Month: August 2025

Hundreds of people attended a funeral. All normal except because the deceased was an AI model that had been removed

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The artificial intelligence boom is making us live moments of the most curious. There is people falling in love with an AIothers go to her as to a psychologist or for “Risheat” a loved one. What we needed to see was to celebrate a funeral for a retired model and it is just what happened a few days ago in San Francisco, where more than 200 people gathered to give the last goodbye to Claude 3 Sonnet. The deceased. July 21, Anthropic announced that he withdrew several modelsamong which was Claude 3 Sonnetprotagonist of this funeral picturesque. The model was announced in March 2024 and stood out for its balance between performance and efficiency. Together with him, Anthropic also withdrew Claude 1 and 2, in addition to confirming that Claude 3 Opus would disappear in January 2026. The funeral. It was held last Saturday in a warehouse in the Soma district of San Francisco and more than 200 people attended. They count on This Wired report that the decoration did not go unnoticed: a giant tentacle hanging from the ceiling and several mannequins with an aesthetic and represented different Claude models. In the center of the room he lay the mannequin that represented Claude 3 Sonnet and was surrounded by the most diverse offerings: from the classic flowers to a bottle of ranch sauce. Devotion. It sounds very absurd and clearly there was an aura of irony and humor in the event, but there were also emotional moments and even say in Wired that some attendees cried. Openai has the most popular chatbot, but Claude de Anthropic has a very devout fans community. The reason would be that Anthropic has managed to imbue a warm and friendly personality in his chatbot that has conquered many users. Exists a website where you can see ranking of the users who use Claude most and there are even people doing FAN ART With the company’s logo. Emotional connection Establishing affective links with a machine is not something new. In 1966 it was created Eliza, the first chatbotand many people who interacted with her ended up telling her personal things, as if she were another human, they called him the Eliza Effect. With the AI boom we are seeing how these links become popular and the success of apps such as Replika either Character.AI They are a clear example of this trend that increasingly adds more adherents. Attending the funeral of an AI sounds like a pretty fun plan to spend some time on the weekend, but developing an emotional connection with a chatbot is not always positive. The dark side. There are people whose connection with these chatbots brushes addiction to the point that Online support groups are being createdto alcoholics anonymous. In This study They analyzed how the use of chatbots affects our mental health and, although at the entrance it can have a positive effect, in the long run it is associated with higher levels of social isolation and emotional dependence. The experts alert of the risk of confusing the empathy of a machine with real empathy; A chatbot is always available to speak already It tells us what we want to hearThis causes a false sensation of empathy that can negatively affect our ability to connect with other human beings. Image | Chatgpt In Xataka | A group of experts in AI attended a party in a mansion. The topic of conversation: what will be when AI ends humanity

We knew that North Korea has been infiltrating workers in companies in the West. Now we know how they do

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North Korea has been infiltrating teleworkors with false identities in United States companies. After that country became more hostile, the actor’s attention turned to Europe. According to the FBI, the Department of Justice and Googlewhat these employees pursue is to get income to finance the North Korea Nuclear Program. He modus operandi It was a great unknown. Until now. A framework without any improvisation. A cybersecurity researcher who responds to the name of Sttyk It was made with a database that has shown the environment Wired. The files include, according to Sttyk, “dozens of data gigabytes” and “thousands of emails.” From this information an organized workers’ structure is extracted in twelve groups, which in turn have approximately other twelve members. They respond to a general “master boss.” Organization in spreadsheets. The group works using the Slack communication tool, Google, Github and spreadsheets accounts. In the latter, an exhaustive follow -up of the works and the progress of the objectives, both economic and strategic, is made. They even collect the needs of specific jobs (required programming languages) of the companies to attack and their locations, with a record of whether there have been contact with the companies or progress of the process. How they get work. A few days ago, the BBC collected Jin-Su’s testimonya false North Korean teleworking that managed to defect. He said that most of the time of his work focused on acquiring fraudulent identities to request work. He went through Chinese, but aware that he needed Western identities, more attractive to the labor market, he got identities of people from Hungary, Türkiye or the United Kingdom. From there, the most involved workers in the process of getting work are the ones who most dominate English, although the fact that communications with technology companies are done by platforms such as Slack helps a lot. Also that many interviews are not made face to face, although that can be reversed with the proliferation of interviews made with artificial intelligence. Researchers have found identical curriculum among the suspects of being false workers. What jobs do they point to. We knew that false teleworkors were looking for employment in technology companies. The filtration is confirmed and limited to the areas: artificial intelligence, blockchain, Bots development, web development and mobile apps and desktop, CMS development, etc. The question of income. Jin-Su said that several works between the United States and Europe, earned about $ 5,000 per month. From what I entered, I had to pay 85% to North Korea, and even so, he said “it is much better than when we were in North Korea.” According to a United Nations report in March 2024, workers manage to generate between 250 and 600 million euros per year for their country of origin. The money they retain has a lot of value when they return to their country (many work from Russia or China, where they have more freedom), so the reasons for dropout lose weight. In parallel to this group of teleworkors operate the hackers that They steal cryptocurrencies To pass at the hands of the regime. Only in a blow in March this year they got 1,500 million, but in December 2024 they accumulated Other 1.3 billion in 47 blows. Working conditions that scare. The filtration presents a scenario that, although better than the one in North Korea, is nothing flattering for the workers involved in the plot. According to a Slack recording, the boss’s account stated in a message that “everyone should work more than at least 14 hours a day.” Although it sounds a lot, it does not perform from the model of some Silicon Valley companies or of the Elon Musk vision and its 120 hours per week. Images | Kremlin and Altumcode in Unspash In Xataka | Now we know everything that the new North Korea resort offers for 2,000 dollars. There is only one rule: be Russian

The most difficult thing to succeed with the arrow in Barcelona’s pebetero 92 was that it was not noticed that there was a trick

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1992 was a year that will be remembered for many years in Spain. More than thirty years ago, but the economic and social footprint left Olympics of Barcelonathe Seville Expo And everything that surrounded both events still does not blur at all. Although we already know that “There was trick“Even in details as memorable as the flame arrow lighting the pebetero at the opening ceremony of the Olympics. What (we thought) happened. The torch entered the stadium in the hands of the largest Spanish medalist at that time, Palist Herminio Menéndez. Juan Antonio San Epifanio -EPI-, player of the Spanish Basketball Team, was in charge of taking it to the point where the Paralympic Arch Arch of Antonio Rebollo champion was waiting for him. The torch turned on an athlete’s arrow, which fired it through 86 meters from the stadium until it fell into the pebetero, lighting the Olympic flame between the clamor of the crowd of 50,000 people who crowded the stadium (plus 3.5 billion that watched him on television. What really happened. Rebollo faced A series of challenges that on television were not entirely clear. To start, the stadium was dark, so he had to take the dark shot, with the sole exception of a reflection indicated by the direction in which the Pebetero was. But the truth is that the arrow not only did the pebetero right, but should not do it: it had to pass a few meters away. The camera shot would make the rest, in a triquiñuela of perspectives that film directors know well and that makes it very complicated for the viewer to measure the distances. That is why there was an expert from the cinema. A film trick. To carry out the trick, there was Ábades Reyesveteran special effects designer and absolute reference of the sector in our cinema. He collaborated in more than 350 feature films, but it is in this event where he led to his most watched trick on a global scale. He won nine Goya awards and his are the effects of films such as ‘Oh, Carmela!’, It turns on yes or yes. Abades placed two of his collaborators outside the enclosure to pick up the arrow that would not have impacted the pebetero. Meanwhile, he would take care that the gas that came out of the pebetero became inflamed, something that would have happened in any case. That is, although Rebollo would have failed by many more meters than the planned and the perspective of the camera would have been useless, the flame would have turned on. Test and error. Of course, it was not the first time Rebollo shot the arrow. There were a series of essays in which Ábades could, for example, experiment with different materials for projectiles, and find one that would not go out during the flight. And they could also verify that it was not recommended that the date impact the alleged target, because it could spoil the gas outlet. A series of useless precautions because the illusion was simply perfect. Header | RTVE In Xataka | The three technological innovations that would change the history of the Olympic Games forever

We are running out of beaches on the planet. And we don’t realize because they are filling them at an indecent price

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There is something much worse than the appearance of algae either Fecal matter On the beaches. Even above of systematic “theft” That is being done on the coasts to continue raising brick, there is a silent reality whose ending is a scenario where, directly, we run out of beaches on the planet. That process is not just happening, we are spending a fortune at all. Global threat. I told this week The Financial Times In an extensive report. Rodanthein the Outer Banks of North Carolina, exemplifies the serious erosion suffered They have collapsed at sea. The problem, aggravated by more intense storms, strong tides and the rise in the level of the sea associated with climate change, is now amplified by a critical factor: the Sand scarcityresource that acts as a natural barrier to floods and temporal, but whose growing demand (especially For construction) it more expensive and limits its availability. The (no) trick. He method More common to stop erosion has been the “beach regeneration”, moving sand From other points, but in Rodanthe the initial cost would exceed 40 million dollarssomething unassumable for the municipality. This leaves as options the planned withdrawal of infrastructure or resistance until the waves dictate the end. Erosion as a structural challenge. Of course, there is a lot more. Cities such as Miami, Barcelona or the Australian Gold Coast face constant sand losses that threaten their beaches, vital for tourism and local economy. In Barcelona, erosion annual 30,000 m³ It is aggravated with each temporary, and although dikes and breakwaters have been added, the setback continues. In the Gold CoastCyclone Alfred in March started so much sand that left stretches of the retaining wall; Restoring the coast will cost three years and 40 million Australian dollars. The dilemma It is global: 10% of the population lives less than 5 km of the coast and urbanization slows the natural flows of sand, aggravating the problem. Rodanthe Steal sand. And yes, even scientists already They have warned On several occasions that sustaining beaches artificially is increasingly difficult and extremely expensive, and that in some cases it would be more sensible to allow the coastline to migrate inland, although socially and politically complex. Gold Coast The dilemma of providing sand. Regeneration It has advantages in front of rigid structures such as retaining walls, which can intensify erosion in adjacent areas. However, it is temporary and its duration depends on local geology, climate and human pressure: some beaches require new contributions every two years, others last a decade. In the United States, where it has been applied for a century, they have been treated almost 600 beachesreaching a maximum of 50 million m³ in 2019. The problem? That the search for proper sand It is complicated: In North Carolina, local reserves are exhausted, in Miami transport is used from inside, and environmental objections, such as marine habitats, delay projects. Plus: Powerful storms can erase millionaire investments. Perspectives and answers. In places with moderate erosion or abundant reserves, such as the Netherlands, regeneration is a State policy: The country invests the 0.3% of your GDP Annual in flood risk management and has 12 million m³ of sand available every year, sufficient to protect entire cities. On the other hand, in areas with severe erosion and overflowing costs, planned withdrawal can be the only viable output, implying controlled expropriations and demolitions. The Times told that in Rodanthe, the National Parks Service acquired and demolished two houses valued in millions to return the land to public use, but There are no funds For more purchases. Many residents, aware of living in the “land of changing sands”, assume that the sea will gain ground and prepare to sell when the water reaches wetlands. Battle against time (and economy). In short, the Sand scarcityits increase and the increase in coastal erosion draw a future in which to keep the current beaches looks like it is unfeasible for many communities. Although Regeneration It remains the preferred option to protect local properties and economies, its physical, financial and environmental limits. rethink strategies. The dilemma between spending more and more to contain the sea or yield terrain to nature will mark the future of much of the inhabited coasts, and the margin of maneuver is narrowed as the climate and the demand for sand accelerate the process. Image | Pxhere, Public Domaine, Petra In Xataka | Xàbia set out to end cao chaos and bathers in his most famous coves. Did not go as expected In Xataka | There is only something more abundant than tourists on Spanish beaches: Asian algae are becoming a huge problem

Sin rare Chinese, the US military supply chain wobbles

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The United States is one of the main military powers of the planet. And that war muscle It does not feed exclusively with money. Requires something else: Rare earth. That’s where his geopolitical antagonist, China comes into play. The Asian giant controls rare earth production And the United States is realizing something: those who do their arms do not have it easy to find suppliers that are not Chinese. And it’s what is causing A new war, the magnets. And it is affecting the entire US military chain: from bullets to the most expensive hunt in history. Rare earth. Yes, again. We have already counted on other occasions that “rare earths” are a peculiar term because they are neither lands, nor are they rare. It is a set of 17 elements that are all over the world, but whose difficulty lies in the process to “take off the grain of the straw.” It is a polluting process that was delegated to China, which is why The country dominates its production. How far? It depends on the material, but it is estimated that China produces around 90% of refined rare lands, as well as 94% of gallium production and 83% Germanioalso crucial for industries such as the military. They also control the production of aluminum or steel. Stab where it hurts: weapons. Within the rare earths, a crucial component is the magnets. They are used in many industries such as audio (headphones do not work without magnets, for example), that of renewable (for wind turbines) or for electric cars batteriesto quote just a few. And yes, they are also crucial for the military industry. Combat fighters, guided ballistic missiles, drones and even night vision glas iron control over what they export and their possible military use by other countries, who manufacture weapons and systems for the United States are forced to look for alternatives. The problem is not cheap. This graph shows China’s enormous power in the rare earth metals segment Shot prices. The Wall Street Journal Ha Posted an article in which they expose the case of a manufacturer of pieces for military drones that is crashing against the wall of the rare Chinese earth. It is being forced to delay orders for up to two months because it does not give viable sources of magnets other than China itself. In the article, he points out that these materials necessary for the war industry are being sold for five times their usual value, or more. The countries and companies that need these materials usually have an emergency stock, but as the Leonardo DRS company (a US -based defense contractor and Italian company comments on the company. Leonardo Spa.), They are already using that security stock. If you want to maintain the punctual pace of deliveries, the flow of materials “must improve in the second half of this year,” they point out. Case: The most expensive hunt in history. One of the most leading and controversial products of the United States military machinery in recent years has a name and surname: Lockheed Martin F-35. This hunting is the most expensive in history (What do we know), One of the most advanced And even Donald Trump critical Before his first term, claiming that his cost was “out of control.” Only the pilot’s helmet costs $ 400,000 and the initial estimate of the cost of each plane was more than $ 100 million and the project was described as “El that devoured the pentagon“ Well, among the hunting components, we have some 400 kilos of rare earth magnets, an element that placed the plane In the eye of the hurricane a few months ago. And previously, there were already revealing How much the US needs China’s rare trade. Those upward prices due to Chinese commercial restrictions They have caused other sources of samarium, a necessary element to manufacture the magnets of the engines of the fighters, offer the material for a price 60 times higher than the standard. Beyond F-35. To problems with magnets and rare earths are added Export restrictions of Germanio, Gallium and Antimony. In the first bars of the commercial war, China closed the tap of these materials that are key to another good military solutions, such as the creation of hardened projectiles or infrared vision systems. Situation? Panic. Given this situation, USA, Europe, Japan and more countries are desperately looking for rare earth deposits or alternative ways to obtain them. But, as we said, the complicated thing is not so much to find these deposits as processing them. Meanwhile, it’s time to continue buying China what China wants to export, since, as other sources in the sector point in the WSJ report, some of the elements are “so specific that they cannot occur profitably in the West.” Everything indicates that China has the pan of the rare earths through the mango. The pentagon demanded Defense contractors stop buying rare earth magnets of Chinese origin before 2027, but although some companies have accumulated reservations, other smaller ones have not had that opportunity to go with the accounts more “up to date”. The papers. And it is no longer just that the US does not want to buy from China, but that China has also begun to look at all the Westerners who want their rare earths. One of the companies is Eproppelled, American and manufacturer of drones, which a curious situation was found in May of this year. When buying magnets from your Chinese supplier, the supplier sent you a series of official forms that demanded plans, product images and a list of companies that would buy the finished product. Among Eproppelled customers are civil companies, but also military, and given the refusal to sign the papers, the Chinese supplier canceled the shipment of magnets. They point out that companies that use these materials to create civil use products are evaluated and approved, but if the use will be military or aerospace, the approval is more complicated. Committed merchandise. … Read more

Serial murderers had their boom in the 80s. Today they are a statistical rarity

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If there is a genre of entertainment that has emerged strongly in recent years, that is certainly True Crime. There are series, podcasts and even documentaries made with AI On real crimes. Many of them deal with the stories of dreaded serial killers; Ted Bundy, Jeffrey Dahmer, John Wayne Gacy… They all have their series. However, although serial killers have become a cultural phenomenon, the figures show that their activity was concentrated in a very specific period of time and in a special country. Why are there no serial murderers? An American phenomenon Number of serial murderers per country. Source: Radford University He FBI defined the serial killer as the one who has killed more than two people on two different occasions. According to him Annual series murderers report and victims of the University of Radford of 2020, 67.7% of registered cases came from the United States. There are countries that have registered more than a hundred cases such as Japan, India, South Africa, Canada or England with almost 200 cases. However, we talk that the United States has 3,690 documented cases, while the rest of the countries in the combined list reaches 1,168 cases, the difference is abysmal. Because There are more serial murderers in the United States? A reason is that there is More records and statistics that in other countries, so the real percentage could be biased. The media impact and glorification From some of these murderers it would also have been a determining factor for others to act as imitators. In addition, the ease of geographical mobility within the country facilitated that these profiles could act without being detected. Three decades of “fashion” Cases of serial murderers in the United States. Source: Radford University, Graphic of Vox.com The graph represents the moment in which the murderers began to kill and we see how most of the most notorious cases They are concentrated in a period of three decades. Here the crimes of Ted Bundy, Jeffrey Dahmer, David Alan Gore or Tommy Lynn Sells occurred, to name a few examples. The wave began to rise in the late 50s, when the criminal records were improving, rose radically in the 70s and reached its peak in the 80s. According to IFL Sciencein the 80s there were 254 active serial killers, with its maximum peak in 1987 where there were more than 400 victims. In the 90s the figure dropped to 227 active murderers. The trend was falling pronounced and in the 2010 only 66 cases were recorded. Why there are no serial murderers Researchers blame the decline of serial murderers to several factors, especially related to Advances in criminal investigation. Police records are more exhaustive and communication between the different security forces is better. This allows to find similarities in cases and facilitate the identification of possible serial profiles. Research methods are more sophisticated. The DNA test It began to be used in cases of murders In the mid -80sbut the first techniques were more rudimentary, the analysis took a long time and there was not a wide database to compare. Technological advances are another determining factor. The presence of Security cameras In shops and public places he has helped resolve countless crimes worldwide. For example This study He concluded that the British transport police could increase its crime resolution rate from 23 to 48% thanks to the security cameras material. The Internet searches They have also been decisive in many cases, such as Brian Walshethat when his wife disappeared he looked on Google “how much time passes until a body begins to smell” and “10 ways to get rid of a corpse.” This, together with images of the suspect buying cleaning material and an ax in Home Depot, led to their arrest for murder. But perhaps everyone’s greatest advance has been mobile telephony. In addition to the images of the cameras, the triangulation of the signal of mobile phones It allows to locate both the suspects and the victims, being able to reconstruct their movements. Mobiles are key tools in many investigations and we have seen it in notable cases such as Asunta Basterrahe Urban Guard Crime or that of Diana Quer. The decline of serial killers coincides with a Generalized fall of violence since the 90sbut without a doubt all advances in research and technology have made it easier for today to catch the culprits. In potential serial murderers, in many cases They do not commit a second crime. Cover image | Netflix In Xataka | A person has made Media Spain hook the most horrendous crimes: Clara Tiscar and ‘Criminopathy’

European cars manufacturers promised them happy with the hydrogen battery. Reality has hit them

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In search by Eliminate fossil fuels From cars, electrification seemed the best option. Have 100% electric, hybrids and plug -in. However, some companies They seemed not to be convinced at all with the electric ones, so they began to boost the development of cars moved by ‘pilas’ of hydrogen. Some are getting off the shipand the last one is a Stellantis that has been closely to the controversy These last years. BMW has another opinion and defends that the hydrogen battery is a strategic alternative for Europe. Against what? Against China. Short. In a brief releaseStellantis (which, remember, is the megacompañía that arises after the Fusion of Fiat, PSA and Chrysler) He confirmed a few weeks ago that he interrupted his hydrogen fuel cell technology development program. They affirm that “the hydrogen market remains a niche segment, without perspectives of economic sustainability in the medium term.” And this affects all the divisions they were developing: Cars. Small vans. Large vans. Next steps. The company comments that the personnel who were doing R&D work related to hydrogen technology will be redirected to other projects and that now what it is to focus on what it sells: hybridization and conventional electric batteries. “We must make clear and responsible decisions to ensure our competitiveness and meet the expectations of our customers, as well as continue with our offensive of electric vehicles and hybrids of both passengers and light commercials,” explains Jean-Philippe Imparato, Chief Operating Operating Officer for Enlarged Europe. Issues. The main argument that underwent the hydrogen strategy, with cars on the street such as the Hyundai Initium or the Mirai de ToyotaIt was the speed of loading. If the electric took some dozens of minutes to achieve a decent autonomy, one of hydrogen was closer to the times of a gasoline/diesel. The problem is that it is not entirely true. Toyota has been one of those who More has driven the hydrogen batteryeven competing with hydrogen -driven cars, such as GR LH2 Racing Concept or the Gr yaris rally2 h2 concept For rallies, but in everyday use, hydrogen looks like everything except practical, away from that more classic “plugging and reproducing” liquid fuel. The reason? GR LH2 Racing himself needs a cryogenic system at the cargo station that maintains hydrogen at -253 degrees Celsius. This implies advanced isolation and advanced manipulation, which makes it very little practical out of a very specialized competitive environment. Among other thingssince the energy density of hydrogen is almost nine times lower than that of gasoline and storage is complex. Without ‘hydrogeneras’ there is no FCEV. Returning to Stellantis, the group was not working with the hydrogen pile for the distant future, but immediately. This year they were going to launch a new range of vans, the Pro one fed by hydrogenthat evidently will not see the light. And although there are still companies that keep some hope for the hydrogen pile, the truth is that without refueling points, technology seems unsustainable. In the United States, Toyota has faced collective demand by Mirai owners who ensure that the brand lied to ensure that reposting would be as simple as in a gasoline. There are practically no load points, with just a thousand open hydrogeneras worldwide for public use. And last year they began to close in Germany because they were not used. BMW and his “hold me the cubata”. Trucks are another song. The numbers are there, With strong consecutive falls in 2023 and 2024 that seem to have punctured, at least for now, that fever for the hydrogen pile for conventional cars. However, the turn comes from BMW. The German company has publicly defended that hydrogen is an opportunity for Europe not to depend so much on the China’s battery industry. And others like Volvo maintain projects Hydrogen for trucks. It has been the CEO who has insisted that Europe must bet on multiple roads and that, in a scenario in which China controls the production of Rare earth Essential to create batteries, and they are also the most manufactured batteries, Europe must have a BM plan, BMW has no car with a hydrogen battery and is working on a SUV that They will launch at some point in 2028. We will see how the market is then. Image | H2 Mobility In Xataka | Nikola had everything to revolutionize the world of hydrogen trucks. Now is on the verge of bankruptcy

The walls of a medieval church of Álava hid figures of wild boars, turkeys and discs. No one knows what they do there

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Cruces, Statues of saints, fresh with biblical scenes, representations of the Virgin Mary or the apostles, even devil figures twisting. Within a church one expects to find a wide range of Christian imagery, but when A few years ago Historians began to clean the oldest wall of The Church of ArbuloIn Álava, they found something very different. Under layers and layers of lime and paint began to appear something other: figures of the 12th century that show mysterious quadrupeds with claws, faced birds and wheels. Now the experts They wonder What the hell do they mean. In a place in Álava … More specifically in Arbulo, in the municipality of Elburghe stands An ancient church in honor of San Martín de Tours. Most of the temple we see today rose between End of the fifteenth century and the beginning of the XVI, but its builders left the remains of a previous building, from the Romanesque era. Despite its historical value over time the Church ended in a dilapidated state. At the end of the XX its roof deteriorated and began to leak water through the vaults, which among other things ended up the furniture. Rescue Restorers. The temple situation was so critical that it was closed Between 1999 and 2008 and by 2004 a restoration was launched that included the disenchanted of the walls. The specialists had good reasons to do so. As remember Historian Gorka López de Munain, from the University of the Basque Country (UPV), moisture forced to remove the altarpiece and disagree with the walls of the apse, which left the layers of paint accumulated over the centuries, including what seemed “strange motifs of reddish hue.” What kind of paintings? The experts appreciated several layers on the walls, but there was a specific one that caught so much the attention of López de Munain that he decided to dedicate A broad article in Of half avo. Which? The first, located in the Apsid wall and that in the absence of more detailed analysis the researcher date between the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, so it is associated with the primitive Romanesque temple. Today we know that their author (or authors) traced them using ocher pigments mixed with binder and that they did not remain too exposed. Before the XV they were already covered with a new layer of lime. And the big surprise arrived. The most curious thing is not, however, with what pigments were prepared, but what they were used for. In a Christian temple one would expect to meet symbols associated with that creed: crosses, representations of Christ and the Virgin, biblical scenes … not on the wall of the Church of Arbulo. Over there, In words of the UPV teacher, what appeared were representations of animals and geometric shapes “in a seemingly random disposition.” In a wide surface, of just over 24 square meters (m2), experts found remains that at origin had to decorate the head of the primitive church and have bullow the curiosity and imagination of historians. “In this first layer, reasons of great variety and formal wealth were painted: swine -siled quadr The article of Of half avowhich recognizes that the figures of the absidal wall of the Church of Arbulu “do not respond to the best known repertoires of their time.” “Something unexpected”. López de Munain is not the only one to which the images of the temple have surprised. In 2018, in An interview With eitb.eus, Isabel Mellén, of the project ‘Medieval Álava’, I recognized His enthusiasm. “What was painted, in our eyes, is something unexpected. What we hope to find in a church are religious paintings, with Christian scenes or symbology, but what is shown in Arbulo has nothing to do with all that,” collects the analysis of the Basque chain. Instead of pantocradors or crosses What they show The walls of the temple with thick strokes and reddish tones are beasts: birds, animals with pigs or wild boars, discs with radios, asterisk shape of lis flowers drawn with basic and rough lines … a peculiar iconography that leaves a question as fascinating as difficult to answer: What do you mean exactly? Questioning the story. From the outset and after clarifying how difficult it is to interrogate the images in search of meanings with the eyes of the 21st century, the researcher slides an idea: at least part of the figures seem to reveal a funeral connotation. For example, among the images rescued in Arbulo there are real turkeys, a recurring theme throughout the Middle Ages, loaded with polysemy and has been used regularly in mortuary contexts. “The fated birds painted in Arbulu inevitably evoke those that drink together of a crater or peck a cluster of grapes, common in the steles and romantic and very frequent tombst Point out The Basque researcher, who recognizes in any case that in the images of Arbulu the birds do not appear with other icons, such as drinks, so “its nature is difficult to identify” and “elusive”. Are there more meanings? Yes. In his analysis the researcher pays attention to other elements that have emerged on the Arbulu wall, such as eight radios albums. “Those wheels or radiated stars appear frequently in the discoude steles of both the Basque Country and of nearby regions,” Slide. Its meaning is also suggestive and invites you to look, rather than consecration crosses, to designs that can often be seen in medieval funeral steles. The tree figures have also led him to slide the hypothesis that they can be linked to the paintings of a historical character, Gastea de Arburu, of Gallic origin but buried in the region. But … why? The big question. Why paint a Christian temple with birds, solar disks and quadrupeds with claws, some with the appearance of wild boars? In An interview with The country López de Munain slides some theories, such as their creators wanted to represent on the walls what they saw in their most immediate environment or … Read more

A Spanish C15 that was born for the field and ended up running next to porch

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Who has not ever felt the impulse to buy a Citroën C15. This mythical French van has been the pillar of the agricultural industry of Spain for 40 years, and at the same time it is Focus of memes and jokes to each more hilarious. I am sure that many have had that crush with a classic car and we have thought about “I buy it now.” It happened to me with a Citroën Xantia Activabut I have not finished consummating. Gerard, a 20 -year -old Spanish boy, not only got carried away by a “heated” when buying a C15, but has put it in mythical nurburgring circuit. But his story began a couple of years ago, when he needed a car to participate in a Rally by Morocco. And far from more exotic alternatives, he chose a C15 that already has little of his soul from C15: he set up a new engine that elevates its power above 100 hp. And, for a 1985 C15 whose most powerful original engine had 69 hp, that is, a lot. And has taken her to her new natural territory: Nurburgring. A championship C15 for 200 euros … that reaches 200 km/h In This video From Axel Espxnur we are presented to Gerard Casals. Now he is 20 years old, but at 18 he bought a C15 for just 200 euros, with just over 200,000 kilometers and got the impossible: break the engine. This is curious because the C15 is the object of both jokes and admiration, precisely for its resistance and mechanical reliability. In fact, Gerard says that, with all that way behind him, he had not had Not an oil change. The reason that led him to buy this concrete model was the budget, but also because in conditions as hard as those of a rally in Morocco, reliability is needed and, above all, mechanical simplicity. If something breaks, You have to be able to fix it easily. His model was the 60 hp, less than the most powerful that could be bought, but when breaking the engine, he thought to replace it with one that would raise the characteristics of the van. Which? A 1.900 CC 100 hp turbod. taken directly from a Corttoën Xsara. In the axel video we can see that the engine has little to do with that of the original C15. It was not as simple as removing an engine and putting another, since some aspects of the interior had to be realistic, setting up the admission of a Nissan Terranonew sleeves, new water pump and more generous wiring. 100 hp XSara engine within C15 | Axel Spxnur video screenshot With that new heart, and with its barely 750 kilos of weight, its C15 reaches a maximum speed of 200 km/h. “Everything moves, in the end it is a car that has nothing insulating and is more thought for the field than for the road,” he says. The gearbox is also Xsara, five -speed. Consumption? Less than six liters. In fact, he affirms that, from Barcelona to the Nurburgring circuit, he has not needed two deposits. They are 1,200 kilometers. Apart from the engine, there are another series of modifications that make this C15 a real beast not to load melons, but for more demanding roads. The subbase is that of the original ‘van’, but has Koni shock absorbers, new brake tweezers and a 165/70/r14 tire for circuit. To go somewhat more comfortable, it has bmw seats with electronic regulation, but the interior is a sheet, as in the original. Run. “The French go crazy” Casals states that the first round in the circuit woke up laughs. He saw how cars much more thought out for this environment, they spent the stickers, but have taken many photos and what “The French go crazy”. And it is not for less, since the car draws a lot, a lot of attention. In the 7:47 minute of the Axel video we can see the van rolling in the asphalt of ‘Green Hell’. In another video of the YouTuber Misha Charoudin, we can see another round with the C15, but with An interesting added: the speedometer. If you have ever ridden in a C15, you will know that the needle is not so agile when climbing, but in the case of this modified C15, it is a show. There are times when you see the tires scream and give you a loose laugh because, obviously, it is out of its natural environment, but the truth is that Gerard’s, although very interesting in the modifications he has made It is not even the first C15 nor, above all, the first ‘weird’ vehicle that can be seen in Nurburgring. For the German asphalt we have seen KARTSa DHL distribution van, caravans, limousines, a scooter and people who directly go with a BMW with Baca and a couple of bicycles coupled. Of everything except aerodynamic. But for many oddities that we see in ‘Green Hell’, surely few reinvent a classic like Gerard’s C15. Images | Axel Espxnur, Misha Charoudin In Xataka | A millionaire ran out of a card and unable to use its supercar: its own nürburgring was built in the garden

Astrophysics do not know how to certain how the first stars of the universe formed. This is about to change

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All stars are different. Each of them has its own character. His own “personality.” However, THE MECHANISM OF NATURE that has triggered the birth of most of those we can observe is always the same, so, in some way, we can consider that All are related. The stars are born from clouds of dust and gas that are disseminated by the universe, and that began to form Shortly after the Big Bangwhich took place, according to the estimates of scientists, almost 14,000 million years ago. The analyzes that many research groups are carrying out defend that the first stars were born shortly after the formation of the universe. In fact, it is currently considered that the oldest known, whose name resists me to transcribe because it is a cluster of letters and numbers that will not contribute anything, was born nothing less than 13.6 billion years, which reflects that it is almost as old as the universe itself. A team of astronomers from the National University of Australia, which is the group of scientists responsible for its discovery, assures which is sixty times larger than our sun and is located in our same galaxy, the Milky Way, but to 6,000 light years from the earth. Just to a jump. Our protagonist is the oldest molecule known in the cosmos The most interesting thing is that, despite their age, astronomers are convinced that there are even more archaic stars. This suspicion relies on the fact that our 13.6 billion giant is composed, in addition to hydrogen, carbon, magnesium and calcium. These chemical elements have necessarily had to be previously manufactured by one or several stars of an even older generation and with a very low presence of metals, understanding as metals all those elements that are heavier than helium, regardless of their position in the periodic table. The problem is that the knowledge that astrophysics have about these primal stars is still very limited, although this scenario seems to be about to change. And it is that a research team of the Max Planck Institute of Nuclear Physics, which is housed in Heidelberg (Germany), has identified unexpected behavior of helium hydride (heh⁺), which is the oldest molecule known in the cosmos. It consists of a helium atom (He) and a proton (H⁺), and astrophysicists believe it was formed in the universe shortly after the Big Bang, when the temperature was reduced enough so that the helium and hydrogen atoms began to join. Astrophysics of the Max Planck Institute of Nuclear Physics have managed to reproduce the conditions of the original universe using a cryogenic storage ring One of the reasons why helium hydride is so important is that its appearance triggered the beginning of chemical bonds in the universe and strengthened the foundations for the creation of molecular hydrogen (H₂), which is the fuel that feeds the stars. The strategy used by astrophysicians from the Max Planck Institute of Nuclear Physics to recreate how this molecule behaved just after the Big Bang is amazing. And they have managed to reproduce the conditions of the original universe using a cryogenic storage ring. This experimental ingenuity is used to store ion beams for prolonged periods of time at extremely low temperatures and under ultra -oral vacuum conditions. This allows scientists to study the properties of molecules as unstable as helium hydride without being destroyed very quickly when colliding. As explained in the very interesting article that these astrophysicians have published in Astronomy & AstrophysicsDuring their experiment they realized that instead of slowing down as the temperature dropped, the reaction between helium hydride and the deuterium remained constant. This finding is important because in the primal universe helium hydride interpreted a leading role in the primordial gas cooling process. This cooling was essential so that the clouds of dust and gas collapse under the effects of gravity and give rise to the formation of the stars. In short, what these scientists have discovered is that Helio hydride had a much more active role in the primary chemistry of the universe of what was believed so far. Taking this idea as a starting point, astrophysicists onwards will be able to rethink the theoretical models that describe the processes involved in the formation of the oldest stars. Image | POT More information | Astronomy & Astrophysics In Xataka | The CERN has made an incredible pirouette: its last discovery has the ability to revolutionize quantum computers

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