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Belt-like VO₂(B) single crystals unlock high-sensitivity gas detection at room temperature

An international research team has successfully synthesized oriented belt-shaped vanadium dioxide (VO2(B)) single crystals via a hydrothermal reduction method, using one-dimensional vanadium pentoxide (V2O5) nanofibers as the starting material. This work, published in the journal ACS Sensors, provides a new material platform and design guidelines for the development of next-generation low-power gas sensors capable of operating at room temperature.

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emitted from industrial activities and vehicle exhaust are major urban air pollutants. Because VOCs pose serious environmental and health risks, developing effective monitoring for them is a global concern. Gas sensors can monitor for VOCs, but it has been a major challenge for scientists to develop sensors that work reliably at room temperature. Currently, metal oxide semiconductor gas sensors operate at 200°C–400°C.

“This heating requirement greatly increases power consumption and limits their use in portable devices, battery-powered systems, and large-scale Internet of Things sensor networks,” said Professor Shu Yin from the Institute of Multidisciplinary Research for Advanced Materials (IMRAM), Tohoku University (also affiliated with the Advanced Institute for Materials Research, WPI-AIMR).

Firefox now has a free built-in VPN with 50GB monthly data limit

Mozilla released Firefox 149 with added privacy protection through a built-in VPN tool offering up to 50GB of monthly traffic.

The feature uses a secure proxy server to route only traffic from the browser, unlike the company’s commercial Mozilla VPN, which covers system-wide traffic.

“Whether you’re using public Wi-Fi while traveling, searching for sensitive health information, or shopping for something personal, this feature gives you a simple way to stay protected,” Mozilla says.

‘Mini earthquakes’ turn tiny chips into radio signal powerhouses

From GPS satellites to mobile networks, modern technology relies on ultra-precise radio signals. Engineers have long tried to generate them on chips using interactions between light and sound, but the effect was too weak. University of Twente researchers now show in a paper published in Nature Photonics that a thin glass layer creates “mini-earthquake” surface acoustic waves, which make the effect more than 200 times stronger. This enables ultra-pure signals and record-sharp filters on a device thousands of times smaller.

Every time you make a phone call, your signal is filtered out of a crowded radio spectrum using radio frequency filters. These components let through only the frequencies you want and block everything else. The sharper the filter, the cleaner the call. The same principle applies in radar, satellite navigation and future wireless networks like 6G.

DRILLAPP Backdoor Targets Ukraine, Abuses Microsoft Edge Debugging for Stealth Espionage

To establish persistence, the LNK files are copied to the Windows Startup folder so that they are automatically launched following a system reboot. The attack chain then displays a URL containing lures related to installing Starlink or a Ukrainian charity named Come Back Alive Foundation.

The HTML file is eventually executed via the Microsoft Edge browser in headless mode, which then loads the remote obfuscated script hosted on Pastefy.

The browser is executed with additional parameters like –no-sandbox, –disable-web-security, –allow-file-access-from-files, –use-fake-ui-for-media-stream, –auto-select-screen-capture-source=true, and –disable-user-media-security, granting it access to the local file system, as well as camera, microphone, and screen capture without requiring any user interaction.

Microsoft Exchange Online outage blocks access to mailboxes

Microsoft is working to address an ongoing Exchange Online outage that is preventing customers from accessing their mailboxes and calendars.

“We’re investigating reports of some users experiencing issues when accessing their Exchange Online mailbox via one or more connection methods,” Microsoft said when it acknowledged the issue at 06:42 AM UTC.

As Microsoft explained in a Microsoft 365 admin center update under EX1253275, Outlook on the web, Outlook desktop, Exchange ActiveSync, and other Exchange Online connection protocols are all affected by this outage.

Cyborgian: GRAB Your AI Career Survivial Guide from here: 👉 top futurist Ray Kurzweil

Renowned for his remarkably accurate tech predictions, has just moved his singularity date forward! He now claims that by 2039, humans will begin merging with machines, potentially transforming what it m.

Google’s top futurist Ray Kurzweil, renowned for his remarkably accurate tech predictions, has just moved his singularity date forward! He now claims that by 2039, humans will begin merging with machines, potentially transforming what it means to be human. In this video, we dive into Kurzweil’s latest forecast, exploring why he’s shaved six years off his original prediction and whether the age of human-machine hybrids is just 14 years away.

Known for his 86% accuracy rate in predicting the future, Kurzweil’s past successes, including the mainstream internet, wireless technology, and AI that understands speech, give weight to his bold claims. But is the idea of computers matching human brains by 2029 and a millionfold intelligence boost by 2045 truly within reach?

We’ll break down:

00:00 — 01:37 Introduction
01:37 — 02:41 THE PROPHET WITH AN 86% SUCCESS RATE
02:41 — 04:06 THE ACCELERATION NOBODY SAW COMING
04:06 — 06:36 A GENTLE SINGULARITY
06:36 — 08:27 THE RESISTANCE
08:27 — 10:28 THE WORLD FORWARD
10:28 — 11:04 CONCLUSION

🔗 Links & Sources:

Interactive Zebrafish Embryo Single-Cell Atlas

A developmental atlas for genes and cells.

The interplay between genes and cells during the development of a fertilized egg into an embryo is highly complex. Previous methods captured gene activity only in 2D slices, making whole-embryo visualization impossible and offering limited spatial detail, often missing subcellular patterns.

The new method now enables the research team to visualize the activities of thousands of genes throughout the entire embryo and link them to cell maturation and movement. The result is a comprehensive atlas of early development, along with new insights into how genes and cells shape the growing embryo. The study was published in Science.

The team developed a new imaging technology called weMERFISH. It enables the direct measurement of the activity of nearly 500 genes in entire tissues with subcellular resolution.

From these measurements, the researchers created an atlas of early embryonic development. “By combining previous single-cell data with our gene activity measurements, we were able to calculate spatial patterns of thousands of genes and the activity of around 300,000 potential regulatory regions,” says the author. The data are freely accessible through the web platform MERFISHEYES (http://schier.merfisheyes.com). “The atlas is intended as a resource for developmental biologists around the world.”

With the help of the atlas, the researchers were also able to clarify how clear boundaries between different tissues form, for example between muscle and backbone tissue. They discovered a zone of cells in which the activity of many genes changes dramatically and differs from one side to the other.

A comparison of early and later stages showed that these genes are initially active on both sides but later only on one. And there are hardly any cells that cross this boundary. “These boundaries do not arise because cells are intermingled and then sort, but mainly because cells change their genetic program,” says the author.

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