Finding paves way for even better computers

Chinese scientists have discovered new properties of an elusive particle known as Majorana fermion, which has puzzled scientists for more than 80 years, in a more accessible lab environment, paving the way for the next generation of more fault-proof quantum computers.

The particle is named after Italian theoretical physicist Ettore Majorana, who first predicted its existence in 1937. Typically, when a particle - the basic building block of matter - and an antiparticle - its identical twin but with an opposite charge - collide, they will annihilate each other, releasing a burst of energy.

The Majorana fermion, however, is a strange exception that can simultaneously exist as a particle and as its own antiparticle. In 2017, Zhang Shoucheng, a Chinese-American physicist at Stanford University, discovered the fermion using advanced hybrid materials at a temperature close to absolute zero, or-273 C.