Brown

The US has been looking from space for years at a huge brown ribbon in the Atlantic that goes from Mexico to Africa that should not be there

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The blue planet looks very different from space. We have internalized things like that the Chinese Wall is seen and it is not true: what is appreciated They are the greenhouses of Almería. Or a great old man desknown as the Great Dam of Zimbabwe. And for a few years now, NASA satellites they have been registering the presence of a brown stripe that extends across the Atlantic Ocean. It’s not a big brown island or a continent, but it looks like it. What is that “brown continent”. It is a mass of brown algae that, according to research from the Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute and Florida Atlantic University in whose last record It weighed 37.5 million tons and surpasses the 8,000 kilometers in length, more than from New York to Madrid. And it has a name: the Great Sargassum Belt. Context. He pelagic sargassum It is a seaweed that historically has always lived confined to the Sargasso Sea. However, since 2011 NASA has been documenting its expansion into the open sea until what it is now: a brown strip that by the end of 2024 left the Gulf of Mexico and spread until it reached the coasts of West Africa. This phenomenon is actually a huge accumulation of algae that reappears almost every year with one exception: 2013. The Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt is bigger than ever: evolution documented by NASA Why is it important. Because this stratospheric mass of algae is not only spectacular from a visual point of view: it has repercussions on the marine ecosystem, destroys beaches and even contributes to accelerating climate change. It is also an ecological alarm signal for the Atlantic. According to Dr. Brian Lapointelead author of the review of changes in pelagic sargassum and professor at FAU Harbor Branch, explains that it even caused the emergency shutdown of a Florida nuclear power plant in 1991. Why are they growing like foam?. Lapointe and his team have been investigating the evolution since the 1980s and have found that the nitrogen content in brown algae has increased by 55% between 1980 and 2020; the nitrogen/phosphorus ratio also increased by 50%. This change has occurred because brown algae no longer only feed on natural nutrients from the ocean, but also receive nitrogen and phosphorus from land thanks to human activity, such as agricultural runoff or wastewater discharge. The result is uncontrolled growth. Sargassum is transported by ocean currents, especially in floods from the Amazon, towards the Atlantic. There it thrives thanks to that extra supply of nutrients. An unaesthetic and harmful stain. Brown algae per se are not harmful and in fact, they serve as habitat for different species. However, its enormous presence has altered the ecosystem. Upon reaching the coasts, they begin to decompose, thus releasing hydrogen sulfide, a toxic gas that damages coral reefs, reduces the oxygen present and emits greenhouse gases. What can we do. In short: stop feeding them. After this exhaustive monitoring, the research team warns that humans should reduce nutrient runoff from the coast since, if this continues, more Great Sargassum Belts could appear throughout the ocean. In Xataka | The brutal floods facing Portugal and western Spain, seen from space In Xataka | A 2.5 billion-year-old geological wonder: Zimbabwe’s Great Dam seen by NASA from space Cover | POT

The Ebro is filling with brown prawns, an invasive species that we are going to find more and more on our plates.

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When a fisherman from Vinaròs arrives at the fish market with his catch of the day, he finds more and more specimens of a crustacean that should not be there: the brown shrimp. Four years ago there were barely one or two per boat. Today there are days when up to 40 kilos are caught. This invasive species has arrived in the Mediterranean, has reproduced, and has no intention of leaving. The presentations. Its scientific name is Penaeus aztecus and comes from the Gulf of Mexico and the east coast of the United States. Although for the non-expert eye, the one who finds a plate of prawns on the table on Christmas Day, at first glance there is not much aesthetic difference with the normal one, there is. Thus, it has a uniform brown color that tends to be yellowish, it lacks those bands characteristic of the native, its body is more stylized and its head is pointed, and its antennae have a characteristic reddish tone. BioInvasions Records. Authors from the Institute of Marine Sciences (CSIC, Barcelona) Chronology of an invasion. The first time They detected the brown shrimp in the Mediterranean It was in Turkish waters in 2009. It possibly arrived as a stowaway in the ballast water of large ships that load water in the Caribbean to stabilize and then release it in Mediterranean ports along with larvae of this invasive species. From there, it has expanded rapidly westward. In 2023 the CSIC confirmed with morphological and genetic analyzes its presence on the Catalan coast and in the area of ​​the Ebro delta. Later, it has been seen in other ports of the Valencian Community and in the Mar Menor (Murcia) in record time. A perfect invasion. But the clearest proof of its expansion is not geographical but biological: the discovery of mature females in the Ebro delta confirms that the species is capable of completing its reproductive cycle in Spanish waters. It is already an established population. The testimony of the fishermen’s brotherhood of the Vinaroz fish market It constitutes a good alarm thermometer, detailing that in just four years they have gone from encountering a unit to capturing 40 kilos and the curve does not stabilize: each campaign surpasses the previous one. The brown shrimp is a thermophilic species. If it has found an ideal new home in the Mediterranean, it is partly because the sea is warming and its waters are already more and more similar to its original habitat. What’s wrong with the shrimp here? At the moment there is no data that shows the collapse of the native shrimp, but there is a reality: it is competing with the brown shrimp for space and food. And there is a mirror in which to look: in the Gulf of Taranto in Italy, the presence of the native shrimp has already reversed. And a reminder: the one with the blue crab. Is it eaten? The “good news” is that brown shrimp is edible and, in fact, gastronomically speaking, it is tasty. However, its market price is noticeably lower: 12-13 euros per kilo compared to more than 40 euros per kilo for native shrimp. But there is an underlying problem: they can give you a hard time and pay for brown shrimp at the price of native shrimp, since it is sold mixed and unlabeled. This is a traceability problem for the consumer. What can be done. Converting the consumption of brown shrimp as a way to control its population is a possibility, either directly or with preparations, although it is imperative to establish regulation in the fish market to differentiate it. In Xataka | The US has such a big problem with Asian carp in its rivers that it has decided something extreme: electrocute them In Xataka | The Iberian Peninsula is being invaded: more than 1,200 exotic species have come to stay Cover | BioInvasions Records and Natural History Sciences

The most powerful telescope in Europe has seen something rare while observing two brown dwarfs: a perpendicular planet

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Today, in things that we did not know that there were in other star systems: a planet that orbits perpendicular to its two stars. It is as strange as it sounds. A different planet. We have seen everything in the exotic exoplanet gallery that the observable universe offers us, but a new surprise has forced astronomers to readjust their expectations. Using the Vary Large Telescope del Southern European Observatory (ESO) In Chile, astronomers have found the first exoplanet known in a polar orbit around a binary system of stars: two young brown dwarfs. Orbiting at 90 degrees. Baptized as 2m1510 (AB) B, this world has two Tatooine style soles, something extremely common when it comes to more massive stars, but not so much in the case of brown dwarfs. However, what is common is that orbits its two host stars in a way that until now had only theorized: turning perpendicular to them, in a polar orbit of 90 degrees. We sensed that they could exist. Astronomers had already detected planetary training discs in polar orbite and theory suggested that They could form stable planetsBut finding them was another story. 2M1510 (AB) B is the first credible test that this configuration exists. And the most curious thing is that the team was not actively looking for this type of planet, they found it while refining the orbital and physical parameters of the two brown dwarfs, seeing that the path of the two stars was being pushed and pull in unusual ways. It is not a usual system. The planet is not the only rare in this neighborhood, taking into account the host stars. Brown dwarfs are larger than giant giant planets, but too small to maintain nuclear fusion which characterizes the stars “really”. But the rarity does not end there. These brown dwarfs form an eclipsest binary, which means that from Earth we can see how they hide each other. 2M1510 (AB) is an incredibly infrequent system: the second pair of eclipsessing brown dwarfs known to date. With more than 5,800 exoplanets confirmed to date, only about 16 orbit around two stars. That one of them does precisely around a system as atypical as a binary of eclipsessing brown dwarfs, and with a polar orbit, it is a real cosmic jewel. Image | THAT In Xataka | These real images were unthinkable before the Webb Telescope: they are planets orbiting other stars to 130 light years

The story of how brown was commercially imposed

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If I ask you to close your eyes and imagine an egg, it is very likely that egg was white. Gallina eggs, both in the collective imaginary and in popular culture, are white. And, however, nine out of ten eggs They are sold to the public in Spain are brown. Why are the eggs no longer white? Where have they gotten? Egg shell. The most direct answer is that they have not gotten anywhere. The color of the eggs, in principle, depends on something very simple: the color of the chickens. In very general termsdark plumage chickens give brunette eggs and light color chickens give white eggs. And I say in general terms because there are blue eggs, pink, green beige and even broken white. There are various theories that explain thisbut the most popular tells us that they are adaptations of the different species of chickens to favor camouflage and survival in nature. Beyond that evolutionary reason, the color gives a bit the same: because there are no organoleptic differences in eggs according to their flavor. This, of course, does not solve the mystery of the disappearance of white eggs but makes it deeper. The reign of white eggs. During the 50s and 60s, when egg production began to ‘intensive’, Spanish farmers White chickens began to introduce. It made sense, They were varieties They lived longer and were more productive. It was no coincidence: the Leghorn variety, one of the most popular, had been selected in the US, England and Italy for more than a hundred years. That genetic advantage ‘continues to occur today: according to the data of poultry varieties in Germanywhite chickens put about 450 eggs in 18 months, while browns that put about 380. In addition, white are smaller (they occupy less space, they eat less) and less aggressive. The result is that white eggs have 9% less costs than brown. And what happened to them? The brilliant success of white eggs had a problem: in a country that had urbanized very quickly (and in which a good part of its population maintained contact with the rural world), consumers They began to associate The white color with intensive and industrial livestock. Actually, taste, nutritional value or egg quality They do not depend of color. They depend on things such as the good health of the animal, the physical activity they perform or its food. Therefore, for decades the farm eggs were at a disadvantage with which those who put small farms in the market (or raised at home). Like those small farms used local varieties (that is, brown), the identification between brunette eggs and camperus eggs caught in the collective imaginary. The market response … When the producers realized this, they began to modify what they took to the market: little by little, the linear of the supermarket were filled with brunette eggs and the white eggs were redirected to the hospitality or industrial food (where going at the price is more important). … but from the Spanish market. It is important to take this into account: in countries like Germany, white eggs are kings and In the Netherlands they have more and more weight in the market. In the United States and England, you can find the two types of major problem. That (above all, taking into account what has happened in other European markets) leads us to ask ourselves if it is possible that white eggs end up returning to supermarkets. To the extent that there are no substantial differences between some eggs and others, until when will prejudices last the white eggs that lead us to ignore something as “objective” as the price? No one knows it for sure. Above all, because unlike small markets such as the Dutchman (in front of the German), Spanish is a very difficult bone to crack for foreign competition. However, we already know The little that these balances last. Image | I fuck a lot In Xataka | Why you have to keep the eggs in the refrigerator if they do not have refrigerated in the supermarket

Chris Brown sues Warner Bros. for $500 million

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The singer Chris Brown has filed a lawsuit for $500 million dollars against the Warner Bros. company.since he argues that in the documentary “Chris Brown: A History Of Violence”from the channel Investigation Discoverythey refer to him as “a serial rapist and abuser.” Chris Brown investigated for allegedly slapping woman Brown, 35, posted on his Instagram account instagram a statement mentioning a woman named Daisia ​​Chantel Frankand who in the documentary introduces herself as “Jane Doe” saying that several years ago Chris allegedly raped her aboard a yacht owned by the rapper Sean “Diddy” Combs. Get to know the mansion where Chris Brown organized a scandalous party with hundreds of guests Levi McCathernBrown’s attorney, states in the statement that “this case is about protecting the truth. Despite having evidence to refute their claims, the producers of this documentary intentionally promoted false and defamatory information.consciously ignoring their ethical obligations as journalists. “His actions undermine not only Brown’s decade-long efforts to rebuild his life, but also the credibility of real survivors of violence.” Investigation Discovery has presented other controversial documentaries, such as “Quiet On Set: The Dark Side Of Kids TV” and “Fallen Idols: Nick And Aaron Carter”both released in 2024. Chris Brown’s lawsuit is for alleged defamationintentionally inflicting emotional distress, and using your name and likeness for promotional purposes. The document also notes that Chris Brown has never been convicted of any sexual crimes. For a decade the artist has tried to improve his image in the public eye, since in 2009 he was accused of assault and criminal threats for having hit the singer. Rihannawho was then his partner. Chris pleaded guilty, then served five years of probation, took courses on domestic violence and did community work. Keep reading:

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