How Quantum Computing Could Remake Chemistry

Trouble viewing? View in your browser. View all Scientific American publications.

    

August 17, 2021

Dear Reader, A new study suggests that interacting with digital, 3-D models of faces could make eyewitness evidence more accurate. Next, tiny robots take on microplastics. And this week's lead story focuses on chemistry's quantum future.

Sunya Bhutta, Senior Editor, Audience Engagement @sunyaaa

Quantum Computing How Quantum Computing Could Remake Chemistry It will bring molecular modeling to a new level of accuracy, reducing researchers' reliance on serendipity By Jeannette M. Garcia

Memory Digital Heads Help Eyewitnesses Identify Suspects Witnesses were more accurate when they interacted with 3-D models than when they looked at still photographs. And the models were less expensive than an in-person lineup By Sophie Bushwick

Fossil Fuels New Tech Can Reveal a Vast Network of Methane Leaks But it is unclear if oil and gas companies and their regulators will respond By Anna Kuchment

Pollution Tiny Robots Could Clean Up Microplastic Pollution In a proof-of-concept study, microscopic self-propelled devices found and broke down microplastic particles By Scott Hershberger

Renewable Energy Wave Power Charges Ahead with Static Electricity Generators An ocean-powered buoy brings technology closer to the dream of obtaining energy from the sea By Maddie Bender

Climate Change Walling Off One Coastal Area Can Flood Another Seawalls and levees may simply shift rising water elsewhere—often into disadvantaged communities By Robin Meadows

Conservation Indigenous Amazon Communities Fight Deforestation with New Early-Alert Tool A pilot program reveals that deforestation declined when Peruvian Indigenous communities use an early-alert-system app to detect forest loss By Annie Sneed

FROM THE STORE Scientific American Volume 325, Issue 3

QUOTE OF THE DAY "Nature isn't classical, dammit, and if you want to make a simulation of nature, you'd better make it quantum-mechanical." Richard Feynman, theoretical physicist

ADVERTISEMENT

FROM THE ARCHIVE How Does a Quantum Computer Work? If you understand how these systems operate, then you understand why they could change everything. By Michael Tabb,Andrea Gawrylewski,Jeffery DelViscio | July 2021

LATEST ISSUES

Questions?   Comments?

Download the Scientific American App

To view this email as a web page, go here. You received this email because you opted-in to receive email from Scientific American. To ensure delivery please add news@email.scientificamerican.com to your address book. Unsubscribe     Manage Email Preferences     Privacy Policy     Contact Us