Smart Talk: Quantum Computing; the race is on!

• Merideth Bucher
  BioRecent Stories

  

  Producer of WITF's Smart Talk
• Scott LaMar
  BioRecent Stories

  

  Scott LaMar has worked in both radio and television for more than four decades.
  
  Currently, LaMar is the Host and Executive Producer of The Spark program on WITF-FM, 89.5 & 93.3 in Harrisburg, Pa.
  
  Previously, LaMar was WITF TV’s Sr. Public Affairs producer and produced the station’s award-winning weekly public affairs TV program, Smart Talk.
  
  In addition to his on-air duties, LaMar has moderated political candidate debates, including those for candidates running for Pennsylvania governor and the U.S. Senate and was a regular contributor to BBC World News TV before and after the 2020 U.S. Presidential election.
  
  LaMar often emcees or moderates local events and has gone as far as California to emcee a national event.
  
  The American Society of Civil Engineers honored LaMar with their national Excellence in Journalism award in 2020. He has been nominated for five Mid-Atlantic Emmy Awards.
  
  LaMar and The Spark have been recognized throughout the Central Pennsylvania community including ADVOZ Lancaster’s “Dignity in Dialogue Award”, the South-Central Assembly’s “Regional Citizen Award” and was named a “Humanitarian Hero” by The Humane Society of the United States/Pennsylvania.
  
  A native of Coatesville, Pa., LaMar has also worked as a broadcast news anchor, sports play-by-play announcer and manager.

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The world is on the precipice of major discoveries in quantum computing and it is nothing short of a game changer. The development of this technology will change the world in many ways: how we do business, medical research, managing and safeguarding data, exploring space and even understanding and predicting climate change.

Quantum computing involves an entirely new area of physics and it is so important that many cannot predict how dramatically these developments will change our lives.

Google announced last year that they achieved quantum supremacy in an article published in the scientific journal Nature. Google says that its 54-qubit Sycamore processor performed a calculation in 200-seconds that would have taken the world’s most powerful supercomputer 10,000 years.

Investing in this rapidly developing field involves big industry players and nation states. The race is on and it has been compared to the space-race in the 1960’s. 

Appearing on Smart Talk to help distill this very complicated topic is Terrill L. Frantz, Ph.D., Ed.D., Associate Professor at Harrisburg University of Science and Technology.

Experiences on the gridiron set the stage for new Paterno novel

On Friday’s Smart Talk former Penn State assistant football coach, son of legendary coach Joe Paterno and member of the Penn State Board of Trustees, Jay Paterno has written a novel about a major college football coach under pressure to win.

The book is called Hot Seat — A Year Inside College Football’s Pressure Cooker.

Some of the fictional stories come from real life experiences Paterno witnessed or was aware of.

We’ll also talk with Paterno about Penn State and the coronavirus. The number of cases has increased significantly since students returned to school.