Google tries to save the world: Internet giant explains how its move into quantum computing could solve global warming

Not content with being the largest search engine in the world, designing the most popular mobile operating system, creating a healthcare company and helping to develop lab-grown meat, Google has now explained how it plans to solve societies biggest problems - through quantum computing. 
Earlier this year Google bought a quantum computer called D-Wave Two, which can perform tasks 3,600 times faster than normal computers.
The company is hoping to use it to find cures for diseases, fix climate problems and help robots better understand human speech, for example.
In the first of a series of videos explaining a bit more about this computer and the company's work with quantum computing, Google has teamed up with Nasa to explain the basics behind the D-Wave and why it is so important

Google bought the quantum computer, pictured, earlier this year. It is 3,600 faster than normal computers and could be used to tackle disease, climate change, and develop more sophisticated robots. Google has created a video explaining the basics behind the computer and the company's quantum project

Google explains the theory behind quantum computing 

 

WHAT IS QUANTUM COMPUTING?

Modern day computers run on a model designed by Alan Turing in the 1930s.
They are digital and use bits to transfer information and perform tasks.

They use binary code and can only ever been in an active, or an inactive state - running at one or zero.
This means that a single bit is either on or off at any one time.
Qubits work differently and can be on, off, or in a mixed state in between.
As a result, qubits are able to be in multiple places at the same time.
Whereas the original Turing computer can only make one calculation at a time, quantum computers are capable of performing single tasks faster, and performing multiple tasks more effectively.

Tasks that would take normal computers years to complete can be processed in seconds using quantum computers like the D-Wave.

The company is hoping to unlock the power of the computer, which was built by Canadian company D-Wave, at the new Quantum Artificial Intelligence Lab, housed at Nasa's Ames Research Centre in California.
The video begins by explaining that: 'Quantum physics puts everything into question; it defies every intuition that you have about the natural world. Quantum is a very strange regime of physics.'

 

It goes on to explain objects can exist in a state of superposition - in which they can be one thing and another at the same time.
It then moves onto quantum entanglement, quantum tunneling and the multi-verse, in which there are infinite numbers of other universes running parallel to ours.
A Google spokesman called Hartmut continues by explaining quantum computing uses these ideas behind quantum physics to process and calculate data at much faster speeds.
D-Wave computers run on a 128-qubit processor. Normal computers are digital and use bits to transfer information and perform tasks. 
As a comparison, PCs found in homes run on 32-bit or 64-bit processors.
The 'bits' in modern-day computers can only ever been in an active, or an inactive state; running at one or zero. This means a single 'bit' is either on or off at any one time and they can only perform calculations individually.

Tasks that take normal computers years to complete can be processed in seconds by quantum computers, pictured. This, Google explains in the video, makes quantum computers more capable of solving 'optimisation problems' and gaining useful insights from data

Qubits work differently and can be on, off, or in a mixed state in between. As a result, qubits are able to be in multiple places at the same time and this means they are capable of performing single tasks faster, and performing multiple tasks more effectively.
Tasks that would take normal computers years to complete can be processed in seconds using quantum computers like the D-Wave.The D-Wave works closer to how the human brain works, but without the margin of human error.
This, Hartmut explains, makes quantum computers, and the D-Wave specifically, more capable of solving what's called 'optimisation problems.'
An example of a basic-level optimisation problem explained in the video is if someone wants to travel across South America, visiting 20 cities.

A D-Wave 128-qubit processing chip. Unlike 'bits' found in normal computers that can only be on or off at any one time, qubits can also be in a 'mixed state' between these points

Google's video also explains the basics behind the multi-verse, in which there are infinite numbers of other universes running parallel to ours with different variations of the same people

This creates a huge number of variables, such as which order to visit the cities in, travel times, ticket prices, airlines, seat choices, routes, hotels, weather, attractions, events and so on.

Normal computers could solve this problem eventually, but quantum computers are better equipped to solve it quickly.
This becomes even more important as the variables and complexities increase,and Google is hoping to use the technology to develop cures for diseases, tackle the effects of climate change, better develop voice-activated technology and more.
'In human civilisation we generate vast amounts of data,' explains the video voiceover, including data on climate, genetics, 'but it's very difficult to generate useful insights from that data.'
Google adds that quantum computers makes humans 'consider more sophisticated notions of how the reality around us is actually shaped.'
'We can't ask it how long we'll live, or the meaning of life. Really we don't know what the best questions to ask this computer are and that's exactly what we're trying to understand now.'

Google could use the D-Wave quantum computer to further develop the technology in its self-driving cars. This is the view the cars currently see. Future designs, created using the quantum computer, could better navigate the roads and react to obstacles in a more similar way to how human brains can

The D-Wave quantum computer could be used to help robots understand human speech and lead to more sophisticated robotic designs, like the Terminator in the classic sci-fi film

The video adds: 'The greatest question is 'are we alone?' and we believe as quantum computers mature, they're going to help us answer that question.'
The D-Wave One was first announced in May 2011 by the company based in Burnaby, British Colombia.
It was developed with financial backing from Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.
D-Wave One was bought by defence group Lockheed Martin in 2011 as part of a multi-year contract in a bid to try and solve some of its more challenging computational problems.
In August last year, a team of Harvard University researchers were able to use the D-Wave One to solve the largest protein folding problem ever, using the quantum computer.
Protein folding is a complex system found in all living things involving amino acids.
Google in particular could use the technology to improve the reaction times and processing speeds of its self-driving cars, or develop its Google Glass technology - a wearable computer that responds to motion and voice controls.
To unlock this power, and test the computer's potential, the two organisations have launched the Quantum Artifical Intelligence Lab at Nasa's Ames Research Centre based in California.
D-Wave is also working on a Vesuvius quantum computer that will run on a 512-qubit processor.