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Dark matter experiment reaches ultracold milestone

An international collaboration, including Northwestern University, has reached a critical milestone in the search for dark matter, the mysterious substance that makes up about 85% of all matter in the universe. Located two kilometers below ground in Canada, the Super Cryogenic Dark Matter Search (SuperCDMS) at SNOLAB has cooled to its operating temperature, the collaboration announced on March 17.

Just thousandths of a degree above absolute zero, the cryogenic experiment is about 100 times colder than the temperature of deep space. This extreme cold enables scientists to eliminate thermal noise from vibrating atoms, potentially isolating dark matter’s incredibly tiny signals.

With this milestone, the project transitions from building the experiment to preparing for the search. Researchers can now turn on the dark matter detectors, whose superconducting sensors only function when cooled to extremely low temperatures. If the equipment operates correctly, it should achieve the highest level of sensitivity yet for detecting low-mass particles, which have about half the mass of a single proton.

Building trust in the future of quantum computing

Quantum computers could solve certain problems that would take traditional classical computers an impractically long time to solve. At the Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (JAIST), researchers are now working to make these systems reliable and trustworthy.

Unlike classical computers that process information in binary digits (bits) as either 0 or 1, quantum computers use quantum bits or “qubits” that can represent both 0 and 1 simultaneously, enabling dramatic speedups in computations for specific problems.

The potential applications of quantum computing are wide-ranging. These include factoring large numbers that could break today’s encryption, optimizing complex industrial processes, accelerating drug discovery, and supporting advances in artificial intelligence (AI).

New “Giant Superatoms” Could Solve Quantum Computing’s Biggest Problem

A new quantum system called giant superatoms could protect quantum information and enable entanglement between multiple qubits. The concept merges giant atoms and superatoms to improve stability and scalability for future quantum technologies. Scientists at Chalmers University of Technology in Sw

Resurrected 3.2-Billion-Year-Old Enzyme Could Unlock the Origins of Life

Nitrogen is essential for life on Earth, yet most organisms cannot use it directly from the atmosphere. Scientists now believe this element may also provide important clues about how life first developed on our planet and how it might arise elsewhere in the universe.

“All living organisms need nitrogen to survive and, though it’s all around us, we can’t access it directly,” says Utah State University biochemist Lance Seefeldt. “Enzymes called nitrogenases enable nitrogen fixation, which converts nitrogen to a form plants, animals, humans, and other life forms can access. And we’re just beginning to understand the extent to which, over the Earth’s four-billion-year history, these nitrogenases have evolved.”

Aura confirms data breach exposing 900,000 marketing contacts

Identity protection company Aura has confirmed that an unauthorized party gained access to nearly 900,000 customer records containing names and email addresses.

The company states that the incident was caused by a voice phishing attack targeting an employee, which exposed the sensitive data of 20,000 current and 15,000 former customers.

In a communication this week, Aura states that the data originated from a marketing tool used by a company acquired by Aura in 2021, which exposed limited information.

New “Darksword” iOS exploit used in infostealer attack on iPhones

A new exploit kit for iOS devices and delivery framework dubbed “DarkSword” has been used to steal a wide range of personal information, including data from cryptocurrency wallet apps.

DarkSword targets iPhones running iOS 18.4 through 18.7 and is linked to multiple actors, including UNC6353, suspected to be Russian, who used the Coruna exploit chain disclosed earlier this month.

Researchers at mobile security company Lookout discovered DarkSword while investigating the infrastructure used for the Coruna attacks. Google’s Threat Intelligence Group and iVerify also collaborated for a more comprehensive analysis of this previously unknown threat and the adversaries leveraging it.

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