ScienceDaily: Computers & Math News

Systems in which mechanical motion is controlled at the level of individual quanta are emerging as a promising quantum-?technology platform. New experimental work now establishes how quantum properties of such systems can be measured without destroying the quantum state -- a key ingredient for tapping the full potential of mechanical quantum systems.

A quantum system with only 51 charged atoms can take on more than two quadrillion different states. Calculating the system's behavior is child's play for a quantum simulator. But verifying the result is almost impossible, even with today's supercomputers. A research team has now shown how these systems can be verified using equations formulated in the 18th century.

A recent study finds that realism is a key factor in determining whether viewers engage with virtual reality videos -- and that engagement is itself a key factor in determining whether viewers are interested in watching VR videos in the future.

Scientists have studied how the screen habits of US children correlates with how their cognitive abilities develop over time. They found that the children who spent an above-average time playing video games increased their intelligence more than the average, while TV watching or social media had neither a positive nor a negative effect.

An algorithm that can speed up by years the ability to identify from among thousands of possibilities, two or more drugs that work synergistically against a problem like cancer or a viral infection has been developed by bioinformatics experts.