Tech

A potential hangup for quantum computing: Cosmic rays

Enlarge / Google’s Sycamore processor. (credit: Google) Recently, when researchers were testing error correction on Google’s quantum processor, they noted an odd phenomenon where the whole error-correction scheme would sporadically fail badly. They chalked this up to background radiation, a combination of cosmic rays and the occasional decay of a naturally occurring radioactive isotope. It […]

Tech

Vikings were in North America by 1021 CE

Enlarge / Aerial image of L’Anse aux Meadows, Newfoundland, Canada. (credit: Glenn Nagel Photography) Centuries before Christopher Columbus stumbled across the Bahamas, the Vikings established a beachhead at L’Anse Aux Meadows, a site on the northern peninsula of what is now Newfoundland, Canada. A recent study narrows down the date of the Norse arrival in […]