Anna Demming

Lunar magnetic field mystery may finally have an explanation – Physics World Physicists weren’t sure why Moon rocks brought back during the Apollo missions are more strongly magnetized than models predict

Imagine an AA battery powering a fridge - that was the kind of mismatch lunar researchers have been wrestling with when lunar sample magnetization measurements suggested the magnetic field of the Moon had been larger than the Earth's. Now they may have an answer...

physicsworld.com/a/lunar-magn...

'Thermodynamic computer' can mimic AI neural networks — using orders of magnitude less energy to generate images Researchers generated images from noise, using orders of magnitude less energy than current generative AI models require.

It could provide a means to slash energy costs - thermodynamic computing image generation uses orders of magnitude less energy than traditional machine learning, like a surfer using the waves as opposed to an ocean liner just plowing through www.livescience.com/technology/c...

'Thermodynamic computer' can mimic AI neural networks — using orders of magnitude less energy to generate images Researchers generated images from noise, using orders of magnitude less energy than current generative AI models require.

Decades of research have gone into suppressing noise for higher performance computing devices – now researchers are finding ways to exploit noise for image generation
www.livescience.com/technology/c... #thermodynamiccomputing #probabilisticcomputing

How soft electronics are transforming medical devices Degradable pacemakers and artificial neurons showcase how flexible, tissue-compatible electronics are revolutionising medicine. But translating these materials from lab bench to clinic requires solvin...

Artificial retinas; pacemakers that degrade in the body and are safely excreted through the kidneys when the job supporting the heart is done – thinking biocompatible flexible electronic materials design is pretty much nailed? Think again: www.chemistryworld.com/features/how... @chemistryworld.com

Hot ancient galaxy cluster challenges current cosmological models – Physics World Observations of the thermal energy in a baby galaxy cluster 12.4 billion light years away suggest much more energetic early cluster growth than current theories assume

Observations of a galaxy harking back to the Universe’s infancy revealed five times the heat we would expect – so what does that mean for our theories of cosmology? Perhaps as with people, age in cosmology is not so easy to extrapolate...
physicsworld.com/a/hot-ancien...
#cosmology

LLM “metalinguistic” capabilities are creating a stir – here's why Abstract. The latest evolutions of large language models are now able to tackle problems stepwise and complete tasks once thought a defining feature of hum

...“Is there something uniquely human that prevents these models to ever achieve us?” - @begus.bsky.social “It is my hope that, as we become better, as algorithms get better and better, we will start honouring and respecting biological intelligence more.” Hear, hear academic.oup.com/jrssig/artic...

…Still there’s been a gear change. So how does AI mimic understanding? Is it reinforcement learning? the chain of thought approach? Just size matters? What is understanding? And what next? human value's expiration date?... commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ed... #AI #metalinguistics #aaargh 😱

…“What LLMs are doing are the same types of things that have been done for a long time, but at a much, much larger scale,”- @danielawitten.bsky.social Take note those wielding the funding guillotine – how would we have got here without those prior decades of study in statistics, linguistic theory?…

Metalinguistics – the ability to understand the ambiguity in eg “Eliza wanted her cast out” and recursivity – eg the island in the lake in the island in the… - previously thought uniquely human, not anymore…how come?... academic.oup.com/jrssig/artic...

Open to pupils aged 14–16 in eligible UK schools (state-funded, non-selective) 🧪

Qubit ‘recycling’ gives neutral-atom quantum computing a boost – Physics World Reducing atom loss and re-using already-measured atoms enables more complex quantum computations

Reduce, re-use, recycle - just as important for #quantumcomputers as it is for household waste. Researchers at US based Atom Computing, Inc & their collaborators report success in retaining atom levels, key to scaling up quantum computing without escalating errors:
physicsworld.com/a/qubit-recy...

Mosaic shows a man climbing a spire with a mortar board under his arm. A galaxy and an observatory complete the scene . Underneath the legend says ‘pursuit’

Mosaic labelled ‘leisure’. A man sits on a couch gazing at a pad that says E=mc2, a sea monster and a nymph

Mosaic of ‘curiosity’ shows a severe looking bust of Lord Rutherford and a atom splitting motif

Mosaic dragon says rar. Tongue out

How have I not noticed the National Gallery mosaics before? Science! Rutherford! Sea monsters! Amazing stuff

New semiconductor could allow classical and quantum computing on the same chip, thanks to superconductivity breakthrough Researchers believe they can fit 25 million Josephson junctions — a useful component for quantum computing — on one two-inch wafer with this approach.

...State of the art characterisation at the University of Queensland showed the perfect crystalline arrangement of the atoms was barely distorted even though 1 in 8 germanium atoms was substituted with gallium - really helpful for future classical/quantum tech www.livescience.com/technology/c...

New semiconductor could allow classical and quantum computing on the same chip, thanks to superconductivity breakthrough Researchers believe they can fit 25 million Josephson junctions — a useful component for quantum computing — on one two-inch wafer with this approach.

Researchers led by Prof Shabani at NYU have taken an idea from the 1960s to dope a semiconductor until it superconducts. They produced germanium with 1 in every 8 atoms substituted with the superconductor gallium - and got it to work www.livescience.com/technology/c...

New semiconductor could allow classical and quantum computing on the same chip, thanks to superconductivity breakthrough Researchers believe they can fit 25 million Josephson junctions — a useful component for quantum computing — on one two-inch wafer with this approach.

What could you do if you could make a staple material from the semiconductor industry superconduct? Leverage a trillion dollar infrastructure for next gen quantum tech? Ultra high density superconducting device chips? Hybrid quantum and classical computing?.... www.livescience.com/technology/c...

Exotic 'time crystals' could be used as memory in quantum computers, promising research finds Experiments show that a time crystal based on magnons can interact with mechanical waves without being destroyed.

Time crystal coupling to mechanical surface waves could have potential for quantum memory. But "the most interesting part," for study co-author Jere Mäkinen is that you can "harness the inherent robustness of time crystals." www.livescience.com/technology/c... #timecrystals #quantumcomputing

Exotic 'time crystals' could be used as memory in quantum computers, promising research finds Experiments show that a time crystal based on magnons can interact with mechanical waves without being destroyed.

Time crystals may not be so fragile after all. Researchers @aalto.fi @royalholloway.bsky.social and @lancasteruni.bsky.social have shown their time crystal can withstand interactions with the sloshing about of a mechanical surface wave, like those at the seaside
www.livescience.com/technology/c...

Researchers pin down the true cost of precision in quantum clocks – Physics World Trade-off between precision and entropy production lies in measurement process

In any case researchers @ox.ac.uk and @ethz.ch have now squared the circle explaining how even at the quantum level, as Natalia Ares puts it “There’s no such thing as a free lunch.”
physicsworld.com/a/researcher...
Thanks Ares, Florian Meier and Vivek Wadhia for taking the time to explain it to me.

Clocks like everything are limited by the 2nd law of thermodynamics – the more precise they are the more entropy they produce in dissipated heat etc. So what about quantum fluctuations? they produce no entropy but can still count as “ticks” (although not the best in the lab for time keeping, yet…)

Researchers pin down the true cost of precision in quantum clocks – Physics World Trade-off between precision and entropy production lies in measurement process

A broken clock is still right twice a day but what use is a really bad clock? Apparently very useful for settling the trade off between precision and entropy at the quantum level...
physicsworld.com/a/researcher...

Researchers pin down the true cost of precision in quantum clocks – Physics World Trade-off between precision and entropy production lies in measurement process

Q: What can you do with a clock that only "ticks" when an electron randomly tunnels through a double quantum dot?
A: More than you might expect!
Fun story about entropy & the second law of thermodynamics in the #quantum world by @annademming.bsky.social 🧪⚛️ physicsworld.com/a/researcher...

Have physicists finally solved the ‘golfer’s curse’? Team says it has hit on an explanation for heartbreaking “lip outs”

Known as a “lip out” or the “golfer’s curse,” the sometimes strange behavior of golf balls has bedeviled players for centuries. Now, physicists have figured out how they happen. Just don't expect the discovery to improve your game... Fun story by @annademming.bsky.social for @science.org

Single-phonon coupler brings different quantum technologies together – Physics World Waveguide-style approach promises to pair the versatility of phononic quantum technologies with the tight control of photonic ones

Experimentalist's maxim:

“I’m not surprised it worked. I’m always surprised how hard it is to *get* it to work. Making it look and do exactly what you design it to do – that’s the really hard part.”

- Simon Gröblacher in this @annademming.bsky.social piece:
physicsworld.com/a/single-pho... 🧪⚛️

Single-phonon coupler brings different quantum technologies together – Physics World Waveguide-style approach promises to pair the versatility of phononic quantum technologies with the tight control of photonic ones

Gröblacher and his team demonstrated a directional phonon coupler, which can help different quantum tech talk to each other so you can exploit, for instance quantum spins for storing data, while enjoying the perks superconducting circuits offer for processing it...
physicsworld.com/a/single-pho...

Single-phonon coupler brings different quantum technologies together – Physics World Waveguide-style approach promises to pair the versatility of phononic quantum technologies with the tight control of photonic ones

“I’m not surprised that it worked. I’m always surprised how hard it is to get it to work” says Simon Groeblacher at TU Delft “Making it to look and do exactly what you design it to do – that’s the really hard part.”
Here the effort paid off...
physicsworld.com/a/single-pho... #quantum

Huge thanks to the team at Quanta for all their support with this article, and to @pflenne.bsky.social @shamtlili.bsky.social Alexandre Kabla, Alan Rodrigues and Konstantin Doubrovinski for taking the time to share their ideas with me.

Genes Have Harnessed Physics to Help Grow Living Things | Quanta Magazine The same pulling force that causes “tears” in a glass of wine also shapes embryos. It’s another example of how genes exploit mechanical forces for growth and development.

Biophysicists are realizing that there is an undervalued element at play in early development: Aside from genes, mechanical forces also steer the growth of embryos. @annademming.bsky.social reports: www.quantamagazine.org/genes-have-h...

The 2025 Nobel prize in chemistry as it happens – live Join us as we provide analysis and commentary in the run up to the announcement of the biggest prize in chemistry

Congratulations to Susumu Kitagawa, Richard Robson and Omar Yaghi! For more reaction, follow our live blog.

Quantum Dance - YouTube Dance piece snippets and digital dance pieces inspired by quantum science and technology. This collection is created to celebrate the UNESCO International Ye...

Congratulations John Clarke, Michel Devoret & John Martinis for today's #PhysicsNobel Prize for detecting the quantum effect - "quantum tunnelling" - in systems large enough to hold in your hand. Love an excuse to dwell on quantum physics! youtube.com/playlist?lis...

Hydrogen battery relieves the pressure for clean energy storage Researchers develop an electrolyte that overcomes the low-capacity high-operating-temperature issues of previous hydrogen storage setups

Hydrogen provides a clean source of energy on demand…if you have the means to store such a volatile and reactive substance. Now researchers in Japan suggest they have hit on a game changing electrolyte for hydrogen batteries.
www.chemistryworld.com/news/hydroge... #hydrogenbattery