Revolutions in computing

For as long as computers have existed, physicists have used them as tools to understand, predict and model the natural world. Computing experts, for their part, have used advances in physics to develop machines that are faster, smarter and more ubiquitous than ever. This collection celebrates the latest phase in this symbiotic relationship, as the rise of artificial intelligence and quantum computing opens up new possibilities in basic and applied research

The hard sell of quantum software

An artist’s impression of transistor-based qubits and control electronics.

Manufacturing silicon qubits at scale

As quantum computing matures, will decades of engineering give silicon qubits an edge? Fernando Gonzalez-Zalba, Tsung-Yeh Yang and Alessandro Rossi think so

Small computers find an industrial niche

Physicist and Raspberry Pi inventor Eben Upton explains how simple computers are becoming integral to the Internet of Things

Intellegens chief technology officer Gareth Conduit (right) and chief executive officer Ben Pellegrini (second from right) with colleagues (left to right) Robert Parini, Tom Whitehead, Sue Flatman and Jamie Smith

Neural networks extract information from sparse datasets

Federico Carminati addresses an audience at a quantum computing workshop hosted by CERN openlab.

The past, present and future of computing in high-energy physics

Stephen Wolfram created Mathematica so that physicists – himself included – could compute things for themselves.

Exploring the computational universe with Stephen Wolfram

30 years of the web

Illustration of an electronically connected world

Happy 30th birthday to the World Wide Web

Challenges of interdisciplinary physics and the Web at 30

Physics World journalists discuss the week’s highlights

Vague but exciting: how the Web transformed business

James McKenzie explains how Tim Berners-Lee's invention of the World Wide Web at CERN has revolutionized how we trade.

Electronic publishing and visions of hypertext

Tim Berners-Lee predicts the future of online publishing in an article he wrote for Physics World in 1992

History
Blog

Illustrating 30 years of the Web

Jess Wade illustrates the history of the World Wide Web, from the technology that enabled it to the staple it is today

The future of the Internet

Emerging technologies shaping our connected world

Physics World 30th anniversary podcast series – 30 years of the World Wide Web

Fifth episode in mini-series revisits the birth of the Web and the challenges it now faces

The third pillar of science

Computing is transforming scientific research, but are researchers and software code adapting at the same rate? Benjamin Skuse finds out

Simulations reveal new insights

Three images of the future Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies. The top left image shows two spiral galaxies separated by a considerable distance against a backdrop of more distant stars and galaxies. The top right image shows the two galaxies coming close enough to each other for their spiral tails to nearly touch. The bottom image shows the galaxies merging in a collossal burst of light with threads of darker gas in the middle

Andromeda galaxy may not collide with the Milky Way after all

Odds of a collision in the next 10 billion years may be only 50/50, according to new simulations

A tripod-shaped structure in a beige-coloured landscape with a snow-streaked, pointy mountain in the bacground

‘Zombie’ volcano reveals its secrets

First high-resolution images of Bolivia's Uturuncu volcano show it is likely to remain active without actually erupting

Speedy worms behave like active polymers in disordered mazes

The presence of disorder causes worms to speed up, not slow down – a surprising result with applications in robotics

In this artist's depiction of a trapped-ion quantum computer, green, triangular-faceted blobs hover in a ring above a gold surface divided into compartments

Quantum computer generates strings of certifiably random numbers

Quantinuum’s trapped-ion computer has also been used to study problems in quantum magnetism and knot theory

Image illustrating four different stages of turbulent mixing between two fluids. The different fluids are represented by cool and warm colours, and the four stages are set against a background of swirls and bubbles

Quantum-inspired technique simulates turbulence with high speed

Simulations could take just a few hours rather than several days

Photo of the sneeze simulator being tested in the laboratory. The simulator is a three-dimensional model that incorporates a representation of the nasal cavity as well as other parts of the human upper respiratory tract, and it's shown here as an apparatus inside a transparent box, bathed in green light and emitting a burst of aerosols while being tended by a person in a lab coat

‘Sneeze simulator’ could improve predictions of pathogen spread

3D nasal cavity model could also inform the design of masks and ventilation systems

Machine learning reveals new science

AI dermatology tool needs more diverse skin types in its training datasets

Deep learning helps radiologists detect lung cancer on chest X-rays

Introducing artificial intelligence into the clinical workflow helps radiologists detect lung cancer lesions on chest X-rays and dismiss false-positives

machine learning structure function maps-feature

Machine learning puts nanomaterials in the picture

Algorithms help materials scientists recognize patterns in structure-function relationships

Deep learning algorithm helps diagnose neurological emergencies

A deep learning algorithm detects brain haemorrhages on head CT scans with comparable performance to highly trained radiologists

Artificial intelligence helps detect atrial fibrillation

An artificial intelligence model can identify patients with intermittent atrial fibrillation from scans performed during normal heart rhythm

Machine learning is implemented on an IBM quantum processor

Proof-of-concept demonstration done using two superconducting qubits

AI framework uses medical images to individualize radiotherapy dose

An image-based artificial intelligence framework predicts a personalized radiation dose that minimizes the risk of treatment failure

AI predicts coma outcome from EEG trace

A machine learning algorithm can read electroencephalograms as well as clinicians

The latest in quantum computing

Optical micrograph of the quantum transducer

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