Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Quantum computers are coming. And when they arrive, they are going to upend the way we protect sensitive data. Unlike classical ...

Peter Shor published one of the earliest algorithms for quantum computers in 1994. Running Shor's algorithm on a hypothetical quantum computer, one could rapidly factor enormous numbers—a seemingly ...

The original version of this story appeared in Quanta Magazine. Imagine a town with two widget merchants. Customers prefer cheaper widgets, so the merchants must compete to set the lowest price.