500 million years of evolution separate us from sea stars, but there is something that has not changed so much: our appetite

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Hormones are molecules that exert the functions of messengers in our body. They take part in a large number of physiological processes, among which are the food and digestion of the food we consume. Among them, we know several hormones that regulate appetite and satiety. Evolutionary History A new study has analyzed The evolutionary history of bombsin, a hormone capable of transmitting the signal of satiety to our brain. This hormone had already been detected in some species of vertebrates and we know that it is capable of exercising this function in humans. Now we have found the genes that encode these hormones in very distant species evolutionarily, such as sea stars. Bombsin Bombsine was discovered in 1971, not in humans but in an amphibian, the belly toad fire (Bombina Bombina). It is a small peptide similar to those used by our own body to transmit (among other “messages”) the sign that we have satiated, molecules such as glucagon, the gastric inhibitor peptide (GIP), or the peptide similar to glucagon-1 (LPG-1). The researchers who studied the bombsin verified that, by injecting it into mammals, this also caused a feeling of satiety. This caused the subjects to reduce the amount of foods they consumed and space their intakes more over time. Needle in a haystack. In his study, the team responsible for New Research, began to study the genomes of different invertebrate animals until it ran into genes capable of encoding hormones similar to bombsin. And they found them in several equinoderms species (Echinodermata), As for example in the common sea star (Asterias Rubens), but also in hedgehogs and sea cucumbers. “It was like finding a needle in a haystack,” explained in a press release Maurice Elphick, co -author of the study, “but finally we discover the genes that encode a neurohormone similar to the stars of sea stars and their relatives.” Arbn.After that, the team studied the function of this hormone, which they called Arbn. Through mass spectrometry, the equipment was able to determine the molecular structure of the compound, thanks to which they could synthesize it and submit it to test. Thus they found that the hormone had an impact on the gastric processes of sea stars. “When I put Arbn, I saw that it caused contraction in the stomach of the sea star,” Weiling Huang addedCo -author of the study. “This, Sig would, that Arbn could be involved in stimulating the stomach retraction when the sea star stops eating. And that is precisely what I saw. When I injected Arbn into the sea stars (…) it made the stomach retract (…). What is more, arbn also delayed the beginning of the food, since the stars injected with arb those that water was injected. “ The details of the study were published In an article In the magazine Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). Making historians. The study gives us new clues about how our digestive system and its tools to control its internal processes evolved. A track that allows us to ride ourselves 500 million years ago, when the last common ancestor of humans and sea stars inhabited the earth. But the finding also has significance for the pharmacological industry. In recent years they have seen the rise of various treatments based on hormone analogous substances such as LPG-1 or GIP. Compounds such as semaglutida (better known by its commercial name Ozempic) or the tirzepatida (Tirzepatida) were born as diabetes treatments but achieved success as losing weight formulas. These compounds emulate the hormones that our body secretes behind meals, hormones that fulfill the function of communicating to organs such as the pancreas that our digestive process is underway but that also transmit to the brain the message that we have satiated our appetite. Compounds such as Bombsine, Arbn, or similar could perhaps be used also In this context. In Xataka | Japanese researchers have studied how to eat less. Your verdict is extremely simple: eat more slowly Image | Hans Hillewaert, CC by-SA 4.0

Of course, better combine it with exercise

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Intermittent fasting has become a very popular strategy among those who seek to lose weight or, at least, keep their weight under control. However, as with most diets, clearly establish their effectiveness It is often difficult Due to the complexity of our food, our metabolism and, in general, of our own body. New tests. Now a study has contributed New tests of the efficacy of intermittent fasting. Tests that, yes, are limited to the context in which this diet is combined with regular exercise. The team studied a diet with a meal window limited at eight hours (inversely, 16 hours of fast) and observed that in this way a loss of “small but significant” fat was possible. All this without sacrificing muscle mass, a detail highlighted by the team. “We observed that (a greater reduction of fat was achieved) and a lower percentage of body mass over time, when healthy adults followed (a regime) both of exercise and temporarily restricted dietcompared to those who only exercised for at least four weeks ”, explained in a press release Nadeja Wijayatunga, co -author of the study. 15 studies. In its analysis, the team carried out a systematic review of scientific literature that studied the impacts of this type of interventions. Thus, 15 recent works found in which the combined effect of intermittent fasting and exercise on our weight was analyzed. From the results described in these studies, the team carried out a meta -analysis, that is, a quantitative study to estimate an average effect. In its study study, the team observed a statistically significant change, a loss of body mass that was not associated with a loss of muscle mass. The analysis also pointed out that variables such as age, body mass index, or the type of exercise with which the diet was accompanied, among other factors, did not affect this result. The details of this work were published In an article In the magazine International Journal of Obesity. Easier than counting calories. Perhaps because it is easier to tell the hours than to tell the calories, the intermittent fast has become the favorite option of many. But sometimes the easy thing is not the most effective and we already know at this point that miracle diets do not exist. That is why putting the virtues and limits of this type of strategies to the test. It should be noted that there are various forms of intermittent fasting, depending on the frequency with which we fast and the time fraction of the day we dedicate to fasting and food. The success or failure of these strategies can also depend on other factors such as having a varied diet in the hours we dedicate to food and even factors that might seem irrelevant like our dream. In Xataka | From the stomach to the brain, intermittent fasting affects unsuspected forms to our body Image | The5th

The Divisumma calculator was the mechanical jewel of Olivetti. Now is an icon of retrofuturist design

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Before making a mathematical operation as easy as Ask for a voice assistant either type it in chatgpT, the calculators They were an essential tool on any desk. Long before Light and dear Casiothere were others that seemed authentic desktop computers: huge, heavy, and mechanically amazing. The most iconic were the Olivetti, jewels of engineering that combined technical precision with an industrial design Retroputurist that resists dying. And among them, a name shone: Divisumma 26 GT. The divisumma. Mechanical calculators exist since the 18th century in the 18th First calculator capable of multiplyingand it was in the XX when the revolution arrived. At the beginning of the century the keyboards were simplified, they became somewhat more compact, easy to use and the electric models appeared. That’s where Olivetti began to stand out. Its first electrical model, Divisumma 14 of 1948, was baptized like this because it could do the four basic mathematical operations and not only had a characteristic design, but surprising mechanics. Twelve years later the Divisumma 24 arrived, and this was a revolution. Although the keyboard was still very simple and easy to use, it had a double totalizing system that allowed to change between two calculations without losing operations. In addition, he had memory for multiplication and mechanically began to complicate the thing. Seeing one of these machines without industrial cutting is a show: 26 GT, the culmination of mechanics. Since model 24, launched in 1956, the Italian company was launching other mechanical calculators focused on various users, but the true generational relief, and the culmination of electromechanical calculation, was the divisumma 26 GT of 1967. Apart from the basic operations, it had the ability to make calculations with powers and had a totalizer in this case, but with two memories. This allowed the machine to store intermediate values ​​to chain calculations. It was fed by an electric motor that consumed 50 W and that storage of values ​​was not done in a chip or a memory like the ones we currently have: but based on mechanical parts. It was that characteristic that allowed the 26 GT to overcome the previous models due to that most marked automation. Its weight of between 17 and 20 kilos (depending on the housing) for a 28 x 25 x 50 cm machine, evidence that the interior was an authentic metal jungle and a delight for sight. It was not the most advanced in the brand, since that same 1967 came the Logos 27-2but the reliability and maintenance problems of this put more value the work done by Teresio Gassino and Natale Capellaro In the mechanical part of the 26 GT. The divisumma 26 GT with the exhibition housing Fashion calculator. Inside, the Divisumma were a real virguería, but on the outside it was not far behind. Like Braun, he is remembered, among other reasons, for iconic Dieter Rams designsa very important part of Olivetti was Austrian designer and architect Ettore Sottsass. He began collaborating with the Italian company in 1958 and remained as a design consultant for 30 years. At that time he gave birth not only the Elea 9003 of 1959 (one of the first electronic computers in Italy), but the Olivetti Valentine of 1969 that was a symbol of Italian industrial design and some of the electric calculators of the house, “wearing” those good mechanical characteristics with housings that innovated in aesthetics. The Divisumma 26 GT also had bodies of Sottsass, being one of them translucent to be able to appreciate mechanics and exceeding the passage of time. They are one of those elements that, such as Braun’s polishing, could launch at any time saying that they are retrofuturists and would not disregard at all. He had the foundations of the Divisumma 24, but added those distinctive orange colors and more straight lines so that it would not go out of style. Divisumma 18, whose compact design is exhibited at MoMA next to Divisumma 14 Electronics arrived. But we are in 1969 and progress tightened. Since the beginning of the decade, the electronic calculators had begun to appear the leg, but they were huge (the Anita MK VII with vacuum tubes and cathode tubes of 1961, for example) and impossible to use away from the desk. They evolved with the Sharp CS-10A From 1964 that already used transistors, but at the same time that Divisumma 26 GT arrived the real revolution. Sharp launched its QT-8ba very compact battery calculator. Canon did the same with the Pocketronic that already pointed ways from the name and MK6010 Texas Instrumental had everything integrated into a chip, being smaller, cheap and energy efficient. All were on the electronics ship, so the old electric calculators had to think about retiring. That does not break… Today, with that wave of nostalgia, we see users in places like Reddit who continue to love their ancient electric calculators Olivetti. They will use them or not, but there are those who affirm that, with basic maintenance, they continue to function as the first day. Its sound is still very representative, the design has not gone out of style and are even a very interesting decoration piece on a surface. Now, seeing these veteran calculating I can only think about my CRT televisions to play old consoles. Not because of nostalgia -I do not have nostalgia for a calculator other than the casio that we have all had -but because, at the time they break, we will surely not find anyone who can repair them. It will be that day when these pieces are only as a museum meat, but although the mechanics fail, that Retrofuturist design It will survive. Images | Museo della Scienza e della technology “Leonardo da Vinci” (2), Museum, Hgrobe In Xataka | Transcribe at full speed with a keyboard of only 21 keys: the office of stenotipist, according to someone who has been in it for 35 years

Bob called it and ended up being a loud failure

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Microsoft turns half a century. The Redmond company has exceeded crisis, reinventions and complicated moments, but has managed to stay in the race. It could have been as a distant memory of its golden years, something similar to what comes to mind when we think of brands like Kodak either Blackberry. But it was not so. Microsoft has not only survivedbut is in one of his best moments. It is not just one of the most valuable companies on the planet (At the time of writing these lines, he occupies second place in stock capitalization), but also leads such strategic areas as cloud computing, artificial intelligence or the world of video games. We already commented a few days ago: One of the keys to its success has been its ability to adapt. The previous list has a remarkable absence: Windows. And it is not an oversight. Although it is still an important piece within the Microsoft ecosystem, He had long stopped occupying the leading role in the business. Today it is installed in more than 70 % of the world’s computers And it is difficult to find someone who does not know what it is. But a few decades ago, personal computer science was a thing of a few. The solution to humanize Windows In the mid -nineties, the presence of computers in homes remained limited. Many users signed up for courses to learn to handle an operating system, and sit for the first time in front of a PC could be a disconcerting experience. Microsoft understood that, if I wanted to expand its user base, Windows should do more accessible. And his way of trying was a curious software called “Microsoft Bob”. The program, which internally It was developed under the name “Utopia”He arrived at the stores on March 31, 1995, a few months before the launch of Windows 95. He was compatible with Windows 3.1 and later versions, and his approach was clear: converting the PC interface into a kind of virtual house, with rooms, furniture and animated characters that served as guides. When starting the program, the user was with a door. After touching and introducing the credentials, he accessed a domestic environment where he could choose between different rooms, such as a study, a living room or an office. Each room offered accesses to system tools: a calendar, a address book, a clock or educational applications. Everything was presented with a cartoon aesthetics That, although it was looking to be nice, it was perceived as excessively childish. Each space also had a digital character that guided the user. The most remembered was Rover, an animated dog who worked as an assistant, although a turtle, an elephant and other characters also appeared. Microsoft’s goal was that the experience was more enjoyable than with traditional Windows. But Bob did not finish curdling. Not only for its design, which aroused all kinds of criticism, but also for its technical demands: required a computer with at least 8 MB of RAMa considerable figure for many homes in 1995. The result was the foreseeable: few adopted it and the program was withdrawn from the market less than a year after its launch. By then, Windows 95 was now available and offered a much more intuitive experience, without decorating it with digital pets. When Bob returned without warning But its story has an unexpected turn. When Microsoft prepared the Windows XP installation CD, the team realized that there were about 30 MB of free space. What to do with them? In order not to miss them and, incidentally, hinder illegal discharges a bit, they decided to fill them with fictional data. Instead of generating random files, a developer search in the company’s historical archives, recovered the images of the original Bob disks, combined them, I encrypted them with a random written key … and used them as digital filling. The result was as ironic as unexpected: Microsoft Bob ended up hidden within millions of legal copies of Windows XP, without anyone knowing. Even so, Microsoft Bob left a certain legacy. Rover returned years later as a search assistant at Windows XP. And although Clippythe famous Office clip, was not born within this program, the idea of ​​accompanying the user with animated characters who offered on the screen was already there. For many it was a disaster. For a few, a discovery. Microsoft Bob did not succeed, but for some it was his first contact with computer science lived as a game. Some remember hours designing rooms. Others, parts of his virtual house with a view to the city. Not all Microsoft attempts have gone well. And Bob is part of that list of experiments that did not work, along with products such as ZuneWindows Vista or Windows Phone. But it also demonstrates the company’s ability to prove, make mistakes and move on. Images | Microsoft | Wikimedia Commons | Sweetcoffemug (Reddit) In Xataka | “In a year or two code editors will not exist”: four programmers explain the Vibe Coding revolution

Archaeologists are recovering them in a counterreloj

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Five years ago, NASA published a document as imposing as sad: a Timelapse that showed how Alaska glaciers have melted For half a century. It is not something exclusive to them, since, as The average temperature has increasedglaciers around the world They have diminished. And this, in addition to Increase sea levelallows us to take an eye on the past. The reason? The glaciers are full of garbage, objects and human remains of thousands of years ago. Ötzi. That glaciers lose ice implies that they expose everything that was used once. When that white layer goes, The bodies appearand perhaps, everyone’s most famous is Ötzi. NicknamedIce man‘, Ötzi was a man who died 5,000 years ago in the Ötzal Alps. It was discovered by a couple of mountaineers in 1991 and relevant for several reasons. Ötzi reconstruction. Not so bad to be 5,000 years old The first, because before their finding, archaeologists had not sought in the glaciers because they assumed that, as archaeologist Andreas Putzer affirms BBC“Humans could not pass by because the land was very difficult.” The second, because it was the best preserved ancient body in history. It is something that allowed to rebuild his body, study the reason for his death, Your tattoos And the objects that carried, such as the arch, the arrows, their clothes, tools and bear skin hat. And the third is obvious: the glaciers were losing their ice, exposing elements of the past. Digging up the past. It is not a case as extreme as Ötzi’s, but this corpses that emerge in the thaw It is almost everyday something. Passers -by and ski stations workers are running in Switzerland with corpses that have been there decades. Some, even since World War II. This is the case of Marcelin and Francine Dumoulin, two farmers who went out for a walk along the mountain, suffered an accident in August 1942 and there they stayed. Until Their bodies emerged in 2017. What was wearing Nothing new. In 2012, two British mountaineers who toured the Aletsch glacier found human remains in the middle of the road along with several boots, clothing and mountain equipment. In 2014, near the top of Matterhorn, more than 4,000 meters of altitude, the remains of a British mountaineer disappeared in 1979 were located. That same year, the body of a Czech explorer lost since 1974 was also recovered. In 2016, the thaw of the Morteratsch glacier revealed the remains of a German skier that had been lost in 1963. And, in 2019, another group of mountaineers ran into human remains also in Matterhorn. On this occasion, they were two Japanese climbers missing in 1970 to about 2,800 meters of altitude. Reconstruction of the objects carried Ötzi Not only bodies. They are examples, among many others, of the human remains appeared throughout these years due to the increase in temperatures. But, although recovering those bodies is important, so are the objects that have come to light because it allows us to rediscover the story or relocate the date on which a technology that we consider later, appeared for the first time. Thus, we have found many arrows Prehistoric with stone tips and intact feathers used in hunting, tools such as canes, stakes or hunting utensils, clothing leather that allow us to know the techniques of making stone. Artifacts that suggest spiritual practices, the Ötzi axa comb for lice and rackets To walk in the snow of 1,700 years ago or Roman coins. Also animals with intact internal organs, such as a slut of 4,000 years ago or the bone marrow of a reindeer 4,200 years ago. Bad matter. For archeology, it is a blessing. Ice allows you to conserve organic materials that would not survive in other environments, which allows you to study with great detail how they lived millennia ago. But it is evident that the underlying problem is much more important: climate change seems not to stop, which glaciers melt is one of the dire consequences and that these remains appear forces archaeologists to work against the clock. An example of thaw: the Bouldert glacier, which has backed up more than 400 meters in 30 years Turning off the freezer. Thomas Reitmaier is the director of the archaeological service of the Canton of Grisons, in Switzerland, and in the same article he comments that the thaw and what we are finding is similar to “leaving the freezer open. At some point, the frozen meat rots and disappears”. In fact, and taking into account that many of the discoveries have been made by chance, Reitmaier asks for community help to get all possible archaeological samples before they disappear. “We need to call to the public, who are going to the Alps, so that they let us know if they see a possible finding, because these areas are enormous and we cannot control them all,” says the researcher, adding that you have to save everything that can be known since “even the smallest object can tell an exciting story.” Planetary registration. Reitmaier’s fear is that this archeology of glaciers is “a very short field: Once ice disappearswe will not have that architect file. ”But beyond the amount of human objects that are being discovered, this phenomenon implies that we can also know more about our planet. Glacier ice contains information About the abrupt climatic changes that occurred thousands of years ago, which can help us understand historical patterns, but also to understand that opening a factory in Manchester It has an impact on the other side of the world. And, if in addition to exploring glaciers in search of remains, We stop turning them into a landfillbetter than better. Images | Wolfgang Sauber, 120, Mauri Pelt, Davemor In Xataka | Three hours of tail at 8,848 meters high: Everest is already another tourist monster

Darwin is an Australian city with 250,000 inhabitants. 100,000 of them are protected crocodiles

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Australia is a peculiar country. Not so much for their culture, a mixture of indigenous and western customs, but because it has become in the eyes of the rest of the world into practically, A meme. And it is due to the curious variety of fauna with which he has a recurring joke that Any bug That you find yourself It will be huge and You can kill you. Among them, are the crocodiles, which are not so exotic, but they have a whole town. The town is Darwin, and the 100,000 crocodiles that surround it are of a fairly aggressive species. Irony. You may be thinking about it, and that is: Darwin It is called in honor of the Naturalist Charles Darwin. It was founded in 1869 and, in its short history, it has had to be rebuilt on a couple of occasions. One, due to a Japanese bombing during the Second World War. The other by the action of a cyclone. It has 150,000 inhabitants and is the most populous capital in the north of the country, but much of its population does not walk on two legs. Larrakia. Darwin is located in a privileged enclave for outdoor sport, especially for those who enjoy sea sports. However, that exposure to the sea and one of the few rivers in the country has a small print: a population of overwhelming crocodiles. Currently, it is estimated that there are more than 100,000 crocodiles around the town, but until not long ago, the situation was completely different. The Larrakia are the aboriginal inhabitants of that region and, for 65,000 years, they lived with the crocodiles. The reason? Double: spiritual and useful. They were revered, but because they were of great value to the people due to their flesh and eggs. These crocodiles are of a particularly aggressive species, salt water crocodiles or Crocodylus porosusand his fate changed in the mid -twentieth century. Challenge. After World War II, the Larrakia painted little in a more westernized territory, and the crocodiles began to be dough hunted not due to their flesh, but to their skin. The fashion of the mid -century prevailed and imported little end with entire animals, which reduced The population of crocodiles between 3,000 individuals for the 60s. That hunt was seen as a form of economic development due to the lucrative fashion business, but things changed in the 70s. The little girl. In 1971 I know They implemented conservation policies, preventing the hunt for crocodiles and the population … exploded. If only 3,000, in 50 years they have multiplied until reaching 100,000 copies. Due to the numerous coast and warm temperatures, the territory of northern Australia is an ideal habitat for these crocodiles and, although they are an aggressive species, in recent years there have been less mortal incidents we could think. And, because the area is ideal for both fishing and swimming, or to perform any other outdoor activity, Darwin has a system of traps and park rangers that are responsible for keeping crocodiles at bay. Especially in times of heat, when these reptiles are more restless. Shield. Kelly Ewin is one of these park rangers, whose work is to catch and remove crocodiles from the areas closest to the population. In BBC He says that there is a system composed of 24 traps that surround the city of Darwin and are designed to catch those who approach too much, especially in the port area. “Obviously, we are not going to capture all the crocodiles, but the more we take out the port, the less the risk of a meeting between crocodiles and people will be,” says this former policeman. In addition, another tool is population education. In the northern territory, the government launched a program called “Be wise around crocodiles” to teach people how to behave responsible in the habitat of these animals. Natasha Hoffman directs the program and comments that, living in a country of crocodiles, they must know the answer to how to behave if they cross one. “If you are on a ship when you are fishing you must be aware that the crocodiles are there. They hunt through ambush, they sit, observe and wait. If they have the opportunity to grab some food, that is what they are going to do,” says the educator. There are also these poor people with a bad reputation due to ‘Jurassic Park’ License to kill. Now, although in the northern territory it is not allowed to kill the crocodiles massively due to that protection, but plans have been approved to increase the quota of crocodiles that can be killed annually from 300 to 1,200 with the aim of controlling the population. In addition, when there is a potentially dangerous encounter between a crocodile and a human, the park rangers have permission to end the threat. The problem is that there are too many, they are aggressive if a human approaches too much and, as they expose in BBC, every time a death occurs, the debate that puts the possibility of mass killings is revived. There are politicians who take advantage of say That the population is out of control, something that not everyone agrees. Business. Because not only local die: also tourists. In the same report, Alex Williams is the captain of a cruise focused on the viewing of crocodiles and states that there has been a boom of tourists in the last ten years. In addition, there are impracticable rivers. “If you are going to swim to the Adelaide River next to Darwin, there is a 100% chance of killing you. The only question is whether it will take five minutes or ten. I don’t think you never get to fifteen, you’ll end up shattered,” says Grahame Webb, an expert in these crocodiles. However, there are attractions like the ‘Cage of Death’ that allows you to swim with giant crocodiles. And, apart from tourism, there is a Intensive breeding of crocodiles that spend their lives … Read more

We usually assume that the Wright brothers invented the plane in the US. In Brazil they think they have evidence otherwise

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December 17, 1903. That morning, the brothers wibur and orville wright They got something apparently unpublished until then: A flight of only 12 seconds for posterity and just over 36 meters away that changed the world of aviation forever. They had achieved the first (controlled) flight of a machine heavier than the air, and the United States and the brothers would remain forever in the annals of the story. However, in Brazil they don’t have it so clear. A centenary rivalry. While in most of the planet there is consensus and the invention of the plane is attributed to the Wright brothers, in Brazil the conviction is kept alive that That was not like that. In fact, many think it was Alberto Santos Dumont who made the first flight considered real in 1906. The Brazilian narrative maintains that, unlike the Wright, Santos Dumont managed to take off its aircraft 14-BIS Autonomously and without mechanical assistance, raising before judges and journalists in Paris, without the need for catapults or favorable winds, which would make it, according to its defenders, the true “father of aviation.” To get an idea, he told the weekend The Washington Post That this version He has shown so deeply In the Brazilian culture, to the point that the image of Santos Dumont has figured in tickets, one of the main airports of Rio de Janeiro bears his name and his figure starred in the opening ceremony of the 2016 Olympic Games. Lula and the tests. Not just that. President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has also put his grain of sand and has revived the debate During his current mandate, taking advantage of every occasion to discredit the US version and claim Santos Dumont as a pioneer. Lula accuses the United States of having imposed his story thanks to his Powerful film industry And he considers that denying Brazilian merit is a grievance to history and national self -esteem. For the politician and so many other defenders, the difference is very clear: The Wright Flyer In 1903 He needed catapultsconstant wind and auxiliary structures, while the 14-bis of Santos Dumont took off on its own, without any external device, flying 220 meters in front of the look of the public and the international press. Dumont’s 14bis The technical debate and science. And what do experts say? It is the big question, obvious. Historians and experts in aviation outside Brazil, Like Peter JakabEmeritus curator of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, they consider irrefutable that the Wright managed to fly before Santos Dumont. Under this premise, they argue that The use of non -disabling catapults The achievement, remembering that even today combat airplanes take off by catapults from aircraft carriers without its flight capacity. In addition, they emphasize that in 1905 The Flyer III of the Wright already made sustained flights up to 40 minutes and 38 km of travel, demonstrating a much more developed capacity than that of 14-bis. On the other sidewalk, for many Brazilians the crucial detail is not the duration, but The shape of takeoff: Without external aids and before witnesses. National background and mythology. In the end, the dispute has transcended the purely technical and has become a National Identity Question both in Brazil and the United States. For Brazilians, Santos Dumont represents not only a technological deed but A symbol of ingenuity and homeland pride. Its legacy goes beyond aviation: it is remembered for its simplicity, its contribution to the development of airships and its rejection of the military use of airplanes, cause that deeply affected it until its tragic end. In Brazil, in fact, its figure is more revered as A cultural hero that as a purely historical character, while in the United States it could be said that the history of the Wright brothers part of the founding story of the modern technological era. The dilemma: truth vs identity. One thing does seem clear: historical records tend to favor the Wright, although that has not prevented the debate from persists as a symbolic struggle between two nations with quite different visions about the history of aviation. In Petrópolis, saints city of Santos Dumont, its legacy is still alive, and its nephew-bisnieto, Alberto Dodsworth Wanderley, recognized in the post that the dispute has become more A matter of faith than verifiable facts. Polarization is such that, for each side, there are enough emotional and technical arguments to hold your position. If you want also, it is an obvious example (Another one) How nationalism can mold the interpretation of history. Image | John T. Daniels, Jules Beau In Xataka | In the 1960s the planes were going so fast that someone promised trips to the moon. And people bought them In Xataka | A piece of Wright Flyer I will fly on Mars, the NASA placed part of the world’s first plane in its naivety helicopter

In 2019 we discovered some fungi capable of metabolizing gold. There are already those who want to make it the key to space mining

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The story Start more than five years ago In Boddington, south of the Australian city of Perth. Over there, Between murderous animals and gold mines, a team of researchers from the Australian Csiro discovered something truly rare: that certain fungus strains Fusarium oxysporum Not only could they extract gold from its surroundings and integrate it into their structure, but in doing so they managed to spread faster than the rest. It seemed a curiosity without more, but in recent years the situation has begun to change. But, a moment, why is something so “weird”? Good question. After all, we know of good ink that fungi “play an essential role in degradation and recycling of all types of organic material (Like leaves or bark), but also in the cycle of certain metals such as aluminum, iron, manganese and calcium. “Why would it be different with gold? Because, as Tsing Bohu explained, a researcher in charge of the project, “Gold is so inactive (chemically speaking) that this type of interactions is unusual and surprising, he had to see him to believe it.” And he saw it. In fact, lo published in Nature Communications. It was the first solid evidence that fungi could have a relevant role in the gold cycle in the earth’s crust. The “mushroom” of golden eggs. Quickly the mining industry put his eyes on the investigation. Especially right there, in Australia. The continent island is the second largest gold producer in the world, but The consensus among analysts It is that without new deposits the production was going to fall (and much) in a short time. Initially, the industry thought that CSIRO’s investigation could serve to locate these new deposits. As we explained years agoin Australia it is relatively common to do prospects in forests of the Aucaliptos family or near termites because they have a close relationship with the precious metal. Why not analyze the land in search of those strains of Fusarium oxysporum? But there is one more possibility. As Eduardo Bazo explained to Eugenio Fernández In a very interesting interviewin recent years there have appeared companies that work on what we could call “Metabolic mining“That is, in using organisms to extract gold. “And what do you want that?” You could ask. “Isn’t it easier to identify where gold is and extract with industrial methods?” Yes, here on earth, yes. But these companies look a little further: in space mining. For years we have talked about the existence of huge mineral deposits in the solar system and, for almost the same, We have fantasized to be able to exploit them. The problem is that, Beyond the current technological limitationsS, to the danger of normal mining, is added the fact that we talk about processing metal in space. But and if we use ‘metabolic mining’? The idea of ​​sending modified strains of these fungi (or other microorganisms) that They will process the mineral for useverything would become easier. I don’t know if more viable, but simpler. It is much less rare than it seems (this type of approaches we use to innumerable products that we usually use), however to take it to the world of mining seems a little more complex by pure efficiency. However, that’s ‘now’. While I write (and while The era of cheap materials ends) Several research groups They are cultivating all kinds of microorganisms with the idea of ​​being able to grow gold sooner rather than later. Image | Dominik Vanyi | Jaap Straydo In Xataka | The next richest person in the world will come from space: the future millionaire of space mining

In the 70s, wines without vintage were the worst of the worst. Now there are CVC bottles above 700 euros

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Harvesting, parenting, reserve, great reserve and, well, CVC. That is, the acronym of “set of several crops”; A denomination that, at least since 1974, usually designates The worst of the worst of Spanish wine. Or that thought most of the regulators, of the industry and, above all, of the consumers. And so? Because? European standards allow to introduce up to 15% of wine from previous crops to “improve” the wine of the vintage in question. In essence, except in systems such as young and soleras, wine is largely bottled luck. Each vintage is the result of a particular concatenation of human, climatic and geological phenomena: each bottle is the sum of a very long conversation between the world and the human being. Therefore, the usual practice told us that it was a bad signal that a vintage needs more than 15%. There was too much to fix. But they were prejudices. In 2017, Marcos Eguren He took the market A CVC to 750 the bottle. People were scandalized, but did it for pure prejudices. It is not only that the Sierra Cantabria has not stopped growing in price, but that some of the most important (and expensive) wines of the country were already CVC: the best example is The Special Reservethe top of the highest range of Vega Sicily. In a social context in which the “duplicate wines” They begin to appear strongly And in which climate change puts against the ropes to the warehouses of the main wine regions, it makes no sense to produce with one hand tied behind the back: the same wine mixing technique that serves to mask bad vintages can be used to generate exceptional wines. Rudy Kurniawan is The best example. Why were we going to give up it? And the answer is complicated. Above all, because there are a lot of ways of drinking wine. For a good part of consumers, this does not try broths with exceptional organoleptic properties (which also); This is taking sip to sip The history of a small portion of land on the planet. With their dramas, their water stress and the magic of fermentation. Even in wines such as those of the Jerez framework where a very high homogeneity and a higher quality, the differences between centuries of centuries is something wonderful is achieved. The issue is that for another much of the consumers, a glass of wine is not had to carry a oenological, climate and agronomic trip by the Rioja, the Burgundy or Bordeaux. These want a glass of wine to be a glass of wine, because they were not going to aspire to the best wine they can get for a certain price? A revolution that affects everything. It is a general trend: everyone seems to divide into boutiques that do something small, personal and high quality and franchises that produce simple, homogeneous and highly standardized products. Pass with hamburgers, Pass the gyms… How wasn’t it going to happen to the wine? The doubt now is how this wine revolution impacts without vintage in a sector that climate change and international competition is hitting very hard. Image | Klara Kulinova | Kevin Kelly In Xataka | The oldest wine in the world is “Andalusian” and has been resting 2,000 years. If it is good or not, nobody wants to know

The cheaper, the more the electric grid collapses worldwide

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In 1812, a German named Frederick Winsor founded the Light and Coke Company in London. His proposal was to supply gas to multiple homes centrally, instead that each one had to buy and burn their own coal or their own firewood. Thus, public services were born, which today face its greatest transformation in two centuries By effect of renewables. The electricity grid According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), today there are 80 million kilometers of electrical networks in the world. By 2040, 50 million additional kilometers will be needed, in addition to the urgent need to modernize another 30 million kilometers of the current network. The challenge is not only quantity: it is not enough to multiply the electric laying. Wind energy, and especially solar energy, have introduced the need to digitize all infrastructure, Insert control systems and improve your flexibility to handle the intermittent nature of renewables. The paradox of solar energy. The more accessible the photovoltaic panels become, the more users choose to partially abandon the electricity network. This increases the cost for those who stay, and puts in check the stability of the system, pending a deep modernization. In rich and sunny regions Like California either Australiaself -consumption has been about to collapse the network in days of abundant solar generation. But you don’t have to go to the most developed places in the world to find these types of problems. A report in The Economist Review three unsuspected cases: Pakistan, the third largest importer of Chinese solar panels (according to data from 2023), is seeing how companies, farmers and large consumers install photovoltaic systems to self -abuse and stop paying very expensive electrical invoices. Still dependent on old coal plants, the price of electricity in Pakistan is very high, so users with resources have preferred to invest in solar energy South Africa lives another variant of this paradox. Before the mass cuts of the state company Eskom (which are called ‘Load Shedding’), many users install solar panels and batteries to protect themselves from interruptions. The South African municipalities that buy the energy at Eskom and then resell them have to pay increasing invoices to the company and, in turn, charge less to those who migrate to self -consumption. This has generated indebtedness with ESKOM of around 1.2% of the country’s GDP. Solar adoption relieves the dependence of the network, but in turn it is a threat to the income that maintains the infrastructure In Lebanon, the state company only provides electricity a couple of hours a day since 2019. As a direct consequence of this, the photovoltaic facilities on the roofs have multiplied, from 100 to 1,300 megawatts in just three years. This situation, despite partially solving the shortage, is resulting in a fish that bites the tail due to the lack of stability and investments in the network An open gap. As private solar facilities proliferate, fixed network costs (lines, substations …) fall on a smaller user base connected. Those who run out of resources to put panels, generally the poorest, have to pay even higher rates To cover all system expenses, which normally seeks profitability. The numbers in Europe. Europe is at the head of the world in emission and electrification objectives, but this has important economic implications. According to a Bruegel reportthey will need between 65,000 and 100,000 million euros per year to modernize and expand the European electrical infrastructure, especially in distribution networks. At the same time, the European Union promotes solar self -consumption and does not always establish sustainable tarification mechanisms for the network. If many homes are drastically or reduced their consumption of the electricity grid, the user base on which the cost of investment in infrastructure is reduced, the fixed term of the invoice is increased and duttering more consumers, who invest in more solar panels. Cross -border connections. Solar energy itself does not cause instant blackouts, but unbalanced the financial and operational structure of the electricity grid, which has fixed maintenance costs. And he does it for several reasons: the decreasing base of users, the mismatches of supply and demand due to the intermission of renewables and the use of the network as a minimum cost support. In addition to batteries and Pumping plants to stabilize the networkinternational projects such as the hypothetical are needed Transatlantic cable between America and Europe To share renewable surpluses between continents and soften demand peaks, but their development is complex, controversial and quite expensive. Image | US Department of Energy In Xataka | The next drought will be electricity: the electricity grid “is running out of transformers” for the demand for AI

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