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Espresso ‘pucks’ stop behaving predictably above certain pressures

When a physics student asked baristas at the Warsaw Coffee Conference what their biggest question for scientists was, the baristas said they wanted to know how to stop channeling during brewing.

Channeling is an issue that arises as hot water passes through a pressed “puck” of espresso. The water follows the path of least resistance through the coffee grounds, resulting in an uneven brew and bitter flavor.

In Physics of Fluids, researchers from the University of Warsaw set out to determine the physical properties of espresso brewing to improve the preparation process.

Scientists create optical skyrmions using a two-century-old light phenomenon

Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) scientists have used a classic optical phenomenon known as the Poisson spot to create stable patterns of light called optical skyrmions, which are tiny, swirling configurations in the properties of light—akin to the spikes of a hedgehog.

The team used a laser directed at a small circular disk instead of the complex and costly engineered materials commonly used to generate these skyrmions. This new method gives scientists a much simpler way to generate, study and adjust optical skyrmions.

Skyrmions are currently a hot scientific subject because they hold the potential to store information, paving the way for future data storage, communications and computing systems.

New breakthrough spots deadly methanol without opening bottles

A new optical technique developed by researchers at the University of St Andrews and Adelaide University allows toxic methanol in alcoholic spirits to be detected without opening the bottle. Published in the Journal of Physics: Photonics, this new work offers a powerful new tool for tackling counterfeit alcohol and improving consumer safety worldwide.

Methanol contamination of spirits such as whiskey, gin and vodka causes hundreds of deaths each year and can lead to serious physical consequences, such as blindness. Recent high-profile incidents have highlighted the danger: In 2024, six tourists died in Laos after drinking alcohol later found to be contaminated with methanol. It is estimated that methanol poisoning has caused tens of thousands of deaths globally, with incidents documented in nearly 80 countries.

Despite this, gold-standard tests for methanol detection are time-consuming and expensive, requiring trained personnel and specialized laboratory equipment.

Cisco Unified CM Flaw Exploited After PoC Reveals File-Write Path to Root

Threat actors have begun to exploit a recently disclosed critical security flaw impacting Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Unified CM) and Unified Communications Manager Session Management Edition (Unified CM SME).

The vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2026–20230 (CVSS score: 8.6), is a case of improper input validation for specific HTTP requests that could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to conduct server-side request forgery (SSRF) attacks through an affected device.

“An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a crafted HTTP request to an affected device,” Cisco said in an advisory released earlier this month. “A successful exploit could allow the attacker to write files to the underlying operating system that could be used later to elevate to root.”

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