body

Europe has seen that Gen Z is full of militarism, body worship and a desire to party and has told them: go to the front

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First there were technical shoes, then sports watchesand now the military backpacks: khaki, resistant, full of patches and straps. Europe dresses usefully, as if preparing for war were just another aesthetic trend. In the gyms, more than in the barracks, a new type of citizenship is trained: bodies ready, gazes focused, backpacks ready for something that we still don’t know if it is a fad or a calling. Those who wear them seem to embody a new European trend: the return of the body as a patriotic symbol. A few weeks ago, the US Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, declared: “It’s tiring to see obese troops.” His comment—as provocative as it was political—coincided with an unexpected finding: Generation Z, the same one that grew up among screens and anxiety, is recovering the cult of the body, the taste for action and, in some cases, a renewed curiosity for the idea of ​​serving or protecting something bigger than oneself. Europe has taken note. Atasila ne aniram? In a chapter of The SimpsonsBart and his friends formed a music group with subliminal lyrics to encourage young people to join the navy. A joke that, with the passage of time, has become another pop prophecy fulfilled. In a Financial Times column have started to unravel the new military movement. European armies have detected an unexpected change: young people who previously fled from conscription now sign up for military or civilian volunteering. In Germany, applications for voluntary military service They have grown 15% in a year; In Finland, the Government has announced his intention to increase to one million reservists in 2031, For its part, Sweden, with its “total defense” system (Totalförsvaret), already integrates 380,000 citizens into radio, transport or dog training associations that support the Army without holding weapons. According to official data from the Swedish governmentdue to the War in Ukraine, registrations skyrocketed: in a few months they received as many volunteers as in a normal year. Meanwhile, in the Baltic countries—Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania—they are also reinforcing their “civil militarism.” The three states prepare plans mass evacuation and citizen response to a possible Russian attack. The maneuvers include everything from logistics volunteers to farmers who learn to drive light armored vehicles. Furthermore, Estonia has created units of cybervolunteers to protect digital infrastructures and Lithuania just launched a program to train 22,000 drone operators. Europe is not raising massive armies: it is cultivating available, disciplined and functional bodies. A low-intensity militarism that mixes gym, volunteering and “healthy patriotism.” But why Gen Z? The simplest answer is because it is shaped by the mirror, but there is much more to it than that. Currently, we live in the era of protein chicof spiked shakes, sculpted bodies and extreme routines. The psychologist Sara Bolo warned that “Many apparently healthy behaviors hide disorders disguised as fitness culture.” But beyond the excesses, the cult of the body has become an ethic: physical self-discipline as a sense of purpose. And behind it there is something else: 36% of European Gen Z exercise regularly and another 50% want to start. However, the most revealing fact is not that, but the void it fills. Sociologist Robert Putnam already diagnosed that “we stopped bowling together.” Today, the gym replaces the social club, the bootcamp the summer camp, the weight routine the collective ritual. In other words, Generation Z isn’t just looking for muscle: it’s looking to belong. In a Europe where 13% of citizens and 20% of young people say they feel alone “most of the time”, according to Eurostatcivil defense appears as a new type of functional community: a gymnasium with anthem and purpose. The body as a political border. This cult of the body, born in gyms and amplified by networks, has also filtered into institutional discourse. What was once individual well-being, today takes on a collective, even patriotic tone. On the other side of the Atlantic, body obsession has acquired ideological overtones. Hegseth himself gathered hundreds of top brass to reprimand them: “No more beards. Let’s trim the hair, shave the beards and go back to standards.” His speech was more focused on appearance than performance, more on the image of the ideal soldier than on his operational capacity. Europe observes with caution, but the impulse is the same: the body once again becomes a metaphor for the nation, a space where the moral and physical health of the State is projected. Trained, vigilant, prepared. Recruit with algorithms. For now, the old continent is strengthening its network of civil associations. But if you look to the United States, you could find a more aggressive recruiting model. The US Army has hired e-girls and influencers like Hailey Lujan, an employee of the psychological operations division (PSYOP), who combines uniforms and beauty filters to attract new recruits. On the other hand, the Pentagon He also tried video games: America’s Armya shooter free launched in 2002 so that players wanted to get ready after playing. It worked for two decades as the first major gamified recruiting tool. For now, the European version of digital recruitment is more sober – campaigns about volunteering and civil protection – but the logic is identical: convince Generation Z that the uniform can also be a lifestyle. Fragility disguised as strength. On the margins of the gym where discipline and self-improvement are preached, a digital manosphere thrives that turns fragility into ideological fuel. On TikTok and YouTube, figures like Andrew Tate or anonymous accounts with a military aesthetic promote a masculinity “based on strength and control.” fitness has become in a gateway to the digital extreme right, where the body symbolizes purity and the enemy is always the weak. Cases like that of the Spanish influencer Llados, who combines coaching physical with discourses about “traditional masculinity”, illustrate that blurred border between personal improvement and emotional manipulation. The risk is not only the militarization of the body, but also its ideological instrumentalization. The gym, a space of redemption, can become soft indoctrination campwhere loneliness and … Read more

In 1995 some researchers discovered the “peaceful gene” of our body. Today their finding has earned them a Nobel

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The Nobel Committee at the Karolinska Institute of Stockholm has done it again. He has rewarded one of those investigations that, for years, seemed like a page note in textbooks, but today are the basis of revolutionary treatments. He Nobel Prize for Physiology and Medicine of 2025 He has been granted jointly to Japanese Shimon Sakaguchi and Americans Mary E. Brunkow and Fred Ramsdell for “their discoveries about Regulatory T cells And the role of Foxp3 gene In the immune function “ The beginning. Already in the previous decade, Sakaguchi had identified a subset of T lymphocytes that did not attack, but did the opposite: they suppressed the activity of other T lymphocytes. They were pacifying cells, a kind of riot police of the immune system. In 1995, He published a job Key that characterized these cells, today known as regulatory T cells (TREGS). The finding was transcendental. Sakaguchi showed that without these tregs, The immune system went crazy and began to attack the tissues of the body itself, causing devastating autoimmune diseases. He had discovered the natural mechanism of the body to maintain tolerance and avoid self -destruction. But the key piece of the puzzle was missing: what made a T cell become a peacemaker and not a soldier? Brunkow and Ramsdell. Although this discovery was transcendental, the reality is that there was a lot of skeptic that he did not believe in his theory. But the answer to the big question that stayed in the air came in 2001 (still far from the year 2025 and the delivery of this award). Here, on the one hand, Mary E. Brunkow’s team investigated a rare and deadly disease Autoimmune in children called IPEX syndrome. The investigation pointed to a gene as a cause of this disease: Foxp3. On the other hand, Fred Ramsdell’s team was studying a mouse model with very similar symptoms and reached the same conclusion: The defective gene was Foxp3. The connection. The connection was immediate and explosive: Foxp3 was the “master switch”. It is the gene that, when activated in a T lymphocyte, gives you the instructions to become a TREG. Without functional FOXP3, there are no regulatory T cells, and the immune system is uncontrolled. Sakaguchi’s discovery finally found his genetic explanation and already gave him enough weight so that the scientific community saw that he had sat a great precedent. A revolution. This double discovery, Sakaguchi’s cell phone and Brunkow and Ramsdell’s genetic, has completely changed the immunology paradigm and has opened two great therapeutic pathways with immense potential. On the one hand, the door opens up to the fight against autoimmune diseases since with the lack of tregs the body attacks itself. The solution in this case is to increase this type of cells, and there are already different clinical trials to extract patient T cells, “convert” them into the laboratory and re -inject them to the patient. Something we now know as ‘immunotherapy’. But it also serves for the fight against cancer. In these cases it has been seen how tumors are ‘intelligent’ and surround themselves with tregs to protect themselves to the immune system that tries to end these cells. These pacifying cells prevent “soldier” T lymphocytes from attacking cancer. The new immunotherapies seek precisely to temporarily deactivate these tregs or block the action of Foxp3 in the tumor environment, eliminating the protective coat of cancer so that the immune system can destroy it. This has been especially promising in tumors such as lymphoma. Time has passed. The most surprising of all this is the large amount of time between the initial discovery and recognition with a Nobel. If it is true that it has been expected to have a crucial relevance within the clinical aspect, with trials that give very good results for diseases that are really serious. Images | Wikipedia (2, 3) In Xataka | A Spanish team has taken a giant step in a hopeful cancer treatment: chemoinmunotherapy

The body warns of Alzheimer’s long before the brain. The track is in the intestine

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Keep ‘healthy’ The bacteria we have in the intestine It is more important than we can think. During the last decade there are many voices that have arisen pointing to the relationship between our microbiota and other parts of our body. Now, a study has given light on the amazing connection that exists between digestive and metabolic health and the risk of developing diseases neurodegenerative as Alzheimer’s either Parkinson. A study that has used data of all kinds. Research, published in Science Advances, Not only identifies specific disorders that increase the risk of these diseases, but also demonstrates that these signals can be detected up to 15 years before neurological diagnosis, opening a new and promising via for Early detection and prevention. The work, which analyzed the clinical, genetic and proteomic data of hundreds of thousands of biobancos such as the UK Biobank, Finngen and Sail, is the most extensive of its kind and reinforces the importance of called intestine-corebro axisthe complex communication network that connects our digestive system with the central nervous. Digestive disorders and Alzheimer’s. The researchers analyzed the association of 155 digestive, endocrine, metabolic and nutritional disorders with the future risk of Alzheimer and Parkinson. The results are revealing. For Alzheimer’s, it was found that previous diagnoses of the following conditions significantly increased the risk: Gastritis and duodenitis Esophageal reflux disease (esophagitis) Diabetes (all types) Vitamin D deficiency Electrolyte disorders and acid-base balance Functional intestinal disorders (such as irritable intestine syndrome) There are also warning signs for Parkinson. A disease that is also neurodegenerative and is iconicly characterized with a constant tremor, among many other signs. In this case, the pathologies that could be an alert sign to generate this disease were: Dyspepsia (indigestion) Diabetes (dependent and independent of insulin) Functional intestinal disorders The importance of being a stratified study. This means that the data were divided into windows from 1 to 5, 5 to 10 and 10 to 15 years before diagnosis. This is something really important, since researchers could confirm the theory that the increase in risk is not something that happens just after the appearance of the first neurological symptoms, but it is a process that is created over more than a decade. For example, a diagnosis of non -insulin -dependent diabetes between 10 and 15 years before was associated with a 71% greater risk of developing Alzheimer’s. The importance of an early diagnosis. And it is that diagnosing a neurodegenerative disease so in advance is the best asset we have to avoid its most unwanted effects. Right now Alzheimer is an incurable disease, but There are drugs that stop the disease. From here lies the importance of having an early diagnosis, since the sooner the timely treatment begins, the more difficult it will be to progress to the worst stages. It also has protection functions. Curiously, it has been seen that a hemorrhoid diagnosis was associated with a lower risk of Alzheimer’s. The authors speculate that this could be due to a survival bias: the serious conditions that are sometimes associated with hemorrhoids could have a higher mortality rate, which would reduce the probability that these patients live enough to be diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. Genetics or lifestyle? One of the most counterintuitive findings in the study has to do with genetics. The researchers calculated the polygenic risk scores (PRS), which is a measure of genetic predisposition to a disease, and compared them. They discovered that patients who developed Alzheimer’s or Parkinson and also had one of these digestive or metabolic disorders, on average, had a lower genetic risk score than those who developed the neurological disease in isolation. Inheritance does not matter so much. These results can translate into that the person with intestinal comorbidity, environmental and lifestyle factors They play a much more decisive role in the development of Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s than the genetic inheritance itself. It is the evidence that we needed to reinforce the idea that the disease is not only in our genetic material, but that the environment and our decisions can intervene in its development. Towards a multimodal predictive model. The true qualitative leap of the study is the creation of a multimodal prediction model. Instead of based on a single type of data, scientists combined four pillars of information: clinical, genetic, proteomic data (with the analysis of 1,463 biomarkers) and demographic. The result was a model with a predictive capacity much higher than that of any individual paradigm. For Alzheimer’s, the combined model reached a 0.90 precision (AUC), a very high level for this type of predictions. It is interesting to note that the model that excluded clinical data, but maintained genetics, proteomics and demography, obtained almost identical precision (0.89), which suggests that blood biomarkers already capture much of the biological information that underlies clinical diagnoses. A diagnosis based on an analytical. Among the most influential biomarkers were found GLIAL FIBRARRARARY ACID PREIIN (GFAP) and the light chain neurofilament (NFL), both known as indicators of neuronal damage, which validates the biological robustness of the model. This approach demonstrates that the integration of different “omics” (genomic, proteomic) with clinical data is the way to follow for truly early and personalized detection, long before cognitive symptoms or irreversible motors appear. The team has even developed an interactive web platform so that other researchers can explore the results, promoting transparency and reproducibility. Images | Weermeijer Robina Julien Tromeur In Xataka | We have a new “theory of all” to understand Alzheimer’s. Your key is in small granules

Our body is full of almost indestructible “eternal chemicals.” It turns out that we have the solution in the intestine

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“Eternal chemicals” is a name with great loudness. They are practically indestructible molecules, and the problem is that they are really harmful for both nature and us. In recent years we are taking it seriously and we have sought Remove them with guns with electron beams. Also through forms of break their molecular bondsand now a bacterium can become an ally to end these eternal chemicals. And it will be as easy as taking a capsule. A slow poison. The perfluoroalquiladas and the polyfluoroalquiladas, known as PFASThey are a relative of about 4,700 synthetic molecules that have great resistance due to the unions between fluorine and carbon atoms. They are very useful for that resistance, since the molecular union is very stable and does not react to external agents. The problem is that they are used in many products (hygiene, textiles, pesticides, containers or Even in the wine), they accumulate in nature by not being destroyed and, potentially, also in our body. PFAS and their derivatives, such as trifluoacetic acid, are related to soil contamination and water sources. And the prolonged exposure to certain PFAS has been related With a higher risk of kidney cancer and testicles, alterations in the immune system, changes in cholesterol, fertility problems and increased blood pressure in pregnancy. Intestinal bacteria. That is why we commented on some lines: we are looking for how to end them. It is difficult, but researchers from the University of Cambridge have TOP With an unexpected ally: human intestinal bacteria. Specifically, the Faecalibacterium prausnitziian intestinal bacterium that, together with others found in our body, has proven to be very effective absorbing pfas. In experiments, and as they point out in Natureresearchers have found about 38 bacterial strains that absorb these eternal chemicals. Basically, they quickly accumulate great concentrations of PFAS minutes after exposure to them. How do they do it? Catching toxic compounds within cell groups, protecting both themselves and the host. Come on, putting the pfa in quarantine. Swallowing more and more. To test it, the toxicology unit of the University of Cambridge experienced with mice that had ingested PFAS. They introduced nine bacterial strains in their organism and observed that these bacteria quickly trapped the PFAS and then were naturally expelled through the feces. The interesting thing is that bacteria work more intensely at greater concentration, with constant elimination rates of between 25% and 74% of the PFAS present in the body. Horizon. Studies are constantly published in which they tell us how they have discovered the potential of something to improve our life, but usually, the conclusion is usually a “we need more evidence and we will see.” In the case of bacteria that engulf eternal chemicals, researchers have something clearer what the road map is after those first experiments in mice. In the next steps, they will explore the development of Probiotics specifically aimed at improving our defenses against PFAS, and they have it so clear that they have founded a startup of biotechnology To develop these products. The objective is that the first is ready by 2026 and what these specialized probiotics will do will be to capture chemicals before they are reabsorbed in the intestine and “encapsulate them” for excretion through the digestive system. Images | Cambridge University In Xataka | Some bacteria can “feel” the acid in their surroundings. And his way of adapting is mutating

“The tan is nothing more than a defensive response of the body, it is its way of saying ‘I am damaging'”

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Every summer the same ritual is repeated: full beaches, sun bodies and solar creams forgotten at the bottom of the bag. In search of a fast tan, many people deliberately renounce sun protection, convinced that this golden tone is reached better without barriers. What seems an aesthetic or harmless decision, can have consequences that are only revealed over time. No to the cream. It is enough to open social networks to find videos that promote Do not use solar creams. From self -domening “experts” until anonymous users They share their “tricks” to get bruise faster, often omitting completely the use of sunscreens. False myth. This practice connects with a belief still entrenched: the idea that sunscreen prevents tanning or that “natural brunette” is a sign of health and beauty. Thus, aesthetic desire continues to be imposed on prevention, and the risk goes unnoticed. Dr. José María Ricart, dermatologist and medical director of the Ricart Medical Institute (IMR), explains to Xataka: “Many people still believe in the idea of ​​’healthy tan’, when it really is a sign of skin damage.” The data does not lie. The study all who has had PMFarma accessdriven by Laboratories Pierre Fabre, has revealed a worrying reality: 67% of Spaniards only use sunscreen to avoid burns, and not as a daily health habit. The report, which includes data from more than 50,000 people (4,000 in Spain), has shown that only 39.7% reaplies the photoprotector every two hours in the sunny days. The reasons for this misuse are since they forget (32%) to basic ignorance (11%) or, more worrying, they do not believe in their efficacy (10%). For its part, the SAFE study, to which the Spanish Institute of Health Trainers has had access, has contributed Another interesting fact and is that 79% of adults and 74% of Spanish children are exposed to the sun in maximum radiation hours, between 11:00 and 17:00. The problem beyond the skin. Taking the sun without protection is not a simple carelessness, it is a practice that accelerates skin aging and raises the risk of skin cancer. As Dr. Ricart explains, it is important to know the two types of ultraviolet radiation that can affect us. On the one hand, UVB rays, more powerful in summer, are those that cause solar burns and damage cell DNA. On the other hand, UVA rays, present all year, even on cloudy days, penetrate more deeply and are responsible for premature aging. “The tan is nothing more than a defensive response of the body. It is its way of saying: ‘I am damaging.’ If someone still doubts it, that compares the skin of the face with that of the buttock, an area never exposed to the sun: without spots, without wrinkles, without photonexing,” he emphasizes. Take it to the extreme. Oh, who is looking for unconventional shortcuts to achieve that long -awaited golden tone. One of the most curious examples is the old myth that Eating carrots intensifies tan. While beta-carotene present in these vegetables can give the skin an orange nuance, this effect does not replace or protect against sun damage. In fact, some experts have warned that it is a superficial coloration, not a true tan, and that bringing this practice to the extreme – such as consuming large amounts of carrot daily – can end in carotenodermia: an orange pigmentation that has little to do with summer aesthetics. Frequent errors. Even those who believe they make failures that drastically reduce the effectiveness of sunscreen. Among the most common mistakes, Dr. Ricart highlights the fact of not applying it daily, not doing so in advance (20 or 30 minutes before leaving), reapplying it after a bath or every two hour, using small quantity and reusing expired creams or the previous summer. Prevention with technology. To raise awareness about these risks, technology has been put at the service of prevention. An example is Mysun Experiencea digital tool developed by Eau Thermale Avène and the artificial intelligence company Data Ora. This simulator allows the user to see how their skin will age in the next 15 years according to their sun protection habits. Another model is possible. The aesthetic pressure of the tan still weighs. Golden bodies continue to dominate ads, social networks and beauty referents. But the medical message is clear: each without protection exposure is a cumulative aggression for the skin. And that damage, sooner or later, shows. Image | Pexels Xataka | That the AEMPS retires six solar creams is good news. That he had to ask for the OCU is worrying

We have a new clue about depression and we have found it in an unsuspected place: body temperature

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Depression is something that goes beyond our brains. Like many other diseases, this psychological ailment is manifested in other aspects of our physiognomy. For example, in our body temperature. Temperature and depression. A study has identified A relationship between body temperature and depression. The team responsible for the analysis observed a positive relationship between the variables, that is, that the appearance of depressive symptoms was linked to a higher body temperature among the participants. The relationship was proportional. The severity of the symptoms, the greater the body temperatures were also. They also observed an apparent relationship between the variability of temperatures and depressive symptoms, but this did not show being statistically significant, so conclusions cannot be extracted in that aspect. Beyond the statistical incidence is little What is known of this relationship. For example, the equipment indicated that it is still an enigma if this increase in body temperature could be due to a loss of control capacity, an increase in temperature generation through metabolic processes, or if it was a combination of factors. More than 20,000 participants. To carry out the study, the team compiled information from 20,880 participants from 106 countries. During the study, which lasted for seven months in 2020, the participants carried a thermometer device to measure their body temperature and daily reported temperature and symptoms of depression. “Let us know, this is the biggest study to examine the association between body temperature (measured both self -assess and through portable sensors) and depressive symptoms in a geographically wide sample,” explained in a press release Psychiatrist Ashley Mason, co -author of work. The study It was published in the magazine Scientific Reports. An old suspicion. Although it is probably the most massive, this is not the first analysis that indicates this relationship. A study published in 2003 He pointed to the existence of this relationship and its possible link with the 5-HTT protein, the “serotonin transporter”. Another important indication has to do with the drugs usually used in the treatment of depression, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI) and serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRI). In recent years, various studies have proven that these compounds reduce thermal tolerance of those who consume them. The main studies in this regard were analyzed In a literature review published in 2022. Correlation and cause. The present study finds a link between temperature and depression but does not indicate the possible form of the causal direction, if there were. It is impossible to determine, through known data if depression causes an increase in body temperature or if a high body temperature can increase our risk of appearing depression. Nor is it possible to rule out that there is an underlying cause of both that the analysis does not see: inflammatory stress or processes could independently cause both depressive symptomatology and an increase in body temperature. Cold or heat as therapy? Understanding what is happening can help us better understand depression and, therefore, bring us closer to the tools we are looking for to fight it. Until now the heat had been used to improve the patient status. These types of therapies could make sense through a “rebound effect”, helping the body to recover its capacity for thermal self -regulation, Add the equipment. In Xataka | The great mystery of our body temperature: it does not stop lowering globally and we still do not know why Image | Tankilevitch polyina *An earlier version of this article was published in June 2024

It is your body complaining about stress, according to an anxiety expert

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Have some healthy sleep habits and doing some physical activity – although it is not very demanding – contribute to reduce stress levels. Yeah No measures are takenstress is chronified and the body begins to adopt its own coping measures that can alter aspects such as sleep, social relationships and even the way of working. According to the therapist Miriam Salinasspecialist in disorders caused by anxiety, go to bed late per night, or fall into obsessions such as work perfectionism, are the neurobiological response with which our brain tries Protect us from stress and the trauma accumulated throughout the day. Understanding this link between what we considered only bad habits and stress is crucial for stop blaming you and start understanding Why do we get so late At night when, in reality, we are sleepy. A moment of peace and security According to The World Health Organization (WHO), stress can be defined as a state of concern or mental tension generated by a difficult situation. All people have a certain degree of stress, since it is a natural response to threats and other stimuli. It is the way in which we react stress that marks the way in which it affects our well -being. Miriam Salinas Explain that “if you go to bed late at night, it is because it is the only time when You feel peace and security“. During the day, anxiety and hypervigilance are the dominant mental states, preventing the body and mind from relaxing. Therefore, night tranquility becomes an emotional refuge, where it is finally possible to lower the guard. This pattern It is not a simple whim or a lack of disciplinebut a sign that the nervous system is trying to find a safe space. The deregulation of the autonomic nervous system (SNA), caused by chronic stress, can alter the natural rhythms of sleep and push people to seek comfort in the solitude of the night, causing what University researchers called sleep procrastination. One way to mitigate this behavior that, in turn, causes greater stress for not sleeping the recommended hours, is Reserve time during the day to find that tranquility and reduce cortisol levels walking or disconnecting the stress source. The impact of stress on our habits Stress is not only behind multiple sleep disorders. In your search, coping strategies for stress, our brain also finds refuge in excessive screens use. Such and as he published The avant -gardesome people spend hours using Social networks on mobile or in front of the computer to avoid face intrusive thoughts or uncomfortable emotions. According to Salinas, “you spend hours on the phone because you prefer that to face your thoughts.” This cognitive evasion It is a form of temporary distraction, but does not solve the discomfort, which is the anxiety caused by chronic stress. Expert anxiety therapist also holds the stress of certain Social isolation behaviorsby perceiving social relations as an insecure environment that the brain associates as the focus of stress. Although from the outside it may seem that They choose to be alonein reality it is a neurobiological adaptation to avoid situations that perceive as threatening or emotionally dangerous. Other behaviors That they can affect your daily productivity, it is the obsession that every thing you do is perfect. Salinas explains that perfectionism It arises as an attempt to control the interior emotional chaos. All these behaviors, Far from being defects, they are adaptations that the brain and body develop to survive stress contexts sustained over time. In Xataka | Half of the employees claims to work under constant stress: they would renounce 21% of their salary to avoid it In Xataka | Lack of motivation is a problem for productivity. The trick to avoid it is simple according to science: start Image | Unspash (Dipqi Ghozali, Sinitta Leunen)

We begin to discover the effect of microplastics on our body thanks to the most unsuspected thing: tap water

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The heat comes and, with it, the thirst comes. On average, according to some public estimates, household consumption grows up to 44%. But those data are incomplete because, a good part of the water we drink, comes in bottle. In Spain they are sold 5,331 million liters of bottled water every year. And it is a market in full growth. Sales grow annually at a rate of 2.5%. What we usually forget is that this type of product has consequences: the pressure pressure rises. As? What does what? One might think that drinking water rises the normal artery pressure. After all, blood pressure is the force exerted by blood against the walls of the arteries. If there is more liquid in the system or more salt, there should be more pressure … But not. Although obviously in extreme cases and, of course, specific conditions and compositions They alter the pressure Within a fork, the system has dozens of mechanisms to ensure that the blood pressure of a normal human being is what has to be. And then? That is what some scientists from the Danube University asked when, in the middle of a very small clinical trial They discovered that the same did not happen with bottled water. The Austrian team discovered that by keeping eight healthy people (of both genres) to a “water regime” of only tap water, His basal diastolic blood pressure dropped. It happened in men and in mujres, but in the latter the effect was much more striking. Because? Right now we only have hypotheses, but the most solid are phthalates (chemical substances that make the most flexible and durable plastic). And, honestly, it is something quite interesting: because, although all the water we consume right now has complex microplastics and substances, the truth is that they do not have the same things. And that is exceptionally good news. Not because with the available information is (or not) advisable to take (or stop drinking) bottled water. But because it is these little things that allow us to improve our understanding of What microplastics do in our bodies. Image | Noppadon Manadee | Engin Akyurt In Xataka | When the tap water knows in rays: the invisible chemistry of drinking water that explains why he knows how he knows (and why he is one of the best inventions in the world)

A battery to feed robots from the heat of the human body

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Of all the submundos on the Internet, my favorite is that of youtubers who dedicate months to an engineering project of doubtful profitability for the simple fact of trying. The Matrix. There is a whole generation of adults that in 1999 saw ‘Matrix’ in the cinema. The Matrix, the concept of engineering from which the science fiction film of the Wachowski sisters starts, is a machine that uses humans as batteries to extract from their body the energy that feeds the robots. With the AI ​​advancing at runaway, it does not seem like a project that we want to materialize precisely now. But would it work? To verify it, someone is needed with the motivation and the determination of carrying out a project or too useful, or too profitable. Exact: You need a youtuber. Basically Homeless’s human battery. This is the name of the Nicka Zetta channel, the youtuber and inventor that concerns us. Inspired by matrix, Zetta designed a special suit that takes advantage of the heat generated by the human body to produce electricity. The premise is simple: the side of the suit that is in contact with the skin is heated when the person is active, because his body generates heat, while the other side, exposed to the cold air of the environment, remains fresh. That temperature difference can be used to produce electricity. How it works. To convert the temperature difference into electricity, it is enough to use a thermoelectric generator, a device with two conductive materials, one on the hot side and one on the cold side, which generate a potential difference (that is, an electrical voltage) to take advantage of The Seebeck effect: electrons move from the hot to cold, creating a current flow (that is, electricity). The problem is that the human body does not generate too much heat, nor does it at a specific point, so many thermoelectric generators were needed to achieve a non -despicable amount of energy. The limitations. During the suit tests, Nick managed to generate electricity peaks that soon down because the temperature difference with the outer side of the suit was matched. To avoid this problem, he devised a way of producing “heat pulses”: great temperature differences in short periods that allowed him to obtain more electricity. The body is heated when exercising, but also (not trying at home) when drinking alcohol or ingesting spicy meals with a lot of capsaicin. If at the same time the outer air is cold, the temperature difference is important. Feeding a robot with the suit. Although the invention failed to generate enough energy to load a mobile, it did produce electricity in small quantities that were enough to move a small robot on a table. Maybe it is not the matrix that science fiction fans imagined, but remember that the film’s robots could not obtain electricity from the sun with photovoltaic cells, which would be much more efficient, because humans had darkened the sky in an attempt to end the energy of the robots. Images | Basically Homeless, Warner Bros.

It is becoming increasingly clear that there is no “normal” body temperature.

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If you ask us what the “normal” temperature of our body is, the instinctive answer will be 37º Celsius. When the thermometer exceeds that mark, we usually talk about fevermild or high depending on how far we move away from the figure. However, over time health experts have realized that the reality is a little more complex. The body temperature issue It is not a mere curiosity. Fever is an important response of our body to many diseases or disorders, generally to infections. The fever It is a double-edged sword: our body raises its temperature to try to kill viruses and bacteria that may be damaging it, while activating our body’s immune response; However, in the process, fever can also put the proper functioning of our organs at risk and cause other problems such as dehydration. Since fever is a common response to various illnesses, it can also cause us serve as a diagnostic toolto narrow the circle on the possible conditions that affect us. Answering the question of what is the “normal” temperature of our body is difficult. And the reasons behind this are several. Firstly, because, over the last century and a half, the estimated average temperature of the human body has been reducing. The notion that our body temperature It is at 37º and dates back to the mid-19th century. In 1868, the German doctor Carl Reinhold August Wunderlich conducted a study using 25,000 patients and more than a million temperature measurements. From these data, he calculated that the average temperature was 37ºbut also observed certain deviations. However, more recent studies have observed lower average temperatures. A recent example of this we found it in a studio Made in the United States and published in 2020 in the magazine eLife. The analysis indicated that Americans’ body temperatures had been dropping at a rate of about 0.03º Celsius every decade. A previous study conducted in the United Kingdom and published in 2017 in the magazine B.M.J.estimated an average temperature of 36.6º in its sample of more than 35,000 participants and 250,000 measurements. We don’t really know why body temperature has been reducing over time. A possible explanation It lies in the improvements in hygiene and immunity, which would imply a lower incidence of infections in the population and therefore lower average temperatures. But this is just one of the various hypotheses that seek to explain the phenomenon. Wunderlich himself observed in his study that men and older people tended to have lower body temperatures, while women and younger people had higher temperatures on average. Which brings us to the second reason why establishing a “normal” reading is especially difficult. And it depends. Sex and age are two of the factors that can make what is “normal” for one person not “normal” for another. But other factors can also alter this figure. a study published in 2023 in the magazine JAMA Internal Medicine measured the degree to which these factors affected body temperature, but also added new variables such as height, body mass, and the time of day at which the measurement was taken. Among the sample of 618,306 observations, the average temperature was at 36.64º Celsius. Among the participants, the average readings for each individual ranged between 36.24º and 36.89º. It is also worth remembering that there are different ways to measure body temperature (tympanic, oral, axillary…) and that each one It presents some slight associated deviations. So at what temperature fever comes? As is evident after what we have read, the answer is that it depends on each person and situation, although fortunately, with the variations being less than one degree, the interpretation of the results of a thermometer may not be as different from the conventional one as to affect decisions such as whether or not to stay home during a cold. However, for health experts, having better knowledge about these variables can be of great help. That is why new studies have also investigated this question. One published in November of last year in the magazine Scientific Reports by South Korean researchers, analyzed the body temperature of 9,195 hospital patients through tympanic temperature measurements (the tympanic temperature It is usually half a degree above the oral measurement and about one degree above the axillary measurement). The team estimated an average temperature of 36.91º Celsius, and a limit of 37.81º for fever. In Xataka | What to do when we have the flu: what measures to take and in which case we should ask for help Image | Polina Tankilevitch

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