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Vagus Nerve Stimulation Could Unlock the Brain’s Hidden Learning Potential

Practice may teach the brain a new movement, but what happens immediately afterward could determine whether that skill lasts.

Scientists have long known that repetition alone does not guarantee learning. A newly practiced movement must be stabilized through memory consolidation, a process that continues after training ends. New research in mice suggests that signals arriving from the body can help create the conditions needed for that transformation.

Researchers at Tohoku University who specialize in super-network brain physiology found that stimulating the vagus nerve after training produced stronger motor learning over the following days. The results reveal a potentially important role for communication between the internal organs and the brain in shaping long-term learning.

Your Mother’s Age May Leave a Biological Mark That Lasts for Generations

Maternal age effects may arise from reversible epigenetic changes whose impact depends partly on genetics and evolutionary pressures.

A mother’s age can leave a biological imprint on her offspring, influencing physical and behavioral traits across many animal species, including humans. These so-called maternal age effects are widespread, but scientists still do not fully understand the biological mechanisms behind them or why evolution has allowed them to persist.

“Maternal age effects are incredibly common, from invertebrates up through humans, elephants, other primates and other mammals,” said Kristin Gribble, an associate scientist in the Bay Paul Center at the Marine Biological Laboratory. “Nearly all forms of life show some level of maternal age effect, and most are negative effects caused by advanced maternal age.”

BigBear Microsoft 365 phishing service bypassed MFA at 258 organizations

A phishing-as-a-service framework called BigBear 2.0 has been used to bypass multi-factor authentication at 258 organizations and steal more than 5,000 Microsoft 365 credentials.

Researchers at cybersecurity company CloudSEK gained administrator access to the control panel and found that the service managed 42 VPS nodes, all configured to target Microsoft 365 as part of the observed operation.

According to the researchers, the campaign uses an Evilginx2-based adversary-in-the-middle framework to intercept passwords and authenticated session cookies, allowing attackers to hijack accounts after victims complete the multi-factor authentication (MFA) process.

Magento StyleSmuggler zero-day exploited to deploy Linux backdoor

A zero-day vulnerability dubbed “StyleSmuggler” affecting all versions of Magento and Adobe Commerce is being exploited in attacks to deploy a backdoor.

The first exploitation incident was recorded on September 4 on a target running the latest security updates.

E-commerce security company Sansec says that Adobe Enterprise Support confirmed earlier today that it was working on a fix but did not provide a timeline for its release.

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