A new method for checking the reliability of a quantum computer can be scaled up to devices of any size.
Category: computing
Microsoft: Recent Windows updates break VPN access for WSL users
Microsoft says that recent Windows 11 security updates are causing VPN networking failures for enterprise users running Windows Subsystem for Linux.
This known issue affects users who installed the KB5067036 October 2025 non-security update, released October 28th, or any subsequent updates, including the KB5072033 cumulative update released during this month’s Patch Tuesday.
On impacted systems, users are experiencing connectivity issues with some third-party VPN applications when mirrored mode networking is enabled, preventing access to corporate resources.
Celebrating two decades of global scientific computing
Imagine a planetary computer capable of storing and processing hundreds of petabytes of data for the research needs of a worldwide community of scientists. This is the Worldwide LHC Computing Grid (WLCG), which is celebrating its 20th anniversary.
Originally conceived to handle the unprecedented data volumes of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the WLCG has evolved into a global network connecting hundreds of computing centres across more than 40 countries. It enables thousands of scientists worldwide to store, process and analyse massive amounts of data in quasi-real time, supporting discoveries in particle physics.
On 8 December, a special event at the CERN Science Gateway brought together the international community that has turned this ambitious project into one of the largest distributed computing collaborations in the world. Key figures from the project highlighted its history, challenges and future prospects. Les Robertson, whose efforts and leadership were instrumental during the early days of the Grid, reflected on how the idea was born and the challenges of building something that had never been done before. It was an ambitious idea for its time, one that required both technological innovation and unprecedented cooperation across countries. Yet this early confidence proved justified: the Grid rapidly moved from concept to reality, paving the way for a new model of large-scale scientific computing.
Sensor uses acoustic waves to detect objects at smallest scales
At the heart of every camera is a sensor, whether that sensor is a collection of light-detecting pixels or a strip of 35-millimeter film. But what happens when you want to take a picture of something so small that the sensor itself has to shrink down to sizes that cause the sensor’s performance to crater?
Now, Northeastern University researchers have made a breakthrough discovery in sensing technologies that allows them to detect objects as small as individual proteins or single cancer cells, without the additional need to scale down the sensor. Their breakthrough uses guided acoustic waves and specialized states of matter to achieve great precision within very small parameters.
The device, which is about the size of a belt buckle, opens up possibilities for sensing at both the nano and quantum scales, with repercussions for everything from quantum computing to precision medicine.
DNA will replace hard drives as data storage in the future
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The mind-bending reality of quantum mechanics — with Jim Al Khalili
Jim Al-Khalili explores emerging technologies powering the future of quantum, and looks at how we got here.
This Discourse was recorded at the Ri on 7 November 2025, in partnership with the Institute of Physics.
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Physicist and renowned broadcaster Jim Al-Khalili takes a look back at a century of quantum mechanics, the strangest yet most successful theory in all of science, and how it has shaped our world. He also looks forward to the exciting new world of Quantum 2.0 and how a deeper understanding of such counterintuitive concepts as quantum superposition and quantum entanglement is leading to the development of entirely new technologies, from quantum computers and quantum sensors to quantum cryptography and the quantum internet.
The United Nations has proclaimed 2025 as the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology, to celebrate the centenary of quantum mechanics and the revolutionary work of the likes of Werner Heisenberg and Erwin Schrödinger. Together with the Institute of Physics, join us to celebrate the culmination of the International Year of Quantum at the penultimate Discourse of our Discover200 year.
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Converting Spin Waves to Vibrational Waves
The demonstration of wave conversion may lead to spintronic technology that transmits fragile spin data as acoustic waves.
A branch of electronic device engineering called spintronics uses electron spins to store and transmit information. A research team has now opened up new possibilities for information processing with spins by showing how spin signals can be translated into acoustic signals (phonons) that can be transmitted through materials [1]. Phonons can travel undisturbed for longer distances, so this conversion might extend the capabilities of spintronics, much as the conversion of electrical pulses into light is used for long-distance telecommunication.
In a spin current, electrons that are preferentially aligned in one spin state can be thought of as remaining stationary while a wave of spin reorientation passes through the material. Spin currents are already used in devices such as specialized magnetic memories and other computing elements, in which information is encoded and transferred using the spins.
Integrative quantum chemistry method unlocks secrets of advanced materials
A new computational approach developed at the University of Chicago promises to shed light on some of the world’s most puzzling materials—from high-temperature superconductors to solar cell semiconductors—by uniting two long-divided scientific perspectives.
“For decades, chemists and physicists have used very different lenses to look at materials. What we’ve done now is create a rigorous way to bring those perspectives together,” said senior author Laura Gagliardi, Richard and Kathy Leventhal Professor in the Department of Chemistry and the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering. “This gives us a new toolkit to understand and eventually design materials with extraordinary properties.”
When it comes to solids, physicists usually think in terms of broad, repeating band structures, while chemists focus on the local behavior of electrons in specific molecules or fragments. But many important materials—such as organic semiconductors, metal–organic frameworks, and strongly correlated oxides—don’t fit neatly into either picture. In these materials, electrons are often thought of as hopping between repeating fragments rather than being distributed across the material.
Scientists Discover How To “Purify” Light, Paving the Way for Faster, More Secure Quantum Technology
University of Iowa scientists have identified a new way to “purify” photons, a development that could improve both the efficiency and security of optical quantum technologies.
The team focused on two persistent problems that stand in the way of producing a reliable stream of single photons, which are essential for photonic quantum computers and secure communication systems. The first issue, known as laser scatter, arises when a laser is aimed at an atom to trigger the release of a photon, the basic unit of light. Although this method successfully generates photons, it can also produce extra, unwanted ones. These additional photons reduce the efficiency of the optical system, similar to how stray electrical currents interfere with electronic circuits.
A second complication comes from the way atoms occasionally respond to laser light. In uncommon cases, an atom releases more than one photon at the same time. When this happens, the precision of the optical circuit suffers because the extra photons disrupt the intended orderly flow of single photons.