DIGITAL LIFE

'Technostress': Why many older people feel shut out by the digital world

From personal health portals to AI assistants that draft emails, the digital age has simplified endless everyday tasks. But for many older New Zealanders, the rapid march of technology has helped build a wall rather than open doors. Navigating online forms, changing apps, disappearing face-to-face services, and the constant threat of scams can be daunting.

There is a term for this unease: technostress. Once used to describe the anxiety and frustration felt by workers, it has more recently been applied to older populations struggling in our digital-by-default world.

While older people's overall digital engagement has grown over the years, about half of over 50s feel they are being left behind by modern technology.

Amid a planned public sector shake-up that would further digitize services, more than 40% of people older than 60 face barriers for accessing online government information.

More than ever, digital inclusion has become a necessity for older people to access essential services and maintain social connections. Without it, there are serious implications for their psychological, social, cognitive, physical, and financial well-being.

Our newly published research, based on interviews with 23 people aged over 65, reveals a complex relationship with technology: one that can support independence, but also create new sources of stress and exclusion.

A double-edged sword...The experiences of those we interviewed varied widely. Some used technology very little—perhaps just for texts or phone calls—while others relied upon it heavily for daily chores and work. One study participant spoke enthusiastically about using an AI assistant to support her creative writing.

But regardless of how tech-savvy they were, all felt that keeping up with digital change was a never-ending but necessary challenge. This was especially apparent for those who used tech during their working years but found fewer resources available to upskill in retirement.

Another common theme was feeling targeted by scammers due to their age. For people living on a single income or pension, the financial risk of falling victim to a scam could be devastating and put them off going online.

Broadly, we found technology to be a double-edged sword for older people. For those who felt digitally included, it helped strengthen relationships through sharing photos and videos with family overseas and provided useful access to health information.

For those who felt shut out, technology became a source of distress, frustration, and feelings of incompetence. They described struggling with online pension applications or having to relearn familiar software after unexpected updates completely changed the interface.

Some felt the accessibility features built into everyday digital devices were inadequate for their physical needs, causing them to abandon tasks because of eye strain or frustration.

Others felt digital technologies were not culturally responsive, reflecting a predominantly Western worldview. Common errors, such as the mispronunciation of te reo Māori names, could deepen feelings of exclusion and cultural invalidation.

Ageism and equity...Nearly all participants felt digital technologies were not designed with older people in mind, believing they were not viewed as a priority market by mainstream technology companies.

Yet many still blamed themselves for struggling to keep up. Some also described dismissive or impatient responses when seeking help, reinforcing feelings of frustration and inadequacy.

This may suggest a problem of digital ageism: the assumption that older people use technology less because they are unable or unwilling to engage with it.

In reality, meaningful digital participation depends on much more than willingness. It requires people to have the motivation, skills, confidence, access, trust, and support needed to engage safely and effectively.

In this context, the challenge is not about age but equity. Fortunately, many organizations and individuals across Aotearoa New Zealand are working diligently on this issue, from advocacy groups to library-based digital skills programs.

Some local companies have introduced equity products, such as age-friendly digital tablets and lower-cost mobile plans for pensioners. These efforts are essential, but more is needed.

More recent interviews with people working in the field suggest a need to dispel the myth that digital exclusion will disappear as older people increasingly become "digital natives."

Instead, digital inclusion should be viewed as a fundamental right rather than a luxury in the hands of for-profit companies. This will require targeted policy, increased collaboration across sectors, and active involvement of older people as equal partners in digital design, testing, and decision-making.

New Zealanders cannot benefit from even the most well-intended developments, such as telehealth services, if even one aspect of digital inclusion is lacking.

Without deliberate action, the shift to digital services risks widening the very inequities it is intended to reduce.

Technostress, or stress caused by excessive dependence on technology, has been identified as the cause of a series of problems in the workplace, also favoring security breaches and cybercrimes. It may seem insignificant, but in recent years more and more companies are dealing with these problems without knowing exactly what their cause is.

One of the first effects of technostress is increased turnover. The problem was reinforced during the COVID-19 pandemic, which caused profound changes in the global workforce. On the one hand, many professionals began to prioritize their mental health and well-being over work, seeking companies and roles that would allow them to do so. But on the other hand, technological advances that enabled remote and hybrid work brought new challenges for employees.

The problem is increasingly prevalent and is at the root of problems such as inefficiency, increased costs, and high employee turnover. Integrating resources and simplifying the lives of professionals helps eliminate the problem.

Technostress, or stress caused by excessive dependence on technology, has been identified as the cause of a series of problems in the workplace, also favoring security breaches and cybercrimes.

One of the first effects of technostress is an increase in turnover. The problem was reinforced during the COVID-19 pandemic, which caused profound changes in the global workforce. On the one hand, many professionals began to prioritize their mental health and well-being over work, seeking companies and roles that would allow them to do so. But on the other hand, technological advances that enabled remote and hybrid work brought new challenges for employees. In the case of remote work, for example, the possibility of being contacted at any time and from anywhere has added an extra layer of pressure to workers' daily routines, generating greater apprehension and technological stress.

In practice, technostress can manifest itself in various ways, which should be avoided to attract and retain the best people. Its consequences for employers, as well as related pressures such as techno-anxiety and techno-intrusion, can be significant, causing problems so critical that they can put business objectives at risk. That's why it's essential to find ways to minimize this stress, especially for remote workers and during the onboarding of new employees.

Constanze Backhauser, Chief Human Resources Officer at TeamViewer, explains that technology plays a key role here, with the use of tools that reduce pressure and its consequences. One example is TeamViewer's new user experience, which helps professionals face these challenges in ways that go beyond ease of use. “The new TeamViewer interface is so intuitive and easy to use that anyone can start using it quickly,” she says.

Constanze points out that the solution doesn't require training during onboarding in most cases, and its user-friendly and attractive design and ease of use make the experience enjoyable without causing technological anxiety. “The new interface was designed to be easy to use, well-structured, and intuitive, allowing you to navigate and take control of your remote access experience with ease,” she says.

“More than that, the solution reduces techno-stress without sacrificing user security and convenience. Software applications often force users to choose between one or the other,” says Constanze. And implementing stronger security measures can make an application more complex, less user-friendly, or less efficient. “For example, to keep cybercriminals away, a super-secure system might require users to choose strong, unique passwords that change every 30 days. But strong, unique passwords are difficult to remember, especially if they are subject to change,” she emphasizes. Constanze also believes that technology shouldn't force users to sacrifice convenience for security, which is why TeamViewer Remote was developed according to a secure design philosophy. "It's a simple concept that makes security an essential part of the software from the start," he states.

Thus, instead of adding security features later, TeamViewer was designed from the beginning to be completely secure and easy to use, even with strong encryption and advanced protection. "It's the best-performing remote access platform available, offering users end-to-end encryption, a secure remote password protocol, management access rights, two-factor authentication, brute-force protection, and single sign-on (SSO)," says Constanze.

This causes what's called process bloat, marked by the adoption of unnecessary ways of working. Both can severely slow down business and result in a list of problems, such as increased costs, reduced security, and lower productivity.

“A unified solution, like the new TeamViewer Remote, integrates many powerful features into a central space with single sign-on,” says Constanze. This is because the interface is designed to streamline operations, making employees more efficient. The platform also includes a powerful asset management solution, patch management, endpoint protection, and remote access and control, all with the ability to integrate with existing systems.

mundophone

TECH

From Verizon to Apple, a hidden texting flaw has finally been patched

A major security vulnerability that allows attackers to easily fake their identity in smartphone text conversations has been fixed in the United States thanks to a team of computer scientists at the University of California San Diego. The vulnerability affected both Android and Apple smartphones as well as all major wireless carriers, including Verizon, T-Mobile and Google Fi, and smaller independent operators such as Mint Mobile.

Once they discovered the vulnerability, which stems from the ability to send text messages via email, the research team worked closely with smartphone companies and cellular carriers to develop mitigation strategies and fix the issue.

Most major cellular carriers introduced the option to send text messages via email in the early 2000s as a way to help popularize the new medium. But email messages and text messages have different internal formats and conventions, so carriers have to automatically translate from one message "language" to another. Unfortunately, much can get lost in translation and attackers can exploit this ambiguity to impersonate senders.

"Email and text messaging weren't designed to work together," said Stefan Savage, a professor in the UC San Diego Department of Computer Science and Engineering and one of the paper's senior authors. "It's a little bit like reading postcards to someone over the phone and needing to figure out where the sender and recipient information and the message itself are."

Researchers were able to impersonate people in a phone's adress book (right) and insert spoofed texts into existing text threads. Credit: University of California San Diego

The vulnerability is aggravated when the email-turned-text reaches a smartphone device. Both Android and Apple smartphones usually check the sender's identification against the phone's contact list. Attackers can hack this process by using special characters to obscure the sender's real identity and impersonate someone on that list. For example, messaging apps can interpret email addresses as phone numbers with the addition of just a few characters. Researchers were even able to insert fraudulent texts inside existing text conversations with known contacts. It's worth noting that in this case attackers can't see the replies to their fraudulent text.

"There are no standards for converting emails to texts and that opens the door to all sorts of vulnerabilities," said Sumanth Rao, the paper's first author and one of Savage's computer science Ph.D. students at the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering.

Based on the work from UC San Diego researchers, Verizon, T-Mobile and Google modified the way email address fields are translated into texts to eliminate the vulnerabilities discovered. In addition, Verizon is working to shut down users' ability to send texts via email, a move that should be completed by the end of March 2027. Among smartphone vendors, the vulnerability in Google Messages has also been fixed, as has the vulnerability in Apple Messages on iPhones.

The whole ecosystem of cellular communication is built on the assumption that the system that transports text messages from phone to phone, or email to phone, is reliable and robust. That is not the case, the researchers said.

"People don't realize that there's no guarantee that text messages have integrity," Savage said. "You can't count on authenticity."

The study received a Distinguished Paper Award at the 47th IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy, where it was presented.

Provided by University of California - San Diego 

DOSSIER

TECH

The invisible cost of artificial intelligence for water resources

Artificial intelligence has become part of the daily routine for millions of people. It writes texts, creates images, answers questions, and helps companies automate tasks at an impressive speed. But behind the answers generated in seconds lies a gigantic infrastructure that consumes enormous amounts of energy and natural resources. Among them is a fundamental element for human life and increasingly scarce in various regions of the planet: water.

When a person asks a chatbot a question or requests the creation of a text, the answer seems to appear instantly. However, this process depends on data centers full of servers operating continuously.

These devices generate heat on a large scale. To avoid overheating that could compromise the systems, companies use cooling structures that often depend on large volumes of water.

Researchers at the University of California, Riverside, estimated that producing a simple text of about 100 words can consume approximately 519 milliliters of water when considering both direct cooling costs and indirect consumption associated with electricity generation.

Although the value seems small in isolation, the situation changes when billions of requests are processed daily worldwide.

The challenge lies precisely in the scale. Each individual interaction represents a tiny fraction of the total consumption, but the sum of millions of users simultaneously utilizing artificial intelligence systems creates a growing demand for water resources.

The processing centers that support modern artificial intelligence operate with thousands of specialized chips working without interruption.

These components can dissipate hundreds of watts of energy each. In large-scale advanced model training operations, tens of thousands of these processors work simultaneously for weeks or months.

All this heat needs to be removed. One of the most widely used methods is evaporative cooling, in which water absorbs the heat produced by the equipment and some of it evaporates into the atmosphere.

According to experts, a significant portion of the water used in these systems is permanently lost during the evaporation process.

The new generation of data centers specifically designed for artificial intelligence also presents characteristics that amplify the problem. These facilities are larger, concentrate more equipment, and operate with thermal densities far superior to those observed in traditional cloud computing structures.

In some cases, the daily water consumption of a single technology complex can rival that of small cities.

The numbers that are worrying researchers...Environmental reports released by large technology companies show a clear trend of increasing water consumption.

In recent years, companies such as Google, Microsoft, and Meta have recorded significant increases in water use in their operations.

Researchers estimate that the global water demand associated with artificial intelligence could reach between 4.2 and 6.6 billion cubic meters per year by 2027.

The numbers are impressive because they are equivalent to the annual water consumption of entire countries. In some projected scenarios, the global AI infrastructure could use a volume close to half of the entire annual water withdrawal of the United Kingdom.

In addition to direct consumption for cooling, there is an even larger component that is often ignored: the water used in generating the electricity that powers the data centers.

Studies indicate that this indirect consumption can exceed several times the amount used directly in cooling systems.

The impact is already appearing in drought-stricken regions...One of the biggest concerns of experts is the location of many of these technological centers.

Several projects are being built in areas that already face water scarcity or prolonged periods of drought. Recent cases involving planned or operational facilities in Chile, Mexico, Uruguay, Spain, and southwestern states of the United States have broadened the debate about the use of local resources.

In some of these regions, communities already live with restrictions on water supply while large technological projects seek to guarantee access to aquifers and municipal systems.

Researchers warn that the accelerated expansion of artificial intelligence is happening at a time when global water scarcity is also growing rapidly. International projections indicate that a significant portion of the world's population may face severe water stress by the end of the decade.

By 2030, AI's water use will match the needs of 1.3 billion people while its power use triples that of 650 million, UN University investigation warns...By 2030, the global data centres powering artificial intelligence are projected to consume 945 terawatt-hours of electricity. This is nearly triple the combined annual electricity use of Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Nigeria—countries collectively home to more than 650 million people. Their associated water footprint will equal the basic annual domestic water needs of all 1.3 billion people in Sub-Saharan Africa, and their land footprint will exceed 14,500 square kilometers, roughly twice the Jakarta metropolitan area, home to more than 32 million people. 

These stark findings are detailed in the new report, Environmental Cost of AI's Energy Use: Carbon, Water and Land Footprints, by the United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health (UNU-INWEH). Researchers have previously warned about the greenhouse gas emissions of data centers before. But the UN scientists now argue that the environmental costs of AI and data centers cannot be understood through carbon emissions alone. In their report, they quantify the carbon, water and land footprints of AI's electricity use across the globe and highlight the big differences between these footprints in the world’s 20 largest data center hubs.

"This report is not a case against artificial intelligence, a technological transformation that is improving the lives of billions of people around the world," said Professor Kaveh Madani, Director of UNU-INWEH who led the investigation team. "It is a call for using it responsibly and addressing its unintended impacts proactively to make it sustainable and equitable. We have a narrow window to ensure that the backbone of the technological revolution of our era develops within planetary limits, and that the communities who provide the critical minerals for advancing AI and the ones that host its infrastructure and e-waste are also among those who benefit from it." 

The true environmental cost of AI...An environmental footprint that is being measured incorrectly. The report finds that the environmental cost of AI is being systematically mismeasured. Most existing assessments focus on the carbon emissions associated with training large models. However, every kilowatt-hour of electricity used to train or run an AI system also carries a water footprint, stemming from cooling and power generation, and a land-use footprint, stemming from energy infrastructure and supply chains. These three footprints do not move in the same direction. The transition from coal to bioenergy, for example, can, on average, reduce the carbon footprint of electricity by 70%, while increasing its water footprint by more than thirty times and its land-use footprint by one hundred times. The report concludes that "low carbon" does not automatically mean "low water consumption" or "low land use" and warns that assessing the sustainability of AI through a single metric may obscure trade-offs and shift environmental burdens to regions already facing water or land-use stress. The numbers are rapidly adding up at the infrastructure level. Global data centers will consume approximately 448 terawatt-hours of electricity in 2025. If considered as a single country, they would be the 11th largest electricity consumer in the world, behind France and ahead of Saudi Arabia.

"What surprised us most was how often the choices that seem most environmentally friendly from a carbon emissions standpoint end up being worse for water or soil," said Dr. Miriam Aczel, a researcher at UNU-INWEH and lead author of the report. "If we continue to assess the sustainability of AI solely by carbon emissions, we might think that renewable energy makes AI infrastructure clean, but this solves one problem while creating others, often in locations that didn't ask for them."

Inference, efficiency, and the rebound effect...Public discussion has largely focused on the energy required to train massive models. Training GPT-3 was estimated to require 1.3 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of electricity, while estimates suggest GPT-4 consumed between 50 and 70 GWh. However, the report reveals this framing is outdated. Once a model is deployed, inference—the continuous running of models to answer everyday user prompts—becomes the dominant cost, accounting for 80 to 90 per cent of total AI energy use. ChatGPT alone is estimated to process around 2.5 billion prompts per day, translating to roughly 383 GWh of electricity per year for a single product. Offsetting associated carbon emissions would require 2.6 million tree seedlings grown for 10 years, enough trees to cover a land area the size of Manhattan. The water footprint is equivalent to the minimum annual domestic water needs of roughly 500,000 people in Sub-Saharan Africa, and the land footprint is equal to over 800 football fields.

Marking its 30th anniversary of operation in 2026, the United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health (UNU-INWEH) is one of 13 institutions that make up the United Nations University (UNU), the academic arm of the UN. Known as 'The UN's Think Tank on Water', UNU-INWEH addresses critical water, environmental, and health challenges around the world. Through research, training, capacity development, and knowledge dissemination, the institute contributes to solving pressing global sustainability and human security issues of concern to the UN and its Member States. Headquartered in Richmond Hill, Ontario, UNU-INWEH has been hosted and supported by the Government of Canada since 1996. With a global mandate and extensive partnerships across UN entities, international organizations, and governments, UNU-INWEH operates through its UNU Hubs in Calgary, Hamburg, New York, Lund, and Pretoria, and an international network of affiliates.

mundophone

TECH

Ultra-thin MoS₂ computer packs 1,400 transistors onto one chip

The rapid advancement and diffusion of artificial intelligence (AI) systems, such as the machine learning models underpinning the functioning of ChatGPT, Gemini and similar platforms, have posed new demands on the electronics engineering industry. In fact, these systems are computationally intensive and consume substantial power, particularly when running on existing devices.

Electronics engineers worldwide have thus been trying to develop new hardware systems that can run machine learning algorithms more energy efficiently, without adversely affecting their performance. One promising approach for reducing power consumption entails the use of two-dimensional (2D) semiconductors, ultrathin materials that have already proved promising for the development of smaller electronics.

Researchers at Nanjing University, Suzhou Laboratory and Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. recently developed and fabricated a fully functional computer based on the 2D semiconductor molybdenum disulfide (MoS₂).

This computer, presented in a Nature Electronics paper, combines more than 1,400 tiny transistors (i.e., devices that amplify and switch electrical signals) on a single chip.

"This research grew from our recognition of 2D semiconductors' transformative potential," Yun Mao, co-first author of the paper, told BBC.

"As silicon transistor scaling nears its fundamental physical limits, 2D semiconductors have emerged as one of the most promising materials for the post-Moore era: Their atomic thickness suppresses the short-channel effects that cripple ultrascaled silicon, enabling further miniaturization beyond what silicon can achieve."

Silicon rival MoS2 promises small, low-energy chips...The first computer chip made out of a substance described as a "promising" alternative to silicon has been tested by researchers.

The Switzerland-based team used molybdenite (MoS2) - a dark-coloured, naturally occurring mineral.

The group said the substance could be used in thinner layers than silicon, which is currently the most commonly used component in electronics.

It said MoS2 could make smaller, more flexible chips that used less energy.

The substance is currently used as an ingredient in engine lubricants, ski waxes and as a strengthening agent for plastics.

Prof Andras Kis, the director of the Laboratory of Nanoscale Electronics and Structures (LANES) in Lausanne, publisheddetails of the research, externalin the latest edition of the ACS Nano journal.

He said the team chose to experiment with this semiconductor, rather than another material, in part because it was easily available.

"There is something like 19 million metric tonnes around," Prof Kis told the BBC.

Surfaces oxidise...To obtain a thin layer of the material to work with, Prof Kis's team put a strip of sticky plastic over the crystal, peeled it off and then attached the sliver to a support. The plastic was then peeled off to leave the very thin layer of MoS2 exposed.

Using this, the team built a prototype microchip circuit to which they attached up to six serial transistors allowing them to carry out simple logic operations.

Although the integrated circuit was basic, Prof Kis said it proved that more complex designs would be possible on thinner chips than could be produced with silicon.

"The problem with silicon is that you cannot make very thin things from it because it is very reactive," he said.

"The surface likes to oxidise - it likes to bind with oxygen... and that makes its electrical properties degrade when you want to make a very thin film."

As a result the thinnest usable layers of silicon used in computer chips have been around two nanometres thick. MoS2, by contrast, can be used in layers just three atoms thick, allowing chips to be made at least three times smaller.

                         MAGIC-1000 chip wafer. Credit: Fan et al

From individual 2D devices to a fully functional computer...While 2D semiconductors have proved to be promising for the development of miniaturized and ultrathin electronics, most earlier works used them to fabricate individual components or small circuits. In addition, the few larger-scale demonstrations of 2D semiconductor-based systems integrated only a limited number of transistors and components.

Mao and his colleagues set out to fill this gap in the literature and realize a fully functional, large-scale computer based on a 2D semiconductor. The computer they developed is among the first to integrate more than 1,000 MoS₂-based transistors on a single chip.

"We recognized that proving 2D materials' viability for ultra-large-scale integration required a complete, end-to-end approach addressing key challenges across fabrication, standard cells, logic synthesis, and interconnect routing," said Mao.

"Our core objective was thus to develop a Multi-Level Co-Optimization (MLCO) methodology and demonstrate a thousand-transistor-scale computer, proving 2D semiconductors can transition from lab curiosities to practical applications."

The computer developed by this research team essentially operates as a tiny parallel data-processing factory. The computer has a 4-bit parallel processor that can execute eight different instructions and has four core modules. Its modules include an instruction decoder, a register file, an arithmetic logic unit and a multiplexer.

"The decoder translates incoming instructions into chip-readable signals, which direct the register file to fetch data, the ALU to perform arithmetic operations, and the multiplexer to write results back to registers," explained Mao.

"Unlike prior 2D chips limited to serial 1-bit processing, our 4-bit design handles four bits simultaneously, drastically improving speed."

Using their newly introduced MLCO design strategy, the researchers were able to integrate significantly more transistors into a single chip compared with earlier microprocessors based on materials other than silicon. Specifically, they achieved a density of 9,336 transistors per square millimeter, which is comparable to transistor densities in silicon-based devices.

"We also demonstrated the first multi-bit parallel 2D semiconductor computer, a departure from all prior serial implementations," said Mao.

"Finally, we achieved the first on-chip register file integration in 2D technology, eliminating the performance bottleneck of off-chip storage required by all previous 2D computer systems."

A blueprint for developing ultrathin and energy-efficient computers

This recent study opens new exciting possibilities for the fabrication of new energy-efficient and ultrathin computers based on MoS₂ or other 2D semiconductors. The team's proposed methodology could soon be refined further and applied to the realization of other similar computers.

"We have established a clear Lab-to-Fab technology path, providing a foundational paradigm for future 2D integrated circuit development," said Mao.

"In addition, we will explore heterogeneous integration of 2D materials with mature silicon technology, combining their complementary strengths to build more powerful and efficient next-generation integrated circuits."

by Ingrid Fadelli

TECH

A low-tech solution to the 6G problem—metacrystal panels offer cheap way to guide wireless signals around corners

The advent of sixth-generation (6G) and future wireless technologies will transform communications by offering higher data rates, improved energy efficiency, and lower latency1. However, the realization of high data rates necessitates the exploration of new frequency bands, such as millimeter (mm) waves and sub-THz bands. While these frequencies offer vast amounts of bandwidth, they also present considerable challenges due to their high atmospheric attenuation, free-space path loss, and harsher scattering effects when encountering obstacles. Therefore, reliance on traditional multipath propagation is no longer feasible, and directional beams must be used for communication. Moreover, higher-frequency signals are often blocked by obstacles, such as walls, requiring a denser network of base stations and relays. Recently, metasurfaces, also referred to as intelligent surfaces, have been proposed to mitigate these challenges by efficiently redirecting communication signals in free space to bypass obstacles. These artificial surfaces, strategically positioned on walls, ceilings, and even windows, can substantially enhance both indoor and outdoor signal coverage through anomalous reflection or refraction, requiring minimal to no energy for their operation.

Most of the existing studies on intelligent surfaces focused on achieving reconfigurable responses. Programmable metasurfaces are capable of dynamically manipulating several wave characteristics, including wave vector, polarization, frequency, and wavefront, within a unified structure. However, they have proven to be too expensive for widespread adoption in the communication industry. This is primarily due to their requirement to operate at high frequencies (above 30–50 GHz), their large physical footprint (approximately one square meter) even for incorporating a single communication channel, and the need for highly tunable constituent elements. Consequently, their non-reconfigurable (completely passive) counterparts have recently gained great attention due to their significantly lower manufacturing and maintenance costs. In fact, in many real-world scenarios, reconfigurability is not necessary because the positions of the receivers and transmitters are fixed or weakly varying. For instance, in industrial settings, machinery and sensors are usually installed in fixed locations; the infrastructure and major pathways in large public hubs remain constant; and in office environments, the locations of access points are typically fixed.

While various pathways for the analytic design of passive intelligent surfaces were proposed (e.g., anomalous reflectors, smart skins, metagratings, and aperiodic gratings), all of them lack the sufficient versatility for realistic applications. Indeed, in most practical scenarios, it is necessary for the intelligent surface to operate effectively across both signal polarizations, multiple frequency bands, various angles of arrival, and even all at once. Realizing such versatile surfaces with current analytical or semi-analytical design techniques remains very challenging, as these techniques rely on specific homogenization models (e.g., based on polarizability, susceptibility, or surface impedance tensors). Factors, such as frequency dispersion, nonlocality, and anisotropy make the implementation of the unit cells with required material parameters hardly possible. Recent work on multifunctional metasurfaces at microwave and sub-THz frequencies falls into two main classes: multi-incidence and multi-dimensional. 

Multi-incidence designs operate under multiple incidence angles or wave vectors; examples include angle-dependent/independent metasurfaces, directional Janus metasurfaces, and schemes multiplexing guided and space waves. Multi-dimensional designs simultaneously control several wave properties (polarization p, propagation direction/wavefront angle θ, phase ϕ, and amplitude A) typically for a single incident wave. Demonstrations include concurrent control of polarization and direction, wave-vector modulation across frequencies using multi-band metasurfaces, and co-modulation of polarization and wavefront.

Basements, tunnels, large buildings—a weak Wi-Fi or mobile signal in these hard-to-reach places is frustrating. The usual solution is to add more electronics like routers, repeaters and base stations. Yet, as we move towards a 6G mobile network, this kind of complex infrastructure can be unsustainable and prohibitively expensive. Higher-frequency channels of 6G communications aim to provide vastly more data bandwidth than the current 5G, but those channels are more easily blocked by walls, people and other obstacles.

A passive 3D-printed metacrystal panel redirects radio waves around obstacles and toward users, offering a low-cost way to improve indoor/outdoor wireless coverage without adding base stations, wiring or powered electronics(image above). Credit: Aalto University / Mahdi Asgari

To tackle this, researchers at Aalto University have developed a new solution in the form of metacrystals: passive, 3D-printed smart panels that can shape wireless signals without electronics, a power supply or active tuning. The paper, "Metacrystals: Inversely-designed 3D-printed intelligent panels for 6G communications" is published in Nature Communications.

"When a room is too dark, you can bring in more lamps—or use simple mirrors to guide the already available light. This is what these metacrystals do, but with radio waves," explains doctoral researcher Mahdi Asgari. "Unlike previously proposed single-layer intelligent surfaces, these volumetric metacrystals can be designed to control multiple incoming signals or frequency bands independently—a key requirement for realistic wireless communication."

The panels could be installed on walls, ceilings, furniture, or other surfaces to redirect signals around corners, into shadowed areas or toward specific users or devices.

Unlike many existing intelligent surfaces, which often perform only one task for one signal direction, the panels can handle several incoming waves at the same time, operate over different frequency bands simultaneously, work in reflection or transmission mode, and even fully absorb unwanted signals.

3D printed, custom elements...Conventional reconfigurable intelligent surfaces require many tunable elements and complicated control circuits, which makes them expensive and difficult to deploy widely. However, the metacrystal panels can be fabricated using 3D printing, leaving the estimated price of consumable material at a few tens of euros per piece. This also allows for creating custom panels for specific environments, rather than having one universal device.

"For industry, the most attractive use cases are static or slowly changing environments like factories, indoor 5G/6G networks, warehouses, and long corridors," says Asgari. "In such places, a passive panel designed for a known layout could be much cheaper and simpler than an actively controlled surface that requires continuous maintenance."

Asgari says that complex electromagnetic functionality can now be realized as a low-cost, single-piece plastic structure ready to be put on a wall. These panels can quietly improve wireless connections in the background. Once installed, geometry does all the work.

Metacrystals could become part of everyday architecture...The researchers are now looking into pathways to commercialize the discovery and are seeking engagement from industrial collaborators interested in programmable metasurfaces, intelligent wireless infrastructure and low-cost passive signal-control technologies.

"The hope would be that in the future we can see these scalable, smart wireless environments put to practical application in indoor spaces and outdoor urban settings," says Asgari.

The next step is to move from static towards reconfigurable panels that can adapt when the wireless environment changes, he says. Today's reconfigurable intelligent surfaces are often too costly and complex for broad industrial use, so the team is exploring simpler ways to fabricate tunable panels while keeping them affordable and practical.

Provided by Aalto University

 

TECH

New WebAssembly memory layout could stop Heartbleed-style browser attacks with no visible slowdown

Modern web development increasingly requires complex applications running natively on the web, driving adoption of fast, efficient technologies like WebAssembly (WASM), now used by sites such as Figma and Google Earth.

Despite its strengths, WASM lacks common low-level protections (stack canaries, ASLR, safe unlinking), leaving buffer overflows and use-after-free exploitable for control-flow hijacking. While the WASM VM blocks some attacks, we show that these flaws can still cause classic web exploits, compromising the host.

Although WASM’s security model has been scrutinized over the years, little work maps low-level WASM bugs to web-layer attacks. Web security often targets high-level code, overlooking the impact of integrating compiled modules.

We show how unsafe WASM can introduce atypical web flaws that evade traditional analysis. We build PoC web services with intentionally vulnerable WASM modules to demonstrate how memory-safety bugs become high-impact attacks, including SQL injection and XS-Leaks.

For reproducibility, each PoC offers step-by-step instructions or a Python demo script. Modules are written in C and compiled with Emscripten to showcase classic exploitation; findings generalize to other unsafe languages (e.g., C++).

The primary contributions of this work are:

• We analyze memory/control-flow bugs (stack buffer overflows, use-after-free, integer overflows, format strings) and show how they enable web exploits (SQLi, SSTI, XS-Leaks), chosen for their historical weight (SQLi) or novelty in WASM (SSTI, XS-Leaks).

• We propose a reproducible methodology linking compiled-code flaws to web-layer impact, combining vulnerability selection, PoC building, exploit automation, and impact assessment.

• We create reproducible PoCs embedding vulnerable WASM modules that realize concrete exploits (e.g., SQL injection via buffer-overflowed queries), with minimal Node.js server/client code and Python scripts for independent checks.

• We publish all PoCs, scripts, and docker containers for full reproducibility

Google Earth, Zoom, Twitch.tv or Photoshop—thanks to the WebAssembly standard, many powerful applications now run directly in a browser without installation. However, some of these web apps have serious security vulnerabilities. Researchers from paluno—The Ruhr Institute for Software Technology at the University of Duisburg-Essen—have developed a solution to secure COTS applications by automatically reorganizing their memory.

Since 2019, WebAssembly (Wasm for short) has been a stable web standard designed to make complex desktop applications run in the browser. To make this possible, the original program code—often written in C or C++—is compiled into the Wasm binary format, which is supported by all major browsers.

There is a catch, however: If the code contains vulnerabilities, these are also transferred into the Wasm module during compilation. In C/C++, these are typically memory access errors such as buffer overflows. Hackers can exploit such vulnerabilities for so-called cross-site scripting attacks, injecting malicious code that users then unknowingly execute in their browsers.

Existing approaches to securing Wasm modules are hardly practical. Many require access to the application's source code, while others need special hardware or customized browser environments. The new solution developed by paluno researchers Oussama Draissi and Prof. Lucas Davi takes a different approach. They use Wasm's multi-memory feature to perform a one-time, fully automated memory reorganization of existing modules.

The restructuring is reminiscent of a Japanese bento box, in which different foods are neatly separated into individual compartments. The advantage: Isolating memory areas prevents, for example, HTML tags in one memory area from being overwritten by a buffer overflow in another.

For users, the restructuring of the modules comes with no noticeable drawbacks. They will notice neither longer loading times nor a significantly larger memory footprint.

The researchers tested the effectiveness of the bento approach using known security vulnerabilities, including the infamous Heartbleed bug.

"In extensive tests, we were able to demonstrate that our solution would have successfully defended against real-world attacks on widely used applications," explains Oussama Draissi.

Provided by University of Duisburg-Essen

DIGITAL LIFE

Erin Brockovich returns to the scene, but to lead resistance against data centers

For years, artificial intelligence has been presented as one of the most promising technologies of the 21st century. However, behind the advances in chatbots, automation systems, and generative models, there is a gigantic infrastructure that rarely appears in public discussions: data centers.

Now, one of the best-known environmental activists in the United States wants to draw attention precisely to this less visible side of the digital revolution. Erin Brockovich, whose story inspired the famous film starring Julia Roberts, has launched an online platform to monitor the construction of new data centers throughout the United States.

According to her, many communities only discover that a large technological project will be installed near their homes when construction is already well underway.

The initiative is called Brockovich Data Center and gathers information on existing projects, ongoing construction, and future planned data centers in the United States.

The goal is to offer transparency to residents and local authorities about a rapidly growing industry driven by artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and digital services.

Since the platform's launch in April 2026, thousands of people have submitted information and reports about projects near their communities.

For Brockovich, the problem is not only technological but also democratic. According to the activist, the population should not be the last to know about projects capable of profoundly transforming the environment in which they live.

Although they have existed for decades, data centers have entered a new phase of expansion with the explosive growth of artificial intelligence.

These facilities house thousands of servers responsible for processing, storing, and distributing information. The continuous operation of this equipment requires enormous amounts of electricity and sophisticated cooling systems.

It is precisely at this point that the main criticisms arise.

Experts and environmental organizations warn that a single data center can consume energy equivalent to that of a small city. In addition, many projects depend on large volumes of water to keep their equipment cool.

In some regions of India, residents have reported difficulties accessing water after the installation of these structures. According to reports released by environmental organizations, communities have begun to receive water supply for limited periods of the day due to the growing demand for water. Impacts that go beyond energy...Concerns are not limited to electricity and water consumption.

Critics also point to the increase in electronic waste production. As servers need to be constantly updated to keep up with technological evolution, large quantities of equipment end up being discarded after only a few years of use.

Another frequently cited problem is noise pollution. Ventilation and cooling systems operate continuously, generating noise that can affect both residents and local wildlife.

From an economic point of view, the benefits are also questioned. Although investments often reach billions of dollars, data centers tend to employ relatively few people after the construction phase.

Many facilities occupy areas equivalent to dozens of football fields, but operate with fewer than one hundred permanent employees.

Where expansion is most intense...The United States leads the number of data centers in the world, with approximately 5,400 facilities in operation.

Following are countries such as Germany, the United Kingdom, China, Canada, France, Australia, the Netherlands, and Russia.

The trend, however, is for accelerated growth. Thousands of new projects are planned for the coming years, especially in rural areas.

In Asia, countries like China, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan are rapidly expanding their investments. In the Middle East, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar are also heavily investing in the sector.

In Europe, the Frankfurt region in Germany remains one of the largest global hubs for the industry.

Communities are beginning to react... The advancement of this infrastructure has provoked resistance in different parts of the world.

In the United States, some states are already discussing or implementing temporary moratoriums to slow down new construction while they study its impacts.

Similar cases have emerged in Ireland, the Netherlands, and several Latin American countries.

In Chile, environmental groups managed to block a project linked to artificial intelligence in 2024. In Brazil, local movements are also beginning to question new ventures, especially in the Northeast region, considered strategic for the sector's expansion.

In Germany, the American company EdgeConneX recently abandoned an energy project associated with a data center after facing opposition from the local population and municipal authorities.

The debate raised by Erin Brockovich highlights an increasingly relevant issue: every technological innovation has a physical and environmental infrastructure behind it.

As artificial intelligence becomes part of everyday life, the need to discuss the energy, water, and social costs that sustain this transformation also grows.

For Brockovich, the solution lies not in halting technological advancement, but in ensuring transparency, public participation, and proper planning. After all, while millions of people use AI tools daily, few know what is being built to make it all possible.

mundophone