usatoday24

We believed that laboratories and millions were needed to build a GPU. A maker is setting one up at home

July 13, 2026 by usatoday24

For years we have assumed that build a GPU It was a field reserved for companies with advanced factories, engineering teams and million-dollar budgets. It wasn’t an absurd idea: just look at the complexity of any modern graphics card to understand why it seemed out of reach for a person. But what he has done Matthias Balwierzknown as Bitluni, forces us to qualify that certainty. It has not replicated a GeForce nor does it intend to compete with NVIDIA, but it does is building from home a graphics machine with thousands of RISC-V microcontrollers. The first phase brings together 8,192 of those microcontrollers, each linked directly to an RGB LED. This decision makes the montage difficult to fit into the usual categories: the design brings together in the same structure the graphic processing and the surface on which the result must appear. In technical terms, it is designed to act as both a graphics card and a screen, without depending on a separate monitor. Of course, the project remains a partial prototype, still far from the scale and capabilities planned for the complete system. A GPU made pixel by pixel That architecture was not defined from the beginning. The maker began thinking about building some type of screen, but when studying the cost and difficulty of the project he ruled out resorting to components Addressable RGBwhich would have made the whole set too expensive. The alternative was more direct: solder an LED to each microcontroller and turn each chip into a visible graphics unit on its own. The decision contained part of the budget, although it multiplied the design, assembly and programming work necessary to coordinate thousands of elements. The scale becomes clearer when we look at the complete objective. A resolution of 1920×1080 would have required more than two million microcontrollers, shooting the cost and complexity far beyond what Bitluni had set itself. The maker then lowered the ambition to 320×200 pixels, a resolution associated with video games of the DOS era, but which still requires 64,000 chips. The components installed so far represent just a first stage of a machine that would multiply its size almost eightfold if it is completed. To organize such a large amount of hardware, Bitluni divided the system into 16×32 “pixel” boards, conceived as independent modules within the set. These are distributed in a circular arrangement that reminds of Cray-1the historic supercomputer of the seventies, although the reference is mainly visual. Internal coordination is also hierarchical: each group of 32 microcontrollers is under the control of a more powerful CH32V unit, in charge of organizing the operation of that section and serving as an intermediate level within the machine. The choice of the QingKe CH570 explains part of the economic logic of the project. It is a microcontroller with a 32-bit RISC-V CPU, a limited instruction set and a frequency of up to 100 MHz. It also integrates a USB controller, a 2.4 GHz transceiver and support for Bluetooth 5.0 LE. Bitluni was able to buy each unit for about $0.13, but the advantage is diluted when multiplied by the entire planned matrix: only the chips necessary to reach 320×200 pixels would exceed $8,000. The problem grows when projecting the power supply of the complete system. It speaks of an estimate of 2,161 W, equivalent to about 655 amps at 3.3Vfor the final planned configuration. The media points out that each microcontroller consumes around 10 mA, although it does not offer a breakdown that allows us to separate the expense of the chips, LEDs and auxiliary electronics. To support such a load, Bitluni has turned to a source Corsair WS3000 and own converters capable of transforming the 12 V output into the required 3.3 V. A big part of the project is also making the infrastructure that allows everything else to work. Bitluni designed the PCBs, power circuits, interface boards and breadboards, tackling a six-layer board for the first time. The complexity of the design ended up pushing him to the limits of the manufacturing service he used. In parallel, he studied an immersion cooling solution and came to the size of the acrylic container he would have needed, although he left that option on hold for economic and environmental reasons. Programming posed another problem of scale: it was not enough to manufacture the boards, the code also had to be loaded into each microcontroller. To avoid doing it by hand, Bitluni 3D printed a small tool with three contacts and attached it to the carriage. a 3D printer. A Python script sent G-code commands to move it to the exact position of each chip and complete the process in a repeatable manner. The printer thus stopped manufacturing parts to become an automated programming machine. This machine does not compete in performance, efficiency or size with a modern graphics card, nor has it yet reached the scale that Bitluni projected. Its value lies in exposing, through separate components, tasks that a commercial solution concentrates or distributes among specialized chips and circuits: calculation, control, power, coordination and visualization. By rebuilding them with low-cost microcontrollers, the maker has turned an unusual idea into a system that can be designed, tested and expanded in stages. It is not a conventional home GPU, but an engineering experiment taken to unusual limits. Images | Bitluni In Xataka | Huawei’s He Tingbo: “This is the first time China has proposed a new principle for the chip industry.” Not everyone is convinced

The scientific explanation behind summer lipothymia

July 12, 2026 by usatoday24

With the arrival of heat waves, streets, beaches and public transport become a perfect breeding ground for a horrible fainting or heat stroke to occur. Something that is not too isolated, since only in 2025 were high temperatures behind 3,832 deaths in Spaina number that tragically exceeds those killed in traffic accidents. An emergency. Many of these heat-related problems start with something that can go unnoticed, such as heat syncope or lipothymiawhich presents as dizziness with blurred vision and, in a matter of seconds, total disconnection. Given this, the question is obligatory: what exactly happens in our body that makes our brain decide to “turn off”? The reason. To understand why we faint, we have to go to the European Society of Cardiology, which in your official guide defines syncope as a temporary loss of consciousness due to less blood flow reaching the brain for a few moments. To understand it, when we are exposed to high temperatures, the human body activates its basic cooling mechanism, which is the dilation of its blood vessels. The goal here is to dissipate heat and cool us down, and that’s why it’s easy to see how people turn red in the heat and also feel weaker from the drop in blood pressure. And there is more. If we add to this drop in tension the stress of standing for a long time without moving or dehydration, blood tends to accumulate in the legs due to the effect of gravity. This causes the heart to not be able to pump enough blood upwards and the brain, being momentarily deprived of oxygen and nutrients, activates its emergency system, which is fainting. When falling to the ground, the horizontal position cancels the effect of gravity, allowing blood flow to return to the brain and the person to regain consciousness. Different terms. One of the most common mistakes is to put all the health problems that they cause us in the same bag and it is important to differentiate them in the following three situations: Heat syncope: It is a brief fainting due to the “sequestration” of blood in the extremities due to vasodilation and dehydration, and which does not usually leave serious consequences if there is no serious contusion and recovery is rapid. Heat exhaustion: This is a systemic condition that occurs when the body loses a lot of fluid through sweat. It is characterized by extreme weakness, nausea, headache and sweaty skin, but with the difference that there is no serious neurological alteration. Heat stroke: This is a vital medical emergency that threatens a person’s life, since the body’s thermostat collapses. In this situation, the core temperature reaches or exceeds 40°C and severe nervous system dysfunction occurs with delirium, seizures, and even coma. The risk factors. There is a large cocktail of situations that predispose us to some of these situations, such as For example, heavy meals. After a summer feast, the body redirects a large amount of blood flow to the digestive system to process the food. With the vessels already dilated by the heat, the brain is left with a very narrow margin of blood supply. This means that a little physical activity here can lead to dizziness or fainting, making light meals almost an obligation in summer. Age is also important to take into account, since the people most vulnerable to any of these medical situations are those over 65 years of age. And it is only because aging attenuates the thirst reflex and slows down the body’s vasomotor response, which causes many people to become dehydrated without ever feeling the need to ask for a glass of water. The recommendations. To avoid reaching a situation of this type, it is important to maintain good hydration throughout the day, emphasizing vulnerable people who should drink despite not being thirsty. Additionally, avoid going outside during critical hours of the day with higher temperatures or have light meals to avoid straining the body much more in the face of high temperatures. Images | Gerardo Ramirez Lopez In Xataka | We have been cooling homes for decades with increasingly expensive machines. The Persian method has not consumed a single watt for 2,500 years

The first “social network” in history is 57,000 years old, it was made up of hunters and gatherers and served to avoid extinction

July 12, 2026 by usatoday24

The survival of prehistoric hunter-gatherers has historically been explained by two things: climate and available natural resources. And although in general terms it is true, a new study proposes that the social relations between human groups at that time were as decisive as the physical environment. The discovery. The research team focuses on small groups of hunter-gatherers who lived in the South Caucasus between 57,000 and 27,000 years ago. Apparently, these small groups traveled long distances and shared tools and techniques with other groups. Initially they thought that due to their size and distance they would live almost isolated from each other, but no. The key evidence is in obsidian objects, a volcanic rock used to make cutting tools, present in deposits located between 40 and 200 km from the quarry of origin. Why it is important. Because it forces us to rethink the classical models of human evolution that attributed the success or failure of a population almost exclusively to its capacity for climatic adaptation. Now we see that cooperation and the circulation of information was an essential survival factorwhich has implications for understand human resilience in the face of environmental change. Context. The study area is the south of the Caucasus, the natural bridge between Europe and Asia where mountains, valleys and very different climates come together in a small space, so it is a key place to understand How ancient humans moved. At the time in which the study is framed, Neanderthals and modern humans coexisted in other parts of the world and also when stone tools changed style. That is why the Caucasus is a magnificent place to verify if these changes were a sudden replacement of one population by another or there was coexistence between both cultures. In detail. Each obsidian quarry has a unique chemical composition, which allows us to determine exactly the origin of each tool located. According to the research team, the distance over which these tools are dispersed is too great for a single group to travel in search of food: the most plausible explanation is that different groups were in contact and exchanged materials. But there is another clue: the way of carving the stone is repeated in sites very far from each other, which suggests that some groups learned from others, not that they reached the same conclusion by chance. Furthermore, when dating the layers of earth from different sites, it is seen that the cultures of the Middle Paleolithic and the Upper Paleolithic coexisted for thousands of years in the same area, that is, one did not replace the other. Three powerful reasons to maintain that social networks helped these groups survive. Yes, but. The inference of “social networks” or alliances from carved stone is still an interpretation, not a direct observation: there are no written, oral or testimonial records from the Paleolithic, so any conclusion about social relations is constructed indirectly, from material patterns. In fact, the fact that obsidian travels between 40 and 200 km does not in itself prove social exchange between groups: it could also be explained by a single group with a very large territory or by reuse of tools for generations. In Xataka | A remote cave in Africa has revealed something about humans from 200,000 years ago: they already changed the clothes on their beds In Xataka | 77 skeletons, a single head: the mystery of the Slovak mass grave that torments archaeologists Cover | Gemini with AI

using both is the true “total shield”

July 12, 2026 by usatoday24

In recent years we have seen how active cosmetics have put vitamin C at the center of all morning routines. Its fame is justified, but it has brought with it a dangerous myth when it suggests that it can be a solar shield in itself. But the reality is that, although it is true that it provides good additional antioxidant protection against sun damage, under no circumstances does it replace traditional sun protection. Vitamin C. The first concept we must internalize is that vitamin C does not block UV radiation the way a chemical or physical filter does. In fact, it has no measurable sun protection factor on its own. Its true positive effect lies in its antioxidant mechanism, which is responsible for neutralizing free radicals that are generated by UVA, UVB and IRA radiation. By doing this, vitamin C manages to reduce oxidative stress and prevents part of the DNA damage, such as thymine dimers, lesions closely associated with skin cancer. The investigation. Scientific literature has been demonstrating for years that true protection occurs in the synergy of several factors. One of the first studies dates back to 1996, where was demonstrated that vitamin C provides additive protection against UVB damage when combined with a specific sunscreen. But this same study observed that the combination of vitamins C and E was even more protective, and that by adding a UVA filter, much greater protection was obtained. But it does not stop there, since this same team published a second study in 2003 where they saw that the combination of 15% vitamin C and 1% vitamin E applied to the skin for four days managed to multiply approximately by four the antioxidant factor. Infrared light. Given all this, a question that may be obvious is that, if there are already sunscreens with a protection factor SPF 50, why is it necessary to combine it with antioxidants? And the answer lies in the spectrum that conventional creams do not cover. A trial here found that a sunscreen with SPF 30 alone did not protect against infrared radiation A. However, by applying the same protection factor enriched with an antioxidant cocktail, it was possible to significantly reduce the overexpression of factors related to skin photoaging. The consensus. Despite the overwhelming benefits of antioxidants, medical guidelines indicate that there is no evidence that using a vitamin C serum instead of sunscreen is positive. In this case, the American Academy of Dermatology insist in which sunscreen is essential, and antioxidants can be a positive addition, but never a substitute. But in addition, for all this “added protection” to be real, scientific evidence demands two requirements: it must be used in conjunction with a broad-spectrum protector and the vitamin C formulation must be stable, requiring an adequate pH, protection against oxidation and, often, the combination with vitamin E or ferulic acid. In Xataka | Science warns of the dangerous success of anti-suncream hoaxes on TikTok: “Despite being a minority, this content is influential”

Netflix users love to watch the first season of a series. Then they love to stop seeing it completely

July 12, 2026 by usatoday24

What tremendous hype when Netflix has a new series and promotes it even in the soup: you swallow the trailer, the premiere promises infinite and then, you finally see the first episode and devour the entire season. And after? If I have seen you, I don’t remember: literal and figuratively, because Netflix series lose audience drastically from one season to the next, according to data from Netflix itself collected by Bloomberg. Millionaire investments, Hollywood marketing and a journey that deflates like a soda bottle. what’s happening. The network’s flagships deflate after the first season. One Piece lost more than 30% of its audience in the second season,’Row‘ fell more than 70%, ‘The Night Agent’ lost half of its audience in the second (and another 35% in the third) and ‘Avatar: The Last Airbender‘ plummeted more than 60% in its last installment, based on Netflix data for the first four weeks of the premiere of each series. And Netflix does not have a clear contingency plan on how to deal with the problem: some have been canceled (The Night Agent), others have been renewed (Running Point, The Four Seasons) despite the losses. The company would be analyzing its data to find out why, according to close sources. Why is it important. Historically, Netflix series have obtained their highest ratings in their debut season, a phenomenon that is exactly the opposite of what happened with traditional TV, where word of mouth used to cause series to improve their numbers over time. In a phrase: retention is lacking. Bloomberg echoes of the company’s concern regarding this reality, as well as that of investors regarding its ability to retain user loyalty. And the time that its clients have dedicated to watching said streaming platform this year has increased less than 2%. Because Netflix is the absolute leader in streaming, but the advantage is blurring. Context. This last year Netflix shares are in decline since he presented an offer for Warner Bros. Discovery that did not come to fruition. At that time, Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters they claimed his interest in the rival entertainment company because it was a unique opportunity to acquire a valuable asset. Although there is another potential reading: that Netflix is running out of ideas. After years of betting on developing mainly with its own content, it is now looking forward to growing through acquisitions. In detail. Obviously, Netflix does not put all its eggs in a single basket, in this case, a single series: the company launches a large catalog of new releases every quarter with the expectation of achieving new successes with these premieres. However, in the first five months of 2026 it only had two great successes: ‘His and Hers’ and the fourth season of ‘The Bridgertons’, precisely one of the honorable exceptions to that rule. Yes, but. Despite these warning signs, Netflix remains the undisputed leader: it has half of the most watched programs in streaming and has plenty of experience to recover after bad streaks. In fact, the platform has already added new programming formats, such as the commitment to live sports. Furthermore, and although more modest, its viewing share is still in the green in a more mature, expensive and competitive market. In Xataka | Netflix has achieved what seemed crazy at first: that we pay in exchange for watching ads In Xataka | Of course you don’t remember anything that happened in the last season of your favorite series. It’s deliberate Cover | Gemini

The residents of this Soria town are going to host tourists in their own homes for the August eclipse

July 12, 2026 by usatoday24

The entire strip of solar eclipse what will be seen in Spain this August 12, 2026 has fallen into a curious area. Many of the best-positioned towns belong to emptied Spain, a region to which, possibly, people who would never have considered including them in their vacations will travel. These people will be lucky enough to discover very charming places and, why not? a different way of tourism. Eclipses are spectacular phenomena, with very good press, that attract people from all over the world; but, in reality, astronomical tourism is a reality that more and more travelers joinregardless of whether there are extreme events on the calendar. And the truth is that within the totality strip there are towns that have been exploiting this form of tourism for a long time. This is, for example, the case of Borobia. This Soria town of 218 inhabitants It has an astronomical observatory in which informative activities have been carried out for 24 years. I have been able to speak with Azahara Rojas Ronceroastrophysicist and astronomer at said observatory, to tell me what plans they have for the solar eclipse. The reality is that, despite the small size of the town, they tend to always have a lot of people in their astronomical tourism activities. However, like many other towns, this phenomenon will allow them to have their fill. Never better said. Borobia, an ideal place to see the solar eclipse Borobia, like most of the province of Soria, has the Starlight seal. That means that They have skies with very little light pollution, ideal for observing the firmament. Many of the points that are within the band of totality of the solar eclipse this August have this certificate. However, Borobia has added advantages. On this occasion, the eclipse will occur at a time very close to sunset, so we will have to look to the west to see it. There, according to Rojas Roncero, lies Borobia’s great advantage. “In Borobia we have the hills right on the other side, on the east side, and the flatter area faces us to the west area,” he explains. “Therefore, the observation point is perfect, because we have a very open horizon and right on the other side we have a high area where we can see it.” For her, it has been a kind of gift from heaven for having been looking at it for 24 years. The ideal date This solar eclipse will be located in a perfect area, with wonderful skies to see it. But it will also take place at a unique moment, coinciding with the peak of the perseids. During the two minutes of totality you will be able to see some of the brightest stars in the sky, but hardly a Perseid. For that we need more time in the dark, eyes well adapted to it and a little luck. However, those who have taken advantage of the solar eclipse to start astrotourism have an appointment with the sky once the Sun has completely left. Borobia Observatory In fact, Borobia is an ideal site for these observations. Not just because of everything we have already seen. Also because in their Observatory they carry out activities such as March of the Perseidsin which visitors will take a night walk, while listening to legends of mythology and looking at the sky in search of a Perseid. In addition, at the end of the route there are telescopes ready for observation. Other activities Both on the day of the solar eclipse and the days before and after it, a multitude of activities will be carried out in Borobia, including night and day observations of the sky, walks through the Perseids, workshops and presentations by experts from the Institute of Astrophysics of the Canary Islands and the Astronomy Classroom of Armilla (Granada). There will even be concerts and food trucks. a whole festival to enjoy the sky of Soria in such a special event. What about accommodations? Borobia is a very small municipality, with very few accommodations; that, the same as in Puertomingalvo and many other towns in the totality strip, have been full for more than a year. For this reason, the town has used its imagination to be able to serve all the tourists who will travel there for the solar eclipse. To begin, Rojas Roncero says that camping areas have been set upwith access to bathrooms and showers. But this is not enough if the thousands of people who are believed to be able to travel there arrive. That’s why, An appeal has been made to the residents of Borobia themselveslooking for some who are willing to rent rooms in their houses. The request has been well received and several have agreed to accommodate tourists who come there on the occasion of the solar eclipse. What else can you see in Borobia? We have seen that Borobia is an ideal place for astronomical tourism. But the good thing about this tourism is that it goes very well with other ways of visiting new places. It is often a magnificent occasion to enjoy a perfect blend of heritage and nature. In the case of this town in Soria, those who travel there you will be able to enjoy of monuments such as the Church of Our Lady of the Assumption and the Medieval Castle. In addition, they will enjoy natural sites such as the Gandalia lagoon, the Hermitage of Nuestra Señora de los Santos and the Sabinar de Ciria y Borobia. All of these enclaves are perfect for hiking, with routes such as the Vuelta al Moncayo and the Yeseras. Hermitage of Our Lady of Saints In short, Borobia is an ideal place to enjoy the solar eclipse while discovering those hidden treasures of emptied Spain. For those responsible for the observatory, this eclipse will be a gift from heaven, but surely its visitors will not be left indifferent either. Image | Diego Delso | Borobia Observatory In Xataka | Leo … Read more

There is something in which Uruguay is a true and overwhelming world power: generating elite footballers

July 12, 2026 by usatoday24

Unless you are a real data and statistics machine, when asked about Which country produces the most elite footballers? Surely most of us would answer that Brazil, a country that has had five World Cups and is also a true exporter of talent with the ball at its feet. But not. Although the answer differs depending on the time frame you choose, there is one place in the world that has taken the world by storm in the last century: Uruguay. Uruguay has barely 3.5 million inhabitants, a figure similar to that of Madrid or Berlin, and despite being a small country, it has two World Cups, two Olympic medals and 15 Copa América to its credit. And an incredible reality: Uruguay is, per capita, the country that has produced the most famous soccer players in the entire history of soccer. Below these lines we attach a screenshot of the data project “The Atlas“, an interactive visualization that calculates, for each country, how many top (male) soccer players in the world by historical popularity there are per million inhabitants. We highly recommend playing around, since you can sift through countries, regions, number of soccer players and years. It doesn’t matter what you choose because Uruguay almost always wins. The data is devastating: Uruguay produces 11.3 elite football figures per million inhabitantsa very long way from the second, Croatia, which has 4.81. Third and fourth are the Netherlands (4.58 figures per million inhabitants) and Argentina (3.82). If you move the time bar to the year 1999, Spain takes over the gold in a timely manner. Uruguay produces more famous footballers per capita than any country in the world. The Atlas This interactive graph is the work of Argentine economist Daniel Schteingart and for its preparation he used two sources: on the one hand Pantheon from the MIT Media Lab, which measures the historical fame of each footballer according to their presence on Wikipedia and on the other, population data from Our World in Data, which allows us to calculate how many famous figures each country produces per inhabitant. However, the fact that Uruguay is an absolute winner is something that has also been documented The Observer with data from the CIES Football Observatory and RT. Three different analyzes with different methodologies and the same result: Uruguay wins by a landslide. The country that produces the most famous soccer players in the world is not Brazil or France The question is clear: what Uruguay that does not have the rest. According to ESPN Deportesthe key is in training: Uruguay has 28 professional clubs that train young people. For Argentina or Brazil to have that same proportion per inhabitant, they would need 336 and 1,624 clubs respectively, well above what they currently have, 103 and 168, respectively. This exhaustive commitment to young talent allows the Latin American country to detect and exploit that potential that would perhaps go unnoticed in other larger countries. The author of the chart explains There is also another reality that gives South American countries an advantage: “there is almost no competition from other sports for young talent. Here everyone wants to be a soccer player, while in Europe and the United States talent is distributed among several disciplines.” Of course, regarding the future he has a warning: “The technicalization and globalization of football may favor rich countries, but as long as South American footballers continue to return to their national teams, the tradition will continue.” The limitations of the graph are those of its bases: the graph indicator measures fame on Wikipedia, which does not necessarily imply measuring football quality objectively, which favors more recent players or those who are very popular and plays to the detriment of veteran stars, with a smaller footprint on the internet. In Xataka | We still don’t know who will win the 2026 World Cup, but we do know who is left without sleep: the devastating graphic of FIFA schedules In Xataka | 24 years ago Oliver Kahn sued EA and won. Then a new goalkeeper appeared in football games: Jens Mustermann

The plan to stop the melting of the Arctic is so simple that it sounds crazy: freeze it again

July 12, 2026 by usatoday24

Global warming does not affect everyone the same way. Without going any further, Europe is the continent that most is warming according to the World Meteorological Organizationbut there is another place where the heat has turned the turbo: the Arctic. The North Pole heats up four times faster than the global average. Additionally, sea ice is at historic lows since records began 125 years ago. Faced with this climate emergency, a research team has come up with something so logical that it is surprising for its apparent simplicity: is there a lack of ice? Well, we manufacture more artificially. So they have left the laboratory and gone to the field to see if it is possible. The idea. The company Real Ice, in collaboration with the University of Cambridge, drills into sea ice in the dead of winter and pumps seawater onto its frozen surface. The water, when exposed to that extreme cold, freezes immediately and adds an extra layer of ice. Now that they have the base mechanism, Real Ice is adapting pumps used on skating rinks or oil platforms to power them with renewable energy. According to The GuardianIn a recent test, the team pumped 50,000 tons of water onto 1.5-meter-thick ice at -40ºC and managed to increase its thickness by 0.50 meters. Why is it important. Although emissions reduction is the only long-term sustainable solution, while it arrives it is necessary to explore techniques to save time because the Arctic melting is a problem with chain consequences that affect different scales: At the local level it poses a threat to Inuit ways of life and fauna such as the polar bear or the walrus, in addition to destabilizing the ecosystem. At a global level, it can alter weather patterns. Sea ice is a kind of planetary air conditioner: its white surface reflects solar radiation, something that the dark ocean does not do (albedo feedback). That extra warming of the Arctic is also related to a wavier, slower jet stream which can lengthen and promote heat waves or floods. Furthermore, the thaw goes hand in hand with the thaw of the permafrostwhich releases methane and further accelerates warming. Context. This project is part of the program RASI (Re-thickening Arctic Sea Ice), a public – private initiative in which the University of Cambridge and two private companies, Real Ice and Arctic Reflections, carry out research that combines rigorous scientific models with real experimentation in the Arctic. As a curiosity, it is not the only proposal: there are others more controversial that propose dispersing sulfate aerosols in the stratosphere to reflect sunlight. In detail. The first study in the last 2024/2025 campaign has confirmed that the test areas ended the winter up to 32 centimeters thicker than the control areas. According to the study, this difference is similar to what the Arctic has lost in the last 50 years. Furthermore, at the end of the winter campaign they observed that this new ice remained whiter and brighter during the melting season, so it seemed to melt more slowly, improving the albedo. Yes, but. On paper it looks very good, but the scientific community has its doubts. An analysis of several of these proposals published in the journal Frontiers in Science concluded that they did not successfully overcome the criteria of feasibility, cost, governance and environmental risk. The underlying criticism is that it could give the false sensation that there is a technical shortcut that relaxes the pressure to reduce emissions. On the other hand, a test in a specific area is one thing and the price of scaling this technique to the entire Arctic is another. In Xataka | Living 1,300 kilometers from the North Pole: a Catalan tells of his experience in the northernmost city in the world In Xataka | There is a corner of Spain where global warming is wreaking havoc: the Pyrenees are becoming “Mediterraneanized” Cover | Annie Spratt and Jan Antonin Kolar

the most effective trick has nothing to do with that

July 12, 2026 by usatoday24

You come back from vacation, open the door, and suddenly you’re greeted with a strong sewer smell that certainly wasn’t there when you left. The Internet has been filled with advice to avoid this problem: from carrying a cup of orange peels to throwing away half a kilo of coffee grounds. The only problem is that, as I’m sure you’ve noticed, each one is more surreal than the last. What can we do so that our house does not smell like lightning? The first thing is to understand that this fashion that runs rampant on the Internet is not a meaningless article industry. Nameless experts, tricks that “come straight from Central Europe” and slightly eccentric ideas: what we usually find are creative and ineffective solutions, to be honest. The example of orange peels is perfect to understand it. “Throw orange peels down the toilet once a week“, say some advice. And the truth is that the peels are scented: they release essential oils (limonene), but their concentration is very low and, of course, not enough to degrease or unclog the pipes. In fact, if we go to the fine print, we see that the ‘trick’ does not even recommend ‘flushing’ them down the toilet; Just put them in the water in the cup for twenty or thirty minutes. That is to say (and in short) it is nothing that really helps… …but at least it’s not the coffee trick. That’s true. Coffee grounds are much worse.: above all, because they cake and settle in elbows and siphons. With repeated use, in fact, they end up reducing the flow rate of the pipes as if it were cholesterol. It is not something that happens suddenly (pouring a spoonful of coffee into the water is not going to flood your house), but it does not seem like the most reasonable practice (cost-benefit). And they are not the only tricks. In fact, the problem of using the toilet as a trash can is enormous in our country. Only Isabel II Canalin the Community of Madrid, removed around 33,000 tons of solid waste from its treatment plants in 2024. About four kilos per person. In the end, according to the urban water association (DAQUAS)these wastes make water purification more expensive by around 10 and 15%. And, perhaps that is why, all the management companies repeat the same thing: only pee, excrement and paper go down the toilet. And then how do we solve the problem? For them, you have to understand a little how modern bathrooms work. For practical purposes, under every sink, sink and shower (also inside the toilet) there is a trap. It’s that ‘u’ shaped curve that holds a plug of water and blocks odor. What usually happens in summer is that these siphons dry out and stop working. In this way, odors rise to the rooms. So what is usually recommended is to let the water run well so that the siphons are full and, if necessary, add a little food oil (which makes a film on the water and makes it difficult to evaporate). If this doesn’t work, there may be a blockage or a ventilation problem, but it certainly won’t be solved by filling the toilet bowl with lemons. Image | Amit Lahav In Xataka | Every time you go to the bathroom you are expelling one of the most used pesticides on the planet. And that’s a problem

Mass tourism has found a new vein in the most unexpected place, the favelas

July 12, 2026 by usatoday24

When you think of Rio de Janeiro, one of the first images that comes to mind is Christ the Redeemer, the 30-meter-high statue that stands at the top of Corcovado Hill. For some time now, however, there has been another Rio icon. much more visited by foreign tourists: Vidigal and Rocinhatwo areas of the city known for their favelas. Between them there are tens of thousands of visitors. Nothing surprising if we take into account that the favelas are increasingly present in the itinerary with which tourists arrive in Brazil. There they look for authenticity… and good selfies. Touring the favelas? Exact. The history of the Rio favelas is ancient. It usually dates back to late 19th centurywith the closing of the settlement of Providenceand since then the word has been linked to a series of ideas: substandard housing, poverty, crime. Nothing that a priori one wants to experience during an idyllic vacation in a beach destination and postcard landscapes. Over time however that has changed. As international tourism grows in Brazil More people look to Rio’s favelas in search of something difficult to find in the most ‘touristized’ places: authenticity. This has made it no longer strange to meet tours, guides and groups of foreigners in some settlements. Even new ones emerge viral trendslike climbing to the top of a rooftop in Rocinha to record a video with help from a drone. Are there figures to prove it? Yes. He Carioca Tourism Yearbook 2024a report that collects trends in the sector in the Brazilian metropolis, shows that that year there were areas known for their favelas that made it into the TOP 20 of the most visited icons in Rio de Janeiro. Not only that. They even surpassed other symbols, such as Christ the Redeemer wave Selarón Staircasetwo of the places that have spent decades starring in Rio’s tourist postcards. To be more precise, in 2024 the Municipal Tourism Secretariat registered 81,600 visitors foreigners in Vidigal and 45,600 in Rocinha. It is far from the 925,400 of Copacabana beach or 554,400 of Ipanema, but it still stands out among the busiest in the region. If we add the flow of tourists arriving from other parts of Brazil itself. That balance shoots up considerably. And in recent years? Interest in favelas does not seem to have waned. For reference, last January (high season in Rio de Janeiro) Rocinha received 41,852 visitors37% more than last year. Around those same dates Or Globeone of the most influential newspapers in Brazil, published a chronicle in which he confirmed the rise of favela tourism and the challenges that this entails. The growing ‘pull’ of the favelas can also be followed through the international press. In recent months the average reach of Associated Press (AP), D.W., Guardian either the BBC network have dedicated articles to the phenomenon, delving into the challenges, opportunities and moral dilemmas it generates. As a background, a fact that they stick out their chest the Rio authorities: in 2025 Rio received some 12.5 million of visitors, significantly above the 11.4 in 2024. Of them, 2.1 million came from other countries. They may represent a small proportion, but in just one year their influx shot up almost 45%. How do you explain your success? That there are more and more tourists who include favelas in their Rio tours is no coincidence. There are several factors that explain it. The first is that the authorities have done an effort to ‘pacify’ themsomething that dates back to the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympic Games. Over the years, a network of services, local businesses and guides has also been created that make the experience much more accessible for foreigners. The clearest example is the Na Favelaan app created precisely to facilitate the organization and management of activities with guides. Those responsible offer “authentic experiences” that, they say, boost the local economy. Does it generate wealth? There are testimonies that suggest this. A few months ago AP interviewed to Vitor, a local guide who works with visitors who are curious about the settlements. He previously worked as a taxi driver in Rocinha, but upon noticing that foreign visitors were increasing, he began offering tours and now basically lives off of tourists. In another interview He recognized that, after a life marked by drugs and violence, tourism offered him an opportunity. “I never imagined it. I didn’t finish school or manage to learn another language.” “If you come to Rio and only visit Copacabana Beach, the statue of Christ the Redeemer and the Sugarloaf Mountain, you are not really visiting Rio. You are visiting a luxurious and expensive part of Rio,” claims. “The essence comes from the favelas.” He is not the only one who slips that message. In May the BBC chatted with an expert in tourism that assures that the violence in the favelas of the South Zone has subsided, something that it attributes in part to the sector. He also assures that, although the area may pose a risk to residents, the cartels do not target tourists. @thefavelaunitedtour When global icons choose authenticity 🇧🇷✨ An unforgettable day showing the real Rio to Rosalía. Culture, stories, people and soul — this is not just a tour, it’s a life experience. Book your tour and discover the real Brazil with us. #RealRio #FavelaExperience #CulturalTour ♬ Cycle Syncing Frequency – Still Haven Is it all good news? No. Although it is no longer strange to meet foreign tourists in certain areas of some favelas, the reality is that they are still not the safest destinations in Brazil. It became clear only a few weeks ago, when dozens of visitors They were trapped in a viewpoint during a police operation against drug traffickers. Months before, in April, more than 200 tourists They had also been stranded for several hours in Morro Dois Irmãos in a similar episode. An operation against drug trafficking caught them in the middle of their tour. The touristification of favelas not … Read more

Log In

Sign In

Forgot password?

Your password reset link appears to be invalid or expired.

Log in

Privacy Policy

Add to Collection

No Collections