and molecules of carbon, nitrogen, oxygen and so on.
We develop a quantum information protocol that models the biological behaviours of individuals living in a natural selection scenario. The artificially engineered evolution of the quantum living units shows the fundamental features of life in a common environment, such as self-replication, mutation, interaction of individuals, and death. We propose how to mimic these bio-inspired features in a quantum-mechanical formalism, which allows for an experimental implementation achievable with current quantum platforms. This study paves the way for the realization of artificial life and embodied evolution with quantum technologies.
A non-destructive Quantum State.
The interaction of thermal energy from the environment with motional degrees of freedom is well known and often referred to as Brownian motion (also thermal motion). But in the case of polar molecules, the internal degrees of freedom — in particular the rotational quantum state — are also influenced by the thermal radiation. So far, the detection of the rotational state was only possible by destroying the molecule. However, a German research group has now demonstrated the first implementation of a non-destructive state detection technique for molecular ions.
As I said this morning; there is something definitely going with Quantum today. Maybe it’s the planet alignment (I saw there was something going on with the alignment with Aquaris today) — this is awesome news.
Rigetti Computing is working on designs for quantum-powered chips to perform previously impossible feats that advance chemistry and machine learning.
Wham! Another headline; 2 new companies (Rigetti and Q Branch) trying to capture the Quantum Platform crown from D-Wave. Now, we can say a real industry race is on.
Based on a recent analysis of our most popular articles, investors seem to have a strong interest in quantum computing. The problem for investors is that there aren’t any pure play opportunities to invest in quantum computing at the moment. The main reason for this is that there aren’t many companies working on quantum computing. In fact, there’s just one company right now that’s actually selling a quantum computer; Canadian based startup D-Wave.
D-Wave has actually released a controversial “quantum computer”, and is working with big names like Google, NASA, and Lockheed. D-Wave received some major credibility recently when Google announced that they solved an optimization problem in seconds that would normally take 10,000 years with a conventional computer. There is one way to get exposure to D-Wave, but it’s hardly a pure-play and doesn’t seem overly promising. While there are very few companies other than D-Wave directly involved in quantum computing, we did find two companies that quantum computing investors should keep an eye on.
Another discussion on Quantum Entanglement. I am seeing a huge gap for scientists and technologists in explaining Quantum to every day folks especially in business. If order for business, etc. to adopt Quantum we will need to start explaining Quantum in examples that the average person can understand.
When physicist Ronald Hanson revealed shocking evidence for quantum entanglement, the world took note — the universe really is stranger than fiction, as he reveals in this hangout with cryptographer Renato Renner.
Welcome to Quantum Hell.
Martin Bojowald, a professor of phycics at Penn State University, presents his fascinating ideas about “Loop Quantum Cosmology” in Once Before Time: A Whole Story of the Universe. “Will we ever,” Bojowald asks, “with a precision that meets scientific standards, see the shape of the universe before the big bang? The answer to such questions remains open. We have a multitude of indications and mathematical models for what might have happened. A diverse set of results within quantum gravity has revealed different phenomena important for revealing what happened at the big bang. But for a reliable extrapolation, parameters would be required with a precision far out of reach of current measurement accuracy.
Glad that Stanford is working on their own version because the US Government has their own and it has been online in Los Alamos for a while now; have more than one version to learn from only enriches the final version.
Researchers are a step closer to building a quantum technology that could help improve internet security.
Researchers from Stanford University in U.S. have created a novel quantum light source to help improve internet security. In other words, the scientists have designed a technology that might someday serve as the basis for quantum communication.
The physics of quantum communication is definitely complex. Standard lasers are in reality not useful for secure communication in the physics of quantum communication, as they release what is called ‘classical’ light.
