consuming

5,000 Stanford students have given their love lives to what an algorithm decides. And it’s consuming the university

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It’s Tuesday at 9:00 p.m. in Palo Alto and the silence of the Stanford dormitories is broken by a simultaneous notification: it’s Date Drop. In seconds, the hallways are filled with students who, according to The Wall Street Journalthey “huddle” on their screens with a mixture of anxiety and hope. Ben Rosenfeld, a residential assistant, describes the phenomenon as an “all-consuming force”: Students talk about nothing else while they figure out whether their destiny that night is a free drink date at the On Call Cafe or an anonymous complaint on the forum Fizz. What began as a simple class project has escalated into a massive sociological phenomenon that has hijacked campus social life. The numbers are compelling: in a university of approximately 7,500 undergraduate students, more than 5,000 have already surrendered their love lives to the decisions of this algorithm. From a class assignment to a startup millionaire. The architect of this obsession is Henry Weng, a computer science graduate student who coded the platform in just three weeks. As detailed TechCrunchwhat Weng started as a tool to help his colleagues has transformed into The Relationship Company, a startup that has already raised $2.1 million in venture capital. The list of investors includes Silicon Valley heavyweights such as Mark Pincus (founder of Zynga and of the first investors of Facebook), Elad Gil (of the first investors in AirbnbStripe and Pinterest) and Andy Chen (former partner of Coatue). Success. The premise has been so successful that it has transcended the walls of Stanford. The service has expanded to ten other elite universities, including Columbia, MIT, Princeton, and the University of Pennsylvania. Weng, who curiously took a subject called “introduction to clowning” that taught him to “delight in failure,” seems to have found a winning formula far from failure. “Our matches turn into real dates at ten times the speed of Tinder,” assures TechCrunch. Optimizing love in the age of fatigue. The success of Date Drop It is not a coincidence; It is symptomatic of an exhausted generation and an environment obsessed with efficiency. As they point out in The Wall Street Journal, It’s a very Stanford solution to a very Stanford problem. On a campus where students are high achievers (high achievers) obsessively focused on academic and professional success, organic social interaction has atrophied. “People have difficulty starting conversations in general, and much more so for romantic interactions,” student Alena Zhang explains to the outlet. But the problem goes beyond Stanford. An analysis of Forbes reveals a general crisis In the world of digital dating: 78% of users report emotional or mental exhaustion from using traditional apps. He ghosting (suffered by 41% of those surveyed) and the feeling that the profiles are a catalog of lies have created chronic fatigue. Added to this is the “Paradox of Preparation” (Readiness Paradox). Generation Z wants to find love more than any generation before it, but they feel paralyzed by the fear of “public failure.” They have replaced asking for a face-to-face date with asking on Instagram, entering a cycle of infinite “testing.” Date Drop it seems to break that paralysis by externalizing the decision: you no longer have to choose and risk public rejection; the algorithm chooses for you. Goodbye to Swipehello to the data. The application is radically different from the mechanics of Tinder. There are no photos to compulsively swipe left or right. The process, detailed on the website itselfbegins with a 66-question questionnaire designed to capture the essence of the user. It’s not just about superficial tastes, but about deep values ​​and political stances: “Is having children essential for a fulfilling life?”, “What are your core values: ambition, curiosity, discipline?” Weng explains that the system uses standard economic “matching theory” combined with an Artificial Intelligence that is trained with feedback (feedback) of the appointments that occur. However, the most innovative—and Machiavellian—feature is the social component. The platform allows friends to play Cupid. Wilson Adkins, a freshman cited by him WSJdiscovered that his friends had “conspired” through the app to match him with a girl from his residence. The algorithm validated the conspiracy with a compatibility score of 99.7%. Not everything is perfect in data heaven. Despite the enthusiasm and millions of investment, the road is not without obstacles. Date Drop It’s not the first attempt to automate love at Stanford. In 2017 he was born The Marriage Pact, a similar project which has already generated 350,000 matches. According to the WSJthe creators of this original project sent a “cease and desist” letter to Weng in November, alleging that the marketing of Date Drop It seemed too familiar to them. Furthermore, technology has limits compared to logistical reality. Gabriel Berger, another student, says that, although he had a great connection with his matchestheir schedules were incompatible: he was vice president of his fraternity and she had dance rehearsals. “We are not interacting well,” they concluded. For her part, Mila Wagner-Sanchez, freshman interviewed by Business Insideradds a note of realism: the novelty fades. After a fun first date (with a friend), and a second matches who never wrote to him, the pressure of midterms caused the app to take a backseat. “I would be open to trying again,” she says, but academic life sometimes outweighs algorithmic curiosity. Optimizing loneliness. Henry Weng has ambitious plans. He sees his company as a “Public Benefit Corporation” intended to facilitate not only romance, but “all meaningful relationships,” including friendships and professional connections. Perhaps the best summary of this phenomenon comes from Madhav Abraham-Prakash, a junior who helped bring the app to campus. Although Date Drop He hasn’t gotten him a girlfriend, he has given him connections on LinkedIn. His justification for The Wall Street Journal sums up the spirit of a generation that doesn’t want to leave anything to chance, not even fate: “I would be sad if my soulmate was here and I couldn’t find it. Or if my co-founder was here and I couldn’t find it, or if my business partner was … Read more

There are people obsessed with consuming magnesium as a supplement when the best way is to put it in your diet

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We live in the era of biological optimization, where The strange thing without a doubt is not taking dietary supplements from the supermarket such as magnesium, collagen, calcium, various vitamins… Magnesium in particular is sold as an almost magical way of sleep betterreduce anxiety and recover muscle. But the truth is that we are forgetting the most important thing: We have all this in food. The reminder. With so many food supplements (which often do not come cheap), sometimes we forget that we have these nutrients in the supermarket in different presentations. This is something in which Doctor Federica AmatiChief Nutritionist at ZOE Science & Nutrition, has put its finger on the sore spot of the supplement industry: For the vast majority of the population, there are plenty of pills and no food. Why magnesium matters. There is an obsession with taking this mineral, and the reality is that it makes sense because its functions are critical for our body to function correctly. Its fundamental role in many metabolic reactions of the body makes it essential for human survival, since without magnesium we would literally be extinct. And it is no wonder, because beyond being used to prevent cramps, it has important functions in energy production, DNA synthesis, metabolic control such as glucose levels, and also structural function by allowing bone to develop. Given its importance, the consumer logic seems simple: “If it’s so important, the more you take, the better”. But this is where science has to put the brakes on because a large amount does not always equal better performance. The best foods. One of the positions that we can have on the table right now is that magnesium supplements (and even others) are not necessary, unless it is known that there is a deficit. All this because it has a big problem: they are isolated. The problem with supplements is that they are isolated. NIH Office of Dietary Supplements (ODS) emphasizes that the food matrix It is irreplaceable. When you get magnesium from an almond or spinach, you’re not just ingesting the mineral, you’re getting fiber, phytochemicals, and other micronutrients that work together and that no pill can fully replicate. The daily doses. The official recommendations today indicate that the minimum levels of magnesium They are not unattainablesince for adult men between 400 and 420 mg per day are needed, while for women between 310 to 320 mg per day is sufficient. Low figures mean that they cannot be easily achieved with food by adjusting the shopping list without going to the pharmacy. Where can it be found. If the goal is to reach 400 mg daily, the strategy is not to look for supplemented foods, but to go back to the basics. In this case, science points because the food where we have the greatest amount of magnesium are seeds and nuts, where we find almonds, cashews and especially pumpkin and chia seeds. But in addition, it should also be noted that green leafy vegetables such as spinach or chard have chlorophyll in their composition, which also acts as a highly coveted magnesium reserve. All this without forgetting legumes and whole grains. Who needs supplements. Logically, they have a site, but it is by no means a universal recommendation for everyone who may have their requirements met with the diet. According to the ODS, there are different groups of people who may require this supplementation (under medical supervision). These are the following: Gastrointestinal disease such as celiac disease where nutrient absorption is compromised. Type 2 diabetes, since its pathophysiology causes a decrease in magnesium. Chronic alcohol consumption. Elderly people where absorption is naturally decreased. In these specific cases, the evidence indicates that supplementation can help improve parameters such as sleep quality or anxiety, but because they have an absorption problem. A previous visit to the doctor. Before starting supplementation of any type, it is best to go to your primary care doctor to verify in a blood test the nutritional deficiencies that you want to counteract. And our body does not store these minerals, meaning that anything taken in excess has no effect whatsoever. In Xataka | Which dietary supplements really work and which don’t, in a great graph

Spain is rapidly stopping consuming it and no one has convincing explanations

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There was a time when many things could be missing from the tables of Spanish homes, but never bread. Never that. The bar was an essential part of the diet, one of its pillars, so firm that it even ended up leaving a mark in the proverb. Things have changed and now it is increasingly difficult to find bread in homes at meal time. And for example, a button: its per capita consumption (at least domestic) has collapsed in the last decade. The big question is… Why? Less bread at home. On Spanish tables and cupboards it is increasingly difficult to find loaves of bread. Although for a long time they were one of the pillars of nutrition (so much so that it has crept into popular proverbs), households seem to be turning their backs on them little by little. And no one really knows why. The last reminder of the extent to which we have lost interest in bread was left yesterday by the EfeAgro agency in a chronicle which starts with a revealing fact: on average a Spaniard consumes 25% less today than just a decade ago. Has consumption dropped that much? To answer that question, it is good to take a look at the data from the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food. To be more precise to the figures of your consumption panelin which they detail “the food consumption data in Spanish households.” The nuance is important because its results basically show domestic behavior, purchases and consumption that are made within the home, not in the extradomestic channel. When the data on bread is analyzed, the reading is clear: today we consume less (much less) than a few decades ago. And as a figure always says more than a long explanation, here is a table with the evolution of demand. The data show annual per capita consumption measured in kg, although one detail must be clarified: the concept “bread” has remained unchanged in the historical series, but not its different classifications, which have changed, combining concepts such as “fresh bread”, “unpackaged” or “industrial bread” and “packaged”. Bread (total) fresh bread industrial bread 1990 56.4 52.9 3.5 2000 50.1 46.4 3.7 2010 36.3 30.8 5.5 2020 32.8 26 6.8 2024 27.4 21.5 5.9 looking back. The drop is even more pronounced if we broaden the focus and look at how Spaniards behaved in the 60s and 70s. Although the calculation criteria may have varied, the data from the Ministry of Agriculture show that in 1964 the “consumption of bread-making cereals in Spain” was around 92.5 kg per inhabitant per year. In the 70s that average was already 76.6 kg. He latest yearbook published by the Government, with data at the end of 2024, show that total per capita consumption of bread fell in the country by 0.2% compared to the previous year, although this decrease was not generalized: consumption of normal fresh bread ‘punctured’, while demand for whole grain, unsalted and industrial bread grew. Is it all negative data? No. Recently the Ministry of Food published a report with data from the year between August 2024 and July 2025 showing that bread purchases have generally increased by 3.9% during that period, leaving annual per capita consumption at 27.8 kilos. It remains significantly below the 34.9kg 2015, but it still represents an increase. Bread can also boast of having an almost absolute level of penetration in Spanish homes, reaching more than 99.8%, and generates a business of billions of euros. To be more precise, the data accumulated between August 2024 and July 2025 speak of 3.4 billion. Searching for the causes. The big question at this point is… Why do we consume less bread at home today than a few decades ago? EfeAgro remembers that in the last ten years its price has become more expensive almost 29%although the CPI data for September show that at least in the last year it remained below the general price index: 1.2% compared to the global 3%. The drop in consumption seems to respond more to changes in consumption habits: a greater availability of alternatives to bread, a more varied diet, a increase in consumption in places outside the home… “There has been a downward trend for years in Spain, it must be taken into account that when societies become more prosperous, consumption is reduced and other sources begin to be used”, explained already 2022 to The Spanish Jorge de Saja, from the Spanish Association of the Bakery, Pastry and Pastry Industry. Another key point from the sector is the increase in more satiating variants (such as whole wheat). “Don’t eat bread”. There are those who provide another explanation for the drop in bread consumption: “The perception that it is a food that can make you fat,” they regret from Asemac. Ángeles Carbajal Azcona, from the Department of Nutrition at the Complutense University of Madrid, also remembered it in 2016 in an article in which, citing other authors, I remembered that the “dietary advice” of some specialists to lose weight is: “Don’t eat bread.” “Epidemiological studies that try to look at the relationship between bread consumption and body weight usually see that people who consume bread more frequently have a higher risk of obesity, diabetes and weight gain,” he clarified in 2024. Jordi Salas-Salvadóprofessor, a The Country. “The problem is that these studies are done with current bread, which is not the same as traditional bread, with sourdough and long fermentation: bread has a high glycemic index, but artisanal bread has more fermentation process and that makes the glycemic index lower.” Image | Diana Krotova In Xataka | “We are the glitch in the Matrix of food”: the Madrid bakery whose reinvention of bread has gotten out of hand

When we start consuming drugs

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If we pulled the thread we can get an idea of to what extent our ancestors went to drug trancas. We knew, for example, that The barbarians They were so blind that we could explain much of the wars of antiquity. Even Two mummies They have told us to what extent the cocaine was established in past centuries. Now, some teeth aim to offer us the “beginning” of this historical consumption. The finding. A team of Thai researchers has managed to identify chemical remains of consumption from Betel In the dental plate of a woman between 25 and 35 years buried about 4,000 years ago In Nong Ratchawat, in the center of Thailand. The finding represents direct evidence oldest ever discovered of the use of Betel, a psychoactive practice that, despite being little known in the West, continues to be one of the most popular in the world, only surpassed by tobacco, coffee and alcohol. He studywhich was based on advanced liquid chromatography techniques coupled to mass spectrometry (LC-MS), analyzed 36 samples of mineralized dental plate of several burials of the bronze age, and three of them offered unequivocal positive results that coincide with the chemical profiles of the Betel prepared according to traditional methods. Make the impossible visible. The key to this advance does not reside solely in the identification of plant remains, but in the Applied Methodology. The positive sample contained traces of Arecaidine (from the Areca nut), Hydroxychavicol (from the betel leaf), and nicotine, probably due to the occasional use of tobacco as part of the mixture. For validate your resultsthe team led by Piyawit Moonkham replied experimental form The ancestral chewing process, using dry areca nut, betel leaves, pink lime paste, cortex of Senegalia Catechutobacco, and human saliva, with the aim of generating a precise reference with which to compare the ancient samples. Lost uses. This unusually detailed approach allowed detect molecules that do not leave visual trace and that would have been impossible to identify through traditional archaeological techniques. According to the co -author From the study, Shannon Tushingham, this strategy not only reveals lost uses of the past, but opens a new way to rebuild cultural practices through biomolecular waste, even when there is no visible indication of them. Archaeological Site in Nong Ratchawat where teeth samples originated A living tradition. He betelor more specifically the brunette of Betel, is the name that receives the preparation composed of the Areca walnut wrapped in the Betel leaf and usually accompanied by lime off. This combination releases Arecolinaan alkaloid substance that produces mild stimulating effects, as a feeling of alert, warmth and well -being. Despite its invisibility in the official drug history, Betel has a social and ceremonial role deeply rooted in many Asian and oceanic cultures. For millennia, it has been used in rituals Incidentally, festive events, and even as an element of community cohesion. The finding in Thailand demonstrates that this practice was already consolidated in Southeast Asia a thousand years before what was thought, challenging the linear narratives of cultural development and offering a new window to the intangible past. Legacy with consequences. The discovery is not exempt from Medical and Social Implications. Today, Betel is an extended habit in countries like Papua New Guinea, where 50% of the population chews regularly, and where the highest oral cancer rate on the planet has been documented. Chronic consumption has also been seenInculated to diseases Hepatic, metabolic syndrome, cirrhosis and renal damage. However, Betel too It has properties Antioxidants, antiparasitic, anti -inflammatory and antiseptic, which complicates its classification as a mere “harmful drug.” This ambivalence has fed its cultural permanence and has raised disparate responses in the different countries. Consume Betel. In Taiwanfor example, consumption has decreased significantly among young people URBANITAS Thanks to public health campaigns, but Betel is still linked to a very particular aesthetic: that of The bīnláng xīshī or “Bellezas del Betel”, young women dressed in provocative outfits that sell the product in road shop windows. This phenomenon, already in decline, has given way to a more conservative version, with major vendors in closed positions or night markets, but remains a living expression of cultural identity and historical memory. Knowledge in front of stigma. One of the axes of the study It consisted of stressing that practices such as Betel’s consumption They should not be reduced to the category of “drugs” under contemporary western standards. Far from that, they represent medical, spiritual and community knowledge transmitted for generations, often ignored by classical archeology. By identifying these chemical waste, the dental calculation analysis not only rewrites the history of the Betel, but also offers a framework to reassess many other psychoactive plants whose use has been invisible or repressed. As Moonkham statesUnderstanding the cultural context of the use of traditional plants is essential to recognize its true anthropological value and to generate a more nuanced dialogue around substance consumption. Fascinating, since the dental calculation has returned the image of an anonymous woman who, 4,000 years ago, shared with her community a practice that still survives. A silent evidence that human desire to alter awareness, share experiences and ritualize the body has roots as deep as History itself. Image | FFGGSS/Wikimedia Commons, Piyawit Moonkham In Xataka | The consumption of amphetamines in Spain is concentrated in an autonomous community. And we know it with a “single” trick In Xataka | The barbarians who assaulted Rome went to the eyebrows: drug use also explains the war in antiquity

The material created in China that lowers the temperature of the buildings without consuming a single electricity watt

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A world where buildings are not only well isolated from abroad, but cool them as much as an air conditioning, without consuming a single electricity watt. That is what a team of Chinese and Australian scientists promises with their new bioplastic material. Short. Researchers at the University of Zhengzhou and the University of Australia del Sur presented a biodegradable film capable of cooling buildings without using electricity. According to a study published in Cell Reports Physical Sciencethis coating can reduce the temperature of a surface to 9.2 ° C in full sun. 9 degrees less. In the material field tests, carried out on a Zhengzhou roof, east of China, the results were overwhelming. In full sun, during noon, the material reached a cooling peak of 9.2 ° C below the ambient temperature. The average tests was -4.9 ° C during the day and -5.1 ° C during the night, which is equivalent to a cooling power of up to 136 watts per square meter. The film takes advantage of a known phenomenon, “passive radiative cooling” (PRC). In a nutshell, it is a lining designed to do two things: reflect sunlight so as not to heat up, and emit internal heat outwards. But it does it in an extremely efficient way. According to the simulations presented by the researchers, apply this film on the roofs of a city like Lhasa, in the Tibet, would reduce annual cooling consumption up to 20.3%. How it works. The “metaphilm” is made of polyactic acid, better known as Pla plastic; A material derived from plant sources such as corn or sugarcane, so it is biodegradable. The turn is how researchers managed to create a porous and continuous structure through a novel phase separation technique at low temperature. This microstructure has an ultrabaja thermal conductivity (of 0.049 w/m · k) and reflects almost all the solar radiation that affects it (98.7%), avoiding the initial heating and heat transfer to the interior. It also emits heat abroad thanks to its porosity. The manufacturing process is relatively simple: the PL is dissolved in chloroform, crystallizes at -20 ° C and then ethanol is used to induce phase separation before drying the film. This method is suitable for large -scale production, which paves the path for commercialization. More resistant than other attempts. One of the great challenges of previous radiative cooling materialsespecially biodegradables, it was their durability. But this new coating has demonstrated exceptional durability. The researchers submerged him in acid for 120 hours and then exposed him to ultraviolet radiation equivalent to eight months of weathering exposure. Surprisingly, the material not only survived, but maintained a cooling performance between 5 ° C and 6.5 ° C below the ambient temperature after the hard aging process. The team attributes it to its high crystallinity, which gives it a thermal and chemical stability much higher than that of its predecessors. The applications go far beyond the roofs of the buildings. Researchers already explore their use in transport, to cool vehicles, agriculture, to protect crops, electronics and even the biomedical field, to apply to dressings that regulate the temperature. Images | Yangzhe Hou et al. In Xataka | With the electric consumption triggered by the air conditioning, Singapore has had an idea: buildings that “sweat”

Spain has presumed for decades of consuming more fish than anyone in Europe. Now that has entered into crisis

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Spain is surrounded by almost 8,000 kilometers of coast, it has a profuse cuisine in dishes based on fish and maricos and its fishing sector generates every year tens of thousands of jobs and billions of euros. Not to count on how weird the town (at least in the coastal areas) that does not have a market in which to buy a hake, a golden, trout, mussels or a good fresh lubina. Despite all that, Spain is less and less a country of fish. Its weight on the refrigerators is descending. A lot. And for a long time. A percentage: -4.3%. He last report of the government about fish consumption does not leave good news. In March we Spaniards have bought 2.9% less than during the same month last year, a bad fact that really hides another worst: what has “punctured” really is the consumption of fresh fishing, which has fallen 4.9%. In fact, that percentage has been softened in part due to an increase in frozen fish, which has grown around 4%. The thing does not improve when we expand the focus. If we analyze The last mobile year (from April 2024 to March 2025) The consumption of marine products in general has fallen 2.7% and that of fish in particular 4.3%. The behavior of frozen products during that period was somewhat better than that of fresh merchandise, but still both have lost weight in purchase baskets. The protagonists: cod and gold. The report allows you to go further and take a look at how the different products have responded throughout the last year. And there are some that go particularly poorly stopped. Golden purchases have collapsed 23.5% and mackerel and cod around 21%. In general it has also been a bad year for seafood, molluscs and frozen and fresh crustaceans, although more cooked varieties have been bought. “They click” the preserves and win other products, such as salmon or smoked trout. One question: Is it a punctual fall? No. And that is the big problem. The sector It takes time Seeing how fish consumption falls, which has already taken him to claim to institutions measured to reverse that trend. Under the “fishing products” label enters a range of foods that range from fresh or frozen fish to the seafood or preserves and not all evolve the same, but statistics show that, together, consumption is going back. According to government data, in 2003 the per capita consumption of products related to fishing touched the 27.8 kilos per year And in 2009 he even reached stroke the 30 kg. In 2013 that same data was already in 27.2 kgbefore the pandemic had fallen to 22.5 kgin 2023 marked 18.9 And last year that same average had descended to 17.9. Now the last map report with the March values ​​lead to think that the trend will remain this exercise. A figure: 19 million. Those of the Ministry are not the only data that account for the fall in fish consumption in Spain. In October the statista portal published Another report which reflects the same trend from a somewhat different perspective: that of tons of fish consumed in the whole country. Its tables reflect that if in 2023 consumption amounted to 887.4 million kilos, last year that data had already descended until it was 868.3, which reflects a fall of 19 million In just one year. The consumption curve has been descending since 2009, with a slight rebound in 2020, coinciding with the pandemic. The great unknown: Why do you go down? The million dollar question. And it does not have a simple answer. One of the possible keys is the price. The statistics Officers also show that, on average and in general terms, fresh fish comes out more expensive than meat of the same type. The latest map report also reflects that throughout the last year, between April 2024 and March, the average price of fish -related products had increased 3.5%. The technicians of calculating that in March fresh fish increased 4.9% compared to 2024. Another key: education. Fish is not, however, the only thing that has become more expensive. In recent years he has also done it (and sometimes clearly) The meat. Hence, when explaining the trend It is indicated Often other factors, such as changes in consumption habits, a certain ignorance of the product, the search for more comfortable options or the loss of habit, especially among the youngest, to go to the markets to buy fish. A report On the subject elaborated a few years ago by the Ministry and AECOC in fact identifies four profiles of young people in front of the fish: that of those who reject it flat, who are inclined to other options such as meat, a more “pragmatic” profile that is not willing to invest the time it requires buying and cooking fish and the “distrustful”, with doubts about the origin or conservation. A notice: “It is essential”. With that backdrop a long time ago that the fishing employer demands to institutions that promote fish consumption. In 2023 the Secretary General of Cepesca insisted that it is “essential” to promote healthy eating and support sea food. “We still do not understand why the consumption of fishing products with VAT reduction,” I cried. In his favor the guild has the advice of the health experts, which They advise Eat between three and four rations every week. Images | Grupo Eroski S.Coop (Flickr) and Doğan Alpaslan Demi̇r (Unspash) In Xataka | There is so many demand for fish in China that has opted for drastic measures: two “aircraft carrier” as a hatchery

We are injecting radioactive material into live rhino horns so that we stop consuming them

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Perhaps you did not know, but to protect us from human nature itself, that capable of generating the most absolute chaos, most of the main airports and ports, including those of South Africa, already have the infrastructure necessary to detect radioactive material. So that? To detect nuclear weapons. Thus, in theory, we avoid smuggling between countries. In a twist, science has just found in this infrastructure a solution for stop poaching. Radioactive horns. The news is as surprising as it is true: a group of South African scientists has been injecting radioactive material directly into the horns of living rhino. The idea: make them easier to detect in border stalls. Behind the project is the Radiation and Physics of Health (RHPU) of Witwatersrand University in Johannesburg. Why the horns. Of course, the enclave where it is happening is not trivial. South Africa houses a Most of the planet’s rhinoceros And, as such, it is a critical point for poaching driven by, and here comes the key, demand from Asia. Yes, there the horns They use in traditional medicine for its supposed therapeutic effect (not tested). As Professor James Larkin explained, who runs the project, “every 20 hours in South Africa a rhinoceros dies from his horn.” In fact, before this amazing script, trying to save the rhino with another unexpected movement: investing in bonds. Not only that. The researchers indicate that the smuggling of these horns has currently made them “the most valuable false product in the black market, with a value even greater than that of gold, platinum, diamonds and cocaine. These horns hunted furtively are trafficked throughout the world and are used for traditional medicines or as status symbols”, They assure. Radioactivity injection process. Under the name Rhisotope Projectresearchers are drilling low doses of radioisotopes in the horns of 20 sedated rhinos whose health will be monitored over the next six months. We talked about two small radioactive chips in the horn zone that are then “finished” by spraying 11,000 microputs in the area. In the long term. If it succeeds, the program could be extended in the long term to include elephants and pangolines, as well as other plants and animals, According to the university. The material, in principle, would last five years on the horn, which “was cheaper than removing it every 18 months.” “Each insertion was closely supervised by expert veterinarians and there was very care to avoid any damage to animals,” Explain Larkin. “During months of research and evidence, we have also ensured that inserted radioisotopes do not involve any risk to health or any other risk for animals or for those who take care of them.” Poison for humans. In essence, once the radioactivity dose is inserted, the consumption by means of the products made with the horns will make them “essentially poisonous for human consumption,” they count at work. Be that as it may, the main objective is none other than identifying the smuggling attempts, to be able to be, before they leave the country. How the alarm jumps. Apparently, this infrastructure found in many airports works more or less simple. Anyone who tries to pass the radioactive horns would sound the alarms and a police response would be activated. By the way, scientists remember that the process is not harmful to animals, since the dose of the radioactive material is so low that it does not affect the animal’s health or the environment in any way. Figures that have led to the situation. Last February, the country’s Ministry of Environment said that, despite the government’s efforts to combat illegal trade, 499 of these giant mammals died in 2023most in state parks. In figures, it represents an increase of 11 percent compared to those of 2022. To get an idea of This sad realitywe talk about figures of up to $ 60,000 per kilo, which explains why the rhinoceros horn remains one of the most lucrative illegal markets. Image | Witts University, Martin Pettitt In Xataka | An area of ​​Mexico has become an out of control: tourists do not stop to swim with wild orcs In Xataka | It never rains to everyone’s taste: we have just discovered that rainfall has wreaked havoc on the Galician octopus *An earlier version of this article was published in June 2024

Can a gorilla win 100 men? The dilemma that is obsessively consuming to the Internet

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Everyone on the Internet wonders who would win in a battle between a gorilla and one hundred men. It is a mere mental riddle without correct response, but formulated to open the discussion. That is why it has become THE MEME OF THE MOMENTand all types of users are facing the enigma from multiple approaches, from biological to ethical. The important thing, as they say, is not the answer, but the way to get to it. A war for all. The meme is very simple: it consists of discussing who would win in a battle under those conditions, a question that has been viralized at the end of April this year. Tiktokers like Tredouglass, Lov3Charlee either Rationniper They have opined on the subject (most of the time in favor of the gorilla), although the thing became a Global phenomenon When users with millions of followers like Elon Musk and Mr. Beast tweet on the subject. Origins of the meme. In February 2022, the Tiktoker YURI5KPT2 He wondered who would win in the battle. It was a first advance of the subject, which had no continuity, although it generated a remarkable response, more than three thousand comments. Previously, in 2020 in Reddit it had been discussed In a thread With some impact on media specialized in nature. Legendary clashes. Beyond, hypothetical clashes between unequal power factions make up a classic debate exercise. The asymmetry between combatants has always been Part of classical military theory. Where does it come from, if not, the legendary confrontation between David and Goliath. On the other hand, and already in more recent times, the asymmetric confrontation has become classic meme of war games, and users of titles such as’ Age of Empires’ or ‘Ultimate Epic Simulator‘(This in pure fantasy contexts) generate fighting with the editors who have millions of reproductions on YouTube. Some of them are that excessive: And of course, the meme has continued to grow, completely out of control, with street interviews, Animations, experiments with AI, simulations and innumerable opinion videos on the subject. Why do we like a anger. There is a reason for us to like this meme, comment, discuss it and contribute our opinion. Apart from that as gregarious creatures, there is nothing that we like more than taking sides for a side and argue for discussingthis confrontation has some symbolic, and there are more transcendent conflicts. The clash is also that of the brute and individual force against cooperation and strategy, in the same way that also symbolizes the eternal conflict of savagery against civilizationa debate that we love to resume and take to the extreme. Again, the Memes helping us to explain ourselves Simple and humorously. There are evolutionary psychologists who affirm in Media like Rolling Out that “these hypothetical discussions are modern expressions of ancient survival planning behaviors that once helped our ancestors develop in dangerous environments.” That is, the circle closes: we plan and discuss how to face the gorilla in a theoretical framework … just in case we have to do it in the real world. Yes, but … who would win? The time comes to give the response to the unknown. Many experts They seem to coincide In a front fight, the gorilla would undoubtedly win. However, if the man is on the cusp of the evolutionary pyramid is for something: he would very possibly find the way to manage to win, even if he improvise weapons to attack. A gorilla is between four and ten times stronger than a humanwhich makes it an unstoppable muscle mass with bare hands. Source | Joshua J. Cotten / Bao Menglong In Xataka | Eight years later, Spain is still hooked to see Simón Pérez and Silvia Charro shattered life live

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