Researchers from Rutgers, IBM and collaborating institutions have shown that a quantum computer can check what is happening inside it and respond while it is running, repeatedly resetting parts of the system to bring chaotic behavior under control.

The advance is a critical step toward building larger, more reliable quantum computers. 

Today’s quantum computers operate according to the unusual rules governing atoms and other extremely small particles. They could one day solve problems beyond the reach of conventional computers — designing better batteries and cleaner industrial catalysts, simulating molecules and materials too complex for today’s computers, and running certain artificial intelligence programs.

In a study published in Nature Physics, researchers from Rutgers, International Business Machines Corp., and collaborating institutions showed that a quantum computer can repeatedly check and reset parts of itself while running. The experiment is among the largest demonstrations to date of real-time quantum feedback control, a capability considered essential for future quantum computers that will be fault tolerant. 

Uncovering the often invisible human side of our food: Food systems employ an estimated 1.23 billion people globally, and a majority of those jobs are informal, unlicensed, unregistered, or otherwise outside the reach of formal regulation. In low-income and middle-income countries especially, informal vendors are a linchpin of food security and livelihoods for over a billion people. 

A new systematic scoping review in Food Policy looked across 64 countries to better understand how informality is defined and understood, and what this means for policies and food security. 

Wild African savannah elephants use a wide range of gestures when competing with other elephants, according to research from a group of international scientists including from the University of Portsmouth, University of Vienna and University of St Andrews.

Climate policy models usually assume people hold accurate beliefs about climate damages. A new study builds disinformation into a climate–economy model and finds that informed democratic majorities can deliver stronger carbon taxes than a politically constrained planner, but this advantage collapses abruptly once disinformation tips the majority. Late and persistent disinformation yields the most severe warming, while counter-disinformation efforts can largely restore effective policy.