Quantum computers, which work according to the strange rules of quantum mechanics, may one day revolutionise the world. Once we have managed to build a powerful working machine, it will be able to solve some problems that take today’s computers millions of years to compute.

Computers use bits (0 or 1) to encode information. Quantum computers use “qubits” – which can take any value between zero and one – giving them huge processing power. But quantum systems are notoriously fragile, and although progress has been made to build working machines for some proposed applications, the task remains difficult. But a new approach, dubbed molecular spintronics, offers fresh hope.

This year’s Nobel Prize in Physics rewards new understanding of the universe’s structure and history, and the first discovery of a planet orbiting a solar-type star outside our solar system.

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has decided to award the Nobel Prize in Physics 2019 “for contributions to our understanding of the evolution of the universe and Earth’s place in the cosmos” with one half to James Peebles, Princeton University, USA “for theoretical discoveries in physical cosmology”and the other half jointly to Michel Mayor, University of Geneva, Switzerland and Didier Queloz University of Geneva, Switzerland,  University of Cambridge, UK “for the discovery of an exoplanet orbiting a solar-type star”

 Priyanka Bakaya an MIT alumna founded Renewlogy to develop a system that converts plastic waste into fuel. Today, after a decade that system is being used to profitably turn even nonrecyclable plastic into high-value fuels like diesel, as well as the precursors to new plastics.

In the battle against antibiotic resistance, many scientists have been trying to deploy naturally occurring viruses called bacteriophages that can infect and kill bacteria.

Bacteriophages kill bacteria through different mechanisms than antibiotics, and they can target specific strains, making them an appealing option for potentially overcoming multidrug resistance. However, quickly finding and optimizing well-defined bacteriophages to use against a bacterial target is challenging.

In a new study, MIT biological engineers showed that they could rapidly program bacteriophages to kill different strains of E. coli by making mutations in a viral protein that binds to host cells. These engineered bacteriophages are also less likely to provoke resistance in bacteria, the researchers found.

During the fag end of 2015, Chennai experienced severe floods resulting in the death of about 500 people and economic losses of about INR 50,000 crores. The flooding stranded the city and was termed a 'man-made disaster' resulting from irresponsible water management and rapid urbanisation. The northeast monsoon of the year left most parts of South India marooned, exposing how vulnerable our cities are to such catastrophes. 

"That's when the Office of the Principal Scientific Adviser took a major initiative to develop a real-time, integrated, urban flood forecasting system that was non-existent in our country. It called for a meeting of experts among multiple government agencies and academia," recalls Prof Subimal Ghosh. He is currently a Professor at the Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IIT Bombay). Soon after, with a team of scientists from various institutes across the country, he swung into action to develop the first-ever expert system in India to forecast floods.