June 13, 2012

Good Morning,

Researchers look to the computational ability of quantum mathematics to super-charge internet search engines. Check out the first article to read all the details on this development.

Until Next Time,
Erin

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Quantum computers could speed Web searches

LOS ANGELES - Quantum computers could help speed up Internet searches by doing the huge amounts of mathematical computation necessary, researchers say. Internet search engines use a lot of math to figure out exactly what qualifies as most relevant Web page to present as a result of a search, they say. Google, for example, uses a page ranking algorithm rumored to be the largest numerical calculation carried out anywhere in the world. With the Web growing explosively, researchers at the University of Southern California have proposed using quantum computers to speed up that process. They wanted to see whether quantum computing could be used to run the Google algorithm faster, they said. In current computers, bits encode data distinctly as either a one or a zero, whereas quantum computers use quantum bits or "qubits," which can encode a one and a zero at the same time. Called superposition, this property could some day allow quantum computers to perform certain calculations much faster than traditional computers, the researchers said. While there currently is no quantum computer in the world large enough to run Google's page ranking algorithm for the entire Web, the researchers generated models of the Web that simulated a few thousand Web pages. Their simulations showed a quantum computer could, in principle, return the ranking of the most important pages in the Web faster than traditional computers, and that this quantum speedup would improve the more pages needed to be ranked, a USC release said Tuesday.


New circuits work in high radiation levels

SALT LAKE CITY - U.S. researchers say microscopic mechanical devices that withstand intense radiation and heat can be used in robots dealing with damaged nuclear power plants. Such devices can withstand high amounts of radiation that can quickly fry silicon-based electronic circuits, University of Utah engineers reported Tuesday. Such electronic circuits were in robots sent to help contain the meltdowns at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant after Japan's catastrophic 2011 earthquake and tsunami, they said. "Robots were sent to control the troubled reactors, and they ceased to operate after a few hours because their electronics failed," Utah researcher Massood Tabib-Azar said. Tabib-Azar and his colleagues have been working on mechanical substitutes for such electronics and showed their devices, known as micro-electro-mechanical systems, kept working despite intense ionizing radiation and heat by dipping them for two hours into the core of the University of Utah's research reactor. "We have developed a unique technology that keeps on working in the presence of ionizing radiation to provide computation power for critical defense infrastructures," Tabib-Azar said. "Our devices also can be used in deep space applications in the presence of cosmic ionizing radiation, and can help robotics to control troubled nuclear reactors without degradation."


NASA narrows intended Mars landing target

PASADENA, Calif. - NASA says it's narrowed the target landing area for its Curiosity rover set to touch down on Mars Aug. 5 to bring it closer to its prime science objective. "We're trimming the distance we'll have to drive after landing by almost half," said Pete Theisinger, Mars Science Laboratory project manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. "That could get us to the mountain months earlier." The landing target area had been about 12 miles wide and 16 miles long, but upgraded flight software uploaded to the unmanned Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft carrying the Curiosity has allowed mission planners to shrink the area to about 4 miles wide and 12 miles long, NASA reported Monday. Once on Mars, Curiosity will begin a two-year study of whether the landing vicinity near Mount Sharp in the center of Gale crater ever offered an environment favorable for microbial life. "We have been preparing for years for a successful landing by Curiosity, and all signs are good," said Dave Lavery, Mars Science Laboratory program executive at NASA. "However, landing on Mars always carries risks, so success is not guaranteed."


Book: Renewables not fossil fuel solution

BERKELEY, Calif. - Renewable energy technologies such as solar cells and wind turbines do not offset U.S. fossil fuel use and could in fact accelerate it, a researcher says.
University of California, Berkeley, visiting scholar Ozzie Zehner has written a book, "Green Illusions," that argues building more solar cells and wind turbines could actually increase fossil fuel use unless nations take other steps to avoid a "rebound" effect. While many assume solar cells and wind farms will displace coal use and lower carbon dioxide levels, Zehner argues that subsidizing renewable energy merely expands energy supplies, which exerts a downward pressure on prices. Energy demand subsequently increases, he said. "This brings us right back to where we started: high demand and so-called insufficient supply," says Zehner. "Historically, we've filled that added demand by building more coal-fired power plants, not fewer. "We create an energy boomerang," Zehner said in a PBS interview. "The harder we throw energy into the grid, the harder demand comes back to hit us on the head. More efficient solar cells, taller wind turbines, and advanced biofuels are all just ways of throwing harder." Countries will have to institute socioeconomic innovations rather than technical ones to avoid the boomerang effect, he said, including lower per-capita energy consumption, energy taxes that would increase over time, and binding long-term plans to improve building and equipment efficiency. "The United States meets none," of these innovations, Zehner said. "In fact, in countries such as the United States, with dismal efficiency, sprawling suburbs, a growing population, and high rates of material consumption, renewable energy technologies do the most harm as they perpetuate energy-intensive modes of living."

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