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Category: computing – Page 4

Astrochemical model digs into the universe’s missing sulfur

Sulfur is one of the most abundant elements in the universe. If you peer into a diffuse interstellar cloud, you find loads of it—about the amount expected based on fusion patterns in the stars it was born in. However, if you look at a dense, cold molecular cloud—the kind where those stars actually form—it seems like 99% of the sulfur expected to be there is missing. Scientists have puzzled over this “missing sulfur problem” for decades, though a leading theory is that the element hides in icy dust grains, making it hard to detect.

A new paper published in Astronomy & Astrophysics from the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics and the Centro de Astrobiologia describes a new computer simulation model aimed at supporting the interpretation of laboratory results and testing our current understanding of sulfur evolution in interstellar ices.

The simulation was written in pyRate—a Python-based application that calculates how chemicals interact, especially between ice and gas phases. The paper marks the first successful model of the chemistry of a multicomponent interstellar ice analog with a rate-equation simulation. Scientists love “firsts,” but what does that actually mean in practice in this case?

Copper thin films reveal ballistic electron transport that could reshape future chip wiring

A joint research team has experimentally observed ballistic transport in single-crystalline copper thin films, demonstrating that ballistic transport is achievable in an industry-standard metal at interconnect-relevant dimensions. The study, titled “Ballistic transport in nanodevices based on single-crystalline Cu thin films,” was published in Nature Communications.

Ballistic transport refers to a phenomenon in which electrons travel along straight trajectories without scattering. Until now, this behavior has mainly been observed in special quantum materials such as graphene or semiconductor nanostructures. In copper, where electron scattering is pronounced, realizing ballistic transport has been considered practically impossible.

In this study, the team led by Professor Gil-Ho Lee of the Department of Physics at POSTECH, Professor Emeritus Se-Young Jeong of the School of Transdisciplinary Engineering at Pusan National University and Professor Seong-Gon Kim of the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Mississippi State University, experimentally demonstrated that ballistic transport can occur in structures with a thickness of 80 nm and a linewidth of 150 nm, dimensions comparable to those used in semiconductor interconnects.

Scientists measure hidden quantum forces that could power a new generation of pharmaceutical drugs

It’s one thing to design a pharmaceutical drug. It’s another to know if and why it actually works; not on paper or in a computer model, but inside the chaotic world of living systems, where proteins twist into shape, atoms constantly pull and push each other apart, and molecular interactions are the difference between health and disease.

For decades, scientists have known that these interactions are driven by hidden quantum forces. The problem is that, like working blindfolded, they’ve never been able to measure them directly in biological systems.

Now, that era of blindfolded work may be ending.

New bacteria-based cooling material could help electronics and EV batteries run cooler

Next-generation electronic devices like newer computers and other high-power devices require more energy to run. When they are working hard, the intense heat they generate can limit their performance and reliability. That’s why scientists are trying to find better and more sustainable materials to help cool devices down.

Weinan Xu, an assistant professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, has developed a novel concept for the fabrication and processing of thermal interface materials based on synergistic microbial biosynthesis, which is a way of making useful materials with the help of microbes like bacteria.

Thermal interface materials are specialized substances inserted between electronic and cooling devices to eliminate tiny air pockets so heat can move out of the device faster. By changing how the bacteria are grown and how the material is processed, the material’s ability to move heat, known as thermal conductivity, can be adjusted.

Scientists catch classical space-time crystals moving like Majorana quasiparticles

A research team from Hiroshima University, the University of Colorado, and other collaborators have demonstrated that space-time crystals—exotic structures that, under external drive, loop endlessly through both space and time—can be created using everyday liquid-crystal materials.

For the past decade, physicists have been fascinated by time crystals. Unlike normal crystals (such as salt or diamonds), which have repeating molecular patterns in space, time crystals have patterns that repeat at regular intervals in time. Previously, scientists believed these bizarre structures could exist only in highly complex, fragile quantum systems at near-absolute-zero temperatures, such as trapped ions or quantum simulators. However, in a collaborative study published in Nature Communications, researchers successfully created them in a classical, room-temperature liquid-crystal system.

To achieve this, the team took a liquid-crystal material—similar to the fluid used in smartphones and television screens—and doped it with ionic substances. They then applied a rhythmic, repeating electrical signal to the fluid. Using advanced computer models and optical microscopes, the researchers observed a surprising phenomenon known as period-doubling. Even though the electrical drive pumped energy into the fluid at a set internal rhythm, the liquid crystals spontaneously locked into a pattern that repeated only every two cycles of the electricity.

A new quantum computer sets a high watermark for accuracy. Are we on the verge of a big breakthrough?

In a laboratory in Broomfield, Colorado, 98 atoms are suspended in midair, held in place by electric fields and cooled to temperatures close to absolute zero.

Each atom is far smaller than anything the naked eye could ever see, yet each carries information in a form that has no counterpart in classical physics.

Together, they form Helios, a new quantum computer built by the British-American company Quantinuum. Quantum computers use the power of quantum mechanics, the rules that govern how physics operates at atomic and subatomic scales. Those that use Helios’ model of suspended atoms are known as trapped-ion.

Google releases new privacy controls for activity history, personalization

Google is rolling out new privacy controls for Search services and Google Play, giving you more control over saved history and personalized recommendations.

In an email titled “New privacy settings for Search services,” sent to users and seen by Bleeping Computer, Google said it is “updating our settings to give you even more control over saved history and personalized recommendations across Google Search services and Google Play.”

Google noted that Search services include “Search, Maps, Shopping, Hotels, Flights, Translate, and News,” and users will see the change in their Google Account in the next few days.

Wave-packet interferometry captures elusive dark excitons in organic superconductor

In a recent study, Manish Garg, independent group leader at Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research (MPI FKF), succeeded in probing the local properties of bright and dark excitons in the organic superconductor copper naphthalocyanine (CuNc). The findings are published in the journal Nature Communications.

This study was the result of the efforts of an international collaboration that brought together the MPI for Solid State Research in Stuttgart, the Università della Calabria and the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid.

By combining scanning tunneling microscopy with wave-packet interferometry, the authors gained remarkable—and previously inaccessible—insights into exciton dynamics. The insights gained with this technique can be of paramount importance both in the field of energy materials—where excitons play a central role in light-harvesting technologies such as solar cells—and in quantum technologies, as excitons are considered a promising platform for quantum computing.

Pathway to high-fidelity quantum computing identified

Researchers from the University of Sydney, working with IBM, have identified and quantified important factors limiting the performance of quantum computers and demonstrated ways to overcome their impact.

The findings, which improve understanding of how errors emerge during quantum computations, could significantly advance the reliability of quantum technology.

The paper has been published in Nature Communications.

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