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The Download: AI vs quantum, and the future of reproductive rights in the US

Tech companies have been funneling billions of dollars into quantum computers for years. The hope is that they’ll be a game changer for fields as diverse as finance, drug discovery, and logistics.... Read more »

What’s next for reproductive rights in the US

Two years ago, the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, a legal decision that protected the right to abortion. Since then, abortion bans have been enacted in multiple states, and millions... Read more »

Why AI could eat quantum computing’s lunch

There is a caveat: Because the ground states are effectively found through trial and error rather than explicit calculations, they are only approximations. But this is also why the approach could make... Read more »

The Download: what Trump’s victory means for the climate

—James Temple Donald Trump’s decisive victory is a stunning setback for the fight against climate change. The Republican president-elect’s return to the White House means the US is going to squander precious... Read more »

Trump’s win is a tragic loss for climate progress

The US election could create global ripples as well, and very soon. US negotiators will meet with their counterparts at the annual UN climate conference that kicks off next week. With Trump... Read more »

The US is about to make a sharp turn on climate policy

What, exactly, Trump can do will depend on whether Republicans take control of both houses of Congress. A clean sweep would open up more lanes for targeting legislation passed under Biden. (As... Read more »

Delivering the next-generation barcode

2D barcodes encode substantially more information than their 1D counterparts. This enables them to link physical objects to a wide array of digital resources. For consumers, 2D barcodes can provide a wealth... Read more »

The Download: ice-melting robots, and genetically modified trees

At long last, NASA’s Europa Clipper mission is on its way. It launched on October 14 and is now en route to its target: Jupiter’s ice-covered moon Europa, whose frozen shell almost... Read more »

Life-seeking, ice-melting robots could punch through Europa’s icy shell

Clipper has an impressive collection of remote sensing tools that will allow it to survey the ocean’s physical and chemical properties, even though it will never touch the moon itself. But almost... Read more »

The Download: inside animals’ minds, and how to make AI agents useful

Studying the minds of other animals comes with a challenge that human psychologists don’t usually face: Your subjects can’t tell you what they’re thinking.  To get answers from animals, scientists need to... Read more »