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SESAME open The opening on 16 May of a powerful synchrotron light source near Amman, Jordan, marks a new era of scientific partnership in the Middle East. SESAME (Synchrotron-light for Experimental Science and Applications in the Middle East), a collaboration currently including Cyprus, Egypt, Iran, Israel, Jordan, Pakistan, the Palestinian Authority and Turkey, cost about US$110million to build. The European Union and other countries provided financial and technical support for building the 2.5-gigaelectronvolt machine, which channels light into beams of intense radiation for research ranging from biology to materials science and archaeology. SESAME aims to become the worlds first synchrotron powered entirely by solar energy.

IBM unveils quantum upgrade Numerous researchers have had their first chance to practise with quantum programming since IBMs rudimentary Quantum Experience service went online a year ago. On 17 May, the company announced that it has upgraded the freely available service from 5 superconducting qubits (quantum bits) to 16. It has also launched a second processor, twice as powerful, which is available for a fee. IBM is one of several companies and academic labs racing to build the first quantum machine that could outperform any existing classical computera threshold expected to be passed at around 50qubits.

Andy Aaron/IBM

French cabinet Science and the environment are well represented in the first government of French president Emmanuel Macron and his prime minister, douard Philippe. Among the ministers announced last week, Frdrique Vidal, a biologist and president of the University of Nice Sophia-Antipolis, was put in charge of higher education, research and innovation. Agns Buzyn, a haematology researcher and physician who has held senior positions in Frances public-health agencies, was named minister for solidarity and health. And Nicolas Hulot, a popular environmental activist and former nature-documentary producer who was wooed in vain by past presidents, will head a powerful new environment and energy ministry.

Mercury treaty A global treaty that aims to reduce mercury pollution will enter into force on 16 August following its ratification on 18May by the European Union and seven of its member states. The Minamata Convention on Mercury, named after the Japanese city where the worst-ever mercury poisoning was discovered in 1956, was negotiated and adopted in 2013 by 140 countries. With more than 50nations now having ratified it, the treaty will legally require all signatories to address issues surrounding use, trade, emissions and disposal of the toxic element and its compounds.

Final cause More than half of the worlds estimated 56 million deaths in 2015 were recorded without listing a cause, according to a global health report from the World Health Organization (WHO) released on 17 May. This number, however, has dropped markedly in a decade. Since 2005, when about two-thirds of global deaths had no recorded cause, populous countries such as Iran, Turkey and China have made notable progress by reporting detailed information for most deaths, says the WHO. Registering causes of death helps countries to track public-health trends and determine ways to increase population health, the agency says.

Precision medicine Kalydeco (ivacaftor), a precision drug designed to treat a rare form of cystic fibrosis, can now treat more people with the genetic disease, thanks to a 17May approval by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). In 2012, Vertex Pharmaceuticals in Boston, Massachusetts, received FDA approval to market the drug only to patients whose disease is caused by one of 10 genetic mutations a subset representing 4% of cases, or about 3,000 people worldwide. The new approval expands this to 33 mutations, covering an extra 3% of cases in the United States. Kalydeco is one of the worlds most expensive drugs, at US$300,000 for a years treatment.

Cranial remains The Cesare Lombroso Museum of Criminal Anthropology in Turin may continue to display the skull (pictured) of Giuseppe Villella, a thief who died in 1864. The Italian criminologist Cesare Lombroso used Villellas skull to support his incorrect atavism theory, which argued that the shape of a skull could predict criminal tendencies. Five years ago, a judge had ruled that the skull should be returned to Motta Santa Lucia in southern Italy for a dignified burial, reasoning that the abandoned theory had no scientific or educational value. But on 17 May an appeals judge in Catanzaro ruled that it was an object of cultural value that should remain in the museum.

Mus. Anthropol. Criminal "Cesare Lombroso"/Univ. Turin

Election pledges Ahead of the UK general election in June, the three main political parties have each promised to increase the countrys total research spending. The governing Conservative Party which polls suggest will remain in power following the 8June election pledged to raise overall public and private research and development expenditure from 1.7% to 2.4% of the United Kingdoms gross domestic product (GDP) within ten years. The opposing Labour Party says it will aim for 3% of GDP by 2030, and the Liberal Democrats announced a long-term goal to double innovation and research spending across the economy. However, none of the party manifestos unveiled last week make detailed financial commitments to science.

Seed-vault flood The Svalbard Global Seed Vault, a repository in the Norwegian Arctic intended to provide a long-term back-up for the worlds seeds, is to be upgraded to protect against flooding caused by melting permafrost. Water entered the vaults long access tunnel over the winter, as a result of unusually warm Arctic temperatures. The seeds were safe, but the vaults operator a Norwegian government agency announced on 19May that it will construct extra waterproofing and drainage ditches to protect against the effects of future climate change.

WHO reforms Three years after the outbreak of the Ebola crisis, the World Health Organization (WHO) has pledged to reform its operations in Africa, where about 100 public-health emergencies occur each year. The agency will establish several sub-regional emergency hubs to help the continent to respond more quickly to future emergencies, said Matsidisho Moeti, its regional director for Africa, on 22 May. The WHO will also step up its efforts to improve adolescent health in Africa, she told the World Health Assembly in Geneva, Switzerland. As Nature went to press, the WHOs decision-making body was expected to elect a new director-general, who will take office for a five-year term on 1 July.

Swiss nuclear vote Switzerland has voted to terminate the use of nuclear power in favour of energy from renewable sources. In a 21May referendum, more than 58% voted to phase out Switzerlands five existing nuclear power plants, which currently provide about one-third of the countrys electricity needs. The binding vote backs the Swiss governments plans to decommission the facilities, but does not specify how soon they must be shut off.

Plastic-waste prize On 18 May, the Ellen MacArthur Foundation announced a US$2-million prize to help keep plastics out of the oceans. Funded by US philanthropist Wendy Schmidt, the New Plastics Economy Innovation Prize is split into two challenges: $1million is on offer for inventions that get products such as shampoo and drinks to people without generating plastic waste. And another $1million is available to innovators who come up with ways to make all plastic packaging recyclable. As concern has grown over the threat posed to the environment by plastic in the oceans, scientists have stressed the need to reduce pollution at source as well as clean up existing waste.

The genomes of 225 plants are now available online86 more than a year agoaccording to the second State of the Worlds Plants report, released on 18 May. The main focus of sequencing is crop species, ranging from staples such as rice and wheat to coffee, beer hops and quinoa. But the distribution of species sequenced is uneven across the plant tree of life. For example, many families of the species-rich seed plants (angiosperm and gymnosperm orders) have no sequenced species.

Source: State of the Worlds Plants (2017)

2327 May Chinas top Go players compete with artificial intelligence at the Future of Go Summit in Wuzhen. go.nature.com/2r95xdb

31 May1 June The biennial UK Space Conference is held in Manchester, UK. ukspace2017.co.uk

1 June A SpaceX Falcon9 rocket will launch the Dragon spacecraft on its 11th mission to resupply the International Space Station. go.nature.com/2qbkmrl

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Quantum computing, election pledges and a thief who made science history - Nature.com

You hear a lot about quantum computers. How they'll be super fast and super powerful. There are even companies claiming to make the first simple versions of quantum computers.

But what makes a computer "quantum?" Here are five things to know about quantum computers.

1. Quantum computers use qubits. While classical computers encode bits as zeros and ones. Qubits can be one, zero or a superposition of both.

2. Because qubits can be in multiple states at once, a quantum computer has inherent paralellism. That means a while your computer can work on one thing at a time, albeit very fast on today's processors, quantum computers can work on millions of things a at a time.

3. Quantum computers will be best at factoring large numbers, making them super fast at breaking encryption or searching a large database.

4. Quantum computers can read data without looking at it. Measuring a qubit can change its state and affect the outcome. So quantum computers entangle atoms, meaning one atom always reflects the state of another. That way you can know what state the first atom is without measuring it and changing its state.

5. There's debate about whether we're really there yet. The uncertainty principle in this case is just how quantum our computers are. Companies like D-Wave use quantum principles in their computing but most agree that practical quantum computers are still years away.

I know what you're thinking. You're in a superposition of both understanding and not understanding quantum computers. Well here's more from TechRepublic to help you out:

SEE: Quantum computing: The smart person's guideSEE: D-Wave quantum computers: The smart person's guide

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Top 5: Things to know about quantum computers - TechRepublic

The invention of the computer drove an explosion of technological innovation like the world has never seen. Now scientists are closing in on creating a new type of computer the quantum computer.

But according to Michael Raymer, a professor of physics at the UO, the United States is lagging behind China and many European countries in theamount of money invested in this new technology, something he sees as a huge mistake. He recently wrote about the problem in The Register-Guard.

A quantum computer is a new kind of computer that could theoretically do things that modern-day computers would be stumped by, such as design new industrial materials or find the ideal molecular structure for a new medicine.

It would be nice if we could leave it up to the private sector to create the first quantum computer, but there are limits to what industry can achieve on its own, he said. Its easy to say that taxpayers shouldnt have to foot the bill for science and engineering, but in many cases, these investments provide exponential returns to the people who pay for them.

He compares this to the Human Genome Project, where scientists were tasked with mapping every bit of human DNA, which led to countless medical breakthroughs.

For more, see his op-ed piece in The Register-Guard, U.S. playing catch-up in quantum computing.

Raymer has been at the UO since 1988. He served as the founding director of the Oregon Center for Optics. His research looks at the quantum mechanics of light and its interaction with atoms and molecules.

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Is the US falling behind in the race for quantum computing? - AroundtheO

By Scott Totzke, Network World | May 23, 2017 9:00 AM PT

Opinions expressed by ICN authors are their own.

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Imagine you wake up one morning, assuming everything is as you left it the night before. But overnight, attackers with a quantum computer capable of breaking current cryptography standards have targeted millions of people and stolen their personal data.

Experts have estimated that a commercial quantum computer capable of breaking the cryptography we rely on today will be available by 2026. In fact, IEEE Spectrum reported last year that a quantum computer is close to cracking RSA encryption.

To many people, a nine-year timeline doesnt sound alarming, and the consequences of not updating our security technology with quantum-safe solutions may not be clear. Heres why the work to upgrade to quantum-safe security needs to start now to keep our data safe once quantum computers arrive.

On any given day, you might engage in any of the following common activities as a typical technology user, and if attackers with a quantum computer break the cryptography these transactions rely on, your sensitive data could be leaked, leading to serious consequences for you and the institutions responsible for safeguarding that data:

1. Sending email: You log in to your laptop and send a few personal emails. Your messages can now be read by the attackers and posted publicly for anyone to read.

2. Checking an online bank account: You log in to your bank account and transfer money. Your financial data is now accessible by the attackers who can use it to drain your accounts.

3. Updating your social media accounts: You log in to Facebook and post a personal update about your upcoming vacation and some pictures of your family, assuming you are sharing only with your friends. All photos and personal information are now publicly visible and can be modified by people other than you.

4. Updating software on a smartphone: You get a software update to your smartphone and accept it, not realizing that the authentication process that assures the update comes from a trusted source (i.e. Google or Apple) is now broken. Malware can now be pushed to your smartphone in the guise of a trusted update, giving the attackers further access to any login credentials for apps you have stored, as well as your data.

5. Driving your connected car: You get into your car to drive to work. Your cars computer accepts software updates automatically. Those updates could now come from the attackers, without your knowledge, allowing a third party to take control of the embedded systems in your car and override your navigation, cut power to your vehicle, and more.

Many other daily transactions we take for granted could immediately become vulnerable. For example, using a formerly secure IoT-connected device, such as a thermostat, home security system, or baby monitor; transferring funds to a pre-loaded payment for a public transportation system; or using a VPN to log in to a corporate network. Many public safety risks that are also introduced when public transport vehicles, safety systems, and physical access systems can be compromised.

We already see rapidly increasing numbers of data breaches as more connected devices make more attack surfaces available. As companies and governments work continually to protect against cybersecurity attacks through advances in technology, the advent of quantum computing could create a free for all for cybercriminals.

But there is a solution in the form of quantum-safe cryptography. The key will be updating quantum-vulnerable solutions in time, and that means understanding now which systems will be affected by quantum risk and planning a migration to potential quantum-safe security solutions that includes appropriate testing and piloting.

The transition can begin with hybrid solutions that allow for agile cryptography implementations designed to augment the classical cryptography we use today.

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How quantum computing increases cybersecurity risks | Network ... - Network World

Consider three hair-pulling problems: 1 percent of the worlds energy is used every year just to produce fertilizer; solar panels arent powerful enough to provide all the power for most homes; investing in stocks often feels like a game of Russian roulette.

Those seemingly disparate issues can be solved by the same tool, according to some scientists: quantum computing. Quantum computers use superconducting particles to perform tasks and have long been seen as a luxury for the top academic echelonfar removed from the common individual. But thats quickly changing.

IBM had been dabbling with commercial possibilities when last year it released Quantum Experience, a cloud-based quantum computing service researchers could use to run experiments without having to buy a quantum system. In early March, IBM took that program further and announced IBM Q, the first cloud quantum computing system for commercial use. Companies will be able to buy time on IBMs quantum computers in New York state, though IBM has not set a release date or price, and it is expected to be financially prohibitive for smaller companies at first.

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Jarrod McClean, a computing sciences fellow at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, says the announcement is exciting because quantum computing wasnt expected to hit commercial markets for decades. Last year, some experts estimated commercial experimentation could be five to 40 years away, yet here we are, and the potential applications could disrupt the way pharmaceutical companies make medicine, the way logistics companies schedule trains and the way hedge fund managers gain an edge in the stock market. Were seeing more application areas start to develop all the time, now that people are looking at quantum, McClean says.

Quantum computing is as different from traditional computing as an abacus is from a MacBook. Classical computing was [invented] in the 1940s. This is like [that creation], but even beyond it, says Scott Crowder, IBM Systems vice president and chief technology officer of quantum computing, technical strategy and transformation. Take everything you know about how a class of computers works and forget it.

Quantum computers are made up of parts called qubits, also known as quantum bits. On some problems, they leverage the strange physics of quantum mechanics to work faster than chips on a traditional computer. (Just as a plane cannot exactly compare to a race car, a classical computer will still be able to do some things better than quantum, and vice versa. Theyre just different.)

Explaining how qubits work requires jumping into quantum mechanics, which doesnt follow the same rules of physics were used to in our everyday lives. Quantum entanglement and quantum superposition are particularly important; they defy common sense but take place only in environments that are incredibly tiny.

IBM Quantum Computing Scientists Hanhee Paik, left, and Sarah Sheldon, right, examine the hardware inside an open dilution fridge at the IBM Q Lab at IBM's T. J. Watson Research Center in Yorktown, New York. IBM Q quantum systems and services will be delivered via the IBM Cloud platform and will be designed to tackle problems that are too complex and exponential in nature for classical computing systems to handle. One of the first and most promising applications for quantum computing will be in the area of chemistry and could lead to the discovery of new medicines and materials. Connie Zhou/IBM

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Quantum superposition is important because it allows the qubit to do two things at once. Technically, it allows the qubit to be two things at once. While traditional computers put bits in 0 and 1 configurations to calculate steps, a qubit can be a 0 and a 1 at the same time. Quantum entanglement, another purely quantum property, takes the possibilities a step further by intertwining the characteristics of two different qubits, allowing for even more calculations. Calculations that would take longer than a humans life span to work out on a classic computer can be completed in a matter of days or hours.

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Eventually, quantum computing could outperform the worlds fastest supercomputerand then all computers ever made, combined. We arent there yet, but at 50 qubits, universal quantum computing would reach that inflection point and be able to solve problems existing computers cant handle, says Jerry Chow, a member of IBMs experimental quantum computing department. He added that IBM plans to build and distribute a 50-qubit system in the next few years. Google aims to complete a 49-qubit system by the end of 2017.

Some experts arent convinced IBMs move into the commercial market is significant. Yoshihisa Yamamoto, a Stanford University physics professor, says, I expect the IBM quantum computer has a long way to go before it is commercialized to change our everyday life.

Caltech assistant professor of computing and mathematical sciences Thomas Vidick says IBMs commercialization of quantum computing feels a bit premature and estimates it will still be 10 to 20 years before commercial applications are mainstream. The point is that quantum hardware hasn't reached maturity yet, he explains. These are large machines, but they are hard to control. There is a big overhead in the transformation that maps the problem you want to solve to a problem that the machine can solve, one that fits its architecture.

Despite the skepticism, many researchers are pumped. While the current systems arent likely to solve a computational problem that regular computers cant already solve, preparing the software layer in advance will help us hit the ground running when systems large enough to be useful become available, says Michele Mosca, co-founder of the Institute for Quantum Computing at Ontarios University of Waterloo. Everyday life will start to get affected once larger-scale quantum computers are built and they are used to solve important design and optimization problems.

A company called D-Wave Systems already sells 2,000-qubit systems, but its systems are different from IBMs and other forms of universal quantum computers, so many experts dont consider their development to have reached that quantum finish line. D-Wave Systemss computers are a type of quantum computer called quantum annealers, and they are limited because they can be used only on optimization problems. There is a roaring scientific debate about whether quantum annealers could eventually outpace traditional supercomputers, but regardless, this type of quantum computer is really good at one niche problem and cant expand beyond that right now.

What problems could be so complicated they would require a quantum computer? Take fertilizer production, McClean says. The power-hungry process to make mass-produced fertilizer accounts for 1 percent to 2 percent of the worlds energy use per year. But theres a type of cyanobacteria that uses an enzyme to do nitrogen fixation at room temperature, which means it uses energy far more efficiently than industrial methods. Its been too challenging for classical systems to date, McClean says, but he notes that quantum computers would probably be able to reveal the enzymes secrets so researchers could re-create the process synthetically. Its such an interesting problem from a point of view of how nature is able to do this particular type of catalysis, he adds.

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Pharmaceutical science could also benefit. One of the limitations to developing better, cheaper drugs is problems that arise when dealing with electronic structures, McClean says. Except with the simplest structures, like hydrogen-based molecules, understanding atomic and subatomic motion requires running computer simulations. But even that breaks down with more complex molecules. You dont even ask those questions on a classical computer because you know youre going to get it wrong, Crowder says.

The ability to predict how molecules react with other drugs, and the efficacy of certain catalysts in drug development, could drastically speed up the pace of pharmaceutical development and, ideally, lower prices, McClean says.

Finance is also plagued by complicated problems with multiple moving parts, says Marcos Lpez de Prado, a research fellow in the Computational Research Department at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Creating a dynamic investment portfolio that can adjust to the markets with artificial intelligence, or running simulations with multiple variables, would be ideal, but current computers aren't advanced enough to make this method possible. The problem is that a portfolio that is optimal today may not be optimal tomorrow, Lpez de Prado says, and the rebalance between the two can be so costly as to defeat its purpose.

Quantum computing could figure out the optimal way to rebalance portfolios day by day (or minute by minute) since that will require a computing power beyond the current potential of digital computers, says Lpez de Prado, who is also a senior managing director at Guggenheim Partners. Instead of listening to gurus or watching TV shows with Wall Street connections, we could finally get the tools needed to replace guesswork with science.

While business applications within quantum computing are mostly hopeful theories, theres one area where experts agree quantum could be valuable: optimization. Using quantum computing to create a program that thinks through how to make business operations faster, smarter and cheaper could revolutionize countless industries, Lpez de Prado says.

For example, quantum computers could be used to organize delivery truck routes so holiday gifts arrive faster during the rush before Christmas. They could take thousands of self-driving cars and organize them on the highway so all the drivers get to their destination via the fastest route. They could create automated translating software so international businesses dont have to bother with delays caused from translating emails. Optimization is just a generic hammer they can use on all these nails, McClean says.

One day, quantum might even be used for nationwide problems, like optimizing the entire U.S. economy or organizing a national power grid.

Just as computers presented a huge advantage to the handful of companies that could afford them when they first came on the commercial market, its possible that a few companies might gain a tactical advantage by using quantum computing now. For example, if only a few investors use quantum computing to balance portfolios, the rest of the market will probably lose money. But what happens when quantum computing goes mainstream? asks Lpez de Prado. That tactical disadvantage disappears. Instead, everyone will be able to make better investment decisions. People will rely on science rather than stories.

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Quantum Computing Is Going Commercial With the Potential ...

In Brief Researchers are working on creating a quantum capacitor using graphene that is more resistant to electromagnetic interference. This brings us closer to a practical quantum computer. Wonder Material Meets Supercomputer

Right now, graphene and quantumcomputers bothstand out as symbols of the next steps in human technological innovation. Each represents a paradigm shift both in their respective originating fields (materials and computing) as well as in the fields to which they are applied. But perhaps the most exciting developments for these two technologies will come as they combined.

Researchers at EPFLs Laboratory of Photonics and Quantum Measurements have been working to build a quantum capacitor that can create stable qubits (the units of information storage in quantum computers) that are also resistant to common electromagnetic interference. Such a capacitor is easier to produce usinga two dimensionalmaterial such as graphene. Their research was published in2D Materials and Applications.

Quantum computers work by taking advantage of special rules reserved for sub-atomic particles in order to perform the most complex tasks at currently impossible speeds. While theyarent likely to replace our home computers as their capabilities are well beyond our daily needs, what they are capable of will revolutionize whats possible for high-tech applications such as running quantum simulations which can unlock previously impossible to access information.

Taking advantage of graphenes special properties in the designs of quantum capacitors will move us closer to figuring out how to create a practical quantum computer. And this is just one example of graphenes many uses. From the understatedly important capability toturn sea water into drinking water, to the ability to becomezero-resistance superconductors, graphene has the potential to lead us into a new era of science.

Were likelyfar from a functioning practical quantum computer, but watching the beginnings of what might be one of the most significant human technological achievements in our age is quite exciting. Were standing on the precipiceof the next step in our tech evolution.

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Graphene Just Brought Us One Step Closer to Practical Quantum Computers - Futurism

Quantum computing has always sparked the imagination of technology enthusiasts and scientists. Until now, the process to gain access to a supercomputer remains quite expensive. IBM hopes to change all that by launching the Q service, which provides quantum computing as a service. An intriguing development that will potentially spur a new race to build the worlds fastest supercomputer.

On paper, it sounds rather crazy to think anyone in the world could get access to a supercomputer. Most consumers and small businesses do not have any use for this technology whatsoever. Computers and even smartphones are more than powerful enough for consumers looking to complete basic tasks. However, IBM Q is not necessarily designed for the average person on the street.

More specifically, IBM Q is a commercially available universal quantum computer for both businesses and scientists. It is widely believed quantum computing would provide solutions to important problems otherwise too complex to solve through traditional means. It is quite an intriguing project that can currently be accessed free of charge upon providing academic credentials. Do keep in mind users will be somewhat limited as to what they can do during the early stages of IBM Q availability, though.

Under the hood, IBM Q makes use of two universal quantum computing processors. The project provides 16 qubits of computing power for public use and 17 qubits of computing power for commercial use. This first processor can be accessed through the IBM Cloud service at no additional cost, which is a nice gesture. The commercial processor, on the other hand, is twice as powerful as the free version. It is unclear how much access to this resource will cost, though.

Even though this is a major breakthrough in the world of quantum computing, this hardware will not solve every problem in the world. It will also pose no threat to the Bitcoin ecosystem whatsoever, as the computing resources made available both free of charge and in exchange for a payment are not powerful enough to threaten Bitcoins cryptography. Should the available resources be increased in quantity and capacity, that could change in the future. Even then, it seems highly unlikely someone would deliberately try to break Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.

It is quite impressive to see how far we have come in the world of quantum computing. Access to such powerful resources seemed to be strictly off-limits for multiple decades. Yet here we are in the year 2017, a time during which quantum computing as a service became an official service. It is a bit unclear who will use IBM Q the free tier, that is but it is a more than welcome development regardless.

The bigger question is whether or not IBM Q offers an intuitive graphical user interface for people to enjoy. Having access to more powerful computing resources is one thing, but if it is difficult to make sense of it all, IBM Q will only be half as appealing. It will be interesting to see how the general public responds to this development. Rest assured this will generate a buzz of excitement in academic circles, though.

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IBM Q Offers Quantum Computing as a Service - The Merkle

The Indian Express

Stanford researchers push forward quantum computing research ... The Indian Express Researchers at Stanford University are working on new materials that could become the basis for quantum computing. Researchers propel forward quantum computing research - The ...Morung Express all 4 news articles »

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Stanford researchers push forward quantum computing research ... - The Indian Express

May 23, 2017

Dr. Eleanor Rieffel

A highly respected scientist in the field of quantum information and computation, Eleanor Rieffel, Ph.D., will visit Chapman University for a talk titled, A NASA Perspective on Quantum Computing: Opportunities and Challenges, on Friday, May 26 at 2 p.m. in Argyros Forum, Room 212. Hosted by Chapmans Institute for Quantum Studies, this event is free and open to the public.

The talk should be particularly interesting for those who wish to understand what quantum computing is, why we should care about it and what the current state of the technology is, saidJustin Dressel, Ph.D., assistant professor of physics in Chapmans Schmid College of Science and Technology.

In her talk, Rieffel will be introducing key concepts about a fundamentally new type of computer known as the quantum computer. Compared to the classicalcomputer, the quantum computer directly uses the peculiar behavior seen at the microscopic scale of atoms and molecules to perform calculations. Shewill discuss the applications of this new technology, the current development status in the hardware of quantum computers as well as the common misconceptions about the field. Dr. Rieffel leads theQuantum Artificial Intelligence Laboratory at the NASA Ames Research Center and will draw from her experiences working at NASA to provide perspective on the advantages and limitations of quantum computing.Dr. Dressel will moderate.

As a member of NASA, Dr. Rieffel is closely involved with the latest tests of the D-Wave quantum annealing machine, and the latest progress in quantum algorithms development. This is a great opportunity for an accurate insider look at one of the most exciting ongoing technological revolutions of our time, Dressel said.

Refreshments will be served at 1:30 p.m. and Dr. Rieffels talk will begin at 2 p.m. More information can be found at: https://events.chapman.edu/36104.

Eleanor G. Rieffel, Ph.D.

Eleanor G. Rieffel joined the NASA Advanced Supercomputing (NAS) Division at the NASA Ames Research Center in 2012 to work on their expanding quantum computing effort, after working at FX Palo Alto Laboratory, Inc (FXPAL), where she performed research in diverse fields including quantum computation, applied cryptography, image-based geometric reconstruction of 3-D scenes, bioinformatics, video surveillance and automated control code generation for modular robotics.

Her research interests include quantum heuristics, evaluation and utilization of near-term quantum hardware, fundamental resources for quantum computation, quantum error suppression and applications for quantum computing. She received her Ph.D. in mathematics from the University of California, Los Angeles and is best known for her 2011 book,Quantum Computing: A Gentle Introduction, with co-author Wolfgang Polak and published by MIT Press.

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NASA Scientist Eleanor Rieffel to give a talk on quantum computing - Chapman University: Happenings (blog)

The May 14 Commentary essay, Miracle Machine needs fuel, co-authored by Alphabet executive chairman Eric Schmidt, touted quantum computing as an upcoming revolutionary technology with the capability to affect our lives in major ways, and argued that government support for its development is essential. Schmidt is correct: The time is right for a major U.S. investment in quantum computing.

Most technologies that benefit us resulted from earlier science breakthroughs, many of which were enabled by government investment. For example, the Internet was invented by university and industry scientists supported by federal government grants. When it became operational, it was supported further through infrastructure investments for many years until private corporations saw the benefit of taking it on.

Now an international race is on to see who can create the first working quantum computer and to put it to beneficial uses.

What is quantum computing, and how is it revolutionary?

A quantum computer would be able to compute answers to many important problems that no ordinary computer could handle: designing new industrial materials, determining the optimal molecular structures of pharmaceutical drugs, monitoring patterns of activity in communication networks, searching databases and other yet-to-be discovered applications.

Ordinary computers store each bit of information in the states of miniature electrical switches. A switch can be on or off to represent a bit of data. A program of switching these on and off drives a computers operation.

A quantum computer would store information in quantum switches, or qubits, which can in a sense be in the on state and the off state simultaneously. This gives quantum computers unique capabilities.

The challenges to building working quantum computers are formidable. Controlling qubits is extremely difficult because they can be disrupted by any unwanted outside influence.

Scientists have yet to create a quantum computer, but they are getting closer. They have learned how to tame qubits and entice them to perform the needed steps to carry out calculations using quantum principles.

Some leading companies, including IBM, Microsoft, Google and Intel, have begun investing in efforts to construct quantum computers. But a gap exists between the kind of trained experts the companies need and the available scientific labor pool. What is needed are quantum engineers, and industry is not in a position to train such a workforce. And, really, at this point no one has the engineering know-how to build quantum computers.

Other kinds of quantum technologies are also on the horizon. Quantum communication technologies have been invented that can promise complete security against messages being intercepted and read while in transit over the Internet. Quantum-based gravity sensors and accelerometers can be used in geo-exploration and in navigation where GPS is unavailable. And quantum magnetic-field sensors can enhance medical diagnostic technology and research.

For these reasons, I recently became involved with a wide cohort of scientists and engineers in industry, government laboratories and universities who are calling for a major national investment in developing the engineering framework and scientific workforce needed to bring quantum technologies to fruition. This would be a quantum moonshot effort, like the government-funded Human Genome Project, which now affects medical research and practice in big ways, and creates growth in the economy.

Following a meeting last fall at the White House Office of Science and Technology, some of us began working together and with professional scientific societies to encourage a major federal investment in quantum technologies, including quantum computers.

The U.S. is playing catch up, as European governments are investing around $2 billion and it is believed Chinas investment in quantum technology is moving quickly, including the launch of a quantum-enabled satellite.

It would be nice if we could leave it up to the private sector to create the first quantum computer, but there are limits to what industry can achieve on its own. Its easy to say that taxpayers shouldnt have to foot the bill for science and engineering, but in many cases these investments provide exponential returns to the people who pay for them. The Internet, GPS, medical imagers, and countless other innovations have come about thanks to federally funded basic and applied research.

Ultimately, these partnerships benefit the taxpayers, private industry and society. The same kind of successes can be had with quantum technology, but only if we commit to a race whose finish is far closer than once thought.

To hear about the development of quantum computers from one of the pioneers in the field, you can attend the free public lecture at 7 p.m. May 30 by Nobel prize-winning physicist David Wineland, in the Straub Hall auditorium on the University of Oregon campus.

Michael Raymer, a University of Oregon professor of physics, is the author of Quantum Physics: What Everyone Needs to Know.

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US playing catch-up in quantum computing - The Register-Guard