Club Q Q107-Loyalty Club (Southern ON Only) v4

[rock lobster]

I'm entangled in many things
but are we all 'entangled' together?

Frozen tardigrade becomes first 'quantum entangled' animal in history, researchers claim

By Brandon Specktor published 14 days ago
Some experts are skeptical that the frozen moss piglet really entered a quantum state.




(Image credit: STEVE GSCHMEISSNER/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY/Getty Images)


Tardigrades — those microscopic, plump-bodied critters lovingly known as "moss piglets" — have been put through the ringer for science. The amazingly durable creatures have been shot out of guns, bathed in boiling-hot water, exposed to intense ultraviolet radiation and even (accidentally) crash-landed on the moon, all to test the limits of their impressive "tun" state — a survival mechanism wherein tardigrades curl up into shrunken, dehydrated balls and suspend their biological functions indefinitely in order to endure extreme environmental conditions.


Now, researchers have exposed tardigrades to the coldest temperatures and highest pressures that moss piglets have ever survived — not just to test the critters' biological limits, but also to see whether a frozen tardigrade could be incorporated into two quantum entangled electric circuits, then later revived to its normal active state.

The results, reported in a new paper published to the preprint database arXiv, suggest that, yes — scientists may be able to add "temporary quantum entanglement" to the tardigrade's growing list of accomplishments. However, early responses to the paper have taken issue with this finding.



If the findings ultimately withstand peer review, then this experiment will represent the first time a living animal has been quantum entangled — a bizarre phenomenon typically confined to the smallest subatomic particles.

Spooky action in a piglet


The phenomenon of quantum entanglement is so strange that even Albert Einstein had his doubts about it, famously nicknaming the process "spooky action at a distance." Essentially, the effect occurs when two teeny, tiny subatomic particles become bound to one another so that a change to one particle's spin or momentum instantaneously changes the other particle in the same way — even when the two particles are separated by incredibly large distances.


This effect may be able to transcend the subatomic realm, as scientists attempted to prove in a 2018 paper in the Journal of Physics Communications. That team found that certain photosynthetic bacteria were capable of becoming entangled with light photons, when the resonant frequency of light in a mirrored room eventually synchronized with the frequency of electrons in the bacteria's photosynthetic molecules, Live Science previously reported.

The authors of the new arXiv paper decided to test whether a multicellular organism like a tardigrade could develop such a relationship. In their experiment, the team collected three tardigrades from a roof gutter in Denmark. In their animated state, the tardigrades measured between 0.008 and 0.018 inches (0.2 to 0.45 millimeters) — however, after the researchers froze the tardigrades and sent them into a tun state, the animals shrunk to about a third of that size.

From there, the team froze the tardigrades even further, cooling them to a fraction of a degree above absolute zero — the coldest temperature a tardigrade has ever been exposed to and survived.

The team placed each frozen tardigrade between two capacitor plates of a superconductor circuit that formed a quantum bit, or "qubit" — a unit of information used in quantum computing. When the tardigrade came into contact with the qubit (named Qubit B), it shifted the qubit's resonant frequency. That tardigrade-qubit-hybrid was then coupled to a second nearby circuit (Qubit A), so that the two qubits became entangled. Over several tests that followed, the researchers saw that the frequency of both qubits and the tardigrade changed in tandem, resembling a three-part entangled system.

Seventeen days after the tardigrades entered their tun states, the researchers gently warmed them up in an attempt to revive them. One of the tardigrades returned to its animated state, while the other two died. That survivor effectively has become the first quantum entangled animal in history, the researchers claimed.

"While one might expect similar physical results from inanimate objects with similar composition to the tardigrade, we emphasize that entanglement is observed with [an] entire organism that retains its biological functionality post experiment," the team concluded in their paper. "At the same time, the tardigrade survived the most extreme and prolonged conditions it has ever been exposed to."

While the paper has not yet been peer-reviewed, early responses from the scientific community have been critical. Douglas Natelson, Department Chair of physics and astronomy at Rice University in Texas, wrote on his blog that the experiment "did not entangle a tardigrade with a qubit in any meaningful sense."

"What the authors did here was put a tardigrade on top of the capacitive parts of one of two coupled qubits," Natelson wrote. "The tardigrade is mostly (frozen) water, and here it acts like a dielectric, shifting the resonance frequency of the one qubit that it sat on… This is not entanglement in any meaningful sense."

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Ben Brubaker, a science writer and former physicist agreed.

"The qubit is an electrical circuit and putting the tardigrade next to it affects it through the laws of electromagnetism we've known about for more than 150 years," Brubaker tweeted. "Putting a speck of dust next to the qubit would have a similar effect."

Whether or not the tardigrade experienced any "spooky action" from the qubits it was attached to, the study does show that moss piglets are even more durable than previously thought. As exciting as a "quantum tardigrade" sounds, this experiment should at least serve as a reminder that regular-old tardigrades are fascinating enough on their own.

[rock lobster]

If I'm spun, you're spun, if you're spun, we're all spun.
The question becomes, are we all spun in the right direction?

[rock lobster]

I'm sending out good vibrations.

[heartgirl99]

well, we knew it was coming......


https://news.ontario.ca/en/release/1...dmap-to-reopen

These measures include:

• Reducing social gathering limits to five people indoors and 10 people outdoors.
• Limiting capacity at organized public events to five people indoors.
• Requiring businesses and organizations to ensure employees work remotely unless the nature of their work requires them to be on-site.
• Limiting capacity at indoor weddings, funerals, and religious services, rites and ceremonies to 50 per cent capacity of the particular room. Outdoor services are limited to the number of people that can maintain 2 metres of physical distance. Social gatherings associated with these services must adhere to the social gathering limits.
• Retail settings, including shopping malls, permitted at 50 per cent capacity. For shopping malls physical distancing will be required in line-ups, loitering will not be permitted and food courts will be required to close.
• Personal care services permitted at 50 per cent capacity and other restrictions. Saunas, steam rooms, and oxygen bars closed.
• Closing indoor meeting and event spaces with limited exceptions but permitting outdoor spaces to remain open with restrictions.
• Public libraries limited to 50 per cent capacity.
• Closing indoor dining at restaurants, bars and other food or drink establishments. Outdoor dining with restrictions, takeout, drive through and delivery is permitted.
• Restricting the sale of alcohol after 10 p.m. and the consumption of alcohol on-premise in businesses or settings after 11 p.m. with delivery and takeout, grocery/convenience stores and other liquor stores exempted.
• Closing indoor concert venues, theatres, cinemas, rehearsals and recorded performances permitted with restrictions.
• Closing museums, galleries, zoos, science centres, landmarks, historic sites, botanical gardens and similar attractions, amusement parks and waterparks, tour and guide services and fairs, rural exhibitions, and festivals. Outdoor establishments permitted to open with restrictions and with spectator occupancy, where applicable, limited to 50 per cent capacity.
• Closing indoor horse racing tracks, car racing tracks and other similar venues. Outdoor establishments permitted to open with restrictions and with spectator occupancy limited to 50 per cent capacity. Boat tours permitted at 50 per cent capacity.
• Closing indoor sport and recreational fitness facilities including gyms, except for athletes training for the Olympics and Paralympics and select professional and elite amateur sport leagues. Outdoor facilities are permitted to operate but with the number of spectators not to exceed 50 per cent occupancy and other requirements.
• All publicly funded and private schools will move to remote learning starting January 5 until at least January 17, subject to public health trends and operational considerations.
• School buildings would be permitted to open for child care operations, including emergency child care, to provide in-person instruction for students with special education needs who cannot be accommodated remotely and for staff who are unable to deliver quality instruction from home.
• During this period of remote learning, free emergency child care will be provided for school-aged children of health care and other eligible frontline workers.

Please view the regulation for the full list of mandatory public health and workplace safety measures.
In addition, on January 5, 2022 the Chief Medical Officer of Health will reinstate Directive 2 for hospitals and regulated health professionals, instructing hospitals to pause all non-emergent and non-urgent surgeries and procedures in order to preserve critical care and human resource capacity.

[heartgirl99]

good morning, qts

another wind chilly day but we should see the sun!

Today

Mainly sunny. Wind becoming south 20 km/h gusting to 40 early this afternoon. High plus 2. Wind chill minus 10 this morning. UV index 1 or low.


Tonight

A few clouds. Increasing cloudiness overnight. Wind south 20 km/h becoming light early this evening. Wind becoming south 30 gusting to 50 after midnight. Temperature steady near plus 1.


Wednesday

Cloudy. 60 percent chance of rain showers or flurries late in the morning and early afternoon then 60 percent chance of flurries late in the afternoon. Wind southwest 40 km/h gusting to 70. High plus 3 with temperature falling to minus 2 in the afternoon.

[heartgirl99]

good morning, qts

it's going to be WINDY today! take care out there!

Today

Cloudy. 70 percent chance of rain showers or flurries this afternoon then 70 percent chance of flurries late this afternoon. Wind becoming southwest 20 km/h gusting to 40 this morning then increasing to 40 gusting to 70 near noon. High plus 3.


Tonight

Cloudy with 30 percent chance of flurries. Wind southwest 30 km/h gusting to 60. Low minus 7. Wind chill minus 16 overnight.

Thursday

Mainly cloudy with 40 percent chance of flurries. Wind southwest 20 km/h gusting to 40 becoming light late in the afternoon. High minus 1. Wind chill minus 13 in the morning and minus 3 in the afternoon. UV index 1 or low.



6:20 AM EST Wednesday 05 January 2022
Special weather statement in effect for:

• City of Toronto

Strong winds expected today.

Hazards:
Strong winds gusting between 70 and 80 km/h.

When:
This afternoon into this evening.

Impacts:
Power outages may occur.
High winds may toss loose objects or cause tree branches to break.
Be prepared to adjust your driving with changing road conditions due to high winds.

Discussion:
A cold front will sweep through southern Ontario this afternoon and evening bringing strong southwest winds.

[the H team]

Happy Hump Day Q sters,

What a difference between this morning & this evening. This morning was warm & calm going to work, but by the time I left work, it was windy, cold & white stuff was coming down.
Stay safe.

[heartgirl99]

good morning, qts

the wind gusts should die down a bit today but it's still going to be cold!

Today

Cloudy. 30 percent chance of flurries changing to 70 percent chance of flurries this afternoon. Wind southwest 40 km/h gusting to 60 diminishing to 20 gusting to 40 this morning. High minus 2. Wind chill minus 14 this morning and minus 4 this afternoon. UV index 1 or low.


Tonight

Cloudy. 70 percent chance of flurries changing to 30 percent chance of flurries near midnight. Wind up to 15 km/h. Low minus 8. Wind chill minus 5 this evening and minus 10 overnight.


Friday

Mainly cloudy with 30 percent chance of flurries. Wind northwest 30 km/h gusting to 50. High minus 4. Wind chill minus 15 in the morning and minus 7 in the afternoon. UV index 1 or low.

[rock lobster]

[The Jester]

[Mechman47]

Happy 2022 Q'sters.

[rock lobster]

Language warning!!

[rock lobster]

If there's a Black Panther Party there should be
a White Panther Party--- Bobby Seale

[rock lobster]

[rockit]

Language warning!!

Funny how you can think you've heard of every band around then you get introduced to someone like Moter City 5. Buddy from work turned me onto them a few years back. Good stuff. I introduced him to Gary Moore and Rory Gallagher