Bristol researchers make important breakthrough in quantum computing

Researchers from the University of Bristol, quantum start-up, Phasecraft and Google Quantum AI have revealed properties of electronic systems that could be used for the development of more efficient batteries and solar cells.

The findings, published in Nature Communications today, describes how the team has taken an important first step towards using quantum computers to determine low-energy properties of strongly-correlated electronic systems that cannot be solved by classical computers. They did this by developing the first truly scalable algorithm for observing ground-state properties of the Fermi-Hubbard model on a quantum computer. The Fermi-Hubbard model is a way of discovering crucial insights into electronic and magnetic properties of materials.

Modeling quantum systems of this form has significant practical implications, including the design of new materials that could be used in the development of more effective solar cells and batteries, or even high-temperature superconductors. However, doing so remains beyond the capacity of the world’s most powerful supercomputers. The Fermi-Hubbard model is widely recognized as an excellent benchmark for near-term quantum computers because it is the simplest materials system that includes non-trivial correlations beyond what is captured by classical methods. Approximately producing the lowest-energy (ground) state of the Fermi-Hubbard model enables the user to calculate key physical properties of the model.

In the past, researchers have only succeeded in solving small, highly simplified Fermi-Hubbard instances on a quantum computer. This research shows that much more ambitious results are possible. Leveraging a new, highly efficient algorithm and better error-mitigation techniques, they successfully ran an experiment that is four times larger – and consists of 10 times more quantum gates – than anything previously recorded.

Broccoli gas: a better way to find life in space

Photo credit: Engin Akyurt

Broccoli, along with other plants and microorganisms, emit gases to help them expel toxins. Scientists believe these gases could provide compelling evidence of life on other planets.

These types of gases are made when organisms add a carbon and three hydrogen atoms to an undesirable chemical element. This process, called methylation, can turn potential toxins into gases that float safely away into the atmosphere. If these gases were to be detected in the atmosphere of another planet using telescopes, they would be suggestive of life somewhere on that planet.

“Methylation is so widespread on Earth, we expect life anywhere else to perform it,” said Michaela Leung, UCR planetary scientist. “Most cells have mechanisms for expelling harmful substances.”

One methylated gas, methyl bromide, has several advantages over other gases traditionally targeted in the search for life outside our solar system. Leung led a study, newly published in the Astrophysical Journal, that explored and quantified these advantages.

For one, methyl bromide remains in the atmosphere for a shorter time than traditional biosignature gases.

Scientists develop a new kind of printable, wearable insect repellent

This is what the ring looks like that could help repel insects.
Photo credit: Uni Halle / Fanfan Du

A new type of insect-repellent delivery device has been developed by scientists from the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU). With the help of a 3D printer, the active ingredient is first "encapsulated" and formed into the desired shape, such as a ring, which can then be worn and releases an agent designed to repel mosquitoes for a long time. The team has presented its work in the "International Journal of Pharmaceutics".

The researchers have developed their prototypes using "IR3535", an insect repellent developed by MERCK. "Mosquito sprays containing IR3535 are very gentle on the skin and have been used all over the world for many years. That’s why we’ve been using the agent for our experiments", says Professor René Androsch from the MLU. It is usually applied as a spray or lotion and offers several hours of protection. However, Androsch and his team are looking for ways to release the agent over a much longer period, such as by encapsulating it in a wearable ring or bracelet.

Improvements in hearing loss screening programs in children are needed

Allison Mackey, PhD student at KI.
Photo credit: Ulf Sirborn

Screening programs for hearing loss in children need to be better at collecting data and measuring outcomes to improve quality, for example to improve the proportion of follow-ups. This shows a new dissertation from Karolinska Institutet.  One in 500 infants has permanent hearing loss, which can affect their development of the spoken language. The spoken language creates the conditions for reading, social communication and education.

A delay in language development can have consequences for life, and it is therefore important that infants and children with hearing impairments get the right effort as early as possible, says Allison Mackey, who recently completed his doctoral dissertation under the supervision of Inger Uhlén at Department of Clinical Science, Intervention and Technology, Karolinska Institutet.

Lack of data collection

The dissertation evaluated, among other things, how well the hearing screening programs performed as well as the strategies used to improve their results.

Among other things, we conducted an international survey on the status of screening programs in both high- and middle-income countries in Europe, as part of a large multicenter project. It showed that most high-income countries perform hearing screening on all newborn babies, while only a few middle-income countries have similar programs. We also found that most countries lacked available data showing the results of the screening programs, says Allison Mackey.

Digging deep

The unassuming Pacific mole crab, Emerita analoga, is about to make some waves. UC Berkeley researchers have debuted a unique robot inspired by this burrowing crustacean that may someday help evaluate the soil of agricultural sites, collect marine data and study soil and rock conditions at construction sites.

In a study published today in Frontiers in Robotics & AI, Hannah Stuart, assistant professor of mechanical engineering, and her team demonstrated one of the first legged robots that can self-burrow vertically. This digging robot, called EMBUR (EMerita BUrrowing Robot), uses a novel leg design to achieve downward motion that emulates the way Pacific mole crabs bury themselves in beach sand.

Mole crabs make burrowing look easy, but, according to Laura Treers, the study’s lead author and a Ph.D. student in mechanical engineering in Stuart’s Embodied Dexterity research group, it is difficult to move downward through granular media, like sand and soil. The deeper an animal digs, the harder the grains push back, impeding excavation.

To overcome this challenge and create a vertical-legged burrower, the researchers designed the legs of the robot to have an anisotropic force response, which means that they experience much greater force in one direction than another. Like a swimmer, the soft fabric legs of this robot expand for large forces during the power stroke, but fold and retract during the return stroke.

Designing a plant cuticle in the lab could yield many benefits

Yandeau-Nelson inside her lab
Photos credit Christopher Gannon | Iowa State University

Scientists are working to bioengineer a common defense mechanism that most plants develop naturally to protect against drought, insects and other environmental stresses.

The goal is to identify the genetic structure of a plant cuticle and create a roadmap for breeding plants with designer cuticles that can respond to changing climates. The cuticle is a thin, waxy layer that provides a physical barrier between the plant and its environment. The work also has potential biorenewable applications for developing value-added chemicals with industrial functions.

Marna Yandeau-Nelson, an associate professor of genetics, development and cell biology at Iowa State University, is leading the cross-disciplinary team that includes researchers from Iowa State, the University of Delaware and University of Nebraska-Lincoln. The project, which is funded by a $2.65-million National Science Foundation grant, includes a unique partnership with Iowa State’s Science Bound program to provide research opportunities for underrepresented students.

“If we understand what genes are required for certain compositions and what compositions of the cuticle protect against different stresses, then we have the ability for applied breeding for the production of designer cuticles with important protective functions,” Yandeau-Nelson said.

Claims AI can boost workplace diversity are ‘spurious and dangerous’, researchers argue

Co-author Dr Eleanor Drage testing the 'personality machine' built by Cambridge undergraduates.
  Credit: Eleanor Drage

Recent years have seen the emergence of AI tools marketed as an answer to lack of diversity in the workforce, from use of chatbots and CV scrapers to line up prospective candidates, through to analysis software for video interviews.

Those behind the technology claim it cancels out human biases against gender and ethnicity during recruitment, instead using algorithms that read vocabulary, speech patterns and even facial micro-expressions to assess huge pools of job applicants for the right personality type and “culture fit”.

However, in a new report published in Philosophy and Technology, researchers from Cambridge’s Centre for Gender Studies argue these claims make some uses of AI in hiring little better than an “automated pseudoscience” reminiscent of physiognomy or phrenology: the discredited beliefs that personality can be deduced from facial features or skull shape.

They say it is a dangerous example of “techno solutionism”: turning to technology to provide quick fixes for deep-rooted discrimination issues that require investment and changes to company culture.

Sikorsky Continues Progress on RAIDER X® Helicopter for U.S. Army

RAIDER X is 92% complete at Sikorsky’s Development Flight Center in West Palm Beach, Florida. The design is based on Sikorsky’s X2 technology, which provides unmatched potential and growth.
 Photo courtesy Sikorsky, a Lockheed Martin company.

Sikorsky, a Lockheed Martin company is completing early tests toward a safe flight test program for the RAIDER X® competitive prototype it is building for the U.S. Army’s Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft (FARA) program.

“The RAIDER X prototype, which is 92% complete, draws on Lockheed Martin’s broad expertise in developing innovative weapons systems using the latest digital design and manufacturing techniques. These advancements will enable the Army to not only lower the acquisition cost, but also enable rapid, affordable upgrades to stay ahead of the evolving threat,” said Jay Macklin, director, Sikorsky Future Vertical Lift business development.

There are hundreds of additively manufactured parts installed on RAIDER X, including flight-critical parts. The 3D printing process has been so successful that first articles are 95% compliant, saving the team hundreds of hours compared to previous processes.

Mathematical Formula Tackles Complex Moral Decision-Making in AI

Photo credit: Andy Kelly.

An interdisciplinary team of researchers has developed a blueprint for creating algorithms that more effectively incorporate ethical guidelines into artificial intelligence (AI) decision-making programs. The project was focused specifically on technologies in which humans interact with AI programs, such as virtual assistants or “carebots” used in healthcare settings.

“Technologies like carebots are supposed to help ensure the safety and comfort of hospital patients, older adults and other people who require health monitoring or physical assistance,” says Veljko Dubljević, corresponding author of a paper on the work and an associate professor in the Science, Technology & Society program at North Carolina State University. “In practical terms, this means these technologies will be placed in situations where they need to make ethical judgments.

“For example, let’s say that a carebot is in a setting where two people require medical assistance. One patient is unconscious but requires urgent care, while the second patient is in less urgent need but demands that the carebot treat him first. How does the carebot decide which patient is assisted first? Should the carebot even treat a patient who is unconscious and therefore unable to consent to receiving the treatment?

“Previous efforts to incorporate ethical decision-making into AI programs have been limited in scope and focused on utilitarian reasoning, which neglects the complexity of human moral decision-making,” Dubljević says. “Our work addresses this and, while I used carebots as an example, is applicable to a wide range of human-AI teaming technologies.”

Taking a biochemical snapshot of sea turtle health

Green Sea Turtle 
Photo credit: Randall Ruiz

New Griffith research is using biochemical profiles from the blood of sea turtles as a tool to monitor the health of populations in the wild.

Published in Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology, the researchers used metabolomics, which measures the by-products of physiological processes, to determine if environmental conditions or the way in which they were captured can affect their health.

“As iconic but threatened species, there is considerable interest in adapting cutting-edge analytical techniques to evaluate the health of wild populations of sea turtles,” said Dr Steve Melvin a Research Fellow at the Australian Rivers Institute.

“Nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy is a powerful technique that can provide a metabolic fingerprint of the physiological processes taking place in an animal. It gives a direct indication of an organism’s health and how external conditions influence an animal’s physiological response.

“Being non-lethal, metabolomics provides an attractive method for comparing populations of threatened species like sea turtles, and to understand how the environment they are living in impacts their health. However, few studies have used this method to evaluate wild populations of sea turtles.”