Welcome to the January 13, 2025 edition of ACM TechNews, providing timely information for computer professionals three times a week.

HEADLINES AT A GLANCE

• ASML-Backed Dutch University Suspends Classes After Cyber Attack
• NASA to Send Radiation-Tolerant Computer to the Moon
• 3D-printed Microscope Made in Under 3 Hours
• World's Largest Supercomputer to Help Secure Nuclear Weapons
• Exoskeleton Allows Teen to Walk after Injury
• Multiuse Optical Quantum Computer Comes to Japan
• OpenAI Shuts Down Developer Who Made AI-Powered Gun Turret
• Research Uncovers Major Vulnerability in Wireless Networking Technology
• National Medal of Science Awarded to ACM Fellow Cynthia Dwork
• Chick-fil-A’s Lemon-Squeezing Robots Saving 10,000 Hours of Work a Day
• Aerodynamic Sensors Could Speed Up Autonomous Vehicles
• Judge Dons Oculus VR Headset to Experience Crime

ASML-Backed Dutch University Suspends Classes After Cyber Attack

Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands has suspended classes at least until Tuesday after shutting down its computer network following a cyberattack. The university is a talent feeder for chip machine maker ASML Holding NV, the world’s only producer of advanced lithography machines needed to produce high-end chips. The company last year pledged about $82 million to the university to train doctoral students and upgrade the school’s clean room building, a dust- and contaminant-free environment needed to study chips.
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NASA to Send Radiation-Tolerant Computer to the Moon

A radiation-tolerant computer developed by researchers at Montana State University will be sent to the Moon as part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services initiative. The mission aims to solve the problem of cascading system malfunctions that occur when a high-energy particle strikes computers in space. The RadPC computer is designed to identify the location of a particle strike and repair the affected area in the background.
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3D-printed Microscope Made in Under 3 Hours

A 3D-printed microscope was assembled in under three hours by Gail McConnell at the University of Strathclyde in the U.K. and colleagues at a cost of less than £50. A design from OpenFlexure, a publicly available resource for 3D-printing scientific instruments, was used for the body. The team then added 3D-printed clear plastic lenses they designed, a store-bought camera, and a light source. The setup was controlled by a Raspberry Pi computer processor.
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World's Largest Supercomputer to Help Secure Nuclear Weapons

Lawrence Livermore National Lab's El Capitan, the world's most powerful supercomputer, was officially dedicated Thursday. Capable of peak performance of 2.79 exaflops, or 2.79 quintillion calculations per second, El Capitan will be tasked with handling classified matters, including helping to secure the U.S. stockpile of nuclear weapons.
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Exoskeleton Allows Teen to Walk after Injury

Mary Maloney, 18, is able to walk again after suffering a spinal cord stroke that left her paralyzed from the waist down when she was 13, thanks to a robotic exoskeleton that supports her steps. The EksoNR exoskeleton from eksoBionics can detect initiations of muscle contractions not otherwise observable, according to Gary Hoover at AHN Suburban Hospital in Pittsburgh. “The feedback gave us some indication that there was some muscle activity where we didn’t think there was previously."
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Multiuse Optical Quantum Computer Comes to Japan

An optical quantum computer developed by researchers at Japan's Riken Center for Quantum Computing, Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp., and the cloud computing platform Fixstars Amplify is said to be the first developed for general-purpose applications. The programmable quantum computer has 100 analog quantum inputs and uses photons rather than superconducting electronic circuits, making it easily scaled due to its lack of a cooling system.
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OpenAI Shuts Down Developer Who Made AI-Powered Gun Turret

OpenAI has cut off a developer who built a device that responded to orders given to ChatGPT to aim and fire an automated rifle. The device went viral after a video on Reddit showed the developer reading firing commands aloud, after which a rifle beside him quickly began aiming and firing at nearby walls. Open AI said that after viewing the video, “We proactively identified this violation of our policies and notified the developer to cease this activity."
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Research Uncovers Major Vulnerability in Wireless Networking Technology

A security flaw in the MU-MIMO (multi-user, multiple input, multiple output) setup procedure could allow threat actors to deploy malicious information on a Wi-Fi network to dramatically slow Internet speeds, according to Northeastern University researchers. MU-MIMO is a key component of Wi-Fi networks, and Northeastern's Francesco Restuccia said the Wi-Fi standard may need to be updated to address the vulnerability.
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National Medal of Science Awarded to ACM Fellow Cynthia Dwork

ACM Fellow Cynthia Dwork, a professor of computer science at Harvard University, is among the 14 recipients of the National Medal of Science presented by President Joe Biden on January 3. She was recognized for her contributions to cryptography, distributed computing, algorithmic fairness, and differential privacy. Dwork previously was awarded the 30-Year Test-of-Time Award at the 2022 ACM Symposium on Theory of Computing, and shared the 2007 Edsger W. Dijkstra Prize in Distributed Computing.
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Chick-fil-A’s Lemon-Squeezing Robots Saving 10,000 Hours of Work a Day

Chick-fil-A uses an army of robots to squeeze up to 1.6 million pounds of lemons a day with little human intervention at a plant near Los Angeles, with the resulting juice shipped to its restaurants across the nation. The plant saves up to 10,000 hours of work a day for employees across all locations and reduces finger injuries, according to the company. Removing the chore aims to make working at Chick-fil-A more appealing and allows workers to focus on customers.
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Aerodynamic Sensors Could Speed Up Autonomous Vehicles

Researchers at China's Wuhan University of Technology used an optimization AI algorithm to identify structural alterations to autonomous vehicle (AV) sensor stacks to make them more aerodynamic. The researchers found that adjusting the shape of the roof sensors could be most beneficial in reducing drag. Simulations revealed a 3.44% drop in total aerodynamic drag in their optimized sensor design, compared with the standard sensor setup.
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Judge Dons Oculus VR Headset to Experience Crime

Broward County, FL, Circuit Court Judge Andrew Siegel became the first U.S. judge to use virtual reality (VR) technology in a criminal proceeding. Judge Siegel wore an Oculus Quest 2 VR headset during a stand-your-ground hearing on Dec. 14, experiencing a defense expert's recreation of the defendant’s perspective in the case of a wedding venue owner charged with aggravated assault.
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