LightSpy malware now supports 100+ commands across platforms, targeting Facebook and Instagram data while expanding operational control.
Ghostwriter deploys malware-laced Excel files, steganography, and obfuscated macros to target Ukraine and Belarus.
Deep Nanometry (DNM) is an innovative technique combining high-speed optical detection with AI-driven noise reduction, allowing researchers to find rare nanoparticles like extracellular vesicles (EVs).
Since EVs play a role in disease detection, DNM could revolutionize early cancer diagnosis. Its applications stretch beyond healthcare, promising advances in vaccine research, and environmental science.
A Breakthrough in Nanoparticle Detection.
Summary: A new study reveals that human accelerated regions (HARs)—segments of DNA that evolved much faster than expected—may be key to the brain’s advanced cognitive abilities. Researchers compared human and chimpanzee neurons and found that HARs drive the growth of multiple neural projections, which enhance communication between brain cells.
When human HARs were introduced into chimp neurons, they also grew more projections, suggesting a direct link between HARs and neural complexity. However, these same genetic changes may also contribute to neurodevelopmental disorders like autism, highlighting the delicate balance of human brain evolution.
A team of scientists from Princeton University has measured the energies of electrons in a new class of quantum materials and has found them to follow a fractal pattern. Fractals are self-repeating patterns that occur on different length scales and can be seen in nature in a variety of settings, including snowflakes, ferns, and coastlines.
A quantum version of a fractal pattern, known as “Hofstadter’s butterfly,” has long been predicted, but the new study marks the first time it has been directly observed experimentally in a real material. This research paves the way toward understanding how interactions among electrons, which were left out of the theory originally proposed in 1976, give rise to new features in these quantum fractals.
The study was made possible by a recent breakthrough in materials engineering, which involved stacking and twisting two sheets of carbon atoms to create a pattern of electrons that resembles a common French textile known as a moiré design.
It is easy to imagine that, as AI spreads deeper into our lives, we will all become smarter. But what if the reverse is true, and humans are forgetting everything we’ve learned?
Scientists at the University of Geneva (UNIGE) have developed a tool that uses light to precisely control where and when a drug becomes active, ensuring it works exactly where it’s needed.
For medical treatments to be effective and minimize side effects, they must act at the right place and time—a challenge that remains difficult to achieve. Now, a team of biologists and chemists at UNIGE has created a system that allows a molecule to be activated with a brief pulse of light lasting just a few seconds. Tested on a protein essential for cell division, this method could be applied to other molecules, with promising applications in both research and medicine. It may even improve existing treatments, such as those for skin cancer. These findings were recently published in Nature Communications.
The challenge of systemic drug effects.
Epigenetic inhibitors: A promising new strategy for antimalarial treatment? A recent study discovers a gene regulation inhibitor that selectively eliminates the malaria parasite.
A multinational research team, led by Professor Markus Meißner from LMU Munich and Professor Gernot Längst from the University of Regensburg, has made significant discoveries about gene regulation in Plasmodium falciparum, the primary cause of malaria. Their findings, published in Nature, provide new avenues for developing advanced therapeutic strategies.
Malaria remains a major global health challenge. In 2022 alone, an estimated 247 million people were infected, with over 600,000 deaths, the majority occurring in sub-Saharan Africa. These statistics highlight the urgent need for innovative research to drive progress in malaria prevention and treatment.
Dr. Benjamin Cardenas: “We tend to think about Mars as just a static snapshot of a planet, but it was evolving. Rivers were flowing, sediment was moving, and land was being built and eroded.”
Did an ocean exist on ancient Mars that might have been suitable for life as we know it? This is what a recent study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences hopes to address as an international team of researchers led by Guangzhou University and the Chinese Academy of Sciences investigated the possibility of an ancient shoreline in the northern hemisphere of Mars that could have been home to an ancient ocean. This study has the potential to help researchers better understand the environmental conditions on ancient Mars and whether they were suitable for life as we know it.
For the study, the researchers analyzed radar data obtained from China’s Zhurong rover, which landed in a northern region on Mars called Utopia Planitia in May 2021. However, Zhurong stopped functioning after researchers put it in hibernation mode in May 2022 and the rover never woke up, likely due to dust covering its solar panels. Despite this, the researchers of this study presented evidence of an ancient shoreline in Utopia Planitia that mirrors coastal sediments observed on the Earth called “foreshore deposits”
“We’re seeing that the shoreline of this body of water evolved over time,” said Dr. Benjamin Cardenas, who is an assistant professor of geology at Penn State and a co-author on the study. “We tend to think about Mars as just a static snapshot of a planet, but it was evolving. Rivers were flowing, sediment was moving, and land was being built and eroded. This type of sedimentary geology can tell us what the landscape looked like, how they evolved, and, importantly, help us identify where we would want to look for past life.”
What tests can be performed on Earth to help us find signs of ancient life on Mars? This is what a recent study published in Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences hopes to address as a team of researchers investigated how scientific methods used on Earth to identify fossilized microbial life could be used on a future mission to Mars to identify similar microfossils on the Red Planet. This study has the potential to help researchers develop more efficient methods in finding ancient life on Mars, which has long been the driving force behind exploring the Red Planet.
For the study, the researchers used a laser-powered mass spectrometer to identify microfossils in gypsum deposits in Algeria with the goal of using similar instruments on future missions to Mars. Mass spectrometers are used for classifying the chemical characteristics and structures of molecules while gypsum is a widely used mineral on Earth that is formed when water evaporates. On Mars, hydrated sulfate deposits, which contain water molecules, have been identified across the Martian surface, so using gypsum is an appropriate analog to study in preparation for future missions to Mars. In the end, the researchers successfully identified microfossils within the gypsum deposits using their laser-powered mass spectrometer.
“Our findings provide a methodological framework for detecting biosignatures in Martian sulfate minerals, potentially guiding future Mars exploration missions,” said Youcef Sellam, who is a PhD student at the University of Bern and first author of the study. “Our laser ablation ionization mass spectrometer, a spaceflight-prototype instrument, can effectively detect biosignatures in sulfate minerals. This technology could be integrated into future Mars rovers or landers for in-situ analysis.”