Random numbers out of vacuum

In a letter to Nature Photonics Gabriel et al. have generated truly random numbers (as opposed to pseudo random numbers) by measuring continuous vacuum state quadratures (i.e. E-field noise) in a homodyne setup. Random number data sets can be downloaded from their website: http://mpl.mpg.de/mpf/php/abteilung1/index.php?lang=de&show=workgroups&in=qiv&and=&page=qiv/quantumbits. They are even planning on a random number live stream you can directly feed into your Quantum Monte Carlo calculations.

FPGAs solve N=26 queens problem

While NQueens@Home is still working on it, the Queens@TUD project has solved the N=26 queens problem, that is, in how many different ways 26 queens can be placed on a chessboard without the possibility of capture among them. The solution is 22,317,699,616,364,044. Are local, "uncrowded" solutions faster after all? ;)