Mobile Tech & Gadgets

Someone has analyzed 136 million buildings threatened by rising sea levels. And there are reasons to worry

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One of the biggest threats we have as a society is undoubtedly rising sea levels. A process that is slow, but that can end up changing the mental maps that we now have from world geography to finish coastal areas of some regions completely flooded. Something that a study wanted to shed light on analyzed building by building flood risk in the Global South. And the result is alarming. The study. Published in npj Urban Sustainabilityis the first to analyze the impact on this scale in Africa, Southeast Asia, and Central and South America. “The rise in sea level is a slow but unstoppable consequence of the global warming that is already impacting coastal populations and will continue for centuries,” explains Natalya Gomez, co-author of the study. The numbers. The study analyzes the exposure of buildings to different levels of local sea level rise (LSLR), regardless of a specific time scale. This allows the findings to remain relevant as climate projections are updated. In this case the data is quite compelling. First of all, with just 0.5 meters of sea level rise, 3 million buildings would be submerged under the sea. Something that is inevitable right now, even if the most ambitious emissions cuts on the table are applied. If we talk about a five-meter rise in sea level, a scenario that could occur in several hundred years if emissions do not stop, the exposure would skyrocket to 45 million buildings. And in the most extreme case, with a 20-meter rise in the LSLR, the figure would reach 136 million buildings. How it was done. To achieve this level of detail, the scientific team combined several cutting-edge technologies. They used the database Google Open Buildings V2which identifies the location and outline of billions of buildings by analyzing satellite images. This data was cross-referenced with FABDEM, a digital global elevation model that, thanks to machine learning, removes the height of trees and buildings themselves to obtain the true elevation of the “bare ground.” This is crucial to not underestimate the risk of flooding. Finally, they adjusted the calculations using a global tidal model to reflect the water level during high tide, thus providing a more realistic estimate of the danger. Uneven impact. The risk is not the same in all regions, since the study reveals that in the early stages of sea level rise, Africa is the continent with the highest number of buildings affected. However, as the LSLR intensifies, Southeast Asia quickly comes to dominate the flood figures. A key finding is the non-linear nature of the threat. Building loss is relatively high below two meters LSLR, but accelerates dramatically between 2 and 4 meters. Professor Jeff Cardile, co-author of the study, points out that “we were surprised by the large number of buildings at risk from relatively modest long-term sea level rise.” This means that we are not facing a problem that is gradually worsening, but rather one that could reach tipping points with devastating consequences. Many of these buildings are located in low-altitude, high-density areas, affecting entire neighborhoods and critical infrastructure such as ports, refineries, and cultural heritage enclaves. Planning. Beyond the global warning, the study seeks to be a useful tool. Researchers have created an interactive map available through Google Earth which allows policy makers and urban planners to visualize which regions face the greatest exposure. And on this map you will be able to see, building by building, the risk of ending up below sea level as a consequence of climate change. A global problem. Although this study has focused on the effects that will occur in Africa or Asia, the reality is that it is a problem that affects us all. As the study points out, all of us depend on food, goods and fuel that pass through ports and coastal infrastructure that are exposed to this rise in sea level. Thus, disruption of this infrastructure can cause disruption with serious economic consequences globally. That is why this tool can guide climate adaptation strategies, such as the construction of protective infrastructure, the adjustment of land use planning or, in some cases, the planned relocation of communities. As Maya Willard-Stepan, lead author of the study, concludes: “We cannot escape at least a moderate amount of sea level rise. The sooner coastal communities start planning, the more likely they are to continue to thrive.” Images | Chris Gallagher Marc Pell In Xataka | In the midst of climate change, cities only have one question to answer: become a sponge or a mousetrap

The new trend in AI is “AI agents.” The only problem is that almost no one is clear about what they are.

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It is not the first time that a word becomes fashionable in the technology sector. It has happened with IoT, Big data, Blockchain and even 5G. In English they call it buzzword and refers to those terms that are repeated and repeated until they almost lose their meaning. It has happened with AI and, now that we have overcome that first stage, it was time to give it a surname. The chosen one is agentic AI and, suddenly everything is agentic AI. I experienced it a couple of weeks ago in the Qualcomm Snapdragon Summit. During the different conferences, the most repeated words were “agents” and “agentic”. The problem is that they didn’t show any real products that actually fit this definition. They are not the only ones, there is a whole wave of companies that already call agentic AI literally anything that has minimal automation. Agents all the time everywhere Agentic AI It was going to be a revolution in 2025but reality ended lower the smoke to the gurus of the sector. With this I don’t mean that everything is a hoax, AI agents are very real and they are already here. We can try them If we have the ChatGPT Plus plan. At the development level, Anthropic allows create scheduling agents with Claude and Google with Gemini. Other platforms like Salesforce offer their own custom AI agents for specific sectors such as public or industrial. They are improving a lot, but the reality is that AI agents They are still very green as has been demonstrated in enough tests. There is no real product, not even one that they are developing, everything is part of a dream, one in which AI agents are even in the soup. Being cautious and waiting for technology to develop does not suit many companies. Returning to the case of Qualcomm, in the “The Ecosystem of You” conferenceits CEO Cristiano Amon drew us a future in which “the agent” does everything for us, absolutely everything: “The agent will understand our world and will be helping us, anticipating every need.” The problem is that everything he showed It was simply a demo. There is no real product, not even one that they are developing, everything is part of a dream, one in which AI agents are even in the soup. What is agentic AI It is also known as agentive AI, agential AI or simply “AI agents”. Google defines it as “an advanced form of artificial intelligence focused on autonomous decision-making and action.” For NVIDIA is an AI that “uses sophisticated reasoning and iterative planning to autonomously solve complex, multi-step problems.” For amazon It is “an autonomous system that can act independently to achieve predetermined goals” and they add that, unlike generative AI, agential AI “is proactive and can perform complex tasks without constant human supervision.” It seems pretty clear, generative AI responds to one request at a time, while agentic AI can achieve more complex goals, making decisions autonomously. An AI agent must be able to collect information, use tools and solve problems to achieve the objective we have given it. They call it agentic AI because “AI with slight automation” doesn’t sound so good In another of the Snapdragon Summit conferences they showed us several products that were real, one of them is Page.aian AI assistant that works locally on mobile. During the intervention, the presenteror stopped repeating that the app had agentic functionswhen the most they showed was how the AI ​​was capable of organizing a barbecue: it created an event on the calendar and then invited a friend. What caught my attention is that the creator of the app did not use the word, but was the presenter. The reality is that many of the use cases presented as agents are, at best, a kind of IFTTT on steroids. In this CNBC articlethe head of AI at the consulting firm EY assured that “Many in the market want to take advantage of it. We have witnessed an incredible change of image of everything related to generative AI, which is now presented as agentic AI.” “Agent washing”: when products that are sold as agents are actually products that already existed. At the beginning of the year, Gartner surveyed more than 3,000 companies who promote AI agents and discovered a trend they call “agent washing.” That is to say, many products sold as agents are actually products that already existed. Gartner estimates that of the 3,000 companies, only 130 sell real AI agents. “Most agency AI proposals lack significant value or return on investment,” said analyst Anushree Verma. The firm predicts that more than 40% of agentic AI projects will be canceled before the end of 2027. Why so much hype? In May of this year, a survey of senior American executives revealed that 88% of companies had planned to increase their AI budget before the arrival of agents. Most respondents believed agentic AI was going to change workplaces more than the internet did, and nearly half were worried about competitors adopting AI agents before them. The fear of being left behind has encouraged many companies to jump into the pool without fully understanding what agentic AI is. It makes sense that they want to hype it up and even “cheat” by calling agents who really are not: they are investing a lot in this and they need it to turn out well. Image | Gemini In Xataka | A group of AI experts attended a party at a mansion. The topic of conversation: what will happen when AI ends humanity

Whether we can call vegetable burgers “burgers” (and they look like they will last for years)

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Can a food that is does not contain meat? Is a tofu sausage really a “sausage”? When a manufacturer keeps those old terms in its new products, is it misleading consumers or is it making it easier for itself? The debate comes from afar (from very far away), but seems to be clear for the current European Chamber, exit from the polls in 2024: Plant-based food is one thing and the terms associated with meat are another, so it’s best to separate them. What is not so clear is that it can settle the discussion. Words (and something else). Europe’s food industry has been involved in a debate that has little to do with the raising of livestock, the regulation of agriculture, the competition of other markets or the health of consumers. His main obsession is words. Literally. If an oat drink can be called “milk”, tofu “sausages” must be presented as such or a vegan “burger” is not more of a “vegetable disc”. It may seem like a bureaucratic issue, but there is something more at stake than language: the right to label new products with old labels that are also clearly recognizable by consumers. And that’s gold when it comes to competing in supermarkets. Hence the debate on denominations (far from ceasing) has just written a new and important chapter in Strasbourg. 355 vs 247. What the European Parliament has done is to support with 355 votes in favor (against 247 against and 30 abstentions) an initiative that proposes prohibiting terms such as “hamburger”, “schnitzel”, “steak” or “sausage” from being used on foods that do not contain any meat. In other words, those words (well recognized by customers after decades of use) remain out of the reach of new companies dedicated to marketing food. plant based. “A steak, a schnitzel or a sausage are products of our livestock, not laboratory art or plant products. We need transparency and clarity for the consumer, as well as recognition of the work of our farmers,” claim the MEP Celine Imartauthor of the amendment to community legislation. Imart represents France, the country that clearer is insisting on change, and is also part of the Group of the European People’s Party (EPP). If the proposal has achieved the endorsement of Strasbourg, it is precisely because of the support it has received from the right after the pressure exerted by the livestock and agricultural sectors. In front he met the rejection of the left and the Greens. And now what? That the initiative has received the endorsement of the European Parliament does not mean that the packages advertising hamburgers based on tofu and seitan will disappear, nuggets vegetables or tofu sausages. For this, it is necessary for the proposal to obtain the endorsement of the European Commission and the governments of the 27 countries of the community club. It will now be up to the Commission and the Council to negotiate the measure and (if applicable) approve the initiative and translate it into law. It won’t be easy. And not only because of the rejection of other political formations. The European People’s Party itself does not have a firm position on the matter, as its leader in the European Parliament, the German, has made clear. Manfred Weberwho before the vote acknowledged that he does not believe it is a priority issue. “Consumers are not stupid when they go to the supermarket to buy,” he stressed. The fact that new plant-based foods have to do without terms like “burger” or “steak” has also raised the opposition from large companies in the sector, such as Aldi and Lidl. In September a group of companies including both German chains, Burger King, Green Force and the sausage producer Rügenwalder Múhle (among others) launched an open letter in which they warn that the legislative change “goes against the objective of achieving a resilient and diversified food supply”, “weakens” the rights of customers and “harms companies”. “The proposal results in making it more difficult for consumers to make informed decisions. Familiar terms are practical aids that allow them to make conscious purchasing decisions,” concludes the letter. Click on the image to go to the tweet. (Much) more than a vote. That does not mean that the European Parliament’s vote is a dead letter. At the very least, it reveals that the debate is still very much alive in the European institutions, where it has already accumulated a long legislative history with frustrated attempts, extensive discussions and measures that have come to fruition. Among the last ones is the decision adopted by the Court of Justice of the EU in 2017 on the use of dairy terms for plant-based products, such as soy or oat drinks. The agency concluded that only products of animal origin could use terms such as “milk,” “butter” or “yogurt.” Better “vegetable discs”? Since then the debate around the use of terms associated with meat has continued to rage over the EU. Five years ago the European Parliament already discussed a similar initiative within the framework of the CAP reform, which led the sector to fear that vegetable sausages or hamburgers would have to be renamed “vegetable tubes or discs“. The change of denominations it didn’t go ahead in the House, but its defenders have never thrown in the towel. In 2024 European justice had to speak out against France’s decision to ban words like “steak” on plant foods, and this spring the issue arose during a review of the regulation. Common Organization of Markets. What will happen from now on? For now, Imart and his supporters have achieved a significant victory in Strasbourg, largely driven by the endorsement of a European Parliament. more heeled to the right than five years ago. Curiously, the measure seems to generate more concern in institutional offices and companies than on the street, where the use of the terms does not keep people up at night. This is revealed by a survey carried out five years ago by the European … Read more

literally running out of hot water by 2027

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Brussels has started a new wave of rules designed to protect public health and harmonize standards throughout the Union, and the measure has put manufacturers, regulators and consumers alike on edge… while technicians discuss lists and scientific evaluations in offices and committees, workshops and assembly lines nervously observe the implementation schedule. Therefore, what on paper seems like an unimportant technical detail can lead to something much bigger. A bureaucratic failure. I told it this week the financial times. A cut in a technical list of authorized substances in the European Union – part of an ambitious reform to protect the quality of drinking water that comes into force in 2027 – has unleashed the real possibility that millions of Europeans will become face cold showers. Apparently an administrative omission hafnium and zirconiumkey elements in the enamelling of hot water tanks, do not appear among the recognized substances, and without that authorization more than 90% of current accumulators (water heaters) could be excluded from the European market. What in Brussels is a technical file translates into towns and cities with failing boilers, paralyzed factories and an immediate effect on prices and domestic supply if it is not urgently corrected. Why hafnium and zirconium matter. Hafnium and its “brother” zirconium are not accessories: they participate in the vitrification process inside the tanks and prevent the enamel from cracking. Without them, the protective cover of the tank comes off and the result is obvious and practical: water that does not heat up or premature losses of the equipment. Furthermore, these metals are also used in heat pump varnisha critical component in the thermal electrification that accompanies gas withdrawal. The Times remembered that putting them on the positive list is not a favor to the industry but rather a technical condition for the equipment to work and last as expected. The real economic cost. Replacing hafnium or zirconium with alternatives such as steel or copper would increase the manufacturing cost between four and five timesaccording to the manufacturers, an increase that would inevitably fall on consumers already affected by the energy crisis. For companies the ability to compete on price and supply product in Europe would be at risk facing non-EU rivals that do not face the same regulatory labyrinth, which increases the threat of relocation or loss of industrial investment on the continent. Complexity and absences. The episode reveals two institutional problems: on the one hand, the Commission’s regulatory roadmap did not precisely consider that hot water tanks are part of the drinking water circuit, and on the other, the mechanism to correct the oversight is slow and technocratic. The Commission maintains that it is the Member Statesthose who must notify the need to authorize these substances, and none has done so so far. There are alternative routes (toxicological applications or temporary national authorizations), but the industry considers them too slow and expensive to avoid an interim shortage. Solutions and limits. In practice, there are three exits: a rapid amendment at EU level to include hafnium and zirconium on the list, temporary national authorizations to sustain production while the European assessment is processed, and accelerated toxicological assessment procedures required by the Commission. Each option has its costs and trade-offs: the amendment requires political will and speed in Brussels, the national route can fragment the market and raise costs, and rapid scientific processes must preserve security without becoming an excuse for indefinite delays. In other words, none of the three are perfect, but inaction is possibly the worst alternative. What is at stake. If you also want, the problem is not only domestic or purely technical: it touches on the European ambition of decarbonize heating through heat pumps and electrical appliances. If the regulations induce manufacturers to abandon investments or produce outside the EU due to lack of certainty, the European energy transition would lose momentum and industrial sovereignty. Likewise, the error regulates a greater tension: how to make legitimate health standards compatible with the need to maintain strategic industrial chains and the competitiveness of the European productive fabric. Quick and coordinated correction. I remembered the medium in his report that the solution that best preserves public and private interests involves an expeditious correction in a community key accompanied by scientific safeguards: provisionally authorize use with technical conditions (traceability of supply, quality controls and periodic reviews), accelerate toxicological evaluations and, above all, establish a preventive mechanism for the Commission to integrate the voice of the industry in the technical lists when the standards touch critical industrial processes. Without this coordination, the regulatory shortcut not only aims to cause a equipment cost increase and job losses, but will send the wrong signal to investors considering returning production to Europe. That’s without taking into account the topic nuclearbecause the delay is not only technical, but tangible: it is the difference between a hot shower and a useless radiator. Image | Pixnio, PXHere In Xataka | We are the third country that takes the most showers in Europe. There are scientists trying to find out if this is good news In Xataka | There are people who want to change your life thanks to a cold shower: what science says

the cities are no longer yellow

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Astronauts who have been lucky enough to travel to space more than once in the last decade are privileged witnesses of a chromatic change on a planetary scale. From their vantage point 400 kilometers high, they have been able to see that the cities, previously faint spots of amber, now shine with an intense white light. It’s not a metaphor. It is the visible trace of one of the most rapid and widespread infrastructure transformations in recent history: the great replacement of public lighting. We have retired the old sodium vapor streetlights and massively embraced LED. This change, driven by regulation in favor of energy efficiency, has redrawn the night map of the Earth, a phenomenon that can be seen more clearly from space. The invention that earned a Nobel Prize in Physics. Old sodium vapor lamps, especially low-pressure ones, were monochromatic in nature. They emitted light in a very narrow band of the spectrum, resulting in that characteristic and ubiquitous yellow-orange hue that tinted our streets and skies. LED lights work in a completely different way. His breakthrough, which earned Isamu Akasaki, Hiroshi Amano and Shuji Nakamura the 2014 Nobel Prize in Physicswas the invention of the high-efficiency blue LED. By combining this blue LED with a phosphor coating, it was finally possible to generate a bright and affordable white light. This diode is not only more efficient (exceeding 300 lumens per watt, compared to 16 for an incandescent bulb), but it offers a much broader spectrum. Southern Europe in 2025 from the International Space Station. Image: Don Pettit The cities changed color. To the eyes of a night observer in space, cities have gone from being yellow to glowing bluish white. Milan is the paradigmatic case: it completed its transition to LED in 2015, and appears in an ESA comparison with before and after photos taken by astronauts André Kuipers and Samantha Cristoforetti. But it is by no means the only case. Los Angeles was a pioneering city: it ordered the replacement of 140,000 streetlights in 2009. Buenos Aires modernized its lighting with smart LED streetlights between 2013 and 2016. New York finished replacing 500,000 bulbs in 2023. Barcelona plans total remote management of public lighting by 2028. But India is the country that carries out the largest replacement in the world, with more than 13 million LED streetlights already installed. The b side of this transformation. Like any revolution, the LED has a dark side. Light is cheaper, so cities are not only replacing old streetlights, but also increasing the number of light points or their intensity. The result is that we are leaving a brighter planet, where it is most difficult to escape of light pollution. The statistics indicated otherwise, but it must be taken into account that light pollution is measured by satellites, and satellites are partially blind to blue light. This means that the actual increase in light pollution, especially that perceived by human beingsis much higher than official figures indicate. To make matters worse, blue light is the one that interferes the most with our biological clock, and can affect the quality of sleep, in the same way that disorients migratory birds and the moths. The future is adjustable. The solution is not to go back to sodium. The efficiency of the LED is indisputable. The key, as with any technology, is in its application. The next phase of this transition is not about changing light bulbs, but about installing smart streetlights. It is estimated that almost one in four streetlights will be smart by 2030. When connected, they can regulate their intensity depending on the time or traffic, detect faults in real time and collect environmental data. This remote management will allow one of the new lighting maxims to be applied: using only the necessary light, when and where it is needed. In parallel, other solutions have emerged to protect biodiversity, such as red light streetlights being tested in Nordic cities so as not to disturb the bats. and the idea of ​​bioluminescence as an organic way of generating light without any electrical consumption and with minimal environmental impact. Image | The Iberian Peninsula in 2012, by astronaut Don Pettit In Xataka | Why sunlight doesn’t illuminate space: solving the question a child sent to the ISS

For decades a silent boom has been taking hold in many regions of China: Christianity

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The recent history of Christianity in China is anything but simple. First for the Cultural Revolution and more recently, with Xi Jinping at the helm of the Communist Party, for repression against the unofficial churches. However, despite this troubled chronicle, experts tend to agree on something: in recent decades the Christian faith has expanded with force for the country. So much so that it already clearly dominates certain regions and there is who considers that in no time China will be “the largest Christian nation in the world.” How many Christians are there in China? The question is quite simple. Answer it, not so much. The China General Social Survey shows that between 2010 and 2018 the percentage of Chinese adults who identify as Christians (Catholic and Protestant) it was around 2%a percentage that can be found in essays about the matter. However, there is a quick search to find authors which differ significantly from that estimate, placing it at 3%, 7% or even 9% of the total population, which also includes children. In 2020 The Economist pointed that only Protestants make up 3% of the country’s population, although there are studies that suggest the real figure could be much higher if unregistered clandestine churches are taken into account. The reality is that it is not easy to have a precise figure. The reasons are multiple: the control of information by Beijing, the diversity of sources and methods in making calculations or even the “linguistic and conceptual differences between religion in East Asia and other regions”, such as warns Pew Research. How many believers are we talking about? The answer is again the same: it depends on the source. Although given the large size of China (1.4 billion inhabitants) even the most conservative calculations would leave a census of tens of millions. How many? Years ago, a Peking University study spoke of 40 millionWorld Population Review raises the estimate to 49.2 million and Visual Capitalist has even gone further, placing the figure close to 72 million. Is there more data? Yes. Other sources speak of some 20 million of adults, 60 million if the global population is taken into account, or even 100 million. Although its considerable disparitythe data lends itself to two clear readings. The first is the enormous weight of Protestants in the Chinese Christian community (some studies claim that represent 90% thanks to your great expansion). The second is that it is not necessary to resort to the most optimistic calculations to verify that China already surpasses (by far) the number of Christians in countries like Germany, France or Spain and would even be a handful of millions of believers in Italy if both Catholic and Protestant Christians are taken into account. How are they distributed throughout the country? A few years ago Reuters produced a map based on the studies of Professor Fenggang Yang, from Purdue University, which shows the dominant confession in the different regions of China. The plan reflects that Buddhism prevails in most of the southern and southwestern regions while other areas such as Xinjiang or Gansu are Muslim. Catholicism and especially Protestantism shine on the eastern flank. Even in Zhejiang areadespite the challenges that believers have encountered there. And what is the evolution? A quick Google search shows there are experts convinced that Christianity will continue to expand strongly in China and even place it among the countries in which the religion is experiencing greater growth, especially if we talk about Protestantism. In 2016 Professor Yang predicted that in 2030 the Asian giant will be “the largest Christian country in the world” despite its enormous Buddhist and Muslim population, among other confessions. “If we use an average annual growth rate of 7%, there will be more than 224 million Protestants in China by 2030,” the expert reflectedwho specifies that they would represent 16% of the population. “If we add Catholics, it would take even less time for China to become the largest Christian nation.” Does everyone have the same opinion? No, not everyone is so optimistic. In 2023 Pew Research published a study which suggests that, although Christianity expanded during the 80s and 90s (between 1982 and 1997 its faithful base went from six to 14 million), in recent years it has shown signs of “stabilizing.” As proof, they are based on official data that reflect that the percentage of Christian adults has barely changed between 2010 and 2018, without the pandemic having altered that picture. Still, Pew Research recognize that, in general, “survey-based estimates of China’s Christian population could be conservative,” as there are believers who choose not to reveal their faith “for fear of negative social or economic consequences,” especially if they belong to an unregistered church. Images | Gary Todd (Flickr) and Visual Capitalist (Pallavi Rao) In Xataka | China faces a bigger problem than the birth rate crisis: its young people are too busy to form couples

The Indies Fleet sank in 1715 loaded with treasures from the ‘New World’. We just recovered a million dollar one

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On July 24, 1715, from the port of Havana, the Indies Fleet He left for Spain. The holds of the ships kept treasures of incalculable value that the Spanish had collected in the ‘New World‘, but everything was cut short a few days later. On the 31st, a hurricane sank eleven of the twelve ships, and that treasure of hundreds or billions of euros was lost. But not forever, since we just found a part. And the big question is the same as always: now… what. In search of treasure. It is estimated that 1,500 sailors lost their lives, but it was also one of the events that triggered one of the golden ages of piracy in America. Among the riches there were chests with coins and silver ingots, silver chests, others loaded with jewels and precious stones, as well as pearls, emeralds, porcelain and ingots of both gold and silver. It is estimated that the burden would be equivalent to more than 400 million current dollars. Taking all this into account, it is no longer so strange to think that the Indies Fleet of 1715 was the objective of the treasure hunter of the time. The Spanish tried it first, who claimed to have found 80% of the treasure. The problem is that it is not clear that the amount was that and the news spread like wildfire, causing the pirates and privateers will carry out attacks trying get hold of the loot recovered. Coins on the beach. Some were successful, but much of the treasure was still somewhere in the waters of the Caribbean. A couple of centuries later, a retiree named Kip Wagner began finding Spanish coins near his home on the beaches of Florida. None were dated after 1715, so he began to wonder. His suspicions were confirmed when he found an 18th-century map detailing the sinking. He founded the Real Eight Company to search for the treasure, and eight NASA and Air Force divers recovered a couple thousand pieces in a single day. It was clear: the treasure of the Indies Fleet It was there. As usually happens in these cases, treasure hunting companies began to become interested, and the protagonist of this story is 1715 Fleet Queens Jewels. We have found it. They have exclusive “salvage” rights, so they are the only ones who can carry out inspections to recover the treasures and, in the summer of 2025, an expedition carried out the great advertisement: More than 1,000 silver reales and five gold coins minted in the Spanish colonies of Mexico, Peru and Bolivia had been recovered. Some are completely eroded, but many others preserve mint marks -inscription indicating where it was manufactured- and the date, so they have directly become a valuable historical testimony. It is estimated that they all come from the same chest of the dozens that sank that day and it is a unique discovery, since finding a handful of coins is common, but a thousand at once is something much more unique. A good loot. The value of what was found has been estimated at one million dollars, but beyond the coins, a royal lead seal with the impression of the king Philip II. There is still much more at the bottom of the ocean. Despite 70 years of systematic searching, it is estimated that there are at least three ships from the fleet that are still missing, being the next targets of 1715 Fleet. Who keeps it? Sal Guttuso is the company’s director of operations and comments that what was found is “a tangible link with the people who lived, worked and sailed during the Golden Age of the Spanish Empire”, but beyond the romanticism, the big question is who gets the treasure. As they have been found in Florida state waters, its legislation establishes that any treasure considered “abandoned” belongs to the state. However, if you do not want to take charge of the search efforts, Florida grants permits to qualified organizations for exploration and recovery. Thus, it establishes that “salvers” can retain 80% of the recovered artifacts, while the remaining 20% ​​are cleaned, documented and preserved in educational collections and public exhibitions. According to 1715 Treasure Fleet, after cataloging them, some pieces will be exhibited in local museums in Florida. The next thing is to see what happens with future expeditions… and if the Flota de Indias treasure ends up causing a international earthquake like that of the San José galleon. Images | 1715 Fleet (2) In Xataka | The Spanish galleon San José sank carrying 20 billion dollars. Mexico and Colombia are going to bring that treasure to light

We have discovered the “button” that activates our hunger. And it is the next revolution in weight loss medications

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In the molecular complexity that reigns in our body with the aim of controlling all its processes, Weight and appetite are undoubtedly one of the most complicated to keep under control.. Now, an international team of scientists has shed light about a molecular mechanism that acts as a master modulator, changing the way our brain processes hunger and satiety signals. Something that can give rise to new medications such as the famous Ozempic. The study. Published in the journal Nature, this research focuses on a key player in our metabolism: the melanocortin-4 receptor or MCR4. In this way, you can think that MCR4 is the “guardian of appetite” because it is nothing more than a protein present in our neurons that, when activated, tells us that we are satiated and that it is time to burn energy and reduce food intake. However, the operation is not as simple as the switch that turns the light on or off in our house. This is where its lesser-known, but crucial, partner comes into play: the MRAP2 accessory protein. The big change. Until now, it was known that the MRAP2 protein interacts with MC4R, but the consequences of this relationship were not fully understood. The new research reveals that MRAP2 has a drastic effect on the behavior of the appetite guardian and this is where the role it may have as a therapeutic target comes into play. What was known until now is that MC4R receptors tend to clump together on the surface of cells, forming “oligomers” or, to simplify, working in pairs or groups. Now the study shows that when MRAP2 enters the scene, it breaks these bonds and forces the MC4R receptors to act as “monomers”, that is, alone. A priori, the fact of going from being paired to acting alone may be insignificant, but the consequences it has are enormous and completely modify the recipient’s response to stimuli. Boosts the main signal. This is one of the effects caused by the MRAP2 interaction in this equation. Specifically, it has been seen that when it is in a monomeric state, MC4R becomes much more efficient in activating signaling pathways mediated by the G protein. This means that, with the same amount of stimulus (the α-MSH hormonewhich makes us feel satiated), the cell’s response is considerably stronger. Cancels stop signal. Normally, after activation, the receptors recruit a protein called β-arrestin2, which acts as a brake: it stops signaling and causes the receptor to be internalized, removing it from the cell surface to “reset” the system. Surprisingly, MRAP2 impairs this process. It hinders the recruitment of β-arrestin2, which in turn reduces the internalization of the receptor, so its ligands can bind to it in a much simpler way. The receiver on the front line. By preventing the receptor from entering the cell, MRAP2 allows MC4R to remain on the cell surface longer, ready to continue receiving signals. It’s like keeping a soldier on the front lines of battle instead of sending him to rest. In summary, MRAP2 acts as a “tuner” that modifies the MC4R receptor, biasing its function toward more potent and sustained G protein-mediated effects, while disabling its own braking system. The importance. Once this process has been understood, we move on to its importance in the clinic. The first thing that has been seen is that mutations in the MRAP2 gene are associated with cases of severe obesity in humans. This study provides for the first time the detailed molecular mechanism that explains why. Bottom line, if MRAP2 isn’t working properly, the MC4R “appetite keeper” doesn’t get that extra boost, becoming less efficient and contributing to an energy imbalance. These findings open a new avenue for drug development. Instead of looking for molecules that simply activate or deactivate MC4R, one could now think of therapies that modulate the interaction between MC4R and MRAP2. We could design treatments that mimic the effect of MRAP2 to enhance the satiety signal in people with obesity, offering a much more sophisticated approach tailored to the biology of our body. More drugs. Right now on the market we have different treatments that are focused on those people who have the most problems losing weight. We talk especially about GLP-1 agonists such as Ozempic or Mounjaro, which have given good results. But on the horizon we can see that they will not be alone and many others will arrive. Images | i yunmai Drew Hays In Xataka | Solving one of the great myths of losing weight: if “walking quickly” works by itself to lose weight

the history of the first radar in Spain

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Do you know how many people died in 2024 in traffic accidents? 1,154. An “unaffordable” figure, in the words of Fernando Grande-Marlaska, Minister of the Interior who gave the press conference in which the data was made public. In total, 14 more people died than in 2023 and the number has been growing slowly since 2020 when the coronavirus pandemic significantly reduced displacement. In the last decade, Spain moves on the border of the 1,000 deaths but it cannot continue to lower this figure. Now imagine multiplying that number by four. And more or less we will have the number of deaths recorded in 1964. That year, in Spain there were 3,803 deaths recorded on the road. But in addition, 82,953 people were injured of varying severity. In total, 79,494 accidents were recorded. Of these, it is estimated that 31.63% of drivers were traveling at a “dangerous speed,” according to the Accident Statistical Yearbook. The time had come to take action. And those measures brought the first traffic radar seen in Spain. This was the first radar It is no coincidence that the DGT speaks of 1964 as the key year that ended up opening the door to the radars in Spain. That year, they point out on their websitethe magazine Black and White explained what a “cinemometer” was, about which they said that “this new device records the number of vehicles that pass a certain place on a road and at the same time indicates the speed they are traveling at.” However, it would not be until 1968 when the Traffic Group of the Civil Guard saw a device that they must have felt had come from the sky. Until then, agents used a system… let’s call it precarious. Before radars existed, Civil Guard cars had a speedometer in the right headlight. The driver would then approach the offending car and keep pace. From the passenger side, a photograph was taken showing the speed at which the vehicle was traveling and the offending car. It was in 1968, however, when radars made an appearance. After the first tests, the agents began to mount the equipment in the cars. The ones chosen were the Renault 10 and the Seat 124 that the Civil Guard used daily but they had to carry a luggage rack to be able to transport the enormous devices. These consisted of a radio system that, using microwaves, was capable of estimating the speed at which a vehicle was moving. This acted together with another device, known as photocontrolwho was in charge of taking the photograph so that there was evidence of the offending vehicle. At the end of the day, the film rolls from the camera had to be sent to the Traffic Headquarters to be developed and, later, printed. The time of taking, the date and the speed at which the vehicle was being driven at that time were recorded in the photograph. The system was not very different from the current one therefore. The devices also had other problems. They could only be used on completely flat ground. If this was not the case, the calibration began to make errors. In addition, they were heavy to transport and, obviously, could only be used when stationary. It was something like having to install a fixed radar every day. That made the management of fines was especially cumbersome. Every day, the agents who had to perform these functions had to travel to the indicated place. Once there, all the data related to the control had to be entered by hand. With each change of road, the agent covered himself with a black curtain to prevent any photos from being obscured by their change. Six hours after keeping the radar in operation, the agent had to spend another two hours writing reports about what happened. They explain on the DGT website that since the number of these devices was minimal and there was very little knowledge about them, the Civil Guard had to send its agents to France or Germany to recycle their knowledge. Those first radars began to spread from Madrid and Barcelona and little by little, already in the 70stheir number was expanding. The margin for committing an infraction was low since the radars could not detect vehicles traveling above 150 km/h. In those days, only a handful of cars could exceed this speed. What was said in those moments? Little thing. Things from a country that was experiencing a dictatorship in those days, so the dissenting voices tended to zero… at least in the media. In fact, the arrival of these devices was praised, pointing out The Vanguard that, now, drivers had to circulate “as it should be”. Photo | DGT In Xataka | 74,000 fines and counting: the most voracious radar in all of Spain is located in a specific point in Madrid

In rural Salamanca someone has had an idea to revitalize the towns: give you the bar

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Spain is full of ghost towns that are sold for a few hundred thousand euros. There are also such small towns where, unfortunately, silence is your most precious asset. And I say “unfortunately” because they are isolated areas, towns with barely a hundred inhabitants that are seeking to have a new life and that are launching initiatives to, if not maintain, stop losing population. The idea of ​​a Salamanca town is “give a present“the bar to whoever wants it. They only have one condition: Open on weekends. Rent for one euro a year. Alba Coca It is a small town in Salamanca that had its population peak in the 60s with… 273 inhabitants. Since then, free fall to 95 registered in 2024. It is another of those towns with centuries of history behind it, and another of those that have a shortage of resources due to the gradual abandonment of a population that has been migrating to the cities. To try to breathe life into the town, the City Council has had an idea: rent the municipal bar for a symbolic price: one euro a year. A few years ago, and after renovating it thanks to the help of the Salamanca Provincial Council, an Argentine family registered in the town and took over the business. He gave it life, but after returning to his country, the local, fully equipped and 200 square meters, it was abandoned again. “The bar is everything”. Dori Vicente Ciudad is the mayor of Coca de Alba and points out the importance of the place as it is not only… well, a bar, but also a center for leisure, meeting, coexistence and entertainment as it can be used as a civic center. The rent, as we say, is symbolic, but the condition is that “it must open, at least, on weekends.” In addition, the mayor comments that she asks the successful bidders to register in the town and attract people to energize it. Because the bar will not be the leisure center of Coca de Alba: it will also be the center of people from other nearby towns who could be attracted to the activities held there. A carte blanche, in short. That importance for the figure of the bar is something that anyone who lives in or visits such small towns knows well. Pedro Astudillo is the mayor of Border Zoritaanother town in Salamanca with about 150 inhabitants that also rents the bar for about 180 euros per month and is thinking of installing solar panels to alleviate expenses. “The bar is everything, the meeting place where we all get together, it is a social good,” assures the councilor, who shares the opinion with Juan Carlos Martín, mayor of Cantaracillo -190 inhabitants after reaching 825 in the 50s-. “The bar is a meeting point, you see more people on the street, it creates activity, it is a very important benefit and is essential in the municipalities,” says Juan Carlos. Cantaracillo rents his bar for 50 euros a month, and it already has license plates. Alba Coca Institutional support. This giving life to the bars of emptied Spain is not an isolated measure and, in fact, the Salamanca Provincial Council itself detailed at the end of 2023 that there was a plan to allocate some 300,000 euros so that towns that do not have active hospitality establishments can open one. Thus, each city council that requested it would have up to 30,000 euros to undertake the renovation. At the time, it was estimated that there were at least 80 towns that could benefit from subsidies and it was ensured that anyone who met the requirements would not be left without help. The conditions were similar to those of Coca de Alba: commitment to opening throughout the year with an activity of at least two days a week. It is not an isolated case. It is no longer just the symbolic price (and not so symbolic in other cases), but the commitment of the people installing solar panels or running the bar’s expenses so that the meager profits from the establishment go to whoever settles in the town to run it. Although we mention cases of Salamanca, other towns have recently launched contests to find someone to run the municipal bar. Bermellar is also in Salamanca and, apart from offer the bar for one euro, also includes housing. Towns of Burgos like Santa Cecilia have similar offers and, apart from institutional initiatives, there are also some private ones. For example, BarLab Rural is a project promoted by Mahou-San Miguel and AlmaNatura to reopen bars in towns with less than 5,000 inhabitants. There is no clear guide to attract population or, as we said, encourage what is there not to be lost. AND examples of initiatives there are lots, like promote research, create parties, give it all done or directly pay for you to move. Images | Google Maps, Tamorlan In Xataka | Spain’s industry is moving from traditional cities to Emptied Spain. The reason: renewables

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