Sunday, August 3, 2025

Polaris of Enlightenment

Finnish supercomputer gets quantum upgrade

Published 10 October 2024
– By Ivana Bratovanova
The names "LUMI" and "HELMI" mean "snow" and "pearl" in Finnish.
2 minute read

LUMI, Europe’s fastest and the world’s fifth fastest supercomputer, has been integratated with the HELMI quantum computer.

The resulting hybrid system is, according to LUMI Director Pekka Manninen, “the most powerful quantum-enabled supercomputing infrastructure in the world”.

Located in Kajaani, Finland, LUMI is renowned for its immense computational power, equivalent to approximately 1.5 million laptops. Now, the VTT Technical Research Centre has connected LUMI to the HELMI 5-qubit quantum computer, creating a hybrid computational architecture with enhanced capabilities and research potential.

“We see great potential in quantum computing for accelerating innovation for the benefit of companies and the whole society”, says Pekka Pursula, Research Manager at VTT.

The integration of LUMI and HELMI combines the processing power of classical supercomputing with the advanced capabilities of quantum computing. In this hybrid system, classical computing manages large-scale data processing, while HELMI tackles optimization challenges. This combination boosts efficiency and enables breakthroughs in fields like science, environmental modeling, logistics, and finance.

According to Pekka Manninen, Director of the LUMI Leadership Computing Facility at CSC – IT Center for Science, the upgrade makes it “the most powerful quantum-enabled supercomputing infrastructure in the world”.

LUMI’s hybrid architecture is already supporting a wide array of critical research projects. For instance, it is aiding in the prediction of global weather patterns, advancing artificial intelligence research, and supporting drug discovery. Earlier this year, researchers at the University of Salerno used LUMI to analyze thousands of potential drug candidates, improving the efficiency of the drug development process.

The hybrid supercomputer is also proving useful in the study of space phenomena. Aalto University researcher Maarit Korpi-Lagg uses LUMI to study solar magnetism and its impact on solar activity. Her research involves numerical simulations to predict future solar behavior, helping society better understand the effects of solar storms.

Given the high energy demands of such advanced infrastructures, LUMI’s location in central Finland was chosen for its access to low-cost hydroelectric power and naturally cold climate. The system also recycles its heat output to warm nearby buildings, reducing energy costs and emissions.

“Quantum computers are in many respects strange and unfamiliar, and it will be exciting to see how our customers end up using them”, comments Mikael Johansson, Quantum Technologies Manager at CSC, IT Center for Science in Espoo.

TNT is truly independent!

We don’t have a billionaire owner, and our unique reader-funded model keeps us free from political or corporate influence. This means we can fearlessly report the facts and shine a light on the misdeeds of those in power.

Consider a donation to keep our independent journalism running…

Homeschooling increases in Finland

Published 1 August 2025
– By Editorial Staff
2 minute read

More and more children are receiving homeschooling in Finland – a trend that gained momentum during the coronavirus crisis and has continued to grow since then. Lack of support in schools and increased awareness are cited as reasons, while authorities warn of knowledge risks.

During the coronavirus crisis, more and more people began working from home in Finland, as in other countries. More children were also taught remotely, especially during spring 2020 when all schools except preschools were closed for about two months. Since then, homeschooling has increased in the country, even after the end of the coronavirus crisis.

In 2020, 585 children received homeschooling, which was then an increase of a quarter from the year before. Last year, the figure had increased to 881 children.

Unlike in Sweden, where compulsory schooling is stricter and it is therefore more difficult to get permission for homeschooling, it is significantly easier in Finland. No special permit is required to homeschool children.

In Sweden, it has become more common to move to Åland (an autonomous Finnish territory) to escape Sweden’s compulsory schooling laws, where, like in Finland, it is easier to homeschool children. In 2024, 95 percent of all homeschooled children in Åland were Swedes, according to tax-funded SVT (Swedish public television).

Awareness has increased

Marjukka Saarnisto, vice chairman of the homeschool association Suomen kotikouluyhdistys, sees several reasons why more parents choose to homeschool their children.

Awareness has increased while problems in elementary school have increased. Nowadays parents dare to make courageous decisions regarding the child’s best interests, she tells Finnish public broadcaster Yle.

It can also involve issues such as bullying or lack of support for the student that leads parents to choose homeschooling. A common phenomenon is that many believe that homeschooled children are isolated from society, a myth that Saarnisto says is not true.

Children who are taught at home also have friends. They have hobbies and even have more time and energy for them than children in elementary school.

A challenge

Education counselor Riia Palmqvist from the Finnish National Agency for Education believes the increase is due to the fact that remote work increased during the coronavirus crisis and that many Finns still work remotely. Since there is no remote alternative for elementary school, parents instead choose homeschooling.

However, Palmqvist emphasizes that homeschooling is demanding and that there is a risk that the child will not gain sufficient competence to continue studying.

It can be difficult to get into upper secondary school or vocational school if you don’t have proof of your competence, she says.

Researchers’ new IVF method: Children born with DNA from three people

Published 20 July 2025
– By Editorial Staff
Archive image.
2 minute read

Eight children are reported to have been born in the United Kingdom with DNA from a mother and a father – and an additional person. The method has been justified as preventing the risk of inheriting life-threatening genetic diseases from parents.

The intervention technique is described in British media as groundbreaking and became possible after the UK changed legislation in the area in 2015. The UK’s fertility authority granted the first license in 2017 to a clinic at Newcastle University, where doctors were the very first to use the technique that reportedly aims to help women with mitochondrial diseases give birth to healthy children through artificial insemination.

Four boys and four girls, including a pair of identical twins, have been born through the method technically called mitochondrial donation therapy. The children currently show no signs of the mitochondrial diseases they risked inheriting. Another pregnancy is still ongoing.

Third person’s genes are passed on

As parents, all we ever wanted was to give our child a healthy start in life. After years of uncertainty this treatment gave us hope – and then it gave us our baby … we’re overwhelmed with gratitude. Science gave us a chance“, says the mother of one of the girls according to the British liberal newspaper The Guardian.

The mitochondria affected by the treatment constitute 0.02 percent of human total DNA, which is why the researchers behind the technique do not fully embrace the description of the technique as giving rise to “three parents”. At the same time, mitochondria have their own genetic code and girls born with the help of this technique – and who carry the healthy third person’s/donor’s mitochondria – will pass on these genes to their potential children as well.

Study: Fluoride in drinking water may impact children’s cognitive ability

Published 6 July 2025
– By Editorial Staff
According to the study, higher fluoride levels in pregnant women were linked to impaired cognitive abilities in their children at the ages of five and ten.
2 minute read

A study from Karolinska Institutet links fluoride in drinking water to impaired cognition in children. In particular, the researchers saw a negative impact on children’s verbal abilities.

In Sweden, fluoride is found naturally in low levels in drinking water, while in several countries, such as the United States, Canada and Australia, it is added to municipal water to prevent tooth decay. It is also used in toothpaste to protect teeth against decay.

Researchers at the Karolinska Institutet have investigated how early exposure to fluoride affects children’s cognitive abilities. The study involved 500 mothers and their children in rural Bangladesh, where fluoride is naturally present in drinking water at levels comparable to Sweden. The researchers measured fluoride levels in the mothers during pregnancy and later in the children via urine samples. The children’s cognitive abilities were then tested by psychologists at ages five and ten.


The article was originally published in The Nordic Times on March 23, 2025.


The study, published in Environmental Health Perspectives, found that higher fluoride levels in pregnant women were linked to impaired cognitive abilities in their children at ages five and ten. The impact was most evident on children’s verbal comprehension and their ability to interpret and process sensory input. In contrast, the researchers found no statistically significant link between fluoride levels in the urine of five-year-olds and their cognition.

–  This could be due to the shorter exposure, but also because the measurements are not as reliable in younger children due to greater variations in how fluoride is absorbed and accumulated in the body, especially in the skeleton, says Maria Kippler, associate professor at the Institute of Environmental Medicine at Karolinska Institutet, in a press release.

Even low levels can have negative effects

The fluoride levels that were linked to poorer cognitive development were below the WHO and EU limits for drinking water. However, the researchers point out that toothpaste is rarely a significant source of exposure, as it is not intended to be swallowed, but emphasize the importance of children learning to spit it out.

Our results support the hypothesis that even relatively low levels of fluoride can have negative effects on children’s early development, says Kippler.

However, the researchers emphasize that this is an observational study and therefore no firm conclusions can be drawn about cause and effect. It is therefore important to assess the overall results of several similar studies.

– Further research is important to inform the assessment of appropriate fluoride limits. Even small changes in cognition at the population level can have large consequences for public health, says Kippler.

Finns ate more meat last year

Published 21 June 2025
– By Editorial Staff
1 minute read

Last year, people in Finland ate more meat and chicken than the year before. At the same time, oat consumption set a new record in the Finnish diet, according to a new study.

Last year, Finns ate 78.2 kilograms of meat per person, including game and offal. Most of the meat, 76.2 kilograms, was beef, pork, lamb and chicken.

The consumption of beef in particular has decreased for several years in a row, but last year it increased, according to a survey by the Finnish Natural Resources Institute. The amount of chicken on the plate also increased in Finnish homes. At the same time, less pork and mutton was eaten. The consumption of fish remained seemingly unchanged, with each Finn eating an average of 13.7 kilograms last year.

Cereal consumption increased last year, reaching 87.3 kg per person. The main increase was in the amount of oats consumed, which reached record levels last year. Wheat and barley consumption also increased, while rye decreased.

– Here we see something of a trend. This is because the food industry has created a lot of new oat products. Part of this trend is also that Finns are drinking more oat milk, says statistics expert Erja Mikkola, to Finnish state broadcaster Yle.

Regular milk drinking decreased by about two percent, but people ate about the same amount of butter and cheese as in the previous year. Furthermore, each Finn ate an average of 48 kilograms of fruit and 64 kilograms of vegetables last year.

Our independent journalism needs your support!
We appreciate all of your donations to keep us alive and running.

Our independent journalism needs your support!
Consider a donation.

You can donate any amount of your choosing, one-time payment or even monthly.
We appreciate all of your donations to keep us alive and running.

Dont miss another article!

Sign up for our newsletter today!

Take part of uncensored news – free from industry interests and political correctness from the Polaris of Enlightenment – every week.