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Cybersecurity researchers are warning of a massive spam campaign that has flooded the npm registry with thousands of fake packages since early 2024, likely as part of a financially motivated effort. “Packages were systematically exposed over an extended period of time, flooding the npm registry with junk packages that survived in the ecosystem for almost two years,” Endor Labs researchers Cris Staicu and Kiran Raj said in a report Tuesday. According to SourceCodeRED security researcher Paul McCarty, who first reported the activity, this coordinated campaign has released 46,484 packages to date. The end goal is very unusual and is designed…

Researchers have unearthed a giant “warrior” lizard that attacked Brazil 240 million years ago during the Triassic period, just before the dawn of dinosaurs. The discovery fills a gap in our understanding of the time before dinosaurs dominated the Earth and further highlights the connections between modern-day Africa and South America.The armored reptile resembles a dinosaur, but is actually the ancestor of modern crocodiles. Scientists call the creature Táinracuascus bellator (meaning “point-toothed warrior crocodile”), a blend of Greek, Latin, and Guaraní, the language of Brazil’s indigenous people. The research team revealed their findings in a study published Nov. 13 in…

As generative AI content begins to infiltrate social apps, a project is being launched with the help of Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey to bring back Vine’s six-second loop videos. On Thursday, a new app called diVine will give you access to more than 100,000 archived Vine videos restored from old backups created before Vine shut down. Apps don’t just exist to walk down memory lane. It will also allow users to create a profile and upload their own new Vine videos. However, unlike traditional social media, where AI content is often labeled haphazardly, diVine flags suspected generated AI content and…

When former Twitter CEO Dick Costolo spoke at TechCrunch Disrupt, a member of the audience asked him if HBO’s hit satirical movie “Silicon Valley” would be revived. Mr. Costolo, who was the show’s writer, basically said no (time stamp 38:17). Writers talk about it regularly, he said, but haven’t pursued the actual Silicon Valley of today because it’s too bizarre to parody. The latest example is a new company launched this week from Y Combinator called Clad Labs. Clad’s product is so innovative that it was thought to be an April Fool’s joke in November. But this is a real…

Mark Manara, head of startups at OpenAI, says the reality of AI has progressed far beyond ideas and experiments. AI-native companies are reaching $200 million in annual recurring revenue, and product cycles are shrinking from two-week sprints to one day. OpenAI can help you do that. Today on TechCrunch’s Equity podcast, Russell Brandom speaks with Manara at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025 to explore how OpenAI is serving startups building on its platform. Listen to the full episode to hear: The shift from two-week sprints to one-day development cycles and what that means for how startups build their engineering teams Why some…

There have been reports across social media of Elon Musk’s X users being stuck in an infinite loop and, in some cases, being locked out of their X accounts. It appears that the required two-factor security changes failed. On October 24, X said in a post that it is asking users who rely on passkeys or hardware security keys (such as YubiKey) as a two-factor authentication method to re-register using the x.com domain. (Users who use authenticator apps are not affected.) Mr. X said this is part of an effort to retire the old twitter.com domain, which currently redirects to…

An undersea volcano off the coast of Oregon could blow its top off by mid-to-late 2026, scientists say.Last December, scientists said the Axis seamount was approaching thresholds seen before its eruption a decade ago and could erupt within a year. They now predict that the eruption will likely occur later than previously expected, by mid-to-late 2026.Axial seamounts are located on the Juan de Fuca Ridge, a diverging plate boundary off the northwest coast of the Pacific Ocean in the United States. It is the most active submarine volcano in the Northeast Pacific Ocean, and is known to have erupted in…

A powerful explosion discovered from a dwarf star was strong enough to blow away the atmosphere of an Earth-like planet that may have been lurking nearby, a new study suggests.The study, published in the journal Nature on Wednesday (12 November), is the first to confirm a coronal mass ejection (CME), a large, high-speed burst of plasma from a star other than the Sun. As scientists search for habitable worlds, understanding how strong and frequent stellar eruptions occur is essential to deciding where to center their search, the study authors argue.Fast CMEs can be seen in “Type II radio bursts,” which…

Search and rescue operations often take place in areas where human movement is difficult due to extreme weather, rough terrain, and hazardous conditions such as smoke and dust. Researchers at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) hope to send bat-inspired robots on these missions instead of humans. WPI professor Nitin J. Sanket and his team have developed a small flying robot that fits in the palm of your hand and uses ultrasound waves like a bat. These robots use AI-powered software to remove noise from the ultrasound signals collected by the devices, allowing them to spot obstacles within a two-meter radius. “Search…

While people around the world benefit from the aurora borealis from our active sun, recent solar activity has disappointed Mars exploration fans. Due to inclement weather in space, they will now have to wait for the two Red Planet-bound spacecraft to be launched aboard Blue Origin rockets.NASA’s twin-engine ESCAPADE spacecraft was scheduled to fly to Mars as early as this afternoon (November 12), but due to high solar activity, the mission will have to wait until an undetermined date, Blue Origin officials said in a post on social platform X. The mission has already been delayed several times from its…