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Quantum Breakthrough Could Make Your Devices 1,000 Times Faster

Your days of being frustrated by a sluggish smartphone or laptop could be coming to an end: scientists have discovered a new technique for controlling electronic states in quantum materials that could eventually make our gadgets up to 1,000 times faster.

Quantum materials are those that display strange behaviors and properties governed by quantum mechanics. They provide a glimpse into a separate realm of physics, where the standard laws don’t apply.

Here, researchers from institutions across the US manipulated the temperature of a layered quantum material called 1T-TaS₂, enabling it to instantly shift between two opposite electronic phases: insulation and conduction. That ability to block or allow the flow of electricity is key to how transistors in computer chips work.

Fake Gaming and AI Firms Push Malware on Cryptocurrency Users via Telegram and Discord

The attack chains begin when one of these adversary-controlled accounts messages a victim through X, Telegram, or Discord, urging them to test out their software in exchange for a cryptocurrency payment.

Should the target agree to the test, they are redirected to a fictitious website from where they are promoted to enter a registration code provided by the employee to download either a Windows Electron application or an Apple disk image (DMG) file, depending on the operating system used.

On Windows systems, opening the malicious application displays a Cloudflare verification screen to the victim while it covertly profiles the machine and proceeds to download and execute an MSI installer. Although the exact nature of the payload is unclear, it’s believed that an information stealer is run at this stage.

Plants engineered for optimal biofuel production

Arabidopsis may seem like a simple plant, but at the University of Missouri, plant biochemist Jay Thelen is using it as a powerful model to explore ways to boost oil production—an important step toward creating more sustainable, plant-based energy sources.

To meet the increasing global demand for biofuels, scientists are already modifying to boost the amount of plant oil being produced. That’s because inside the plant, a complex network of metabolic pathways turns sunlight, carbon dioxide (or atmospheric carbon), water and nutrients into vital compounds including oil, the foundational ingredient of biofuel.

Genes give instructions to enzymes, and, in turn, those enzymes help control the plant’s metabolic pathways. But we are only beginning to understand how modifying these genes to produce more oil affects the plant’s other metabolic pathways, which are all interconnected.