Science has managed to turn off the extra chromosome of Down syndrome. It has also opened the great ethical debate on gene editing

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In the complex genetic map that surrounds the known down syndromethe problem is not that there is a lack of information in our cells, but that there is an excess. The presence of a third copy of chromosome 21 It unbalances the entire cellular system that ends up generating an entire clinic that today did not have any type of cure. But thanks to clinical advances and revolutionary gene therapies, we have found a way to turn off this gene that is extra in the cells of people with Down. A natural switch. To understand this advance, we must look at how nature itself resolves its own genetic imbalances. And, for those who do not know, in human beings sex is determined by two types of chromosomes: X and Y. If you are a woman, you will have XX chromosomes, and if you are a man, you will have XY. The problem, boiling it down to its most basic, is that always one of the ‘X’ genes must be silenced so that the genetic load is compensated in humans. And this is something that is done thanks to the gene XIST which encodes an RNA molecule that covers the chromosome and alters its chromatin, silencing de facto their genes. Something that has been developed by nature itself in order to maintain the species, and then the question is obligatory: why not use this natural switch to silence the chromosomes that generate diseases as important as Down syndrome? It’s not something new. The idea of ​​using this “switch” to be able to alter the gene expression of the chromosomes that we have in excess is not new, since in 2013 the researcher Jeanne Lawrence demonstrated for the first time that this RNA could induce the silencing of the extra chromosome 21 in human cells that were in culture in a laboratory. Later, in 2020, it was applied to neural stem cells, but the historical problem has always been the same: the very low efficiency when integrating this gene into the affected cells.. A new milestone. This has changed radically, as a team at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston has published a new article in PNAS with a solution to eradicate this bottleneck thanks to the tool CRISPR/Cas9. This system can be visualized as simple scissors that specifically cut into our DNA to eliminate something that was left over or altered. The problem is that it was not very efficient at integrating new genetic material, and to overcome this, scientists have developed a modified version of CRISPR/Cas9 that boosts the success rate of the integration of the XIST gene which will silence the third chromosome 21. Good results. Here we recognize how XIST has been integrated into 20-40% of cell lines that have trisomy 21. Furthermore, the method reliably affects only the extra copy of chromosome 21 without silencing other genes that can cause other diseases. There are problems. Despite the enthusiasm, the technique is far from being applied in humans, since one of the biggest challenges of CRISPR is the mutations off-target, That is, it acts on other genetic points that are its marked objectives. And this occurs when these ‘scissors’ cut a sequence of DNA that closely resembles its target, but which in reality is not. In this way, an error off-target It could trigger severe cellular problems or even cancer. Recent studies show that experimentation on embryos with these techniques often results in mosaicism with edited and unedited cells, as well as incomplete edits. This means that right now we have to work on having greater specificity in the genetic objectives of the therapy so that the consequences of using it are not much greater than the fact of curing a disease. Ethical shock. The controversy is served with genetic therapies in general, since right now one of the lines that are open is to eliminate this extra chromosome directly in a human embryo before implementing it in a woman so that she is not born with this disease. This is where bioethicists they point because experimenting with human embryos damages their physical integrity and poses irreversible risks for future generations. Furthermore, they underline the urgency of distinguishing between the use of CRISPR for purely therapeutic purposes, such as treating symptoms, and its use for “genetic improvement” or the selection of embryos that are much more advanced or genetically perfect. This is also added to the fact that genetic editing in embryos for reproductive purposes is currently prohibited in most countries. Images | Sangharsh Lohakare In Xataka | The surprising thing is not that we have sequenced the DNA of a Neanderthal from 11,000 years ago: it is what it has revealed

Science has managed to turn off the extra chromosome of Down syndrome. It has also opened the great ethical debate on gene editing

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In the complex genetic map that surrounds the known down syndromethe problem is not that there is a lack of information in our cells, but that there is an excess. The presence of a third copy of chromosome 21 It unbalances the entire cellular system that ends up generating an entire clinic that today did not have any type of cure. But thanks to clinical advances and revolutionary gene therapies, we have found a way to turn off this gene that is extra in the cells of people with Down. A natural switch. To understand this advance, we must look at how nature itself resolves its own genetic imbalances. And, for those who do not know, in human beings sex is determined by two types of chromosomes: X and Y. If you are a woman, you will have XX chromosomes, and if you are a man, you will have XY. The problem, boiling it down to its most basic, is that always one of the ‘X’ genes must be silenced so that the genetic load is compensated in humans. And this is something that is done thanks to the gene XIST which encodes an RNA molecule that covers the chromosome and alters its chromatin, silencing de facto their genes. Something that has been developed by nature itself in order to maintain the species, and then the question is obligatory: why not use this natural switch to silence the chromosomes that generate diseases as important as Down syndrome? It’s not something new. The idea of ​​using this “switch” to be able to alter the gene expression of the chromosomes that we have in excess is not new, since in 2013 the researcher Jeanne Lawrence demonstrated for the first time that this RNA could induce the silencing of the extra chromosome 21 in human cells that were in culture in a laboratory. Later, in 2020, it was applied to neural stem cells, but the historical problem has always been the same: the very low efficiency when integrating this gene into the affected cells.. A new milestone. This has changed radically, as a team at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston has published a new article in PNAS with a solution to eradicate this bottleneck thanks to the tool CRISPR/Cas9. This system can be visualized as simple scissors that specifically cut into our DNA to eliminate something that was left over or altered. The problem is that it was not very efficient at integrating new genetic material, and to overcome this, scientists have developed a modified version of CRISPR/Cas9 that boosts the success rate of the integration of the XIST gene which will silence the third chromosome 21. Good results. Here we recognize how XIST has been integrated into 20-40% of cell lines that have trisomy 21. Furthermore, the method reliably affects only the extra copy of chromosome 21 without silencing other genes that can cause other diseases. There are problems. Despite the enthusiasm, the technique is far from being applied in humans, since one of the biggest challenges of CRISPR is the mutations off-target, That is, it acts on other genetic points that are its marked objectives. And this occurs when these ‘scissors’ cut a sequence of DNA that closely resembles its target, but which in reality is not. In this way, an error off-target It could trigger severe cellular problems or even cancer. Recent studies show that experimentation on embryos with these techniques often results in mosaicism with edited and unedited cells, as well as incomplete edits. This means that right now we have to work on having greater specificity in the genetic objectives of the therapy so that the consequences of using it are not much greater than the fact of curing a disease. Ethical shock. The controversy is served with genetic therapies in general, since right now one of the lines that are open is to eliminate this extra chromosome directly in a human embryo before implementing it in a woman so that she is not born with this disease. This is where bioethicists they point because experimenting with human embryos damages their physical integrity and poses irreversible risks for future generations. Furthermore, they underline the urgency of distinguishing between the use of CRISPR for purely therapeutic purposes, such as treating symptoms, and its use for “genetic improvement” or the selection of embryos that are much more advanced or genetically perfect. This is also added to the fact that genetic editing in embryos for reproductive purposes is currently prohibited in most countries. Images | Sangharsh Lohakare In Xataka | The surprising thing is not that we have sequenced the DNA of a Neanderthal from 11,000 years ago: it is what it has revealed

The Italian far-right was looking for a way to clean up its image. He found the formula in ‘The Lord of the Rings’

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In November 2023, Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni opened an exhibition on JRR Tolkien at the National Gallery of Modern Art in Rome, organized by her Ministry of Culture. Nothing unusual, except that Meloni has been understanding ‘the lord of the rings‘ as a “sacred text.” This is how the legendary British fantasy trilogy ended up becoming a political catechism for the Italian extreme right. We started badly. The first Italian edition of ‘The Lord of the Rings’ was published in 1970, with a prologue signed by the philosopher Elémire Zolla, who interpreted the work as an allegory of “pure” communities threatened by foreign invaders. For the youth of Italian Social Movement (the MSI, a party founded in 1946 by veterans of Mussolini’s fascism) that reading was an enlightenment. As he noted in his 1975 review of the book far-right youth leader Marco Tarchi, the work was perfect for the young right precisely because it did not carry the weight of fascist history. Relocation sought. The MSI had been trying for years to reframe its identity in a country where the left dominated culturally, with the old fascism logically stigmatized. They needed something new to renew the symbols. He imagined universe by Tolkien gave them the opportunity to articulate a political identity around values ​​of virtue and anti-modernity, values ​​that Julius Evola, the ultra-nationalist mystical philosopher who advocated a racial hierarchy of pagan and aristocratic lineage, had already been preaching for decades. Fascist Woodstock. In 1977, leaders of MSI (and, above all, its youth faction) organized what would be known as Hobbit Camps. The first was held for two days in southern Italy and brought together young people from all over the country. On the surface, the event had the look of a folk music festival: stages with performances, tents, booths with books and T-shirts. Of course, a dozen muscular boys maintained order, and they were distinguished by wearing bracelets with a Celtic cross. Calling them Hobbit Camp, they wanted to attendees will identify with these small beings: conservative, rooted in tradition, reticent to change and foreigners… The group did not hide its affiliation: flags with Celtic crosses flew in perfect harmony with the Tolkienian aesthetic, the band Compagnia dell’Anello (that is, “Fellowship of the Ring”) played songs about the good old European identity. His anthem, in fact, was ‘Il domani appartiene a noi’ (“Tomorrow belongs to us”), whose title was a deliberate replica of the shocking song of the Hitler Youth in ‘Cabaret‘, titled ‘Tomorrow belongs to me’. A women’s magazine called ‘Éowyn’ was also launched, in honor of the princess of Rohan. These camps They stopped being celebrated in 1981when they had fulfilled their function as spaces of recruitment and indoctrination, hidden under a layer of celebration of popular culture. Meloni the cosplayer. Meloni was four years old in 1981. But a decade later he attended the revival of these camps: Hobbit 93, held in Rome, where he sang with the band Compagnia dell’Anello. He had come to Tolkien at age 11 and joined the MSI youth team shortly after. As a youth activist, Meloni and his group of militants gave themselves Tolkienian nicknames, visited high schools in disguise to catch the kids, and met at the “blowing of Boromir’s horn” to hold thematic talks on political recruitment. In her autobiography ‘Io sono Giorgia‘, published in 2021, Meloni described Sam as his favorite hobbit: neither strong, nor fast, nor majestic, an ordinary hobbit but without whose help Frodo would never have completed his mission. A metaphor for the transformative power of ordinary people. sacred text. The admiration has not diminished over the years. Meloni has said that he considers ‘The Lord of the Rings’ not a fantasy, but a sacred text. In an interview with ‘The New York Times’ in 2022 he declared that “Tolkien can explain better than we can what conservatives believe.” On the night of the general election he won, his sister Arianna posted a celebratory letter on Facebook full of Tolkien references. And at the final campaign rally, the actor Pino Insegno, the Italian voice of Aragorn, introduced her to the public by reproducing the character’s speech in front of the Gates of Mordor. It is not the only fantastic reference that Meloni handles: the political festival that the leader founded, which attracts figures like Elon Musk or Viktor Orbán and which has been defined as the largest event of the European conservative current, is called Atrejuin honor of the hero of ‘The Neverending Story’. Tolkien Expo. In November 2023, Meloni inaugurated the exhibition ‘Tolkien: man, teacher, author’ in Rome, organized by his Ministry of Culture to commemorate the fifty years since the writer’s death. Criticism was abundant: several analysts pointed out the conflict of interest of a government with post-fascist roots dedicating public resources to praising the book that had served as a catechism for its predecessors. Some nuances. Not all analysts see Tolkien’s importance in the foundations of the new Italian extreme right as so central, even though Meloni does show herself to be a strong devotee of the text. The political scientist Piero Ignazi pointed outfor example, that the Hobbit Camps were organized by a minority faction of the MSI, and that the focus on hobbits and elves is part of Meloni’s personal communication strategy: the image of a woman less aggressive than other far-right leaders, with accessible cultural references. But is Tolkien a fascist? As for whether The Lord of the Rings is right-wing, just remember that Tolkien wrote the trilogy during the rise of Nazism and fascism and refused to publish ‘The Hobbit’ in German when They asked him to prove Aryan descent. Possibly he would have been repelled by the idea of ​​hobbits being read as opposed to change and devoted to preserving traditions. Even so, his work continues to serve as a basis for dubious movements: as he analyzed Arc Magazine In 2025, sectors of the technological right of Silicon Valley, aligned with the MAGA wing, … Read more

that your “Ibiza” is not only for vacations, but for business

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In the 1980s, a small fishing village in southern China called Shenzhen was chosen for an economic experiment that, in just three decades, transformed into a megacity of more than ten million inhabitants and in one of the largest technological centers on the planet. The bet, which at the time seemed risky and almost improvised, would end up redefining the way in which China uses its territory to test ideas that then scale to the rest of the country. An experiment that the logic of the 80s. The truth is that China has been using special economic zones as opening laboratories for decades, but what is happening now in Hainan supposes a leap of scale difficult to compare (and imagine) with any previous attempt. The reason? Unlike those industrial enclaves of the late 20th century, the current project is not limited to a city or an industrial estate, but encompasses an entire island converted on economic platform. The decision to separate its customs regime from the rest of the country marks a turning point, because it transforms Hainan into a different door access to the Chinese market. It is, in essence, the reactivation of the model that drove China’s growth in the 80s, but taken to a much more ambitious hyperbolic dimension and with a global objective. From tourist destination to global economic node. They told in an extensive report in the Financial Times part of its history. For years, Hainan was known primarily as a tropical destination within China, linked more to domestic tourism than to the country’s grand economic strategy. That role has been changing rapidly with a combination of tax incentives, selective deregulation and facilities for foreign investment that seek to attract companies from all over the world. The elimination of tariffs on most products and the possibility of re-exporting goods to the rest of China without taxes after adding local value are tools designed to stimulate the industry. At the same time, the island is positioned as a more flexible environment than the rest of the country, even allowing more open access to the internet in specific areas, which reinforces its attractiveness for technological and financial sectors. Satellite view of the island The great planetary bet. The core of the project is clear and not hidden: turning Hainan into the largest free trade port of the world, an objective that redefines its role within the Chinese and global economy. There is no doubt, to achieve this, Beijing has introduced some of the policies most advanced in the country in terms of openness, including reduced tax rates and fewer restrictions on foreign investment in the equation. In this way, the project not only seeks to attract capital, but also reorganize supply chainsfacilitating a model in which production, transformation and export are concentrated on the island. This strategy aims to position Hainan as a key node between China and Southeast Asiafunctioning as a platform for the entry and exit of goods in a more competitive environment. Between rivalry and alliance with Hong Kong. Impossible to ignore it. Hainan’s transformation does not occur in a vacuum, but in direct relationship with other major economic centers in the region, especially Hong Kong. The curious thing here is that, far from considering itself solely as a competitor, the official discourse is committed to a hybrid relationship in which both economies complement each other. In this way, Hainan aims to take advantage of the experience of Hong Kong in finance, talent and legal services, while offering space to industrialize projects and expand production chains. In that sense, recalled the Times that the proposed model (orders in Hong Kong, production in Hainan and global sales) reflects an integration strategy that, at the same time, introduces direct competition in key areas such as taxation or investment attraction. Doubts, limits and the great unknown. Despite the ambition of the project, not all analysts are convinced of its long-term viability. The island location, the distance from the Chinese industrial core and the infrastructure limitations pose significant challenges to attract capital-intensive industries. Furthermore, the current international context, with a lower foreign interest in investing in China, adds uncertainty about its real capacity to become a great global magnet. However, even with these doubts, the movement reveals a clear intention: while the international focus is distributed in other scenarios, China is activating one of its more ambitious experiments in decades, nothing less than trying to turn a tropical island into a centerpiece of its global economic strategy. Image | 江上清风1961, NASA In Xataka | Hainan, the Benidorm of China with touches of science fiction In Xataka | While the world looked at Iran, China has seized an island in the Pacific without a single shot. And now he is militarizing it

We’ve found the secret ingredient for using desert sand in construction: sawdust and a giant sandwich maker

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At a time when humans do not stop building and erecting large buildings, there is a problem that should concern us more and more: there is a lack of sand to make concrete. But here anyone can laugh, since we have great deserts on the planet where there is a huge amount of sand that we could use without any problem. But it’s not that easy. The problem. Today, traditional concrete is quite exquisite, since river sand is necessary to achieve a good result. And it has to be that way, because the desert sand is too round and fine to be able to “stick” well. But the truth is that we were running out of this sand so necessary to continue building. In Xataka The rain has transformed the driest desert on the planet into a sea of ​​flowers. It’s a sight to behold and a problem for experts We have a solution. The University of Tokyo and the University of Norway they have hit the key to turn the tables, and the solution is not only to use the desert sand that a priori we have left over, but rather it is to mix it with plant waste to create a material that has received the name Botanical Sandcrete. The recipe. The recently published study details a process that deviates from traditional cement setting, using a hot-pressing technique instead. And for this you only need two ingredients: Fine desert sand which, as we have said before, is useless for conventional concrete due to its morphology. Wood particles and plant additives that act as organic “glue.” All this, together with a temperature of 180 ºC and high pressure, means that the wood components help create a solid matrix that traps the grains of sand and transforms them into a handful of powder in a block that has great mechanical properties. {“videoId”:”x7znesx”,”autoplay”:false,”title”:”Self-consumption building THIS IS HOW THEY WORK – Solar panels in apartment blocks”, “tag”:”solar”, “duration”:”564″} What is it for? Here we should not be happy to find an alternative to a problem that we already had on our heads, since we are not going to be able to build skyscrapers with these tomorrow. Here the researchers point out that the material, as it is right now, is a non-structural alternative.  In this way, its use is mainly focused on pavements, urban tiles and enclosure blocks or outdoor furniture. Things that are ultimately not pillars for large buildings, but do allow us to save river sand. Your advantage. Having an alternative, although it cannot be used in everything, allows us to drastically reduce dependence on quarries and the transportation of river sand. An action that results in the destruction of river ecosystems around the world by removing a fundamental element. In addition to all this, using wood waste and plant additives means that it has a much smaller potential carbon footprint than concrete based on classic cement. In Xataka 30 years ago the US was the country that dominated rare earths. This graph shows how China devastated at dizzying speed Its importance. To date, most attempts to use desert sand involved expensive chemical treatments or mixing them in very low percentages with conventional sand. But the focus of these researchers involves the use of biomass, making us a perfect example of a circular economy. And if we see the full context of the situation, we are taking advantage of a resource that is very abundant but a priori useless like desert sand, along with a byproduct of the logging industry. But logically it still remains to be seen how it behaves over time and how well it endures adverse conditions. Although a priori we are facing great news. Images | Keith Hardy rawpixel.com In Xataka | A 29-year-old young man has invented a cement that makes magnetic walls: a solution to hang things without a drill or screws (function() { window._JS_MODULES = window._JS_MODULES || {}; var headElement = document.getElementsByTagName(‘head’)(0); if (_JS_MODULES.instagram) { var instagramScript = document.createElement(‘script’); instagramScript.src=”https://platform.instagram.com/en_US/embeds.js”; instagramScript.async = true; instagramScript.defer = true; headElement.appendChild(instagramScript); – The news We’ve found the secret ingredient for using desert sand in construction: sawdust and a giant sandwich maker was originally published in Xataka by José A. Lizana .

In 1953 Hollywood filmed a blockbuster in front of US nuclear tests. It was the most radioactive movie in history, literally

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Year 1953, during a nuclear test in the Nevada desert, several Las Vegas hotels offered their guests privileged views of the mushroom cloud at dawn as if it were a tourist attraction at Disneyland, with cocktails included and terraces full of spectators. The scene, which is difficult to imagine today, reflected the extent to which certain risks were perceived very differently in the midst of the nuclear age. Filming in the Cold War. In the mid-50s, The Conqueror It was born as a historical blockbuster that from the beginning involved decisions that were difficult to justify, such as choosing John Wayne to play Genghis Khan himself under the production of Howard Hughes. Filming moved to locations in Utah, an area that offered spectacular landscapes but was, at the time, close to areas where the United States was filming atmospheric nuclear tests. The context was not a secret, but its risks were not fully understood either, since public and scientific perception of radiation was much more limited than today. That combination of cinematic ambition and geopolitical moment left a scenario that, seen with perspective, is much more disturbing than what it seemed like then. The real environment. This perfectly documented that nuclear testing in the Nevada desert generated radioactive fallout that moved to populated areas, subsequently affecting known communities as “downwinders”. It is also proven that the filming team worked in one of those regions, and that part of the surrounding material was transferred to other sets, potentially expanding exposure. This context is neither a theory nor a subsequent reconstruction, but a historical fact recognized by investigations and official organizations that have studied the consequences of those tests. The passage of time and the uncomfortable statistics. What happened? That, over the years, a significant part of the cast and production team developed cancerincluding figures such as John Wayne himself (who died of the disease in 1979), Susan Hayward and Dick Powell. The most cited figure that gives an idea of ​​the possible impact speaks of more than 90 cases among about 220 people linked to the production, a fact that has fueled the fame of the filming as one of the most disturbing and cursed in the history of Hollywood. Even so, we must remember that this number comes from of informative accounts and not from controlled epidemiological studies, which requires treating it with some caution despite its impact. What is proven and what is not. The line between facts and story is key in history. It’s proven that there was exposure to a potentially contaminated environment and that several team members developed serious illnesses over time. What is not proven is a direct causal relationship between filming and these cancers, since factors such as personal habits (including smoking) and the lack of comparable clinical data, facts or causalities may enter, making any definitive conclusion difficult. Therefore, the case remains an ambiguous terrain: perfectly plausible in its approach, but not scientifically confirmed. From failure to modern myth. Upon its release, the film was received quite coldly and criticalremaining in the popular imagination as another failure within the industry. However, as the decades passed, his memory has changed completely, transforming into a story that combines Hollywood, Cold War and invisible risk. What at the time was simply a bad creative and logistical decision ended up being reinterpreted as an episode from the world of celluloid. loaded with symbolism about the limits of knowledge and (i)responsibility. The context changes everything. Because the story of The Conqueror lies not only in what happened during filming, but in how that same filming fits within an era in which exposure to nuclear risks formed part of the everyday landscape. There is no doubt, what seemed acceptable then is today perceived as true nonsense, and this radical change of perspective is what turns the case into something more than a movie anecdote. It wasn’t just a problematic shoot, but an example of how seemingly normal decisions can take on a completely different meaning. with the passage of time. Image | RKO In Xataka | The day a man dared to go further than anyone else: a real fight with Bruce Lee where there were no limits In Xataka | One of the most iconic scenes from ‘A Clockwork Orange’ had an infallible trick: the pain you saw in the scene was not fiction

We have found the father of the Roman legion belts in a totally unexpected place: an Asturian cave

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The spectacular expansion of the Roman Empire (at its greatest splendor, Rome It covered three continents) was not based solely and exclusively on its numerical superiority and conquering hunger, but also on its ability to absorb and adapt technology. That is, as the legions advanced, Rome absorbed and perfected those military innovations that it found in the conquered peoples. This process of cultural transfer is what allowed the Roman army to evolve from a citizen militia to a professional, standardized war machine. An example of this assimilation phenomenon is found in the Iberian Peninsula. Within the framework of the Asturian-Cantabrian wars (29-19 BC), the last great conflict of the conquest of Hispania under the mandate of Augustus, is where the military complex found in the La Cerrosa-Lagaña cave (Asturias) acquires critical importance. The study, published in the Spal Magazineevidence that is more than an archaeological remains: it is the material proof of how a belt native to the plateau became the prototype of the iconic cingulum of the imperial legionnaire. The discovery. He found set It includes a dagger sheath with curved edges accompanied by an articulated bronze belt made up of sheets, a bronze omega fibula, a razor, a spear and human remains. There were also 807 animal remains belonging to 36 specimens of bovids, ovicaprines, equids, suids and canids, as if it were a ritual banquet or sacrifice. But let’s go to the star element: an articulated suspension belt made of bronze, composed of a buckle and four openwork plates of great technical complexity. This system of riveted plates allowed greater flexibility than leather straps and was not something random: it was a design designed to support the weight of a sheath (like the one found) and allow quick extraction of the weapon in combat. The sophistication of the plates suggests high-quality manufacturing, linked to workshops with a long tradition in iron and bronze metalwork. Hypothetical reconstruction of the belt and sheath assembly with curved edges found in the La Cerrosa-Lagaña cave. Spal Magazine Why is it important. This belt is something like the missing link in the evolution of military equipment: it demonstrates that pieces that we traditionally consider “purely Roman” actually have a foreign origin. Their discovery allows researchers to precisely trace the process of technological transfer, documenting how the functionality of Hispanic defensive equipment was absorbed, perfected and standardized by the Roman State to equip its legions throughout the Empire. Context. The discovery was not found in a military camp, but in a deep and difficult to access gallery in a cave. The context points to liturgical: the research team proposes that it was possibly a captured enemy who was the object of a sacrifice or ritual (possibly a captured Roman soldier), as an offering to the Cantabrian divinities in the face of the advancing Roman army. The dating places the human remains around the 1st century BC. This type of deposits in natural cavities reflects the religious practices of the people of the north and the Plateau, who considered the caves as thresholds to the underworld. The main hypothesis. The thesis supported by the research team is: Technological hybridization, insofar as the belt was not manufactured in Roman workshops, but in Vaccean and Celtiberian workshops (pre-Roman peoples of the Plateau). It later became the standard belt of the Roman legions, the cingulumto address the need for more flexible and durable equipment. The evolution. There is evidence that the belt plates resemble others found in Roman military camps such as Numancia and Renieblas, what it suggests that local artisans developed prototypes that Rome adopted and standardized. Yes, but. Beyond the doubt of the ethnic identity of the buried soldier, since it is unknown whether he was a Roman soldier who had adopted the local uniform for its greater efficiency or a native warrior who served as an auxiliary to the Roman topas, the key lies in the origin of the cingulum. The main thesis points out that the model was the father of the Roman belt par excellence, but more findings are missing from other parts of Europe to confirm that this evolution occurred exclusively in Hispania and was not a parallel process on other borders of the Empire. In Xataka | A cargo sunk in a Swiss lake 2,000 years ago confirms it: the Roman legions did not deprive themselves of anything In Xataka | We have been arguing for years about the origin of writing. Now an Asturian cave can settle the debate Cover | Jametlene Reskp and Spal (Study of a ritual deposit from the Asturian-Cantabrian wars: the set of the curved-edged dagger from the La Cerrosa-Lagaña cave (Suarias, Asturias, Spain) as a link between the indigenous dagger belts and the Roman cingulum)

It took Shenzhen 20 years to have a subway. And 20 others have the best metro in the world

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The first time I traveled to Shenzhen, what was repeated to me most when I looked at its impressive skyscrapers was that until recently it was a small fishing village. And although it is true that this fact is a bit exaggerated and simplified because well, 330,000 inhabitants is not exactly a village and there was more activity than fishing, the reality is that its growth and transformation into the most technological city in the world it has been brilliant: today they live there more than 17 million people and has seen the birth of colossi such as Huawei, Tencent, DJI or BYD. And of course, the most technological city in the world has one meter at its height, which of course has grown at breakneck speed. Because the history of the transportation network goes hand in hand with the city. But what makes the shenzhen subway It is not so much its size or how quickly it has expanded, but the combination of the previous two with a third variable that rarely appears in the equation: design ambition. While in the West, with rare exceptions, we opt for functional projects that are contained in price and budget, Shenzhen presents entire lines in a few years with stations that seem taken from the cinema. From science fiction cinema. Shenzhen subway today. Shenzhen subway has 635 kilometers long, 441 stations and 17 operating lines, leading the country in network density (0.30 km/km²) and intensity of use (15,000 trips/km/day). And in this tangle, semi-automatic lines coexist with other fully automated and driverless lines. like Line 20 or very fast as Line 11which reaches 120 km/h. As a curiosity, the Shenzhen metro network It is operated by two different companies: Shenzhen Metro Group manages the majority of lines and MTR Corporation of Hong Kong operates Line 4 and the recent Line 13. This is something unusual that adds difficulty to the matter in terms of interoperability. Why is it important. The Shenzhen metro may be unique in its kind, but it is the best argument to demonstrate that speed of execution and quality of design are not incompatible. The third variable in the equation is cost and surprisingly, comparatively it is cheaper: China build for around $250 million per kilometer in purchasing power parity terms, between two and eight times less than Western equivalents like Paris or New York. On the other hand, the Shenzhen metro acts as an urban catalyst: the stations were planned following the TOD modelthat is, promoting urban development around transport stations. That is to say, they serve the city but also make the city. On a global scale, this network is a methodological reference: it is no longer just a matter of engineering, but also about experience, design and territorial strategy. The Eye of Shenzhen, the centerpiece of Gangxia North Station, one of its most iconic elements. Unsplash Context. First of all, a clarification: that fishing village reference usually emphasizes about 30,000 inhabitants in the late 70s, but that figure corresponds to Bao’an County and not the 30,000 of Shenzhen Town, which constituted the original urban core (today Luohu district). The growth is in any case exponential and shows a dispersed demographic base that required territorial reorganization and explains the aggressive growth of the metro network. But if we have mentioned that figure of 330,000 inhabitants that explains the China Global Television Network is because it was that entire area that was designated as Special Economic Zonea plan that provides advantageous conditions to promote economic development (usually economic laws for a free market economy). In short, the laboratory of Chinese capitalism. Wow it worked. Metro planning began in the 1980s, construction in 1998, and the first line opened in December 2004. The beginnings were not quick or easy. The subsoil where the Shenzhen metro is integrated did not help at all: weathered granite, high water table and proximity to the Pearl River Delta, which forced the intensive use of specialized tunnel boring machines, jet grouting and even freeze the ground. Neither is the climate: 35 °C with 90% humidity in summer and recurring typhoons that require oversized drainage systems and watertight gates. The idea of ​​the subway was born before the megacity it is today: in 1983, Mayor Liang Xiang visited Singapore and On his return he made it clear: around Shennan Avenue I would leave a green belt of 30 meters on each side and reserve 16 meters in the center to build it. In 1988 there was a formal light rail proposal. Shenzhen Metro Group was established in July 1998 and construction began that same year. Six years later, on December 28, 2004, he opened the Line 1 with 17.4 kilometers and 15 stations. It was a modest system: four-car trains, 15-minute frequencies and limited coverage to the central corridor on two lines. How have they done it. Building an average of 30 kilometers a year is simply an unthinkable pace in Europe. The secret is in a large scale prefabrication which allows them to be made in the factory and assembled on site like Lego XXL and meticulous planning from design to maintenance. The avant-garde design of the stations is not accidental but has every intention: for Shenzhen, its subway is its showcase of the identity it wants to project to the world. An example: the Shenzhen eyea spectacular skylight following the Fermat Spiral or the ceiling that simulates an origami of Universiade or maritime integration of the station Sea World between Lines 2 and 12. The business model is Rail + Property imported from Hong Kong and is equally interesting because it has allowed it to grow without depending on waiting for state/municipal budgets: the operator builds the subway and in exchange receives the right to develop the land around the stations: apartments, offices, shopping centers. Those real estate income are what pay for the railway investment. Tap to go to the post What’s to come. As if the Shenzhen metro itself were … Read more

One piece of information perfectly summarizes the book bubble in Spain: 95% of those published do not recover costs

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The Spanish publishing sector closed 2025 with historic figures: 76 million printed books sold and a turnover that was close to 1,250 million euros. A record. The cold water came a few weeks later, at the annual booksellers’ conference, where it was certified that almost half of the titles available on the shelves had sold absolutely nothing. Who says so. The data was presented by CEGAL, the Spanish Confederation of Guilds and Associations of Booksellers, in theXXVII Congress of Bookstores held in Valencia in February 2026and has been extracted from LibriRed, the confederation’s own tool, which monitors in real time the final sales in more than 1,000 independent bookstores and chains throughout the country. The figure includes novels, essays and comics, both new releases and catalog contents, but (importantly, we are talking about physical bookstores) Amazon and school textbooks are excluded. The specific data. They are that revealing: 13.2% of the titles sell a copy throughout the year. 19.4% do not exceed ten. Only 4.5% of the books that reach bookstores reach 100 copies sold, a threshold that often does not even cover the costs of a launch. In other words, 95.5% of the books available in Spanish bookstores do not have the slightest economic impact on the publishing industry, not to mention that they are directly deficient. In Xataka If you hate justified text, we have good news: you’re most likely right You bill more, you sell the same. This is the paradox that the CgK consultancy put on the table with its Book Market Data 2025 report: The sector reached close to €1,250 million in turnover in 2025, 4% more than the previous year, which represents a historical record. However, total units sold rose just 0.2%, and novelty units sold on average 2% less per title than in 2024. Further analysis of the report They spoke of a statistical illusion typical of inflationary markets, because what has actually grown is the average price of the book. And this benefits the large groups, with catalogs in high rotation. Why is this happening? In its analysis of the Cedal report, El País collected statements from editors such as Enrique Redel, from Impedimenta, who affirms that there are titles that are not published to sell, but to take up space on the shelves, especially by large groups. The strategy is to publish many titles assuming that most will fail, hoping that one or two best sellers compensate for the losses of the rest. More than 90,000 books are published each year in Spain, about 240 newspapers, and theReturn rates range between 30% and 40%. It is a feverish cycle of full-speed rotation, paradoxically inconsistent with the calmest of cultural activities. {“videoId”:”x7zmsee”,”autoplay”:false,”title”:”11 WEBSITES to DOWNLOAD FREE EBOOKS for your KINDLE Xataka TV”, “tag”:”Kindle”, “duration”:”321″} Who can afford it. The two large publishing groups, Penguin Random House and Planeta, in whose shadow it has been for decades the Spanish industry, and which account for more than 40% of the copies sold in bookstores. Fleeing this suffocating single direction are independent bookstores, which offer more than twice the variety of titles than the large chains: more than 525,000 titles compared to 229,633. In this way, visibility is concentrated in a few titles that rotate for a longer period of time, while the rest are buried in excessive catalogs. Some reasons. When looking for factors that exacerbate this situation (the two large groups can suffocate the market with their continuous rotation, but there must be more compelling reasons for so few sales of so many titles), CEGAL points to self-publishing: publishing has been democratized, but the reader’s attention has not. A book without a publisher behind it, without distribution, without promotion and without prior prescription is born practically invisible to the market, and it is normal that many of these launches do not sell anything. ¿AI provides tools to multiply these throws effortlessly? The percentages skyrocket exponentially. In Xataka They are not your imagination: the best-selling books are increasingly simpler and contain less elaborate sentences The difference with other cultural media is in the abundance of second chances. A film that does not perform in theaters can recover the investment in streaming, where consumption already rivals that of theaters. The book that does not sell in its first weeks on the shelf returns to the publisher, returns to bookstores in negligible quantities and is often physically destroyed after months languishing in warehouses. Perhaps finding new ways of dissemination and renewed lives for books would be the solution to this veritable overdose of books without readers. Header | Photo ofBree AnneinUnsplash (function() { window._JS_MODULES = window._JS_MODULES || {}; var headElement = document.getElementsByTagName(‘head’)(0); if (_JS_MODULES.instagram) { var instagramScript = document.createElement(‘script’); instagramScript.src=”https://platform.instagram.com/en_US/embeds.js”; instagramScript.async = true; instagramScript.defer = true; headElement.appendChild(instagramScript); – The news One piece of information perfectly summarizes the book bubble in Spain: 95% of those published do not recover costs was originally published in Xataka by John Tones .

Ukraine has turned Russia into a fearsome air force

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In 1991, during the Gulf War, the United States discovered something uncomfortable: despite its total air superiority, it could not prevent Iraq from continuing to launch scud missiles from mobile platforms that appeared and disappeared in the desert. That frustration left a clear lesson For military strategists: in modern warfare, it is not enough to dominate the air, you must constantly adapt to an enemy that also learns. From questioned strength to real threat. During the first stages of the invasion of Ukraine, Russian aviation was perceived like a disappointment unable to achieve air superiority, which led many Western analysts to perhaps hastily underestimate it. However, with the passage of time, that vision has started to change disturbingly, especially in Europe, where aviation security experts have focused on something that is no longer an intuition: that the conflict has not weakened Russia, but rather the has forced to learn. Accumulated experience, system improvements and tactical adaptation have transformed a force that seemed limited into a much more dangerous and credible actor than it was before 2022. War as a laboratory. They remembered on Insider that, far from collapsing, Russian aviation has used Ukraine as a real training environment where pilots and crews have gained experience in high-intensity combat. Although it has lost aircraft, it has retained a large part of its qualified personnel and has compensated for those losses with sustained production of new aircraft, which has allowed it to maintain and even expand its fleet. This process has corrected one of its greatest historical weaknesses, the lack of flight hours, turning its pilots into more prepared fighters for complex scenarios. More reach, less risk. One of the most significant changes has been the evolution of his attack capacitywhich now increasingly relies on long-range weapons and systems that allow you to hit without directly exposing yourself. We are talking about advanced missiles, gliding bombs and remote attacks that have reduced the need to penetrate defended airspace, greatly complicating the enemy response. This way of fighting has not only proven to be effective in Ukraine, but also poses a worrying scenario. for future conflictswhere control of the air no longer depends solely on physically dominating it. Constant pressure from the air. They counted on ukrainian media that, in parallel, Russia has intensified its air campaign with massive and increasingly sophisticated use of drones and missiles, launching thousands of devices and perfecting saturation tactics to overwhelm defenses. Coordinated attacks, changes in flight patterns and the combination of different types of weapons have made it possible to maintain continuous pressure on infrastructure and the civilian population, generating not only material but also psychological wear. This strategy turns air into space permanent threatwhere the defense can never relax. A more complex threat. If you will, the result is a Russian air force that, although it still has structural limitations and does not match NATO in a direct confrontation, has become much scariest and most difficult to counteract. The combination of strengthened air defense, better coordination between systems and a more adaptive doctrine presents a scenario for its enemies in which achieving air superiority will be much more expensive and risky. In other words, a paradox has developed and is beginning to take hold, one where Ukraine has not only resisted Russian aviation, but, by forcing it to evolve, has contributed to turning it into a more sophisticated and persistent threat to the European military balance. Image | Alan Wilsonparfaits In Xataka | If fog was deadly in Ukraine’s winter, spring is offering Russia a key advantage: greenery In Xataka | Ukraine is close to what no one has achieved in a war: shooting down missiles for less than a million dollars

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