⚡ Urgent — F5 warns of a critical vulnerability (CVE-2023–46747) in BIG-IP, allowing unauthenticated remote code execution.
UFMG-V4N2 proved effective in producing antibodies and making them block the passage of cocaine into the brain, which means that the vaccinated animals have a reduced perception of the drug’s effect: a very important advantage in a treatment.
This blockage occurs in the following way: we have a “protective shield” called the blood-brain barrier, which prevents toxic elements, viruses or bacteria from entering the brain, but because the cocaine molecule is very small, it manages to pass through this barrier.
The vaccine stimulates the production of antibodies, which bind to the drug molecules, increasing their weight and size and thus preventing them from getting past the protective shield. The cocaine is retained in the blood, but as it is bound to the antibody, it doesn’t act on the heart or arteries either, which means the risk of overdoses is reduced.
The most recent statistics put the number of regular cocaine or crack cocaine users in the world at 20 million. Of these, one in four will become addicted or develop use disorders.
Cocaine use continues to be a public health problem, yet despite concerted efforts, no drugs have been approved to resolve cocaine addiction. Research suggests that the attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder drug methylphenidate (MPH; Ritalin) could serve as a cocaine-replacement therapy, but clinical results have been mixed. Although several labs have produced MPH derivatives for testing, parts of the molecule remained chemically inaccessible. Now, researchers reporting in ACS Central Science have cleared that hurdle.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 5 million Americans reported actively using cocaine in 2020, and almost 25,000 Americans died of a cocaine-related overdose in 2021. Although small-molecule drugs have proven effective in treating other drug addictions—for example, methadone as a therapy for heroin abuse—no such medication exists for cocaine abuse.
MPH has been considered a potential treatment because it behaves similarly to the illicit drug, increasing dopamine levels in the brain by blocking dopamine reuptake. Additionally, clinical studies have shown that MPH has a lower risk of abuse than cocaine.
O.o!!!!
Cybrothel.
“We are the future of sex,” says Philipp Fussenegger–owner of Cybrothel is the first immersive sex doll brothel in Germany’s capital city Berlin.
The scale of quantum computers is growing quickly. In 2022, IBM took the top spot with its 433-qubit Osprey chip. Yesterday, Atom Computing announced they’ve one-upped IBM with a 1,180-qubit neutral atom quantum computer.
The new machine runs on a tiny grid of atoms held in place and manipulated by lasers in a vacuum chamber. The company’s first 100-qubit prototype was a 10-by-10 grid of strontium atoms. The new system is a 35-by-35 grid of ytterbium atoms (shown above). (The machine has space for 1,225 atoms, but Atom has so far run tests with 1,180.)
Quantum computing researchers are working on a range of qubits—the quantum equivalent of bits represented by transistors in traditional computing—including tiny superconducting loops of wire (Google and IBM), trapped ions (IonQ), and photons, among others. But Atom Computing and other companies, like QuEra, believe neutral atoms—that is, atoms with no electric charge—have greater potential to scale.
Viruses that infect bacteria – called phages – are abundant in our bodies, and they seem to have beneficial effects when our cells engulf them.
By Kamal Nahas
Microsoft warns of Scattered Spider, a financially motivated hacking crew that infiltrates firms worldwide using SMS phishing, SIM swapping, and by posing as new employees, leading to data breaches and takeovers.
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The prolific threat actor known as Scattered Spider has been observed impersonating newly hired employees in targeted firms as a ploy to blend into normal on-hire processes and takeover accounts and breach organizations across the world.
Microsoft, which disclosed the activities of the financially motivated hacking crew, described the adversary as “one of the most dangerous financial criminal groups,” calling out its operational fluidity and its ability to incorporate SMS phishing, SIM swapping, and help desk fraud into its attack model.
In March of this year, astronomers detected a brilliant burst of gamma rays more than a million times more luminous than our entire galaxy. It was the second brightest gamma-ray burst (GRB) ever detected and lasted some 200 seconds.
A study published today in Nature reports that this object was a collision of neutron stars one million light-years distant. What’s more, thanks to the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), astronomers were able to see that the blast also served as a cosmic chemical factory, forging some of the rarest chemicals found on Earth.
“The most robust evidence that the merger of two neutron stars caused this burst comes from its kilonova,” says lead author Andrew Levan of Radboud University in the Netherlands, referring to the optical and infrared light coming from the uber-sized explosion.
Apple is spending $1 billion per year on generative AI, which may soon manifest in a smarter Siri and AI capabilities in other programs.
Bacterial diversity in the gut plays an important role in health. The human microbiome has featured prominently in research, with links being made between it and cancer, personality, memory, and diseases such as diabetes and multiple sclerosis.
While it’s understood that a mother’s microbiome is transferred to their baby at birth and boosted by breastfeeding, what other sources of gut bacteria are there? A new study by researchers at the Graz University of Technology (TU Graz) in Austria has confirmed, for the first time, that one source is fruits and vegetables.