Last year was big for zero-day exploits, security threats that appear in the wild before vendors have a chance to develop patches. Through its sprawling network of services and research initiatives, Google is the first to spot many of these threats. In a new report from the Google Threat Intelligence Group (GTIG), the company reveals it detected 75 zero-day exploits in 2024 , which is a bit lower than the previous year. Unsurprisingly, a sizable chunk of them was the work of state-sponsored hackers.

According to Google , zero-day exploits are becoming increasingly easy for threat actors to develop and procure, which has led to more sophisticated attacks. While end-user devices are still regularly targeted, GTIG notes that the trend over the past few years has been for these vulnerabilities to target enterprise systems and security infrastructure. There were 98 zero-days detected in 2023 versus 75 in 2024, but Google says the overall trend in enterprise threats is increasing.

That's not to say the products you use every day are safe from sneaky hacks—a slim majority of GTIG's 2024 zero-day threats still targeted users. In fact, Google says hackers were even more interested in certain platforms last year compared to the year before.

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President Donald Trump is set to ease up slightly on the automotive industry this week. After being warned that his trade war will result in hiked prices and fewer vehicles being built, government officials over the past two days have signaled that Trump will sign an executive order today that will mitigate some of the pain the 25 percent import tariffs will inflict.

Trump's approach to tariffs has been nothing if not inconsistent . In this case, the White House is not dropping the 25 percent tariff on all imported vehicles, but the other tariffs imposed by the Trump administration—like the 25 percent tariff on steel and aluminum that went into effect in February—won't stack up on top.

The potential for multiple tariffs to have an additive effect on prices could have seen new car prices soar in the coming weeks; now, they are likely to just rise a lot instead. According to The Wall Street Journal , the move will be retroactive, and automakers who have (for example) paid aluminum or steel tariffs on top of the car import tariff can seek a refund for the former.

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We think of moths and butterflies as relatively harmless creatures, but there are certain species with a darker side—for example, carnivorous caterpillars that eat aphids, butterflies that drink alligator tears, or "vampire" moths that feed on livestock blood. Add to that list the newly discovered "bone collector" caterpillar, which conducts daring raids on spider webs for sustenance, camouflaging itself in the body parts of already-consumed insects to avoid being eaten. Not only that, but according to a new paper published in the journal Science, the caterpillars can tailor those insect parts, nibbling away at any excess material to ensure a proper fit.

Daniel Rubinoff, an entomologist at the University of Hawaii, Manoa, studies a genus of moths found in Hawaii called Hyposcoma , or as he has dubbed their larval form, "Hawaiian Fancy Case" caterpillars, so named because they spin their own casings, adding to them as they grow, although the materials used can vary widely.  There are now more than 600 species within this genus, many of them not yet officially described, so it was a rich research area to explore.

The discovery of the bone collector species was serendipitous. "You never forget your first bone collector," Rubinoff told Ars. His team was on Oa'hu looking for Hyposcoma when they came across a little tree hollow and spotted something at the bottom that at first glance just looked like "a bag of bug bits." The caterpillar then stuck its head out, and the researchers realized it was a new kind of case. Rubinoff assumed that the spider web also found in the tree hollow was a coincidence; the caterpillar just used the materials readily available in the tree hollow to make its fancy case.

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After a flurry of leaks, Motorola has unveiled its 2025 foldable lineup. This will be the first cycle with three Motorola Razr flip phones, ranging from the relatively inexpensive base model Razr to the lavishly expensive Razr Ultra. All three phones have a slick foldable design, a stronger hinge, and big screens—and they come in a collection of snazzy Pantone colorways.

Pretty colors, stronger hinges

The three models have similar overall designs, but the specs are notably different. The base model phone again relies on a MediaTek chip, while the Plus and Ultra are Snapdragon-based. The Ultra has the same processor seen in Samsung's latest flagship phones , the Snapdragon 8 Elite. As Moto points out, it's the fastest chip available in a foldable.

Motorola's Pantone partnership, which was recently featured in the 2025 Moto G Stylus , is used to great effect here. All three phones are available in some stunning colors with various materials and finishes. The Razr comes in Spring Bud (above), Gibraltar Sea, Parfait Pink, and Lightest Sky. The Razr+ gets Mocha Mousse, Midnight Blue, and Hot Pink (below). The Ultra comes in Rio Red, Scarab, Cabaret, or Mountain Trail, with a wood body that harkens back to the days of Moto maker. It's refreshing to get so much choice when most phones are only available in a couple of boring tones.

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US preorders for the Nintendo Switch 2 console went live at Best Buy, Target, and Walmart at midnight Eastern time last night (though the rush of orders caused problems and delays across all three retailers' websites). The console listings came with a wave of other retail listings for games and accessories, and those listings either fill small gaps in our knowledge about Switch 2 game packaging and pricing or confirm facts that were previously implied.

First, $80 Switch 2 games like Mario Kart World will not cost $90 as physical releases. This is worth repeating over and over again because of how pernicious the rumors about $90 physical releases have been ; as recently as this morning, typing "Switch 2 $90" into Google would show you videos, Reddit threads, news posts, and even Google's own AI summaries all confidently and incorrectly proclaiming that physical Switch 2 releases will cost $90 when they actually won't.

While physical game releases in the EU sometimes cost more than their digital counterparts , there was actually no indication that US releases of physical games would cost $90. The Mario Kart World website listed an $80 MSRP from the start, as did early retail listings that were published before preorders actually began, and this price didn't change when Nintendo increased accessory pricing in response to import tariffs imposed by the Trump administration.

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Even in an alternate timeline in which the average new car didn't cost more than $50,000 and weigh well more than two tons, Volkswagen's Golf GTI would stand above the norm. Here on Earth Prime, nine years after a weasel met a particle accelerator and everything started to get weird, the GTI shines as almost the perfect blend of performance and everyday practicality while keeping the footprint small and the sticker price affordable.

The GTI has just had its midlife facelift, making this generation the Mk8.5 if you speak Golfnerd. Even if you don't, you're probably familiar with the idea. But to recap, in 1976, someone at VW had the bright idea of giving the Golf hatchback a more powerful engine and better handling. The original GTI wasn't the first hot hatch, but it was the most influential, giving VW's humble Golf a halo that shone brightly when seized upon by that most 1980s of species, the yuppie.

The GTI has been a constant in the Golf range ever since. Here in America, it is the Golf range, along with the all-wheel drive Golf R, but more on that car another day. Americans used to buy regular Golfs—I have not one but two neighbors with Golf Alltrack station wagons, in case anecdote will suffice in place of sales data—but no longer in numbers that make importing the other cars economical. On the other hand, the US is now one of the largest markets for the GTI, VW told me, and last year, it saw sales grow by almost 50 percent.

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As the trade war between China and the United States continues to escalate, Beijing is responding by turning to one of its favorite retaliation tactics: limiting the export of critical minerals used in many high-tech electronics , from fighter jets to wind turbines. While China’s mineral restrictions may sound scary, the reality is that they haven’t been very effective in the past and stand to become even less so if the US and other countries finally get their acts together.

It all started in July 2023, when the Chinese government announced it would restrict the export of gallium and germanium, two critical minerals that are mostly used in making solar panels and semiconductors . Over the following two years, China’s list of controlled products expanded to include antimony, graphite, and other materials. Earlier this month, the Chinese government escalated things even further, subjecting seven rare earth elements to a more comprehensive export licensing program that covers the whole world and is designed to further choke off American companies.

Rare earths are a subset of elements under the broader umbrella of critical minerals that China has long enjoyed monopoly control over. In the short term, companies that need these rare earths might be able to rely on existing stockpiles or even turn to recycled electronics to find them. But eventually, the US and other countries will be forced to either ramp up domestic mining or reduce their dependence on rare earths, both of which would make China’s policies sting less. “China has got one shot, and it knows it,” says Ian Lange, an associate professor of economics and business at the Colorado School of Mines.

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At this point, the Framework Laptop 13 is a familiar face, an old friend. We have reviewed this laptop five other times , and in that time, the idea of a repairable and upgradeable laptop has gone from a "sounds great if they can pull it off" idea to one that's become pretty reliable and predictable. And nearly four years out from the original version—which shipped with an 11th-generation Intel Core processor —we're at the point where an upgrade will get you significant boosts to CPU and GPU performance, plus some other things.

We're looking at the Ryzen AI 300 version of the Framework Laptop today, currently available for preorder and shipping in Q2 for people who buy one now. The laptop starts at $1,099 for a pre-built version and $899 for a RAM-less, SSD-less, Windows-less DIY version, and we've tested the Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 version that starts at $1,659 before you add RAM, an SSD, or an OS.

This board is a direct upgrade to Framework's Ryzen 7040-series board from mid-2023, with most of the same performance benefits we saw last year when we first took a look at the Ryzen AI 300 series . It's also, if this matters to you, the first Framework Laptop to meet Microsoft's requirements for its Copilot+ PC initiative, giving users access to some extra locally processed AI features (including but not limited to Recall) with the promise of more to come.

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No matter how bad things might seem, at least you haven't accidentally eaten fox poop and developed an insidious tapeworm infection that masquerades as a cancerous liver tumor while it slowly destroys your organs and eventually kills you—or, you probably haven't done that.

What's more, according to a newly published study in Emerging Infectious Diseases , even if you have somehow feasted on fox feces and acquired this nightmare parasite, it's looking less likely that doctors will need to hack out chunks of your organs to try to stop it.

That's the good news from the new study. The bad news is that, while this infection is fairly rare, it appears to be increasing. And, if you do get it, you might have a shorter lifespan than the uninfected and may be sicker in general.

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