RTFA: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7661311….

Perfect secrecy has come a step closer with the launch of the world’s first computer network protected by unbreakable quantum encryption at a scientific conference in Vienna.

The network connects six locations across Vienna and in the nearby town of St Poelten, using 200 km of standard commercial fibre optic cables.

Quantum cryptography is completely different from the kinds of security schemes used on computer networks today.

These are typically based on complex mathematical procedures which are extremely hard for outsiders to crack but not impossible given sufficient computing resources or time.

But quantum systems use the laws of quantum theory, which have been shown to be inherently unbreakable.

The basic idea of quantum cryptography was worked out 25 years ago by Charles Bennett of IBM and Gilles Brassard of Montreal University, who was in Vienna to see the network in action.

“All quantum security schemes are based on the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle, on the fact that you cannot measure quantum information without disturbing it,” he explained.

“Because of that, one can have a communications channel between two users on which it’s impossible to eavesdrop without creating a disturbance. An eavesdropper would create a mark on it. That was the key idea.”

Wow … people have been discussing this possibility for a long time, but apparently the zeitgeist has come to fruition.

RTFA: http://scitation.aip.org/getabs/servlet/GetabsServle…

Typical sounds of several fish species have been uniquely recognized using an automatic spectrum-matching machine known as SCEPTRON® pattern recognizer. A variety of natural underwater sound recordings from different marine laboratories were used to obtain the samples of fish sounds and to evaluate the SCEPTRON device’s capability in this application. The technique utilizes 2000 narrow-bandpass filters in the form of tiny resonant quartz fibers to provide a highly detailed memory of the sounds in a miniature size. The SCEPTRON memory is self-conforming, and extracts common spectral features from a signal group during the programming process. Operation is in real time, in the audiofrequency range. A description of the SCEPTRON apparatus is presented, together with data showing performance with marine-life sounds. ©1964 Acoustical Society of America

So we’re clear, this is a paper from 1964 using quartz to perform signal detection. Quartz, is in the crystal and its physical properties… as in completely analog (as opposed to digital)… as in it functions because of what it is rather than what it represents.

Follow-up to a previous post, Use BOINC framework to analyze whale/bird songs