Physics News Update #658: [...] The problem of imaging extrasolar planets directly is that the planet is far outshone by the nearby star. One proposed way of getting around this glare problem is to use nulling interferometry.

Direct Imaging of Extrasolar Planets

Quantum optics demonstrates the existence of interaction-free measurements: the detection of objects without light-or anything else-ever hitting them.

Quantum Seeing in the Dark

Abstract: Diffie-Hellman key agreement protocol [21] implementations have been plagued by serious security flaws. The attacks can be very subtle and, more often than not, have not been taken into account by protocol designers. In this summary we discuss both theoretical attacks against the Die-Hellman key agreement protocol and attacks based on implementation details . It is hoped that computer security practitioners will obtain enough information to build and design secure and ecient versions of this classic key agreement protocol.

paper: Security Issues in the Diffie-Hellman Key Agreement Protocol

It's a discovery that could require a complete rethink of how life on Earth began, and how likely life is on other planets. The current consensus is that over millions of years, simple molecules must have formed amino acids, then primitive proteins, before finally forming an organised cell structure. However, physicists recreating the atmosphere of the early Earth have produced blobs of gaseous plasma that fulfil the four criteria used to define living cells: possession of a distinct boundary layer and the ability to replicate, communicate and grow. What's more, such cell-like self-organisation can occur in a few microseconds...

Plasma blobs hint at new form of life