or the ice disappears earlier and it keeps retreating it clearly shows the last years peace will be in russia. measured for. our future depends on what happens here in one of the most fragile ecosystems. northern lights like the arctic circle starts december 21st on w. . you're watching t.w. news asia coming up today we'll take a closer look at china's latest scientific breakthrough this time in quantum computing the fastest calculations made using beams of laser light and ones which would be impossible for classical computers to run. plus to help replace their country's lost forest tucker studies joined a campaign called throw and grow. i'm

melissa chan welcome to news age and we're glad you could join us chinese scientists have announced their development of the most powerful quantum computer in the world it works 100 trillion times faster than the fastest supercomputers out there president xi jinping has said research and development in quantum science is an urgent matter of national concern and the country has invested heavily in this technology spending billions in recent years it has become a world leader in the field. to the train may not look like much but there she is now the world's most powerful computer. 20 years in the making jews yang is the brainchild of china's top scientists who are now asserting their dominance in the race for quantum supremacy so that you without

a hot sun cilla john has sure an outstanding quantum computational capability and you know for a moment we are planning to use it for quantum chemistry research and graph common a tourists we search all in even a year for her solution of harmony she enjoyed. it comes a little more than a year after google unveiled sycamore their own quantum computer. and an incredible breakthrough in quantum computing their machine needed seconds to perform tasks which conventional systems would require thousands of years to do the chinese team say their late base technique is 10000000000 times faster than google's it's a remarkable achievement it's a milestone in. mental. intermedia scale quantum

computers it is still early days but scientists hope their achievement will lead to the technology unlocking rapid advancement an encryption and pharmaceutical analysis we have demetrius and a lock as a scientist with the center for quantum technologies and alex capri of the henrik foundation both are joining us from singapore and dimensions i want to start with you why does this news out of china matter. what matters because a massive and massive center figure breakthrough 1st of all and being a scientist i have to highlight that it's a 1st time arcelor the 2nd time to be exact that we have a quantum computer a prototype on a computer that clearly are performing classical computers 1st and was last year in the gulag is under barbara and this is the 2nd time using a very different technology based on factors that are similar experiment has been made. now how will the use of this technology impact people's lives

dimitrius well we are we are talking about the completely different way of computing impossible things the compute classically so although this demonstration has not achieved that it's a mathematical problem the problem has been so if you are a classical computer to do that it would take a few millions or hundreds of thousands of years further down the line we hope that quantum computing will allow us to do impossible problems at this days in biology in drug design in in financial in ways asian interrupting ways asian men and environment as well so at the moment we don't have because there's no power to tackle this very important problems that affect society in very different ways including what we're living through drug design is this very interesting i'm going to turn to alex the chinese government has funnelled a lot of money into scientific research why's that. well look this is part of

a much broader techno nationalist approach to to advancing chinese interests when it comes to economics national security obviously geopolitics and you know this is a major priority whether we're talking about the made in china 2025 plan semiconductors of course is big quantum computing is an area obviously didn't print a lot of money into so this is a very important aspect of the of the overall trajectory that the that the chinese communist party is striving for demetrius from a scientific perspective is this china's sputnik moment there's been so much news going on i kind of feel as if this quantum development kind of got lost and in its style the covert stuff and everything but should we be paying more attention to this from a scientific perspective. that's

a very good question melissa well it is in a sense it is in a sense and that's put me it's out there it doesn't do much it's just blips but it is there again it has not the 1st time. google in the west has done it 1st and many other scientific aloud to around the world are working towards the same and demonstration of an impossible task for classical computers it will take us time before we go from this little blip that this book was going to something like video calls where the satellites and if i want to do the analogy to the space race but we aren't eating and already there they're quantum race in that sense we in many of you can yes yes one thing that i am trying to wrap my head around is just how much bigger of a quantum leap this chinese development has been compared to the google one a one of the things that i've been reading is that actually the google one wasn't really quite the you know it didn't count somehow. help us sort of get

a sense of just how much more technologically advanced this development has been. well i wouldn't say as more technological advances differ and this is based on fattens the google almost basis for conducting job is very different technologies at the moment we don't know their field is so early stages we don't know which one will really be the final that knowledge or that will implement one to computing. i would put it that equal footing in the sense that. we and so yes that's a step 1000 years in the rule that's kind of that the projected thing but on the other hand that the chinese one was not really programmable you cannot really exhausted the way t's 2 are on different algorithms except this specific problem so i would say both are equally equally exciting for the field dechen from the center for excite. alex demitra says walk us through some of the applications of this technology what is the perspective of this from someone like you who studies tech

nationalism and the competition we're seeing between the u.s. and china and what is techno nationalism. well look take on nationalism essentially when nation states ascribe. of the the how we're and the prowess if you will of their local firms their local champions if you will to national security economic stability and strength and social stability as well so we're seeing all 3 of those in this emerging us china technology hybrid cold war. so i think you know i would i would go back to say that the you know to put this moment in historical context you know the united states soviet union and i would think that this sputnik moment would be a more significant. jump forward now to this announcement that we've just had from from the chinese i think the reverse of that is going to be

a 2nd moon shot which is really been under way right i think the united states now . and its european allies and other allies are now going to start focusing on greater emphasis on r. and d. . you know greater emphasis on public private partnerships around making progress with you know all the the you know industries that are emerging in foundational for this next this next century so i think there really is there significance in that. it will be a catalyst for that ok but i don't really i wouldn't call it as you know a historic moment in the context of. alex the pentagon through their research arm darpa launched a program to advance quantum computing earlier this year it feels a little bit behind the curve considering the development that we've just seen how would you assess the u.s. and china sort of technological race that we're seeing alex. so so what we will see

melissa is we will see more and more r. and d. be shifted under the military industrial complex so stuff that might have been happening you know r. and d. that might even save the place exclusively companies and maybe universities and specialized institutions you will see more of that being shifted under the military got a sort of if you will. to me case angle lockets and alex capri thank you so much for joining us. according to recent studies pakistan has the highest rate of deforestation in asia with losses of natural woodlands almost doubling in the last 2 decades experts warned that the country risks losing all its forests within the next 50 years now a new project has been launched to repair some of the lost and anyone can join the effort high in the mountains above islam

a bad new forest is being sown the bulls running down on the slopes here contain pine seeds and hopes for a green a future. throw and grows both the project's name and the simple instruction for anyone taking part it's part of a push to save pakistan's forests which experts want could disappear within 50 years if action isn't taken a basic in box on this deforestation as it is becoming a huge challenge for all of us but in the recent few years there has been a lot of of it with on the stopping the scheme is designed to be mass tree planting made easy seeds are rolled into a ball of clay an organic compost. the heart out a liar protects them from being eaten and also provides the nutrients to grow i think we've been. in the pellets get enough moisture when it rains the seed starts browsing after 15 to 20 days. we can safely say that there's around

a 60 to 70 percent chance of the seed bowls sprouting successfully. alongside professional sewing teams hundreds of volunteers have joined in the effort in just 2 weeks more than a 1000000 seed balls have been cast around the capital with millions more to come. this is a very simple method in which you can easily plant 50 to 60 plants in the same time it would otherwise take to do just one in the traditional way it's actually thrown grown with it. but even nature it needs all the help it can get seed bowls could bring about a much needed rebound in pakistan's dwindling forests. that's it for today there's always warned dot com ford slash asia and check us out on facebook or twitter we leave you with pictures of some brave swimmers in china diving into winter waters they say it extreme exercise is good for your health thanks for

watching have a good weekend and goodbye. to . the from. the fight against the corona virus. has the rate of infection been developing what does the latest research. information and context. on t.w. . is for. is

for. being told it is for. beethoven 20. 5th anniversary. for the holiday season is a time to celebrate and to be around loved ones but this year everything from christmas markets to family. gatherings is having to be scaled back due to the couvade 19 pandemic. social distancing and other restrictions have left many feeling less than festive so what should a good christmas look like. this is the w.'s covert 19

special i'm joined now on as germany grapples with yet another record number in corona virus cases it's weighing up how best to allow for merrymaking while keeping the virus from spreading and all across europe it's a similar picture people are breaking with tradition as they change their plans to accommodate restrictions take a look here. normally we travel to madrid on christmas eve and stay for a few days this year we have to celebrate at home but we'll have entertainment from our grandson where there are children there's christmas for him learning i know you've already worked and we'd like to organize a big party with our friends but i don't think that's possible family that's all there is to it here in the spender city of sin the christmas lights that you see behind me stay off at the moment even at night this city administration is afraid

of big crowds that might come and watch the general restrictions for christmas and spray not clear yet but everybody knows this would be a very different festive season even in my own family which is partly german and partly strenuous we don't know what to do yet and if we will be able to meet each other it's. not traditional after or so it would be nicer to go to the christmas market but i think these measures are sensible and more important now next year we can catch up on our traditions again so i have no problem with the 3 of us it's difficult to usually celebrate with my husband side and also my side together now we have to split everything up so that fewer households come together already as a pharmacy employee i always have to be very cautious not to. in the virus home and so there's no choice but to put things up this year. with my family we've all agreed to take coronavirus tests before we meet at home and if they all turn out negative we come together if not then out or in smaller groups. kind of with

a thought for again i want to hug my family again when i miss that here normally at this time of year the place behind me would look totally different that would be lots of christmas market stands and the smell of roasted elements everywhere to get you in the mood but what i personally miss the most this december is meeting friends in the evening and drinking mild wine together the only thing that cheers me up this year as mild trying to go serious and merry christmas now how to strike a balance between necessary interpersonal contact and the break wired social distancing is a big question for many of us as the christmas holidays get closer here to help us understand this better is taken who is she is an associate professor and clinical psychologist at the australian national university thank you very much for joining us teagan now according to your research our risk perception during an encounter

with a person depends on how well we know them why is it that people find it so hard to take the necessary covert precautions with the people we love and it's something we've been looking at for a number of years in our research group and one thing that we found is that this is consistent relationship where people much more willing to take risks with the people that they are closest to the ones that they love and that seems to be because we humans are hardwired to use that sense of social connection we have to other groups that we belong to in the communities that we value we use that as a huge a safety it's a signal that we can trust someone and that they are safe person for us to know put our life in their hands. and in some ways that makes a lot of sense you know if you're looking for someone to take care of your shield or your clothes networks probably other people you can trust the most on the other hand when it comes to the spread of a contagious disease it doesn't make a lot of sense and so i think that's what we're seeing here is that out instincts

to trust those that are closest to us are actually undermining our safety when it comes to. our hard or wired instincts of putting and putting us at risk that can be quite a quite a problem but can you tell us ian how did you come to these conclusions. yes because i'm seeing a series of studies over a number of years including before covert that we were we were interested in this over the last few years and then a few studies looking at reception but we've also looked at it since the pen demick began and one nice opportunity we had to do that was a study that we had running at the beginning of march looking at neighborhoods and people's connections their community and the original intention was to look at people's sort of the patient and community events but when the pendennis really game stayman much we changed the purpose of one particular project in order to look at how this particular research question around the link between

a group memberships the trust we have in others and now risk perception and what we found was that you now sample of a couple of 100 people in a strain the stronger the people identify with their local neighborhood and the community before quoted so in early march they're more likely they were to trust the night is in lockdown which sounds like a great thing but the problem in this case with trusting one's neighbors was that that also predicted that they were more comfortable being in close contact with those neighbors so breaching physical distancing recommendations for instance and spending time in the physical presence of the neighbors felt safe because they had that trust in their neighbors so that would be an example of one of the studies we've run looking at this link with social connection and the sense of belonging we have with others which is usually such a protective and positive thing can actually undermine our capacity to respond to a pandemic of this century. indeed and if social contact is needed to stay healthy

but at the same time it puts us at risk what are we to do then. yeah it is a bit of a catch 22 i think because i certainly wouldn't want to say that social connection isn't important i think it's one of the most important things when it comes to placing our health and indeed a mental health over the long time and it's also the case that people who are most vulnerable to kovan 1000 complications are often the same people who are vulnerable to loneliness to isolation and to poor health consequences that we say as a result of that one of the things i think that 2020 has really necessitated for all of us is to be creative about how we stay connected to one another whether that's through using the 2 lanes in ways that we might not have considered prior to the shia all whether it's you're choosing to get together outside or in a in a socially distance more safe way of getting together and saying our out close these contacts i think we need to find compromises that allow us to stay connected well taking as fewer risks as possible when it comes to that you've written that

the critical role of shared identity and therefore of higher risk taking has been under recognized in public health messaging how exactly to public health messages change in your opinion i think that there hasn't been much attention to the the difference between the risks leveling to take with strangers on public transport out in our communities versus the risks they are willing to take within the outposts networks with our families and without friends and the problem with that is that we're actually very very ready to accept the risk of strangers but much less ready to recognize and accept the risk analysis networks and in fact that's exactly exactly where the vast majority of covert transmission is happening it's happening in households it's happening at small gatherings of family and friends so i think ideally i'd like to see public health messaging age really be a bit more focused on how we can reduce those risks in our closest networks and how we can celebrate important milestones like birthdays and christmas without putting

the people we love into. so it's social this is taking protecting the people you love thank you very much that was teagan crew is she is an associate professor and clinical psychologist at the australian national university thank you for your time and insights today thank you know. and for the final time this week our science correspondent derek williams answers one of your questions. for a 20 year old was the risk of taking a vaccine compared to not taking it. most of the questions i'm getting at the moment involve potential vaccines and this one is close to the top of the list the experts i've read who discuss this topic make several important points and 1st of all they say you should look at the numbers that we have so far like the data showing that for tens of thousands of people in 3

big vaccine trials there's been no reported serious side effects although there and by and that those test subjects didn't have known preexisting health problems for people who do there could be more risk involved we've just heard for example about a couple of cases of people in the u.k. who had preexisting allergies having a bad reaction to one vaccine but the experts still say that the potential risks pale in comparison to the risks involved in catching the virus sure a 20 year old is a lot less likely to die from covert 19 than an 80 year old is but but some do why take that chance if we have something that medical authorities say can safely protect here which brings me to point 2 even if a young person is much less likely to die from the disease there's also

a chance that a coded 1000 infection could cause long term health issues by some estimates up to a 3rd of those who recover continued to have more chronic complaints that that doesn't seem to be age dependent so so young people have them to point number 3 getting vaccinated also. has a social aspect which is that it could potentially help protect the people around you though though that question granted is still up in the air still expectations are high that if vaccines stop people from developing fully fledged covert 19 they'll also help cut down on transmission and that will slow down the pandemic for all of us finally don't forget that young people who aren't in essential jobs will be pretty far down on the list for vaccination in most countries by the time most of them can get a shot we're going to have

a lot more information about any potential serious side effects but but based on what we know now most experts expect those to be very rare. do you have a question for derek just send an e-mail to feedback dot english dot com and type expert in the subject line or leave a comment on our you tube channel that's all from us thanks for watching face think especially during the holidays by for now.

india. how can a country's economy grow in harmony with its people violent when there are do worse than look at the bigger picture india a country that faces many challenges and those people are striving to create a sustainable future clever projects from europe and india to.

90 minutes on t.w. . guy and i'm game fishing those that 700000000000 lend out of or killed worldwide but it's not just the animals of all suffering the school environment if you want to know how a way 5th of the priests and the cultural change just as we think is listen to our podcast on the dream. good use crime fighters are back africa's most successful radio drama series continues. this season the stories focus on hate speech prevention and sustainable local production . all of us odes are available online and of course you can share and discuss on africa's facebook page and other social media platforms. crime fighters tune in now

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frankfurt airport city managed by from. this is the w. news live from a burglary in germany reports a record number of corona virus infections for a 2nd day but nearly 30000 new cases the pressure is growing for a new nationwide lockdown to begin before christmas. also coming up. to be you are.