Short Takes – 3-11-25

The ESP32 Bluetooth Backdoor That Wasn’t. Hackaday.com article. Pull quote: “Effectively, [Xeno] makes the point that VSCs are a standard feature in Bluetooth controllers, which – like most features – can also be abused. [Tarlogic] has since updated their article as well to distance themselves from the ‘backdoor’ term and instead want to call these VSCs a ‘hidden feature’. That said, if these VSCs in ESP32 chips are a security risk, then as [Xeno] duly notes, millions of BT controllers from Texas Instruments, Broadcom and others with similar VSCs would similarly be a security risk.”

Measles case confirmed in Maryland resident who recently travelled abroad. TheHill.com article. Pull quote: ““Out of an abundance of caution, health officials are coordinating an effort to identify people who might have been exposed, including contracting potentially exposed passengers on specific flights,” the officials said.” If the community vaccination rate is high enough, there should not be much spread.

Texas/New Mexico Measles Outbreak Situation Report #2. GlobalCrisisMgmtRpt.com blog post. Lots of bullet-point information.

Expanding Measles Outbreak in the United States and Guidance for the Upcoming Travel Season. CDC.gov article. Pull quote: “The risk for widespread measles in the United States remains low due to robust U.S. immunization and surveillance programs and outbreak response capacity supported by federal, state, tribal, local, and territorial health partners. Measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccination remains the most important tool for preventing measles. To prevent measles infection and spread from imported cases, all U.S. residents should be up to date on their MMR vaccinations, especially before traveling internationally, regardless of the destination.”

This is what it looks like when parasitic worms directly invade your brain. ArsTechnica.com article. Note: the photo is gummi worms, not the parasite, just saying. Pull quote: “Once eaten by a human, the L3 larvae try to complete their life cycle by burrowing into tissue out of the intestines to get to the brain, traveling either through the blood or along nerves. The migration along nerves can cause sensory abnormalities, like burning, tingling, or pain. Once in the central nervous system, the invasion can cause confusion, encephalopathy, seizure, cranial neuropathy, or eye problems. In a brain, the L3 larvae would normally develop into young adults, but human brains are dead ends for the worms, which eventually die there without fully maturing.”

Risk to People in the United States from Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza A(H5N1) Viruses. CDC.gov article. Pull quote: “CDC assesses the overall risk to the general U.S. population as low, with moderate confidence. Of note, for any individual in this population, risk will vary depending on nature of, frequency, and time spent in contact with infected or potentially infected animals or contaminated surfaces or fluids. We also include a section below on factors that could change our assessment.” So no human-to-human transmission threat yet.

Boeing remains committed to space business. SpaceNews.com article. Pull quote: “Starliner and the Space Launch System, the moon rocket for NASA’s Artemis program, fall under Boeing Defense Space & Security but are not part of Boeing Space Mission Systems.” Committed except for the really big ticket items?