Mobile Tech & Gadgets

call the only ship that has been repairing them for more than a decade

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That an underwater cable breaks (or someone cut it) can happen anywhere. There is amazing ships dedicated to deployment and repair of this critical infrastructure in our hyperconnected world. However, when it happens in Africa there is only one ship that can answer the call at any time. Is called Leon Thevenin and has been in operation for more than forty years. The ship. As they say in Rest of WorldIn the world there are 62 cable repair ships that are always available, but in Africa there is only one. The Léon Thévenin is part of the fleet of Orange Marinea subsidiary of the French operator Orange, and for thirteen years has been in charge of all repairs from Ghana to Madagascar. It is 107 meters long and the crew that operates it is 60 people. It also features a remote submarine and a small work boat. According to the official ship record, It is capable of making repairs in extreme weather conditions, in both deep and shallow water. African cables. In this map We can see that the continent is surrounded by countless cables that provide connections to both its inhabitants and data centers and ground stations. Among the most notable is the ‘Peace Cable’ connecting Singapore to Kenyathe West African cable system and the Alphabet Equiano that go from Portugal to South Africa. The cable also stands out 2Africa which with its 45,000 kilometers is the longest in the world; It connects from the United Kingdom, goes all the way around the African continent and ends in India. And there are many more. Accidents. Cables deteriorate, they can also be damaged after storms or if a ship drops anchor and drags it. Many times the cuts are intentional, but they usually occur in other places in increased geopolitical tension like Taiwan either the baltic sea. In March 2024, much of the west and center of the continent was left without connection due to simultaneous failures in several cables. The Léon Thévenin was in charge of returning connectivity to millions of people. It has not been the only case. In recent years the ship has been having a lot of work because the Congo Canyona huge underwater canyon that extends 280 kilometers into the Atlantic, is suffering many landslides that have affected several cables. A great responsibility. It is estimated that 99% of the world’s internet traffic travels over submarine cables. If a cable breaks, it can leave millions of people without connectivity. Furthermore, in the age of AI, connectivity is even more important because it connects the infrastructure that makes it work. The price to pay for the Léon Thévenin crew is spending very little time with his family. Sometimes they rest for a month, the problem is that if a breakage occurs they are the only ones who answer the call. Image | Wikipedia In Xataka | The submarine cables belonged to the teleoperators, and now the big technology companies are controlling them

who wants to live like in 1565

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From 1059 to 1901, Basque sailors they launched to the ocean with one goal in mind: hunt whales. Due to the abuse, they killed the whales on the Cantabrian coast and headed for new seas, making enemies like some. Icelanders who could “hunt” Basque sailors. The expansion took them to Canadian waters, where the imposing whale ship San Juan was shipwrecked. Now they are reviving the ship and they need the most important piece to revive the whaler’s voyage. A “motivated” cook who wants to replicate the 16th century voyage in the same conditions as 500 years ago. And with the same menu. The new San Juan. A few years after the arrival of Christopher Columbus To America, the ship San Juan left for the Canadian coast. In the middle of the 16th century, the Basque whaling industry It was a world power with a significant share of the whale blubber and meat market in Europe. The expeditions took them far away, so much so that they had to create settlements and bases like the ones they founded in North America. On one of these expeditions, the San Juan was shipwrecked. It was in 1565 in Red Bay in Canada after a strong storm. In 1970, remains were discovered of the ship and, after the remains of the San Juan were brought to light in 1990, it was recognized by UNESCO as a symbol of underwater cultural heritage. It was in very good condition, which encouraged the Albaola Maritime Factory to build an exact replica of it. The special thing? They only use materials and techniques from the 16th century. The Saint John Handcrafted to the extreme. This ‘whim’ follows a rigorous process in which construction methods from 500 years ago are reproduced, something that is being documented step by step and which is not easy at all. The original San Juan It weighed 200 tons, was 20 meters long, 7.5 meters wide and had a six-meter depth. And they are not only rebuilding it with those measurements, but with the original materials. For example, for the keel, they have carved a 14.5 meter long piece of beech extracted from an eight-ton tree. And for the rest of the structure it has been employee wood from 200 oaks forests of the Navarrese ‘Sakana’. In total, it will also have six kilometers of hemp ropes, hand-forged anchors and 560 square meters of cloth for sails. It is a faithful reproduction, but they also want it to be functional because this new San Juan will once again sail the seas. Vintage wine cellar. The idea is to return to Canada aboard the ship, reproducing the original journey and to do so they will need another vital piece, in this case human: the cook. This search for historical fidelity will ensure that the wineries have the foods of the time such as double-baked bread, dehydrated bread, legumes such as peas and beans, sardines, cod, bacon and oil. It is part of the food they carried, and in large quantities, along with others such as bacon and drinks much more Spanish, and Basque, than the famous rum. There they highlight the cider, txakoli or the came. Why didn’t they carry water? Due to the difficulty of storing and conserving fresh water in good conditions. And, as for quantities, it is estimated that a ship like the San Juan could carry up to 50,000 liters of cider. Top ship chef. And those foods are what the chef who is on board during the “expedition” will have to create the menus with. The Albaola factory itself is the one that will carry out the selection process to find the ideal chef. It won’t be an easy job because there will be no showers as we know them today or toilet paper on board, and nor a huge range of ingredients, but the candidates are already getting into the role. In one demonstrationMichelin-starred chefs have prepared some examples of dishes that sailors might see on the menu. For example, a pea soup with cod, garlic and oil. Also a ‘zurrukutuna‘, which is a traditional Basque soup in which the ingredients are garlic and cod, or ‘soupoko‘, which is a traditional bread from the Basque Country created from leftover dough to create a bread intended for soups. 2027. While they choose a chef, the factory continues working, because on November 7 will be done the launching of the ship after twelve years of construction. Once in the water, the remaining elements will be installed to turn the ship into one worthy of sailing the seas as the original did 500 years ago. And, in 2027, the new San Juan will leave for Canada, recreating that original journey. And he will do it with his sailors and everything, reproducing the medieval way of sailing. Let’s hope that this new ship reaches a better port than the original. Images | Lolabimba, Ksarasola In Xataka | In the 19th century we found 7,000 rivets in a tomb. It turned out to be the largest Viking ship in Norway

The price of silver is exploding to levels not seen since 1980. The reason: we need too much

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The silver has just reached 51 dollars per ouncea level not seen since 1980. The metal is up 75% so far this year, even surpassing the spectacular gold rise. This increase corresponds to the growing industrial demand for said metal, especially in a context in which mining production stagnates and forms an imbalance that puts a price on the shortage. Structural deficit for the fifth consecutive year. The silver market has been in supply deficit for years. Mining production is not growing at the rate that the industry needs, and this gap is reaching historic levels. Metals Focus projects that the 2025 deficit will be 187.6 million ounces, one of the highest figures ever recorded. Therefore, less and less silver is extracted than the world consumes. The technology that devours silver. industrial demand It already represents 59% of total consumption of silver, according to the Silver Institute. Solar panels are behind much of that pressure. And it is that are expected to absorb 195.7 million ounces this year. But it is not the only thing: the semiconductors that shape artificial intelligence, electric vehicles and consumer electronics also pull strongly on this metal. A refuge at a lower cost than gold. Silver also benefits from the drag effect of gold, which just surpassed $4,000 per ounce for the first time in its history. Many investors who see the gold market as too saturated they are looking towards the silver as a more accessible alternative to protect against economic uncertainty, geopolitical instability and the weakening of the dollar. Flows into silver-backed exchange-traded funds have already reached 2025 the highest levels since 2020. The psychological barrier of $50. The silver has never been able to maintain sustainably above $50. Each time it has approached that level (in 1980 and in 2011) it has been followed by deep corrections that have scared away investors. “Psychologically, silver has never gone above $50 and has really stayed there,” explained David Morgan, editor of the Morgan Report, to the specialized media Investing News Network. Morgan calls it “crossing the Rubicon,” a defining moment that could open up uncharted territory for the metal’s price. India strongly joins the demand. Since its regulator approved silver exchange-traded funds in 2021, India has become a key source of new demand. Silver-backed products accounted for 40% of the country’s total retail investment in 2024, and Indian imports are at all-time highs. China, for its part, industrial consumption is increasing for technological installations and solar panels. Two Asian giants pushing demand at the same time. And now what. Morgan don’t wait Silver will shoot up to $70 in the short term, but it will consolidate above $50 if it manages to cross that barrier solidly. HSBC projects that the price could reach $55 in 2026 before retreating in the second half of the year. What seems clear is that, as long as the technology industry continues to need more silver than it can be mined, the pressure on the price is not going to disappear. Cover image | Scottsdale Mint In Xataka | OpenAI is the King Midas of the stock market: everything it touches skyrockets

Houses built on the sea are part of the US identity. Until climate change began to engulf them

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Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, has a problem. The Atlantic is devouring their houses. Literally. For years, the chalets raised on stilts and built on the coast were one of its most emblematic sights, but their privileged position has become a trap as the sea level rises and hurricanes occur like those that hit the area a few days ago. The result: eight houses demolished in record time. What has happened? That hurricanes Humberto and Imelda have left an unusual impression on the Outer Banksthe chain of islands that covers much of the coast of North Carolina, on the Atlantic coast of the United States, where the Cape Hatteras National Seashore. Recently the virulence of the waves devastated eight houses of the area, causing them to collapse in a matter of a few days. On Tuesday, September 30, the storm struck five homes in less than an hour in Buxton (Cape Hatteras), the sixth collapsed that same night amid waves of several meters, the seventh suffered a similar fate on the first day of October and the eighth did not last much longer. The buildings were unoccupied. Why is it important? Beyond how shocking it is to see homes swept away by waves, what happened on the North Carolina coast is interesting for several reasons. To begin with, because these are not typical houses. As can be seen in the videos and photos released by C.B.S., AP, BBC either NBC The buildings were houses similar to stilt housessupported on exposed wooden piles. Hence they are a unmistakable piece of the landscape from areas like Rodanthe. Are they the first to fall? No. And that is the second reason why what happened in recent days in the Outer Banks is much more than a curiosity or a misfortune attributable to two virulent hurricanes. A quick search in the newspaper archive arrives to find similar news: two houses on wooden stilts collapsed in September 2024 in Rodanthe, another in November in the same community, another demolished in 2023 precisely because of the threat of the Atlantic waves… the list goes on and on until there are more than a dozen cases. USA Today calculate that since mid-2020, at least twenty houses have been lost throughout the Outer Banks. Very similar data handles Washington Postthat assures that during the last five years 17 buildings have collapsed in Rodanthe and Buxton alone, a list that could soon be expanded, since there are other houses that are also in a precarious situation. “It’s becoming commonplace,” he resigns Rob Young, director of a program focused on coastal studies at Western Carolina University. “It’s not a problem here. There are homes on the verge of collapse in many places.” Why do they fall? In the case of the houses that collapsed in recent days, the final trigger was the Hurricanes Humberto and Imeldabut in reality the problem is broader. Their position, the sandy nature of the terrain but above all the intensification of storms and the rise in sea level caused by climate change is leaving them in a complicated situation. The reason: coastal erosion, a phenomenon that is already is felt in Rodanthe and Buxton. How does it affect them? As I remembered last year in X the architect Pedro Torrijos, the Cape Hatteras It is already such a narrow strip of land that it is difficult not to build near the coast, but in the last 40 years erosion has acted in such a way that today there are houses that have remained practically above the sea. And so it’s a problem. Piles that were once surrounded by dunes are now sometimes covered by the ocean, affecting their foundations. In 2024 the state Department of Environmental Quality published a report which concludes that of almost 8,800 structures built facing the sea in North Carolina, 750 They are in a delicate situation due to erosion. What do the US authorities say? They are aware of the problem, they are controlling the houses that give in and explore solutions“These are typical elevated coastal-style homes, situated on stilts, with a concrete driveway, parking, and septic system. Many private properties adjacent to Rodanthe, which previously contained patio land, dunes, and dry sand, are regularly partially or completely covered with seawater,” the National Park Service acknowledges. “During severe weather events, private homes facing the sea and in vulnerable areas are hit by strong winds and large waves, which has caused homes to collapse in recent years,” recognize the agency, which has counted 21 collapsed houses since 2020 in Seashore. And what is the way out? Good question, difficult answer. There are those who have chosen raise your houses or even move them away to leave them safe from the waves (for now), but it is not a cheap solution and time is against them. Another option is for the authorities to take care of them, although it has its weaknesses: two years ago the Park Service acquired two houses in Rodanthe to demolish them and thus open an area of ​​public access to the beach. They cost him $700,000. Images | Cape Hatteras National Seashore (Flickr) and National Park Service In Xataka | Milton once again puts a big problem on the table: houses on the beach are losing their value due to climate change

We have filled Europe with traps to combat the terrible Asian wasp. It was a bad idea

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That non-endemic species reach new territories It’s a colossal problem. It is estimated that more than half of contemporary extinctions They are the fault of invaders and there are examples of kicks (reaching the Arctic due to climate change). He coypu or the blue crab They are two of those invasive animals, but if we share something in Europe it is the “fear” of Asian wasps: a ‘bug’ that we have been fighting for 20 years and against which we are losing miserably. And the big problem is that we are killing flies with cannon shots. vespa velutina. About three centimeters long, this wasp came to Europe at the beginning of the century. Supposedly, he did so aboard a cargo ship from China, landing on the French coast and, since then, colonizing other territories. In 2010 the species spread to Spain, entering from the Basque Country, colonizing the Cantabrian coast and arriving in Galiciabut it has also expanded to Portugal, Germany and even the United Kingdom. It is already well established and, although it is true that it is not more aggressive than “our” wasp, when it gets angry and stings it can cause serious allergic reactions, causing occasional deaths. The worst thing is that it continues to expand at a rate of about 80 kilometers of territory gained each year. Invaders. It’s no longer that they can bother us, but rather that, as an invasive species, they do what they do best: destroy the native ones. And not with other wasps, but with bees. The Asian wasp is a predator of other insects, but has a predilection for honey bees. It attacks their hives indiscriminately, causing enormous damage to beekeeping. At a time when awareness about importance of bees in naturebeyond for him human consumption of honeythere are those who take matters into their own hands and have started setting traps. It moves fast Flies with cannon shots. There are several types. On the one hand, the most homemade: the typical upside-down bottle that we fill with mixtures attractive to wasps (juices, wines, fruits and sugar), creating a sticky paste in which the wasp becomes trapped. There are others that are more sophisticated and selective, with large holes for wasps to enter, but with release mechanisms for smaller animals and pheromones that attract insects. The problem is that they are remedies that can do more harm than anything else because, although commercial traps have release mechanisms for accidentally captured insects, you have to be careful and, basically, it is killing flies with cannon fire. Those who do not have to fall fall. And the main criticism is precisely that: the traps do not discriminate and damage is created to biodiversity because many insects that are not the Asian wasp are killed. Among them are moths, beetles, flies, bees and an ally that fights against the Asian invader: the European hornet. In a recent investigation published Pest Management Science has analyzed how in Galician vineyards, traps against Vespa velutina have turned out to be ineffective in controlling the damage that the insect does to grapes, but although Asian wasps are trapped, other species that have an important role in pollination are also captured. Solutions? The request of the researchers is that the Galician administration, promoter of this massive trapping, takes a step back because what is produced is a false idea of ​​effectiveness due to general captures, but without implying that the objective, which is to stop the Asian wasp, is met. What do they propose? That this elimination technique be reconsidered and look at the scientific evidence, since “environmental problems are complex and can rarely be solved with quick and easy solutions.” It is not a solution as such to the damage that these invasive wasps can cause, but it is to put an end to the indiscriminate killing of other insects that do a job in our ecosystem. What is evident is that, as we mentioned a few paragraphs ago, for a kind of outsider to arrive and establish itself so quickly in a territory is something devastating. And the Asian wasp is a perfect example. Images | Clame Reporter, Didier Descouens In Xataka | After centuries of disappearance, there are people releasing beavers into the Tagus and other rivers in Spain. The problem is that we don’t know who

We have been thinking for years that, after the midlife crisis, old age is synonymous with happiness. This researcher thinks it’s a hoax

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We are happy during adolescence and late youth, but as the years go by we become increasingly sadder, more unhappy, more miserable. At some point, in our late 40s to early 50s, we hit rock bottom. And once there everything tends to improve. “It’s statistics,” we said. What we did not suspect was that the statistics could be ‘trick’. Happiness is U-shaped. “Happiness is a slippery slope until we hit the bottom at some undetermined point in middle age. From there, it climbs back to the levels of youth.” That’s what I said a 2008 study than by Blanchflower and Oswald with data from more than half a million people. Over the following years ( here an example from 2017), studied in some detail how firm this U-shaped trend was; Everything seemed to indicate that this was the case. Until Fabian Kratz and Josef Brüdel from the Ludwig Maximalian University of Munich they realized of a small – possible – problem. Wonkblog A fundamental problem. What if happiness steadily decreases with age and what we see in the aggregate graphs is just a statistical effect? Kratz has been studying for years happiness and, as explained in New Scientistis increasingly convinced that the U simply does not exist. Reviewing the scientific literature, the authors found studies that justify a “stability“in happiness throughout the years; a”increase” or progressive descent; a inverted U; a U normal; and a curve like of waves (promotions, relegations). The problem is “that all studies on age and happiness have incurred biases that have distorted their results.” The other form of happiness. By correcting them, Fabian Kratz and Josef Brüdel came to the conclusion that it is true that happiness shows some stability around the last 50, but it does not rise at any time. Kratz and Brüderl (2021) But why? It is important to keep in mind that this work is essentially methodological. But Kratz’s central idea is that previous studies they didn’t realize that “after a certain age, happiness seems to increase only because unhappy people have already died.” The least happy people they tend to die before, which would cause an overrepresentation of the happiest at older ages (literally, as said our colleague Andrés Mohorte, pure survivor bias). According to this theory, “that old popular story” through which retirement would open a window towards a fuller and more satisfying life is just that, a story: a lie. Or, perhaps, a strategy. Because, in short, “there is a lot of evidence about how humans experience a bassoon psychological in middle age” (Blanchflower and Oswald, 2007; Steptoe, Deaton and Stone, 2015; Graham and Pettinato, 2002), but there is very little about the relationship between that downturn – that unhappiness – and quality of life. As we said quite a few years ago“we’re about to see what happens to the millennials when they become unhappy” and maybe that is behind a part generational battles. But facing the future with the certainty that things are going to improve is not the same as facing the future with the certainty that things are going to get worse. The science of happiness has never been so depressing. Image | Garloncio In Xataka | If the question is “where is the secret to happiness,” an expert believes it is hidden in these 15 statements

In the 19th century they were not particularly sad, but no one smiled in the photos. Although they had reasons for it

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It’s strange to come across a current photo in which no one is smiling. If we see her, we assume that something is happening: either she wants to give a serious image, or something happens that we don’t know about, or the intention is precisely to go against it, not to smile. However, there was a time in which the usual thing was not to do it, not to show the slightest emotion in the photographs. What is the reason for this attitude? Were they so sad in the victorian englandSpain at the beginning of the century and so on? Actually, there is a very simple explanation. The exhibition. We all know that in the early days of photography, that is, between about 1840 and 1880, cameras required people to remain completely still for several seconds, or even, in the most primitive photos, minutes. Maintaining a natural smile for so long was uncomfortable, and fatigue ended up turning a natural smile into a stiff grimace. Furthermore, any movement resulted in a blurry image, which ran the risk of the model appearing in the photo with a blur on his face like a specter from beyond the grave. Hence the much simpler and more accessible custom of remaining with a relaxed gesture. Decent photographs. But there came a time when photographs did not require more than a moment of exposure, and there were still models with long faces. What was it due to? In reality it was not a technical question, but rather a question of how photography was understood. Perhaps with a vision inherited from when a portrait was a canvas that took days to create, required effort for the painter and model, cost money and could not be reproduced, but rather remained a unique piece. For all this, the portrait was clothed with a certain solemnity. It didn’t matter that these new portraits were much simpler and faster to do: They preserved the aura of dignity and special occasion of the oil paintings. Example: the dead. The legendary photos of the deceased or post-mortem photography They are a perfect example to understand how the medium was perceived for a time. They were a surprisingly common practice during the 19th and early 20th centuries and had a very clear purpose: being still a medium that was not widespread, photography was the only opportunity that many families had to preserve a portrait of the deceased, since they had not been able to do it while they were alive (and with the high infant mortality rate of other times, even more so). Furthermore, with this aura of dignity and pomp that the photograph had, it was incorporated into the elaborate mourning process. Victorian. Smile bad. In the 19th century, smiling openly in public or in portraits was often associated with frivolity, lack of seriousness, or even drunkenness. Educated and respectable people maintained a serious composure. If you have ever seen material from the tone period, let’s say, libertineyou will see what contagious smiles. It’s not that in the 19th and early 20th centuries people didn’t know how to smile: it was the circumstance in which photos were taken. That is why photos have been found taken in more familiar settings, at parties with very close relatives or close friends, where some of this rigidity is lost and people smile widely. Smiling badly, part two. And if we started with a reason as prosaic as “it’s easier not to smile than to smile,” we ended up with another equally practical reason: smiles one hundred and fifty years ago were terrible. The dental hygiene It was much worse than today and the dentures were full of holes, at best. When it came to passing on to posterity, it was normal for the models to decide not to show their teeth. Photo of Lia Den in Unsplash In Xataka | A tractor engine and three floors: this is the Victorian steampunk house that is touring the United States

Immediately afterwards, they gave China a new railway record

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China has been celebrating these days, as the National Day festivities have coincided with the Mid-Autumn Festival. And like every year, there is a larger influx of people who take public transportation from what is already usually China. In this aspect, its railway system has once again set a record. On October 8, China Railway Zhengzhou Group transported more than a million passengers in a single day, establishing a new historical mark and demonstrating once again the capabilities of its high-speed train infrastructure. Quite an achievement. During the entire festive period (October 1 to 8), China Railway Guangzhou Group moved 21.8 million passengerswhich represents an increase of 5% compared to the previous year. The first day of the festivities marked a milestone, with 3.5 million travelers in a single day. The data from the Ministry of Transportation reveal that about 82% of Chinese travelers chose the high-speed train as a means of transportation during these dates. Featured cases. The Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong line recorded 955,000 trips during the festive period, with an increase of 29.35% year-on-year. On October 4, this connection transported 135,000 passengers in one day, 40% more than the previous year. According to A spokesman for the passenger services department of China Railway Guangzhou Group, “the coincidence of National Day with the Mid-Autumn Festival caused a significant increase in passenger flow, mainly driven by tourism and family visits.” Click on the image to go to the post How have they achieved it? To manage such a volume of passengers, the railway authorities deployed an operational strategy which included extraordinary trains, connections with multiple units, circular routes were established, night services increased on days of higher demand and additional carriages were coupled to regular trains. During the holidays, the Guangzhou Railway Group operated an average of 3,419 trains of daily passengers, with 358 extra services. Increasingly popular destinations. These data, however, reflect only part of the picture. The Ministry of Transportation amounted to approximately 1,240 million interregional travel during the first half of the festive period, reaching historical highs. Only on Saturday, October 5, 301.29 million trips were registered, 6.1% more than the previous year. Frontline cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen were the most popular destinations, along with tourist enclaves such as Chengdu and Xi’an. High speed train as favorite. These records once again cement high-speed rail as the backbone of transportation in China, while also reflecting the vitality of the country’s tourism and mobility sector. The Chinese railway network, which is crowned as the largest in the world at high speed, it does not disappoint in infrastructure capacity and operational efficiency, especially in times of mass events. In Xataka | China has just redrawn the map of strategic minerals: its new rules on rare earths target the United States

Speaking in English to a baby still in the womb seems like an absurd idea. Science has just discovered that it is effective

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We have long known that Babies recognize their mother’s voice from the womb and who show a preference for their mother tongue a few days after birth. However, now we know a little more thanks to studies neuroimaging studies that have confirmed something we intuited: the brain of a newborn is prepared to recognize foreign languages ​​if it has heard them in the womb during gestation. The experiment. To reach this conclusion, a team from Sainte-Justine University Hospital in Montreal recruited 60 pregnant women from monolingual French-speaking families. From here they did two different phases: prenatal exposure and brain analysis after birth. Prenatal exposure. In this case, a group of 39 fetuses was selected and exposed to recordings of a story during the last month of gestation. To do so, the mothers placed headphones on their abdomen so that the fetus could hear the story in its native language, which was French, and also in a foreign language, which was German or Hebrew. These languages ​​were chosen specifically because their rhythmic and phonological properties are very different from those of French. The second group, of 21 fetuses, acted as a control and did not receive any experimental exposure, hearing only the French of their natural environment, which is what happens in any type of normal pregnancy. Brain analysis. A few days after birth (between 10 and 78 hours), the brain activity of all these newborns began to be monitored while they listened to the same story in three languages: French, German and Hebrew. To do this, they used functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), a non-invasive technique that measures changes in blood oxygenation in the brain to see which areas are activated. The results. They were certainly surprising. The brains of newborns reacted almost identically to their native language and the foreign language they had been hearing in the womb. In both cases, an increase in activity was observed in the temporal regions of the left hemisphere, which is a key area for language processing with Broca’s area, among others. In contrast, when these babies heard the completely new foreign language (the one they had not heard before), their brains showed a different response, with less activation in language areas and more activity in general sound-processing regions. The conclusion. This finding suggests that the fetal brain not only hears, but “learns” to recognize the patterns of a language, which causes a specialization of the left hemisphere. One of the authors point specifically that “Our results provide evidence that even brief prenatal exposure to a foreign language could make it recognizable to neonates, leading to brain activation patterns similar to those observed when listening to their native language.” Anne Gallagher, a neuropsychologist at the University of Montreal and lead author of the study, qualifies the concept of “learning”: “We cannot say that babies ‘learn’ a language prenatally. What we can say is that neonates develop a familiarity with one or more languages ​​during gestation, which shapes their brain networks at birth.” Understand development. These findings reinforce the idea that a newborn’s brain is not a ‘blank slate’, but that the gestational environment contributes a lot to its brain development, since its brain processing begins here to be shaped before birth. However, experts caution that this study should not be interpreted as a guide for parents to expose their babies to multiple languages ​​in order to make them more intelligent or multilingual. But it does give us an idea of ​​how this important characteristic is developing. Limitations. The study, while revealing, also has its limitations, such as a relatively small sample size that prevented, for example, directly comparing responses to German versus Hebrew. Still, it shows that even brief, repeated exposure to linguistic stimuli can modify a newborn’s language brain networks, laying the foundation for future development. Images | Volodymyr Hryshchenko In Xataka | When the first meal is not porridge, but a chop: the rise of carnivorous babies

14 audio servers to host your music collection and listen to it wherever you want

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We bring you a small collection of 14 applications to set up a music server on your computer. With them, you can configure a server on your main computer, and then you can listen to the music you have on it from other devices through official websites or applications. With this, what you are going to get is create your own Spotify with the music files you have on your computer. This way, you can choose to buy digital music directly from the artists so that they get more benefits than with Spotify and then manage it without fees and with more privacy, although you can also use your own files after ripping a CD. And as we always say at Xataka Basics, these are the proposals that we have chosen, but perhaps you know others that also deserve to be on the list. If so, we invite you to Leave us your proposals in the comments sectionand so that all readers can benefit from the knowledge of our xatakeros. Plex We can only start with this application, because you can also set up your own Spotify with Plex. You have the server application for your computer, and then clients to watch movies, music and more on any other device. Plex It is very versatile, and very well known. It has some specific functions like an exclusive player for music and others that are paid, although you can make a single payment of just 120 euros and have it for life. Swing Music An open source self-hosted streaming service, which stands out for having a magnificent design maximum care. It has functions such as separating different versions of a disc, showing related artists or albums, or being able to navigate between your music files. The client works through the browserso you can use it anywhere. You also have a search engine, handle duplicate files, and more options that keep coming. You can install the server on Windows, macOS or GNU/Linux. koel This alternative is open source, has a modern design, and is feature-rich. It’s free, although you also have a paid version that allows you to store your files in the cloud or share music with friends. Its modern and colorful design makes it catch the eye, very clean and simplified, but it also stands out for its optimization and speed. All of this being a great player with all the options, including metadata editing or genre categorization. In addition, it integrates with Last.fm, Spotify or YouTube among others. Jellyfin Jellyfin is one of the main Plex alternatives, and in fact also has a specific music app in developmentalthough it may not work as well yet. However, you can also use its general app to find the music section. The main characteristics of this tool compared to Plex is that It is totally freeand at the moment it does not have a paid version. In short, it’s like setting up your own Spotify and Netflix all together. Emby Emby is another of the great alternatives to Plex, and although It does not have a specific application to listen to musicin the complete app of the tool you have a section to access the songs from the folders on your computer that you have chosen. Like Plex, this tool also offers most of its free options, although it also has several others that are with the paid version. Navidrome Free and open source, it allows you to stream from your computer. virtually any audio format. It has good support for multi-artist compilations, and makes use of all the metadata you’ve been editing in the files. Uses very few resourcesand can be used on both macOS, Linux and WIndows, even for Raspberry Pi. The client is web, for use in any browser, although it is also compatible with service clients such as Subsonic, Madsonic or Airsonic. mStream A fairly simple, self-hosted music streaming service that can work on any operating system with server applications for Windows, macOS, GNU/Linux and Raspberry Pi. You also have clients to listen to your music for Android and iOS, as well as for the browser. Playback is almost perfect with a good sound viewer and playlist sharing features. You can also easily drag files to upload to the server, all with an open source project. funkwhale This is a community-led projectin which there are different pods or servers created by other users where music is hosted and you can upload yours. You also have the opportunity to create your own pod, although it is somewhat more complex. In the end, the idea is to be able to enjoy your music or podcasts wherever you want. Ampache A veteran project but constantly updated, focused on being able to create your own music streaming service. All this with an open source tool that has been developing since 2001, and with which you will be able to install third-party clients for mobile, tablet or television. It has a web interface with which you will be able to configure the local and remote file synchronizationall in a single consistent collection. And then, you can access your music from any device, whether with an app or an HTML5 player. Gonic A recent and lightweight alternative, compatible with Subsonic client appswith simple management of your folders and support for podcasts. Gonic is especially recommended for those looking for a minimalist, modular and easy-to-install alternative. It stands out for its scanning speed, and for also being compatible with scrobbling applications such as listenbrainz or last.fm, to have your listening statistics. Perhaps its only drawback is a simpler and more schematic interface, but in exchange it is very easy to use. Subsonic This is a powerful streaming service where your computer also becomes a server. It is used to stream video and music. It is also a base for many third party clientsso if you don’t like their applications you can always turn to others. The price of this server is $1 per month, … Read more

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