One of quantum computing’s central problems is that errors happen and you often don’t know it until you measure — by which point the quantum state is gone. A new method published this week can detect quantum information loss more than 100 times faster than previous approaches, tracking changes in near real time.

That’s not a fix for decoherence. But it’s a significantly better diagnostic tool, which matters for the engineering cycle. You can’t fix what you can’t see.

Two research teams published findings saying we’re closer than anyone expected. One estimate puts the current largest quantum machine at more than halfway to the size needed to crack the encryption that secures basically everything online.

“Just around the corner” is relative. But this moved from “eventual theoretical problem” to “timeline question” faster than most people were tracking.

What happens to all the data that’s been harvested now, to be decrypted later? That’s the uncomfortable part of this.