Crumpled sheets reveal a mechanism for glassy relaxations

We often crumple a scrap piece of paper into a ball before throwing it. This mundane action, however, creates a unique complex system with surprising mechanical properties. Take a thin plastic sheet such as cellophane and ...

Optimizing continuous-variable functions with quantum annealing

Quantum annealing (QA) is a cutting-edge algorithm that leverages the unique properties of quantum computing to tackle complex combinatorial optimization problems (a class of mathematical problems dealing with discrete-variable ...

Using quantum materials as catalysts for fertilizer synthesis

Synthetic fertilizers, one the most important developments in modern agriculture, have enabled many countries to secure a stable food supply. Among them, organic ureas (or organoureas) have become prominent sources of nitrogen ...

New AI model transforms understanding of metal-organic frameworks

How does an iPhone predict the next word you're going to type in your messages? The technology behind this, and also at the core of many AI applications, is called a transformer; a deep-learning algorithm that detects patterns ...

Single-atom tractor beams power chemical catalysis

By trapping light into tiny gaps only a few atoms wide, a team from the NanoPhotonics Center at the Cavendish Laboratory at the University of Cambridge has magnified optical forces a thousand-fold, strong enough to force ...

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