arXiv:2603.29944v1 Announce Type: cross Abstract: Quantum sensing technologies offer transformative potential for ultra-sensitive biomedical sensing, yet their clinical translation remains constrained by classical noise limits and a reliance on macroscopic ensembles. We propose a unifying generational framework to organize the evolving landscape of quantum biosensors based on their utilization of quantum resources. First-generation devices utilize discrete energy levels for signal transduction but follow classical scaling laws. Second-generation sensors exploit quantum coherence to reach the standard quantum limit, while third-generation architectures leverage entanglement and spin squeezing to approach Heisenberg-limited precision. We further define an emerging fourth generation characterized by the end-to-end integration of quantum sensing with quantum learning and variational circuits, enabling adaptive inference directly within the quantum domain. By analyzing critical parameters such as bandwidth matching and sensor-tissue proximity, we identify key technological bottlenecks and propose a roadmap for transitioning from measuring physical observables to extracting structured biological information with quantum-enhanced intelligence.

arXiv:2506.09082v4 Announce Type: replace-cross Abstract: The rise of vision foundation models (VFMs) calls for systematic evaluation. A common approach pairs VFMs with large language models (LLMs) as general-purpose heads, followed by evaluation on broad Visual Question Answering (VQA) benchmarks. However, this protocol has two key blind spots: (i) the instruction tuning data may not align with VQA test distributions, meaning a wrong prediction can stem from such data mismatch rather than a VFM' visual shortcomings; (ii) VQA benchmarks often require multiple visual abilities, making it hard to tell whether errors stem from lacking all required abilities or just a single critical one. To address these gaps, we introduce AVA-Bench, the first benchmark that explicitly disentangles 14 Atomic Visual Abilities (AVAs) -- foundational skills like localization, depth estimation, and spatial understanding that collectively support complex visual reasoning tasks. By decoupling AVAs and matching training and test distributions within each, AVA-Bench pinpoints exactly where a VFM excels or falters. Applying AVA-Bench to leading VFMs thus reveals distinctive "ability fingerprints," turning VFM selection from educated guesswork into principled engineering. Notably, we find that a 0.5B LLM yields similar VFM rankings as a 7B LLM while cutting GPU hours by 8x, enabling more efficient evaluation. By offering a comprehensive and transparent benchmark, we hope AVA-Bench lays the foundation for the next generation of VFMs.