D-Wave researchers have published findings in Science demonstrating what they call "quantum supremacy" by showing their quantum annealers can solve problems beyond the reach of classical computers. The team, led by Andrew D. King, demonstrated area-law scaling of entanglement in model quench dynamics of two-, three- and infinite-dimensional spin glasses. The research shows quantum annealers rapidly generating samples that closely match solutions to the Schrodinger equation, supporting observed stretched-exponential scaling in matrix-product-state approaches. According to the paper, D-Wave's processors completed these magnetic materials simulations in under 20 minutes, while the same calculations would require nearly a million years on Oak Ridge National Laboratory's supercomputers. The claim hasn't gone unchallenged. Miles Stoudenmire from the Flatiron Institute's Center for Computational Quantum Physics argues that classical computers can achieve comparable results using methods developed since D-Wave's initial findings. "We're just saying, 'Look, this one problem at this one time didn't beat classical computers. Try again,'" Stoudenmire noted. The quantum computing community has increasingly shifted terminology from "supremacy" to "advantage" or "utility," focusing on solving practical business or scientific problems faster, more accurately, or more economically than classical alternatives.

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There were protests, arrests, the departure of the school’s president. Then, a new administration arrived in Washington.

Several Asian airlines have tightened restrictions on portable battery chargers amid growing concerns about fire risks, following a January blaze that destroyed an Air Busan aircraft in South Korea. South Korean airlines now require passengers to keep portable chargers within arm's reach rather than in overhead bins, a rule implemented March 1 to ease public anxiety, according to the Transportation Ministry. Taiwan's EVA Air and China Airlines have banned using or charging power banks on flights but still allow them in overhead compartments. Thai Airways announced a similar ban last Friday, citing "incidents of in-flight fires on international airlines." Battery-related incidents on U.S. airlines have increased from 32 in 2016 to 84 last year, with portable chargers identified as the most common culprit, according to Federal Aviation Administration data. The International Civil Aviation Organization has banned lithium-ion batteries from cargo holds since 2016, though no industry standard exists for regulating power banks.

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Secretary of State Marco Rubio said top diplomats from the Group of 7 allies meeting in Canada should focus on ending the war. And he shrugged off President Trump’s threats to annex Canada.

Jeanne Shaheen, 78, is the latest Senate Democrat to say she won’t run for re-election. It’s the right call, and there’s still time for others to follow.

Global sales of smartwatches have fallen for the first time, new figures indicate, in large part due to a sharp decline in the popularity of market leader, Apple. From a report: Market research firm Counterpoint says 7% fewer of the devices were shipped in 2024 compared to the year before. Shipments of Apple Watches fell by 19% in that period, Counterpoint says. It blames the slump on a lack of new features in Apple's latest devices, and the fact a rumoured high-end Ultra 3 model never materialised.

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The Federal Trade Commission asked a judge in Seattle to delay the start of its trial accusing Amazon of duping consumers into signing up for its Prime program, citing resource constraints. CNBC: Attorneys for the FTC made the request during a status hearing on Wednesday before Judge John Chun in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington. Chun had set a Sept. 22 start date for the trial. Jonathan Cohen, an attorney for the FTC, asked Chun for a two-month continuance on the case due to staffing and budgetary shortfalls. The FTC's request to delay due to staffing constraints comes amid a push by the Trump administration's Department of Government Efficiency to reduce spending. DOGE, which is led by tech baron Elon Musk, has slashed the federal government's workforce by more than 62,000 workers in February alone. "We have lost employees in the agency, in our division and on our case team," Cohen said.

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Schools across the United States are increasingly using artificial intelligence to monitor students' online activities, raising significant privacy concerns after Vancouver Public Schools inadvertently released nearly 3,500 unredacted, sensitive student documents to reporters. The surveillance software, developed by companies like Gaggle Safety Management, scans school-issued devices 24/7 for signs of bullying, self-harm, or violence, alerting staff when potential issues are detected. Approximately 1,500 school districts nationwide use Gaggle's technology to track six million students, with Vancouver schools paying $328,036 for three years of service. While school officials maintain the technology has helped counselors intervene with at-risk students, documents revealed LGBTQ+ students were potentially outed to administrators through the monitoring.

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Researchers observed a number of surprising behaviors by the ivory-sporting whales during an expedition with drones in the Canadian High Arctic.

Jewelry makers and an embroiderer are among the craftspeople whose creations reflect the Indigenous people’s heritage.

In recent days, the perceived value among allies of acquiring nuclear weapons is up, and confidence in the U.S. nuclear umbrella is down.

The SPHEREx telescope will create the most colorful map of the cosmos, while the four satellites of the PUNCH mission track the evolution of the solar wind in three dimensions.

President Trump imposed a 25 percent tariff on metal imports. The move is expected to raise costs for U.S. manufacturers of cars, solar panels and other products, potentially slowing the economy.

Representative Keith Self of Texas insisted on calling Representative Sarah McBride, the first openly transgender member of Congress, “Mr. McBride,” and adjourned the session when challenged about it.

An internal memo directs the closure of offices designed to ease the heavy pollution faced by poor and minority communities.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: On Tuesday, OpenAI unveiled a new "Responses API" designed to help software developers create AI agents that can perform tasks independently using the company's AI models. The Responses API will eventually replace the current Assistants API, which OpenAI plans to retire in the first half of 2026. With the new offering, users can develop custom AI agents that scan company files with a file search utility that rapidly checks company databases (with OpenAI promising not to train its models on these files) and navigate websites -- similar to functions available through OpenAI's Operator agent, whose underlying Computer-Using Agent (CUA) model developers can also access to enable automation of tasks like data entry and other operations. However, OpenAI acknowledges that its CUA model is not yet reliable for automating tasks on operating systems and can make unintended mistakes. The company describes the new API as an early iteration that it will continue to improve over time. Developers using the Responses API can access the same models that power ChatGPT Search: GPT-4o search and GPT-4o mini search. These models can browse the web to answer questions and cite sources in their responses. That's notable because OpenAI says the added web search ability dramatically improves the factual accuracy of its AI models. On OpenAI's SimpleQA benchmark, which aims to measure confabulation rate, GPT-4o search scored 90 percent, while GPT-4o mini search achieved 88 percent -- both substantially outperforming the larger GPT-4.5 model without search, which scored 63 percent. Despite these improvements, the technology still has significant limitations. Aside from issues with CUA properly navigating websites, the improved search capability doesn't completely solve the problem of AI confabulations, with GPT-4o search still making factual mistakes 10 percent of the time. Alongside the Responses API, OpenAI released the open source Agents SDK, providing developers free tools to integrate models with internal systems, implement safeguards, and monitor agent activities. This toolkit follows OpenAI's earlier release of Swarm, a framework for orchestrating multiple agents.

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The deeper discussion of a European force comes amid rising anger and dismay over President Trump’s embrace of Russia and abandonment of traditional allies.

The layoffs mean that the department will now have a work force of about half the size it did when President Trump took office.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: There's a power crunch looming as AI and cloud providers ramp up data center construction. But a new report suggests that a solution lies beneath their foundations. Advanced geothermal power could supply nearly two-thirds of new data center demand by 2030, according to an analysis by the Rhodium Group. The additions would quadruple the amount of geothermal power capacity in the U.S. -- from 4 gigawatts to about 16 gigawatts -- while costing the same or less than what data center operators pay today. In the western U.S., where geothermal resources are more plentiful, the technology could provide 100% of new data center demand. Phoenix, for example, could add 3.8 gigawatts of data center capacity without building a single new conventional power plant. Geothermal resources have enormous potential to provide consistent power. Historically, geothermal power plants have been limited to places where Earth's heat seeps close to the surface. But advanced geothermal techniques could unlock 90 gigawatts of clean power in the U.S. alone, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. [...] Because geothermal power has very low running costs, its price is competitive with data centers' energy costs today, the Rhodium report said. When data centers are sited similarly to how they are today, a process that typically takes into account proximity to fiber optics and major metro areas, geothermal power costs just over $75 per megawatt hour. But when developers account for geothermal potential in their siting, the costs drop significantly, down to around $50 per megawatt hour. The report assumes that new generating capacity would be "behind the meter," which is what experts call power plants that are hooked up directly to a customer, bypassing the grid. Wait times for new power plants to connect to the grid can stretch on for years. As a result, behind the meter arrangements have become more appealing for data center operators who are scrambling to build new capacity.

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Hundreds of demonstrators marched downtown while a spokeswoman for President Trump said the president had the authority to detain Mahmoud Khalil.