For years, quantum computers have lived under a huge bubble of hype, promising to revolutionize numerous fields, from medicine and battery design to materials science and cybersecurity. But realizing their potential on any serious practical level will only be possible if large numbers of qubits (the basic units of information) can interact with each other with high precision and flexibility.
Lidar systems use pulses of infrared light to measure distance and map a 3D scene with high resolution, allowing autonomous vehicles to rapidly react to obstacles that appear in their path. But traditional lidar sensors are expensive, bulky systems with many moving parts that degrade over time, limiting how the sensors can be deployed.
A new study warns that climate change is creating serious and growing risks for millions of pilgrims performing Hajj, with extreme heat and humidity already pushing human physiological limits during the 2024 pilgrimage. This research, led by Atta Ullah and his team from the Weather and Climate Services, Islamabad, Pakistan and Climate Analytics, Berlin, Germany respectively, suggests that, without urgent adaptation and global climate mitigation, the world's largest religious gathering could become increasingly dangerous in the decades ahead.
A team of researchers from the Universities of Tübingen, Bayreuth, and Kassel, and the Polish Academy of Sciences has developed a method for precisely controlling the movement of magnetic microparticles based on their size. These suspended particles, known as colloidal particles, range in size from a few tens of nanometers to several micrometers. Controlling them is important for applications such as drug delivery, medical laboratory tests, and the synthesis of new materials. The team's study has now been published in Physical Review Letters.
Researchers at The University of Manchester's National Graphene Institute have shown that electrons in ultra-clean graphene can be steered with high precision while keeping their spin information intact, a key requirement for future low-power electronics and quantum devices.
Cities and towns are usually 1–3°C hotter than the surrounding countryside, because asphalt, concrete and brick absorb heat from the sun and radiate it slowly. Some cities can be as much as 7°C hotter. This effect is known as the urban heat island.
The myriapoda group of arthropods includes the many-legged centipedes and millipedes that most people are familiar with. Although myriapods are all terrestrial creatures, researchers are unclear about when and how they evolved their many legs.
Earlier this year I gave a talk about my research at Oxford's All Souls College, and worked with a chef to design an accompanying menu.
How are ordinary people drawn into extremist circles—and what role can artificial intelligence play in that process? This question is addressed by a new study which, for the first time, combines psychological theories of radicalization with knowledge of modern AI technologies such as recommendation algorithms, generative AI and botnets.
The first international Conference on Transitioning Away from Fossil Fuels concluded on April 29 in Santa Marta, Colombia. Stemming from the failure of the last COP meeting in Belèm, Brazil, to address the necessity of reducing reliance on fossil fuels, the intergovernmental event was co-organized by Colombia and the Netherlands and gathered delegations from 59 countries.
