Category Technology/Electronics

Tiny optical modulator could enable giant future quantum computers

quantum chip_with_light_coupled jake freedman eichenfield
Optical chip developed in the study with laser light from an optical fiber array. (Credit: Jake Freedman)

Researchers have made a major advance in quantum computing with a new device that is nearly 100 times smaller than the diameter of a human hair.

Published in the journal Nature Communications, the breakthrough optical phase modulators could help unlock much larger quantum computers by enabling efficient control of lasers required to operate thousands or even millions of qubits—the basic units of quantum information.

Critically, the team of scientists have developed these devices using scalable manufacturing, avoiding complex, custom builds in favor of those used to make the same technology behind processors already found in computers, phones, vehicles, home appliances—virtu...

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AI-based tool predicts future cardiovascular events in patients with angina

cardiovascular disease
Credit: AI-generated image

Reduced coronary blood flow, measured with an artificial intelligence-based imaging tool, predicted future cardiovascular events in patients with suspected stable coronary artery disease. These findings were presented at EACVI 2025, the congress of the European Association of Cardiovascular Imaging (EACVI).

Stable coronary artery disease (CAD) refers to the common syndrome of recurrent, transient episodes of chest symptoms, often manifesting as angina. Coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA) is a noninvasive heart scan that is used as the first-line investigation for patients with suspected stable CAD.

AI tools and FFR-CT explained
While CCTA clearly shows blockages in coronary arteries, it is limited in its ability to estimate reduced blood flow...

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Speech-to-reality system creates objects on demand using AI and robotics

Researchers 'speak objects into existence' using AI and robotics
A robotic arm builds a lattice-like stool after hearing the prompt “I want a simple stool,” demonstrating how the system translates speech into real-time fabrication. Credit: Alexander Kyaw and the researchers

Generative AI and robotics are moving us ever closer to the day when we can ask for an object and have it created within a few minutes. In fact, MIT researchers have developed a speech-to-reality system, an AI-driven workflow that allows them to provide input to a robotic arm and “speak objects into existence,” creating things like furniture in as little as five minutes.

With the speech-to-reality system, a robotic arm mounted on a table is able to receive spoken input from a human, such as “I want a simple stool,” and then construct the objects out of modular components...

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Number’s up: Calculators hold out against AI

In July, AI models made by Google, OpenAI and DeepSeek reached gold-level scores at the annual International Mathematical Olympiad
n July, AI models made by Google, OpenAI and DeepSeek reached gold-level scores at the annual International Mathematical Olympiad.

The humble pocket calculator may not be able to keep up with the mathematical capabilities of new technology, but it will never hallucinate.

The device’s enduring reliability equates to millions of sales each year for Japan’s Casio, which is even eyeing expansion in certain regions.

Despite lightning-speed advances in artificial intelligence, chatbots still sometimes stumble on basic addition.

In contrast, “calculators always give the correct answer,” Casio executive Tomoaki Sato told AFP.

But he conceded that calculators could one day go the way of the abacus.

“It’s undeniable that the market for personal calculators used in business is on a...

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