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Physicists create city-sized ultra secure quantum network.

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September 08, 2020

Dear Reader,

This week’s newsletter is all about new quantum milestones. An internet protected by quantum encryption came a little closer to reality with the demonstration of a city-sized quantum network. For more on that, check out the 2018 From the Archives story on what a quantum internet might look like. Meanwhile Google’s quantum processor, Sycamore, managed to simulate a chemical reaction, an achievement that could lead to real-world applications like better batteries and more efficient ways to pull carbon from the air.

In other news, we have tales from the magazine’s 175th anniversary issue, an explanation of what Elon Musk’s Neuralink brain implant actually does (and doesn’t do) and a story about the overhyped claim that neck gaiters make poor shields against coronavirus transmission.

Sophie Bushwick, Associate Editor, Technology
@sophiebushwick

Physics

Physicists Create City-Sized Ultrasecure Quantum Network

Capable of connecting eight or more users across distances of 17 kilometers, the demonstration is another milestone toward developing a fully quantum Internet

By Anil Ananthaswamy

COMPUTING

Google’s Quantum Computer Achieves Chemistry Milestone

A downsized version of the company’s Sycamore chip performed a record-breaking simulation of a chemical reaction

By Neil Savage

COMPUTING

Quantum Computing May Be Closer Than You Think

Five new quantum information science centers will marry the R&D strengths of academia, industry and U.S. national laboratories

By Dario Gil

NEUROSCIENCE

Elon Musk’s Pig-Brain Implant Is Still a Long Way from ‘Solving Paralysis’

His start-up Neuralink is not the first to develop a wireless brain implant. But the considerable resources behind the effort could help commercialize the technology faster

By Tanya Lewis

ENGINEERING

September 2020: The Art and Science of Efficient Manufacturing

A look at the epitome of production, control of malaria and more proof for plate tectonics

By Dan Schlenoff

ENGINEERING

The First Subway in New York City Was a Cylindrical Car Pushed by Air

Scientific American editor Alfred Ely Beach revealed the secretly built wonder in 1870

By Katherine Harmon Courage

POLICY & ETHICS

How Those Bogus Reports on ‘Ineffective’ Neck Gaiters Got Started

The study they were based on was misrepresented by the press—but the scientists were partly at fault as well

By Shane M. Hanlon

FROM THE STORE

Scientific American Digital & Full Archive

For $69 per year, your Digital & Full Archive subscription includes 12 digital issues with full digital archive access back to 1845 and Android and iOS app access.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“The Seams study demonstrated that stronger connections between the U.S. power system’s massive eastern and western power grids would accelerate the growth of wind and solar energy–hugely reducing American reliance on coal, the fuel contributing the most to climate change, and saving consumers billions. … But a study like Seams was politically dangerous territory for a federally funded lab while coal-industry advocates–and climate-change deniers–reign in the White House.”

Peter Fairley, The Atlantic