Spy agencies brief people in power. We brief you. Each week we bring you one story that matters, and a few that don’t!

Your Brief for April 3, 2025: Listening to sharks, The War Driver, MI5 artifacts revealed, zero-g lab and more!

News

Zero-G Lab

SpaceX has launched the first crewed mission to orbit Earth's poles. The Fram2 mission, powered by the Crew Dragon Resilience craft, lifted off this week with four private astronauts on board. They're flying in a polar orbit—one of the most challenging paths due to high energy demands and complex recovery logistics. Over the three- to five-day journey, the crew will conduct 22 experiments, from testing X-ray imaging in space to studying microgravity's effects on the human body. One project will even attempt to grow mushrooms in orbit. When they return, the astronauts will test how well they can readjust to gravity without medical or mobility assistance.

Image Credit: SpaceX

True Spies

The War Driver

Could you become a hacker for hire?

When it comes to cyber-espionage, white-hat hacker Matthew Devost is someone you want on your side—as a hacker for hire, he helps companies lock down their digital environments. 

Over the years, Matt has built a reputation for helping people out of digital disasters. He’s a veteran of cyber ops involving “wardriving”—cruising around with a laptop, special software, and an antenna to detect WiFi networks. And if you need someone found using only an IP address, he’s your guy.

Matt thought he’d seen it all—until a corporate client received a string of extortion emails from an unknown aggressor. Tracking down the culprit would be like a cyber hunt for a needle in a haystack. Matt would need to push the limits of his considerable skills and step out from behind the keyboard to crack the case. 

Where would you start? Join Matt Devost in this week’s podcast selection, ‘The War Driver’, and follow a tangled thread of clues leading to the mastermind of a global extortion scheme.

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History

MI5 Artifacts Revealed

How do you spy with a lemon?

A battered leather briefcase left behind by Soviet double agent Guy Burgess when he fled to Moscow in 1951 is among 20 artifacts from MI5’s archives on display from this Saturday. The exhibition, coming to the National Archives in London, offers a rare look into the early decades of Britain’s domestic intelligence agency. One of the oldest items is a 110-year-old lemon. It belonged to German spy Kurt Muller, who used lemon juice to write hidden messages in letters during World War I.

Authorities arrested Muller in 1915—he still had the lemon in his pocket. A secret court convicted him and carried out his execution at the Tower of London. MI5 later assumed his identity to send fake letters to the Germans in what became its first known deception operation.

Other objects include Burgess’s passport and one of two briefcases he left behind at his London club before fleeing with fellow spy Donald Maclean. Though officials haven’t disclosed the contents, the case bears his initials. MI5 has released over 6,000 files since 1997.

Technology

Spotlight Sound

Can sound be aimed like a laser?

Researchers at Penn State University have developed a way to control precisely where a sound is audible, pinpointing it to a specific spot in space. Their system, called “audible enclaves,” creates tiny pockets of sound that only exist at the exact intersection of two ultrasonic beams. Step just a few inches away, and the sound is no more!

The research, led by acoustics professor Yun Jing, was published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The system works by firing two curved ultrasonic waves that cross paths using specially designed 3D-printed metasurface lenses. Audible sound emerges only at the point of overlap, enabling the system to target a specific listener even in a crowded room.

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Science

Walls In Motion

Want to see a cell rebuild its walls?

Scientists have captured high-resolution live images showing how individual plant cells assemble their protective walls. Published in Science Advances, the breakthrough could open new possibilities for plant-based innovations like renewable biofuels.

Researchers studied cells from the thale cress plant, Arabidopsis thaliana, stripping away their walls to observe how they rebuilt them. To minimize stress on the cells, the team fashioned a custom microscope setup with low light, a cooling system that maintained an 18°C temperature, and a glowing molecular probe that highlighted fresh cellulose without interfering with the process. They tracked 14 wall-less cells, taking images every six minutes over 24 hours to capture the complete regeneration. The result? A microscopic time-lapse of cells at work. Check it out here.

Image Credit: Ehsan Faridi/ Inmywork Studio/ Chundawat, Lee and Lam Labs

Nature

Listening To Sharks

Do sharks make noise?

Scientists at the University of Auckland have recorded a rig shark (Mustelus lenticulatus) making a sharp clicking noise—possibly by snapping its teeth together. They believe it’s the first documented case of a shark actively producing sound! Their findings were published in Royal Society Open Science last week.

Lead researcher Carolin Nieder first noticed the sound while studying shark hearing. As she handled one of the animals, it let out a clicking sound like an electric spark. Curious, she and her team observed ten rig sharks in tanks fitted with underwater microphones. Each one made the same clicking noise when moved between tanks or gently held.

Rig sharks are small, crustacean-loving creatures found around New Zealand. They typically grow up to five feet long. While the exact purpose of the clicks remains unclear, researchers suspect they may be a form of distress or warning. Listen to the recordings here.

Image Credit: Paul Caiger

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