RealFeedApp beta
Top science & technology news, August 1, 2026
- Tailscale Didn't Stop the Hugging Face Intrusion
A security agent escaped a sandbox and attacked Hugging Face using a stolen Tailscale credential.
- Scanning 7.6 Petabytes of HuggingFace Training Data for Secrets
We scanned every public dataset on Hugging Face, which is where most open AI training data lives. That came to 7.6 petabytes across 187 million files, the largest secret scan of AI training data we know of. We found 221,303 live, unique credentials sitting in 6,003 datasets.
- VC-backed Startups Commit More Fraud and Researchers Know Why
A new report from Imperial College London and Emlyon Business School shows how VCs are involved in fraud and why it happens.
- Reading Minds Almost: Scientists Just Reconstructed Vision from Brain Waves
Scientists at Princeton have demonstrated that it's possible to reconstruct images someone is looking at using only brain activity.
- I Stop LLMs Drifting in Production Codebases
The problem I care about with LLM coding is drift: one plausible shortcut gets copied, then future sessions start treating it as how the app works. I’ve used AI coding tools every day as a team lead on large private client codebases, across features, bug fixes, refactors, reviews, and more recently a finance workflow processing more than $20m a month in capital.
- Sam Altman continues to advocate for parenting via ChatGPT
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman shared a 'cool use case' on Friday, suggesting parents could connect their family calendars and explain their children's interests using the new product ChatGPT Work. Every morning for school, it would generate a podcast about one child's soccer game, another child's birthday, and some news.
- Patch In, Exploit Out: How Deepsec Reconstructed the Pwn2Own Microsoft Edge Sandbox Escape
On May 14, 2026, security researcher Orange Tsai demonstrated a Microsoft Edge sandbox escape at Pwn2Own Berlin. He won $175,000 and explained that he used four logic bugs instead of memory-corruption vulnerabilities.
- Review: Yes, we're still arguing about Nolan's The Odyssey
Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey continues to spark controversy among classicists and the general public. Despite its accolades and earnings, debates persist over an epic poem from around 8th century BCE.
- Defcon's new badge is a security key you can see inside
This year’s badges take a different tack. Instead of the badge designs being the star, it’s what is inside that matters most.
- Disrupted Developmental Trajectory of Ultrasonic Vocalizations in a Rat Model of Fragile X Syndrome
Researchers have found that the development trajectory of ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs) in a rat model of Fragile X syndrome is disrupted. This study may help better understand how genetic factors influence speech and communication development.
- wiff — a terminal-centric diff and code-review utility
Wiff captures a diff, lets you browse and annotate it with syntax highlighting, and persists the review as a local session that both a human (through the TUI) and an agent (through the CLI and a skill) can read and write concurrently.
- End-to-end framework for single-cell-resolution, whole-transcriptomic spatial profiling in post-mortem human brain
Single-cell resolution spatial transcriptomics enables transcriptome-wide molecular profiling within intact tissue architecture, providing unprecedented opportunities to investigate cellular organization and disease-associated molecular states in the human brain. However, applying these technologies to post-mortem human brain tissue remains challenging due to RNA degradation, heterogeneity in tissue preservation, and a lack of standardized analytical workflows.
- Carbohydrate degradation machineries in lichen fungal symbionts reveal distinct symbiotic footprints across Ascomycota
Lichens--the archetypal symbiosis--have long been known for their nutritional relationship, in which the photoautotrophic partners subsidize the carbon needs of their fungal symbiont. Yet, this subsidiary framing obscures the fact that lichenization has evolved multiple times across different fungal lineages and involves a wide array of phylogenetically distinct photosynthetic symbionts and subsidy types.
- Fridays With Bob
At the start of my career at IEEE Spectrum 25 years ago, a senior editor suggested that I find a 'rabbi,' by which he meant someone who could mentor me in how EEs approach problems and evaluate potential solutions. I didn't find one right away. Then in 2005 we decided to do a special report focusing on the challenges of enterprise software development. I suggested we invite IEEE Life Senior Member Robert N. Charette, a self-described risk ecologist, prolific book author, and leading authority on risk management and software engineering, to explore in our pages the myriad reasons software projects fail.
- Evolution of a large and diverse phospholipase gene cluster that defines the plant pathogenic genus Ceratocystis
Many species of Ceratocystis cause cankers and unique vascular wilt diseases, often on a broad and unpredictable range of host plants. Characteristic necrosis of xylem parenchyma cells and dark staining of surrounding tissue is typically evident, especially in woody hosts. The molecular basis for this unique pathogenicity and host range remains unclear, but high-copy number phospholipase genes (bPI-PLC) were recently identified in multiple Ceratocystis species, and these PLCs may play a role in host membrane disruption.
- Atomic Clocks: The Foundation of Modern World
Our modern world relies on atomic clocks that tap into the secrets hidden within atoms, which are the building blocks of everything from our bodies to devices and planets.
- Stateless MCP Recaptures My Interest
Stateless MCP has reignited my interest, inspired mcp-explorer and datasette-mcp. This is the most significant change since its launch in November 2024.
- Flint: A Visualization Language for the AI Era
Flint is a new visualization language designed for the era of artificial intelligence.
- Don’t Stop Early: Case-Folding Source Code at Memory Speed
GitHub researchers developed a method that allows folding every byte of source code at over 45 GiB/s on a single core. This speeds up string searches, even when they differ only in case.
- Kenji/Serious Eats - 30-Min Pressure Cooker Pho Ga
Pho Ga, a chicken version of the popular Vietnamese noodle soup Pho Ga, is easier to prepare and just as tasty. It's made in a pressure cooker in under 30 minutes.
