Lifeboat Foundation

Scientists have utilized a quantum annealer to simulate quantum materials effectively, marking a crucial development in applying quantum computing in material science and enhancing quantum memory device performance.

Physicists have long been pursuing the idea of simulating quantum particles with a computer that is itself made up of quantum particles. This is exactly what scientists at Forschungszentrum Jülich have done together with colleagues from Slovenia. They used a quantum annealer to model a real-life quantum material and showed that the quantum annealer can directly mirror the microscopic interactions of electrons in the material. The result is a significant advancement in the field, showcasing the practical applicability of quantum computing in solving complex material science problems. Furthermore, the researchers discovered factors that can improve the durability and energy efficiency of quantum memory devices.

Richard Feynman’s Legacy in Quantum Computing.

For hundreds of years, the clarity and magnification of microscopes were ultimately limited by the physical properties of their optical lenses. Microscope makers pushed those boundaries by making increasingly complicated and expensive stacks of lens elements. Still, scientists had to decide between high resolution and a small field of view on the one hand or low resolution and a large field of view on the other.

In 2013, a team of Caltech engineers introduced a microscopy technique called FPM (for Fourier ptychographic microscopy). This technology marked the advent of computational microscopy, the use of techniques that wed the sensing of conventional microscopes with computer algorithms that process detected information in new ways to create deeper, sharper images covering larger areas. FPM has since been widely adopted for its ability to acquire high-resolution images of samples while maintaining a large field of view using relatively inexpensive equipment.

Now the same lab has developed a new method that can outperform FPM in its ability to obtain images free of blurriness or distortion, even while taking fewer measurements. The new technique, described in a paper that appeared in the journal Nature Communications, could lead to advances in such areas as biomedical imaging, digital pathology, and drug screening.

Machines have evolved to meet the demands of daily life and industrial use, with molecular-scale devices often exhibiting improved functionalities and mechanical movements. However, mastering the control of mechanics within solid-state molecular structures remains a significant challenge.

Researchers at Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST), South Korea have made a groundbreaking discovery that could pave the way for revolutionary advancements in data storage and beyond. Led by Professor Wonyoung Choe in the Department of Chemistry at UNIST), a team of scientists has developed zeolitic imidazolate frameworks (ZIFs) that mimic intricate machines. These molecular-scale devices can exhibit precise control over nanoscale mechanical movements, opening up exciting new possibilities in nanotechnology.

The findings have been published in Angewandte Chemie International Edition (“Zeolitic Imidazolate Frameworks as Solid-State Nanomachines”).

Advanced materials, including two-dimensional or atomically thin materials just a few atoms thick, are essential for the future of microelectronics technology. Now a team at Los Alamos National Laboratory has developed a way to directly measure such materials’ thermal expansion coefficient, the rate at which the material expands as it heats. That insight can help address heat-related performance issues of materials incorporated into microelectronics, such as computer chips.

The research has been published in ACS Nano (“Direct measurement of the thermal expansion coefficient of epitaxial WSe 2 by four-dimensional scanning transmission electron microscopy”).

“It’s well understood that heating a material usually results in expansion of the atoms arranged in the material’s structure,” said Theresa Kucinski, scientist with the Nuclear Materials Science Group at Los Alamos. “But things get weird when the material is only one to a few atoms thick.”

An international team led by researchers at the University of Toronto has found a new RNA virus that they believe is hitching a ride with a common human parasite.

The virus, called Apocryptovirus odysseus, along with 18 others that are closely related to it, was discovered through a computational screen of human neuron data — an effort aimed at elucidating the connection between RNA viruses and neuroinflammatory disease. The virus is associated with severe inflammation in humans infected with the parasite Toxoplasma gondii, leading the team to hypothesize that it exacerbates toxoplasmosis disease.

“We discovered A. odysseus in human neurons using the open-science Serratus platform to search through more than 150,000 RNA viruses” said Purav Gupta, first author on the study, recent high school graduate and current undergraduate student at U of T’s Donnelly Centre for Cellular and Biomolecular Research. “Serratus identifies RNA viruses from public data by flagging an enzyme called RNA-dependent RNA polymerase, which facilitates replication of viral RNA. This enzyme allows the virus to reproduce itself and for the infection to spread.”

Is this the beginning of the age of bionic humans?

Researchers develop versatile paper-based electronic devices demonstrating both neuromorphic computing capabilities and physically unclonable functions for security applications.

Physicists at TU Graz have determined that certain molecules can be stimulated by pulses of infrared light to generate small magnetic fields. If experimental trials are also successful, this technique could potentially be applied in quantum computer circuits.

When molecules absorb infrared light, they start to vibrate as they receive energy. Andreas Hauser from the Institute of Experimental Physics at Graz University of Technology (TU Graz) used this well-understood process as a basis for exploring whether these vibrations could be harnessed to produce magnetic fields. Since atomic nuclei carry a positive charge, the movement of these charged particles results in the creation of a magnetic field.

Using the example of metal phthalocyanines – ring-shaped, planar dye molecules – Andreas Hauser and his team have now calculated that, due to their high symmetry, these molecules actually generate tiny magnetic fields in the nanometre range when infrared pulses act on them.

Researchers from MIT and the University of Texas have developed a prototype for a handheld, chip-based 3D printer using a photonic chip that emits beams of light to cure resin into solid objects. This innovative technology could revolutionize the production of customized, low-cost objects on-the-go and has potential applications in medical and engineering fields.

Portable 3D Printing Technology

Imagine a portable 3D printer you could hold in the palm of your hand. The tiny device could enable a user to rapidly create customized, low-cost objects on the go, like a fastener to repair a wobbly bicycle wheel or a component for a critical medical operation.