Month: August 2018

Enlarge / A computer model of a Bose-Einstein condensate, showing some of its wave-like nature. (credit: NASA)

Although I often write about quantum computing, I mainly write about two forms: gate quantum computing and adiabatic quantum computing. There is a third, though, called quantum walks. Quantum walks are found in nature: a quantum walk is how the electron-transfer step in photosynthesis works. Now researchers have gotten entire clouds of atoms to go marching to their quantum beat.

Quantum walks can be implemented with light, but you would need to make a new computer for every calculation. In a Bose-Einstein condensate, however, the roles of light and matter are reversed. Researchers have used this to demonstrate a BEC quantum walk.

A bevy of quantum computers

Before we get into it, let's quickly compare the different quantum-computer types. A gate quantum computer is the most familiar. A calculation is performed using discrete logic operations using a collection of gates, and the answer is read out at the end.

Enlarge (credit: Getty | Zing Images)

Homeopathic product maker King Bio has now expanded a recall to include all of its water-based human and animal treatments—a vast list including nearly 600 products. The expansion comes as the Food and Drug Administration announced it found “high levels of microbial contamination” that appears to be recurring and has the potential to cause “life-threatening” infections.

The recall expansion is the second for King Bio, which first announced a recall of just three products in July. Last week, the company voluntarily expanded the recall to include 32 child and infant products.

But the FDA wasn’t satisfied. On Tuesday, the agency issued its own alert about King Bio’s products and offered a scathing perspective of the company’s manufacturing standards and business.

Enlarge / The Fire TV Cube itself is a small, glossy cube with IR emitters built into its sides. (credit: Jeff Dunn)

Amazon may be gearing up to launch a new video-streaming service, but one that differs greatly from Prime Video. According to a report by The Information, the online retailer's subsidiary IMDb is developing an ad-supported streaming service that would be available to all Fire TV device users.

Free Dive is the purported name of the service, and it's said to be similar to The Roku Channel on Roku streaming devices. Roku's service offers a bunch of licensed shows, movies, and other video content for free to Roku device users, but viewers have to watch advertisements peppered throughout that content. Roku recently expanded The Roku Channel to Web users in the US as well, so those who do not have a Roku streaming device can also watch that content for free.

The Information's report estimates that Amazon could reach the 48 million Fire TV users with this ad-supported service. That's a lot of potential eyeballs, many of which will be amenable to sitting through a few advertisements to watch free movies and shows.

Enlarge (credit: South Wales Police)

According to new reporting by WalesOnline, police in South Wales scanned the faces of more than 44,000 people at the “Biggest Weekend” event in Swansea earlier this year—and of those, there were only 10 false positives.

That’s a significant improvement over a similar trial run at a 2017 soccer championship in Cardiff, in which 92 percent were incorrect matches.

The South Wales Police have attributed the improved matching to a “new algorithm” from its contractor, NEC.

Enlarge / Epileptic seizures occur when neurons start firing uncontrollably in a cascading snowball effect. (credit: Getty Images)

People who suffer severe epileptic seizures may one day be able to control or even prevent them with an electronic device implanted directly into the brain. An oncoming seizure would trigger the targeted release of a brain-signaling chemical to stop the seizure in its tracks, according to a new study published in Science Advances. The device has only been tested on mice so far, but the results look promising.

The brain is a noisy place, with tens of billions of neurons organized into a highly complex, interconnected network. Neurons fire and send electrical signals to neighboring neurons, encouraging them to fire in turn, thereby helping spread signals throughout the brain. In an epileptic seizure, that normal brain activity goes into overdrive, creating a cascading snowball effect that interferes with motor control and can lead to loss of consciousness.

Epilepsy is usually treated with anti-seizure drugs. These can have serious side effects, however, and roughly three out of 10 patients don't respond at all to the treatment. In those cases, brain implants may be the best option, such as Neuropace's brain implant, which earned FDA approval for clinical use for epilepsy in 2013.

Enlarge (credit: Getty Images | Dimitri Otis)

An appeals court has upheld a Federal Communications Commission ruling that broadband markets can be competitive even when there is only one Internet provider.

The FCC "rationally choose which evidence to believe among conflicting evidence," the court ruling said.

The FCC voted last year to eliminate price caps imposed on some business broadband providers such as AT&T and Verizon. The FCC decision eliminated caps in any given county if 50 percent of potential customers "are within a half mile of a location served by a competitive provider."