Author Archives: Guest Post

On the Road to Fault-Tolerant Quantum Computing

Collaboration at Berkeley Lab’s Advanced Light Source Induces High Temperature Superconductivity in a Toplogical Insulator

Reliable quantum computing would make it possible to solve certain types of extremely complex technological problems millions of times faster than today’s most powerful supercomputers. Other types of problems that quantum computing could tackle would not even be feasible with today’s fastest machines. The key word is “reliable.” If the enormous potential of quantum computing is to be fully realized, scientists must learn to create “fault-tolerant” quantum computers. A small but important step toward this goal has been achieved by an international collaboration of researchers from China’s  Tsinghua University and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) working at the Advanced Light Source (ALS). (more…)

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Starting A New You

We can all get stuck in a rut from time to time, sometimes without really noticing it. We just keep plodding on, staying in our comfort zone, keeping our head down and just getting on with it. The things is, after a while, plodding along with your head down soon gets to be really boring. Soul destroying, even. Wouldn’t it be nicer to stride along, full of energy with your head held high, enjoying the blue skies? Making changes to your circumstances requires effort, courage and commitment, and if you are prepared to invest in yourself, the payback is well worth it.

So how do you go about achieving a new you? Start off by setting some goals. Ask yourself honestly about the things you want to change in your life, and the things you are happy to keep the same. (more…)

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IBM Research to Accelerate Big Data Discovery

New lab unifies data, expertise and novel analytics to speed discovery in industries including retail, medicine and finance

San Jose, Calif. – 10 Oct 2013: Scientists from IBM today announced the Accelerated Discovery Lab, a new collaborative environment specifically targeted at helping clients find unknown relationships from disparate data sets.

The workspace includes access to diverse data sources, unique research capabilities for analytics such as domain models, text analytics and natural language processing capabilities derived from Watson, a powerful hardware and software infrastructure, and broad domain expertise including biology, medicine, finance, weather modeling, mathematics, computer science and information technology. This combination reduces time to insight resulting in business impact – cost savings, revenue generation and scientific impact – ahead of the traditional pace of discovery.   (more…)

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„Keiner weiß, was in den nächsten Monaten in Fukushima passieren wird“

Rund zweieinhalb Jahre nach Fukushima erreicht die Strahlenbelastung immer wieder neue Höchstwerte, und immer wieder hört man von Pannen am havarierten Atomkraftwerk. Wie sieht die Energiechefin Masako Konishi vom WWF Japan die Lage?

WWF Deutschland: Wie ist die aktuelle Situation vor Ort? Sind Sie besorgt?

Masako Konishi: Ich wäre gerne hoffnungsvoll, bin aber sehr besorgt. Die Taifun-Saison beginnt, das bedeutet Regen und Stürme. Kontaminiertes Wasser fließt jetzt schon in den Boden und in den Pazifik. Die Fischer in der Region wollten gerade ihre Arbeit wieder aufnehmen. Aber nach den neuesten Nachrichten über radioaktiv kontaminiertes Wasser, das aus Lecks in den Kühlwassertanks ins Meer strömt, wird das wohl auf Dauer nicht gehen. Diese Tanks stehen überall in Fukushima, es sind mehr als tausend – es gibt noch keine Lösung, was mit diesen Hundertausenden Tonnen radioaktiv verseuchten Wassers passieren soll. Es gibt so viele Probleme, die noch nicht gelöst sind. Der Premierminister sagt, wir hätten alles unter Kontrolle. Aber das sagt er auch nur, weil wir den Zuschlag für die Olympischen Spiele 2020 in Tokio bekommen haben. Keiner weiß, was in den nächsten Monaten passieren wird. (more…)

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The Failing Freezer: How Soil Microbes Affect Global Climate

With a $3.9 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy, a UA-led international collaboration studies how microbes release greenhouse gases as they gain access to nutrients in the soil thawing under the influence of warmer global temperatures

The U.S. Department of Energy has awarded $3.9 million to an international collaboration led by University of Arizona ecologists Scott Saleska and Virginia Rich to study how microbes release greenhouse gases as they access nutrients in thawing permafrost soils under the influence of a warmer climate.  (more…)

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Ausstieg aus Braunkohle überfällig: Garzweiler II muss stillgelegt werden

Berlin/Düsseldorf: “Das mögliche vorzeitige Aus für den Braunkohletagebau Garzweiler II zeigt, dass Kohleverstromung in der Energiewende keinen Platz mehr hat. Die klimaschädliche Braunkohle ist keine Brückentechnologie sondern Altlast einer überholten Energieversorgung. Garzweiler muss stillgelegt und der klimaverträgliche Ausstieg aus der Kohleverstromung eingeleitet werden”, forderte Tina Löffelsend, Energie-Expertin des Bund für Umwelt und Naturschutz Deutschland (BUND) anlässlich der heutigen Meldung, RWE erwäge das Aus für den Braunkohletagebau Garzweiler II in Nordrhein-Westfalen. (more…)

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Poetry is like music to the mind, scientists prove

New brain imaging technology is helping researchers to bridge the gap between art and science by mapping the different ways in which the brain responds to poetry and prose.

Scientists at the University of Exeter used state-of-the-art functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) technology, which allows them to visualise which parts of the brain are activated to process various activities.

No one had previously looked specifically at the differing responses in the brain to poetry and prose. (more…)

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