Physics World Weekly offers a unique insight into the latest news, breakthroughs and innovations from the global scientific community. Our award-winning journalists reveal what has captured their imaginations about the stories in the news this week, which might span anything from quantum physics and astronomy through to materials science, environmental research and policy, and biomedical science and technology. Find out more about the stories in this podcast by visiting the Physics World website. If you enjoy what you hear, then also check out our monthly podcast Physics World Stories, which takes a more in-depth look at a specific theme.
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Pioneering the physics of adaptation, writing the history of quantum computing
This episode of the Physics World Weekly podcast features two pioneers in their fields.
Margaret Gardel is a biophysicist who is setting up a new National Science Foundation Physics Frontier Center at the University of Chicago. The Center for Living Systems will focus on the physics of adaptation, a new field that looks at how living matter stores, retrieves, and processes information as it adapts to change. Gardel explains how physics-inspired theory and experiments are providing fresh insights into biological systems.
Our second pioneer is Susannah Glickman who has just completed what is probably the first scholarly history of quantum computing. A historian based at Stony Brook University in the US, Glickman explains why there has been so much enthusiasm for quantum computers, despite the fact that that the technology is far from settled. She also talks about the process of writing her history and the generosity of some of the quantum-computing experts who provided her with crucial information about how the field has developed.