Mobile Tech & Gadgets

Millionaires are fleeing the Middle East. And their unexpected destination is a small Swiss canton called Zug.

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In 2011, during the Arab Spring, several European private banks detected an unusual phenomenon: Within days, high-net-worth clients began transferring large sums from the Middle East into accounts in Switzerland without prior notice. It wasn’t the first time something like this happened, but it was one of the fastest. That left a clear lesson in the financial sector: when stability falters, money does not wait to understand what happens, it simply moves. War moves money. we have been counting. The war in the Middle East is not only altering military and energy balances, it is also causing a silent movement but massive capital. What were previously fiscal decisions or lifestyle They have become urgent security decisions, where the priority is no longer optimizing profits, but protecting assets. In this context, an idea begins to prevail: billionaires do not wait for the situation to get worse, they go aheadand that movement is redrawing the global map of wealth in real time. Dubai is no longer an unquestionable refuge. For years, Dubai was the natural destination for international fortunes seeking stability, tax benefits and a secure environment in a complex region. However, the conflict with Iran has introduced a variable that previously seemed controlled: the direct risk. That perception has been enough for activate discrete outputs but constant numbers of businessmen, executives and large assets who are now looking for more predictable alternatives outside the gulf. This is not a collapse, but a change in mentality: when security is no longer absolute, attractiveness quickly erodes. Aerial view of Zug And, suddenly, Zug. In this displacement, the place that is attracting attention is not a great global capital, but a small swiss canton of just 135,000 inhabitants: Zug. Traditionally known for its role in commodities trading and, more recently, in crypto ecosystemhas become the first destination that many of these capitals look to. Reasons? counted the financial times that both wealth managers and bankers agree that demand has grown significantly since the beginning of the conflict, to the point that for many clients the request is direct and automatic: move there. The call effect. This growing flow is having immediate consequences in an already limited market, especially when it comes to housing. Demand has rapidly outstripped supply, generating intense competition for any property available and lines even for modest rentals. Added to this are administrative barriers that make entry difficult, especially for those who do not belong to the European Union, forcing residence to be linked to employment, investment or specific tax agreements. Zug attractsbut it does not absorb without friction. Switzerland reinforces its role in the geopolitics of money. What is happening in Zug is not an isolated phenomenon, but rather part of a broader dynamic in which Switzerland consolidates again as a refuge in times of uncertainty. Its political stability, its legal framework and its financial tradition make it a almost automatic destiny when overall risk increases. In fact, other cantons like Lugano have begun to capture part of this growing demand, expanding the phenomenon and confirming that the movement has only just begun. A map of wealth that changes with each conflict. In short, the result is a progressive movement of money from risk areas to safe enclaves, where each crisis acts as a catalyst. The war in the Middle East is accelerating this process and leaving one conclusion abundantly clear: global fortunes are no longer driven only by opportunity, but for threats. And in that new balance, places so small and discreet like Zug They can become, almost without noise, the great beneficiaries of an increasingly unstable world. Image | Schulerst , IDF Spokesperson’s Unit, LohriPR In Xataka | The most buoyant market right now is selling streaming and satellite images of US movements to Iran. In Xataka | Commercial aviation is based on very old aircraft. The Iran war is going to make it even worse

We believed that procrastination was a time management problem. Neuroscience has shown that it is a survival instinct

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Almost all of us have been in the situation of being faced with a task that must be done no matter what, such as studying an exam or handing in an assignment. We know that it is something important, and that we should start addressing it now, but suddenly we are doing something totally different and insignificant like reorganizing the drawer or watching a video on YouTube. What seems so common is what we call procrastinationand we understand more and more why we do it. The context. For decades, popular culture has told us that procrastination is a time management problem or, worse yet, simple laziness. However, neuroscience has a very different message when it points out that procrastination It is not an organizational failure, it is a crisis of emotional regulation. The brain. To understand procrastination, we must first look at the anatomy of our brain, which often functions as a large battlefield divided into two sides. On the one hand we have the limbic system, which is one of the most primitive parts of the brain and whose function is simply to keep us alive, away from pain and seeking immediate pleasure. On the other hand, we have the prefrontal cortex, which is the most evolutionarily ‘modern’ area, located right on the forehead. This is where we have rational thinking, long-term planning and logic. What is known. Already a 2021 review pointed out that these areas are activated when you have to do a task that generates anxiety, boredom or insecurity, such as studying an exam. And it is no wonder, because the limbic system detects this situation as a “threat”, and automatically hijacks the prefrontal cortex to prioritize immediate emotional relief by looking at Instagram over the long-term benefit of starting to study to pass. We know more. Now, this year, a new study has taken a new step to understand this brain system, by identifying in primates a specific neuronal circuit that functions as a “brake” for motivation, and that connects two parts of the brain: the ventral striatum (VS) with the ventral pallidum (VP). The researchers discovered that when we face tasks associated with discomfort or the possibility of failure, this VS-VP circuit is activated, inhibiting the action, as if it were an emotional protection mechanism taken to the extreme. The most striking thing about the study is that, by interrupting this circuit in the laboratory, the subjects immediately restored their motivation, “releasing the brake” and tackling the difficult task. It’s not laziness. This new line of research is consistent with previous research that associated procrastination with stress, fear of failure, and anxiety. In this way, when seeing a blank document or a very complex Excel sheet, the amygdala activates a flight response. In fact, it has been seen that chronic procrastinators tend to have worse connectivity between the amygdala. the anterior cingulate cortex, which makes them less able to filter negative emotions and distractions. In short, the brain will procrastinate to protect itself from the psychological discomfort caused by a task. Hacking. Seeing how complex this all is, blaming yourself or calling yourself “lazy” is of no use. But it is true that you have to follow a strategy to be able to hack our perception of stress and reward, starting to break up the work, making it so that, instead of setting out to “write the entire work”, you should opt for “write only the title and the first paragraph for five minutes” to trick the amygdala. It is also possible to block sources of easy dopamine with a blocking system on your computer or mobile phone that makes it difficult to access Instagram or YouTube to watch a video. This way, if the immediate reward requires an effort like going to the next room for the phone, the prefrontal cortex has time to intervene and put us in concentration mode. Images | Ashkan Forouzani In Xataka | Procrastinating is a death trap for your brain in the form of anxiety. The problem is that we don’t know how to avoid it.

How the game invented the “Sanity roll”

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In ‘Dungeons & Dragons’ Nobody closes their eyes to a monster. Seeing it is synonymous with a confrontation (you can always run away, but without losing sight of it, just in case). But in the first test session of ‘The Call of Cthulhu’, in 1981, something unexpected happened: the players began to cover their eyes, hide in corners, run away up stairs. And that inspired him to reflect pure panic in his game. The primal terror. When Sandy Petersen (zoologist by training, enthusiastic role-player, Lovecraft devotee since he was a teenager) was commissioned by Chaosium to develop a game based on the Cthulhu Mythoshorror role-playing games practically did not exist as their own genre. In 1981, the market was dominated by ‘D&D’ variants. There were terrifying monsters, undead, demons, but the mechanical framework was always the same: characters armed to the teeth who stoically absorbed the damage of their enemies. Fear had no representation in the rules. The referent. The Lovecraft stories that inspired the game ‘The Call of Cthulhu’ demanded just the opposite. Its protagonists are not heroes: they are academics, journalists, doctors from the provinces who stumble upon a truth that the cosmos has been hiding for millions of years. The simple revelation of reality does not inject them with legendary courage to face these dangers, but rather destroys them. Translating that into a game system required new tools, new values ​​to measure. How it works. Whenever an investigator is faced with something his or her mind is not prepared to assimilate, the Game Master asks for a Sanity roll. The player rolls a percentile die (usually two 10-sided dice) and compares the result with his Sanity score: if he rolls equal or less, he passes the crash and loses a smaller number of points; If it fails, the loss is more severe. The Sanity score starts from a maximum value equivalent to the character’s Power characteristic multiplied by five and decreases throughout the game with each disturbing encounter. When the loss in a single roll exceeds five points, the character suffers a crisis of temporary insanity: he may become paralyzed or develop erratic behavior that the Game Master dictates on the fly. If Sanity drops to zero, the character is permanently deranged and passes into the hands of the Director. There is a recovery mechanism (rest, therapy, certain successes in research) but the system is calibrated so that the trend is always downward. How it was born. As Petersen explainedthe direct inspiration for the Cordural mechanics was an article in the magazine ‘Sorcerer’s Apprentice’ in which the authors proposed a kind of mental stability statistic. If the character failed a roll, that statistic went down permanently. This idea of ​​a statistic being reduced shocked him. He took the fundamental idea, called it Sanity, made it the lynchpin of the game, and instead of lowering it only on rare occasions, decided that almost every encounter and every event would reduce it, until the investigators could end up becoming mental ruins or even mindless monsters. What happened. In the first game he led after developing the system, as counted in Xwhile narrating how a horrible claw emerged from a portal in the air, something unexpected happened: one player announced that he was covering his eyes, another went to a corner of the room and turned around, and a third fled up the stairs. Petersen was taken aback: in ‘D&D’ no one would ever try to avoid looking at a monster, because seeing it implies information that could be useful. At that moment he understood the true potential of the Sanity rules: they were not just another weapon in favor of monsters, but a mechanic that pushed players to behave in a way that fit this world they were building, a far cry from the fantasy in which ‘D&D’ monsters are almost everyday. Other systems could describe fear, but Sanity made players practice it. Extreme sanity. Petersen’s initial version of Sanity was more extreme than the one that made it to the game: he initially decided that it could only decrease, never increase. It was those responsible for Chaosium who convinced him that this idea was too negative even in a game about Cthulhu. Petersen relented, but later discovered that the ability to regain Sanity makes the system more agonizing, not less, because it tricks players into believing they can save their characters. And we already know that that is very complicated. The mansions of sanity. Since then, Sanity mechanics have influenced all subsequent role-playing horror. The first video game to explicitly pick up that heritage was ‘Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem’, whose crazy effects mechanic was patented by Nintendo in 2005. Eight years later, ‘Amnesia: The Dark Descent’ brought the mechanics to first-person horror for PC, where darkness and the sight of monsters drain mental stability with progressive visual and sound consequences. Header | Photo of Timothy Dykes in Unsplash / Thomas Quine

Our way of eating is experiencing a silent revolution that is already noticeable in the industry: “snackification”

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New times, new ways to eat. There was a time (not that long ago actually) when the concept “pecking” almost had a negative overtone. A “snack” was the concession that one made between breakfast and lunch or shortly before dinner to indulge in a culinary treat, something that was done exceptionally or knowing that it was not convenient for them. That is changing. As our habits transform, so does the way we organize our diet and how we understand snacks. It is no longer about eating snacks at the wrong time, but rather about considering the meals of the day in a different way. The shift is so clear that there are those who are already talking about snackfication. How many times do you eat a day? That question probably sounds like a platitude to many people. Three. Maybe five if we count the snack and a mid-morning sandwich, right? In 2015, the Center for Sociological Research (CIS) was interested in that same question (how many meals did Spaniards usually eat on a weekday) and discovered that, on average, we were around 3.57 intakes. To be more precise, half of those surveyed (50.4%) recognized three meals a day and another 26.1% extended it to four. Only 17.7% ate five or more meals, a figure in tune with that calculated by the Nestlé Observatory. Is it a still photo? No. As our way of life changes, so do traditional eating patterns that led us to limit ourselves to breakfast, lunch and lunch, adding (perhaps) a mid-morning snack and an afternoon snack. I explained it recently Expansion: instead of three blocks of meals we move to a more distributed intake made up of small quantities. More intakes, smaller portions. Why is it important? The phenomenon goes beyond simple “pecking” for several reasons. One of the main reasons is that these meals replace traditional meals (dinner, for example). Another key is that “pecking” or snack loses its negative nuance. It’s not about indulging in pastries and chips. The phenomenon is accompanied by a growing interest in healthy snacks. Manufacturers know this and often promote them by appealing to their functionality rather than the stomach. Is there data to support it? Yes. The first one is left by the International Food Information Council (IFIC), a Washington, DC-based organization focused on nutrition and food security. Their studies in the US reflect a clear tendency to replace central meals of the day with snacks. If in 2020 38% of those surveyed admitted this change towards smaller intakes, in 2024 they already represented 56%. The last indicator, from 2025, stands at 62%. Most do it occasionally, but the curve is revealing. Does the study say anything else? He notes that “for most Americans” snack consumption is already part of their “daily ritual.” “In 2025, 70% say they eat them at least once a day, which represents a decrease compared to 73% in 2024, but also the fourth consecutive year in which daily consumption of snacks exceeds 70%,” remember the reportwhich details that 12% of those who ‘sting’ daily do so at least three times. “Americans are replacing traditional meals with snacks and lighter meals, a change that continues to gain strength. In 2020, 38% reported having replaced meals with snacks or light foods. In 2024 that figure increased to 56% and in 2025 it stood at 62%,” points out the IFIC. The phenomenon is so clear that Food Navigator either BBC they talk about snackification. Is there data from Spain? We handle tracks. Although they do not address the topic directly and require combining several sources, they must be handled with some caution. In 2004 the INE published a report in which it stated that 58.4% of the population I used to eat three meals a day (breakfast, lunch and dinner), a percentage that shot up to 72% among those over 65 years of age. In 2022 Mapfre addressed that same issue again and found that on working days 38.7% We Spaniards eat three meals. Not only is this data lower than that published by the INE in 2004. It is also below the sum of those who eat four (29.9%) or five meals (23.2%). The photo changes on holidays, although there are still more people who eat four or five times. Graphic from the report “Food in post-pandemic 21st century society: food decision”, by Fundación Mapfre. What is it due to? There are many factors at play, such as recognize the consulting firm Circana, which breaks down a few when trying to explain the behavior of American households. One (fundamental) is that we eat more snacks and fewer leisurely meals for a simple matter of comfort. “Consumers are increasingly looking for ways to save time preparing meals,” highlights the firm, recalling that snacks are even gaining weight in main meals. It makes sense if we take into account that there are millions of people who almost never take a frying pan or saucepan to cook and every time we buy more dishes already prepared. Curiously, those who consume the most snacks (at least in the US) are not teenagers, but members of Generation 21% of consumption at home. The list also highlights the millennialswith 15% of the pie. When surveying the market, the firm found that the snacks that were most successful were the sweet and salty ones, not the healthy ones. Are there more factors? Yes. Cultural and dietary changes, changes in homes (some, like Juan Roig, believe that domestic kitchens are doomed), changes when shopping… Some analysts even slide the influence of the new weight loss drugs (GLP-1) and how they influence patients who consume increasingly smaller portions. What seems undeniable is that these changes in our diet are having an impact on the forecasts of companies dedicated to the production of snacks. Food Navigator assures that in 2025 the value of the global market of the snack industry will exceed 269 ​​billion of dollars and the forecast is that it will grow … Read more

wants to extract infinite energy from the waves

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In the global race for decarbonization, humanity has managed to tame the wind and the sun, but the waves of the sea still resist it: the wave drive It is still a sleeping giant within renewable energies. Although the energy potential of waves is immense (unlike wind or solar, the contribution is continuous), the challenge lies in its effective technical use. In this scenario, Galicia has taken a step to place itself at the forefront of marine energy with Innomara project to move from theory to practice with the first floating prototype in Spain capable of connecting marine generation devices and evacuating the energy produced to land in Punta Langosteira, one of the most demanding marine environments on the planet. The project. It consists of designing, manufacturing and installing a next-generation floating prototype, a floating multi-connector with integrated sensors that will act as a central hub: it will connect multiple marine electrical generation devices and evacuate the energy produced to land through a single line. In addition, it will also integrate sensors to monitor in real time the waves, wind, currents, tides and marine biodiversity in the waters of the Outer Port of A Coruña. Why is it important. Because Spain is one of the leaders in solar and wind energy but in wave driving it is still in its infancy: as explains the XuntaInnomar is the first system of its kind in the state as there is currently no marine energy experimental zone in the country with a similar multi-connector. The extracted energy could be used for self-consumption in the port of A Coruña and the surrounding industrial estates, contributing to the energy decarbonisation of the port environment. More generally, this prototype allows companies to validate their projects in a real environment and speed up the development of their own patents in a sector with enormous growth and export potential, which means taking a step towards energy and technological sovereignty. Context. Wave energy is one of the great pending issues of the energy transition: the technology to exploit it has been in the research phase for decades without making the commercial leapAmong the main problems, the unpredictability of the waves (yes, they are constant, but they vary in height, rhythm, direction) and the harsh conditions of the marine environment when designing and maintaining it. However, recently we have seen promising initiatives in the United States and in Japan. And be careful, Europe is also taking the race seriously: United Kingdom, Portugal either Denmark They are investing in similar test zones. In this scenario, Punta Langosteira is a first-rate strategic asset: as explained by MITECO and IDAE in the official roadmap of offshore wind and sea energy in Spain, is considered the second area in the world with the highest concentration of wave energy, only surpassed by the south coast of Wales. Bottom line: if it works there, it has a good chance of doing it anywhere else in the world. In detail. The prototype will function as a smart laboratory on the high seas: with an underwater cable to bring electricity to land, sensors to monitor biodiversity and the marine environmental environment, and it will also be a kind of testing platform where different components can be tested. The project has been promoted by Inega (Energy Institute of Galicia) and its budget amounts to 5.7 million euros, of which 60% is financed with FEDER funds. There are seven companies that have submitted candidates for the prior selection, whose award is scheduled for September 2026, following a Public Procurement of Innovation model. Yes, but. The location is magnificent, the European co-financing provides solidity to the project, the model between the Administration and the private sector provides the best of both worlds and also the multi-connector hub approach is technically intelligent since it reduces redundant infrastructure, lowers costs and allows testing several wave converters in parallel. In short, they have everything in their sails, but the technical challenge is immense. Furthermore, the prototype is still a connection and measurement infrastructure, but it does not generate energy. Effective generation will depend on the devices that connect to it in the future, technology that is still far from being commercially mature. And here again the unknowns and viability appear again, since the cost per kWh of wave power is notably above wind and solar. That there is interest from the main actors is good news, but it does not imply that the leap to an effective solution is just around the corner. In Xataka | The United States is launching giant spheres into the sea with one goal: to take advantage of one of the largest sources of renewable energy In Xataka | With oil skyrocketing, Japan has resurrected an old idea to extract infinite energy from the ocean Cover | Deensel, Wikimedia and photoholgic

Nothing Phone (4a) Pro vs Google Pixel 10, when you offer more for much less money

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Nothing has surprised us again with a mobile phone that manages to stand out in both its mid-range and high-end. In fact, it can compete with much more expensive models, as is the case with the Google Pixel 10. But… How are these two phones different? Let’s go over it in this article. Nothing Phone (4a) Pro (8 GB, 128 GB) The price could vary. We earn commission from these links The price could vary. We earn commission from these links The differences between the Nothing Phone (4a) Pro and the Google Pixel 10 Design and screens One of the most important differences is in size. He Nothing Phone (4a) Pro bets on a larger diagonal of 6.83 inches, while the Google Pixel 10 It is more compact with a screen size of 6.3 inches. The curious thing is that, despite the size, There are only six grams of differencewith 210 grams for the Nothing and 204 grams for the Google. On the back we also see a very striking difference. The Google Pixel 10 maintains the sober appearance that we have already seen in previous generations, while the Nothing mobile incorporates a larger rear camera module, in which we find several cameras and a screen (Glyph Matrix) with luminous points that turn on and off when receiving notifications or listening to music, shows the time and can even be personalized. Processor and RAM and storage configurations While the Google Pixel 10 comes with the Google Tensor G5the Nothing Phone (4a) Pro incorporates the Snapdragon 7 Gen 4. The Qualcomm processor offers balanced performance for the mid-high range and stands out for its energy efficiency. On the other hand, the Google chip is aimed at the use of artificial intelligence functions, although it heats up excessively when executing intense tasks. Both phones start with a minimum storage configuration of 128 GB, but while the Google Pixel 10 comes in this case with 12 GB of RAM, the Nothing Phone (4a) Pro stays at 8 GB. Keep in mind that this configuration of the Nothing mobile phone can be very tight if we are going to use many apps or process AI locally. Photographic section Google phones usually stand out for their photography section and the Pixel 10 is no exception. However, the Nothing Phone (4a) Pro has hit the table by betting on a much more attractive telephotodespite having fewer increases. The Nothing mobile telephoto offers processing that is supported by the hybrid zoom of up to 7x and the results are very good in terms of detail, sharpness and color. Its maximum digital zoom is 140x and, although it takes time to process the image and can sometimes invent some details, the level of success is adequate. Battery Both phones come with batteries with quite similar milliamp figures, since the Google Pixel 10 incorporates a 4,970 mAh battery and the Nothing mobile comes with another 5,080 mAh. However, we do have differences in the charging options: The Google Pixel 10 supports 30W fast charging and 15W wireless charging. This means that it will take a while to have the battery at 100%, especially if you use wireless charging. The Nothing Phone (4a) Pro supports only 50W fast charging (although it also supports reverse charging), which means that you will have a 100% battery in less time than with the Google mobile, but you will not be able to use a wireless charging base. Software, support and price Both phones come with Android 16, but they are different. Nothing’s mobile relies on its NothingOS customization layer, which incorporates a minimalist aesthetic and is supported by three years of updates and six for security patches. For its part, the Google Pixel 10 has purer softwarewithout a customization layer. Support in this case is seven years of updates and security patches (six taking into account that the mobile was launched in 2025). And if we talk about prices, we are faced with two mobile phones that compete in different ranges. The Google Pixel 10 is currently available for a price of 599 eurosbut it was initially launched for 899 euros. On the other hand, the Nothing Phone (4a) Pro is currently priced at 479 euros. In summary: which mobile phone to choose according to your tastes and needs Why choose the Nothing Phone (4a) Pro The Nothing Phone (4a) Pro has been a surprise. Its price right now is 479 euros and it stands out in several aspects: Its quality-price ratio: Nothing’s mobile phone stands out both for its price and for its processor, the photographic section and, of course, the design, especially on the back, where we find the Glyph Matrix screen. fast charging: Despite not having a battery that supports wireless charging, the 50W fast charging allows it to be recharged to 100% in less time than the Google Pixel 10. telephoto sensorthe icing on the cake to a good photographic section in the mid-range that yields very attractive results for the price of the mobile. Why choose the Google Pixel 10 The Google Pixel 10 continues to be a very good purchase option. It has been dropping in price since its launch and is now available for 599 euros. Where it stands out the most is in: Minimum storage configurationwhich despite only having 128 GB of internal storage, at least comes with 12 GB of RAM. wireless charging so as not to be limited to using only wired charging. Google supportwhich offers six years of software updates and security patches. Technical sheet with the main differences between the Nothing Phone (4a) Pro and the Google Pixel 10 Nothing Phone (4a) Pro google pixel 10 SCREEN 6.83 inch LTPS flexible AMOLED panel 1,260 x 2,800 pixel resolution Adaptive refresh from 30 to 144 Hz 2160Hz PWM 1,600 nits maximum brightness with 5,000 peak nits Gorilla Glass 7i 6.3-inch OLED panel Resolution of 2,424 x 1,080 pixels 60-120Hz refresh Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2 3,000 nits peak brightness DIMENSIONS AND … Read more

James Webb has had to investigate whether he was born “from the top down” or “from the bottom up”

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29 Cygni b is a huge celestial object, with a mass equal to 15 times the mass of Jupiter. Apparently it is a planet, but that mass could place it as a star. For example, a brown dwarf. Therefore, a team of astronomers has used the James Webb to analyze its origin, further refining the concept of the formation of stars and planets. A question of metals. The authors of the study, who it was just publishedhave used the NIRCam camera on the James Webb Space Telescope to take photographs of this planet. This instrument allows high-resolution images and spectroscopy measurements to be taken, with which the composition of the atmospheres of stars and planets can be studied, taking into account how they reflect light. Thanks to this, it has been seen that 29 Cygni b is very enriched in metals compared to the star around which it is located. Specifically, it has an amount of metals equivalent to 150 Earths. This is compatible with the accretion of a large amount of metal-laden solids into a protoplanetary disk. It is then confirmed that it is a planet, but a planet very unusual. Planet or star? That’s the question. Planet formation takes place in a bottom-up process. In a disk of gas and dust, known as a protoplanetary disk, dust particles collide to form small fragments of rock and ice, which continue to clump together and grow until they form a planet. It is a process called accretion. The largest ones, in addition, in this process capture gas, which is why they later become gas giants. On the other hand, stars form from top to bottom. A gas cloud fragments and each fragment collapses under its own gravity, becoming smaller and denser. From paradox to paradox. This definition could lead us to think that planets are larger than stars. After all, planets go from less to more and stars from more to less. However, that is not true. Stars form when huge clouds of gas collapse, so they are still very massive. So much so that nuclear fusion can occur in them due to the high conditions of pressure and temperature. On the planets, although there is a growth from less to more, it is not so great. The problem is that with planets as immense as 29 Cygni b there are doubts about the formation from less to more. It would seem that they were also formed by a fragmentation process in protoplanetary disks. As explained by the European Space Agency in a statementis something that “could explain why some very massive objects are found billions of kilometers from their host stars, in regions where the protoplanetary disk should have been too weak for accretion to occur.” That’s just what happens with 29 Cyni b. It has an enormous mass and is 2,400 kilometers from its star. What James Webb teaches us. The fact that 29 Cygni b is so rich in metals indicates that it must have been formed by an accretion process, in which it accumulated more and more. In fact, heIt is normal for a planet to have many metals in proportion to its starwhich happens in the system in which 29 Cygni b is located. In short, it is shown that much larger planets than we thought can be formed by accretion, without having to resort to a top-down process. And now what? 29 Cygni b has been the first of the four objects that will be studied by James Webb. All of them have a mass between 1 and 15 times that of Jupiter and are at least 1.5 billion kilometers from their star. This indicates that they are all in that dilemma of being huge planets or another star. Cataloging them into one of the two groups can help us understand much better the process by which the largest planets are formed. Image | NASA, ESA, CSA, J. Olmsted (STScI) In Xataka | Since we were children we have been told that Jupiter is enormous, colossal, exaggeratedly large. It is 8 km smaller and that changes everything

why Gen Z has fallen in love with technologies that they did not experience

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Technology has been sneaking into almost every corner of everyday life for decades: how we communicate, how we save memories, how we listen to music or how we entertain ourselves. ada generation has enjoyed its own innovations: from the Walkman to the compact camera, including the Game Boy and the Nintendo DS. As the years went by, many of these devices seemed destined to remain as relics in a drawer, surpassed by increasingly powerful mobile phones capable of concentrating almost all possible functions in a single device. However, in the era of the smartphone, AI or virtual reality, some of these “relics” are regaining prominence among recent generations. Compact digital cameras, retro consoles or cassettes reappear in second-hand stores or in TikTok videos where the young people who use them have not witnessed their birth or their rise. Nostalgia or novelty? The “return” or growing interest in vintage technology could be explained as a new wave of nostalgia. Alvaro Soler, sociologist and disseminator in social networksspeaks of a “retro utopia”: an idealized look capable of commercializing aesthetics and products from the past. “May we consume again retro technology “It has to do with the consumption of retro culture,” he explains, giving as an example the success of series like Stranger Thingswhich “make us go back to the 80’s, with consoles and arcade games, but also with fashion, music…”. In this way, Soler explains the market’s ability to take advantage of previous designs or products and present them as something attractive and desirable again. This is precisely one of the nuances that explains the return of retro from places beyond nostalgia. Although some of these devices do awaken memories and have a nostalgic connotation for those who grew up with them, not all the young people who recover them today have used them. In fact, many of them become familiar with these devices through social networks. Soler attributes to these platforms the power that classic advertising had before. They also come into play influencerswhom Soler defines as “figures of success or in whom you have to see yourself reflected.” In many cases, he adds, a large part of their identity is built through what they consume and display. This makes those who follow them more likely to be interested in or consume what they show in their profiles, including vintage technology. Thus, although many young people have not grown up with these devices, they can become desirable objectsassociated with an aesthetic or a way of being in the world. What for some is nostalgia, for others becomes a new necessity. This is the case of Lara, a young woman – who prefers to keep her identity private – who is fond of analog cameras from the 70s (like the Zenit). Although he did not experience either the arrival or the rise of these devices, he confesses in conversation with Xataka find something “unique” about them that attracts you. A camera not to scroll The return of this type of technology also has another reading. For Claudia Pradas, psychologist and disseminator on social networksin a young population overexposed to constant stimuli, screens and immediate rewards, “a more limited technology can be psychologically attractive” because “it reduces the load.” Compared to the mobile phone, which is at the same time a camera, console and music player, these devices have a single functiona restriction that can feel like a relief. “We are constantly exposed to super-overloaded technology that can fatigue us,” he explains, while these devices “can promote relaxation or deactivation of the nervous system, generating well-being.” Therefore, instead of interpreting this boom as a rejection of the new, Pradas proposes reading it as a search for alternatives: devices that allow us to continue using technology but at a different pace. The type of experience they offer also influences. “Old” devices force a more physical relationship that moves away from using the smartphone: insert a cartridge, rewind, press buttons, print a photo… For Pradas, that tactile dimension is key. In a context of digital saturation, “a sensory experience beyond the visual and auditory can help us become more rooted in the present.” Sociologist Soler agrees that the search for disconnection is one of the factors behind this return to previous technologies. Many of these retro consoles, he explains, they do not depend on the internet: they allow you to continue using digital technology, but without constant connection or online services. Something similar happens with photographs. Uploading images to networks or storing them in the cloud does not generate the same relationship with memories as printing them and saving them in an album. On the Internet, he says, images can become more volatile, get lost among thousands of files or become diluted in the continuous flow of content. Instead, developing photos or physically preserving them creates another way of relating to time and memory, “more tangible and lasting.” In a context of hyperconnectivity, changing memories from the digital environment to the physical dimension can also function as a way to organize and preserve what we really want to remember. This power of disconnection is corroborated by Elena, a 23-year-old young woman whose playing with practically discontinued consoles evokes the same tranquility as “when you watch a movie you’ve seen 200 times”; The simplicity of these devices gives you the calm that current video games do not achieve. “Right now (video games) are like a movie, but before everything happened on a very small screen with drawings that could even be in black and white,” he points out. The simplicity and the imperfection that characterize old games—and that extends to the grain of a compact camera or the less clean sound of a vintage player—are part of their appeal. In the face of increasingly perfect and faster devices, these small failures or limitations are perceived almost as a mark of authenticity and humanity. “Old analog cameras have nothing to do with cell phone photographs. I don’t take photos with my cell phone because for me … Read more

They are smaller than ever, they swim further and die in a river at more than 20ºC

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The Bidasoa River marks the southern limit of the European distribution of Atlantic salmon, acting as a canary in the mine in the face of climate change. And what the Orekan technical team (the public environmental management company of the Government of Navarra) has seen is that the Atlantic salmon is becoming accustomed to swimming upstream. more uphill than ever: It is neither fishing nor illness, more than half die because the river water is too hot. And the lucky ones who arrive are smaller. The Bidasoa salmon is dying. News from Navarra echoes of Orekan’s research, which has been individually tracking Atlantic salmon by radio telemetry for seven years as they travel up the Bidasoa towards their spawning areas. In warmer years, mortality in summer exceeds 50%. Data collected between 2018 and 2025 show a direct and unequivocal correlation: the more days per year with water temperatures above 20°C, the higher the percentage of fish that do not make it to autumn. From 20 °C onwards, Atlantic salmon enter physiological stress. Science documents it solidly.: The optimal growth of juveniles occurs between 16 and 20 °C and stops when approaching 23 °C, which explains the decrease in size. Furthermore, the lethal limit of the species is estimated at 27.8 °C, with 33 °C as the absolute mortality temperature. At these temperatures, adults that are in the migration phase (which do not feed and spend energy traveling up rivers) are especially vulnerable. He Orekan report It is a full-fledged warning: with three exceptions, the species has been below the Critical Conservation Limit in Bidasoa of one million eggs per season for more than 26 years. The population is kept alive artificially thanks to annual repopulation from the Oronoz-Mugaire fish farm. Why is it important. Because Atlantic salmon is a umbrella species: its conservation guarantees the population of the entire Bidasoa river ecosystem and other species, such as the European mink, the otter or the common trout. As a biological indicator, its decline is an alarm signal about the health of the peninsula’s rivers and the loss of biodiversity. But also, the fact that it is the southernmost population of the species in the European Eastern Atlantic makes it especially unique in that they concentrate the greatest adaptive genetic diversity (they live on the edge), so that they function as sentinels of environmental change. In short: it is a matter of a few decades before what we see today in the Bidasoa reaches rivers further north. Losing the Bidasoa salmon is not only saying goodbye to the presence of a species in one of the most southern and important places, but also losing the entire genetic archive of adaptations to temperatures and drought. Context. The decline of Atlantic salmon is not exclusive to Bidasoa or Navarra. The International Council for the Exploration of the Sea public last year an alarming report: 2023 and 2024 were years in which the return of salmon marked historic lows in most North Atlantic countries. And the ICES is clear: not even fishing restrictions are stopping the decline of the species because it is a marine issue. In the Iberian Peninsula the problem is more serious: a study of 65 years in the Asturian Sella River demonstrated that the factor that best predicts the collapse of catches is not fishing pressure but temperature, both local and oceanic. Thus, Iberian populations make the longest oceanic migrations towards subpolar feeding areas, which implies more energy expenditure and greater exposure to predators. In detail. Warming is strangling the Bidasoa salmon twice: in the Navarrese river and in the sea. The temperature series surface of the North Atlantic processed by the Climate Change Institute of the University of Maine through ClimateReanalyzer.org confirm it: the average daily water temperature in the salmon feeding area has increased compared to the last years of the 20th century. This displaces their prey, forcing a longer migration. The result? Their biggest threats are climate change and predation. In the river the consequences go beyond mortality. Orekan records the reduction in size in young individuals and delays in the migration and reproduction calendar. As pointed out this global reviewthe timing of migration and the bioenergetics of the adult are the stages of the life cycle most sensitive to changes in temperature and flow. Yes, but. The Orekan data is robust at tracking individual fish, but has an important limitation: seven years of measurement is a short time series to isolate the climate signal from interannual noise. Without going any further, the studio on the river Sella needed 65 years of data to build statistically robust models. On the other hand, it is important to highlight that the Bidasoa population is artificially supported by repopulation, which masks the real magnitude of the natural collapse. Without Oronoz-Mugaire’s annual releases of fry, the wild population would probably have collapsed by now. Or what is the same: that the observed abundance data are more optimistic than the real ecological situation and that any interruption in the breeding program could precipitate extinction in a few years. And it leaves another question on the table: if the sport fishing for salmon in the Bidasoa It is still ethically sustainable when the population has been below its critical conservation limit for 26 years. This 2026 is prohibited. In Xataka | The great salmon hoax: its true color is gray but the industry has spent years spending millions to hide it In Xataka | We are drugging the salmon with cocaine and anxiolytics. And that’s causing them to behave strangely. Cover | Annual and Hector Berganza

The first letter bomb was made in a pharmacy in Vigo and exploded in the hands of the captain general of Galicia in 1829.

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TO Nazario Eguía and Sáenz de Buruaga (1777-1865) we remember him for his political and military career, which even earned him the title of Count of Casa Eguía, but if this Biscayan with strong absolutist convictions was a pioneer in something (despite himself), it was in something else: letter bombs. In October 1829, Eguía found an envelope in his office in Santiago de Compostela that burst as he took off the flap, causing him more a dozen woundssome very serious. Let it be known that it was the first letter-bomb in history and its origin (or at least that is suspected) you have to look for it in a pharmacy in Vigo. “Excessively hard”. Nazario Eguía He was going to become a clergyman, but the war got in his way. At the age of 16 he abandoned ecclesiastical studies, took up arms against the French troops and began a brilliant military career that led him to serve under the orders of Wellingtonpromote to Field Marshal before the age of 37 and occupy the position of captain general of Galicia. Over time they would even name him a count and he would distinguish himself as an outstanding Carlist. In addition to his successes on the battlefield, Eguía was known for his toughness, which among other things earned him the hatred of the liberals while he served as captain general of Galicia. As explained the biography dedicated to him by the Society of Basque Studies, displayed an “excessively harsh” character. And that ended up generating quite a few enemies. Among them some with chemical knowledge and amazing expertise when it comes to assembling almost undetectable bombs. “Del Rey, for General Eguía”. The event occurred on the morning of October 29, 1829 in the Santa Cruz palace in Santiago de Compostela, where Eguía had his office. The soldier was reviewing the correspondence with his assistant when a package caught his attention. The sheet in question came from León and came wrapped in three different envelopes. The assistant was in charge of opening the first two, but when he reached the third he found a note: “Very reserved. From the King to General Eguía”. The soldier, a staunch absolutist, could not resist the temptation: he took the letter from his assistant, went to his table, ran his index finger along one of the folds and tore the envelope. Mistake. “At the same moment a loud explosion was heard. The table sprang to pieces and the general and the chair rolled on the floor,” details the writer Manuel Curros Enríquez (1852-1908) when remembering what happened that morning. “When he got up he had one of his hands destroyed.” “A terrifying detonation”. Curros’ story is not the only story that allows us to get an idea of ​​how serious the explosion was. Another testimonyeven more valuable, was contributed by Eguía’s secretary: “A frightful detonation and the surprise left the bystanders as if petrified, whose astonishment grew when they saw their general pouring blood from his face (…) and observed the frock coat he was wearing, defeated by the mouth-sleeves and part that covered the belly.” The journalist and historian Eduardo Rolland remember that the Galician press even explained how the explosion left a blood stain on the roof of the palace that could still be seen several months after the attack. Result: 13 wounds. Not only do we have a precise idea of ​​what the explosion was like. We also know what the bomb looked like and the effect it had on its victim. Regarding the first, the letter contained gunpowder mixed with arsenic and crushed glass, a combination designed to cause maximum damage. As for the captain general, he survived by a pure miracle. The chronicles say that he suffered 13 woundssome very seriousdistributed over the face, belly and thighs. The worst part was taken by their hands. The right one was so torn that doctors had to amputate it. On the left he lost two fingers. He was so badly off that the Government had to grant him a dispensation special so that he could sign documents with the help of a stamp. Who was the author? It seems that Eguía did not have many doubts. The story de Curros (not without epic) claims that after the explosion the captain proclaimed that he still had one hand left “to hang the culprit” and then cited his main suspect: “No one but Chao is capable of inventing such a perfect work!” This Chao was neither more nor less than José María Chao, chemist, pharmacist and above all a militant liberal. We know that he was a native of Leiro (province of Ourense), who participated in skirmishes during the Liberal Triennium and that around 1826 he set up a pharmacy in what is now the historic center of Vigo, a pharmacy that ended up becoming a reference for liberals forced to adapt to the Omino DecadeOh the repression under the reign of Ferdinand VII. The big doubt. Was Chao really the creator of the first known letter bomb? It is certainly not strange that Eguía suspected him. In addition to his chemical knowledge, in October 1829 Chao he had just gotten out of prison and it is said that his pharmacy was a hotbed of conspirators. It is true that the package bomb had been sent from Leónbut that could have been a ploy to deceive the authorities. However, evidence is one thing and evidence is another. Not all sources agree on whether the attack was clarified and Chao’s responsibility was confirmed. The biography that the Royal Academy of History (RAH) dedicates to Eguía assures that, although the liberals were suspected, “the authors could not be discovered.” The Voice of Galicia assures However, the apothecary could not get rid of a punishment and Rolland goes further and he slips that in 1873 Chao was “unequivocally” identified as the author of the letter. The first letter-bomb in history? What surely neither Eguía, nor Chao, nor any … Read more

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