World News for Students of English

16-12-2024 15:00

Google has unveiled its new quantum chip, ‘Willow’, which can solve problems in five minutes that would take the world’s fastest supercomputers 10 septillion years.

This milestone represents a major leap in quantum computing, a field leveraging quantum mechanics to create powerful computers. Traditional computers use bits (0s and 1s), while quantum computers use qubits, which can represent both 0 and 1 simultaneously due to quantum superposition. This allows quantum computers to perform certain tasks much faster than classical ones.

Google’s breakthrough is its ability to reduce error rates in a chip with over 100 qubits. While practical quantum computers are still years away, they hold potential for rapid material modeling, such as drug development, and cryptographic advances. However, they also pose risks to current encryption systems, prompting the development of quantum-resistant security measures.

Difficult words: septillion (a number equal to 1 followed by 24 zeros), leverage (to use something to maximum advantage), quantum superposition (the state where something can be multiple things at once), cryptographic (coding information or messages).

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