usatoday24, Author at usatoday24

“With increasingly frequent heat waves, more importance could be given to urban trees”

July 4, 2026 by usatoday24

The asphalt radiates heat, the air becomes dense and thermometers shoot up, and anyone who has walked through a big city in the middle of summer knows the abysmal difference between crossing a square concrete in full sun and take refuge under the canopy of a wooded park. The problem is that, for decades, modern urban planning has treated trees and green areas as mere “urban furniture” or a dispensable ornament to beautify the streets. A big change comes with the climate emergency that we have above our heads, and the scientific community points to the need to make a radical paradigm shift. They specifically propose that urban forests are no longer seen as something merely decorative, but rather that they must be protected and financed with the same priority as the electrical grid, sewage or telecommunications. Under investigation. A published essay At the beginning of the month in PLOS Climate has dotted the i’s after years of scientific evidence and launched a petition to governments to legislate on urban forests, considering them as essential infrastructure for climate resilience. This positioning, which functions as a roadmap, does not emerge from nowhere, but is directly aligned with the most serious warnings of recent years, including the IPCC 6th Assessment Report. In this document, the United Nations already pointed out sustainable urban planning and green infrastructure (such as parks, urban forests and vegetation covers) as key and irreplaceable adaptation and mitigation measures against global warming. Our shields. To understand why scientists urge legally shielding trees, just look at the physical data. As stated in a recent academic review on urban forests as “nature-based solutions”, the presence of forest mass In cities, it directly attacks two of the worst symptoms of climate change, which are heat waves and torrential rains. This is because trees mitigate the dreaded “urban heat island” effect through evapotranspiration and thermal shading, dramatically reducing surface temperatures. At the same time, they act like giant sponges by acting as critical structures in regulating stormwater, preventing catastrophic flooding, and acting as natural filters that improve air quality. Public health. The impact of trees goes far beyond thermodynamics, since various studies compiled in publications such as the one published in ScienceDirect have demonstrated that the lack of trees is, literally, a public health problem. For example, an article published in 2023 shelled the physiological, psychological and immunological mechanisms by which green cities transform our health, reducing chronic stress and improving our immune response. But the evidence on biodiversity and cardiovascular health is still impressive, since the evidence indicates that being exposed to diverse urban ecosystems reduces the incidence of heart disease. The experts. Daniel Jato, professor of Engineering and Environmental Management at the UIV, pointed out in statements to SMC that “in the current context, marked by increasingly frequent, intense and early heat waves, perhaps the role of urban trees could have been emphasized even more.” Images | sq lim In Xataka | César Franco, engineer: “In Spain we are not immune to the effects of climate change, we need to intensify conservation”

The Rhine is running out of water due to heat waves. And that is a logistical and energy disaster for Europe

July 4, 2026 by usatoday24

A new wave of extreme heat is hitting the heart of the European continent, and the consequences go far beyond the records in thermometers or the fact to see raised tram tracks. The Rhine River, Western Europe’s most important river highway, is seeing its water levels plummet and the result is that a logistical bottleneck is being generated that threatens the supply of fuel and fundamental raw materials for Europe. The worry. The alarm has begun to be raised when it has been detected that the barges that navigate the river can barely carry half of their capacity, putting the supply of an important part of Europe in check. And all because of these heat waves that we are experiencing in Europe. To understand the magnitude of the problem, you have to look at how inland navigation works, since the Rhine is not limited to water crossing Germany, France, Switzerland and the Netherlands, but is an industrial artery. Literally, coal for thermal power plants, chemicals for industrial giants, oil or automotive components are transported through this river. The drought. When the flow of the river begins to decrease, its depth also decreases, and this collides with vessels that have a critical threshold. This means that if the water drops below a certain level at key points such as the famous Kaub bottleneck in Germany, captains are forced to drastically reduce their load to avoid running aground on the river bottom. This makes load 50 or even 30% of the boat’s capacity It is not an exaggeration, but a physical necessity. This triggers a domino effect that means that, if a ship carries half the load, it takes a second to do the same work. And since there are no infinite ships, transportation prices skyrocket and goods either do not arrive on time or become very expensive. It’s not just the Rhine. Although the exact impact figures should always be taken with caution because they vary greatly depending on the stretch of the river and the type of vessel, the general diagnosis is incontestable. Here the Joint Research Center of the European Commission has studied in-depth how limitations due to low water levels impact European rivers. Its scientific framework perfectly explains the current collapse, since low levels not only reduce cargo capacity, but completely alter continental logistics flows, drastically increasing operating costs. The reasons. Here the different institutions are clear that the problem lies in the lack of rain in spring and the lower amount of snow accumulated in the Alps during the winter, which causes the river to lose its natural “reserve” for the summer. But also, the Rhine is clearly warming. This not only has clear economic effects, but also serious ecological impacts on the river’s fauna, which in turn forces additional restrictions to be imposed. The new normal. What we are seeing this year does not seem like an event that remains a simple anecdote to tell our grandchildren, but rather the different evidence indicates that seeing low flow will be increasingly frequent due to climate change. The proposed solution involves the use of AI to predict exactly when we will see these very low flows to optimize the supply chain, or simply build flat-bottomed boats with better drafts to be able to continue transporting cargo when the river is at even lower levels of flow. Images | Wikipedia In Xataka | Global warming has stepped on the accelerator at an unprecedented rate and we are getting closer to the point of no return

2,200 years ago, the Earth’s magnetic field collapsed. Some wine amphorae recorded it with unprecedented precision

July 4, 2026 by usatoday24

Finding some ceramic at a site is a fairly common occurrence, but in archeology the context is almost everything: this way you can discover from the Roman legions took away their vices there where they were going 1,800 years ago they were already used as piggy banks. Or even strange movements of the Earth. It’s what has happened in three sites in Jerusalem, where 24 pieces of ceramic have functioned as a kind of millennia-old compass record. The discovery. A research team from Tel Aviv University, Ariel University and the University of California, San Diego has managed to obtain geomagnetic information from 17 handles of wine amphorae from the island of Rhodes and seven jugs made there in Jerusalem, more specifically from the sites of the City of David, the Jewish Quarter and the Givati parking lot. What makes them special are two things: on all of them the names of the potter and the supervisor of that year’s production appeared. There is another surprising fact from the analysis of the pieces: reveal that between the years 206 and 156-155 BC the Earth’s magnetic field lost more than 30% of its intensity. The scientific explanation. When clay is fired at high temperatures, the iron-containing minerals it contains are oriented according to the magnetic field that exists at that moment and when they cool, they stay that way forever… or until they are heated above the Curie temperature. If they are heated some time later in a laboratory under certain controlled conditions, it is possible to obtain the signal and intensity of the magnetic field from the time of manufacture, which is known as “archaeointensity analysis.” Why is it important. Because the ceramic pieces revealed that the magnetic field weakened much faster than estimated with current models. On the other hand, because magnetism offers an alternative to radiocarbon to date ancient objects and structures with a precision that carbon cannot always offer. Already there were studies that they affirmed it, but this confirms it for the Hellenistic era. Context. The starting ceramics are stamped handles of amphorae made on the island of Rhodes between the 3rd and 1st centuries BC. In the Hellenistic period, these amphorae circulated throughout the eastern Mediterranean, loaded with wine or oil. Greek amphorae they used to have engraving the name of the potter and the annual official who supervised production, called the eponym. This administrative custom turns the Rhodes amphorae into a chronological instrument of incredible precision: it is possible to date pieces with a time deviation of less than one year, something that is rarely seen in archaeology. In detail. Collaterally, this finding also has implications for the acra fortressa building that the Seleucid king Antiochus IV ordered to be built around 167 BC to control the city during the time of the Maccabees and whose exact location has been one of the most lively debates in archeology in Jerusalem for decades. In 2015, at the Givati car park site, a team of archaeologists discovered part of a defensive ramp that they associated with Accra. The problem is that one of the vessels found in its structure belongs to a ceramic type that does not appear until after 130 BC, that is, decades after when Antiochus IV ordered the construction of the fortress. If the ramp were part of the original Acra of 167 BC, the vessel in its foundation would have to date from before that date, not later. Furthermore, its magnetic intensity fits with a manufacture from the end of the 2nd century BC. C. What does this mean? That ramp may not belong to the original Accra structure. Yes, but. The study concludes that a jug found under a defensive ramp in the Givati car park is too recent to be linked to the original construction of the Accra fortress. But that information does not resolve anything: the ramp could have belonged to a later renovation phase or the jug could have been placed there later. On the other hand, Previous investigations in the Levant They already pointed to a drop in the magnetic field between 220 and 160 BC, and this finding supports it with unprecedented precision. Even so, 24 vessels are an insufficient sample to consolidate the curve on a regional scale: more samples are needed from more sites. In Xataka | A cargo sunk in a Swiss lake 2,000 years ago confirms it: the Roman legions did not deprive themselves of anything In Xataka | The most polarizing and divisive scientific debate of the moment has to do with wine. With one 1,700 years old Cover | Israel Antiquities Authority and Toa Heftiba

The price of apartments in Madrid is so sky-high that it is cheaper to buy an island in Scotland

July 4, 2026 by usatoday24

The island that you see on these lines on the left belongs to the Summer Isles archipelago, it is on the northwest coast of Scotland and it can be yours: a 35.9 hectare piece of land located in the heart of the Wester Ross Marine Protected Area, with caves, beaches, cliffs, a fully equipped cabin and even a jetty. Luxury. Buying an island is not something that most of us can do on paper. Or yes: it costs less than the average price of a 90 square meter apartment in Madrid, According to Tinsa data, one of the large multinational appraisal companies. The idea is no longer so crazy because if you can afford an apartment in Madrid, you can afford an island where Christ lost his lighter. The accounts don’t come out. The island of Mullagrach, as it is called, is available for bidding at the modest price of 350,000 pounds sterling, about 406,000 euros. And according to Tinsa, the average price of housing (new and used) reached an average value of 4,605 euros per square meter in the first quarter of 2026. And rising: 18.07% annually, that’s nothing. That average value for a small apartment in Madrid is 414,481 euros. Idealista has fresher data and even more dizzyingly high: 5,984 euros per square meter in May 2026, so a 70 square meter apartment would cost 418,000 euros. Madrid is not alone: Tinsa has a map where you can choose provincial capitals, provinces and autonomous communities. Taking as a basis those approximately 400,000 euros and that area of 90 square meters, the reality is that it would also be better for you to buy that Scottish island than an apartment in Donosti or Barcelona. Average house price in the first quarter of 2026. Tinsa Why is it important. Beyond the joke of the island, because an acquisition like this has its substance and its fine print, the comparison is powerful to highlight once again the runaway price of housing both in purchase like for rentconcentrated especially in large nuclei. When buying a remote island is better than a medium-sized urban apartment, it becomes clear that there is a structural problem in large cities like Madrid, Barcelona, London, Lisbon, Amsterdam: people who work there but cannot afford to live there. A reminder: the average salary in Spain was 29,540.26 euros per worker in 2024. To meet the 30% you need to undertake the purchase with a mortgage, you would need to allocate your salary in full for more than four years. Yes, you can buy an affordable apartment in Villaconejos del Caudillo, but your job is not there. And the offer of basic services in towns, after decades of depopulation and concentration in large cities, leaves a lot to be desired. The agglomeration economy At its best: the value of land depends not so much on its size or how fertile it is, but on its location relative to employment, services and transport networks. Context. The increase in housing prices in Madrid is neither new nor random: it has its explanation in a strong imbalance between supply and demand of a basic necessity common to the majority of large European cities, which concentrate more and more population and employment, while rural areas become empty, as confirmed by the OECD. The result? Urban housing is rising in price because many people want it and there is not enough housing available, nor is there public housing nor is there regulation. On the other side of the coin, rural land is stagnating or declining because fewer and fewer people want to live there. The island for sale is a good example: it is isolated and lacks basic services nearby. In fact, the offer is not rare: according to Fotocasa You can have your own island from 320,000 euros, although without construction. In detail. There are several economic mechanisms that explain this price gap between the Scottish island and the Madrid apartment. To begin with, the elasticity of supply: in a large city there is the space that there is and a series of restrictions (heights, assets, etc.) that do not exist or apply to a lesser extent on remote rural land. Demand is also different: you need to live close to your work, so the need for urban demand is inelastic. The demand for remote islands is a luxury good with a small interested base. Yes, but. Thus, the comparison between an island and an apartment is juicy enough to pass up, but in practice having an island implies a series of hidden costs that are not within everyone’s reach. And we are not talking about something as simple as not being able to get a mortgage: you have to get there by boat or helicopter, there is no doctor or supermarkets, there is no infrastructure, services and even coverage can be a problem. And if you regret it, let’s see how you find a buyer to get rid of it. In Xataka | Spain has a housing deficit and a huge problem to solve it: a land jam that blocks millions of apartments In Xataka | The plain of Madrid has become a nest of urbanizations and illegal homes: the problem is what to do with them Cover | Isle Ristol by Rude Health and Alev Takil

a lake in a neighborhood of Pamplona. A decade ago they found 300

July 4, 2026 by usatoday24

A few days ago, two environmental guards from Pamplona They went hunting at Lake Mendillorri and captured two specimens of Florida pond turtlea species that, as its name indicates, is not native to the area. According to Dani González, one of the guards in charge of the mission, right now in that lake in Pamplona “there could be about 100.” The figure is impressive, but it is far from what they saw a decade ago, when they emptied the lake and there was surprise: they found about 300 turtles, several carp and even a voracious catfish. What is happening. When Lake Mendillorri was completely emptied in October 2016 for the first time in two decades, technicians used electrofishing (stunning the lake’s inhabitants to capture them while minimizing the damage) and found that calico. With the proliferation of the species and its inclusion in the Spanish Catalog of Invasive Exotic Species at the state level (Royal Decree 630/2013), since 2021 in Navarra the Galapagos’ annual environmental control campaign, which begins in June: they take advantage of this turtle’s love of the sun to set traps for them every week. As explains Gonzálezit is “a square trap where they have two ramps on which they climb to sun themselves, and once they have warmed up and go down, they fall into the trap that contains a net in which they remain floating and swimming.” Afterwards, they go by canoe and collect them to take them to Wildlife Recovery Centers. In 2016 they did it all at once and now they do it little by little, but the trickle of freshwater turtles is incessant. Why is it important. Introducing an invasive species into an ecosystem is usually not a good idea, but here hunger meets the desire to eat. The European pond turtle (Emys orbicularis) is already a threatened species and the American is a direct competitor for available resources like the sun, necessary to regulate your body temperature. Furthermore, its reproductive capacity is noticeably higher. Thus, it lays larger eggs and while American males reach maturity at five years old, it takes Europeans until they are 16 years old. This study evidence that when both species coexist, the European pond turtle loses weight and suffers greater mortality, so much so that the authors recommend stopping any introduction of Florida turtles into European wetlands. Context. The Florida pond turtle (Trachemys scripta elegans) arrived in Spain as a pet and ended up, like so many other times, released into rivers and lakes when it grew too large. It is no longer that it is present in the Spanish Catalog of Invasive Exotic Species, it is that according to the IUCN list It is one of the hundred most harmful invasive species in the world. Mendillorri is not an isolated case: its normalization as a pet and its subsequent release has caused it to be present in most wetlands on the continent today. Only in Navarra, this control campaign has been expanded this year to other municipalities such as Tudela, Corella, Funes and Cintruénigo. Pets are not a toy. From the Ilundáin Wildlife Recovery Center they go to places like the Basabere School Farm or Sendaviva Park, which is increasingly populated with turtles for obvious reasons. Although its sale and trade are prohibited by law, if you have a turtle and you no longer want it, there is a free service to manage it properly, free of charge and without penalties, before releasing it in the park that is closest to home. As explains Ana Brittany de la Torregeneral director of the Environment of the Government of Navarra, “natural species are not a toy, the environment cannot allow these intrusions.” The director explains that “once a species is established in a territory, eradicating it is especially complex, especially in natural channels” because this scenario applies to the Florida pond turtle, but also applies to the American mink: it is a direct threat to the European mink and Navarra is, behind Croatia, the place that houses the largest colony in Europe. In Xataka | The boxwood moth has hatched in Pamplona en masse. The real problem is in its tracks. In Xataka | Pamplona is going to launch four radars with AI: they detect if you are wearing a seat belt, if you are on your cell phone or if you make illegal turns Cover | Pamplona City Council and Diego Delso

There is a scientific scale to measure how much you enjoy watching pimples explode and many people have high scores

July 4, 2026 by usatoday24

The paths of the Internet are inscrutable. Sometimes, the videos that set trends on social networks are more than understandable. For example, who isn’t going to like kitten videos? However, on other occasions, there are videos that divide society. It is the case of the videos of exploding pimples. For some users, they are as pleasurable as exploiting them in person. For others, precisely those who can’t stand it in real life either, they are the height of unpleasantness. But what is it about the act of popping pimples or seeing it on the screen? Why are there so many people who enjoy it? Actually, with psychology in hand, it is not so strange. The problem is that, if we change psychology for dermatology, it can be dangerous in some cases. Although not as much as we think Why do we enjoy popping pimples so much? For starters, our penchant for popping pimples is related to dopamine. Humans experience pleasure when a surge of dopamine is released in our brain. In reality it is a much more complex process, but we can keep that in a simplified way. It is the hormone that dominates reward systems. That is, those who They are set in motion when we do something that is beneficial to us as a species. For example, sex is beneficial, because it helps us perpetuate the species. Eating chocolate is beneficial because it gives us energy. The brain does not distinguish between energetic and healthy, so it also generates that feeling of pleasure that makes us want to repeat. If we have a lot of sex it will be easier for us to reproduce and if we eat a lot of chocolate we will have a lot of energy. That’s the summary of how reward systems work. Unfortunately, not everything that activates reward systems is always good. Drugs, for example, can replicate that feeling of pleasure, despite not providing us with any benefit. Leaving that aside, stopping feeling pain also gives us pleasure, logically. It’s good for us. Furthermore, from a much more superficial point of view, what is beautiful and aesthetic is equally pleasant. For that reason, there are people who get so much pleasure from exploding pimples. With a single gesture of her nails, they are removing something painful and unsightlyso they get a good shot of dopamine. What about the videos? The case of videos that circulate on social networks is not exactly the same. There we are only spectators. We are not directly exploiting the pimples. Even so, just take a look at the visualizations to see that they cause a sensation. A feeling that, in fact, is not new. In 2021 already There was a team of Austrian scientists who were interested in the reasons why so many people enjoy these types of videos. They carried out an investigation with 80 women, of which 38 reported that they enjoyed these videos and 42 indicated that they did not. Their brains were analyzed using functional magnetic resonance imaging while they watched several of these videos, so it was observed that, indeed, those who enjoyed them showed greater activity in brain regions associated with pleasurelike the nucleus accumbens. Later, in 2024, these same scientists They developed scales that they called the Grain Exploitation Enjoyment Scale. (PPES) to evaluate people who enjoy this guilty pleasure. The study was carried out through two experiments. In the first, 104 people participated and were asked questions aimed at evaluating the PPES scale. In addition, they were made to watch videos of people exploiting pimples, with complete freedom to move the video forward or backward if they saw it necessary. Thus, the scale was found to be appropriate, since higher scores corresponded to a lower probability of forwarding the video. Many people watch videos of exploding pimples because of the controlled risk Then, with the scale already evaluated, a second experiment was done, this time with 501 people, who were asked questions to score through the PPES scale, but also through other personality scales. The objective was to check what type of traits lead someone to enjoy these videos. Thus, it was seen that, mainly, people with higher PPES scores are those who feel pleasure with situations of possible death or discomfort in controlled and non-threatening situations. It should be said that this does not mean that possible death is pleasurable, but the adrenaline of risky situations does, when seen from the outside, without real danger. People who enjoy these situations also tend to be lovers of horror movies, for example. To a certain extent, this human tendency is also linked to the survival of the species. Enjoyment in risky situations leads us to observe them conscientiously and learn in case, when the time comes, we find ourselves in a similar scenario in real life. It is true that exploding pimples is not fatal, but it does pose a certain risk, so seeing it from the outside, in a controlled way, can cause a feeling of pleasure. If we add the dopamine from seeing something unsightly removed, we can understand the fury of these viral videos. What are the risks of popping pimples? We have seen that people who enjoy pimple popping videos do so because they see a certain dangerous situation. It is not doing bungee jumping, but it has its risk. Now, to what extent is it dangerous? To find out, I have contacted Rosa Tabernerdermatologist at the Son Llátzer Hospital (Palma de Mallorca) and member of the Spanish Association of Dermatology and Venereology. To begin with, he explained something very interesting to me: the reason why in viral videos (and in reality) you see those yellow threads when removing the pimple. The key is in the keratin that accumulates in the pores of the skin. “Pimples or blackheads correspond to what dermatologists call open comedones,” he begins. “When this opening is more dilated than normal and sebum secretion is increased, keratin accumulates in that pore.” Keratin … Read more

What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. Especially if you are a bacteria on Mars

July 4, 2026 by usatoday24

Today, astronauts They usually quarantine before traveling to space to ensure that they do not carry with them any unwanted pathogenic microorganisms. This is for two reasons. On the one hand, it prevents them from getting sick at such a distance from a doctor who can treat them. On the other hand, we do not know how these microorganisms may behave beyond our planet, so it is better not to carry any. The problem is that, when lunar and Martian colonizations arrive, it will not be so easy to make this type of controls. Sooner or later it is likely that some pathogenic bacteria will reach there, so it is important to know what we should expect. Several studies have been done in this regard, but one of the most interesting and recent is the doctoral thesis of astrobiologist Tommaso Zaccaria, from Radboud University. In this thesisstudies how four species of bacteria would behave on Mars. Thus, he discovers that not only could they survive. They could also become much more dangerous to humans. Four pathogenic bacteria. The study was carried out with four species of non-extremophilic pathogenic bacteria. That is, disease-causing bacteria that are not naturally prepared to resist extreme conditions. Those chosen were Klebsiella pneumoniae, Serratia marcescens, Burkholderia cepacia and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. First, Zaccaria exposed them to a simulated Martian environment, with conditions such as very low pressure, desiccation, very high ultraviolet radiation and high concentrations of perchlorates. There were two that held up especially well: Klebsiella pneumoniae and Serratia marcescens. For this reason, they were chosen for a second phase of the research, in which they were exposed to human immune cells. The results were quite worrying. Martian superbacteria. When exposed to bacteria that had remained in Martian conditions, it was seen that the immune cells lost their ability to produce cytokines, proteins that are part of the defensive response. They also didn’t produce as many reactive oxygen species, which are also produced as a result of an inflammatory immune reaction. In short, it seems that Martianized bacteria become much more elusive for the human immune system. The reasons. Zaccaria thinks that, in part, the bacteria’s resistance is due to the influence of the martian regolith. And it has nooks and crannies where water can accumulate that would help with desiccation. In addition, it protects them against ultraviolet radiation. At the same time, they themselves develop resistance mechanisms, which help them defend themselves against Martian inclemencies, but also against the human immune system. They become superbugs. The regolith doesn’t help at all. We have already seen that the regolith becomes a protector of bacteria. But the thing doesn’t stop there. In his study, Zaccaria exposed both live mice and human epithelial cells to simulated lunar and Martian regolith. Thus, it was seen that regolith damages the epithelial cells that normally cover the airways and, in addition, enhances inflammation and the activation of genes for mucus formation and pulmonary fibrosis. Let us remember that one of the bacteria that survives Martian conditions is causing pneumonia. That the regolith sensitizes the lungs does not help at all. Although it should be noted that the lunar regolith turned out to be worse than the Martian one. The effects are not comparable. ‘Klebsiella pneumoniae’ Heroin yeasts. Finally, this scientist has verified how Martian conditions affect eukaryotic microorganisms. Bacteria are prokaryotes because they do not have a delimited nucleus. Yeasts, for their part, are eukaryotic microorganisms. One of the yeasts tested in the study, Rhodotorula frigidalcoholisshowed great resistance to Martian conditions. It is capable of stopping its cell cycle and repairing DNA, so that dangerous changes do not continue to spread from one cell to another. Learning more about this mechanism could help us protect ourselves in our future as space colonizers. After all, our cells are eukaryotic. This doesn’t end here. Zaccaria wants to study some bacterial defense mechanisms, such as the formation of biofilms or the synthesis of certain pigments. In addition, he hopes to be able to analyze how Martian conditions affect bacteria that are beneficial, such as those of the intestinal microbiota. With all this, we will be able to have a much more precise photograph to prevent the possible evils of future colonizers. When quarantines are not enough, it will be better to have a well-researched action plan. Image | NASA | Ajay Kumar Chaurasiya In Xataka | Chernobyl was filled with mushrooms after the nuclear accident. Thanks to them we discovered a “new form of photosynthesis”

We have been heating water to make coffee for a century. It wasn’t necessary: just ultrasounds

July 4, 2026 by usatoday24

For many people, making coffee is practically as important a ritual as drinking it. Because by the way: anyone can make coffee, but not everyone does it well. Following scrupulously the Specialty Coffee Association recipe, To make the canonical espresso you need 7 to 9 grams of coffee and force the passage of water at 90.5 – 96.1ºC at 9 – 10 atmospheres of pressure. The coffee grind should be such that the extraction time is 20 to 30 seconds. That’s what any barista or super-automatic machine should aspire to. Next to nothing. Although the coffee maker is not on the list of appliances that increase the electricity bill at home the most, on an industrial scale things change: this process of bringing the water to those temperature and pressure conditions represents a significant energy cost. So an Australian research team has found another way to do it without the need for heat: ultrasound. The invention. To make coffee with ultrasound and without heat, the first thing you need is a filter holder tuned in an ultrasonic reactor where high-frequency sound waves induce acoustic cavitation. It sounds backwards, but in practice the ultrasonic coffee maker that the University of New South Wales has patented looks like a normal coffee maker with a small accessory. Let’s go back to the acoustic cavitation. Roughly speaking, the waves create thousands of tiny bubbles within the water that, when collapsing with the ground coffee, act as if they were a hammer: they break the surface of the heat and release what is inside, that is, flavors, oils, aromas and caffeine. The result is an espresso with a concentration equivalent to conventional espresso in less than three minutes. Why is it important. Because you can make coffee consuming much less: for the same amount of drink, this ultrasonic system consumes only 24.3% of the energy required by a conventional espresso machine. On a domestic scale the savings are small, but for a factory that 75% saving is significant. And it has another win-win for the industry: the coffee obtained comes out cold and concentrated, so there is no need to wait for it to cool (or chill it), it is ready to be mixed directly with milk or water in a factory, which saves time, energy and money. Context. Although it sounds exotic, ultrasounds are not new in the food industry. Without going any further, They have been used for decades for the processing of juices, oils or dairy products. In fact, its application to coffee is not new either: at least two manufacturers have brought similar infusion devices to the marketbut they didn’t go that far: the UNSW project goes one step further. Thus, it is the first that has achieved an espresso (not a diluted cold brew, your previous job) that passes for a conventional espresso in a sensory tasting with 100 participants. In detail. The study analyzed the influence of variables such as grind size, extraction ratio and duration of ultrasonic treatment. And he came to the conclusions that a finer grind managed to extract the flavor more efficiently and an infusion time of between 2.5 and 3 minutes gave the best results. For sensory tasting, the team conducted random blind tests with four beverages: traditional espresso, ultrasonic espresso, traditional filter coffee, and ultrasonic filter coffee. In the case of espresso, those who participated were unable to clearly distinguish which had been prepared traditionally and which had been prepared ultrasonically as there were no significant differences in aroma, flavor, bitterness or overall rating. Curiously, for filter coffee the ultrasonic version was preferred. Yes, but. The first limitation of this peculiar way of making coffee is time: compared to less than half a minute, with ultrasound the process lasts up to three minutes. A time that can be interesting (due to energy savings) on an industrial scale, but not for hospitality and homes. On the other hand, and although it comes out with flying colors in the blind tastings, they have not analyzed the presence of healthy compounds in coffee, such as polyphenols or antioxidants, nor their proportion. Drinking coffee is a pleasure that also has health benefits. Finally, the ultrasonic coffee maker is currently a prototype: the enormous leap from the laboratory to the industrial scale remains to be made. In Xataka | Coffee doesn’t just wake you up: science now suggests that it also improves your mood (even decaffeinated) In Xataka | Drinking coffee is not harmful, but for science there is a very clear limit that should not be exceeded

“We are doing something pleasant, but producing, and our brain loves that”

July 4, 2026 by usatoday24

Like any social media user, over the last few years I have been continually bombarded with posts from people who have gone to all kinds of workshops. of art. From making clay bowls to painting tote bags, anything is worth taking the required photo while having a glass of wine or snacks with friends or strangers. All for the modest price of a piece of kidney. That’s how I saw it. A little piece of capitalism wrapped in glitter and pastel colors, together with one more check in the list of photos that any good Instagram user of the 21st century should have. However, over time I began to think that perhaps there was something more. The fever for ceramic or painting workshops It’s lasting long enough to be a simple fad. What if it actually had some use that is hooking all those people who not only dare to do it once, but often repeat it? It is clear that it has a relationship with capitalism. But what if, beyond being just another part of the machine, it was a way to relieve the stress and anxiety generated by illness? hyperproductivity of that capitalist society in which we live? I talked about it with the health psychologist Amanda Ortiz Gabaldonwho told me that, indeed, my thoughts were not wrong. That’s why I decided to do one of these workshops. I have always considered that crafts are not my thing. Honestly, my soul hurt for spending 50 euros in a ceramics workshop to make an amorphous vase. That’s why, when I found out that the Andalusian Neighborhood Site in Almería, where I live, was organizing a free ceramics workshop, I didn’t think twice. It was time to take the test. The benefits of ceramic workshops For Ortiz Gabaldón, there are three key reasons why ceramic workshops and other artistic activities are so fashionable. To begin with, human beings are social animals, but today we live in an individualized society. We have a visceral need to interact with other people and that is something that ceramic workshops can give us. “We are super disconnected and these are ways to meet new people.” On the other hand, ceramic workshops and other artistic disciplines are a way of mindfulness. “It is a way of being present, of forcing ourselves to stop.” During the duration of the workshop, there are no emails to answer, no work to do or shopping lists to prepare. It only remains be present on site and concentrate on the task. We can also do this at home. We can even set ourselves the daily task of doing nothing. We can sit on the couch and meditate, read, or just stop. But of course, this requires a concentration that we are not always able to achieve. That is why the third reason why, according to Ortiz Gabaldón, these types of workshops succeed is so important. “We are doing something pleasant, but producing, and our brain loves that.” That’s right, although we are disconnecting from the tasks that stress us, we are also producing. We are manufacturing something. That calms that feeling of having to continually do things that causes us so much anxiety. The ideal would be to be able to sit and do nothing; but, while we get there, this is an ideal middle ground. Shape to not think about anything In 1999, a psychologist from the Kyoto University of Education named Fumio Kayo saw something that caught his attention when visiting a kindergarten in that city. Both children and teachers were focused and enjoying the simple task of making mud balls. But they didn’t just roll balls. They used a technique that consists of taking wet sand to mold it and adding dry soil little by little, with great patience, until they obtained a soft, hard and shiny ball. The technique is called Hikaru Dorodango and Kayo saw it as an opportunity to work with children beyond that school. Upon studying it in depth, he discovered that it is very useful for children’s intellectual development for many reasons. There are the obvious reasons, such as improving fine motor skills. But there are also deeper reasons. Spending so much time shaping helps children improve concentration and perseverance through trial and error. Furthermore, they manage to overcome the immediate gratification drive which is increasingly ingrained in both children and adults. They don’t get a dopamine hit from watching a 20-second video. They must sit and concentrate on that ball of clay that is forming in their hands until, with time and patience, they get a nice marble. After Kayo published several articles about herthis technique crossed barriers to the West and became a form of meditative art that is also successful among adults. In a way, you achieve exactly the same thing as with ceramic workshops, but without more incentives such as a snack or interactions with other people. Whatever the case, it is increasingly clear that these activities have a great use against anxiety. In 2024, for example, a study was published in which 53 university students were surveyed regarding their mental health before and after completing a series of art therapy workshops. It was found that self-perceived anxiety levels decreased significantly with the workshops, especially those in which clay modeling was involved. It is true that normally these types of studies They are done with very few participants, but the reality is that they all point to very similar results that fit with what we have already seen. I have corroborated it Lately I’ve been going through a time of enough stressso I threw myself into the ceramics workshop hoping that it would really work for me as the psychologists say. And the truth is that yes. It was almost three hours on a Sunday morning molding an Andalusian lamp. Three hours in which, indeed, I focused on the here and now. I won’t deny that from time to time my mind wandered to everything I had … Read more

Centuries ago someone thought it was a good idea to paint over a Rembrandt painting. The question is why the devil erased a man with a turban

July 4, 2026 by usatoday24

The fact that he has been dead for more than three and a half centuries does not prevent him from Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijnone of the great geniuses of baroque painting, continue to surprise historians. And in the most unexpected ways. In 2014, one of his youthful works appeared by surprise at an auction held in Cologne. Now, with your attribution already confirmedthe experts in charge of cleaning the canvas have had another surprise: under a subsequent layer of paint they have discovered a man with dark skin, a black beard and a large turban. It was once painted by Rembrandt himself, but someone decided to retouch the figure to turn it into a venerable old man with a white, wrinkled face, gray beard, and a traditional Dutch cap. The question is obvious: Why? Isn’t that a Rembrandt? The painting Let the children come to me It was probably painted around 1627, when Rembrandt was 21 years old. However, it did not rise to fame until almost 400 years later, well into the 21st century. To be more precise, we must go back to May 2014, when the canvas was included in an auction held in Cologne with a fuzzy business card. Its owners presented it as a piece of the “Dutch school” dating back to the mid-17th century and sold it for 1.5 million euros. It was a good pinch, but it ended in pocket change when some time later it was confirmed that in reality that anonymous 125 x 109 cm canvas (with frame) was neither more nor less than a work from Rembrandt’s youth. Recently Sotheby’s he put it up for auction again with an estimated value of between 9.3 and 14 million of euros. The work before the restoration, with the added modifications. And the (other) surprise arrived. Such a record would have been enough to give the painting a prominent place in Rembrandt’s legacy. Recently, however, Sotheby’s revealed that the canvas hid another secret. What we have seen so far was not exactly what the Leiden artist painted, but rather a version adulterated by a hand less skilled with brushes, a contemporary artist by Rembrandt. There are those who even have a name: Claes Cornelisz Moeyaert. Given that experts believe that the Dutch painter left the work “partially unfinished”, working hard on the upper part of the painting and sketching the lower part, it is understandable that someone would want to finish it. The intriguing thing is that in doing so that anonymous hand did not simply follow Rembrandt’s design. In addition to finishing the canvas, he repainted it, erasing, adding and modifying it to taste. We know this because in recent years technicians have studied the work with X-rays and have dedicated themselves to carefully eliminating overlapping layers. Does things change that much? Yes. It comes with taking a look at the photos that were released on the day of the painting and those disclosed by Sotheby’s following the last auction to prove it. The motif of the painting is the same: the biblical scene, collected in the Gospels of Mark, Matthew and Lucasin which Jesus uttered his famous phrase: “Let the children come to me.” If we look closely, however, differences can be seen between its status in 2014 and 2026. The elimination of the repaintings changes the color, has made some figures emerge and eliminated others. A boy in the foreground who was wearing an ocher suit now looks how Rebrandt must have seen him, with his back bare. However the most powerful alteration It is another: we now know that one of the central figures in the scene was a dark-skinned man with a turban who the artist who retouched the work completely modified, turning him into a venerable old man. For some unknown reason, the original exotic turban ended up becoming a red Dutch hat and the black beard became a long, gray beard. The work already restored and as presented by Sotheby’s. More than a detail. That detail has attracted attention of media from half the planet. And it’s normal. There are those who believe that if Rembrandt initially opted for a man with a turban, surely Muslim, it was not for an aesthetic reason. He wanted to capture what he saw in part in his own country in the 17th century, a multicultural environment, marked by religious rivalries, the coming and going of thousands of refugees and the social tensions that this generated in the streets. As remember historian Andrew Graham-Dixon, “in 1627, when Rembrandt began the painting, Leiden was going through a humanitarian crisis.” “The Thirty Years’ War was at its peak and hundreds of thousands of people arrived as refugees in the Dutch Republic,” he adds. It is estimated that in 1626 alone approximately 10,000 refugees arrived in Leiden. …and more than paint. Was that context transferred to Rembrandt’s canvas? Did you want to capture the spirit of what you saw on the streets of your city, the position that in your opinion should be maintained towards refugees arriving from other places? “It depicted a mass scene of Christ welcoming children and families. It was very controversial at the time. There were people in Leiden who did not want to receive them,” Graham-Dixon abounds. “What we gather is that Rembrandt was on the side of humanitarian aid. So I think this is more than just a painting. It’s a statement of his moral stance.” The truth is that in the work we see a crowd in which religion is represented. Jewish and Christian. “It looks familiar”. The figure wearing a turban is not the only surprise. Experts have identified in it a self-portrait of Rembrandt himself, who represented himself at the top, as a young man who appears to be looking at the scene perched on a pillar, although in reality he is looking at us. “His physiognomy is familiar to us thanks to the numerous painted self-portraits, drawings and engravings that he made over … Read more

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