World’s purest silicon brings scientists one step closer to scaling up quantum computers

Ravi Acharya, a PhD researcher who performed experimental work in the project, explained: "The great advantage of silicon quantum computing is that the same techniques that are used to manufacture the electronic chips — currently within an everyday computer that consist of billions of transistors — can be used to create qubits for silicon-based quantum devices. The ability to create high quality Silicon qubits has in part been limited to…

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Hope and optimism on the rise among young people

Overall, this year’s #BeeWell survey results, which analysed data on young people from across all 14 Local Authorities in Greater Manchester, Hampshire, Isle of Wight, Portsmouth and Southampton, found that young people are generally satisfied with their lives. However, there are noteworthy inequalities in life satisfaction, mental wellbeing and emotional difficulties across gender and sexuality. 41.2% of young people who identify as lesbian or gay reported a high level of…

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‘Leaveism’ and ‘presenteeism’: Here’s how to be happier at work

Way back in February 2020, before most of us really knew anything about COVID, we wrote an article for The Conversation about “leaveism” and its impact on flexible working. Barely a month later, the world was bracing for a pandemic that would inadvertently create the largest (forced) working experiment of all time. by Cary Cooper and Ian Hesketh This was a great opportunity for researchers like us to watch how…

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Exercise at consistent times could help re-align your body clocks for better skeletal health and performance, scientists suggest

Consistent daily patterns of exercise and rest can synchronise the local body clocks associated with joints and spine with the brain clock, potentially helping individuals to maintain skeletal health, improve athletic performance and avoid injury, research by University of Manchester scientists has argued. Though the study, published in Nature Communications today (14/11/23) was in mice, the scientists suggest there is a high probability human cartilage and intervertebral discs - which…

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We drink more when we are happy than when we are sad

There’s a long-held belief that people drink alcohol in excess to drown their sorrows. But recent research into mood and drinking has found the opposite is also true. Using data from 69 studies (12,394 people in total) in the US, Canada, France and Australia, all of which employed surveys to assess mood and drinking levels, the researchers found no evidence that people drank more on days when they felt down.…

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