Lifeboat Foundation

Bishop: They can still be computationally very expensive. Additionally, emulators learn from data, so they’re typically not more accurate than the data used to train them. Moreover, they may give insufficiently accurate results when presented with scenarios that are markedly different from those on which they’re trained.

“I believe in “use-inspired basic research”—[like] the work of Pasteur. He was a consultant for the brewing industry. Why did this beer keep going sour? He basically founded the whole field of microbiology.” —Chris Bishop, Microsoft Research.

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With the release of Nerdist Presents: The Hive, we have to wonder are there any NON-evil Hive minds in real life?? Kyle explores real life collective intelligence on this week’s Because Science!

Continue reading “The Hive Mind in the Real World (Because Science w/ Kyle Hill)” »

What are the most fundamental structures of the Universe?

In this article, we’ll explore the mysteries that scientists have been scratching their heads about for hundreds of years. Mysteries that have only partly been resolved and that lead us towards understanding the fundamental structures of Nature. Mysteries that turned out to be so bizarre that it took more than a hundred years to appreciate the true power of this amazing theory.

The hunt for simplicity has been going on for centuries, but where are we now? What is our best bet at how Nature really works and what do we still not understand?

Not yet. But we should make sure we act now to stay well ahead.

A GPT-3-like AI model for science would accelerate innovation and improve reproducibility. Creating it will require us to unlock research.

Purdue University researchers have unlocked a new area of quantum science and technology by utilizing photons and electron spin qubits to regulate nuclear spins in a two-dimensional material. They used electron spin qubits as atomic-scale sensors to effect the first experimental control of nuclear spin qubits in ultrathin hexagonal boron nitride.

The study could lead to applications such as atomic-scale nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. It could also allow reading and writing quantum information with nuclear spins in 2D materials.

As published in Nature Materials (“Nuclear spin polarization and control in hexagonal boron nitride”), the research team used electron spin qubits as atomic-scale sensors, and also to effect the first experimental control of nuclear spin qubits in ultrathin hexagonal boron nitride.

Researchers used light and electron spin qubits to control nuclear spin in a 2D material, opening a new frontier in quantum science and technology. (Image: Secondbay Studio)

Another version of the PCP theorem, not yet proved, specifically deals with the quantum case. Computer scientists suspect that the quantum PCP conjecture is true, and proving it would change our understanding of the complexity of quantum problems. It’s considered arguably the most important open problem in quantum computational complexity theory. But so far, it’s remained unreachable.

Nine years ago, two researchers identified an intermediate goal to help us get there. They came up with a simpler hypothesis, known as the “no low-energy trivial state” (NLTS) conjecture, which would have to be true if the quantum PCP conjecture is true. Proving it wouldn’t necessarily make it any easier to prove the quantum PCP conjecture, but it would resolve some of its most intriguing questions.

Then in June of 2022, in a paper posted to the scientific preprint site arxiv.org, three computer scientists proved the NLTS conjecture. The result has striking implications for computer science and quantum physics.

Why is there something rather than nothing? And what does ‘nothing’ really mean? More than a philosophical musing, understanding nothing may be the key to unlocking deep mysteries of the universe, from dark energy to why particles have mass. Journalist John Hockenberry hosts Nobel laureate Frank Wilczek, esteemed cosmologist John Barrow, and leading physicists Paul Davies and George Ellis as they explore physics, philosophy and the nothing they share.

This program is part of the Big Ideas Series, made possible with support from the John Templeton Foundation.

Continue reading “NOTHING: The Science of Emptiness” »