Lifeboat Foundation

The manic pace of sharing, storing, securing, and serving data has a manic price—power consumption. To counter this, Virginia Tech mathematicians are leveraging algebraic geometry to target the inefficiencies of data centers.

“We as individuals generate tons of data all the time, not to mention what large companies are producing,” said Gretchen Matthews, mathematics professor and director of the Southwest Virginia node of the Commonwealth Cyber Initiative. “Backing up that data can mean replicating and storing twice or three times as much information if we don’t consider smart alternatives.”

Instead of energy-intensive data replication, Matthews and Hiram Lopez, assistant professor of mathematics, explored using certain algebraic structures to break the information into pieces and spread it out among servers in close proximity to each other. When one server goes down, the algorithm can poll the neighboring servers until it recovers the missing data.

At the Berlin synchrotron radiation source BESSY II, the largest magnetic anisotropy of a single molecule ever measured experimentally has been determined. The larger a molecule’s anisotropy is, the better suited it is as a molecular nanomagnet. Such nanomagnets have a wide range of potential applications, for example, in energy-efficient data storage.

Researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Kohlenforschung (MPI KOFO), the Joint Lab EPR4Energy of the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Energy Conversion (MPI CEC) and the Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin were involved in the study.

The research involved a bismuth complex synthesized in the group of Josep Cornella (MPI KOFO). This molecule has unique magnetic properties that a team led by Frank Neese (MPI KOFO) recently predicted in theoretical studies. So far, however, all attempts to measure the magnetic properties of the bismuth complex and thus experimentally confirm the theoretical predictions have failed.

Linköping University’s experiment confirms a key theoretical link between quantum mechanics and information theory, highlighting future implications for quantum technology and secure communication.

Researchers at Linköping University and their collaborators have successfully confirmed a decade-old theory linking the complementarity principle—a fundamental concept in quantum mechanics—with information theory. Their study, published in the journal Science Advances, provides valuable insights for understanding future quantum communication, metrology, and cryptography.

“Our results have no clear or direct application right now. It’s basic research that lays the foundation for future technologies in quantum information and quantum computers. There’s enormous potential for completely new discoveries in many different research fields,” says Guilherme B Xavier, researcher in quantum communication at Linköping University, Sweden.

Researchers at Flinders University have developed a low-cost, high-density polymer that can store data efficiently using nanoscale indents and can be erased and reused multiple times.

This innovative material, made from sulfur and dicyclopentadiene, promises greater storage capacities compared to traditional storage devices, and its ability to be quickly recycled offers a sustainable alternative for the future of data storage.

Innovative Data Storage Material

Engineers at Northwestern University have demonstrated quantum teleportation over a fiber optic cable already carrying Internet traffic. This feat, published in the journal Optica, opens up new possibilities for combining quantum communication with existing Internet infrastructure. It also has major implications for the field of advanced sensing technologies and quantum computing applications.

Quantum teleportation, a process that harnesses the power of quantum entanglement, enables an ultra-fast and secure method of information sharing between distant network users. Unlike traditional communication methods, quantum teleportation does not require the physical transmission of particles. Instead, it relies on entangled particles exchanging information over great distances.

Nobody thought it would be possible to achieve this, according to Professor Prem Kumar, who led the study. “Our work shows a path towards next-generation quantum and classical networks sharing a unified fiber optic infrastructure. Basically, it opens the door to pushing quantum communications to the next level.”

The speed of the human brain’s ability to process information has been investigated in a new study, and according to scientists, we’re not as mentally quick as we might like to think.

In fact, research suggests our brains process information at a speed of just 10 bits per second. But how is this possible, in comparison to the trillions of operations computers can perform every second?

Research suggests this is the result of how we internally process thoughts in single file, making for a slow, congested queue.

Researchers at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine and Cincinnati Children’s Hospital have developed a new approach, which combines advanced screening techniques with computational modeling, to significantly shorten the drug discovery process. It has the potential to transform the pharmaceutical industry.

The research, published recently in Science Advances, represents a significant leap forward in drug discovery efficiency. It was featured on LegalReader.com.

https://www.uc.edu/news/articles/2024/09/uc-college-of-medic…aster.html

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However, “the idea that Saturn’s rings are young seemed very strange in the context of the solar system’s long evolutionary history,” study lead author Ryuki Hyodo, a planetary scientist at the Institute of Science Tokyo, told Space.com. “A few million years ago is the time of the dinosaurs on Earth. This would mean that the solar system was already well-established and relatively stable.”

In contrast, when Saturn formed about 4.5 billion years ago, or during the era called the Late Heavy Bombardment about 4 billion years ago, “the solar system was far more chaotic,” Hyodo said. “Many large planetary bodies were still migrating and interacting, greatly increasing the chances of a significant event that could have led to the formation of Saturn’s rings.”

To shed light on the age of Saturn’s rings, in the new study, Hyodo and his colleagues developed 3D computer models simulating crashes between micrometeoroids and the rings. These impacts typically occur at speeds of about 67,100 mph (108,000 km/h), they said.

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Blog post with audio player, show notes, and transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2023/06/19/240-…-universe/

It’s somewhat amazing that cosmology, the study of the universe as a whole, can make any progress at all. But it has, especially so in recent decades. Partly that’s because nature has been kind to us in some ways: the universe is quite a simple place on large scales and at early times. Another reason is a leap forward in the data we have collected, and in the growing use of a powerful tool: computer simulations. I talk with cosmologist Andrew Pontzen on what we know about the universe, and how simulations have helped us figure it out. We also touch on hot topics in cosmology (early galaxies discovered by JWST) as well as philosophical issues (are simulations data or theory?).

Continue reading “Mindscape 240 | Andrew Pontzen on Simulations and the Universe” »