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If the question is why the US wants to rescue Argentina with a fortune, the answer has two ingredients: China and Lithium

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Argentina entered again in Turbulence zone Despite the drastic fiscal and monetary adjustment of Javier Milei. A bulky defeat in provincial elections, the erosion of support in Congress and a corruption scandal that splashes their surroundings fired the doubts of the investors, forced sales of reservations by More than 1 billion of dollars in three days to defend the exchange band and approached the weight to the lower limit of the corridor. And then he The United States appeared With a briefcase under your arm. American help. Yes, the reaction was a political-financial turn of Washington: the Treasury Secretary, Scott Besent, defined Argentina As “systemically important ally in Latin America” ​​and announced that “all options” were on the table to stabilize the markets, an explicit wink to the “whatver it Takes” of Mario Draghi in 2012. The message, a priori, had immediate effect on prices and expectations, but opened a greater debate about the scope, incentives and the risks of such support. What has been promised and how. The United States Treasury discusses a swap line with Buenos Aires of 20,000 million of dollars with the Central Bank and the possibility of buying sovereign debt in dollars from Argentina, in addition to making direct currency purchases if the conditions justify it. The operational tool would be the so -called Exchange Stabilization Fundwith wide discretionary margin to intervene in foreign exchange and assets, used in 1995 To help Mexico. Besent added that the treasure “is prepared” to acquire bonds and offer backup credit. Trump himself, after meeting with Milei, affirmed that will help, although he said “I don’t think they need a rescue,” framing assistance as access to “good debt” and market liquidity. In parallel, Milei sought internal oxygen suspending temporarily Grain export taxes to accelerate the flow of commercial dollars, while keeping operational, although partially activated, The swap line With the Popular Bank of China (18,000 million, of which about 5,000 are active). The small print. The announcement acted as a short circuit: The peso bounced, the 2029 and 2035 bonds recovered between 6 and 7 cents and the yield of 10 years in dollars fell from 17% to ~ 15%. Great managers They celebrated the signalunderlining that it provides a “critical window” to the legislative. However, investors requested details: effective volume, deadlines, conditions and intervention triggers. The Treasury He has suggested Absence of “conditionality” added to that of the IMF, but the practice usually imposes safeguards. In “House”, the package faces resistance: Criticism in Congress American questions to allocate emergency funds to sustain the currency and assets of a third party, with the political risk of being perceived as a lifeguard to Trump’s personal ally. Strategic reasons: why. The Analysts coincide With a clearly geopolitical reason: reduce dependence Argentina from China in financing, swaps and access to critical minerals Like lithiumand strengthen an openly government Pro-Mercado and aligned With Washington. The second It is financial: Prevent an episode of regional systemic instability due about 35% of the living support of the background on a global scale. The third may be of global signal: reaffirm the capacity of the United States to stabilize emerging markets with sovereign instruments, projecting financial power in a context of strategic competence. And the fourth, more tactical, purely electoral: Prevent short -term stress Extra ball: Meme politics. An added, less economical and more symbolic factor is politics turned into “Meme”. Just like Bukele He built prisons In El Salvador for ICE deportees as a gesture to Trump, Milei has earned a place within the magician imaginary in the United States for Your incendiary stylehis rejection of the establishment and His libertarian rhetoric. Under that prism, the current White House is willing to hold it because it embodies a political-cultural ally More than institutional, if you want to also, a kind of entry between “politically incorrect countries” that lend mutual support. If instead of Milei will govern A classic Peronista rescue of this size would have hardly been articulated, although, paradoxically, Trump shares with Peronism more related features than with the libertarian ideology that Milei proclaims. Lithium site A NAFTA as a counterpart. It We have counted before. Another angle to consider is the possibility that the financial rescue serves as prelude to an eventual Free Trade Agreement Between the United States and Argentina, a play that would fit with the interests of both parties. For Washington, it would be a way to shield access to strategic raw materials under a stable institutional framework and without the threat that Beijing capitalizes them through state investments. For Milei, a NAFTA with the world’s first economy would be political and economic support Of enormous value, with the ability to attract private capital, reduce financing and consolidate its image of “reliable partner” within the western block. The scenario, which is known, is not formally at the table, but the background of the rescue makes it a plausible possibility: the United States does not usually move chips of this magnitude without also binding long -term commercial commitments. The Argentine structural problem. The Financial Times counted This week that “shock therapy” stopped hyperinflationary drift, but the economy is still caught in A monetary duality that makes the system dependent and vulnerable to twists of feeling: each capital output realizes distrust in the peso and forces expensive defenses with few reserves. In this framework, the discussion about dollarization returns to the center: Milei champied her In campaign, then postponed it for its costs (loss of monetary policy, impossibility of adjusting by exchange rate and binding external cycles), but broad support from the United States could reopen it. Regional experience (Ecuador) and The European They teach to enter is easy and get almost impossible. Without tax reforms, productivity, exchange regime and institutional credibility, assistance can become a expensive and ephemeral patch. China and Treasures. As we said, the “nuclear” aims to remove Buenos Aires from the Chinese orbit in the dispute for strategic resources. The lithium of the “triangle” that integrates Argentina, … Read more

If the question is how the struggles of the Roman gladiators were, the answer was in Serbia: they included bears

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Archaeologists (and also novelists and Of course Hollywood) Imagine the Roman amphaters full of gladiators, weapons and wild animalsbeasts captured to submit them in the circus sand. One thing is however imagine or intuit it based on what historical and mosaic stories tell us, and another very different is to find palpable evidence. That is what has achieved A team of archaeologists in Serbia, near the remains of the Roman amphitheater of Viminaciumformer province of Moesia. And the story he tells is fascinating. Much more than bones. What the researchers have found in the vicinity of the Viminacium Amphitheater, a wide venue built towards the second century DCoval, with high walls and capacity for some 7,000 people, was part of the skull of a brown bear. Nothing else. Nothing less. For the common of mortals the bones could have gone unnoticed, but Nemanja Marković and the rest of the researchers who They have just published his findings in AntiquityThey saw something else: a story that tells us about beasts, gladiators and struggles. Why’s that? Because beyond the characteristics of the bones, which reveal to what kind of animal they belonged to, the skull retains marks that tells us about its last days in Viminacium. What did he do, what treatment he received, where he lived and what the bear died. Thanks to the application of bone analysis techniques, radiographs, microscopic analysis and DNA sequencing, the first thing the archaeologists found is that the skull belonged to a Ursus arctosa male of about six years that the hunters probably arrested in the same region, in one of the forests that extend through the Balkans. The fact is interesting because it suggests that the Romans had a hunting network that supplied animals for their shows. It is nothing new. Other studies They have revealed how the Empire counted of a sufficiently greased, broad and efficient system to bring lions to Britannia. All for the purpose of supplying the amphitheaters where the elites and the people were distracted. What the wounds reveal. If the bones tell us things, much more do their wounds and brands, the great source of information to which Nemanja Marković and his colleagues have resorted. The first thing that caught their attention was an injury in the front of the skull, a broad wound in which the scientists appreciated two indications: one of healing, another of infection. That already tells us about a serious injury that the animal suffered for a season. The next question is evident: how was it? The other protagonist: the Venatore. To answer that issue, researchers have looked directly at the amphitheater and a very concrete type of show: the fighting between beasts and Venators (either Bestiarii), fighters who dedicated themselves to the sand with animals to delight the public. “The Roman amphitheats also organized ‘Beast Cacerías’ (Venation), which faced people against animals, a show that lasted from the republican period to late antiquity, ” They remembered Recently in Plos One The authors of another study that found another evidence of that kind of shows in Roman Britannia: the pelvis of a relatively young man (he was not more than 35 years old) who showed a clear and deep dentellada de León. Unraveling the story. “We cannot say with certainty if the bear died directly in the sand, but the evidence suggests that the trauma occurred during the shows and the subsequent infection significantly helped his death,” Marković explains in Live Science. The finding is relevant because until now historians only had references to use bears in this kind of shows. Do not test palpable. “This study provides the first direct osteological evidence of the participation of brown bears in Roman shows.” Not just that. Beyond the front wound caused perhaps by the spear of a Venatore, The researchers observed something else. The bear jaws also seemed to show traces of infection. And above all their canines were spent. The reason? The study slides that could be due to prolonged captivity during which the animal was dedicated to biting the bars of its cage. “It is likely that he has been in prison for years, not just weeks,” says the expert, which leads him to think that he participated in several Viminacium shows, where they came to reside several tens of thousands of people. One last mystery. That’s how it is. The bones hide a last mystery, a question that remains by driving at the archaeologists table: the skull of the brown bear was among the remains of a small building close to the entrance of the amphitheater. Was he buried there? And if so, why? “Previous investigations suggest that the dead animals in the sand were dismembered nearby, their meat was distributed and the bones were ruled out near the amphitheater, not buried in a formal animals cemetery,” Comment The Serbian researcher. “The fact that this bear was buried and not discarded as other animal remains suggests that the spectators or organizers of the games attributed some symbolic value. Perhaps respect, perhaps superstition. What is clear is that his death was not anonymous or banal,” Marković ditch in statements collected by National Geographic. Archaeologists too They discovered Part of the skeleton of a leopard in the same construction and bones of other wild animals, including brown bears, near the amphitheater. When analyzing these bone remains, the researchers dated them between approximately 240 and 350 AD Images | 🇸🇮 Janko Ferlič (Unsplash) and Wikipedia 1 and 2 In Xataka | The incendiary arrows are the favorite weapon of medieval fictions. They really didn’t serve anything

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

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