Month: May 2026

SMILE, its first megaproject with China

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China and Europe are about to launch into space one of his most ambitious projects on an individual level and, without a doubt, the greatest as a team. It is not the first time that both agencies collaborate, but this time they do so to reveal some of the best kept mysteries of the Sun and Earth. The SMILE mission launches on May 19 and almost everything is ready. An ideal equipment to study the Sun. The goal of the SMILE mission (Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer) is to study how the solar wind interacts with the Earth’s magnetosphere, providing for the first time global images of this shock, both in soft X-rays and in ultraviolet light. This could help predict solar storms more accurately, allowing us to prepare in case they are so intense that they could affect our telecommunications systems. It won’t fly to the Sun. It is important to note that, although SMILE is going to study the interaction of the Earth’s protective layer with solar storms, its mission is not to fly to the Sun. In fact, it will remain in Earth orbit and move around it to take the relevant data on that interaction. Previous missions. It is not the first time that the European Space Agency (ESA) and various Chinese scientific entities have collaborated in space. For example, together they launched the dragon programwith which they cooperated in the development of Earth observation applications. They have also worked as a team on the mission Double Starwith which satellites have been sent into space to study the earth magnetosphere. Even the ESA has supported to China in some phases of Chang’e, the ambitious mission to study the Moon directed by the Asian country. Current situation. Initially, the mission was going to launch during the month of April. However, ESA detected a technical problem on the production line of a component of the Vega-C subsystem. This is the rocket that will propel the mission into space, so it is essential that it works perfectly. It was decided to postpone the launch and now, with everything reviewed and resolved, SMILE is ready to unravel the mysteries of the Sun. What will happen. The launch is scheduled for 5:52 CEST, same time in mainland Spain. It will take place at the European Space Port in French Guiana, where the rocket is already located and the previous maneuvers have been carried out. After launch, the four stages of the rocket will separate one by one, finally releasing SMILE 57 minutes later. Shortly after, at 63 minutes, the solar panels must be deployed. If everything happens correctly, the launch can be considered successful. And then what? Once in Earth orbit, the ship will take control to take it to its final, egg-shaped orbit. It will travel 121,000 km over the North Pole to collect data and then travel 5,000 km over the South Pole to deliver it to the ground stations that are waiting for it. Anyway, we must go step by step. First the launch must occur, a very special moment that you can follow live on this link. Image | THAT In Xataka | What are solar storms and why has society become so vulnerable to something that has been happening for millions of years?

We have spent years looking for how to stop muscle fragility as we age. The answer was hidden in garlic

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Aging brings with it a series of inevitable tolls, and one of the most limiting is loss of muscle mass and strengthwhich is a problem known as sarcopenia. This can cause a person to not be able to move comfortably around their home, causing them to have significant limitations in their daily lives. But now we have seen that there is a compound in garlic that can help us delay this agingalthough without being magical. A new study. Now, a promising new study published in the prestigious magazine Cell Metabolism has identified a specific compound derived from garlic that improves age-related muscle function. But we must keep in mind that we are not talking about the raw garlic that we add to the pan and which for many has a horrible taste, but rather about a very particular metabolite present in the aged garlic extract. The protagonist. This study focuses specifically on S-1-propenyl-L-cysteine ​​(S1PC), which is one of the metabolites that is generated during the aging process of garlic. This is where we can find a little help to delay aging. But it is essential to avoid the promises of “anti-aging elixir”, since eating raw garlic daily will not provide you with the necessary doses of this compound to replicate the results. Furthermore, it must be taken into account that it is not a “cure against old age”, but rather a solid therapeutic target to combat muscle fragility and sarcopenia. A surprising connection. The most fascinating thing about the study is not only what S1PC does, but how it does it, since when ingested it directly activates an enzyme called LKB1 that encourages adipose tissue to secrete a key protein called eNAMPT into the bloodstream. This protein is essential, since when it reaches the brain it acts on the regulatory centers of systemic metabolism and causes nervous and chemical signals to be sent from the brain that drastically improve the function of skeletal muscle tissue. Just what we want to improve in aging. Your results. To verify that this mechanism really works, the researchers carried out tests in both animal models and humans. Here, aged mice, after being administered the metabolite S1PC, improved their muscle strength and reduced markers of frailty related to aging. In the case of humans, the team conducted a human clinical trial using aged garlic extract, and the results confirmed that consumption of this compound raises the levels of eNAMPT that we have discussed before. But the most interesting thing is that the effect is greater in those people with enough body fat, which makes sense, since this protein is released by the adipose tissue itself. Images | wirestock at Magnific In Xataka | It is possible to convince an AI that shoving garlic up your ass is a good idea. You just need the right words

This is the Basque project that wants to convert waves into cheap electricity

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On May 12, a 42-meter steel buoy was towed from the Bilbao estuary to the open sea off Armintza. It is not the first time he has made that trip. It already did it in 2016, endured three winters with waves of up to 14 meters, generated electricity and returned to port with something equally valuable: data. Now it comes back improved. The Basque firm IDOM has released the Marmok A-5 again in the Cantabrian Sea, and this time he knows exactly what he has to prove. It’s not just another test. The promise of wave energy is not small. As he explains to the magazine Renewable Energies IDOM wave engineer, Patxi Etxaniz: “The amount of resources available worldwide is brutal; if we are able to obtain that energy in an economically profitable way, we have solved the global energy problem.” The problem, until now, has always been the same: extract it without ruining yourself in the attempt. The race to achieve this is fought by just a dozen or fifteen actors around the world: the Swedish CorPower, several Scottish engineering companies, companies from France, Wales, Finland and Italy, and Asian actors from Korea, China and Japan who, in the words of Etxaniz, “do not publish anything, they are very discreet.” IDOM is already in that group. The Cantabrian piston. The Marmok is, in essence, a buoy with a cylinder of water inside. As detailed Europe Wavewhen a wave arrives, that column of water rises and falls like a piston, compressing and expanding the air in an upper chamber. In this way, this air flow moves a turbine that generates electricity and, finally, an underwater cable takes it to land. The technology is called OWC – oscillating water column – and the new Marmok has improved it on three fronts, according to BiMEP: new turbine with controllable blades, intelligent control system with onboard batteries, and radically simplified anchoring. This latest change was born directly from one of the most costly and dangerous problems of the first campaign. As Etxaniz explained: “The anchorage we had worked well, but we needed a lot of divers, and they are expensive, and their work is dangerous: underwater, with ropes with a lot of tension, one of them whips you and you can have a serious problem.” Problem detected, problem solved. In this new campaign, in addition, the Marmok will connect to the grid for the first time through the HarshLab platform, a floating laboratory integrated into the BiMEP infrastructure, which will allow both to evacuate the energy generated and to monitor the behavior of the system in real time. Twelve years of work. The Marmok did not appear overnight. Its first models were tested at the El Pardo Hydrodynamic Experience Center in 2012. From there they went to the Tecnalia laboratories, then to the BiMEP offshore facilities in Mutriku, and finally to the open sea in October 2016, where it became the first wave energy converter connected to the electrical grid in Spain and one of the first in the world. Behind that journey was the team from the Basque company Oceantec. IDOM saw the potential, hired them en bloc and integrated them into its structure. More than a decade of work, financing from the Basque Energy Agency and support from the European innovation program EuropeWave later, what began as a laboratory prototype is today, according to BiMEPa device ready to advance towards pre-commercial phases. As Borja de Miguel, project manager at IDOM, summarizes: in statements collected by Europe Wave: “Achieving secure installation and grid connection at BiMEP is a key step in bringing wave energy closer to commercial reality.” What’s coming Over the next few months, the team will verify the performance of the new systems and progressively increase operations. The data collected by this campaign will serve two purposes: demonstrate results to EuropeWave and decide what the next phase of development will look like. The objective is not academic. It means lowering costs until a Cantabrian wave can compete, in price, with any other energy source. There is no date for that yet. “It will depend on the investment,” says Etxaniz. But the window exists, the group of applicants is small, and Basque engineering has been learning to read the sea for more than ten years. The Marmok already knows how to survive three stormy winters. Now you have to learn how to do it cheaply. Image | EuropeWave Xataka | For years, wave energy was the ugly duckling of renewables. AI and data centers have taken a turn

This is ‘celiacase’, the molecule that destroys gluten in the stomach

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For those who live with celiac disease, the time to sit at the table outside the home usually comes accompanied by a shadow of worry to know if you can eat something without danger. Today, the only and universal treatment is to have a strict gluten-free diet for life; However, avoiding traces and cross-contamination in the real world is a daunting task. Now, a team of Spanish researchers has taken a giant step to change this panorama with a new molecule: celiacase. With Spanish signature. Here the discovery was made by the Institute of Molecular Biology of Barcelona and other institutions. that they have proposed the use of an enzyme that is capable of destroying gluten in the stomach, as occurs, for example, with lactase supplementation in the lactose intolerant. But the most interesting of all is that this enzyme It has been inspired by the digestive juices of a carnivorous plant. The stomach barrier. To understand why celiacase is so special, we must first understand why gluten is so problematic, and that is that when we ingest gluten, for example, from a cereal, the digestive system is unable to completely break it down. The result is that large and resistant fragments remain floating, called immunogenic gluten peptides, among which a particularly toxic one called 33-mer stands out. Upon reaching the small intestine of a person with celiac disease, this intact fragment triggers a massive autoimmune response that destroys the intestinal villi and causes severe inflammation. That is why the goal here was to try to get a drug that would degrade these toxic fragments before they reach the intestine, but the problem is that the stomach and its acid were a big problem to have an enzyme that did its job well. And this is where botany comes into play. A carnivorous plant. In 2022, the CSIC I had already set the focus in neprosin, which is a natural enzyme present in the digestive fluid of carnivorous plants of the genus Nepenthes. These are plants that use neprosin to digest insects that fall into their traps, operating in high acidity conditions. In this way, taking neprosin as a base, researchers have redesigned and genetically perfected it in the laboratory to create “celiac disease.” Here the results indicate that the new molecule is stable and displays its maximum effectiveness when it comes to degrading gluten in the acidic pH of the stomach. In a matter of minutes, celiacase acts like a molecular scissors that cuts the GIPs and the lethal 33-mer, neutralizing gluten before gastric emptying into the intestine. What has been seen? The detailed study demonstrates that the molecule works at very low doses in mice, and points out that when gluten is given there is less atrophy of the villi of the small intestine. In addition, a significant decrease in the levels of inflammation and antibodies typical of the disease was observed. But the most interesting thing is that it respects the natural composition of the microbiome in the intestine. Cautiously. In biomedicine we are already accustomed to everything going too slowly, although for the sake of our own safety. In this case we are talking about a treatment in the preclinical phase that does not seek to replace the gluten-free diet or allow the patient to have a pizza with wheat flour, but rather it is an aid especially when exposed to places where there may be traces such as restaurants. As an extra security system. But for now this is something that must wait and undergo human study before it finally hits the market in the coming years. Images | freepik In Xataka | How to deduct celiac disease expenses in 2025 income: in which communities it is possible and how to do it in the 2026 declaration

move two million tons of sand

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The paradisiacal coastline of the central Algarve is facing one of the great coastal problems of recent decades, the result of rising sea levels and extreme weather events happening more and more often: the ocean is swallowing its beaches. So he has left behind the classic breakwaters to carry out one of the most ambitious coastal regenerations of its history: moving more than two million tons of sand from the seabed to the shore. There is no beach in the Algarve. The problem of erosion in the area of ​​Forte Novo beach and Garrão beach (both in the municipality of Loulé, Faro district) is not new, but this winter’s storms aggravated it in a worrying way, as explains the Portuguese Environment Agency: Their records have documented a maximum retreat of up to 15 meters on Loulé Velho-Trafal beach and 14 meters in the Quarteira-Garrão area. On Forte Novo beach, a retreat of an additional six meters was detected. These data place this section as one of the most critical in all of continental Portugal. Why is it important. Coastal erosion represents a real physical risk for the population and infrastructure: when the sand of a beach recedes in a sustained manner, the coast is directly exposed to the waves, which accelerates the erosion of cliffs, threatens nearby infrastructure and destroys the associated dune ecosystems. According to a report By 2024 published on the European Union’s Copernicus science platform, between 27 and 40 percent of European sandy coasts are experiencing active retreat, with special incidence in the Mediterranean and the Iberian Atlantic. On the other hand, the Algarve is one of the great tourist engines of Portugal. The region recorded more than 20 million overnight stays in 2023, according to the National Institute of Statistics Portuguese and in 2025 concentrated 85 beaches with the Blue Flag, the highest European certification of coastal quality. Losing beaches means losing its main economic asset, which mostly lives off of sun and sea tourism. Coastal erosion patterns in Europe. European Environment Agency Context. This intervention is part of the Integrated Coastal Zone Management Strategy of Portugal, which aims to achieve a harmoniously and sustainably developed coastal area within a period of 20 years (in force since 2009). The APA has already carried out similar and even larger operations: it holds the record Figueira da Foz, where it moved more than 3.3 million cubic meters of sediments in the Cova-Gala/Costa de Lavos section, with an investment of 21.1 million euros. The Quarteira-Garrão operation is, therefore, the second major operation of this type in just over a year, which reflects the State’s policy on coastal protection. The Quarteira-Garrão project is the technical response to a regional-scale problem of the erosive dynamics that affects the entire Gulf of Cádiz. Portugal has opted for large contributions of sand instead of building rigid rock breakwaters, following European trends. These types of solutions seek to have a lower visual impact and better integration into the dynamic coastal ecosystem. In figures. The operation, without being the largest in the history of Portugal, it has some numbers that impact: Transfer of approximately 1.4 million cubic meters of sand (about two million tons). Rehabilitation of 6.7 kilometers of coastline. Planned average widening of 37 meters. Tender budget: 14.9 million euros. How are they doing it. The technique that Portugal is applying is called artificial beach feeding or beach nourishment and consists of extracting sediments from nearby underwater areas and depositing them on the shore through dredging and pipelines. The project has been executed in phases, section by section and in coordination with the Cultural Heritage Agency of Portugal and after an environmental impact assessment: on the one hand, to control the deposition of sediments at each point avoiding saturation and on the other, because this underwater extraction area contains remains of underwater archaeological heritage. The works began between April 2 and 3 and completion was scheduled for May 6, in time for the beginning of the bathing season. Yes, but. The artificial regeneration of beaches is an effective solution in the short and medium term, but it does not solve the underlying problem as science warns: the deposited sand moves again due to the action of waves, currents and storms. In most cases documented in Europeregenerated beaches require new intervention after a few years (it can be more than a decade), depending on the energy exposure of the coast. The underlying structural problem is the chronic loss of sediment throughout the coastal system, aggravated by climate change, the rise in sea level and the reduction in the river supply of sand caused by the regulation of rivers with dams. If these causes are not solved comprehensively, beach recharge is putting a patch on. In fact, the APA itself recognizes it by framing the intervention within a broader coastal protection strategy and continuously monitoring for the next action. In Xataka | Portugal’s radical proposal to stop touristification: an underwater cable that connects with the US In Xataka | “I am an engineer, politics is not my profession”: the mayor of Lisbon has turned it into a magnet for European startups Cover | Bengt Nyman and Ludovico Ceroseis

Sleeping four hours and working is equivalent to going to the office with six too many beers. Unless you have a ‘superpower’

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You’ve probably heard of businessmen, politicians or geniuses who claim to sleep just four hours and wake up refreshed with the ability to be very productive throughout the day. This is something that for medicine was simply a disguised sleep deprivation that would take its toll sooner or later; However, the most recent research suggests that it is possible to sleep this amount of time without consequences. Although it is better not to imitate them. Short sleepers. Here science has identified a condition called “familial natural short sleep”, which means that people who ‘suffer’ from it not only sleep little by choice, but their brain appears to perform nighttime maintenance tasks much more efficiently. That is why their restful sleep lasts much less than for other mortals. genetics is the great person responsible for this ‘skill’ and science has not ceased in its attempts to identify the targets that exist in the genome. One of them is genes DEC2 and ADRB1which were the first genes associated with this ability, since it was observed that members of the same family shared these mutations and slept for about six hours without negative effects. But these were not unique, since researchers have recently seen how a variant of the gene SIK3 reinforces the idea that the need for sleep is not a behavioral quirk, but rather an inheritable biological trait. For these people, sleeping 4 or 5 hours is not a sacrifice, but rather it is their natural state. Their cognitive performance is not affected and they do not experience the daytime sleepiness that would engulf anyone else. False productivity. This is exceptional, since for 99% of the population, between 7 and 9 hours of sleep are needed to have good cognitive performance throughout the day. In this situation, when we sleep four hours constantly without having this genetic advantage, we enter a state of chronic deprivation. And it is not something secondary, since the dangerous thing is that the human brain is terrible at evaluating how much damage it is suffering from lack of sleep, having the idea that “we are fine” when we are not. In fact, evidence shows that being awake for 17 to 24 hours produces cognitive impairment similar to having a blood alcohol level of 0.05% to 0.10%. In colloquial terms, trying to perform after sleeping four hours is comparable to trying to work on a night’s break where several beers have been drunk. And it is a sensation that some of us have experienced with clouded judgment and unstable emotional control. The danger. Sleeping little not only makes us think slower, but it is also known that there is a direct relationship between short sleep and high blood pressure, obesity and type 2 diabetes. In addition, during sleep it activates its ‘cleaning’ mechanisms to eliminate, for example, the beta-amyloid protein that is linked to Alzheimer’s. That is why interrupting this cleansing is not the best way to have an efficient nervous system. Don’t sell us productivity. At a time when there are many videos on social networks that suggest that sleeping a lot is a waste of time because it reduces our productivity on a daily basis, it is easy to fall into the practices of getting up at five in the morning and sleeping a few hours. But the reality is that if we weigh having good health or sleeping little to have more time to work, health logically weighs more. That is why the message we are left with is that, if we are not genetically “prepared” to sleep so little, it is best to avoid it as much as possible. Images | gpointstudio in Magnific In Xataka | If you fall asleep in less than five minutes, you don’t have a “superpower”: it’s a warning signal from your brain

Russia has been advancing at a snail’s pace in Ukraine for months. That’s about to change because of one season: summer.

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During World War II, many commanders discovered that a simple station could completely alter the rhythm of a military campaign: on the eastern front, the arrival of spring turned roads and fields into seas of mud capable of immobilizing tanks for weeks, while summer suddenly reopened enormous corridors of advance for both armies. The war that no longer advances as before. I counted the weekend the new york times that for months, the Kremlin has tried to sell the idea that a Russian victory in Ukraine is only a matter of time, pressuring even Trump and Western negotiators with the argument that kyiv Donbas will end up losing inevitably. However, on the ground the reality is much less spectacular. Russia has been advancing at a snail’s pace practically all year, to the point that, maintaining the current pace, it would take decades to completely occupy the region whose surrender it demands to negotiate peace. The problem is that this apparent paralysis can be misleading. Both Ukrainian commanders and military analysts carry weeks warning that summer is slowly changing the conditions of the front: the dry terrain allows the use of motorcycles and light vehicles to recover, the vegetation offers coverage against drones and Russian infiltrations are beginning to gain effectiveness after extremely difficult months for Moscow. The front is a drone war. The great transformation of this phase of the war is that Russia can no longer advance as in previous conflicts. Massive assaults with armored columns have become too vulnerable in a field of battle saturated by dronessensors and constant surveillance. Every movement is exposed from the air and any concentration of troops can be quickly destroyed. That has forced Moscow to completely modify its tactics. Now small groups of soldiers predominate slowly infiltratingon foot or on motorcycles, trying to open gradual gaps within a huge “gray zone” where control of the territory is no longer clear for either side. In other words, the conflict is looking less and less like a conventional war and more like a technological competition permanent between drones, electronic warfare and improvised survival systems. Russia makes little progress, but continues to push. The big problem for Ukraine is that even these minimal advances remain generating constant wear. Russia has suffered huge human lossesrecruitment problems and technological difficulties, including communications restrictions and obstacles to coordinate your drones. However, the Kremlin appears to have accepted that a slow and costly war remains preferable to launching large, risky offensives that could end in failure. In places like Pokrovsk or Chasiv YarMoscow has been fighting for years without managing to definitively break the front, but it has not retreated decisively either. Their troops infiltrate little by little, occupy temporary positions and turn huge areas of Donbas into spaces impossible for either army to completely control. The sensation is that of heavy, slow and damaged machinery that still continues advancing meter by meter. Summer is coming. That’s where it comes into play the seasonal factor which worries kyiv so much. During the mud and cold, Ukrainian drones have been especially effective at detecting Russian movements over open terrain. But the arrival of summer changes part of those dynamics. Trees and vegetation make aerial surveillance difficult, dry routes allow faster movement, and small Russian units find more opportunities to infiltrate without being immediately detected. In fact, Ukrainian officials recognize that Russian operations are already showing signs of improvement and that offensive activity is intensifying along the front. This is not yet a large mechanized offensive like those at the beginning of the war, but something much more disturbing: a constant pressure and diffuse design designed to exploit any weakness accumulated after years of wear. Between wear and tear and negotiation. All this greatly complicates international negotiations. Putin needs keep the image of a Russia advancing towards victory to pressure Ukraine and convince the United States that time is on the Kremlin’s side. But the real data show an exhausted army, enormous human losses and a front that barely moves. At the same time, Ukraine also does not have a comfortable situation: suffers from personnel shortages, desertions and difficulties in sustaining such a technological and costly war indefinitely. That’s why summer worries so much on both sides. Not because it will produce an immediate definitive rupture, but because it may slightly alter the balance of a war that has been trapped for months in a kind of lethal stalemate. And in a conflict where every kilometer costs thousands of lives, even small changes in the terrain, vegetation or climate They can end up having enormous strategic consequences. Image | Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, 7th Army Training Command In Xataka | While we all look at Iran, something is moving in the Arctic Circle: Russia is sending bombers with missiles In Xataka | To achieve the milestone of building the largest drone industry without China, Ukraine has found an explosive ally: Taiwan

that of the Cerros de la Plaza glacier

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In March 2026, Colombia officially lost another glacier. The Institute of Hydrology, Meteorology and Environmental Studies confirmed it: The Cerros de la Plaza glacier, located in the Sierra Nevada de Güicán or El Cocuy, had disappeared. It was not a surprise: they had been warning about it for a long time. From 5.5 square kilometers to zero. The news arrived accompanied of a sequence of satellite images that document with cruel precision a decade of agony: the European Space Agency’s Copernicus Sentinel-2 satellites they were monitoring its decline since 2016, frame by frame, without anyone being able to do anything. To Colombia It has six glaciers left. For now. goodbye to Plaza Hills. The Copernicus Sentinel-2 satellites captured the state of the glacier at six key moments between 2016 and 2026. In 2016 the ice mass was still visible, with white and bluish tones over the high mountain landscape. In 2018 and 2020 the reduction was already significant. In 2022 and 2024 the ice appeared divided into increasingly smaller fragments, scattered over the rock. At the beginning of 2025, only isolated remains remained. By 2026, the white signal had completely disappeared from the image. They verified its extinction with support from the Agustín Codazzi Geographic Institute. It is, therefore, a definitive extinction, as the IDEAM concluded. The disappearance of the Cerros de la Plaza glacier in northern Colombia. Eu-Space Why is it important. The disappearance of a glacier has several implications. From a hydrological point of view, saying goodbye to an Andean glacier means saying goodbye to a natural regulator that supplies water to the surrounding valleys in the dry season, since these bodies accumulate water and release it little by little when it is hotter and rain is scarce, that is, when it is most needed. Without this mechanism, the flora, fauna and communities that depend on these basins are exposed. The biological damage is equally profound. The glacier was part of a high mountain ecosystem, with species adapted to those conditions. The International Union for Conservation of Nature consider The Colombian moors are one of the most vulnerable ecosystems to climate change on the planet: when the ice disappears, it fragments habitats, threatens species and breaks ecological balances that have been in place for millennia. Context. In the mid-19th century, Cerros de la Plaza covered approximately 5.5 square kilometers, the size of several hundred soccer fields. In 2016, the area had already been reduced to just 0.15 square kilometers and this decade it has completely disappeared. Be careful, it is not a process that began in 2016: the decline has been documented since the 19th century, although in recent decades it has accelerated drastically. According to IDEAMColombia went from approximately 347.9 square kilometers of glacial coverage in the 19th century to only 30.83 square kilometers in 2024. At least 13 glaciers have completely disappeared since the mid-20th century and the six that remain are in accelerated retreat. If the trend continues, by 2050 Colombia could lose them all. But it is not an isolated case: throughout Latin America the retreat of glaciers is a general trend. How it happened. Tropical glaciers are especially sensitive to climate change, as explains IDEAM. To begin with, they are exposed to warm temperatures for almost the entire year, without a winter that allows enough snow to accumulate to compensate for the melting. So any sustained increase in average temperature has a direct and immediate impact on the ice mass, by lack recovery cycles that cushion the setback in other latitudes. In addition, Cerros de la Plaza is at an altitude close to 5,000 meters, which is relatively low to keep the ice stable. Likewise, precipitation in the form of snow has also decreased, so that the accumulation and the albedo and its effects: If there is less white surface where solar radiation can be reflected, the exposed rocky terrain absorbs more heat, accelerating melting. It enters a vicious circle that ends in progressive glacial collapse, that is, sustained and irreversible degradation. In Xataka | For an entire lake in Canada to disappear in just 15 days is rare. Science has a disturbing explanation In Xataka | Chronicle of an announced collapse: the NASA map that shows how quickly Mexico City is sinking Cover | Copernicus Sentinel – 2 Europe

Liquid cooling or air cooler? What to choose so that your CPU doesn’t smoke without having to spend a fortune

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How difficult it is to choose the parts of a desktop PC: what if the processor, what if RAM memory (well, if you find it at a good price), what if graphics card and other things. But it’s not all about your computer being as powerful as a NASA computer: you also have to design it so that it doesn’t smoke. And that’s where refrigeration comes in, a topic that has more to it than it seems and that we are going to explain in this article. Essentially, you have two ways to cool your processor: an air cooler and liquid cooling. You may read in many places that the latter is the best, but there are many nuances in that statement that must be clarified. So, let’s get down to business. Choosing an air cooler Let’s start with the air heatsink, which we can say is the ‘old-fashioned’ solution for cooling a processor. If you take a look at one of these heatsinks, you will see that it is almost all a fan, although it is a somewhat more complex component than that. Everything is placed on top of the processor and right there, depending on the model we choose, we must keep one thing in mind: may need a lot of space inside the PC case. Piecemeal. The air sink has a copper or aluminum base that rests just above the processor and, to facilitate heat transfer, the thermal pastea compound that makes it easier for this generated heat to pass from one place to another. That heat travels through heat pipes or heat pipes, which are sealed tubes with a small liquid inside that continuously evaporates and condenses to transport heat very efficiently, until it reaches the radiator. How does one of these heatsinks cool? There is no universal answer to this, since each model is different. But, yes, keep this: a quality air heatsink can cool better than small or medium liquid cooling. And that, in addition, with several very interesting advantages. The first thing is that these heatsinks are much easier to install: just apply thermal paste, screw and connect to the motherboard, nothing more. Besides, andThese heatsinks are much simpler and more durable. Basically, what can end up breaking is the fan and it is not difficult to replace at all. Now let’s get to the bad. Again, it will depend a lot on the model we choose, but there are air heatsinks that, when put at full capacity, They are real turbines and they make a lot of noise. They also take up a lot of space, as we said above, which has two implications. First, you need physical space to put it in the box. And second, if it fits just right, it will not have enough space to expel air and the cooling will not be correct. Choose liquid cooling The alternative is AIO liquid cooling (which comes from ‘All In One’). If you have read this far, you can already imagine that we are facing a more sophisticated refrigeration method. In fact, it is not only more sophisticated because of the way it extracts heat (which also, as we will see below), but it is a sophisticated system in sight. It’s an eye-catching system: the compact block above the processor and the case-mounted radiator offer a much cleaner look than the bulky air cooler. This system is based on the same thing as the air heatsink, that is, a metal block that comes into contact with the processor (with thermal paste, of course). What’s happening? What happens through that block? a liquid that absorbs heat and carries it through tubes to a radiatorwhich is actually quite large. This has fans nearby that cool the liquid and, in this way, the cycle begins again. Let’s go with its strong points. Remember what we mentioned above about the price, but, in essence, liquid dissipates heat better than air. In addition, the fans of this type of system are usually quieter than the one with the air cooler, which means less noise. Although be careful, because the pump can also make a little noise. There is also the issue of space, since the block that goes on top of the processor is much less bulky than the air heatsink. Bad turn. This cooling system, being more complex, is much more difficult to install. Besides, It also has a shorter useful life. (they usually have a useful life of between three and six years) and, if there is a coolant leak, it can cause serious damage to the PC (it is not common, but it can happen). They are also more expensive systems, as we say. The good and the bad of both options, face to face air heatsink liquid cooling THE GOOD 🟢 It is a cheaper system that works well and is more durable. It can be more efficient when cooling and aesthetically it is very cool. THE BAD 🔴 It takes up a lot of space inside the PC and can make a lot of noise. It is more expensive and, if it causes problems, it can be a headache. Ideal for: Have a long-lasting cooling system without many complications. Users who put a lot of effort into their processor and who want the interior of their PC to be more aesthetic. Neither of these two options is bad for your PC, but they have their advantages and disadvantages. Beyond what you want to spend, what you have to take into account when choosing is What needs do you have and what use are you going to give to your computer?. If what you are looking for is a system that will last for many years and you will hardly have to worry about it (beyond cleaning it and changing the thermal paste), then the ideal is to choose an air heatsink. Because? Because these systems are simpler and it is difficult for them to break. In addition, a good … Read more

The day Spain wanted to be Spielberg doing science fiction. It was such nonsense that Tarantino ended up claiming the film

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In 1982, during the filming of Fitzcarraldo In the Amazon jungle, Werner Herzog heard a completely real proposal from several local indigenous people: they offered to kill Klaus Kinski to put an end to the problems he was causing on set. The German director rejected the idea, but years later he would admit that for a few seconds he seriously considered accepting the offer. The impossible movie. In the mid-80s, Spanish cinema was still very far from Hollywood. Science fiction blockbusters seemed to be the exclusive territory of Spielberg, George Lucas or Ridley Scott, while comedies and much more modest films in terms of media predominated here. Then the director Fernando Colomo appeared and decided do exactly the opposite of what seemed sensible: raising a medieval science fiction epic with aliens, castles, special effects, international stars and the largest budget in the history of Spanish cinema up to that point. The result was so enormous, chaotic and Martian that it ended up becoming a symbol first of absolute failure…and decades later in a cult film claimed even by Quentin Tarantino himself. movie poster Spain in Hollywood style. The dragon knight was born as a completely improbable idea: mixing the myth of Sant Jordi with Encounters in the third phasemedieval fantasy, absurd humor and romantic science fiction. The story began with a spaceship mistaken for a dragon in the middle of medieval Europe and a silent alien (played by Miguel Bosé) falling in love with a princess after accidentally kidnapping her. Colomo came from triumph with the comedies of the Madrid Movida, but decided to launch into a gigantic project by Spanish standards. The budget is over exceeding 300 million of pesetas, a crazy figure for the time. Huge sets were built, models and storyboards that were unusual in Spain were designed, and some of them were experimented with. the first digital effects of national cinema. The problem is that Spanish cinema in 1985 simply did not yet have the necessary industrial infrastructure to build something like that without everything exploding into the air. Martian Bosé, Keitel sunk and Kinski unleashed. The casting seemed like an international frenzy. Harvey Keitel accepted the project at one of the lowest moments of his career after working with Scorsese. Miguel Bosé finished turned into an alien because Imanol Arias “did not have the face of an alien,” according to Colomo himself. And then there was Klaus Kinski. The German actor arrived at the filming as a ticking bomb human. He constantly insulted the team, shouted “What a shitty movie!” During the days, he demanded more money, disappeared when he wanted and turned any technical delay into an attack of fury. Apparently, he only respected Miguel Bosé (and for being Picasso’s godson) and the gypsy animal caretakers on the set. To give us an idea, Keitel even offered to pay out of pocket to settle one of Kinski’s contractual tantrums. The atmosphere was so unbearable that Colomo tried to film all the German scenes before meals so I can have a quiet lunch without him. History left the moment when Kinski finally finished his sequences and left the shoot, when the team celebrated his departure. opening bottles of champagne All wrong. The film was shot amidst constant rain, delays, cost overruns and situations almost surreal. An extra was about to drown during a sequence on a lake because the armor was too heavy and he couldn’t stay afloat. An electrician managed to rescue him at the last moment and then used that anecdote for years to demand work in new Colomo films. Not only that. The castle where they were filming was so poorly located that the crew had to upload loading material on exhausting days every morning. Miguel Bose I could barely breathe inside his spacesuit and diving suit it continually fogged up. Meanwhile, money was disappearing at breakneck speed. What had started as an ambitious fantasy ended up becoming something of a kind. suicide expedition where every day seemed to bring a new logistical disaster. The final failure. When The dragon knight It hit theaters in 1985, the reaction was brutal. Part of the criticism destroyed her describing it as a botched, absurd and inoperative fantasy. Although the film was relatively seen and became the seventh highest-grossing Spanish production of the year, that it wasn’t enough to recover such a crazy budget. To make matters worse, the American distributor broke agreements due to delays in the delivery of the material and Colomo lost a trial in Hollywood that left him without international rights. The director finished in debt with 50 million of the old pesetas and, according to would count Years later, he only kept “a Renault 5.” The experience was so traumatic that he thought he was going to have a heart attack. In fact, to survive financially he wrote almost as an emergency The joyful lifewhose subsequent success allowed him to pay off the debts accumulated by that medieval space madness. From disaster to cult movie. For decades, The Dragon Knight was remembered as one of the big hits of Spanish cinema. But over time something began to happen that has been repeated in many other celluloid productions: many people began to see it with fascination. Its impossible mix of genres, its naive tone, its disproportionate ambitions and the chaos that each scene gives off transformed it into a unique rarity. Festivals like CutreCon They claimed it as a cult work and the film ended being restored in 4K forty years after its premiere. The definitive turn came when Colomo remembered a conversation in Sitges with Quentin Tarantino. The American director, always obsessed with strange and failed films, immediately recognized Star Knight (his international title) even before Colomo himself remembered what it was called in English. It turned out that that martian medieval that almost ruined half the world ended up surviving in the most improbable way: converted into a delirious relic of a moment in which Spanish cinema believed, … Read more

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