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Submission + - Tiny new lenses, smaller than a hair, could transform phone and drone cameras (sciencedaily.com) 1

Submitted by alternative_right
alternative_right writes: Scientists have developed a new multi-layered metalens design that could revolutionize portable optics in devices like phones, drones, and satellites. By stacking metamaterial layers instead of relying on a single one, the team overcame fundamental limits in focusing multiple wavelengths of light. Their algorithm-driven approach produced intricate nanostructures shaped like clovers, propellers, and squares, enabling improved performance, scalability, and polarization independence.

Submission + - Rare-earth tritellurides reveal a hidden ferroaxial order of electronic origin (phys.org)

Submitted by alternative_right
alternative_right writes: The discovery of "hidden orders," organization patterns in materials that cannot be detected using conventional measurement tools, can yield valuable insight, which can in turn support the design of new materials with advantageous properties and characteristics. The hidden orders that condensed matter physicists hope to uncover lie within so-called charge density waves (CDWs).

Submission + - NASA: More than 6,000 exoplanets confirmed, over 8,000 candidates (heise.de)

Submitted by alternative_right
alternative_right writes: The existence of planets around other stars was only experimentally confirmed three decades ago; now there are more and more instruments designed specifically for the search. More than two-thirds of the confirmed exoplanets were found using the so-called transit method, which involves observing them as they pass in front of their star. More than 1.100 additional exoplanets were found using the radial velocity method, in which stars reveal their small companions through their own movements. NASA lists nine other methods, but together they have contributed only a few hundred exoplanets to the database.

According to the database, researchers also know the mass of one-third of the confirmed exoplanets, 102 of which are roughly comparable to Earth. In addition, over 500 exoplanets are about the size of Earth, and the radius is known for almost 4.500 celestial bodies. This and much more data can be found in NASA's "Exoplanet Archive," which is maintained by the Exoplanet Science Institute at the California Institute of Technology. According to NASA, the rate at which the number of confirmed exoplanets is growing has recently accelerated, with the 5.000 mark only being exceeded at the beginning of 2022. Future instruments are likely to cause the number to rise even faster.

Comment The only meaningful "environmentalism" (Score 2) 23

by alternative_right (#65672476) Attached to: Hard-Fought Treaty To Protect Ocean Life Clears a Final Hurdle

Is the Half Earth project:

In order to safeguard a sufficient number of species to protect global biodiversity, including humanity, the late American biologist, E.O. Wilson and a new generation of scientists, ecologists, and conservationists concluded that we must set aside roughly half of Earth’s land and seas for nature, known as the principle of “Half-Earth.”

No matter how many little laws we write, nature is at risk if humans are present. If we leave half of the land and sea in its natural state and protect it from human intervention, nature will adapt and thrive.

Submission + - Anything but safe: Using VPN can bear immense risks (dw.com) 1

Submitted by alternative_right
alternative_right writes: For hundreds of millions of users, VPN connections, which is short for virtual private networks, are the solution as IP addresses are anonymized and content is encrypted. This combination enables users to access blocked websites and exercise their right to freedom of the press and information.

This is why VPNs are illegal or at least heavily restricted in countries such as China, Russia, Belarus, Iran, and North Korea. People who use them in these states do so secretly and expect their provider to handle the resulting data discreetly as well.

However, a comprehensive study by the Open Technology Fund, an independent non-profit organization dedicated to promoting global internet freedom, has recently revealed alarming shortcomings among some VPN providers. In the worst case, these risks could send users to prison.

Submission + - Could plastic in your food be fueling Azheimer's? (sciencedaily.com) 1

Submitted by alternative_right
alternative_right writes: Plastic particles from everyday items like Styrofoam cups and take-out containers are finding their way into the brain, where they may trigger Alzheimer’s-like symptoms. New research shows that mice carrying the Alzheimer’s-linked APOE4 gene who consumed microplastics exhibited sex-dependent cognitive decline, mirroring the differences seen in human patients.

Submission + - Austria's armed forces switch to LibreOffice (heise.de)

Submitted by alternative_right
alternative_right writes: Austria's armed forces have switched from Microsoft's Office programs to the open-source LibreOffice package. The reason for this is not to save on software license fees for around 16,000 workstations. "It was very important for us to show that we are doing this primarily (...) to strengthen our digital sovereignty, to maintain our independence in terms of ICT infrastructure and (...) to ensure that data is only processed in-house," emphasizes Michael Hillebrand from the Austrian Armed Forces' Directorate 6 ICT and Cyber.

This is because processing data in external clouds is out of the question for the Austrian Armed Forces, as Hillebrand explained on ORF radio station Ö1. It was already apparent five years ago that Microsoft Office would move to the cloud. Back then, in 2020, the decision-making process for the switch began and was completed in 2021.

Submission + - Shai-Hulud: The novel self-replicating worm infecting hundreds of NPM packages (sysdig.com) 1

Submitted by alternative_right
alternative_right writes: On September 15, 2025, an engineer discovered a supply chain attack against the NPM repository. Unlike previous NPM attacks, this campaign used novel, self-propagating malware (also known as a worm) to continue spreading itself. At the time of this writing, approximately 200 infected packages have been identified, including several repositories such as the popular @ctrl/tinycolor and multiple owned by CrowdStrike.

Once executed, this novel worm — dubbed Shai-Hulud — steals credentials, exfiltrates them, and attempts to find additional NPM packages in which to copy itself. The malicious code also attempts to leak data on GitHub by making private repositories public.

Submission + - Doomed 'cannibal' star could soon explode in a supernova visible during day (space.com)

Submitted by alternative_right
alternative_right writes: Astronomers have discovered the secret of a strange star system that has baffled them for years, finding it contains a dead star about to erupt after overfeeding on a stellar companion. The supernova explosion of this cosmic cannibal could be as bright as the moon, making it visible with the naked eye over Earth even in broad daylight.

The system in question is the double star V Sagittae located around 10,000 light-years from Earth, containing a white dwarf stellar remnant and its victim companion star, which orbit each other roughly twice every Earth day.

Submission + - Shared genetic mechanisms underpin social life in bees and humans, study suggest (phys.org)

Submitted by alternative_right
alternative_right writes: In social species, there is individual variation in sociability—some individuals are highly social and well-connected within their society, whereas others prefer less social interaction. This variation can be driven by many factors, including mood, social status, previous experience, and genetics. However, the genetic and molecular mechanisms that influence sociability are poorly understood.

Sociability is a complex characteristic, controlled by many genes, but these shared genomic features suggest there are ancient molecular building blocks of social life that have been conserved through millions of years of evolution, even if humans and bees evolved social life independently, the authors say.

The authors add, "It is a central feature of all societies that group members often engage with one another, but vary in their tendency to do so. Combining automated monitoring of social interactions, DNA sequencing, and brain transcriptomics in honey bee colonies, we identified evolutionarily conserved molecular roots of sociability shared across phylogenetically distinct species, including humans."

Submission + - Ozempic, Wegovy and Mounjaro makes food taste sweeter and saltier (sciencedaily.com)

Submitted by alternative_right
alternative_right writes: Some people taking Ozempic, Wegovy, or Mounjaro notice that food suddenly tastes sweeter or saltier, and this subtle shift in flavor perception appears tied to reduced appetite and stronger feelings of fullness. In a study of more than 400 patients, roughly one in five experienced heightened taste sensitivity, and many reported being less hungry and more easily satisfied.

Submission + - Color-changing organogel stretches 46 times its size and self-heals (phys.org)

Submitted by alternative_right
alternative_right writes: Scientists from Taiwan have developed a new material that can stretch up to 4,600% of its original length before breaking. Even if it does break, gently pressing the pieces together at room temperature allows it to heal, fully restoring its shape and stretchability within 10 minutes.

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