Mobile Tech & Gadgets

We have found an ancient bone in Córdoba. Some believe it is part of Hannibal’s war elephants.

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What the hell is the bone of an elephant that lived more than 2,000 years ago doing in a Córdoba site surrounded by ammunition for catapults and arrows like those used in the scorpions? The question arises, but it is what a team of researchers who have just signed have been guessing for years. a fascinating article in one of the most reputable archaeological magazines in the world. In it they slip that this mysterious proboscis bone unearthed by pure chance in Andalusia could be neither more nor less than the first test direct from the war elephants employed by the Carthaginian general Aníbal Barca. What is this bone? A question similar to that must have been asked. towards 2019 archaeologists who, during a emergency excavation to expand the Provincial Hospital of Córdoba, they found a peculiar bone fragment. The piece was not larger than a baseball (measures between 15 and 8 cm), preserved its porosity and peeked out from under what looked like a ruined adobe wall from the 3rd century BC, which probably facilitated its preservation. That archaeologists unearth a bone during a tasting (even a millennia old one) has little to offer. In this case, however, the fragment held several surprises. The first, its age: 2,250 years. The second (and this is where things get interesting) is its origin: the bone is neither more nor less than the carpal bone of an elephant, something like part of the ‘wrist’ of a proboscide that for some mysterious reason ended up in the Iberian Peninsula. “He has enormous interest.” The discovery was so exciting, opening up such promising scenarios, that in 2023 it already generated interest outside the academic circuit. In September of that year Rafael Martínez, professor of Prehistory at the University of Córdoba recognized to The Country the expectation around the bone. “It is of enormous interest given the practical absence of remains of elephants from a pre-Roman context in Europe, excluding ivory objects that were subject to trade and import,” he said enthusiastically. “In any case, this discreet bone can be interpreted as proof of the presence of these animals in the area of ​​current Córdoba between the 4th and 2nd centuries BC” By then the professor went one step further and ventured a fascinating hypothesis: “It could belong to the period of the Public Wars. It could be the first elephant discovered by Hannibal’s troops, but it cannot be certain.” There were still many questions on the table. For example, its chronology: it was estimated that the animal died between the end of the IV and I BC, a long period that left several possibilities open. Did the bone belong to a Punic elephant or was it more correct to frame it in times of Julius Caesar? Hunting for answers. The bone may be small, but scientists have not had an easy time analyzing it. To begin with, it has been difficult to specify its species. After a detailed examination they concluded that it must be a large specimen, larger than female Asian elephants. Specifically, they think of a Loxodonta pharaoensis (the Carthaginian elephant) an African subspecies extinct in Roman times. Maybe the name doesn’t tell you much, but they are animals. used by Hannibal for his passage through the Alps. The other great unknown. Once the species was clarified (more or less), another unknown remained: its antiquity. The bone was a challenge because it did not contain enough collagen and had not fossilized. That did not prevent a study from ending up revealing that the fragment dates from between end of the 4th and beginning of the 3rd BC Live Science It even goes further and precise that the extract in which the fragment was found (part of a fortified Iberian town known as oppida) can be dated approximately 2,250 years ago, at the beginning of the 3rd BC It is a key fact because it takes us back to a time before the founding of the Roman Cordoba and the turbulent times of Second Punic War (218-201 BC), when Carthage and Rome struggled to dominate the Mediterranean world. Click on the image to go to the tweet. Are there more clues? Yes. And they are just as interesting. Not only was the bone found at the site, protected by a demolished adobe wall. Archaeologists also discovered more than a dozen of bolaños, small projectiles that were used with catapults, and part of what appears to be a spear. They are clues that help complete the story and help to better understand the site, such as recognize researchers in Journal of Archaeological Science Reports. “The level of destruction fits well within an emerging pattern of events associated with the Second Punic War, some of which are attested in literary sources and some of which are not, spanning both siege warfare and open battlefield contexts,” they explain in statements to Phys. Why is it important? Because of the implications it has. In your article Martínez and the rest of his colleagues recall that the discovery seems “intimately linked to the events of the Second Punic War in Hispania” and slips a key idea: “This may represent the first known anatomical element of an elephant used by the Punic troops in this war in Europe.” If they are correct, we would be looking at a first-class find: the bone of one of the elephants of Hannibal’s troops in the Second Punic War. Is it so relevant? “It could be a historical milestone. There is no direct archaeological evidence of the use of these animals,” clarify Martinez to Live Science. The march led by Hannibal through Western Europe in his attack on Rome and the use of elephants as “war machines” during the Punic Wars it is a very popular episode, but direct and palpable evidence is not abundant. The episode of passage through the Alps We know it thanks to historians like Polybius or Titus Livy, but the strongest archaeological evidence today is traces. That … Read more

How to create a Telegram bot that sends you a summary made by Gemini of each email you receive in Gmail and other emails

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Let’s explain to you how to create a Telegram bot that sends you a summary of your emails emails, such as Gmail. Thus, when you receive a new email, whether from anyone or from specific senders or topics, an artificial intelligence will make a summary and send it to you. All this without knowing how to program nor have technical knowledge. This is not something you can do simply by asking artificial intelligence, and we are going to need a program that generates workflows or work flows. We will use Make.com, because it is very complete and easy to use. Besides, Make.com It has a free version that is perfect for taking the first steps, although with some limitations. In Make we will have to link any artificial intelligence, although we have opted for Gemini because it is easy to obtain a free API for it. And then, We have chosen Telegram because creating bots is easyand it only takes a few minutes. In the end, what you will need is an API from an AI, a Token key from a Telegram bot, and creating the workflow chain on Make.com. In the examples we have used Gmail because it is also easy to link to it. Get your Gemini API first The first thing we are going to do is get a google api to be able to use Gemini in our project. For that, go to the website aistudio.google.com and sign in with your Google account. When you do, in the bar on the left at the bottom click on Get API Key. Now you have to click on the option Create API key that appears at the top of the screen you have created. This will open a window where you have to create the project for which you are going to use it in order to identify it, for example Gmail Gemini. When you create the project, you can now create the API. When you have created the API, you will see that it appears in the list of API keys. You just have to click on the left, below where it says Clueand a window with the API will open, starting with “AIza–“. Set up the Telegram bot The first thing you have to do is create a bot on Telegram. For that you have to look for the “@BotFather” tool and write to it as if it were a new user. Use the /newbot command to create a new bot, giving it a name to identify yourself and a unique username to access the bot whenever you want. When you do it, it will give you two things, first the username and address of your bot to access it, and second an access token with various figures and letters. You have to save this token to use later. Start creating your project Now you have to go to Make.com and click on the option Create new scenario to create a new project. In the options choose the option Build from scratch to create an automation from scratch. From what we are going to do, you must understand that we will create an automation of several modules, each one of them different. These automations will form a chainso that the action of the first leads to the second, and that of the second to the third. Come on, the order in which we put them is important. Add your email module as a trigger You will go to a blank screen with a button with the plus symbol. Here, click on the + button and from the drop-down menu choose Gmail. Inside now click on the option Watch emails to configure the action of reading your emails. This will cause your automation to be activated every time you receive an email in Gmail. It is a trigger, which is the element that will start this automation. Now click on the button Create a connectionwhich will open a screen where you have to name the connection at the top, and at the bottom log in with your Gmail account to link it. You will have to log in and give the website permissions to access your email. Once the action has been added, you can filter the type of emails that this automation executes. Can choose emails from a specific folder or labelas well as other criteria, so that these are launched and read by the AI. You can also set some limits. This screen gives you the possibility to fully customize the experience depending on What type of emails do you want the AI ​​to summarize for you?. It is an important step, especially because you will be able to make it only perform this action with certain types of emails. For example, they can be from senders related to your work or a specific project. If you open the advanced settings either Advanced settingsyou can specify even more. For example, you can configure so that only runs with emails from a certain senderwith a certain subject, and many other characteristics. Now you can configure from what moment do you want the data to be processed. For example, you can choose From now on so that they are processed from the emails you start receiving from now on. You can also link other emails. For this, instead of the Gmail module you can use the Email module, which will allow you to connect with Google, with Microsoft for Outlook, or with others through IMAP. Outlook also has its own module. Now add the Gemini module Now it’s time to add the second module. To do this, click on the + button to the right of Gmail, and on the screen that opens choose the option Gemini. In the options that appear in the module that opens, choose where to put Generate a response. This will now open a key module, where you simply have to write the Gemini API Key that we have generated at … Read more

We just found a planetary system that breaks the rules of the game with a planet where it should not be

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The universe has a curious habit: every time we think we have a perfect standard model for how things form, something comes along that forces us to rewrite the textbooks. At the moment, our solar system (like many others) seems to have a logical order with rocky planets like the Earth near the Sun and gas giants far away, but what just published the magazine Science It is the exception that confirms that the rules are meant to be broken. A new model. An international team, with strong Spanish participation from IEEC-CSIC and the IAChas discovered LHS 1903, a system 120 light years away which presents an “impossible” architecture according to traditional models: rocky, gaseous, gaseous and… rocky again. The importance of order. This study details the discovery of four exoplanets orbiting a red dwarf starwhich a priori does not seem anything out of the ordinary. But the focus is on how they are placed, as can be summarized in the following list: LHS 1903 b: an inner rocky planet. LHS 1903 c: a gaseous sub-Neptune. LHS 1903 d: another gaseous sub-Neptune. LHS 1903 e: an outer rocky planet. The normal thing in planetary formation is that the outer planets, when formed far from the heat of the star where ice and gas are abundant, accumulate enormous gaseous atmospheres like Jupiter or Neptune. This is why a rocky, bare planet, without a gaseous envelope, in the outermost orbit is an anomaly that has baffled astronomers. It’s like there are two Earths in locations where they shouldn’t be. How it has been seen. To confirm this strange system, a single telescope was not enough. The finding is the result of the combination of data from TESSNASA’s exoplanet hunter, and the satellite’s surgical precision Cheops of the European Space Agency (ESA). In this way, while TESS detects the general transit signals when a planet passes in front of the star, Cheops is able to refine those observations to determine the exact size. Combining all this with velocity measurements from ground-based observatories such as the Canary Islands telescope, the team was able to calculate the densities and confirm that planet ‘e’ is indeed a solitary rock on the outside. How is it possible? A priori, there are two theories to explain why a planet loses its gas and becomes rocky: photoevaporation and the internal heat of the planet. However, neither of these theories work for LHS 1903 e. As the most distant planet, it receives much less radiation than its inner gaseous brethren and is too cold to have lost its atmosphere on its own. In this way, if the planet did not lose its atmosphere a priori, the only logical explanation that the authors find is that it never had it. The study proposes a training model in a gas-depleted environment where the protoplanetary disk ((the cloud of gas and dust where the planets are born) did not form all the bodies at once. What happened, theoretically speaking, is that the inner planets formed first when there was a lot of gas and the outer planet formed later. He is left with the crumbs. By the time the last planet finished forming, the gas in the disk had already dissipated or been absorbed by its older brothers. In this way, it was formed from solid “leftovers”, with no gas available to build an atmosphere. This supports the theory of the “inside-out” formation, where the planets appear sequentially. It is a scenario that has rarely been confirmed with such observational clarity as until now in this system. Its importance. This discovery forces us to rethink the history of solar systems around red dwarfs, which are the most common stars in our galaxy. And we even thought that the position of a planet determined its destiny, but LHS 1903 teaches us that timing is just as important. The LHS 1903 system thus becomes a perfect laboratory: four planets, the same star, but completely different birth stories coexisting in a stable orbital balance. Images | THAT Images | There are satellites in space that need to be “towed.” And a company from Galicia has exactly what is needed

There are 30 centimeters left before the Montejaque ghost dam becomes a very real problem

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At the beginning of the 20th century, getting light to the most remote towns in the Serranía de Ronda and Grazalema was an impossible mission. Despite “being close”, they were areas that could only be accessed with a lot of effort and any infrastructure became a logistical problem. It was at that time when the Sevillian Electricity Company decided to make a clean break: build a dam on the Gudares River and produce the energy (up to 20,000 kW) right there. They commissioned the work to a Swiss company and built an 83-meter concrete structure near Montejaque, in Malaga. Then they realized that it was tremendously stupid: the limestone soil in the area turned the reservoir into a sieve and, in the more than a hundred years since its construction, it has never been in use. Until now. Although “use” isn’t exactly the word. Because, in reality, what has happened is that, given the enormous amount of water that has fallen in the area in recent weeks, the dam has filled. Of course, this filling is relative: from the first moment the water has been filtering through the cat’s cavevery close to there. But, thanks to it, it has been possible to ‘laminate’ Gudares Avenue and control the flows. The problem is that, right now and for the first time since we have data, Montejaque is about to overflow. 30 centimeters away from it, in fact. A ghost dam filled to the brim? And draining as if there were no tomorrow: at a rate of 200 cubic meters per second. The images are not only spectacularbut (also) are completely unheard of. There were no clear precedents, but the system (using siphons, as opposed to the usual spillways) has been put into operation before it overtopped the dam. And now what? In principle, monitoring and preparation. The town councils of Jimera de Líbar and Benaoján they have evacuated 150 people and monitor both the Guadiaro riverbed and the Hundidero-Gato cave system. This dam system stands between the reservoir and the closest towns, but no one is very clear about what could happen: it is expected to collapse the possible flood, but it has never happened and the UME continues to monitor the situation for what may happen. Calm. That is the message most repeated by the authorities and, from what we know so far, it is justified. However, it shows that too often we forget what is in the bush. The Montejaque concession has already declined, but it is still there, converted into a tourist attraction. From now on it will also be the constant reminder that we have to rethink all our water infrastructures. Image | Ronnie Macdonald In Xataka | Andalusia anticipates the storm and has already canceled in-person classes and activated the UME. The doubt is placed on the workers

Mexico has a gigantic energy treasure under its feet. The plan to extract it is called fracking

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Mexico is walking on a treasure and, at the same time, on a political minefield. Under the land of states like Coahuila, Tamaulipas and Veracruz, an energy giant sleeps: the sixth world reserves of unconventional gas. Waking him up was the great taboo of López Obrador’s six-year term, a red line drawn with the promise of “no to fracking“However, reality has knocked on the door of the National Palace. In a turn that redefines the new mandate, President Claudia Sheinbaum has faced an iron dilemma: staying true to the campaign promise of not using hydraulic fracturing or pursuing “energy sovereignty”, one of the almost mythical aspirations of the Mexican left, to stop depending on US gas. The president has already made a decision: she is willing to pay the political cost. What began as a rumor has become a budgetary and contractual reality in 2026. The data is compelling and leaves no room for doubt about the change in course. Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex) has increased its investment for this year in the “Gulf Tertiary Oil” program by 66%, going from 2,423 million pesos in 2025 to 4,016 million pesos in 2026, according to Treasury data obtained via transparency collected by The Universal. The machinery is already in motion. Pemex’s Strategic Plan (2025-2035) schedules the start of these operations after last year’s pilots. Pemex has awarded the first “mixed contracts” to private companies such as C5M, Geolis, CESIGSA and Petrolera Miahuapan. Although the state company retains the majority shareholding and control, it is the private parties who will provide the capital and technology, an urgent need for an oil company with a debt of more than 100 billion dollars. However, this injection of capital has raised alarm bells due to its opacity. The Mexican Alliance against Fracking denounces that in the 2026 Budget there are more than 245,000 million pesos allocated to gas projects that involve hydraulic fracturing, hidden under items that lack public breakdown and transparency, just as collected The Impartial. The semantics of dissimulation If he fracking was a “cursed word” in the previous six-year term, the new government has found a creative solution: change the dictionary. To avoid the political cost of openly announcing the use of fracking, the administration has chosen by a series of technical euphemisms. Rather frackingofficial documents speak of “reservoirs with complex geology” or “reservoir stimulation.” The general director of Pemex, Víctor Rodríguez Padilla, was blunt before the Senate: “We are not going to do frackingwe are taking advantage of technological development in evaluations of existing deposits.” But operational reality belies the rhetoric and breaks the discipline of official discourse. While euphemisms are used in the capital, on the ground urgency rules. The Undersecretary of Hydrocarbons of Tamaulipas, cited by The Countryrecently broke the taboo by declaring: “We talk it like it is here…hydraulic fracturing.” However, to understand the magnitude of the challenge, you have to look at the map. Pemex’s hopes are concentrated in three main basins: Burgos, Tampico-Misantla and Sabinas-Burro Picachos. The Burgos Basin is particularly relevant for being the natural extension towards the south of Eagle Ford in Texas, one of the deposits of shale most prolific of the American boom. If there is wealth north of the border, geology suggests there is wealth to the south as well. However, extracting this oil is not easy. The expert Miriam Grunstein illustrates the technical challenge starkly: the soil in these areas is a clayey “dump” and the crude oil has the density of “toothpaste.” This makes their exploitation extremely difficult, expensive and technologically demanding. Why go back to these complicated areas now? The answer is exhaustion. Pemex is pivoting toward the “unconventional” because its large conventional fields are drying up. It’s a portfolio decision to try to sustain the production platform in the face of the natural decline of traditional fields. If you’re not at the table, you’re on the menu Behind Sheinbaum’s turn is a real geopolitical fear. Mexico imports 70% of the gas it consumes from the United States. “If the United States closes the valve, Mexico will be left in the dark,” recognized the head of Pemex himself. But the scenario is even more complex with the neighbor above led by Donald Trump and his vision of natural resources as national security. Recently, Washington has deployed the Project Vaulta strategy to secure critical minerals and counter China, which includes “geological mapping” of Mexican resources. The pressure is such that the Mexican government has had to give in to the harshest pragmatism. It was the Secretary of Economy, Marcelo Ebrard, who summarized Mexico’s position regarding the US energy integration demands with a lapidary phrase: “If you are not at the table participating, you are on the menu.” Mexico has decided to sit at the table fracking to avoid being devoured. Furthermore, the lack of liquidity forces this opening. Reactivating the identified wells requires immediate investments of more than $1 billion, money that will now come from private partners. The decision has been made, but the results will not be immediate. Although investment skyrockets in 2026, specialists warn that the launch of massive exploitation will take between three and four years to yield tangible results. The government’s optimistic projections suggest that, in their most developed phase, these fields could provide an additional 300,000 barrels per day. To achieve this, the “Mixed Contracts” model will be the norm: Pemex collect immediate bonuses for the award (almost 50 million dollars in the first round alone) and lets the private parties assume the operational and financial risk. A very high price The cost of this decision is already being paid in credibility with the bases. Organizations like Greenpeace and the Mexican Alliance against Fracking They have accused Sheinbaum of “betraying the people who elected her.” The most critical point is water. In a country hit by drought, the National Institute of Ecology and Climate Change (INECC) estimates that 5.7 million liters of water are required per well. Greenpeace raise the alert citing the … Read more

opinions, first contact and photos

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If the Spanish automobile market were a war, the Chinese car has a favorite battlefield: the plug-in hybrid. The last to arrive is the Omoda 7 SHS, a version that complements the company’s SUV range and is much closer in performance to its older brother, the Omoda 9, than to the smaller one, the Omoda 5. It does so, as always, with an endless menu of equipment, with some initial commercial offers that leave it as one of the most interesting cars in the segment. But also with very good levels of finishes inside and a ride quality that is also up to par. Omoda 7 SHS technical sheet Omoda 7 shs BODY TYPE. five-seater SUV MEASUREMENTS AND WEIGHT. 4.66 meters long, 1.875 meters wide, 1.670 meters high. 2,720 meters of wheelbase. 1,945kg TRUNK. 537 liters. MAXIMUM POWER. 279 hp WLTP CONSUMPTION. 2.3 l/100 km 92 km of electric range ENVIRONMENTAL DISTINCTIVE. Zero emissions. DRIVING AIDS (ADAS). 19 ADAS driving aids, including adaptive cruise control. 540º camera. OTHERS. Own software compatible with Android Auto and Apple CarPlay. 15.6-inch screen (sliding on the top finish. 8.8-inch instrument panel and Head-Up Display. 50W wireless charging for mobile phones. Electric heated front seats. Sony sound system with eight speakers and four zones. Voice assistant that identifies the passenger’s position. ELECTRIC HYBRID. No. Plug-in HYBRID. Yeah. A 1.5 turbo combustion engine with 143 HP and two electric motors. 279 HP of combined power. electric No. price and release Now available from 42,900 euros before the Auto+ Plan aid. Omoda matches the maximum contribution of the Auto+ Plan. Price with exit campaign and aid: from 32,900 euros. winning bet The plug-in hybrid is fashionable in our country. According to ANFAC datain 2024 its sales grew by 111%. In January 2026, the growth compared to the same month of the previous year was 66.70% despite the purchase aid that later crystallized in the Auto+ Plan They were unknown. In both cases, both last year overall and in January 2026, three Chinese cars have already made their way among the best sellers in Spain. The recipe is simple. Unlike electric ones, plug-in hybrids do not pay tariffs upon entering Europe. This allows them to position themselves as the best option if you are looking for a car packed with equipment. This has translated into an increase in sales of plug-in hybridization cars in the Omoda-Jaecoo group. They assure us that last December, 50% of their sales were already represented by plug-in hybrids and electric vehicles. Of the remaining half, 25% corresponded to non-plug-in hybrids. An increase in sales is therefore to be expected this year with a more complete and varied range that, above all, opts for the segments that are growing the most in Spain. With the Omoda 5 gasoline as an entry to the range, which has already been accompanied by the hybrid versionand with the Omoda 9 SHS As the company’s flagship vehicle, the Omoda 7 SHS arrives to fill the intermediate gap. In the middle of its construction, the range seemed to split in two, with an affordable but very attractive Omoda 5 and a beast in its upper zone of more than 500 HP. Omoda’s new proposal is closer to this last option than to the previous one. By image of the product on the outside but, above all, on the inside. In front of the driver we have an 8.8-inch instrument panel and a Head-Up Display available in the top trim. In the central area we have a huge 15.6-inch screen that slides (on the top finish). And it has a small electric motor and a sliding mechanism like a tape so that, if we want, we can send it to the position of our passenger and he can control the music or select the destination. As a curiosity, if the driver puts the reverse gear on, the screen returns to its central area so that the images from the cameras can be seen. But the Omoda 7 SHS is not just this curiosity, its basic equipment (Pure) already includes the 50W cooled wireless charger, the heated steering wheel, Full LED headlights and rear lights, 19 ADAS systemsor rear parking sensors, as well as Apple CarPlay and Android Auto wireless. The Premium finish adds the aforementioned Head-Up Display and the mechanized screen, Sony speakers with eight speakers and active audio in four zones, active noise cancellation inside the car, a “540º panoramic” camera (you can see what is under the vehicle), electric and heated front seats, electric trunk and the panoramic roof. But what seems best to me, everything the interior is up to par. The cabin is full of soft plastics wherever you can reach, the steering wheel has a good feel and, above all, there are a good number of physical buttons well distributed in the area near the driver and with good adjustments. The control of the air conditioning, the driving modes and the selection between electric or hybrid operation has good quality controls. I only give the negative point to the control of the mirrors that continues forcing you to go through the screen. All these good sensations are repeated in progress. The Omoda 7 SHS uses the plug-in hybrid scheme that we have already seen in other models of the group: 1.5 turbo combustion engine that is accompanied by two electric motors. One of them is the one that takes the reins in most cases, functioning mostly as a series hybrid to improve consumption and offer an electric feel. However, the combustion engine can also push the wheels occasionally if more power is required. This complex system is managed by a single ratio transmission and provides a maximum of 279 hp when all components are working at full capacity. That push is felt on the open road. In the Omoda 7 SHS it is not so difficult to start the combustion engine as in other cars of the group and that results in better acceleration. … Read more

Using facial recognition to hunt for copycats seemed like a good idea. This Valencian university has just discovered that it was not

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Educational centers that decide to do online exams face a challenge: without being able to monitor students in person, how do you ensure that they do not copy? A Valencian university found the solution with a sophisticated video surveillance and facial recognition system. Well, the joke has paid off. Resolution. In the summer of last year, the Spanish Data Protection Agency (AEPD) filed a complaint against the International University of Valencia o VIU for the use of facial recognition and recording to conduct online exams. As reported in À Puntthe resolution has already arrived and the VIU is going to have to pay 650,000 euros The system. In the VIU evaluation regulationsit is detailed that a “facial recognition technology system” will be used in the online tests. This system consists of the use of two cameras (which the student must provide), one to monitor the student and another for the environment, ensuring that there are no other people in the same room. The software is constantly capturing and analyzing images in real time to verify the student’s identity through AI. At the same time, the program is responsible for controlling the screen and even the devices connected to the computer with which the test is carried out. Two fines. The 650,000 euros are actually the sum of two fines. The first, of 300,000 euros, is for having failed to comply with the article 9 of the GDPR which prohibits the processing of biometric data with few exceptions. The second, which amounts to 350,000 euros, is due to a breach of the article 5.1c of the GDPRwhich maintains that personal data must be “adequate, relevant and limited to what is necessary.” The AEPD considers the use of facial recognition for this purpose to be disproportionate. Consent discarded. One of the exceptions to article 9 of the GDPR and which the VIU tried to rely on is that “the interested party gave explicit consent.” It is true that the students had agreed to use this control system, the problem is that they were not given any alternative: either they accepted, or they did not take the exam. The AEPD does not “consider the mandatory acceptance of general conditions upon registration to be valid consent”, which is why it rules it out in its resolution. The VIU also tried to take refuge in the “essential public interest”, another of the exceptions of article 9, but the AEPD has rejected it because there is no specific law for the processing of biometric data in the educational context. The university invoked the university law that says that universities must verify that students have acquired a series of knowledge, but the AEPD has also rejected it as insufficient. Wow, we have to pay. It’s not just the VIU. There is other universities such as the European University, Isabel I, La Rioja or Burgos that also use similar systems that combine cameras and facial recognition. During the pandemic there was no choice but to opt for online training and this prompted the appearance of video surveillance systems in exams, which raised the eyebrows of the AEPDwhich in 2021 already warned that biometrics could not be used to monitor exams. This resolution is the first that imposes a large fine, so it is assumed that universities will make changes if they do not want to go to the cashier’s office. Open door. The AEPD does not close the door to the use of biometrics as fraud prevention in the educational field, including AI systems. However, he points out that according to the European Union AI Regulationbiometric data is considered high risk, which does not prohibit its use, but does not give express permission to use it in this context. In Xataka | I’ll take the exam online for €20: the new student situation is an open bar for cheating Images | VIU, Pexels

bombs have turned dogs into other animals

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Wars were never limited to the front nor did they end when fighting ceased. Throughout history they have altered landscapes, cities, customs and even everyday behaviors in unexpected ways, leaving silent transformations that only become visible over time. Some of them do not appear in history books or official balance sheets, but they reveal the extent to which a conflict is capable of reordering life itself on its margins. Also from your animals. The war beyond humans. Various studies hrevealed in recent months that the Russian invasion of Ukraine has not only left a devastating mark on the civilian population, but is also quietly transforming to the animals who shared that human environment, especially domestic dogs, whose fate has changed radically since the beginning of the conflict. Many were abandoned during evacuations, others were trapped in occupied territories or combat zones, and in a very short time they went from being dependent pets. to forced survivors from an extreme environment, becoming a hybrid population between the domestic and the wild. A studio born on the front. The latest research, published in the journal Evolutionary Applicationsanalyzed data from 763 dogs in nine regions of Ukraine thanks to the joint work of shelters, veterinarians and volunteers, including dangerous areas near the front lines. A key part of the work was carried out by Ihor Dykyy, a zoologist at the Ivan Franko National University of Lviv, who collected observations while serving as a volunteer with the Ukrainian armed forces in Donetsk and near Kharkiv, where he lived with dogs injured, traumatized by explosions and dependent on the improvised care of soldiers. Abandonment and breaking of the human bond. According to the lead author of the study, Mariia Martsiv, from the University of Lviv, the start of the war caused a especially dramatic situation for pets: some owners managed to escape with them, but many animals were left at train stations or abandoned in occupied areas. Although the study focused on domestic dogs, a large part no longer living under the direct care of humans and had passed into what was closest to a wandering existence, marked by scarcity, constant danger and the need to adapt quickly. The brutal selection. The data reveals that, in a surprisingly short period, the front dogs began to look similar more to wild species such as wolves or dingoes than domestic breeds. Extreme snouts, heavier bodies, or light coats became less common, while specimens increased smaller in size, with erect ears, straight tails and fewer white spots. As the researchers explainwar has acted as a ruthless filter favoring traits that improve survival: lighter animals that set off fewer mines, hide better, and present a smaller target for shrapnel. It’s not evolution, it’s survival. Scientists emphasize that these changes do not represent accelerated biological evolution, since the time elapsed is insufficient for profound genetic alterations. In fact, what happens they say is more similar to an immediate selection: Dogs with less adapted characteristics simply do not survive. It was also detected that in combat zones there are fewer old, sick or injured animals, and that dogs they tend to group togethera typical strategy of wild species to increase the chances of resistance in hostile environments. Between feralization and dependency. The work indicates that, despite the increasingly “wild” appearance and behavior, the majority of dogs continue to depending in part of humans for food, supplementing their diet with plants, small animals or carrion, including remains of fallen soldiers, and many have been informally adopted by Ukrainian troops. However, the team from the University of Gdansk, led by Małgorzata Pilot, also observed clear cases of feralizationdogs that no longer depend on people and have returned to a completely independent life. War as an ecological disaster. Although the study focuses only on dogs, its conclusions point to a much larger problem. As ecologist Euan Ritchie, from Deakin University, warns, if a species as adaptable and mobile as the dog is being affected so profoundly, the consequences for less flexible animals can be devastating. War, beyond the brutal human tragedy, also emerges as an environmental disaster that reconfigures entire ecosystems and leaves invisible scars long after the guns fall silent. Even dogs stop being dogs. Image | Ivan Bandura, Jorge Franganillo In Xataka | If the question is what Russia is going to do after the war in Ukraine, Europe has found a disturbing clue: millions of projectiles In Xataka | We had seen everything in Ukraine, but this is unprecedented: Russia is not launching drones, it is launching “Frankensteins”

The great revolution of GPT-5.3 Codex and Claude Opus 4.6 is not that they are smarter. It’s that they can improve themselves

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Last week, OpenAI and Anthropic simultaneously launched their new AI models specialized in programming: GPT-5.3 Codex and Claude Opus 4.6. Beyond the improvements they represent in performance or speed, which are truly amazing, both companies also stated something that completely changes the rules of the game: AI models are actively participating in their own development. Or put another way: AI is improving itself. Why does this change matter?. Generative artificial intelligence tools are reaching a high level of efficiency and precision, becoming in a few years from being co-workers for simple and specific tasks to being able to be involved in a good part of a development. According to the technical documentation of OpenAI, GPT-5.3 Codex “was instrumental in its own creation,” being used to debug its training, manage its deployment, and diagnose evaluation results. On the other hand, it is worth highlighting the words of Dario Amodei, CEO of Anthropic, who in his personal blog affirms that AI writes “much of the code” in his company and that the feedback loop between the current generation and the next “gains momentum month by month.” In detail. What this means in practice is that each new generation of AI helps build the next, more capable one, which in turn will build an even better version. Researchers call it the “intelligence explosion,” and those developing these systems believe the process has already begun. Amodei has declared publicly that we could be “just 1 or 2 years away from a point where the current generation of AI autonomously builds the next.” Most people use free language models that are available to everyone and are moderately capable of certain tasks. But they are also very limited, and are not a good reflection of what a cutting-edge AI model is capable of today. In a brief session with 5.3-Codex I was able to draw this same conclusion, since the AI ​​tools that big technology companies use in their development are nothing like the most commercial ones that we have freely available in terms of capabilities. The code-first approach. Initial specialization in programming makes more sense than we think. And the idea of ​​companies like OpenAI, Anthropic or Google that their systems were exceptional by writing code before anything else is linked to the fact that developing AI requires enormous amounts of code. And if AI can write that code, it can help build its own evolution. “Making AI great at programming was the strategy that unlocked everything else. That’s why they did it first,” Matt Shumer, CEO of OthersideAI, said in a publication that has given us something to talk about these days on social networks. Between the lines. The new models don’t just write code: they make decisions, iterate on their own work, test applications as a human developer would, and refine the result until they are satisfied. “I tell the AI ​​what I want to build. It writes tens of thousands of lines of code. Then it opens the app, clicks the buttons, tests the features. If it doesn’t like something, it goes back and changes it on its own. Only when it decides it meets its own standards does it come back to me,” counted Shumer describing his experience with GPT-5.3 Codex. What changes with self-reference. Until now, each improvement depended on human teams spending months training models, adjusting parameters and correcting errors. Now, some of that work is performed by AI itself, accelerating development cycles. Just like share Shumer and referring to METR dataan organization that measures the ability of these systems to complete complex tasks autonomously, the time that an AI can work without human intervention doubles approximately every seven months, and there are already recent indications that that period could be reduced to four. And now what. If this trend continues, by 2027 we could see systems capable of working autonomously for weeks on entire projects. Amodei has spoken of models “substantially smarter than almost all humans in almost all tasks” by 2026 or 2027. These are not distant predictions, since the technical infrastructure for AI to contribute to its own improvement is already operational. And these capabilities are what are really turning the technology industry on its head. Cover image | OpenAI and Anthropic In Xataka | We have a problem with AI. Those who were most enthusiastic at the beginning are starting to get tired of it.

The 256 GB Google Pixel 10 cheaper than ever, an Honor with eight gifts, offers on Xiaomi headphones and more. Hunting Bargains

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Today is Friday and that means we’re back with a new Bargain Hunting. This week we have found very good offers related to technology, especially in phones and smart watches. If you were waiting for that great offer to renew your mobile or other devices, today we are going to review the best of the best that we have found during these last few days. Honor Magic8 Pro by 1,234.05 euros with coupon, a mobile phone with gifts valued at more than 800 euros. Google Pixel 10 by 644.14 euros when registering in the store, the best price we have seen to date on its 256 GB configuration. Google Pixel Watch 4 by 279 euros When processing the purchase, a very reasonable price in its LTE version. Ugreen FineTrack Smart Finder by 25.65 eurosa pack alternative to Apple’s AirTags. Xiaomi Redmi Buds 5 Pro by 34.99 eurosBluetooth headphones with a lot of battery and active noise cancellation. Honor Magic8 Pro He Honor Magic8 Pro right now it has a pretty small 5% discount when you use the coupon AES2026with which he stays 1,234.05 euros. If it is on this list it is because it includes a huge assortment of gifts, one of the largest we have in the store to date. It is a good mobile phone that incorporates the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 along with 12 GB of RAM and 512 GB of storage. Its battery supports 100W fast charging and it also comes with a good photography section, the most notable being the 3.7x telephoto. These are all the gifts that are included: Honor Pad 10 tablet. Honor Choice Pencil Stylus. Honor Watch 5 smartwatch. Honor Choice Earbuds Clip Bluetooth Headphones. Honor SuperCharge 100W charger. Honor Essentials Kit: A magnetic ring, a magnetic case, a magnetic wallet and a magnetic pendant. 12-month screen protection. 12 month protection. Honor Magic8 Pro (512GB) The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Google Pixel 10 Do you want something cheaper? Well this week we finally found a good price (the best, in fact) on the Google Pixel 10 256 GB. By registering in the MediaMarkt store we will automatically have access to an additional discount, in this case remaining for a price of 644.14 euros. It is a telephone excellent for taking photosbut also because it is quite small (6.3 inches) and, of course, because of its design. The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Google Pixel Watch 4 And that additional discount has not only fallen on mobile phones, since the Google Pixel Watch 4 He also has it. By 279 euros When processing the purchase, we talk about a good watch with LTE connectivity whose operating system is WearOS. Its screen is quite good, offering a maximum brightness level of 3,000 nits and incorporates many sensors to measure physical activity. Google Pixel Watch 4 (41mm, LTE) The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Ugreen FineTrack Smart Finder If you have an iPhone and you are not convinced by AirTags because the pack of four units is very expensive, there is an alternative. He Ugreen FineTrack Smart Finder also includes four units and costs 25.65 euros. They incorporate a battery instead of operating with a removable battery, they are integrated into the Search network, they are capable of playing audio alerts to locate you and allow you to share the location with up to five people. Ugreen FineTrack Smart Finder The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Xiaomi Redmi Buds 5 Pro On the other hand, if what you are looking for are good headphones, that are very cheap and that also have active noise cancellation… here come the Xiaomi Redmi Buds 5 Pro. By 34.99 euroswe are talking about headphones that offer a battery life of up to 38 hours, that are compatible with the LDAC audio codec and that connect to the mobile phone from the Xiaomi app. 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 | Honor, Google, Ugreen, Xiaomi In Xataka | The best smartwatches (2026): their analyzes and videos are here In Xataka | Best televisions in quality price. Which one to buy and seven recommended 4K smart TVs

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