Welcome to the September 29, 2025 edition of ACM TechNews, providing timely information for computer professionals three times a week.

HEADLINES AT A GLANCE

• Countries Consider AI’s Dangers, Benefits at U.N.
• Swiss Voters Approve Digital IDs
• Mapping the Plumbing Beneath a Greek Volcano
• Cisco Software Aims to Connect a Quantum Computing Cloud
• Google DeepMind AI Model Lets Robots Perform Household Tasks
• Replicating the Heart's Electrical System
• 3D-Printed Tissue Mimics Real Organs for Surgical Practice
• TSMC Taps AI to Help Chips Use Less Energy
• Exploit Allows for Takeover of Fleets of Unitree Robots
• NASA Tool to Protect Water Supplies After Fires
• Supermicro Server Motherboards Can Be Infected with Unremovable Malware
• Engineers Develop High-Speed, High-Def Hyperspectral Video Camera

Countries Consider AI’s Dangers, Benefits at U.N.

A new United Nations (U.N.) initiative positions the organization as the central forum for AI governance, unveiling a new global dialogue and a 40-member panel of experts to assess the technology’s risks and opportunities. Delegates highlighted AI’s promise in areas like health and food security, but warned of dangers such as mass surveillance, misinformation, and inequality. Said U.N. General Assembly President Annalena Baerbock. “The future will not be shaped by algorithms alone. It will be shaped by the choices we make together.”
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Swiss Voters Approve Digital IDs

Voters in Switzerland narrowly approved the introduction of voluntary digital identity cards in the country. A similar proposal in 2021 was rejected over privacy concerns, but the new system will be government-controlled, storing data only on users’ smartphones rather than centrally. Digital IDs will remain optional, with traditional ID cards still valid. Authorities will only be able to verify specific requested details, such as proof of age.
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Mapping the Plumbing Beneath a Greek Volcano

A massive earthquake swarm that began beneath the Greek island of Santorini earlier this year gave scientists a rare opportunity to map a volcano’s inner workings in real time. Researchers used newly deployed seafloor sensors and AI-processed seismic data to track more than 30,000 quakes, revealing magma movement between Santorini and the nearby Kolumbo undersea volcano. The swarm allowed scientists to model how a 13-kilometer dike formed and to confirm a long-suspected shared plumbing system.
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Cisco Software Aims to Connect a Quantum Computing Cloud

Cisco unveiled a software tool designed to integrate quantum computers from different makers into a single cloud. The tool can analyze quantum computing problems, divide them, and assign each part to the most suitable machine across different quantum technologies. The company said it also is developing specialized networking chips to connect quantum computers, aiming to ease complexities for software developers.
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Google DeepMind AI Model Lets Robots Perform Household Tasks

Google DeepMind's new Gemini Robotics 1.5 and Gemini Robotics-ER 1.5 AI models can enhance robots’ ability to reason and complete multi-step real-world tasks such as sorting laundry and recycling rubbish. The models enable robots to plan, problem-solve, and even use online tools like Google search. Demonstrations showed robots folding laundry, packing for a trip with weather considerations, and sorting rubbish according to local guidelines. A new technique called “motion transfer” allows skills learned for one robot type to be applied to others.
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Replicating the Heart's Electrical System

Researchers at the Chilean research center Millennium Institute for Engineering and Artificial Intelligence for Health (iHEALTH) developed a digital twin that replicates the Purkinje network, the heart's electrical conduction system. The digital system offers a noninvasive method for detecting abnormal electrical activity in the heart and for testing pacemaker positions and other treatments before performing procedures on a patient. "This would allow for better planning of procedures, greater personalization and, therefore, more effective results," said Francisco Sahli at Pontifical Catholic University of Chile.
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3D-Printed Tissue Mimics Real Organs for Surgical Practice

A 3D-printing technique developed by University of Minnesota Twin Cities researchers creates lifelike human tissue models with blood-like fluids that mimic the feel, stretch, and cutting response of real organs. Lead researcher Adarsh Somayaji said the new method “opens the door to creating more realistic training models for surgery, which could ultimately improve medical outcomes.”
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TSMC Taps AI to Help Chips Use Less Energy

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) unveiled a new strategy to cut the power demands of AI chips by using AI itself to design them. At a Silicon Valley event, TSMC said AI-driven tools from software providers Cadence and Synopsys helped create “chiplet” packages of computer chips up to 10 times more energy efficient than today’s models.
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Exploit Allows for Takeover of Fleets of Unitree Robots

Security researchers disclosed a critical Bluetooth Low Energy vulnerability in several robots manufactured by Chinese robotics company Unitree that gives attackers full root access and enables worm-like self-propagation between nearby devices. The exploit, called UniPwn, affects Unitree’s Go2 and B2 quadrupeds as well as its G1 and H1 humanoids, and arises from hardcoded encryption keys and insufficient packet validation. Attackers can inject malicious code disguised as Wi-Fi credentials, leading to persistent compromise and potential botnet formation.
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NASA Tool to Protect Water Supplies After Fires

Working with the University of Texas at Arlington, Purdue University, and other organizations, NASA is developing an online tool that uses satellite data, hydrologic modeling, and AI to predict how wildfires may impact water systems. The HydroFlame tool offers scenario planning and real-time forecasts to help communities shift from crisis response to proactive water management. Piloted in Montana’s Clark Fork Basin, use of the tool will expand to California and Utah, with fieldwork beginning in Los Angeles County to refine predictions.
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Supermicro Server Motherboards Can Be Infected with Unremovable Malware

Supermicro server motherboards have been found vulnerable to two critical flaws that let hackers install persistent malware at the firmware level, undetectable and unremovable by conventional methods. The flaws, discovered by researchers at security firm Binarly, affect baseboard management controllers, which allow remote server management even when powered off. One issue stems from an incomplete January patch for CVE-2024-10237, while the second is an even more severe flaw. Together, they enable attacks similar to the ILObleed malware, which survived full system wipes.
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Engineers Develop High-Speed, High-Def Hyperspectral Video Camera

Engineers at the University of Utah developed a compact hyperspectral video camera capable of capturing high-definition, high-speed images across 25 spectral channels. The new design uses a nanoscale diffractive element directly on the sensor to encode both spatial and spectral data into a single compressed image. Algorithms later reconstruct the data into a full “spectral cube,” enabling detailed analysis.
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