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Quantum computing has so far nearly always involved calculating with qubits—quantum objects that can take the value ‘0’ or ‘1,’ like ordinary computer bits, but that can also be in a range of combinations of 0 and 1. Now researchers are producing the first applications of ‘qudits:’ units of information that offer combinations of three or more simultaneous states.

In a paper published on 25 March in Nature Physics, physicists describe how they used ‘qutrits’ and ‘ququints’—qudits with three and five states respectively—to simulate how high-energy quantum particles interact through an electromagnetic field. The work follows a result published in Physical Review Letters (PRL) in September that reproduced the behaviour of another quantum field, that of the strong nuclear force, using qutrits.

Such simulations of quantum fields are seen as one of the most promising applications of quantum computers, because these machines could predict phenomena in particle colliders or chemical reactions that are beyond the abilities of ordinary computers to calculate. Qudits are naturally suited to this task, says theoretical physicist Christine Muschik, a co-author of the Nature Physics paper who also pioneered such simulations with qubits in 2016 together with colleagues at the University of Innsbruck, Austria. “If I could go back in time to my old self, I would tell her: why waste time with qubits?” says Muschik, who is now at the University of Waterloo, Canada.

“This qudit approach is not a solution to everything, but it helps you when it is suitable to the problem,” says Martin Ringbauer, an experimental physicist at the University of Innsbruck and the lead author of the paper.

More generally, qudits can help to make calculations on a quantum computer more efficient and less error-prone, at least on paper. With qudits, each computational unit that previously encoded a qubit—such as a trapped ion or a photon—can suddenly pack in more information, helping the machines to scale up faster. But the tactic is less mature than approaches based on qubits, and the devil could be in the detail. “Qudits are also more complicated to work with,” says Benjamin Brock, an experimental physicist at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut.

System tweaks

In most types of quantum computer, the qubits that researchers use are two possible states of a system that would naturally have many more states. Such a system could therefore host qudits as well. “Existing qubit processors such as those of IBM and Google can already be operated as qutrits, and would require minor tweaks to operate as high-dimensional qudits,” says Machiel Blok, a physicist at the University of Rochester, New York. (Blok and his team have done experiments in their laboratory in which superconductors encoded qudits of up to 12 levels.)

For their quantum-field simulations, the authors of the PRL paper encoded qutrits on a superconducting quantum chip that IBM makes available to researchers, and that is normally used as a qubit machine. Ringbauer, Muschik and their colleagues used excited states of calcium ions to represent their five-level ququints. A ququint is a natural way to represent a field that can be in a lowest-energy state (with value 0) or have positive or negative values from −2 to +2 at any point in space, Muschik says.

In the future, such simulations could help to explain how quarks stick together to form protons, or how neutrinos collide with one another in the intense environment of a supernova explosion, physicists say. “There’s great hope that there’s going to be new effects that we can identify even with modest-size quantum computers,” says Martin Savage, a physicist at the University of Washington in Seattle.

Error correction

In principle, any calculation that can be done with qubits can also be done with qudits of any dimension, and vice versa: any qudit can be encoded in a set of qubits. But sharing information among multiple qubits is notoriously tricky and can introduce computational errors. Executing a quantum algorithm on qudits could require fewer steps, and therefore have a lower chance of introducing errors, says Muschik.

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A senior executive I worked with—let’s call her Marisol—had spent years building trust, driving impact, and delivering results, only to find her role suddenly eliminated during a company restructuring. There was no discussion, no transition plan. Just a few polite reassurances, a severance package, and a carefully worded email later, and that was it.

But instead of being paralyzed by uncertainty, Marisol took control. She reached out to trusted mentors, tapped into her network, and worked with an executive coach while giving herself space to breathe for the first time in years. Then, with a clearer sense of what she wanted next, she rebranded her expertise and pivoted into a broader HR role that recognized the full range of skills she had spent years honing.

Her story is not unique. Layoffs, stagnant wages, AI-driven automation, shifting labor laws, and evolving workplace expectations have made job security a moving target these days. Even the most dedicated professionals aren’t immune to job instability, and salaried workers feel it, too.

The real challenge today isn’t just holding onto a job or making it through another quarter—it’s building a career that won’t crumble in the face of disruption. That takes career resilience: the ability to adapt, take initiative, and stay grounded, even when the ground is shifting beneath you, much like Marisol did.

Four Ways to Build Career Resilience

Career resilience isn’t about clinging to a job out of fear; it’s about learning to adapt as circumstances shift.

Growing up in the Dominican Republic with grandparents who survived a brutal dictatorship, I was raised to be ready. My family keeps our pantry and emergency kit stocked, not out of paranoia but from a deep understanding that nothing is promised.

In work, too, uncertainty demands self-awareness and readiness. This means developing a growth mindset, even when your options feel limited, so you are always ready to pick up and go. The following four strategies can help:

1. Identify your non-negotiables.

Career longevity isn’t just about holding onto a job; it’s about knowing what matters most to you as you navigate the many roles you’ll likely take on. Having clarity on your must-haves, values, and risk tolerance can help you make tough decisions as circumstances quickly change.

Ask yourself:

Do I handle uncertainty well, or does it rattle me? If stability matters most to you, focus on building skills that keep you adaptable and in demand, regardless of industry shifts.

Would I take a pay cut for work that feels more meaningful? If purpose drives you, consider roles that align with your values, interests, or the kind of impact you want to make, even if it means a temporary financial trade-off.

Would I go back to five days in the office? If flexibility is a priority, start cultivating skills and networks that open doors to remote or hybrid opportunities.

Would I accept work that conflicts with my values? If ethical alignment is central to your career choices, seek out roles and organizations whose missions and practices you can stand behind.

Would I agree to lay off my team, knowing those remaining will be overloaded? If leading with fairness and dignity is what you value most, consider where you draw the line. Would you push for a phased approach? Fight for additional support? Or would this be the moment you step away?

Your responses aren’t just theoretical. They help you set career guardrails. Understanding your non-negotiables now enables you to navigate tough choices later before urgency forces your hand.

2. Build adaptability and agility.

Career resilience is like a muscle; you build it by strengthening your emotional intelligence, expanding your skill set, and staying ready to pivot when needed. To strengthen adaptability and agility in your current role:

Understand your role in the bigger picture. Pay attention to how your work connects to broader business functions and goals. Proactively collaborate across teams, solve recurring pain points, and take on projects that stretch your expertise and help you build new skills. Opportunities often come from stepping beyond your immediate role.

Stay steady under pressure. Clear thinking and self-regulation are essential in high-stakes, uncertain environments. Recognize your stress triggers and manage your energy before they take over. Build routines to help you reset, such as mindfulness, breathwork, reflection, or check-ins with mentors or colleagues.

Bet on your high-value skills. AI isn’t replacing leadership, creativity, or emotional intelligence—yet. Take on challenging projects, step into management opportunities, and sharpen your ability to problem-solve, read the room, and adapt in real-time. Identify your high-value skills by noticing what people consistently turn to you for, what problems you solve easily, and where your unique insight makes the biggest impact. The stronger these skills, the more career options you create.

Make learning part of the job—not a backup plan. Deloitte’s Workplace Skills 2024 survey found that 87% of professionals say adaptability and leadership are key to career growth, reinforcing that continuous learning, whether AI, industry trends, or new workplace technologies, is essential for long-term success. Treat every setback as a learning opportunity: what worked, what didn’t, and how to improve. Build learning into your workflow by setting aside time for skill-building, seeking feedback regularly, and staying curious about new tools and industry shifts. Small, consistent efforts add up over time.

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Ads attacking transgender people may have driven votes in the 2024 election, but bans on health care for trans teens are increasingly falling short, both in the courts and in medical reviews. Voices of reason can fight back, it turns out, against a manufactured moral panic.

Around 1.3 percent of middle school students in the U.S., children on the cusp of adolescence, identify as transgender. Acceptance and awareness of transgender individuals has grown, akin to a “Gender Revolution” as National Geographic called it in 2017. The acceptance, in part, triggered politicized attacks, some frankly weird, centered on banning trans people from sports and ending gender-affirming care for them.

Those attacks on trans kids might be effective politics, but they are lousy medicine. Courts and medical reviews are increasingly coming down on the side of gender-affirming care.

Put simply, gender-affirming care supports people’s own views of themselves. If they want changes in pronouns, names, hairstyles, or clothing, puberty blocking treatment as adolescents, or hormone replacement therapy—that’s okay. What matters is they receive comprehensive medical and psychological care along the way, whatever they and their parents decide. In the U.S., this approach is endorsed by the World Professional Association for Transgender Health and the Endocrine Society as well as a host of other medical organizations. “Critics of our gender-affirming care policy mischaracterize it as pushing medical or surgical treatments on youth; in fact, the policy calls for the opposite,” wrote the then-president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, Moira Szilagyi, in 2022.

Nevertheless, since 2021, 27 states have erected laws or policies limiting minors’ access to this care. These bans are “exacerbating the already high rates of depression, anxiety, and suicide attempts among this vulnerable population,” according to the American Psychological Association. Tennessee’s ban is now under review by the U.S. Supreme Court in U.S. v. Skrmetti, with nationwide implications.

In the meantime, an Ohio appeals court in March blocked that state’s ban on gender-affirming care for minors, saying it violated the state’s constitution. That court also weighed in on medical standards in its decision: “The medical evidence and clinical experience presented in this case demonstrate that, when provided in appropriate circumstances, gender-affirming care can meaningfully improve the health and well-being of transgender adolescents,” found the judges, noting lower rates of depression and other mental health issues. State medical experts testifying in favor of the ban had cited the usual criticisms of “sufficiency and quality of the research” and European restrictions (but not bans) of gender-affirming care for minors. But the judges didn’t buy that, finding “the state did not present, and the trial court did not find, any contrary evidence-based standards [emphasis theirs] accepted by any nationally or internationally recognized professional medical groups,” in the decision.

Fans of trans-care bans regularly employ arguments about insufficient evidence and European restrictions, spreading disinformation. In 2023, for example, Arkansas attorney general Tim Griffin responded to a federal judge blocking his state’s ban, saying, “There is no scientific evidence that any child will benefit from these procedures,” on X. This echoed his state’s ban, which decried “the lack of any long-term longitudinal studies” on puberty-blocking drugs. In other words, we should wait a few decades, while kids suffer, to see if lifesaving care sufficiently satisfies lawmakers like the ones who believe trans kids are “demons” and “mutants.” This moving-the-goalposts demand for extra evidence for gender-affirming care—embedded in Arkansas’ original 2021 ban—has subsequently been copy-pasted into other state laws pushed by partisan religious activists. “These bans were produced as part of an intentional strategy by social and religious conservatives to demonize and scapegoat transgender people,” said Indiana University constitutional law expert Steve Sanders, speaking last year at a Federalist Society event reported by USA Today.

Of course in reality, plenty of evidence demonstrates gender-affirming care’s benefits, as an Association of the Scientific Medical Societies in Germany review concluded in March. The German review also found “no proven effect treatment alternative,” according to news reports. That joins a French medical review released in December, which also backed gender-affirming care. So much for European resistance.

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Something about your 30s and 40s feels like standing at a professional crossroads. You’ve gained experience, maybe moved up a level or two, and the pressure to “figure it out” once and for all is real. But behind the LinkedIn milestones and polished bios, many professionals in this phase quietly navigate career pivots, burnout, and a desire for meaning, not just momentum.

For many, this stage brings an uncomfortable realization: the ladder you’ve been climbing might be leaning against the wrong wall. What once motivated you—titles, promotions, packed calendars—might no longer feel satisfying. You start questioning what you’re doing and why you’re doing it. And while the outside world may see a seasoned professional, inside, you might be reevaluating everything from your definition of success to your sense of purpose.

Here are 10 career truths no one tells you early on but that every high-achiever eventually learns—sometimes the hard way:

Lesson One

Titles are rented, not owned. Your job title can open doors, but it doesn’t define you. Roles change, companies restructure, and industries shift. Build an identity that isn’t dependent on your business card.

Lesson Two

Working harder doesn’t guarantee you’ll be noticed. Effort matters, but visibility matters more. Too often, we assume that good work speaks for itself. But in most organizations, people are too busy to notice what they’re not explicitly shown. That’s why strategic self-advocacy is critical. This doesn’t mean turning every update into a highlight reel; it means communicating your impact in ways that connect to broader goals.

Lesson Three

Loyalty has an expiration date. Loyalty to a company is admirable until it costs you your growth. If your organization isn’t investing in you, it’s okay to outgrow them. Staying too long for comfort can quietly stall your career. Recognizing when it’s time to move on is professional self-respect.

Lesson Four

Soft skills become your power tools. Technical skills get you in the door in your 20s. By your 30s and 40s, emotional intelligence, communication, adaptability, and self-awareness keep you in the room and move you into better ones.

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Meaningful success comes from knowing yourself first, then designing a career that matches   getty

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