Ben Brubaker – Quanta Magazine

Catalytic Computing Taps the Full Power of a Full Hard Drive

Ben Brubaker — Tue, 18 Feb 2025 15:15:12 +0000

“Obviously” is a dangerous word, even in scenarios that seem simple. Suppose, for instance, you need to do an important computation. You get to choose between two computers that are almost identical, except that one has an extra hard drive full of precious family photos. It’s natural to assume that the two options are equally good — that an extra drive with no space remaining won’t aid your…

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Can AI Models Show Us How People Learn? Impossible Languages Point a Way.

Ben Brubaker — Mon, 13 Jan 2025 16:00:19 +0000

Learning a language can’t be that hard — every baby in the world manages to do it in a few years. Figuring out how the process works is another story. Linguists have devised elaborate theories to explain it, but recent advances in machine learning have added a new wrinkle. When computer scientists began building the language models that power modern chatbots like ChatGPT, they set aside decades of…

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Why Computer Scientists Consult Oracles

Ben Brubaker — Fri, 03 Jan 2025 14:40:14 +0000

Pose a question to a Magic 8 Ball, and it’ll answer yes, no or something annoyingly indecisive. We think of it as a kid’s toy, but theoretical computer scientists employ a similar tool. They often imagine they can consult hypothetical devices called oracles that can instantly, and correctly, answer specific questions. These fanciful thought experiments have inspired new algorithms and helped…

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Quantum Computers Cross Critical Error Threshold

Ben Brubaker — Mon, 09 Dec 2024 16:00:28 +0000

How do you construct a perfect machine out of imperfect parts? That’s the central challenge for researchers building quantum computers. The trouble is that their elementary building blocks, called qubits, are exceedingly sensitive to disturbance from the outside world. Today’s prototype quantum computers are too error-prone to do anything useful. In the 1990s, researchers worked out the…

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Computer Scientists Establish the Best Way to Traverse a Graph

Ben Brubaker — Fri, 25 Oct 2024 14:12:12 +0000

If you’ve been making the same commute for a long time, you’ve probably settled on what seems like the best route. But “best” is a slippery concept. Perhaps one day there’s an accident or road closure, and your fastest route becomes the slowest. Scenarios like this are also a challenge for researchers who develop algorithms, the step-by-step procedures that computers use to solve problems.

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