French authorities said that government cybersecurity researchers will stop certifying security products that lack quantum-resistant encryption beginning in 2027.
A research team led by the The University of Tokyo has fabricated the world’s smallest semiconductor nanotube, according to a study published in the latest issue of Science. Using boron nitride (BN) nanotubes as a template, the researchers successfully synthesized single-walled molybdenum disulfide (MoS₂) nanotubes with a diameter of just 1 nanometer—roughly one hundred-thousandth the width of a human hair.
The achievement not only validates theoretical predictions about the electronic properties of ultrafine materials made decades ago, but also opens new possibilities for the development of next-generation miniaturized electronic devices.
Carbon nanotubes have long attracted attention for their exceptional mechanical and electrical properties. However, slight variations in their atomic structure can significantly alter their conductivity, posing challenges for transistor applications. In contrast, MoS₂ is an intrinsically semiconducting material with promising potential for semiconductor electronics, high-sensitivity sensing, and quantum-scale physics research. Yet producing ultrathin, structurally controlled MoS₂ nanotubes has remained a major challenge, as stability and fabrication complexity increase dramatically as nanotube diameters shrink.
I think this was one of my most enjoyable dialogues in our What’s new series. Maybe Sabine and I are getting more used to each other’s cadence and interests or maybe it was the subject matter. Either way, I think you will find this to be a fascinating and provocative discussion of science at the forefront, and at the not-so-forefront, because that science is interesting too! We began our discussion describing a new finding of a Giant Ring of galaxies billions of light years across in the sky. The key questions are: Is it real? And is it surprising? We both have slightly different takes on this. Next we described a new measurement of the strength of gravity on scales from 80 to 800 million light years in distance. And guess what? Gravity falls off just like Newton predicted! This may seem like a big yawn, but one of the most popular models that claims to do away with dark matter would imply that Gravity would fall off differently on these scales. Does this new result kill that idea? Stay tuned. Microsoft, which has cried wolf a number of times so far when it comes to something called Majorana qubits as the basis of a new viable quantum computer just published a new paper claiming they finally have it. Sabine and I discuss why we are both still skeptical, but why the effort is worth it. Next, CERN, the large European particle physics laboratory, and the world particle physics community seem to have converged on plans for building a huge new accelerator in the current CERN site… this time involving an underground ring 91 km in circumference, in which electrons and positrons would collide to explore the detailed properties of the Higgs particle. Is the effort worth it? Again, Sabine and I have slightly different takes on this. Fusion power, which we have talked about in a number of earlier episodes, continues to tempt humanity with the promise of unlimited energy. Many people, myself included, have tended to argue that fusion seems to be 25 years in the future, and may always be 25 years in the future. But many new efforts are underway, so who knows. Unfortunately, a group of economists has analyzed fusion in the context of other large energy programs and have argued that even if we can achieve it, it may not be as economically viable as many claim. Finally, one day Richard Feynman went to a Thai restaurant with his young companion Ralph Leighton, and wondered what he should order. Should it be the same old dish he loved or something new. An equation filled napkin later, and he had the answer. Fifty years later some cognitive scientists resurrected Feynman’s napkin and explained it, and argued it might have important implications in other social situations. Such is the power of science. Consider supporting the podcast and the Origins Project Foundation at https://www.originsproject.org/ To see commercial-free, full HD video episodes, join us at lawrence krauss.substack.com Thank you for your support! iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast… https://TheOriginsPodcast.com Twitter: / theoriginspod Instagram:
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/ theoriginspod The Origins Podcast, a production of The Origins Project Foundation, features in-depth conversations with some of the most interesting people in the world about the issues that impact all of us in the 21st century. Host, theoretical physicist, lecturer, and author, Lawrence M. Krauss, will be joined by guests from a wide range of fields, including science, the arts, and journalism. The topics discussed on The Origins Podcast reflect the full range of the human experience — exploring science and culture in a way that seeks to entertain, educate, and inspire. Full Episodes Playlist:
• Ricky Gervais — The Origins Podcast with L…
The information exchanged by modern devices is typically protected by cryptographic techniques, approaches that convert readable data into scrambled, unreadable code that can only be deciphered by authorized parties or devices. To descramble encrypted data, devices or accounts need access to randomly generated cryptographic keys, unique, randomly generated sequences of binary code, letters or numbers that are essential for encrypting or decrypting data.
To detect cyberattacks, most traditional hardware security systems monitor the power consumption, electrical signals or other changes in devices. However, cyberattackers have devised effective techniques that sometimes allow them to bypass these systems’ defenses.
Researchers at Huazhong University of Science and Technology and Hubei University recently introduced a new hardware security system based on spin-orbit torque (SOC) devices, technologies that operate by leveraging both electrical charge and a quantum property known as electron spin.
In a new study published in Physical Review Letters, a team from the Nägerl group, together with theory collaborator Alvise Bastianello from the CNRS and the Université Paris-Dauphine, demonstrates that highly unusual quantum states known as “fractional Fermi seas” can be quantum engineered.
By driving quantum particles—here, ultracold cesium atoms under one-dimensional confinement—far out of equilibrium through cyclic changes of the particle interaction, a novel critical phase of matter emerges, going beyond what is known from the celebrated Tomonaga-Luttinger liquid theory. The new publication serves as the theoretical companion to, and foundation for, recent experimental work in the group of Hanns-Christoph Nägerl at the Department of Experimental Physics.
Usually, particles in the quantum world follow strict rules about how they organize themselves at low temperatures. As Bastianello explains, “Fermions, for instance, stack neatly into the available energy states to form the so-called ‘Fermi sea.’ But what happens if one forces interacting atoms to continuously cycle through extreme conditions, smoothly shifting them from strongly repelling each other to strongly attracting each other?”
Scientists can learn a lot about a quantum material by watching how it responds to light. In magnetic semiconductors, one especially useful messenger is the exciton: a pairing of a negatively charged electron and the positively charged “hole” it leaves behind. Until now, excitons in magnetic materials have mostly been used as reporters. They could reveal how spins were arranged or how magnetic waves moved through a material. But Cornell researchers have shown that excitons can do more than observe magnetism. They can actively steer it.
In the paper “Excitonic Spin Torque in a Magnetic Semiconductor,” published June 15 in Nature Materials, Youn Jue (Eunice) Bae, assistant professor of chemistry and chemical biology in the College of Arts and Sciences, and colleagues report that excitons created by light can exert a spin torque in the two-dimensional magnetic semiconductor chromium sulfide bromide, or CrSBr. The finding establishes excitons as a new way to control magnetic motion with light.
“Excitons have been very useful for watching what spins are doing in magnetic materials,” Bae said. “What we show here is that excitons can also act back on the spins. They are not just spectators; they can help drive the magnetic motion.”
Can humanity ever travel faster than light, or does every shortcut through spacetime break causality itself? We explore warp drives, wormholes, tachyons, and why the universe pushes back.
Get Nebula using my link for 50% off an annual subscription: https://go.nebula.tv/isaacarthur.
Watch my exclusive video Nearby Supernovae: https://nebula.tv/videos/isaacarthur–… SFIA Merchandise: https://isaac-arthur-shop.fourthwall… 🌐 Visit our Website: http://www.isaacarthur.net ❤️ Support us on Patreon: / isaacarthur ⭐ Support us on Subscribestar: https://www.subscribestar.com/isaac-a… 👥 Facebook Group:
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/ discord Credits: The Physics of FTL Travel Written, Produced & Narrated by: Isaac Arthur Editor: Lukas Konecny Music Courtesy of Stellardrone & Chris Zabriskie Select imagery/video supplied by Getty Images Chapters 0:00 Intro 0:12 Faster Than Light Is the Wrong Question 4:18 Spacetime Engineering: Moving the Map Instead of the Ship 5:24 Warp Drives: Surfing Spacetime 11:46 Wormholes: Shortcuts with a Side of Time Travel 13:20 Hyperspace: Shortcuts Through the Bulk 15:11 Solitons: The Positive Energy Challenge 17:35 The Krasnikov Tube: Building a Star-Road 20:30 Natural Relativistic Loopholes: Cosmic Strings and Tipler Cylinders 25:05 Tachyons: The Simplest Way to Break Time 28:04 Vacuum & Time-Advance Effects: When Causality Bends, Just a Little 32:19 Quantum Red Herrings 35:42 Nebula 36:54 Why the Universe Pushes Back: Chronology Protection and Self-Defeating Physics.
🛒 SFIA Merchandise: https://isaac-arthur-shop.fourthwall…
🌐 Visit our Website: http://www.isaacarthur.net.
❤️ Support us on Patreon: / isaacarthur.
⭐ Support us on Subscribestar: https://www.subscribestar.com/isaac-a…
👥 Facebook Group: / 1583992725237264
📣 Reddit Community: / isaacarthur.
🐦 Follow on Twitter / X: / isaac_a_arthur.
💬 SFIA Discord Server: / discord.
Credits:
The Physics of FTL Travel.
Written, Produced \& Narrated by: Isaac Arthur.
Editor: Lukas Konecny.
Music Courtesy of Stellardrone \& Chris Zabriskie.
Select imagery/video supplied by Getty Images.
Chapters.
0:00 Intro.
0:12 Faster Than Light Is the Wrong Question.
4:18 Spacetime Engineering: Moving the Map Instead of the Ship.
5:24 Warp Drives: Surfing Spacetime.
11:46 Wormholes: Shortcuts with a Side of Time Travel.
13:20 Hyperspace: Shortcuts Through the Bulk.
15:11 Solitons: The Positive Energy Challenge.
17:35 The Krasnikov Tube: Building a Star-Road.
20:30 Natural Relativistic Loopholes: Cosmic Strings and Tipler Cylinders.
25:05 Tachyons: The Simplest Way to Break Time.
28:04 Vacuum \& Time-Advance Effects: When Causality Bends, Just a Little.
32:19 Quantum Red Herrings.
35:42 Nebula.
36:54 Why the Universe Pushes Back: Chronology Protection and Self-Defeating Physics.
~ AI supremacy & digital empires.
There is something critical taking place in the world now.
It has something to do with the neurological response system of humans.
Basically, when something happens, our sensory/nervous system processes it and guides us in the best way to respond.
That system is being blunted to death in everyone living in today’s world.
We have become so stimulated by numerous technological, socioeconomic and geopolitical shocks, that, we are almost in a helpless trance-like state now (the usual rounds of life).
We can only just watch as the world unfolds into a dystopian singularity before our eyes— wars & conflicts, natural disasters, alien disclosures, unending AI updates now laced with political & economic tensions, World Cup & UFC fevers, Stock Market volatility etc… etc…