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simple factsWhere is it? Juba in the Nahd desert of Saudi Arabia [28.01186939, 40.95907106]What is in the photo? An oasis town full of crop circles along the desert mountainsWho took the photo? Unidentified astronaut aboard the International Space Station (ISS)When was the photo taken? November 26, 2020This interesting astronaut photo shows an oasis town and crop circle lurking in the shadowy tail of the “camel’s hump” mountain in the harsh desert of Saudi Arabia. This unlikely settlement lies on the bed of an ancient lake and contains rock art that is thousands of years old.The town, known as Juba, is…

“Sharktober,” the autumn spike in shark bites off the west coast of North America, is a reality, and in Hawaii, new research suggests the phenomenon appears to occur when tiger sharks give birth in the waters around the islands.Carl Meyer, a marine biologist at the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, analyzed 30 years of Hawaiian shark bite data from 1995 to 2024 and found that tiger sharks (Galeocerdo cuvier) accounted for 47% of the 165 unprovoked bites recorded in the region during that period. Of the remainder, 33% were due to unidentified species…

Patients undergoing in vitro fertilization (IVF) must take daily hormone injections for several weeks until their eggs are collected for surgery. Now, the research team has developed a so-called painless, automated method to deliver these hormones using a light-activated microneedle patch.Preliminary studies conducted in rats have shown that administration of leuprolide hormone through a patch can be performed painlessly and without releasing foreign substances into the body. Lights can be pre-programmed to turn on at specific times so that the patch releases hormones in the correct rhythm.These results, published in the journal Small in November 2025, suggest that the patch…

hacker newsJanuary 27, 2026Attack surface management/cyber risk Cybersecurity teams want to go further than just considering threats and vulnerabilities in isolation. It’s not just about what could go wrong (vulnerabilities) and who could attack (threats), but also where they might intersect in a real-world environment to expose you to real exploitable risks. Which exposures really matter? Can attackers exploit them? Are our defenses effective? Continuous Threat Exposure Management (CTEM) can provide a useful approach for cybersecurity teams aiming for integrated threat/vulnerability or exposure management. The true meaning of CTEM CTEM, as defined by Gartner, emphasizes a “continuous” cycle of identifying,…

The European Commission has established a task force to strengthen the European Union’s ability to ensure that imported products meet food safety standards. In particular, it will focus on feed and food safety, pesticide residues and the EU’s coordinated monitoring activities on certain imported products. This task force brings together the expertise of the Commission and Member States and will contribute to: Further harmonization of import controls across the EU; Development of recommendations for joint action by the Commission and Member States; Identifying where additional administrative or regulatory measures are needed to strengthen controls; Strengthening EU food safety policy The…

Consistent with the general trend of incorporating artificial intelligence into almost every field, researchers and politicians are increasingly using AI models trained on scientific data to infer answers to scientific questions. But can AI ultimately replace scientists?The Trump administration signed an executive order on November 24, 2025, announcing the Genesis Mission, an effort to build and train a set of AI agents on federal scientific datasets to “test new hypotheses, automate research workflows, and accelerate scientific progress.”So far, the achievements of these so-called AI scientists have been mixed. On the other hand, AI systems can process huge data sets and…

Europe’s efforts to strengthen its artificial intelligence infrastructure have taken a decisive step with the signing of a major procurement contract to upgrade the MareNostrum 5 supercomputer. The European High Performance Computing Joint Venture (EuroHPC JU) has confirmed an agreement with a consortium led by FSAS Technologies and Telefonica, setting the stage for a major transformation of one of Europe’s flagship supercomputers. Hosted and operated by the Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC), MareNostrum 5 is a core pillar of the BSC AI Factory initiative. With the contract signed, the project enters a new phase, rebuilding the system into a purpose-built platform…

Ravi LakshmananJanuary 27, 2026Vulnerability / Cloud Security A critical security flaw has been disclosed in Grist‑Core, an open source self-hosted version of the Grist relational spreadsheet database, that could allow remote code execution. This vulnerability is tracked as CVE-2026-24002 (CVSS score: 9.1) and codenamed “Cellbreak” by Cyera Research Labs. “A malicious formula could turn a spreadsheet into a remote code execution (RCE) beachhead,” said security researcher Vladimir Tokarev, who discovered the flaw. “This sandbox escape allows formula authors to execute OS commands or execute host runtime JavaScript, collapsing the boundaries between ‘cell logic’ and host execution.” Cellbreak is classified as…

UK Energy Secretary Ed Miliband signed a historic clean energy security agreement known as the Hamburg Declaration. The Hamburg Declaration was signed with European allies to strengthen energy security for homes and businesses in the UK and across Europe amid global instability. The agreement will harness the energy wealth of Europe’s shared North Sea to facilitate unprecedented joint offshore wind projects between European countries including Germany, Norway, France and Denmark. Mr Miliband said: “We are protecting our national interests by promoting clean energy, which will take Britain off the fossil fuel rollercoaster and deliver energy sovereignty and prosperity.” Commitment to…

Patients suspected of having lung cancer may soon be able to receive a rapid diagnosis thanks to a pioneering NHS pilot who is combining AI and robotics to reach a cancer that is notoriously difficult to detect. For thousands of patients each year, a suspected lung cancer diagnosis can involve weeks of scans, follow-up visits, and invasive tests, all of which are lived with anxiety. A new NHS pilot aims to dramatically change that timeline. The program, led by Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, uses advanced AI software and robotic bronchoscopy to identify and biopsy small lung nodules…