You Could Be at Risk: Earthquake Fault Zones Far Wider Than Previously Thought Fault zones are often wide, branching networks rather than narrow lines, requiring a shift to 3D models for better earthquake prediction and hazard analysis, while narrow creep zones highlight potential errors in interpreting past seismic events. At the Seismological Society of America’s Annual Meeting, researchers tackled a deceptively simple question: How wide are faults? Christie Rowe of the Nevada Seismological Laboratory at the University of Nevada, Reno, and Alex Hatem of the U.S. Geological Survey analyzed global data from individual earthquakes to find a more complete answer, one that accounts for both surface ruptures and deeper fault movements, including creeping sections. originally posted at
Cyberattack Knocks Texas City’s Systems Offline The assault started on April 18, when some of the systems in the city’s internal network were reported as unresponsive, and prompted the immediate activation of the incident response plan. To secure its network, Abilene disconnected critical assets and the systems that were impacted by the attack, the city’s officials announced on Monday. “We also launched an investigation and engaged industry-leading cybersecurity experts to determine the nature and scope of the incident and notified relevant authorities,” the officials said. The city’s IT department has been working over the weekend to restore services and minimize impact on operations, Abilene’s officials said, noting that systems are monitored for any unusual activity. originally posted at
Google Starts Scanning Your Photos—3 Billion Users Must Now Decide https://www.forbes.com/sites/zakdoffman/2025/04/22/google-starts-scanning-your-photos-3-billion-users-must-now-decide/ When Google added photo scanning technology to Android phones, it caused a huge backlash, with the company accused of “secretly” installing new monitoring technology on Android phones “without user permission.” At the time, Google assured me that SafetyCore was an enabling framework and would not actually start scanning photos or other content. The new app, it said, “provides on-device infrastructure for securely and privately performing classification to help users detect unwanted content. Users control SafetyCore, and SafetyCore only classifies specific content when an app requests it through an optionally enabled feature.” originally posted at
No Big Bang? A Theory of Repeating Bursts Could Explain Everything A bold new theory suggests the universe didn’t begin with a single Big Bang, but instead unfolds through a series of ultra-fast, invisible bursts called “temporal singularities.” These fleeting events flood space with energy and matter, forming the galaxies and structures we see today — without needing dark matter or dark energy. The model challenges long-held cosmological assumptions and offers a fresh explanation for the universe’s expansion, proposing that these singularities, although unobservable, may be the true drivers of cosmic evolution. originally posted at