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The structure of the local universe is surprisingly flat, according to a new study, and this cosmic peculiarity could save our Milky Way galaxy from colliding with countless nearby giant galaxies, except for one.For decades, astronomers have made the puzzling observation that our nearest galactic neighbor, Andromeda, is hurtling towards a possible collision with our galaxy, while other nearby galaxies are moving away from us. Now, new research may finally reveal why. A vast, flat sheet of dark matter is dragging these galaxies into deep space.Dark matter has a fixed pull on visible matter, and the gravitational pull from a…
Plagen has strengthened its position at the forefront of environmental technology after welcoming UK Water and Floods Secretary Emma Hardy to its Immingham facility. The visit coincided with a key policy moment, with the UK government formally announcing a national strategy to tackle PFAS contamination across the environment. The timing underlines the shared focus of government and industry on addressing the management and removal of ‘forever chemicals’, one of the most complex pollution challenges facing the UK today. Why are PFAS a concern? PFAS are a large group of man-made chemicals widely used in industrial processes and consumer products because…
In recent years, several satellites have made unexplained and disorderly approaches to commercial and military space objects. If a satellite is traveling close to another satellite in orbit around the Earth, how close does it have to be to be “too close”? In December 2025, a satellite launched from China’s Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center came within 200 meters of SpaceX’s Starlink satellite, which was orbiting at an altitude of 560 kilometers. No collision occurred, but there was no coordination between operators and no shared trajectory data, so the approach could have been avoided. This is not an isolated incident. In…
Cybersecurity researchers have discovered a new supply chain attack that compromises legitimate packages on npm and the Python Package Index (PyPI) repository, pushing malicious versions to facilitate wallet credential theft and remote code execution. The compromised versions of the two packages are shown below. “The @dydxprotocol/v4-client-js (npm) and dydx-v4-client (PyPI) packages provide tools for developers to interact with the dYdX v4 protocol, including transaction signing, order issuing, and wallet management,” said socket security researcher Kush Pandya. “Applications using these packages handle sensitive cryptocurrency operations.” dYdX is a non-custodial decentralized cryptocurrency exchange that offers trading margin and perpetual swaps, giving users…
The DiDAX consortium is enabling a vision of DNA as a versatile medium for secure and long-term data applications. DiDAX is a consortium of eight research groups, coming from both academia and industry and working together, under EU EIC funding, to innovate DNA-based data applications. Our work is based on novel encoding and decoding algorithms, reduced cost flexible synthesis, novel chemistries and new protection and embedding technologies and material science innovations. Innovating in these disciplines, DiDAX expands the applicability of long-term archival DNA-based data storage and develops new applications to protect, verify and object authenticity. DNA, as an information storage…
Rabi LakshmananFebruary 6, 2026Artificial intelligence/vulnerabilities Artificial intelligence (AI) company Anthropic has revealed that its latest large-scale language model (LLM), Claude Opus 4.6, has discovered more than 500 previously unknown high-severity security flaws in open source libraries such as Ghostscript, OpenSC, and CGIF. Claude Opus 4.6, released Thursday, includes enhancements to coding skills such as code review and debugging capabilities, as well as enhancements to tasks such as financial analysis, research and documentation. Anthropic said the model is “significantly better” at finding high-severity vulnerabilities without the need for task-specific tools, custom scaffolding, or special prompts, and that it leverages the model…
Reddit hinted Thursday that its AI-powered search engine could be the next big opportunity for its business — not just as a product, but as a revenue driver that impacts its bottom line. On Thursday’s fourth-quarter earnings call, the company provided an update on its plans to integrate traditional search with AI search, hinting that search, while not yet monetized, “is a huge market and opportunity.” In particular, the company believes that generative AI search is “suitable for most queries.” “There’s a type of query that we’re particularly good at, and I would argue is the best on the internet.…
Amazon Web Services ended 2025 with its highest quarterly growth rate in more than three years. The company reported Thursday that its cloud services business posted revenue of $35.6 billion in the fourth quarter of 2025. This was a 24% increase over the previous year, marking the division’s largest growth rate in 13 quarters. According to Amazon, this business unit has an annual revenue run rate of $142 billion. Cloud services operating income also increased from $12.5 billion in the fourth quarter and $10.6 billion in the same period in 2024. “Achieving 24% year-over-year growth at an annualized run rate…
The AI industry can sometimes seem like a competition to see who can spend the most money on data centers. It is believed that whoever builds the most data centers will have the most computing power and therefore be able to build the best AI products, which will guarantee victory in the coming years. This way of thinking has its limits. Traditionally, businesses ultimately succeed by making more money and spending less. But this idea has proven very persuasive to big tech companies. If it’s a contest, Amazon appears to be winning. The company announced in its earnings call Thursday…
Approximately 90% of people will become infected with the Epstein-Barr virus at some point in their lives. In most cases, the virus causes a mild, transient illness or no symptoms at all. However, for some people, Epstein Barr may ultimately contribute to the development of chronic diseases such as lupus or multiple sclerosis, or cancer.Now, a new study has uncovered 22 human genes that may increase the likelihood that Epstein-Barr infection progresses to chronic disease.Researchers cannot yet say for sure whether these genes directly make the Epstein-Barr virus more dangerous, or whether they are part of an underlying immune suppression…