Lifeboat Foundation: Safeguarding Humanity
Toggle light / dark theme

Blog – Page 4

Get the latest international news and world events from around the world.

Log in for authorized contributors

Study unveils the dual nature of a young stellar object

Astronomers from the Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences (ARIES) in India and elsewhere have conducted a long-term photometric and spectroscopic study of a young stellar object known as V1180 Cassiopeiae. Results of the study, published December 23 on the arXiv preprint server, unveil the dual nature of this object.

Young stellar objects (YSOs) are stars in the early stages of evolution; in particular, protostars and pre-main sequence (PMS) stars. They are usually observed embedded in dense molecular clumps, environments containing plenty of molecular gas and interstellar dust.

Given that episodic accretion processes occur in YSOs, these objects may experience accretion-driven outbursts. Astronomers usually divide such events into EX Lup (also known as EXors) and FU Ori outbursts (or FUors). EXors are a few magnitudes in amplitude, and last from a few months to one or two years. FUors are more extreme and rare as they can be up to 5–6 magnitudes in amplitude and last from decades to even centuries.

A 30-Year Physics Mystery Takes a Sharp Turn: This Bizarre Particle Doesn’t Actually Exist

New results from the MicroBooNE experiment rule out the existence of a sterile neutrino, reshaping how scientists think about long-standing neutrino anomalies. After many years of investigation, researchers working on the Micro Booster Neutrino Experiment (MicroBooNE) have concluded that a propos

Astronomers Measure The Mass of a Planet With No Star For The First Time

Not all planets are lucky enough to live in a neighborhood like our Solar System – some are doomed to roam the cosmos alone. Astronomers have now, for the first time, measured the mass of, and distance to, one of these lonely worlds.

The planet packs about a fifth of the mass of Jupiter, and is located a little under 10,000 light-years away from Earth, towards the center of our galaxy. That size suggests it most likely formed as part of a planetary system, before being exiled by a game of gravitational billiards.

Related: Record-Smashing Rogue Planet Caught Growing at 6 Billion Tons Per Second.

NASA Confirms It Has Lost Contact With Mars Orbiter MAVEN

NASA has officially lost contact with a spacecraft that has been orbiting Mars since 2014.

The MAVEN spacecraft – Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution – abruptly lost contact with Earth on 6 December 2025 while passing behind the red planet in the normal course of its orbit. When MAVEN re-emerged from behind Mars, however, NASA ground control was unable to reestablish a connection.

On December 9, the space agency announced it is investigating the issue and attempting to locate a signal.

Transparent Tribe Launches New RAT Attacks Against Indian Government and Academia

The threat actor known as Transparent Tribe has been attributed to a fresh set of attacks targeting Indian governmental, academic, and strategic entities with a remote access trojan (RAT) that grants them persistent control over compromised hosts.

“The campaign employs deceptive delivery techniques, including a weaponized Windows shortcut (LNK) file masquerading as a legitimate PDF document and embedded with full PDF content to evade user suspicion,” CYFIRMA said in a technical report.

Transparent Tribe, also called APT36, is a hacking group that’s known for mounting cyber espionage campaigns against Indian organizations. Assessed to be of Indian origin, the state-sponsored adversary has been active since at least 2013.

The ROI Problem in Attack Surface Management

Attack Surface Management (ASM) tools promise reduced risk. What they usually deliver is more information.

Security teams deploy ASM, asset inventories grow, alerts start flowing, and dashboards fill up. There is visible activity and measurable output. But when leadership asks a simple question, “Is this reducing incidents?” the answer is often unclear.

This gap between effort and outcome is the core ROI problem in attack surface management, especially when ROI is measured primarily through asset counts instead of risk reduction.

Cybercriminals Abuse Google Cloud Email Feature in Multi-Stage Phishing Campaign

In response to the findings, Google has blocked the phishing efforts that abuse the email notification feature within Google Cloud Application Integration, adding that it’s taking more steps to prevent further misuse.

Check Point’s analysis has revealed that the campaign has primarily targeted manufacturing, technology, financial, professional services, and retail sectors, although other industry verticals, including media, education, healthcare, energy, government, travel, and transportation, have been singled out.

“These sectors commonly rely on automated notifications, shared documents, and permission-based workflows, making Google-branded alerts especially convincing,” it added. “This campaign highlights how attackers can misuse legitimate cloud automation and workflow features to distribute phishing at scale without traditional spoofing.”

/* */