Welcome toThe Unwind, a recurring feature in which Yahoo staffers share the ways were finding moments of peace, levity and inspiration during these trying times. From adopting soothing strategies that boost ourmental health, to losing ourselves in virtual social calls, newfound passions and other joyous diversions, these are the things getting us through the pandemic. The days may feel uncertain, but beauty and bright spots abound.

For more, check out past editions ofThe Unwind.

Hitting the road every evening helps Nathalie Cruz clear her mind. (Photo: Getty Creative stock image)

Every week my husband and I take sunset drives to nowhere specific. We just drive around for an hour or two with the windows down. It clears our mind and changes the scenery while giving us a sense of going somewhere. Nathalie Cruz, multimedia designer

I have not had a good night's sleep since the start of the pandemic in March. I've tried everything from melatonin to CBD, and everything in between. Nothing has worked. It would take me hours to fall asleep, and when I finally did, Id wake up in the middle of the night, wide awake. Id scroll through Instagram and Facebook in the wee hours of the morning and then check emails which, let me just say, is not advisable. Someone suggested that I download the Calm app. I was skeptical, but it worked like a charm.From guided meditations to sleep stories, to nature sounds and relaxing music, the app helps you focus and relax in order to get a good night's sleep. Harry Styles has even lent his voice to a lullaby-like sleep story called Dream With Me, and I've had good dreams ever since. Jen Kucsak, Yahoo Life & Entertainment supervising producer

After a lot of coordinating and quarantining beforehand, I treated myself to a solo staycation at a trendy local motel following strict COVID-19 protocols (including a room key presented in shrink wrap) while my parents babysat. As someone whose personal time typically consists of wolfing down dinner, showering and maybe watching a Law & Order rerun before bed, having a couple of days to catch my breath, sleep, read, sunbathe, do online yoga without a toddler climbing on me during a downward-facing dog, sleep, watch cheesy movies in bed and yes, scroll through photos of my kid on my phone, felt so restorative and made me feel like myself again. Its been a heavy year, and just having some space to reflect, and not simply react, was a blessing and a privilege. There are a million analogies about oxygen masks and pouring from an empty cup, but as a parent, its still difficult to not feel guilty about taking time for yourself. This mini-break taught me, however, just how valuable it is, especially in these tumultuous times. Erin Donnelly, Yahoo Life news editor and writer

Becky Horvath is benefiting from hikes in nature thanks to a helpful app for outdoor adventurists. (Photo: Becky Horvath)

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Though I've never considered myself much of a hiker, it turns out wandering through the woods is a very zen experience during these uncertain times. And naturally, theres an app for that! While on a road trip out West, I started using AllTrails. The app caters to both novice and experienced hikers with everything from short, easy walks to long, challenging climbs. Not only do they have trails through national and state parks, but Ive also discovered new walking paths back home in New York City. Youre bound to find the perfect path to unwind. Happy hiking! Becky Horvath, Yahoo Life and Entertainment supervising producer

Earlier in the pandemic, I committed to streaming weekly, hour-long dance cardio classes. Now, more than six months at home have passed, and I admittedly fell into a fitness funk. Thanks to a OnePeloton membership, however, I was able to break it. The 20-minute dance cardio classes, with warm-up and cool-down to follow, make me feel like I can hit tangible goals of getting up and moving multiple times a week. Not to mention, the music choices (Good Vibrations by Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch, anyone?) help me to not take the workout too seriously.Alexis Shaw, Yahoo Life and Entertainment news editor

Attractive young brunette woman exercising and sitting in yoga lotus position while resting at home

As a single mom with a stressful schedule of juggling two kids Zoom calls as well as my own, there just arent enough hours in the day. I had to find a way to steal some time for myself. (Im a highly sensitive introvert and I have a couple of wild ones!) Ive always been a night owl and found it hard to transition to being a morning person, but a 30-day morning meditation class for just 15 minutes on the app Insight Timer helped me start the day calmly and with intention, learn to find focus throughout the day, and practice mindfulness. At 42, you can still make new habits! Ariella Quatra, Verizon Media producer

In the Before Times, it was all too easy to throw our old kids toys, personal mementos and general household clutter in plastic bins that we stashed in the garage and ignored. But during housebound COVID Times, those bins proved seriously underfoot. So with apologies to Ben Grimm it was declutterin time! Every few days, Id open a random bin and make snap decisions about what stayed and what went. Block sets with 65 percent of the blocks missing? Gone! Old print magazines with my byline? Relevant pages clipped and archived in binders, the rest gone! That brokenTV set? Gone! My collection of 80s-eraMADMagazines? OK,thoseI kept. Nostalgia and inertia had always kept me from taking inventory and getting rid of said inventory, but every plastic bin I emptied over that weeks-long project made me feel a little lighter ... and the garage a little easier to navigate. Ethan Alter, Yahoo Entertainment senior writer

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The Unwind: How were finding calm, from hiking to morning meditation - Yahoo News Canada

From working from home to homeschooling this year has been tough. Before you go reaching for your cellphone to make a booking at some or another spa to relax and unwind, allow us to give you some helpful advice on how to unwind in the comfort of your home. Spas, although relaxing, can be costly. Why not get a good book, light some scented candles and run your bathwater while we school you on convenient ways to relax at home.

With the kids back at school for two to three days a week, its the perfect time to reset and strike a balance. Set the tone for your day by starting it off with a warm bath or shower, sing if you must, but setting the tone for your day goes a long way in restoring balance, be it mentally, emotionally or otherwise. Use a body wash that is infused with floral beauty oils and fine fragrances such as fig extracts, magnolia and coconut to restore lost moisture while leaving your skin deliciously fragranced long after your morning shower routine.

You read that right, sister friend! Taking time off from your busy schedule to reconnect with you is vital in the art of relaxation. Conveniently, unleashing your inner goddess can be done in the comfort of your home with chocolate ice-cream, a hot bath, relaxing music and a great aromatherapy body wash. Body washes infused with honeysuckle helps with inflammation while neroli oil helps to reduce the appearance of stretch marks, age spots and scars. A fine fragrance collection from a reputable skincare and beauty brand will have you looking and smelling every bit the goddess that you are!

Taking some time to yourself after a long day is not only good for you mentally, it can be great for your skin too. Dull and dry looking skin be as a result of not resting enough. Sleep doesnt necessarily equate to rest, you can rest while relaxing peacefully in the shower as the water provides a gentle but much-needed massage. Pair that with an aromatherapy body wash infused with essential oils and exotic fragrances and youve got yourself one of the most convenient ways to relax at home yet.

One of our five senses is the sense of smell. Fragrances have the ability to influence how we feel or bring to a mind a memory of a person or a place. Starting and ending your day with one or two of your favourite fragrances can be relaxing and good for the health of your skin, if your preferred beauty skincare products cater to the needs of your skin. Relaxing in the comfort of your home as we fully adjust to the new normal shouldnt have to break the bank. Investing in a beauty skincare brand that invests in you, by providing great products, is essential in maintaining your peace of mind, radiant glow and beautifully soft skin. Now that weve briefed you on convenient ways to relax at home, allow us to leave you with some beauty tips that will not only complete your beauty routine, but will save you time in the process. This article was supplied by NP Digital.

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Aromatherapy & Essential Oils-New And Convenient Ways To Relax At Home - Highway Mail

There is no denying that stress is a constant factor when it comes to dealing with lifes many responsibilities. Whether you have to deal with responsibilities at home or at work (or both simultaneously), stress has a way of piling up and causing trouble when you least expect it. That said, just because stress is commonplace does not mean that you always have to resign yourself to its grasp.

As a matter of fact, there are plenty of modern amenities available that can help you make life much easier, reducing stress levels, and helping you focus on the tasks at hand. After all, life is about working smart not necessarily always about working hard. Here are just a few ways you can use technology to reduce stress.

Fortunately, there are plenty of different ways to make use of tech to help relieve stress while at work. Here are just a few examples:

Aside from dealing with modern technology to help relieve the stresses while at work, there are also plenty of ways to destress while relaxing at home. As mentioned above, streaming relaxing music is one of the best ways to set the mood and relax.

For those who want to make the most out of their free time and relax as much as they possibly can, you can use apps to shop online for wellness products. In a lot of ways, just the act of shopping online can help reduce stress and anxiety levels. You might even end up with a new flavor of tea you have yet to try, or perhaps even CBD oil with its variety of health benefits that can reduce anxiety without any side-effects.

It would also be a good idea to look online for fitness videos, to help sweat the stress away with a bit of exercise. Not only will exercising help distract you from troubling matters, but it also makes it much easier to get some sleep at the end of the day. When it comes to dealing with stress, modern technology has you covered!

Have any thoughts on this? Let us know down below in the comments or carry the discussion over to ourTwitterorFacebook.

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Working smart: Using technology to reduce stress - KnowTechie

The Bangtan Boys, popularly known as the BTS boy band, is a phenomenon of our times. This South Korean boy band group has caught the attention of the world with their music as well as their boyish charms. In fact, their fans collectively refer to themselves as the BTS Army. Among the seven members of the group, theres Suga originally named Min Yoon-gi who is primarily the rapper in the group.

Its no surprise that fans want to know more about their favorite BTS members, so heres a little treat on Suga.

BTS members have maintained that they dont have time for dating. Suga told ELLE Girl Russia that he works all day from morning to night, then repeats the same every day. This leaves the members with little to no time for romance.

Suga has never got a tattoo, but he opines that a tattoo can be construed negatively. He does have plans for getting a small, inconspicuous one & might do it for charity.

His writing process has evolved over time. Suga mentioned that he now tries to write from his heart. Its how his lyrics are able to reflect a more intimate, dark, contemplative side.

Suga is a staunch mental health advocate. He was quoted, We feel that people who have the platform to talk about those things really should talk more, because they say depression is something where you go to the hospital and youre diagnosed, but you cant really know until the doctor talks to you.

Hes very conscious of the influence & the reach he has, and makes every possible effort to use it to bust stigmas around mental health, When celebrities talk about it if they talk about depression for example like its the common cold, then it becomes more and more accepted if its a common disorder like the cold.

Among his various interests lie basketball, piano, and photography much of which is self-taught. He was a regular at basketball, practicing & training until an accident prevented him from taking on the sport professionally.

But his love for basketball was so pronounced, his stage name Suga has been derived from his position in basketball called the shooting guard.

According to a Soompi list, Sugas Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) is an introvert-intuitive-feeler-perceiver (INFP). It makes sense since Suga is always very altruistic & giving.

Suga understands that the BTS members have an on-stage aura to maintain, so he acknowledges the role of fashion in live performances. He told Billboard, Music is not just about listening any more. I think visuals are very important. He understands how music is complemented by fashion & art, but when hes not performing, he likes to keep it simple.

When not on tour, he can be found relaxing in comfy clothing, oversized outfits & slippers included. At the same time, he has his quirky tastes hes expressed his knack for bracelets, king rings, and the like.

In his own words, Suga actually wanted to become a composer, I didnt want to become a rapper, I wanted to become a composer. Thats why I joined the agency.

Following from that, Suga never could have imagined or anticipated what signing up with Big Hit Entertainment would entail. He often jokes about how the agency founder & co-CEO Bang Si-hyuk tricked him into joining BTS, He told me Id be in a group like 1TYM. He said I wouldnt have to dance, only groove a little. He said all Id have to do is focus on rapping.

Suga is considered the most outspoken member of the group in a positive manner, of course. Hes been very vocal about the social causes he supports & his charity efforts. As mentioned before, he also openly talked about mental health. He knows the influence he wields on BTS fans & is using it for good.

Kritika is a writer and communications consultant based in India. She loves consuming stories in all forms books, movies, TV shows and places these stories under a fierce assessment to see if they are feminist, empathetic or entertaining enough. All of Kritika's work is undergirded by her passion for mental health.

[emailprotected]

Film Daily

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The ten essential facts you need to know about BTS's Suga - Film Daily

Were well over six months into the pandemic and most things have opened back up - casinos, restaurants, even bars.

But even with Governor Steve Sisolak relaxing some of the guidelines that previously shut down nearly all forms of entertainment,thousands of actors, musicians and professionals remain without a paycheck.

For local theater companies to survive COVID-19, the show must (somehow) go on.

So, some of them have found clever workarounds, including ambient performances -- the only ones allowed under the states guidelines.

Sabrina Cofield is an actress and board member for The Lab LV, and director of the theater companys latest play, "Pass Over," which debuts Oct. 15.

The performance will take place outdoors with the audience wearing masks and socially distanced. The producers have described it as a panel discussion with the "ambient dialogue" of "Pass Over" by Antoinette Nwandu.

Cofield told KNPR's State of Nevada that the idea for ambient dialogue came about because there has not been any clear information from the state about how to safely conductlive performances.

Its just making sure we stay within the mandates set by the state, but still allowing ourselves to be creative and to express ourselves and also have these really important conversations that we think will happen with Pass Over, she said.

The Lab LV will hold the performance at a private location, and the audience will have to bring their own chairs or blankets. Cofield said that will add to the overallambiance of the play.

The lovely thing about what we are doing and specifically the ambient dialogue of Pass Over is it takes place outside and so being outdoors fits perfectly within the idea of us all sitting out in an open space and people bringing their own chairs, she said.

The play itself is centered on two Black men standing on the corner of an unnamed city longing for life to bedifferent. The play has been described as"Waiting for Godot" in the era of the Black Lives Matter movement.

Cofield said she hopes the play opens up a conversation that is needed in Southern Nevada, which is why the theater didn't want to wait until live theater is entirely open again to put on the play.

I think it is very clear that we cannot wait. That what was really front and center for this particular show, at this particular time," she said.

Another theater company that as come up with a unique workaround of the pandemic rules is the Majestic Repertory Theater.

The company will be performing "The Parking Lot" like a drive-in theater, but it's a bonus to the merchandise item you're buying because Majestic can't sell tickets to live performances.

Its a drive-in show,"said Troy Heard, artistic director. "You arrive in your vehicle. You stay in your vehicle for the duration of the show and you cant sell tickets to live events, but you can sell retail," he said,"So, were selling a customized air freshener that you can sit in your car and enjoy the new car scent while enjoying the ambient experience of the show.

The actors' microphones will be tuned to an FM frequency that people can get on their car radios.

Heard said that Majestic is already known for immersive-type theater and so this production was not too far off base from what they did before the pandemic.

We do miss the one-on-one experience not separated by a plate of glass, but for now, this is the story that was given to us to share and were rolling with it, he said.

He noted that creative people will come up with a way to get their workin front of an audience.

Its going to be a long time before were even allowed to set foot back into the theaters, but I think what Sabrina and Kate at The Lab are on the same path with me is were just trying to find a way to get back together to tell stories and share space in some way or another," he said.

The play itself was written by Adam Szymkowicz. It is about a couple who has been together for 10 years, butnow after quarantining together, they are considering getting a divorce.

Heard said the play is a metaphor for the world right now.

Like a parking lot, were stalled. Theater companies are stalled, venues are stalled, artists are stalled, but what do we do to survive and breathe and connect while we are stalled and [explore] how can we have hope for whats next? he said.

Heard has been vocal about his opposition to how the rules about live performances are being enforced in the state. He said there is a crisis going on now in Las Vegas' theater community because they are not allowed to produce.

If youre Ford or Chevy, you produce cars in your assembly line. Our assembly line are performers, writers, technicians, designers who come together to create this product, and right now, we are not allowed to create the product because we supposedly cant [ensure] safety [of] our consumers? he said.

Heard understands why Gov. Steve Sisolak shut down much of the economy to stop the spread of the virus but he doesn't believe the rules are consistent.

For example, the governor was criticized for going to a restaurant that had ambient entertainment in the form of a band and a singer. When pressed about the issue, the governor noted ambient music is allowed.

Heard doesn't understand how that is allowed but a drive-in theater experience is not.

How is that any less dangerous thansitting in a car in a drive-in? he said.

He said he would love to sit down and talk with the governor about the issue. If the rules don't change, he had a dire prediction for Southern Nevada's theater industry.

Heres whats going to happen: If we cant generate income and the government is not going to subsidize these nonprofit corporations, youre going to see A) a quick shutdown of venues and B) drainage of performers, of artists, of entertainers out of Las Vegas, and youre seeing that right now, he said.

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Theater Producers Go Rogue In The COVID Era - KNPR

The startup IonQ today announced what it's calling "the world's most powerful quantum computer."

Why it matters: Quantum is the next frontier in computing, theoretically capable of solving problems beyond the ability of classical computers. IonQ's next-generation computer looks set to push the boundaries of quantum, but it will still take years before the technology becomes truly reliable.

How it works: IonQ reports its new quantum computer system has 32 "perfect" qubits the basic unit of information in a quantum computer that the company says gives it an expected quantum volume of more than 4,000,000.

Background: IonQ was co-founded by Chris Monroe, a University of Maryland professor and major figure in the development of quantum computers. In the mid-1990s, he began working on entangling atoms to make more precise atomic clocks, the most accurate timekeeping devices known.

The catch: IonQ hasn't yet released detailed specifications of its new system, and its research needs to be verified.

Context: IonQ's announcement comes in the same week that its competitor Honeywell, which also use a version of trapped ions, reported achieving a quantum volume of 128, and the Canadian startup D-Wave announced a 5,000-qubit system built yet another way would that be available for customers, including via the cloud.

Be smart: Comparing different kinds of quantum computing systems is difficult because they function in fundamentally different ways.

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A new claimant for "most powerful quantum computer" - Axios

Digital Twin Earth will help visualize, monitor, and forecast natural and human activity on the planet. The model will be able to monitor the health of the planet, perform simulations of Earths interconnected system with human behavior, and support the field of sustainable development, therefore, reinforcing Europes efforts for a better environment in order to respond to the urgent challenges and targets addressed by the Green Deal. Credit: ESA

ESAs 2020 -week event kicked off this morning with a series of stimulating speeches on Digital Twin Earth, updates on -sat-1, which was successfully launched into orbit earlier this month, and an exciting new initiative involving quantum computing.

The third edition of the -week event, which is entirely virtual, focuses on how Earth observation can contribute to the concept of Digital Twin Earth a dynamic, digital replica of our planet which accurately mimics Earths behavior. Constantly fed with Earth observation data, combined with in situ measurements and artificial intelligence, the Digital Twin Earth provides an accurate representation of the past, present, and future changes of our world.

Digital Twin Earth will help visualize, monitor, and forecast natural and human activity on the planet. The model will be able to monitor the health of the planet, perform simulations of Earths interconnected system with human behavior, and support the field of sustainable development, therefore, reinforcing Europes efforts for a better environment in order to respond to the urgent challenges and targets addressed by the Green Deal.

Todays session opened with inspiring statements from ESAs Director General, Jan Wrner, ESAs Director of Earth Observation Programmes, Josef Aschbacher, ECMWFS Director General, Florence Rabier, European Commissions Deputy Director General for Defence Industry and Space, Pierre Delsaux, as well as Director General of DG CONNECT at the European Commission, Roberto Viola.

The -week 2020 opened on 28 September with inspiring statements from ESAs Director General, Jan Wrner (left) and ESAs Director of Earth Observation Programmes, Josef Aschbacher. Credit: ESA

Pierre Delsaux commented, As our EU Commission President repeated recently during her State of the Union speech, its clear we need to address climate change. The Copernicus program offers us some of the best instruments, satellites, to give us a complete picture of our planets health. But space is not only a monitoring tool, it is also about applied solutions for our economy to make it more green and more digital.

Roberto Viola said, -week is the week for disruptive technology and it is communities like this that our European programmes were designed to support.

Florence Rabier added, Machine learning and artificial intelligence could improve the realism and efficiency of the Digital Twin Earth especially for extreme weather events and numerical forecast models.

Jan Wrner concluded, -week is the perfect example of the New Space approach focusing on disruptive innovation, artificial intelligence, agility and flexibility.

During the week, experts will come together to discuss the role of artificial intelligence for the Digital Twin Earth concept, its practical implementation, the infrastructure requirements needed to build the Digital Twin Earth, and present ideas on how industries and the science community can contribute.

Cloud mask from -sat-1. Credit: Cosine remote sensing B.V

Earlier this month, on 3 September, the first artificial intelligence (AI) technology carried onboard a European Earth observation mission, -sat-1, was launched from Europes spaceport in French Guiana. An enhancement of the Federated Satellite Systems mission (FSSCat), the pioneering artificial intelligence technology is the first experiment to improve the efficiency of sending vast quantities of data back to Earth.

Today, ESA, along with cosine remote sensing, are happy to reveal the first ever hardware-accelerated AI inference of Earth observation images on an in-orbit satellite performed by a Deep Convolutional Neural Network, developed by the University of Pisa.

-sat-1 has successfully enabled the pre-filtering of Earth observation data so that only relevant part of the image with usable information are downlinked to the ground, thereby improving bandwidth utilization and significantly reducing aggregated downlink costs.

Initial data downlinked from the satellite has shown that the AI-powered automatic cloud detection algorithm has correctly sorted hyperspectral Earth observation imagery from the satellites sensor into cloudy and non-cloudy pixels.

Lake Tharthar, Iraq. Credit: Cosine remote sensing B.V

Massimiliano Pastena, -sat-1 Technical Officer at ESA, commented, We have just entered the history of space.

Todays successful application of the Ubotica Artificial Intelligence technology, which is powered by the Intel Movidius Myriad 2 Vision Processing Unit, has demonstrated real on-board data processing autonomy.

Aubrey Dunne, Co-Founder and Vice President of Engineering at Ubotica Technologies, said, We are very excited to be a key part of what is to our knowledge the first ever demonstration of AI applied to Earth Observation data on a flying satellite. This is a watershed moment both for onboard processing of satellite data, and for the future of AI inference in orbital applications.

As the overall 2017 Copernicus Masters winner, FSSCat, was proposed by Spains Universitat Politcnica de Catalunya and developed by a consortium of European companies and institutes including Tyvak International.

Also mentioned in his opening speech this morning, Josef Aschbacher made a special announcement regarding an exciting new ESA initiative, the EOP AI-enhanced Quantum Initiative for EO QC4EO in collaboration with the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN).

Quantum computing has the potential to improve performance, decrease computational costs and solve previously intractable problems in Earth observation by exploiting quantum phenomena such as superposition, entanglement, and tunneling.

Quantum computing has the potential to improve performance, decrease computational costs and solve previously intractable problems in Earth observation by exploiting quantum phenomena such as superposition, entanglement and tunneling. Credit: IBM

The initiative involves creating a quantum capability which will have the ability to solve demanding Earth observation problems by using artificial intelligence to support programmes such as Digital Twin Earth and Copernicus. The initiative will be developed at the -lab an ESA laboratory at ESAs center for Earth observation in Italy, which embraces transformational innovation in Earth observation.

ESA and CERN enjoy a long-standing collaboration, centered on technological matters and fundamental physics. This collaboration will be extended to link to the CERN Quantum Technology Initiative, which was announced in June 2020 by the CERN Director General, Fabiola Gianotti.

Through this partnership, ESA and CERN will create new synergies, building on their common experience in big data, data mining and pattern recognition.

Giuseppe Borghi, Head of the -lab, said, Quantum computing together with AI are perhaps the most promising breakthrough to come along in computer technology. In the coming years, we will see more Earth or space science disciplines employing current or future quantum computing techniques to solve geoscience problems.

Josef Aschbacher added, ESA will exploit the broad range of specialized expertise available at ESA and we will place ourselves in a unique position and take a leading role in the development of quantum technologies in the Earth observation domain.

Alberto Di Meglio, Coordinator of the CERN Quantum Technology Initiative, said, Quantum technologies are a rapidly growing field of research and their applications have the potential to revolutionize the way we do science. Preparing for that paradigm change, by building knowledge and tools, is essential. This new collaboration on quantum technologies bears great promise.

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ESAs -Week: Digital Twin Earth, Quantum Computing and AI Take Center Stage - SciTechDaily

Schrdingers Web Jonathan P. Dowling CRC Press, $40.95

When news broke last year that Googles quantum computer Sycamore had performed a calculation faster than the fastest supercomputers could (SN: 12/16/19), it was the first time many people had ever heard of a quantum computer.

Quantum computers, which harness the strange probabilities of quantum mechanics, may prove revolutionary. They have the potential to achieve an exponential speedup over their classical counterparts, at least when it comes to solving some problems. But for now, these computers are still in their infancy, useful for only a few applications, just as the first digital computers were in the 1940s. So isnt a book about the communications network that will link quantum computers the quantum internet more than a little ahead of itself?

Surprisingly, no. As theoretical physicist Jonathan Dowling makes clear in Schrdingers Web, early versions of the quantum internet are here already for example, quantum communication has been taking place between Beijing and Shanghai via fiber-optic cables since 2016 and more are coming fast. So now is the perfect time to read up.

Dowling, who helped found the U.S. governments quantum computing program in the 1990s, is the perfect guide. Armed with a seemingly endless supply of outrageous anecdotes, memorable analogies, puns and quips, he makes the thorny theoretical details of the quantum internet both entertaining and accessible.

Readers wanting to dive right in to details of the quantum internet will have to be patient. Photons are the particles that will power the quantum internet, so we had better be sure we know what the heck they are, Dowling writes. Accordingly, the first third of the book is a historical overview of light, from Newtons 17th century idea of light as corpuscles to experiments probing the quantum reality of photons, or particles of light, in the late 20th century. There are some small historical inaccuracies the section on the Danish physicist Hans Christian rsted repeats an apocryphal tale about his serendipitous discovery of the link between electricity and magnetism and the footnotes rely too much on Wikipedia. But Dowling accomplishes what he sets out to do: Help readers develop an understanding of the quantum nature of light.

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Like Dowlings 2013 book on quantum computers, Schrdingers Killer App, Schrdingers Web hammers home the nonintuitive truths at the heart of quantum mechanics. For example, key to the quantum internet is entanglement that spooky action at a distance in which particles are linked across time and space, and measuring the properties of one particle instantly reveals the others properties. Two photons, for instance, can be entangled so they always have the opposite polarization, or angle of oscillation.

In the future, a user in New York could entangle two photons and then send one along a fiber-optic cable to San Francisco, where it would be received by a quantum computer. Because these photons are entangled, measuring the New York photons polarization would instantly reveal the San Francisco photons polarization. This strange reality of entanglement is what the quantum internet exploits for neat features, such as unhackable security; any eavesdropper would mess up the delicate entanglement and be revealed. While his previous book contains more detailed explanations of quantum mechanics, Dowling still finds amusing new analogies, such as Fuzz Lightyear, a canine that runs along a superposition, or quantum combination, of two paths into neighbors yards. Fuzz helps explain physicist John Wheelers delayed-choice experiment, which illustrates the uncertainty, unreality and nonlocality of the quantum world. Fuzzs path is random, the dog doesnt exist on one path until we measure him, and measuring one path seems to instantly affect which yard Fuzz enters even if hes light-years away.

The complexities of the quantum web are saved for last, and even with Dowlings help, the details are not for the faint of heart. Readers will learn how to prepare Bell tests to check that a system of particles is entangled (SN: 8/28/15), navigate bureaucracy in the Department of Defense and send unhackable quantum communications with the dryly named BB84 and E91 protocols. Dowling also goes over some recent milestones in the development of a quantum internet, such as the 2017 quantum-secured videocall between scientists in China and Austria via satellite (SN: 9/29/17).

Just like the classical internet, we really wont figure out what the quantum internet is useful for until it is up and running, Dowling writes, so people can start playing around with it. Some of his prognostications seem improbable. Will people really have quantum computers on their phones and exchange entangled photons across the quantum internet?

Dowling died unexpectedly in June at age 65, before he could see this future come to fruition. Once when I interviewed him, he invoked Arthur C. Clarkes first law to justify why he thought another esteemed scientist was wrong. The first law is that if a distinguished, elderly scientist tells you something is possible, hes very likely right, he said. If he tells you something is impossible, hes very likely wrong.

Dowling died too soon to be considered elderly, but he was distinguished, and Schrdingers Web lays out a powerful case for the possibility of a quantum internet.

Buy Schrdingers Web from Amazon.com.Science Newsis a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. Please see ourFAQfor more details.

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Schrdingers Web offers a sneak peek at the quantum internet - Science News

The Quantum Economic Development Consortium (QED-C) and Hyperion Research are projecting that the global quantum computing (QC) market worth an estimated $320 million in 2020 will grow at an anticipated 27% CAGR between 2020 and 2024, reaching approximately $830 million by 2024.

This estimate is based on surveys of 135 US-based quantum computing researchers, developers and suppliers across the academic, commercial and government sectors. Supplemental data and insights came from a companion effort that surveyed 115 current and potential quantum computing users in North America, Europe and the Asia/Pacific region on their expectations, schedules and budgets for the use of quantum computing in their existing and planned computational workloads.

(Keeping track of the various quantum computing organization is becoming a challenge in itself. The Quantum Economic Development Consortium (QED-C) is a consortium of stakeholders that aims to enable and grow the U.S. quantum industry. QED-C was established with support from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) as part of the Federal strategy for advancing quantum information science and as called for by theNational Quantum Initiative Actenacted in 2018.)

Additional results from the study:

Based on our study and related forecast, there is a growing, vibrant, and diverse US-based QC research, development, and commercial ecosystem that shows the promise of maturing into a viable, if not profitable and self-sustaining industry. That said, it is too early to start picking winners and losers from either a technology or commercial perspective, said Bob Sorensen, quantum analyst for Hyperion Research.

A key driver for commercial success could be the ability of any vendor to ease the requirements needed to integrate QC technology into a larger HPC and enterprise IT user base while still supporting advanced QC-related research for a more targeted, albeit smaller, class of end-user scientists and engineers. This sector is not for faint of heart, but this forecast gives some sense of what is at stake hereat least for the next few years, noted Sorensen.

Source: QED-C

QED-C commissioned and collaborated with Hyperion Research to develop this market forecast to help inform decision making for QC technology developers and suppliers, national-level QC-related policy makers, potential QC users in both the advanced computing and enterprise IT marketplace investors and commercial QC funding organizations. This is a baseline estimate, and Hyperion Research and QED-C are looking to provide periodic updates of their QC market forecast as events, information, or decision- making requirements dictate. Contact: Celia Merzbacher, QED-C Deputy Director, [emailprotected]

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Global QC Market Projected to Grow to More Than $800 million by 2024 - HPCwire

Innovative technologies from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) to achieve higher energy efficiency in buildings, make lithium batteries safer and higher performing, and secure quantum communications were some of the inventions honored with R&D 100 Awards by R&D World magazine.

For more than 50 years, the annual R&D 100 Awards have recognized 100 technologies of the past year deemed most innovative and disruptive by an independent panel of judges. The full list of winners, announced by parent company WTWH Media LLC is available at the R&D World website.

Berkeley Labs award-winning technologies are described below.

A Tool to Accelerate Electrochemical and Solid-State Innovation

(from left) Adam Weber, New Danilovic, Douglas Kushner, and John Petrovick (Credit: Berkeley Lab)

Berkeley Lab scientists invented a microelectrode cell to analyze and test electrochemical systems with solid electrolytes. Thanks to significant cost and performance advantages, this tool can accelerate development of critical applications such as energy storage and conversion (fuel cells, batteries, electrolyzers), carbon capture, desalination, and industrial decarbonization.

Solid electrolytes have been displacing liquid electrolytes as the focus of electrochemical innovation because of their performance, safety, and cost advantages. However, the lack of effective methods and equipment for studying solid electrolytes has hindered advancement of the technologies that employ them. This microelectrode cell meets the testing needs, and is already being used by Berkeley Lab scientists.

The development team includes Berkeley Lab researchers Adam Weber, Nemanja Danilovic, Douglas Kushner, and John Petrovick.

Matter-Wave Modulating Secure Quantum Communicator (MMQ-Com)

Information transmitted by MMQ-Com is impervious to security breaches. (Credit: Alexander Stibor/Berkeley Lab)

Quantum communication, cybersecurity, and quantum computing are growing global markets. But the safety of our data is in peril given the rise of quantum computers that can decode classical encryption schemes.

The Matter-Wave Modulating Secure Quantum Communicator (MMQ-Com) technology is a fundamentally new kind of secure quantum information transmitter. It transmits messages by modulating electron matter-waves without changing the pathways of the electrons. This secure communication method is inherently impervious to any interception attempt.

A novel quantum key distribution scheme also ensures that the signal is protected from spying by other quantum devices.

The development team includes Alexander Stibor of Berkeley Labs Molecular Foundry along with Robin Rpke and Nicole Kerker of the University of Tbingen in Germany.

Solid Lithium Battery Using Hard and Soft Solid Electrolytes

(from left) Marca Doeff, Guoying Chen, and Eongyu Yi (Credit: Berkeley Lab)

The lithium battery market is expected to grow from more than $37 billion in 2019 to more than $94 billion by 2025. However, the liquid electrolytes used in most commercial lithium-ion batteries are flammable and limit the ability to achieve higher energy densities. Safety issues continue to plague the electronics markets, as often-reported lithium battery fires and explosions result in casualties and financial losses.

In Berkeley Labs solid lithium battery, the organic electrolytic solution is replaced by two solid electrolytes, one soft and one hard, and lithium metal is used in place of the graphite anode. In addition to eliminating battery fires, incorporation of a lithium metal anode with a capacity 10 times higher than graphite (the conventional anode material in lithium-ion batteries) provides much higher energy densities.

The technology was developed by Berkeley Lab scientists Marca Doeff, Guoying Chen, and Eongyu Yi, along with collaborators at Montana State University.

Porous Graphitic Frameworks for Sustainable High-Performance Li-Ion Batteries

High-resolution transmission electron microscopy images of the Berkeley Lab PGF cathode reveal (at left) a highly ordered honeycomb structure within the 2D plane, and (at right) layered columnar arrays stacked perpendicular to the 2D plane. (Credit: Yi Liu/Berkeley Lab)

The Porous Graphitic Frameworks (PGF) technology is a lithium-ion battery cathode that could outperform todays cathodes in sustainability and performance.

In contrast to commercial cathodes, organic PGFs pose fewer risks to the environment because they are metal-free and composed of earth-abundant, lightweight organic elements such as carbon, hydrogen, and nitrogen. The PGF production process is also more energy-efficient and eco-friendly than other cathode technologies because they are prepared in water at mild temperatures, rather than in toxic solvents at high temperatures.

PGF cathodes also display stable charge-discharge cycles with ultrahigh capacity and record-high energy density, both of which are much higher than all commercial inorganic cathodes and organic cathodes known to exist.

The development team includes Yi Liu and Xinie Li of Berkeley Labs Molecular Foundry, as well as Hongxia Wang and Hao Chen of Stanford University.

Building Efficiency Targeting Tool for Energy Retrofits (BETTER)

The buildings sector is the largest source of primary energy consumption (40%) and ranks second after the industrial sector as a global source of direct and indirect carbon dioxide emissions from fuel combustion. According to the World Economic Forum, nearly one-half of all energy consumed by buildings could be avoided with new energy-efficient systems and equipment.

(from left) Carolyn Szum (Lead Researcher), Han Li, Chao Ding, Nan Zhou, Xu Liu (Credit: Berkeley Lab)

The Building Efficiency Targeting Tool for Energy Retrofits (BETTER) allows municipalities, building and portfolio owners and managers, and energy service providers to quickly and easily identify the most effective cost-saving and energy-efficiency measures in their buildings. With an open-source, data-driven analytical engine, BETTER uses readily available building and monthly energy data to quantify energy, cost, and greenhouse gas reduction potential, and to recommend efficiency interventions at the building and portfolio levels to capture that potential.

It is estimated that BETTER will help reduce about 165.8 megatons of carbon dioxide equivalent (MtCO2e) globally by 2030. This is equivalent to the CO2 sequestered by growing 2.7 billion tree seedlings for 10 years.

The development team includes Berkeley Lab scientists Nan Zhou, Carolyn Szum, Han Li, Chao Ding, Xu Liu, and William Huang, along with collaborators from Johnson Controls and ICF.

AmanziATS: Modeling Environmental Systems Across Scales

Simulated surface and subsurface water from Amanzi-ATS hydrological modeling of the Copper Creek sub-catchment in the East River, Colorado watershed. (Credit: Zexuan Xu/Berkeley Lab, David Moulton/Los Alamos National Laboratory)

Scientists use computer simulations to predict the impact of wildfires on water quality, or to monitor cleanup at nuclear waste remediation sites by portraying fluid flow across Earth compartments. The Amanzi-Advanced Terrestrial Simulator (ATS) enables them to replicate or couple multiple complex and integrated physical processes controlling these flowpaths, making it possible to capture the essential physics of the problem at hand.

Specific problems require taking an individual approach to simulations, said Sergi Molins, principal investigator at Berkeley Lab, which contributed expertise in geochemical modeling to the softwares development. Physical processes controlling how mountainous watersheds respond to disturbances such as climate- and land-use change, extreme weather, and wildfire are far different than the physical processes at play when an unexpected storm suddenly impacts groundwater contaminant levels in and around a nuclear remediation site. Amanzi-ATS allows scientists to make sense of these interactions in each individual scenario.

The code is open-source and capable of being run on systems ranging from a laptop to a supercomputer. Led by Los Alamos National Laboratory, Amanzi-ATS is jointly developed by researchers from Los Alamos National Laboratory, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, and Berkeley Lab researchers including Sergi Molins, Marcus Day, Carl Steefel, and Zexuan Xu.

Institute for the Design of Advanced Energy Systems (IDAES)

The U.S. Department of Energys (DOEs) Institute for the Design of Advanced Energy Systems (IDAES) project develops next-generation computational tools for process systems engineering (PSE) of advanced energy systems, enabling their rapid design and optimization.

IDAES Project Team (Credit: Berkeley Lab)

By providing rigorous modeling capabilities, the IDAES Modeling & Optimization Platform helps energy and process companies, technology developers, academic researchers, and DOE to design, develop, scale-up, and analyze new and potential PSE technologies and processes to accelerate advances and apply them to address the nations energy needs. The IDAES platform is also a key component in the National Alliance for Water Innovation, a $100 million, five-year DOE innovation hub led by Berkeley Lab, which will examine the critical technical barriers and research needed to radically lower the cost and energy of desalination.

Led by National Energy Technology Laboratory, IDAES is a collaboration with Sandia National Laboratories, Berkeley Lab, West Virginia University, Carnegie Mellon University, and the University of Notre Dame. The development team at Berkeley Lab includes Deb Agarwal, Oluwamayowa (Mayo) Amusat, Keith Beattie, Ludovico Bianchi, Josh Boverhof, Hamdy Elgammal, Dan Gunter, Julianne Mueller, Jangho Park, Makayla Shepherd, Karen Whitenack, and Perren Yang.

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Founded in 1931 on the belief that the biggest scientific challenges are best addressed by teams, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and its scientists have been recognized with 13 Nobel Prizes. Today, Berkeley Lab researchers develop sustainable energy and environmental solutions, create useful new materials, advance the frontiers of computing, and probe the mysteries of life, matter, and the universe. Scientists from around the world rely on the Labs facilities for their own discovery science. Berkeley Lab is a multiprogram national laboratory, managed by the University of California for the U.S. Department of Energys Office of Science.

DOEs Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States, and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, please visit energy.gov/science.

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Berkeley Lab Technologies Honored With 7 R&D 100 Awards - Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory