Articles by Katherine Noyes

This story was originally published on Aug. 24, 2011, and is brought to you today as part of our Best of ECT News series. Mikko Hypponen has spent the past 20-plus years studying malicious software, including everything from "Brain" -- the first PC virus, dating back to 1986 -- all the way up to Stuxnet and today's most sophisticated global malwar...

This story was originally published on Aug. 17, 2011, and is brought to you today as part of our Best of ECT News series It was once the case that computer viruses and other malicious software were written primarily by hobbyist hackers. Their motivations, for the most part, were simply bragging rights and the respect of their peers -- desirable rew...

Following a one-day delay, NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission featuring its new Curiosity rover is now scheduled for launch on Saturday, Nov. 26, from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida Representing the largest and most advanced rover ever sent to the Red Planet, the automobile-sized Curiosity vehicle will look for evidence of wa...

Android malware has increased 472 percent since July, a new report from Juniper Networks warned earlier this week, with the months of October and November shaping up to see the fastest jump in Android malware ever discovered, the company stated The number of Android malware samples identified in September increased by 28 percent over the number of ...

Amazon.com's Kindle Fire tablet will be arriving on consumers' doorsteps a day earlier than planned, the company announced Monday, and reviewers have wasted no time sharing their own early thoughts about the new device Originally planned for shipment on Tuesday to those who preordered it, the 7-inch, Android-powered device began shipping on Monday ...

The Senate defeated a Republican bid to overturn Net neutrality rules on Thursday, thus paving the way for the regulations to take effect on Nov. 20 In a 52-to-46 vote along party lines, senators rejected S.J. Res. 6, the resolution proposed earlier this year by Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Tex.) under the Congressional Review Act. Hutchison and ot...

After weeks of widespread uncertainty and speculation, Groupon is expected late Thursday to set the price for its Friday initial public offering (IPO) Though the daily deals site has been expected to set a price within a planned range of $16 to $18, most reports now suggest that it will be a dollar or two above that level due to unexpectedly robust...

"Quantum levitation" may not be a household term, but one look at a YouTube video now nearing 3 million views, and you'll soon get the gist of what's going on. In essence, it's a thin but solid disc floating in mid-air....

A recent test flight of Virgin Galactic's private SpaceShipTwo spacecraft caused some tense moments for those participating and observing, but ultimately a new safety feature on the suborbital craft allowed its three-person crew to regain control and bring it safely back down to Earth ...

Legendary computer scientist and creator of the C programming language Dennis Ritchie has died at the age of 70, leaving behind a legacy that touches virtually every aspect of modern life ...

Mikko Hypponen has spent the past 20-plus years studying malicious software, including everything from "Brain" -- the first PC virus, dating back to 1986 -- all the way up to Stuxnet and today's most sophisticated global malware He's widely considered one of the world's foremost experts on information security, and he's played a key role in taking ...

It was once the case that computer viruses and other malicious software were written primarily by hobbyist hackers. Their motivations, for the most part, were simply bragging rights and the respect of their peers -- desirable rewards, to be sure, but certainly not the sole focus of any career The results of their efforts, meanwhile, could spread on...

It's difficult enough for most humans to grasp the idea that our planet is just one of countless others in our galaxy -- and a pretty small one, at that Then, of course, there's the concept that our galaxy is just one of billions of others in the universe -- sure to compound any confusion considerably....

Beef may often be "what's for dinner" throughout many parts of the world, but there's no doubt the habit comes at a heavy price In addition to taking the lives of 16 billion or so animals each year in the United States alone -- yes, that's billion -- meat takes a significant toll on the environment.

It must have been a heart-stopping moment four centuries ago when the earliest users of the original optical microscope first peered through the device at a drop of pond water Although that water had surely appeared clear to the naked eye, a virtual parade of unfamiliar and even sinister-looking blobs must have seemed to take its place under the mi...

Planetariums may date back to the far reaches of recorded time, but the first widely known example -- an ancient cast-metal globe made by Archimedes to predict the movements of the planets -- now seems to have little in common with the technological marvels that have become widespread today Rather than focusing on planets and predictions, today's p...

Few ideas convey the mystery and awe-inspiring nature of space better than the black hole Dark, vast and little understood, black holes in many ways represent all that we still don't know about the universe. With their seemingly infinite emptiness and general unexplorability, they're also more than a little terrifying....

A mysterious cosmic blast in the constellation Draco has astronomers scrambling to try to understand its cause, so unlike is it to anything ever observed before Rather than the short-lived gamma-ray bursts typically associated with the death of a massive star -- most last no more than a few hours -- this explosion continues more than a week later t...

Space may be the final frontier in many senses of the word, but it's by no means the only one facing mankind. Targeting one of the great mysteries that still exist here on Earth, entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson on Tuesday announced his plans to begin a series of deep-sea explorations through Virgin Oceanic, a brand-new initiative In fact, Virgin O...

NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft on Tuesday and Wednesday captured and delivered to Earth the first photographs of Mercury ever taken from within the planet's orbit ...