Mobile Tech & Gadgets

At last we know what the slaves of Roman Hispania ate. Exactly the opposite of the landowners

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Since the times of Roman Hispania Many things have changed on the peninsula, but there is something that remains unchanged, immune to the passing of centuries and the fall of empires: what you eat is directly related to the amount of money you have in your pocket. The more zeros in the bank, the greater the probability (probability) that you will eat better quality foods. It happens today and it happened in the 5th century, in the times of the town of Nohedaa settlement located 18 km from what is now Cuenca. When analyzing their remains, archaeologists have found that what their landowners ate had nothing to do with the diet on which slaves and workers subsisted. In a place in Castilla-La Mancha… One of the most fascinating Roman sites on the peninsula is located: the ancient town of Nohedalocated just under 20 kilometers from Cuenca and which was inhabited between the 1st centuries BC and 6th AD It may not be the best known in Spain, but the enclave stands out for several reasons, mainly, as remember from the centerfor hosting “one of the most spectacular figurative mosaics of the Roman Empire.” Another of the peculiarities of Noheda is that it is a relatively ‘young’ site. That there was a Roman settlement in the area was something known since ancient times: A map from 1554 is preserved in which the area is already cited as “Villar de la Vila” and references from 1893 about the complex and its mosaics. However, the phase of more detailed studies it’s recentwhich has allowed experts to peer into its remains with the tools offered by modern science. What did its inhabitants eat? In Noheda, researchers have not only found a thermal areaa impressive mosaic preserved and remains of what was the residential area (urban pars) and farmers’ homes (pars rustica). Archaeologists have also found a large number of bones, vessels with organic remains and a small necropolis, apparently unconnected pieces but which, together, hide the answer to a fascinating question: What did the inhabitants of the village eat? And above all, were there differences between the urban pars and the rustic? Did the diet vary a lot between the rich and the humble? Science to the rescue. To answer these unknowns, archaeologists have had a wide (and above all diverse) toolbox at their disposal. That the questions are posed today, in the 21st century, has allowed them to resort to techniques that analyze seeds, wood remains, pollen, bones, human collagen… a wide amalgam of clues that include, remember The Country Miguel Ángel Valero, director of the site, remains of oysters or even bird bones in which the teeth of humans and dogs can still be seen. Tell me what social class you are… And I’ll tell you what you eat, which is basically what the Noheda archaeologists have been analyzing, where they have confirmed the clear differences that existed between the wealthiest families, housed in the urban parsand the slaves and field workers who lived in the pars rustica. The research has also yielded striking conclusions, such as the one advanced a few days ago the SER chain. In the town, experts have found remains that tell us of a high consumption of young donkey meat. Is it something new? Yes. And no. Archaeologists knew that in late ancient times this type of meat was consumed, especially among the humblest classes, but it was a little-known practice on the peninsula. The study of the remains has also revealed hunting and agricultural patterns and, above all, how the locals adapted their diet as the town went into decline. As explains Valeroits objective is not only to peek into the life of luxury of the town’s potentates, but to understand the routine of the “ordinary people” and those residents who repopulated the abandoned buildings. And what did they eat? Tasty stews or chewy meats. Depends. Wealthy families treated their palates to fish, poultry, sheep and roasted young goats. Everything was well watered with Syrian wine that arrived to the town in amphorae. If we talk about the most humble inhabitants of Noheda, the slaves and field workers, things were different. They fed on ox, goats and sheep that had once been used for farming or obtaining wool and were now too old for the tasks. Their meat was aged and required longer cooking than the young cattle reserved for landowners. To drink, in his case he passed on Syrian wine to the fool. More than archeology. Noheda’s study is interesting for another reason. In addition to revealing the culinary secrets of those who lived in the Roman town between the 4th and 5th centuries AD, it is offering experts valuable information that aspires to move from museums and laboratories… to the table. After all, not only archaeologists collaborate at the site. The investigation is being carried out with the help of butchers, doctors, dentists… and Jesús Segura, chef at the head of a Michelin-starred restaurant. The objective: that the secrets of the villa serve as a basis to dishes inspired by Roman Hispania. Images | Wikipedia 1 and 2 and Government of Castilla-La Mancha (Flickr) Via | The Country In Xataka | A 2,000-year-old glass has revealed an unexpected facet of the Egyptians: psychedelic mixologists

We have been failing with New Year’s resolutions for decades. Science says it’s because we don’t know how to “cheat”

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January starts with a predictable ritual: paying gym membership, fill the fridge with kale or buy paintbrushes for a new hobby. It is the “clean slate effect” that defines Professor Katy Milkman. Human beings do not perceive time linearly, but rather like chapters of a novel. The New Year is the “Black Friday” of new beginnings; a symbolic border that makes us believe that the “me” of last year—the one who didn’t know how to draw a line without looking like a preschooler—has finally died. In fact, 4,000 years ago the Babylonians they already made promises at the Akitu festival to appease their gods. The difference is that they sought to avoid divine wrath and we simply sought to avoid the guilt in the mirror. The autopsy of a failure foretold. Despite our enthusiasm, the statistics are devastating. According to the media Selphonly one in five people manages to stick to their long-term resolutions. Most of us throw in the towel before the month is over, because we always make the same mistake: wanting to be a different person overnight. We want to eat healthy, meditate, travel and be experts in some subject, all at the same time. The problem is that we focus obsessively on the result (losing 10 kilos) and not on the process (enjoying the taste of a new recipe). Added to this is what psychologist Kimberley Wilson describes how the danger of “forbidden words”. Using terms like “always” or “never” puts us in an “all or nothing” trap. If work gets complicated on a Wednesday and you can’t go to paint or eat a pizza, you feel like the entire year is a failure. It’s tunnel vision that ignores that life is, by definition, unpredictable. Furthermore, today we have a new enemy: metrics. As behavioral experts saywe have gone “from enjoyment to performance.” We no longer read for pleasure, but to update the counter. goodreads; We do not run for health, but to not break the streak of Strava. This culture of productivity applied to leisure turns our hobbies into a second working day. If the app says we haven’t complied, guilt appears. The science of “traps”: The method of temptation. What if the key to compliance was not military discipline, but rather being a little “cheatful”? Katy Milkman, behavior change expert, confesses her own trick in an interview with the Washington Post: he “temptation bundling” (temptation pairing). When he was a student, he hated exercising but loved Harry Potter. His solution was to allow himself to listen to the audiobooks of the saga only while he was at the gym. “It made me want to go to work out,” he explains. It’s basically using a guilty pleasure to “bribe” our brain into a healthy habit. This idea is complemented by the “Habit Stacking” (habit stacking). Instead of reaching for willpower you don’t have, “glue” your new purpose to something you already do automatically. Want to learn that paint stroke? Do a five-minute sketch right after your morning coffee. Want to finish that Pinterest scarf? Do ten rows while watching your favorite Netflix series. You don’t add effort, you just take advantage of the architecture of your current routine. Less “goals”, more “values”. From Harvard University, Dr. Aisha Usmani suggests that we see change as “shaping a sculpture”: It is done by removing pieces of stone little by little, not all at once. Cognitive science tells us that if you want to paint, don’t set out to do one canvas a day; Start with one a week. And above all, align your goals with your personal values, not with external pressure. If crochet stresses you, perhaps it does not respond to your value of “creativity”, but rather to an aesthetic imposition. According to Usmani, We must ask ourselves every day: “Is this still important to me?” If the answer is no, adjusting course is not failure, it is being flexible. Self-compassion as a strategy. We cannot forget the weight of the treatment we give to ourselves. As the psychologist Ángel Rull explains in his columnmany resolutions are born from “being fed up with oneself” and not from self-care. If you join the gym because you hate your body, there is a good chance you will quit. If you do it to feel more energetic, the commitment changes. Another interesting note is how we talk about our setbacks. A recent study highlights the difference between saying that we didn’t “have time” and that we didn’t “make time.” While the first sounds like an external excuse, the second implies active control over our agenda: if we didn’t do it today, we can decide to do it tomorrow. According to this research, focusing the cause of failure on external factors and not on our lack of will is the best lifesaver for our confidence. A more human 2026. In short, we are not computers that restart on January 1st. The real change is not about saturating our to-do list, but about transforming initial fatigue into real self-care. If this year you want to start lifting some weights or for your painting stroke to gain firmness, science gives you permission to be a strategist: combine effort with pleasure through temptation bundlingopt for small things—because a page read will always be better than an abandoned book—and accept that perseverance necessarily includes days of hiatus. In the end, perhaps the best resolution for this year is not to become an “optimized” version of ourselves, but to stop treating ourselves as a defective project that must be fixed by decree. The key to success this year lies not in military discipline, but in the ability to begin to see ourselves as someone who is simply trying to live with a little more presence, realistic tools and, above all, a little less guilt. Image | freepik Xataka | Neither board games nor karaoke: ‘Word on Beat’ is the new king of the living room and proof that we prefer rhythmic chaos

Science suggests that economic stress ages the heart

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For decades, cardiovascular medicine has operated under an almost immovable dogma: If you want to protect your heart you have to watch your dietexercise and control blood pressure. However, science has begun to see that there are other social factors that can also be very important, such as the status of personal bank accounts. The study. In order to reach this conclusion that aims to drastically change an authentic dogma of medicine, the Mayo Clinic has analyzed more than 280,000 patients thanks to the artificial intelligence application. To do this, the AI ​​has analyzed the patients’ conventional medical tests and their history. In this way, researchers have discovered that the factors that accelerate the biological clock the most of the heart is not always in the medical history, but in the bank account and in the shopping basket. The ‘invisible’ age. The technological core of this discovery is found in an AI algorithm applied to electrocardiograms. In this way, unlike the analysis carried out by a cardiologist who looks for arrhythmias or abnormalities in the conduction of the heart, this learning model analyzes changes in the electrocardiogram that are very subtle in the electrical signals that can go unnoticed by the human eye. In this way, the algorithm can estimate something that science calls “heart age.” From here, when the researchers compared the figure with the patient’s actual age, a cardiac age gap emerged. That is, there were people with a heart that looked older than it should, which is a much more accurate predictor of mortality than some traditional markers. The social impact. Now the question that science asks is why. The results of the study published in Mayo Clinic Procedures, place financial stress and food insecurity as the most aggressive social determinants of health (SDH). In this way, what the study demonstrates is that constant worry about payment, rent, mortgage or the increase in the cost of basic foods generates a state of physiological wear and tear that AI detects as premature aging of cardiovascular tissue. The reasons. At a biological level, this phenomenon is explained through the chronic stress response. Economic uncertainty keeps the body in a state of permanent “alert”, triggering levels of cortisol and adrenaline. This prolonged hormonal overexposure damages the vascular endothelium and alters heart rate variability, effects that the Mayo Clinic algorithm identifies as signs of an aging heart. Surprisingly, the study indicates that the impact of this precariousness can equal or even exceed the risk posed by physical inactivity or chronic diseases such as diabetes in terms of accelerated mortality. From loneliness to inflation. This work is not an isolated event, but the culmination of a line of research that the Mayo Clinic has reinforced in recent years. In 2024, the same team used AI to show that social isolation acts in the opposite way: having strong support networks and community ties works as a biological “brake” that slows down the aging of the heart. However, the new 2025 study is the first to prioritize economic factors over clinical ones. Change the rules of the game. This finding reminds us of the importance that in clinical practice, beyond seeing results of tests or electrocardiograms, we must also know that in front of the doctor there is a human patient. And not only is the high cholesterol in the analysis important, but there are also many social problems behind him that can interfere with his pathology and that doctors should be aware of. The relevance of this work lies in its ability to prioritize. While other previous studies already talked about social stress, this is the first to use AI models to quantify exactly how economic precariousness “rusts” the heart muscle compared to traditional medical factors. Images | Robina Weermeijer Christian Erfurt In Xataka | Half of employees say they work under constant stress: they would give up 21% of their salary to avoid it

Peru has a lot at stake in protecting a key bee for the Amazon. So you have begun to recognize legal rights

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In Peru the judicial chronicles of 2026 start with an unexpected protagonist, one that usually has little to do with courts and lawsuits: bees. To be more precise, insects gender Meliponafamous above all for lacking a stinger and their important pollinating function. Precisely because of this relevance and to protect them from possible threats, the authorities of Satipo, in Junín (Peru), have recognized to the bees legal rights, which among other issues will allow them to be represented before the law. The decision is more important than it seems. Of laws and bees. that the bees play a key role in environmental balance is nothing new. For years (decades) researchers have been analyzing their role as pollinatorsits usefulness as pollution indicators and his slow decline. However, studies on the species tend to remain in the papers scientists and only occasionally sneak into the political debate. Hence decisions like the one adopted by the Provincial Municipality of Satipo, in Peru, are so relevant. There the authorities have decided neither more nor less than to publish an official ordinance which recognizes the legal rights of stingless bees that inhabit the biosphere reserve Avirei-Vraem. More than words. The decision is important for several reasons. The first, for the clear and resounding message it sends to society. The second transcends the symbolic sphere and part of the content of the ordinance itself. In it, the Provincial Municipality of Satipo not only recognizes stingless bees and their habitat as legal subjects. The text goes further and details the regulatory shield that protects insects, emphasizing their right to live in “healthy, balanced and adequate” habitats. The ordinance even grants them the “right to representation” in case their interests are harmed. Does it say anything else? Yes. The document, signed on October 27 and which can be consulted On the Peruvian Government website, it highlights “the fundamental role” that bees have at an environmental level and the importance of recognizing their “intrinsic rights”, which affects, for example, the use of pesticides. Hence, the Peruvian authorities also want to “promote awareness” about the species. “Nature is a whole (…). The rights recognized in this declaration are not only intended to guarantee the health of stingless bees, but also of the Amazon as a whole,” ditch. Beyond Satipo. There is who considers that, with its decision, Satipo has turned stingless bees into the first insects in the world with explicitly recognized rights. Whether or not this is the case, the undeniable thing is that its October ordinance seems to have paved the way for other similar ones. The diary The Spectator relieved Recently, the provincial municipality of Loreto-Nauta has taken a similar step and has become the second region to opt for the judicial protection of Amazonian bees. Beyond the measure itself, both localities have managed to put the focus on the risks that faces a species on which not only the environmental balance depends, but also the future of crops with a considerable impact economical, like cocoa or coffee. Is the situation so serious? In September the Peruvian Amazon Research Institute (IIAP) echoed from a study that warns that more than 50% of bee habitats Melipona eburnea and Tetragonisca angustula They are located in “high risk of deforestation areas” in the Amazon. Among the causes of this vulnerability, he cited the felling of trees in which the species nests, the illegal extraction of wood and the expansion of agriculture. It is not a minor issue if we take into account that, as remembers the Municipal Council of Satipo90% of the region’s wild plant and flower species depend directly on pollination driven by bees. Images | IIAP, Elena Mozvhilo (Unsplash) and Wikipedia In Xataka | The scientific reason why it is not a good idea to jump into the water to escape from bees (and other tips to avoid getting stung)

For OpenAI, 2026 will have a clear protagonist: voice

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In the last two months, OpenAI has unified several engineering, product and research teams with a single objective: to revolutionize its audio models. The startup is preparing a more natural voice model for this first quarter of 2026, capable of managing interruptions and speaking while you speak, according to a report from The Information. Why is it important. This movement not only seeks to improve ChatGPT, but also to place audio as the main interaction interface, moving screens to the background at least in certain use cases. This is what first-generation smart speakers tried, unsuccessfully, a decade ago. The bet is to build personal devices that work exclusively by voice, with a launch planned for mid-2027. The context. Silicon Valley has been heading in this direction for months: Meta added five microphones to his Ray-Ban Meta 2 to isolate voices in noisy environments. Google is testing audio search summaries. Tesla is going to integrate Grok in their cars to be able to control certain aspects conversationally. In detail. The initiative is led by Kundan Kumarformer researcher of Character.AI which arrived at OpenAI this summer. The new model seeks to sound indistinguishable from a human voice and maintain fluid conversations without the typical cuts of current assistants. Besides, the May 2025 purchase of io Products Inc.Jony Ive’s $6.5 billion startup, marks a turning point. Ive, former head of design at Apple, now leads creative responsibilities at OpenAI with a team of 55 people. Its philosophy, already publicly announced, seeks to reduce addiction to devices through interfaces that do not require constant visual attention. What is happening. OpenAI contemplates several formats: screenless speakers, smart glasses (a clearly booming segment) and a pen-shaped, voice-operated device. Foxconn will manufacture the first product, rumored to be a context-aware pen, in Vietnam. These devices are positioned as complements to laptops and mobile phones, not as substitutes, at least for now. Yes, but. Not all “screenless AI” bets have worked. The Humane AI Pin burned hundreds of millions and defrauded its buyers by offering a half-hearted product that would stop working after the company was sold to HP. Several pendants have been in a similar line for almost two years, without any to date having managed to go beyond being a curiosity. And now what. The schedule is quite tight: New audio model before spring 2026. First dedicated device for sale a year later. OpenAI will go from being a software provider to competing directly in consumer electronics. The question is whether they will achieve what Humane and others have failed to achieve: make people want to talk to their devices without being able to look at a screen. In Xataka | The new Ray-Bans from Meta will allow you to cross a line: seem present while you are completely absent Featured image | Xataka with Mockuuups Studio

Samsung’s new QD-OLED monitors debut vertical pixels to go beyond gaming: they want to reign in the offices

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Samsung has started production of the first 34-inch 360Hz QD-OLED panel using V-Stripe (vertical) pixel structure. It already supplies these panels to seven manufacturers, including ASUS, MSI and Gigabyte, for monitors that will be presented at the CES 2026 of the next few days. Why is it important. This technical change theoretically solves the historical problem of OLEDs in monitors: the “poor” sharpness of the text. The traditional triangular arrangement of subpixels created somewhat blurry edges that generated rejection among professional users focused on text handling. The new vertical structure solves this, according to Samsung. The curious thing is that now Samsung attacks both markets, gaming and professional environment, with the same panel: 360 Hz and 21:9 format for gamersbut also sharp text for programmers and editors.

Nepal imposed a $4,000 bail on tourists to clean Everest. Now you have more garbage and a problem

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If we talk about remote, isolated and inaccessible regions, few places reach the level of Everest. The highest mountain of the planet (at least if we take sea level as a reference) is not within everyone’s reach. Crowning it requires years of preparation, acclimatization and in-depth knowledge of mountaineering, in addition to spending a few tens of thousands of dollars in tickets, equipment, fees and Sherpas. Despite that, despite all its rigors, Everest has become a monster touristified full of tons and tons of garbage. In Nepal they just checked that this problem, that of the accumulation of waste in the mountains, cannot be solved even with the threat of paying thousands of dollars. Hence, the Government is already considering tougher measures. What has happened? That Nepal has realized that the threat of sanctions is not enough to prevent Everest from becoming a gigantic landfill frozen. More than a decade ago, its authorities adopted a measure with which they intended to clean the mountain: each climber who wanted to ascend to the roof of the world must first deposit $4,000, a kind of deposit that would only be recovered if he returned from his expedition with eight kilos of waste. The objective was clear: for the mountaineers to collect their garbage. If they did, they got their $4,000 back. If not, they lost the deposit. The idea looked good on paper, but it has turned out to be a fiasco. Over the past few years, mountaineers have returned from their climbs with backpacks full of debris to unlock their bails, but that hasn’t improved Everest. On the contrary. Why’s that? Very simple. Because (paraphrasing the Spanish proverb) ‘the law is made, the trap is made’. Tourists who have set out to conquer Everest have spent the last few years returning with rubbish to claim a refund of their money, but what at first sounds so positive has actually meant a problem for the mountains. The reason? The origin of these wastes. Climbers collect waste, true, but in lower altitude camps. Things change if we talk about the highest bases, where loading and eliminating waste is more difficult, expensive and even dangerous. Hence, the waste problem continues to be worrying and has even worsened in the most sensitive areas: the camps located closer to the summit. “From the highest bases people tend to return only with oxygen bottles,” explains to the BBC Tshering Sherpa, executive director of the Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee. “Other items like tents, cans and boxes of packaged food and beverages are left there, mostly abandoned. That’s why we see so much trash piling up.” What has been the result? A fiasco. The Sherpas themselves recognize that the pollution problem has worsened in the camps closest to the summit. After all… Why descend loaded with garbage from the top of the mountain if 8 kg can then be collected in the lower camps? As if that were not enough, managing the $4,000 deposits has resulted in more paperwork for Nepalese officials. Although the problem of dirt has not been solved, the majority of mountaineers recover their deposits, which translates into an “administrative burden” for the nation. Does it work that badly? In the country there are those who speak directly of a “defective norm” that fails in several key points. The main one, surveillance. “From the checkpoint above the Khumbu Icefall there is no supervision over what the climbers do,” comments Sherpa. Hence, it is not a problem for tourists to leave their garbage at the top of the mountain and then cover the quota with waste from lower camps. There is also another important handicap. The rule requires climbers to return with 8 kg of waste, but there are studies that warn that a climber produces much more waste during his stay on the mountain, at least if the weeks of acclimatization are taken into account. To be precise, we are talking about 12 kg. Is the problem that serious? Yes. The figures speak for themselves. Estimates may vary from one study to another, but they generally show that after years of tourism, Everest has become a large landfill in which dozens of tons of waste accumulate. And that includes everything from packaging, store remains, ropes… and even kilos and kilos of feces. It is not at all surprising if you take into account the great popularity that the mountain has been gaining over the last few decades. Although the expeditions are not affordable for everyone (some estimate that they cost between 40,000 and 60,000 dollars) every year hundreds of climbers land on Everest. The Telepragh esteem that around 600 mountaineers try to climb the mountain every year, which represents a huge flow of climbers who arrive accompanied by equipment and Sherpas. There are many, but the figure falls short when compared to the activity that was recorded in the area before the pandemic. Statista calculates For example, in 2023, 656 successful promotions were recorded, a figure that exceeded 800 before the health crisis. And now what? After assuming that their previous bailout plan “did not show tangible results,” the Nepalese authorities want to toughen their conditions to tackle the pollution problem. They have a new plan on the table that includes a cleaning fee that It would be around $4,000.although with an important nuance: in this case would not be refundable. The idea is that this flow of thousands of dollars will serve to finance the conservation of the mountain. “With the new plan we will deploy qualified rangers paid for by the cleaning fee collected from climbers,” comments Himal Gautamfrom the Department of Tourism. If the measure goes ahead, it will join others that in recent years have sought to improve the preservation of Everest, such as the increase in rates administrative or even the norm which since 2024 requires mountaineers to carry bags to collect their excrement. Images | Akunamatata (Flickr), Mari Partyka (Unsplash) In Xataka | When a storm hit Everest, a … Read more

How to add the Three Wise Men to any photo of your street using artificial intelligence

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Let’s tell you how to add the Three Wise Men to your photographsso that you can create images full of illusion. The idea is that if you have a photo of your street or a place you usually walk through, you can add these characters to it without altering anything else. We are going to tell you two ways to do this, both with artificial intelligence. First we will go to a website designed exclusively for this, which is the easiest alternative to use. And then we will tell you how to use the most popular artificial intelligence chatbots, such as ChatGPT either Gemini. Use a third party page If you want to do things as easily as possiblethere are pages like fotoalosreyesmagos.comcreated especially to add the Three Wise Men to your photos, and which allows you to see the photos shared by other users from all over Spain. The website offers consistency in designs, although the results are a little less refined. To use it, go to fotoalosreyesmagos.com and click on Upload your photo. Now you will go to a screen where you have to upload the photo you want to use to insert the Three Wise Men. Click on the box or drag the photo to it if you are on the computer. Remember that they must be photos of a street or landscape so that the AI ​​can insert the characters into it. Now you’ll have to choose how to customize your resulting photo. To do this, you just have to decide if you want to include the camels or only to the Kings. Additionally, you have to choose if you want the photo to be public indicating your location or if you want to keep it private and not publish it in the gallery. Now, after deciding whether or not to accept or not give the website a donation of one euro, the photo will be generated. When the photo is generated you can download or share itin addition to publishing it if you want in the public gallery. Add the Three Wise Men with ChatGPT or Gemini The other option is use ChatGPT or Geminiin both cases you will be able to use the same prompt, although today ChatGPT Images offers better results. But you can try both options and stick with the one that suits you best. What you have to do in both options is upload a photograph of your neighborhood, and add the following prompt: I want you to add the three Wise Men in this photo. They should be walking down the street, and you should make them realistic, make them look like real people. Look at the proportions so that they have a realistic size within the photograph, that they have the size of a real person. Don’t touch anything else in the photo, just add to the characters. That’s it, with this the AI ​​will generate a fairly realistic image of these characters. The advantage of this option is that you can add and specify things at the prompt you use, adding objects, specifying sizes, and similar. In Xataka Basics | How to create a character in ChatGPT and Gemini to use it in all the images you make with artificial intelligence

It is the secret document of salvation

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Yeah your house starts to burnWhat is the first thing you would save? Surely you have asked yourself that question more than once, with a very clear answer in your head that, once you save what you love most, it is completed with “if I can take more than one trip, I would take this and that.” Being prepared is not badbut… what if instead of personal objects, you had a museum with hundreds of unique objects and works of enormous value? They have thought about that. And the plan is perfectly imperfect. Grab lists. Whether of greater or lesser importance, everyone has unique pieces in the form of artistic creations or elements that have helped us understand and admire the past. And, when there is an emergency, you cannot improvise. That is why each museum has a salvage list or priority list that basically lists the most important objects for the institution and puts them on a list with all the details to keep the piece safe. Because we don’t talk about robbery cases like that of the Louvrebut fireswater leaks, gas leaks, floods and even terrorism. In short, it is a printed and secret plan that museums wish to never have to use for logistical reasons, but also for ethical reasons and responsibility with the art they treasure. How to do it. In this document We see it as a guide to react and make the list. They range from small museums, where perhaps more material can be saved, to large museums where the pieces must be organized in detail. If something happens, the rescue list is given to the emergency services (firefighters during a fire, for example), and should be compiled based on: The rarity of the item. Its value (although they indicate that it should not be the only element to consider, we will see what happens when there is a lot of money at stake). An important historical link to the museum or city. Its vulnerability to fire or floods. An example. The guide is a sample of that safety document that tells staff how to react to different conditions. For example, if there is an electrical failure, recommendations are given such as assessing whether there is a risk of electrocution and, if everything is safe, starting to proceed. If there is an insect infestation, it is indicated how to save the works. But what interests us are the examples of the priority list. On a map of the museum, they indicate which works need to be saved, accompanied by the number they have on that priority list. But, in addition, a series of instructions must be given so that personnel outside the museum (the aforementioned firefighters, for example) are clear about how to act. In this table, the guide includes the reference number of the object, a photo of it so that you are clear about what it is, if keys are needed to access the display case and where they are, as well as handling recommendations (gloves, box, etc.) and how many people are needed to move it. Do not overwhelm with details: the more concise, the better. Powerful knight… That they are secret documents is more than necessary for a very obvious reason: no one who is not strictly involved with the construction security service can know which objects are on the list because there could be leaks. Because, as you may be thinking, the most monetary valuable items would be the first to go out the door in armored trucks. Because maybe he bone of a T-Rex It may be very important on a scientific level, but it will not be worth the same as a painting by a renowned painter. Each object has its insurance premium, and when there is a crisis, the priority is usually clear: save what is expensive. And there is a perfect example: ‘Mural’, by Jackson Pollock. It’s not hypothetical. In a fantastic report by The Economist The case of the aforementioned work by Pollock is presented. Answering how much art is worth is, to say the least, complex, but specifically, ‘Mural’ is valued at 140 million dollars. Painted in 1948, due to different factors it ended up in the University of Iowa Museum of Art. It is, like many other important museums, one that is attached to a river, and in 1993 the first “notice” came. A flood caused water to leak onto the university campus. He sneaked into the basement and warehouse, but the exhibitions continued to be set up and running. In 2008, things changed. A heavy snowfall meant that the ground could not absorb as much water, so the Iowa River overflowed and levels rose. The reservoir to which the city entrusts its protection could not handle that amount of water and had to be evacuated. Decide between two children. At a meeting, those responsible for the safety of the works did not know what to save, so the most interested came in: the museum’s insurer. It is at that moment in which the cultural value and the importance of the roots of the work are put aside to reflect reality: money and the value of the work prioritizes which ones will be saved first. With water at the doors, a few days before the museum was flooded, ‘Mural‘He left on his way to Chicago in an armored truck. Another work, ‘Karneval‘, a 1943 triptych by Max Beckmann, was also transported to the same facility in Chicago, but on a separate truck. Reason? The director of the university told journalists that these works were being moved and the museum management saw it as a reckless act. “Our collection is insured for a third of a billion dollars and now we have people telling the world it’s on its way to Chicago,” said Pamela White, the museum’s acting director. Beyond money. Museum staff moved more than 10,000 works in total, protecting those they had not been able to evacuate and placing them … Read more

a storm that aims to leave Twelfth Night under snow

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The weather models are slowly beginning to give us a vision of what is going to happen in these first days of January, and the reality is that we are already looking forward to a Three Kings’ night. with really low temperatures and even snow cover. Something that responds to the arrival of the storm Francisan anticyclonic block at high latitudes and an outbreak of continental polar air. The clash of masses. For a heavy snowfall to occur on the Iberian Peninsula, it is not enough for it to be cold, but humidity is also needed. That is why the scenario they propose GFS models and ECMWF for this January 2026 it is, technically, textbook. All this because an anticyclone has been installed in northern Europe and arctic areas, which forces very cold air to move south, directly towards Spain. While this cold settles on the peninsula, we must not forget about the storm Francis that enters from the southwest loaded with humidity. And when Francis’ humidity collides with the “wall” of frigid air already over the peninsula, a so-called “mass clash” occurs. This is where it turns into snow generally at very low levels. The AEMET. In his special prediction For these important dates, the meteorology agency indicates that this Friday the 2nd the rains will reach the Canary Islands and to the west of the peninsula. But it will be on January 3 when rainfall will be very abundant in western Andalusia, with snowfall at low levels in the north. But the truly interesting thing is between Sunday, January 4 and Tuesday, January 6, Three Kings’ Day, where heavy and persistent rains are expected in the south and east of the Peninsula. The highlight may be the snowfall in the eastern and central part of the peninsula, which the AEMET points out that can be important with a large drop in temperatures. Arrival of unusual snowfall. The “postcard” of Three Kings with snow is plausible in a good part of the country, although highly conditioned by the orography and some details of Francis’ career. In the south, for example, AEMET and local media report a drop in the snow level of up to 400 m in provinces like Granada either Malagawith minimums below 5 °C in capitals and negative values ​​in the interior, which opens the door to snowfall in areas where they are uncommon. In the center and east of the peninsula, the coldest scenarios place the level around 400–500 meters during January 4 and 5 and snow at medium or low levels in the southeastern quadrant, eastern Iberia, the east of the southern plateau or the Baetics; In the north and northwest, the posterior maritime polar mass keeps the snow in the mountains and could leave significant accumulations in systems such as the Montes de León. The American GFS model has come to propose for the Three Kings Day environment snow accumulations of more than 30 cm in the province of Toledo and greater than 40 cm in areas of Teruel, in a scenario of very extensive snowfall that inevitably reminds us of Filomena. A new Philomena? It’s an almost obligatory question. with the arrival of this storm, and although there are voices that affirm that we are going to face that, experts ask for caution to see how the predictions develop as the days go by. And the difference between a historic snowfall and an episode of cold rain depends on just a few kilometers in Francis’ trajectory. In this way, if the storm drops in latitude, cold air will dominate and snow could cover Madrid, the center of the peninsula or Granada. But if the storm moves north, the warm mass would win the battles and the snow would be restricted to mountain areas and medium elevations. Everything will depend on how the prediction develops in the coming days. The danger for horseback riding. With this forecast that we have on the table right now, the truth is that the cavalcades may have problems making their usual routes. Although it must be taken into account that these forecasts may change, not being truly 100% reliable until a few days before these dates arrive. After Three Kings Day. Once these dates pass, temperatures will begin to increase substantially. This way, starting January 6th Precipitation is expected to begin to lose intensity and extent in the southern areas, although it could still be locally strong in the Strait, while snowfall remains in the more mountainous areas. Images | AEMET In Xataka | La Niña is going to be meteorologically “less intense” than we expected. And that actually hides a problem.

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