Today a crazy quantum story just got wilder. On March 31, the Google Quantum AI team published a landmark result on Shor's algorithm for elliptic curve cryptography. Technically, the paper was a bombshell: a dramatic 10x improvement over the state-of-the-art. As a stunt and wakeup call to the blockchain space, those optimisations were illustrated on secp256k1, the elliptic curve underlying Bitcoin and Ethereum signatures. But perhaps the most striking part of the paper was sociological, not technical. Instead of following standard academic process, the optimisations were kept secret, hidden behind a zero-knowledge (ZK) proof. Google's accompanying blog post mentions they "engaged with the U.S. government". The ZK proof demonstrates the existence of algorithmic improvements without leaking details. Academic censorship with ZK, a historic first! As a co-author of the Google paper I witnessed some of the context surrounding this censorship. To be honest, multiple aspects of that context don't sit well with me. As much as I believe the general public ought to know more, I am limited in my ability to whistleblow. Though let me be clear about one thing: the Google team's professionalism has been absolutely exemplary, and they deserve nothing but praise. Censorship has a way of backfiring. The Streisand effect, where an attempt to bury something only draws more attention to it, is exactly what's unfolding today. First, Google's key optimisation has been rediscovered by the French. And in a thrilling turn of events, a collaborative Shor-at-home challenge just launched. The initiative, available at ecdsa[.]fail, breached a new Shor world record in a matter of hours. Let's start with the rediscovery. Just two months after Google's paper, French quantum expert André Schrottenloher cracks the main secret optimisation. His paper, titled "Optimized Point Addition Circuits for Elliptic Curve Discrete Logarithms", landed on the arXiv today. Big congrats to André, who beat several other nerdsnipped experts to it. In a blog post also published today, Craig Gidney, the world expert on Shor optimisations, revealed that he'd been sitting on this very optimisation for a whole year under censorship pressure. Interestingly, André missed a handful of minor optimisations, both from Google's original publication and from improvements found since. It's plausible there's still plenty of juice left to squeeze out of Shor, and this is exactly what the ecdsa[.]fail challenge is about. The verifier program developed for the ZK proof does double duty, automatically filtering for valid submissions. Dozens of compounding small and micro improvements are rolling in. As of the time of writing there's an 8.4% improvement to Google's circuit, as measured by the product of logical qubit count and Toffoli gate count. Nice! The nerdsnipping ran deeper than anyone expected. Over the last few weeks it became clear it extended well beyond André and other quantum experts. Behind the scenes, a small army of amateurs quietly got to work. Inspired by Karpathy-style autoresearch, they turned AI on Shor. Ironically, the verifier program for the ZK proof makes an ideal reward function for AIs. The barrier to entry for this modern style of research is refreshingly low, with several non-experts, even a teenager, finding nice optimisations. Get in touch if you'd like to join a Telegram group with fellow autoresearchers :) Part 2: neutral atoms and qday The story doesn't end with Google. On the same day Google went public, a stealthy startup called Oratomic published its own Shor paper in a coordinated release. It made a splash, ultimately becoming the most upvoted paper on scirate[.]com, a website ranking arXiv papers. Oratomic's claim was wild. By building on Google's logical optimisations and applying custom physical optimisations for neutral atoms, they claimed just 10K physical qubits were sufficient to run Shor's algorithm on secp256k1. That number is mind-bogglingly low. Knowing essentially nothing about neutral atoms when Oratomic's paper landed, I was intrigued and decided to learn more about the tech. I fell straight down the rabbit hole and spent a couple hundred hours on the topic. I got a little obsessed and watched every YouTube video I could find and spoke to a bunch of experts. My conclusion? The tech is real, very real. Even Google recently decided to start a neutral atom lab, a notable pivot from their sole focus on superconducting qubits. If you care about qday, i.e. the day a quantum computer will break the first piece of cryptography in production, neutral atoms demand your attention. I shared some of my learnings on Shor and neutral atoms in a 30min talk at the ZKProof cryptography conference. You can find it on YouTube by searching "zkproof neutral atom". Here's an interesting observation about this duo of breakthrough papers: neither Google nor Oratomic say a word about what their results mean for qday. No timelines. Zero. Nada. That is especially baffling given that the whole point of whitehat quantum cryptanalysis is to inform qday estimations and help the general public make good decisions. So let me attempt to partially fill the silence, similarly to what Scott Aaronson did in his April 29 post. Given everything I know, including scary non-public information, I now put the odds of qday by 2032 at 50%. 10% by 2030. Anecdotally, the US government has its own date: 2035. Originating at the NSA and later adopted by NIST, it's when branches of the US government will be disallowed from using quantum-vulnerable cryptography. In plain language: with hindsight, that date is a joke and should be discounted entirely. I don't see how NIST avoids being forced to pull it forward by years. Part 3: post-quantum cryptography There are good reasons to sound the alarm today, but please do not panic. Rushing carelessly towards immature post-quantum cryptography is a recipe for disaster. IMO a good target date for migration is 2029, roughly 3.5 years out. 2029 happens to be the date selected by Google, Cloudflare, and the Ethereum Foundation. These days most of my time goes to safely migrating Ethereum towards post-quantum cryptography as part of the broader lean Ethereum effort. There's a lot to do. We need to rip out and replace BLS signatures at the consensus layer, KZG commitments at the data layer, and ECDSA signatures at the execution layer. The plan to get there is compelling, and is based on hash-based cryptography. Within the Ethereum Foundation we've developed a Swiss army knife called leanVM (github[.]com/leanEthereum/leanVM) powered by the magic of hash-based SNARKs. Thanks to truly exceptional work by Emile, Thomas, and others, its performance is derisked. Regarding security, leanVM is a jewel, a minimal zkVM crafted for end-to-end formal verification and maximum security. Want to help? There are two $1M initiatives. First, the Proximity Prize (proximityprize[.]org). Solve a long-standing mathematical conjecture in coding theory, improve hash-based SNARKs, and go home a millionaire. Second, the Poseidon Initiative (poseidon-initiative[.]info), offers $1M for breaking Poseidon, the SNARK-friendly hash function.

🚀 60 years ago today, Gemini IX-A launched Cernan and Stafford for a three-day mission riddled with mishaps. Cernan performed America’s 2nd EVA which he called “the spacewalk from hell” as he became the first person to orbit Earth entirely outside a spacecraft. From Gemini Remastered: “Before launch, Deke Slayton, who now ran flight crew operations, entered the room where Stafford was suiting up and asked the suit technician to leave and closed the door. He expressed NASA’s concerns about the EVA and added “In case Cernan dies out there, you’ve got to bring him back, because we just can’t afford to have a dead astronaut floating around in space.” Stafford set out his concerns about how difficult that would be and ultimately, he was Commander and he’d make the call. After suiting up, Cernan quizzed Stafford: “Deke was in there talking to you quite a while. What did he say?” Stafford replied: “He just said he hoped we’d have a good flight.” Launch day came May 17, but the rendezvous-target Agena took a nosedive into the ocean for its launch. NASA switched to a backup ATDA target vehicle (which failed to deploy properly in orbit, leaving it useless, looking like an “angry alligator”). The Gemini IX crew faced multiple launch scrubs over 17 days, with six separate entries into the spacecraft for launch. Cernan was to test a new AMU backpack with hydrogen peroxide thrusters. 80 Velcro patches were bonded to the exterior of the spacecraft and his gloves to assist in crawling to the AMU, where he was to do an untethered free-floating spacewalk — a bold mission plan that did not succeed until McCandless did it in 1984. Cernan’s suit was made extra fire retardant to resist burn through by the AMU thrusters. But this made it very rigid and difficult to move in space (like a “rusty suit of armor”). Every movement required immense exertion, which caused him to sweat profusely, overwhelming his suit's environmental control system and causing his helmet faceplate to completely fog up. He had to use his nose to wipe a small visibility window in his faceplate as he fumbled from a lack of handholds. His intense thrashing ripped through seven inner layers of heavy thermal insulation on the back of his suit, leaving a triangle of skin unprotected. When the spacecraft rotated into the daytime side of its orbit, the exterior of the suit was hit by raw, unfiltered sunlight at a blistering 250°F. Without the insulation, the searing solar heat baked right through the remaining pressure bladder layer. Cernan recalled feeling a scalding, fiery sensation on his lower back but had to ignore it because he was already fighting for his life while blind from the fogged visor. His heart rate hit 180bpm and the flight surgeon was concerned he could lose consciousness. He also lost communications fidelity, resorting to a binary code: one squawk for yes, two for no. Cmdr. Stafford decided to cancel the AMU jetpack test. Cernan called out to CAPCOM Neil Armstrong in mission control: “You might tell everyone down there I’m sure sorry about this.” Because the pressurized suit had ballooned in size with outstretched limbs larger than the hatch opening, and with Cernan completely exhausted and blind, getting back inside the spacecraft was a brutal physical struggle for both men. Together, they used the mechanical hatch-cranking mechanism to literally compress Cernan’s stiff suit and force the door closed against his helmet causing him to almost black out from an inability to breathe. Overall, Cernan lost 13 lbs. from extreme dehydration. Despite the setbacks, NASA learned valuable lessons about spacesuit design and the need for visible handholds for EVAs (which was corrected for Apollo). Here are some heroic artifacts from the Future Ventures museum: 1) The newest addition to the collection, Cernan’s Constellation Chart and Greek Alphabet Cue Card, as annotated and flown on Gemini IX-A. On the upper border, Cernan refers to the planned rendezvous with the ATDA. The accompanying Gemini 9 constellation chart showed key navigation stars labeled with their Greek letter designations (like α Lyrae, β Orionis). Since astronauts weren’t trained astronomers, they carried a Greek letter cheat sheet to quickly decode those symbols into star names and locations. They would use the legend to match ‘α’ to the brightest star in a constellation, ‘β’ to the next, and so on, letting them correctly identify stars through the spacecraft’s sextant/telescope for celestial navigation. 2) Original left-handed glove from the Gemini G3C space suit made by the David Clark Company. 3) ITT Interphones used by the frogmen during recovery at sea; it was a pluggable hard line (like in the Matrix) used throughout Gemini after splashdown. The frogmen welcome the astronauts home and let them know when it was safe to open the hatch. For Apollo, NASA switched to Motorola radios. 4) Photo of the frogmen welcoming a weary Cernan and Stafford back to Earth, with orange interphones clearly visible.

I'm a cardiologist. Erling Haaland just scored twice to knock Brazil out of the World Cup. And the fuel behind the freight train is the most fascinating nutrition story in sports — because it quietly rejects almost everything the "performance nutrition" industry sells. No protein powders. No shakes. No engineered supplements. Just real food — around 6,000 calories a day of it. Beef heart. Beef liver. Tomahawk steaks. Sea bass. Eggs on sourdough. Raw honey. And milk he drives to a Cheshire farm to buy fresh from grass-fed cows. He said it plainly in his documentary: "People say meat is unhealthy. Which meat? The one from McDonald's — or the local cow eating grass right over there?" That distinction is the whole thing. And as a cardiologist, it's the distinction I wish every patient understood. Here's the science under the eccentricity. Organ meats — heart and liver — are the most nutrient-dense foods on earth. Beef liver is arguably nature's original multivitamin: staggering levels of B12, folate, vitamin A, copper, and iron in a form your body absorbs far better than any pill. Beef heart is loaded with CoQ10 — the exact cellular-energy molecule I recommend to patients, the one statins deplete, the one that powers every heartbeat. Our ancestors prized these organs and ate the muscle meat second. We reversed it, then wondered why we needed supplements. His food philosophy, in his own words: "Eat real, with as few ingredients as possible." That is, essentially, the entire evidence base for cardiovascular nutrition compressed into six words. Now — the honest caveats, because I'm a physician, not a hype man. 6,000 calories works for Haaland because he's a 6'4" elite athlete burning through it across a 50-game season. For a sedentary adult, that's a fast track to metabolic disease. Copy the principle, not the portion. Raw milk carries genuine infection risk — the CDC and European food agencies warn against it, and I don't recommend it for most people. Grass-fed and pasteurized captures nearly all the benefit without the danger. And that much red meat isn't automatically optimal for everyone. Your ApoB, your Lp(a), your genetics, your metabolic health all determine how your body handles saturated fat. I've written about this — same diet, different DNA, different arteries. But strip away the extremes and Haaland is teaching a lesson worth learning: the "performance nutrition" aisle is largely a marketing invention. The most powerful fuel on earth isn't in a tub. It's food your great-grandmother would recognize. There's a detail I love most. Despite earning £525,000 a week, he still cooks his own food. And before big home games, he eats his father's homemade lasagne — the same father, a former Premier League player, whose legacy he told himself as a boy he'd surpass. The man he's trying to eclipse is still in the kitchen, feeding the monster he helped build. Talent gets you noticed. Discipline in what you put in your body — every single day, when no one's watching — is what turns a gifted kid into the machine that ran through Brazil. Most people will just watch the goals and say "he's built different." He is. Because he decided to build himself that way — one plate of real food at a time.

📢 BrownDust2 × Shinovi Master Senran Kagura NEW LINK Collaboration Rerun Update Countdown! D-Day The shinobi have officially joined the battle! To thank all of our players who’ve been waiting for the collaboration rerun update, we’ve prepared special events. Join in now! [Collaboration Rerun Update Countdown Login Event] 📅 Event Period - April 9, 12:00 AM (UTC) – April 12, 02:59 PM (UTC) 🎁 Rewards - 🎫2 Draw Tickets [Collaboration Rerun Countdown Mission Event] 📅 Event Period - From the time of posting on April 9 to April 12, 02:59 PM (UTC) 📝 How to Participate ① Follow the official BrownDust2 X (Twitter) account ② Like, comment on, or repost (RP) the countdown post (Complete at least one action to participate!) 🎁 Mission & Reward - When the total number of Likes + Comments + Reposts (RP) reaches 10,000, 🎫 2 Draw Tickets will be distributed 🎉 Results Announcement - April 13 (Mon) #BrownDust2# #BD2# #ShinobiMaster# #SenranKagura# #Collaboration# #Update# #April9#

ONE OK ROCK DETOX JAPAN TOUR 2025 AT NISSAN STADIUM IN CINEMAS 🔥 D-DAY 🔥 The Day of the Global Premiere is finally here! Experience the explosive energy and the masterful sound of the legendary Nissan Stadium concert on the big screen. It's time to rock. 🤘 🎟 Tickets on sale NOW ✨ Screening in SCREENX, 4DX, and ULTRA 4DX where available 📌 Check your local cinemas for screening details. 📅 4월 22일, 국내 CGV 단독 대개봉! 🎟 지금 바로 CGV 홈페이지/앱에서 예매하세요 ✨ SCREENX, 4DX, ULTRA 4DX 특별관 절찬 상영 예정 #ONEOKROCK# #ONEOKROCKCINEMAS# #DETOXinCINEMA#

🇺🇸🇫🇷 Sec War Hegseth arrived in Paris to commemorate the anniversary of D-Day, which takes place tomorrow This year's event marks the 82nd anniversary of the D-Day landings in Normandy, France.

One of the Most Sinister MAN IN HOLLYWOOD is the reason Steven Spielberg’s Saving Private Ryan (1998) lost Best Picture at the Oscars. The 23-minute D-Day landing scene in Saving Private Ryan (1998) cost $12 million, about a fifth of the film’s budget. Filmed over a month with 1,500 actors and 400 crew, it remains one of the most visceral and powerful scenes in film history. ‘Saving Private Ryan’ losing Best Picture was a massive shock because the film was considered one of the greatest war movies ever made. Made on a budget of around $70 million, it grossed over $482 million worldwide, became the highest grossing movie in America in 1998, earned 11 Oscar nominations, and won 5 Academy Awards. The portrayal was so realistic that many World War II veterans reportedly had to leave theaters within the first 20 minutes just because of the D-Day landing scene. One Vietnam veteran reportedly dropped to the floor and crawled out of the theater when the battle began. The reaction became so intense that the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs had to set up a nationwide hotline for veterans suffering PTSD episodes after screenings. Veterans later said it was not just the visuals, but the sounds the whizzing bullets, screaming soldiers, and metallic clack of tank treads that felt horrifyingly real. One veteran famously said the only thing missing was the smell of the battlefield. But what won that year was actually ‘Shakespeare in Love,’ a film that was produced by Harvey Weinstein’s company, Miramax. Weinstein launched an extremely aggressive Oscar campaign for ‘Shakespeare in Love’ while attacking Saving Private Ryan behind the scenes, saying it's way too bloody, it's way too gruesome for the first 15 minutes, historically inaccurate, and emotionally manipulative. When somebody told Spielberg about Harvey Weinstein's tactics, and what he's doing, and Spielberg stated, "No matter what, I do not want you to get down in the mud with Harvey Weinstein." When press asked if Spielberg was sure about not fighting back, he said "I don't want any negative campaigning." Decades later, Spielberg called the industry-wide focus on Harvey Weinstein's later downfall a "watershed moment" and an "imperative", though he famously clapped politely when he lost the big prize that night in 1999.