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Webb spots the birth of a giant galaxy and a supermassive black hole

Astronomers have used the James Webb Space Telescope to catch an extraordinary glimpse of a massive galaxy taking shape in the early universe. They identified a compact group of at least six galaxies that are likely to merge into a single enormous system. At the heart of this cosmic construction site lies a growing supermassive black hole.

The international study was led by astronomers at Leiden University and the University of Oxford. The findings have been published in The Open Journal of Astrophysics and Astronomy & Astrophysics.

The system observed, TGSSJ1530+1049, lies more than 12 billion light-years away. We are seeing it as it was when the universe was only about 1.5 billion years old. Researchers pointed the James Webb Space Telescope at this location because earlier radio observations had hinted at an active supermassive black hole. The new data revealed that the surrounding region is far more complex than expected. “We didn’t find a single galaxy, but an entire complex of at least six galaxies,” says Aayush Saxena of the University of Oxford.

Ink-based thermoelectric technology could be solution for replacing problematic refrigerants

Today’s refrigerants, which are specialized working fluids used in air conditioners, refrigerators and heat pumps, come with a host of issues, including leakage, emissions concerns, flammability and limited reclamation of used refrigerants. However, a recent study by University of Notre Dame researchers published in Materials Horizons describes a promising alternative for next-generation cooling using thermoelectric technology, which has no moving parts and no gaseous refrigerants, allowing for zero leaks.

“By making thermoelectric devices a competitive and commercially viable technology, it can transform the way we cool things,” said Yanliang Zhang, Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Collegiate Professor of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering at Notre Dame. “We can make the cooling process become very environmentally friendly.”

In the past, widespread adoption of thermoelectrics has been challenging because of the high costs associated with traditional manufacturing processes. However, the research team led by Zhang has developed an innovative ink-based printing strategy that enables scalable manufacturing of low-cost, high-performance thermoelectric materials and devices.

OpenAI Expands Daybreak With GPT-5.5-Cyber to Help Defenders Patch Security Flaws

OpenAI on Monday said it’s releasing an improved version of its GPT‑5.5‑Cyber model to trusted defenders as part of the Daybreak initiative the artificial intelligence (AI) company announced last month.

Calling GPT‑5.5‑Cyber its “strongest model yet for finding and helping patch software vulnerabilities,” OpenAI said the model can “sustain deeper analysis across large codebases” to identify security issues, validate them in a controlled environment, and develop and test patches.

In tandem, the tech upstart is releasing an update to the Codex Security plugin⁠ to speed up the process of discovering and patching vulnerabilities in existing systems, alongside preventing new vulnerabilities from entering production codebases.

WhatsApp phishing attack uses fake business docs to hack PCs

An ongoing malware campaign is targeting WhatsApp users in multiple countries with deceptive messages that push VBScript files, leading to remote system access.

The threat actor is using file names that indicate business and financial documents delivered by the victim’s contacts, whose accounts had been compromised.

By downloading and executing the malicious attachments, the recipient starts an infection chain that leads to installing the legitimate ManageEngine Endpoint Central, which is used by IT administrators to manage systems from a centralized dashboard.

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