“We probably have more than one double somewhere on the planet”

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The idea that we all have a “double“Exactly walking down some street on another continent has fueled literature, cinema and urban legends for centuries. we call doppelganger and, although you may think that it is the result of science fiction, the reality is that there is a solid biological explanation for this idea. It’s proven. Top-level Spanish researchers, such as geneticist Carles Lalueza-Fox from the Institute of Evolutionary Biology and Manel Esteller, director of the Josep Carreras Leukemia Research Institute, demonstrated that this phenomenon is not magic, but is pure genetic statistics. In order to understand this phenomenon, the researchers analyzed 32 couples of “doubles” who were not related to each other and compared their DNA, epigenetics and also the microbiome. What they saw. The team not only relied on the visual perception that two people looked too similar, but used facial recognition algorithms to measure the objectivity of the real resemblance. In this way, of the sixteen couples that the algorithms classified as ‘extremely similar’, nine of them shared multiple genetic variations that are known as ‘single nucleotide polymorphisms‘. But these similarities were not distributed at random, but were concentrated in the genes responsible for sculpting the forehead, eyes, nose, mouth and chin. That is, these sixteen couples gave results comparable to those of real biological twins. There is a nuance. If their DNA is so similar, why aren’t they identical in everything? The study resolved that the subtle differences between these doubles are due to epigenetics, which is basically how DNA is expressed depending on the lifestyle or environment in which we develop, and their microbiome, which are the bacteria that live in your body. A genetic puzzle. This study is not an isolated case, but the scientific community has been mapping the architecture of the human face for years, discovering that the combination of genes that defines our face is finite. In this way, as the probability of the genetic dice landing in the same combination increases exponentially. The experts. One of the authors of this study, Carles Lalueza-Fox, granted a recent interview with El País and pointed out that, after analyzing the 200 most important genes for facial structure and calculating the probabilities, they saw that “we probably have more than a double somewhere on the planet.” Now this phenomenon is a little more popular basically because social networks are making it easier to find our doubles. Image | Anton Malanin 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

We thought it was a bend in the Rhine. In reality it was a huge Roman water channel that survived the fall of the Empire for 300 years.

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If there is something for which Rome has remained in memory, it is for its impressive road layout throughout their empire, but be careful because in hydraulic engineering they were not far behind either, the aqueducts of Segovia and Tarragona serve as close examples. It is true that aqueducts are striking constructions due to their dimensions, but there is another that rivals them in size and capacity to move water: canals. In fact, a research team just “discovered” that what looked like an old abandoned Rhine channel was actually an ancient Roman canal. They had an unappealable clue on the terrain: it is rare to see such a long and straight line in nature. The discovery. In southwestern Germany, on an agricultural plain next to the Rhine River, an interdisciplinary research team from the Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz, the Christian-Albrechts-University of Kiel and the Hessen Monument Office have found something that has been buried for more than a thousand years: an artificial Roman canal 15 meters wide and 2.5 meters deep that connected the Rhine to a small military fort called the burgus of Trebur-Astheim. Why is it important. Because the Trebur-Astheim Canal is one of the few known navigable canals north of the Alps during the Roman period and the Early Middle Ages, demonstrating that the Roman Empire in Germania modified the landscape more intensely and lastingly than previously believed. The presence of Rome was more than a mere occupation. As explains the research teamthe burgus of Trebur-Astheim probably functioned as a central logistical node for the Landgraben region, where cargo ships of the time could dock and goods were redistributed around the area on other vessels. This demonstrates a global vision of the empire for supplying its troops through infrastructure that goes beyond the roads. Context. The consolidated Roman presence in the Hessische Ried began in the 1st century AD, under the Flavian emperors. The fort of Trebur-Astheim was built between 364 and 375 AD under the command of Emperor Valentinian I as part of his plan for military deployment along the Rhine. with a goal: contain the Alamanni, a group of tribes settled on the right bank of the river. In fact, the Rhineland border is clearly demarcated by watchtowers and forts, as can be seen on the UNESCO World Heritage List. In detail. In short, the town of Trebur-Astheim was practically a protected inland port: its dimensions were similar to those of the Roman navigable canal Fossa Corbulonis (present-day Netherlands) and made it suitable for different types of Roman river vessels, such as military type Mainz-A or the cargo boats found near Xanten, both with drafts of between 0.35 and 0.65 meters, well below the depth of the channel. Carbon 14 has revealed that, from the sediments of the canal, it was in operation from Roman times until the 7th-8th centuries AD, when it became clogged with mud and was abandoned. In fact, the large amount of sediment in the area forced the channel to be dredged frequently for centuries: after the Romans, the team points out that the Merovingian and Carolingian communities exploited it and maintained the infrastructure. Yes, but. The excavation carried out in 2024 did not reach sufficient depth to physically see the walls of the canal due to the high water table and the amount of sediment. That is to say, the dimensions that we know have been estimated indirectly, something that is common in underwater archaeology. In this sense, a complete excavation is pending to obtain direct data on the construction of the canal. In Xataka | Some go to the gym to do legs and others to discover an impressive mansion from the Roman Empire In Xataka | The Romans found a macabre and sophisticated way to use perfume: breaking pigeons’ necks (made of glass) Cover | Wolfgang Pehlemann and An Artificial Canal Connecting the Roman Burgus at Trebur-Astheim (Upper Rhine Graben, Germany) with the River Rhine

prevent you from being “cooked” inside

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Summer is practically here and the thermometers do not stop rising with a heat wave that is at the doors of our country. But beyond the unbearable heat, another of the sensations that we can experience on these dates is the loss of appetite or we even see how our digestion becomes heavier when we eat something heavy. And behind this predilection for salads and the rejection of heavy dishes hides a sophisticated thermoregulatory survival mechanism that science has been studying for years. A grandmother’s advice. When these times arrive, light meals such as the much-loved pasta salads appear on the table, but the reality is that it is not traditional advice, but rather it is a recommendation supported by scientific evidence to avoid heat stress, optimize our metabolism and protect our cardiovascular health. That is why in these coming months the largest meals should be a little further away for our own health. The internal engine. To understand the reasons why we must opt ​​for light meals, we have to go inside our body. Here when we eat, our body needs to expend energy to digest, absorb and metabolize them, and this process, known as thermogenesis induced by diet, generates internal heat. In this way, when we consume large or high-calorie meals, our heart rate rises and blood production doubles during the following two hours to assist the digestive system. Yes to this cardiovascular overload Add to that an extreme ambient temperature that sometimes exceeds 40 degrees, the cocktail can be dangerous. It is studied. A study published in 2022 showed that a high-fat diet dramatically increases oxidative stress in muscles and doubles the risk of heat stroke when exposed to a temperature of 41°C. And, as we have mentioned before, heavy digestion causes greater oxygen consumption and an exacerbated generation of internal heat that predisposes the body to thermal stress. The heaviest. To all this, it must be noted that overeating or eating foods rich in saturated fat during the summer triggers immediate consequences, such as digestive overload. This basically happens because the body tries to send blood to the skin in order to cool down and reduce its body temperature (that’s why we turn red), which delays the emptying of the stomach and makes us feel very heavy. But in addition, foods rich in fat can generate endotoxemia and inflammation after finishing eating, accompanied by drowsiness that can last up to four hours after eating. The advice in summer. In the face of heavy digestion, science points out a clear path that we should follow: extreme hydration, fiber and the Mediterranean diet. The historic PREDIMED study confirmed that this dietary pattern, naturally light and based on healthy fats and vegetables, reduces by 30% the incidence of cardiovascular diseases and reverses the metabolic syndrome that can arise in summer. The objectives. The first of them is hydration, which must be very aggressive, but not only through drink, but also through food. Here there is food such as cucumber or watermelon, which have a composition of more than 90% water and are presented as essential tools to maintain basal temperature. Our microbiota. Our intestinal bacteria also suffer from summer routine changes, as seen in a recent VHIR study carried out with more than a thousand people in Spain, which showed that a diet based on fruits, vegetables and nuts promotes a much more diverse microbiota and prevents dysbiosis. On the contrary, ultra-processed foods, alcohol and sugary drinks, which can increase in the summer, reduce bacterial diversity, bringing our intestine closer to inflammatory patterns. Images | Lee Myungseong In Xataka | Reheating the same container of food in the microwave over and over again has a great benefit: bacteria

Since the 70s, every time it rains heavily, west London floods without anyone being able to do anything. Until, in 2023, the beavers appeared

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The truth is that the headline is irresistible: a family of beavers have resolved in a handful of months a problem that London Underground engineers had been unable to solve for years. Rodents 1 – humans 0. The problem is that, as almost always, the story is more complex. It is true that engineers have spent years trying to find the best way to fix it, but the truth is that they did find a way to do it. And that way, it included beavers. What really happened to the London Underground beavers? On October 11, 2023, a family of five Eurasian beavers were released into Paradise Field, a former golf course west of the British capital. In that area of ​​Ealing and every time it rained, the Costons Brook stream overflowed and caused enormous flooding. Since the 70s, whenever it rained heavily, the area became an improvised swimming pool. 2024 was the first year in which this did not happen. “The UK’s first urban beaver count”. Sourced from wild populations in Scotland and financed by the city’s mayor’s office, the project has been a success. Now, in fact, There are now eight beavers that live in the area. Why has it happened? That beavers have “beavered.” Little by little they have built a dense network of dams that retain and release the water slowly, turning the Paradise Field into a sponge. This has protected the subway tracks, the station and the rest of the urban environment. Why is it interesting? For many things, but especially for money. Between 2015 and 2021, the United Kingdom spent about 2.6 billion pounds in flood defenses and estimates spoke of doubling that figure. The beaver colony and urban park system are a bargain by comparison. And not only at the urban level, everything is said. The River Otter trial, in Devon (2015-2020), does allow us to talk about effectiveness and points to a reduction in flood peaks of 30-60%. Can we learn something from it? In reality, we will have no other choice: for years There are people releasing beavers all over Spain. The question is whether we can do something to solve the eternal problem of recurring floods (in a context in which DANAs are going to become increasingly frequent and intense). But, of course, for that we have to understand well what has happened. It’s not like five beavers snuck into London’s sewers like ninja turtles and solved everything. A team of engineers and biologists have designed an intervention in which beavers have turned out to be wonderful. It remains to be seen what happens in the future and begin to accept that it is still better to collaborate with nature than to continue fighting against it. Image | Xataka In Xataka | After centuries of disappearance, there are people releasing beavers into the Tagus and other rivers in Spain. The problem is that we don’t know who

More and more people are going to concerts with AirPods in their ears. The reason is simple: they function as a stopper

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For some time now, it has not been a completely strange image to see someone at festivals or concerts with AirPods. You’re not listening to Spotify (that would be weird, frankly), but using them as earplugs to muffle the noise. The trend has spread to such an extent that Apple now has an official name and has cataloged the trend with technical documentation. But… do they really work? Since when? On October 28, 2024, along with the first wave of Apple Intelligence, iOS 18.1 arrived. In that updatethe AirPods Pro 2 received three new functions: hearing test, OTC hearing aid mode with FDA authorization and the one that interests us: Active Hearing Protection. Apple had been presenting it for months in keynotesbut finally, with the software came the legitimization of the company that they had been observing the behavior of users at concerts for some time. How it works. Apple’s official documentation Sets three levels of protection depending on which mode is active. Transparency, which lets you hear the stage through the microphones, attenuates between 11 and 15 decibels. Adaptive mode, which mixes Cancellation and Transparency depending on the environment, raises that figure to between 25 and 29 dB. Pure Active Noise Cancellation averages 27 dB according to eardrum measurements from 2023, although the attenuation is not linear: at low frequencies there are notable improvements compared to the first generation; At mid and high frequencies, performance varies with the physical fit of the headphone. No more than 85. And there is an even more specific mode: the algorithm in Adaptive Transparency (an activatable mode within Transparency) detects the 85 dB threshold and compresses everything above it. In a room at 110 dB (usual level at rock concerts or electronic festivals), that means reducing the peaks to around 82-85 dB. The subjective result described by media such as TechRadarwho tested them in a room with 114.7 dB peak, is that the sound is comfortable and with good nuances for bass and percussion. On the AirPods Pro 3, released in September 2025, the dynamic range even improves. Of course, if the volume consistently exceeds 110-115 dB, even with 25-29 dB of attenuation, the user is exposed to hearing fatigue after ten minutes using AirPods Pro 2 in adaptive mode. That is to say: AirPods reduce damage and are a better option than going to the concert without anything. But they are a worse option than a calibrated hi-fi plug. The fashion of the plug at concerts. According to Loop manufacturer datathe main users of hi-fi earplugs at concerts are young people millennials and Gen Z. Videos with tags like “hot girls wear earplugs to raves“, and the earplugs appear in lists of “rave essentials” as a meme. Hearing protection is no longer a thing for older people or sound engineers, and is now a hallmark of festival identity. In fact, it is Loop itself, founded in Belgium in 2016, that has pushed this change. Their Experience models reduce 17 dB with flat attenuation, which means that the tonal signature of the concert is maintained: everything sounds the same but at a lower volume. The comparisons point Because Loop lags behind specialty brands like EarPeace or Alpine in pure attenuation quality, but the difference is negligible to the non-music user. Design, as with Airpods, plays an important role in its success. Of course, the difference is that people already have the Apple device for other purposes. Why Airpods are not earplugs. The most relevant technical difference between a hi-fi earplug and AirPods is not in the number of decibels, but in how the sound reaches the ear. A plug like Loop or Alpine attenuates acoustically: the physical material absorbs sound energy before it reaches the ear canal. AirPods, on the other hand, capture external sound with microphones, process it digitally and reproduce it modified through the headphones’ speakers, so there is a dependence on the battery and the physical fit in the ear, just as Apple itself warns. In Xataka | Gen Z has become so disengaged from addiction that it is holding daytime raves with coffee and sound healing.

China has just published a manual to hunt them from 3,000 km

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Japan designed the battle of midway convinced that the distance and dispersion of his fleet gave him an advantage. The problem is that the United States had deciphered the plan and converted that distance in a trap in 1942: four Japanese aircraft carriers ended up at the bottom of the Pacific in just a few hours. In naval warfare, staying away has never been a guarantee of safety. Retreat is no longer a refuge. For years, the United States’ response to China’s military buildup in the Pacific was clear: move away its aircraft carriers and large naval assets from the Asian coast. The reasoning seemed sound. The further away they were from Chinese ballistic, hypersonic, and cruise missiles, the harder it would be to destroy them. Bases like Guam They thus became a kind of strategic sanctuary… until Beijing just made something uncomfortable clear: distance no longer guarantees security. The Chinese manual. A group of Chinese military scientists, led by Gao Tianyun from the National University of Defense Technology in Nanjing, has published a study which describes how to destroy an aircraft carrier battle group at 3,000 kilometers. The figure is by no means coincidental. It is practically the exact distance between Shanghai and Guam. What is striking is not only the ambition of the plan, but the implicit message: the refuge that Washington chose to protect its most valuable ships is already within the threat map that China says it is studying. The great chain of death. The study does not present a “miracle weapon,” but rather something more dangerous: a complete system. First locate, then follow, and then saturate. The proposal combines satellites, drones, radar aircraft, submarines, ships and signals intelligence to build a chain of constant monitoring of an enemy naval group. Once the objective was set, the real key would arrive: a massive attack with coordinated missilessharing data in flight, differentiating decoys from real targets and assigning targets from multiple angles of attack. The war of exhausting defenses. The Chinese logic is not so much to pierce the armor of an aircraft carrier as to break the defensive architecture that protects it. An American battle group depends on Aegis destroyersinterceptor missiles, electronic warfare, decoys and CIWS systems last line. The problem is that all these systems have limits. The goal of a coordinated swarm is not to be unstoppable, but to make the defense run out of timewithout radar capacity or without sufficient interceptors. In other words, it is a war of exhaustion in seconds. Hiding is no longer enough. Here is possibly the central idea that worries Washington. The United States dispersed its ships and moved its aircraft carriers away to avoid having “all their eggs in one basket,” making it difficult for China to locate and attack them. But he chinese study issues a very specific warning: hiding and dispersing does not necessarily mean being safe. If the detection and tracking chain works, distance ceases to be a barrier and simply becomes a logistical variable. The most difficult point. Of course, work does not mean that China can do it tomorrow. The analysis itself makes it clear that the problem is not the range of the missiles, but maintain targeting data precise information about a naval group that moves, maneuvers, camouflages itself, emits interference and deploys decoys. Why hit a moving target? 3,000 kilometers It remains one of the most complex tasks of modern warfare, and although the theory now exists, the practice is a very different matter. More message than capacity. Because perhaps that is precisely the point. Post this study It doesn’t seem like a technical demonstration so much as a strategic statement. If you like, Beijing is also saying something very concrete to Washington: move your aircraft carriers Any further does not solve the problem, it only changes its form. In other words, the new Pacific war is no longer about getting close enough to strike, but about proving that even thousands of miles away no one is really out of reach. Image | US Navy 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 In Xataka | Japan has crossed a red line in the Pacific with the US: China has just responded with warships closer than ever

found a 2.5 ton meteorite

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In outer space there are no borders, but once an extraterrestrial flying object (whether identified or not) falls to Earth, things change. And even more so if we talk about a meteorite, an authentic precious stone that fell from the sky because well, apart from being a space souvenir that helps decipher what is in outer space, they are made of materials as coveted as pallasite or even remains of other celestial bodies. Thus, anyone lets a meteorite escape from their domain and it is not because they do not try: without going any further, a 2.5 ton meteorite almost travels halfway around the world pretending to be a decoration for the garden. Where you see a meteorite, I see a garden ornament. In the middle of a routine inspection at the Customs of a port in Saint Petersburg, the Russian Federal Service was found with a large wooden box in which there was supposedly a garden statue. Discrepancies in its declared origin and value led staff to open it and find a large gray rock. The relevant forensic examination confirmed that the fragment came from the Aletai meteoritediscovered in 1898 in northwest China, and has an estimated value of 323 million rubles (about 3.8 million euros). Why is it important. Because if that sample is sold to a private collector, that sample disappears and Aletai is an enormously valuable meteorite: belongs to an extremely rare chemical group, IIIE-an, which contains anomalous amounts of gold, cobalt and iridium, making it unique and irreplaceable. It is 4.5 billion years old, the same age as our Solar System, so it constitutes a good source of information on the formation of planets. Context. The Aletai is anything but just another meteorite (if there can be ordinary meteorites). With a total recovered mass of approximately 74,500 kg, it is one of the largest known iron meteorites. Its fragments are scattered over a radius of more than 400 kilometers in the Xinjiang region, which constitutes another exceptionality: it is one of the largest dispersal fields known on Earth, which has given rise to curious hypotheses about his careerlike it was similar to that of a bouncing stone. That would explain why there is no central crater and why the fragments are distributed linearly. The unanswered questions. The customs authorities have not revealed the identity of the people who were going to export the piece or who was going to receive it in the United Kingdom, nor have they explained how that fragment arrived in Russia or where it was before, given that the meteorite was originally discovered in China. What we do know is that the rock had entered Russia from an unidentified country belonging to the Eurasian Economic Union (where Russia itself is located, but also Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan or Kyrgyzstan), which allowed the shipment to be moved with few controls until it reached Saint Petersburg. Russia has launched a criminal investigation for smuggling strategic goods, a crime punishable by up to three years in prison. In Xataka | There has been a Soviet submarine sunk in Norway for 40 years. The problem is that they have just discovered that it leaks radiation In Xataka | In 2018, a mysterious flare illuminated the Bering Sea: it was the largest asteroid explosion in 30 years Cover | jun jin luo and vkvideo

German scientists have discovered that the Earth has been receiving radioactive fallout for more than 100 million years due to the violent “kiss” of two supernovae.

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Planet Earth is home to the ocean depths a radioactive plutonium deposit that could only be formed in space, during a violent cosmic cataclysm. Although there are reserves of this radioactive dust at great depths, it has been proven that it continues to rain down on us today. That would lead one to think that it was a recent cataclysm in astronomical terms. However, according to a recently published study by German scientistsit was hundreds of millions of years ago. Two isotopes to understand everything. Plutonium-244 does not exist naturally on Earth. In fact, the only isotope of this element that can be produced naturally in some geological processes is plutonium-239. and it does so mostly in the form of traces. Plutonium-244 is the heaviest isotope of this element. That is, the one with the most neutrons. It is known that it is usually formed by cosmic phenomena during something known as the r process, where lighter atoms quickly absorb neutrons into their nuclei. Generally, the event that usually gives rise to this phenomenon is the kilonova, an explosion resulting from the merger of two neutron stars. In the process, curium-247 is also formed, which is why these scientists have also analyzed its levels. Taking this data into account, they have discovered that the explosion in question must have occurred more than 100 million years ago, but less than one billion years ago. And, also, that the radioactive fallout has not stopped since then. The key is in the ferromanganese crust. Ferromanganese bark It is a layer of the ocean floor which is formed when metals dissolved in sea water, such as iron and manganese, are deposited and solidify. This occurs at a fairly slow rate, with growth of between 1 and 10 millimeters per million years. The deposits do not only have iron and manganese. Mixed with them are other substances that have fallen into the sea at that time. Therefore, this crust is a perfect chemical photograph of the history of our planet. A section with surprise. The authors of this study analyzed a section of this crust extracted at a depth of 4,830 meters in 1976. This had already been analyzed previously and had pointed out something surprising. And, in addition to plutonium, iron-60 was also found, another radioisotope associated with supernova explosions, which has a fairly short half-life of 2.6 million years. This figure means that, every 2.6 million years, half of the initial atoms of this isotope will have decayed. In another 2.6 million years half of what remained and so on. Since it is a fairly short half-life, it was concluded at the time that the kilonova that caused the fall of radioactive dust took place about 3 million years ago. However, the authors of the study just published debunked that hypothesis. Half-life of the study isotopes Curio to the rescue. The formation of plutonium-244 when neutron stars merge is always accompanied by the formation of curium-247. The plutonium isotope has a half-life of 81 million years, while that of curium “only” has a half-life of 15.6 million years. When analyzing the ferromanganese bark sample, these researchers found no curium. Therefore, it must have completely disintegrated. That places the explosion more than 100 million years ago. Be careful, remember that the half-life is the time it takes for half of the radioactive material to decay. Every 15.6 million years, half of it disintegrates, so in 100 million years there should be no curium left, but a lot of plutonium, which only lost half of it 19 million years ago. For plutonium to completely disappear, it would take 1 billion years. What about iron? The reason why there is iron-60 in the sample, despite having a lower half-life than that of curium-247, is that they originated in different events. In fact, the level changes of iron do not coincide with those of plutonium. On the other hand, it has been seen that plutonium continues to appear uniformly in the upper layers, hence it has been concluded that the radioactive fallout has not ended. At least it hadn’t ended in 1976 and that in astronomical terms was before yesterday. And now what? These scientists think that the cataclysm that released this long radioactive fallout must have been immense. Possibly even affected life on Earth. But at the moment it is something that cannot be known. We will have to continue investigating to have the answer. Image | University of Warwick/Mark Garlick | B. Schröder/HZDR/NASA, ESA, J. Hester, A. Loll/ASU In Xataka | Gravitational waves work their magic: we are closer to revealing the enigmas of neutron stars

The best websites to download free applications and other software safely

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We bring you a small list with the 14 best websites to download applications and programs safelyso you can find the tools you need for your computer. Some pages of this type can end up playing tricks on you by installing programs that you did not want without your permission, so it is a good idea to have on hand those that are safe and recommended. Here, the recommendation is always download the programs from the official website as far as possible. But sometimes, when you want to install more than one or want to find different types of tools, it can also be useful to turn to third-party repositories, and sometimes even the developers themselves may upload their tools there. GitHub We start with GitHub, which continues to be one of the reference portals to find and download open source projects. Its goal is to offer a platform for developers to upload their creations, which can range from tools to games. On the Github pages you will find the source code of these creations, so that everyone can freely access them. In the profiles of most programs uploaded to Github repositories you can also find download sectionswhere you can download the source code or installer of each application or tool. They are clean and safe installers, controlled directly by the developers, who are the ones who decide to offer their program for free. SourceForge It is, together with Github, the other great platform for hosting open source programs. In it, developers will be able to show the rest of the users the code of their tools, and you will also have a download section to download them on the platforms for which they are compatible. It has a voting and comment system so you can see the opinion of other users about each of the projects, and a search engine so you can find the one you need. In addition, in the file for each program you have its license, the list of updates, screenshots and everything you need. AlternativeTo This website has been a great reference for years for those who want find applications similar to others. Come on, if you want an alternative to a certain application, search for that program and it will show you a list of all those that are similar. In both the reference app and the alternatives you will have sheets that tell you about them, and links for downloads. They do not host the programs, they take you to the links of their official websites, notifying you if there is any warning that the tool has recently contained a virus. European Alternatives This is another page where you can find alternatives to popular applications and services, but it focuses on offer you European alternatives. Thus, if for your privacy you prefer to search European alternatives to browsers, office services or social networks, this is the portal to visit. Ninite Ninite It has been one of the most recommended websites for downloading applications for a few years, especially when you need to download several at once and don’t want to have to deal with dozens of downloads. Ninite offers you a single installer to install multiple applications at once selected by you. This makes it an essential portal to equip new computers. Its repertoire of applications is small, but just by entering the website you can see a list with all the available tools organized by categories. So you just have to choose the applications you want to installand then the website will generate a link for you to download them all. MajorGeeks This is a website specialized in the dissemination of freeware, which is what proprietary software is called that, without having to have open source, decides to disseminate completely free of charge. This means that it is the creators themselves who have decided to distribute it for free. All programs offered are of high qualityalthough the catalog is not very extensive. The appearance of the page is old, but keeps updating with great frequency. In addition, this design also means that you can access it from any device. You will install all the applications easily without an installer that tries to sneak in additions. APKMirror All the websites that we have told you so far are designed for computer applications. But this is the most important website to download Android apps. It is the best repository of APK files that you are going to find, although I already warn you that sometimes browsing it is a little confusing due to the lot of advertising it has. The website of this service has an index with the latest app updates, and also a search engine and a category system in which you can discover new applications or games. In addition, you can also find to download the different versions that the same application has had. F-Droid Possibly this is the great alternative to APKMirror when it comes to offering you installable files for your Android mobile. It is another of the pages where you will find the same apps as in the official application stores, but also other completely free ones that are not in them. Flathub This is the reference application store for those looking for Flatpak apps for GNU/Linux. On this website you will find the latest versions of your favorite Linux applications, which They will work for any distribution that you are using. SnapFiles A repository to download all types of applications, with different categories for different types of free app licenselike one for freeware and another for shareware. It also gives you a list of latest releases and some useful app suggestions so you can discover new programs. It also includes a category for portable applications that do not require installation, something useful if you want to carry the most useful ones on a USB. In addition, it also has a list of the best rated ones. In each program you will be able to see … Read more

There was a time when having a thermometer in the car was a luxury. This is how this ingenious invention solved it in the rearview mirror

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Today we have basic elements in our cars that have remained almost in the same place for decades. For example: the thermometer. For many years we have been able to know what temperature it is outside from the comfort of our car (although sometimes we wonder if the sensor works as it should). However, long before this element was incorporated into the instrument panel or the central screen of our car, some manufacturers opted for another place: under the driver’s side mirror. And at a time when analogue predominated, there was no other choice. The luxury America of the seventies The analog thermometer in the exterior mirror It was an invention born in the United States, in the context of the great American luxury cars of the seventies. A time when the most prestigious brands in the country competed to offer the most extravagant equipment possible, from Cartier watches integrated into the dashboard to garage opening systems or autonomy indicators. Click on the image to go to the post The mechanism was simple as well as ingenious. And just as they collect On the Curbside Classic forum, where owners and enthusiasts have debated this type of vehicle accessories for years, the thermometer worked using a spiral spring made of a material sensitive to changes in temperature (normally two metals with very different thermal expansion coefficients, such as brass or iron-nickel alloys). One end of the spring was fixed to the inside of the mirror housing; the other, to the small outer drum. As it expanded or contracted with heat or cold, the spring rotated the drum, which displayed the corresponding temperature on a graduated scale. There were no cables or electronics. It was pure precision mechanics. Additionally, some manufacturers included lighting built into the fixture, either through a light bulb or fiber optic which came from the dashboard (like in some Cadillacs). This last method was better, since it did not generate heat and did not alter the thermometer reading. Cadillac first, Lincoln later The brand that first offered this peculiarity was Cadillac, the jewel in the crown of General Motors. According to they count In The Autopian, Cadillacs equipped these thermometers in the side mirror around 1976, even before its direct rival Lincoln. The Cadillac Seville, the brand’s flagship model at that period, was one of those that included this accessory in its equipment, which was also available in other models in the range such as the Eldorado, the DeVille or the Fleetwood. Thermometer in a Lincoln. Image: Vanguard Motor Sales (Instagram) From Hagerty Media, in an article about the 1976 Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham, they say that the thermometer in the side mirror was an option available in that year’s catalog at a price of $18, which placed it among the most affordable extras within a menu of options that included everything from cruise control ($104) to the alarm system ($114) or the radio cassette ($239). The Buick Park Avenue, GM’s other big bet in the premium segment, also carried it from its early years as an equipment package to differentiate itself from the rest. As it appears on the equipment sheetthe original Park Avenue from 1975 already included the mirror with a thermometer along with other elements such as air conditioning and automatic rear leveling in the suspension. For its part, according to account In the middle, Lincoln, Ford’s luxury division, incorporated the illuminated thermometer into its models starting in 1978. A luxury that is difficult to find today Lincoln rearview mirror with built-in thermometer and wiring for automatic mirror control. Image: eBay Just like express the middle the middle, today it is extraordinarily difficult to find these mirrors in good condition. A mirror with thermometer for a 1988 Lincoln Town Car can reach between $140 and $660 on second-hand platforms such as eBay depending on the condition of the part, while one intended for the 1976-1979 Cadillac Seville can exceed $800. The Lincoln thermometer of the eighties already incorporated the double scale Fahrenheit and Celsius, something that the models of the late seventies did not have, as they only showed the temperature on the Fahrenheit scale. However, Cadillac started getting rid of its analog thermometerssince at the beginning of the 80s they already included more advanced temperature systems in their vehicles where the outside temperature was also displayed in digital format. The leap to digital The arrival of increasingly advanced electronic systems made these thermometers obsolete. In the first half of the 1980s, manufacturers they began to integrate digital screens on the dashboards that showed, among other data, the outside temperature. It was the era of “high-tech”, and digital had enormous appeal for the luxury buyer. The first car with digital instrumentation was the Aston Martin Lagondapresented as a prototype in 1976, although its cathode ray tube technology was too expensive for the mass public (imagine how expensive, if buying an Aston Martin wasn’t exactly cheap in itself). It was the arrival of liquid crystal LCD screens, and in particular the technology TN LCDcheaper and lighter, the one that democratized digital panels in cars during the first half of the eighties. From that moment on, show the outside temperature on a display inside the passenger compartment. It went from being a novelty to an increasingly common featurefirst in premium cars and, over the years, in increasingly accessible segments. In the mid-nineties, it was already a relatively common element in mid-high range cars. And if you have ever wondered where the sensor that measures the temperature and that is reflected on your car’s screen is located, usually It’s on the front bumperaway from the heat of the engine. Seen in perspective, the thermometer in the side mirror was a product of its time, but seeing it today, even in images, gives it a glimpse of very picturesque mechanical elegance. Cover image | The Autopian (eBay) In Xataka | Eddie Hall had a Bentley and many millions in the bank: he used both to set the most unlikely … Read more

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