Mariah Carey has unleashed a schism at a concert in Singapore

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Although she no longer appears on the front page of the news as she did in the nineties, Mariah Carey continues to attract the world’s attention, especially as Christmas approaches. However, a concert recent event in Singapore sparked some controversy among the public: can you listen to ‘Fantasy’ without getting up to move your hips or is it materially impossible? Mariah moment. Mariah Carey’s favorite dates are approaching. Christmas is inaugurated by the diva as soon as Halloween passes, and with this she begins to add reproductions of her ‘All I Want for Christmas Is You‘ until reaching milestones like the one a year ago, becoming lMost played Christmas song in Spotify history. A couple of days ago he received the award for MusiCares Person of the Year for his philanthropic work. But it’s not all good news. Also a few days ago, without going any further, there was a brawl at one of his concerts in Singapore. What happened. The International Business Times website account that a Mariah Carey concert in Singapore held on October 8, 2025 as part of her The Celebration of Mimi tour, went viral after some attendees they will count on social networks what had happened there. In them they were seen arguing with other spectators about whether they should remain seated, as most of the theater where the concert was taking place, or could get up to dance, applaud and sing the songs. Zombies with Mariah. At the event held at the Arena @ Expo Singapore there were 6,600 people, but unlike what is usual at a concert in Europe or the United States, the attendees remained seated. This caused some users, such as the tiktoker @advlogss called the audience “Zombi” for remaining impassive before the diva’s repertoire. Another user of the social network, @sha_nikitarelates: “there was a lady behind us saying ‘You have to sit down! It’s a sit-down concert!’ Different forms of enjoyment. What happened is that cultural differences between the inhabitants of Singapore, where the public tends to behave more reservedly than in the West, and people from other backgrounds collided, which, as can be seen in the videos, was the case of those who broke with tradition. On Singapore news website ‘The New Paper’ They explain it perfectly: A British security guard who has been working in the country for years, Joe Borg, claims to understand both sides. “I would understand if some people were upset because they couldn’t see the concert,” he says. According to Borg, concert-goers in Singapore are less likely to participate due to “less alcohol consumption and rowdiness” than in other countries. The respect is very nice. There’s another interviewee in ‘The New Paper’, a K-pop fan called Ms Tay, who says there are “appropriate times to sit down and times to stand up.” She has worked as an usher at concerts, and can therefore attest that banners and glow sticks can be “annoying” when they block the view of others. And in fact, he has even seen people stand on chairs just to see better. In our book of concert etiquette, that crosses several boundaries. ​ In Xataka | Spanish stadiums are desperately looking for money, and it is not on a whim. 19 business days a year are no longer enough

analyzes your poop and promises to take care of your health for $600

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Who in their right mind would think of putting a camera in the toilet. If the camera also costs $600, the thing sounds even more crazy. It’s Kohler’s latest idea and it makes more sense than it seems. Monitoring even the poop Smart watches and bracelets have created a whole health monitoring culture. This is what a few years ago we called the ‘I, quantified’but recording the steps was just the beginning. Today any wearable is capable of recording our keystrokes, the blood oxygen level and they also measure our sleep. Where smartwatches or smart rings do not reach, an entire category of health monitoring devices has emerged such as smart scales or Kohler’s proposal with the Dekoda camera. It is not the first in this line, a couple of years ago we already talked about sensor to detect urine withings. Dekoda: the camera that analyzes your bowel movements Kohler is one of the most recognized household products manufacturers in the United States. They recently announced the creation of a new division focused on health and their first product is Dekoda, a camera that is installed in the toilet to record the frequency and characteristics of our bowel movements. Dekoda has “advanced optical sensors and spectroscopywhich effortlessly observe how light interacts with your waste to learn to detect variations that could indicate health problems.” Kohler says that behind Dekoda there are more than 10 years of research to ensure accurate and reliable results. Dekoda comes with a mobile app in which data is transmitted (not photos, thank goodness) and helps detect health problems such as dehydration or presence of blood in the stool, which can be indicative of serious illnesses. It also offers nutritional suggestions and lifestyle changes. To ensure privacy, all content is encrypted and can be protected by fingerprint. It also comes with a remote control that is placed on the wall to scan the fingerprint and thus distinguish between users. The camera is placed on the edge of the toilet bowl (it can be placed in any toilet, it does not have to be from Kohler) and works with a rechargeable battery that we can remove to recharge it. It costs 599 dollarsbut also you must have a subscription to Kohler Health to be able to use the app, so you have to add 70 dollars per year per user or 130 dollars if there are several. Images | Kohler In Xataka | I got my hands on some “sleep headphones” in the hopes of finally falling asleep. It came out regular

beer that doesn’t give you a hangover

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“Only idiots drink non-alcoholic beer.” That was the reflection with which a young German named Louis Shirmer responded to Washington Post about the state of beer without in your country. If we think of beer, it is inevitable to think of Germany. It is one of the countries where the most beer is consumedbut in a few years now, something is changing: Europe, is becoming a land of non-alcoholic beer. And the new ‘liquid gold’ of breweries is also conquering Germany. Trend. We have said it on several occasions: the non-alcoholic beer market is experiencing a considerable growth. So much so that it is transforming the global industry and what a decade ago was considered a marginal product, with just a few options, has become a segment that is emerging. The non-alcoholic beers (the 0.0, especially) are more abundant, but there are also many companies that have gone all out with flavor. In some countries, it is a segment with an annual growth of 20% and there are already estimates that it will be a market of almost 44 billion dollars by 2035. Far from traditional beer, but without a doubt a good amount of money. Beyond fashion. Generational change is something that influences. The surveys point to a majority of ‘millennial’ consumers and Generation Z who choose or would choose an alcohol-free version of your favorite beer, something that responds to lifestyles known as “superb curious” (sober out of curiosity) or lifestyle “damp” (not abstinence, but moderation). Everything needs to be given a name in English. It can also respond to greater health awareness. According to the World Health Organization, alcohol causes more than three million deaths annually, 5.3% of the total, but apart from this, this aforementioned improvement in flavor allows 0.0 versions of a drink that, like coffee, is something social, to be chosen. The statistics confirm, in short, that alcohol in general is less present in everyday life (although depends on age). What the industry does. own Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food has indicated in one of its latest consumer reports that it is something that is in the doldrums, and the brewers have done what they should: try to ensure that the consumer does not escape their product. If they drink less alcohol, we have to invest more in creating 0.0 versions, and there we have companies like Heineken, one of the giants in the sector, making millionaire investments in its Heineken 0.0 brand. AB InBev is another of the giants in the beer sector, with Budweiser as the flagship brand, and they estimate that, by the end of this year, at least 20% of their global beer volume will consist of no or 0.0 options. Returning to Germany, the country’s Brewers Association comment that non-alcoholic beer represents 9% of beer production and consumption in the country, but in the coming months they expect it to reach double digits. In Spain it is estimated that 15% of all beer consumed is non-alcoholic, being leaders in Europe in this segment. Jacobo Olalla is the general director of Cerveceros de España and attributes This success is due to the fact that the Spanish consumer does not drink looking for the effect of alcohol. And in Belgium, another beer country par excellence, the consumption of non-alcoholic beer now represents 5%. It seems little, but it represents a growth of 24.3% since 2021 and in a recent festival it was sold 800% more non-alcoholic beer than in the previous year’s version. Beer without getting drunk. Now, although breweries are investing to adapt and create alcohol-free alternatives, there are brands such as the American Athletic Brewing that have focused exclusively on alcohol-free products. It is the leader undisputed of its segment in the American market (the second largest consumer of beer internationally), so it is not something insignificant. And yes, obviously, non-alcoholic beer can have the properties of the cereals with which it is made without the negative side of alcohol (both for the body and in terms of its intoxicating effects), but the English have come to investigate a beer without it being capable of getting drunk. Behind that beer is David Nutt, a neuroscientist who seeks to ensure that beer continues to be a social drink capable of disinhibiting shy people, but avoiding risks such as addiction, cirrhosis or aggressive behavior. At the moment they are promises, but we would have to see how it affects, for example, the driving of a vehicle. Not just beer. We have to see if it is a fad or if it is something generational that is here to stay, but the purchase of alcohol in general, according to the International Wine and Spirits Recordhas fallen 20% since 2000 while the 0.0 beverage market has doubled in the last three years. And we don’t just have to talk about beer: there are wine cellars and spirits brands that are investing much in its ‘dealcoholized’ segment. In the end, Louis, it seems that non-alcoholic beer is not just for idiots. Images | uk:Користувач:Gutsul In Xataka | In the United States they are making beer with water from showers and sinks. And they have good reasons

is in a park full of parents with umbrellas

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In times where love seems to be summed up in a “swipe left” or “swipe right”, finding a partner has never been so easy… Or so difficult. While Tinder, Bumble or Hinge promise algorithmic compatibility, in China the most popular dating “app” does not require an internet connection, just a printer, an umbrella and worried parents. Every weekend, entire parks in cities like Beijing, Shanghai and Chongqing are transformed into a mosaic of laminated posters with personal descriptions. It is not the singles themselves who place them, but their parents. It is the so-called marriage market or xiangqin jiao (literally, “blind dating corner”), a phenomenon that can be described as an analog version of a dating app. Love in times of demographic crisis. The rise of these markets has its origins in a paradox: while matching apps and agencies multiply, weddings and births plummet. In 2024, only 6.1 million couples will get married in China, 21% less than the previous year and the lowest number since records began. according to data from the Wall Street Journal. This year there was a small rebound — 3.54 million marriages in the first half — thanks to a new policy that simplifies civil registration according to the South Morning Post. But the general trend continues to plummet. The causes of this situation they are multiple: long working hours, high housing prices, gender inequality and, above all, new priorities among young people. “Energy is limited, so I eliminate what drains me the most. First thing? Dates,” confessed a 22-year-old studentreflecting a profound generational change. Faced with this scenario, many parents decided to move from concern to action: if their children are not looking for a partner online, they are looking for one in the parks. How does the Tinder of paper? According to Noema Magazinethe first love market emerged more than a decade ago in Shanghai, in People’s Park. Every Saturday and Sunday, no matter rain or shine, the park is filled with parents with signs hanging on ropes, benches or open umbrellas. They detail age, height, weight, salary, property, including whether the candidate’s parents have a pension. Photos, interestingly, are optional. “Those who do it best are the average ones: neither very good nor terrible,” explained a matchmaker nicknamed the Professor Guwhich charges the equivalent of $16 to display a poster for six months. In Chongqing, another of the large cities of the southwest, The Wall Street Journal described similar scenes: retired parents squeezed on paths covered with posters. Some attendees use WeChat — the ubiquitous app in China — to scan QR codes or exchange contacts. A woman included in her profile that she earns $560 a month, that she owns a house and a car, and that she is looking for a husband “without bad habits, under 29 years old and no taller than 1.73.” On the next page, a 26-year-old man asked for a wife with a university education and “who is not too plump,” a reflection of still very traditional standards. The cultural contrast is evident. In China, marriages are still considered an economic and family alliance rather than a romantic act. Therefore, the marriage market is, as detailed in Noema Magazine“a fusion between Match.com and a farmers market,” where banners replace digital profiles and parents act as human filters. Marriage market in Shanghai Is love found? Really, few achieve success. The stories of couples formed under this phenomenon They are almost non-existent. Most return every weekend out of habit, for company or simply to kill time. A father from Shanghai, interviewed by The Agehas been there for more than a year and has only gotten two matches for his 36-year-old son, with no results. “I only act as an intermediary, I pass the information on to him, but in the end it depends on him,” he confessed resignedly. Despite everything, for many it is a form of generational catharsis. “Our kids think ‘why should I settle?’” said a woman nicknamed Sister Gaoa veteran matchmaker who arrives every week with dozens of laminated profiles. “In our generation, people put up with more. Today they don’t want to tolerate anything.” There are also young people who challenge the norm. As reported by the state media CGTNHuang Junjie, 29, decided to advertise himself in the Beijing market. “I tried apps like Douyin or Xiaohongshu, but they felt very far away. Here at least you see people face to face,” he explained, standing next to his sign. He was looking for a mature woman and was even willing to get married. matrilocal —living with the wife’s family—something unthinkable a generation ago. Beyond love. Behind every umbrella is a story of anxiety and family pride. In China, many parents feel that seeing their children married is their last mission in life. In a society where being single is perceived almost as a failure, the markets They are both a space of hope and shame. For this reason, some parents They confessed to feeling humiliated for having to “offer” their children in public, although others defended their right to intervene. “The girls are not willing to say ‘I want a boyfriend’, so we help them,” said a mother from Shanghai. In essence, the phenomenon also reflects loneliness of an older generation. With more than 300 million retirees, many of them widowed or divorced, attending the love market is also a way to socialize, not to be left alone at home. Meanwhile, the Government is trying to stop the decline in marriages with economic incentives, child subsidies and even university courses on “romantic education.” But, as analysts point outthe results remain modest: young people value personal freedom more than the pressure to get married. A pressure for women. In this scenario, women bear disproportionate pressure. In China, staying single beyond the age of 27 can make you a Sheng Nuliterally “leftover woman.” The term, popularized by state media in the 2000s, became a social stigma that pushes many professionals to justify their singleness to … Read more

The price of chocolate is rising so much that chocolate bars are no longer legally chocolate bars.

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Imagine for a moment that Nocilla, the famous Spanish spread, reduced the chocolate in its recipe so much that they could not use its famous ditty about “milk, cocoa, hazelnuts and sugar” without incurring fraud. Imagine the shock, the controversy, the disbelief. Well, something very similar to that. just happened in the uk and, honestly, it is a warning of the future of chocolate. What has happened? For decades, McVitie’s tried to become in the UK’s quintessential chocolate cookie: “If you like your cookies with lots of chocolate, join our club,” has been their advertising slogan all this time. But that’s over: Pladis, the parent company (one of the country’s largest producers of cookies, sweets and salty snacks), has so limited the chocolate in the recipe for its Club cookies and Penguin bars that, legally, they are no longer chocolate cookies. Now They only have a chocolate ‘flavor’. But why? The explanation is simple: cocoa prices have risen so much (especially, in 2024 and early 2025) and skyrocketing production costs. As we have been warning for months, this pressure was wreaking havoc on the world of chocolate. Manufacturers very quickly realized that they could not transfer all the increases to final prices: demand was going to be savagely reduced. The reduflation and countless other strategies to contain prices. And as both in the United Kingdom and in the European Union, the regulation requires that at least 20% of the product are “cocoa solids”crossing that line requires a change of name. And what does all this imply? Although it may seem strange, the consequences of all this in October 2025 are that although consumption falls due to price, business improves. Although chocolate is 13% more expensive today than at the beginning of the year and almost 19% more than just a year ago; the sector has been able to generate more than 80 million profit than last year. However, the future is uncertain. In a recent report, Produlce (the sector’s employers’ association) recognized that consumption fell last year (according to their calculations, by 8.6%), although spending per person increased by 5.5%. But that is something worrying: because, despite the fact that cocoa is giving some rest, the price is still double what is usual. And everything suggests that will continue to rise in the medium term. Image | Ubcule | Monika Guzikowska In Xataka | A chocolate bar filled with pistachio has become the most desired viral on TikTok: the “Dubai chocolate”

All the skulls of the great apes were equally large. Until homo sapiens got fifth

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Talk about the human evolution is talking about a gigantic puzzle of which we have completed a large percentage, but whose last pieces resist us. There are many who continue trying to put these pieces together, and each new fossil studied brings us one step closer to the goal… or to rethink everything. One of those questions was at what rate the hominid brain evolved compared to that of the great apes, and the conclusion of a new study It has been devastating. Double. The hypothesis. The researchers at University College London, led by the Spanish Aída Gómez-Robles, started from a well-known premise: current humans have brains about three times larger than those of our closest ape relatives. And not only a different sizealso a noticeably different cranial structure. While most great apes have forward-projecting faces and small brains, humans have a flatter face with a larger head and rounded. The exception among the apes would be the gibbons and their heads were rounded, but with much smaller brains. The hypothesis they used was that these craniofacial adaptations evolved at an accelerated rate in humans thanks to the advantages of having a large brain, but also that social factors would have influenced this accelerated transformation. The study. The team examined virtual models of skulls of several species of modern primates. Thus, they analyzed the skulls of seven species of “great apes” including humans, two species of gorillastwo of orangutans, chimpanzees and bonobosas well as nine species of hylobatids or “lesser apes”, like the aforementioned gibbons. To do this, and using a technique that allows landmarks to be mapped onto anatomical structures, the researchers divided each skull into four sections. They analyzed the markers of the upper face, lower face, front and back of the head and compared between all the skulls analyzed. As a control group, they used hylobatids, since the species separated from hominids about 20 million years ago and they realized something: while gibbons are very similar to each other, hominids are very different from each other. And, among them, humans are the ones that evolved the most. At an astonishing speed, too. Face + neuroskull. The conclusion is that the human brain It evolved twice as fast as that of other hominids. Studies have already been done on additional factors driving accelerated changes in the brain and skull, but this study is the first to quantify the speed at which different species evolved. And, in addition to speed, what they found is that the human face transformed almost as quickly as the neuroskull. Brain expansion and facial flattening are related, but in other species there is not such a clear relationship between the evolution of the neurocranium and the face. Therefore, the team concluded that there was something external at play: a selective pressure caused because we started living in a society. “The face is the interface through which we interact with other people, so a possible explanation is that the selective pressure that caused its accelerated evolution is related to how we interact with each other in a social group,” exposes Gómez-Robles. Implications. This has not happened exclusively with humans. In the case of gorillas, the UCL team concluded that they had had the second-fastest rate of cranial evolution, probably also driven by social selection, which means a larger cranial crest is a symbol of higher social status. Now, as we said at the beginning, although the UCL study has demonstrated the evolution of human brain growth in relation to that of other similar species, there are still pieces of the great puzzle to put together. Future studies can examine other aspects to better understand what were those biological or social factors that drove the accelerated cranial development in humans. Images | UCL, Jacklee In Xataka | A 4.4 million-year-old ankle has rewritten human history: our first steps were not as we thought

Tinder has a serious problem with bots posing as humans. So it’s going to ask you for facial recognition.

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Creating a fake profile on Tinder can take just a few minutes. Soon it won’t be so simple. The app is implementing a security measure to combat the problem of fake accounts which will force all users to undergo facial verification. Show me your face. Face verification was optional, but with Face Check it is made mandatory for all new users. During the account creation process, a selfie video will have to be taken as “proof of life”. The measure is already underway in some countries such as the United States, Australia, Canada, Colombia and India, among others. There is no date, but it is expected that it will soon be deployed in the rest of the world. Does not save the photo. Tinder’s security manager tells it in Wired. During verification, the app does not save a photo of our face, but instead saves reference points on the shape of the face and converts them into a mathematical hash. The app compares that file with its database to check if it matches another account. With this measure, Tinder will prevent the creation of bot accounts, but it will also prevent the same person from having multiple accounts. a serious problem. We don’t have updated data on the volume of fake accounts, but in 2021 it was at least 23%. Tinder admits that almost all (98%) of the moderation actions they carry out are motivated by fake accounts, spam and fraud. And the problem is serious. In 2024, Bloomberg published a report about the extent of romance frauds, many of them carried out through fake profiles created by AI. The usual topic is cryptocurrencies and other fraudulent platforms. According to the Federal Trade CommissionIn 2022 alone, more than $1.3 billion were scammed in the United States. Loss of interest. After the boom of the pandemic, Tinder began to lose users, especially paid. Others like Bumble also began to decline and the trend has continued. According to this survey78% of users were tired of using these apps. It’s what they call ‘dating fatigue‘ and basically it is that we are too lazy to flirt through apps. and trustworthy. The fact that apps are full of fake profiles does not help their growth and Tinder knows it. The new measure is aimed at regaining the trust of users, ensuring them that they are talking to a real person and not a bot or a multi-account. Of course, it still does not address other problems, such as those who upload fake photos, lie about their relationship status or they use ChatGPT to seem more interesting than they really are. Image | Pexels In Xataka | Singles are fed up with Tinder. So they are starting to turn to an old acquaintance: marriage agencies

the first “drone” attack in history

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If the war in Ukraine has shown us anything, it is that the rules of the game have changed. The drones dominate the battlefield and they don’t have to be cutting-edge creations: commercial and recreational drones They can perform precision attacks. However, the technical and even psychological foundations were laid more than 175 years ago, when the Austro-Hungarian Empire carried out the first bombing with unmanned vehicles of history against Venice. In the mid-19th century, today’s Italy did not exist. The territories were fragmented into a series of kingdomss, but within the framework of the liberal revolutions of 1848, some of those kingdoms tried to become independent from the control of the Austrian Empire. That same year, Venice rebelled and proclaimed itself the ‘Republic of San Marco’. It was a symbol of resistance to Austrian rule and, evidently, the Empire was not going to let it pass. Led by Marshal Radetzkythe Empire carried out a siege of the city, but as you might already guess, Venice is not an easy city to attack due to the “natural” defenses of the canals. Yes, in a war of attrition, disease and famine would take their toll on the population, but the Austro-Hungarians were in a hurry. Faced with the impediment of bombing and attacking the city in a conventional way, someone came up with an idea as crazy as it is tempting: bomb it with drones. Well, with the drones of the time. The UAVs of the Austro-Hungarian Empire against Venice The key name in this story is Franz von Uchatius. He was an artillery lieutenant who was also an inventor. Nothing like what he proposed had ever been done and I would have loved to have been in the room when he presented his idea, but basically the plan was loading hot air balloons with explosivesand control them in some way so that they would release the bombs on the city. Specifically, what von Uchatius suggested was launch 200 balloons both from the ground and from the SMS Vulcano (which we could consider as the first aircraft carrier in history), each loaded with about 15 kilos of explosives and a detonation system based on continuous combustion fuses (coal and cotton with fat). Each of the ‘drones’ It would have an activation system using copper wires and, in the case of some prototypes, galvanic batteries. Remote control? The wind and a series of estimated flight calculations, as well as a very strong desire for each of the balloons to fall where they had to fall: on the city’s population. On July 12, 1849 began the deployment of Austro-Hungarian drones, the first time humanity experienced that remote aerial threat. Now, the result was very different from what the attacking forces expected. Military failure… BUT Although they did the calculations, the balloon-bombers had no real guidance: they were pushed randomly by the wind. And the result was devastating for both forces, as impossible as it may seem. The first thing is that few bombs hit the city and the material damage was practically non-existent. In fact, changes in the wind and failure in those calculations caused some of the explosions to affect the Austro-Hungarian forces. Basically, the balloons were unpredictable. But do not think that the Venetian population had reasons to rejoice about this, since, although we may intuit that they would rejoice to see how the weapons of the enemies “revealed” against them, the truth is that the Venetians added a new concern to those they already had: an unlikely attack. The possibility of being attacked from the sky by devices like this It shocked the population and, although it was not the reason why the city capitulated days later (most likely it was due to the desperation caused by the siege), it was surely another item to add to the list of concerns. Although useless militarily, it was the conceptual germ of an unmanned aerial attack, something that was also used in the war between the US and Spain of 1898, later it was continued exploring in the World War I (where chilling new ways to kill each other were invented) and perfected in the modern era. Although the use of balloons with dangerous cargo has not stopped being used, and an example of this is the balloons with excrement that are thrown between North and South Korea. With all that this implies at a security level, since a few months ago they were feces, but they could perfectly have been explosives. Images | Timetoast National Library of France In Xataka | Using aerial balloons to smuggle tobacco is common in Eastern Europe. And then the airports have a problem

the time change is no longer useful

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Twice a year we repeat the same ritual: moving the hands of the clock, checking the microwave, setting the alarm clock. A small gesture that changes our routine and that, for decades, they said promised savings that almost no one sees anymore. Although this year could be one of the last. Pedro Sanchez has announced that the Government will propose to the European Union to eliminate the seasonal time change for next year. But the question that concerns us here is: does it really help to save energy? Boating soon. According to an analysis prepared by Papernestthe time change barely moves the electricity consumption needle. The report, based on data from Red Eléctrica de España (REE) between 2020 and 2024, reveals that the time adjustment today has an almost imperceptible effect on light demand. “The time change no longer has a clear effect on electricity consumption. In several years an increase has even been observed during the afternoons,” states the report to which we have had access. More in depth. The analysis compares the week before and the week after each time change for five consecutive autumns. The results show very small variations – between -6% and +2% – and without any pattern. In three of those five years, consumption in the period of greatest domestic activity (from 6:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m.) even increased between 0.3% and 2.4%. Only in 2022 was a significant drop in consumption recorded, close to 6%, although analysts attribute this to the exceptional energy context of that autumn: record electricity priceslower general demand and a more moderate use of heating. A specific decrease that, according to the report, is not directly related to the time change. Source: Papernest (2025), with data from Red Eléctrica de España (REE). In summary, Spanish homes consume practically the same electricity before and after the change. Neither natural light nor temperatures seem to have an appreciable influence. “This reflects that the impact of the time change on the electricity consumption of current homes is practically insignificant,” concludes Papernest. New habits dilute the supposed savings. If decades ago the time change served to make better use of daylight and reduce spending, today the structure of electricity consumption has completely changed. The report points to several factors: teleworking, electric heatingconnected devices and continued use of household appliances that previously only worked in certain strips. In other words, consumption is no longer concentrated only in daylight hours. Electrical activity has been “delocalized” within the day, and the idea that turning the clock back or forward an hour can make a notable difference is no longer true. Furthermore, the document itself highlights that the small variations between weeks cannot be attributed to changes in temperature or solar radiation: there is no consistent correlation between meteorological conditions and demand oscillations. And in the pocket? Neither. Papernest calculates that the average savings per household barely reaches 1.4 euros per year, even in the most optimistic scenario. The calculation is based on the average annual consumption per home in Spain (3,487 kWh, according to Iberdrola), an average reduction of 1.4% after the time change and an average price of €0.132 per kWh. “Even in this optimistic scenario, the economic effect of the time change is practically insignificant compared to the annual electricity bill,” the report summarizes. Translated into an understandable figure, the time adjustment saves about €0.12 per week, or the equivalent of one hour of an LED bulb on. It is a symbolic gesture rather than a measure of efficiency. With savings out of the equation, the debate has moved to another area: that of the body and mind. The energy argument has become obsolete. So what reasons remain to maintain or eliminate the time change? The focus on health and well-being. The consensus between specialists from the Spanish Sleep Society (SES) and other scientific institutions it’s clear: winter time – the one now adopted in October – is the most appropriate from a biological point of view. International studies support this idea: maintaining winter time promotes rest, reduces fatigue and improves morning safety. On the contrary, permanent daylight saving time can generate constant “social jet lag”, especially in the westernmost areas of the country, where sunrises would be delayed until after half past nine in December. The clock no longer changes anything. Five years of data and the same result: changing the time does not save energy, money, or effort. The human being is an animal of habit, which is why it has survived the change of time due to the inertia of the symbolic gesture. Currently, electricity consumption depends more on our routines, climate and technology than on the sun coming through the window. Perhaps, as my colleague titled: “The country that never tires of hurting itself: the truth about the time change is that it is a controversy in which we can only lose.” This weekend we will turn the clocks backbut the time that really counts—that of consumption and rest—no longer moves. And it may literally be time to stop moving it. Image | FreePik and Unsplash Xataka | Without knowing it, Pedro Sánchez has also reopened the other great melon of the hour in Spain: whether Galicia is in his zone or not

is that they “hack” your brain so that you eat even more

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The consumption of ultra-processed foods For many, it is an ideal option in the case of not having time to cook or simply because it is something they don’t like to do. The problem is that science recently issued an alert what points to the risk that exists between the consumption of ultra-processed foods and structural changes in the brain that cause us to eat even more. As if it were a true ‘vicious circle’ from which it is very difficult to escape. The study. Using data extracted from brain scans Of almost 30,000 middle-aged participants, the team of scientists has seen the relationship between the consumption of ultra-processed foods and markers of adiposity, inflammation, or metabolism. But what interests us in this case, above all, are the modifications in brain structure. For this they used the data from UK Biobankmaking the average intake of ultra-processed foods among those studied 46% of the energy consumed in an entire day. But what was also interesting is that the scans measured cortical thickness, the integrity of the white matter and the microstructure of deep areas related to feeding. Changes in the brain. High consumption of ultra-processed foods was associated with changes in brain regions that play an important role in controlling appetite and the reward effectespecially the nucleus accumbens, hypothalamus, putamen and amygdala. The fact that it alters nucleus accumbens It is related to the reduction of neurons and an increase in extracellular space that is compatible with the processes associated with overeating and food addiction. But in addition, the study found that part of these changes were mediated by systemic inflammation and metabolic imbalances. An addictive loop. Although part of the effect involves increased adiposity and inflammation, the analysis suggests direct mechanisms on brain areas that regulate compulsive eating behaviors. Specifically, the brain changes associated with the consumption of ultra-processed foods could reinforce patterns of seeking out and excessive consumption of these same products, creating a loop that perpetuates eating the same thing. This fits quite well within clinical theories about the addictive nature of some processes and their ability to “hijack” brain circuits, reward. These circuits are what generate the pleasure that opens the door for us to have an addiction to the ‘stimulus’ that presses that pleasure button that we have in the brain. There are exceptions. Obviously, not all ultra-processed foods are the same. The research clearly differentiates between processed foods. There are some that are clearly positive, such as frozen vegetables, but others are negative, these being those that have industrial addictives and chemically modified compounds. Specifically, it has been seen how the harmful effects are strongly linked to additives such as emulsifiers, artificial sweeteners and other compounds that promote the intestinal inflammation that we hate so much, impacting the brain directly. And we already know that attacking the microbiota of our intestine has consequences that are increasingly important. Public health. The conclusions of the study reinforce the growing consensus in the scientific literature on the impact of ultra-processed foods on health. The accumulated evidence points to the importance of reducing its consumption and moving towards stricter regulations on the composition and also the advertising that is being done. The authors of the study point to the need to reduce the intake of ultra-processed foods and strengthen standards within the industry to improve the health of all citizens. Something that also has an impact on them having less contact with the doctor and that can liberalize services. Reprogramming brains. Faced with the question of whether ‘ultraprocessing’ reprograms our brain, there is still a long way to go to analyze the different pathways that exist. But clearly we are facing a first step in understanding food addiction. Images | Kobby Mendez Shelley Evans In Xataka | When it comes to meat, science knows there’s something better than protein shakes: lean pork

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