Mobile Tech & Gadgets

It’s about how Asia is winning the cultural battle

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When I went to China for the first time in November 2023 with other colleagues, one of my travel companions wanted to take advantage of the few free hours we had to buy a Labubu to give to his daughter. I had no idea what he was talking about. He explained it to me and I stayed the same. A couple of years later, the Labubu are such a mainstream phenomenon that POP MART has opened its first store on Gran Vía and They even appear in ‘South Park’, one of the reference adult series in the West of the last 30 years (with permission from The Simpsons). The opening of a POP MART on the most iconic street in Spain, where theaters, popular fashion brands and franchises gather (special mention deserves Uniqlo and Miniso), is just the tip of the iceberg of something: the East is no longer just the factory of the world (with China as a prominent head), its weight has transcended from the industrial to the cultural to sneak into the mainstream of the West. It is a true victory for Asian pop culture, until now concentrated in its own borders with few exceptions that transcended the niche to the popular. The attractive lottery of the closed box. Of David Beckham to Rihanna passing through Dua Lipa either Lisa from Blackpink: They all have their Labubu. Born in 2015 by Hong Kong artist Kasing Lung for his illustrated book series “The Monsters”, the Labubu they exploded when POP MART started releasing them as collectibles in surprise boxes back in 2019. What started as something niche has become a trend that knows no boundaries or classes. They have them to the Thai royal house and when there is stock, it flies: fans crowd at the door in such a way that you don’t know if they are queuing to buy a ticket for a concert or if there is a rare edition. And she can be a millionaire: the human-sized, mint green Labubu has been auctioned for 230,000 Australian dollars. The Labubu as an expression of identity, status and belonging. You don’t know which one you’re going to get until you open them like it’s the reward mechanism in a video game. Of course, Labubu is not just for boys and girls. It reflects changes in consumer culture reaching millennial and generation Z adults thanks to collecting, nostalgia and the need for comfort. You buy more than a doll: it is an experience full of emotion, the status that comes with having the most exclusive edition and of course, the profitability of resale. It is the almost ideal intersection between gaming and finance: a supply and demand market where assets are stuffed. And little joke with this: POP MART has had to suspend sales in cities like london due to fights between fans and the counterfeit market It is already a reality. Whether you see it as a toy or a fashion accessory, what is clear is that Labubu has emerged as the spearhead of the soft power Chinese. China no longer (only) manufactures products, it also manufactures desire A lot of muscle, a little soft power. China is the second largest economy in the world, but in cultural influence it is quite a few steps below. The Asian giant has a legendary cultural heritage of more than 5,000 years, but for the West it is limited to silk or tea. Naming a movie or a movie star comes down to Bruce Lee (American-Hong Kong born in San Francisco). The reasons? Many and varied: from following content guidelines from the Chinese Government and censorship, but also from considering it as lower quality from a prejudiced perception. China is no longer exotic, it’s cool. First it was economically, but China is also opening up culturally to Western markets, more products appear on social networks and Western audiovisuals and the West is welcoming them with open arms. China had started promoting its brands, the New Silk Road wave visa-free entry for tourism, but nothing as effective as an innocent stuffed animal that has transcended thanks to fans, TikTok and celebrities. At a time (actually, it almost doesn’t matter when you read this) when the global perception of China is often shaped by geopolitics and surveillance, Labubu offers something different, adorable, creative and exciting. And they are not alone: ​​the game’Black Myth: Wukong‘ was a global hit in 2024 and more of the same for the ice cream and bubble tea chain Mixueto cite a couple of examples. It may end up being another fad, but right now they are objects of aspiration and desire. It is proof that Chinese cultural products can do it. That POP MART stores are in the most central streets of large cities is another way to demonstrate this. It has taken Labubu a decade to get here, China will probably have a harder time creating a solid narrative around its cultural products such as Nintendo and its Mario universe. But it’s on its way. China begins to look closely at Japan and Korea. The country of the rising sun is famous for its exports of anime, fashion and gastronomy and since 2010 it has in its strategy “Cool Japan“a government strategy to promote its creative industries abroad. However, this initiative has had its ups and downsthe weight of the market and fans in hits like Pokémon or ramen being undoubted. South Korea has what is probably Asia’s latest and most effective softpower model. With strong support from the state, the Korean wave has achieved great successes from the film ‘Parasites’ to the K-pop phenomenon. China with Labubu is another third way, with a commercial ecosystem focused on intellectual property, lifestyle and trends. In Xataka | There are people burning their Labubus in nets. The reason: a crazy theory that links them to a Mesopotamian devil In Xataka | The Labubu’s half-humanity bags are becoming too small. So its creator already knows how to … Read more

Millennials are terrified of ordering fish

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“Give me a quarter and a half of clams and that horse mackerel that has such bright eyes.” I will never utter that phrase, which my mother or my grandmother (non-generic feminine) could have said. Neither me, nor my sister nor surely anyone of my generation. We are millennials and we do not make such a thorough diagnosis of the condition of a fish that we probably would not know how to recognize without a label. Mercadona knows it and has made a move: since this year has changed its fishmongering system to leave behind, or at least reduce it to a minimum, the traditional display of fresh fish from the market at customer demand to increase the presence of its packaged and ready-to-go products. The company explains that fish consumption is in free fall with at least a 20% decrease and that with this change they seek to offer a simpler, faster and more comfortable experience for the customer, by avoiding queues and waiting. Although it is not specified, this change also implies reducing the presence of staff, streamlining sales, simplifying supply and logistics processes and raising the unit prices of the fish: it does not cost the same to order a sea bream as it does a couple of packaged sea bream fillets. This migration, which began in 2024 and which they already did previously with the butcher shop, represents an adaptation to consumer habits where the purchase of the finished product prevails over the classic display. Different, but in line with your bet for ready-to-eat dishes. Leaving aside the obvious benefits of the change for Juan Roig’s supermarket chain, there is a reality: there are compelling reasons for it to work. Another fishmonger system for new clients with other habits The new generations are illiterate when it comes to fish and meat. Thus, we have lost species- or part-specific terms (from the flank or neck of fish to the stifle of beef) for something much more generic like “fillets for the oven.” But it is not strange either: with some exceptions, we prefer ready-made parts to dealing with the entire animal. It is worth remembering that viral video of a young man disgusted and nauseated by having to clean a chicken. However, this applies more to meat than to fish, where historically in the fishmonger it falls apart to then be able to use that hake in its entirety: the head for a broth, the tail for the oven… In any case, the gutted, boneless and perfectly arranged appearance on a tray feels much more aseptic. Between one thing and another, we don’t know what to ask for: this tiktoker account How because of “not knowing how much to order I ended up buying 25 euros of hake“. Other She directly appears looking at the butcher shop counter with the same scared face that cows look at the train and the phrase “My biggest fear as a semi-adult: not knowing how to buy in a butcher shop.” In the answers, someone says that he did not know that salmon was sold by the piece: “I ordered a salmon thinking it was a kilo, he gave me the whole salmon (€64). How embarrassed I was I didn’t tell him anything and I took him away“. And yet another talks about ordering 50 grams of cheese at the delicatessen and leaving with all the shame and the only slice in the package. Of course, all the ingredients are in place for bulk personalized attention to disappear in the fishmonger, as long as there is a professional advising on which cut to buy based on what you were going to cook or what species is in season, these are increasingly less frequent scenarios and will disappear as the old generations give way to the new ones in the supermarkets. Mercadona has already anticipated its landing. In Xataka | Mercadona has eaten up its competition in Spain thanks to a recipe as successful as leonine: 3.88% In Xataka | Fish is mired in a historic crisis in Spain. And there is a reason: he is increasingly successful at leisure than at home Cover | Mercadona and Jeremiah Lazo

Their songs about Greek myths on YouTube have filled the Movistar Arena. Twice

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Almost two years after announcing their temporary retirement from the stage, Álvaro Pascual and Rodrigo Septién return to the same place where they said goodbye. On January 3, 2026, Gutting History returns to the Movistar Arena with a new proposal called ‘The Dawn of the Gods’. They had closed their previous tour, ‘Loki Tour’ in January 2024 before thousands of attendees in Madrid, then declaring a break without a return date after mobilizing more than 75,000 spectators between Spain and Latin America. But they are back. How it started. Gutting history It started on YouTube in 2017, combining dissemination of stories and mythology with parody songs and handmade animations. The project started applying the format “draw my life“, popular on YouTube during those years, with his own songs until he ended up developing songs as diverse as the authentic ones. myths that inspired Disney movies or the stories of classical mythology, just as they were originally born. Origins. After a few humorous videos starring themselveshis video about the origin of Valentine’s Day established a formula that they would not abandon for a long time: very schematic illustrations on a white board, with rudimentary animations, catchy melodies and a humorous and demystifying tone. From there they would evolve until reaching the current state, where they exhibit animations much more sophisticated. The data. Currently the channel is approaching six million subscribers and according to HypeAuditor datahas a monthly growth of 0.16%. These are figures that position it as a benchmark for this type of educational content in Spanish. Monetization has evolved beyond YouTube: the platform’s advertising revenue estimates place its earnings between $4,100 and $5,700 per month for that channel alone, also according to HypeAuditor. However, the real commercial muscle came with diversification: they published books like ‘Gods of Olympus’, ‘The Craziest Gods’ or ‘The Craziest Monsters’, comics like ‘The Greatest Villains’, and they have developed merchandising that includes even dolls based on their characters. The ‘Loki Tour’ that closed in 2024 mobilized 75,000 attendees and took them outside of Spain, to countries such as Mexico, Colombia, Peru, Argentina and Chile, as well as nine Spanish cities, a figure comparable to tours by established musical artists. A recurring jump. The jump from digital content to physical venues is not exclusive to Destripando la Historia. In the Anglo-Saxon sphere, several projects on mythology and history have consolidated sufficient audiences to monetize in-person events. The podcast Let’s Talk About Myths, Baby! takes an irreverent approach to Greco-Latin mythology similar to Gutting History, while Mythologyproduction of Spotify Studios with theatrical finish combines dramatizations with historical analysis. Our Fake Historywhich debunks historical urban legends through hour-plus episodes, represents the more academic end of the spectrum. The case of Critical Role. However, the closest reference to the Guttering History model is Critical Rolea group of voice actors that has broadcast ‘Dungeons & Dragons’ games since 2015. Its expansion illustrates the commercial potential of this type of content: in October 2023 They filled the OVO Arena Wembley in London with 12,000 attendees. Their 10th anniversary tour in 2025 included Radio City Music Hall in New York and they already have an animated series on Amazon Prime, ‘The legend of Vox Machina‘, and they have founded a board game publishing house and a charitable foundation. The secret of success. There are several reasons to explain the impact of Ripping History, beyond the indisputable quality of its content. First, its hybrid format turns educational content into musical entertainment. Three-minute songs generate complete plays and relistens, which certainly pleases the algorithm. But they have also achieved something unusual: a transgenerational audience. Children enjoy the references to movies and myths they know through Disney, teenagers connect with the hooligan humor and adults appreciate the irony behind the proposal. The future. The question, once completely artisanal growth is established for the channel (unlike Critical Role, which rotates for months and has 180 employees) remains: can a duo sustain continuous content production without evolving towards a more business format, with specialized teams? Or, formulated another way, does the return to the Movistar Arena confirm that the model works in cycles, alternating digital creation with in-person peaks, instead of aspiring to the permanent machinery of Critical Role? In Xataka | The king of podcasting is no longer Apple or Spotify. It’s Google

According to scientists, global warming will most likely lead to an Ice Age

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We usually imagine the climate change like an endless ascending line: more heat, melted glaciers and more acidic oceans. However, science has just put on the table a hypothesis that is not very intuitive: under certain extreme conditions, global warming does not end in hell, but in a real freezer. And the plankton, which seems harmless, has a lot to say in this regard. The identified. A team of researchers from the University of California, Riverside (UCR) and the University of Bremen has identified an instability in the carbon cyclea “glitch” in Earth’s climate operating system, suggesting that an ocean that is too warm and depleted of oxygen can trigger massive global cooling. The geological thermostat. To understand this finding, we must first look at how the Earth regulates its temperature in the long term. The classic mechanism is silicate weathering. Which basically means that when there is a lot of CO₂ in the atmosphere along with heat, it rains more and this rain dissolves the silicate rocks, dragging the carbon and the nutrients it stores to the sea, such as phosphorus. That’s where plankton uses that carbon to build their shells and, when they die, they sink, trapping CO₂ on the seabed. And although it may seem like good news that they store this gas that is seen as a great enemy on the seabed, the fact of reducing its concentration It means that the temperature drops. A paradigm shift. Until now, scientists saw this as a stable “thermostat”: if it is hot, the system works to cool the environment, and if it is cold it works less intensely. But now something radical arises: the thermostat has a catastrophic failure mode. According to their simulation models, when the system is coupled to the cycle of marine nutrients and biological productivity, the regulation can be unstable. And this is where the ideas of a future ice age begin. The plankton trap. For researchers, if we continue with extreme warming on our planet, erosion will increase to bring nutrients to the ocean. Something that will undoubtedly be appreciated by the phytoplankton and the algae that will accumulate it and when it dies, it will create an area in the water where there is not a hint of oxygen. In an ocean without oxygen, phosphorus once again dominates sea water which will create a vicious cycle where the algae They will consume large amounts of oxygen. The result is that the ocean floor begins to ‘suck’ CO₂ from the atmosphere at breakneck speedwhich is much faster than volcanoes or human activities can replenish it. The result is clear: a thermal collapse that can lead to a severe glaciation similar to what the Earth has experienced in the past. We had other fears. Right now on the table we had the suspicion that the collapse of the AMOCthe ocean currents that move water between various locations, will lead us to this situation. And they have a very important function: moving warm water from the tropics towards the north through the surface and cold, dense water towards the south through the depths. Something that a priori regulates global temperature. Global warming. A priori, anyone might think that continuing to emit greenhouse gases into the atmosphere is the solution to this. But the authors issue a warning: geological times are not human times. We are talking about a mechanism that operates on scales of hundreds of thousands of years, and that is why it will not cool the planet either in this century or the next. In fact, researchers suggest that if this mechanism were activated today, it would be an excessive correction that will occur long after we have suffered the consequences of global warming. The fragility of the system. The carbon cycle is not a simple scale that stays in balance, but is quite dynamic and complex. This is somewhat difficult, since it can easily become unbalanced. The idea that the planet can “overreact” to heat by causing extreme cold reminds us that the Earth has regulatory mechanisms that are indifferent to the survival of human civilization. Images | Javier Miranda Alberto Restifo In Xataka | The Earth is entering climate collapse with its first point of no return. Our only salvation is technology

The soldiers of the Roman Empire crushed Hannibal and Viriatus, but they were unable to defeat a fearsome enemy: diarrhea.

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If there is a civilization to which the Spanish collective imagination dedicates festivities and various events, that is the Roman empire. Nevertheless, they were more than six centuries in the Iberian Peninsula thanks to its magnificent expansion work. In its heyday, Rome It covered three continents: from Great Britain to the Carpathians in Europe, North Africa and Asia Minor. To carry out such an extension, his legions had great conflicts in the form of the Punic Wars, the battle of Cannae or the Battle of Pydna. The tough battle for intestinal well-being. As if life on the front was not hard enough, the soldiers guarding the northwest border of the Roman Empire had to confront a tough guerrilla war that is not epic enough to appear in the history books but that also caused casualties: that of intestinal parasites. More specifically, in the north of England, near Hadrian’s Wall. Because a team of researchers from the University of Oxford and Cambridge has discovered After analyzing the sewage system of the Roman fort of Vindolanda three types of intestinal parasites: intestinal worms, whipworm and giardia duodenalis. In fact, it is the first time that the giardia in Roman Britain. The three intestinal parasites, under the microscope. Intestinal worms, the whipworm or whipworm and the protozoan known as giardia lamblia, intestinalis either duodenalis They are three parasites of the digestive system that are spread by poor hygiene or by contact between infected human feces with food, drinks and hands. The intestinal worms They are a helminth that measures between 20 and 30 centimeters in length and lives in the intestine. The most common among humans are pinworms and ascariasis. Its presence in the intestine can cause abdominal pain, fever and diarrhea. The whipworms They are nematodes that are about five centimeters long. An adult whipworm can consume 0.0005 ml of blood per day, so a high presence of this parasite can translate into severe anemia. Likewise, they can cause rectal prolapse, appendicitis and diarrhea if accompanied by a bacterial invasion. A whipworm infection is more common in children and in warm, humid locations, as well as in places with poor sanitary and/or hygiene conditions. The giardia intestinal parasites is a type of microscopic parasite that still causes serious outbreaks of diarrhea today. Symptoms of a giardia infection are abdominal cramps, bloating, upset stomach, and loose stools. According to the Mayo Clinicgiardiasis is one of the most common causes of waterborne illnesses in the United States. The least they had was malnutrition and diarrhea. The three types of parasites, which today are easily diagnosed and treatable for a complete recovery, were not so so in ancient Rome. As explains Study co-author and University of Cambridge archaeologist Marissa Ledger: “Although the Romans were aware of intestinal worms, their doctors could do little to eliminate these infections or help those suffering from diarrhea, so symptoms could persist and worsen. These chronic infections likely weakened soldiers and reduced their ability to serve.” Vindolanda Fort is a true gem for history and archeology professionals. Located between present-day Carlisle and Corbridge, in Northumberland, it was built at the beginning of the 2nd century AD to protect the province from attacks by northern tribes and monitor the imposing Hadrian’s wallwhich extends from the North Sea to the Irish Sea, with forts and towers distributed along its length. In the fort there were infantry, archer and cavalry units from all over the Empire. Beyond the magnificence of the construction, the most interesting thing is the juice that Vindolanda has offered to history lovers because thanks to its water-saturated soil a large number of organic objects have been preserved: thousand wooden slats that served as a kind of logbook, more than 5,000 leather sandals and also fecal remains. Sediments from a 3rd century drain from a latrine in the thermal complex have been the source of this research. The wall watchers They defecated alive. From 50 sediment samples taken along the conduit, about nine meters long, they found everything from Roman beads to ceramics to animal bones. And under the microscope, a whole intestinal fauna. Approximately 28% of the samples had worm or whipworm eggs, and one of them had both. Using the biomolecular technique ELISA they detected the giardia. Likewise, they analyzed a sample from another fort built in 85 AD and abandoned in 92 AD, where they found worms and whipworms. Thus they deduced that the soldiers suffered from dehydration and became ill with outbreaks of giardia in summer, normally associated with contaminated and rapidly expanding water. It could be worse. The high load of intestinal parasites detected in Vindolanda is not an isolated fact, as they are similar to other Roman military enclaves such as Valkenburg (Netherlands), Carnuntum (Austria) or Bearsden (Scotland). And they even had to give thanks, because in urban sites like London and York the parasite diversity was greater, including tapeworms. It wasn’t as pretty as it looks.. While there may be preconceptions and romanticisations about what it was like to be a Roman soldier, Dr Andrew Birley, chief executive of the Vindolanda Charitable Trust is clear “Excavations at Vindolanda continue to uncover new evidence that helps us understand the incredible difficulties faced by those posted to this northwestern frontier of the Roman Empire almost 2,000 years ago, challenging our preconceptions about what life in a Roman fort and frontier town was really like.” In Xataka | The death of one empire is the birth of another: the graph that reviews the history of civilizations from 4,000 years ago In Xataka | We have been calling Christians ‘thieves’ for decades for taking Christmas from the Romans. But the story wasn’t exactly like that. Cover | Photo of 709am in Unsplash

China decided to privatize its daycare centers in the 1980s. Unknowingly, it was creating its enormous birth crisis.

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Not long ago, China had an excess birth problem. For more than three decades, the one child policy stopped the rapid growth of the population, but now its problem is just the opposite. The demographic crisis has turned around and Chinese population is plummeting. The government has launched plans to encourage births and its latest idea is to improve critical infrastructure. Target: daycare centers. They tell it in South China Morning PostChina is reviewing what will be the first law regulating the child care services sector. The measures will focus on children under three years of age, with the aim of building a society “fertility-friendly”. Among its key measures are improving the quality of the service, ensuring that professionals have the necessary qualifications for the position and expanding the offer of more affordable childcare, which will reduce the cost of parenting. Who takes care of the children. China is encouraging couples to have children through different measures and daycare centers were one of the key aspects to improve. Since the 80s, The state stopped offering public daycares, shifting the burden of care to families. Society adapted in the most predictable way: that the grandparents were the ones to take care of the children (something that it doesn’t always turn out well) or that the woman reduced her hours to take care of the care. A question of money. The lack of regulation has caused the supply of affordable daycare centers to be scarce and with insufficiently qualified professionals. Quality daycare was a luxury available to a few, while for less well-off families it is a last resort. The new law seeks to promote the creation of new state centers at more affordable prices. and trust. The scandals over cases of abuse in Chinese daycares are well known inside and outside their borders, and have also been given cases of abuse by babysitters. If, in addition to the fact that it is an expensive service, we add the problem of lack of trust, it is not surprising that care in the early years ends up being a deterrent factor for many families. In 2021, only 5.5% of Chinese children under three years old were in daycarea figure that contrasts with the 88% of schooling from 3 to 6 years old. Other measures. Since the end of the one-child policy in 2015, the government has implemented several plans to correct the declining birth rate curve. Along with births, marriages also declined, so it was proposed teach marriage and love classes and even be a kind of matchmaker for help young people find a partner. His last measure is one of the most striking: put a special tax on condoms. Image | note thanun in Unsplash In Xataka | If the question is how to reactivate birth rates, China believes it has the answer: finance painless births

Mediamarkt also has its own brands in technology and cooking with devices ranging from TVs to air fryers.

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Some stores sell products from other stores, others also act as marketplace and to a lesser extent they add devices from their own brands to their catalogs. Perhaps Amazon is the clearest example with its Fire TV Stick or its Amazon Echo, but MediaMarkt also has its own devices under its brands. ok., Peak, Isy and Koenic. Therefore, in this article we are going to review five of their electronic and kitchen devices. Peaq PTV 65WQU-5025E MediaMarkt has some of its own TVs under the Peaq brand and one of the most interesting is the Peaq PTV 65WQU-5025E. It is a television that incorporates a QLED screen of no less than 65 inches. It is compatible with HDR10 and also with the Dolby Audio sound format and its operating system is WebOS Hub. The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Peaq PPA 550-RW Retro If there is a most curious device, it is the Peaq PPA 550-RW Retroa Bluetooth speaker in Robbie Williams edition. Yes, the singer of very popular songs like ‘Feel’. Among its specifications, the most notable thing is that it is a speaker that offers a 60W audio power and its autonomy is about 8 theoretical hours. It also has a retro design and incorporates a button panel at the top. The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Peaq MIA PRO 11 MediaMarkt also has some very interesting tablets if we are looking for something economical that we can use anywhere in the same way as at home. The Peaq MIA PRO 11 for example you have 4G connectivity and has 256 GB of internal storage. It also incorporates an 11-inch IPS screen that offers Full HD resolution and is water and dust resistant (IP42). The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Isy IDO-3000 When I bought the Mac mini M4 I missed a greater variety and number of ports, so I had to resort to a hub. He Isy IDO-3000 It would have been great for me both because of the ports and its format. It is a 15 in 1 hub with base to place it vertically and incorporates a total of 15 USB-C, USB-A, HDMI, microSD and SD card slots and more. The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Koenic KAF 924224 B The store also has some kitchen gadgets and some of the most interesting ones are air fryers. The Koenic KAF 924224 B It stands out mainly for having a double basket with a total capacity (of both baskets) of 9 liters, making it ideal for cooking several dishes at the same time. Besides, The separator can be removed so that there is a 9 liter basket instead of 4.5 liters each. It also comes with eight cooking programs and a touch panel on the front. The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Some of the links in this article are affiliated and may provide a benefit to Xataka. In case of non-availability, offers may vary. Images | MediaMarkt and Compradicción (header) In Xataka | Best televisions in quality price. Which one to buy and seven recommended 4K smart TVs In Xataka | Best air fryers. Which one to buy and 10 recommended air fryers from 51 euros

NASA has had its ships exposed to hackers for three years. An AI discovered it in just four days

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If there is a place where they should be open to any type of communication, it should be in a space agency. And it is no longer just a cinematic issue (although it has gone to great lengths to delve into that topic in the cinema), it is that communications are critical: from things as mundane as explaining that all processes are going well, to anomalies, to the specific future of a mission. Getting your hands on the communications of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration has to be a real treat and not only to boycott the American entity, but also to access confidential information or even to develop conspiracy theories that dismantle that man will reach the moon. Well, as incredible as it may seem, hacking NASA has been easier than you might think. Three years exposed and billions of dollars at stake And it hasn’t just been a little while: communications between Earth and NASA spacecraft have suffered a critical vulnerability for three years against possible computer attacks. Nor was it trivial: that breach in security could have allowed attackers to take over space missions like the agency’s rovers on Mars. The consequence would not have been cheap either: it poses a threat to billions of dollars in space infrastructure and the performance of these missions. Vulnerabilities are usually detected when it is too late or thanks to the action of researchers, although in this case it was the work of artificial intelligence, more specifically a cybersecurity algorithm integrated into AISLE security software, whose objective is to protect communications between spacecraft and terrestrial systems. This vulnerability had gone unnoticed by human eyes in multiple code reviews throughout that time. However, this autonomous AI-based analyzer detected it and helped correct it in four days, account the team of the Californian startup. As detailed, the fault was in the authentication system and to take advantage of it you only needed to have operator credentials. A little social engineering such as phishing or infecting computers to obtain usernames and passwords of NASA workers would be enough to make this possible. From here, something as common as authentication would become a weapon to, for example, inject commands that are executed with full privileges to access the system. The consequences could be fatal: from intercepting data to hijacking a ship. The only “good” thing about this vulnerability is that it was an essential requirement to execute it on the system locally, which obviously reduces the risk compared to remote. The integration of systems with AI in collaboration with humans is the order of the day and although in this case it has been the machine that has brought out the colors for the team of people, it is worth remembering that with the fall of half the internet because of Amazon servers, the responsibility fell on automation: It was the operators who had to intervene to fix it manually. In Xataka | NASA finds ‘space gum’ and glucose on Bennu: we now have the missing ingredient to explain the origin of life In Xataka | NASA invites you to send your name to the Moon for free. Behind it there is something more than a simple symbolic gesture Cover | Photo of NASA Hubble Space Telescope in Unsplash

Whether “altruism” exists among animals or not

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An ape reviving another after a small electric shock; a herd of pigs pushing back to the river to a fish stranded on the shore; a group of crows discovering the gigantic carcass of a reindeer and calling other crows to enjoy the feast. Examples are reproduced everywhere in the four corners of the Internet, and behind them often lies a voluntaristic question: are animals altruistic? In the background lies a moral reading: unlike selfish human beings, animals are capable of teaching us authentic goodness. Give without expecting anything in return. This is what happened some time ago as a result of the viral image of a duck covering a young dog under its wings. It does not matter that the facts themselves be diffuse or that the conversation starts from two image captures without reference to the original source. The debate is legitimate, and it is alive. Was the bird protecting a cub of another species out of mere compassion, out of high moral altruism? It is common for the answer to this question to be pregnant with moral conditions. We want to project our own insecurities, anxieties and emotional conflicts onto animals. For years, the idea of ​​”animal altruism” was reduced to the margins of science due to its connotations anthropocentric. However, the issue has enjoyed an interesting revival during the last decades. Numerous studies have tried to put an end to the question of altruism, and to provide an effective response to the sometimes inexplicable behavior of some animal species. Altruism, a definition Biology and ethology have reached a definition relatively accurate of “altruism”: that action that benefits a third party to the detriment of oneself. That is, acts that have positive consequences without at the same time deriving self-interest. Dissecting the wheat from the chaff is complex, because many “altruistic” acts actually hide deeply selfish motivations. (Hossein Ghaem/Unsplash) In the late 1980s, a biologist specializing in animal behavior, Bernd Heinrich, noticed something peculiar during a walk through the Maine woods. A group of crows had found the succulent remains of a huge reindeer, and had begun to attract the attention of other reindeer in a striking and scandalous way. At first glance, it seems that the crows wanted to share the abundance of meat found by chance. Did it make sense? From a somewhat simplistic point of view (survival of the fittest), not too much. Evolutionary logic (at least as we usually understand it) dictated that crows they had to compete for that piece of meat. It is a basic impulse and a vector that explains much of animal relationships, the fight for scarce food and self-survival. By calling other crows to enjoy the banquet, those birds were breaking a dynamic long accepted by the scientific community. He Heinrich’s particular discovery It has been discussed for years. Ultimately, it is likely that the crows did not display any altruistic behavior. Finding the reindeer in the territory of an adult, and therefore more powerful, crow, the young, upstart crows had done something pretty smart: call other colleagues to avoid retaliation. Pure defense by accumulation. In that way, the adult crow would limit any type of territorial defense. (Mikhail Vasilyev/Unsplash) The case of the crows is very unique, but there are others that help limit the scope of “altruism.” It is known that, in some species, female bats are able to share part of their food with the males when they have a lean season. The behavior is social, but not altruistic: the act of sharing arises from need to perpetuate the species, to protect its own in the long term. It is a defense mechanism explained by well-established theories (the “kin selection”for example), and that we can identify in other animal species (such as packs of wild dogs that warn by barking of dangers lurking on the horizon or ants kamikaze who sacrifice themselves for the colony). Is there a point of genuine goodness in the help of others? The question comes from an erroneous human perspective. Bats, ants or dogs seek something more basic: the benefit of the species. And therefore one’s own benefit. Okay, but what about the duck and the puppy? Although it is tempting to explain almost all animal behavior from determinism, there are cases that escape to your logic. There is evidence, for example, of groups of orcas that have adopted dolphins with certain genetic malformations. for several weeks. Orcas are not very social animals nor do they tend to interact with other species in a friendly way. The known examples In 2009, two researchers attested something even more exceptional. During an exploration in Antarctica, they came across a seal in distress. Pursued by a group of orcas, her days seemed numbered. In the middle of the fray, a pair of humpback whales appeared and began to maneuver to protect the seal. Humpbacks only feed on fish and crustaceans: what the hell were they whistling in that scene? (Michael Blum/Unsplash) According to scientists, manifesting an act of rare altruism among animals. The whales managed successfully protect at the seal, getting between the orcas and making it reach dry land (predictably hallucinated). There was no direct individual benefit for those humpbacks, nor was there a deep biological mechanism that could explain their actions. From any perspective, they had decided to help that poor seal. In the process, the humpbacks had identified a situation of danger and vulnerability of others and had decided to put themselves in danger despite the absence of self-interest. But is it like that? It was not an isolated incident. Some compilation studies have identified more than 115 encounters between humpback whales and orcas over the past 62 years. On some occasions up to fifteen humpbacks came to the rescue of calves of other species of whales. It could be due to a mechanism of automatic defense based on previous incidents (orcas also attack humpback calves) or a response to the calls of the orcas themselves (in such a … Read more

The exorbitant deployment of data centers for AI has a new problem: salt caverns

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In the collective imagination, artificial intelligence is an ethereal cloud of algorithms. The reality is much more complex and what we know for sure is that an energy eater that needs to “eat” constantly. Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, has summarized with unusual crudeness: “The problem is no longer that it is missing Nvidia chips, but that there are not enough plugs.” And so that these plugs have power 24 hours a day with the 99.999% reliability that the sector demands, Big Tech has ended up looking where no one expected: thousands of meters below the ground, towards the salt caverns. When the bits hit the underground. The AI ​​race has entered a “slow start” phase in the construction of these underground caverns, which could hinder the rollout of data centers. According to Fortunethe reason is mathematical since these digital infrastructures do not tolerate interruptions and require extreme reliability. To guarantee this constant flow, natural gas has become the indispensable backup. However, as they explain, it is not enough to produce gas; you have to save it. Industry projections indicate that only about half of the storage that will be needed to meet future demand has been planned. Without these artificial caves dug thousands of meters below the surface, hyperscalers (Google, Amazon, Meta) are left at the mercy of gas pipelines, vulnerable to corrosion, landslides or extreme weather events. But why salt caverns? The technical answer lies in flexibility. As detailed by experts in Fortunethere are two ways to store gas: in depleted oil fields or in salt caverns. The former are cheaper, but structurally slow. The gas is injected in summer and extracted in winter, following a classic seasonal cycle. AI, on the other hand, does not understand seasons. Their demand peaks are constant, sudden and difficult to predict. The salt caverns, created by injecting water to leach the mineral, act as a high-pressure lung: they allow gas to be injected and extracted with a much higher frequency, adapting to the volatility of the electrical grid that powers the servers. The “supercycle 2.0”. Given this scenario, companies like Enbridge they have taken the lead. Greg Ebel, CEO of the company, has confirmed that they are expanding their facilities in Egan (Louisiana) and Moss Bluff (Texas). “This demand dramatically changes the economics of supply,” he said. But it is not enough. Jack Weixel East Daley Analytics analystwarns that double the capacity currently planned is needed. Projects such as the Freeport Energy Storage Hub (FRESH), in Houston, They seek to connect up to 17 gas pipelines to a new salt dome by 2028, but construction times—often exceeding four years—clash with the urgency of AI. For his part, Jim Goetz, CEO of Trinity Gas Storage, defines it as the “storage supercycle 2.0”. His company has just reached the final investment decision (FID) to expand its capacity in East Texas, seeking to support critical infrastructures such as Stargate, the titanic $500 billion project from OpenAI and Microsoft. The shadow of a doubt. The underlying question is not only whether the salt caverns work—they work—but what type of energy system they are consolidating. Natural gas is fast, flexible and reliable, but it also introduces new dependencies and risks. According to analystsgas infrastructure on the Gulf Coast is especially vulnerable to extreme weather events. A direct hurricane over Texas or Louisiana can disrupt production, exports and transportation at the same time. In that scenario, even with gas available in other regionsthe lack of nearby storage can leave data centers without electrical backup. Added to this is the question of price. The sustained increase in demand to fuel data centers, LNG exports and reindustrialization is already pushing up gas and electricity bills. Without enough storage capacity, that volatility is amplified. As the sector points out, storage acts as a buffer; when it is missing, the peaks transferred directly to the consumer. Furthermore, the criticism is more structural since AI is pushing to prolong dependence on fossil fuels just when governments and companies were committed to reducing it. Look beyond the gas. Aware of this physical limit, large technology companies are no longer looking only at salt caverns and gas pipelines. They look for any firm source of electricity that does not depend exclusively on the traditional energy market. An example is Fervo Energy, a geothermal startup that has just closed one of the largest financing rounds in the sector, with Google as an investor and client. His commitment to advanced geothermal —constant electricity 24 hours a day—reflects the extent to which AI is redrawing the energy map. This is not an immediate or universal solution, but it is a clear signal: the problem is no longer technological, but energy-based. A problem only in the United States? The United States is the epicenter, but not the only scenario. The clash between AI and energy is global, although responses vary. In Europe, the rise of AI is leading to rethinking the closure of gas and coal plants. Some electricity companies are negotiating to convert old plants into data centers, taking advantage of their access to the network, water and already depreciated infrastructure. The logic is the same: firm, immediate and available energy. China, for its part, has chosen another path. Beijing not only promotes underwater data centers either large energy clusters in interior provinces, but directly subsidizes the electricity that powers its AI. The objective is to reduce the “fuel” of digital models and compensate for the lower energy efficiency of national chips compared to those from Nvidia. The return to the underground. In all cases, the pattern repeats itself. Renewables are growing, but not fast enough or with the stability necessary to sustain the demand for AI in the short term. Gas – with salt caverns, temporary turbines or recycled plants – becomes the inevitable crutch. In our race to create an intelligence that lives on the plane of ideas, we have ended up returning to mining, drilling, and the depths of the Earth. The future … Read more

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