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Lab scientists spend much of their time doing laborious and repetitive tasks, be it pipetting liquid samples or running the same analyses over and over again. But what if they could simply tell a robot to do the experiments, analyze the data, and generate a report? 

Enter Organa, a benchtop robotic system devised by researchers at the University of Toronto that can perform chemistry experiments. In a paper posted on the arXiv preprint server, the team reported that the system could automate some chemistry lab tasks using a combination of computer vision and a large language model (LLM) that translates scientists’ verbal cues into an experimental pipeline. 

Imagine having a robot that can collaborate with a human scientist on a chemistry experiment, says Alán Aspuru-Guzik, a chemist, computer scientist, and materials scientist at the University of Toronto, who is one of the project’s leaders.

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In an age where customer experience can make or break a business, Cathay Pacific is embracing cloud transformation to enhance service delivery and revolutionize operations from the inside out. It’s not just technology companies that are facing pressure to deliver better customer service, do more with data, and improve agility. An almost 80-year-old airline, Cathay Pacific embarked on its digital transformation journey in 2014, spurred by a critical IT disruption that became the catalyst for revamping their technology.

By embracing the cloud, the airline has not only streamlined operations but also paved the way for innovative solutions like DevSecOps and AI integration. This shift has enabled Cathay to deliver faster, more reliable services to both passengers and staff, while maintaining a robust security framework in an increasingly digital world. 

According to Rajeev Nair, general manager of IT infrastructure and security at Cathay Pacific, becoming

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Google researchers claim to have made a breakthrough in quantum error correction, one that could pave the way for quantum computers that finally live up to the technology’s promise.

Proponents of quantum computers say the machines will be able to benefit scientific discovery in fields ranging from particle physics to drug and materials design—if only their builders can make the hardware behave as intended. 

One major challenge has been that quantum computers can store or manipulate information incorrectly, preventing them from executing algorithms that are long enough to be useful. The new research from Google Quantum AI and its academic collaborators demonstrates that they can actually add components to reduce these errors. Previously, because of limitations in engineering, adding more components to the quantum computer tended to introduce more errors. Ultimately, the work bolsters the idea that error correction is a viable strategy toward

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The Human Genome Project, SpaceX’s rocket technology, and Tesla’s Autopilot system may seem worlds apart in form and function, but they all share a common characteristic: the use of open-source software (OSS) to drive innovation.

Offering publicly accessible code that can be viewed, modified, and distributed freely, OSS expedites developer productivity and creates a collaborative space for groundbreaking advancements.

“Open source is critical,” says David Harmon, director of software engineering for AMD. “It provides an environment of collaboration and technical advancements. Savvy users can look at the code themselves; they can evaluate it; they can review it and know that the code that they’re getting is legit and functional for what they’re trying to do.”

But OSS can also compromise an organization’s security posture by introducing hidden vulnerabilities that fall under the radar of busy IT teams, especially as cyberattacks targeting open source

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