Lifeboat Foundation

The delicate nature of quantum information means it does not travel well. A quantum Internet therefore needs devices known as quantum repeaters to swap entanglement between quantum bits, or qubits, at intermediate points. Several researchers have taken steps towards this goal by distributing entanglement between multiple nodes.

In 2020, for example, Xiao-Hui Bao and colleagues in Jian-Wei Pan’s group at the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) entangled two ensembles of rubidium-87 atoms in vapour cells using photons that had passed down 50 km of commercial optical fibre. Creating a functional quantum repeater is more complex, however: “A lot of these works that talk about distribution over 50,100 or 200 kilometres are just talking about sending out entangled photons, not about interfacing with a fully quantum network at the other side,” explains Can Knaut, a PhD student at Harvard University and a member of the US team.

The price of computer storage since the 1950s.

From:

This chart shows the dramatic fall in the price of computer storage between 1956 and 2023. It relies on the data carefully collected by the computer scientist John C. McCallum.

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Light measurement devices called optical frequency combs have revolutionized metrology, spectroscopy, atomic clocks, and other applications. Yet challenges with developing frequency comb generators at a microchip scale have limited their use in everyday technologies such as handheld electronics.

For the first time, nuclear physicists have made precision measurements of a short-lived radioactive molecule, radium monofluoride (RaF). In their study published in the journal Nature Physics, the researchers combined ion-trapping techniques with specialized laser systems to measure the fine details of the quantum structure of RaF.

By Morgan Sherburne, University of Michigan

University of Michigan physicists have devised a way to manipulate active fluids, a type of fluid composed of individual units that can propel themselves independently, by taking advantage of topological defects in the fluids.

An international research team including Los Alamos National Laboratory and Tel Aviv University has developed a unique, mechanical metamaterial that, like a computer following instructions, can remember the order of actions performed on it. Named Chaco, after the archaeological site in northern New Mexico, the new metamaterial offers a route to applications in memory storage, robotics, and even mechanical computing.

Be sure to look at the night sky on June 3rd to see a somewhat rare event called a large ‘planetary parade.’

OpenAI has landed itself in hot water for pushing out an update to ChatGPT that features a virtual assistant with an uncanny vocal resemblance to Scarlett Johansson — and it could be staring down the barrel of a compelling lawsuit.

Almost instantly, comparisons to the movie “Her” abounded, in which the actress plays a chatbot named Samantha that falls in love with a lonely man. Had OpenAI just aped her role — and her voice? Officially, it said no. Then, Johansson dropped a bombshell: leadership at the AI startup had in fact asked permission to use her voice last year. She said no, and they did it anyway.

Two anecdotes and charts: Women’s and men’s college graduation rates.

Anecdote:

I gave an extra-credit assignment in one of my courses. The course had twenty students, eleven men and nine women. Six students chose to do the assignment — and then I noticed something in my grade book: all of them were women. Getting all statistic-y about it: 66.7% of the females were willing to do the extra work, while 0% if the men were.

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