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Tiny drums push quantum limits
By playing two tiny drums, physicists have provided the most direct demonstration yet of quantum entanglement on larger scales. The aluminium drums are each around 10 micrometres long — barely visible to the naked eye, but enormous by quantum standards. Physicists hit the drums with microwave photons and observed that the membranes moved with such a high degree of correlation that they could no longer be described separately: they were in a quantum-entangled state. In another tiny drum experiment, physicists linked the drums’ properties — although not in perfect sync — to get around some of the measurement restrictions defined by the Heisenberg uncertainty principle. The findings provide evidence that quantum laws still apply in the big world and open the door to future technology built with entangled macroscopic parts.
Reference: Science paper 1 & Science paper 2
Scientists OK Fukushima water release
Japan’s proposal to discharge more than one million tonnes of contaminated water from the ruined Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station into the ocean off its east coast has been strongly opposed by the country’s neighbours, including China and South Korea. But scientists say the risks are likely to be minimal if the release is carried out as planned. Radiation levels in the treated waste water will be very low, and the water will be released gradually over several years to minimize any risk.
Features & opinion
How Navy money changed sea science
Historian of science Naomi Oreskes’s new book explores how storied research centres, such as the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, California, and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts, were once funded almost entirely by the US Navy. What difference did that make to what science they did or did not do? “The short answer,” writes Oreskes, “is: a lot.” The result is a readable and enlightening history, writes reviewer Ann Finkbeiner — but one that doesn’t resolve whether that influence was laudible or malign.
The rise and rise of monoclonal antibodies
US regulators have just approved their 100th therapeutic antibody; in 2019, antibodies accounted for 9 of the 20 top therapeutics by sales in the United States. This boom has been driven by the wide-ranging abilities of monoclonal antibodies, designer versions of disease-fighting molecules from the immune system. Take a deep dive into the secrets of their success, especially for treating cancer.
Nature Reviews Drug Discovery | 15 min read
Futures: What friends are for
When the robots rise up to overthrow their human creators, will we get any sympathy from the ones designed to be our friends? A little boy and his digital pet try to make it through the apocalypse in the latest short story for Nature’s Futures series.
Podcast: Earliest known burial in Africa
The discovery of the burial of a young child in a cave in Kenya around 78,000 years ago sheds light on the role of symbolism in the treatment of the dead during the Middle Stone Age. Plus, a metal-free rechargeable battery and the Arctic bird that maintains a circadian rhythm despite living in 24-hour sunlight.
Nature Podcast | 20 min listen
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