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Malicious JetBrains Marketplace plugins steal AI API keys from developers

At least 15 malicious plugins found on the JetBrains Marketplace were designed to steal AI API keys from developers.

The campaign, discovered by Aikido Security, includes plugins that act as AI coding assistants, code-review tools, and Git utilities powered by popular AI services such as OpenAI, DeepSeek, and SiliconFlow.

“We detected a coordinated malware campaign on the JetBrains Marketplace,” warns Aikido.

New Rokarolla Android malware targets 217 banking, crypto apps

A new Android banking trojan named Rokarolla is targeting 217 banking and cryptocurrency applications using an extensive set of 137 commands.

The malware is distributed via malicious websites purporting to provide the Google Chrome or TikTok app, and can take complete administrative control of a compromised device.

Its capabilities include stealing lock screen credentials, contact lists, and SMS data, as well as using keyloggers to continuously record user input.

Steam Workshop abused to spread malware via Wallpaper Engine app

Threat actors are abusing Steam Workshop, Valve’s community hub for downloading game-related content, to push various malware hidden in wallpaper packages.

Infected wallpapers can lead to hijacking Steam accounts, compromising the system with a backdoor, or running cryptomining processes.

Steam Workshop is a built-in content-sharing platform on Valve’s Steam gaming service where users can upload and download community-created content for games and applications.

Scientist’s ‘mini‑universe’ measures time without clock

The experiment addresses a long-standing question in physics — in some theories of the universe, there is no built‑in clock so how do you tell what comes ‘before’ and ‘after’ without external time?

Professor Barontini showed that the system follows the standard equations of quantum physics and demonstrates that deep questions about the nature of time — usually discussed only in theories about the universe as a whole — can be tested in controlled laboratory experiments.

The experiment provides a powerful testbed for ideas in quantum cosmology and gravity, meaning that ideas relating to the early universe can now be tested experimentally in the lab.

Debate on human aging and lifespan

The issue of human lifespan has long been a matter of controversy among scientists. In spite of the recent claim by Dong et al that human lifespan is limited to 115 years, with the mounting improvements in biotechnology and scientific understanding of aging, we may be confident that aging will slow down over the course of the current century extending human longevity much longer than 115 years.

Mapping immune cell interactions in gut tissue reveals changes in ulcerative colitis

In a new study published in Science Immunology, researchers at King’s College London looked at a type of tissue important for the immune response called gut-associated lymphoid tissue (GALT), which is located within the lining of the gut. Unlike other tissue structures in the gut lining that act as a barrier between the trillions of bacteria in the gut and the rest of the body, GALT actively transports gut microbes into the body. By doing this, GALT activates immune responses that help maintain a stable relationship with beneficial gut bacteria.

Typically, when the body encounters microbes, it triggers inflammation, sending immune cells to the affected area to fight the pathogen. However, GALT behaves differently. Despite its close and consistent interaction with microbes, GALT does not become inflamed.

To understand how GALT achieves this, the team mapped the interactions and locations of immune cells in GALT. They also looked at how these interactions changed in ulcerative colitis—an inflammatory bowel disease in which parts of the large bowel become swollen, inflamed and ulcerated. According to Crohn’s & Colitis UK, at least 1 in every 233 people in the U.K. have ulcerative colitis. The condition can significantly affect quality of life. Previous research has linked GALT in the appendix to ulcerative colitis.

Many cancers originate from a single cancer cell and evolve through early bursts of chromosome changes

A comprehensive multi-cancer study by researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center has revealed that cancer cells within tumors are genetically diverse, yet all carry the same core genetic changes that can be traced back to a common ancestral cell, providing a single-cell view of how tumors adapt, survive and diversify. Understanding this helps explain why some cancer cells manage to survive treatment, paving the way for more tailored diagnostic and therapeutic strategies.

The study, published in Cancer Discovery, was led by Nicholas Navin, Ph.D., chair of Systems Biology. The research shows that cancer cells do not evolve slowly over time, but rather grow through sudden bursts of rapid genetic changes that include copy number alterations (CNAs)—gains or losses of entire sections of DNA. This creates a family tree of distinct new subpopulations that can influence tumor aggressiveness, metastasis and treatment response.

“Our findings provide the clearest views to date of how cancers originate and evolve at the single-cell level,” Navin said. “By revealing both the shared early genetic events and the bursts that drive ongoing diversity, we now have a roadmap for developing smarter clinical diagnostic and treatment strategies to improve patient outcomes.”

Testing the problem of time with cold atoms

An ultracold atomic gas is used as a self-contained miniuniverse to show that time can be defined without an external clock. It’s demonstrated that entropy exchange between different sectors of the system provides an internal time that robustly orders the dynamics and yields a Schr\ odinger description of the observed evolution.

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