Thursday Things: Quantum Cats and Killer Pigs Edition

23 February 2023. Vol 5 No 8. By Dan McGirt. #185

Feb 23, 2023

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“I got your quantum state right here, Schrodinger.” Photo by Timo Volz on Unsplash

The Wright Stuff

An architect has produced computer renderings of what some of Frank Lloyd Wright’s unbuilt (and in some cases, built but later demolished) works would look like. Which I think it pretty cool. I always enjoy seeing alternate designs for familiar places, or “things that might have been”.

You can have a look here: Architect gives new life to Frank Lloyd Wright’s demolished and unbuilt work

And more at the website of architect David Romero here: Hooked On The Past

Schrodinger’s Cat is Back! Or Not.

I’m not even going to pretend that I understand the physics of this new experiment or what it supposedly demonstrates. I’m just a sucker for anything to do with Schrodinger’s Cat.

As we know, cats routinely defy the laws of physics (startle one and see what I mean), are capable of teleporting (especially in and out of closets) and love boxes. So it makes sense to employ them in your quantum thought experiments. But you always have to ask yourselves a question, physicists — are you really the one conducting the experiment? Or is the cat in charge?

Schrodinger's Cat Is Now Alive – And Dead – in Two Boxes at Once, IRL Experiment Reveals

Scientists have just kicked the famous Schrodinger's cat thought experiment up a notch by cutting that poor old hypothetical cat in half, sticking him in two boxes, and confirming that he still survives - and doesn't - even when there's two of him.
And you want to know the best part of this experiment? The team took the whole thing out of the realm of pure theory and actually performed it in the lab. But don't worry, no cats were harmed in the process.

No idea what’s going on here. But let’s go with it.

Researchers have now taken it out of the hypothetical realm and performed it in the lab, not with actual cats, but with electromagnetic waves in the form of microwave photons.
Just as quantum particles can exist in superposition - which is what gives the whole cat experiment some practical applications i.e. computing and understanding the behaviour of the smallest building blocks of the Universe - so too can electromagnetic waves.
Photons can be polarised both vertically and horizontally at the same time until someone actually measures their polarisation, and microwave photons can be coaxed into this cat-like state too.
"Normally, electromagnetic waves in the box will oscillate in strength, like a pendulum sweeping back and forth," Joshua Sokol explains for New Scientist. "But it's possible to introduce the opposite wave into the box, creating a cat state that is doing two seemingly contradictory things at once."

And … yeah, they lost me. Read the article or click through to the underlying New Scientist article for all the details: Schrödinger's cat alive and dead even after you saw it in half.

Somehow this all leads to quantum computing: “Wang’s current lab, run by Robert Schoelkopf of Yale University, is studying the use of cat states in cavities as qubits, the units that hold information in quantum computing. Cat states could help correct the errors that quickly build up in these small, sensitive systems. Linking such qubits together will be essential.”

Cat states? The cat states I’m familiar with are napping, eating, demanding attention, and slashing biting death machine.

If the cat was unhappy about being stuck in a murder box in the original experiment — and I assume it was — then sawing it in half and putting it in four boxes is only going to result in an even angrier cat. Or two. Or four. However that works.

Be careful, physicists. That’s all I’m saying. When you play with the cat, the cat plays with you.

Canadian Super Pigs

“Soon, America. Soon.” Photo by Kevin Jackson on Unsplash

Let’s face it. Canada is a menace. They act all nice and harmless fand “Hockey, eh?” while secretly unleashing their army of super pigs to cross the border into the U.S. and eat everything in sight. It’s all part of their evil plan.

But we’re onto you, Canada.

Jumbo-Sized Pigs Threaten North Dakota

Herds of wild pigs – dubbed “super pigs” for their size, intelligence, and hardiness – have been spotted within 10 miles of the US border and North Dakota.
Invasive pigs have had a foothold in Canada since the 1980s, when farmers began breeding domestic pigs with wild boars imported from Europe. But there wasn’t much of a demand for the new breed of Canadian bacon and the Frankenpigs were turned loose. They’ve been thriving (and multiplying) on the prairies ever since, disrupting native ecosystems across 620,000 square miles in Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Alberta.
The invaders from the north are big (think around 500 pounds), omnivorous and speedy. Without time out for gobbling, a super pig traveling at 15 miles per hour could cover the distance of 350 miles between Regina in Saskatchewan and Bismarck in North Dakota in 24 hours.
“Wild hogs feed on anything,” Ryan Brook, University of Saskatchewan’s Canadian Wild Pig Research Project head tells Field & Stream. They gobble up tons and tons of goslings and ducklings in the spring. They can take down a whitetail deer, even an adult.”

“Let’s cross breed pigs with European wild boars and turn them loose.”

Not cool, Canada. Not cool at all.

Thursday Things has been warning you about super pigs since we launched in 2019.

Read about Chinese super pigs the size of polar bears here: