Lifeboat Foundation

Loughborough University scientists are the first to demonstrate that a terahertz wave camera can capture 3D images of microscopic items hidden inside small objects.

Lead researcher Dr. Luana Olivieri says though the research is in the early stages, the team’s latest study could have “major implications for a range of fields with relevance in cancer screenings, security, and materials research.”

The research, which is in collaboration with Professor Marco Peccianti, Dr. Luke Peters, Dr. Juan S. Totero and a team of experts from the Emergent Photonics Research Center (EPicX), demonstrates that terahertz waves can be used to locate and recognize embedded objects and features, such as cracks and bubbles, in microscopic three-dimensional space. The study has been published in the journal ACS Photonics and is featured on the front cover of the latest issue, published today (June 21).

A new kind of resonator has the ability to transmit quantum information using single photons from a silicon device tipped with a few dozen erbium atoms.

The quantum internet just got one step closer to reality thanks to a new breakthrough that allows the encoded quantum information to be transmitted over distance.

The quantum internet offers the promise of perfect information security on a quantum mechanical level in the transmission of information using qubits, which will decompose into random information if anyone were to try and intercept it.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A team at Sandia National Laboratories is developing materials to tackle what has become one of the biggest problems in the world: human exposure to a group of chemicals known as PFAS through contaminated water and other products. Sandia is now investing more money to take their research to the next level.

“It’s in the news constantly. It seems every day we hear of another product that is contaminated. We saw sparkling water with PFAS, toilet paper with PFAS, so it’s not just a groundwater problem; it’s popping up everywhere,” said Andrew Knight, a chemist at Sandia who has a passion for solving PFAS contamination. “It has become clear to the world it is a growing problem. It is a national security issue of a large scale.”

PFAS, an abbreviation for perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, are a group of chemicals used to make fluoropolymer products that resist heat, oil, stains and water. They are also known as “forever chemicals” because they do not break down in the environment but can move through soil and water and build up in wildlife and humans.

It seems that Google doesn’t trust any AI chatbot, including its own Bard AI bot. In an update to its security measures, Alphabet Inc., Google’s parent company has asked its employees to keep sensitive data away from public AI chatbots, including their own Bard AI.

According to sources familiar with the matter, Alphabet Inc, the parent organisation of Google, is advising its employees to be cautious when using chatbots, including its own program called Bard, even as it continues to promote the software globally.

The company has updated a longstanding policy to protect confidential information, instructing employees not to input sensitive materials into AI chatbots. These chatbots, such as Bard… More.

A critical flaw has been discovered in the WooCommerce Stripe Gateway WordPress plugin, potentially exposing sensitive information.

Quantum information (QI) processing may be the next game changer in the evolution of technology, by providing unprecedented computational capabilities, security and detection sensitivities. Qubits, the basic hardware element for quantum information, are the building block for quantum computers and quantum information processing, but there is still much debate on which types of qubits are actually the best.

Research and development in this field is growing at astonishing paces to see which system or platform outruns the other. To mention a few, platforms as diverse as superconducting Josephson junctions, trapped ions, topological qubits, ultra-cold neutral atoms, or even diamond vacancies constitute the zoo of possibilities to make qubits.

So far, only a handful of qubit platforms have been demonstrated to have the potential for quantum computing, marking the checklist of high-fidelity controlled gates, easy qubit-qubit coupling, and good isolation from the environment, which means sufficiently long-lived coherence.

Services will be provided through Azure Government Cloud to ensure data security.

Government agencies in the U.S. will now have access to OpenAI’s artificial intelligence (AI) models, such as GPT-4 and its predecessor after Microsoft announced that it would offer Azure OpenAI services to the government as well.

OpenAI’s GPT-4 is the powerhouse behind Microsoft’s new Bing search engine and a hot favorite among companies looking to leverage AI to make better use of their data. As per Microsoft’s claims, its Azure OpenAI services, launched only in January this year, serve more than 4,500 customers.

Google announced the general availability (GA) of generative AI services based on Vertex AI, the Machine Learning Platform as a Service (ML PaaS) offering from Google Cloud. With the service becoming GA, enterprises and organizations could integrate the platform’s capabilities with their applications.

With this update, developers can use several new tools and models, such as the world completion model driven by PaLM 2, the Embeddings API for text, and other foundation models in the Model Garden. They can also leverage the tools available within the Generative AI Studio to fine-tune and deploy customized models. Google claims that enterprise-grade data governance, security, and safety features are also built into the Vertex AI platform. This provides confidence to customers in consuming the foundation models, customizing them with their own data, and building generative AI applications.

Customers can use the Model Garden to access and evaluate base models from Google and its partners. There are over 60 models, with pals for adding newer models in the future. Also, the Codey model for code completion, code generation, and chat, announced at the Google I/O conference in May, is now available for public preview.

Google’s aiming to make it easier to use and secure passwords — at least, for users of the Password Manager tool built into its Chrome browser.

Today, the tech giant announced that Password Manager, which generates unique passwords and autofills them across platforms, will soon gain biometric authentication on PC. (Android and iOS have had biometric authentication for some time.) When enabled, it’ll require an additional layer of security, like fingerprint recognition or facial recognition, before Chrome autofills passwords.

Exactly which types of biometrics are available in Password Manager on desktop will depend on the hardware attached to the PC, of course (e.g. a fingerprint reader), as well as whether the PC’s operating system supports it. Beyond “soon,” Google didn’t say when to expect the feature to arrive.