New collaboration harnessing COVID methods to combat multi-billion threat to UK forests
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Updates every hour. Last Updated: 11-Jul-2025 03:10 ET (11-Jul-2025 07:10 GMT/UTC)
Harnessing methods used to successfully predict and understand the spread of COVID-19 during the pandemic, a new University of Sheffield project aims to combat the impact of forest diseases that can cost the UK economy billions.
Scientists from TU Delft (The Netherlands) have observed quantum spin currents in graphene for the first time without using magnetic fields. These currents are vital for spintronics, a faster and more energy-efficient alternative to electronics. This breakthrough, published in Nature Communications, marks an important step towards technologies like quantum computing and advanced memory devices.
Many early-career scientists continue their academic careers at the same university where they studied, a practice known as academic inbreeding. A researcher at the HSE Institute of Education analysed the impact of academic inbreeding on publication activity in the natural sciences and mathematics. The study found that the impact is ambiguous and depends on various factors, including the university's geographical location, its financial resources, and the state of the regional academic employment market. A paper with the study findings has been published in Research Policy.
Researchers from The University of Osaka have developed a way to efficiently prepare the “magic states” necessary for quantum computers to be resistant to errors. Their technique, called “zero-level distillation,” involves working with qubits at the physical or zeroth level as opposed to higher, more abstract levels. The spatial and temporal overhead of quantum computers prepared from these states using this technique is around several dozen times lower than that of those prepared from conventional methods.