ages

The Middle Ages seem like a dark age. Until you discover that they were able to count up to 9,999 on their fingers.

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Historians have been trying for decades free her from her bad reputationbut it’s still hard not to feel a pang of compassion when one thinks of the Middle Ages. Logical. We have been burned with the idea that it was a time of wars, epidemicsfamines, wars and superstition in which humanity moved away from the advances of previous centuries to throw itself into the arms of barbarism. Things change when you find out that an 8th century monk was capable of doing something that will probably seem impossible to you (and most people): count up to 9,999 with your handsrepresenting any number with just your fingers. Count with your hands? Exact. If we keep doing it in a rudimentary way (and limited) today, in a time when almost everyone walks around with a phone in their pocket, imagine how important the art of counting on your fingers was centuries ago. How do you do addition and subtraction when you have nothing to rely on? And by nothing we do not mean a calculator or a primitive abacus, but tools as basic as paper and a pencil or pen to take notes. For centuries those who wanted to do calculations were content with what was closest to hand. And usually that was (pardon the redundancy) his own hands, his 10 fingers and the universe of combinations that opened up his joints and, above all, his imagination. The result is an ancient art that has fallen into disuse over the centuries, but came to acquire an astonishing level of perfection. In fact it can date back to ancient times, long before the Middle Ages. One name: Bede Venerabilis. If we know the peculiar way our ancestors had to count astronomical figures with their fingers, it is thanks largely to a Benedictine monk who lived between the 7th and 8th centuries in what is now the United Kingdom. His name: Bede, although he is usually known as Saint Bede the Venerable. In 725 the religious wrote ‘De temporum ratione’ (‘The Calculation of Time’), a treatise that talks about the cosmos, calendars and the best way to calculate the date of Easter, a relevant topic in its day. Before addressing most of these questions, the author however touches on a simpler and more important question: “De computo vel loquela digitorum”how to make beads with your fingers. Bede does not expose us to a system devised by him, but rather he describes to us a practical art that has its roots long ago. The power of one hand. “Before we begin, with the help of God, to talk about chronology and its calculation, we consider it necessary to first briefly show the very necessary and practical technique of counting on the fingers,” starts Bede in the first chapter. From there it goes on to explain how we should place our fingers to show the numbers from 1 to 9,999. By complicating the system a little more you can reach 999,999. There is even a symbol for the million “Somma di arithmetica”, by Luca Pacioli. And how the hell do they do it? With imagination, ingenuity and also a certain agility with the hands. Especially if what we want is to represent high figures. In Scientific Culture UPV/EHU mathematics professor Raúl Ibáñez signs an interesting article which details how the system works, including graphics and translated quotes from Bede himself, who first explains how to place the fingers of the left hand to represent low numbers. “When you say one, bending the left little finger, place it in the middle joint of the palm. When you say two, bend the second finger placing it in the same place,” clarifies the Benedictine monkwho continues patiently explaining to us how to show figures with the left hand, move to tens or make the jump to hundreds and thousands with the help of the right. The key is in the meaning of each hand and groups of fingers, which are assigned the value of the units of thousands, hundreds, tens and ones. If we want to go further and express tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands we will only have to vary the position of each of the hands with respect to the body. Beyond the Middle Ages. In a video published in 2020 by the BBC, Seb Falk, author of ‘The Light Ages’, also explains how centuries ago they managed to represent astronomical quantities with their fingers. The most surprising thing is that the system long predates Vera. “It was used from Roman times to the Middle Ages (11th to 13th centuries) throughout Europe,” says the historian. “Just as when we write we have a column for units, another for tens, for hundreds and thousands, they dedicate the little finger, ring and middle fingers of the left hand to the units and the index and thumb to the tens. On the right, the thumb and index indicate the hundreds and the other fingers, the thousands.” In short: ten fingers, 9,999 numbers. It’s all a matter of internalizing the system, understanding its dynamics and playing with positions. The truth is that the method is so curious that it has aroused the interest of authors after Bede, such as the mathematician Jacob Leupoldwho addresses it in an 18th century treatise; or the famous Luca Pacioliwhich refers to (with some changes) in ‘Summa’. Why get so complicated? At a time when we are accustomed to walking with smartphones (with their respective calculators) in their pockets and it is not difficult to find paper and ink, perhaps we will be surprised by the system that the Venerable Bede tells us about. Things change when we think about the resources they had available centuries ago. And the range of possibilities that such a system opened up, which only needs something as simple and universal as the fingers of the hands. “It was a code, a sign language, that was used in markets, as it was an effective way to communicate … Read more

Science suggests that economic stress ages the heart

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For decades, cardiovascular medicine has operated under an almost immovable dogma: If you want to protect your heart you have to watch your dietexercise and control blood pressure. However, science has begun to see that there are other social factors that can also be very important, such as the status of personal bank accounts. The study. In order to reach this conclusion that aims to drastically change an authentic dogma of medicine, the Mayo Clinic has analyzed more than 280,000 patients thanks to the artificial intelligence application. To do this, the AI ​​has analyzed the patients’ conventional medical tests and their history. In this way, researchers have discovered that the factors that accelerate the biological clock the most of the heart is not always in the medical history, but in the bank account and in the shopping basket. The ‘invisible’ age. The technological core of this discovery is found in an AI algorithm applied to electrocardiograms. In this way, unlike the analysis carried out by a cardiologist who looks for arrhythmias or abnormalities in the conduction of the heart, this learning model analyzes changes in the electrocardiogram that are very subtle in the electrical signals that can go unnoticed by the human eye. In this way, the algorithm can estimate something that science calls “heart age.” From here, when the researchers compared the figure with the patient’s actual age, a cardiac age gap emerged. That is, there were people with a heart that looked older than it should, which is a much more accurate predictor of mortality than some traditional markers. The social impact. Now the question that science asks is why. The results of the study published in Mayo Clinic Procedures, place financial stress and food insecurity as the most aggressive social determinants of health (SDH). In this way, what the study demonstrates is that constant worry about payment, rent, mortgage or the increase in the cost of basic foods generates a state of physiological wear and tear that AI detects as premature aging of cardiovascular tissue. The reasons. At a biological level, this phenomenon is explained through the chronic stress response. Economic uncertainty keeps the body in a state of permanent “alert”, triggering levels of cortisol and adrenaline. This prolonged hormonal overexposure damages the vascular endothelium and alters heart rate variability, effects that the Mayo Clinic algorithm identifies as signs of an aging heart. Surprisingly, the study indicates that the impact of this precariousness can equal or even exceed the risk posed by physical inactivity or chronic diseases such as diabetes in terms of accelerated mortality. From loneliness to inflation. This work is not an isolated event, but the culmination of a line of research that the Mayo Clinic has reinforced in recent years. In 2024, the same team used AI to show that social isolation acts in the opposite way: having strong support networks and community ties works as a biological “brake” that slows down the aging of the heart. However, the new 2025 study is the first to prioritize economic factors over clinical ones. Change the rules of the game. This finding reminds us of the importance that in clinical practice, beyond seeing results of tests or electrocardiograms, we must also know that in front of the doctor there is a human patient. And not only is the high cholesterol in the analysis important, but there are also many social problems behind him that can interfere with his pathology and that doctors should be aware of. The relevance of this work lies in its ability to prioritize. While other previous studies already talked about social stress, this is the first to use AI models to quantify exactly how economic precariousness “rusts” the heart muscle compared to traditional medical factors. Images | Robina Weermeijer Christian Erfurt In Xataka | Half of employees say they work under constant stress: they would give up 21% of their salary to avoid it

what happens when a Cabernet ages 20 years

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A bottle that has spent two decades in a cellar comes out of the shadows and rests on the table with the care reserved for something that has been awaited for years. It’s not just glass and label: it’s contained time, decisions made long before the world was what it is today. Before even uncorking it, the question arises: what has happened in there for 20 years? Wine is famous for improving with age, but the myth is based on one exception. As winemaker and critic Jancis Robinson recalls in his column for the Financial Timesless than 10% of the wine produced in the world is actually designed to age. Precisely for this reason, storing a bottle for two decades is not a romantic gesture, but rather a technical, chemical and, in part, risky bet. Understanding how it happens is understanding the true science of patience. The myth that it gets better with age. From the outside, the first thing that reveals the passage of time is color. A young Cabernet Sauvignon is usually opaque, violet, almost black. After twenty years, Robinson explains.that color has become lighter and garnet, ruby ​​and even brick shades appear on the edge of the glass. It is not a sign of decline, but of transformation. The wine has lost some of its original pigments because they have reacted with each other and with oxygen over the years. Something similar happens in the mouth. Cabernet Sauvignon is born with powerful, harsh, mouth-drying tannins. During aging, these tannins soften, the wine loses aggressiveness and gains complexity. Sediments appear in the bottle, the physical result of chemical reactions accumulated over decades. According to Robinsonthe big question for any wine intended for aging is whether it will have enough fruit, acidity and structure to survive that process. When it achieves this, the result is not a more intense wine, but rather a more subtle, deeper and, paradoxically, more fragile wine. For this reason, if Cabernet Sauvignon has become a privileged candidate for this trip, it is no coincidence. Its natural combination of abundant tannins, sufficient acidity and antioxidant capacity makes it one of the few varieties capable of communicating with time for decades without prematurely collapsing. Looking with the microscope. Wine aging is anything but passive. Various scientific publications, like the review Bottle Aging and Storage of Wines In the magazine Molecules, they explain that the main protagonist is oxygen. In trace amounts, oxygen slowly enters the bottle through the cork and triggers a series of controlled chemical reactions. Among them, the polymerization of tannins: small and aggressive molecules join together forming larger structures, perceived by our palate as softer and silkier. At the same time, the compounds responsible for color—especially anthocyanins—combine with tannins and other phenols. Studies like the one published in Foodsfocused on the chemical evolution of red wines during aging, show how these compounds decrease over time and give rise to new, more stable pigments. In parallel, the primary aromas of fresh fruit are transformed into what the popularizer Rana Masri described in The Grape Grind as tertiary aromas: tobacco, leather, humid forest, cigar box. They don’t appear out of nowhere; They are the result of decades of slow and irreversible molecular rearrangement. The final destination of wine. Aging does not depend only on the wine, but also of its environment. Storage conditions – stable temperature, darkness, humidity and absence of vibrations – are essential. A wine stored at 14ºC for twenty years does not age in the same way as one subjected to sudden changes in temperature. Time, in wine, needs calm to work well. Furthermore, the study Wine aging: a bottleneck story has shown that oxygen entry occurs not only through the cork, but also at the interface between the cork and the neck of the bottle. This explains why two bottles of the same wine, from the same batch, can evolve differently. Aging, even under ideal conditions, is not completely controllable. As they remember on the specialized page Wine Follyacidity, alcohol balance and tannin concentration determine whether a Cabernet is prepared for a long life or if it will collapse prematurely. Aging wine is not a guarantee of improvement, but rather a constant negotiation with failure. It won’t be the same to open a bottle. After twenty years, a Cabernet Sauvignon is not simply an older wine. It is the result of thousands of micro-decisions: of the viticulturist, of the winemaker, of the type of closure, of the winery and, finally, of the collector who decided not to open it before. Science explains much of the process, from the polymerization of tannins to the slow controlled oxidation, but there is always a margin of mystery. Wine ages, but it also risks. Maybe that’s why as Jancis Robinson points out with some ironymany wineries and collectors face the same dilemma, knowing when to stop waiting. Because wine, no matter how fascinating its molecular journey, is not made to be eternal. It is made to be drunk. And sometimes, the greatest act of wisdom is not to keep the bottle for another ten years, but to uncork it and accept that patience, after all, had a liquid destiny. Image | Unsplash Xataka | If the question is why are non-alcoholic drinks so expensive if they are not taxed, the answer is simple

They have studied the effect of long -term sweeteners on our brain. His conclusion is that he ages faster

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Little by little it is already becoming a daily gesture among many people: change sugar for a sweetener to avoid calorie consumption in excess. Whether in the morning coffee, in a yogurt or in a refreshing drink, sweeteners are attractive to respect the sweet taste and ‘be healthy’. However, a new and forceful study Posted in the prestigious medical magazine Neurology He puts this idea in check, suggesting that this substitution could have a long -term hidden cost for our cognitive health. A direct effect to thought. Research, which has established itself as one of the broadest and most prolonged to date on the subject, cooks that people with high consumption of sweeteners such as the aspartamosaccharin or sorbitol They experience a deterioration of their thinking and memory capabilities 62% faster than those people who consume. To put it in perspective, the researchers calculate that this accelerated decline is equivalent to aging 1.6 years suddenly. The details of the study. It is not a PSAJERA survey or a small -scale experiment. Scientists have been based on the Brazilian Longitudinal Health Study data of the adult (Elsa-Brazil), a mass and long-distance research project. They analyzed a cohort of 12,772 public officials with an average age of 52 years, which were followed for eight years, and with analysis at three different moments: 2008-2010, 2012-2014 and 2017-2019. Detailed questionnaires. Using food frequency questionnaires, the team quantified the combined and individual consumption of seven specific sweeteners: artificial ones such as aspartamo, saccharin and acesulfamo K, and sugar alcohols such as erythritol, xylitol and sorbitol, in addition to the tagatose. In parallel, the cognitive performance of patients with a six -test battery that focused on memory, verbal fluidity and global cognition was measured. The results. The consumption of sweeteners, both individually and combined, was associated with accelerated cognitive loss. The ‘suspect’ list includes some of the most common names we find on the labels of ‘Light’ products or ‘zero’: aspartamo, saccharin, acesulfamo k, erythritol, sorbitol and xylitol. Interestingly, the trend was more pronounced and statistically significant in participants under 60 years. This suggests, according to the authors, that median age is a critical window where the products that are chosen consumer may have direct consequences in brain health decades later. The researchers They point that until now the sweeteners without calories often “are seen as a healthy alternative to sugar.” But now it has been seen that great consumption of these has “negative effects on brain health over time.” There are limitations. The researchers themselves suggest that dietary data are based on self -reports, which can be inaccurate, and that, despite statistical adjustments, the “residual confusion” cannot be completely ruled out where other nutritional behaviors that may be interfering are not measured. Correlation is not causality. As expected, this study can generate a great debate, and the industry and the scientific community have called for prudence, remembering that correlation does not imply causality. Gavin Partington, general director of the British refreshing drinks association, and the International Association of sweeteners (ISA) They have pointed out that this is an observational study. That is, it finds a statistical association between two variables (consumption of sweeteners and cognitive impairment), but cannot demonstrate that one is the direct cause of the other. In Spain, experts such as neurologist Guillermo García Ribas, from the Ramón y Cajal hospital, They are cautious. He criticizes that it is difficult to isolate the effect of the sweetener of the rest of the diet. Often, a high consumption of these products goes hand in hand with a diet rich in ultraprocessed foods, which have already been linked in numerous studies to a worse cognitive aging. The defense of researchers. Anticipating this criticism, the Suemoto team offers two solid arguments. First, they observed that the association was also maintained for individual sweeteners, those that a person adds on their own to coffee or yogurt, and not only for the compounds used by the industry in the ultra -processed. Second, and perhaps more important, there is what scientists call “biological plausibility.” Previous studies carried out in animal models (mainly mice) have already shown that artificial sweeteners can trigger neuroinflammation processes and alter the crucial intestine-cerebro axis, mechanisms that could negatively affect brain function. The global context. This study does not arise in a vacuum. It adds to a growing wave of skepticism on the long -term benefits of sweeteners. In fact, in 2023, The World Health Organization (WHO) itself advised the use of these products to control the weight or reduce the risk of chronic diseases, arguing the lack of evidence on its long -term benefits and the existence of possible unwanted effects that had not yet been completed. The underlying problem remains the same: excessive sugar consumption. In countries like Spain, the maximum daily amount recommended by WHO is tripling. The sweeteners emerged as an apparent solution, but studies like this force us to ask ourselves if we are simply changing one problem for another. As Suemoto himself summarizes, his work “adds solid evidence that these compounds may not be harmless, especially when consumed frequently from the median age.” The conclusion is not that we should return to sugar, but that we must examine much more critically with what we are replacing it Images | Towfiqui Barbhuiya In Xataka | 9 questions and answers about Estevia, the fashion sweetener

In the Middle Ages the Child Jesus was represented as an “old baby.” The reason still fascinates experts

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It is not necessary to be a scholar, or have an eye trained in the study of medieval art. Soon you are familiar with the Christian iconography of the thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth centuries or have seen any of the Religious altarpieces That they painted themselves in Europe at that time, you are likely to ask yourself a question: why do they show the Child Jesus like this, ugly, aged, touched? And ugly, aged and touched are three adjectives that probably fall short for not a few of the medieval portraits that represent Jesus in their early years, in Mary’s arms. Where there should be a child in his most tender childhood we find a creature with wrinkles, incipient baldness and the expression of a philosopher submerged in brave reflections. The most curious thing is that they are not due to lack of expertise of artists. They are anything but childish because that is what was sought. Portraits of the child? Jesus. There are examples to bore. Paolo Veneziano, Duccio di Buoninasegna, Massaccio, Giotto… If something has in common their representations of the Virgin and the Child Jesus, beyond having painted them between the thirteenth and fifteenth centuries and always represent the same religious characters, it is how they did. They were supposed to represent a young woman with her newborn son or only a few years, but what came out of her brushes was very different: “old children”, creatures not very healthy who seem sexagenarians about to sign retirement. Instead of angelic faces, they created incipient baldness heads, wrinkles and expressions that evoke anything except the idea of childhood. And to show a button. Or several. Arrives with a look at the child Jesus of ‘Crevole Madonna’ (1283-1284), by Duccio Di Buoninasegna who looks at you from the right side of the cover image. Or this other painted by Giotto At the beginning of the fourteenth century and observes you with an equally intense expression under these lines. Detail of ‘Maestà di Ognissanti’, by Giotto, the beginning of the fourteenth century. Lack of expertise? That is the first explanation that comes to mind: if they painted the Child Jesus of that guise, maybe it was because of the ability of those who handled the brushes. The reality is much more complex … and fascinating. “These ugly babies were very intentional,” Phil Edwards explains in Vox Magazine. They were more or less skilled, when drawing the face of Jesus the painters were guided by conventions, an assimilated and shared code and a cultural background that in this case affected both the idea of childhood and especially that of the Child Jesus himself. In fact, one of the keys that help us understand these pieces is that medieval artists did not seek to faithfully capture reality. If their babies are not realistic it is because they were not interested in realism. The message matters, not fidelity. “The strangeness we see in medieval art is due to the lack of interest in naturalism. They were more inclined to expressionist conventions,” Matthew Averett recountsProfessor at Creighton. Each painter handled their own brushes and paintings, true; But in a context that influenced his works. They were the creators, but they resorted to a language and clear conventions. “The idea of artistic freedom to represent these people as one would have been new,” he adds. “Art was not interested in naturalism, but rather in the theological expression,” emphasize in The conversation Angela McCarthy, from the University of Notre Dame Australia. And that does not notice only in the aspect with which the Child Jesus was portrayed. In Western art theology also influenced COMPOSITIONS: Jesus usually appears sitting with a mature or diaper posture. “The latter was an attempt to represent the biblical references to a child wrapped in diapers or the shroud placed on Jesus after his death,” Apostille McCarthy. Detail of a representation of the Child Jesus of the mid -14th century of Paolo Veneziano. Do not say a child, give better “homunculus”. If there is a word that helps to understand those disturbing “children-man” who rest in Maria’s lap and look at us from the medieval tables is that: homunculus, which means “Little Man”. The Child Jesus was after all a child, but not anyone. McCarthy recalls that his artistic representation with Mary began to expand after the Council of Ephesus, in 431, and not much later, in 451, another council was held in Chalcedon that would be key to the representations of the Child Jesus: “Part of the interpretation that the Church made of the Council was that Jesus was fully human and divine. Some theologians interpreted that this meant that this meant that this was fully formed. with knowledge of his divinity “, reveals The expert of the University of Notre Dame Australia: “This was difficult to represent in art and hence the name of the child.” “Perfectly formed”. What we observe in the Middle Ages altarpieces is therefore not a simple (more or less realistic) representation of a child with his mother. No. The message is more complex … and rich. It shows us an idea of the Jesus Child influenced by Christian theology and certain conventions. And in which that concept, the “homunculus.” “There is the idea that Jesus was perfectly formed and unchanged”, Remember Averett“And if you combine that with Byzantine painting, it became a standard form to represent Jesus. In some of these images it seems that he had baldness with an adult pattern.” Good example is the child who observes you from the left side of the composition that opens this report. The image is taken from ‘Madonna Della Pace’an icon that, as they remember from the Santi Giovanni E Paolo Basilica, was donated to the Dominicans by a senator who took him from Constantinople in the mid -fourteenth. “In the eastern orthodox tradition, from approximately the sixth century to the present, the child Jesus looks like a little man,” McCarthy abounds. Detail of ‘Virgen … Read more

In the Middle Ages there was a very expensive culinary fashion that would make its uncomstant food today: they bathed in spices

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For tastes, colors. But if you were the guest of a landowner of the Middle Ages, a hostel Hyper spicy. After all, it was not crazy that you were a pheisan tray on the table swimming in a sauce made with 17 different spicesso many that its flavor would hardly please today’s palates. Perhaps that expectation seems little appetizing, but for the diners of the Middle Ages it made all the meaning. Better with spices. The diners with possible of the Middle Ages liked spices. A lot. So much so that their banquets were a real display of ginger dressings, cinnamon, black pepper, nutmeg or saffron, between A long and well spiced and so on. As an example, Michael Delahoydefrom the Washington State University, Explain that a meat sauce could contain about 17 different spices. In another recent example The country He spoke of recipes up to 15 and abundant sugar. All in the same dish. Combined. Forming a mixture of flavors that would make meals that gave luster to the great banquets of the medieval nobles were hardly edible for the diners of the 21st century. And that (culinary ironies) that it was never as easy to find spices as it is today: it comes with entering any supermarket to meet full shelves. A gastronomic window. If we know what and how the medieval nobles ate it is thanks to the work of historians and works such as ‘The Llibre de feel Soví’a manuscript that stands out for several reasons: it is the oldest recipe book of its type of the Iberian Peninsula and for a few days it stars An exhibition On medieval food in Valencia. The work contains 72 recipes and dates from the XV, although experts are convinced that the work starts from a previous, now lost original, which was written in 1324. The work is interesting not only for its recipes. It is also because it tells us about how the diners of the low Middle Ages were, perhaps somewhat different from us in tastes, but not in what they refer to. In addition to appreciating the good taste of the dishes, they liked to presume, use gastronomy as a status symbol. They appreciated kitchens with large stoves, The trenches that cut and distributed meat among diners, Spices and sugar. Kitchen and marketing (medieval). “Eating we have to eat all, every day, but in the Middle Ages they did not have the ways of distinguish leftovers to the poorest classes. Comment to The country Juan Vicente García Marsilla, Professor of Medieval History and Commissioner of the Exhibition. The seventeenth -century recipe book preserved in Valencia has a lot of that pomp and prestige that was sought between stoves and pantries. In his prologue he slides that the original work was prepared long ago by commission of an English kingbut the recipes speak of another reality: an author probably Valencian or Catalan accustomed to the gastronomic tradition of the Mediterranean. “Marketing ínfulas of the time”, Garcia summarizes. By attributing the work to a foreign and old chef, the recipe book sought to imbute exoticism and prestige. Why so many spices? Partly for the above. Status. Today we may find them in any market, but spices or sugar centuries ago They were luxuries that were not available to all tables. “The spices were a sign of luxury and opulence. They denoted prestige,” Delahoyde commentswho reflects on the peculiar value of medieval kitchen books: probably not all chefs knew how to read and the recipes were not used between stoves, but were preserved in private collections. Therefore … Did they serve for those responsible for provisions? Were they a sign of status? A way of knowing the exotic ingredients of each dish, dressings that otherwise perhaps go unnoticed for diners? In search of flavors … and name. Analida Brager slides some interesting reflections in Medievalist.neta platform founded in 2008 and specialized in medieval history. In A broad article On the subject, he points out that the medieval palate was accustomed to very seasoned foods, a symbol of power in part by its exotic origin and the Imports from the East. In the extensive list Cinnamon, nail, nutmeg, ginger, pepper, saffron, macis, cardamom or Galanga. Insatiable demand. “The insatiable demand for spices by Europe at the end of the Middle Ages is a notable example of a drastic historical change caused by consumer preferences,” He pointed in 2012 Paul Freedman in an article published in ‘The Oxford Handbook of Food History’. The result are recipes such as sugar chicken that we can read in the XV manuscript preserved in Valencia. In addition the spices were not only used in the kitchen, they also had Medical applications. There is who says That despite its limited availability and high cost, a very high percentage of the recipes of the kitchen books of the thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth centuries include spices and that at least some works cite up to 40 different types. In any case, it is necessary to be clear that the kitchen of the aristocracy and the extended between the popular classes is not the same. Among the latter it was not strange that it was consumed Cold food for a matter of costs. Reviewing old topics. As It often occurs With everything referred to with the Middle Ages, the use of spices is overshadowed by topics and prejudices that are not always accurate. Delahoyde remembers The “common myth” that the chefs of the time resorted to both condiments to mask the taste of meat in poor condition. After all there were no refrigerators or freezers with whom to keep the meat fresh, right? Why not season it well? It is not likely to happen. And the reason is simple. In the Middle Ages they were also aware of the importance of fresh foods and who had the necessary resources to buy spices probably would not use them for that purpose. First because they were too expensive to … Read more

What is the ‘wounded man’, the most unfortunate creature of the entire Middle Ages: sick, beaten and sewn to Sabblazos

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No matter what happened to you, how bad the week has gone, if you are exhausted after climbing and lowering boxes during a move, you have injured yourself, you have a fever, you have given positive in Covid or yesterday you cut the piss while cooking. No matter how bad that you find yourself and a lot that you suffer is impossible that you are worse than the ‘Wounded man ‘. If there is a unfortunate character in history, one mistreated to the limit, that is him. Nor the Biblical Job. My Héctor dragged by Achilles. Not Julio César with The gross frame dagger. He Wounded man It is the most suffering creature of creation for a very simple reason: it was created for that, to suffer, to support all the hardships imaginable by medieval minds. And yet there we see it in the codices of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, with resigned expression, almost unstimated. The wounded man? Exact. It is probably one of the most unfortunate names (and also one of the least original) in the history of humanity; But thus, ‘wounded man’ (‘Wound Man’), is how the diagram is known that for centuries, approximately Between the XV and XVIalthough some outstanding examples can also be found The XVIIillustrated the surgery manuals. The term says it all. The injured man was a representation in which the aesthetic and medical criteria were combined to basically show that: an “injured man.” Although saying so is to fall short. The character was a compendium of catastrophes, a creature that gathered all kinds of injuries, infections and various ailments. Virtually all misfortunes that fit in a medieval mind. Eejmplo of wounded man collected in a treaty of the Wellcom Collection. A pistoning with legs. If it is true that saying that a picture is worth a thousand words, the injured man is his greatest exponent. The figure is not only “injured.” If we showed us the portrait of a real staff, of flesh and blood, it is most likely to be unable to stand up. Not all versions are the same, but usually the injured man used to be crossed by swords, daggers, spears and arrows (some look, others have the cut tip), beaten by garrotes, full of blood cuts and with thorns stuck in the feet. Is there more? Yes. They have also bitten snakes and dogs, has run into poisonous toads and have chopped bees and scorpions. And the above is only ‘skin outside’. Inside the panorama was not much better. The images show it full of bubones that suggest that it has contracted the plague and with smallpox marks. In A particularly ruthless example of the wounded man, prepared in the XV and that today is preserved in the funds of the London’s Wellcom Collection, he is seen with a curtured penis while one of his testicles has an aspect that invites us to think that he suffers a venereal. A medieval celebrity. Today your image may surprise us (or even look exotic), but in its day, during the low Middle Ages and the beginning of the Modern Age, the wounded man was a relatively popular topic in European medical treaties. Jack Hartnellprofessor of the Univerisity of East Anglia and who has dedicated him several Essayscalculate that it has been found at least A dozen of examples in medieval manuscripts and more than twenty manuals printed in the modern age. And those are just known cases. Wounded man preserved in a xylography in the Wellcomo collection. A long (and extensive) trip. “The first known versions appeared at the beginning of the XV in books on the surgical trade, particularly in works by southern Germany related to the famous surgeon Würzburg Ortolf von Baierland,” says Hartenell in An article Posted in Public Domain Review. Interestingly, despite his battered appearance, the injured man survived the fifteenth century, the Middle Ages and the handwritten codices and sneaked into the manuals created with The new technology of printing. In 1497 we found him on the cover of a book on Strasbourg Surgery and In 1678 We can still observe it in the pages of the ‘Full Speech of the Wounds’, of the London surgeon John Browne. The wounded man lived enough to mistreat him with new weapons, not only spears, swords, daggers, arrows and clubs. In 1517 the German military surgeon Hans von Gerdorff included a version in Your field manual in which he saw how the unfortunate man was shot with cannon bullets to the hands and legs. And what exactly did it serve? Good question. Difficult response. And the reason is that its meaning, its role, the purpose it had in the surgical manuals that it illustrated, could vary over time. They recognize it From the well collection, custodian of one of the most fascinating versions that are preserved, the only English specimenincluded in a medical treaty in the late XV. “Its exact purpose is still somewhat mysterious, but presumably served as a reminder of the wounds to which the human body is prone,” He recounts The British institution. At least in some of the first versions, the injured man was accompanied by numerous annotations related to each of his injuries, sometimes more or less extensive texts accompanied by figures, which reinforces his role as a diagram. “A human index”, In words of Hartnell. In the ‘Das Buch der Clurgia’, 1497 manual, we already see it however Free of annotations. Example extracted from a Strasbourg Treaty of 1519. Art or science? Its extensive trajectory and those changes over time has led to different interpretations about what its exact use could be. Hartnell points out, for example, that at least in his first versions he served as a didactic guide, a conductive thread of the manual that facilitated its handling to the surgeon. In A German specimen From the XV we see the character surrounded by numbers and phrases, each related to a different ailment (a sablazo, a bite, an arrow … Read more

Blanca Suárez uses Úrsula Corberó’s anti-aging treatment and works on the area of ​​the face that ages the most at home

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Blanca Suarezwho we will be able to see again on the big screen this spring with the premiere of The trace of evila film directed by Manuel Ríos San Martín, has always defended natural and unfiltered beauty. In fact, he posts frequently on his social networks. photos without makeup in which we see her boasting a radiant face. © Getty Images The actress take good care of your skin and shares some of her beauty secrets with her virtual followers. He especially likes masksyes. Combine its use at home with cabin beauty treatments to show off a face that is always young and free of imperfections. © ursulolita © blanca_suarez Blanca Suárez and Úrsula Corberó connected by the treatment that is in fashion “Living exomada”Blanca Suárez wrote on social networks after having acquired the doctor Lidia Maroñas, founder and medical director of Clínica Oneskinmed (located in the heart of the Chamberí neighborhood, in Madrid) a exosome treatment. Úrsula Corberó, like Kim Kardashian, Kourtney, Sofía Vergara and Sarah Hyland, also uses this to show off radiant skin. This regenerative therapy, based on the action of stem cells, improves skin in an incredible way: unifies spots, illuminates, combats expression wrinkles and firmness. This is explained by Elizabeth Álvarez, founder of Inout, the beauty center that Corberó chooses, precisely. Elizabeth tells us that It has been investigated since the 80s of the last century. at a regenerative level, but it is now when it is incorporated into skin aging procedures. Exosomes contain genetic material, proteins and growth factors, among other substances. They are capable of stimulate collagen and elastinhydrate, repair DNA damage, protect from oxidative stress, improve skin texture, reduce spots and treat dermatitis or psoriasis. Next to nothing! In Spain, to date, Only those of plant origin and topical origin are authorizedalthough it is expected that they can be injected in the near future. At the moment, on a topical level, they leave wonderful results and you just have to see it on the faces of Úrsula and Blanca. The second, furthermore, work on an important area of ​​the face at home that It is worth taking care of to show off an always young face.. © blanca_suarez The area of ​​the face that, like Blanca Suárez, you should work on Although also resort to clay and gel masksthe Madrid have recently worn a face veil that specifically affects the so-called nasolabial fold. We call the nasolabial fold the line that extends across the cheekbones, cheeks and around the mouth; a line that becomes accentuated with the passage of time. © blanca_suarez © blanca_suarez Dr. Carlos Gómez, a specialist in aesthetic medicine, assures that “we are used to referring to the nasolabial fold in general, but this unsightly problem is the sum of the appearance of three very marked lines: the nasolacrimal, nasolabial and labiomental or mental lines. puppet and that they are a product of facial sagging process that happens over the years, as well as the bone and fat loss in the cheekbone area“. Therefore, although Using the so-called nasolabial patches like those from Blanca Suárez can help you a lot, it is essential to also work the cheekbones. In this sense, the doctor is clear: “Anatomically, The nasolabial fold is formed as a result of loss of bone and fat structure of the entire cheekbone regiontherefore, returning the lost volume to that structure and stimulating again the collagen and elastin formation allows us to reverse the nasolabial fold from the origin and the rest signs of aging tensing upwards”. © Getty Images How can we prevent it from being marked more? To work the cheekbones, we can not only resort to hyaluronic acid in aesthetic medicine, allowing ourselves to be advised by professionals, but we can also use other methods such as yoga and facial gymnastics. The facial gym firm Work Your Face offers its own method based on manual massages, called Workouts, aimed at train facial muscles in the same way that pursues fitness body, working each muscle correctly and in depth until it is strengthened. A few more minutes of reinforcement can be added to these workouts depending on each case, either due to skin needs or to work on specific areas such as the neck, shoulders or neckline, or the nasolabial fold. © Getty Images The best solution and some recommended products It must be taken into account that, as stated by Dr. Guillermo Llopis, from Clínica Ferraro, “there is no conclusive scientific evidence that supports the benefits of facial yoga to define the face.” Yes they can help us tone certain muscles But we will perceive the real difference when we work on all levels: bone, muscle and skin. “As There are many factors that influence agingwe work on different levels, both the bone, the superficial fatty compartments and the outermost part of the skin,” explains Dr. Llopis. As always, the best thing is a 360 approach and keep in mind that the foundation on which doctors and experts work is laid by oneself. That is why physical exercise to maintain good bone and muscle health, as well as diet, home treatments and a good self-care routine, are crucial. According to pharmacist Marta Munar, from G19, active ingredients such as retinol, glycolic acid or peptides are capable of inducing the synthesis of collagen and elastin and to combat the results of its degradation. Others like him hyaluronic acid They are capable of retaining water to fill wrinkles and reduce expression lines. He also tells us that the vitamin C It acts preventively due to its antioxidant action that stops the degradation of the two supporting proteins. In line with this, we show you some products that can help you. Signing laugh line mask, by Croma The Croma firming mask for expression lines is enriched with hyaluronic acid to intensely hydrate and soothe the skin of the nasolabial folds. Carefully selected ingredients include palmitoyl hexapeptide, a biomimetic peptide that provides a firming effect and smoothes … Read more

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