these caught our eye
This is a big one Quantum computing is so very new and so very powerful (confession: and difficult to understand) that we assumed no one could do anything useful with it for years. Wrong, wrong and wrong again as this story from Nature Briefings explains. This will change the world, sooner than we know. Wormhole inside a quantum computer
| Physicists have sent quantum information through a simulated wormhole in a ‘toy’ universe that exists only inside a quantum computer. The tunnel is analogous to passages through space-time that might connect the centres of black holes in the real Universe. “The surprise is not that the message made it across in some form, but that it made it across unscrambled,” write the authors of an analysis published alongside the study in Nature. Some scientists think that such experiments could help to unite the theories of quantum mechanics and gravity in the simplified realm of toy universes, leading ultimately to the answer to one of the biggest problems in physics: a real-world quantum theory of gravity.Nature | 5 min read Go deeper with an expert analysis by theoretical physicists Adam Brown and Leonard Susskind in the Nature News & Views article (7 min read, Nature paywall) Reference: Nature paper |
Online Addictions Someone once told us of a casino in Las Vegas where, if you won too much, they sent the heavies round to your room and took the money back by force. How true this story is we’ll never know. But the gambling industry will certainly go to great lengths to part people from their money, as this story from Bloomberg shows. What will they do with quantum computing when it finally arrives on your smartphone?
thanks to P Seymour for this story
Losing my Religion Is the UK becoming a secular society? The decline in adherence to the Christian Religion shown by these figures would seem to indicate so. It seems to be a trend across many societies. But fans of religion should not despair. The prosperous centuries from up to about 200AD saw a decline in faith in the old Gods like Jupiter and so on. But this was followed by an enormous revival, first in Christianity then Islaam. The names of the Gods change, faith in them does not.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-63792408
thanks to P Semour for this story
Can’t do right for doing wrong We at LSS tend to think that Mr Xi was trying to do his best to protect his people from COVID-19. Albeit in a way different to western countries. But even his best efforts have reached an impasse. If he stays in lockdown, the economy tanks and the people get restless. If he opens up, the virus (and many others) will spread like wildfire. Tricky balancing act needed as this one from The Conversation shows:
Touchy Feely Tyrannosaurs Did Hitler like dogs? Dis Jack the ripper buy flowers for his mum? Now there’s news that Tyrannosaurus rex, the world’s most fearsome dinosaur, may have been a big softie at heart. Wekll, perhaps as this story from The Guardian makes clear
Irish Spirit The Irish never gave up their culture and independent spirit despite centuries of foreign oppression. It’s produced a great feisty culture, especially in literature and music. To end this week, we’ve chosen one of our old favourites, where the Pogues and the Dubliners combined in an incredibly spirited rendition of The Irish Rover
#quantum computing #wormholes #gambling #addiction #religion #dinosaur #tyrannosaurus rex #china #covid-19 #dubliners #pogues
Learning, Science and Society 