lurking

Smart devices on the electric grid increase vulnerability to hacking, threatening power outages and system damage. A team from the Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory proposes a new tool to prioritize and manage cyber threats more effectively, aiming to protect the grid by addressing both immediate and future challenges.The proliferation of programmable devices creates additional entry points for cyberattacks.There’s a down side to “smart” devices: They can be hacked.That makes the electric grid,…

In the 1960s and 70s, no serious rock fan viewed the drummer Jim Gordon with anything but awe. By the 80s, none of them viewed him with anything but contempt, a 180-degree turn that led to his virtual erasure from the culture. Even four decades later, when the veteran music journalist Joel Selvin first tried to sell publishers on a book meant to tell Gordon’s story with nuance and depth, they balked. “They would debate it for months and then say, ‘Nope, can’t do it,’” Selvin said. “It was almost impossible for them…

More than half a century ago, Japanese physicist Yosuke Nagaoka theorized a way a magnetic field might expand from meandering electrons restlessly searching for a place to rest that was radically different from conventional models of ferromagnetism.A phenomenon recently observed in a stack of alternating semiconductors could be explained by Nagaoka's speculations, while throwing out a few unforeseen surprises.In an experiment led by researchers from ETH Zürich in Switzerland, atomically thin grids of two different…

A colossal structure in the distant Universe is defying our understanding of how the Universe evolved.In light that has traveled for 6.9 billion years to reach us, astronomers have found a giant, almost perfect ring of galaxies, some 1.3 billion light-years in diameter. It doesn't match any known structure or formation mechanism.The Big Ring, as the structure has been named, could mean that we need to amend the standard model of cosmology.The discovery, led by astronomer Alexia Lopez of the University of Central…

The surface of Mars may appear barren and lifeless, but it seems the red planet is keeping quite a few secrets hidden from prying human eyes.Luckily, we have technology – and a new radar survey of the Medusae Fossae Formation region on the Martian equator has revealed what appears to be giant layered slabs of buried water ice, several kilometers thick.It's the most water ever found around Mars' middle, and suggests the dry old dustball isn't quite as devoid of the stuff as we thought.There's as much water buried there,…

The outer Solar System is like the ultimate wilderness frontier. It's so far from the Sun that our telescopes can't easily see what's out there; it's anyone's guess as to what strange objects are lurking in the far reaches of the planetary disk.We know that there is a field of small, icy rocks, extending out beyond the orbit of Neptune. This is the Kuiper Belt, where dwarf planets Pluto, Eris, and Haumea reside. Far beyond that is the hypothetical Oort Cloud, a huge spherical field of small rocks enclosing the whole…

The lush, volcanic hills of Sulawesi in Indonesia are home to several species of fanged frogs with unusual reproductive habits, including Limnonectes larvaepartus – the only species of frog in the world known to give birth to live tadpoles.Now, this tropical island has revealed another one of its secrets: the world's smallest frog with fangs.Related to the other fanged frog species, the newly found Limnonectes phyllofolia is a traditional amphibian egg layer.The new species of fanged frog, Limnonectes phyllofolia. (Sean…

Actors can rely on the right of publicity, also known as likeness rights, to protect them if a studio clearly infringes on their image. But what about a synthetic performer that displays, say, the gravitas of Denzel Washington but is not, technically, Denzel Washington? Could that be claimed as a “digital replica,” which the contract states requires consent to use? How easily will an actor be able to defend more nebulous traits? With some legal weight, a studio might argue that its AI performer is simply trained on the…

Our Solar System is a pretty busy place. There are millions of objects moving around – everything from planets, to moons, to comets, and asteroids. And each year we're discovering more and more objects (usually small asteroids or speedy comets) that call the Solar System home.Astronomers had found all eight of the main planets by 1846. But that doesn't stop us from looking for more. In the past 100 years, we've found smaller distant bodies we call dwarf planets, which is what we now classify Pluto as.The discovery of…

Geological layers beneath the Chicago Loop. Credit: Alessandro Rotta Loria/Northwestern UniversityFirst study to quantify effects of subsurface climate change on civil infrastructure.There is a “silent hazard” lurking underneath our major global cities, and our buildings were not designed to handle it.A new <span class="glossaryLink" aria-describedby="tt" data-cmtooltip="<div class=glossaryItemTitle>Northwestern University</div><div class=glossaryItemBody>Established in 1851,…