No one is safe from the memory apocalypse.
Category: electronics
Korea arrests suspects selling intimate videos from hacked IP cameras
The Korean National Police have arrested four individuals suspected of hacking over 120,000 IP cameras across the country and then selling stolen footage to a foreign adult site.
Although the suspects or the websites haven’t been named, the police are already taking action against viewers of the illicitly gained content, as well as the operators of the website, through international collaboration.
“The National Office of Investigation announced that four suspects who hacked over 120,000 IP cameras installed in private homes and commercial facilities and sold the stolen footage on an overseas illegal website have been arrested,” reads an announcement from the National Office of Investigation.
Noise-proof quantum sensor uses three calcium ions held in place by electric fields
Researchers at the University of Innsbruck have shown that quantum sensors can remain highly accurate even in extremely noisy conditions. It’s the first experimental realization of a powerful quantum sensing protocol, outperforming all comparable classical strategies—even under overwhelming noise.
The study has been published in Physical Review Letters.
Quantum sensors promise unprecedented measurement precision, but their advantage can quickly erode in realistic environments where noise dominates.
HIE-ISOLDE: Ten years, ten highlights
The Isotope Separator On-Line facility (ISOLDE) directs a proton beam from the Proton Synchrotron Booster (PSB) onto specially developed thick targets, producing low-energy beams of radioactive nuclei—those with too many or too few neutrons to be stable. These beams can be further accelerated to energies of up to 10 MeV per nucleon using the HIE-ISOLDE linear accelerator, enabling a wide range of studies.
The HIE-ISOLDE beams are sent to three experimental stations: the Miniball array of high-purity germanium gamma-ray detectors, the ISOLDE solenoid spectrometer (ISS), which repurposed a former MRI magnet, and the scattering experimental chamber (SEC), used for a broad variety of physics experiments. Since its first experiment in October 2015, HIE-ISOLDE has been pushing back the boundaries of nuclear physics. To celebrate its 10th anniversary, we look back at 10 key achievements that have defined its first decade.
Electric control of ions and water enables switchable molecular stickiness on surfaces
What if a surface could instantly switch from sticky to slippery at the push of a button? By using electricity to control how ions and water structure at the solid liquid interface of self-assembled monolayers of aromatic molecules, researchers at National Taiwan University have created a molecular-scale adhesion switch that turns attraction on and off.
Why do some surfaces stick together while others repel each other? At scales far too small to see with the bare eye, this question is controlled by a complex interplay of intermolecular forces that arise when charged particles, called ions, and water organize themselves at the boundary between a solid and a liquid.
Understanding and controlling this behavior is essential for technologies ranging from lubricants and coatings to sensors and electronics.
OLEDs can now switch light’s handedness with an electrical signal
Researchers from the University of Oxford have for the first time discovered an approach to electrically switch organic LEDs (OLEDs) to emit either left- or right-handed circularly polarized light without changing the light-emitting molecules. This could be useful for a range of technological applications, from more energy efficient OLED displays, to optical information transfer.
Scientists detect new climate pattern in the tropics
Tropical cyclones can unleash extensive devastation, as recent storms that swept over Jamaica and the Philippines made unmistakably clear. Accurate weather forecasts that buy more time to prepare are crucial for saving lives and are rooted in a deeper understanding of climate systems.
Driving this forward, researchers at the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA) and others have successfully identified a previously unknown cyclic climate pattern by historical reanalysis of datasets and satellite observations. The findings are published in PNAS.
Jiawei Bao still remembers coming home from middle school to catch the weather forecast on TV. It spanned from China’s northernmost province, Heilongjiang, to the southernmost province and tropical island, Hainan. In winter, the temperature between these regions can range from cold to balmy, varying by a staggering 50 degrees Celsius.