Machine learning--giving computers the ability to learn new things without being pre-programmed with specific knowledge--plays an important role in a growing number of applications, including spam detection, natural language processing, and recommendation systems. USC and their research partners used the D-Wave 2000Q to apply quantum annealing to machine learning approaches to several problems in the life and physical sciences, including TF-DNA binding, cancer classification, and solving a Higgs boson optimization problem.