death

“The death of the star is not the end, but the beginning of a new chapter”

by

The future of the Sun it is written. Like any star its size, it is expected that there will come a time when it runs out of fuel, swelling and becoming a red giant. Then, later on, it will expel its outermost layers and its core will collapse under the effect of gravity, becoming a cold and dense white dwarf. It will be a process that will take about 5,000 million years to occur and that, logically, will influence the planets that revolve around it. Including Earth. That’s why scientists are so interested in studying exoplanets around white dwarfs. They want to “travel to the future” and see what will become of our own planet and its neighbors. The problem is that, while many of these exoplanets have been found, it is generally very difficult to delve into their atmosphere and study their history. Until now, it had been impossible, but the James Webb Space Telescope has arrived to change that trend. Colder than expected. A team of scientists from several American universities has used the James Webb to enter the atmosphere of WD 1856bsimilar to Jupiter in orbit and size, which is currently orbiting a white dwarf. James Webb is not capable of solving the reasons why it is so complicated to study these exoplanets. However, thanks to the development of new analysis models, these researchers have been able to analyze its atmosphere. The composition, in reality, has not caught their attention too much. On the other hand, its temperature has. If we compare it with Jupiter, a temperature of -113ºC would be expected. However, 126ºC was measured. It is too hot, both for an exoplanet around a white dwarf, and for an exoplanet with the characteristics of Jupiter. Chronicle of a death foretold. In its early stages of life, a star remains “on” while It fuses hydrogen nuclei and transforms them into helium. While this happens in the core, there are two forces that remain in balance. On the one hand, gravity, which pushes all the material inward. And, on the other hand, the radiation pressure, which is generated by the effect of fusion in the stellar core and pushes outward. So far so good. The problem is that hydrogen is not infinite. When spent in the core, the forces are no longer in balance. Gravity overcomes radiation pressure, so the core is pushed inward and compressed. It heats up so much that the helium that remained in the core acquires the ability to fuse, becoming a new fuel, which will be transformed into carbon and oxygen. All this heating also “ignites” the hydrogen in the outer layers, which until now remained inactive. It begins to merge as well and the star grows outward. We have a big, hot red giant. The process repeats itself, but there comes a time when these new layers that form are expelled by the stellar winds and only the core remains, now cold and very dense. We have a white dwarf. Logically, it is a process that has consequences on the planets that orbit the star. In the case of the solar system, it is known that Mercury and Venus would perish. With the Earth things are not so clear, but it does not look good. What exoplanets around a white dwarf tell us. Numerous cases of exoplanets have been detected around white dwarfs. Studying them is opening a window to the future of the Earth and its neighbors. However, it is not something easy to study. Generally, the atmosphere of exoplanets is studied during transits. That is, when the planet passes between its star and our telescopes. At this time, light from the star is filtered through the planet’s atmosphere, so the resulting spectra can be analyzed and its chemical composition understood. The problem is that, normally, exoplanets are much smaller than their star, but that is not the case with those that orbit a white dwarf. This exoplanet, for example, is seven times larger than its star. Therefore, if normally the atmosphere of a transiting planet is completely on the disk of its star, in this case only a small part is. It was necessary to refine the analysis methods with the James Webb to be able to analyze the atmosphere of WD 1856b. too hot. The wavelength at which objects emit light can also give us clues about their temperature. Therefore, this procedure was used to calculate the temperature of the exoplanet. As we have already seen, it turned out to be too hot. The hypothesis. It is not known for sure what causes these inconsistencies, but the study authors have some hypotheses. They consider that the planet possibly reached its maximum temperature billions of years after its star became a white dwarf. Then, far from cooling as it would normally have, it was affected by a nearby binary star, whose tidal influence not only warmed it. It also moved it away from its orbit. All this took him away from what was expected, but above all it kept him alive. As explained in Science Alert one of the authors of the studyRyan MacDonald, this planet, like all exoplanets around a white dwarf, demonstrates that the death of the star is not the end of the planet, but a new chapter. Earth may not be influenced by a binary star, but there are many factors that can keep it alive. There may no longer be humans to see it, but perhaps there will be a new form of life. If humanity has not destroyed the planet beforeneither may the collapse of the Sun. That’s good news. More or less. Image | NASA, ESA, CSA, R. Crawford (STScI) In Xataka | What astronomers thought was going to be a boring supernova has revealed an enigma of galactic dust

Google puts a death date on the Android we knew. The developers are clear that your phone is about to stop being yours

by

In August of last year, Google announced one of the most controversial maneuvers from the history of Android: completely changing the DNA of your operating system. This means that, in the future, any app you want to install on your Android device, wherever it comes from, must be signed by a verified developer. Now we know the implications of this a little better and there is a group that is not happy: app developers. In short. With the objective, according to Google, of strengthening the security of ecosystems and in full trial against Epic for the antitrust case which led Android to open up to third-party stores, the company announced a series of measures to make its system and users safer. In essence, there are critics pointing out that what they really want is more control, but basically what Google is going to start asking for is that developers identify themselves if they want their app to be downloaded. We are not talking about an ID to publish in the Play Store, but in any Android store. According to the company, they will begin by verifying the installations from the following stores: Google (Google Play) Honor (HONOR App Market) OPlus (OPPO App Market) Samsung (Galaxy Store) Transsión (Palm Store) Vivo (V-Appstore) Xiaomi (GetApps) The justification of malware. Google defends the decision in order to strengthen the security of ecosystems and “prevent malicious actors from hiding behind anonymity to launch harmful applications.” In fact, when they took the measure they pointed out that they have detected 50 times more malware in apps downloaded outside the Play Store than in their store. According to the company, it is the beginning of a deployment that will be an industry-wide effort, but will contribute to creating a safer ecosystem. And, if the question is how they will do it, developers will have access to a new ‘Android Developer Console’ that will be mandatory and in which they will have to provide legal name, address, email and telephone number. Additionally, organizations will need a corporate website and a DUNS number (like a business ID). Very sensitive data, but which Google promises not to show to anyone but themselves. As if leaks of this kind of thing didn’t exist, wow… The airport metaphor. In the message from a year ago, Google compared this measure to airport procedures in which travelers renounce rights in order to gain security. “Think of this as an identity check at the airport, which confirms a traveler’s identity, but separates it from the security screening of the bags,” Google commented. “We will confirm who the developer is, but we will not review the content of their application or where it came from,” they said. Calendar. That said, the wheel keeps turning for Google and in the post blog of developers have better detailed the calendar: June 2026– A new developer authentication service will be installed on most Android devices. July 2026– The Developer ID Status API will be launched globally, as well as an account type designed for students and hobbyists to share their apps with up to 20 devices without a country-issued ID, coming in early access. August 2026– July early access will be consolidated, but they will also launch an “advanced flow” system for installing apps from unverified developers that will include security checkpoints to resist coercive scams. They assure that it is the method so that advanced users continue to be able to download apps from unverified developers. September 30, 2026: the big stuff begins. App registration will be required for participating stores in Brazil, Indonesia, Singapore and Thailand. Unregistered apps can be downloaded with Android Debug Bridge or advanced flow. 2027: After receiving feedback from everyone and the first tests in those countries mentioned, they will expand the program worldwide. Worry. How it will affect us users remains to be seen. Google comments that the majority of developers in the Play Store are already verified and more than 99% of their apps have been registered. Those who distribute outside of Google Play can register from the android developer console and the students have this access to prepare (in case you are interested). On Reddit, developers have shown concern due to the need to show a national identification, arguing that Google is not an airport or an official institution, but reactions have also been seen positive arguing that anything that involves preventing coercive scam apps (an important group of apps that Google wants to eliminate with these practices) is fine. The head of Android himself already commented in August of last year that It is a fundamental feature for Androidwhich is not going away and they simply want to protect users from malicious developers, not limit user options. The problem is that it is not so clear what is going to happen with all those apps that are distributed via APK, which do not have to be malware or piracy and that, certain users who have chosen Android, did so precisely when the system was opened. and reaction. As points out my colleague Iván in Xataka Móvilthe developers have not sat idly by. Despite Google’s pro-security arguments, they see this move as something that simply wants to give them more control over the system and its developers. That is why campaigns such as ‘Keep Android Open’ have emerged, bringing together signatories from around twenty countries, including heavyweights such as EFF, the Free Software Foundation, the Tor Project, Proton, KDE, LineageOS and Nextcloud. The argument is the following: “You, the consumer, bought your Android device trusting Google’s promise: an open computing platform on which you could run any software you wanted. However, starting in September 2026, Google will implement, without your consent, an update to its operating system that will permanently block this right and leave you at the mercy of Google’s discretion about which software you are allowed to trust. In Xataka | “The biggest mistake of all time”: Bill Gates let slip 400 billion when Microsoft didn’t … Read more

We believed that Adobe was threatened with death by AI. It turns out that it is one of the few companies that is making money from it

by

In the last year Adobe has lost almost half of its value. Twelve months ago it was trading at $382. Today your actions They are listed at $197.. Wall Street has clearly punished a company that certainly seemed to be threatened with death by new generative AI models. The surprise is that Adobe is not only not doing badly with AI, but it is doing really well. Wall Street says one thing, the data another. In the second fiscal quarter of 2026, the company achieved some historical results with record revenues of $6.62 billion (up 13% year over year). Earnings per share (EPS) have shot up 18% to $5.96, and although the NASDAQ charts say otherwise, Adobe is not only not suffering, but appears to be stronger than ever. A money making machine. Adobe is in fact behaving like a true software empire. In 2025, it managed to have free cash flow of $9.85 billion on revenue of $23.8 billion. Its operating margins are also the envy of the sector: they stand at 37% (47% in terms non-GAAP). Its subscription business is absolutely exceptional, with annual recurring revenue (ARR) already reaching $27.1 billion. Others burn money with AI: ADobe earns it. While most companies do not stop investing money in the hope that the bet will pay off very profitable in the future, Adobe is ensuring that its generative AI tools are already having a positive impact on its results sheet. Income ARR Dependents on “AI First” solutions have tripled in just one year, and the big driver here is Firefly, Adobe’s generative AI platform. She alone has exceeded $250 million in ARR and continues to grow. Companies trust Adobe. We users may love using Gemini or ChatGPT to create AI images, but companies that relied on Adobe products for their creative workflows continue to do so. 75% of Fortune 500 companies already use Firefly, but the company has also trained more than 2,500 custom AI models for large corporate accounts. Users do not stop growing. Another advantage that AI has brought is that the technical barrier to using Photoshop or Premiere is lowered because the integrated AI assistants help users create what they wanted. There are also simplified tools like Adobe Express (70 million active users per month), and the freemium approach has been another reason for the number of users to grow: in just 12 months Adobe has gone from having 700 to 850 million users. The vast majority are still users of the free features, but Adobe it is enough to convert 2% to paying users to ensure that all these efforts are profitable. But the competition is tight. Although things seem to be going very well, Adobe now faces a fragmented ecosystem with a lot of competition. These new rivals also take advantage of AI to “attack” very specific use cases. It happens with Canva, for examplewhich has become a real threat and already has a turnover of 4,000 million dollars. Midjourney, Runway and even the Spanish Magnific are platforms that have fully embraced the AI ​​revolution to offer services to both individuals and companies. Be careful with subscriptions. Adobe is not immune to market fluctuations. The company stands out for maintaining extraordinary profitability in a very specialized niche, but it has taken questionable business decisions recently. The notable price increase of your subscriptions last year and its limits to generative credits have been decisions highly criticized. This has caused users to flee to cheap or even free alternatives such as Affinity or DaVinci Resolve. Uncertainty. There is another striking detail that can critically influence the future of the company. Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen advertisement who was leaving the company after 18 years at the helm. There is no designated successor and this comes in the middle of that transition to a world full of generative AI solutions. The risk is therefore notable, and whoever takes the reins of the business will have to make very important decisions to not jeopardize the future of an already legendary technology company. In Xataka | Adobe was not born with Photoshop. It started by solving a huge and inconspicuous problem: printing well

Taking too long to change the timing belt is “a death sentence for the engine”

by

At this point, it is clear that a car that has all its maintenance in order will end up giving us fewer unpleasant surprises during its useful life. That does not mean that it is not susceptible to failures, but if it is in our power to anticipate its maintenance, the better. And in this aspect there are certain critical elements of our vehicle in which it is preferable not to take risks. One of them is the timing belt, which is perhaps one of the most ignored or postponed parts in car maintenance, and which It can ruin your engine from one day to the next. if not changed to the proper frequency. What exactly does it do? The timing belt is a toothed rubber band that synchronizes the movement of the crankshaft and camshaft, the two main shafts of the engine. Thanks to it, the pistons and valves move in coordination, since the valves open and close at the exact moment when the pistons rise and fall. If that timing fails even slightly, the engine loses efficiency. If it breaks completely, the disaster can be total. Why is its breakage so dangerous? When the belt fails in motion, the motor stops dead without warning. In most modern vehicles, what happens next is that the pistons, which continue to move by inertia, violently collide against the valves. “It is a catastrophic event that can spell the death knell for the engine. The dull sound, followed by the absolute silence of the engine, is the beginning of a mechanical and financial nightmare,” they count from the specialized workshop C3 Care Car Center. When the tragedy ends, we can find bent valves, damaged pistons and, in more serious cases, a cracked cylinder head or a fractured camshaft. And of course, the price multiplies many times when it comes to repairing all that piphostio. Mileage. Most manufacturers set a change interval in kilometers, which depending on the model ranges between 60,000 and 240,000 km. But it is not the only number we should pay attention to, since the time of use also counts. From Rodi Motor they claim If there is no maximum date set in the owner’s manual, the usual recommendation is to check the belt every five years even if the kilometer limit has not been reached. The reason is that the rubber on the belt ages even if the car is stopped, and a dry or cracked belt can end up becoming a time bomb for our car. It will depend on the type of vehicle and car distribution system, but to have a universal reference, Juan José Ebenezer, mechanical expert and content creator, advises change it every 100,000 kilometers or every five years, whichever comes first. If we are already talking about oil-soaked belts from the Stellantis group, Ebenezer points out that “with 60,000 km you are already late”, and that it is normal to change them after 50,000 km. Normally, the workshops will change the complete kit, which includes the belt, pulleys, tension rollers, the water pump and all the hardware for installation. But if you prefer to make sure, it is best to tell them to change the complete kit. When to get ahead. There are specific situations in which experts recommend reducing the change interval between 15 and 25% compared to what is indicated by the manufacturer. Alejandro Pais, managing partner of Pais Automoción and Spanish champion of Group N in 2013 explains that “driving in an urban environment usually accelerates the deterioration of the timing belt. If this is your case, calculate between 20% and 25% earlier than recommended by the manufacturer.” In the end, it is not the same for a vehicle to be constantly exposed to cold starts, slowdowns and constant gear changes from exclusive use in the city, to taking it out more or less frequently on the highway. So if you can afford to change the timing belt in advance, the better. The climate also wears it out. High temperatures are another enemy for the belt. Precisely from Volkswagen Canarias, the brand’s official network on the islands, warn In areas with intense heat and suspended dust such as haze, they recommend advancing the visual inspection, even for engines whose official interval reaches 210,000 km. The same logic applies in areas of extreme cold or high humidity. The Midas chain of workshops also recommends advance the maintenance of this component in vehicles that regularly circulate in extreme climates. Better not to risk it. A preventive change of the distribution kit in Spain ranges between 300 and 1,000 euros depending on the vehicle and the workshop. The repair of an engine damaged by a broken belt can start at 1,000 euros and easily reach 6,000, according to they count from Rodi Motor. In more serious cases, when the damage affects the pistons, cylinder head or camshaft, it is possible that the failure is so serious that the entire engine has to be replaced, and then the cost ends up being exorbitant. So do your car a favor and take care of it. In Xataka | 2,000 million euros and 3,000 stations: BYD’s plan so that charging your electric car takes the same time as stopping for gas

the risk of death from cancer does not decrease

by

Over the last few years, the electronic cigarette or ‘vaper‘has been positioned in the collective imagination as ‘the lesser sea’ that has been sold as a transition tool, supposedly cleanerfor those smokers who were looking to get away from tobacco. However, science has been narrowing the gap on the long-term effects of electronic cigarettes for some time. A new study. Here the last blow has been dealt by a study published in Nature that It is considered the largest made to dateand which concludes that the use of electronic cigarettes after giving up traditional tobacco does not have any type of benefit when it comes to reducing the chances of having lung cancer. Unprecedented. To understand the magnitude of the finding, you have to look at the scale, since historically, one of the big problems when investigating vaping has been the lack of temporal perspective due to not having been on the market for too long and, above all, the size of the study population. This has been resolved with this new study that has analyzed data from between 4.3 and 4.5 million people in South Korea, with exhaustive follow-up until December 2021. Many of these might think that changing smoke for steam neutralized the oncological risk, but in the end it is quite the opposite. Your results. When analyzing incidence and mortality rates, researchers found that former smokers who switched to vaping had worse prognoses than those who quit smoking completely. Specifically, the relative risk of suffering from lung cancer increases by 56% compared to those who abandon any type of inhaled product. In addition, the probability of death from lung cancer is double when giving up tobacco and taking an electronic cigarette instead of giving up any type of inhaled consumption. Regarding time. Ex-smokers who had only been smoking for five years and switched to vaping instead of quitting had a 23% higher incidence of cancer and a 71% higher risk of death. But if we talk about established ex-smokers who spent more than five years smoking, their risk of death becomes 2.7 times higher. In the case of ex-smokers who had been smoking for 20 years or more, switching to vaping led to a 65% increase in incidence and multiplied the risk of mortality by 4.5 times. Because. These epidemiological data are not an isolated case, but rather confirm what toxicology has been warning for years in laboratories, since although vaping eliminates the tar and direct combustion of tobacco, the aerosols are far from being harmless. A study published in 2026 pointed out that electronic cigarettes with nicotine are, with a high probability, carcinogenic to humans. And the answer is in the carcinogenic substances such as nitrosnornicotine, heavy metals, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and aldehydes such as formaldehyde. In Xataka | It’s never too late to quit smoking: the lungs have an incredible capacity to regenerate

We thought that solar parks were a death trap for birds. 19,000 hours of video and an AI have just dismantled the myth

by

During the last decade, the story of the energy transition has carried a shadow of suspicion. The visual image of a sea of ​​glass and silicon, dark and geometric, made us believe that the installation of large solar parks was equivalent to sterilizing the earth. We imagined a devastated ecosystem, an industrial desert where the hum of transformers chased away any trace of fauna. It seemed the inevitable price to pay for decarbonizing our economy. However, when science has decided to turn off the noise of public debate and turn on the cameras to observe what really happens under those plates, the result has broken all schemes. The AI ​​that watched the sky. One of the deepest fears was the theory that solar panels acted as a lethal mirage for birds. To clear up this mystery, an exhaustive study published in the scientific journal Diversity has resorted to the latest technology. A team of scientists installed high-definition cameras at five photovoltaic plants in the United States (spread across the desert Southwest, Midwest and Northeast) and collected more than 19,000 hours of daytime recordings over several years. Given the human impossibility of reviewing such a quantity of footage, the researchers developed an Artificial Intelligence model (MODT) designed specifically to detect and track moving objects. After filtering more than 4,000 hours of video, AI and human reviewers identified 68,646 bird appearances. An unprecedented find. Not a single bird collision with solar infrastructure was confirmed in all the observations analyzed. Far from colliding or being disoriented by the supposed “lake effect” of the panels, the images showed that the birds integrate the solar plant into their daily lives: they fly over it (an activity that accounted for around 54% of the observations), cross it underneath, look for food on the ground, preen and even nest in the metal structures themselves. More life inside than outside. Crossing the Atlantic, scientific evidence supports this coexistence. According to a study published in AgricultureEcosystems & Environmentcarried out by researchers in Poland, small-scale solar farms located in agricultural environments significantly increase birdlife diversity. After analyzing 43 photovoltaic parks and comparing them with 43 neighboring control areas, Polish experts documented that the vast majority of species improved their presence. Except for the meadowlark, which showed a negative reaction, species typically threatened in rural areas such as the wildcatcher or the northern stonechat appeared in much larger numbers within the park. As the study explains, the facilities provide them with safe breeding areas, tall grass (which is mowed late or left to grow) and fences perfect for perching, singing and monitoring their prey. This reality is identical in our country. As we recently explained in Xataka, Spanish photovoltaic enclosures are acting as authentic sanctuaries. The data collected by the Spanish Photovoltaic Union (UNEF) and audited by the environmental consulting firm EMAT in 2025 show an irrefutable pattern. In Minglanilla (Cuenca), 32 species of birds were found inside the solar plant compared to 19 in the external agricultural area. In Revilla Vallejera (Burgos) the balance was 39 versus 34, and in Trujillo (Cáceres), 31 versus 25. Furthermore, these enclosures not only house common birds, but have become home to protected or seriously declining species such as the curlew, the little bustard or the lesser kestrel. What is the secret of this explosion of life? The answer requires changing perspective. These parks are not being installed on virgin forests, but on fields that have been subjected to intensive agriculture for decades. According to Martín Behardirector of Studies and Environment at UNEF, by building a solar park a de facto “ecological exclusion zone” is created where tractors, pesticides and herbicides disappear. Human silence attracts weeds; weeds to insects; insects to small birds, and these to large birds of prey. The key: active management. If energy companies limit themselves to fumigating the land or sweeping the brushcutter to leave the ground bare for convenience, the park will effectively be an inert desert. For flora and fauna to return, will and active management are required: using native seeds, leaving wild ecological strips on the margins, allowing extensive grazing for natural control of forage and avoiding agrotoxins at all costs. The data has spoken. We had been fearing for years that solar panels would destroy life in the countryside. It turns out that, managed with rigor and sensitivity, they have the exact power to do just the opposite: heal the ecological wounds of centuries of agricultural exploitation and give nature a voice. Image | AnkerSolix Xataka | The largest study to date on solar panels and their effect on the field debunks several persistent myths

The giant jugs of Laos have long baffled science. A “death jar” has solved the riddle

by

The heart of Southeast Asia and scattered throughout the mountains of Xieng Khouang province in Laos, rest thousands of monumental stone vessels. Some of these reach three meters in height and weigh several tons, and that is why this place received the name ‘Plain of Jars’. However, this landscape has been a great mystery for all the experts because it is not known who carved them, nor how they moved them nor what they were for. Resolving. Now, a new archaeological study seems to have finally found the key piece of the puzzle, revealing a mortuary tradition much more complex and macabre than previously thought. The discovery of a huge “death jar” has confirmed that these stone colossi were not isolated monuments, but the protagonists of a sophisticated multigenerational funerary ritual. A secret. The key to this puzzle is based precisely on the analysis of a single, gigantic vessel that hid inside no more and no less than the bone remains of at least 37 different people. But the most interesting thing of all is that this “overcrowding” is not the product of a hasty mass grave or a sudden catastrophe, since the study shows that we are dealing with a practice known as secondary burial. How they did it. This practice, the truth is, is very far from our current customs, since instead of burying the deceased directly, the ancient culture that inhabited the area allowed the bodies to decompose first. Once cleaned of meat, the bones were transferred and deposited inside these monumental jars, being a process quite similar to the one that continues with Spanish royalty in the Royal Pantheon of Escorial. But the presence of the remains of so many people in a single jar suggests that these were reopened and reused over several generations, functioning as authentic family or community pantheons. Ritual recycling. This article does not come out of nowhere, but already in 2023 investigations at “site 1” of the plain had found signs of secondary burials around the stones, but this new discovery consolidates the hypothesis that the jars themselves were main containers of this mortuary tradition. The most fascinating thing about this research is the time lag that the dating has revealed since scientists have discovered that the history of the Plain of Jars is made up of overlapping layers. This shows that the human remains analyzed date from between the 9th and 13th centuries, but the gigantic stone jars are, according to geological and archaeological estimates, much older. What does it mean? Basically, the landscape was the subject of a profound “ritual recycling.” The medieval inhabitants of Laos did not carve the jugs; They came across a pre-existing, mysterious and monumental megalithic landscape, and decided to appropriate it for their own funerary rituals. In other words, the site was not built for a single function or at a single moment, but rather had an unusually long lifespan, being resignified by different cultures over the centuries. Images | Wikipedia In Xataka | We still don’t know where Tartessos was, but we do know where we are going to solve the enigma: in Badajoz

The Strait of Hormuz has become a death trap. The Arab Emirates’ solution is a pharaonic oil “bypass” through the desert

by

The new energy order is not debated in suit and tie summits, but is rising against the clock under the scorching sun of the Arabian Peninsula. Suffocated by the Third Gulf War, the United Arab Emirates has hit the table: it refuses to leave the survival of its trade routes in the hands of chance, war or its neighbors. The strategy is clear: if the strait is a minefield, they will build a rear exit. The news that has shaken the foundations of oil logistics came to light through official channels. According to a statement from the company itself ADNOC (the Emirati state oil company), His Highness Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed has chaired a key meeting in which he has ordered an urgent directive: to accelerate the construction of the new “West-East Pipeline” project. But what infrastructure are we talking about exactly? As energy analyst Javier Blas points outthe key to this movement is that the Emirates is laying out a second oil pipeline expressly designed to turn its back on the Strait of Hormuz. The date marked on the calendar is 2027. When they open the tap, this new infrastructure will double the volume of crude oil that the country takes out to the world through the port of Fujairah (in the Gulf of Oman). In practical figures, this represents a gigantic leap: they will go from the 1.5 million barrels a day that they move right now, to injecting between 3 and 3.5 million. It is not a project improvised in the last week. As analyst Bachar El-Halabi points outwork on this project began quietly in early 2024, long before the war in Iran paralyzed the region. However, the conflict has acted as the definitive “catalyst.” The war did not inspire the pipeline, but it has injected it with urgency. The logistical “antidote” As was discussed in the middle Amwaj Mediathe Iran war has starkly exhibited the tremendous vulnerability of maritime bottlenecks (chokepoints). The near-total shutdown of Hormuz has caused the worst supply disruption in history, removing 12% of the world’s oil from the market. In this context, the West-East pipeline stands as a lifeline. This Emirati infrastructure, added to the gigantic oil pipeline East-West (or Petroline) of 1,200 kilometers that Saudi Arabia has reactivated towards the Red Sea, form a true logistical “antidote.” They are escape routes that neutralize Tehran’s blackmail, allowing crude oil to go out into the world without entering the range of missiles and blockades in the Persian Gulf. They are, in the words of experts, “buying invaluable time” for the West. To understand the privilege of having this infrastructure, just look at the neighboring country: the situation in Iraq exposes the other side of the coin. Lacking alternative outlets to the sea and completely dependent on Hormuz, Iraq has been left without physical space to store its own oil. As a result, Baghdad has been forced to shut down 70% of production in its prolific southern fields and beg the Kurdistan region to let them use an old, patched-up pipeline to Turkey that barely manages to export 250,000 barrels a day. Iraq is a hostage to its own geography; The Emirates, on the other hand, are buying their freedom with steel and engineering. A free (and flooded) market by 2027 All this new logistical muscle takes on its true meaning when it intersects with another historic decision: the Emirates’ slamming of the door on OPEC+. Emirates has formally left the organizationarguing the defense of their “national interest.” After almost six decades, the country has decided that its national interests no longer fit into the cartel’s quotas. The UAE had been accumulating commercial frustration for years because OPEC forced them to limit their pumping to 3.2 million barrels per day, despite the fact that the country has invested aggressively to reach a production capacity of 5 million barrels by 2027, the same year in which its new megagas pipeline to Fujairah will be ready. But as various international media explain, this divorce is not just about money. Abu Dhabi feels betrayed. The Emirates have had to absorb much of the impact of Iranian missiles and drones alone, feeling that their Arab “brothers” and the Gulf Cooperation Council were turning their backs on them. Therefore, the consequences of this schism will be tectonic. The cartel has seen its global market share plummet to 26%. When the Strait of Hormuz reopens and the West-East pipeline operates at full capacity, the Emirates will flood the market under its own rules, leaving a lone Saudi Arabia to bear the brutal cost of trying to stabilize prices in a world of extreme volatility. The cold war for the future The Emirati order, in fact, is directly addressed to Riyadh. In the silent cold war it is waging with Saudi Arabia for regional hegemony, the Emirates refuses to be a supporting actor in the face of Prince Mohamed bin Salman’s monolithic “Vision 2030.” As explained Middle East Economythe UAE can afford to leave OPEC and endure a downward pulse in prices because its break-even Fiscal is around a comfortable $45 per barrel, compared to the much greater needs of its neighbors. Thanks to diversification, the Emirates today generates 25% of its electricity with the Barakah nuclear power plant and has immense solar parks, allowing itself to use today’s petrodollars to finance hydrogen and the technology of tomorrow. However, this apparent invulnerability has a terrifying blind spot. Military analysts warn that, in the era of hybrid warfare, a steel pipe is of little use if a $500 drone can paralyze the region. The Third Gulf War already demonstrated this fragility when a drone reached the gigantic Emirati Ruwais refinery. Added to this is the panic unleashed when pro-Iranian militias explicitly threatened vital infrastructure such as the Barakah nuclear power plant. The Emirates is building its financial and logistical freedom, yes, but it is doing so through a minefield. The new West-East pipeline is ultimately much more than a … Read more

Sudden death has increased by 30% in Europe. In Spain the problem is even more serious and silent

by

It arrives without warning, unexpectedly and in most cases with a fulminant cardiac origin that leaves patients on the ground in a few seconds and without the ability to respond. These are some of the characteristics that the sudden deathwhich has always been one of the biggest challenges for emergency medicine and that we must increasingly take into account because cases do not stop increasing. And especially in Spain. A new trend. A large study recently published in the journal The Lancent has put figures to this silent reality, pointing out that mortality records in the last decade have increased by 30% in Europe, and the trend in Spain exceeds the European average. How it has been seen. To understand the magnitude of this finding, we must look at the methodology that the research team has followed, which has taken as a source of data from the WHO that come from 26 European countries between 2010 and 2020. In this period, more than 53 million deaths were recorded from many different causes, and of these 2,583,559 were classified as sudden deaths. It is not a minor figure, since this means that almost 5% of the total deaths in that decade fall into this category. And if we look back, we observe an average annual increase of 2.9% in Europe, although if we focus on Spain, this increase rises to 3.3%. It’s not COVID. Seeing that the study ends in 2020 and automatically blaming Covid and the vaccines that were administered is something that may be an idea that many have in their heads, but the truth is that it has nothing to do with it, since the upward trend had already been consolidated since 2013. Which is the culprit. There are several hypotheses on the table here, one of them being the aging of the population, which is much more vulnerable to fatal cardiovascular events. But age is not the main problem, since cardiovascular risk is conferred by having a poor lifestyle that includes a sedentary lifestyle, obesity, hypertension or diabetes, which continue to be silent pandemics that prepare the ground for heart failure. It is also important to highlight that the difference between various countries depends on the effectiveness of health systems, ambulance response times and, above all, the availability of defibrillators (AED) and CPR training of the general population. The latter is something in which Spain is not as aware as in other European countries, where a good part of the population knows how to act in the event of cardiac arrest if it occurs in the middle of the street. Causes depending on age. In the case of the under 35 years oldthe cause is usually a genetic or structural failure that has not been previously detected, predominating electrical alterations of the heart such as the famous Brugada syndrome. The problem is that many times the patient does not present symptoms until the onset of sudden cardiac arrest, having already seen cases in our country in very young people who, for example, They play soccer and suddenly fall on the field. In people over 35 years of age the origin changes and here lifestyle and wear and tear prevail, with acute myocardial infarction causing the vast majority of cardiorespiratory arrests. The Spanish context. The data provided by The Lancent study fit perfectly with the demographic and health puzzle of our country, since if we go to the INE we see that heart diseases (along with oncological diseases) are responsible for half of the deaths in Spain. And although the INE points out that in 2024 deaths from circulatory diseases decreased by 2.4% globally, entities such as the Spanish Society of Epidemiology and Cardioalianza remember an uncomfortable truth: Ischemic heart diseases continue to be the leading single cause of death in Spain. How to improve. The European study does not seek to create alarmism, but rather to light an emergency beacon in terms of public health. Stopping this 30% increase does not involve a magic pill, but rather a dual approach: improving early diagnosis in young people with a family history and, above all, filling our streets with defibrillators and citizens who know how to do cardiac massage. And, in absolute terms, cardiorespiratory arrest is a time-dependent process, meaning that every minute that passes without the patient receiving assistance translates into 10% less chance for your heart to beat again. This makes in 10 minutes It is almost impossible for a patient who has suffered an arrest and who does not receive CPR to come back to life, and this should make us aware of how important it is to know the basics of CPR, since it can truly save many lives. Images | wayhomestudio on Freepik In Xataka | We thought the marathon was heartbreaking. The largest medical follow-up to date has just settled the debate

How the Black Death caused Europe to become obsessed with the act of sneezing for centuries

by

Hebrew tradition tells that, just before biting the apple, Adam sneezed. At that moment it seems that he didn’t care much, but after the incident with the fifth piece of fruit a day he ended up interpreting it as “a sign of evil and a harbinger of death.” The noise stayed there, of course, and when the very old Jacob was worried about not getting to see his son, he begged God to change the natural order of things lest a bad sneeze take him to the other neighborhood. That’s where it comes from (collected or perhaps invented anew by medieval tradition) that we desire “health” in Spain, “saúde” in Portugal or “Gesundheit” in Germany to someone who has just sneezed. As if to ward off bad omens; that life is not enough to play with dice. However, because it is common, I still find it surprising how much a simple sneeze has come to mean. Aristotle, explains García-Morenowas convinced that, compared to flatus or belching, the sneeze was the only one that had a ‘sacred nature’ because it came “from the main and deepest and most divine of the organs, the one that contains the spirit.” Hippocrates, on the other hand, although he did not decide on the goodness or badness of sneezing, he did describe the principle of reciprocal inhibition by pointing out that sneezing was, mind you, the best remedy for hiccups. As I said, the history of sneezing in the West cannot be understood in all its complexity without the Black Death. It was then that the “health” of the Jewish tradition or the “Jesus” of the Christian tradition became popular again as a way of wishing that this ‘achís’ was not the doorway of the damned plague. The “God bless you” that still resonates in English formulas (‘bless you’) comes, it seems, from one of the many plagues that struck medieval papal Rome. In contrast, in many other places, sneezing was considered a good thing. Fantastic. Traditional Hindu medicine used to provoke it as a way to balance internal humors and treat illnesses while the more archaic African medicine used it protopsychiatrically as a way to cure mental illness (supposedly caused by the existence of worms in the brain). To finish, to finish at some point, the Aztecs used it for headaches. What is a sneeze really? In reality, a sneeze is something very simple. It is a reflex actionsudden and compulsive, whose purpose is to expel large amounts of air through the nose and (sometimes) also through the mouth. It is, therefore, a physiological reflex that the respiratory system uses defensively. Therefore, it usually occurs when certain foreign particles irritate the nasal mucosa. And yes, I have used “usual” with all the intention in the world. As it seemsand these are average estimates, before each sneeze we inhale about two and a half liters of air. That is the first phase, the inhalation phase. At that moment, the abdominal muscles tense the diaphragm to increase the pressure in the lungs and force the air to come out through the nose at dizzying speed: between 70 and 130 kilometers per hour. The saliva that is usually expelled when sneezing can cover an area of ​​up to 8 square meters. And that is precisely what makes a sneeze one of the worst vectors of disease spread in the world. However, sneezing is most popular precisely when it is most harmless: in spring, summer or autumn. When it is caused by ‘allergic rhinitis’. A classic, indeed. This type of rhinitis, caused by pollen from trees, weeds and grasses, becomes the great recurring character in the lives of practically a third of the population. It is unbearable, unbearable, a cross. But, still, there are worse sneezes. Between 18 and 25% of the population sneezes suddenly when exposed to bright light. This is what is known as ‘photic sneeze‘and it’s an old acquaintance (and a cause of disability) of aviation pilots. Apparently it is hereditary and is produced by an anatomical proximity between the second cranial nerve (the ocular, responsible for carrying visual information to the brain) and the fifth (the trigeminal, which seems to be responsible for sneezing). When there is very bright light, excitation of the optic nerve can cause excitation of the trigeminal nerve. This signal is interpreted as irritation of the mucous membranes and releases a beautiful, annoying and enormous sneeze. Something similar (although this time linked to the medulla oblongata) may be behind people with a natural tendency to sneeze after eating, when they see something pleasant, or even during orgasm. It is already a bad idea, although used well (and even Aristotle would agree with this) it can be seen as a “wonderful” way to improve communication in the bedroom. In Xataka | We have been believing for years that yogurt was the best probiotic. Science is now crowning kefir In Xataka | There are people who sleep four hours a day and are still functional. It’s the closest thing we have to genetic “superheroes” Image | Pexels

Log In

Forgot password?

Forgot password?

Enter your account data and we will send you a link to reset your password.

Your password reset link appears to be invalid or expired.

Log in

Privacy Policy

Add to Collection

No Collections

Here you'll find all collections you've created before.