#Are we a step closer to Star trek-like travel? Physicists achieve distance record for quantum teleportation Scientists have achieved a world record in the strange world of quantum teleportation.
researchers have managed to teleport packets of light over 60 miles (100km) of optical fiber. The research could have implications for cryptography,
which involves transmitting information securely, including communications between Earth and spacecraft. Quantum teleportation depends on a phenomenon called quantum entanglement.
In 2014, physicists at the University of Geneva teleported the quantum state of a photon to a crystal over 15 miles (25km) of optical fibre.
The record was set using advanced single-photon detectors made of superconducting wires of molybdenum silicide.'
'We never could have done this experiment without these new detectors, which can measure this incredibly weak signal,
Professor Michio Kaku said that the breakthroughs needed to transport humans instantly have already been made.
The physicist is a professor at City university in New york.''You know the expression'Beam me up Scotty'?
'said the City university professor.''We used to laugh when someone talked about teleportation, but we don't laugh anymore.''
#The smart car seat that tackles ROAD RAGE: Chair gives drivers a relaxing massage or a blast of air to focus their attention From sitting in traffic jams to speeding along monotonous motorways at night,
driving can sometimes be stressful and exhausting. But keeping calm yet alert behind the wheel could be about to get easier with the advent of a car seat that actively monitors a driver's physical and mental status. The'Active Wellness'seat has built-in biometric sensors to detect
if a driver is lacking energy or is caused under stress by road rage or similar.
It then responds by offering a suitable massage and blowing air through its ventilation system. French car seat manufacturer Faurecia claims its concept seat
unveiled at the IAA show in Frankfurt, is a world first.''What we basically do is to monitor respiration rate and heart rate in the seat,
and we derive stress and energy level from that,'Olaf Biedermann, director of innovation at Faurecia said.'
'Then, having this kind of wellness being information, we now can offer a closed-loop comfort system;
so in case you are stressed you get a relaxation massage, in case you have low energy levels you get a very energising massage.'
'The seat has taken five years to develop and the team's aim was to make drivers feel better after their journey than
when they set off. They worked with the Spine Research Institute at Ohio State university to come up with tools to measure comfort in real-time,
and with engineers at Nasa to improve techniques for collecting a person's vital signs,
using sensors that don't touch the skin. The sensors in the seat are built by American company Hoana Medical and used exclusively by Faurecia.'
'We have a unique technology integrated; it is integrated piezoelectric sensors in the seat cushion. Very simple and robust,
and our way to measure the information, 'Mr Biedermann told Reuters. By combining these contactless sensors with unique algorithms and signal processing,
the team produced a system which they say delivers real-time monitoring of the driver and offering a bespoke treatment.
The team claims despite all the technology in the seat, it doesn't affect comfort, or look noticeable.
The Active Wellness seat senses the occupant's heart rhythms and breathing patterns. The data collected is used to calculate their mental and physical state
with a message appearing on a dedicated screen, offering treatment. If the user accepts the recommendation,
they will receive a massage with a warming or cooling sensation to either relax or energise them.
The seat is designed to work alongside fitness device, such as the Fitbit, so it can use data collected before the driver got behind the wheel to understand how energised they may be.
The seat could be fitted in new cars from 2020, but no indication of price has been given.
Last year, Ford's European Research and Innovation Centre in Aachen, Germany and Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule (RWTH) Aachen University debuted a conceptual seat with six embedded
sensors to detect electrical impulses and whether someone is having a heart attack. The idea is that
if higher than usual heart activity is detected, the necessary authorities can be contacted to provide assistance to the driver.
The Ford heart rate monitoring seat performs much like a traditional ECG, except the sensors are placed on the surface of the car seat instead of being attached directly to the driver.
The sensors can read the heart's electrical impulses through clothing and are able to use the driver's natural contact with the seat to maintain a reading in most cases.
Research has shown that drivers suffering from cardiovascular disease are 23 per cent more likely to be involved in a road accident
rising to 52 per cent for drivers suffering from angina-chest pains caused by the heart.
Ford's car seat may in some cases detect increased heart activity before the driver notices they are having a heart attack,
so the system would display a message to the driver telling them to pull over.
Response teams could also be informed of the heart condition of the driver before, during and after an incident.
Existing Ford systems such as Lane Departure Warning, Lane Keeping Aid, Active City Stop, Driver Alert and Speed Limiter could potentially be activated
when the Ford heart rate monitoring seat senses an attack is imminent, mitigating the consequences of a driver losing control because of a heart-related episode.
While the seat is a concept, it could be ready to be fitted in cars in 2020.0
#Scientists play Twenty Questions by reading each other's MINDS: Answers were sent more than a mile using brain signals It is a breakthrough that could pave the way for soldiers being able to read each other's thoughts on the battlefield
or pupils learning their lesson without their teacher having to speak a single word. A telepathic version of the game Twenty Questions has been played by two people a mile apart.
The US experiment into mind reading involved using electrode caps, magnetic coils and the internet to send brain signals between two people.
It begun with the first person, who was wearing a cap studded with electrodes that recorded their brain activity,
thinking of an object. Their opponent sent them a series of questions over the internet in an attempt to guess what they were thinking of.
The first player answered'yes 'or'no'to each question by looking at one of two flashing lights attached to their computer screen.
This created a signal that was transmitted electronically, activating a magnetic coil by the second player's head.
Crucially, only the'yes'signal was strong enough to fool their brain into seeing a flash of light.
Just as in the traditional version of Twenty Questions, the combination of'yeses'and'nos'allowed the second player to guess what the first one was thinking of.
Five pairs played the game and they got the answer right 72 per cent of the time-significantly more than by chance.
Lead author Andrea Stocco, of the University of Washington, said:''This is the most complex brain-to-brain experiment,
I think, that has been done to date in humans.''Co-author Chantel Prat said:''They have to interpret something with their brains they have seen never before.'
'Writing in the journal Plos One, the researchers say they are now researching'brain tutoring'transferring signals directly from teacher to pupil or from the brain of a healthy person to a stroke patient.
Other possibilities include transmitting a sense of alertness to a sleepy person. The research follows on from a recent study in
which scientists sent a ental messagefrom one person to another 4, 000 miles away. They connected one person in Mumbai, India,
to a wireless headset linked to the internet, and another person to a similar device in Paris. When the first person merely thought of a greeting such as iao Italian for ello the recipient in France was aware of the thought occurring,
according to a report in the journal Plos One o
#US ARMY hopes to use Short circuit-style robots to rescue casualties from battlefields Wounded soldiers could soon be rescued from war zones
and dangerous situations by robotic medics under proposals put forward by a senior army doctor. The off-road robots,
which look remarkably similar to the star of 1986 film Short circuit, could be used to carry casualties to safety while under fire.
The machines would help reduce the risk to unit medics who provide the front-line care to soldiers injured during battle.
Major general Steve Jones, commander of the Army Medical Department Centre and chief of the US ARMY Medical Corps
Speaking at a medical conference sponsored by the Association of the US ARMY near the Pentagon in Arlington County, Virginia,
he said the robots could also link doctors to frontline units for on the spot diagnosis and advice.
'We already use robots on the battlefield today to examine IEDS (improvised explosive devices) and to detonate them.'
or other soldiers, because they have gone in under fire to retrieve a casualty? We can use a robotics device for that.'
'The US ARMY said it could adapt its current battlefield robots by making them larger so they can rescue downed soldiers.
With caterpillar-style tracks and a head on top of a flexible neck, they look remarkably like Johnny Five-the malfunctioning mechanical star of the Short circuit films.
Major general Jones said they could also provide a vital'telemedicine'link between front-line units and experienced medical staff back at base or even at home in the US.
'What happens when a member of the team comes down with cellulitis or pneumonia? We have got to use telemedicine to tele-mentor them on the diagnosis and treatment.
Drone aircraft could also be used to deliver antibiotics or blood to front-line units to keep them in the fight,
according to Major general Jones. He said:''So you don't have to evacuate the casualties, so the team can continue its mission.'
'He added that other technologies, such as sensors to monitor a solider's vital signs, may also find their way onto the battlefield
and will be worn by soldiers full time. The US ARMY is already developing sensors similar to a'Fitbit'could monitor their heart rate
and steps taken to help medics provide advice to keep them healthy while in a battle zone.
Major general Jones said:''Army Medical Research and Materiel Command is actually developing physiological sensors that soldiers can wear.'
'They can be wearing the sensors and we can just monitor them. And we can do that remotely.'
'This is just a step forward that will monitor other physiological parameters. do need they to push more water?
How many calories have consumed they?''There is a lot of information we can provide commanders that they can use to manage their soldiers.'
'The same sensors could also be used to triage casualties automatically if they are injured to get help to the ones who need if most.
Major general Jones added:''If you see a casualty whose heart rate is way up, whose respiratory rate is way up,
that may be an indication they lost a lot of blood, and need treatment now, as opposed to a casualty
whose vital signs are stable and you wouldn't have to treat as quickly.'
#Quantum computers take a leap forward after scientists build qubit logic gate on silicon chip A major step towards building quantum computers capable of performing formidable calculations at a fraction of the speed of current machines has been achieved.
Computer scientists claim to have made a'game-changing leap'by building a logic gate a building block of a digital circuit using the strange properties of subatomic particles in silicon.
They say these could eventually lead to new types of quantum microchips that would revolutionise the digital world.
Quantum computing takes advantage of the ability of subatomic particles to exist in more than one state at any time.
For example a photon can appear as both a wave and a particle. In traditional computers available today, data is expressed in one of two states known as binary bits which are either a 1 or a 0. A quantum bit,
or qubit as it is known, can exist in both of these states at once, meaning many computations can be performed in parallel.
For example, two qubits can encode four different values while a three qubit system encodes eight different values.
This would allow new types of computers to be constructed that would far surpass the capabilities of modern super computers.
Professor Andrew Dzurak director of the Australian National Fabrication Facility at the University of New south wales, said:'
'We've demonstrated a two-qubit logic gate-the central building block of a quantum computer-and, significantly, done it in silicon.'
'Because we use essentially the same device technology as existing computer chips, we believe it will be much easier to manufacture a full-scale processor chip than for any of the leading designs,
which rely on more exotic technologies.''This makes the building of a quantum computer much more feasible,
since it is based on the same manufacturing technology as today's computer industry.''Until a few years ago quantum computers were little more than theoretical possibilities,
but recent research has shown they could become a realistic proposition. Both Google and Nasa have been developing a quantum computer as part of their artificial intelligence work.
However their D-Wave quantum computer needs to be kept at temperatures of around-273°C(-459°F). The latest research by Professor Dzurak and his colleagues,
which is published in the journal Nature, has shown it is possible to build them using more conventional materials like silicon.
Their work is the first time two qubits have been able to'talk'to each other in a logic gate.
On traditional microchips bits are stored typically on a pair of silicon transistors, one of which is switched on while the other is off.
In a quantum computer, data is encoded in the'spin, 'or magnetic orientation, of individual electrons. Not only can they be in one of two'up'or'down'spin states,
but also a superposition of both up and down. The key step taken by the Australian scientists was to reconfigure traditional transistors
so that they can work with qubits instead of bits. Lead author Dr Menno Veldhorst, also from the University of New south wales
said:''The silicon chip in your smartphone or tablet already has around one billion transistors on it, with each transistor less than 100 billionths of a metre in size.'
'We've morphed those silicon transistors into quantum bits by ensuring that each has only one electron associated with it.'
'We then store the binary code of 0 or 1 on the'spin'of the electron,
which is associated with the electron's tiny magnetic field.''The team has taken now out a patent on a full-scale quantum computer chip that could perform functions involving millions of qubits.
A practical quantum chip could have a huge impact in areas where classical computers face an uphill struggle.
These include weather forecasting, the stock market, drug development, code-breaking and encryption, and exploring the fundamental nature of the universe
#HIV breakthrough could lead to a CURE as markers on immune cells identified The way a patient's immune system responds to HIV infection could offer clues as to
whether they will go on to achieve remission after drug treatment, scientists have discovered. The breakthrough sheds light on the phenomenon known as'post-treatment control'-where the virus remains undetectable in some patients even after medication is stopped.
The findings could open new avenues for understanding post-treatment control of the virus, and ultimately the eradication of HIV, Dr John Frater said.
The Oxford university professor said:''Normally, if someone is being treated for HIV infection and they stop their medication,
the virus can be detected back in the blood stream within days.''We have been trying to find out why this is not true in all patients.'
'But, that in some people the virus remains undetectable for months, and even years after stopping treatment.'
'Understanding this might help us develop new treatments, and ultimately a cure for HIV infection.'
'He added:''Our work has identified that there are certain markers on the immune cells of patients
which seem to predict who can stop therapy and stay well.''Interestingly, some of these markers have also been shown to be good targets for therapy in some cancers.'
'We hope now to find out more about these markers -and others-to discover if new strategies for treating
or even curing HIV might be possible.''Working with researchers at the University of New south wales, the team at Oxford analysed data from a patient trial where anti-retroviral therapy was interrupted at 48 weeks.
Anti-retroviral therapy has improved dramatically life-expectancy for people with HIV. Recent studies have advised patients should start the treatment
as soon as they are diagnosed with HIV, rather than is currently the practise, and the therapy is delayed until a patient's viral load reaches a certain level.
But the drug treatment is not a cure. The infection persists in latent cells,'hidden'reservoirs,
from where they can re-emerge. Destroying these reservoirs remains one of the'Holy grails'of HIV research.
For some patients whose anti-retroviral treatment was started at an early stage, they have gone on to experience'remission'periods of 10 years or more,
after stopping the therapy. Dr Frater and his team analysed the data from a study of patients with primary HIV infection involved in the SPARTAC trial.
They compared the T-cells-a type of white blood cell that forms part of the body's immune system-of 154 patients in Europe, Brazil and Australia,
who had their anti-retroviral treatment interrupted after 12 or 48 weeks. From there, they came up with a shortlist of 18 immune system biomarkers.
And from that list they identified three-PD-1, Tim-3 and Lag-3, to be statistically significant predictors of
The researchers found that in patients where high levels of these three biomarkers attached to'exhausted'T-cells prior to patients beginning anti-retroviral therapy,
Professor Rodney Phillips, a former Oxford don and now dean of medicine at the University of New south wales, played an instrumental role.
His 2003 proposal to conduct immunology and virology of the patients receiving ART during the SPARTAC trial
provided researchers with the data they needed to make the discovery 10 years later. Professor Phillips said:'
'The SPARTAC study will never be able to be replicated again and it has provided us with a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to look at the causes of viral rebound in this particular group of patients with HIV.'
'Focusing on the exhaustion markers was an important step as it has given us vital clues as to why some people are able to better control the virus after therapy has been interrupted.'
'His colleague at the UNSW, Professor Anthony Kelleher, one of the study's co-authors, said understanding the mechanisms that allow HIV to remain in'remission'is essential
'We want to be able to predict how the virus will behave before we take patients of anti-retroviral therapy to test drug therapies aimed at eradicating HIV,
Immune cells with the PD1 biomarker have already been identified as a target for drugs to treat stage-four melanoma
or end stage cancer. Researchers are now considering how to manipulate immune cells with the PD1 marker in their HIV research.
The study's authors are recommending that biomarkers now be considered in future research investigating how to control the HIV virus following ART.
called f0 (1710), in the data from a number of particle accelerator experiments that may have been created by a glueball.
The discovery was made by Professor Anton Rebhan and Frederic Brünner from the Technical University of Vienna using a new theoretical approach.
If their calculations prove to be right, their study could be key to confirming the standard model explanation of the universe.
The massless photons are responsible for the forces of electromagnetism, while eight different kinds of gluons play a similar role for the strong nuclear force.
which agrees better with computer simulations, but when it decays, it produces many heavy quarks (the so-called'strange quarks').
but within the next few months, two experiments at the Large hadron collider at CERN (TOTEM and LHCB) and one accelerator experiment in Beijing (BESIII) are expected to yield new data.'
when giant pools of magma greater than 100 cubic miles in volume and formed a few miles below the surface will erupt.
They occur when giant pools of magma greater than 100 cubic miles in volume form a few miles below the surface
The most recent super-eruption took place about 27,000 years ago in New zealand, well before humans kept records of volcanic eruptions and their aftermath.
and how rapidly these magma bodies develop and what causes them to eventually erupt. Despite considerable study, geologists are still debating how quickly these magma pools can be activated and erupted
with estimates ranging from millions to hundreds of years. Now a team of geologists have developed a new'geospeedometer'that they argue can help resolve this controversy by providing direct measurements of how long the most explosive types of magma existed as melt-rich bodies of crystal-poor magma before they erupted.
They have applied their new technique to two super-eruption sites and a pair of very large eruptions and found that it took them no more than 500 years to move from formation to eruption.
These results are described in the article'Melt inclusion shapes: Timekeepers of short-lived giant magma bodies'appearing in the November issue of the journal Geology.
Geologists have developed a number of different'timekeepers'for volcanic deposits. The fact that these techniques measure different processes and have different resolutions,
'said Guilherme Gualda, associate professor of earth and environmental sciences at Vanderbilt University, who directed the project.'
'The measurements that have been made indicate that this magma body doesn't currently have a high-enough percentage of melt to produce a super-eruption.
The researchers'geospeedometer is sized based on millimeter quartz crystals that grew within the magma bodies that produced these giant eruptions.
Quartz crystals are typically found in magmas that have a high percentage of silica. This type of magma is very viscous
and commonly produces extremely violent eruptions. Mount st helens was a recent example. When the crystals form
they often capture small blobs of molten magma known as blebs or melt inclusions. Blebs are initially round.
While the crystal is floating in hot magma, diffusion causes them to gradually acquire the polygonal shape of the crystal void that they occupy.
But this faceting process can be halted if eruption occurs before complete faceting is achieved. Using advanced 3-D X-ray tomography,
the researchers were able to measure the size and shape of the melt inclusions with exquisite precision.
SCIENTISTS FIND MASSIVE NEW MAGMA CHAMBER UNDER YELLOWSTONE In the heart of Yellowstone national park a supervolcano releases around 45,000 metric tonnes of carbon dioxide each day.
But the magma chamber lying directly beneath its surface is considered not large enough to produce such levels,
Previous research found a relatively small magma chamber, known as the upper-crustal magma reservoir, directly beneath the surface in 2013 that measures 2
Hsin-Hua Huang from the University of Utah and his colleagues tracked seismic waves from almost 5, 000 earthquakes.
These readings combined data from the University of Utah Seismograph Stations, which collected shallow readings from nearby quakes in Utah, Idaho, the Teton range and Yellowstone,
'Previous studies provided us with the data we needed to calculate the rate of the faceting process.
to calculate how long the crystal existed in the magma before the eruption, 'said Pamukcu. In addition, the researchers compared the results obtained with faceting with results obtained using other techniques.
In quartz, the element titanium can vary sharply between different zones or layers within the crystal.
so the shallower the slope of titanium concentrations across these boundaries today, the longer the crystal spent in magmatic conditions.
so the researchers could use these measurements to provide an independent estimate of how long a crystal spent floating around in the melt.
as long as they erupt magmas that contain quartz crystals, 'said Pamukcu.''We are also confident that we can adapt these techniques to work with other minerals,
which will allow us to make similar timescale calculations for other types of magmas and volcanoes,
like the low-silica basalts commonly erupted from Hawaiian volcanoes.''VOLCANO'S GLOBAL DEVASTATION A volcanic eruption of a similar size to Laki eruption that hit Iceland in 1783 could have global impacts according to the new report.
Although the volcano was rated only at VEI 5 on the Volcanic Explosivity Index, it had a profound reach.
The eruption itself caused 9, 350 deaths in Iceland and only caused moderate damage. However, during the eight months that it erupted,
and from fluorine poisoning after the fissure eruptions ceased. Around 80%of sheep, 50%of cattle,
and 50%of horses died because of dental and skeletal fluorosis from the 8 million tons of hydrogen fluoride that were released.
Extreme weather hit much of Europe, North america and the Gulf of mexico for several years in the aftermath of the eruption, says the report e
The invention could pave the way for the development of'flying submarines'-vehicles that can seamlessly travel through air and water
finding its balance thanks to a pyramid-shaped light sensor on top of its'head'.'Perhaps surprisingly, the researchers were inspired not by another insect to make the latest modifications to the design,
The birds are one of nature's most adept hybrid vehicles and use similar flapping motions to the robots to propel themselves through air as well as water.'
the team first had to solve the problem of surface tension. The Robobee is so small and light it couldn't break the surface tension of the water at first.
But the researchers worked out a way of making it hover over the water at a certain angle,
Like the original flying version, the tiny drone has to be attached to a power source as it is too small to house a battery.
'What is really exciting about this research is that our analysis of flapping-wing locomotion is limited not to insect-scaled vehicles,
'Robert Wood, the Charles river Professor of Engineering and Applied sciences At seas added:''Bioinspired robots, such as the Robobee, are invaluable tools for a host of interesting experiments--in this case on the fluid mechanics of flapping foils in different fluids.''
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