Microsoft, D-Wave Systems, quantum computing, and quantum supremacy?

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Before diving into some of the latest quantum computing doings, here’s why quantum computing is so highly prized and chased after, from the Quantum supremacy Wikipedia entry, Note: Links have been removed,

In quantum computing, quantum supremacy or quantum advantage is the goal of demonstrating that a programmable quantum computer can solve a problem that no classical computer can solve in any feasible amount of time, irrespective of the usefulness of the problem.[1][2][3] The term was coined by John Preskill in 2011,[1][4] but the concept dates to Yuri Manin’s 1980[5] and Richard Feynman’s 1981[6] proposals of quantum computing.

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Quantum supremacy and quantum advantage have been mentioned a few times here over the years. You can check my March 6, 2020 posting for when researchers from the University of California at Santa Barbara claimed quantum supremacy and my July 31, 2023 posting for when D-Wave Systems claimed a quantum advantage on optimization problems. I’d understood quantum supremacy and quantum advantage to be synonymous but according the article in Betakit (keep scrolling down to the D-Wave subhead and then, to ‘A controversy of sorts’ subhead in this posting), that’s not so.

The latest news on the quantum front comes from Microsoft (February 2025) and D-Wave systems (March 2025).

Microsoft claims a new state of matter for breakthroughs in quantum computing

Here’s the February 19, 2025 news announcement from Microsoft’s Chetan Nayak, Technical Fellow and Corporate Vice President of Quantum Hardware, Note: Links have been removed,

Quantum computers promise to transform science and society—but only after they achieve the scale that once seemed distant and elusive, and their reliability is ensured by quantum error correction. Today, we’re announcing rapid advancements on the path to useful quantum computing:

  • Majorana 1: the world’s first Quantum Processing Unit (QPU) powered by a Topological Core, designed to scale to a million qubits on a single chip.
  • A hardware-protected topological qubit: research published today in Nature, along with data shared at the Station Q meeting, demonstrate our ability to harness a new type of material and engineer a radically different type of qubit that is small, fast, and digitally controlled.
  • A device roadmap to reliable quantum computation: our path from single-qubit devices to arrays that enable quantum error correction.
  • Building the world’s first fault-tolerant prototype (FTP) based on topological qubits: Microsoft is on track to build an FTP of a scalable quantum computer—in years, not decades—as part of the final phase of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Underexplored Systems for Utility-Scale Quantum Computing (US2QC) program.

Together, these milestones mark a pivotal moment in quantum computing as we advance from scientific exploration to technological innovation.

Harnessing a new type of material

All of today’s announcements build on our team’s recent breakthrough: the world’s first topoconductor. This revolutionary class of materials enables us to create topological superconductivity, a new state of matter that previously existed only in theory. The advance stems from Microsoft’s innovations in the design and fabrication of gate-defined devices that combine indium arsenide (a semiconductor) and aluminum (a superconductor). When cooled to near absolute zero and tuned with magnetic fields, these devices form topological superconducting nanowires with Majorana Zero Modes (MZMs) at the wires’ ends.

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Chris Vallance’s February 19, 2025 article for the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) news online website provides a description of Microsoft’s claims and makes note of the competitive quantum research environment,

Microsoft has unveiled a new chip called Majorana 1 that it says will enable the creation of quantum computers able to solve “meaningful, industrial-scale problems in years, not decades”.

It is the latest development in quantum computing – tech which uses principles of particle physics to create a new type of computer able to solve problems ordinary computers cannot.

Creating quantum computers powerful enough to solve important real-world problems is very challenging – and some experts believe them to be decades away.

Microsoft says this timetable can now be sped up because of the “transformative” progress it has made in developing the new chip involving a “topological conductor”, based on a new material it has produced.

The firm believes its topoconductor has the potential to be as revolutionary as the semiconductor was in the history of computing.

But experts have told the BBC more data is needed before the significance of the new research – and its effect on quantum computing – can be fully assessed.

Jensen Huang – boss of the leading chip firm, Nvidia – said in January he believed “very useful” quantum computing would come in 20 years.

Chetan Nayak, a technical fellow of quantum hardware at Microsoft, said he believed the developments would shake up conventional thinking about the future of quantum computers.

“Many people have said that quantum computing, that is to say useful quantum computers, are decades away,” he said. “I think that this brings us into years rather than decades.”

Travis Humble, director of the Quantum Science Center of Oak Ridge National Laboratory in the US, said he agreed Microsoft would now be able to deliver prototypes faster – but warned there remained work to do.

“The long term goals for solving industrial applications on quantum computers will require scaling up these prototypes even further,” he said.

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While rivals produced a steady stream of announcements – notably Google’s “Willow” at the end of 2024 – Microsoft seemed to be taking longer.

Pursuing this approach was, in the company’s own words, a “high-risk, high-rewards” strategy, but one it now believes is going to pay off.

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If you have the time, do read Vallance’s February 19, 2025 article.

The research paper

Purdue University’s (Indiana, US) February 25, 2025 news release on EurekAlert announces publication of the research, Note: Links have been removed,

Microsoft Quantum published an article in Nature on Feb. 19 [2025] detailing recent advances in the measurement of quantum devices that will be needed to realize a topological quantum computer. Among the authors are Microsoft scientists and engineers who conduct research at Microsoft Quantum Lab West Lafayette, located at Purdue University. In an announcement by Microsoft Quantum, the team describes the operation of a device that is a necessary building block for a topological quantum computer. The published results are an important milestone along the path to construction of quantum computers that are potentially more robust and powerful than existing technologies.

“Our hope for quantum computation is that it will aid chemists, materials scientists and engineers working on the design and manufacturing of new materials that are so important to our daily lives,” said Michael Manfra, scientific director of Microsoft Quantum Lab West Lafayette and the Bill and Dee O’Brien Distinguished Professor of Physics and Astronomy, professor of materials engineering, and professor of electrical and computer engineering at Purdue. “The promise of quantum computation is in accelerating scientific discovery and its translation into useful technology. For example, if quantum computers reduce the time and cost to produce new lifesaving therapeutic drugs, that is real societal impact.” 

The Microsoft Quantum Lab West Lafayette team advanced the complex layered materials that make up the quantum plane of the full device architecture used in the tests. Microsoft scientists working with Manfra are experts in advanced semiconductor growth techniques, including molecular beam epitaxy, that are used to build low-dimensional electron systems that form the basis for quantum bits, or qubits. They built the semiconductor and superconductor layers with atomic layer precision, tailoring the material’s properties to those needed for the device architecture.

Manfra, a member of the Purdue Quantum Science and Engineering Institute, credited the strong relationship between Purdue and Microsoft, built over the course of a decade, with the advances conducted at Microsoft Quantum Lab West Lafayette. In 2017 Purdue deepened its relationship with Microsoft with a multiyear agreement that includes embedding Microsoft employees with Manfra’s research team at Purdue.

“This was a collaborative effort by a very sophisticated team, with a vital contribution from the Microsoft scientists at Purdue,” Manfra said. “It’s a Microsoft team achievement, but it’s also the culmination of a long-standing partnership between Purdue and Microsoft. It wouldn’t have been possible without an environment at Purdue that was conducive to this mode of work — I attempted to blend industrial with academic research to the betterment of both communities. I think that’s a success story.”

Quantum science and engineering at Purdue is a pillar of the Purdue Computes initiative, which is focused on advancing research in computing, physical AI, semiconductors and quantum technologies.

“This research breakthrough in the measurement of the state of quasi particles is a milestone in the development of topological quantum computing, and creates a watershed moment in the semiconductor-superconductor hybrid structure,” Purdue President Mung Chiang said. “Marking also the latest success in the strategic initiative of Purdue Computes, the deep collaboration that Professor Manfra and his team have created with the Microsoft Quantum Lab West Lafayette on the Purdue campus exemplifies the most impactful industry research partnership at any American university today.”

Most approaches to quantum computers rely on local degrees of freedom to encode information. The spin of an electron is a classic example of a qubit. But an individual spin is prone to disturbance — by relatively common things like heat, vibrations or interactions with other quantum particles — which can corrupt quantum information stored in the qubit, necessitating a great deal of effort in detecting and correcting errors. Instead of spin, topological quantum computers store information in a more distributed manner; the qubit state is encoded in the state of many particles acting in concert. Consequently, it is harder to scramble the information as the state of all the particles must be changed to alter the qubit state.

In the Nature paper, the Microsoft team was able to accurately and quickly measure the state of quasi particles that form the basis of the qubit.

“The device is used to measure a basic property of a topological qubit quickly,” Manfra said. “The team is excited to build on these positive results.”

“The team in West Lafayette pushed existing epitaxial technology to a new state-of-the-art for semiconductor-superconductor hybrid structures to ensure a perfect interface between each of the building blocks of the Microsoft hybrid system,” said Sergei Gronin, a Microsoft Quantum Lab scientist.

“The materials quality that is required for quantum computing chips necessitates constant improvements, so that’s one of the biggest challenges,” Gronin said. “First, we had to adjust and improve semiconductor technology to meet a new level that nobody was able to achieve before. But equally important was how to create this hybrid system. To do that, we had to merge a semiconducting part and a superconducting part. And that means you need to perfect the semiconductor and the superconductor and perfect the interface between them.”

While work discussed in the Nature article was performed by Microsoft employees, the exposure to industrial-scale research and development is an outstanding opportunity for Purdue students in Manfra’s academic group as well. John Watson, Geoffrey Gardner and Saeed Fallahi, who are among the coauthors of the paper, earned their doctoral degrees under Manfra and now work for Microsoft Quantum at locations in Redmond, Washington, and Copenhagen, Denmark. Most of Manfra’s former students now work for quantum computing companies, including Microsoft. Tyler Lindemann, who works in the West Lafayette lab and helped to build the hybrid semiconductor-superconductor structures required for the device, is earning a doctoral degree from Purdue under Manfra’s supervision.

“Working in Professor Manfra’s lab in conjunction with my work for Microsoft Quantum has given me a head start in my professional development, and been fruitful for my academic work,” Lindemann said. “At the same time, many of the world-class scientists and engineers at Microsoft Quantum have some background in academia, and being able to draw from their knowledge and experience is an indispensable resource in my graduate studies. From both perspectives, it’s a great opportunity.”

Here’s a link to and a citation for the paper,

Interferometric single-shot parity measurement in InAs–Al hybrid devices by Microsoft Azure Quantum, Morteza Aghaee, Alejandro Alcaraz Ramirez, Zulfi Alam, Rizwan Ali, Mariusz Andrzejczuk, Andrey Antipov, Mikhail Astafev, Amin Barzegar, Bela Bauer, Jonathan Becker, Umesh Kumar Bhaskar, Alex Bocharov, Srini Boddapati, David Bohn, Jouri Bommer, Leo Bourdet, Arnaud Bousquet, Samuel Boutin, Lucas Casparis, Benjamin J. Chapman, Sohail Chatoor, Anna Wulff Christensen, Cassandra Chua, Patrick Codd, William Cole, Paul Cooper, Fabiano Corsetti, Ajuan Cui, Paolo Dalpasso, Juan Pablo Dehollain, Gijs de Lange, Michiel de Moor, Andreas Ekefjärd, Tareq El Dandachi, Juan Carlos Estrada Saldaña, Saeed Fallahi, Luca Galletti, Geoff Gardner, Deshan Govender, Flavio Griggio, Ruben Grigoryan, Sebastian Grijalva, Sergei Gronin, Jan Gukelberger, Marzie Hamdast, Firas Hamze, Esben Bork Hansen, Sebastian Heedt, Zahra Heidarnia, Jesús Herranz Zamorano, Samantha Ho, Laurens Holgaard, John Hornibrook, Jinnapat Indrapiromkul, Henrik Ingerslev, Lovro Ivancevic, Thomas Jensen, Jaspreet Jhoja, Jeffrey Jones, Konstantin V. Kalashnikov, Ray Kallaher, Rachpon Kalra, Farhad Karimi, Torsten Karzig, Evelyn King, Maren Elisabeth Kloster, Christina Knapp, Dariusz Kocon, Jonne V. Koski, Pasi Kostamo, Mahesh Kumar, Tom Laeven, Thorvald Larsen, Jason Lee, Kyunghoon Lee, Grant Leum, Kongyi Li, Tyler Lindemann, Matthew Looij, Julie Love, Marijn Lucas, Roman Lutchyn, Morten Hannibal Madsen, Nash Madulid, Albert Malmros, Michael Manfra, Devashish Mantri, Signe Brynold Markussen, Esteban Martinez, Marco Mattila, Robert McNeil, Antonio B. Mei, Ryan V. Mishmash, Gopakumar Mohandas, Christian Mollgaard, Trevor Morgan, George Moussa, Chetan Nayak, Jens Hedegaard Nielsen, Jens Munk Nielsen, William Hvidtfelt Padkar Nielsen, Bas Nijholt, Mike Nystrom, Eoin O’Farrell, Thomas Ohki, Keita Otani, Brian Paquelet Wütz, Sebastian Pauka, Karl Petersson, Luca Petit, Dima Pikulin, Guen Prawiroatmodjo, Frank Preiss, Eduardo Puchol Morejon, Mohana Rajpalke, Craig Ranta, Katrine Rasmussen, David Razmadze, Outi Reentila, David J. Reilly, Yuan Ren, Ken Reneris, Richard Rouse, Ivan Sadovskyy, Lauri Sainiemi, Irene Sanlorenzo, Emma Schmidgall, Cristina Sfiligoj, Mustafeez Bashir Shah, Kevin Simoes, Shilpi Singh, Sarat Sinha, Thomas Soerensen, Patrick Sohr, Tomas Stankevic, Lieuwe Stek, Eric Stuppard, Henri Suominen, Judith Suter, Sam Teicher, Nivetha Thiyagarajah, Raj Tholapi, Mason Thomas, Emily Toomey, Josh Tracy, Michelle Turley, Shivendra Upadhyay, Ivan Urban, Kevin Van Hoogdalem, David J. Van Woerkom, Dmitrii V. Viazmitinov, Dominik Vogel, John Watson, Alex Webster, Joseph Weston, Georg W. Winkler, Di Xu, Chung Kai Yang, Emrah Yucelen, Roland Zeisel, Guoji Zheng & Justin Zilke. Nature 638, 651–655 (2025). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-08445-2 Published online: 19 February 2025 Issue Date: 20 February 2025

This paper is open access. Note: I usually tag all of the authors but not this time.

Controversy over this and previous Microsoft quantum computing claims

Elizabeth Hlavinka’s March 17, 2025 article for Salon.com provides an overview, Note: Links have been removed,

The matter making up the world around us has long-since been organized into three neat categories: solids, liquids and gases. But last month [February 2025], Microsoft announced that it had allegedly discovered another state of matter originally theorized to exist in 1937. 

This new state of matter called the Majorana zero mode is made up of quasiparticles, which act as their own particle and antiparticle. The idea is that the Majorana zero mode could be used to build a quantum computer, which could help scientists answer complex questions that standard computers are not capable of solving, with implications for medicine, cybersecurity and artificial intelligence.

In late February [2025], Sen. Ted Cruz presented Microsoft’s new computer chip at a congressional hearing, saying, “Technologies like this new chip I hold in the palm of my hand, the Majorana 1 quantum chip, are unlocking a new era of computing that will transform industries from health care to energy, solving problems that today’s computers simply cannot.”

However, Microsoft’s announcement, claiming a “breakthrough in quantum computing,” was met with skepticism from some physicists in the field. Proving that this form of quantum computing can work requires first demonstrating the existence of Majorana quasiparticles, measuring what the Majorana particles are doing, and creating something called a topological qubit used to store quantum information.

But some say that not all of the data necessary to prove this has been included in the research paper published in Nature, on which this announcement is based. And due to a fraught history of similar claims from the company being disputed and ultimately rescinded, some are extra wary of the results. [emphasis mine]

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It’s not the first time Microsoft has faced backlash from presenting findings in the field. In 2018, the company reported that they had detected the presence of Majorana zero-modes in a research paper, but it was retracted by Nature, the journal that published it after a report from independent experts put their findings under more intense scrutiny.

In the [2018] report, four physicists not involved in the research concluded that it did not appear that Microsoft had intentionally misrepresented the data, but instead seemed to be “caught up in the excitement of the moment [emphasis mine].”

Establishing the existence of these particles is extremely complex in part because disorder in the device can create signals that mimic these quasiparticles when they are not actually there. 

Modern computers in use today are encoded in bits, which can either be in a zero state (no current flowing through them), or a one state (current flowing.) These bits work together to send information and signals that communicate with the computer, powering everything from cell phones to video games.

Companies like Google, IBM and Amazon have invested in designing another form of quantum computer that uses chips built with “qubits,” or quantum bits. Qubits can exist in both zero and one states at the same time due to a phenomenon called superposition. 

However, qubits are subject to external noise from the environment that can affect their performance, said Dr. Paolo Molignini, a researcher in theoretical quantum physics at Stockholm University.

“Because qubits are in a superposition of zero and one, they are very prone to errors and they are very prone to what is called decoherence, which means there could be noise, thermal fluctuations or many things that can collapse the state of the qubits,” Molignini told Salon in a video call. “Then you basically lose all of the information that you were encoding.”

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In December [2024], Google said its quantum computer could perform a calculation that a standard computer could complete in 10 septillion years — a period far longer than the age of the universe — in just under five minutes.

However, a general-purpose computer would require billions of qubits, so these approaches are still a far cry from having practical applications, said Dr. Patrick Lee, a physicist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology [MIT], who co-authored the report leading to the 2018 Nature paper’s retraction.

Microsoft is taking a different approach to quantum computing by trying to develop  a topological qubit, which has the ability to store information in multiple places at once. Topological qubits exist within the Majorana zero states and are appealing because they can theoretically offer greater protection against environmental noise that destroys information within a quantum system.

Think of it like an arrow, where the arrowhead holds a portion of the information and the arrow tail holds the rest, Lee said. Distributing information across space like this is called topological protection.

“If you are able to put them far apart from each other, then you have a chance of maintaining the identity of the arrow even if it is subject to noise,” Lee told Salon in a phone interview. “The idea is that if the noise affects the head, it doesn’t kill the arrow and if it affects only the tail it doesn’t kill your arrow. It has to affect both sides simultaneously to kill your arrow, and that is very unlikely if you are able to put them apart.”

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… Lee believes that even if the data doesn’t entirely prove that topological qubits exist in the Majorana zero-state, it still represents a scientific advancement. But he noted that several important issues need to be solved before it has practical implications. For one, the coherence time of these particles — or how long they can exist without being affected by environmental noise — is still very short, he explained.

“They make a measurement, come back, and the qubit has changed, so you have lost your coherence,” Lee said. “With this very short time, you cannot do anything with it.”

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“I just wish they [Microsoft] were a bit more careful with their claims because I fear that if they don’t measure up to what they are saying, there might be a backlash at some point where people say, ‘You promised us all these fancy things and where are they now?’” Molignini said. “That might damage the entire quantum community, not just themselves.”

Iif you have the time, please read Hlavinka’s March 17, 2025 article in its entirety .

D-Wave Quantum Systems claims quantum supremacy over real world problem solution

A March 15, 2025 article by Bob Yirka for phys.org announces the news from D-Wave Quantum Systems. Note: The company, which had its headquarters in Canada (Burnaby, BC) now seems to be a largely US company with its main headquarters in Palo Alto, California and an ancillary or junior (?) headquarters in Canada, Note: A link has been removed,

A team of quantum computer researchers at quantum computer maker D-Wave, working with an international team of physicists and engineers, is claiming that its latest quantum processor has been used to run a quantum simulation faster than could be done with a classical computer.

In their paper published in the journal Science, the group describes how they ran a quantum version of a mathematical approximation regarding how matter behaves when it changes states, such as from a gas to a liquid—in a way that they claim would be nearly impossible to conduct on a traditional computer.

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Here’s a March 12, 2025 D-Wave Systems (now D-Wave Quantum Systems) news release touting its real world problem solving quantum supremacy,

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New landmark peer-reviewed paper published in Science, “Beyond-Classical Computation in Quantum Simulation,” unequivocally validates D-Wave’s achievement of the world’s first and only demonstration of quantum computational supremacy on a useful, real-world problem

Research shows D-Wave annealing quantum computer performs magnetic materials simulation in minutes that would take nearly one million years and more than the world’s annual electricity consumption to solve using a classical supercomputer built with GPU clusters

D-Wave Advantage2 annealing quantum computer prototype used in supremacy achievement, a testament to the system’s remarkable performance capabilities

PALO ALTO, Calif. – March 12, 2025 – D-Wave Quantum Inc. (NYSE: QBTS) (“D-Wave” or the “Company”), a leader in quantum computing systems, software, and services and the world’s first commercial supplier of quantum computers, today announced a scientific breakthrough published in the esteemed journal Science, confirming that its annealing quantum computer outperformed one of the world’s most powerful classical supercomputers in solving complex magnetic materials simulation problems with relevance to materials discovery. The new landmark peer-reviewed paper, “Beyond-Classical Computation in Quantum Simulation,” validates this achievement as the world’s first and only demonstration of quantum computational supremacy on a useful problem.

An international collaboration of scientists led by D-Wave performed simulations of quantum dynamics in programmable spin glasses—computationally hard magnetic materials simulation problems with known applications to business and science—on both D-Wave’s Advantage2TM prototype annealing quantum computer and the Frontier supercomputer at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The work simulated the behavior of a suite of lattice structures and sizes across a variety of evolution times and delivered a multiplicity of important material properties. D-Wave’s quantum computer performed the most complex simulation in minutes and with a level of accuracy that would take nearly one million years using the supercomputer. In addition, it would require more than the world’s annual electricity consumption to solve this problem using the supercomputer, which is built with graphics processing unit (GPU) clusters.

“This is a remarkable day for quantum computing. Our demonstration of quantum computational supremacy on a useful problem is an industry first. All other claims of quantum systems outperforming classical computers have been disputed or involved random number generation of no practical value,” said Dr. Alan Baratz, CEO of D-Wave. “Our achievement shows, without question, that D-Wave’s annealing quantum computers are now capable of solving useful problems beyond the reach of the world’s most powerful supercomputers. We are thrilled that D-Wave customers can use this technology today to realize tangible value from annealing quantum computers.”

Realizing an Industry-First Quantum Computing Milestone
The behavior of materials is governed by the laws of quantum physics. Understanding the quantum nature of magnetic materials is crucial to finding new ways to use them for technological advancement, making materials simulation and discovery a vital area of research for D-Wave and the broader scientific community. Magnetic materials simulations, like those conducted in this work, use computer models to study how tiny particles not visible to the human eye react to external factors. Magnetic materials are widely used in medical imaging, electronics, superconductors, electrical networks, sensors, and motors.

“This research proves that D-Wave’s quantum computers can reliably solve quantum dynamics problems that could lead to discovery of new materials,” said Dr. Andrew King, senior distinguished scientist at D-Wave. “Through D-Wave’s technology, we can create and manipulate programmable quantum matter in ways that were impossible even a few years ago.”

Materials discovery is a computationally complex, energy-intensive and expensive task. Today’s supercomputers and high-performance computing (HPC) centers, which are built with tens of thousands of GPUs, do not always have the computational processing power to conduct complex materials simulations in a timely or energy-efficient manner. For decades, scientists have aspired to build a quantum computer capable of solving complex materials simulation problems beyond the reach of classical computers. D-Wave’s advancements in quantum hardware have made it possible for its annealing quantum computers to process these types of problems for the first time.

“This is a significant milestone made possible through over 25 years of research and hardware development at D-Wave, two years of collaboration across 11 institutions worldwide, and more than 100,000 GPU and CPU hours of simulation on one of the world’s fastest supercomputers as well as computing clusters in collaborating institutions,” said Dr. Mohammad Amin, chief scientist at D-Wave. “Besides realizing Richard Feynman’s vision of simulating nature on a quantum computer, this research could open new frontiers for scientific discovery and quantum application development.” 

Advantage2 System Demonstrates Powerful Performance Gains
The results shown in “Beyond-Classical Computation in Quantum Simulation” were enabled by D-Wave’s previous scientific milestones published in Nature Physics (2022) and Nature (2023), which theoretically and experimentally showed that quantum annealing provides a quantum speedup in complex optimization problems. These scientific advancements led to the development of the Advantage2 prototype’s fast anneal feature, which played an essential role in performing the precise quantum calculations needed to demonstrate quantum computational supremacy.

“The broader quantum computing research and development community is collectively building an understanding of the types of computations for which quantum computing can overtake classical computing. This effort requires ongoing and rigorous experimentation,” said Dr. Trevor Lanting, chief development officer at D-Wave. “This work is an important step toward sharpening that understanding, with clear evidence of where our quantum computer was able to outperform classical methods. We believe that the ability to recreate the entire suite of results we produced is not possible classically. We encourage our peers in academia to continue efforts to further define the line between quantum and classical capabilities, and we believe these efforts will help drive the development of ever more powerful quantum computing technology.”

The Advantage2 prototype used to achieve quantum computational supremacy is available for customers to use today via D-Wave’s Leap™ real-time quantum cloud service. The prototype provides substantial performance improvements from previous-generation Advantage systems, including increased qubit coherence, connectivity, and energy scale, which enables higher-quality solutions to larger, more complex problems. Moreover, D-Wave now has an Advantage2 processor that is four times larger than the prototype used in this work and has extended the simulations of this paper from hundreds of qubits to thousands of qubits, which are significantly larger than those described in this paper.

Leading Industry Voices Echo Support
Dr. Hidetoshi Nishimori, Professor, Department of Physics, Tokyo Institute of Technology:
“This paper marks a significant milestone in demonstrating the real-world applicability of large-scale quantum computing. Through rigorous benchmarking of quantum annealers against state-of-the-art classical methods, it convincingly establishes a quantum advantage in tackling practical problems, revealing the transformative potential of quantum computing at an unprecedented scale.”

Dr. Seth Lloyd, Professor of Quantum Mechanical Engineering, MIT:
“Although large-scale, fully error-corrected quantum computers are years in the future, quantum annealers can probe the features of quantum systems today. In an elegant paper, the D-Wave group has used a large-scale quantum annealer to uncover patterns of entanglement in a complex quantum system that lie far beyond the reach of the most powerful classical computer. The D-Wave result shows the promise of quantum annealers for exploring exotic quantum effects in a wide variety of systems.”

Dr. Travis Humble, Director of Quantum Science Center, Distinguished Scientist at Oak Ridge National Laboratory:
“ORNL seeks to expand the frontiers of computation through many different avenues, and benchmarking quantum computing for materials science applications provides critical input to our understanding of new computational capabilities.”

Dr. Juan Carrasquilla, Associate Professor at the Department of Physics, ETH Zürich:
“I believe these results mark a critical scientific milestone for D-Wave. They also serve as an invitation to the scientific community, as these results offer a strong benchmark and motivation for developing novel simulation techniques for out-of-equilibrium dynamics in quantum many-body physics. Furthermore, I hope these findings encourage theoretical exploration of the computational challenges involved in performing such simulations, both classically and quantum-mechanically.”

Dr. Victor Martin-Mayor, Professor of Theoretical Physics, Universidad Complutense de Madrid:
“This paper is not only a tour-de-force for experimental physics, it is also remarkable for the clarity of the results. The authors have addressed a problem that is regarded both as important and as very challenging to a classical computer. The team has shown that their quantum annealer performs better at this task than the state-of-the-art methods for classical simulation.”

Dr. Alberto Nocera, Senior Staff Scientist, The University of British Columbia:
“Our work shows the impracticability of state-of-the-art classical simulations to simulate the dynamics of quantum magnets, opening the door for quantum technologies based on analog simulators to solve scientific questions that may otherwise remain unanswered using conventional computers.”

About D-Wave Quantum Inc.
D-Wave is a leader in the development and delivery of quantum computing systems, software, and services. We are the world’s first commercial supplier of quantum computers, and the only company building both annealing and gate-model quantum computers. Our mission is to help customers realize the value of quantum, today. Our 5,000+ qubit Advantage™ quantum computers, the world’s largest, are available on-premises or via the cloud, supported by 99.9% availability and uptime. More than 100 organizations trust D-Wave with their toughest computational challenges. With over 200 million problems submitted to our Advantage systems and Advantage2™ prototypes to date, our customers apply our technology to address use cases spanning optimization, artificial intelligence, research and more. Learn more about realizing the value of quantum computing today and how we’re shaping the quantum-driven industrial and societal advancements of tomorrow: www.dwavequantum.com.

Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements in this press release are forward-looking, as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements involve risks, uncertainties, and other factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from the information expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements and may not be indicative of future results. These forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, including, among others, various factors beyond management’s control, including the risks set forth under the heading “Risk Factors” discussed under the caption “Item 1A. Risk Factors” in Part I of our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K or any updates discussed under the caption “Item 1A. Risk Factors” in Part II of our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and in our other filings with the SEC. Undue reliance should not be placed on the forward-looking statements in this press release in making an investment decision, which are based on information available to us on the date hereof. We undertake no duty to update this information unless required by law.

Here’s a link to and a citation for the most recent paper,

Beyond-classical computation in quantum simulation by Andrew D. King , Alberto Nocera, Marek M. Rams, Jacek Dziarmaga, Roeland Wiersema, William Bernoudy, Jack Raymond, Nitin Kaushal, Niclas Heinsdorf, Richard Harris, Kelly Boothby, Fabio Altomare, Mohsen Asad, Andrew J. Berkley, Martin Boschnak, Kevin Chern, Holly Christiani, Samantha Cibere, Jake Connor, Martin H. Dehn, Rahul Deshpande, Sara Ejtemaee, Pau Farre, Kelsey Hamer, Emile Hoskinson, Shuiyuan Huang, Mark W. Johnson, Samuel Kortas, Eric Ladizinsky, Trevor Lanting, Tony Lai, Ryan Li, Allison J. R. MacDonald, Gaelen Marsden, Catherine C. McGeoch, Reza Molavi, Travis Oh, Richard Neufeld, Mana Norouzpour, Joel Pasvolsky, Patrick Poitras, Gabriel Poulin-Lamarre, Thomas Prescott, Mauricio Reis, Chris Rich, Mohammad Samani, Benjamin Sheldan, Anatoly Smirnov, Edward Sterpka, Berta Trullas Clavera, Nicholas Tsai, Mark Volkmann, Alexander M. Whiticar, Jed D. Whittaker, Warren Wilkinson, Jason Yao, T.J. Yi, Anders W. Sandvik, Gonzalo Alvarez, Roger G. Melko, Juan Carrasquilla, Marcel Franz, and Mohammad H. Amin. Science 12 Mar 2025 First Release DOI: 10.1126/science.ado6285

This paper appears to be open access.Note: I usually tag all of the authors but not this time either.

A controversy of sorts

Madison McLauchlan’s March 19, 2025 article for Betakit (website for Canadian Startup News & Tech Innovation), Note: Links have been removed,

Canadian-born company D-Wave Quantum Systems said it achieved “quantum supremacy” last week after publishing what it calls a groundbreaking paper in the prestigious journal Science. Despite the lofty term, Canadian experts say supremacy is not the be-all, end-all of quantum innovation. 

D-Wave, which has labs in Palo Alto, Calif., and Burnaby, BC, claimed in a statement that it has shown “the world’s first and only demonstration of quantum computational supremacy on a useful, real-world problem.”

Coined in the early 2010s by physicist John Preskill, quantum supremacy is the ability of a quantum computing system to solve a problem no classical computer can in a feasible amount of time. The metric makes no mention of whether the problem needs to be useful or relevant to real life. Google researchers published a paper in Nature in 2019 claiming they cleared that bar with the Sycamore quantum processor. Researchers at the University of Science and Technology in China claimed they demonstrated quantum supremacy several times. 

D-Wave’s attempt differs in that its researchers aimed to solve a real-world materials-simulation problem with quantum computing—one the company claims would be nearly impossible for a traditional computer to solve in a reasonable amount of time. D-Wave used an annealing designed to solve optimization problems. The problem is represented like an energy space, where the “lowest energy state” corresponds to the solution. 

While exciting, quantum supremacy is just one metric among several that mark the progress toward widely useful quantum computers, industry experts told BetaKit. 

…

“It is a very important and mostly academic metric, but certainly not the most important in the grand scheme of things, as it doesn’t take into account the usefulness of the algorithm,” said Martin Laforest, managing partner at Quantacet, a specialized venture capital fund for quantum startups. 

He added that Google and Xanadu’s [Xanadu Quantum Technologies based in Toronto, Canada] past claims to quantum supremacy were “extraordinary pieces of work, but didn’t unlock practicality.” 

Laforest, along with executives at Canadian quantum startups Nord Quantique and Photonic, say that the milestones of ‘quantum utility’ or ‘quantum advantage’ may be more important than supremacy. 

According to Quantum computing company Quera [QuEra?], quantum advantage is the demonstration of a quantum algorithm solving a real-world problem on a quantum computer faster than any classical algorithm running on any classical computer. On the other hand, quantum utility, according to IBM, refers to when a quantum computer is able to perform reliable computations at a scale beyond brute-force classical computing methods that provide exact solutions to computational problems. 

…

Error correction hasn’t traditionally been considered a requirement for quantum supremacy, but Laforest told BetaKit the term is “an ever-moving target, constantly challenged by advances in classical algorithms.” He added: “In my opinion, some level of supremacy or utility may be possible in niche areas without error correction, but true disruption requires it.”

Paul Terry, CEO of Vancouver-based Photonic, thinks that though D-Wave’s claim to quantum supremacy shows “continued progress to real value,” scalability is the industry’s biggest hurdle to overcome.

…

But as with many milestone claims in the quantum space, D-Wave’s latest innovation has been met with scrutiny from industry competitors and researchers on the breakthrough’s significance, claiming that classical computers have achieved similar results. Laforest echoed this sentiment.

“Personally, I wouldn’t say it’s an unequivocal demonstration of supremacy, but it is a damn nice experiment that once again shows the murky zone between traditional computing and early quantum advantage,” Laforest said.

Originally founded out of the University of British Columbia, D-Wave went public on the New York Stock Exchange just over two years ago through a merger with a special-purpose acquisition company in 2022. D-Wave became a Delaware-domiciled corporation as part of the deal.

Earlier this year, D-Wave’s stock price dropped after Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang publicly stated that he estimated that useful quantum computers were more than 15 years away. D-Wave’s stock price, which had been struggling, has seen a considerable bump in recent months alongside a broader boost in the quantum market. The price popped after its most recent earnings, shared right after its quantum supremacy announcement. 

The beat goes on

Some of this is standard in science. There’s always a debate over big claims and it’s not unusual for people to get over excited and have to make a retraction. Scientists are people too. That said, there’s a lot of money on the line and that appears to be making situation even more volatile than usual.

That last paragraph was completed on the morning of March 21, 2025 and later that afternoon I came across this March 21, 2025 article by Michael Grothaus for Fast Company, Note: Links have been removed,

Quantum computing stocks got pummeled yesterday, with the four most prominent public quantum computing companies—IonQ, Rigetti Computing, Quantum Computing Inc., and D-Wave Quantum Inc.—falling anywhere from over 9% to over 18%. The reason? A lot of it may have to do with AI chip giant Nvidia. Again.

Stocks crash yesterday on Nvidia quantum news

Yesterday was a bit of a bloodbath on the stock market for the four most prominent publicly traded quantum computing companies. …

…

All four of these quantum computing stocks [IonQ, Inc.; Rigetti Computing, Inc.; Quantum Computing Inc.; D-Wave Quantum Inc.] tumbled on the day that AI chip giant Nvidia kicked off its two-day Quantum Day event. In a blog post from January 14 announcing Quantum Day, Nvidia said the event “brings together leading experts for a comprehensive and balanced perspective on what businesses should expect from quantum computing in the coming decades — mapping the path toward useful quantum applications.”

…

Besides bringing quantum experts together, the AI behemoth also announced that it will be launching a new quantum computing research center in Boston.

Called the NVIDIA Accelerated Quantum Research Center (NVAQC), the new research lab “will help solve quantum computing’s most challenging problems, ranging from qubit noise to transforming experimental quantum processors into practical devices,” the company said in a press release.

The NVAQC’s location in Boston means it will be near both Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). 

…

Before Nvidia’s announcement yesterday, IonQ, Rigetti, D-Wave, and Quantum Computing Inc. were the leaders in the nascent field of quantum computing. And while they still are right now (Nvidia’s quantum research lab hasn’t been built yet), the fear is that Nvidia could use its deep pockets to quickly buy its way into a leadership spot in the field. With its $2.9 trillion market cap, the company can easily afford to throw billions of research dollars into quantum computing.

As noted by the Motley Fool, the location of the NVIDIA Accelerated Quantum Research Center in Boston will also allow Nvidia to more easily tap into top quantum talent from Harvard and MIT—talent that may have otherwise gone to IonQ, Rigetti, D-Wave, and Quantum Computing Inc.

Nvidia’s announcement is a massive about-face from the company in regard to how it views quantum computing. It’s also the second time that Nvidia has caused quantum stocks to crash this year. Back in January, shares in prominent quantum computing companies fell after Huang said that practical use of quantum computing was decades away.

Those comments were something quantum computing company CEOs like D-Wave’s Alan Baratz took issue with. “It’s an egregious error on Mr. Huang’s part,” Bartaz told Fast Company at the time. “We’re not decades away from commercial quantum computers. They exist. There are companies that are using our quantum computer today.”

According to Investor’s Business Daily, Huang reportedly got the idea for Nvidia’s Quantum Day event after the blowback to his comments, inviting quantum computing executives to the event to explain why he was incorrect about quantum computing.

…

The word is volatile.

ARPICO celebrates Italian Research in the World Day with April 9, 2025 event (Built to “Beat” – Lab-Grown Heart Cells Revolutionizing Cardiac Health!) in Vancouver, Canada

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The Society of Italian Researchers & Professionals in Western Canada (ARPICO) sent (via a March 18, 2025 email) an announcement of an April 9, 2025 event,

Dear Friends of ARPICO,

A few weeks have passed since our last vibrant event Celebrating Women in STEM, and we’re excited to invite you to ARPICO’s next public event on Wednesday, April 9, 2025, organized in collaboration with the Consulate General of Italy in Vancouver. Don’t miss this opportunity to learn about cutting-edge advancements that could ultimately transform the way we treat heart disease!

We are privileged to welcome Dr. Vincenzo Macrì, Senior Scientist and Team Lead at STEMCELL Technologies, as our guest speaker. Dr Macrì will present a talk titled Built to “Beat” – Lab-Grown Heart Cells Revolutionizing Cardiac Health! in which he will discuss the exciting potential of using lab-grown heart cells to improve heart disease research and treatment.

This event celebrates Italian Research in the World Day, established in 2018 to recognize the quality and expertise of Italian researchers abroad. It aims to promote actions and investments that support Italian researchers in pursuing their careers both at home and abroad, while making Italy an attractive destination for international researchers.

YOU ARE INVITED

  • Date: Wednesday, April 9th, 2025
  • Location: Museum of Vancouver, History Room, 1100 Chestnut Street, Vancouver, BC
  • Check-in: 6:30 PM, to get your seat and have a cup of coffee
  • Lecture Start Time: 6:50 PM

You may visit this link (https://heartcells.eventbrite.ca) to view the event and Register for FREE Admission Tickets.

We look forward to seeing everyone there.

Evening Details

ADMISSION TICKETS ARE MANDATORY

Admission Tickets for this event are MANDATORY, but FREE; all wishing to attend are requested to obtain “free-admission” tickets on EventBrite. Click the “Reserve a Spot” button on the Eventbrite page. Tickets are necessary to help organizers plan for room capacity, fire regulations, and catering needs. Please be sure to supply the first name, surname and email of each person in your order.

  1. Admission Cost? – We don’t charge for admission to the event. A special thank you to the Consulate General of Italy in Vancouver for sponsoring this specific event and to the ARPICO members who generously cover the venue and equipment rentals, speaker travel, and thank-you costs for regular events throughout the year. Their support allows us to offer free admission to all attendees.
  2. Donations for ARPICO’s Scholarship Fund – Your donation helps ensure the continuation of our educational initiatives. If you enjoy attending ARPICO public lectures and appreciate the opportunity to engage with the speaker and fellow attendees, please consider donating to support our Scholarship Fund. Not ready? That’s alright. Decide after you have experienced the evening’s full offering. ARPICO is pleased to accept donations at the venue as well.

Further details are also available at arpico.ca, arpico facebook, and EventBrite.

Main Event Details

Built to “Beat” – Lab-Grown Heart Cells Revolutionizing Cardiac Health!

In this talk, Dr. Macrì will discuss the exciting potential of using lab-grown heart cells to improve heart disease research and treatment. These heart cells, called human adult pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (hPSC-CMs), are created by turning stem cells into heart muscle cells that behave similarly to real human heart cells especially in their ability to contract and respond to electrical signals. This makes them a powerful tool for studying how the heart works, understanding heart diseases, and testing new treatments. What’s even more exciting is that these lab-grown heart cells could be used in therapies to repair damaged heart tissue, offering hope for better treatments for cardiovascular diseases, which are the leading cause of death worldwide.

About Our Speaker

Dr. Vincenzo Macrì, PhD, is a Senior Scientist and Team Lead of the Myogenic R&D group at STEMCELL Technologies, where he oversees the development of advanced cell culture products to support cardiac and skeletal muscle research.

Dr. Macri earned his PhD in Physiology from the University of British Columbia and completed postdoctoral training at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and Harvard Medical School.His research focuses on stem cell and cardiomyocyte biology, human genetics, cardiovascular disease, ion channels, and cellular electrophysiology. He has received prestigious research awards from the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research, Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Heart Rhythm Society, and the Fund for Medical Discovery at MGH.

You can find the ARPICO website here.

Drat! ARPICO (Society of Italian Researchers and Professionals in Western Canada) Celebrates Women in STEM: Voices of Innovation on Wednesday, February 26, 2025

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(Missed the boat on this one.) I received (via email) a January 18, 2025 notice about an upcoming Society of Italian Researchers and Professionals in Western Canada (ARPICO) event, Note 1: Tickets are free, Note 2: the Eventbrite registration page for the event includes a map showing where the venue is located,

ARPICO is excited to invite you to our first event of 2025, “ARPICO Celebrates Women in STEM [science, technology, engineering, and mathematics]: Voices of Innovation” which will be held on Wednesday, February 26th, 2025 at 7:00 PM at the Museum of Vancouver, History Room, 1100 Chestnut Street, Vancouver, BC.

February 11th marks the celebration of Women and Girls in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM), established by the United Nations in 2015 to honor the achievements of women and girls in these fields.

Women’s access to STEM education and careers became a reality in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with milestones like, for example, Marie Curie breaking barriers in science and Ada Lovelace becoming the first computer programmer. While progress has been made, women are still underrepresented in STEM. Currently, In Canada, women represent approximately 23% of STEM professionals (about 28% in the United States).

At ARPICO, we are proud to celebrate the progress of women in STEM, acknowledging both their contributions and the challenges they continue to face by hosting a special event you won’t want to miss!

This event aims to inspire and empower the next generation of women, as well as people from all walks of life, to take their place at the forefront of innovation, ensuring STEM is an inclusive space for all. Through its initiatives, ARPICO aims to foster an environment where everyone can thrive, share their experiences, and inspire others.

ARPICO is therefore excited to host an event featuring five distinguished women in STEM. These panelists will engage in a dynamic discussion, sharing their journeys, successes, challenges, and sources of inspiration. The event will include a lively Q&A session, encouraging audience participation, reflection on the importance of supporting women in STEM and exploring how diverse talent strengthens STEM fields and society as a whole.

Whether you’re already involved in STEM, want to guide family and friends into these fields, or simply wish to be inspired by the panelists’ stories, this event will be informative, uplifting, and empowering. Reserve your spot!

To read more and to register for FREE admission, please visit EventBrite at https://womenstem.eventbrite.ca

Evening Program

  • 6:30 PM – Doors open for registration
  • 7:00 PM – Event begins. Welcome & Introductions by Nicola Fameli
  • 7:05 PM – Message from Italian Consul General Paolo Miraglia Del Giudice
  • 7:10 PM – ARPICO President’s Address & Moderated Panel Discussion
    • Presentation by Valentina Marchetti, President of ARPICO
    • Panel Discussion: “ARPICO Celebrates Women in STEM: Voices of Innovation”
  • 8:00 PM – Q & A Period
  • 8:15 PM – Refreshments, networking and socializing

We look forward to seeing everyone there.

RSVP: Tickets for this event are required, but FREE; all wishing to attend are requested to obtain “free-admission” tickets on EventBrite

Further details are also available at arpico.ca, arpico facebook, and EventBrite.

If participants wish to donate to ARPICO, this can be done within EventBrite or in person at the event; this would be greatly appreciated in order to help us continue our public lecture program and to build upon our scholarship fund.

Main Event Details

ARPICO Celebrates Women in STEM: Voices of Innovation

February 11th marks the celebration of Women and Girls in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM), established by the United Nations in 2015 to honor the achievements of women and girls in these fields.

Women’s access to STEM education and careers became a reality in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with milestones like, for example, Marie Curie breaking barriers in science and Ada Lovelace becoming the first computer programmer.

At ARPICO, we are proud to celebrate the progress of women in STEM, acknowledging both their contributions and the challenges they continue to face, by hosting this special event featuring five distinguished women in STEM. These panelists will engage in a dynamic discussion, sharing their journeys, successes, challenges, and sources of inspiration.

Their messages hope to inspire and empower the next generation of women to take their place at the forefront of innovation, ensuring STEM is an inclusive space for all.

The event will include a lively Q&A session, encouraging audience participation, reflection on the importance of supporting women in STEM and exploring how diverse talent strengthens STEM fields and society as a whole.

Whether you’re already involved in STEM, want to guide family and friends into these fields, or simply wish to be inspired by the panelists’ stories, this event will be informative, uplifting, and empowering.

ATTRACTING & CELEBRATING THE BEST MINDS

It is essential for nations, universities, and employers to recruit and nurture top talent in STEM fields to ensure continued innovation and progress. However, women remain underrepresented in STEM careers, making up only 23% of STEM professionals in Canada and 28% in the United States.

Promoting gender equity in STEM is about more than fairness—it’s about unlocking a broader talent pool and fostering richer, more innovative solutions. Research shows that when women and men contribute equally, STEM outcomes are more effective and transformative. Empowering women in STEM benefits not only individuals but also entire industries and societies.

THE IMPORTANCE OF STEM FOR THE WORLD, NATIONS & INDIVIDUALS

Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) drive the innovations that shape every aspect of modern life. Careers in STEM offer opportunities to collaborate internationally, solve global challenges like climate change and health crises, and make groundbreaking contributions to society.

Nations that invest in STEM not only foster critical research and innovation but also position themselves as global leaders, driving sustained economic growth and securing a competitive edge.

For individuals, STEM careers are highly sought after, often well-compensated, and provide unparalleled flexibility. Beyond technical expertise, STEM education cultivates critical thinking, creativity, and problem-solving skills—qualities essential for navigating and excelling in today’s interdisciplinary and ever-evolving job market. With these skills, STEM professionals can pivot and thrive in diverse career paths, creating limitless opportunities for personal and professional growth.

About The Panelists and Moderators

Dr. Lori Brotto is a leading expert in women’s sexual health, serving as a Professor in UBC’s [University of British Columbia] Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology and holding a Canada Research Chair. Her research focuses on developing accessible treatments for common sexual concerns in women, with a strong emphasis on equity and digital health technologies. As Executive Director of the Women’s Health Research Institute, she leads nearly 600 members in advancing women’s health research across BCDr. Brotto is a frequent media presence, appearing in documentaries like Netflix’s The Principles of Pleasure and CBC Gem’s The Big Sex Talk. She authored Better Sex Through Mindfulness (2018) and The Better Sex Through Mindfulness Workbook (2022), and her work earned her a UBC Public Education Through Media award in 2023. As a Registered Psychologist in BC, Dr. Brotto works directly with individuals to improve sexual well-being and encourages young women to pursue STEM careers. She engages with the public through social media, empowering women and advancing research in sexual health.

Dr. Cristina Conati is a Professor of Computer Science at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada. She received an M.Sc. in Computer Science at the University of Milan, as well as a Ph.D. in Intelligent Systems at the University of Pittsburgh. She has been a Faculty Member at UBC since November 1999. Cristina’s research is at the intersection of Artificial Intelligence, Human-Computer Interaction and Cognitive Science, focusing on Human-Centred AI with contributions in the areas of Intelligent Tutoring Systems, User Modeling, Affective Computing, Information Visualization, and Explainable AI. Cristina’s research has received 10 Best Paper Awards from a variety of venues and in 2022 she received a UBC Killam Research Price. She is a Fellow of AAAI (Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence) and of AAIA (Asia-Pacific Artificial Intelligence Association). She is the co-Editor in Chief of the Journal of AI in Education. She served as President of AAAC (Association for the Advancement of Affective Computing), as well as Program or Conference Chair for several international conferences.

Dr. Jaraquemada, Lupe, is a Radiochemist at Alpha9 Oncology in Vancouver, where she develops new radiopharmaceuticals to enhance cancer diagnosis and treatment. She studied in Canada in 2015 during her PhD and later returned to UBC Chemistry for postdoctoral and research associate work with Dr. Chris Orvig. Before joining Alpha9, Lupe worked as a Staff Scientist at BC Cancer’s Molecular Oncology department under Dr. François Bénard. She holds a PhD in Chemical Sciences and Technologies from the University of Cagliari, Italy, and a BSc in Chemistry from the University of Extremadura, Spain. In her free time, Lupe enjoys skiing with family and friends, watching Whitecaps games, and cheering on her two boys at soccer matches at the Italian Cultural Centre.

Camilla Moioli is a Ph.D. candidate at UBC’s ERDE (Energy Resources, Development, and Environment) and Forest Action Labs, focusing on the intersection of land use policy, energy transitions, and climate justice. With a background in Economics and Social Sciences, she uses both micro and macroeconomic methods to explore sustainable development. Camilla has worked with grassroots organizations in Ecuador on local restoration policies and collaborated with research centers in Europe, including EIEE in Milan, IIASA in Vienna, and SDSN in Paris, to incorporate global perspectives. She also teaches Forest and Conservation Economics at UBC and contributes to courses in carbon and energy economics. Camilla holds a BSc in Business from the University of Milano-Bicocca and an MSc in Economics from the Catholic University of Milan.

Dr. Adele Ruosi‘s journey in physics began in Italy, where she earned her Ph.D. and delved into experimental superconductivity while teaching at the University of Naples. Her curiosity then led her to the US, where she conducted research at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She also taught physics at Temple University and served as the Scientific Administrator of an Energy Frontier Research Center. Since 2019, Adele has been a Science Education Specialist in Physics and Astronomy at the University of British Columbia. When she’s not advancing science education, Adele enjoys exploring the great outdoors of British Columbia

Desiree Fiaccabrino is a BSc Chemistry graduate with First Class Honours from King’s College London, is pursuing a PhD in Chemistry at UBC under Dr. Chris Orvig and Dr. Paul Schaffer at TRIUMF. Her research focuses on developing novel molecules to bind radioactive metals for cancer therapeutics and diagnostics. As President of UBC’s Chemistry Graduate Student Society, Desiree organized professional development initiatives, including career panels with industry and academic leaders. She has mentored undergraduate and MSc students in research and scientific communication. Desiree is passionate about creating tools to bridge scientific discovery with practical applications in nuclear medicine to improve patient care.

Dr. Valentina Marchetti is an expert in endothelial cell dysfunction and progenitor cells in cardiovascular diseases. After completing her PhD at the University of Rome, Italy, she worked as a postdoctoral fellow at The Scripps Research Institute, focusing on stem cells for treating diabetic retinopathies and eye diseases. In 2013, she joined STEMCELL Technologies in Vancouver, where she led the endothelial and eye group and developed products for stem cell research. Currently an Adjunct Professor at Simon Fraser University, Valentina collaborates with the Department of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry. As President of ARPICO, she advances collaboration and public awareness of key research, while promoting Italian-Canadian scientific and cultural exchanges.

FAQ

  • Where can I contact the organizer with any questions?
  • info@arpico.ca
  • Can I update my registration information?
  • Yes. If you have any questions, contact us at info@arpico.ca
  • I am having trouble using EventBrite and cannot reserve my ticket(s). Can someone at ARPICO help me with my ticket reservation?
  • Of course, simply send your ticket request to us at info@arpico.ca so we can help you.

As always, the organizers have been thoughtful about including detailed information.

Measuring brainwaves with temporary tattoo on scalp

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Caption: EEG setup with e-tattoo electrodes Credit: Nanshu Lu

A December 2, 2024 news item on ScienceDaily announces development of a liquid ink that can measure brainwaves,

For the first time, scientists have invented a liquid ink that doctors can print onto a patient’s scalp to measure brain activity. The technology, presented December 2 [2024] in the Cell Press journal Cell Biomaterials, offers a promising alternative to the cumbersome process currently used for monitoring brainwaves and diagnosing neurological conditions. It also has the potential to enhance non-invasive brain-computer interface applications.

…

The December 2, 2024 Cell Press press release on Eurekalert, which originated the news item, claims this is a hair-friendly e-tattoo even though the model has a shaved head (perhaps that was for modeling purposes only?),

“Our innovations in sensor design, biocompatible ink, and high-speed printing pave the way for future on-body manufacturing of electronic tattoo sensors, with broad applications both within and beyond clinical settings,” says Nanshu Lu, the paper’s co-corresponding author at the University of Texas at Austin.

Electroencephalography (EEG) is an important tool for diagnosing a variety of neurological conditions, including seizures, brain tumors, epilepsy, and brain injuries. During a traditional EEG test, technicians measure the patient’s scalp with rulers and pencils, marking over a dozen spots where they will glue on electrodes, which are connected to a data-collection machine via long wires to monitor the patient’s brain activity. This setup is time consuming and cumbersome, and it can be uncomfortable for many patients, who must sit through the EEG test for hours.

Lu and her team have been pioneering the development of small sensors that track bodily signals from the surface of human skin, a technology known as electronic tattoos, or e-tattoos. Scientists have applied e-tattoos to the chest to measure heart activities, on muscles to measure how fatigued they are, and even under the armpit to measure components of sweat.

In the past, e-tattoos were usually printed on a thin layer of adhesive material before being transferred onto the skin, but this was only effective on hairless areas.

“Designing materials that are compatible with hairy skin has been a persistent challenge in e-tattoo technology,” Lu says. To overcome this, the team designed a type of liquid ink made of conductive polymers. The ink can flow through hair to reach the scalp, and once dried, it works as a thin-film sensor, picking up brain activity through the scalp.

Using a computer algorithm, the researchers can design the spots for EEG electrodes on the patient’s scalp. Then, they use a digitally controlled inkjet printer to spray a thin layer of the e-tattoo ink on to the spots. The process is quick, requires no contact, and causes no discomfort in patients, the researchers said.

The team printed e-tattoo electrodes onto the scalps of five participants with short hair. They also attached conventional EEG electrodes next to the e-tattoos. The team found that the e-tattoos performed comparably well at detecting brainwaves with minimal noise.

After six hours, the gel on the conventional electrodes started to dry out. Over a third of these electrodes failed to pick up any signal, although most the remaining electrodes had reduced contact with the skin, resulting in less accurate signal detection. The e-tattoo electrodes, on the other hand, showed stable connectivity for at least 24 hours.

Additionally, researchers tweaked the ink’s formula and printed e-tattoo lines that run down to the base of the head from the electrodes to replace the wires used in a standard EEG test. “This tweak allowed the printed wires to conduct signals without picking up new signals along the way,” says co-corresponding author Ximin He of the University of California, Los Angeles.

The team then attached much shorter physical wires between the tattoos to a small device that collects brainwave data. The team said that in the future, they plan to embed wireless data transmitters in the e-tattoos to achieve a fully wireless EEG process.

“Our study can potentially revolutionize the way non-invasive brain-computer interface devices are designed,” says co-corresponding author José Millán of the University of Texas at Austin. Brain-computer interface devices work by recording brain activities associated with a function, such as speech or movement, and use them to control an external device without having to move a muscle. Currently, these devices often involve a large headset that is cumbersome to use. E-tattoos have the potential to replace the external device and print the electronics directly onto a patient’s head, making brain-computer interface technology more accessible, Millán says.  

Here’s a link to and a citation for the paper,

On-scalp printing of personalized electroencephalography e-tattoos by Luize Scalco de Vasconcelos, Yichen Yan, Pukar Maharjan, Satyam Kumar, Minsu Zhang, Bowen Yao, Hongbian Li, Sidi Duan, Eric Li, Eric Williams, Sandhya Tiku, Pablo Vidal, R. Sergio Solorzano-Vargas, Wen Hong, Yingjie Du, Zixiao Liu, Fumiaki Iwane, Charles Block, Andrew T. Repetski, Philip Tan, Pulin Wang, Martin G. Martın, José del R. Millán, Ximin He, Nanshu Lu. Cell Biomaterials, 2024 DOI: 10.1016/j.celbio.2024.100004 Copyright: © 2024 Elsevier Inc. All rights are reserved, including those for text and data mining, AI training, and similar technologies

This is paper is open access but you are better off downloading the PDF version.

Electronics repairs in space made possible with nanoink and 3D printing?

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Researchers — as well as a toy Cy the Cyclone — test their nanoink and printer technologies during a NASA microgravity flight. Pictured, left to right, are: Fei Liu, Yanhua Huang, Matthew Marander, Xuepeng Jiang and Pavithra Premaratne. Photo courtesy of Shan Jiang.

They’re not making any promises but there are possibilities according to a November 21, 2024 news item on phys.org,

An Iowa State University engineer floats in the air while other researchers hang tight to a metal frame surrounding and supporting their special printer. [A Cy the Cyclone toy mascot all dressed up as an astronaut also floats above the busy researchers hunched over their experiment.] It’s not the usual photo you see in a research paper. Tests aboard microgravity flights aren’t your typical materials experiments, either.

…

A November 20, 2024 Iowa State University news release (also on EurekAlert but published November 21, 2024), which originated the news item, shows where curiosity can take you,

The flight path to these experiments began when a research team led by Iowa State’s Shan Jiang, an associate professor of materials science and engineering, and Hantang Qin, formerly of Iowa State who’s now an assistant professor of industrial and systems engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, wondered if their ink and printer technologies would work in the zero gravity of space.

The ink features silver nanoparticles synthesized with biobased polymers. After a heat treatment, the ink can conduct electricity and can therefore print electric circuits. The printer uses electrohydrodynamic printing, or 3D printing that jets ink under an electric field at resolutions of millionths of a meter. The electric field could eliminate the need for gravity to help deposit ink.

If the technologies work together in zero gravity, astronauts could use them to make electric circuits for spacecraft or equipment repairs. And astronauts might manufacture high-value electronic components in the special, zero-gravity environment of space.

NASA [(US) National Space and Aeronautics Agency] wondered if it would work, too.

Diving into microgravity

Researchers bolted the printer to the floor of a jet and prepared for a “roller coaster, basically,” Jiang said.

The NASA plane would continuously climb and dive, going in cycles from about 24,000 feet over Florida to 32,000 feet then back to 24,000. The dive phase produced about 10 seconds of pure zero gravity.

“It was exciting and new,” Jiang said.

Motion sickness was a problem for some. Others enjoyed the thrill of it. Jiang felt “frozen” the first time he experienced microgravity. “I was blank.”

But that didn’t last: “There was so much time and investment in this project. We wanted to achieve good results.”

But printing for a few seconds at a time on a microgravity flight “is a very challenging experiment,” Jiang said. “It’s so easy on the ground where everything is stable. But if anything gets loose during the flight, you lose your printing.”

The first microgravity flight was a good example. The printer wasn’t adequately secured against the plane’s shakes and vibrations.

“These are very intense experiments that require a lot of teamwork and preparation,” Jiang said.

So, the team went back to work, made some changes, made more test flights and produced better results.

“This proof-of-concept microgravity experiment proves the unique capability of (electrohydrodynamic) printing under zero-gravity conditions and opens a new venue for future on-demand manufacturing in space,” the researchers wrote in a paper published by the journal American Chemical Society Applied Materials & Interfaces. (…)

Making a new nanoink

The key innovation by Jiang’s research group was developing a new laboratory method to synthesize the ink with its silver nanoparticles.

“This is a new combination of materials and so we needed a new recipe to make the ink,” Jiang said.

Grants from the NASA Iowa Space Grant Consortium and the NASA Iowa Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research supported the project.

Both programs “strive to support innovative and leading research in Iowa,” said Sara Nelson, director of the programs and an Iowa State adjunct assistant professor of aerospace engineering. “We are thrilled to have supported Dr. Jiang’s research. His work has helped to build Iowa’s research infrastructure and is an important part of NASA’s strategic mission.”

The project also makes use of an abundant Iowa resource, plant biomass.

The ink includes a biobased polymer called 2-hydroxyethyl cellulose, which is typically used as a thickening agent. But it is also a cost-effective, biocompatible, versatile and stable material for the inks necessary for high-resolution ink jet printing under an electric field.

“There is a lot of biomass in Iowa,” Jiang said. “So, we’re always trying to use these biobased molecules. They make a wonderful polymer that does all the tricks for us.”

Jiang called that “the biggest surprise of this research. We didn’t know that before. Now we know what we can do with these biobased polymers.”

The Iowa State University Research Foundation has filed a patent on the new nanoink and the technology is currently available for licensing.

“This success is really just the beginning,” Jiang said. “As humanity ventures deeper into space, the need for on-demand manufacturing of electronics in orbit is no longer science fiction; it is a necessity.”

Next up for the researchers could be development of 3D space printing for other electronic components such as semiconductors.

After all, Jiang said, “You can’t just make one component and assemble an electronic device.”

Here’s a link to and a citation for the paper,

Silver Nano-Inks Synthesized with Biobased Polymers for High-Resolution Electrohydrodynamic Printing Toward In-Space Manufacturing by Tyler Kirscht, Liangkui Jiang, Fei Liu, Xuepeng Jiang, Matthew Marander, Ricardo Ortega, Hantang Qin, Shan Jiang. ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 2024, 16, 33, 44225–44235 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.4c07592 Published: July 30, 2024 Copyright © 2024 American Chemical Society

This paper is behind a paywall.

Growing plant roots and fungal hyphae in silica nanoparticles for 3D microvascular networks

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This is fascinating,

A November 19, 2024 news item on phys.org describes the problem the researchers in Japan were solving,

Microfluidic technology has become increasingly important in many scientific fields, such as regenerative medicine, microelectronics, and environmental science. However, conventional microfabrication techniques face limitations in scale and in the construction of complex networks. These hurdles are compounded when it comes to building more intricate 3D microfluidic networks.

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A November 19, 2024 Kyushu University press release (also on EurekAlert), which originated the news item, describes how the researchers propose to solve the problem building 3D microfluidic networks, Note: Links have been removed,

Now, researchers from Kyushu University have developed a new and convenient technique for building such complex 3D microfluidic networks. Their tool? Plants and fungi. The team developed a ‘soil’ medium using nanoparticles of glass (silica) and a cellulose based binding agent, then allowed plants and fungi to grow roots into it. After the plants were removed, the glass was left with a complex 3D microfluidic network of micrometer-sized hollow holes where the roots once were.

The new method can also be utilized for observing and preserving 3D biological structures that are typically difficult to study in soil, opening new opportunities for research in plant and fungal biology. Their findings were published in the journal Scientific Reports.

“The primary motivation for this research was to overcome the limitations of conventional microfabrication techniques in creating complex 3D microfluidic structures. The focus of our lab is biomimetics, where we try to solve engineering problems by looking to nature and artificially replicating such structures,” explains Professor Fujio Tsumori of Kyushu University’s Faculty of Engineering, who led the study. “And what better example of microfluidics in nature than plant roots and fungal hyphae? So, we set out to develop a method that could harness the natural growth patterns of these organisms and create optimized microfluidic networks.”

The researchers began by developing a ‘soil’ like mix for plants to grow in, but instead of dirt, they combined growth medium with glass nanoparticles smaller than 1 μm in diameter with hydroxypropyl methyl cellulose as a binding agent. They then seeded this ‘soil’ mixture and waited for the plants to take root. After confirming successful plant growth, the ‘soil’ was baked leaving only the glass with root cavities.

“The process is called sintering, which aggregates fine particles together into a more solid state. It is similar to powder metallurgy in the manufacturing of ceramics,” continues Tsumori. “In this case it is the plant that does the molding.”

Their method was able to replicate the intricate biological structures of a plant’s main roots which can be up to 150 μm in diameter, and all the way down to it root hairs which can be about 8 μm in diameter. Tests with other organisms showed that the method can even replicate the root structure of fungi, called hyphae.

“Hyphae are even thinner and can be as small as 1-2 μm in diameter. That’s thinner than a single strand of spider silk,” says Tsumori.

The team hopes that their new bio-inspired microfluidic fabrication technique could be used in various fields of science and engineering, potentially leading to more efficient microreactors, advanced heat exchangers, and innovative tissue engineering scaffolds.

“In the biological sciences, this technique provides a unique tool for studying the intricate 3D structures of plant roots and fungal networks, which can advance our understanding of soil ecosystems,” concludes Tsumori. “By bridging biological systems and engineering, our research has the potential to pave the way for new technologies and scientific discoveries.”

…

About Kyushu University 
Founded in 1911, Kyushu University is one of Japan’s leading research-oriented institutes of higher education, consistently ranking as one of the top ten Japanese universities in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings and the QS World Rankings. The university is one of the seven national universities in Japan, located in Fukuoka, on the island of Kyushu—the most southwestern of Japan’s four main islands with a population and land size slightly larger than Belgium. Kyushu U’s multiple campuses—home to around 19,000 students and 8000 faculty and staff—are located around Fukuoka City, a coastal metropolis that is frequently ranked among the world’s most livable cities and historically known as Japan’s gateway to Asia. Through its VISION 2030, Kyushu U will “drive social change with integrative knowledge.” By fusing the spectrum of knowledge, from the humanities and arts to engineering and medical sciences, Kyushu U will strengthen its research in the key areas of decarbonization, medicine and health, and environment and food, to tackle society’s most pressing issues.

Here’s a link to and a citation for the paper,

Replicating biological 3D root and hyphal networks in transparent glass chips by Tetsuro Koga, Shota Nakashima & Fujio Tsumori. Scientific Reports volume 14, Article number: 21128 (2024) DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-72333-y Published: 10 September 2024

This paper is open access.

Entangling light and sound

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I’ve been quite interested in quantum entanglement but this is the first time I’ve stumbled across light and sound entanglement. From a November 14, 2024 news item on Nanowerk, Note: Links have been removed,

For a wide variety of emerging quantum technologies, such as secure quantum communications and quantum computing, quantum entanglement is a prerequisite. Scientists at the Max-Planck-Institute for the Science of Light (MPL) have now demonstrated a particularly efficient way in which photons can be entangled with acoustic phonons. The researchers were able to demonstrate that this entanglement is resilient to external noise, the usual pitfall of any quantum technology to date.

They recently published their research in Physical Review Letters (“Optoacoustic Entanglement in a Continuous Brillouin-Active Solid State System”).

…

A November 8, 2024 Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light press release (also on EurekAlert but published November 14, 2024), which originated the news item, describes quantum entanglement and how it applies to sound and light,

Quantum entanglement is a phenomenon in which particles become interconnected such that the state of one instantly influences the state of the other, regardless of the distance between them. Entanglement is an important phenomenon for many quantum technology applications because it can lead to secure quantum communications and high-dimensional quantum computing. As photons, quanta of light, can propagate extremely fast while carrying quantum information, the entangling of pairs of photons via nonlinear optics is an established procedure. Scientists at MPL have recently tackled the issue of establishing entanglement between very different entities such as traveling sound waves, phonons, and optical photons. The proposed optoacoustic entanglement scheme is based on Brillouin scattering. It is particularly resilient, suitable for integration into quantum signal processing schemes and implementable at high environmental temperatures.

Einstein called it “spooky action at a distance”. Entanglement has historically been fascinating at many different levels, as it strongly connects to our understanding of the fundamental laws of nature. Quantum correlations among particles can persist even when separated by large distances. At the practical level, quantum entanglement is at the heart of many emerging quantum technologies. In the optical domain, entanglement of photons is fundamental to secure quantum communication methods or quantum computing schemes. Photons, however, are volatile. Therefore, feasible alternatives are being sought for certain applications, such as quantum memory or quantum repeater schemes. One such alternative is the acoustic domain, where quanta are stored in acoustic or sound waves.

Scientists at the MPL have now indicated a particularly efficient way in which photons can be entangled with acoustic phonons: While the two quanta travel along the same photonic structures, the phonons move at a much slower speed. The underlying effect is the optical nonlinear effect known as Brillouin-Mandelstam scattering. It is responsible for coupling quanta at fundamentally different energy scales.

In their study the scientists showed that the proposed entangling scheme can operate at temperatures in the tens of Kelvin. This is much higher than those required by standard approaches, which often employ expensive equipment such as dilution fridges. The possibility of implementing this concept in optical fibers or photonic integrated chips makes this mechanism of particular interest for use in modern quantum technologies.

Here’s a link to and a citation for the paper,

Optoacoustic Entanglement in a Continuous Brillouin-Active Solid State System by Changlong Zhu, Claudiu Genes, and Birgit Stiller. Phys. Rev. Lett. 133, 203602 – Published 13 November, 2024 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.133.203602

This paper appears to be open access.

Rémi Quirion has an opinion about US-Canada science and about science diplomacy

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Rémi Quirion is chief scientist of the province of Québec, Canada, chief executive officer of Fonds de recherche du Québec (FRQ), and president of the International Network for Governmental Science Advice (INGSA), Auckland, New Zealand. His March 13, 2025 editorial about science, collaboration, and US-Canada relations in light of Mr. Donald Trump’s constant assaults against Canadian sovereignty was published in the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Science magazine, Note: A link has been removed,

A partnership can be demanding, and as with any couple, can have good days and bad. The United States–Canada relationship is most definitely having a bad one. It’s difficult to fully comprehend all the dimensions of the current threats to one of the world’s strongest, longest, and multifaceted alliances. From contemptuous musings on annexation to a tariff war that could wreak economic havoc on both sides of the border, the insults and aggravations are stoking uncertainty about a relationship that has flourished for decades. …

The number one partner for Canadian science is by far the United States. For the past 5 years, 27% of all Canadian scientific publications were coauthored with American colleagues (according to a Canadian bibliometric database and the Web of Science). And the reverse is true as well. Canadian scientists are prominent international partners of American scientists in published research. Long-standing major programs between the two countries include joint research projects on the Great Lakes, the Arctic, space, health (including global public health), climate monitoring, artificial intelligence (AI), subatomic physics, and data sharing. Despite the uncertainty around tariffs, active partnerships have recently been reconfirmed and even extended between federal funding organizations in both countries. These include interactions between the US National Science Foundation and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada as well as Canada’s Social Science and Humanities Research Council. Such efforts are also strong at the regional level. For instance, research between Massachusetts and Québec focuses on climate change, biotechnology, and transportation, an alliance rooted in enduring cultural links.

… For decades, graduate students in Canada have continued training in the United States as postdoctoral fellows, and some have chosen to stay and forge fruitful collaborations with scientists in Canada. … American fellows coming to Canada to pursue their studies are not as numerous but are particularly interested in AI, quantum computing, clean energy, and environmental studies as well as the life sciences. Considering the current situation, it may be tempting for Canada to use the opportunity to lure both younger and well-established Canadian scientists back to Canada. Indeed, Canada is already receiving inquiries in that regard. …

On both sides of the border, additional collaboration should focus on building capacity to advise elected officials and high-level policy-makers on scientific issues. Going further, the International Network for Governmental Science Advice (INGSA) and its 130 member countries, of which I am chair, aim to take on this challenge globally with three chapters in the Global South (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; Buenos Aires, Argentina; and Port Louis, Mauritius) as well as new European (Oxford, United Kingdom) and North American (Montreal, Canada) chapters that will be inaugurated over the next 2 years. A major objective is to increase the ability to offer advice not only at the national level but also to subregional and local officials who often must make critical decisions under emergency conditions.

Strengthening science diplomacy is more urgent than ever in North America and around the world. The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS, the publisher of Science) and the United Kingdom’s Royal Society have just released an updated framework on this topic as did the European Commission. In Québec, the Fonds de recherche du Québec launched a program this year to create new chairs in science diplomacy that will cultivate a network of experts across scientific disciplines throughout the province. The intent is to leverage the network to establish strong international science and policy partnerships.

Canada now has a new prime minister in place, and with the stability of US-Canada relations at stake, scientific partnerships should be upheld by the leaders of both nations. …

Here’s a link and a citation,

Uphold US-Canada science by Rémi Quirion. Science 13 Mar 2025 Vol 387, Issue 6739 p. 1127 DOI: 10.1126/science.adx2966

This editorial appears to be open access.

US science no longer no. 1

Not mentioned in Quirion’s editorial is the anxiety that the American scientific community appears to be suffering from. The days when US science led the world have either come to an end or will shortly depending on what opinion piece you’re reading. What’s not in question is that the days when US science dominated the world scene are over as this January 21, 2022 article by Jeffrey Mervis for the AAAS’s Science Insider makes clear,

A new data-rich report by the National Science Foundation (NSF) confirms China has overtaken the United States as the world’s leader in several key scientific metrics, including the overall number of papers published and patents awarded. U.S. scientists also have serious competition from foreign researchers in certain fields, it finds.

That loss of hegemony raises an important question for U.S. policymakers and the country’s research community, according to NSF’s oversight body, the National Science Board (NSB). “Since across-the-board leadership in [science and engineering] is no longer a possibility, what then should our goals be?” NSB asks in a policy brief that accompanies this year’s Science and Engineering Indicators, NSF’s biennial assessment of global research, which was released this week. (NSF has converted a single gargantuan volume into nine thematic reports, summarized in The State of U.S. Science and Engineering 2022.)

…

“It would be the height of hubris to think that [the United States] would lead in everything,” Phillips [Julia Phillips, an applied physicist who chairs the NSB committee that oversees Indicators] says. “So, I think the most important thing is for the United States to decide where it cannot be No. 2.”

At the top of her priorities is sustaining the federal government’s financial support of fundamental science. “If we lead in basic research, then we’re still in a really good position,” she says. But the government’s “record over the last decades does not give me a lot of cause for hope.” For example, Phillips says she is not optimistic that Congress will approve pending legislation that envisions a much larger NSF over the next 5 years, or a 2022 appropriations bill that would give NSF a lot more money right away.

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Falling behind

[Note: The graphic which illustrates the statistics more clearly has not been reproduced here.]

The United States trailed China in contributing to the growth in global research spending over the past 2 decades. China 29% United States 23% South Korea& Japan 9% Other Asia 7% Other 14% European Union 17% Contribution to global R&D growth (Graphic) K. Franklin/Science; (Data) The State of U.S. Science and Engineering 2022/National Science Foundation

…

Canadians certainly. know a thing or two about not being no. 1 and maybe we could offer some advice on how to deal with that reality.

In the meantime, the US looks more and more frantic as it attempts to come to terms with its new status both scientifically and in every other way.

Urban organisms: 3 ArtSci Salon events with Kaethe Wenzel in Toronto, Canada during March and April 2025

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From a March 10, 2025 ArtSci Salon notice (received via email and visible here as of March 13, 2025), Note: I have reorganized this notice to put the events in date order and clarified for which event you are registering,

The ArtSci Salon (The Fields Institute) in collaboration with the NewONE program (U of T [University of Toronto]) are pleased to invite you to 3 engagements with Berlin-based interdisciplinary artist Kaethe Wenzel

Urban Pictograms Workshop
March 20, 2025, 2:30-4:00 pm [ET[
William Doo Auditorium,
45 Willcocks street [sic]

A workshop to challenge the urban rules and cultural stereotypes of street signs

This workshop is part of the programming of the NewONE: learning without borders, New College, University of Toronto. Throughout the academic year, our classes have been exploring important issues pertaining to social justice. During this workshop, we invite students and members of the community to work together to create urban pictograms (or urban stickers) that challenge inequalities and reaffirm principles of social justice. A selected number of pictograms will be displayed on the windows of the D.G Ivey New College Library and will be launched on April 3 [2025] at 4:30 pm [ET].

Register here to participate in the March 20, 2025 workshop

Public talk: Urban organisms. Re-imagining urban ecologies and collective futures
March 27 [2025], 5 pm [ET], Room 230
The Fields Institute for Research in Mathematical Sciences
222 College Street

After all, the world is being produced collectively, across the borders of time and geography as well as across the boundaries of the individual. 
–Kaethe Wenzel

Join us in welcoming Berlin-based interdisciplinary artist Kaethe Wenzel. Wenzel has used a diverse variety of media and material such as textiles, found items, animal bones, plants, soil and other organic material, as well as small electronics to produce urban interventions and objects of speculative fiction at the intersection of art, science and technology. Wenzel challenges the notion of the artwork as an object to be observed in a gallery or museum, and the gallery as a constrained space with relatively limited interactions. Her extensive body of work extends to building facades, billboards, entire neighborhoods and the city, translating into urban interventions to explore the collective production of culture and the creation and negotiation of public space.

Public launch of Urban Pictograms 
Thursday, April 3, 2025, 4 pm [ET] onwards
Windows of D.G Ivey Library,
20 Willcocks Street,
New College, University of Toronto

Register here to participate in the March 20, 2025 workshop

Enjoy!

For anyone curious about the NewONE program, you can find more here at the University of Toronto.

Move your body and charge your phone

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These researchers are working to bring a device than can harvest bioenergy to market, from a November 20, 2024 University of Waterloo (Ontario, Canada) news release (also on EurekAlert),

A new technology that can generate electricity from vibrations or even small body movements means you could charge your laptop by typing or power your smartphone’s battery on your morning run. 

Researchers at the University of Waterloo have developed a tiny, wearable generator in response to the urgent need for sustainable, clean energy. It is also scalable for larger machines. 

“This is a real game changer,” said Dr. Asif Khan, the project’s lead researcher and a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Waterloo. “We have made the first device of its kind that can power electronics at low cost and with unprecedented efficiency.” 

The device uses the piezoelectric effect, which generates electrical energy by applying pressure to materials like crystal and certain ceramics. Piezoelectric materials are currently used in various sensing technologies including sonar, ultrasonic imaging and microwave devices.  

“Those older materials are brittle, expensive and have a limited ability to generate electricity,” said Dr. Dayan Ban, professor and researcher at the Waterloo Institute for Nanotechnology. “The materials we’ve created for the new generator are flexible, more energy-efficient and cost less.” 

In addition to Khan and Ban, the research team includes two other Waterloo professors, one professor from the University of Toronto, and their research groups.  

The researchers have filed a patent and are working with a Canadian company to commercialize their generator for use in aviation, specifically to power the systems on planes that monitor the status of safety equipment.  

Caption: The new generator contains materials that are flexible, energy-efficient and relatively less expensive. Credit: University of Waterloo

Here’s a link to and a citation for the paper,

Breaking dielectric dilemma via polymer functionalized perovskite piezocomposite with large current density output by Asif Abdullah Khan, Avi Mathur, Lu Yin, Mahmoud Almadhoun, Jian Yin, Majid Haji Bagheri, Md Fahim Al Fattah, Araz Rajabi-Abhari, Ning Yan, Boxin Zhao, Vivek Maheshwari & Dayan Ban. Nature Communications volume 15, Article number: 9511 (2024) DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-53846-6 Published: 04 November 2024

This paper is open access.