One of NC State’s lesser-known secrets (or at least it was to me, because I didn’t know it existed and I still don’t know where it is located) is the IBM Q Hub, a quantum computing center that teams NC State and IBM together to forge a center that advances the interests and applications of quantum computing across campus and the Research Triangle area. The existence of this center begs a few questions, however: why did they decide to build one here, and what implications does it have for our area, the state, the nation, and the world at large?
Quantum computing is very much an emerging field with enormous, vastly untapped potential to make an impact in several fields. Essentially, it uses the little-known abilities of quantum mechanics to process information. A key difference between a quantum computer and a regular computer is that quantum computers use quantum bits, or qubits, instead of the bits and bytes that are so well known amongst regular computers. Its power stems from the ability of a quantum system to exist in multiple states at once– I still don’t know how that works, and it involves explaining things like superposition and entanglement that I’m too terrified to read about, so I’m going to return to safer territory and briefly look at how it could change the world.
Quantum computing’s unique approach to processes gives it a lot of potential in our world which demands more, quicker, and profounder innovation every day. One crucial example of this is within the pharmaceutical field, where the limits of human and traditional computer ability are becoming steadily more apparent as we come across diseases that are resistant to nearly any type of drug we can blast it with. Out of all the possible chemical combinations that come together to form a particular drug, however, how can you tell what will work, what will not, and what has been used already? Quantum computing specialists have been doing just that. A limitation of traditional computers is that, often, they cannot compare molecules that are larger than a certain size. Quantum computers step in to accomplish this, therefore expanding the horizons of pharmaceutical development into drugs that previously were never even on pharmaceutical developers’ radars.
Another, different but no less crucial, field that cybersecurity has made its mark in is cybersecurity. IBM’s Quantum “Q” Blog describes threats that could both come from and be solved by quantum computers. The culmination of research into this field had been the development of a tape drive that incorporates use of quantum computing– as well as formulas that safeguard against it– into a tape drive that stores data offline, wrapped in layers of bulletproof– in the computer sense– protection that could prove integral towards storing and protecting vital information as we arrive at an age where the security of our most private information is no longer guaranteed.
As we can see here, quantum computing has a myriad of potential uses as the world continues to search for solutions. Although the words themselves scare me, I might try t o see if I can find out the location of that elusive Q center that we apparently have– and maybe learn something while I’m at it.
Sources: https://www.accenture.com/us-en/success-biogen-quantum-computing-advance-drug-discovery
https://www.ibm.com/blogs/research/2019/08/crystals/