Welcome to the June 2, 2025 edition of ACM TechNews, providing timely information for computer professionals three times a week.

HEADLINES AT A GLANCE

• States Sue Over Cuts to Research Funding, STEM Diversity Efforts
• It’s Waymo’s World. We’re All Just Riding in It
• Petabit Per Second Internet Speed Achieved over 1,100 miles
• Damage-Sensing, Self-Healing Artificial Muscles for Robots
• ACM Launches Journal on AI for Science
• Leaker Outs Conti Kingpins
• Algorithms Turn Walls into a Camera
• Do-It-Yourself Cyberattack Tools Are Booming
• AI Threatens Europe's Water Reserves
• Billions of Cookies Up for Grabs
• New Rules in India Aimed at Chinese Surveillance
• Flying Robot Morphs to Land and Roll on Wheels

States Sue Over Cuts to Research Funding, STEM Diversity Efforts

The attorneys general of 16 states have filed a lawsuit in Manhattan federal court in an effort to prevent the Trump administration from proceeding with significant cuts to federal funding for scientific research and projects focused on boosting diversity in STEM fields. The lawsuit contends the Trump administration does not have the authority to cap research funding and eliminate congressionally mandated diversity programs provided by the U.S. National Science Foundation.
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It’s Waymo’s World. We’re All Just Riding in It

Self-driving cars are quickly being embraced in the communities where they have been introduced. Alphabet's Waymo driverless cars were servicing 10,000 paid rides a week in August 2023; that number now exceeds 250,000. Waymo plans an expansion into a number of cities, including Atlanta, Miami, and Washington, D.C.
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Petabit Per Second Internet Speed Achieved over 1,100 miles

An international team of researchers transmitted 1.02 petabits of data per second over a distance of 1,808 kilometers (1,118 miles) using a special coupled 19-core optical fiber. The team built a system that used a combination of special amplifiers in all 19 cores without mixing up the signals. They set up 19 recirculating loops, each using one core of the fiber, and passed the signals through them, with a 19-channel receiver catching the signals and a multi-input multi-output-based digital processor cleaning them up, removing interference, and calculating the data rate.
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Damage-Sensing, Self-Healing Artificial Muscles for Robots

University of Nebraska–Lincoln researchers developed a self-healing artificial muscle for use in soft robotics and wearable systems. The muscle consists of a damage detection bottom layer composed of liquid metal microdroplets embedded in a silicone elastomer, a middle layer of stiff thermoplastic elastomer that acts as the self-healing component, and a top actuation layer that contracts and expands with variations in water pressure. Monitoring currents sense damage as disruptions to the electrical network, triggering the network to deliver heat to the damaged areas, melting the thermoplastic layer to seal ruptures.
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ACM Launches Journal on AI for Science

ACM is accepting submissions for its new journal, ACM Transactions on AI for Science (TAIS), which will feature research showing how new AI can be driven by scientific challenges and how scientific discoveries can be advanced by computational methods. TAIS is geared toward methodological researchers in AI and machine learning and science and engineering researchers.
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Leaker Outs Conti Kingpins

A person calling himself GangExposed leaked key data about the Russia-linked Conti and Trickbot ransomware gangs. The leaks include thousands of chat logs, personal videos, and ransom negotiations tied to the cyber gangs, who have extorted billions of dollars from companies, hospitals, and other victims worldwide. GangExposed said he's not interested in the $10-million bounty the U.S. offered for information about one key Conti leader that he named. "I simply enjoy solving the most complex cases," he said.
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Algorithms Turn Walls into a Camera

Algorithms developed by Wenwen Li and colleagues at the University of Science and Technology of China reconstruct a hidden image from the scrambled light waves that bounce off a wall, making it possible to see things around a corner. The team mapped the geometry and reflectance of wall surfaces by taking many images under different lighting conditions, allowing them to predict how each bump and groove would distort reflected light.
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Do-It-Yourself Cyberattack Tools Are Booming

Subscription-based software platforms offering phishing kits are proliferating on the dark web, typically operated by a mix of cybercriminals and state-sponsored hackers. More than 190,000 phishing attacks were reported to the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation last year, more than the combined number of extortion and personal data breach complaints. The phishing services’ increasing ease-of-use and AI-fueled sophistication is driving demand.
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AI Threatens Europe's Water Reserves

Caught up in a global battle for AI supremacy, Europe's datacenter industry used around 62 million cubic meters of water last year, and water lobby Water Europe expects that figure to hit 90 million cubic meters by 2030. A draft of the European Commission’s upcoming Water Resilience Strategy said datacenters will be rated on "overall sustainability and propose minimum performance standards, including water consumption."
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Billions of Cookies Up for Grabs

NordVPN found more than 93.7 billion stolen cookies are available for sale online, an average of 7% to 9% of which are active. Of these stolen cookies, 90.25% contain ID data, while only about 0.5% contain names, home or email addresses, passwords, phone numbers, and genders.
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New Rules in India Aimed at Chinese Surveillance

New security rules in India that went into effect in April require CCTV camera manufacturers to submit their hardware, software, and source code for government assessment before they can be sold in the country. Among other things, CCTV cameras are required to have tamper-proof enclosures, strong malware detection, and encryption. A top Indian official said the rules are a response to the government's concerns about China's advanced surveillance capabilities.
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Flying Robot Morphs to Land and Roll on Wheels

The Aerially Transforming Morphobot (ATMO) created by engineers at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) can transform between flying drone and wheeled rover configurations, overcoming difficulties in landing posed by potential obstacles in landing areas. A central motor is used to manipulate ATMO's propellers, and the researchers devised an algorithm that adjusts the thrust delivered by each propeller based on changing variables. This allows the drone to perform "dynamic wheel landings" with its wheels/props already down.
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