The D-Wave computer is currently the latest link of a long chain of computers designed for the solution of optimization problems. In what sense does it realize quantum computation? We describe the evolution of such computers and confront the different views concerning the quantum properties of the D-wave computer. Quantum algorithms show several benefits over classical ones. One strong example suggested by Shor in 1994 is the ability to factor numbers which can be effectively done on a quantum computer but is very hard on a classical computer. However, the actual model ...

If evidence of the Higgs boson revealed two years ago was the smoking gun, particle physicists at Rice University and their colleagues have now found a few of the bullets. The European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) published research in Nature Physics this week that details evidence of the direct decay of the Higgs boson to fermions, among the particles anticipated by the Standard Model of physics. The finding fits what researchers expected to see amid the massive amount of data provided by the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). The world's largest collider smashed ...

CAMBRIDGE, MA -- The more cores — or processing units — a computer chip has, the bigger the problem of communication between cores becomes. For years, Li-Shiuan Peh, the Singapore Research Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at MIT, has argued that the massively multicore chips of the future will need to resemble little Internets, where each core has an associated router, and data travels between cores in packets of fixed size. This week, at the International Symposium on Computer Architecture, Peh's group unveiled a 36-core chip that features just ...

Triple-negative breast cancers do not benefit from the targeted therapies that have greatly improved the survival of patients with other subtypes of breast cancer. But recent work shows that while these cancers lack estrogen receptors, progesterone receptors, and aren't driven by the gene HER2, up to a third of these tumors express the androgen receptor – clinical trials are underway to inhibit the androgen receptor in these tumors in much the same way that the drug Tamoxifen inhibits estrogen receptor in estrogen-receptor-positive breast cancers. A new University of Colorado ...

Chestnut Hill, MA (June 23, 2014): If you were warned how much extra credit card interest you'd pay by only making the minimum payment every month, you might want to increase your payments to retire the balance earlier, right? Not necessarily, according to a study by a Boston College marketing researcher who found that telling customers about the high cost of repaying the monthly minimum had little impact on repayment decisions. But when credit card consumers were shown a three-year payoff time frame with accompanying lower interest costs, this information "nudge" had ...

Have you ever found yourself gesticulating – and felt a bit stupid for it – while talking on the phone? You're not alone: it happens very often that people accompany their speech with hand gestures, sometimes even when no one can see them. Why can't we keep still while speaking? "Because gestures and words very probably form a single "communication system", which ultimately serves to enhance expression intended as the ability to make oneself understood", explains Marina Nespor, a neuroscientist at the International School for Advanced Studies (SISSA) of Trieste. Nespor, ...

CHICAGO, IL — Diabetic patients who don't know proper injection techniques may administer insulin incorrectly, leading to poor glycemic control and adverse outcomes, a new study from Iraq finds. The results were presented in a poster Monday, June 23 at ICE/ENDO 2014, the joint meeting of the International Society of Endocrinology and the Endocrine Society in Chicago. "Lack of simple education about proper injection techniques could be blamed for many complications and adverse outcomes. I thought about conducting this study after managing two teenage patients who suffered ...

Scientists discover and describe a new species of spider from Mexico. The new species belongs to the enigmatic family Paratropididae that is distinguished by representatives who possess unique camouflaging abilities. The study was published in the open access journal ZooKeys. Like all species form the family the new species Paratropis tuxtlensis has its entire body encrusted with soil particles. The encrusted soil on the exoskeleton could provide protection from predators or serve as camouflage to deceive their prey. The encrusted soil particles are because this species ...

Previously, as with the longitude problem 300 years earlier for fixing locations on Earth, there was no unified system of reference for calibrating the heavens. But now, when investigating the atmospheric structure and chemical make-up of stars, astronomers can use a new stellar scale as a 'ruler' – making it much easier for them to classify and compare data on star discoveries. In fact, the work is a critical first step in the Gaia satellite's mission to map the Milky Way, as the unprecedented levels of stellar data that will result need "consistent stellar parameters", ...

In the future, this kind of novel X-ray optics should be available to users at the BESSY II synchrotron source. Among many applications, the improved resolution permits investigations on ultrastructural features in biological specimens as well as studies on nanostructures in novel battery systems. The wavelength of light limits resolution in microscopy. Visible light can resolve structures on the order of a quarter micron, while the considerably shorter wavelength of X-rays can in principle resolve features down to a few nanometres. In addition, X-rays can also penetrate ...

Researchers from North Carolina State University and the University of Eastern Finland have developed new "sensing skin" technology designed to serve as an early warning system for concrete structures, allowing authorities to respond quickly to damage in everything from nuclear facilities to bridges. "The sensing skin could be used for a wide range of structures, but the impetus for the work was to help ensure the integrity of critical infrastructure such as nuclear waste storage facilities," says Dr. Mohammad Pour-Ghaz, an assistant professor of civil, construction and ...

New Rochelle, NY, June 23, 2014—Men who have sex with men (MSM) have a disproportionately high risk of acquiring HIV, and unprotected sex between men accounts for most new HIV diagnoses in the U.S. Yet this population tends to underestimate their HIV risk and not take advantage of effective options such as pre-exposure prophylaxis drug treatment to prevent HIV infection, as documented in an article published in LGBT Health, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers. The article is available free on the LGBT Health website. Demetre Daskalakis, MD, ...

CHICAGO, IL — Treatment with the diabetes drug liraglutide, in combination with diet and exercise, led to a significant reduction in weight and improved a number of cardiovascular risk factors, including high blood pressure and high cholesterol, according to a multicenter study. The results, from more than 3,700 overweight and obese nondiabetic adults, were presented Saturday at the joint meeting of the International Society of Endocrinology and the Endocrine Society: ICE/ENDO 2014 in Chicago. "If these improvements continue over time, they may result in a lower risk ...

(Boston) – A better understanding of how the transcription factor Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptor Gamma (PPARgamma) works is critical to find new ways to improve medications to treat type 2 diabetes. Drugs that activate PPARgamma, called thiazolidinediones (TZDs), have long been regarded as a treatment for type 2 diabetes based on their anti-inflammatory and potent insulin-sensitizing activity. When taken orally, TZDs help decrease insulin resistance. However, most medications in that class have now been withdrawn from the market, or severely limited in their ...

WASHINGTON, June 23, 2014 — In this week's episode, Reactions is getting sexy. Our latest video highlights the ways chemistry has made sex safer and (in one surprising case) spicier. From latex condoms to warming lubricants, birth control to emergency contraception, chemistry plays a big role in the bedroom, and not just the chemistry between you and your partner. The video is available at http://youtu.be/54-rMC_67TM.INFORMATION: Subscribe to the series at Reactions YouTube, and follow us on Twitter @ACSreactions to be the first to see our latest videos. The American ...

Case Western Reserve School of Medicine scientists have made an extraordinary double discovery. First, they have identified thousands of novel long non-coding ribonucleic acid (lncRNA) transcripts. Second, they have learned that some of them defy conventional wisdom regarding lncRNA transcripts, because they actually do direct the synthesis of proteins in cells. Both of the breakthroughs are detailed in the June 12 issue of Cell Reports. Kristian E. Baker, PhD, assistant professor in the Center for RNA Molecular Biology, led the team that applied high throughput gene ...

CHICAGO, IL — A chemical found in many "BPA free" consumer products, known as bisphenol S (BPS), is just as potent as bisphenol A (BPA) in altering brain development and causing hyperactive behavior, an animal study finds. The results will be presented Sunday at the joint meeting of the International Society of Endocrinology and the Endocrine Society: ICE/ENDO 2014 in Chicago. BPA has been linked to a wide range of hormone disorders, such as obesity, reproductive cancers and, recently, hyperactivity in children born to women exposed to high levels of this substance during ...

DURHAM, N.C. – Bisphenol A (BPA), a chemical commonly used in plastics, appears to increase the proliferation of breast cancer cells, according to Duke Medicine researchers presenting at an annual meeting of endocrine scientists. The researchers found that the chemical, at levels typically found in human blood, could also affect growth of an aggressive hormone-independent subtype of breast cancer cells called inflammatory breast cancer and diminish the effectiveness of treatments for the disease. "We set out to determine whether routine exposures to common chemicals ...

CHICAGO, IL—Many chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, can disrupt not only the human body's reproductive hormones but also the glucocorticoid and thyroid hormone receptors, which are necessary to maintain good health, a new study finds. The results were presented Monday at the joint meeting of the International Society of Endocrinology and the Endocrine Society: ICE/ENDO 2014 in Chicago. "Among the chemicals that the fracking industry has reported using most often, all 24 that we have tested block the activity of one or more important hormone receptors," ...

CHICAGO, IL—Bisphenol S (BPS), a common substitute for bisphenol A (BPA) in consumer products, may have similar toxic effects on the heart as previously reported for BPA, a new study finds. The results were presented Monday at the joint meeting of the International Society of Endocrinology and the Endocrine Society: ICE/ENDO 2014 in Chicago. In the years since research evidence first showed many potentially damaging health effects of the industrial chemical BPA, some manufacturers have switched to its chemical cousin, BPS, to make hard plastics and other products that ...

An international team of researchers from the United States, France and Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (Russia) has synthesized a previously unknown form of magnesium carbide. This material can be used for synthesizing carbon nanostructures and other compounds. Details can be found in an article published in the journal Inorganic Chemistry. A team of researchers from the Carnegie Institution for Science (United States), Paris-Sorbonne University, the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility in Grenoble,the SOLEIL synchrotron facility (France), the State University ...

Organic semiconductors allow for flexible displays (OLEDs), solar cells (OPVCs), and other interesting applications. One common problem in these devices, however, is the interface between the metallic contacts and the organic semiconductor material, where undesirable losses occur. Now Dr. Martin Oehzelt has shown what these losses between the metal and the organic semiconductors depend upon and how to minimize them. In particular, his model also explains why a thin, electrically insulating layer between the two materials can even facilitate the transition of charge carriers. ...

A team of scientists from the Cancer Science Institute of Singapore (CSI Singapore) at the National University of Singapore, National University Cancer Institute Singapore (NCIS) and National University Hospital Singapore (NUH), discovered a distinct mutational signature and nine significantly mutated genes associated with nasopharyngeal cancer, paving the way to developing novel therapies for this deadly disease. The research group, led by Professor H. Phillip Koeffler, Senior Principal Investigator at the CSI Singapore and Deputy Director of NCIS, has conducted the ...

Over 3.5 million people in Europe and the US suffer from Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis – the two most common forms of IBD. Chronic bowel inflammation is caused by an overreaction of the immune system to the bacteria which naturally occur in the gut. "This overreaction can come about if, for example, the anti-stress mechanism in the cells of the intestinal mucosa does not function correctly," explains Prof. Dirk Haller of the TUM Chair of Nutrition and Immunology. What Prof. Haller is referring to is the unfolded protein response (UPR) – a sequential chain of ...

CHICAGO, IL — In adults with prediabetes, a new drug that alters microbial populations and their environment in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract improves glucose tolerance—the body's response to consuming carbohydrates— after four weeks of treatment and without a change in diet. These results, from a pilot study, will be presented Monday at the joint meeting of the International Society of Endocrinology and the Endocrine Society: ICE/ENDO 2014 in Chicago. The not-yet-named therapeutic, NM504, is the first in a new class of therapies known as GI microbiome modulators. The ...