Fumbling to find flashlights during blackouts may soon be a distant memory, as quantum computing and artificial intelligence could learn to decipher an electric grid’s problematic quirks and solve system hiccups so fast, humans may not notice.

Rather than energy grid faults turning into giant problems—such as voltage variations or widespread blackouts—blazing fast computation blended with artificial intelligence could rapidly diagnose trouble and find solutions in tiny splits of seconds, according to Cornell research forthcoming in Applied Energy (Dec. 1, 2021).

“Energy power system failures are an old problem and we are still using classic computational methods to resolve them,” said Fengqi You, the Roxanne E. and Michael J...

On Earth, river erosion is usually a slow-going process. But on Mars, massive floods from overflowing crater lakes had an outsized role in shaping the Martian surface, carving deep chasms and moving vast amounts of sediment, according to a new study led by researchers at The University of Texas at Austin.

The study, published Sept. 29 in Nature, found that the floods, which probably lasted mere weeks, eroded more than enough sediment to completely fill Lake Superior and Lake Ontario.

“If we think about how sediment was being moved across the landscape on ancient Mars, lake breach floods were a really important process globally,” said lead au...

Findings help explain COVID-19 reinfections, Delta variant infections despite vaccination efforts. Using bioinformatics tools and programming, researchers identified five specific mutations that are far more prevalent in Delta Plus infections compared to Delta infections, including one mutation, K417N, that is present in all Delta Plus infections but not present in nearly any Delta infections. The findings provide important clues to researchers about the structural changes to the virus recently and highlight the need to expand the toolbox in the fight against COVID-19.

When Kamlendra Singh flew back to Missouri from India in April, he developed a cough and fever on the plane, despite being vaccinated for COVID-19 and testing negative for the virus right before departure.

Still, ...

Researchers at the University of Bath in the UK have found a way to make ‘single-crystal flake’ devices that are so thin and free of defects, they have the potential to outperform components used today in quantum computer circuits. The study is published this month in the journal Nano Letters.

The team from the university’s Department of Physics made its discovery while exploring the junction between two layers of the superconductor niobium diselenide ( NbSe₂) after these layers had been cleaved apart, twisted about 30 degrees with respect to one another, then stamped back together...