ScienceDaily: Computers & Math News

Physicists have demonstrated how simulations using quantum computing can enable observation of a distinctive state of matter taken out of its normal equilibrium. Such novel states of matter could one day lead to developments in fast, powerful quantum information storage and precision measurement science.

A groundbreaking Bayesian method and new statistical analyses of genomic data from geckos in the Philippines shows that during the ice ages, the timing of gecko diversification gives strong statistical support for the first time to the Pleistocene aggregate island complex (PAIC) model of diversification, or 'species pump.'

Computers and smartphones have different kinds of memory, which vary in speed and power efficiency depending on where they are used in the system. Typically, larger computers, especially those in data centers, will use a lot of magnetic hard drives, which are less common in consumer systems now. The magnetic technology these are based on provides very high capacity, but lack the speed of solid state system memory. Devices based on upcoming spintronic technology may be able to bridge that gap and radically improve upon even theoretical performance of classical electronic devices.

Assessing the thickness of melanoma is difficult, whether done by an experienced dermatologist or a well-trained machine-learning algorithm. A study shows that the algorithm and the dermatologists had an equal success rate in interpreting dermoscopic images.

Many people and companies worry about sensitive data getting hacked, so encrypting files with digital keys has become more commonplace. Now, researchers have developed a durable molecular encryption key from sequence-defined polymers that are built and deconstructed in a sequential way. They hid their molecular key in the ink of a letter, which was mailed and then used to decrypt a file with text from a classic story.

Thanks to high-tech, low-cost tracking devices, the study of wildlife movement is having its Big Data moment. But so far, only people with data science skills have been able to glean meaningful insights from this 'golden age' of tracking. A new system is changing that. MoveApps is a platform that lets scientists and wildlife managers explore animal movement data -- with little more than a device and a browser -- to tackle real-world issues.