Category Physics

Large language models (LLMs), the computational algorithms underpinning ChatGPT, Gemini and other artificial intelligence (AI)-powered conversational platforms, are now widely used worldwide. These models can rapidly answer questions, source information online, assist users with specific tasks and produce text tailored for specific purposes.

Over the past few years, computer scientists have introduced a wide range of LLMs, some of which can also complete tasks autonomously and take actions on a user’s behalf, for instance, answering messages, scheduling online appointments or updating programming code...

Quantum technologies, which leverage the principles of quantum mechanics, have been found to outperform their classical counterparts on specific tasks. Among other things, past studies have highlighted the potential of quantum systems that can enable long-distance communication, using photons (i.e., particles of light) to carry quantum information.

Despite their promise, quantum communication systems are often prone to photon loss, the scattering, absorption or disappearance of traveling photons. This photon loss becomes increasingly pronounced as transmission distances increase.

One proposed approach for reducing photon loss relies on a process known as quantum teleportation...

During the day, our brain acquires new memories; at night, during sleep, it consolidates the important ones and eliminates the useless ones. A similar principle has been applied to Hopfield networks, one of the classic models of artificial intelligence inspired by the workings of the brain. In 2025, Federico Ricci-Tersenghi and colleagues developed Daydreaming, an algorithm that combines the learning of new memories with the elimination of spurious ones, drastically improving the network’s capacity.

One limitation remained, however. These networks lose effectiveness when they work with real-world data, which are rarely perfectly balanced—for example, very bright or very dark images, in which white or black pixels overwhelmingly dominate...

In creating a comprehensive, AI-enabled research agent for the biomedical sciences, Stanford University researchers hope to speed innovation by eliminating the tedium of scientific legwork. Biomni, an AI-powered, multiskilled biomedical research agent, is no mere chatbot. It is a full-fledged “co-scientist” capable of designing and developing complex research workflows, said Jure Leskovec, the Alfred and Rebecca Lin Professor and professor of computer science in the School of Engineering and senior author of the paper introducing Biomni in the journal Science.

“If you think of an agent as a carpenter, a carpenter without tools is just a carpenter who can talk,” Leskovec said, explaining what sets Biomni apart from popular generative AI chatbots...