💎 Diamond quantum computer chip, chewing gum releases 30,000 microplastics, carbon-sucking concrete gets 100% stronger

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A quantum gate set designed using diamond spin qubits has set a global record by achieving an error probability rate below 0.1 percent. The feat was achieved through collaboration between researchers at the Japanese companies Fujitsu and QuTech and the development of quantum computing technology at TU Delft in the Netherlands.

Quantum computers are touted as the next frontier of computing. The machines are capable of completing computations in minutes, which even today’s fastest supercomputers would take decades to complete.

Quantum computers leverage quantum states of materials to process a large sequence of basic operations, also known as quantum gates. Dive deeper into this Must-Read.

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MUST-READ

💎 Diamond quantum computer chip achieves ultra-low 0.1% error rates

The researchers collaborated with Element Six, a synthetic diamonds company, to create diamonds with low carbon-13 isotope concentration and created a two-qubit system, one formed by the electron spin and the other by the diamond’s nuclear spin.

Each type of gate in this two-qubit system had an error rate below 0.1 percent, with some reaching even 0.001 percent error rates.

“To realize such highly precise gates we had to systematically remove sources of errors,” said Hans Bartling, a researcher at QuTech, in a press release. “The first step was to use ultrapure diamonds that have a lower concentration of carbon-13 isotopes as these cause noise. The second key step was to design gates that carefully decouple the spin qubits from each other and from interactions with the remaining noise in the environment.”

🍬 Chewing gum releases 30,000 microplastics in your mouth annually

Microplastics are tiny plastic particles — between 1 micrometer- and 5 millimeters-wide. Every year, humans are exposed to tens of thousands of microplastics via food, beverages, packaging, coatings, and manufacturing.

And now, researchers are finding them in chewing gum. A pilot study revealed that chewing gum releases hundreds of these microplastics into your saliva per piece.

A team at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) tested both natural and synthetic gums to see just how much plastic we might be ingesting.

🪨 US engineer’s carbon-sucking concrete gets 100% stronger, greener

Concrete is the backbone of modern infrastructure, used in everything from roads to skyscrapers. However, its production has a significant environmental cost. Cement, the key ingredient in concrete, is responsible for about 8% of global CO2 emissions.

If the cement industry were a country, it would be the fourth-largest emitter, trailing only China, the United States, and India.

A new study by Mehdi Khanzadeh, an assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering at Temple University, explores an alternative—carbonatable concrete. This material could reduce the environmental impact of construction by absorbing CO2 during its curing process.

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