Quantum computing is widely believed to be a revolutionary new technology. In fact, it is a double-edged sword. If efficient quantum computers can be manufactured in near future, many of the current cryptosystems will be in danger and post-quantum cryptography will be crucial to the security of our communications.

The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) -- the United Nations agency for digital technologies -- strengthens its collaboration with the academic community, engaging a select group of professors, scholars and researchers for insights on emerging technology trends worldwide.

Researchers from the Institute of Industrial Science, The University of Tokyo improve the accuracy of land surface models in capturing terrestrial water and energy budgets. Their combined hillslope water dynamic and vegetation model predicts the division of precipitation into soil moisture, evapotranspiration and runoff with improved accuracy. This new approach to land surface modeling is hoped to inform sustainable land and water management.

The most recent call for proposals for the Starting Grants offered by the European Research Council (ERC) saw a successful submission by Junior Professor Manuel Krannich from Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT): Funds amounting to EUR 1.5 million enable the mathematician to realize his project MaFC. The basic research project focusing on manifolds and functor calculus links multiple fields of pure mathematics. With his work, Krannich unveils surprising relationships between symmetries of high-dimensional manifolds and laws of algebra.