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To the question of whether ultraprocessed foods are as bad as they have told us, science still has no clear answer

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When going to the supermarket it is easily being surrounded by fried potato bags with different flavors, cookies, soft drinks, frozen pizzas or chicken nuggets that are part of our shopping basket. They are the so -called ultraprocessed foods (UPF), products that have gone through multiple industrial phases and often contain ingredients that are not found in house kitchen, such as corn syrup or hydrogenated oils. A debate for a long time. The alarm was given in the early 2000s Brazilian researcher Carlos Monteiro. While trying to decipher The increase in obesity and type 2 diabetes in your countrydiscovered something paradoxical: people bought less sugar and salt than before. The explanation was in the Super cart: they had replaced the basic ingredients with precooked and ready products to consume that they were loaded with these same foods. Growing evidence. From that moment on, scientists began to put the batteries to try to demonstrate whether there was a link between the high consumption of these products with health problems, because they had increased at a vertiginous pace. From there, dozens of studies associate high diets in ultraprocessed with higher risk of obesity, cardiovascular diseases, type 2 diabetes, cancer and even depression and anxiety. A large -scale study with more than 110,000 adults in the United States found that those with the highest consumption of ultraprocessing were 4% more likely to die for any cause during the monitoring period. Variations between countries. The same amount of ultraprocessing in all countries is not consumed of our area. While in the United States and the United Kingdom Almost 60% of calories come from ultraprocessed In Spain the figure is around 26-30%. Despite being in the lower part of the table compared to Anglo -Saxon countries, recent studies, such as the one published by The BMJ, alert that the strongest evidence associates ultraprocessed exposure with cardiometabolic health problems, metal disorders and mortality in general. Is El Villano processing? Despite the overwhelming correlations, not the entire scientific community agrees to demonize the ultra -processed as a category. The main argument of skeptics is that The group is too broad and heterogeneous. In this way, the question is raised if it is logical to put some donuts, fried potatoes and a supermarket yogurt in the same bag. Some researchers wonder if the association with poor health is not due, simply, that these products are usually rich in fat, sugar and salt, and poor in fiber and vitamins. However, several studies have tried to clear this unknown. A clinical trial of the University College of London He compared two dietsone based on minimally processed foods and another with ultraprocessed, but both with identical levels of key nutrients such as proteins, fats, fiber and sugar. Surprisingly, participants lost twice the weight with the minimally processed food diet. This suggests that nutritional composition is not everything. Beyond calories. A breaker essay led by physiologist Kevin Hall in the National Institutes of Health of the United States (NIH) locked -literally -20 adults In a research center and gave them freedom to eat everything they wanted. For two weeks they followed an ultraprocess diet, and two others an unprocessed diet. The results were revealing: with the ultraprocessed diet the participants consumed 500 calories more a day and won almost a kilo. Hall and others investigations suggest that energy density and food texture are key. Many ultraprocess, having less water, concentrate more calories in less grams. In addition, its texture is often softer, which leads us to eat faster. By eating faster, our brain does not have time to register satiety signals, which facilitates excess caloric consumption. Ciaran Forde, researcher at the University of Wageningen, demonstrated that people ate much less when they were presented with hard texture foods (such as gofre -type fries) compared to soft texture foods (such as potato puree), regardless of whether they were ultra -processed or not. “What we saw was that the speed of eating and the texture properties of the meals boost consumption, not the degree of processing,” says Forde. What do we do then? Although the debate on the definition and the exact mechanisms continues, the general trend is clear: a diet with a high percentage of ultraprocesses is consistently associated with worse health results. The solution, however, does not seem to be a total prohibition. Kevin Hall himself, one of the most critical researchers, admits which consumes salad salads and dressings bought in the store. His advice for friends and colleagues is pragmatic: “Eat more vegetables without starch, legumes, fruits, integral grains and limits the intake of added sugars, sodium and saturated fats. Choose the ultra -processed that help you to be convenient and affordable, and avoid those that make it difficult.” Images | Alan Alves Xataka | Making rice of more is no longer a mistake: cooling it and reheating it can reduce your calories according to some nutritionists

If the question is what salary the richest man in the world could have, Tesla has given an answer: 1 billion dollars

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After the judicial battle that ended with the salary bonus block of 50,000 million that Tesla had to pay Elon Musk, the electric car manufacturer has launched an order to its shareholders with a New salary proposal For its CEO: a bill bonus (European billion) if you get the company out of the crisis in which it is mired. The potential value of the salary package that Tesla has presented Before the Bag and Securities Commission, it could raise the fortune of Musk, which is currently estimated at about 435.4 billion dollars, until it became The first billionaire in history If you manage to meet all the required conditions. The salary package conditions. He New salary plan That Tesla has proposed to Elon Musk does not consist of a traditional salary or cash bonuses: the entire figure depends on the flexible delivery of actions throughout the next decade, provided that it meets certain very demanding milestones, such as reaching Total sales of 20 million additional cars. All in the context of a company plunged into A sales crisis global. The shares will be delivered by sections, instead of the end of the period as it happened with its 2018 bonus, and only if Tesla manages to multiply its stock market value until it reaches at least one capitalization of 8.5 billion dollars, starting from the billion that is currently worth in the stock market. To put this figure in context, Nvidia is technological more powerful of the momentand its capitalization is 4.05 billion dollars. It’s not just money: it’s also power in Tesla. In addition, the plan could meet the historical demand of its CEO to have More power within the company. Currently, Musk control around 12% of the actions of Tesla. However, with the new salary bonus its participation in Tesla would increase to 29%. Increase your participation to that percentage would allow Musk increase your influence direct about the company. In this way, it would have enough weight to block important decisions that would not have their approval and further reinforce their position as an essential leader. In one recent interview For the CNBC, Robyn Denholm, president of the Tesla Board of Directors, made it clear to investors to “retain and encourage Elon is essential for Tesla to become the most valuable company in history.” Without a doubt, a salary package of such a draft should be enough to motivate the richest man in the world. Termination clause and a commitment to the future. Such and as they break down in Bloomberganother of the conditions of the new salary package announced by Tesla, it is established that MUSK must remain as CEO of Tesla During, at least, the next ten years to be able to opt for the entire compensation, with a minimum of seven and a half years to unlock the first section of the remuneration. “If it yields, if it reaches the ambitious objectives of the plan, it will receive a participation: 1% for each half billion dollars of stock market capitalization, plus the operational milestones it must achieve to achieve it,” Denholm explained. On the other hand, among the operational challenges that the commercial deployment of one million is found during that time of autonomous robotaxis and of the Optimus robots with integrated Grok, multiplying by 24 the current benefits of the company. Investors will have to vote. After registering the proposal to the regulatory body of the stock market, the next step in its process is to submit the salary bonus to the vote of investors. Something that is still more than A mere formal procedure since the previous 2018 salary package was also voted on a shareholders’ meeting, and finally It was canceled by a court of Delaware for the complaint of one of the shareholders. In Xataka | The shocking thing is not that Elon Musk has lost 80,000 million dollars in 2025: others have earned 102.00 million Image | Tesla, dvids (Trevor Cokley)

If the question is “how ancient Rome smelled” the answer is “yes”

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Smelling a colony, a room or a plate of food causes our mind to jump and travel over time. It is something tremendously powerful And that has led to investigate ways to smell video games, The cinema either to the Internet. These systems existed And, although it would be the definitive immersive experience, None finished curdlingPerhaps the problem is that we don’t want to sniff certain things. And, definitely, something we would not want to experience is the smell of ancient Rome. It smelled strong. Thomas Derrick, a doctor at Macquarie University in Australia, believes that ancient Rome would have been extremely smelly for Anyone of today. In statements a RNZthe researcher specialized in people’s daily lives during that historical period in Rome believes that “it probably smelled quite bad.” Ok, but … to what extent? “You would smell human waste mixed with smoke resulting from the burning of firewood, animal droppings and other things rotting and decomposing.” And the sewers? The problem is that there was not a single source of those bad smells, being the result of a stinky combination not particularly pleasant. Rome had a sewer system (the ‘Maximum sewer‘It is an example), but not some sewers like the ones we can imagine to carry the waste of the latrines to a black well or something like that, but something more similar to a river drain to evacuate the stagnant water of the public areas. Derrick says in an article to The conversation that “we can assume, with enough security, that the owners did not have latrines connected to the sewers in the big cities, perhaps by fear of the entrance of rodents or the bad odors.” In addition, they did not have valves such as those that currently prevent things from the sewer, so the gases that originated from the waste, such as methane, could enter the houses. And considering that lamps with a flame were used, The danger of explosion was there. Nothing was wasted. Most likely, the most humble had a nearby black well. And, in addition to the feces, it must be taken into account that the garbage could also be thrown into the same place … or directly to the street, as was the case with urine, thrown from the windows of the buildings of several floors. Apart from human waste, there were work animals that were used regularly in cities that They did their things in the streetsas well as decomposition corpses of both these animals and people. And what is garbage for the vast majority, for others it is a “treasure.” There were professionals who collected stool to use them as fertilizers, but urine could also be used to wash clothes. That urine is still rich in ammonia, so could be used to disinfect. Patches for poop. If the streets were up of excrement (and what are not excrements, another question that arises is how they could walk through them without ending up to the stool knees. The answer they found was the placement of large stones in the streets to dodge both the mud and the waste. Pompeya is one of the places where you can see these “stones to cross”, a cobblestone that also allowed a simpler step for animals that were used to load or for tasks such as moving the large stone mills that were used in the bakeries. Again, more animals … and more waste. Humanity. Derrick says that this nausebound smell of the big Roman cities was not only due to the feces of each other. “Roman settlements would have strongly smelled of body sweat,” he says. Also demystify that Image of Roman public bathsaffirming that they were not as hygienic as we can think if we visited the ruins of some of them. And yes, although they were places where you could carry out hygienic activities, especially were meeting points in which it defined and ate, pulling the remains to the ground. In addition, although the Romans knew the soap, they preferred to scratch the skin with a bronze curved tool called strígile and use perfumed olive oil for personal hygiene. And the mixture of oil and dead skin was thrown (again) to the ground or water. And since water and oil are not mixed, when the water disappeared, only that greasy mejunje remained. The author comments that the bathrooms, “were surely quite dirty places.” That tool would be strígile There were always classes. The elites could have more refined customs and even use perfumes that, yes, existed in ancient Rome. To elaborate them, they mixed animal and plant fats and they were impregnated with aromas such as roses, cinnamon, lilies, incense or saffron. They could bring spices to India thanks to the vast Commercial networks of the Empireand if these perfumes were applied in the human body, they mixed with body smell to work for something … different. Where they were used with more olfactory success it was in the statues, since they sought to enhance that aroma of the gods and goddesses with perfumes that exalted the cult of deities. What is clear is that what for us would be something nauseabundo, for the ancient Romans was everyday, the smell of the home. Do you remember the Maximum sewer? That class difference was also there: while the popular classes had blind wells, some Domus rich did have direct connection with the sewerage system. And now I can’t stop imagining how to smell some lentils reminds me of winter afternoons when I was little … and how for a Roman legionary away from home, smelling a swamp could make him think “as at home, nowhere.” Images | Pinterest (Peter Connolly), Featuredpics In Xataka | While modern concrete cracks within a few decades, the Pantheon of Agrippa has been standing for 2,000 years: myths and realities of Roman concrete

If the question is whether a Moroccan truck driver can work in Spain, the answer is “yes, for 20 years”

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No tachograph and without speed limiter. Thus circulates the truckers who, from Morocco, can already work in Spain since last year when the government reached a bilateral agreement with the Moroccan executive so that its workers can operate in Spain. Without tachograph and without speed limiter but, obviously, with the obligation to comply with the laws in force in our country and also to pass a practical exam. What is true in the information that aimed at unfair competition in the transport of goods arrived from Morocco? The complaints. “His trucks have no speed limit” and “the Civil Guard turns a blind eye.” They are some of the phrases that can be read in the articles that point to an alleged unfair competition from Morocco. Specifically, that of Moroccan truckers who now have more facilities to operate in Spain. As read in media such as The debatesome transport associations emphasize that we are facing an illegality because their trucks have no speed or tachograph limit. In the article they complain that they do have to comply with the law but that “neither the DGT nor the Civil Guard stop them.” And that when this happens they do not pay their infractions because they declare themselves insolvent. Those complaints have also Shared some carriers that use their social networks to show their day to day and explain how their work works. Can a Moroccan truck driver work in Spain? Yes. And “there is no change since 2004,” they assure us from the DGT. “No, we are not giving away carnés from truck drivers to Moroccans,” they assure us from traffic and refer to the current regulations since 2004 When both countries signed an agreement for the partial validation of the driver’s bonds between the two countries. Then it was confirmed that those who had a current driving license in Morocco could drive in Spain. In the case of licenses C, C+E, D and D+e, a theoretical test and another practice were forced. Since 2024, that has changed and the proof is exclusively practical since “taking into account that said test is not required as a general requirement in all of the driving permits arrange How to read in the text that reflects the normative change. What’s new? Little thing, really. What has been done has been slightly flexible the regulations already in force but, as we say, those who aspire to work as truck drivers in Spain continue to have a practical test. The normative change also reflected the possibility of doing the online process instead of going to a traffic office. Once the permission is validated after the practical test on open road, the worker has to Get the Professional Aptitude Certificate (CAP). Are there more countries in this situation? Yes, many more. You can read the complete list on this DGT link. In it you can verify how citizens of some countries have to pass practical evidence, such as Moroccans or Hondurans. Guatemalans or Filipinos have to pass an additional specific exam. However, there are countries outside the European Union, such as Japan, the United Kingdom or New Zealand that have a Blanca Carta for their workers to receive an automatic validation of the driving license, whether individual or professional individuals. They do not have to pass theoretical or practical evidence. Is it true that their trucks have no tachograph? Yes, it’s true. The breaks are regulated in this case by the Circular instruction 01/2016 on tachograph and driving and rest times. It is specified in the document that will be applied “regardless of the country where the vehicle is enrolled.” How do you control then? Moroccan drivers are obliged to demonstrate that they have rested, at least 9 hours in the 24 hours prior to their entry into Spain, as specified in the International Road Transport Agreement and Merchandise Signed on October 3, 2012 between Morocco and Spain. If they cannot demonstrate this rest, they will have to do it when the border is overcome. Is it true that your trucks have no speed limiter? Yes, it’s true. That does not mean that they can happily exceed speed limits. In this case, the Civil Guard is responsible for monitoring said vehicles and economically punish offenders as it happens, for example, with any driver who skip traffic regulations. Is Spain the only country that has an agreement with Morocco? No, although alone Italy has a bilateral agreement with Morocco that allows the licenses to be redeemed to Moroccan truckers. Of course, in this case they do not have the obligation to overcome exams of any kind, or practical or theoretical. Other countries do allow these people to maintain a professional license but force to overcome various tests or temporary licenses are issued after a few months. Photo | Caleb Ruiter and AFKER MOIZ In Xataka | That the DGT is going to fine you with 135 euros for driving only in your car sounds bad. The only problem is that it is false

Archaeologists have been wondering how the drought affected the Mayan collapse. The answer was in a remote cave

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The sayinger says that the devil is hidden in the details. Often, when we talk about archeology, key clues too. Archaeologists who investigate the collapse of The Mayan civilization. For years experts wonder if that decline was motivated by changes in commercial routes, wars or climatic factors, such as droughts, a theory that has gained weight over the last years. What historians did not know is to what extent the Maya endured the shortage of rain between the ninth and 10th centuries. Now we finally know. And all thanks to A stalagmit Lost in a remote cave of Yucatan. What happened? That archaeologists have just achieved a valuable clue to better know the history of Mayan civilization. And not any period. What they have discovered is a fact that sheds light on one of their most fascinating chapters, The collapse of the classical period, a phase that extended Between the IX and X Centuries From our era and that he saw how the flourishing Mayan civilization fell into decline and the twilight of large cities arrived. During that stage the southern limestone settlements were abandoned and civilization moved northlosing part of its influence at a political and economic level. What have you found out? That this stage was marked by droughts. To be more precise, archaeologists have found out that between 871 and 1021 of our era they happened Eight long droughts In the Yucatan Peninsula, periods of water shortage that with all probability influenced the population. Not all of them lasted the same, but experts estimate that each of those episodes of agostation lasted at least three years, although there was one in particular that extended 13. Let us talk about extreme droughts It does not mean that it did not rain. With that term archaeologists refer to periods of at least three consecutive years during which the dry station lasted more months than usual or even in which one cannot talk about wet season as such. The experts They recognize That 13 years under these conditions, even with the water management techniques developed by the Maya, leads to “a great impact for society.” Why is it important? Because as the authors of the investigation recognize in An article Posted a few days ago in the magazine Science Advancesthat prolonged drought chain could play a key role in the history of the Maya, “contributing to the collapse of classical civilization.” “This period of Mayan history has fascinated us for centuries”, Recognize Dr. Daniel H. James, author of the study. “Multiple theories have emerged about the cause of collapse, such as changes in commercial routes, wars or severe droughts, based on the archaeological evidence left by the Maya. But in recent decades we have begun to learn a lot about what happened to the Maya and why, mixing archaeological data with quantifiable climate evidence.” Is it something new? Yes. And no. It is not the first time that archaeologists explore the impact that droughts had on the decline of classical Mayan civilization. Over the last years they have already reached more or less similar conclusions thanks to sediment study collected at the bottom of the Chichankanab lagoon or of Stalactite samples Obtained in a cave in southern Belize, clues that pointed to the role played by climate oscillations in The Mayan collapse. The new data obtained by James and their colleagues also fit other signals, as with the dates left by the Maya themselves in their monuments or records in the popular Chinchén Itzá. There, in one of the great settlement of the Yucatan, the inscriptions of dates are mysteriously faded just during the periods in which we now know that there were severe droughts. “It does not mean that the Maya left Chichen Itzá these periods, but it is likely that they had more urgent things than to worry about building monuments, as if the crops on which they depended would be successful or not.” So … why is it important? Although It is not the first time that archaeologists point to the effect of droughts in the Mayan collapse the new study published in Science It is important for several reasons. First, for your approach. Second, for its precision. In this case, researchers have departed from an especially valuable track: the stalagmites located in a Yucatan cave. Thanks to the dating and analysis of the oxygen isotope layers that contain these calcareous rocks, formed on the ground with the water that drips in the cave, experts have been able to obtain “very detailed information” on the climate of the terminal classic period. “Previous studies have measured the isotopes contained in lake sediments to determine the severity of drought, but do not contain enough detail to accurately find out the climatic conditions in a specific year and location,” They clarify From Cambridge. Unlike what happens with the sediments collected from the bottom of the lakes, “excellent to obtain a global vision,” says James, the stalagmites offer a variety of concise data. “They allow us to access more precise details that we were missing,” Write down the expertwho now acts as a researcher at the University College in London. According to the team, this has been the first time that archaeologists have been able to isolate information about the rains of humid and dry stations individually, obtaining the details of each one. How precise are they? Its authors say so. So far the stalagmites had provided data on rainfall annual measures during the classical terminal periodbut that information did not allow scholars to go down to detail. How much did it rain exactly in humid stations and dry? Thanks to the Yucatan stalagmite analyzed by the experts, which contains relatively thick annual layers, of about a millimeter, the experts have been able to analyze oxygen isotopes of each stage, an indicator of the drought. “Knowing the average annual rainfall does not reveal as much as knowing how every rainy season was”, Dr. James points out. “Isolate the rainy season … Read more

To the big question of whether you can lose weight, science has an answer. And it has everything to do with genetics

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There are multiple reasons to walk, to try to approach that figure (rather symbolic) of the 10,000 daily steps. For many, keeping weight under control is one of the main reasons. In this sense, genetics plays an important role, since some people have greater predisposition to accumulate body mass. We have only a couple of decades learning what are the (diverse) genetic variants that are associated with our ease to increase our weight. Know them, however, the door has opened us To be able to design strategies that bring us closer to our goals When maintaining or reducing our weight, thus minimizing the effort to achieve them. Because each individual is a world and not all bodies react in the same way to certain diets or exercise regimes. This is a breeding ground for failure, since what for a person is a “miraculous” strategy to another can take it to a dead end. A study Published this year made a compilation of the different genetic variants identified to date linked to this ease to lose weight through diets and exercises. The team found 30 genetic markers linked to our body’s response to diets and 24 associated with the exercise. Because LAGENTICS is not an isolated factor: it is not our genes in themselves that make us fat. These are nothing more than a part of a complex system in which they interact with our diet and other life habits. More steps To understand these interactions, A study performed by the American Heart Association analyzed the degree to which walk could reduce the impact of genetics and sedentary life About our body mass index. The analysis, published in 2012, observed that the act of walking could, indeed, counteract our predisposition genetics to gain weight, in front of sedentary habits How to watch television whose effect was the opposite. To carry out the study, the team compiled information on more than 12,000 participants, including information on genetic variants (32 in total) associated with high body mass indices. They estimated that walking at least one hour a day could reduce people’s body mass by about 0.06 kg/m². A more recent study I deepened the matter. The analysis, published this year in the magazine Jama Networkit was raised if people with certain genetic predispositions linked to overweight required specific levels of exercise if they wanted to avoid reaching the limits established in body mass index for obesity. The study It was done With 3,124 adult participants and it was observed that, indeed, people with this genetic predisposition required to walk more in terms of steps given a day than people with less risk associated with their genes. According to the data obtained, people in the high risk of risk should walk about 2,280 more steps That people in the average percentiles, a total of 11,020 steps per day, if they wanted to equate their risk of obesity. Although, as a general rule, controlling our diet is a better tool to lose weight, exercise can help us in our attempts. Exercise is, for example, an ideal tool to avoid recovering the weight we have gained. But exercising is, above all, a way to stay healthy. Active life has very diverse positive impacts on our healthespecially in the field of cardiovascular health. In Xataka | Make cardio or train strength: for science there is no debate about what is the ideal year from 50 Image | Tamar Willoughby *An earlier version of this article was published in August 2024

If the question is which of the great technology is winning the AI career, the answer is: None

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Who is winning the AI race? At this point we should have it more or less clear. We had it when Microsoft and Intel were profiled as the dominators of the PC world or when Apple and Google triumphed with their smartphones. But with AI something curious happens: Things are very even. Of, done, too much. Of course, in the field of Openai popularity, it is the most prominent with chatgpt. Recently the company presumed to be touching The 700 million active weekly users, a really remarkable figure that leaves its competitors behind. However, that metric is not definitive, especially when we have a great unknown to elucidate: what is the best AI model? It is impossible to know today what is the best model of AI No one can give a clear answer to that question. Neither the companies, which continuously breastfeed with their new versions, nor the benchmarks, which They have become a useful but imperfect tool when evaluating the quality of these models. In Polymarket people believed that the best AI model at the end of August was going to be OpenAi. After leaving GPT-5, the perception changed. That the answer to that question is difficult Polymarket demonstrates itthis unique prediction platform in which users bet on a result and also pay it by voting for one or another conclusion. To the question of “What company does the best model of AI have at the end of August? Everything seemed to smile at Openai, but after the launch of GPT-5, the Batacazo: now the clear favorite is Gemini, the Google model, with OpenAI collapsed to 16% of the votes and even more behind Grok (XAI) with 6.3% of votes and Claude (Anthropic) with a very low (in my opinion) 1.5%. It is not that Polymarket is an especially reliable indicator of this (or anything), but it makes it clear that The public perception of these models can be very different of their real behavior in things like their number of users-here OpenAi tombs their competitors-or their performance performance such as Arc-Agi 2 (where Grok 4 wins everyone, including GPT-5). In the Benchmark of abstract thought ARC-AGI 2, Grok 4 is well above its competitors. Included GPT-5, which exceeds Claude Opus 4. Source: ARC-AGI. And that makes us even clearer what are the two great reasons why it is a real problem to know which model of AI is winning this career. The first, that these tests are often very specific and concrete, and focus on evaluating aspects such as the ability to program or solve mathematical problems of these models. And the second, that The models do not stop improving and to overcome what his rivals had achieved a few days, weeks or months before. We do not stop seeing how new versions of the models are (logically) something better programming, generating text or images or solving certain types of problems, but there is no consensual or definitive form of saying “this model is better.” As we have seen, each user also has their own personal perception (Hello, Polymarket) when using them. Some prefer Claude to program, other chatgpt for generic questions, other Gemini to talk about diverse topics and to learn, for example. And none seems to be the final model “for everything.” In a recent scientific study, researcher Steve Hsu concluded that the path followed by the current generative models will not lead to AGI. Neither now, nor ever. That leads us to a reflection: that this general artificial intelligence (AGI) is far from arriving. These systems, which are supposed to be overcome in all areas, are not even remotely close to doing so, and They continue to make mistakes even when for example GPT-5 seems to have significantly mitigate the problem of hallucinations. Analysts like Gary Marcus They reminded us These days that have been saying the same thing about 30 years: that with this type of climbing techniques We are not going to get to an AGI And that the road has to be another. And that leaves us some interesting ideas. David Sacks – Paypal Cocfounder, founder of Yammer, investor— analyzed The situation of this segment and raised striking conclusions. The five main companies that develop foundational models —Openai, Google, Meta, Anthropic or XAI – still do not master the market, but that is (or it can be) good news. And it is because there is neither a monopoly nor a duopoly of AI. What there is is a fierce competition not only among these five North American companies, but between them and all their Chinese competitors, to which a lot of startups are added that have no resources to work on foundational models – careful – and instead they try to solve another great question: what is the Killer app of the AI. That’s where there are great opportunities for these startups, which can solve success cases in which AI can really be a disruption for an industry. It is for example what emerging companies have done such as cursor or Windsurf, which have opted for the vibe coding boom and are capturing a lot of interest among the developer segment. In fact, every time we see how even the greats of AI presume that their new models program especially well or perhaps are more oriented than ever to solve mathematical problems. GPT-5 precisely use those two arguments to declare themselves better than the competition, and although some benchmarks prove them right, the perception of the users will determine whether they meet expectations or not. But there is also that great debate between the proprietary models (such as GPT-5) and the Open Source models. As Sacks says, the fact that Open Source models They can offer 80-90% of the capacity with a cost of 10-20% of foundational models is sensational for certain users. Specifically, for those who prioritize customization, control and cost savings on the use of foundational models. China goes for all with that philosophy, although curiously it was … Read more

If the question is whether there are healthy ultraprocesses, science already has an answer

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You enter the supermarket with the idea of eating better. You fill the cart with “high in fiber” bars, whole grains, 0% yogurts and vegetable protein milkshakes. Everything sounds healthy. Everything fits into the diet that you promised to follow on Monday. But according to the most recent science, you may be falling into a very common trap: that of the ultra -processed who disguise themselves as healthy. Healthy ultraprocesses? A new clinical trial, Posted in Nature Medicine magazineled by Samuel Dicken of the University College London, has he managed to answer this doubtful doubt: An ultra -processed with good nutritional profile is equally healthy as a natural food? The answer has been very blunt: no. Although these products meet the recommended values of sugar, salt or fat, their impact on the body is different. Science behind. For eight weeks, 55 adults overweight or obesity followed two different diets: one based on “healthy” ultraprocessed foods, such as frozen lasagers, cereals ready to consume and vegetable milkshakes; and another composed of minimally processed foods, such as homemade spaghetti, natural yogurt and fruits. Both diets complied with the official nutritional guides of the United Kingdom (Eatwell Guide), which allowed to compare the impact of processing, beyond nutrients. The result was revealing. The participants lost twice the weight with the minimally processed food diet and more than double body fat. But that was not all. Spontaneously – and without restrictions or portion control – the participants ate less calories when their diet was based on unproacted foods. According to the epidemiologist Filippa Juul, by Suny Downstate, consulted by The New York TimesThis is explained because minimally processed foods have less caloric density and require more chewing, which favors satiety. “Ultraprocesses have less texture, chew faster and stimulate appetite artificially,” Juul has summarized. If the results are projected to one year, researchers estimate that a diet based on natural foods could mean a loss of up to 13% of body weight in men and 9% in women. In the diet with ultra -processed, that figure would fall to between 4 and 5%. What distinguishes an ultra -processing food? The classification of food according to their degree of processing does not depend solely on their ingredients, but also on how they have been transformed. According to the study descriptionultraprocessed foods include “ingredients that are rarely used in domestic cuisine, such as emulsifiers, sweeteners, artificial flavors or flavor enhancers”, while minimally processed foods retain their natural shape and require a simpler preparation: fruits, vegetables, meat, fish, whole cereals, natural yogurt, etc. A “healthy” cereal bar can have added fiber, but it also usually contains syrups, stabilizers and artificial flavors. In contrast, a bowl of oats soaked overnight and mixed with fresh fruit and natural yogurt is a minimally processed food that provides fiber in its natural form and without additives. So what is really healthy? The study does not seek to generate alarm, but it does leave a clear message: it is not enough to look at the label numbers if the product is outrageous. How is done also matters. Nutritionist Brenda Davy, cited by The New York Timessummarizes it thus: “Cooking more at home, using recognizable ingredients and avoiding products with endless component lists remains the best recipe to take care of our health.” Along the same lines, Adrian Brown, co -author of the study, warns in The Guardian that the labels do not always tell the whole story: “The nutritional labeling does not capture the level of processing. Many products that seem healthy do not show warnings, but remain UPF.” The environment: a primary factor. As noted by doctor Chris Van Tulleken, author of the Ultra-Procedure Book People, the current food environment hinders healthy choice. “We cannot continue to blame the individual for a hostile food environment. The ultra -processed are cheaper, they are everywhere and are designed to hook,” has declared in The Guardian. Therefore, the authors of the study advocate public policies: better labels, marketing and tax regulations that favor access to fresh foods. Less tags, more real food. Although the study has limitations (short duration and small sample), its conclusions reinforce an increasingly solid scientific trend: minimally processed foods work better to control weight, reduce cravings and eat less effortlessly. And although it is not necessary to completely eliminate the ultraprocessed – the reality and the routines do not always allow it -, it is possible to recover control from the kitchen. The evidence is clear: it is not just what we eat. It is how what we eat is done. Image | Pexels Xataka | Making rice of more is no longer a mistake: cooling it and reheating it can reduce your calories according to some nutritionists

We had been talking about the most lethal Russian weapon that seemed like Ukraine fallen asleep. His answer is called Liutyi

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If drones have become The protagonists From the Ukraine War, the model that has marked Russia’s offensive offers no doubts: The Shaheds of Iranian origin, then converted into different versions assembled in MoscowThey are the basis of Russia’s offensives. And in Ukraine? There they also have been perfecting a device that has become key to attacks on critical objectives of the enemy. The strategic weapon of Ukraine. Yes, kyiv, aware of its lower industrial and resources capacity, has opted for a different approach: Use surgical attacks with drones of own manufacture against strategic objectives deeply located in Russian territory. The jewel of this strategy is the AN-196 Liutyia lodging ammunition system designed to achieve precision Critical facilities of military logistics, oil refineries, air bases and essential industrial centers for the Russian war effort. Development and technical characteristics. Dron Liutyi began to develop In 2022 by Antonov in collaboration with Ukroboronpromconceived as a long -range unidirectional attack vehicle. The first version weighed between 250 and 300 kilosmeasured 4.4 meters long with a wingspan of 6.7, and was promoted with a gasoline engine that moved a rear propeller. It incorporated a V -tail design to improve stability and aerodynamics, and initially carried 50 kilos of explosives at a range of 1,000 km. The most recent versions have practically doubled their benefits: increased load capacity to 75 kilos and a range of up to 2,000 km, for an estimated unit cost In 200,000 dollarsfigure greater than that of the Shahed but still much lower than that of a cruise missile. And more. Your navigation combines inertial and satellite systems In the initial phase, while in the final approach it resorts to artificial vision to execute evasive trajectories, dodge defenses and hit with precision. First operational deployments. The use of Liutyi was made visible in 2024 With deep attacks in Russian territory. In January, an attack against An oil tank In St. Petersburg, he was attributed to drone, as was the March attack against the Ryazan refinery that caused a great fire. In June, the Mozdok Air Basein Norte Osetia, which houses bombers Tu-22m3 and fighters MIG-31it was also beaten. These incidents showed that Ukraine was in a position to project power hundreds of kilometers from the front line. Expansion of your role. The improved Liutyi versions began to be used massively this year. On March 13, an attack reached a Gas pipeline control center In Sátov, affecting the Russian energy sector. In April, several waves of Liutyi impacted the base of the 112.ª missile brigade in Shuya, destroying facilities of command and barracks. In July, two Liutyi penetrated 1,400 kilometers to Izhevsk, where They hit the Kupol plantproducer of anti -aircraft Tor-m and Harpiya drones, causing significant damage. That same month, different videos They documented attacks against objectives in the Leningrad region, in the city of Pensa and at the Sochi airport, where a fuel tank was reached. These blows have had a double effect: disorganizing Russian logistics and forcing Kremlin to allocate resources to the defense of the rear. International response. Despite his successes, Ukraine faces the disadvantage of not being able to manufacture Liutyi in quantities comparable to Shahed’s mass production by Russia. External support is, therefore, crucial: Germany has committed investments to produce 500 additional unitswhich will allow the pace of operations. Thus, the Ukrainian strategy will continue based on the selective use of these drones, with emphasis on precision attacks and not saturation. To maintain its effectiveness, Liutyi must adapt continuously, incorporating advances in artificial intelligence, computer vision and electronic countermeasures resistance. Strategic role in war. In short, although less known than The ShahedLiutyi has become a symbol of Ukrainian capacity to innovate and hit in depth, eroding the perception of security in the interior of Russia. Their attacks have affected energy facilities, refineries, industrial plants and air bases, weakening critical infrastructures and forcing Moscow to disperse their defenses. In this way, the drone not only compensates (in part) the Ukrainian material inferiority in front of the Russian military industry, but also opens a new psychological and strategic front by demonstrating that no Russian area is out of reach. Thus, everything indicates that its role will continue to expand in the coming months, consolidating itself as one of the key weapons in the Strategy of Resistance and Counteroffensive of Ukraine. Image | Open Source In Xataka | Not that war in Ukraine has become a laboratory of the future, is that there are drones saving lives with bicycles In Xataka | If you want to learn to handle a combat drone, the best school is Ukraine. And there have been infiltrated Mexican narcos

If the question is whether there is ‘Madridophobia’ in Spain we already have the answer

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Against any forecast and probably for the past of its owners, a year ago the Puerto Martina bar, a small restaurant in Mera (Galicia), became news International scope. They talked about him in the pressin the news and even The Guardian He dedicated him An article. The reason was not his food or how good the reeds threw. No. If the business went viral it is because he announced his decision to close in August to avoid tourists in the center of the country. “If a bomb falls in Mera they run out of dumb on the plateau,” he ironized. The owners of the bar regretted the “prepotency” of certain tourists and claimed to be “fed up from Madrid”. That episode left by throwing a question that is not new … can you talk about Madridophobia In Spain? A percentage: 68.5%. Recently ZITYa company Carsharinga curious challenge was proposed: studying the Madridophobia. Or rather, find out if it exists as such and in that case what is your reach. With that purpose in mid -June he did an interview with more than 1,100 people, he used some INE data and then prepared a broad report of 31 pages in which it describes some keys. The most interesting? That 68.5% Madrid believe that they are treated differently when they go on vacation to other regions of the country. “Like a plague”. It is not the only conclusion of the study. For example, the authors of the report They have proven that 59.5% of the inhabitants of the capital recognize feeling uncomfortable when talking about the “‘Madrid tourism’ as if it were a plague” and that there are even some who choose to hide their origin when they leave home. They are not a majority, but a third of the Madrid admits that it is a practice that they always do, ever or have passed through their heads. The most curious thing is that most tourists who leave Madrid are considered educated and correct visitors. This looks in fact about 53%. When Zity It went further And he asked the Madrid ones if they had ever felt displaced, another surprise was taken: 50.5% replied that. 43% have perceived that different treatment only in some communities, but the remaining 7.5% ensures that it is a usual feeling. Of course that data has another friendly face: 49.5% of Madrid have never felt rejected or marginalized. How do the rest see them? Zity’s study is just that, a study, with his biases and limitations, but it is interesting because he brings a double approach: he shows us how the Madrid feels when they go on vacation to Galicia, Alicante, Balearic Islands, Canary Islands … and how the local population sees them in those places. According to The studymore than a third of respondents (35.5%) believe that Madrid are the tourists who have the worst attitude when they see in other regions, which makes the capital “the place of origin of tourists with worse behavior.” The data far exceeds 21.3% who considers that the most rude tourists are the Catalans or 13.3% of the Andalusians. Going down to detail. If we look at the answers by communities there are more surprises. If we talk only with Gallegos, 53.6% point to Madrid as visitors with the worst attitude of the country. However, Zity’s study has a revealing ‘face B’ again: although many point to Madrid or Catalans as the worst Veraneantes, one in four respondents believe that tourists who worse are behaving during the holidays are the people of their own region. Yes, there is Madridophobia. Another of the revelations of the report is that, indeed, the Madridophobia It seems to be a real phenomenon that is not limited to the perception of Madrid. This is considered almost half of the interviewees (46.7%), especially the residents of Galicia, the Valencian Community and the Community of Madrid itself, which ensure that it is an undeniable problem. Moreover, 45.8% say they have witnessed some negative situation towards Madrid tourists and more than half (51.1%) have seen critical or satirical tone comments on networks about how the Madrid act in summer. They are overwhelming data that collide with another equally striking: 80% of the population that lives outside Madrid believes that it is not different from the tourists of the capital. “Chulo, arrogant and know -otodo”. The hoteliers of Mera who became viral a year ago because of their “fed up” regretted the “arrogance” and “haughty” of tourists. They are not the only ones who seem to comment like this. When Zity asked his respondents what three adjectives better describe the Madrid tourist found a very little edifying list. The most common qualifiers were “chulo” (37.5%), “arrogant” (36.5%) and “knowing” (29.2%). If we expand the list there are other more positive, such as “cosmopolitan” (22.5%) or “sociable” (20.9%). Many respondents had also heard phrases such as “This in Madrid does not happen” (68.5%), “there is no better water than that of Madrid” (64.2%) or comments on “the arrogance” of the Madrid and that everything seems “small or shabby” (64.2%). However, if there is a coletilla that respondents admit to having often heard are “here are those of Madrid” (70.7%), which gives a clear idea of the image they have in other regions of the country. If we talk about Galicia the most widespread topic is that Madrid “park anywhere”, which in coastal areas has resulted in totally flooded cars When the tide goes up. Images | Roberto Faccenda (Flickr) and Daquella way (Flickr) In Xataka | The hoteliers of Mallorca promised them happy. Until Super’s tourists arrived and shared juices

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