patterns

Never-Repeating Patterns of Tiles Can Safeguard Quantum Information

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This extreme fragility might make quantum computing sound hopeless. But in 1995, the applied mathematician Peter Shor discovered a clever way to store quantum information. His encoding had two key properties. First, it could tolerate errors that only affected individual qubits. Second, it came with a procedure for correcting errors as they occurred, preventing them … Read more

Why NASA is psyched about these bizarre Martian mud patterns

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Whereas rumbling over Mount Sharp on Mars, NASA’s Curiosity rover discovered an odd crackled terrain. These distinct patterns in dry mud, discovered over 100 million miles away in house, are an exhilarating discovery for geologists. The cracks kind a lattice of hexagons, signaling that the land has gone by way of intermittent spells of wetness … Read more