IBM’s quantum computer, Eagle, has shown that quantum computers could outperform classical ones in practical applications within two years. The study, published in the journal Nature, used a special error-mitigating process to compensate for noise, a fundamental weakness of quantum computers. The 127-qubit Eagle supercomputer calculated the complete magnetic state of a two-dimensional solid faster than a classical computer could. Quantum computers employ quantum bits, or qubits, that can take on many states at once, allowing them to make calculations much faster than digital bits. The demonstration hints that true quantum supremacy could be here sooner than expected.