Lifeboat Foundation

face_with_colon_three circa 2016.

Two basic types of encryption schemes are used on the internet today. One, known as symmetric-key cryptography, follows the same pattern that people have been using to send secret messages for thousands of years. If Alice wants to send Bob a secret message, they start by getting together somewhere they can’t be overheard and agree on a secret key; later, when they are separated, they can use this key to send messages that Eve the eavesdropper can’t understand even if she overhears them. This is the sort of encryption used when you set up an online account with your neighborhood bank; you and your bank already know private information about each other, and use that information to set up a secret password to protect your messages.

The second scheme is called public-key cryptography, and it was invented only in the 1970s. As the name suggests, these are systems where Alice and Bob agree on their key, or part of it, by exchanging only public information. This is incredibly useful in modern electronic commerce: if you want to send your credit card number safely over the internet to Amazon, for instance, you don’t want to have to drive to their headquarters to have a secret meeting first. Public-key systems rely on the fact that some mathematical processes seem to be easy to do, but difficult to undo. For example, for Alice to take two large whole numbers and multiply them is relatively easy; for Eve to take the result and recover the original numbers seems much harder.

Continue reading “Quantum Cryptography Is Unbreakable. So Is Human Ingenuity” »

Their quantum computing processors can store information up to two milliseconds.

Researchers from the University of New South Wales have broken new ground in quantum computing by demonstrating that ‘spin qubits’- qubits where the information is stored in the spin momentum of an electron-can store data for up to two milliseconds, 100 times longer than previous benchmarks in the same quantum processor.

Classical computers work with bits—consisting of ones and zeroes—but a quantum computer uses quantum bits or qubits, which, on top of the ones and zeroes, also has a superposition where it can be a one and a zero at the same time.

Continue reading “Quantum engineers improved the silicon chip performance by 100 times setting a new standard” »

A study conducted by scientists from Trinity College Dublin could suggest that quantum processes are involved in the functions of our brains.

Researchers from Australia and Singapore are working on a new quantum technique that could enhance optical VLBI. It’s known as Stimulated Raman Adiabatic Passage (STIRAP), which allows quantum information to be transferred without losses. When imprinted into a quantum error correction code, this technique could allow for VLBI observations into previously inaccessible wavelengths. Once integrated with next-generation instruments, this technique could allow for more detailed studies of black holes, exoplanets, the Solar System, and the surfaces of distant stars.

The interferometry technique consists of combining light from multiple telescopes to create images of an object that would otherwise be too difficult to resolve. Very Long Baseline Interferometry refers to a specific technique used in radio astronomy where signals from an astronomical radio source (black holes, quasars, pulsars, star-forming nebulae, etc.) are combined to create detailed images of their structure and activity. In recent years, VLBI has yielded the most detailed images of the stars that orbit Sagitarrius A* (Sgr A•, the SMBH at the center of our galaxy.

Topological materials are a special kind of material that have different functional properties on their surfaces than on their interiors. One of these properties is electrical. These materials have the potential to make electronic and optical devices much more efficient or serve as key components of quantum computers. But recent theories and calculations have shown that there can be thousands of compounds that have topological properties, and testing all of them to determine their topological properties through experiments will take years of work and analysis. Hence, there is a dire need for faster methods to test and study topological materials.

A team of researchers from MIT, Harvard University, Princeton University, and Argonne National Laboratory proposed a new approach that is faster at screening the candidate materials and can predict with more than 90 percent accuracy whether a material is topological or not. The traditional way of solving this problem is quite complicated and can be explained as follows: Firstly, a method called density functional theory is used to perform initial calculations, which are then followed by complex experiments that involve cutting a piece of material to atomic-level flatness and probing it with instruments under high vacuum.

The new proposed method is based on how the material absorbs X-rays, which is different from the old methods, which were based on photoemissions or tunneling electrons. There are certain significant advantages to using X-ray absorption data, which can be listed as follows: Firstly, there is no requirement for expensive lab apparatus. X-ray absorption spectrometers are used, which are readily available and can work in a typical environment, hence the low cost of setting up an experiment. Secondly, such measurements have already been done in chemistry and biology for other applications, so the data is already available for numerous materials.

For the better part of a century, quantum physics and the general theory of relativity have been a marriage on the rocks. Each perfect in their own way, the two just can’t stand each other when in the same room.

Now a mathematical proof on the quantum nature of black holes just might show us how the two can reconcile, at least enough to produce a grand new theory on how the Universe works on cosmic and microcosmic scales.

A team of physicists has mathematically demonstrated a weird quirk concerning how these mind-bendingly dense objects might exist in a state of quantum superposition, simultaneously occupying a spectrum of possible characteristics.

This podcast features three executives from quantum-computing companies.

A century ago, the German physicists Otto Stern and Walther Gerlach carried out an experiment that gave an important credibility boost to the new-fangled notion of quantum mechanics. But as Hamish Johnston discovers, their now-famous experiment succeeded even if the physics on which it was based wasn’t quite right.

After six decades of examining signals from space, why have we yet to discover evidence of extra-terrestrial life?
Keith’s book “The Contact Paradox: Challenging our Assumptions in the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence” is available now — https://geni.us/JFpy.

For the past six decades a small cadre of researchers have been on a quest, as part of SETI, to search for extraterrestrial intelligence. So far, SETI has found no evidence of extraterrestrial life, but with more than a hundred billion stars in our Galaxy alone to search, the odds of quick success are stacked against us.

Continue reading “Why Have We Not Found Any Aliens? — with Keith Cooper” »