submeta - Slashdot User

Submission + - Quantum key exchange with an airplane (newscientist.com)

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submeta

on Sunday September 16, 2012 @01:30PM

submeta writes: "Researchers in Munich have successfully performed a quantum key exchange between a moving aircraft and a ground station. Quantum key distribution, which exploits the phenomenon of entanglement, offers theoretically perfect encryption (although it can be vulnerable in practice). This advance is an important step on the way to key exchange with a satellite, which could enable practical usage of the technology."

Submission + - Possible proof of ABC conjecture (newscientist.com)

Submitted by

submeta

on Monday September 10, 2012 @05:54PM

submeta writes: "Shinichi Mochizuki of Kyoto University has released a paper which claims to prove the decades-old ABC conjecture, which involves the relationship between prime numbers, addition, and multiplication. His solution involves thinking of numbers not as members of sets (the standard interpretation), but instead as objects which exist in 'new, conceptual universes'. As one would expect, the proof is extremely dense and difficult to understand, even for experts in the field, so it may take a while to verify. However, Mochizuki has a strong reputation, so this is likely to get attention. Proof of the conjecture could potentially lead to a revolution in number theory, including a greatly simplified proof of Fermat's Last Theorem."

Submission + - Optogenetic control of muscle tissue (mit.edu)

Submitted by submeta on Sunday September 02, 2012 @06:42PM

submeta writes: Researchers at MIT and the University of Pennsylvania have genetically engineered skeletal muscle cells to respond to light. The hope is that this 'bio-integrated' approach may lead to 'highly articulated, flexible robots'. The technique, known as optogenetics, has previously been used to stimulate neurons to fire.

Submission + - Universal Turing machine in Penrose Tile Cellular Automata (newscientist.com) 1

Submitted by submeta on Thursday August 30, 2012 @02:52PM

submeta writes: Katsunobu Imai at Hiroshima University has figured out a way to construct a universal Turing machine using cellular automata in a Penrose tile universe.

'Tiles in the first state act as wires that transmit signals between the logic gates, with the signal itself consisting of either a 'front' or 'back' state. Four other states manage the redirecting of the signal within the logic gates, while the final state is simply an unused background to keep the various states separate.'

He was not aware of the recent development of the Penrose glider, so he developed this alternative approach.

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