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Archaeologists in southern Sicily have discovered an ancient bone tool depicting the god Dionysus and his erect phallus. Intricate workmanship dates the artifacts to the 5th century BC, when the island was a Greek colony.”This needle represents a unique example in the archaeological context of its time,” Daniela Vullo, head of the Cultural and Environmental Heritage Supervision Office of Caltanissetta, the municipality where the artifacts were discovered, said in a translated statement.A stylus was a pointed tool used for writing or making marks in clay or wax, 5.2 inches (13.2 centimeters) long, and carved from bone. A grumpy man’s head…
January 10, 2026Ravi LakshmananCyber espionage/malware The Iranian threat actor known as MuddyWater is believed to have engaged in spear-phishing campaigns targeting diplomatic, maritime, financial, and communications institutions in the Middle East using a Rust-based implant known by the codename RustyWater. “The campaign uses icon spoofing and malicious Word documents to deliver a Rust-based implant capable of asynchronous C2, anti-analytics, registry persistence, and modular post-compromise enhancements,” CloudSEK resetter Prajwal Awasthi said in a report published this week. The latest developments reflect the continued evolution of MuddyWater’s tradecraft, slowly but steadily reducing its reliance on legitimate remote access software as a post-exploitation…
If you feel like throwing up or have acid reflux, you may feel a burning sensation as the acid escapes into your esophagus. But if stomach acid is strong enough to irritate the lining of your throat, why doesn’t it pass through your stomach?The human stomach has evolved to create and withstand extremely corrosive conditions. “Its role is to break down the physical food components into smaller pieces, and the idea is that by the time the preparation reaches the small intestine, it’s in small enough components that it can be absorbed,” Dr. Sally Bell, a gastroenterologist at Monash University…
January 10, 2026Ravi LakshmananCybercrime/Financial Crime Europol announced on Friday that it had arrested 34 people in Spain suspected of being members of the international criminal organization Black Ax. As part of an operation carried out by the Spanish National Police in collaboration with the Bavarian Criminal Police and Europol, 28 people were arrested in Seville, three in Madrid, two in Malaga and one in Barcelona. “This criminal network is known to be involved in a wide range of criminal activities, including cyber-based fraud, drug trafficking, human trafficking and prostitution, kidnapping, armed robbery and fraudulent spiritual practices,” Europol said in a…
CES has always been a celebration of robots, and this year’s event announced a number of significant robotic developments, including the production-ready new debut of Boston Dynamics’ humanoid Atlas. And there are robots on every showroom floor, and bots often serve as great marketing for the companies involved. It’s not always a completely accurate representation of where commercial development stands at the moment, but it does give visitors a glimpse of where it’s headed. And of course, it’s fun to watch. This week I spent quite a bit of time poring over the bots on display. Here are some of…
A former SandboxAQ executive filed a wrongful termination lawsuit last month containing scandalous allegations against the company’s illustrious CEO Jack Hydary, with the plaintiff himself redacting the most salacious details. The company’s lawyers issued a blistering rebuttal Friday, calling the former employee a “serial liar” and saying his lawsuit “alleges false claims for an unfair and outrageous purpose.” Even the visible portion of the lawsuit, obtained by TechCrunch, contains claims that would raise eyebrows if a court deems them justified. (A copy of the lawsuit is available here.) The case provides a valuable inside perspective on how employee litigation can…
China’s fusion reactor, dubbed the “artificial sun,” has significantly surpassed the fusion limit by firing plasma beyond its normal operating range, advancing humanity’s slow progress toward near-limitless clean energy.According to a statement released by the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Advanced Superconducting Tokamak Experimental Device (EAST) has stabilized plasma, the high-energy fourth state of matter, at an extremely high density, which was seen as a major obstacle to nuclear fusion development.”Our results suggest a practical and scalable route to extend the density limits of tokamaks and next-generation combustion plasma fusion devices,” study co-lead author Ping Zhu, a professor at the…
This new solid-state EV battery can be fully charged in just 5 minutes We stopped by the exhibit of Donut Lab, a Finnish startup specializing in electric mobility. The company (which takes its name from its flagship product, the donut-shaped in-wheel EV motor) announced at CES the launch of what it calls the first solid-state battery for vehicle production. Solid-state batteries differ from lithium-ion batteries (used in most EVs) in that they use a solid electrolyte rather than a liquid electrolyte. They offer much higher energy density (more bang for the buck, so to speak), better safety, and are thought…
Meta today announced three contracts to supply nuclear power to its data centers. One contract is with a start-up, one with a small energy company, and one with a large company that already operates multiple nuclear reactors in the United States. Oklo and TerraPower, two small modular reactor (SMR) developers, each have contracts with Meta to build multiple reactors, while Vistra sells capacity from existing power plants. As AI ambitions grow, nuclear power has become the preferred source for technology companies to provide reliable power 24/7. Startups and established reactors have benefited from the competition for data center power, albeit…
January 9, 2026Ravi LakshmananVirtualization/Vulnerability Chinese-speaking attackers are suspected of using compromised SonicWall VPN appliances as an initial access vector to deploy a VMware ESXi exploit that may have been developed in February 2024. Cybersecurity firm Huntress, which observed the activity in December 2025 and stopped it before it could reach its final stage, said it may have triggered a ransomware attack. Most notably, this attack exploits three VMware vulnerabilities that were disclosed as zero-days by Broadcom in March 2025: CVE-2025-22224 (CVSS score: 9.3), CVE-2025-22225 (CVSS score: 8.2), and CVE-2025-22226 (CVSS score: 7.1) It is believed that this was misused. Successful…