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When you come to the fork in the road, take it. Yogi Berra

For cryptologists, Yogi Berras words have perhaps never rang more true. As a future with quantum computing approaches, our internet and stored secrets are at risk. The tried-and-true encryption mechanisms that we use every day, like Transport Layer Security (TLS) and Virtual Private Networks (VPN), could be cracked and exposed by a hacker equipped with a large enough quantum computer using Shors algorithm, a powerful algorithm with exponential speed over classical algorithms. The result?The security algorithms we use today that would take roughly 10 billion years to decrypt could take as little as 10 seconds. To prevent this, its imperative that we augment our security protocols, and we have two options to choose from: one using physics as its foundation, or one using math our figurative fork in the road.

To understand how to solve the impending security threats in a quantum era, we need to first understand the fundamentals of our current encryption mechanism. The most commonly used in nearly all internet activities TLS is implemented anytime someone performs an online activity involving sensitive information, like logging into a banking app, completing a sale on an online retailer website, or simply checking email. It works by combining the data with a 32-byte key of random 1s and 0s in a complicated and specific way so that the data is completely unrecognizable to anyone except for the two end-to-end parties sending and receiving the data. This process is called public key encryption, and currently it leverages a few popular algorithms for key exchange, e.g., Elliptic curve Diffie-Hellman (ECDH) or RSA (each named after cryptologists,) each of which are vulnerable to quantum computers. The data exchange has two steps: the key exchange and the encryption itself. The encryption of the data with a secure key will still be safe, but the delivery of the key to unlock that information (key distribution) will not be secure in the future quantum era.

To be ready for quantum computers, we need to devise a new method of key distribution, a way to safely deliver the key from one end of the connection to the other.

Imagine a scenario wherein you and a childhood friend want to share secrets, but can only do so once you each have the same secret passcode in front of you (and there are no phones.) One friend has to come up with a unique passcode, write it down on a piece of paper (while maintaining a copy for themselves,) and then walk it down the block so the other has the same passcode. Once you and your friend have the shared key, you can exchange secrets (encrypted data) that even a quantum computer cannot read.

While walking down the block though, your friend could be vulnerable to the school bully accosting him or her and stealing the passcode, and we cant let this happen. What if your friend lives across town, and not just down the block? Or even more difficult in a different country? (And where is that secret decoder ring we got from a box of sugar-coated-sugar cereal we ate as kids?)

In a world where global information transactions are happening nonstop, we need a safe way of delivering keys no matter the distance. Quantum physics can provide a way to securely deliver shared keys quicker and in larger volume, and, most importantly, immune to being intercepted. Using fiber optic cables (like the ones used by telecommunications companies,) special Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) equipment can send tiny particles (or light waves) called photons to each party in the exchange of data. The sequence of the photons encapsulates the identity of the key, a random sequence of 1s and 0s that only the intended recipients can receive to construct the key.

Quantum Key Distribution also has a sort of built-in anti-hacker bonus. Because of the no-cloning theorem (which essentially states that by their very nature, photons cannot be cloned,) QKD also renders the identity of the key untouchable by any hacker. If an attacker tried to grab the photons and alter them, it would automatically be detected, and the affected key material would be discarded.

The other way we could choose to solve the security threats posed by quantum computers is to harness the power of algorithms. Although its true the RSA and ECDH algorithms are vulnerable to Shors algorithm on a suitable quantum computer, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is working to develop replacement algorithms that will be safe from quantum computers as part of its post-quantum cryptography (PQC) efforts. Some are already in the process of being vetted, like ones called McEliece, Saber, Crystals-Kyber, and NTRU.

Each of these algorithms has its own strong and weak points that the NIST is working through. For instance, McEliece is one of the most trusted by virtue of its longstanding resistance to attack, but it is also handicapped by its excessively long public keys that may make it impractical for small devices or web browsing. The other algorithms, especially Saber, run very well on practically any device, but, because they are relatively new, the confidence level in them from cryptographers is still relatively low.

With such a dynamic landscape of ongoing efforts, there is promise that a viable solution will emerge in time to keep our data safe.

The jury is still out. We at Verizon and most of the world rely heavily on e-commerce to sell our products and encryption to communicate via email, messaging, and cellular voice calls.All of these need secure encryption technologies in the coming quantum era. But whether we choose pre-shared keys (implemented by the awesome photon) or algorithms, further leveraging mathematics, our communications software will need updating. And while the post quantum cryptography effort is relatively new, it is not clear which algorithms will withstand scrutiny from the cryptographic community. In the meantime, we continue to peer down each fork in the road to seek the best option to take.

See more here:
Quantum computing will break today's encryption standards - here's what to do about it - Verizon Communications

While it could be many years before quantum computing becomes a common presence in daily life, the technology already has been recruited to help search for life in deep space.

Quantum software company Zapata Computing is partnering with the U.K.-based University of Hull on research to evaluate Zapatas Orquestra quantum workflow platform, to enhance a quantum application designed to detect signatures of life in deep space.

Dr David Benoit, Senior Lecturer in Molecular Physics and Astrochemistry at the University of Hull, said the evaluation is not a controlled demonstration of features, but rather a project involving real-world data. We are looking at how Orquestra performs in actual workflows that use quantum computing to provide typical real-life data, he told Fierce Electronics via email. In this project, we are really aiming for real useful data rather than a demo of capabilities.

The evaluation will run for eight weeks before the team publishes an analysis of the research. It is expected to be the first of several collaborations between Zapata and the University of Hull for quantum astrophysics applications, the parties said. The news comes as several giants in quantum computing, including Google, IBM, Amazon and Honeywell, among others, were set to attend a White House forum hosted by the Biden administration to discuss evolving uses for quantum computing.

In some cases, researchers have turned to quantum computing to tackle projects that classical computers would take too long to complete, and the University of Hull is in a similar situation, Benoit said.

He further explained, The tests envisioned are still something that a classical computer can do, however the computational time required to obtain the solution has a factorial scaling, meaning that larger size applications are likely to take days/months/years to complete (along with a very large amount of memory). The quantum counterpart is able to solve those problems in a sub-factorial manner (potentially quartic scaling), but this doesnt necessarily mean its faster for all systems, just that the computational effort is much reduced for large systems. In this application, we are aiming for a scalable way of performing accurate calculations, and this is exactly what we can obtain using quantum computers.

Just how big is the task at hand? A statement from Zapata noted that in 2016 MIT researchers suggested a list of more than 14,000 molecules that could indicate signs of life in atmospheres of far-away exoplanets. However, little is currently known about how these molecules vibrate and rotate in response to infrared radiation generated by nearby stars. The University of Hull is trying to build a database of detectable biological signatures using new computational models of molecular rotations and vibrations.

Though fault tolerance and error correction remain a challenge for quantum computing models, Benoit said researchers are not concerned with the performance of such so-called Noisy Intermediate-Scale Quantum (NISQ) devices.

Our method actually uses the statistical nature of the noise/errors to try and obtain an accurate answer, so we take the fact that the results will be noisy as a useful thing, he said. Obviously, the better the error correction or the less noisy the device, the better the outcome. However, using Orquestra enables us to potentially switch platforms without having to re-implement large parts of the code, which means that as better hardware comes along, we can readily compute with it.

Benoit added that Orquestra will help researchers generate valuable insights from NISQ devices, and that researchers can build applications that use these NISQ devices today with the capacity to leverage the more powerful quantum devices of the future. The result should be extremely accurate calculations of the key variable defining atom-atom interactions electronic correlation and thus could improve scientists ability to detect the building blocks of life in space. This is particularly important because even simple molecules, such as oxygen or nitrogen, have complex interactions that require very accurate calculations.

RELATED: Even noisy quantum systems are revolutionary: Classiq CEO

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Zapata, University of Hull researchers take quantum computing to deep space - FierceElectronics

The potential of quantum computing is one of the focuses ofa summit in Genevathataimstoimprove the dialogue between diplomatsandthescientific communityto safeguard our collective welfare.Tworesearchersexplaintherewards and risks ofquantum computing.

Dorian Burkhalter

Thescientists, diplomats, captains of industry and investors gathering inGenevafor the first-ever summit of theScience and Diplomacy Anticipator (GESDA)External linkwill, among other lofty goals, discuss howpolicymakersshouldprepare forquantumcomputing, provide governance for it,and ensure thatitis accessible to all.But what are quantum computers, and whatwill they be able to do?

Quantum computersperform calculations byexploitingtheproperties ofquantummechanics, which describes thebehaviourofatoms andparticles at a subatomic scale,for example,howelectrons interact with each other.As quantum computersoperate onthe same set of rules asmolecules do,they are,for instance,much better suitedto simulate them than classical computers are.

Today, quantum computers are small and unreliable. They are not yet able to solve problems classical computers cannot.

There is still some uncertainty, but I don't see any reason to not be able to develop such a quantum computer, although it's a huge engineering challenge, says Nicolas Gisin, professor emeritus at the University of Genevaand at the Schaffhausen Institute of Technology,and an expert in quantum technologies.

Quantum computerscouldhelp solvesome of the worlds most pressing problems. They couldaccelerate thediscovery ofmaterials for longer-lasting batteries,bettersolar panels, andnew medicaltreatments.They could also break current encryptionmethods, meaning that information secure today maybecomeat risk tomorrow.

For private companies, winning the race to develop reliable and powerful quantum computers means reaping large economic rewards. For countries, it means gaining a significant national security advantage.

Gisinsaysquantum computers capable of simulating new molecules could be 5-10 years away, while more powerful quantum computers that can break encryption could become a reality in 10-20 years.

The pace at whichthesetechnologies develop will depend on the level of investments made.Large technology firms such as IBM, Microsoft, and Googleare all developing quantum computers, while the US, China,and Europeareinvestingheavilyinquantum technologies.

Anticipating the arrival ofthesetechnologies isimportant,because you play through different scenarios, and some you may like,some you may not like,says HeikeRiel, IBM Fellow at IBMResearch in Zurich.Then you can also think of what type of regulations you may need,or what type of research you need to foster.

TheSwiss governmentis a supporter oftheGESDAfoundationwhichorganisedits first summit in Geneva fromOctober 7-9.The conferencebringstogetherscientists, diplomats, andother stakeholders to discussfuturescientific developmentsandtoanticipate their impacton society.

To work well, scientists needfavourableframeworks. There is definitely a back and forth between science and diplomacy, and science and politics, because diplomacy can also advance science, Riel says.

Politicians and diplomatsare responsible forcreatingopportunities for researchers to collaborate across borders. Initiatives and funding aimed at addressingspecifictechnical problems influence the directionofresearchefforts.

The fact that Switzerland is outside of the European research framework is an absurdity for everyone because this is just going to harm both Switzerland and Europe, Gisin says. It would be really important that Europe and Switzerland understand that we will both benefit if we talk together more and collaborate more.

Since July 2021, Switzerland haslimited accessto Horizon Europe, the European Unions flagship funding program for research and innovation due to a breakdown in negotiations on regulating bilateral relations.

Many of ourproblemstodaysuch as climate change or the Covid-19 pandemicare globalin nature.Getting governments across the world to agree to work togetheronsolutions is not easy, but researcherscan help.

The research communitylikes to worktogether globally, and this collaboration has helped historically to overcome certainbarriers, Riel says, emphasising the importance of communication in this regard.

Researchers working togetheron a global scaleduring the pandemichasled to vaccines being developed atarecord-breakingspeed.During the Cold Warat theEuropean Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Geneva,Sovietscientistsremained involvedin projectswhich allowedforsomecommunicationto take place.

In science, we have a common ground and it's kind of universal; the scientists in the UnitedStates, Canada, Australia,Europeand China, they all work on the same problems, they all try to solve the same technical issues, Riel says.

Scientists also have an important role to play to inform and share facts with both policymakers and the public, even if politicians cannotrely solely on scientific evidence when making decisions. The challenges of communicatingfact-based evidencehavebeen laid bare during the pandemic.

I think it's very important that we also inform the society of what we are doingthat it's not a mystery thatscares people, Riel says.

Ultimately,to successfullyaddress global challenges scientists,diplomats and politicians willhave towork together.

It's really a cooperation between the global collaboration of the scientists and the global collaboration of the diplomats to solve the problems together, Riel says.

See the rest here:
How science and diplomacy inform each other - SWI swissinfo.ch - swissinfo.ch

Hi Friends,

Chances are high that youre reading this letter in the morning, probably over your cereal or a mid-morning coffee break from your desk. Or maybe its the afternoon or evening and your feet hurt or knees crack from a long day. But as Im writing it, the clock in the upper right corner of my computer screen just flipped to 8:45pm.

Thats probably not surprising to you. You know I work late hours (I wrote a letter describing my day at work for our A+ Membership Drive in June hi A+ members! at 10:30pm, so comparatively, Im learning). Whats different about this one is, Im trying to get better.

A few weeks ago, Riese and I were sharing a knowing joke together on Slack. We were both reading a really exceptional piece of industry journalism about (and yes, Im serious here) Teen Vogue in the Columbia Journalism Review. Now, if Autostraddle is one thing, it is famously NOT a Conde Nast-backed corporate entity but Riese and I couldnt help but see so many of our struggles mirrored back running a small team with super-sized dreams and outsized influence in this deep dive 18 year history of the voicey, fashion focused, celebrity focused, unironically activism focused youth brand of the worlds most notorious media giant. We exchanged passages back and forth, going from open awe to stomach-drops, and then finally, to self-deprecating memes.

When I got home, I would continue working. It became so intense that I would preschedule my emails so they went out at 8am at a normal time but I was writing them at three or four in the morning, a Teen Vogue Senior Editor said in the article.

I told Riese, hoping for a laugh, I see myself in this picture and I dont like it.

Thats difficult for me to admit in this letter, when we are here asking you for help to keep Autostraddle alive. More than anything, I want you to know how hard I work. This morning I got up at 8:30am and was at my computer an hour later. Its now (checks clock again) 9pm and Im still here. In between, I approved meeting schedules for our upcoming hiring interviews and staff performance reviews, troubleshooted various content holes in our calendar, negotiated a special rate on a personal essay with a writer, workshopped a pitch and approved a different piece from another, worked with our team to approve fundraiser ad copy, attended a fundraiser meeting led by Nicole, edited and published the transcript of one of our podcasts, sent at least a half dozen emails to various freelancers and PR agents, and watched an entire season worth of screeners on a television show so we can review it (this part took 5 hours alone). And I want you to know that before that, yesterday I worked up until 10pm straight before I broke for dinner.

I want you to know all of this, because I want you to feel good that we are stretching every dollar you give us as efficiently as we can, with lots of elbow grease for good measure. Because that is important! Its so important to me that you know I never forget we never forget how lucky we are that you keep finding value in us. And that we continue to earn it.

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But I also want to model good, healthy leadership for our team. And I cant do that if Im going so many days in a row without sleep that Riese has to quietly pull me aside and require me to take an entire day off to do just that (and yes, this exact thing happened in August). When Im gently admonishing an editor for answering a note at 1am with go to sleep and she responds, seems like maybe you know its not healthy but youre being more protective of me than you are of you! then I know we have a problem.

And the problem is not a lack of work ethic, its not a lack of passion or love for what we do. Its not a lack of thankfulness for what youve already given us. Its that we need well, another 10 hours each day. The reality is that what we are lucky enough to still have going here, being held together with glue, gratitude, and enthusiasm it is not sustainable. Autostraddle is people powered, and right now the people behind it are breaking. We need help.

Thanks to you, we have already gone further than any of us imagined, paving the road in $10 and $25. Weve built so much from what youve generously given us. Because of your support weve raised rates for our writers year after year and its our priority to keep raising the rates until they are market competitive; weve built better and more efficient workflows for our editors; weve been able to pay for infrastructure upgrades for our site (and we have so much more we still need!) and SEO training to compete with the algorithm whims of Google. You have helped us build something that is so much larger than what any of us could have hoped for alone a publication of our size should not exist without corporate money, flat out. Anyone would say that it could not be done. But it has been done, and that is because of you. We dont have venture capitalists or investors, we have you right now reading these words.

Help us out!

Which is why I have to tell you the truth, even when its hard: grit and magic alone are no longer enough. Were a 12 year experiment going on 13, which might as well be an eternity online. If we are going to honor the opportunities that youve made possible, if we are going to build an Autostraddle sustainable enough to outlive our wildest dreams we need your continued investment, so that we can grow into the dreams you have for us. The good news is that we already know how to do a lot with a little! Over the last two months, Autostraddle has had the largest traffic we have seen in well over a year, and we are currently doing it with our smallest editorial team since 2014. Imagine what we can do with just a little bit more.

As Im writing to you, Autostraddle is in the last stages of hiring two new Senior Editors. I was promoted to Autostraddles permanent (no longer interm) Editor-in-Chief in June. Its so incredibly rare that a new EIC is able to hire such a large, new editorial staff this early in her tenure. Starting from last January, when I began as Interm Editor-in-Chief, I will have hired 50% of our current part-time subject editors in the last 10 months, and 2/3 of my full-time editorial team. With these two new full-time hires, Autostraddle is currently undertaking its single largest editorial shift in the publications history. This is a responsibility to our community, and its blazing future ahead of us. I do not take that lightly.

These days, the #1 thing that keeps me up at night is figuring out how to set these new humans up for the best possible success. I scribble notes into the margins of my planner, sketching out training sessions and virtual team retreats. Im spending my free moments envisioning what comes first, how will we reach back into Autostraddles past and bridge it, stitching it into the very DNA of the new exciting places we are going next. I havent figured it all out yet! (And by necessity, we are moving fast!) But I do know this I want our new editors to have the freedom to grow without being preoccupied by scarcity and survival-tactics.

I want our new editors to be able to bring their biggest ideas and creativity, because thats how Autostraddle has always worked best, and have the open room to learn how we operate and then shake things up. For them to be able to make mistakes at first, to mend from them, without it being costly. I want them to have a chance to really get to know each other (and all of our other editors) and build trust together, the kind of trust and energy you need to work on a tiny team thats moving mountains.

More than anything, I want to know that our new full-time editors are empowered to work healthier hours than I have, for them to have good boundaries. With your help, by expanding our team, we can make it happen. I want their job security to also mean mental health and not having to pre-schedule messages to send in the morning that they are quietly writing alone at 3am. I dont want Riese to have to pull them aside and remind them to sleep. Along with broken code and website crashes, outdated language and that regrettable era when pencil-thin ties over white tank tops and suspenders was considered lesbian fashion, I want unsustainable work habits to be something we leave firmly in the past. Thats where we need your help.

And lets be real, these new queer humans, these new guardians of our community, they deserve that from us. They deserve our best. I know that together, we will give that to them the same way we always have, in $5, in $25. Thats all it takes.

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When we last spoke together, I told you that its hard for me to ask for money but for Autostraddle, asking is never about me the dreams of this community are not about one person. Thats never been more true than it is right now.

It sounds selfish to say please give to the Autostraddle fundraiser so that I can sleep but that is not why Im asking. We have never had an editorial team this strong, this diverse, this efficient, communicative, brave, full of so much knowledge simply because weve never made it this far before. We did that with your help. And can I just say, the Autostraddle that these people want to build for you? Whew.

Im here today because I desperately want to help them do it. And for that, I need you.

Sending my love to you Always,Carmen

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Before you go! It takes funding to keep this publication by and for queer women and trans people of all genders running every day. And support from readers like you keeps the majority of our site free for everyone. Still, 99.9% of our readers do not support. Autostraddle is fundraising right now to keep our site funded through January 2022. Will you join our community of readers in helping to keep us around?

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The #1 Thing That Keeps Me Up At Night - Autostraddle

Athletes are known to massage sore muscles after intense training. During exercise, muscles get damaged and inflamed and when the muscles repair themselves, theyll often also get bigger and stronger. Researchers are looking to the mechanisms by which massage after exercise actually works to help muscle regeneration and recovery.

In a new study published in the journal Science Translational Medicine, a group of researchers looks at how massage, or mechanotherapy, works in the leg muscles of mice. Lots of people have been trying to study the beneficial effects of massage and other mechanotherapies on the body, but up to this point it hadn't been done in a systematic, reproducible way, says first author on the study Bo Ri Seo, who is a Postdoctoral Fellow in the research group of Dave Mooney at the Wyss Institute and SEAS in a press release. Our work shows a very clear connection between mechanical stimulation and immune function. This has promise for regenerating a wide variety of tissues including bone, tendon, hair, and skin, and can also be used in patients with diseases that prevent the use of drug-based interventions.

Previous work by the group found that mechanotherapy helped with muscle regeneration and reduced tissue scarring in several studies in mice. They wanted to know more about how this actually works so they set up a new experiment where they could monitor the muscle tissues post massage.

They used a custom designed robotic system to massage the legs of mice in an experiment. They could also control how much force was being applied during the massage. The team then looked at what happened in the tissues following two weeks of massages.

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The researchers analyzed several inflammation-related factors called cytokines in the muscles of treated and untreated mice. They found that the subset of cytokines was much lower in the mice that got treated with massages. These mice also had lower levels of neutrophils, which are immune cells that play a role in the inflammation process.

Neutrophils are known to kill and clear out pathogens and damaged tissue, but in this study we identified their direct impacts on muscle progenitor cell behaviors, says co-second author Stephanie McNamara, a former Post-Graduate Fellow at the Wyss Institute who is now an M.D.-Ph.D. student at Harvard Medical School (HMS), in the press release. While the inflammatory response is important for regeneration in the initial stages of healing, it is equally important that inflammation is quickly resolved to enable the regenerative processes to run its full course.

The group also examined whether massage had an effect on the type of muscle fibers that developed, and found that a specific type of fiber was more prevalent in treated mice that helped them to be stronger.

This research could also have implications for immunotherapy, the authors suggest. The idea that mechanics influence cell and tissue function was ridiculed until the last few decades, and while scientists have made great strides in establishing acceptance of this fact, we still know very little about how that process actually works at the organ level, says Wyss Founding Director Don Ingber in the press release. This research has revealed a previously unknown type of interplay between mechanobiology and immunology that is critical for muscle tissue healing, in addition to describing a new form of mechanotherapy that potentially could be as potent as chemical or gene therapies, but much simpler and less invasive.

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Massage helps muscles heal faster and stronger. Here's why. | TheHill - The Hill