News Archive

August 13, 2026 — Physical access to an aircraft has not typically been considered a cybersecurity risk – but it should be, according to a team of computer scientists at the University of California San Diego.

August 13, 2026 — Computer science researchers developed and tested a device that, if plugged into a hardwired communications channel connecting two key flight computers, can take over communications between these computers. The proof-of-concept attack suggests that physical access to an aircraft’s computer bay under the nose of the plane is a cybersecurity risk that should be considered. The device needs to be plugged into a port inside the plane’s belly – an action that the researchers estimate would take under 60 seconds. This would require access to the aircraft either when parked at a gate or when in an airport hangar during regular maintenance. Access to these areas is controlled carefully but not always successfully. The researchers successfully demonstrated the attack on a testbed made of actual Boeing 737 airplane parts and airplane software.

August 6, 2026 — A human-robot interaction class taught this spring by computer science professor Laurel Riek at the University of California San Diego gives students an overview of the field. It culminates in a hands-on project.

July 20, 2026 — A vulnerability in systems installed by dealers in Southern California since 2017 is getting fixed by the system manufacturer. But car owners need to be aware.

July 8, 2026 — For the first time, two teleoperated humanoid robots have been used to complete two surgeries during a preclinical trial, researchers report in the July 8 issue of the journal Nature.

June 9, 2026 — 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.

April 21, 2026 — Mechanical engineering Ph.D. student Songyuan Lu won the grand prize at this year’s Research Expo, where more than 150 students presented their research posters across the six departments at the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering.

April 8, 2026 — We asked Aaron Rosengren, a faculty member in the UC San Diego Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, and an expert on spacecraft orbits between Earth and its moon, to explain why San Diego was chosen as the end point of the Artemis II mission.

April 7, 2026 — A less-known threat can dramatic consequences for human civilization: a collision between a large asteroid and the moon. The debris from such a collision would damage satellites that underpin the infrastructure for everything from telecommunications, to defense, to navigation here on Earth.

March 10, 2026 — Computer scientists and weather scientists have taken the first steps toward creating an AI agent capable of analyzing and answering questions in natural language, such as English, about data from AI-driven weather and climate forecasting models.