Month: November 2025

In the Nordic countries there is also a turn towards spirituality. Towards Odinist spirituality, specifically

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In a forest outside Stockholm as evening falls, a dozen people raise horns of mead toward the sky as a priestess invokes Thor. There are no skins or horned helmets —That’s a Hollywood invention.—. Here there are mothers, office workers in light blue shirts, young people dressed in black, retirees, tattoos with runes and cookies in the shape of the hammer of the god of thunder. The scene, described in a report by The Guardiandoes not belong to any historical recreation, but to a real ritual: a blótthe pagan ceremony that was celebrated in Scandinavia more than a thousand years ago and that, against all odds, has returned with a vengeance. “In the most secular countries on the planet, the old gods are returning,” writes Siri Christiansen in his article. And he doesn’t exaggerate. In Sweden, Iceland, Denmark, Norway and Finland, thousands of people today identify with the pre-Christian religions of the north. It is not a hobby or a passing fad: they are officially registered religions, with priests, temples, rites of passage, their own cemeteries and an expanding community. Why, in the most modernized society in the world, is an ancient cult reborn? The answer is more complex, but it has a surprising sense of normality. An ancient faith for unstable times. The Nordic countries top all the secularization lists in the world. In Sweden, only 10% of the population attends Christian churches regularly. In Iceland 40% of young people believe that God does not exist. And yet, in parallel, religions that were believed to have been buried since the 11th century are growing. In Sweden, two state-recognized organizations —Nordic Asa-Community (NAC) and Forn Sed Sweden— have around 2,700 registered members, although their networks exceed 16,000 followers. They have twenty local subdivisions, hold seasonal blóts, ​​and attract up to 300 people at their national gatherings. In fact, this year they have managed to get the Government to approve the first pagan cemetery in more than a thousand years, in the town of Molkom, with fifty burial requests already processed. They are also raising funds to build a temple in Gamla Uppsalathe ancient religious capital of the Vikings. A map of active minorities. In Denmark, the Forn Siðr organizationrecognized by the State since 2003, It has about 650 membersalthough it is estimated that there are some 3,500 practitioners in the country. Since 2009 they have managed a pagan cemetery in Odense where thirteen people have already been buried. In Norway, Bifrost and Forn Sed Norge They bring together hundreds of believers and publish materials on rituals, ecology and tradition. Both groups They openly declare themselves anti-racist and they have expelled members with supremacist speeches. Furthermore, Bifrost openly declares in its section Rasisme that any sympathizer of supremacist ideologies “is not welcome.” In Finland, the panorama is more dispersed, but it is also older. The community Karhun kansafocused on native Finnish religions, was recognized in 2013). For its part, the Lehto association, founded in 1998brings together practitioners of Wicca, shamanism, Ásatrú and Nordic paganism in general. Iceland: the heart of the renaissance. If there is an epicenter of the pagan revival, It’s Iceland. There the organization Ásatrúarfélagið, founded in 1972was officially recognized a year later and today is the second religion in the country, with more than 7,000 active members in a country of 389,000 inhabitants. In Reykjavík they are building the first pagan temple in a millennium, a circular building of concrete, wood and natural light entering through an open dome. The project—designed by architect Magnús Jensson, a member of the community itself—will complete work next year. In addition, it will house ceremonies, libraries, banquet halls and the sanctuary where the blóts of the solar calendar will be celebrated. What are the rituals like? The heart of today’s pagan practice are blót, seasonal ceremonies honoring the gods and forces of nature. According to an ethnographic studythese rituals are generally celebrated outdoors—forests, mounds, historic areas—and include poetry recitation, toasts, music, and a large communal meal. In ancient times, blót included animal sacrifices. Today, Nordic associations have radically transformed the practice: there is no blood, the offerings are symbolic (mead, bread, fruit, ritual burning) and often include the burning of a banner made among the participants, as the same study documents. It should be added that there is some micro-communities (unofficial) who have debated resuming animal sacrifices, but represent a marginal and controversial minority within the movement. In addition to blót, these religions celebrate weddings, funerals, baby namings, and coming-of-age rituals. In Iceland, a play based on in the Eddic poem Skírnismála solemn and surprisingly contemporary rite. Wedding celebrated during the 2022 spring ritual in Sweden Who is behind? The question is who is behind the new Norse pagan. According to research—collected at EUREL, sociologist Jane Haug Skjoldli or Heimskringla’s analysis—, the most common profile of current Nordic pagans is: adults between 25 and 50 years old, high educational level, stable employment or urban middle class, interest in nature, ecology and local culture. In addition to progressive values ​​(most organizations are explicitly anti-racist). Many people do not identify strictly as “pagans” but as Heathens, Fornsedare, Animists, Nordic Polytheists, or Ásatrúar. It is a flexible, non-dogmatic spirituality, with an emphasis on practice and community rather than doctrinal faith. A rebirth with tensions. An inevitable topic is the relationship between paganism and the extreme right. During the 20th century, Viking iconography was instrumentalized by Nazism and, later, by white supremacist groups. Today, associations such as Forn Sed Sweden, Bifrost and Ásatrúarfélagið publish explicit anti-racist values ​​and expel—as the NAC did in 2017, according to The Guardian— to members who express xenophobic ideologies. A member of Forn Sed Sweden put it bluntly: “If you’re a Nazi, you’re not a pagan. You’re just a Nazi.” Still, tension exists: Viking symbols have become mainstream on the internet, and some radical groups continue to use them. This forces official associations to position themselves again and again. Is the Viking religion really back? Yes, but transformed. It is … Read more

China already has an army of 5.8 million engineers. His new plan involves accelerating doctorates

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China has a plan to win the technology race, one that began more than 40 years ago when decided to invest in training millions of engineers. We have seen it in the signings of the Meta superintelligence teamwhere the vast majority are Chinese. Chinese universities have a new plan to further accelerate the attainment of doctorates, one that puts aside theory to focus on practice. What is happening. They tell it in South China Morning Post. China is implementing a new policy that affects STEM students pursuing doctorates. The title PhD or ‘Doctor of Philosophy’ is the highest academic rank that can be obtained and until now required the development of a thesis. With this change, led by Harbin University of Technology, engineers can earn the PhD degree with the development of real products and systems. First case. The first student to achieve the PhD based on practical results was Wei Lianfeng last September. He graduated in 2008 and joined the China Nuclear Institute, where he worked for more than a decade until he decided to return to university to pursue his PhD, which he earned for his results in developing a vacuum laser welding system. To evaluate their work, the court that attended the oral defense included industry experts. Why is it important. The training of technical talent has been a priority for China for decades and more recently they have redoubled their efforts. In 2022, the government launched a program to promote STEM education especially in strategic areas such as semiconductors and quantum computing. Among the key points of the plan was close cooperation between companies and universities for joint training. This measure is the culmination of this strategy and the recognition that theoretical knowledge is not enough to compete in the technological race, especially with US blockades of key technologies. This allows China to solve the bottleneck in graduating higher-ranking engineers; It is not only about training more engineers, but about training them as soon as possible and with solutions that can be applied to the real world, instead of theses that are hundreds of pages long. STEM Power. The push to train engineers and scientists is part of a long-term government plan that began in the post-Mao era. And the plan is going from strength to strength. If we focus only on doctorates, according to data from 2023, China awarded 51,000 doctorates (PhD) in STEM careers, while the US was at 34,000. The projection at that time was that by 2025 the figure would rise to 77,000. In terms of total figures, In 2020, China was already the country that produced the most STEM graduates throughout the world with an abysmal difference: 3.57 million compared to the 2.55 million that India produced or the 822,000 in the United States. At the moment China already has 5.8 million graduates and it is estimated that more than 40% of all graduates choose a STEM career. Image | Joshua Hoehne in Unsplash In Xataka | Silicon Valley has a problem: its engineers are beginning to look to the other side of the Pacific. Specifically towards China

There’s a reason you spend hours watching reels on Instagram until 3:00 AM: the science of doomscrolling

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It’s one in the morning. We should be sleeping but the finger is still sliding across the screen, scrolling through videos on TikTokreels on Instagram or posts on X. A viral meme, a new fire in the area or a new political crisis has us hooked on the screen. And although we may be exhausted, it cannot be stopped. If this scene sounds familiar to you, then welcome to the club. doomscrolling. A term that became massively popular during the pandemic and which can be defined as the habit of consuming prolonged form negative news or distressing, mainly through social networks. But behind this process, which may be very common in society right now, there are numerous chemical processes in the brain that science has not hesitated to investigate. The trap mechanism. To understand why we do doomscrollingwe must first understand that our brain did not evolve to have X or TikTok, but rather it evolved to survive. And it is not so long ago that humans were hunting for food or fleeing from a threat in nature, and it is something that our brain is still very much aware of. According to the most recent scientific literaturethe fact of sliding our screen down activates our reward brain circuits such as the dopaminergic system in each interaction. This drives us at all times to continue searching for information and evolutionarily knowing “where the danger is” was vital. The problem is that in this case the algorithm has no purpose, and we can spend 24 hours watching this type of news. But the reward system, which gives us ‘pleasure’ when knowing where the danger is, is not alone. It is accompanied by the amygdala which is the fear center in our brain. When seeing all this information, such as a war nearby in our territory, the brain interprets it as a potential threat that results in a large release of cortisol. This hormone is precisely known as the ‘stress hormone’, because it keeps the body in a state of hypervigilance. The result of these two circuits is quite clear as point out publications in Frontiers in Psychiatry and Brain Behavior: The brain seeks relief from information, but only finds more threats. This results in a toxic cycle being generated in which one seeks to calm down, becomes more scared, and searches again. The rotten brain. On social networks there is already a lot of talk of the term brain rot which translates to ‘brain rot’ like a real meme. but science has a very different opinionsince recent research suggests that repeated exposure to these fragmented stimuli with high emotional impact, with 15-second videos and alarmist headlines, have a high physical cost. The impact is located above all in executive functions (planning, organization, decision making…). And the constant alternation of these catastrophic contexts forces the brain to jump from one idea to another in milliseconds, and it is not something free. The cost we have to pay can be summarized in three points: Mental fatigue due to the high consumption of glucose that the brain has to make by having to constantly change focus. Deterioration of the prefrontal cortex, which is associated with a reduction in the efficiency of the area responsible for planning and impulse control. Processing blockage when the brain is on hyperalert. This makes it difficult to transfer information to long-term memory. Do we no longer know how to concentrate? This is the question we can all ask ourselves due to this phenomenon. The short answer from science is: we know, but it is much harder for us to “get started.” Studies on digital multitasking indicate that it is not that we have lost ability physiological of sustained attention, but we have trained our brain to expect interruptions. Deep attention (what you need to read a book for example) requires a “warm-up” time. He doomscrolling and the constant stream of notifications resets that counter constantly. Research collected in BMC Public Health they point out that attention remains “anchored” waiting for the next update. Even when you are not looking at your phone, a part of your cognitive resources is focused on it, reducing your performance on the task in front of you. It is not an irreversible decline, it is an atrophy due to lack of use of deep concentration circuits. There is hope. Despite the apocalyptic tone of the studies themselves on the subject, the scientific conclusion It’s not that we’re doomed. to be distracted automatons glued to a phone. The great advantage that humans have is neuroplasticity. With this term we mean that just as the brain learns to scroll compulsively, it can “unlearn.” Experts agree that the damage is not permanent unless the behavior becomes chronic for years without intervention. Evidence-supported strategies for breaking the cortisol-dopamine loop include: Set strict times to inform yourself and never before bed. Do exercises mindfulness as a tool to restore the default neural network. Allowing the brain to rest and ‘get bored’ without stimuli to help cleanse itself and regain the ability to focus. Images | Yazid N In Xataka | Young people have decided to stop posting (so much) on Facebook and Instagram. “AI-generated garbage” has free rein

Christmas lights begin in a town in Andalusia that sells them to the rest of the planet: Puente Genil

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Every year, while cities like vigo boast of their light shows and countries like Venezuela either Portugal compete to light Christmas before anyone else, there is an Andalusian municipality that, discreetly, has been setting the real rhythm of that calendar for decades. Although few know it, this is where Christmas really begins. A light by chance. The story begins in Genil Bridgea town that, before becoming a global benchmark for festive lighting, already had an intimate and almost genetic relationship with electricity. At the end of the 19th century, its flour and electricity factory “La Alianza” turned on some of the first electric streetlights in Andalusia. From that early love affair with light would later arise a seemingly minor moment that would end up changing everything: an electrician named Francisco Jimenez Carmonaowner of a small appliance store, decided to build a wooden star with light bulbs to decorate his window one post-war Christmas Day. What could have been just a nice gesture of local commerce unleashed a collective fascination. The neighbors gathered, the City Council asked to illuminate entire streets, the nearby towns demanded the same, and without anyone being able to foresee it, a company had just been born that would end up illuminating half the planet. The birth of a giant. Decades later, that initial spark transformed into Iluminaciones Ximénez, today Ximenez Groupa group capable of designing and manufacturing lighting installations for more than 600 cities in 40 countriesfrom Madrid or Vigo to Dubai, passing through New York, Moscow, Sydney or Malabo. An expansion that maintains, however, a deeply artisanal root: all the lights are They manufacture in Puente Genilwhere every Christmas campaign more than 180 workers produce millions of LED points day and night that will then travel to the five continents. The company operates like a bright boutique that adapts each project to the culture of the destination, from the amber warmth of the Nordic countries to the explosive colors of Latin America, passing through the classic tones of the United States or the monochrome designs of some Spanish cities. To your catalog collaborations are added with renowned designers and projects as imposing as the largest Christmas tree in Europe or the tallest in Central America, or even giant tunnels in Moscow capable of transforming entire avenues into immersive scenarios. Puente Genil as a secret laboratory. Although the lights travel so far, everything always begins at home. Puente Genil has become a testing ground open, a space where the most risky and innovative proposals are experience before traveling to Vigo, Brussels or New York. La Matallana and Paseo del Romeral function as a technological gateway where new structures, lighting patterns, immersive tunnels and shows synchronized through pixel mapping appear every year, capable of converting entire streets into changing audiovisual surfaces. This 2025 the town will deploy about two million LED pointsa forest of illuminations that extends through villages, avenues, streetlights, squares and facades, accompanied by a cultural program of almost thirty events which turns the city into a first-rate Christmas epicenter. And more. But the hyperbole goes beyond the visual spectacle: Puente Genil, located between Seville, Córdoba, Málaga and Granada, preserves a unique industrial heritagefrom its old power plants to its modernist palaces, and a festive life that transcends even Christmas, with an Easter (the “Mananta”) so unique that it has rituals and processions impossible to find anywhere else. Economic impact. The success by Ximenez Group It not only lies in the ability to dazzle visually. Their projects have become real economic drivers for the cities that hire them: they attract tourism, increase sales, reactivate entire neighborhoods and generate local identity through decorations designed to dialogue with each culture. In Sydney they designed an interactive maze that changes color according to human movement, in Moscow they built an enchanted forest and a 200-meter tunnel, in Seville they synchronize Three Wise Men’s crowns with light and sound, in Vigo they deploy monumental digital trees, and in New York they provide engineering, design and pieces manufactured in Andalusia. The crux. The key, they countis in the fusion between tradition and avant-garde: a family business founded in a small store in Córdoba that today produces shows with its own low-consumption technology, advanced LED systems and intelligent motors capable of rescheduling shows in a matter of hours, as if the streets were gigantic living screens. Homemade star in global phenomenon. Despite driving more than 40 million euros annually and project a 50% growth In the next decade, the company continues to have the soul of a workshop and memory of origin. Three generations have given continuity to that first star burning wood in Puente Genil, transforming it into an industrial model combining craftsmanship, innovation and a deep understanding of what it means to illuminate as a business. Perhaps for this reason, Puente Genil is not only a global supplier: it is, in its essence, the place where Christmas is rehearse every year, where ideas are born that will later shine in giant cities like New York or Dubai, and where technology and tradition come together to demonstrate that some of the most universal stories begin, almost always, with a gesture as simple as turning on a light bulb… in a remote municipality in Andalusia. Image | Ximenez, Vigo Tourism In Xataka | The hidden cost of Christmas in Spain: how spending on lighting has overflowed in just a few years In Xataka | Abel Caballero had his enemy at his doorstep: Portugal’s plan to beat Vigo for Christmas

The afternoon began as something more or less spontaneous. Today there are already companies that are “franchising” it to make money.

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The late afternoon has taken hold in Spain. And it has done so much that, in just a few years, it has gone from being a word that required clarification of language academics to become a kind of ‘franchise’, a brand that is incorporated into events and even business. After all, since the pandemic, Spain has shown that it is not only capable of enjoying nightlife… it also likes evening entertainment. And there are people willing to take advantage of that opportunity. What has happened? That lateness has permeated so much into our daily lives, it has become normalized to such an extent that there are those who are already dedicating themselves to ‘franchising’ it. It is not surprising if we take into account two factors. The first, that the concept took root a few years ago in Spanish society (it caught on especially during the pandemic). The second is that its link with leisure, hospitality and the entertainment industry makes it a juicy business. Especially in a country like Spain, where the population pyramid widens in the age group between 30 and 50, the public more given to advance the party hours, and lose weight among twenty-somethings, usually the most night owls. What is tardiness? In case there is still anyone with doubts in November 2025, here is a simple answer extracted from the web Fundéu official:tarardar is “spending the afternoon having drinks and tapas or with other recreational activities, so that leisure comes forward and does not extend until late at night.” That is essentially its main idea: nightlife is still leisure, but it is no longer nocturnal. Spain (country of bars) has a long tradition of evening entertainment, but the origins of the afternoon as a rising concept are not that old: they can go back a few years, to before the pandemicalthough it really gained appeal during the health crisis, when the hospitality industry (and the clients who demand its services) were forced to adjust to schedule restrictions and capacity. Was it that important? Yes. Like they explain At Bartalent Lab, it was then (during the pandemic) that the search for “alternative consumption moments during the day” took root as an alternative to traditional parties at night. The philosophy took shape to such an extent that today it is easy to find initiatives and business that put the emphasis on that concept (the “lateness”) or articles that speak of the importance it has gained among hoteliers in certain cities. In July for example The Voice of Galicia explained that, with nightlife losing steam, the evening offering was becoming a lifeline for the locals of Pontevedra. “We have been exploiting the afternoon long before it was called that,” confesses a local hotelier who organizes concerts to energize the environment, especially during autumn and spring weekends. In other cities, such as Valladolid either Saragossathere are also examples of establishments that have opted for afternoon teas. Why does it succeed? For a sum of factors. The key to being late is basically that it allows leisure to be brought forward several hours (since I said it in 2021 Fundéu), offering an offer more or less similar to the nightly one without having to pay a ‘toll’ the next day. That is, it guarantees customers an experience similar to what they have traditionally had in nightclubs at night, but without risking waking up the next morning exhausted and hungover. If you want to enjoy music, dancing and a few drinks, why have to wait until midnight? Why not bring those plans forward to six in the afternoon? The concept seems to have caught on among different generations, but there are those who point out that it has triumphed above all in the population segment of between 30 and 45 yearsa not inconsiderable market if one takes into account the drift of Spanish demographics. But that’s nothing new, right? Exact. What is novel and interesting is that this success has led to a sort of ‘franchising’ of the afternoon, with people taking advantage of the attractiveness of the concept to promote evening leisure offers or even establishments. What does that mean? What’s there premises, cultural proposals and events They are incorporating the name (and philosophy) of the Tartaro into their brands, just as if it were a business franchise. Perhaps the most obvious case is that of Afternoon Indie Cool,an initiative that emerged as an online project linked above all to an Instagram account and has grown to expand its offer throughout Spain. In fact, its first afternoon was organized in Barcelona two years ago and now similar events are held in cities such as Madrid, Malaga, Granada, Seville or Vigo, always with the afternoon as a flag. What does it consist of? The event is presented as an event that mainly combines indie music (also pop and rock), drinks and an atmosphere similar to that of festivals in well-known venues. All at a time when clubs are usually closed or warming up, between 6:00 p.m. and midnight. “They come to sing and share an atmosphere that cannot be found anywhere else,” claims David Coolfounder of Indie Cool, in an interview with The Vanguard. The formula caught on and in fact has ended up being exported beyond Barcelona. “Each city lives it in its own way, but the spirit is the same.” Its most common audience is between 30 and 45 years old, but Cool assures that the proposal has managed to attract people from different generations. “There are groups of people in their twenties, in their forties, even in their 50s. The beautiful thing is that they all share the same energy.” In their case, the Tardo philosophy is combined with a commitment to indie music, established groups and other emerging ones, a formula that works in Barcelona, ​​but also in other cities to those that have expanded. Images | Afternoon Cool (Instagram) and Jacob Bentzinger (Unsplash) In Xataka | Sex has entered a crisis in the West. If … Read more

Matt Kiatipis is the viral street basketball sensation. What no one is clear about is if it is really basketball

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If you are interested in sports content on social networks, it is very possible that your algorithmic paths have crossed at some point with Matt Kiatipisbetter known as MK, a street basketball player who is injecting an aggressiveness into his videos that many see it as the antithesis of the sporting spirit. We delve into the phenomenon and what it contributes to the abundant content of this type on social networks. Who is MK? Matt Kiatipis accumulates 3 million followers on TikTokwhere matches are recorded basketballusually one on one (although not exclusively) where extreme physical contact is the norm. This content creator, calling himself “1V1 KING”, has turned street confrontations into a viral spectacle that divide opinions: while some defend the authenticity of the streetball more aggressive, others claim that their videos they glorify conflict and they betray the fundamentals of basketball. How it works. Kiatipis follows a formula: one-on-one confrontations on street courts around the world, from Toronto to Greece, passing through Brazil, Italy or Spain, where it has been recently. In them, intense physical contact is combined with aggressive verbal disrespect towards opponents. His videos, which have amassed 120 million likes, show pushing, elbowing and body defenses that would rarely be allowed in regulated basketball games. The moneys. The Canadian has converted this format in a complete business: training program, merchandising themed by country, sponsorships from brands like YoungLA and AirVert… And the project ISOa match league with global franchise aspirations. And all embedded in an amazingly familiar business model (brother records, father edits, sister manages networks) that allows him to maintain total control over his image. Is this basketball? The division is sharp. Critics point out that Kiatipis’ videos normalize unsportsmanlike behavior: constant pushing, defensive grabbing, elbowing without penalty, and use of the body that in the NBA would constitute an immediate personal foul. According to the Spanish Basketball Federation, physical contact that disadvantages the player with the ball is punishable, but in streetball The rules vary from court to court. Street basketball has historically operated under unwritten codes where each player calls his own fouls. MK’s defenders argue precisely that: that it respects the tradition of streetball more physical, where spectacle and authenticity matter more than the regulations. The debate transcends sports and asks what “real basketball” means in the era of immediate content, where attention needs to be continually drawn. The streetball phenomenon. MK’s appeal has deep roots in American urban basketball culture. Mythical fields like Rucker Park in Harlem (where stars such as Julius Erving or Kevin Durant once played) or Venice Beach in Los Angeles established in the seventies the cult of individual spectacle, one-on-one duels and the absence of referees. But it was the phenomenon of the sports footwear and equipment brand AND1 (1998-2008) who turned violent streetball into a television business: as a sponsorship, street players like “Hot Sauce” and “The Professor” toured the United States challenging local players in matches that were broadcast on ESPN. The mixtapes with the meetings sold more than 200,000 copies in three weeks. But even then detractors emerged. Critics at the time already warned that AND1 “polluted the purity of the game.” The difference with Kiatipis lies in the platform: where AND1 needed ESPN to reach its audience, MK only requires TikTok. Now aggressiveness and testosterone are not only on the surface, but also within the reach of millions of followers. In Xataka | Michael Jordan’s mansion was so luxurious that no one could buy it. After 12 years it has found a mysterious buyer

We have found the oldest living tree in the EU. It is on Teide and almost coincided with the Roman Empire

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Spain is a tourism monster, and one of the most visited points is Teide. The territory of the volcano is imposing, and Bárbol hides on one of its slopes. As the character of ‘The Lord of the Rings‘, Treebeard, a Canary Islands cedar that was the oldest living tree in the European Union. And we say “was” because it has just been surpassed by one of its own species. One that is estimated to be 1,544 years old. Clonal or non-clonal, that is the question. Before we get into the discovery, let’s clarify an important concept when talking about the oldest living trees. There are two categories main: clonal and non-clonal. And understanding them is quite simple: A non-clonal tree is an individual, the traditional concept of a tree that grows from a seed. It is a unique individual with its root system and a main trunk. A clonal tree is one that is born from a root system. For example, some roots can give rise to a tree that grows and dies, and from those same roots, another tree is then born, being a “clone” of the original. Another Canary cedar. Found by researchers from the School of Forestry, Agronomic and Bioengineering Industry Engineering at the Duques de Soria Campus and by experts from the University Institute of Sustainable Forest Management at the University of Valladolid, the newly discovered specimen is a whopping 1,544 years old and is, like Bárbol, a Canary Islands cedar. He overcomes it by several years, since esteem that Bárbol is 1,481 years old, and fortunately for these two specimens, they are very far from tourist areas and human influence. This has allowed them to spend a millennium and a half in the same place where they were born, without worrying about the deforestation of the area caused by humans, and they have not been affected by the eruptions of the volcano. To access the new specimen, the researchers had to be assisted by local climbers to access these remote areas of the Teide National Park to be able to take the samples. This is how they found Treebeard Importance. Thus, they have been able to carry out an inventory of ancient cedars located in these areas that are difficult to access. Of the 25 specimens analyzed with the carbon 14 techniquethe existence of eight millennia has been evidenced, three of them exceeding 1,500 years. They are the witness of an ancient population of cedars that would have covered a large part of the park. The team has commented that it is one of the most important concentrations of ancient trees in the European Union and, furthermore, that “its persistence is due to the inaccessibility of the rocks in which they live.” Lucky. Its scientific value is also enormous, since it is like a historical record of the climate. Studying rings of ancient trees allows us to reconstruct the climatic history of the region, obtaining data on rainfall and drought patterns, tracing an evolution of temperatures and, in the case of Teide, identifying the frequency of volcanic events. It all depends on the “portage”. Those responsible for this discovery are the same ones who already dated to Treebeard in 2022, and it must be said that in Finland they found a juniper with a century more on its bark. Baptized as Utsjoki, in a first analysis in 2021 it was given 1,242 years, but after the discovery of Bárbol, they repeated the analysis and they found with which he was many more: 1,647 years old. But since technicalities have their importance in these things, it must be said that… everyone is right in stating that “theirs” is the longest-lived. The difference is in the arboreal habit of each subject. Both are non-clonal, but while the Finnish juniper had a bushy appearance, the canary has an arboreal appearance. And… well, it must also be said that the juniper died in 1906, so the two canaries are the longest living trees. That’s how they found Utsjoki. | Photo: UTU, Marco Carrer Legends. It is evident that there is a “competition” to find the oldest tree, but this is not a race to turn it into something touristy, as if it can happen with other finds, but rather to have new specimens that allow us to obtain a historical x-ray of the land on which they are. Apart from the specimens studied with methods such as carbon 14 belonging to this classification of non-clonal trees, we have specimens such as Old Tjikko Swedish 9,560 years old. The “trap” is that it is a clonal specimen, so the root system is almost 10,000 years old, but the trunks that appear from time to time only last a few centuries. And finally, those that belong to “folklore”, such as the yew Llangernyw in Wales which, located in the cemetery of a church, is estimated to be about 5,000 years old or the yew tree Fortingall in Scotland between 3,000 and 9,000 years old. Too wide a range. Images | Jens SteckertUVa In Xataka | Even when Spain does it well, it goes wrong: becoming the third most forested country in Europe has become a problem

Parmersan cheese is extremely serious business in Italy. To the point of having his own agent in Hollywood

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The most famous cheese in the world (with permission from Cabrales) has just hired representation in Hollywood. The Parmigiano Reggiano Consortium (which is what the Italians call what we simply call Parmesan) has signed United Talent Agency (UTA), one of the leading agencies in the film industry, to boost the presence of the Italian product in films, television series and platforms streaming on an international scale. The agreement. The strategy seeks to position this cheese with a Protected Designation of Origin in global productions in a more or less natural way, taking advantage of the fact that it is known throughout the world. According to statements by Carmine Forbuso, marketing manager of the Italian organization, the cheese represents “simplicity, quality and depth” thanks to only three ingredients, all natural, and centuries of tradition in its artisanal production. Exports of the product reached 53.2% in the first eight months of 2025. How’s the thing going? product placement. The global advertising placement market reached $33 billion in 2024 with a growth of 12.3% annually, which far exceeds the increase in traditional advertising investment. This marketing strategy has been experiencing four consecutive years of double-digit expansion, and as a marketing strategy it has doubled in size compared to 2018, so no, we are not just talking about the jar of soluble cocoa in ‘Family Doctor’. Specialized agencies as UTA ​​Entertainment Marketingwhich will represent parmesan, have doubled revenue in two years. And it seems to work: the success of this tactic lies in its naturalness, since more than 52% of US consumers They prefer these appearances over conventional advertisements. Some precedents in Hollywood. The history of product placement modern food has its founding moment in 1982when candy brand Reese’s Pieces focused all the attention on a crucial scene from Spielberg’s ‘ET.’ Mars refused to allow M&M’s to be used and it was quite a mistake, as Hershey, makers of Reese’s Pieces, tripled sales in two weeks. Currently it is a popular resource: in 2024, for exampleCoca-Cola appeared in 561 films and series. When it goes wrong. However, the forced placement It often generates rejection, and it is something that brands have to take into account. The oldest people in the place remember with a shudder the movie ‘My Friend Mac’ (curiously, a plagiarism of ‘ET’), full of covert advertising for Pepsi and MacDonald’s, and in whose restaurants even a musical number took place. When the brand interrupts the logical narrative of the film The viewer perceives it as invasive advertising, and that is what happened in this classic of eighties alien dandruff. Header | Brands&People in Unsplash In Xataka | Italy’s forbidden dish: a cheese so extreme in its preparation that the European Union had to put limits on it

the most disruptive technology for treating patients in the ICU turns out to be an MP3 file

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When we think about the advances in hospitals to improve survival or recovery of patientswe can come to think of better respirators, monitors that offer thousands of data or new drugs that are almost miraculous. However, science has given us a blow of reality by demonstrating that accompanying families during hospital stays offers great results. This is something that has been seen directly in a hospital’s ICU itself, where patients are between life and death. That is why a study decided to use something as ‘low-tech’ as It is a voice recording of a family member to see the real impact it could have on his recovery. And the truth is that we have been underestimating the usefulness of this clinical tool. The problem. One of the big problems faced by patients entering the ICU is the ‘delirium’. A state of great confusion resulting from an acute failure of the nervous system that affects up to 80% of patients that have mechanical ventilation. And this is something terrible within these units. Not because it is annoying for the patient to be in a great state of confusion, but because it has been seen that mortality, hospital stay and all this increase. leads to higher costs for the healthcare system. Something that has been calculated and that points to an expense of between 6,000 and 20,000 million dollars annually. And the worst thing: current drugs (sedatives, antipsychotics) are often part of the problem or are not entirely effective in preventing it. The solution. Once we had the problem, Cindy Munro proposed a simple but powerful hypothesis to solve it: if the brain “disconnects” from reality due to isolation and sedation, can we use a familiar voice to bring it back? The test. In order to see if this was possible or not, a study was carried out that included 178 patients from two large hospitals in Florida and which had the collaboration of five large universities. The goal was clear: treat sound almost as if it were medicine. To do this, a protocol was created to play the audio so that it was not simply connecting the radio or mobile phone and allowing the patient to listen. The standard was to use common audio players, with two-minute clips recording the families and a playback that would be done twice a day: at 9 in the morning and at 4 in the afternoon. The time was not chosen at random, but was designed to ‘hack’ the circadian rhythm. Listening to familiar voices during the day helps the brain orient itself temporally, reinforcing the difference between day and night, something that is completely lost under the artificial lights of an ICU. The result. In addition to offering a positive result to the patients’ condition, it was also seen to have a dose-dependent effect like medications. That is, the more messages patients received, the greater the reduction in delirium in the ICU. Why this matters. Today the industry does not cease its attempts to search for complex molecules to protect the brain, regenerate cells and countless other techniques. But the reality is that the solution seems to lie in our evolutionary biology (or at least a little help): reacting to the voices of our ‘tribe’. Images | Stephen Andrews In Xataka | Science wants to put ‘microrobots’ into our bodies to medicate us. They have already given good results

Olive oil is following in the footsteps of wine. And that happens through the pre-umification of the oil mills

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There are few pleasures in this life that surpass that of dipping a good bread with plenty of crumbs in a bowl with quality olive oil. It depends on the time and the point of the roller coaster that is the olive oil priceit is something that we can do more or less frequently, and to weather the situation there are oil mills that are reimagining themselves. From simple industrial warehouses and cooperatives closed to the public, they are being transformed into living museums about oil, in the purest style of the wine cellars. It is the pre-umification of the industrial warehouse. roller coaster. Talking about olive oil is talking about Spain. We are the great engine on a global scale, contributing more than 40% of world olive oil. After some disastrous harvests24/25 has recovered, with a production of 1.4 million tons, and a similar production is expected for 25/26. Despite the good feelings, It is still a complicated segment because weather conditions can easily transform the scenario. Prices at the beginning of 2024 skyrocketed because the previous harvest was hit by drought, and oil mills have begun to take measures to protect themselves against price fluctuations and, above all, to have a stable income flow throughout the year. From wine tourism to oil tourism. If you’ve ever wondered why everything is now a subscription, even when it doesn’t make sense, it’s because companies are looking for a constant flow of money. A single large payment is no longer worth it: they want more distributed, but consistent income. There is one grape harvest a year and the wineries reacted by converting themselves into wine museums. In these visits to wineries we see how the product is made, but it is also a cultural and gustatory journey, with tastings of the product itself and others that “match” well, such as cheese. The oil mills are doing exactly the same. Of these cold and industrial facilities, some are moving to design buildings that combine the production of the oil, its culture and the tasting. It is the search for oleotourism through the pre-umification of the oil mill, and it is something that has drawn on this much more consolidated wine tourism. From the industrial warehouse to the museum. The idea is to offer a complete sensory experience in which there is a story about the territory in which it is located, the production of the oil, the local culture and, obviously, the tasting. At the same time, thematic routes can be developed with cheese factories or wineries, but also with agreements with rural accommodations and restaurants. These new oil mills also behave like a museum, since historical pieces and machinery are exhibited, as well as a review of the manufacturing tradition of the place. And, of course, there are direct sales stores that not only offer the main product, but any that may be related, such as cheese, oil, local sweets or even ceramic pieces in which to store that oil. Spanish tourism websites now stand out oil mills as exponents of modern tourism. There are oil mills that are converted and others that are more ’boutique’ that were born with the visitor in mind. LA Almazara. Jaen is a land of olive trees and there are several oil mills of this style, such as ‘EVOOland‘in Baeza or the Olive Culture Museum at Hacienda la Laguna. Ciudad Real is another important oil focus –with the healthiest oil in the world in 2024-, with examples like ‘Infanta Elena Museum of Contemporary Art‘ and more “at the foot of the olive tree” experiences that teach cultivation techniques, production, landscape and, for about 20 euros per person, of course, a tasting. Interior of LA Almazara But if there is a point worldwide that right now screams the terms “pre-umified oil mill” louder, that is ‘LA Almazara LA Organic’ in Ronda. It is the same concept that we have reviewed so far: a cultural center dedicated to olive oil that combines restoration, accommodation in a farmhouse and tasting, all around what they have called “the first signature oil mill”. The prices of this pre-umification? Specifically, those at LA Almazara are in line with others, between 10-30 euros, but with options to spend… whatever you want, with an “EXCLUSIVE visit” that closes the oil mill for you and takes you there by helicopter. I go to one and dip some good bread… so happy. Images | The Almazara, Wine tourismSpain In Xataka | China is devouring all technology sectors: the surprising thing is that it is also making good wine

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