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Category: computing

Ultra-thin membrane enables high-efficiency hydrogen fuel cells for transport and industry

Engineers have developed a new ultra-thin membrane that allows fuel cells to operate more efficiently at high temperatures by enabling proton transport without water, overcoming a key limitation in clean energy technologies.

The breakthrough, reported in Science Advances, could expand the use of fuel cells in transport, heavy industry, and future clean energy systems.

Fuel cells convert chemical energy directly into electricity, producing water and heat as the main by-products. They are already used in hydrogen-powered vehicles, backup power systems for hospitals and data centers, and space missions where lightweight, reliable energy is essential.

Decoding intended speech with an intracortical brain-computer interface in a person with long-standing anarthria and locked-in syndrome

This study aimed to explore the alleviating effects of fisetin, a polyphenolic flavonoid, on ovarian dysfunction in a D-galactose (D-gal)-induced aging mouse model, as well as the underlying mechanisms, using both in vivo and in vitro experiments. Mice were subcutaneously injected with D-gal (100 mg/kg/day) for 60 days to establish the ovarian aging model; during the final 30 days, fisetin (10, 20, 30 mg/kg/day) was given orally. In addition, a senescent model of granulosa cell (GC) was established using D-gal and treated with fisetin. Fisetin supplementation improved ovarian endocrine function and reproductive capacity in aging mice, as reflected by regularized estrous cycles, elevated estradiol levels, and increased embryo numbers. Furthermore, fisetin reduced the number of atretic follicles and the extent of ovarian fibrosis and senescence, while simultaneously restoring the proliferation-apoptosis balance in follicular GCs, as well as alleviating oxidative stress. RNA-sequencing revealed that AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK)/mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR) signaling and mitophagy were involved in the protective effects of fisetin against ovarian aging. Consistently, fisetin treatment promoted mitophagy, accompanied by AMPK/mTOR activation in ovarian tissues and GCs following D-gal exposure. Inhibition of AMPK attenuated the effect of fisetin on mitophagy. Additionally, blockage of mitophagy also reversed the beneficial effects of fisetin on mitochondrial injury, oxidative stress, cell cycle arrest, and cellular senescence in D-gal-induced senescent GCs. These findings indicate that fisetin prevents ovarian aging by suppressing follicular GC oxidative damage and ameliorating cell cycle arrest via activation of AMPK/mTOR-mediated mitophagy, thereby preserving female fertility.

Quobly Toolbox Explores Quantum Phase Estimation Pipeline With Tensor Networks

An international collaboration between a French quantum startup and a major Taiwanese electronics manufacturer has yielded a new open-source tool for exploring a critical area of quantum computing. Quobly and Taiwan’s Hon Hai Research Institute, the R&D arm of Foxconn, jointly released a numerical toolbox dedicated to the Quantum Phase Estimation (QPE) algorithm, described as a cornerstone of fault-tolerant quantum computing with major applications in quantum chemistry and materials science. While QPE’s theoretical benefits are understood, simulating its practical resource needs has proven difficult; the toolbox aims to bridge this gap by allowing researchers to explore implementations and their implications. The tool focuses on practical, interpretable numerical experiments, enabling full circuit executions for up to 20 qubits and circuits ranging from 1,000 to 100,000 gates on standard laptops.

Quantum Phase Estimation Toolbox for Molecular Systems

While the theoretical underpinnings of QPE are well established, simulating its practical demands has proven a significant hurdle, limiting exploration beyond simplified models. The toolbox addresses this gap by offering a platform for practical, interpretable numerical experiments, allowing scientists to investigate QPE implementations without requiring access to full-scale quantum hardware, which is currently unavailable. Built upon advanced tensor network techniques and the open-source quimb library, the toolbox facilitates the preparation of initial states using DMRG and matrix product states, and allows encoding of molecular Hamiltonians into quantum circuits through methods like trotterization and qubitization. Researchers can directly compare standard QPE with the single-ancilla Robust Phase Estimation (RPE) method, analyzing circuit depth, gate counts, and potential error sources.

New Fragnesia Linux flaw lets attackers gain root privileges

Linux distros are rolling out patches for a new high-severity kernel privilege escalation vulnerability that allows attackers to run malicious code as root.

Known as Fragnasia and tracked as CVE-2026–46300, this security flaw stems from a logic bug in the Linux XFRM ESP-in-TCP subsystem that can enable unprivileged local attackers to gain root privileges by writing arbitrary bytes to the kernel page cache of read-only files.

Zellic’s head of assurance, William Bowling, who discovered this new universal local privilege escalation flaw, also shared a proof-of-concept (PoC) exploit that achieves a memory-write primitive in the kernel that is used to corrupt the page cache memory of the /usr/bin/su binary to get a shell with root privileges on vulnerable systems.

Dell confirms its SupportAssist software causes Windows BSOD crashes

Dell confirmed that its SupportAssist software is causing blue-screen crashes on some Windows systems following a wave of user reports about random reboots affecting Dell devices since Friday.

SupportAssist is a software suite developed by Dell that comes pre-installed on most new Dell computers running Windows 10 or Windows 11.

A Dell representative told customers on the company’s official forums on Wednesday that the latest SupportAssist Remediation service update is the one triggering 0xEF_DellSupportAss_BUGCHECK_CRITICAL_PROCESS errors and advised them to remove the service to resolve the crashes.

Venus Clouds Driven by Solar System’s Largest Waves

“Up until now, we used a global circulation model (GCM) for Venus that is similar to Earth’s, but this model doesn’t include the hydraulic jump which we have now identified,” said Dr. Takeshi Imamura. [ https://www.labroots.com/trending/space/30535/venus-clouds-d…gest-waves](https://www.labroots.com/trending/space/30535/venus-clouds-d…gest-waves)

What explains the unique behavior of Venus’ clouds? This is what a recent study published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets hopes to address as an international team of scientists led by Japan and included the United States and Spain investigated a longstanding conundrum regarding Venus’ meteorology, specifically cloud weather patterns. This study has the potential to help scientists better understand planetary cloud patterns and what this can teach us about planetary formation and evolution.

For the study, the researchers used a series of computer models to simulate Venus’ cloud weather patterns, specifically focusing on a 6,000-kilometer-wide (3,728-mile-wide) cloud front whose behavior has puzzled scientists for years. The primary puzzlement is the origin of the massive cloud wave, which current global climate models can’t explain. Along with the puzzlement, the motivation behind the study also comes from a knowledge gap in the formation of the lower cloud regions within Venus’ atmosphere.

In the end, the researchers found that a phenomenon known as a “hydraulic jump” was responsible for producing the massive cloud wave front. This jump is caused by changes in airflow in the lower cloud regions combined with a strong updraft, resulting in sulfuric acid vapor (which comprises Venus’ clouds) to condense, forming the massive cloud wave front. This study helps explain the connection between the Venusian atmosphere motion and clouds.

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