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In the spring of 2017, Urmila Mahadev found herself in what most graduate students would consider a pretty sweet position. She had just solved a major problem in quantum computation, the study of computers that derive their power from the strange laws of quantum physics. Combined with her earlier papers, Mahadev’s new result, on what […]

Suppose you are getting ready to take a physics test. Everything is set—but wait! Your calculator battery died. What do you do? If you're extra crafty, you could grab an LED (light-emitting diode) and use it to get your calculator to function again. I know this seems crazy, but it's true. In fact, I did […]

Friday morning began with delays at New York’s LaGuardia Airport. That’s not unusual—New York’s airports are famously balky. But this time, the cause wasn't something prosaic, like a blizzard. It was staffing. Because of the federal government shutdown, the airport didn’t have enough Transportation Security Administration agents and air traffic controllers; things slowed to a […]