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Category: mobile phones

Text messages could be key to helping TB patients quit smoking, according to study

Tuberculosis (TB) patients who smoke will recover far more quickly if they can quit—and help could come from their mobile phones, according to new research.

As part of the trial, patients were sent encouraging and supportive text messages to see if it would help them to quit smoking more quickly.

The results, published in the JAMA, revealed that nearly three times the number of participants who received text messages quit smoking for six months, compared to participants receiving the standard printed information.

Online psychoeducation underperforms existing digital cognitive behavioral therapy in trial

Big Health Inc, along with paid academic investigators, reports higher remission rates and lower anxiety symptom scores with their smartphone-delivered digital cognitive behavioral therapy, DaylightRx, compared with an online psychoeducation, also created by Big Health Inc.

Generalized anxiety disorder involves excessive, persistent, and uncontrollable anxiety with lifetime prevalence reported as 6%, alongside reduced quality of life, impaired social and occupational functioning, and increased health care utilization.

Cognitive behavioral therapy and pharmacotherapy are considered first-line treatments. Despite strong tolerability, efficacy, and cost-effectiveness, access remains limited due to a shortage of trained therapists, time burdens, and stigma.

Exclusive: How China built its ‘Manhattan Project’ to rival the West in AI chips

In a high-security Shenzhen laboratory, Chinese scientists have built a prototype of a machine capable of producing cutting-edge semiconductor chips that power artificial intelligence, smartphones and weapons central to Western military dominance.

Batteries lose charge when they ‘breathe’: Understanding deterioration is a step toward longer-lasting batteries

Researchers have identified a key reason why the batteries used to power everything from smartphones to electric vehicles deteriorate over time, a critical step toward building faster, more reliable and longer-lasting batteries.

The research team from The University of Texas at Austin, Northeastern University, Stanford University and Argonne National Laboratory found that every cycle of charge and discharge causes batteries to expand and contract, similar to human breathing. This action causes battery components to warp just a tiny amount, putting strain on the battery and weakening it over time. This phenomenon, known as chemomechanical degradation, leads to reduced performance and lifespan.

The findings are published in the journal Science.

Snakes’ mind-bending ‘heat vision’ inspires scientists to build a 4K imaging system that could one day fit into your smartphone

Scientists in China have developed a first-of-its-kind artificial imaging system inspired by snakes that are able to “see” heat coming off their prey in total darkness. The sensor captures ultra-high-resolution infrared (IR) images in 4K resolution (3,840 × 2,160 pixels) — matching the image quality of the iPhone 17 Pro’s camera.

Any object with a temperature above absolute zero (−460 degrees Fahrenheit or-273 degrees Celsius) emits some electromagnetic radiation. For normal body heat, this has a wavelength in the IR range. The human eye can only pick up shorter wavelengths that are in the visible light range.

Abstract: A widely held hypothesis posits that ER stress drives cell death in thyroid disease

Here, Peter Arvan & team generate a mouse model lacking thyroglobulin, finding stimulated thyroid hormone synthesis machinery drives thyrocyte cell death independent of ER stress:

The figure shows limited ER diameter in thyroid tissue from Tg-KO untreated mice.

Address correspondence to: Peter Arvan, Division of Metabolism, Endocrinology & Diabetes, University of Michigan, Brehm Tower rm 5,112, 1000 Wall Street, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48,105, USA. Phone: 734.936.5505; Email: [email protected].

Kimwolf Botnet Hijacks 1.8 Million Android TVs, Launches Large-Scale DDoS Attacks

A new distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) botnet known as Kimwolf has enlisted a massive army of no less than 1.8 million infected devices comprising Android-based TVs, set-top boxes, and tablets, and may be associated with another botnet known as AISURU, according to findings from QiAnXin XLab.

“Kimwolf is a botnet compiled using the NDK [Native Development Kit],” the company said in a report published today. “In addition to typical DDoS attack capabilities, it integrates proxy forwarding, reverse shell, and file management functions.”

The hyper-scale botnet is estimated to have issued 1.7 billion DDoS attack commands within a three-day period between November 19 and 22, 2025, around the same time one of its command-and-control (C2) domains – 14emeliaterracewestroxburyma02132[.]su – came first in Cloudflare’s list of top 100 domains, briefly even surpassing Google.

Cellik Android malware builds malicious versions from Google Play apps

A new Android malware-as-a-service (MaaS) named Cellik is being advertised on underground cybercrime forums offering a robust set of capabilities that include the option to embed it in any app available on the Google Play Store.

Specifically, attackers can select apps from Android’s official app store and create trojanized versions that appear trustworthy and keep the real app’s interface and functionality.

By providing the expected capabilities, Cellik infections can go unnoticed for a longer time. Additionally, the seller claims that bundling the malware this way may help bypass Play Protect, although this is unconfirmed.

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