Latest news with #UC Santa Barbara
Forbes
22-07-2025
- Science
- Forbes
Study Sheds Light On The Origins Of Giant Salt Formations
Outcrops with thick salt deposits in Sicily. While wandering along the cliffs of the Mediterranean Sea — particularly in southern Italy and Sicily — one might come across outcrops composed entirely of thick layers of salt and gypsum. Thanks to geophysical surveys and an extensive drilling campaign conducted during the Glomar Challenger expedition, we now know that these salt layers extend beneath the Mediterranean Sea and, in some regions, reach thicknesses of up to 2.5 kilometers. Such deposits can only form by evaporating large amounts of seawater. For almost 200 years scientists wondered how this was possible, and one unique salt lake — the Dead Sea in Israel — may provide an answer. 'These large deposits in the earth's crust can be many, many kilometers horizontally, and they can be more than a kilometer thick in the vertical direction,' says UC Santa Barbara mechanical engineering professor Eckart Meiburg, lead author of a new study. 'How were they generated? The Dead Sea is really the only place in the world where we can study the mechanism of these things today.' Salinity levels in the Dead Sea are famously so high that only few organisms can survive in its waters, giving it its name. Indeed, while there are other bodies of water in the world with high salinity levels, only in the Dead Sea they form massive salt deposits, which allows researchers to tackle the physical processes behind their evolution, and in particular, the spatial and temporal variations in their thickness. In their study, Meiburg and fellow author Nadav Lensky of the Geological Survey of Israel cover the fluid dynamics and associated sediment transport processes currently governing the Dead Sea. In 2019, the researchers observed a rather unique process occurring in the lake during the summer. While evaporation was increasing the salinity of the water on the surface, salts washed into the lake were nonetheless continuing to dissolve due to its warmer temperature. As the dense, salt-rich water sinks to the ground, it mixes with cooler water rising upwards. At the interface between the two layers, halite (common salt) crystals start to grow. The heavy crystals fall to the bottom, forming a sort of 'salt snow' covering the bottom of the Dead Sea basin. Detail of the outcrop showing single salt and gypsum crystals. In addition to other factors including internal currents and surface waves, this process is highly effective in creating salt deposits of various shapes and sizes, the authors conclude. In contrast to shallower hypersaline bodies in which precipitation and deposition occur during the dry season, in the Dead Sea salt formation occurs during the entire year. About 5.96 to 5.33 million years ago tectonic forces closed off the Strait of Gibraltar, reducing the inflow from the Atlantic into the Mediterranean basin and creating conditions similar to the Dead Sea basin — but on a vastly larger scale. 'The sea level dropped 3 to 5 kilometers (2-3 miles) due to evaporation, creating the same conditions currently found in the Dead Sea and leaving behind the thickest of this salt crust that can still be found buried below the deep sections of the Mediterranean,' Meiburg explains. 'But then a few million years later the Strait of Gibraltar opened up again, and so you had inflow coming in from the North Atlantic and the Mediterranean filled up again.' The full study, "Fluid Mechanics of the Dead Sea," was published in the journal Annual Review of Fluid Mechanics and can be found online here. Additional material and interviews provided by University of California - Santa Barbara.
Reuters
07-07-2025
- Sport
- Reuters
Thunder give G Ajay Mitchell multi-year deal
July 7 - After winning an NBA title in his rookie season, guard Ajay Mitchell received a multi-year contract extension from the Oklahoma City Thunder on Sunday. Financial terms were not disclosed, but reports indicate Mitchell received a three-year, $9 million deal. Mitchell, 23, was selected 38th overall in the 2024 NBA Draft by the New York Knicks, who traded him to the Thunder for fellow draft pick Oso Ighodaro. Mitchell proceeded to appear in 36 games and make one start for Oklahoma City in the regular season. He averaged 6.5 points, 1.9 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game while shooting 49.5 percent from the floor and 38.3 percent from 3-point range. Mitchell got into 12 games during the Thunder's playoff run and four games in the NBA Finals, where they beat the Indiana Pacers. Mitchell averaged 3.4 points in 7.0 minutes off the bench. Mitchell, from Belgium, played college basketball for UC Santa Barbara. He averaged 20 points in his third and final season with the Gauchos. --Field Level Media
Zawya
27-05-2025
- Business
- Zawya
Cisco launches Quantum Entanglement Chip and research lab to enable scalable quantum networks
Dubai, UAE — Cisco announced the development of quantum networking technology that lays the foundation for the quantum internet, potentially bringing practical quantum computing forward by decades, accelerating the timeline for real-world quantum computing and networking applications to just 5 - 10 years. As part of this initiative, Cisco has introduced its Quantum Network Entanglement Chip, a research prototype designed to scale quantum networks and interconnect quantum processors for meaningful, practical use. The company also announced the launch of the Cisco Quantum Labs, a dedicated research facility in Santa Monica, California, where Cisco's quantum scientists and engineers are developing next-generation quantum networking technologies. Mohannad Abuissa, Director of Solutions Engineering at Cisco Middle East, Africa, Türkiye, Romania, and CIS, commented: 'Quantum computing holds the promise to solve problems that are beyond the reach of even today's most powerful supercomputers. With our Quantum Network Entanglement Chip and the launch of Cisco Quantum Labs, we are laying the groundwork for scalable, real-world quantum networks. This is not just about preparing for the future, it's about enabling breakthroughs in security, communication, and computing that can begin delivering value today.' The Quantum Network Entanglement Chip Developed in collaboration with UC Santa Barbara, Cisco's Quantum Network Entanglement Chip is a research prototype that generates pairs of entangled photons, enabling instantaneous connection regardless of distance through quantum teleportation. Key differentiators of the chip include: Works with existing infrastructure: Operates at standard telecom wavelengths and can therefore leverage existing fiber optic infrastructure Practical deployment: Functions at room temperature as a miniaturized Photonic Integrated Chip (PIC), making it suitable for scalable system deployment today Energy efficiency: Consumes less than 1mW of power High performance: 1 million high-fidelity entanglement pairs per output channel, with a rate of up to 200 million entanglement pairs per second in chip Much like classical computing evolved by connecting smaller nodes into distributed data centers, the future of quantum will follow a similar trajectory. Rather than focusing on a single monolithic quantum computer, companies building quantum processors will benefit from Cisco's quantum networking technologies to scale their systems. By building this infrastructure now, Cisco is helping to accelerate the entire quantum ecosystem. From Lab to Reality The Cisco Quantum Labs facility in Santa Monica will serve as a facility where Cisco researchers can experiment with quantum networking solutions that bridge both theoretical concepts and practical implementation. Beyond the entanglement chip, Cisco is using the lab to advance research prototypes of other critical components to meet their vision of the quantum networking stack, including entanglement distribution protocols, a distributed quantum computing compiler, Quantum Network Development Kit (QNDK), and a Quantum Random Number Generator (QRNG) using quantum vacuum noise. In parallel, Cisco is implementing Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC) NIST standards across their portfolio, ensuring classical networks remain secure in a post-quantum world. Advancing Quantum Networking in Two Strategic Directions Cisco's quantum networking roadmap follows two strategic paths: Quantum Network for the Quantum World: Cisco is building infrastructure to connect quantum processors at scale, enabling distributed quantum computing, quantum sensing, and optimization algorithms that could transform critical applications such as drug discovery, materials science, and complex logistics problems. Their quantum network entanglement chip is foundational to this vision. Quantum Network for the Classical World: While practical quantum computing problems might be a few years away, quantum networking principles offer immediate benefits to classical systems through use cases such as eavesdropper-proof secure communication, ultra-precise time synchronization, decision signaling, and secure location verification. Cisco's approach is both software and hardware developments. By developing the company's own network hardware components such as the chip alongside the full software stack, Cisco gains unique insights into how these elements work together to build complete quantum networking infrastructure. While some companies focus solely on one type of quantum computing technology (superconducting, ion trap, or neutral atom-based systems), Cisco is building a vendor-agnostic framework that works with any quantum computing technology. This approach mirrors Cisco's historical strength in networking wherein they are building the networking fabric that will enable various quantum technologies to scale.
