Quantum Computing: The Future is Now

A quantum computer may have solved a problem in minutes that would take the fastest conventional supercomputer more than 10,000 years. A draft of a paper by Google researchers laying out the achievement leaked in recent days, setting off an avalanche of news coverage and speculation. While the research has not yet been peer-reviewed – the final version of the paper is expected to appear soon – if it all checks out it would represent “the first computation that can only be performed on a quantum processor”. That sounds impressive, but what does it mean?Read more