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Researchers at Microsoft say they have created elusive quasiparticles called Majorana zero modes – but scientists outside the company are sceptical Microsoft researchers have made a controversial claim that they have seen evidence of an elusive particle that could solve some of the biggest headaches in quantum computing, but some experts are questioning the discovery. Quantum computers process information using quantum bits, or qubits, but current iterations can be prone to error. “What the field needs is a new kind of qubit,” says Chetan Nayak at Microsoft Quantum. He and his colleagues say they have taken a significant step...

NASA's Mars Meteorite Research Team reopened a 14-year-old controversy on extraterrestrial life last week, reaffirming and offering support for its widely challenged assertion that a 4-billion-year-old meteorite that landed thousands of years ago on Antarctica shows evidence of microscopic life on Mars. In addition to presenting research that they said disproved some of their critics, the scientists reported that additional Martian meteorites appear to house distinct and identifiable microbial fossils that point even more strongly to the existence of life. "We feel more confident than ever that Mars probably once was, and maybe still is, home to life," team leader...

Red faces, and empty pockets, at the bookies Iain Thomson, vnunet.com 07 Nov 2005 Scientists working on the detection of gravity waves could be in line for huge payouts from bookmakers Ladbrokes. Ladbrokes began promoting bets on scientific discoveries last summer, and offered 500:1 on gravity waves not being detected before 2010. After scientists flocked to the betting shops the odds were cut to 5:1 and Ladbrokes closed the book a few weeks later when odds had fallen further. Ladbrokes spokesman Karl Williams said: "We've been blinded by science. We're looking at a £150,000 loss if the experiments are successful....