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Material that listens: Chip-based approach enables speech recognition and more

Speech recognition without heavy software or energy-hungry processors: researchers at the University of Twente, together with IBM Research Europe and Toyota Motor Europe, present a completely new approach. Their chips allow the material itself to “listen.” The publication by Prof. Wilfred van der Wiel and colleagues appears today in Nature.

Until now, has relied on cloud servers and complex software. The Twente researchers show that it can be done differently. They combined a Reconfigurable Nonlinear Processing Unit (RNPU), developed at the University of Twente, with a new IBM chip. Together, these devices process sound as smoothly and dynamically as the human ear and brain. In tests, this approach proved at least as accurate as the best software models—and sometimes even better.

The potential impact is considerable: hearing aids that use almost no energy, that no longer send data to the cloud, or cars with direct speech control. “This is a new way of thinking about intelligence in hardware,” says Prof. Van der Wiel. “We show that the material itself can be trained to listen.”

Monitoring sediment buildup in underwater bridge tunnels with the help of high-energy muons

Over 200 underwater bridge tunnels exist for vehicular traffic around the world, providing connectivity between cities. Once constructed, however, these tunnels are difficult to monitor and maintain, often requiring shutdowns or invasive methods that pose structural risks.

Muography—an using , called , which can traverse hundreds of meters within the Earth—can provide a noninvasive approach to examining subterranean infrastructure.

In the Journal of Applied Physics, a group of researchers from public and private organizations in Shanghai applied this technique to the Shanghai Outer Ring Tunnel, which runs under the Huangpu River as part of the city’s ring expressway.

Innovative microscope captures large, high-resolution images of curved samples in single snapshot

Researchers have developed a new type of microscope that can acquire extremely large, high-resolution pictures of non-flat objects in a single snapshot. This innovation could speed up research and medical diagnostics or be useful in quality inspection applications.

“Although traditional microscopes assume the sample is perfectly flat, real-life samples such as tissue sections, plant samples or flexible materials may be curved, tilted or uneven,” said research team leader Roarke Horstmeyer from Duke University.

“With our approach, it’s possible to adjust the focus across the sample, so that everything remains in focus even if the sample surface isn’t flat, while avoiding slow scanning or expensive special lenses.”

Ultrathin films of ferromagnetic oxide reveal a hidden Hall effect mechanism

Researchers from Japan have discovered a unique Hall effect resulting from deflection of electrons due to “in-plane magnetization” of ferromagnetic oxide films (SrRuO3). Arising from the spontaneous coupling of spin-orbit magnetization within SrRuO3 films, the effect overturns the century-old assumption that only out-of-plane magnetization can trigger the Hall effect.

The study, now published in Advanced Materials, offers a new way to manipulate with potential applications in advanced sensors, , and spintronic technologies.

When an electric current flows through a material in the presence of a magnetic field, its electrons experience a subtle sideways force which deflects their path. This effect of electron deflection is called the Hall effect—a phenomenon that lies at the heart of modern sensors and electronic devices. When this effect results from internal magnetization of the conducting material, it is called “anomalous Hall effect (AHE).”

Microsoft and Cloudflare disrupt massive RaccoonO365 phishing service

Microsoft and Cloudflare have disrupted a massive Phishing-as-a-Service (PhaaS) operation, known as RaccoonO365, that helped cybercriminals steal thousands of Microsoft 365 credentials.

In early September 2025, in coordination with Cloudflare’s Cloudforce One and Trust and Safety teams, Microsoft’s Digital Crimes Unit (DCU) disrupted the cybercrime operation by seizing 338 websites and Worker accounts linked to RaccoonO365.

The cybercrime group behind this service (also tracked by Microsoft as Storm-2246) has stolen at least 5,000 Microsoft credentials from 94 countries since at least July 2024, using RaccoonO365 phishing kits that bundled CAPTCHA pages and anti-bot techniques to appear legitimate and evade analysis.

Google nukes 224 Android malware apps behind massive ad fraud campaign

A massive Android ad fraud operation dubbed “SlopAds” was disrupted after 224 malicious applications on Google Play were used to generate 2.3 billion ad requests per day.

The ad fraud campaign was discovered by HUMAN’s Satori Threat Intelligence team, which reported that the apps were downloaded over 38 million times and employed obfuscation and steganography to conceal the malicious behavior from Google and security tools.

The campaign was worldwide, with users installing the apps from 228 countries and territories, and SlopAds traffic accounting for 2.3 billion bid requests every day. The highest concentration of ad impressions originated from the United States (30%), followed by India (10%) and Brazil (7%).

Scattered Spider Resurfaces With Financial Sector Attacks Despite Retirement Claims

Cybersecurity researchers have tied a fresh round of cyber attacks targeting financial services to the notorious cybercrime group known as Scattered Spider, casting doubt on their claims of going “dark.”

Threat intelligence firm ReliaQuest said it has observed indications that the threat actor has shifted their focus to the financial sector. This is supported by an increase in lookalike domains potentially linked to the group that are geared towards the industry vertical, as well as a recently identified targeted intrusion against an unnamed U.S. banking organization.

“Scattered Spider gained initial access by socially engineering an executive’s account and resetting their password via Azure Active Directory Self-Service Password Management,” the company said.

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