The brightest take on this week’s science

In a race, IBM’s quantum computer has left supercomputers in the dust.

In just 19 seconds, IBM's Nighthawk r2 processor generated a million samples – a task that would take a supercomputer around 110 years.

The results are published in a preprint paper that has not yet been peer-reviewed.

But the authors claim they achieved this on a quantum processor that even non-experts could easily replicate.

In fact, this processor is commercially accessible to users through IBM's cloud platform.

The possibilities are immense.

Read more.

A popular supplement taken by gym junkies around the world could have a secret superpower.

It may work for those who don’t exercise, too.

Preliminary research has found that when creatine is taken by older participants, it can increase their muscle strength, even when they don’t hit the gym.

That’s a contentious new finding, and one that will need to be verified in further studies.

But among 64 sedentary adults, aged 45 to 65, evidence suggests a daily dose of 10g of creatine can have health benefits.

Among 26 people who opted not to partake in an exercise program, those who took creatine still saw their lean tissue mass increase.

Their bench press and leg press strength also improved.

Read more.

A) Deformed sperm
B) Inner ear hair
C) White moth larvae
D) Gastrointestinal parasite

Answer at the bottom.

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Neuroscientists in Japan have connected 3 human mini-brains in a dish, and watched as they ‘learned’ about each other.

The lab-grown organoids are far, far simpler than real human brain, and yet even still, they could distinguish which of their neighbors was sending them signals.

When mini-brains are grown together on the same surface, their electrical activity syncs up.

This is a sign that the organoids have joined to form functional networks.

When researchers zapped the brains in the same spot, over and over, the network learned where the zap was coming from.

But only when three mini-brains were linked up. Not when there were just two.

Read more.

The oldest person in the United States just celebrated her 116th birthday.

Naomi Whitehead is only the 33rd person in recorded history to reach this ripe old age.

She is the last surviving American to be born in 1910.

According to emerging longevity research, Whitehead may have struck genetic gold.

Watch plasma erupt with gorgeous colors inside a fusion reactor!

If you want to know more about what’s happening, our head journalist Michelle Starr has got the goods!

Microscope answer: Deformed sperm.

If you thought this week’s micro mystery looked sort of recognizable, you would be right. It’s sperm! Albeit a very deformed one… Sperm abnormalities, like misshapen heads or crooked tails, may affect the cell’s ability to get to an egg and inseminate it.