A sound idea: A step towards quantum computing

A team at the University of Tsukuba studied a novel process for creating coherent lattice waves inside silicon crystals using ultrashort laser pulses. Using theoretical calculations combined with experimental results that were obtained at the University of Pittsburgh, they were able to show that coherent vibrational signals could be maintained inside the samples. This research may lead to quantum computers based…

Researchers Use Lasers To Detect and Destroy Tumor Cells In Melanoma Patients

An anonymous reader quotes a report from IEEE Spectrum: Tumor cells that spread cancer via the bloodstream face a new foe: a laser beam, shined from outside the skin, that finds and kills these metastatic little demons on the spot. In a study published today in Science Translational Medicine, researchers revealed that their system accurately detected these cells in 27 out…

Alphecca, the jewel in the Northern Crown

Alphecca. Gemma. Alpha Coronae Borealis or simply Alpha Cor Bor. They’re all names for one star – the brightest star in the constellation Northern Crown. Source: https://earthsky.org/brightest-stars/alphecca-northern-crowns-brightest-star…

A method for producing 3-D Bose-Einstein condensates using laser cooling

Researchers at the MIT-Harvard Center for ultracold atoms and research laboratory of electronics have proposed a new method for producing 3-D Bose-Einstein condensates using laser cooling only. In their study, featured in Physical Review Letters, they demonstrated the efficacy of their technique in producing Bose-Einstein condensates, achieving temperatures that are well bellow the effective recoil temperature. …

DeepMind’s AI Beats Humans At Quake III Arena

“A team of programmers at a British artificial intelligence company has designed automated ‘agents’ that taught themselves how to play the seminal first-person shooter Quake III Arena, and became so good they consistently beat human beings,” reports AFP: The work of the researchers from DeepMind, which is owned by Google’s parent company Alphabet, was described in a paper published in Science…

Clocks, gravity and the limits of relativity

A hundred years ago today, Einstein’s theory of gravity was first put to the test when Arthur Eddington observed light “bending” around the sun during a solar eclipse. A century later, scientists are still searching for the limits of the theory. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/clocks-gravity-limits-of-relativity…

New Paper Confirms Near-Room-Temperature Superconductivity In Wild, Hydrogen-Rich Material

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Gizmodo: A team of physicists has published peer-reviewed results documenting near-room-temperature superconductivity in the hydrogen-rich compound lanthanum hydride. The team, led by physicist Mikhail Eremets from the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, kicked off the most recent race for a high-temperature superconducting hydride in 2015, when they published a paper announcing the discovery of…