Tiny grains of dust from asteroid Bennu are reshaping how scientists think life’s ingredients formed in space.
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Hackers breach SmarterTools network using flaw in its own software
SmarterTools confirmed last week that the Warlock ransomware gang breached its network after compromising an email system, but it did not impact business applications or account data.
The company’s Chief Commercial Officer, Derek Curtis, says that the intrusion occurred on January 29, via a single SmarterMail virtual machine (VM) set up by an employee.
“Prior to the breach, we had approximately 30 servers/VMs with SmarterMail installed throughout our network,” Curtis explained.
Microsoft: Exchange Online flags legitimate emails as phishing
Microsoft is investigating an ongoing Exchange Online issue that mistakenly flags legitimate emails as phishing and quarantines them.
The incident began on February 5 and continues to affect Exchange Online customers, preventing them from sending or receiving emails.
“Some users’ legitimate email messages are being marked as phish and quarantined in Exchange Online,” Microsoft said in a service alert when it acknowledged the bug on Thursday.
Why only a small number of planets are suitable for life
For life to develop on a planet, certain chemical elements are needed in sufficient quantities. Phosphorus and nitrogen are essential. Phosphorus is vital for the formation of DNA and RNA, which store and transmit genetic information, and for the energy balance of cells. Nitrogen is an essential component of proteins, which are needed for the formation, structure, and function of cells. Without these two elements, no life can develop out of lifeless matter.
A study led by Craig Walton, postdoc at the Center for Origin and Prevalence of Life at ETH Zurich, and ETH professor Maria Schönbächler has now shown that there must be sufficient phosphorus and nitrogen present when a planet’s core is formed. The study is published in Nature Astronomy.
“During the formation of a planet’s core, there needs to be exactly the right amount of oxygen present so that phosphorus and nitrogen can remain on the surface of the planet,” explains Walton, lead author of the study. This was exactly the case with Earth around 4.6 billion years ago—a stroke of chemical good fortune in the universe. This finding may affect how scientists search for life elsewhere in the universe.