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Google disputes false claims of massive Gmail data breach

Google was once again forced to announce that it had not suffered a data breach after numerous news outlets published sensational stories about a fake breach that purportedly exposed 183 million accounts.

This claim began over the weekend and into today, with news stories claiming that millions of Gmail accounts were breached, with some outlets saying it affected the full 183 million accounts.

However, as the company explained in a series of posts on Monday, Gmail did not suffer a breach, and the compromised accounts were actually from a compilation of credentials stolen by information-stealing malware and other attacks over the years.

Crystal-free mechanoluminescence illuminates new possibilities for next-generation materials

In the 17th century, Francis Bacon described a simple experiment—scraping and fracturing hard sugar in the dark to see sparks of light. This phenomenon is called mechanoluminescence (ML) or triboluminescence (TL), the process of materials emitting light under mechanical stimulation, like grinding or crushing. Usually, ML properties of luminescent compounds are observed in rigid crystalline systems, which limits their real-world applications.

Now, researchers at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST) have found a way to generate ML in non-crystalline materials, bringing a new wave of potential applications in engineering, industrial safety and beyond.

“Mechanical stimulation of crystals causes fractures. As the crystals are damaged and break down in size, they also start to lose their ML properties, which vastly restricts their application. In , ML is highly dependent on structure and packing, adding complex design requirements. That’s why we were interested in amorphous ML materials with longer-lasting luminescence,” explains Professor Julia Khusnutdinova, head of the Coordination Chemistry and Catalysis Unit at OIST.

A new, expansive view of the Milky Way reveals our galaxy in unprecedented radio color

Astronomers from the International Centre of Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR) have created the largest low-frequency radio color image of the Milky Way ever assembled. This spectacular new image captures the Southern Hemisphere view of our Milky Way galaxy, revealing it across a wide range of radio wavelengths, the colors of radio light.

A paper describing this work appears in Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia.

It provides astronomers with new ways to explore the birth, evolution, and death of stars in our galaxy.

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