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Computer insecurity

Many current computer systems have only limited security precautions in place. Serious financial damage has been caused by computer security breaches, but reliably estimating costs is quite difficult. Figures in the billions of dollars have been quoted in relation to the damage caused by malware such as computer worms like the Code Red worm, but such estimates may be exaggerated. However, other losses, such as those caused by the compromise of credit card information, can be more easily determined, and they have been substantial, as measured by millions of individual victims of identity theft each year in each of several nations, and the severe hardship imposed on each victim.

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Computers & Math News

June 16, 2026

Humans evolved to pay close attention to danger, but today that instinct is being overwhelmed by an endless supply of bad news from around the world. Researchers say the answer isn’t to stop following current events—it’s to build healthier ...
Oxford physicists have created an entirely new type of Schrödinger’s cat-like quantum state using components that are themselves highly quantum in nature. The advance could open new possibilities for more resilient quantum computers and deeper ...
Scientists at the University of Hong Kong have created a remarkable new type of brain-inspired chip that can function just above absolute zero, one of the coldest environments imaginable. By using a ...
Scientists at RIKEN have proposed a new way to make quantum systems synchronize in only one direction—like a one-way street for sound particles known as phonons. The breakthrough combines two quantum effects to create a form of one-way quantum ...
Scientists discovered that rice behaves in a highly unusual way: it weakens under rapid compression but stays stronger when pressure is applied slowly. Using this effect, they engineered a new ...
Scientists found that transfer learning can make the search for new physics in the universe much faster, slashing the need for expensive simulations. Yet the approach can backfire when AI relies too heavily on familiar patterns, potentially missing ...
Researchers gave top AI models a classic attention test used in psychology and found a major flaw. While the models could correctly name colors in short lists, their performance deteriorated sharply as the task became longer and more complex. Some ...
Scientists used nanoscale gold metamaterials to supercharge heat transfer across tiny gaps, achieving up to four times more energy flow than similar conventional systems. The breakthrough could lead ...
A team at the University of Minnesota discovered that changing a metal film's thickness by just a few nanometers can dramatically alter how it behaves electronically. The finding reveals a surprising new way to control metals and could help power ...
NASA’s PExT terminal has shown that spacecraft can seamlessly communicate through multiple government and commercial networks, a major step beyond traditional single-network systems. The mission is now expanding to test new capabilities that could ...
Scientists have successfully tested an AI-designed universal coronavirus vaccine in humans for the first time, finding it to be safe and well tolerated. The vaccine generated immune responses against multiple coronaviruses, including SARS-CoV-2, ...
Scientists have uncovered unexpected quantum complexity inside cobalt, a metal long thought to be fully understood. Advanced measurements revealed a dense network of topological electronic states that remain robust at room temperature. These states ...

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