Curating the Internet: Science and technology micro-summaries for September 17, 2019

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(Edited)
Authored by @remlaps

An important quantum search algorithm has been observed in the natural behavior of electrons; A simple eye test as early warning for Alzheimer's disease; The coming reality of space tourism; SpaceX updates plans to provide earlier broadband coverage to the US; and a Steem-based video discussion of white holes and anti-matter

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  1. An important quantum algorithm may actually be a property of nature - In classical algorithms, the worst case number of steps for searching a list is N, the number of items in the list, because the target item might be the last object searched. In 1996, however, Lov Grover found a quantum algorithm that can search a list with a worst case performance of the square root of N (i.e. 3 steps for a list of 9 items, or 5 steps for a list of 25). Grover's Algorithm has proved difficult to implement, however, and (as of 2017) current implementations only scale to 3 qubits. According to researchers from the University of Toulon, nature may have already beaten us to it, however. In an arXiv paper, these researchers say that under certain conditions, electrons naturally act like a Grover Search in order to detect defects in materials. This research could have implications in the search for a more scalable method for Grover Search in quantum computing, and - according to theoretical work by Apoorva D Patel in 2000, it may also have explanatory power for biologists who are exploring the origins of life.

  2. Pupillary dilation responses as a midlife indicator of risk for Alzheimer’s Disease: Association with Alzheimer’s disease polygenic risk - Tau deposits in the Locus coeruleus are one of the earliest biomarkers of Alzheimer's disease, the United States' most expensive disease. Until now, the biomarker has only been detectable with post-mortem testing, but this research suggests that it may be detectable with a simple eye test that examines pupillary responses during cognitive tasks. If so, this may help with early screening for Alzheimer's - before cognitive difficulties are observable. This, in turn, may help with slowing the onset of the disease. h/t Daniel Lemire

    Update: After a reminder from @lemouth, here are links to some of my previous posts that have included coverage of Alzheimer's disease. From @lemouth's comment (below) and reviewing these posts, I was reminded that there are other techniques on the research horizon that make use of blood tests or brain scans and may also lead to early detection of Alzheimer's disease:


  3. Huge space hotel promises fake gravity and 'supersized basketball' - Space tourism is on the verge of becoming, "a thing". NASA says it will open the International Space Station (ISS) to up to tourists in 2020; Orion Span is planning a four-guest space hotel in 2022, and now the Gateway Foundation is planning a space-based cruise ship that will carry up to 100 passengers for 2025, with the first guests arriving in 2027. This vehicle, the Von Braun Rotating Space Station, will have artificial gravity at 1/6 of the Earth's pull, and may use a SpaceX vehicle to shuttle passengers to and from the ground. Typical guest stays would be 1-2 weeks, and crew members would spend 6 months aboard the ship. In order to reduce the risk from space-based debris, the ship would have protective shielding, and it would be able to steer to avoid collisions. The article contains an animation to show what the ship might look like. h/t RealClear Science

  4. SpaceX says it will deploy satellite broadband across US faster than expected - The company has filed plans to change its satellite launch strategy in a way that will reorganize orbits in order to speed up deployment. If approved, the new plans call for satellites in three planes, instead of one. Under the new plans, the company plans to provide coverage to the continental United States by the end of "next hurricane season", and to other US territories the following year. Unlike traditional satellite services, SpaceX will use low earth orbits, which will provide latency as low as 25 ms, with Gigabit speed. The company also plans several more Starlking satellite launches during 2019.

  5. STEEM White Holes | Answers With Joe - Here is a Steem post with an embedded youtube video, where @answerswithjoe talks about the concept of White Holes. The discussion starts off with a historical discussion of black holes in science fiction, then points out that black holes were never actually observed until 2015. From there, @answerswithjoe points out that the same math that predicted black holes also predicted white holes, but to date none have been observed. Whereas the black hole has an event horizon beyond which nothing can escape, the white hole, it says, has an event horizon beyond which nothing can reach. The video suggests that one mechanism by which white holes might form is by emerging from black holes in another universe, and for example, that our big bang may have formed as a white hole from another universe.

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Concerning white holes, I think it is important to say that there is not any known physical processes that could yield white hole formation. This is not the case for black holes. This makes a huge different between the two beasts.

To go back to the second choice, I remember having read somewhere (can't find the source anymore, sorry) that there are today ways to predict the likelihood a human can get Alzheimer up to 20 years in advance. I have read that on Steem but it is really a pity I can't find it anymore :/

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(Edited)

Thanks for the comment and the clarification on white holes. I agree, that is an important point.

FYI, I think that two of the links in today's post are also close to your subject area (The post is scheduled in not quite 3 hours).

On Alzheimer's, I remember covering an experimental blood test, in Curating the Internet: Science and technology micro-summaries for August 5, 2019. The source article says that proteins start to build up in the blood up to 20 years before the onset of memory loss & confusion, and that those proteins can be detected in a new blood test. But, it only worked in 88% of subjects, which isn't accurate enough for lab diagnostics. I meant to go back and link to that article when I was writing this, but it slipped my mind again by the time I got done writing the summaries. I'm glad you commented so I could add the link here.

In the time that I've been running this series of posts, it's been pretty amazing to see all the advances in Alzheimer's research. It has to be one of my most frequently covered topics.

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Yes this is it (the Alzheimer)! Someone wrote some detailed notes about it, but I can't really remember who..

FYI, I think that two of the links in today's post are also close to your subject area (The post is scheduled in not quite 3 hours).

I usually read them all, but sometimes quite a bit delayed ... This strongly depends on the amount of work I have. I will try to have a look today, but I will most probably check tomorrow ;)

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