Researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have used quantum-computing technology to develop a machine that, in essence, is able to sleep with its eyes open. The computer, according to the Chicago Tribune, acts "like a frantic one-man band" — using a process called "counterfactual computation" to answer algorithms without actually running any programs. (Chicago Tribune)
It’s hard making sense of such an odd computer, admits Paul Kwiat, the professor of physics who led the project: "To my mind, quantum mechanics doesn’t get any more mysterious than this," he says. (ZDNet)
