Quantum computing

What the Hell Is a Quantum Computer and How Excited Should I Be?

They will never sit on your desk, and they will most certainly never fit in your pocket. Today, they’re fragile, and need to be kept at temperatures close to absolute zero. Quantum computers aren’t much like the desktop PCs we’re all so familiar with—they’re a whole new kind of machine, capable of calculations so complex,…

Tech News Ryan F. Mandelbaum Nov 7

Microchip Breakthrough Could Help Us Build a New Kind of Computer

On Monday, a team of scientists in Australia announced an exciting breakthrough: For the first time, researchers were able to turn light into sound on a microchip. But—as crazy-sounding new physics applications tend to be—it’s probably going to be a long time before you see one of these chips on a computer you can buy.…

Tech News Ryan F. Mandelbaum Sep 19

IBM Quantum Computer Does Record-Breaking Chemistry

As cool as they sound, quantum computers will probably not be best suited for designing websites or making pretty word processors. Instead, their quirky bits may one day be used to solve special algorithms, for artificial intelligence applications, or to model things that actually follow the wild rules of quantum physics. One day. IBM scientists…

Physics & Chemistry Ryan F. Mandelbaum Sep 14

Scientists Propose a New Kind of Quantum Computer, But What Does That Mean?

There are weeks where it seems like every piece of physics news mentions quantum computing—but we are nowhere near a quantum iPhone. You probably remember that computers can consist of billions of nanometer-scale transistors etched into silicon. Those chips used to be enormous, room-sized setups where instead of transistors, there were tubes the size of…

Physics & Chemistry Ryan F. Mandelbaum Sep 6

Physicists Use Lasers to Set Up First Underwater Quantum Communications Link

Quantum mechanics may force you to think some wild things about the way the Universe works, but it has some real applications. One of the theory’s main quirks allows for a special kind of quantum link, one that can send incredibly secure messages or transmit data for quantum computing. Tests of these links exist on…

Tech News Ryan F. Mandelbaum Aug 23

There’s Now a Real Quantum Computer That Anyone Can Use Remotely

For decades, quantum computing has been the preserve of research labs. But now IBM has made its working prototype quantum computer accessible via the internet—and literally anyone can use it. The company has made a five-qubit quantum computer—which sits in a New York lab—remotely accessible using a piece of special software. It’s not for the…

Tech News Jamie Condliffe May 4

Everyone Should Be Able To Explain Quantum Computing Like Justin Trudeau

When Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau schooled a journalist on the basics of quantum computing yesterday, I was initially as charmed and delighted as everyone else. But then a niggling sense of dismay set in. Why should this be such a singular newsworthy event? How come so few of us can do what Trudeau did,…

Tech News Jennifer Ouellette Apr 16

Humans Can Still Do One Thing Better Than AI

Google’s AlphaGo computer may have bested a human in four out of five matches last month, but human beings still excel when it comes to intuitive leaps in problem solving. That’s the conclusion of a new paper in Nature by Danish scientists. Blending the two approaches yields the best of both worlds—a marriage of man…

Tech News Jennifer Ouellette Apr 13

Researchers Just Discovered a New State of Matter

Scientists have theorized for decades that an additional state of matter exists, but despite tantalizing hints to its presence, details about this mystery state have remained elusive—until now. A new paper in Nature Materials by researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the University of Cambridge details how physicists were finally able to catch a…

Tech News Ria Misra Apr 4

This Chip Could Finally Make a Real Quantum Computer

Quantum computers could immeasurably speed up the rate at which calculations run—but so far, their promise has yet to be realized. Now, a team of researchers has built a versatile quantum chip that it reckons could be pieced together to create a powerful computational device. Quantum computers can, theoretically, be so much faster because they…

Physics & Chemistry Jamie Condliffe Mar 25

Play This Puzzle Game to Help Program a Quantum Computer

Programming a quantum computer is not straightforward. But playing computer games is–and this one will help academics gather information to help them write code for quantum computers in the future. The game, called meQuanics, has been developed by a team from the RIKEN Center for Emergent Matter Science in Saitama, Japan. It’s based on a…

Tech News Jamie Condliffe Mar 10

Physicists Create ‘Pseudo-Particles’ for Error-Free Quantum Computing

We may be one step closer to quantum computing that’s inherently protected from errors. Physicists at the University of Copenhagen have successfully created an exotic type of pseudo-particle that is immune to outside interference. The results are described in a new paper in Nature. Unlike a classical computer, with bits representing 0’s and 1’s, a…

Tech News Jennifer Ouellette Mar 9

NSA Plans to ‘Act Now’ to Ensure Quantum Computers Can’t Break Encryption

The NSA is worried about quantum computers. It warns that it “must act now” to ensure that encryption systems can’t be broken wide open by the new super-fast hardware. In a document outlining common concerns about the effects that quantum computing may have on national security and encryption of sensitive data, the NSA warns that…

Privacy & Security Jamie Condliffe Feb 4

Google Claims to Have Proved That Its Quantum Computer Actually Works

A team of researchers from Google’s artificial intelligence labs has published results which it claims demonstrate that its controversial D-Wave quantum computer really works. Google bought one of D-Wave’s quantum computers back in 2013. Claimed to be the “world’s first commercial quantum computer,” the device sits at NASA’s Ames Research Center in Mountain View, California,…

Physics & Chemistry Jamie Condliffe Dec 9

World’s First Silicon Quantum Logic Gate Brings Quantum Computing One Step Closer

Quantum computing is a devilishly complex pursuit and one of the main problems is that it demands exotic materials to create its equally exotic circuitry. Now a team of researchers has managed to create the world’s first quantum logic gate in faithful old silicon. Engineers from the University of New South Wales have developed a…

Tech News Jamie Condliffe Oct 5

New Error Correction Takes Us a Step Closer to Quantum Computing

Quantum computing could make complex calculations trivial in the future, but right now it’s fraught with problems. Consider one of them solved, though, in the shape of a new quantum error correction technique. One of the many problems exhibited by the breed of future computers is that they exist in the delicate and fuzzy word…

Physics & Chemistry Jamie Condliffe Mar 5

A Quantum Computer Isn’t Nearly As Glamorous As It Sounds

You’d think quantum computers exist in heavily-guarded labs, with many men in white suits manning control stations filled with unfathomable screens and charts. Actually, they exist in a small cupboard in England’s West Country. Tom Scott took a tour of Bristol’s Quantum Photonics lab to look at their quantum computer. Far from glamorous, it’s actually…

Tech News Chris Mills Feb 28

In This Image, Two Photons Interact. Here’s Why It’s Groundbreaking.

Normally, photons want nothing to do with one another. Light waves just pass through each other like ghosts. But now, for the first time ever, scientists at the University of Vienna have coaxed a strong interaction between two single photons. It’s an achievement that opens up radical new possibilities for a number of quantum technologies.…

io9 George Dvorsky Nov 4

How We Could Cool Quantum Computers

Cooling modern-day computers is hard work: fans, heat sinks and even pumped liquid struggle to keep the temperatures of our hardware down. But how might we cool tomorrow’s computers—those powered using the strange and exotic power of quantum physics? Fortunately, as well as trying to make quantum computing itself actually happen, there are researchers forward-thinking…

Tech News Jamie Condliffe Aug 28

Quantum Computers Are Still No Faster Than Your Average PC

The D-Wave 2 is a much-hyped quantum computer, but, as scientists now report, it’s not actually any faster than a regular old PC. Wait, didn’t we say it was 3,600 times faster just a few months ago? Yes, and both are right. Whether one computer is faster than another is actually a mighty complicated question.…

Tech News Sarah Zhang Jun 19

What the Hell Is a Quantum Computer and How Excited Should I Be?

Microchip Breakthrough Could Help Us Build a New Kind of Computer

IBM Quantum Computer Does Record-Breaking Chemistry

Scientists Propose a New Kind of Quantum Computer, But What Does That Mean?

Physicists Use Lasers to Set Up First Underwater Quantum Communications Link

There’s Now a Real Quantum Computer That Anyone Can Use Remotely

Everyone Should Be Able To Explain Quantum Computing Like Justin Trudeau

Humans Can Still Do One Thing Better Than AI

Researchers Just Discovered a New State of Matter

This Chip Could Finally Make a Real Quantum Computer

Play This Puzzle Game to Help Program a Quantum Computer

Physicists Create ‘Pseudo-Particles’ for Error-Free Quantum Computing

NSA Plans to ‘Act Now’ to Ensure Quantum Computers Can’t Break Encryption

Google Claims to Have Proved That Its Quantum Computer Actually Works

World’s First Silicon Quantum Logic Gate Brings Quantum Computing One Step Closer

New Error Correction Takes Us a Step Closer to Quantum Computing

A Quantum Computer Isn’t Nearly As Glamorous As It Sounds

In This Image, Two Photons Interact. Here’s Why It’s Groundbreaking.

How We Could Cool Quantum Computers

Quantum Computers Are Still No Faster Than Your Average PC

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