Short Takes – 7-23-24

How Russia-Linked Malware Cut Heat to 600 Ukrainian Buildings in Deep Winter. Wired.com article. Pull quote: “The malware, which Dragos is calling FrostyGoop, represents one of less than 10 specimens of code ever discovered in the wild that's designed to interact directly with industrial control-system software with the aim of having physical effects. It's also the first malware ever discovered that attempts to carry out those effects by sending commands via Modbus, a commonly used and relatively insecure protocol designed for communicating with industrial technology.” Dragos report link.

Can light spark superconductivity? A new study reignites debate. ScienceNews.org article. Pull quote: “Physicist Nan-Lin Wang of Peking University is convinced that magnetic fields are expelled when the laser pulse hits the YBCO. But whether that implies superconductivity as it is normally defined is unclear. It might be the result of preexisting, small-scale superconducting currents being amplified, rather than of typical large-scale superconductivity. “The underlying physics could be very complicated,” he says.”

Discovery of 'dark oxygen' from deep-sea metal lumps could trigger rethink of origins of life. LiveScience.com article. Pull quote: “"For aerobic life to begin on the planet, there has to be oxygen and our understanding has been that Earth's oxygen supply began with photosynthetic organisms," he said. "But we now know that there is oxygen produced in the deep sea, where there is no light. I think we therefore need to revisit questions like: where could aerobic life have begun?"”