The Best of Australian Science: May 2013
FollowThe month of May saw us publish a plethora of interestingness – a wonderful variety of science and technology stories from within the fields of education, technology, space, internet technology, biology, environmental science, and more. We hope you enjoy them!
For those interested in science blogging and contributing to Australian Science – contact us and check out the Editor’s note.
All You Need is a Minute to Learn Physics, an interview with Henry Reich by Magdeline Lum
I was skeptical when I stumbled on Henry Reich’s MinutePhysics Youtube channel one night. How could anyone explain light, The Big Bang or relativity in just minutes and be understood? I decided to watch one in the expectation that I would be sent to sleep. It was well past midnight. In the end, I didn’t go to sleep until after I had watched every MinutePhysics video in existence. I was hooked. It all started with an explanation of what fire is. Read more>>
Quantum computing: Australian researchers store data on a single atom! by Markus Hammonds
Quantum computers will work using quantum bits, or qubits for short, which are analogous to the digital bits used in computers like the one which you’re using to read this article. Recently, a team of engineers at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) has successfully demonstrated, for the first time ever, how a single atom can be act as a qubit, effectively showing the first step in building an ultra fast quantum computer. And they might just have created the best qubit ever made.
A quantum computer is, simply, a computer which makes use of quantum mechanical phenomena to perform calculations.Well, I say “simply