Can Canada win the fusion race?
Creating the conditions of the sun on Earth has been a decades-long, global challenge — but if we crack it, it could mean limitless clean energy. Johanna Wagstaffe visits a Canadian company betting on a bold new approach to get there first.
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Globe and Mail
an hour ago
- Globe and Mail
Canada's Xanadu achieves worldwide first with error-resistant quantum chip
Toronto startup Xanadu Quantum Technologies Inc. is reporting a new milestone in the effort to develop a form of light-based quantum computing that can operate at commercial scale. For the first time anywhere, Xanadu researchers have created a single chip that embodies a powerful type of error-detection code in a pulse of laser light. If a number of such chips could be harnessed together, it would open the door to a quantum computer that can deliver reliable results with practical value. 'This is something that's been on our roadmap for a long time,' Zachary Vernon, Xanadu's chief technology officer for hardware, told The Globe and Mail. A technical description of the chip was published Wednesday in the journal Nature. The development is significant 'because the chip platform is supposed to be scalable,' said Daniel Soh, an associate professor of optical science at the University of Arizona in Tucson. 'In the future, we will need millions or billions of this kind of devices on a chip. This result is a massive step towards that goal,' said Dr. Soh, who is not affiliated with Xanadu. Canada 'a sweet spot' for growing quantum computing industry, expert says Christian Weedbrook, Xanadu's founder and chief executive officer, said the development means it is possible to envision a quantum-computing system operating at the scale of a data centre, with some 5,000 servers fitting into a facility less than 10,000 square metres in size. 'We're also thinking ahead to how we can add more density in there, so that'll change,' he said. Earlier this year Xanadu published a result showing how its form of quantum computing could be easily modularized. This latest step is aimed at making a machine large enough to solve relevant problems but not so large that it becomes impractical for commercial purposes. It is the latest example of a shift in the focus and tempo of advancements in the quantum computing world. Overall, the goal remains to create a computer that runs on qubits – interconnected physical elements that exhibit quantum behaviour – instead of the standard bits of a conventional digital system. Where a bit can be used to represent a one or a zero in a mathematical calculation, a qubit can be a mixture of both. This dual nature, when combined with many other qubits, is what allows a quantum computer, in principle, to vastly outperform a conventional computer at certain kinds of calculations that are important for data security and other applications. While various companies, including Google, IBM and Microsoft, have experimented with different types of qubits, all of them face the same challenge: Quantum systems are sensitive to disturbance and difficult to isolate from the rest of the world, which makes quantum computers especially error-prone. To counter this, qubits can be linked to check each other for signs of failure during a calculation. But the price for such redundancy is that many more qubits are needed to build a reliable computer powerful enough to solve real-world problems. More recently, teams have sought to exploit various mathematical codes, which are ways of tying qubits together, to make error correction more robust. Of particular interest are Gottesman-Kitaev-Preskill (GKP) codes. First proposed in 2001, they are challenging to implement but especially amenable for quantum computer builders such as Xanadu, whose machines use qubits made of light moving through a fibre-optic network. Xanadu's new chip corrals incoming particles of light, called photons, into a quantum state that allows them to work together to form a GKP qubit. The chip has four outputs, three of which are connected to detectors that can reveal whether the fourth is in a state that would allow it to be useful for a quantum calculation. In a working quantum computer, such chips would provide an initial layer of error detection that would then be further augmented by other error-correction techniques when chips are combined. Similar strategies are being explored by other companies. Last week, Nord Quantique, based in Sherbrooke, Que., demonstrated that it had successfully encoded microwave photons bouncing around inside a metal cavity with a GKP code. Meanwhile, Xanadu still has more obstacles to overcome. Chief among them is finding ways to overcome signal loss, which occurs when photons are absorbed by the materials they are moving through. In addition to making its light-based technology work, Xanadu and direct competitors such as PsiQuantum, Corp. of Palo Alto, Calif., are racing against big tech companies developing computers with qubits that rely on special superconducting materials kept at extremely cold temperatures. Light-based systems offer a different set of advantages, including the fact that they can operate at room temperature. While no system has yet emerged as a clear winner, Dr. Soh says light-based quantum computers may end up inching ahead because once the key technical challenges are solved, they will be easier to scale up.
CTV News
5 hours ago
- CTV News
Chinese nationals accused in U.S. pathogen plot for possible agricultural terrorism
Two Chinese scientists are accused of smuggling pathogens into the U.S., which officials say could be used to seriously damage the country's agricultural industry.
CBC
9 hours ago
- CBC
Two Canadian UNESCO Geoparks cautioned to make improvements or risk losing status
Two unique areas of Atlantic Canada recognized for their geological significance five years ago have been cautioned to make changes or risk losing their rare status as UNESCO Global Geoparks — a designation that puts them on bucket lists of people around the world. "If I lose that, then my future is kind of uncertain to be honest," said Anna Hergert, the owner of Tide Rollers and Mudlarkers, a local tour company. Hergert takes people on custom tours through the Cliffs of Fundy UNESCO Global Geopark, on the north shore of the Minas Basin in the Bay of Fundy in Nova Scotia. "For me that was one of the main reasons to settle in this area," she said during an interview inside the park, standing on the ocean floor during low tide. Geoparks are not pre-existing provincial or national parks, but rather distinct regions with internationally important geology — rock formations, caves, mountain ranges and fossil sites — that tell the story of Earth's history, and where local and Indigenous communities can promote their culture. UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, revalidates geoparks every four years, and three of the five in Canada — among only 229 on the planet — have been told they need to improve. Cliffs of Fundy and the Discovery Geopark in Newfoundland and Labrador are still in limbo. The Percé Geopark in Quebec's Gaspé region, first designated in 2018, was also given recommendations to improve, but has since had its status confirmed for another four years. Cliffs of Fundy and Discovery both received their UNESCO designations in 2020. Unlike the more common UNESCO World Heritage Sites, which are reviewed every eight years or so and of which there are more than 1,200 globally, geoparks undergo a "rigorous revalidation" every four years. The 'rigorous revalidation' process "This timeframe reflects the dynamic nature of the program, which places strong emphasis on ongoing community engagement, educational outreach, sustainable tourism and international co-operation," said a UNESCO spokesperson in a statement to CBC News. He said it is rare for a designation to be revoked. The revalidation is conducted by independent evaluators and includes a four- to five-day visit to the site, at the end of which the park receives a green card, meaning its status is renewed, a yellow card, meaning it has two years to make changes or get the dreaded red card, which means it will lose its status. In 2023, Cliffs of Fundy and Discovery received visits from two independent evaluators from Germany and France, who produced a report in 2024. In July, both parks are expecting visits from two more evaluators — this time from Portugal and Iceland — to examine whether the previous recommendations have been implemented. The towering Cliffs of Fundy — steeped in Mi'kmaw history — boast the highest tides in the world and the oldest dinosaur bones in Canada. Geologists say it is also the only place on earth where they can see the record of the assembly of the world's supercontinent, Pangea, more than 300 million years ago, and when it it broke apart 100 million years later, drifting into the positions the continents are in today. The park received 10 recommendations, including the need to secure funding, put up more signage, improve infrastructure and access roads and better share the area's story. WATCH | Atlantic Canada sites could lose status as UNESCO Geoparks: 2 Canadian geoparks could lose UNESCO designation 13 hours ago Duration 2:13 Two of five places in Canada deemed UNESCO Global Geoparks are at risk of losing the prestigious designation if steps aren't taken to improve the sites with better signage and overall infrastructure. "Obviously it would have been lovely to have just received the green card," said Devin Trefry, Cliffs of Fundy's managing director. "But in a way, I think it's good that we've been motivated to really kind of hone in and focus to get things done." Trefry said the park got a slow start due to receiving the designation during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the devastation caused by post-tropical storm Fiona in 2022 didn't help. But he said a lot of work has been done over the last year: the park is working toward receiving status as a charitable organization, which would allow donors to receive tax receipts; signs have been purchased and approved and just need to be erected; and new interpretive panels and a tourism map are in hand. He said the UNESCO designation has put the lesser-known area of the province on the map internationally and also raised its profile within Tourism Nova Scotia. The Discovery Geopark on Newfoundland's Bonavista Peninsula, on the eastern coast of the island, got a similar report card. Named for Italian explorer John Cabot's discovery of the new found land in June 1497, the Discovery Geopark is recognized for sea arches, fossils and rock formations, and was nearly 15 years in the making. The park received many of the same recommendations as the Nova Scotia park, including extending the network of geosites beyond the coast into the interior. Shawna Prince, chair of the Newfoundland and Labrador geopark and the owner of a whale-watching company in Trinity, is also a resident of the park. She said a number of new sites are in the works including one that looks at traditional Mi'kmaw medicinal plants, another that is an example of glacial scrape and one that will examine climate change and the effects of Hurricane Igor, which tore through the eastern part of the province in 2010. Prince said it was at first upsetting to receive the yellow card after putting so much work into achieving the designation but she said she felt a lot better after meeting with evaluators who explained the recommendations aren't meant to be punitive. In a statement, UNESCO, confirmed the suggestions do "not constitute a sanction" but rather are a support mechanism to maintain high standards. Having already been through the experience, Osric Parry-Canet, Percé's science and education manager, has some advice for Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador. "It's really just, continue working with your community, showing UNESCO how important the community is for you," he said. "Show UNESCO that having this geopark logo makes people understand what the rocks mean for them."
