Came across this cool article and thought I'd pass it along.
Gamers outperform computer at quantum task
Human intuition might seem useless in the weird world of quantum mechanics. It's a peculiar realm in which particles can be in multiple places at once and can tunnel through barriers that should be impenetrable. But, scientists report in a paper published online April 13 in Nature, in a quantum-inspired game, humans bested computers.
"To me it is more than surprising - it is really mind-blowing," says physicist Tommaso Calarco of Ulm University in Germany, who was not involved in the study.
The researchers, led by physicist Jacob Sherson of Aarhus University in Denmark, based their game on a quantum computer made up of atoms trapped in a grid pattern, and enticed gamers into finding the optimal way to shuttle atoms back and forth. In this type of quantum computer, scientists must move the atoms quickly and precisely in order to make calculations. Unbeknownst to the gamers, they were helping researchers edge closer to the "quantum speed limit"set by the laws of physics at the smallest scales, which caps the speed of such calculations.
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Using Gamers for Quantum Research
Re: Using Gamers for Quantum Research
