Suramya's Blog : Welcome to my crazy life…

May 27, 2019

Microsoft and Brilliant launch Online Quantum Computing Class that actually looks useful

Quantum computing (QC) is the next big thing and everyone is eager to jump on the bandwagon. So my email & news feeds are usually flooded with articles on how QC will solve all my problems. I don’t deny that there are some very interesting usecases out there that would benefit from Quantum Computers but after a while it gets tiring. That being said I just found out that Microsoft & Brilliant have launched a new interactive course on Quantum Computing that allows you to build quantum algorithms from the ground up with a quantum computer simulated in your browser and I feel its pretty cool and a great initiative. The tutorial enables you to learn Q# which is Microsoft’s answer to the question of which language to use for Quantum computing code. Check it out if you are interested in learning how to code in Q#.

The course starts with basic concepts and gradually introduces you to Microsoft’s Q# language, teaching you how to write ‘simple’ quantum algorithms before moving on to truly complicated scenarios. You can handle everything on the web (including quantum circuit puzzles) and the course’s web page promises that by the end of the course, “you’ll know your way around the world of quantum information, have experimented with the ins and outs of quantum circuits, and have written your first 100 lines of quantum code — while remaining blissfully ignorant about detailed quantum physics.”
Brilliant has more than 8 million students and professionals worldwide learning subjects from algebra to special relativity through guided problem-solving. In partnership with Microsoft’s quantum team, Brilliant has launched an interactive course called “Quantum Computing,” for learning quantum computing and programming in Q#, Microsoft’s new quantum-tuned programming language. The course features Q# programming exercises with Python as the host language (one of our new features!). Brilliant and Microsoft are excited to empower the next generation of quantum computer scientists and engineers and start growing a quantum workforce today.

Starting from scratch

Because quantum computing bridges the fields of information theory, physics, mathematics, and computer science, it can be difficult to know where to begin. Brilliant’s course, integrated with some of Microsoft’s leading quantum development tools, provides self-learners with the tools they need to master quantum computing.
The new quantum computing course starts from scratch and brings students along in a way that suits their schedule and skills. Students can build and simulate simple quantum algorithms on the go or implement advanced quantum algorithms in Q

Once you have gone through the tutorial you should also check out IBM Q that allows you to code on a Quantum computer for free.

– Suramya

May 26, 2019

Why on earth are Indian news channels announcing the launch of ‘Spy Satellites’?

Filed under: My Thoughts — Suramya @ 10:26 PM

When other countries launch spy satellites the mission is top secret and hardly anyone knows about it. So I had a bit of a shock on Thursday when I was walking past a TV in the cafeteria at work and noticed a news ticker stating “ISRO launched spy satellite successfully” on screen. I had a good laugh about it with the folks I was with and then promptly forgot about it. However yesterday I was looking at the election news and ended up at the following Economic times article: “ISRO launches ‘cloud-proof’ earth observation spy satellite RISAT-2B to keep an eye on Pakistan” which reminded me about the launch so I just had to post about it.

If we are advertising our spy satellite launches then we are giving foreign assets enough information to figure out the orbit and timings where the satellite would be over head (unless it was in a geo-stationary orbit) giving them the ability to hide activity from them. For example when the Pokhran test was done it 1997 it was a surprise for the US in spite of the massive satellite coverage US has because we had a mapping of when each of the satellites pass over India allowing india to build up preparations over months so as not to indicate any sudden heightening of activity and performing critical jobs during satellite “blind” periods when they are beyond the reach of Pokhran.

Now by announcing the launch we are making it easier for other countries like Pakistan to duplicate this feat. Since they know the launch details it makes it easier to track the orbit of the payload and narrow down the search for the satellite if they didn’t locate it when it was released in orbit.

Press freedom is well and good but I don’t think it makes sense to announce such news to the world.

– Suramya

May 24, 2019

Science is bringing personal cooling closer to reality with a wearable cooling Patch

Filed under: Interesting Sites,My Thoughts — Suramya @ 6:03 PM

In an announcement that is going to cause a lot of couples to sigh in relief, researchers from University of California, San Diego have come up with a wearable patch that cools the skin temperature down by ~10 Deg C. It is still in research phase but the basic prototype works and I am definitely in queue to buy this when it comes out. I love cool temperatures and my wife is the polar opposite and prefers hot and humid weather (30 Deg + ) so usually one of us is suffering. Its gotten to the point that I know that if I am feeling comfortable then she is cold. We usually end up carrying an extra jacket for her when we travel to moderately cold places and lots of cold water for me if we are going somewhere where she would be comfortable. This would allow us to keep the house warm enough for her without making me miserable due to the heat. According to the press release:

Thermoelectric systems use semiconductors to pump heat from one side of a device to the other, creating a cool zone and a hot zone. Such systems can provide compact, easily adjustable cooling, but getting them to efficiently dissipate heat has proved challenging.

Renkun Chen, Sheng Xu and their colleagues at the University of California, San Diego, addressed this problem by embedding multiple pillars of a semiconducting material between two stretchy polymer sheets. One sheet served as the hot zone, the other as the cool zone. This design conferred flexibility and insulated the hot and cold sides from each other, allowing the hot layer to dissipate its heat into the air.

This system would also have an application in offices. Usually the temperatures in office are kept cool because of research in early 60’s that calculated the optimal temperature taking into account the comfort of a forty-year-old, hundred-and-fifty-four-pound man wearing a business suit, (Learn more about the Sexist history of Office temperature here if you are interested) and this means that women in offices usually freeze and don’t perform at the peak of their performance. Once this patch is released, the office could be kept at a warmer temperature making it more comfortable for the women (and folks not wearing jackets/suits to office) and anyone who dislikes the warmer temperature (like me) would wear this patch and be comfortable as well. Decreasing the cooling required would reduce the load on AC’s and power infra as well.

So in conclusion I hope that this gets a commercial release quickly. 🙂

Source: Air conditioner ‘in a patch’ provides portable cooling – Nature.com

– Suramya

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