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Intercellular fluid flow, not just cell structure, governs how tissues respond to physical forces

Water makes up around 60% of the human body. More than half of this water sloshes around inside the cells that make up organs and tissues. Much of the remaining water flows in the nooks and crannies between cells, much like seawater between grains of sand.

Now, MIT engineers have found that this “intercellular” fluid plays a major role in how tissues respond when squeezed, pressed, or physically deformed. Their findings could help scientists understand how , tissues, and organs physically adapt to conditions such as aging, cancer, diabetes, and certain neuromuscular diseases.

In a paper appearing in Nature Physics, the researchers show that when a is pressed or squeezed, it is more compliant and relaxes more quickly when the fluid between its cells flows easily. When the cells are packed together and there is less room for intercellular flow, the tissue as a whole is stiffer and resists being pressed or squeezed.

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The New King of Propylene? Cobalt Catalyst Outperforms Precious Metals

CoS-1 is a cobalt zeolite catalyst that boosts propylene production efficiently and stably, challenging platinum-based alternatives.

Propane dehydrogenation is an important industrial method for producing propylene without depending on oil. However, most current processes still depend heavily on precious-metal catalysts like those made with platinum. Finding efficient alternatives that use more common, earth-abundant metals has proven difficult.

Synthesis of high-performance CoS-1 catalyst.

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MIT’s Window-Sized Device Pulls Drinking Water From Thin Air, Even in the Desert

Today, 2.2 billion people around the world do not have access to safe drinking water. In the United States, over 46 million people face water insecurity, living without running water or relying on supplies that are unsafe to drink. As demand for clean water grows, traditional sources like rivers, lakes, and reservoirs are being pushed to their limits.

To help address this challenge, MIT engineers are exploring an alternative source: the air. Earth’s atmosphere holds trillions of gallons of water in the form of vapor. If this vapor can be captured and condensed efficiently, it could provide clean drinking water in areas where traditional supplies are unavailable.

Working toward that goal, the MIT team has developed and tested a new atmospheric water harvester that successfully captures vapor and produces safe drinking water across a range of humidity levels, including extremely dry desert air.

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The Quantum Price of Forgetting: Scientists Finally Measure the Energy Cost of Deleting Information

Researchers at TU Wien and FU Berlin have, for the first time, measured what happens when quantum information is lost, shedding new light on the deep links between quantum physics, thermodynamics, and information theory. At first glance, heat and information seem like completely unrelated ideas.

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Qilin Ransomware Adds “Call Lawyer” Feature to Pressure Victims for Larger Ransoms

The threat actors behind the Qilin ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) scheme are now offering legal counsel for affiliates to put more pressure on victims to pay up, as the cybercrime group intensifies its activity and tries to fill the void left by its rivals.

The new feature takes the form of a “Call Lawyer” feature on the affiliate panel, per Israeli cybersecurity company Cybereason.

The development represents a newfound resurgence of the e-crime group as once-popular ransomware groups like LockBit, Black Cat, RansomHub, Everest, and BlackLock have suffered abrupt cessations, operational failures, and defacements. The group, also tracked as Gold Feather and Water Galura, has been active since October 2022.

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Iran’s State TV Hijacked Mid-Broadcast Amid Geopolitical Tensions; $90M Stolen in Crypto Heist

Cybersecurity firm Radware said nearly 40% of all hacktivist DDoS activity has been directed against Israel since the onset of the latest flare-up. On June 17, the hacktivist group DieNet warned it would launch cyber-attacks at the United States should it join the conflict against Iran.

The message has since been amplified by other groups like Arabian Ghosts, Sylhet Gang, and Team Fearless, suggesting that these entities are forming a potential collaboration in cyberspace as battle rages on the ground.

“Companies are urged to take maximum vigilance. The warning signs are clear. Critical infrastructure, supply chains, and even global businesses could become collateral targets if the cyber crossfire intensifies,” said Pascal Geenens, director of threat intelligence at Radware.

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Massive 7.3 Tbps DDoS Attack Delivers 37.4 TB in 45 Seconds, Targeting Hosting Provider

“Hosting providers and critical Internet infrastructure have increasingly become targets of DDoS attacks,” Cloudflare’s Omer Yoachimik said. “The 7.3 Tbps attack delivered 37.4 terabytes in 45 seconds.”

Earlier this January, the web infrastructure and security company said it had mitigated a 5.6 Tbps DDoS attack aimed at an unnamed internet service provider (ISP) from Eastern Asia. The attack originated from a Mirai-variant botnet in October 2024.

Then in April 2025, Cloudflare revealed it defended against a massive 6.5 Tbps flood that likely emanated from Eleven11bot, a botnet comprising roughly 30,000 webcams and video recorders. The hyper-volumetric attack lasted about 49 seconds.

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