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Earth’s Oceans Were Slowly Suffocating Millions of Years Before a Devastating Mass Extinction

As today’s oceans lose oxygen, Alaskan rocks trace a similar decline that began millions of years before the end-Triassic mass extinction.

Dinosaurs survived the end-Triassic mass extinction 201 million years ago, but roughly 60 percent of Earth’s species did not. New evidence from Virginia Tech geologists suggests that the crisis in the oceans began about 8 million years earlier, when oxygen levels in shallow waters started to decline.

Scientists have long linked the extinction to enormous volcanic eruptions that tore apart landmasses, warmed the planet, and triggered widespread environmental changes. As temperatures rise, rocks break down faster, releasing nutrients that contribute to increasing ocean acidity. Warmer seawater also holds less dissolved oxygen, creating conditions that can lead to oxygen-depleted dead zones where marine organisms struggle to survive.

Scientists Discover a New Type of Depression That Common Antidepressants May Miss

For some people with hard-to-treat depression, the body’s internal clock may help explain why standard antidepressants fall short.

University of Sydney researchers have identified a proposed subtype called “circadian depression,” marked by disrupted sleep and daily rhythms. It accounted for nearly a quarter of participants in a study of more than 10,000 Australians with severe, recurrent or persistent depression.

The findings, published in the British Journal of Psychiatry, suggest that recognizing this pattern could help clinicians identify people who may benefit from treatments targeting the body clock earlier in their care.

Scientists Create a Tiny Electronic Device That Can Learn Like the Human Brain

A breakthrough in brain-inspired electronics could lead to devices that process information and learn without relying on conventional computing architectures.

A single nanoscale electronic component can perform three different jobs, switching electrical current, storing information through resistance, and remembering past electrical activity through changes in capacitance. Researchers in Germany have demonstrated this versatility using unusual oxide materials, opening a possible path toward computer hardware that processes information and adapts more like the human brain.

Today’s artificial intelligence systems can consume enormous amounts of electricity, particularly during the training of large models. One reason researchers are exploring alternative hardware is that conventional computers typically separate memory from computation, requiring information to move between them. The brain operates differently. Its neurons communicate through synapses, connections that can change in response to repeated or intense signals. This ability to adapt, known as neuroplasticity, helps the brain learn from experience.

Google Disrupts 1.3 Million-Device Android Botnet, Says TV Box Maker Sold Criminal Access

A botnet of more than 1.3 million Android devices, mostly TV set-top boxes, lost control of its servers in late October in a takedown led by Google.

Google says it is highly confident that device maker Videostrong intentionally put a backdoor in the boxes and sold access to criminals.

They used the boxes for ad fraud and to pass other people’s internet traffic through owners’ home connections. The backdoor is still on the boxes, and owners cannot remove it themselves.

Google disrupts million-device XCPE Android malware botnet, bans TV box maker

Google and industry partners have dismantled the XCPE malware botnet consisting of more than 1.3 million Android TV streaming TV boxes that Google says its manufacturer intentionally infected with malware to generate revenue through cybercrime activities.

The company attributes the botnet with high confidence to Chinese device manufacturer Videostrong Technology Co, accusing the company of deliberately installing a persistent backdoor into devices it manufactured and selling access to criminal affiliates.

These affiliates used the backdoored devices to deploy malicious modules that were used fir ad fraud, turned infected devices into residential proxies, and installed additional malware.