A world-leading dark matter detector observed a rare particle interaction that may represent dark matter, the invisible substance comprising most of the universe’s mass.
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New Android malware encrypts files, steals data, and harasses victims
A new Android malware strain called Mantax Otax combines ransomware and spyware capabilities to encrypt files, steal sensitive data, and spam and harass victims.
Indonesian operators distribute the malware through malicious APKs hosted outside Google Play, targeting users with phishing and social engineering messages.
After installation, the malware requests permission to use the Accessibility service, which gives it extensive control over compromised devices.
Microsoft Excel KB5002914 update breaks copy and paste for some users
Microsoft Excel users report that this week’s KB5002914 Office security update is breaking copy-and-paste operations and formula dragging, with affected users saying that removing or rolling back the update restores normal functionality.
Microsoft released the security update this week as part of its September 2026 Patch Tuesday, and reports of the problem soon appeared on both Reddit and the Microsoft Q&A forums.
“It seems that security update kb5002914 might have bricked autofill and copy paste in Excel 2016,” a Reddit user reported.
New U-M Histotripsy Center to target kidney, pancreatic, brain cancers
The University of Michigan is getting a $10 million boost to research and expand the use of histotripsy, a medical advance pioneered on the Ann Arbor campus that uses precisely targeted ultrasound waves to destroy cancerous tumors without damaging surrounding tissue.
Already approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat liver tumors, U-M leaders say the money will be used to advance the technology and research so histotripsy could become a future treatment option for people with kidney cancer, pancreatic cancer, brain tumors, hemorrhagic stroke, blood clots, epilepsy and more.
“Michigan is at its best when our brightest minds connect to tackle the most consequential challenges of our time,” said U-M President Domenico Grasso during a Sept. 10 news conference, announcing the $10 million donation from multiple sources, including the university’s engineering department, private donors and HistoSonics, the U-M startup that commercialized the technology.
No, AI isn’t conscious
Research from the University of Bradford and RIT shows that AI systems aren’t conscious, even when they appear to be. Tests adapted from human consciousness research revealed that AI can produce “conscious‑like” signals even when degraded, highlighting why complexity doesn’t equal awareness and why claims of conscious AI are misleading.
Ultra-cold quantum sensors cut X-ray uncertainty, improving nuclear material assessments
To monitor the amount and type of nuclear material at power plants and weapons facilities, scientists look for a special signal—the unique pattern of gamma rays emitted by specific radioactive elements. However, some of these elements also emit X-rays in the same energy range as the gamma-ray emissions, masking the signal and making nuclear stockpiles harder to assess.
Now, researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have measured the confounding X-ray emissions from plutonium, uranium and neptunium (a nuclear decay product of uranium) with unprecedented accuracy. This achievement allows scientists to filter out the X-ray background noise so they can more precisely evaluate the accumulation of nuclear materials.
“Our measurements support international nuclear safeguards by enabling more precise accounting of material in nuclear facilities,” said Jonathan Dean, a physicist at NIST and the University of Colorado Boulder.
HiPR Makes Path Tracing More Responsive by Rendering What Matters
Path tracing can produce remarkably realistic lighting, reflections, and shadows, but that visual quality comes with a fundamental responsiveness problem. When an artist moves an object, changes a material, or adjusts a light, the renderer may effectively restart the entire image—even when only certain areas are meaningfully affected. For creators working in look development, virtual production, level design, or architectural visualization, that delay can interrupt the iterative process.
Hierarchical Progressive Rendering, or HiPR, approaches the problem as one of scheduling. Developed by University of Utah researcher Rafael Padilla alongside Andrew Tate, Dhruv Ram, and Cem Yuksel, the technique identifies where an edit is directly visible and follows its influence through reflections, shadows, indirect illumination, and other light-transport paths. It then updates the most important image regions first while the remaining pixels progressively catch up, ultimately producing the same unbiased path-traced result.