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Sound-based traps reveal how fragile biomolecular droplets move, merge and change stiffness

Being able to measure something plays a vital role in our ability to understand many phenomena. But measuring can often affect what we are trying to measure. This is particularly the case when measuring substances that are very small, soft or fragile. In a recent study published in PRX Life, a research team led by the University of Osaka successfully used acoustic tweezers as a contactless method to investigate an important type of fragile material called biopolymer condensates.

Biopolymer condensates are liquid-like droplets composed of proteins and/or nucleic acids and are involved in regulating a variety of physiological functions within cells to keep them healthy. However, problems with these droplet systems can result in a variety of diseases, including neurodegenerative diseases. The mechanical properties of biopolymer droplets, such as fluidity and stiffness, are important for biological activity.

Better knowledge of the mechanical properties of these droplets will help us understand their roles in healthy cells and disease states. However, these droplets are very small and fragile and are difficult to investigate using conventional techniques.

The global race to make a practical quantum computer just took a big leap forward

In the global race to build bigger and better quantum computers, researchers have taken a step forward. A new machine called Helios is radically different from other quantum computers.

Quantum computers harness the power of quantum mechanics, the laws that govern physics at atomic and subatomic scales. Among various designs for such machines, Helios is a trapped-ion quantum computer, which means it uses charged atoms suspended in free space using electromagnetic fields.

It operates using 98 qubits—the units of information that a quantum computer uses to process data. This number of qubits makes it the largest trapped-ion quantum computer built so far. Quantinuum, the company behind the device, is based in Cambridge, U.K., and Broomfield, Colorado. It demonstrated earlier machines operating on 32 qubits in 2023 and 56 qubits in 2025.

Microsoft Copilot Personal Flaws Could Let One Click Exfiltrate Data From Connected Apps

CoSnitch is tracked as CVE-2026–24301 in Microsoft’s Security Update Guide. The research names Copilot Personal, the consumer assistant hosted at copilot.microsoft.com, and does not state that the same behavior affected Microsoft 365 Copilot.

The researchers said they found no evidence that CoSnitch was exploited in the wild. They reached the parameter by repeatedly asking Copilot why a prompt could not be made to run without user interaction, an approach the firm calls meta-hacking. Each refusal carried a technical justification, and the assistant eventually named a parameter, autorun=1, along with the session conditions under which it worked and the protections that were supposed to have disabled it.

When the researchers built the URL exactly as described, the parameter Copilot had said no longer worked executed. Copilot “wasn’t breached; it was played,” Varonis said in its report.

Clop created custom web shell for Windchill data theft attacks

A custom Java web shell likely linked to the Clop ransomware gang was designed specifically for PTC Windchill and FlexPLM servers, with built-in features to decrypt credentials, enumerate file repositories, and steal files.

Cybersecurity company ReliaQuest analyzed the web shell after it is believed to have been deployed in recent data theft attacks exploiting CVE-2026–12569, a critical remote code execution vulnerability affecting PTC Windchill.

ReliaQuest says the implant is not a generic web shell repurposed for the attacks, but was instead built with detailed knowledge of Windchill’s internal APIs, database schema, keystore, and file-vault structure.

Microsoft tests faster Windows File Explorer, new context menu

Microsoft has started testing a faster File Explorer and a less cluttered and more customizable context menu in Windows 11 preview builds rolling out to Insiders this week.

As the File Explorer team explained in a Monday blog post, the changes focus on improving File Explorer speed, performance, and reliability and addressing customer-reported issues.

The redesigned context menu experience also aims to make it faster, reduce clutter, and make it more customizable than ever before.

CISA: Windows Task Host flaw now exploited by ransomware gangs

The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has confirmed that ransomware gangs are also exploiting a high-severity Windows Task Host vulnerability that was flagged as actively exploited in April.

Task Host is a core Windows system component that allows DLL-based processes to run in the background and prevents data corruption by ensuring they close properly during shutdown.

Tracked as CVE-2025–60710, this Windows privilege escalation security flaw was patched by Microsoft in November 2025 and stems from a link following weakness that affects Windows 11 and Windows Server 2025 devices.

Microsoft starts removing WMIC tool used by cybercriminals

Microsoft announced that it removed the Windows Management Instrumentation Command-line (WMIC) tool from Windows 11 24H2 and 25H2, as well as from Windows 11 beta builds released this week.

WMIC is a legacy built-in Windows command-line utility that helps interact with the Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) system using text commands.

This move is part of a process announced in September, when the company said that WMIC will be removed after upgrading to Windows 11 25H2 and later.

AI Cybercrime In Africa Just Crossed A Dangerous 55% Threshold

INTERPOL’s African Cyberthreat Assessment Report 2026 found that AI cybercrime in Africa now touches 55% of reported cases, with losses more than doubling to $484 million since 2024. Scam centers operate in 72% of surveyed countries, and AI-generated deepfakes are already defeating biometric security. The region’s governing cybercrime treaty was written before any of this technology existed.

AI cybercrime in Africa has crossed a line that security researchers had been warning about for years. INTERPOL’s African Cyberthreat Assessment Report 2026, released August 3 and drawn from survey data across 36 member countries, found that artificial intelligence is now linked to 55% of reported cyber incidents on the continent, according to INTERPOL’s own release. Financial losses have more than doubled since 2024, climbing from $192 million to $484 million.

What makes this report different from earlier cybercrime warnings is the specificity of how AI is being used, not just that it’s involved. AI cybercrime in Africa is concentrated in three vectors: AI-related scams, credential harvesting, and automated social engineering, according to Crypto Briefing’s coverage of the report. Business email compromise alone accounts for 10% of reported cases and remains one of the costliest categories, because AI now writes emails convincing enough to mimic a specific executive, supplier, or trusted partner rather than a generic phishing template.

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