centuries

In Spain there is a surname that was for centuries a social conviction. Today thousands and thousands of people use it

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In North Korea there is a word that marks the life of its 26.4 million inhabitants from the cradle: Songbuna term that is usually translated as “origin” or “seed” and that in practice works as A caste system based on the merits of the ancestors. If your grandparents and parents have a good file that translates into a good Songbunwhich guarantees facilities throughout life. Discol ancestors with the regime carry the opposite. In Spain Songbun It sounds distant concept, but for a long time there were certain surnames that complicated the future to those who took them, including an especially popular one that they share today tens of thousands of Spaniards. Surname question. Babies do not arrive with a bread bar under their arm, but they do with something that defines them much more: surnames. Its history is long. And complex. In Rome they already used the Tria payrolla system that identified citizens with several ‘labels’ (roster and cognomen) that went beyond the simple first name and revealed the family clan from which they came. With the passing centuries, surnames have evolved to the current system, sometimes with key changes, such as the driven In the sixteenth century by Cardinal Cisneros and that contributed to the fact that in Spain we have two surnames. But … And when are there no parents? Each of us we have taken surnames of our parents, but … What happens when that figure does not exist? What happens to ‘uprooted’ babies who were abandoned to the gates of churches and end up creating in orphanages, without a known family? In those cases it had to pull inventive, although it was not strange that the institutions resort to certain formulas standard that if for something stood out it was their total lack of touch. In even many children received surnames such as incognito, Diosdado, white or lying. In Catalonia, it was also resorted to Deulofeua formula that can be translated as “God did”. And that to quote only a handful of examples. On other occasions, more imaginative solutions were chosen, such as religious references or the place where the creature had been found, a frequent practice for example in Gipuzkoa for a good part of the nineteenth century. Antton Iparraguirre had a few years ago in Basque newspaper How between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries there were quite a few orphan from Pamplona who received the surname Goñi in tribute to Don Ramiro de Goñi, benefactor of the General Hospital. Distribution of the surname Expósito (as the first last name). The last name of the “abandoned”. Another helpful solution (much less discreet) was surname Expósitoa word that comes from Latin expositus, Exponowhich means “put out.” Expósito thus became the last name of the abandoned, those creatures that their parents disregard because they could not afford their parenting, for shame or because their parents had not recognized them as legitimate. His luck was to end up care of the State or the Church, breastfed by nodrizas. Only the luckiest ended up prohibited. More than a last name. “Expósito was and is more than a surname, it is a label that pointed to both the person who had unknowns, unknown parents, as well as their descendants, since it proclaims the four winds that at some point the origins are uncertain,” Write The genealogist Mireia Nieto in great -grandson. In Your essay On the abandonment of children between the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and the Pamplona orfelineo, historian Lola Valverde also recalls that the figure of the Expósito was presented in a way as that of “a condemned by society.” “As if he were guilty of his situation and to accept his destiny without rebeling, educational approaches are outlined,” he reflects. The last name exposed became a brand, a label that reminded them of for life (them and the rest of society) that were the result of abandonment. The echoes of your stigma can still be found in The regulation of the Civil Registry of 1958, in which the judges are recognized the power to manage changes of the surname “or other analogues, indicators of unknown origin”. A figure: 34,084. The times of the old orfeliners of the old regime, to which children arrived familically and terrified, which reduced their survival possibilities, are already behind, but not the last name exposed. Although it is not even from far as popular as “García”, “Pérez” or “González”, the database The INE shows that today identifies tens of thousands of people in Spain. 34,084 They use it as the first last name, especially in Lugo, Badajoz and part of Andalusia. 37,332 They use it as a second. There are even 382 that are named “Expósito Expósito”. And another Good handful of hundreds that are used. Images | Wikipedia and INE In Xataka | Why the Spaniards, unlike the inhabitants of other countries, we have two surnames

Until a couple of centuries ago, nobody had yet invented them

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It is one of those things that we give so however sitting that we may have never wondered: Why do books have chapters? The answer is, in reality, quite simple, and it has a lot to do with the way we have to tell stories and, above all, with a genuinely human aspiration, and whose origins date back to the beginning of time: make our lives easier. Chapter 1. We must clarify that when we talk about chapters, we are doing it in the broader conception of the term: we talk rather to divide a text into successive and organized points. As we are organizing this article, without going any further: in epigraphs headed by a title that summarizes the content of each section, he adds or clarifies it. But this was not always common currency. Nicholas Dames, author of the Book Scent. It is a legal tablet that dates back to the second century BC. According to Dames to An ABC podcastthe text had a “continuous law, but it was segmented and those segments had short titles.” That is, the first work of the chapters is to organize informative texts, to help the reader locate the information. This use began to spread, and thus we reached a parallel invention, the index: during part of ancient history, the most common support was the roll, sometimes it was accompanied by a list of chapters in a smaller scroll. Separate things. Dames explains That this separation in epigraphs was unheard of: two thousand years ago there was no current conception of writing and, for example, the words that appeared in the rolls were not separated, there were no spaces between them. The authors did not care about those things, the editors were in charge of the texts in the texts when undertaking a task called “capitulation.” It was these editors, sometimes scholars of the time, sometimes medieval monks, who divided the works into chapters to make them more understandable. The Bible, point and apart. What can attract attention, according to what countsIt is that the Bible was never divided into chapters, but that this action was carried out, in very different ways, between the fourth and thirteenth centuries. It was divided with innumerable ways, sometimes in long chapters, sometimes in short sections, which further confused the study and dissemination of a book that has already had a labyrinthine story. It was in the thirteenth century (or that is believed) when the one that would later be Archbishop of Canterbury, set the division into chapters that we know today. This division met critics as distinguished as the philosopher John Locke. And things changed. The Bible was a definitive turning point: for the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, when the novel became an absolutely massive entertainment format, the authors They thought their stories with the division by chapters In mind, with attention placed on the rhythm. Subsequent forms of diffusion, such as deliveries novels or, at present, television series are already meditated from very first stages of the conception of the story with the division of chapters in mind. Header | Chapter VII of ‘Dracula’, Minotaur edition illustrated by Tomás son In Xataka | In Spain a book is published every six minutes. It is the symptom of a bubble that does not stop inflating

For centuries the Christians pilgrimage to a remote cave to venerate Salome. Problem: They were wrong with Salome

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There was a time, many centuries ago, in which Christians went to an old cave located in the Judea Lowlandsnear the village of Eliav, in search of inspiration. Over the years even a Sacred place For Islam. There (the remains of Salome were supposed to be, a biblical figure with echoes in the origins of Christianity. Some versions identified it as the midwife that attended the birth of Jesus. Others as one of his disciples and witness of the crucifixion. It is even said that she was Maria’s little sister. Now a group of Israeli archaeologists has reached a fascinating conclusion that relies on vestiges located years ago In the cave: I probably Salome that rested in his day in the crypt was neither the midwife nor disciple of Jesus, but an opulent and powerful aristocrat related to Herod. In a place of Judea … The Salomé cave is a wide sepulcher located in Sefeláthe lowlands of Judea, with an exceptional archaeological value. In fact there are those who consider it one of the funeral caves “More impressive” discovered in Israel and “More elaborate” of his time, the known as period of the Second templewhich extended between the centuries VI AC and I DC Specifically, experts believe that the crypt built between the I AC and I DC The cave itself is no novelty. The archaeologists excavated it decades ago, in the mid -80s, after they were located. Throughout the last years, however, they have expanded our knowledge about the grave. By 2022 A group of experts from Israel Antiquies Authority (IAA) made an excavation in part of the enclosure that revealed new data on its architecture and history. He also confirmed that for several centuries that remote Cave of Sefelá was used as a veneration space. And how is it? Wide. Elaborate. And fascinating. The archaeological set includes a lobby, a large patio surrounded by silry stone walls and a funeral cave with several cameras in which they were preserved Kokhimfuneral niches excavated in the rock, in addition to ossuaries. Although archaeologists studied the thorough crypt in the 80s, a few years ago they wanted to go further, analyzing in depth The 350 m2 courtyard and cleaning the inside of the cave. “The patio turned out to be one of the most elaborate of its kind compared to other cemeteries of the same period,” he says An article Posted by the IAA. Among other things, experts met stones with Jewish motifs and “delicate plant designs,” such as rosettes, grenades and acanthus vases. Nothing to do with most access courtyards to funeral caves found by archaeologists, who are usually excavated, not raised with masonry. Cave … and pilgrimage place. If the grave is so relevant, it is not only because of its size, architectural characteristics or decoration. There is another equal or even more relevant factor. For a while the cave was a pilgrimage place. During their excavations of 2022 and 2023 in the front courtyard, archaeologists discovered a row of positions in which clay lamps were sold and rented. “We find hundreds, complete and broken, dating from the eighth centuries and IX DC”, They explain Nir Shimshon-Paran and Zvi-Fire, directors of the excavation. “The lamps may have served to illuminate the cave or as part of religious ceremonies, similar to the candles that are distributed today in the tombs and churches,” They add. In the cave, Greek, Syriac and Arab inscriptions, recorded crosses and indications that reveal that the funeral space remained in use during the Byzantine and Islamic periods were also located. “The excavations show that, in the Byzantine period, the site had become a place of Christian pilgrimage,” experts say, which tells us about a wide period of worship that covers from the 5th century to the IX DC DC The cave of Salome. The question was obvious … Who belonged to the funeral cave? Who rested in his day in the crypt? And why the archaeologists found crosses and dozens of inscriptions recorded directly on the rocks of the walls? The answer is both simple and complex: the Sefelá cave was the resting place of ‘Salomé’. Among the inscriptions in different languages, archaeologists identified several in Greek that mention that same name, ‘Salomé’, supposedly a religious figure relevant to Christians. In An article Published this year on the sepulcher, IAA experts remember that, in the 1090s, the scholars that analyzed the inscriptions have already concluded that the first monks who arrived in the cave in the Byzantine period discovered an ossary with the inscription ‘Salomé’, a relatively frequent name in the Judea of the beginning of the beginning of Christianity. “During the second temple period it was not common Explain Paran to The Times of Israel. “It is possible that the cave contained an ossuary with the name of Salome, although we did not find it. It could have been looted.” So … who was the famous Salome? The midwife of Jesus? A tradition attributes that name to a figure that appears in it Protoevangelio de Santiagoapocryphal text in which a Salomé is cited as a midwife that doubted the virginity of Mary. The story tells that his disbelief earned him a punishment that ended up turning it into a symbol. “According to the Christian tradition, Salome was the midwife of Bethlehem who was called to attend the birth of Jesus. He could not believe that they asked him to participate in the birth of a virgin and his hand dried. He only healed when he held the baby’s crib,” Remember From the IAA. Other versions They place Salome as a disciple of Jesus, Mary’s sister or has even confused her with the mother of Santiago and Juan. “The cult of Salomé, sanctified by Christianity, belongs to a broader phenomenon: the Christian pilgrims of the 5th century found and sanctified Jewish places. The name Salome could have appeared in ancient times in one of the alter’s already disappeared from the tomb and thus the tradition … Read more

For centuries the blue pigment recipe used by the Egyptians had been a mystery. We just solved it

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Not all Treasures They are made up of jewels, gold and precious stones. For a long time a group of researchers from Washington State University It is behind of a treasure equally fascinating but much more elusive: the Egyptian bluethe synthetic pigment older which is recorded and that once used the artists of the ancient Egyptian to decorate from alabaster bowls to coffins, ceramics and murals. Despite their enormous popularity and that the Romans continued to use it, their recipe was lost over the centuries. Until now. What is Egyptian blue? One of those mysteries that has been intrigued by archaeologists in half the world. Egyptian blue is basically a dye that stands out for two reasons. The first, because it is the synthetic pigment older known to date. It was used thousands of years ago. The second is its bluish tone, which allowed artists to use it as a much more expensive mineral substitute, such as turquoise or lapislázuli. With everything and although we talk about “Egyptian blue” in general, the pigment was very heterogeneous. Depending on where it would have been manufactured, how it would have worked with the material or quality of its components, the tone could vary between gray, a more or less deep blue and a green off. A factor that influenced the process for example was how quickly cooled the mixture. How old is it? Quite. We know that Egyptian blue was already used 5,000 years ago. And that at least. In fact The oldest sample Known is a small alabaster bowl made in the 3250 AC The pigment was used in ceramics, sculptures, murals, sarcophagi, pieces that we still keep today and show its bluish hue. It was also applied to different surfaces, such as wood, stone or cardboard, a material similar to Paper Maché. Did you only use the Egyptians? No. His color liked the artisans so much that the Romans ended up incorporating it into their palette after the conquest of the ancient Egyptian and came to be used during the Renaissance. The Smithsoninan Institute remember that a few years ago it was discovered that at the beginning of the 16th century Rafael used Egyptian blue in the fresco ‘Galatea triumph’a work elaborated for the Villa Farnesina, located in the neighborhood of Constévere, Rome. Although Rafael’s intention could be to imitate the old Roman technique, the Washington State University (WSU) Precise that during the Renaissance the pigment formula had practically fallen into oblivion. That is what a team of researchers has now wanted to solve led by the American institution and who has worked side by side with the Carnegie Museum of natural history and the Institute of Conservation of the Smithsoninan Museum. And how have they done it? Based on trial and error. And try again and again until you give in the nail. The team He thoroughly examined Pigment samples and elaborated 12 recipes in which he experienced with different raw materials and elaboration times. The results have been reflected in An article Posted in NPJ Heritage Science in which he details how he worked with mixtures of silicon, copper, calcium and sodium carbonate dioxide. The main ingredient is the cuprov. To complete the process, the mixed mixture warmed 1,000º Celsius For different times, between one and 11 hours, in an attempt to replicate the temperature with which the ovens of the time work. The resulting samples were also cooled at different speeds to then study their pigments through microscopy and analysis techniques. The results were compared to real pieces of ancient Egypt. Is it so complicated? Beyond the materials used or the techniques with which they were mixed, the great challenge for archaeologists has been to replicate the exact tones that Egyptian artisans worked. “One of the things we observed was that with small variations in the process very different results were obtained,” John McColy commentsone of the authors of the study and director of the School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering of the WSU. “There were people who made the pigment, he transported it and then used it elsewhere.” During their study the researchers in fact discovered that to obtain the most bluish hue, only half of the components that generate the blue color were needed. “It doesn’t matter what the rest contains and that surprised us”, Add McCloy. “You can see that each particle contains a lot of elements. It is not uniform, much less.” To such an extent that the WSU acknowledges that one of the conclusions reached by the experts is that the pigment is surprisingly diverse. Did you achieve your goal? That seems. In A statement Run a few days ago the WSU says that after trying different formulas and examining the results in detail, its team has managed to “recreate” the famous Egyptian blue. The feat is not only the result of curiosity or advance to better understand the art of the ancient Egyptian. WSU herself recalls that in part the renewed interest in the Egyptian pigment responds to more pragmatic reasons. “In recent years, interest in this pigment has resurfaced due to its optical, magnetic and biological properties, with potential new technological applications,” Point out The institution. “The pigment emits light in the nearby infrared of the electromagnetic spectrum, invisible to the human being, which means that it could be used for purposes such as traces and create anti falsifications.” Images | Washington State University, Matt Unger, Joshua Franzos and Carnegie Museum of Natural History In Xataka | A 2,000 -year -old cup has revealed an unexpected facet of the Egyptians: psychedelic cocktails

The “natural wine” has become fashionable. There is a place where he takes centuries without so much hype: Mass

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In 83, Juan Pablo II visited the prison of Rebibbia, in Rome, and hugged Mehmet Ali Agcathe man who had tried to kill him a couple of years before the Plaza de San Pedro. In 89, a crowd accompanies the coffins of Jesuit parents killed in El Salvador. In 2016, in the middle of Holy Thursday, Francisco washed the feet of a group of refugees from the center of Castelnuovo di Porto … There are many iconic images around the Catholic Church. But for me the image that has impacted me the most happened a couple of years ago: when I saw the priest of my town, dressed in its clerriman, buying a tetra brick of red wine in the Mercadona. Had he found the origin of Mass wine? I had never wondered where the wine that was used in the Eucharist came from and, I suppose that for that reason, that image left me completely out of charge. And as normal, a question immediately approached me: “Was it possible that this was the wine that was used in Mass?” The answer, in case there is any questions, is: no. And here this article could end: with an anecdote of Berlanga that ends “fish -shaped“But no. Because, little by one that one starts to investigate, the history of sacred wine is really interesting. Sacred wine? Although it is true that the Catholic Church (and Christianity in general) has done a lot to take wine to any corner of the world, the sacred history of this type of broths is very long. In fact, Jesus of Nazareth came to ‘resignify’ a good handful of religious signs of common use. What is true is that it is not causality that most historical vineyards are on ecclesiastical terrain. Nor is it a coincidence that the development of the wine industry is intimately related to the comings and goings of the missionaries. Nor that the Vatican is the country that consumes the most from the world (about 45,000 liters a year for its 800 inhabitants). Wine and church have always been closely linked. And, for that reason, not any wine is worth it. Over the centuries, different criteria have been developed to know if a wine was likely to be used in the Eucharist. It is something that has been discussed extensively even in councils Like Florence of 1438. However, it was not until the nineteenth century when the Church (with the industrialization of the world of wine) began to take the idea of ​​establishing criteria that ensure the liturgical purity of wine. In fact, until 1959, as was the case with other things such as togas or candles, there were ecclesiastical certificates very difficult to achieve. The first certified wine was, in fact, Spanish. Prepared by Augusto de Müller Ruinart de Brimont, an Alsacian Even today is a reference in the sector. Maybe Do not be the best sellingworse is the one who has the most history (and It costs less than seven euros). In search of purity. The current Roman Missal is quite clear Around the wine that can be used: “It must be the result of the mature or passage grapes and without artificial additions such as preservatives, dyes, sugars, clarifying or juices. On the other hand, sulphites such as antioxidants or wine distilled to increase alcohol content, which should not exceed 18 degrees,” are allowed to add. The idea is to produce a wine that looks, in one way or another, which it has been using since time immemorial. The problem is that this means challenges that new wine techniques and enologies try to solve: The natural wine boom is part of the same game. Innovation that a bottle of natural wine can be surprising is still surprising. The color and taste depend on the winery. And from which he buys it. A background lesson. Because beyond the curiosity of who produces a product like this, the history of Mass wine tells us about how technological development is truffled with values, ideologies, religious beliefs and social configurations. Here it is seen in a simple way (the composition of the wine consumed by millions of people is discussed in ecumenical councils), but it is not so different from what operates in the natural wine that so fashionable has been put. Not many of the technological decisions of our day to day. History is always more complicated than it seems. Image | Mateus Campos Felipe In Xataka | Andalusia is very proud of its Holy Week. So much that he wants to start teaching it in schools

For centuries, olive leaves were used to feed cattle. Now some grenadines want our nutrition to revolutionize

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How much is an olive leaf? Here is a question that probably has not done many people in the world and the truth is that it has not been asked for a good reason: because it is almost nothing. In fact, historically no more than as food complement to cattle has been used. Changing that it is gerund. Everything else is A field paid to pseudoscience. That is precisely what you want to change The people of the Biorevaleaf operational groupa group of researchers from Granada obsessed in “fully revalue the olive leaf as a source of phytochemicals and nutrients with bioactive character.” That is, obsessed with the idea of ​​converting that “by -product” into an essential piece to extract functional ingredients in food and enriched oils. But is it really for something? On paper, it serves a lot: the olive leaf is rich in fiber, proteins and Other “phenolic compounds such as hydroxytitus, tyrosol, aglicone, oleaceine and oleocantal, “oleuropein.” What begins to tell us research is that allow reducing oxidative damage And, by extension, many of the diseases that arise with age. The first step would be to introduce all these bioactive components in olive oil (creating a whole new generation of enriched producer). But the second would go further and bring those compounds beyond, throughout the food chain. And how do you want to do it? That, without a doubt, is the most interesting part. It is under study, but Cidaf, the University of Granada, the Oleícola company Torres Morente and Agrifood Cooperativas de Granada They are trying of implementing fermentation processes and ecosstable extraction techniques. Spain in front of the future of the olive grove. In the early 90s, Spain and Italy They disputedhand in hand, the throne of the first world producing country of olive oil. This year, for the first time, Türkiye has surpassed the transalpine peninsula and has become the second great international producer. It is no accident. In the last 30 years and while the world produces twice as much oil that then, Italy first stagnated and then began to decline. Today, Italian olivers cannot produce even half of what the country consumes. Figures. According to the Italiaolivicola Studies Center In 2024, half of 1.1 million hectares of olive trees in the country are in the process of abandonment. 200,000 hectares are in a state of total abandonment and more than 300,000 are managed with “purely maintenance practices.” It is a slow agony that Spain tries to dodge. But it is not easy. The productive bands They put producers in a complex balance that threatens to denaturalize the entire industrial sector. It is not an exaggeration: one of the great paradoxes of Spanish olive oil is that, despite growing 15% a year, More than 500 oil mill will close In the next decade. Initiatives like this leaf or as those that are coming doing with the olive bonethey want to solve this by carrying the olive tree: today, the oil mills (and the rest of agri -food industries) are one of the few industrial structures that articulate empty Spain. If we lose them, the rest of the social framework will suffer a lot. Image | Nazar Hrabovyi | Bee Naturalles In Xataka | Spain faces its greatest agricultural challenge of the century: turn 1,901,529 hectares of olive grove before it is late

Hunting has been printed in the National ID of Spain for centuries. Now you have a problem: there is no relief

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Hunting ages in Spain. A lot. Fast. And in a way that invites you to think that in a matter of decades the collective, which until not so long ago He presumed That only federated soccer and basketball surpassed him in the number of federated, he will see his even smaller weight. This is reflected at least A study Posted in People and Nature in which it is analyzed how the practice of hunting in the Iberian Peninsula has evolved throughout the last half century and what are the forecasts for the next decades. The scenario they paint is not precisely flattering and leaves several questions, such as their impact on the mountains. Hunting in Spain, under examination. That is what a group of researchers has done, among which there are several members of the Pyrenean Institute of Ecology (IPE-CSIC), In a broad article Posted in the magazine People and Nature. The title already leaves little margin for interpretations: “The demographic collapse of hunting in the Iberian Peninsula”. For analysis, experts have analyzed six Spanish regions (Navarra, Madrid, Aragon, Castilla-La Mancha, Murcia and Andalucía) and Portugal, covering a population of hunters that in 2020 reached 583,575. Work graph published by Mario Gaspar and the rest of the authors in “People and Nature”. A percentage: 45%. One of the first conclusions reached by researchers is that the population of hunters has been reduced notably during the last half century. And if the trend is maintained, it will continue to do so in the coming years. The study It shows that in the last and a half decade the number of hunters fell in the area analyzed by 26%, a percentage that rises to 45% if we expand the focus to 50 years. In practice that translates into moving from about 1.06 million in 1970 to just under 800,000 in 2005 and lowering the 600,000 in 2020. And the researchers already warn that the future does not paint better. “By 2050, if the average trends observed during the last five decades are followed, hunters throughout the study area are expected to decrease by 70%,” They point The authors of the study. As a reference, they remember that in 2007 Spain added 980,000 hunters, the second largest registration in Europe, only surpassed by France. Its calculations point out that in 2050 in the area studied, which does not cover the entire country but much of the territory will remain 176,815. The key: the generational relief. One of the great challenges with which hunting is the lack of wise new. The aging of the population, the rural exodus and social and cultural changes have taken its toll to the collective and that is clearly reflected in Your figures. Researchers talk about the fact that, at least in the regions they have analyzed, “recruitment” has decreased more than 89% in just 50 years. From 44,000 new hunters between 1970 and 1979, it went to less than 5,000 in the 2010 to 2020. And the descents were even greater in regions with a strong tradition, such as Castilla-La Mancha or Portugal, both with falls that exceed 90%. The result is that the participation of young people in hunting has dropped to “Historical minimum”further complicating the future of the activity. The largest proportion of young hunters is found in the smallest municipalities, of less than 100 inhabitants, where it reaches 14%. In the localities with more than 10,000 neighbors that incidence collapses below 1%. Work graph published by Mario Gaspar and the rest of the authors in “People and Nature”. ​ One more aged group. The result is obvious. It is increasingly easy to meet in Spain with major hunters, which have passed 60 years. And more difficult to see twenty -year -old or thirties by the mountain with the shotgun hanging on the shoulder. If the trend does not vary over the next few years the researchers already They warn that in the middle of this century the proportion of hunters who have already blown the 60 candles will go from 40 to 61%, thus becoming a comfortable majority. “The hunting population studied, with about 600,000 hunters, is strongly aged, being the most abundant cohort that between 61 and 70 years, and its prevalence is eight times higher in smaller populations than in large cities,” They reflect The authors of the study. The figures are again revealing: the strip of hunters from 61 to 70 years was the most abundant, with 23%, despite the fact that experts detected that the abandonment of hunting is accelerated from 65 years. The age cohort below 20 years is testimonial, with only 0.92%. Question of changes. Change hunting, but also changes society and the Spanish population itself. In fact your Paulatino Aging It coincides with that of the whole of society and the abandonment of the rural one, another key that seems to affect the practice of hunting. Researchers have proven that the average participation rate is much higher in small municipalities than in the large ones: in the villages of less than 100 neighbors it reaches 8%, compared to 1% in those of more than 100,000 inhabitants. With all the population weight of the latter, he explains that most hunters reside in large locations, especially those between 10,000 and 100,000 censored. The global photo can be even worse for the collective, since, like They recognize The authors themselves, the investigation does not cover the whole of the Spanish territory. “The real decrease rates throughout the Iberian Peninsula are probably higher, since the regions not included in our study, located mainly in the northwest of Spain, are the most aging and where the hunting is likely to have decreased more,” they assume. A fact, several questions. The study of People and Nature It is interesting because it reflects, with concrete figures and percentages, the “demographic collapse” that hunting in the peninsula is suffering. However, those same data leave some important questions, one of them outlined In the report itself: … Read more

Centuries before the Carnival, in Brazil

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From the patron saint festivities to musical macrofestivals, celebrations in society are part of our cultural heritage. And they have been since time immemorial. On the eve of one of the most important festivals in the country, Carnival, a team of archaeologists has published a study on possible seasonal celebrations of pre -colonial Brazil. A fish feast. A new study He has found indications of the celebration of a festival in the pre -Columbian Brazil. This mass celebration would have had banquets focused on the consumption of fish and alcoholic beverages. The study has been carried out by an international team, in which the Institut de Ciència I Environmental Technology (ICTA-UAB), in addition to researchers at the University of York and the Federal University of Balls, in Brazil. The Cerritos. On the banks of the Laguna de los Patos, on the coast of the state of Rio Grande do Sul, some curious geographical accidents can be found. These are mounds of land created by the prehistoric inhabitants of the region, Charrúas and Minuan, and that are called “Cerritos”. We do not know the exact origin or function of these mounds, but some archaeological remains found in their environment can reveal an important aspect of the life of those pre -Columbian inhabitants of the region. Specifically, how they celebrated. Fermented fish and drinks. Because the recent study of ceramic remains have given important clues about their habits. Following the track of these remains, the team He could find evidence of food and drinks that were cooked or stored in these utensils long ago. They found fish remains and also, for the first time in the region, indications of alcoholic beverage production. These drinks would have been fermented from vegetables such as tubers, sweet corn or palm. Ancient vessels. To achieve this, the team resorted to molecular and isotopic characterization techniques of food waste found in remains of ceramic vessels between 2,200 and 2,300 years old and found in the region. The details of the study were published In an article In the magazine Plos One. Long before the Carnival. From the results and previous studies, the team interprets that there are indications of the celebration of a kind of tradition associated with fish consumption in the surroundings of the Laguna de los Patos. The team suggests that meetings in the mounds area responded to seasonal celebrations probably linked to the fishing of migratory fish in the region, such as the blonde crowd, they point out. “We see examples of these practices worldwide, often related to the seasonal abundance of certain migratory species. These events provide an excellent opportunity to carry out social activities, such as funerals and marriages, and have great cultural significance, ” Point out in a press release Marjolein Adiraal, main author of the work. Deciphering the cerritos. The study gives us clues about the societies that inhabited the region and therefore on the mysterious hill found in the place. Research gives strength to the hypothesis that these mounds had some ritual or cultural importance, linked in one way or another to these festivities. However, for now we have no conclusive evidence that this was its function. Hence, the team also highlights the need to preserve these places, cultural heritage of the region and key elements to find out new details about the companies that inhabited the region. In Xataka | Gastronomic fashions are 8,000 years old: while in Europe the flesh swear, in the Danube they remained faithful to fish Image | UAB

We have centuries contaminating the seas with mercury. We did not expect the solution to be genetic engineering

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There is something that have volcanic eruptions, oil combustion, waste incineration, chemical substances or gold extraction: they release mercury in the environment. A mercury that ends up deposited in the waters, transformed into methylmercury for millions of microorganisms, stored in fish and, finally, served in our houses at lunchtime. We have a problem with methylmercury. That is obvious. The problem is that it is very difficult to solve. And that is not forcing ideas in another place. What exactly is methylmercury? Mercury is already a global concern due to its persistence in the environment, its ability to bioaccumulation in ecosystems and their important adverse effects on human health. But methylmercury, the most frequent organic form in the marine environment takes the palm. None of this would be a problem if it were not because, in addition, methylmercury is the form “more toxic and the most easily absorbable For living organisms, since it is highly liposoluble and has a great capacity to fix proteins and also shows a high degree of bioaccumulation. “ Is it dangerous? Well yes. High doses of this compound They are very toxic to the central nervous system and especially “for the brain in development of the fetus and in early childhood.” It can cause “mild behavioral problems, language disorders, memory losses, vision and auditory, learning difficulties and development delays.” And we do nothing to avoid it? Yes, we have tried several approaches. In 2013, governments around the world adopted the Minamata Agreement to try to control the “anthropogenic liberations of mercury and other compounds” derivatives. In fact, in the last decade the European Food Security Authority (and its national equivalents) They have been establishing increasingly strict criteria for food with risk of exposure to these compounds. The problem is that it is not easy to control that release and, for now, we cannot do much more than reduce risks. A solution … original. Now, some Australian scientists say they have discovered a new effective way to clean the methylmercury. The Macquarie University Research Team and the Australian Csiro has managed genetically fruit flies and zebra fish to transform methylmercury into a much less harmful gas that is dispersed in the air. The team has modified the DNA of these two animals to insert variants of bacteria genes that make them create two enzymes that can convert the methylmercury into elementary mercury. In general terms, we could say that they inactivate it. It does not become harmless, but its toxicity and bioaccumulation falls very significantly. Oh really? “It still seems to me that we can use synthetic biology to convert the most harmful form of mercury and evaporate it,” Kate Tepper explainedsynthetic biologist and main author of the article. And, indeed, almost science fiction sounds. It must be said that, obviously, we talk about an investigation in the early development phases and much remains to be checked. However, it is a very interesting result. Very dangerous and very loaded with ethical issues, but very interesting for the development of the genetic engineering of the future. Another thing is that we dare to get so far. Image | John Cameron In Xataka | This researcher has been poisoning a lake with mercury for 15 years to see what happens to the fish living inside: now, he finally has an answer

The thermal expansion has been a headache for centuries. Now we are learning how to dodge it

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Heat tends to make the materials expand and gain volume, a volume that is then reduced when the temperature drops. This is a problem for architects and engineers since this effect is very noticeable in metals such as steel. What if we could avoid this problem? A new alloy. A group of scientists has created a new alloy that barely shows thermal expansion along a wide temperature fork. The key to development has been in invar, an alloy with similar properties that has previously been deciphered. 100 years of mystery. Invar is an alloy composed of iron, nickel and other elements with an extremely low thermal expansion coefficient, that is, an alloy that is barely dilated to an increase in temperatures. In a fork that covers more than 400 k (that is, more than 400º Celsius), invaria only expands 0.0001% of its length for each degree Celsius (or for each Kelvin). This alloy was created at the end of the 19th century by Charles Édouard Guillaume, who I would receive the Nobel Prize in Physics In 1920 “for its discovery of anomalies in the steel and nickel alloys.” We have needed a century since the award concession to begin to understand the underlying science in this low thermal expansion. Thermal expansion. The phenomenon of thermal expansion is an old acquaintance. As those responsible for the new work explain, this phenomenon is the result of the same movement of atoms (remember that the temperature is nothing other than that). When the atoms get hot, they move more and that makes more space need, then the material expands. This phenomenon, they continue to point out, is inevitable, but understanding it in detail opens the door to create new materials that somehow balance this effect. To study it, the team resorted to computer simulations that allowed analyzing the behavior of magnetic materials on tiny scales. “This allowed us to better understand the reason why invaria is hardly expanding,” said Segii Khmelevskyi, co -author of the new study. The effect is due to changes in the state of the electrons that occur as the temperature increases. These changes counteract “almost exactly” the thermal expansion of the material, adds Khmelevskyi. From theory to practice. Knowing the theory opens the way to the creation of new alloys capable of overcoming thermal expansion. It is precisely what the study responsible for the study did, put their findings into practice. And the result is what they have called Pyrocloro magnet. The new alloy combines more than two compounds: zirconium, niobium, iron and cobalt. “It is a material with an extremely under thermal coefficient above a range of unprecedented temperatures,” says Yili Cao, development co -author. “The effect is because certain electrons change its status as the temperature increases. The magnetic order of the material decreases, which makes the material contract, ”explains CAO. This effect is precisely analogous to the one seen in invar. The secret is irregularity. The team explains that the marked of the effect is also to the fact that the Pyroclloric magnet does not have a perfect network structure, that is, with the atoms arranged forming a regular and repeated pattern, but more heterogeneous. Some areas contain more or less cobalt which makes the material expand and contract in an almost identical proportion. Development details were published In an article In the magazine National Science Review. In Xataka | Cheaper, durable and ecological: a new material with the help of ruthenium wants to change the rules of green hydrogen Image | Your Wien

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