Quantum Cryptography Has Everyone Scrambling

“While the technology world awaits NIST’s latest “post-quantum” cryptography standards this summer, a parallel effort is underway to also develop cryptosystems that are grounded in quantum technology—what are called quantum-key distribution or QKD systems.

As a result, India, China, and a range of technology organizations in the European Union and United States are researching and developing QKD and weighing standards for the nascent cryptography alternative. And the biggest question of all is how or if QKD fits into a robust, reliable, and fully future-proof cryptography system that will ultimately become the global standard for secure digital communications into the 2030s. As in any emerging technology standard, different players are staking claims on different technologies and implementations of those technologies. And many of the big players are pursuing such divergent options because no technology is a clear winner at the moment.” (IEEE Spectrum)

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Google Deepmind’s robot arm plays table tennis against human opponents. Google DeepMind has trained a robot to play table tennis at an amateur competitive level, possibly marking the first time a robot has been taught to play a sport against humans at a human level. Researchers successfully programmed a robotic arm wielding a 3D-printed paddle to win 13 out of 29 full games of competitive table tennis against human opponents of varying skill levels. (via MIT Technology Review)

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