Size doesn’t matter: Just a small number of malicious files can corrupt LLMs of any size

Size doesn't matter: just a small number of malicious files can corrupt LLMs of any size
Overview of our experiments, including examples of clean and poisoned samples, as well as benign and malicious behavior at inference time. (a)DoS pretraining backdoor experiments. Credit: arXiv (2025). DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.2510.07192

Large language models (LLMs), which power sophisticated AI chatbots, are more vulnerable than previously thought. According to research by Anthropic, the UK AI Security Institute and the Alan Turing Institute, it only takes 250 malicious documents to compromise even the largest models.

The vast majority of data used to train LLMs is scraped from the public internet. While this helps them to build knowledge and generate natural responses, it also puts them at risk from data poisoning attacks...

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Event Horizon Telescope images reveal new dark matter detection method

Event Horizon Telescope images reveal new dark matter detection method
Simulated images of the supermassive black hole M87*. Left panel shows radiation from astrophysical plasma and right panel illustrates potential emission from dark matter annihilation. Credit: Yifan Chen.

According to a new Physical Review Letters study, black holes could help solve the dark matter mystery. The shadowy regions in black hole images captured by the Event Horizon Telescope can act as ultra-sensitive detectors for the invisible material that makes up most of the universe’s matter.

Dark matter makes up roughly 85% of the universe’s matter, but scientists still don’t know what it actually is. While researchers have proposed countless ways to detect it, this study introduces black hole imaging as a fresh detection method—one that comes with some distinct benefits.

The...

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Physical exercise can ‘train’ the immune system

In addition to strengthening the muscles, lungs, and heart, regular physical exercise also strengthens the immune system. This finding comes from a study of older adults with a history of endurance training, which involves prolonged physical activity such as long-distance running, cycling, swimming, rowing, and walking.

An international team of researchers analyzed the defense cells of these individuals and found that “natural killer” cells, which patrol the body against viruses and diseased cells, were more adaptable, less inflammatory, and metabolically more efficient.

The research, published in the journal Scientific Reports, investigated natural killer (NK) cells...

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Cyber defense innovation could significantly boost 5G network security

Breakthrough development could significantly boost 5G network security
Proposed FedLLMGuard Architecture. Credit: University of Portsmouth

A framework for building tighter security into 5G wireless communications has been created by a Ph.D. student working with the University of Portsmouth’s Artificial Intelligence and Data Center.

With its greater network capacity and ability to rapidly transmit huge amounts of information from one device to another, 5G is a critical component of intelligent systems and services—including those for health care and financial services.

However, the dynamic nature of 5G networks, the high volumes of data shared and the ever changing types of information transmitted means that these networks are extremely vulnerable to cyber threats and increasing risks of attack.

Hadiseh Rezaei, a Ph.D...

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