In a leap forward for quantum computing, a Microsoft team led by UC Santa Barbara physicists on Wednesday unveiled an eight-qubit topological quantum processor, the first of its kind. The chip, built as a proof-of-concept for the scientists’ design, opens the door to the development of the long-awaited topological quantum computer.

After a cyber attack or natural disaster, a backup network of decentralized devices — like residential solar panels, batteries, electric vehicles, heat pumps, and water heaters — could restore electricity or relieve stress on the grid, MIT engineers find. 

A new study evaluates three distinct algorithms—Band Shape Fitting (BSF), Three-band Fraunhofer Line Discrimination (3FLD), and Singular Vector Decomposition (SVD)—to retrieve far-red solar-induced chlorophyll fluorescence (SIF) diurnal patterns from tower-based observations.