Harvard physicists working to develop game-changing tech demonstrate 3,000 quantum-bit system capable of continuous operation

One often-repeated example illustrates the mind-boggling potential of quantum computing: A machine with 300 quantum bits could simultaneously store more information than the number of particles in the known universe.

Now process this: Harvard scientists just unveiled a system that was 10 times bigger and the first quantum machine able to operate continuously without restarting.

In a paper published in the journal Nature, the team demonstrated a system of more than 3,000 quantum bits (or qubits) that could run for more than two hours, surmounting a series of technical challenges and representing a significant step toward building the super computers, wh...

University of Warwick astronomers have uncovered the chemical fingerprint of a frozen, water-rich planetary fragment being consumed by a white dwarf star outside our solar system.

In our solar system, it is thought that comets and icy planetesimals (small solid objects in space) were responsible for delivering water to Earth. The existence of these icy objects is a requirement for the development of life on other worlds, but it is incredibly difficult to identify them outside our solar system as icy objects are small, faint and require chemical analysis.

In a study publis...

Imagine tiny robots zipping across the surface of a lake to check water quality or searching for people in flooded areas. This technology is moving closer to reality thanks to work by researchers at the University of Virginia’s School of Engineering and Applied Science. Inspired by nature and insects such as water striders that walk on water, they created two prototype devices that can propel themselves across liquid surfaces.

The first, called HydroFlexor, paddles across a surface using fin-like motions. The second, named HydroBuckler, “walks” forward with a buckling motion that mimics the water-walking insects...

A swarm of spherical rovers, blown by the wind like tumbleweeds, could enable large-scale and low-cost exploration of the Martian surface, according to results presented at the Joint Meeting of the Europlanet Science Congress and the Division for Planetary Sciences (EPSC-DPS) 2025.

Recent experiments in a state-of-the-art wind tunnel and field tests in a quarry demonstrate that the rovers could be set in motion and navigate over various terrains in conditions analogous to those found on Mars.

Tumbleweed rovers are lightweight, 5-meter-diameter spherical robots designed to harness the power of Martian winds for mobility...