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Category: mobile phones – Page 2

Google fixes actively exploited Android flaws in September update

Google has released the September 2025 security update for Android devices, addressing a total of 84 vulnerabilities, including two actively exploited flaws.

The two flaws that were detected as exploited in zero-day attacks are CVE-2025–38352, an elevation of privilege in the Android kernel, and CVE-2025–48543, also an elevation of privilege problem in the Android Runtime component.

Google noted in its bulletin that there are indications that those two flaws may be under limited, targeted exploitation, without sharing any more details.

Here we glow: New organic liquid provides efficient phosphorescence

The nostalgic “glow-in-the-dark” stars that twinkle on the ceilings of childhood bedrooms operate on a phenomenon called phosphorescence. Here, a material absorbs energy and later releases it in the form of light. However, recent demand for softer, phosphorescent materials has presented researchers with a unique challenge, as producing organic liquids with efficient phosphorescence at room temperature is considered difficult.

Now, researchers at the University of Osaka have attempted to tackle this problem by producing an organic liquid that phosphoresces in the ambient environment. This discovery is published in Chemical Science.

Traditional materials that can phosphoresce at contain heavy metal atoms. These phosphors are used to create the colored electronic displays we utilize every day, such as those in our smartphones. Organic materials, which contain carbon and (similar to materials found in nature), are more environmentally friendly.

The Different Relationships Between Mobile Phone Dependence and Adolescents’ Scientific and Artistic Creativity: Self‐Esteem and Creative Identity as Mediators

Creativity is the ability to generate original, useful, and meaningful ideas or solutions by combining imagination with knowledge and experience. It involves flexible, divergent thinking and seeing connections that others might overlook.

Artistic creativity refers to expressing ideas, emotions, or concepts through mediums such as painting, music, writing, or performance, emphasizing aesthetic and emotional impact.

Scientific creativity, on the other hand, involves problem-solving, hypothesis generation, and innovative experimentation that can advance knowledge or technology.

The Different Relationships Between Mobile Phone Dependence and Adolescents’ Scientific and Artistic Creativity: Self-Esteem and Creative Identity as Mediators.

Creativity is an essential skill that is at the heart of 21st-century education. Mobile phone use occupies considerable amounts of time in people’s lives and may influence creativity. However, few studies have linked mobile phone dependence (MPD) to adolescents’ domain-specific creativity (science and art). This study investigated the relationship between MPD and the scientific and artistic creativity of 2,922 adolescents (10–15 years old) by using the Test of Mobile Phone Dependence, the Middle School Students’ Everyday Creativity Questionnaire, the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, and the Short Scale of Creative Self, all self-reported measures. Specifically, linear regression analysis and segmented regression analysis were conducted to explore the relationships between MPD and scientific and artistic creativity.

Optoelectronics research could bring holograms to your smartphone and closer to everyday use

New research from the University of St Andrews paves the way for holographic technology, with the potential to transform smart devices, communication, gaming and entertainment.

In a study published in Light: Science & Applications, researchers from the School of Physics and Astronomy created a new optoelectronic device from the combined use of holographic metasurfaces (HMs) and (OLEDs).

Until now, holograms have been created using lasers. However, researchers have found that using OLEDs and HMs gives a simpler and more compact approach that is potentially cheaper and easier to apply, overcoming the main barriers to hologram technology being used more widely.

Tiny defects deliver big gains: Controlling oxygen vacancies boosts thermoelectric efficiency by 91%

A research team has dramatically enhanced the efficiency of converting heat into electricity. The key lies in controlling tiny defects known as oxygen vacancies.

Their findings were published as a front cover article in the journal Advanced Science. The team was led by Professor Hyungyu Jin and Dr. Min Young Kim from the Department of Mechanical Engineering at POSTECH, in collaboration with Professors Donghwa Lee and Si-Young Choi from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, and Professor Joseph P. Heremans from the Ohio State University.

Each day, enormous amounts of heat are lost around us: hot steam from factory chimneys, heat from car engines, and even the warmth generated by smartphones and computers. This is typically left unused, but if it could be converted back into electricity, it would offer a powerful solution to both energy inefficiency and environmental challenges.

Revolutionary Cortisol Test Lets You “See” Stress With a Smartphone Camera

A protein-based biosensor measures cortisol with high accuracy. Smartphone compatibility makes stress testing more accessible. Cortisol plays a key role in regulating essential body functions such as blood pressure and metabolism, and disruptions in this stress hormone can contribute to a variety

New Sni5Gect Attack Crashes Phones and Downgrades 5G to 4G without Rogue Base Station

“As opposed to using a rogue base station, which limits the practicality of many 5G attacks, SNI5GECT acts as a third-party in the communication, silently sniffs messages, and tracks the protocol state by decoding the sniffed messages during the UE attach procedure,” the researchers said. “The state information is then used to inject a targeted attack payload in downlink communication.”

The findings build upon a prior study from ASSET in late 2023 that led to the discovery of 14 flaws in the firmware implementation of 5G mobile network modems from MediaTek and Qualcomm, collectively dubbed 5Ghoul, that could be exploited to launch attacks to drop connections, freeze the connection that involves manual reboot, or downgrade the 5G connectivity to 4G.

The Sni5Gect attacks are designed to passively sniff messages during the initial connection process, decode the message content in real-time, and then leverage the decoded message content to inject targeted attack payloads.

Google to verify all Android devs to block malware on Google Play

Google is introducing a new defense for Android called ‘Developer Verification’ to block malware installations from sideloaded apps sourced from outside the official Google Play app store.

For apps on Google Play, there was already a requirement for publishers to provide a D-U-N-S (Data Universal Numbering System) number, introduced on August 31, 2023.

Google says this has had a notable effect in reducing malware on the platform. However, the system didn’t apply to the vast developer ecosystem outside the app store.

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