Scott Aaronson, co-author of the comic, is the director of the Quantum Information Center at UT Austin, and has a number of publications about quantum computing. His website has more qualifications: https://www.scottaaronson.com/.
If there was a Scott Aaronson tier communicator for every subfield of science, the world would be a much better place. I also wouldn't have to type nearly as many comments.
Hold on a second. Scott Aaronson is popsci, as in popular science.
As for what you refer to, see the name of the journal the boy is reading in the first panel :)