believes

In the midst of a race towards immortality, China believes it has found a way for us to live 150 years: with grapes

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Aging is the objective that a good part of society has right now with different diets to look younger, ‘anti-aging’ treatments or even cocktails that promise this (although our biology has a fairly clear limit). Now, China is targeting a biotechnology company that affirms be developing a pill capable of prolonging human life to 150 years. A simple grape. A priori it seems that it has nothing to do with human aging, but we are quite wrong. The Shenzhen biotechnology company claims to have identified in its seeds a compound called procyyanidin C1 (PCC1) which achieves the effect that many want and has a great antioxidant effect. Zombie cells. To understand how this supposed miracle compound works, we must first talk about the enemy of aging: senescence cellular. As time goes by, some of our cells stop dividing, but they do not die. They remain in a state of limbo, accumulating in the tissues and secreting inflammatory substances that damage neighboring cells that are not so lazy and continue dividing. These cells that do not want to die is what known as ‘zombie cells’ because in the end there are quite a few parallels. As. Once taken into account, this is where PCC1 comes into play, which is nothing more than a natural flavonoid. Where the interesting begins is in a key study published in Nature Metabolism where it is pointed out that PCC1 acts as a senolytic agent. This means that it has a fairly important selective capacity to act on the cells that are bothering us the most. Specifically, at low doses, PCC1 inhibits the toxic substances emitted by zombie cells, but at high doses it kills them without harming healthy cells. And up to this point everything is quite solid, since it has been scientifically proven. There are ‘buts’. The scientific basis that the Chinese laboratory uses for its claims comes almost exclusively from animal models to whom this substance was applied. In this way, the researchers achieved several things by applying PCC1 on old mice: Reduce the load of senescent cells in vital organs. Reverse motor dysfunctions, making the mouse have more strength and better balance. Increase life expectancy between 9 and 60%. The big ‘but’ we found is that it has only been tested on mice and not on humans. And given this we can ask ourselves something quite simple: why are we skeptical about the claim of 150 years in humans? There are several reasons to be so. The first of them is that saying that because a mouse lives 60% longer, a human will live 60% longer is also a biological fallacy. The metabolism of mice and humans is not similar at all, and that is why there are drugs that, although they have worked in a mouse, have failed in humans. we are not equal with the mice. That’s why we don’t age in the same way. Although it is true that humans have senescent cells that are related to aging, we are much more complex. Aging involves genomic instability, telomere shortening, mitochondrial dysfunction, and stem cell exhaustion. That is why cleaning the ‘zombie cells’ could improve health in old agebut it is unlikely that on its own it will make us exceed the current biological limit of our species. This is also added to the fact that to date there are no published clinical trials that support the safety and effectiveness of using this compound in the human body. That is why, in conclusion, we can conclude that PCC1 is a very important finding to identify a door to therapies that make us age better. But talking about extending life to 150 years undoubtedly presents many doubts, since surely this ‘Chinese pill’ will not make us immortal overnight. Images | Maja Petric Daniel Franco In Xataka | Not all brain cells age at the same time: we have found a “hot spot” of aging

We have been searching for dark matter for 90 years. Now a Japanese man believes he has found his “fingerprint”

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Since Fritz Zwicky suggested the existence of dark matter in 1933, the reality is that it has been one of the great ghosts of modern physics, generating many debates about its existence. The little we know indicates that this matter is there because we see how its gravity pushes galaxiesbut we have never been able to see it or touch it. It is invisible. Or at least, that’s what we believed until now. And to ‘see’ this matter you have to be a true superhero, since it does not emit, absorb or reflect light. Something that makes it completely invisible to telescopes around the world. But it is not something that is a small part of what surrounds us, but which makes up 85% of the total matter in the universe. But now there is hope to have more information about this great mystery of physics thanks to a study Professor Tomonori Totani of the University of Tokyo claims to have found the first direct evidence of this elusive substance. He has not seen it directly with his own eyes, but he has detected the “smoke” of his gun: a very specific gamma ray signal emanating from the halo of our own Milky Way and that eerily coincides with theoretical predictions of how dark matter behaves. A large amount of data. To understand the discovery, you have to look at the sky with gamma ray eyes. Totani has used a total of 15 years of data accumulated by NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope (LAT). But the important thing was undoubtedly knowing where to look: in the galactic halo. That is, the ‘quiet’ outskirts of the Milky Way, excluding the galactic disk to avoid interference. What he found when cleaning the background noise was surprising: an excess of gamma rays with a very specific energy peak, located at 20 billion electron volts (20 GeV). The importance. So far so good, but… Why is it important? Basically, because it doesn’t fit what we would expect from normal astrophysical sources, like pulsars or supernova remnants. However, it fits like a glove for the WIMP theory. This is a theory that basically suggests that dark matter It is made up of WIMPs (Weakly Interacting Massive Particles). According to physical models, when two of these particles collide, they annihilate each other, releasing a cascade of energy in the form of gamma rays that would be detected in the universe now. And that is their conclusion: the detected signal is compatible with WIMP particles that have a mass of 500 times that of a proton. This would, therefore, be the fingerprint that gives the most information about dark matter, although it does not stop there. The shape is not a point on the map, but a soft, spherical halo that surrounds the galaxy, just as dark matter is distributed in the cosmological simulations that physics has made. The same goes for consistency, since the signal persists even when different background models are used and other known sources of noise in the universe are removed. There are precedents. This isn’t the first time someone has yelled “Eureka!” In the past, excess gamma rays have been detected at the Galactic Center (known as GCE), but the scientific community has tended to think that this signal comes from undetected millisecond pulsars, rather than dark matter. The key to Totani’s study is that he has looked where no one was looking in such detail. By moving away from the center and analyzing the diffuse halo, it is where he has found a much cleaner signal that does not invite so many doubts about its origin. There are still doubts. The study itself admits that the calculated cross section (the probability of interaction) is higher than the upper levels established by the observation of dwarf galaxies, which are often used as scale for dark matter. This means two things: either our models of the density of dark matter in the Milky Way are incorrect (which is possible, since there is a lot of uncertainty in the profile of the halo), or we are looking at a new and unknown astrophysical phenomenon that mimics dark matter. A great mystery. If this finding is confirmed, we would be facing one of the greatest discoveries in physics of the 21st century. It would confirm that dark matter is composed of particles that we can detect (and not primordial black holes) and open a new door for physics. go beyond the standard model. But as we say, this still needs to be verified by a second laboratory such as the Cherenkov Telescope Array Observatory (CTAO) that may have the ability to detect these gamma ray spectral lines. Image | A. Schaller (STScI) In Xataka | Exactly 100 years ago we began to understand how the world works. Quantum physics has radically changed our lives

how much science believes our longevity will actually increase

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Society is increasingly obsessed with living longer and longer and have an aesthetic that corresponds to a younger age. Right now there are many really eloquent projects to achieve practically immortalitybut this makes us wonder if our body has some kind of limit that cannot be exceeded. This is what science tries to elucidate. Nowadays, people who live more than one hundred years are something extraordinary, and we even see their centenary birthdays appear on the pages of the newspaper or on local television programs. But the question in this case is whether the new normal will be being able to live more than a century as something normal, and above all in good conditions. But the truth is that we are far from achieving this. Two concepts. The first thing to understand here is the difference that exists between the average life expectancy and maximum longevity. The first of these is growing spectacularly in the last century thanks to vaccines, hygiene, medications and better access to healthcare (although this reaches an older population, with its problems). But when we talk about maximum longevity we cannot say the same, since it is a much harder ceiling to crack. The obligatory question in this case is clear: where is our ceiling that we cannot break? Less than expected. There is now solid scientific evidence that suggests that human beings have a “factory” biological limit. Different studies, such as those published in Nature, they placed the natural human limit around 115 years. Although more recent and optimistic reviews, based on statistical modeling of the “supercentenarians” (people over 110 years old), extend that range up to 125 years. Therefore, we are not facing a scenario of immortality, but rather the age progression curve begins to stabilize at a specific point. And this is clearly a brake that biology itself is imposing on us, because our body has a very clear limit in its functioning. Prioritize well-being. Reaching the age of 120, but with very poor health, with many illnesses behind you or without being able to move, is not something at all attractive. That is why demographic projections for Europe They suggest that, by the year 2065, life expectancy will be between 87 and 93 years. This doesn’t sound like science fiction, and that’s precisely why it’s relevant. It is not about making quantum leaps through unproven gene therapies, but about the accumulation of medical and social improvements. The goal of modern longevity medicine is not for you to live 150 years connected to a machine, but to extend the “healthspan“, that is, the period of healthy life. We already know the ‘secret’. While we wait for drugs that reverse old age, science tells us that we already have the “technology” to maximize our lives and it has been used for decades in the so-called ‘Blue Zones’ of Okinawa as a standard. And it is precisely in this area that people It is capable of easily reaching 100 years without much problemand the question was obligatory: why here? We found the answer in studies carried out in this areait can be seen that the factors that influence being able to reach 100 years of life have nothing to do with transfusions of young plasma, blood cleansing or super-expensive therapies that promise miraculous results. Among the habits that follow we can find the following: Natural calorie restriction: They consume 10-15% fewer calories than an average Western adult. And we already know that this influences above all the generation of oxidative stress which is a great ‘poison’ for our body. The good carbohydrate diet: their diet is based on vegetables and complex carbohydrates such as sweet potatoes, with a very low animal protein intake. Youth biomarkers: the combination of diet and constant physical activity results in a lower incidence of chronic diseases. Less stress: another great poison for the body due to its involvement in cortisol levels. In Okinawa, community cohesion acts as a buffer for stress. The importance of habits. In this way, the scientific horizon for the next century does not promise immortality. It is likely that we will continue to see a trickle of individual records and exceptional cases of genetics that cause us to see people who far exceed the century of life. But for most humans, This is not something we get. (or at least with a good quality of life). The true longevity revolution in the 21st century will be to make reaching age 90 the norm and not the exception, applying what we already know works: moving, eating less (and better) and maintaining strong social ties. And above all, do not wait for a magic pill, as has been demonstrated by the habits of Japanese people who have achieved an effect that no gene therapy has achieved so far. Images | Ravi Patel In Xataka | Not all brain cells age at the same time: we have found a “hot spot” of aging

The “godfather of AI” believes that AI LLMs are a dead end. Meta has turned him into a vase scientist

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Yann LeCun has been warning for years that Generative AI is stupid. The current models, he claimed a year ago, are no more intelligent than a domestic cat. This speech has become especially uncomfortable especially because LeCun, considered one of the godfathers of AI, was until now one of the most responsible for this segment in Meta. Now everything seems to point to an imminent departure that will see LeCun found his own startup. Why is it important. While AI companies strive to train AI models by collecting more data and spending billions of dollars on computing power, LeCun is clear that this strategy is a dead end. It is something we have been talking about for a long time and that other experts like Andrej Karpathy have also have warned: This scaling of resources previously allowed notable leaps in performance. Not now. He knows what he’s talking about. In 2003 LeCun joined New York University and later founded the institution’s Data Science Center. In 2013, Mark Zuckerberg recruited him to lead his new AI division at Facebook called FAIR (Fundamental AI Research). In 2018, LeCun, along with Geoffrey Hinton and Yoshua Bengio, won the Turing Awardthe highest honor in computer science, for his contribution to the study of neural networks. LLMs must give way to “world models”. LeCun has prophesied that within three to five years no one in their right mind will be using today’s LLMs. Instead of them, the architecture that will triumph will be that of the so-called “world models”which learn from the environment through visual information, similar to how a baby does, in contrast to LLMs, which are predictive models based on vast text databases. Internal tension. That vision of LeCun has ended up being a problem in Meta. Mark Zuckerberg does not seem to have the same opinion, and in recent months he has made it clear. with a bet multimillionaire in which ended up signing talent and creating its new superintelligence division that precisely reinforced the role of the LLM that LeCun sees as useless. An uncomfortable situation. These signings have caused the FAIR Group that LeCun led to lose prestige, resources and weight in the organization compared to that new AI research organization led by the new rising star, Alexandr Wang. Exit in sight. Last week the first rumors appeared that LeCun is planning his departure from Meta to create his own startup. Precisely this new company would explore the creation of those models of the world that this scientist and researcher wants to develop in depth. If he executed that step, it is very likely that the investment world would support that vision and offer him sufficient funds to work on it. It has happened with startups Ilya Sutskever and Mira Muratithat without having visible product They have achieved multi-million dollar financing rounds. LeCun seems to be right. The evolution of LLMs seems to confirm LeCun’s theory that they are not the valid way to achieve truly notable advances in the field of AI. What current models do is not so much solve problems as locate past instances of solved problems to use probability and apply answers. Don’t even think about pursuing LLMs.. In recent months, LeCun’s work in Meta has become more blurred and he has been seen participating in several conferences. In one of them gave a message clear to those aspiring to get into this field: “if you are a PhD student in AI, you should never work with LLMs.” Image | Goal In Xataka | The only advantage Apple could have in AI was its private cloud. It has been copied by the person we least expected

The extinction of Neanderthals has always been a mystery. Science now believes that they are still with us

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For decades, the disappearance of Neanderthals has been one of the biggest mysteries of human evolution. It happened about 40,000 years ago, suspiciously coincident with our species Homo sapiens to Eurasia… But now we are thinking that they did not become extinct. What was thought. Classical theories paint a replacement scenario: either we wiped them out in direct competition, or they couldn’t withstand brutal climate change. But now a study published in Scientific Reports offers a much more fascinating answer: we absorb them among ourselves. And the key to all this is genetic dilution. The hypotheses. To go deeper, the competition hypothesis suggests that Homo sapiens We were simply superior: we had better hunting strategies, a broader diet or more advanced social structures that allowed us to monopolize all the resources, driving the Neanderthals to extinction. On the other hand, the environmental hypothesis blames the drastic climate changes that occurred just at that time. According to this idea, Neanderthals could not adapt to extreme fluctuations and their populations fragmented until they disappeared permanently. However, the new study presents a mathematical model that leaves both factors aside and focuses on the most basic of all: demographics and sex. The new model. The authors of the study propose an analytical model that demonstrates how Neanderthals could disappear without the need for the Homo sapiens had any selective advantage over them. The model does not require “catastrophic events” or cognitive superiority. Instead, it relies on a concept called “species-neutral drift” and a key factor: small, recurring immigrations of Homo sapiens in Neanderthal territories. There were many more of us. One of the first ideas pointed out in this case is that the population Homo sapiens that left Africa was much larger in number than the Neanderthal, acting as a “practically infinite demographic reservoir.” By going together, because friction makes affection, and between the species they began to intersect and had very fertile offspring. The model assumes that this was not a one-time event, but rather a “sustained gene flow” that occurred every time a small group of modern humans arrived in an area. So, adding that the Neanderthal population was much smaller and there was a constant influx of genes from Homo sapiensthe result is the dissolution of the gene pool. It’s literally like pouring a glass of Neanderthal water into an ocean of Homo sapiens. In the end his presence is completely diluted. The time. The most powerful thing about the study is that its calculations fit with the archaeological record. The mathematical model shows that this process of “almost complete genetic replacement” could have occurred within a period of 10,000 to 30,000 years, something that aligns with the long period of coexistence that both species had in Eurasia. Were they extinct? This is the question we ask ourselves. Know if the word ‘extinction’ is appropriate for this paradigm. This model offers what scientists call a “parsimonious explanation” (the simplest). In words we understand, it does not deny that other factors, such as competition or weather, could have contributed. But it shows that this genetic dissolution alone is something that may have explained the disappearance of the Neanderthals. That is why, rather than an extinction, we speak of a fusion by absorption. This perfectly explains why the Neanderthals disappeared as a genetically distinct group, but their legacy endures: modern humans of Eurasian ancestry conserve in our DNA a small percentage of their genetic heritage (although very diluted). Images | mostafa meraji In Xataka | Human evolution has not stopped: in fact, there are reasons to think that it is more accelerated than ever

More and more children suffer from it and science believes it knows why

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For years, the hypertension has earned the nickname the “silent killer“. It is a pathology that barely causes symptoms, but can cause serious damage in the heart, brain and blood vessels. Traditionally, it has been associated with older people, whose arteries age and accumulate atheromatous plaques over time. But that is changing: More and more children are living with high blood pressure. Taking blood pressure in the little ones in the house is something that for many may be unthinkable, because it is something that is logically assumed to be perfect because their arteries are also very young. But it’s changing, according to a study published in The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health. How many. The data are worrying: the percentage of children and adolescents with hypertension has almost doubled in two decades: from 3.2% in 2000 to more than 6.2% in 2020. This means that 114 million children under 19 years of age in the world today live with high blood pressure. This photograph results from an analysis of 96 different studies and 443,000 young people from 21 countries. The reasons. So… Why on earth does a child have a disease that is associated with older people? The person responsible is in obesity which is associated with an almost eight-fold increased risk of developing high blood pressure compared to their peers with a healthy weight. And the figures in this case are devastating. To give us an idea, among children who have a healthy weight, only 2.4% have hypertension. But this counteracts with children who do have obesity, where the figure shoots up to 19%. This is further amplified when childhood obesity is increasing globally and has tripled since 2000 as has recognized UNICEF. And the causes in this case seem to be in the high consumption of processed foods and also in the low physical activity that some young people have. Diagnose in time. Although the study recognizes the limitations that arise in the differences in measuring blood pressure, the message is quite clear: blood pressure must be taken when risk factors such as obesity are present. We must remember that we are talking about a ‘silent killer’, because it seems that everything is correct, but damage to the arteries is occurring. The most important thing, like any other disease, always is early diagnosis to be able to apply measures to control the situation and prevent it from advancing much further. The problem of measurement. One of the most revealing findings of the study is that How we measure blood pressure matters, a lot. Prevalence figures change drastically depending on the diagnostic method. A priori, the diagnosis in a medical consultation requires at least three office visits for hypertension to be confirmed, causing the prevalence to be estimated at 4.3%. However, when the researchers included out-of-office evaluations (like the classic blood pressure monitors that anyone can use), the prevalence of sustained hypertension shot up to 6.7%. It’s a problem. This paradigm shift suggests that there are children who have normal tension when they go to the doctor, but it increases in their daily lives. Something alarming, especially considering that it affects 9.2% of children and adolescents globally and that is why we should not allow this masked hypertension. In the opposite case, blood pressure is elevated in the medical environment due to stress, but is normal at home, something known as ‘white coat hypertension‘. This affects 5.2% of young people, suggesting that a notable proportion could be being misdiagnosed or overtreated. Prehypertension. The study not only looks at children who are already hypertensive, but also at those who are in the waiting room. Data show that an additional 8.2% of children and adolescents have prehypertension, that is, blood pressure levels higher than normal, but do not yet meet the criteria for diagnosis. But this risk is not homogeneous. Prehypertension is especially prevalent during adolescence, reaching 11.8% of adolescentscompared to 7% in younger children. Images | CDC Ben Wicks In Xataka | We have known for a long time that our heart “fixes” itself. Now we know better how

ASML and TSMC are masters of semiconductors. A US startup believes it knows how to end them: with X-rays

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A mysterious American startup called Substrate has made its appearance with a purpose extraordinarily ambitious: compete head to head with ASML. The Dutch company has become the master of the segment of advanced photolithography machines for chip manufacturing, but at Substrate they believe they have the key to turn the tables. Why is it important. ASML has no competition in the market since it placed its first equipment of UVE photolithography. The ASML thing is a monopoly de facto: If a chip manufacturer or designer wants to access to produce the most advanced models, it depends entirely on the Dutch company. No one has managed to stop it since then, and even China, which is trying to free itself from that dependence, it’s really complicated. Substrate. This is the name of this startup that has developed a new team in which use particle acceleration to manage lithography. This technology allows microscopic circuits to be etched onto silicon wafers, and this new company claims that its machines could be in manufacturing plants in the US within the next two years. It all sounds very good. Maybe too much, but they already have funds to try: they have just raised 100 million dollars and among investors There is Peter Thielco-founder of PayPal and current CEO of Palantir. And already, they will try to help create the new TSMC. The challenge is enormous: ASML has invested decades and billions of dollars to perfect its photolithographic equipment, and the complexity of this market makes it very difficult for companies created from scratch to compete. Substrate’s objective is twofold, because it also aims to ensure that its machines enable the affordable chip manufacturing in the US. Or what is the same: it not only wants to compete directly with ASML, but also allow American manufacturers to compete with TSMC on American soil. There it is nothing. Light is everything. When creating those circuits, some of the lines created are so fine that their dimensions are even thinner than the wavelength of light. To solve that ASML problem they do use of extreme ultraviolet light (EUV) through a very complex set of lenses and mirrors. These machines generate a type of artificial light that is capable of engraving those very fine lines on advanced chips. Very special X-rays. In Substrate they propose a different idea. Although they do not give all the details to prevent someone from copying them, their machines use X-ray lithography (LRX). A particle accelerator creates a light source from x-rays with a shorter wavelength, allowing the beam to be used to create advanced chips. Current Substrate machines are currently capable of working with 12 nanometer nodes, comparable to ASML High NA EUV machines: That would put them on par with the most advanced chip production lines in the world. LRX technology is not new. This technique has existed since the 1970s, but had been abandoned because longer wave techniques (UVP and UVE) continued to scale without the need to overcome the great technical challenges of RXL. In substrate they seem to have precisely the solution to those problems, which focused on optics and the need to use massive particle accelerators as a light source. And they promise brutal cost savings. At Substrate they maintain that their LRX equipment will have an estimated cost of about 40 million dollars, compared to 400 million for ASML’s High-NA EUV. In addition, there would be another associated revolution: the possibility of carrying out the so-called single exposure patterning at advanced resolutions (2 nm, 1 nm and beyond), thus eliminating the additional costs of the multipatterning (multiple exposures). If that promise is fulfilled, the production cost of advanced wafers would be 50% lower according to Substrate. But. Of course, it’s one thing to say it and another to do it. The precision of the process, they explain in Semianalysisis a monumental obstacle. The transfer of patterns (going “from light to silicon” almost “carving it”) remains problematic, and among the challenges is solving the roughness of the edges of the printed patterns, which is amplified during engraving. There is also the problem of stochastic noise (shot noise, random fluctuations in photons that cause defects) and secondary electron blurring inherent to the high energy of X-rays, which fundamentally limits resolution. There are also currently problems with the 1.6 nm overlay, which is still high for more advanced processes where 1.0 or 1.2 nm are sought. In Xataka | AMD is today a semiconductor giant. In its beginnings it was something much more humble: a blatant copy of Intel

After many years trying to copy the Falcon 9, Elon Musk believes there is a company about to achieve it

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It seems unlikely today that a startup can be 10 years ahead of the competition, but that is the case with SpaceX. Elon Musk’s aerospace company dominates the industry thanks to the Falcon 9, a rocket that has turned 15 years old and has been almost a decade landing vertically without any other orbital rocket having managed to repeat the feat. Until now. The Falcon 9 has company. A few days ago, Elon Musk broke his usual disdain about the rest of the industry to point out a specific contender. The Chinese company Landspace is not only close to matching the Falcon 9, Musk admitted.but it could end up surpassing it. The reason? Its new Zhuque-3 rocket, which combines the general architecture of the Falcon 9 with key elements of Starship, SpaceX’s most modern and experimental rocket. The gigantic Starship “is in another league,” Musk said. However, recognized that the Zhuque-3 could reach “Falcon 9 levels of reliability and launch rate” in about five years. This is the Zhuque-3 rocket. The big bet of LandSpace, one of the private companies most powerful in the Chinese aerospace industryis a two-stage launcher with a first stage capable of landing vertically for reuse. Although it has a very similar power to that of the Falcon 9 (with a payload capacity in its reusable configuration of 18.3 tons), it is built in stainless steel instead of aluminum, and burns methane and liquid oxygen instead of kerosene, the same material and the same fuel as Starship. Landspace is just the first. If Zhuque-3 manages to successfully take off and land in the coming weeks, Landspace will be the first company to close the enormous distance that separates the industry from SpaceX (with permission from Blue Origin’s New Glenn, a larger and heavier rocket, which also hopes to take off and land successfully in November). These two will be followed by other models such as the CZ-12A from the Chinese state company CASC and the Tianlong-3 from the Chinese startup Space Pioneer. Next will come the Hyperbola 3 from iSpace, the Pallas 1 from Galactic Energy and the Gravity 2 from OrienSpace. All Chinese companies, driven by the liberalization of the space industry promoted by Beijing in 2014. Copy what works, then improve. Public incentives, such as very low-interest loans, only tell part of the story. If Chinese companies are on the verge of having their Falcon 9, it is because of their philosophy of first copying what works and then iterating until they improve on their Western rivals. Elon Musk’s recognition is, perhaps, the clearest sign that the race has changed. It’s no longer a question of whether someone will copy the Falcon 9, but rather who will be the first to surpass it using, ironically, SpaceX’s own ideas for its next generation of rockets. In Xataka | The race to become “China’s SpaceX”: who’s who in its private space launch sector

science believes it has an explanation

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Walking down the street and seeing someone walking with their eyes downward can make us instantly think that something is happening to that person emotionally, such as being sad. But the reality is that walking down has many meanings and that have been proven through sciencewhich go far beyond the field of psychology and makes us rethink the thoughts we have when we see someone in this situation. The body language. One of the letters of introduction we have to the world is undoubtedly the gestures we make. It is not the same to be with them all the time. crossed arms which may indicate a more closed attitudeto be much more open in front of another person. And the look is another fundamental letter of introduction that we can understand perfectly. What psychology says. The most widespread interpretation of looking down while walking is attributed to the insecurity, shyness, sadness or low self-esteem. It is a fact that avoiding eye contact can seem evasive and, in a society like ours, is often considered a sign of vulnerability or emotional processing. This is something that has been collected in different studies focused on non-verbal communication where they reinforce this idea: the hunched posture, the gaze towards the ground and the absence of eye contact can indicate internal states such as introspection, emotional stress or the need for protection from the environment. However, the field of psychology warns that this overly simple or ‘generalist’ interpretation is inaccurate. To understand it we can go to other cultures such as the Japanese, where looking at the ground is a sign of respect or modesty, or can even be interpreted as a form of concentration or reflection. In this way, the social context, personality and frequency of the gesture make the difference between a ‘good clinical indication’ and perfectly normal behavior. Neuroscience. But beyond psychology, Neuroscience also has a lot to say in this field to thoroughly study why, in many situations, looking down is a very useful strategy. Studies published in journals such as Nature demonstrate That directing your gaze toward the ground helps adjust your balance and reduces the risk of tripping. Within these studies, brain activity and movement patterns have been specifically measured in people walking in different environments. And the conclusion is quite clear: looking down provides the brain with critical information about the terrain and allows you to adjust your step, especially if there are obstacles or the ground is uneven. In this way, if you go in the middle of the field for example, the normal thing is to look down to avoid tripping or ending up on the ground. The same occurs with a work published in 2021 that observed that this position improves stability in older people and also when the cognitive load increases, for example, when we are distracted. Thus, far from being just an emotional symptom, it is also a rational and functional response. facing physical and mental challenges. Mental health. Should every gesture of looking at the ground worry us? The clinical literature clarifies: if the gesture appears in isolation, it does not imply problems. But if it is combined with other signs such as social isolation, apathy or mood changes, it can be part of a picture of depression, anxiety or stress. The problem is that a simple look down the street is not enough to know this, but you must know that person much more. But the evidence is quite clear in this sense: ​there is a relationship between emotions and posture, but it is never a single indicator. Beyond the myth. In this way, every time we see a person with their gaze downcast, we don’t always have to think about the most negative thing, but we don’t always have to think about the most positive thing either. The reality is that if we are walking down a street Looking at the ground serves to avoid obstacles, process information while walking or adopt multitasking strategies (or even if you are lucky to find a ticket). Images | Caspar Rae In Xataka | The psychology of doomscrolling: the trap our brain is programmed to fall into again and again

Meta still believes in the metaverse, seriously, we’re not joking, he really believes it

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At the end of 2025, the technological landscape is very different from what Meta imagined when it bet its future on metaverse. There are no millions of people with virtual reality headsets at home or meetings that replace the office with a permanent digital environment. The word “metaverse” It doesn’t even figure in most conversations about technology anymore. On the other hand, artificial intelligence has taken over public debate, the economy and the daily lives of users. The focus has shifted, but Meta insists that his vision has not disappeared, it has just changed shape, a little. You may remember when, in 2021, Facebook decided to change its name to Meta. It was not a simple branding, but a declaration of intent: Mark Zuckerberg assured that the future of the internet lay in the metaverse, a space where we could “feel present” even if we were far away. The company presented that vision as the next leap after social networks, a world in which avatars, virtual offices and a new digital economy would coexist daily. The plan sounded ambitious, almost inevitable, and Meta backed it with billions in investment. Meta still believes in the metaverse: this time he wants to take it everywhere, literally The big news is that the Meta metaverse no longer wants to live locked in a helmet. The company has begun to expand Horizon Worlds beyond virtual reality, bringing it to mobile and, little by little, to its own networks. Vishal Shah, vice president of metaverse, He explained it in The Verge: it’s not about doing something just mobile, but about playing and being together cross-platformwith Horizon accessible from headphones and mobile phones, and with integration tests on Facebook and Instagram. Meta seeks to make this 3D social layer accessible to anyone, without the need for specialized hardware, as a natural extension of its existing platforms. The change is not limited to strategy, it also affects technology. Meta has developed a new graphics engine for Horizon Worlds that seeks to offer more stable worlds compatible with mobile, headset or web. In addition, it has incorporated artificial intelligence tools that assist creators in tasks such as generating objects or animating environments. At its Connect conference, the company explained that this system allows “creating five times faster” than before. It is one more step towards the automation of development, with AI as the main ally. The commitment to the metaverse has also forced Meta to rethink its hardware. Quest helmets have gained in lightness, processing and optical quality, but the company recognizes that they are not yet devices designed to be worn all day. Now we are seeing how attention is shifting towards the Meta Ray-Ban Displaywhich include the Meta Neural Band (EMG bracelet) for gesture control. The future of work in the metaverse, according to Meta Meta also wants its metaverse to work beyond its own devices. That is why it launched Horizon OS, the operating system that supports its viewers and that it now offers to third parties. With this, the company seeks to replicate the Android model: a common base on which different brands can build their products. This movement fits with its commitment to interoperability and universal avatars, capable of maintaining the user’s identity regardless of the device. According to Meta, that is the necessary step for the metaverse to be truly open. One of Meta’s great challenges is to turn the metaverse into an economically viable space. To this end, it has launched different monetization initiatives in Horizon Worlds, from the sale of digital goods to incentive programs for creators. His speech is clear: without a functional economy, there will be no metaverse that lasts. Still, Meta insists that the creation tools and technical foundations are already in place for that model to grow over time. Since Facebook became Meta in 2021, the metaverse roadmap has gone through several stages. First came the initial enthusiasm and big promises. Then, in 2022, difficulties surfaced: internal leaks revealed that even employees were barely using Horizon Worlds. In 2023, the company tried to reactivate the project with new helmets and with the aforementioned Horizon OS. Already in 2024, the discourse changed: less bombast and more interoperability. In 2025, Meta talks about “Horizon everywhere”, a more transversal metaverse and less dependent on VR. The big challenge for Meta continues to be adoption. Bringing Horizon to mobile phones and social networks facilitates access, but there is still a need convince users that you are worth their time. The company needs to demonstrate that the metaverse provides something useful and constant, beyond the initial curiosity. Questions also remain about interoperability between platforms and how many people actually use it. Without clear signs of growth, the feeling is that the bet is still alive, but still far from becoming a mass phenomenon. Images | Xataka In Xataka | Three years after the metaverse fiasco, Zuckerberg has another burning nail for Meta: digital glasses

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