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We thought that human beings began to walk in Africa. This 7.2 million-year-old fossil says otherwise

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The scientific consensus has been telling us for decades that the cradle of humanity and the origin of our ancestors who began to walk on two legs was in Africa. However, a new paleontological discovery in the Balkans just launched an order to this official story. More specifically, a fossilized femur that suggests our earliest ancestors may have started walking on two legs in Europe. A bone. The centerpiece of this discovery is a femur cataloged as FM3549AZM6 and found at the Azmaka site, in Bulgaria. From this, the research team began to analyze the bone down to the millimeter, highlighting above all the anatomy it had. Researchers here have identified key biomechanical traits that point to partial bipedal locomotion, meaning that our ancestor could walk on two legs. Specifically, they have seen that the neck of the femur is unusually long and it has specific muscle insertion points that strictly arboreal primates do not have. These characteristics suggest that Graecopithecus He spent considerable time walking upright on the ground. A new hypothesis. This finding does not come out of nowhere, since in 2017 this same team of researchers already raised eyebrows in the scientific community by suggesting that the evolutionary divergence between humans and chimpanzees could have occurred in the eastern Mediterranean, and not in Africa. That hypothesis was based on analysis of a jaw found in Greece and a tooth from Bulgaria attributed to Graecopithecus freybergi. Now it comes to light again. At that time, definitive proof of locomotion was missing, but Azmaka’s femur fills that gap that we needed to begin to reach clear conclusions. Why did they stand up? Evolution rarely occurs without a strong environmental push, and the Europe of 7 million years ago looked nothing like it does today. Here investigations at Bulgarian sites, such as the Struma Valley, show that the landscape was dominated by a savanna environment very similar to the African one, caused by a global confrontation and severe droughts in the Mediterranean. This loss of dense forests would have forced the region’s primates to come down from the trees and adapt their movement to travel long distances in open fields in search of food. In this way, it was geography and not the continent that forced bipedalism. The debate. The new Bulgarian femur revives one of the hottest debates in paleontology, since until now, the title of the oldest bipedal hominin was held by Sahelanthropus tchadensisabout 7 million years old and found in Africa. But now, if this team’s dating and analysis are accurate, Graecopithecus would not only equal, but slightly surpass in seniority Sahelanthropusmoving the “kilometer zero” of bipedalism to the Balkans. But at the moment it is too early for the textbooks to change definitively, since, as with previous discoveries, the scientific community will demand more independent analyzes and will seek to debate every notch of the femur. What is undeniable is that the African monopoly on the origin of our lineage now has a serious European competitor. In Xataka | Humans are evolving live on the Tibetan plateau. And understanding what happens there will be essential in space

In 1997 Blockbuster decided that DVD would never replace VHS. With that decision he began to dig his grave

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In 1997, Warner Bros. proposed blockbuster an exclusivity agreement to rent DVDs. The deal replicated the model that was already practiced with the VHS format, which gave 60% of income to the video store chain. Blockbuster declined because they were confident that magnetic tape would maintain its dominance for years. Warner responded by drastically cutting the wholesale prices of its records and Walmart was quick to take advantage of the opening: In less than a decade, it overtook Blockbuster as Hollywood’s biggest moneymaker. The DVD arrives. In 1997, this format arrived promising better imaging, more durability, and interactive features (we were so young). But it had a giant before it: in 1988, after defeating Sony’s Betamax format, VHS already controlled 95% of the home video market. And a decade later, in 1997, it was an empire: VHS rentals generated $10 billion annually for movie studios, with Blockbuster pocketing about half of that revenue. VHS had reasons not to be afraid: DVD players were very expensive, between $300 and $500, and VHS devices were very accessible. And they were not wrong: DVD sales would not surpass those of VHS until 2003, six years after its commercial release. Warner’s proposal. Warren Lieberfarb, head of Warner Bros.’s home video division and one of the key figures in the development of the DVD format proposed to Blockbuster a deal that replicated the VHS model: exclusive rights to rent the company’s new DVD releases before they hit stores for sale to the public. Warner would receive 40% of the rental income from those records. John Antioco, CEO of Blockbuster, had just arrived at the company after passing through Taco Bell, and his decision could be key to the company’s future. The rejection. Blockbuster decided to reject the proposal because it believed that VHS would maintain its dominance for years. As we said above, a not unreasonable assumption. Furthermore, creating an inventory of DVD movies was an unnecessary expense under the profitable and peaceful reign of VHS. Some later format releases, before the advent of DVD, possibly made Blockbuster think it had done well: JVC’s D-VHS digital tape, which allowed high-definition recording, was a flop. But Blockbuster didn’t have two things: Hollywood support for DVD and the inevitable drop in player prices. The answer. Warner Bros. responded with a strategy that would transform home cinema: it drastically reduced wholesale prices for its DVDs, in order to compete directly with the rental industry. This allowed businesses to sell records at prices that made purchasing more attractive than renting. The North American giant Walmart detected the opportunity very quickly and began to sell DVDs below the cost price, and in this way, for example, they sold their discs for 15 or 20 dollars when renting a VHS cost between 3 and 5 dollars per day. The power of Walmart. Walmart’s network of stores had power in distribution, covering the entire country, that Blockbuster could not match. In addition, it had privileged deals with suppliers and, in general, a fund and resources that allowed it to absorb the losses from the DVDs. In this way, Walmart replaced Blockbuster as the studios’ main source of income in less than a decade. This led to redefining the balance of power in the industry: the most valuable distribution channel was no longer the video store, but became large commercial stores, where consumers no longer only bought movies. Blockbuster, free fall. As is well known, It was not Blockbuster’s last catastrophic decision: in 2000, when Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph, co-founders of Netflix, approached John Antioco about selling their DVD-by-mail rental service for 50 million dollarsthe executive declined the offer. A decade later Blockbuster declared bankruptcy in 2010 while Netflix reached a valuation of billions. They are not the last. The case has parallels with recent technological transitions where dominant companies have underestimated the speed of the public’s adoption of new formats: the physical media industry believed that Blu-ray would maintain its relevance against streaming. And it is also easy to draw lines that link current technology companies with the adoption of AI: who will be the next giant to fall? Header | Stu pendousmat In Xataka | VCR Virus: the anti-copy system of the VHS era that looked like something out of a B horror movie

Months ago, Mallorca began fining drivers in its ZBE. Now he has a problem with German tourists

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Joachin Fischer is one of the many (many) German tourists who like to enjoy the landscapes, weather and coves of Mallorca. For decades he has been visiting the island at least twice a year. If his name has stood out among the thousands of compatriots who spend their summers in the Balearic Islands, it is because a few months ago posed in front of the cameras of the press showing a fine, a sanction of 200 euros sent by the Palma City Council for (and this is the key) having accessed the Low Emissions Zone (ZBE) from the city with your car. fischer claims who drives a Tesla suitable for driving on the BZE, but that is not the only feature of his vehicle. Another (crucial) is that it has a foreign registration, which partly explains the fine. Your case is important because is not the only one German tourist who claims to have suffered a similar sanction in Palma. What has happened? That the activation of the low emissions zone (ZBE) in Palma is having unexpected protagonists: German tourists. The Balearic capital launched zoning a little over a year ago and months later, in julybegan to apply sanctions to drivers who do not respect it. Until then, nothing out of this world. At the end of the day, Palma City Council has only adjusted to what the Climate Change Law for cities with more than 50,000 inhabitants. The surprise came after time, in Novemberwhen it was found that the measure was causing friction with tourists who arrive in Palma with their foreign-registered cars, even the zero-emission ones. Why’s that? The news gave it Mallorca Diary last fall: tourists who arrive in the city with their own vehicles risk fines if they enter the streets delimited in the ZBE. And this is basically because they do not have the option of registering their license plates to process the permit. Even in those cases where they drive models that meet the technical requirements. “They are not authorized to enter the ZBE, since the DGT system is not universalized throughout the EU and each country has its own classification method, so the level of emissions of cars with foreign registration cannot be automatically verified,” They explained in November from the municipal Mobility area of ​​Palma. “They may be exempt only if they register in the system and justify their residence, meeting the established requirements.” And what is the problem? That last nuance. In the website that Palma City Council dedicates to the ZBE includes a specific section on “vehicles with foreign registration plates” in which two points are especially highlighted. The first is that “vehicles registered outside of Spain are not classified according to the criteria of the environmental label of the General Directorate of Traffic.” The second, that drivers of vehicles with foreign registration interested in accessing the ZBE must process a “authorization”a permit designed primarily for residents and owners of properties, businesses or parking spaces. The question is… And the tourists? Many of the thousands of Germans who spend their summers in the Balearic Islands rent cars with Spanish license plates with a badge that allows them to circulate without problem through the Palma ZBE, but there are also cases like Fischer’swho prefers to disembark with his own vehicle. What’s wrong with them? In November Fischer counted to the Balearic press that he had received a fine of 200 euros from the City Council for driving his electric Tesla where he shouldn’t have been. “I only entered Jaume III for a moment to pick up my 14-year-old daughter after shopping in El Born,” he lamented the man, who assures that he prefers to use his private car and not a rental one because it “amuses him” and gives “greater flexibility” when planning his trips. “Not being able to register my car, I thought that my green ecological device and the electric car license plate would be enough to avoid the fine, as is the case in low-emission zones in German cities. But that was not the case.” Is he the only one affected? It doesn’t seem like it. On those same dates the newspaper Mallorca Zeitung assured that he was receiving “more and more messages” from readers with fines. The Mallorcan press has also echoed complaints from those affected who speak of “discrimination” against Europeans with foreign cars or point out how complicated it is to register a vehicle on the list of authorized license plates, especially for those who do not speak Mallorcan or Spanish. One of the arguments put forward by critics is a note posted on the DGT page which explains that, although Spain does not issue badges for foreign vehicles, that does not have to be a problem. “If your car has an environmental label in its country of origin (Germany, Austria, Denmark, France) it is considered to have the Spanish equivalent,” he clarifies. There is who also remembers that Palma is not the only city council (neither in Spain nor in Europe) that applies mobility restrictions in the center, and insists: the rules are the same for everyone and “ignorance does not exempt from guilt.” Images | Sergiy Galyonkin (Flickr) and Đorđe Pandurević (Unsplash) In Xataka | Houses are so expensive in the Balearic Islands and the Canary Islands that they are expelling even Germans and British people from the market.

Mexico City began a battle against the last of its markets that sold live animals. And he just won it

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Mexico City says goodbye to a historical image: the stalls dedicated to the sale of live animals in the Sonora Marketa complex of almost seven decades located southeast of the historic center of the capital. Since January 1, CDMX applies a restriction to this type of commerce, which in practice means that stalls with cages of chickens, ducks, sheep pigeons or fish tanks will no longer be seen in the square. The veto also extends to the marketing of dogs or cats. The authorities of the capital warn that the measure aims to mark a before and after in the sector: “There will no longer be the sale of animals in the public markets of Mexico City and the example begins with the Sonora Market.” New times, new approach. “As of today, the Sonora Market begins a new stage, leaving behind the sale of animals and moving towards a model that respects the law and protects sentient beings,” claimed on Thursday the head of Government of CDMX, Clara Brugada. According to the data managed by the Venustiano Carranza district, where the Sonora Market is located, there were 84 locations (out of a total of 400) dedicated to the sale of living creatures. The idea is that they will now refocus their positions towards other areas, such as the marketing of pet accessories and food or herbalism. Precisely for this purpose, the authorities have committed to giving them financial support: about 50,000 pesos (2,400 euros) to each affected person. Why that decision? What matters, but (at least in this case) when matters even more. The decision comes after a court order that responds to a request from the animal rights group. ‘He goes for his rights’ and calls into question the sale of live animals in the capital’s markets. However, the controversy around Sonora goes back much further: in 2021 a fire which affected several locations and has already attracted interest in the situation of their animals. Complaints on the subject can also be traced years back and they explain the ruling that now forces part of the market to refocus. Those who ignore it and continue selling animals risk closing their stores or even losing their concession. Among the affected merchants there are those who consider the measure “unfair.” “We live in a country with double standards: everyone eats chicken, but criticizes those who sell it,” laments in The Country a saleswoman. Why is it important? First, for its impact in Sonora. Second, because the CDMX Government wanted to present the measure as a turning point, a change that will go beyond the venue and extend to other similar spaces. “It is a historic day in which we tell Mexico City that there will be no sale of animals in public markets. And the example is set by Sonora,” claimed on Thursday Brugada. “We are an animalistic city.” The truth is that the Sonora Market has been particularly controversial. In December the Efe agency cited to an animal rights organization that claims to have documented the presence of mutilated dogs, with ailments or even painted to pass them off as exclusive breeds. The agency assures that it is not unusual for animals to be purchased in markets that are then dedicated to unorthodox uses, such as rituals, target shooting or bait. Click on the image to go to the tweet. What does the law say? The legislation already restricts the sale of live animals, as the deputy recalled Manuel Talayero during a speech in the Congress of Mexico City in September, when was banned the exhibition of pets in cages. “Removing animals from display cases is one more step to tell society that they are not things. This initiative is a step to end something that is already in the law: the prohibition on the sale of live animals in markets.” The Animal Protection and Welfare Law of CDMX, reformed in 2023, makes clear the prohibition of “selling live animals in public markets” or places that do not meet certain minimums, which include guaranteeing “good sanitary conditions” and facilities that prevent the spread of pests. Businesses also need a permit to raise and sell pets. Are there exceptions? In case there were doubts about the role of venues like Sonora, in a resolution In November, the Supreme Court of Justice (SCJN) clarified that “the exception to the general rule of allowing the sale of live animals in places that comply with the regulations does not extend to public markets.” The Chronicler was echoed yesterday that the Court declared that the CDMX congress has jurisdiction to legislate on issues related to animal protection. Images | Sasha India (Flickr), Thomas_H_foto (Flickr) and Carlos Adampol Galindo (Flickr) In Xataka | If the question is how to protect bees and other insects, in Peru they are clear: recognizing their legal rights

Two scientists tried to publish a paper on why we get belly button lint. And that’s where his problems began

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In 2005, writer Mark Leyner and doctor Billy Goldberg published ‘Why do men have nipples?‘, a hilarious popular science book in which they answered very crazy questions: from the reason why hair comes out of our ears to the physiological reasons why asparagus perfumes our pee. However, they were not able to answer a key question: where did the fluff of the navel? Four years later, Georg Steinhauser wanted share your answer with the world. According to him, navel lint was mainly related to abdominal hair. According to him, the hair collected the fibers from the clothing and directed them to the navel. He did experiments for three years removing breasts to see the differences! But no one wanted to publish it. Nobody? No! A magazine populated by irreducible mad scientists still resists, as always, the most basic control practices of contemporary scientific publication. Welcome to the world of ‘Medical Hypothesis‘. Against the “gentrification” of science In recent years, “evidence-based” things They have enjoyed unprecedented fame. From politics to medicine, thousands of professionals have turned to science in search of solutions to respond to the problems of an increasingly complex society. However, all that glittered was not gold: again and again We have once again reflected on one of the blind spots of the approachthat science is, by nature, conservative. Not in a political sense, but in an epistemological sense. That is, we know better what we have; but when what we have doesn’t work, it’s a problem. A problem because, without resources to investigate new optionsare forced to implement interventions that do not work, leaving many professionals with their hands tied. For good reasons, yes. But with his hands tied. It is not strange, of course, that there are people who want more diversity. This is the case of ‘Medical Hypotheses‘, the most WTF science magazine of the last 40 years. ‘Medical Hypotheses’ was founded by the physiologist David Horrobin who directed it until his death in 2003. Horrobin, who was already himself a controversial figure (the British Medical Journal defined as one of the greatest “snake oil salesmen of his time”), made a magazine in his image and likeness. Fun, refreshing and dangerous In theory, the idea was to build a respectable forum to debate unconventional ideas unconstrained by current scientific publishing standards as a way to boost the diversity threatened by academic monoculture. ‘Medical hypotheses’ wanted to be a place to bring intuitions, extravagant ideas and crazy theories. In a world like the scientific one full of certainties and phrases in the present indicative, Horrobin’s magazine was all the y-sis and conditionals. That makes it a profound magazine. fun and refreshingbut it also does a bomb box. You can also read a study that relates heels with schizophrenia that one about the similarities between people with Down syndrome and Asians. These days, without going any further, a study is circulating in tabloids around the world about If we can abandon ourselves so much that we end up dying due to pure psychology. For years, the world was a party in ‘Medical Hypotheses’. In the first issues, pioneers from some of the most developing fields of the time wrote. But its main asset is also its main problem. It is a magazine that requires a very skilled editor to be able to navigate controversial terrain without publishing malicious and even dangerous work. The end of the party When Horrobin died in 2003, he was replaced by Bruce G. Charlton. Horrobin had written down that he was the only person he truly trusted to continue his work. At the end of 2009, an article in which he stated that “there was no evidence that HIV caused AIDS” was published in the magazine. The party was over. The paper had been rejected in all research area publications until it ended up in ‘Medical Hypotheses’. He scandal It was capital and Elsevier, owner and publisher of the magazine, fired Charlton a few months later. Furthermore, in an attempt to contain the damage, Elsevier introduced a review system halfway between the original system and the peer review of traditional publications. That clearly went against the magazine’s reason for being and Hundreds of researchers protested against the decision. ‘Medical Hypotheses’ is, in some ways, a symbol of the risky, indomitable and (often) reckless science that we still need, but it no longer plays a central role in public debate. Today, the preprints (and the repositories that store these open drafts — with arXiv.org at the head) fulfill that function. A function that, despite making our lives difficult, is best never missed. In Xataka | This frog is so photogenic that it is now on the verge of extinction In Xataka | Spain turns in the opposite direction to the rest of Europe. It is part of a geological plan: close the Mediterranean Image | Pexels

The afternoon began as something more or less spontaneous. Today there are already companies that are “franchising” it to make money.

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The late afternoon has taken hold in Spain. And it has done so much that, in just a few years, it has gone from being a word that required clarification of language academics to become a kind of ‘franchise’, a brand that is incorporated into events and even business. After all, since the pandemic, Spain has shown that it is not only capable of enjoying nightlife… it also likes evening entertainment. And there are people willing to take advantage of that opportunity. What has happened? That lateness has permeated so much into our daily lives, it has become normalized to such an extent that there are those who are already dedicating themselves to ‘franchising’ it. It is not surprising if we take into account two factors. The first, that the concept took root a few years ago in Spanish society (it caught on especially during the pandemic). The second is that its link with leisure, hospitality and the entertainment industry makes it a juicy business. Especially in a country like Spain, where the population pyramid widens in the age group between 30 and 50, the public more given to advance the party hours, and lose weight among twenty-somethings, usually the most night owls. What is tardiness? In case there is still anyone with doubts in November 2025, here is a simple answer extracted from the web Fundéu official:tarardar is “spending the afternoon having drinks and tapas or with other recreational activities, so that leisure comes forward and does not extend until late at night.” That is essentially its main idea: nightlife is still leisure, but it is no longer nocturnal. Spain (country of bars) has a long tradition of evening entertainment, but the origins of the afternoon as a rising concept are not that old: they can go back a few years, to before the pandemicalthough it really gained appeal during the health crisis, when the hospitality industry (and the clients who demand its services) were forced to adjust to schedule restrictions and capacity. Was it that important? Yes. Like they explain At Bartalent Lab, it was then (during the pandemic) that the search for “alternative consumption moments during the day” took root as an alternative to traditional parties at night. The philosophy took shape to such an extent that today it is easy to find initiatives and business that put the emphasis on that concept (the “lateness”) or articles that speak of the importance it has gained among hoteliers in certain cities. In July for example The Voice of Galicia explained that, with nightlife losing steam, the evening offering was becoming a lifeline for the locals of Pontevedra. “We have been exploiting the afternoon long before it was called that,” confesses a local hotelier who organizes concerts to energize the environment, especially during autumn and spring weekends. In other cities, such as Valladolid either Saragossathere are also examples of establishments that have opted for afternoon teas. Why does it succeed? For a sum of factors. The key to being late is basically that it allows leisure to be brought forward several hours (since I said it in 2021 Fundéu), offering an offer more or less similar to the nightly one without having to pay a ‘toll’ the next day. That is, it guarantees customers an experience similar to what they have traditionally had in nightclubs at night, but without risking waking up the next morning exhausted and hungover. If you want to enjoy music, dancing and a few drinks, why have to wait until midnight? Why not bring those plans forward to six in the afternoon? The concept seems to have caught on among different generations, but there are those who point out that it has triumphed above all in the population segment of between 30 and 45 yearsa not inconsiderable market if one takes into account the drift of Spanish demographics. But that’s nothing new, right? Exact. What is novel and interesting is that this success has led to a sort of ‘franchising’ of the afternoon, with people taking advantage of the attractiveness of the concept to promote evening leisure offers or even establishments. What does that mean? What’s there premises, cultural proposals and events They are incorporating the name (and philosophy) of the Tartaro into their brands, just as if it were a business franchise. Perhaps the most obvious case is that of Afternoon Indie Cool,an initiative that emerged as an online project linked above all to an Instagram account and has grown to expand its offer throughout Spain. In fact, its first afternoon was organized in Barcelona two years ago and now similar events are held in cities such as Madrid, Malaga, Granada, Seville or Vigo, always with the afternoon as a flag. What does it consist of? The event is presented as an event that mainly combines indie music (also pop and rock), drinks and an atmosphere similar to that of festivals in well-known venues. All at a time when clubs are usually closed or warming up, between 6:00 p.m. and midnight. “They come to sing and share an atmosphere that cannot be found anywhere else,” claims David Coolfounder of Indie Cool, in an interview with The Vanguard. The formula caught on and in fact has ended up being exported beyond Barcelona. “Each city lives it in its own way, but the spirit is the same.” Its most common audience is between 30 and 45 years old, but Cool assures that the proposal has managed to attract people from different generations. “There are groups of people in their twenties, in their forties, even in their 50s. The beautiful thing is that they all share the same energy.” In their case, the Tardo philosophy is combined with a commitment to indie music, established groups and other emerging ones, a formula that works in Barcelona, ​​but also in other cities to those that have expanded. Images | Afternoon Cool (Instagram) and Jacob Bentzinger (Unsplash) In Xataka | Sex has entered a crisis in the West. If … Read more

Hijos de Rivera began as a brewery in A Coruña. Now you have just bought the best gin in the world

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Children of Rivera, the owner of Estrella Galicia, has bought the Galician distillery Vánagandrproducer of London Dry gin, which was recognized as the best in the world in 2024 and double gold at the International Spirits Challenge 2025. The operation, the amount of which has not been revealed, marks a new chapter in the transformation of a Coruña brewery into a group that has gone much further with premium beverages. Why is it important. The purchase responds to a very clear strategy: prioritizing quality over volume in a market where traditional consumption is falling. Sales of this type of beverage fell by 3.7% in 2024, with young people drinking less and less. But those who have not reduced consumption are now looking for superior products. Hijos de Rivera has identified that niche and is occupying it. The facts. Vánagandr was founded in 2014 in Cambre, a few kilometers from the Hijos de Rivera headquarters. In a decade, this craft distillery has accumulated more than 40 international awards. Its master distiller, Enrique Pena, is the only Spanish member of the Gin Guildan organization that promotes excellence in gin. The brand manufactures just 8,000 bottles annually, a volume that is expected to grow significantly under the umbrella of the Galician group. The context. This is not an isolated bet. Hijos de Rivera has been expanding beyond its beer core for years: October 2023: purchases Soul K, specialized in kombucha. March 2025: acquires Basqueland Brewing, a Basque craft beer. Tyris, a Valencian craft brewer, has also incorporated. Its Cabreiroá water brand sold 237 million liters in 2024, 3% more. The spirits catalog already included F de Formentera, Hijos de Rivera and Quenza liqueurs, and the distribution of Arehucas and Destiny Spirits rums. Between the lines. The strategy follows a clear pattern: the pursuit of brands with artisanal identity, international prestige and limited production. They do not buy to mass produce, but to preserve the essence that made those brands valuable. It is the same approach that has made Estrella Galicia a benchmark compared to larger industrial breweries. In this strategy, the challenge is to maintain that balance. Grow without losing the artisanal character, produce more without having to industrialize, distribute better without commercializing. And now what. Enrique Pena will continue as master distiller within Hijos de Rivera, which is a sign of continuity. Its connection to the Gin Guild gives the group international credibility. This purchase goes beyond the commercial transaction: the Galician group is buying knowledge, reputation and access to a premium segment in full expansion… while the market mainstream continues to contract. In Xataka | The great cane crisis: how Spain is leaving aside its favorite measure to drink beer Featured image | Rivera’s children

Houses built on the sea are part of the US identity. Until climate change began to engulf them

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Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, has a problem. The Atlantic is devouring their houses. Literally. For years, the chalets raised on stilts and built on the coast were one of its most emblematic sights, but their privileged position has become a trap as the sea level rises and hurricanes occur like those that hit the area a few days ago. The result: eight houses demolished in record time. What has happened? That hurricanes Humberto and Imelda have left an unusual impression on the Outer Banksthe chain of islands that covers much of the coast of North Carolina, on the Atlantic coast of the United States, where the Cape Hatteras National Seashore. Recently the virulence of the waves devastated eight houses of the area, causing them to collapse in a matter of a few days. On Tuesday, September 30, the storm struck five homes in less than an hour in Buxton (Cape Hatteras), the sixth collapsed that same night amid waves of several meters, the seventh suffered a similar fate on the first day of October and the eighth did not last much longer. The buildings were unoccupied. Why is it important? Beyond how shocking it is to see homes swept away by waves, what happened on the North Carolina coast is interesting for several reasons. To begin with, because these are not typical houses. As can be seen in the videos and photos released by C.B.S., AP, BBC either NBC The buildings were houses similar to stilt housessupported on exposed wooden piles. Hence they are a unmistakable piece of the landscape from areas like Rodanthe. Are they the first to fall? No. And that is the second reason why what happened in recent days in the Outer Banks is much more than a curiosity or a misfortune attributable to two virulent hurricanes. A quick search in the newspaper archive arrives to find similar news: two houses on wooden stilts collapsed in September 2024 in Rodanthe, another in November in the same community, another demolished in 2023 precisely because of the threat of the Atlantic waves… the list goes on and on until there are more than a dozen cases. USA Today calculate that since mid-2020, at least twenty houses have been lost throughout the Outer Banks. Very similar data handles Washington Postthat assures that during the last five years 17 buildings have collapsed in Rodanthe and Buxton alone, a list that could soon be expanded, since there are other houses that are also in a precarious situation. “It’s becoming commonplace,” he resigns Rob Young, director of a program focused on coastal studies at Western Carolina University. “It’s not a problem here. There are homes on the verge of collapse in many places.” Why do they fall? In the case of the houses that collapsed in recent days, the final trigger was the Hurricanes Humberto and Imeldabut in reality the problem is broader. Their position, the sandy nature of the terrain but above all the intensification of storms and the rise in sea level caused by climate change is leaving them in a complicated situation. The reason: coastal erosion, a phenomenon that is already is felt in Rodanthe and Buxton. How does it affect them? As I remembered last year in X the architect Pedro Torrijos, the Cape Hatteras It is already such a narrow strip of land that it is difficult not to build near the coast, but in the last 40 years erosion has acted in such a way that today there are houses that have remained practically above the sea. And so it’s a problem. Piles that were once surrounded by dunes are now sometimes covered by the ocean, affecting their foundations. In 2024 the state Department of Environmental Quality published a report which concludes that of almost 8,800 structures built facing the sea in North Carolina, 750 They are in a delicate situation due to erosion. What do the US authorities say? They are aware of the problem, they are controlling the houses that give in and explore solutions“These are typical elevated coastal-style homes, situated on stilts, with a concrete driveway, parking, and septic system. Many private properties adjacent to Rodanthe, which previously contained patio land, dunes, and dry sand, are regularly partially or completely covered with seawater,” the National Park Service acknowledges. “During severe weather events, private homes facing the sea and in vulnerable areas are hit by strong winds and large waves, which has caused homes to collapse in recent years,” recognize the agency, which has counted 21 collapsed houses since 2020 in Seashore. And what is the way out? Good question, difficult answer. There are those who have chosen raise your houses or even move them away to leave them safe from the waves (for now), but it is not a cheap solution and time is against them. Another option is for the authorities to take care of them, although it has its weaknesses: two years ago the Park Service acquired two houses in Rodanthe to demolish them and thus open an area of ​​public access to the beach. They cost him $700,000. Images | Cape Hatteras National Seashore (Flickr) and National Park Service In Xataka | Milton once again puts a big problem on the table: houses on the beach are losing their value due to climate change

Social networks began to die in 2022 and nobody realized. The new nightmare is that they resurge

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Social networks were wonderful until they stopped being. Very soon they became not only a problem almost addictionbut also of health. Anxiety levels shot And they were made frequent the Sexting cases either Bullying Through these platforms. The funny thing is that while all that happened and we thought that its use was increasingly worrying, something happened. People began to stop using them (both). Social networks had their peak in 2022. An ambitious study conducted By Financial Times He recently revealed the current state of social networks. More than 250,000 adults in more than 50 countries talked about their online habits, and in that data it is clear that the apogee of social networks occurred in 2022. Since then there has been a turning point. Especially for a specific sector of the population. Young people get tired of Facebook. Among the different demographic sectors, there is an especially striking one: young people between 16 and 24 are the ones who are most clearly reducing the time they spend on these platforms. At the end of 2024 they passed average two hours and 20 minutes a day in them, 10% less than what happened in 2022. It is the population segment that is more quickly falling, although the change is clear in the rest of the ages. Other parallel studies, such as Made in Sweden Between 2022 and 2024, he pointed to Clear falls too especially among the youngest. The time we spent on social networks did not stop increasing until 2022. Then the trend changed. Source: Financial Times. The era “zero posts” arrives. Social networks were a day to tell our lives, but From a while to this part the trend is another: “zero posts”. Users publish much less than before, instead of that user community that shared their reflections, the normal thing is now to find an endless commercial showcase. According to recent studies, a third of Spanish Internet users have abandoned some social network in the last year. Robotic consumption. The study data published in FT confirms that phenomenon. According to their conclusions, less and fewer people use social networks to maintain contact with their friends, and that kind of use experience has been decreasing since 2014. instead of what has been seen is that the users of these platforms go to them with the explicit intention of filling holes of time that are empty. Or what is the same: when they get bored consume content, but they don’t share it. Use ceases to be reflective and interactive to be passive, more “robotic”, ironically. The shitting of social networks. The writer Cory Doctorow The term coined long ago “Enshittification“ (“shit”) to talk about how platforms become worse for users. At present, social networks have little social and are dedicated to trying to maximize the time that users are trapped in them. Algorithms have taken control And they immerse us in an echo chamber from which it is difficult to leave. The “Ai Slop” arrives. Before the decline – at least, in time of use – of social networks, the option seems clear: take advantage of the content generated by AI. All to a greater or lesser extent have begun to integrate it progressively, but two new wedges are now added to traditional social networks: Meta Vibes y Openai Sora They are absolutely focused on content generated by AI. It is another era in which interaction and social participation fade and Doomscrolling He seizes more than ever from the user experience. The “AI Slop”the “junk content” generated by AI, begins to flood that experience. And it seems that tactic works. The study, however, gives a worrying fact: the time that Americans spend social networks are growing. It is the only region where it does, because in Europe and Asia-Pacific that consumption is falling slightly from the 2022 peaks. It remains to be seen if those new social networks They end up compensating that fall of the time that users spend on “traditional” social networks. Image | Pexels In Xataka | The exhausted society: how “existential tiredness” has become the great industry of the West

Chatgpt began as a simple assistant of AI. OpenAI wants to turn it into your future operating system

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OpenAi wants to change everything with chatgpt. The chatbot of AI He no longer wants to be a chatbot of AI with whom we talk: he wants to do everything for us. And to do so the idea is to turn ChatgPT into something surprising: an operating system with which you will talk and talk to ask for things. Why is it important. The developer event held yesterday by OpenAI allowed reveal a new application platform that wants to have ChatgPT as a central axis. The new philosophy makes all types of third -party services work directly within Chatgpt, which connects them and converts them in part of a promising user experience. Surprising examples. During the presentation they were shown various cases of use in which a user simply planned a chatgpt trip and it connected to Booking or needed a training course and the chatbot served it with extra comments connecting to Coursera. OpenAI already has a preliminary version of the SDK that will allow developers create applications that can then interconnect with chatgpt As those first examples already do among those that are Spotify, Canva, Zillow, or the aforementioned Booking and Coursera. It is not a “superapp”, it is something more. The search for a new surface has been for example a particular obsession of Elon Musk. Its objective was to convert X (formerly Twitter) into a surface similar to Wechat, which is that “tool to do everything” that triumphs in China. This SUPERAPP integrates a lot of own services, but also to minialyucations with which the user must operate quite manually. With chatgpt the intention is another. Machine, do everything for me. With operating systems such as Windows or MacOS what we normally ask when doing something is “What app I need to perform this task?” With this apparent chatgpt transformation into an operating system we can simply tell the chatbot “I want to do this task” to complete it. Second attempt. Openai already really tried something like that with the GPT store that launched in January 2024 and allowed to create “personalized GPTS”. Although the company presumed that they had been created More than three million of these GPTSthese “widgets” were nothing more than slight modifications of the Traditional Chatgpt assistant. Although the idea was promising That did not curdle, but this attempt is much more ambitious, especially because now Chatgpt wants to become a kind of orchestra director that connects to all kinds of services to do what the user needs at all times with simple prompts written or spoken. A de facto operating system. Openai’s proposal resembles – at least, conceptually – to what we usually conceive as a modern operating system. Its fundamental function is to serve as an interface between the user and the machine, and here Chatgpt wants to be something similar. It doesn’t matter the hardware and application, because it is Chatgpt that interprets the user’s intention and then connects with the most appropriate applications for each task. Monetization. In Openai they also mentioned that they are preparing the integration of His new agentic commerce protocol to allow payments between services and users. There was no talk of what kind of economic agreement signs Booking or Spotify when they interact with chatgpt, but it is evident that for these services the traffic that comes from chatgpt can be very valuable, and it is reasonable to think that Openai takes a commission if economic transactions are completed. OpenAI VE Chatgpt as an operating system. Nick Turley, head of the Product of Chatgpt in Openai, explained In a subsequent conversation with means what was the vision of the company: “What you will see during the next six months is an evolution of Chatgpt, which will go from being a really very useful application to become something that will look a little more to an operating system.” Developers, come to me. For your idea to succeed, OpenAi needs be available globally. This tool now offers additional characteristics To, for example, connect it to Slack or use it as an SDK to integrate into other workflows. Of the mouse and the keyboard to the conversation. Chatgpt raises that future we have been talking about: one in which instead of using mouse and keyboard to handle our computer We will use text and voice prompts. The interaction theoretically will have to think about how we want to do things – that will already be in charge of chatgpt and the services to which it connects – and more what things we want to do. It is a radical change that promises to get closer even more to do everything with machines … to depend more than ever on them. In Xataka | Openai and AMD have just signed more than an AI agreement: it is the bartering of despair

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