News
Grand Challenges: Maryland Initiative for Digital Accessibility (MIDA) informs public policy on technology accessibility for people with disabilities
University of Maryland College of Information Studies (INFO) professor Jonathan Lazar, Executive Director of MIDA, provided written testimony to the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging last month, and the Maryland Initiative for Digital Accessibility (MIDA) provided comments to the U.S. Department of Justice in response to a rulemaking related to web and mobile app accessibility under Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Unearthing the Ecological Impacts of Cicada Emergences on North American Forests
On 13- or 17-year cycles, billions of cicadas emerge from the ground to reproduce in eastern North American deciduous forests. One of the largest emergence events of these insects happened in 2021 when the Brood X cicadas emerged. Researchers who studied that once-in-a-generation event are now unveiling the impact of this occurrence on forest ecosystems, specifically on birds, caterpillars and trees.
Quantum Computers Run on Just the Right Amount of Connectivity
Scientists know that entanglement, a special connection that intertwines the fate of quantum particles, is a crucial ingredient for quantum computers. Without it, a quantum computer loses its ability to harness the fullness of quantum complexity—that special sauce that makes the quantum world impossible to emulate on ordinary computers. But whether entanglement is the only key, and exactly how much of it is needed, no one really knows.