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In South Korea they offered $14,000 to young people in exchange for them getting married. The young people didn’t care

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With $14,000 you can plug holes, take a few months off to travel the world or invest in that business that has been on your mind for years. What you won’t be able to do is pair two South Koreans to get married, start a home, and have children with whom to help the country get out of the crisis. deep crisis birth rate in which it has been immersed for years. We know this because in Korea there are administrations that already they have pulled the checkbook and reached those figures (more than 10,000 dollars) in their efforts to act as matchmakers. All without success. What’s more, this effort by administrations to encourage couples is having a peculiar effect: it has made singleness a real business. A matter of love… and money. In its efforts to get out of the demographic slump in which South Korea has been mired for some time, it has not hesitated to draw on its checkbook. Their reasoning is simple: if the birth rate can be encouraged with money, the Government is willing to put it on the table. In recent months, the country’s authorities have proposed handing over large ‘baby checks’ to its citizens, offer tax incentives to families with children, expand the parental leave or even guarantee that new mothers have access to select food. Another of the country’s great bets has been to match its young people. And that has been so much to create dating programs specifically designed for singles to find love and make it easy for them financially, offering them money so that the cost of a romantic dinner is not an obstacle. It may sound exaggerated, but there is one fact that explains it: in South Korea couples and birth rates go hand in hand. So much so that less than 5% of babies are born out of wedlock. How much money are we talking about? Very much. Many of South Korea’s matchmaking programs come from regional organizations, so photography can vary from one area of ​​the country to another; But it comes with taking a quick look at Google to see news about cities or districts that are trying to raise their birth rate with very expensive matchmaking programs. Recently we were talking to you of the case of Seoul, where the Metropolitan Government was studying giving 700 euros to couples who get married there. It’s a lot. Although not as much as in other cities. In Busan, one of the main metropolitan areas of South Korea and which is suffering the effects of the demographic crisis in a way particularly hardhave gone a step further by blessing new couples with hundreds of dollars. What does that translate into? In which money stops being an obstacle to finding a girlfriend (or boyfriend). In June Korea Herald informed that one of Busan’s districts, Saha-gu, was planning a pilot project with local singles born between 1981 and 2001, offering them $360 (to spend on dates) just to ‘make match’ with someone That is, each couple that left the event holding hands and with plans to see each other again would add $700 to their romance. One figure: $14,000. Those $360 per person to enjoy as a couple were just the first part of Saha-gu’s program. The idea was to increase support as the relationship progressed until reaching the big wedding gift: 20 million won in advance for couples who say ‘I do’, about $13,600. The district was even willing to offer newlyweds a larger deposit if they decided to buy a house or help them with rent. Such a bet is better understood in light of the demographic tables of the metropolitan city of Busan: if at the beginning of the 90s it exceeded 3.8 million inhabitantsin 2010 it was at 3.4 million. The trend does not clash with that of the country as a whole, which at the end of 2024 became a “super-aged society”, with 20% of its population over 65 years of age. Do these aids work? That was the big question that was left hanging… and it just answered The Wall Street Journal (TWSJ) with a report in which the title is almost a sentence: “Not even a $14,000 government aid can get South Korean singles to get married.” Despite the promise of a $14,000 wedding gift, Saha-gu’s program was not very successful. TWSJ assures that no participant demanded that reward. And Saha-gu is just one of the aids that couples can qualify for. TWSJ recalls that not all support comes from the administrations and that there are also companies or religious organizations that are trying to reverse the country’s demographic crisis. Two examples are the construction company Booyoung Group, which offered $75,000 to employees who have a child; and the Yoido Full Gospel Churchwhich grants its members almost $1,400. The big question. With such incentives the question is obvious. Why don’t South Koreans get married? Why does your birth rate continue? far below from years ago? Part of the answer is social and cultural changes. TWSJ cite a survey recent study that shows that three-fifths of employed South Koreans do not see the slightest problem in not going through the altar, a factor to which are added other economic factors, such as long working hoursthe increase of cost of living or how burdensome it is the upbringing of children in a society characterized by its level of demand and competitiveness. Another key is the difficulties that women encounter when re-entering the labor market after becoming mothers. In fact, there are dating programs that have ended up being suspended precisely because they could not bring together a sufficient number of interested women. Other young people rule out registering simply because of the heavy bureaucracy that accompanies this type of initiative. “It’s more problematic than you imagine,” recognize one to TWSJ. Is the Government a good matchmaker? That is the other big question, especially if you take into account that programs like Seoul or … Read more

In 1993, no one could find the supposed red ninja from ‘Mortal Kombat’. There was a reason: it didn’t exist yet

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There was a time when the secrets of video games came in arcade machines, magazines, and conversations from someone who swore they had seen something impossible. Around the first ‘Mortal Kombat‘, that something impossible had the shape of a red ninja and a strange name: Ermac. The game had already shown that it could hide characters, so many players continued to look at the screen with the suspicion that there was another fighter waiting to be found. The clue that fueled that search was not born as a character, but as a technical entry within the game itself. Ed Boon, co-creator of ‘Mortal Kombat’, explained that During the development of the first game, the software had sections of code that, in theory, it was never supposed to reach. If that happened, the system incremented an error counter that the team could review on an internal audit screen. To shorten that record, Boon wrote an assembly macro called ERMAC, short for Error Macro. A rumor too good not to end up being true The detail that changed everything was where that counter appeared. Boon explained that the ERMACS number was listed right after the record of times the players had fought Reptile, who was a hidden character in the first ‘Mortal Kombat’. The association was almost inevitable: if Reptile existed and was counted there, Ermac could seem like another secret of the same type. For a player looking at that screen without knowing the code behind it, the name didn’t sound like an internal tool, but like someone. From there, the gap was filled by the collective imagination. Boon summed it up quite clearly long ago in X: rumors about Ermac became legend and some players insisted that they had actually faced him. The important precision is right after, because the co-creator of ‘Mortal Kombat’ cut the story with a short sentence: “They didn’t do it :)”. There was no hidden red ninja in the first game, but rather a misreading that had found the perfect ecosystem to grow. Ermac in ‘Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3’ The most revealing part is not only in the code, but in the trace left by the conversation. Alleged clue linked to Electronic Gaming Monthly dates back to 1993and the rumor continued to appear in forums long after: Mortal Kombat Online discussed it in threads from 2003 and later years. Boon recalled that in ‘Mortal Kombat II’ Reptile stopped being just a hidden fighter and became part of the playable roster, while the game added three other secret characters: Smoke, Jade and Noob Saibot. It was a clear sign that ‘Mortal Kombat’ was still playing with the idea of ​​the hidden, even if Ermac wasn’t there yet. For some players, that was enough to keep the search open a little longer. Ermac in ‘Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3’ The twist came in 1995, when ‘Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3’ finally turned Ermac into a real fighter. Boon explained it as part of a broader decision: for ‘Mortal Kombat 3’ they began to transform some myths into elements of the game, starting with the Animalities, the animal endings of the saga, and in ‘Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3’, the expanded version of 1995, they ended up adding Ermac to the roster. The character that many had searched for ahead of time now appeared as the red ninja that the community had already imagined, but with an important difference: this time he did exist. Ermac in ‘Mortal Kombat 1’ From there, Ermac stopped depending on rumor and began to have a life of his own within the saga. Boon recalled that, over the years, the character appeared in several ‘Mortal Kombat’ games and ended up accumulating history, background and a place within the lore. This evolution does not erase its origin, rather it makes it more peculiar: first it was an internal abbreviation, then an interpretation of the players and finally a fighter with an identity. Few characters summarize the relationship between error, community and canon so well. The last turn of the story came with ‘Mortal Kombat 1‘, the installment developed by NetherRealm Studios and published by Warner Bros. Games in September 2023 as a reboot of the saga. Boon brought back Ermac’s origin at the time because the character was about to arrive in the game’s roster as downloadable content. It also served as the perfect context to present a fighter who had started as an error counter and continued to function, decades later, as a claimant. Images | YouTube Capture (Torne) | In Xataka | Independent analysts agree: “The Steam Machine is an expensive curiosity, not a gaming device for the masses”

If the alcohol industry didn’t already have enough problems, it has now encountered one more: Ozempic

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Drugs from the family of GLP-1 (glucagon-like peptide 1) hormone agonists such as Ozempic or Zepbound have represented a revolution in the global pharmaceutical market. The success of these medications intended for the treatment of diabetes has to do with their slimming effect, but the ramifications of this phenomenon go even further. There is already evidence. One of these ramifications has to do with alcohol consumption: a study from a few months ago found evidence that semaglutide, the active compound used in drugs such as Ozempic or Wegovy, can also help in the treatment of alcohol addiction. New studies confirm it: In 2026 The Lancet published a larger, longer trial with 108 participants, half on semaglutin and half on placebo for 26 weeks. The result was that people who took semaglutide reduced the days of heavy consumption by 41.1% compared to 26.4% of those who took the placebo. Chronicle of a social phenomenon. Ozempic began to gain popularity about two years ago when it was beginning to be used not to keep glycemic levels under control in people with type II diabetes, but as a weight loss treatment for both people with diabetes and those who just wanted to lose weight. In parallel, several clinical trials supported this effect and regulatory bodies approved the use of the drug for this second use. This success led to the appearance of other side effects associated with this compound, some of them positive. It was then that some laboratories got to work to test these effects. Among them an apparent reduction in alcohol consumption among those who were under this treatment. How does it work? The GLP-1 hormone plays several functions in our body, one of them being to tell us that we have satisfied our appetite. That is why drugs that work like their analogues in our body generate the same feeling of satiety, which in turn implies that we will eat less and therefore lose weight. But soon some users began to realize that this not only affected the food, but also the alcohol they consumed. Although the mechanism is not entirely clear, it can be assumed that the same mechanisms are at work. There is another factor to take into account, and that is that among the side effects Of drugs similar to Ozempic we can find stomach symptoms such as nausea and vomiting. This can also lead to making alcoholic beverages, as well as other foods, less palatable. That’s what studies are like. These studies are carried out through a randomized placebo-controlled trial. That is to say, is distributed randomly participants into two groups: one is treated with semaglutide and the other with a placebo. They thus found that the effects of the treatment were greater than those of a simple placebo, that is, the participants drank less alcohol. Although the number of days on which the participants drank was not reduced, they did so in smaller volumes. “These data suggest the potential for semaglutide and similar drugs to fill an existing need for a treatment for alcohol use disorder,” explained in a press release Klara Klein in the first published study on this, member of the team responsible for the study. “Larger studies (…) are necessary to fully understand safety and efficacy in people with (this) disorder, but these initial results are promising.” The team presented the details of the trial in an article in the magazine JAMA Psychiatry. The analyzes continue. The small sample size in this study suggests that there is still much work to do. If we want to better understand the potential of Ozempic to fight addictions and similar disorders, experiments with larger samples and studies will be needed to better understand the underlying biological mechanisms, as well as the potential risks of this use. All this while other teams investigate other potential risks and benefits of this family of drugs. An example of the potential benefits yet to be explored is in heart healtha context in which we have begun to see some potential benefits but which, as in the case of excessive alcohol consumption, we still need to explore further, but the first studies seem to go in the same direction. In Xataka | On Tinder there is a trend that is gaining weight among Generation Z: dating without a single drop of alcohol Image | Andreas M / Chemist4U

In 1778 Mozart attempted to teach composition to a French noblewoman. It didn’t go well at all, but thanks to her we now have unpublished works

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Wolfgang A. Mozart died more than two centuries ago at the age of 35, but neither the time that has passed since his death nor his youth have prevented his talent from continuing to surprise us in 2026. Literally. Although few musicians have been as scrutinized as the Austrian genius, the Bibliothèque Nationale de France (BnF) just discovered an unpublished notebook from 1778 with scores from Mozart’s hand. The 44-page work contains seven pieces for flute and harp. Beyond the artistic value, the discovery sheds new clues about his life. The date: 02/02/2026. Sometimes chance is capricious. Coincidentally, that day, a week after the 270th anniversary of Mozart’s birth, one of the BnF conservators was rummaging through old manuscripts in the archive when he came across a piece that caught his attention. “I opened it and saw staves full of deletions, corrections and additions,” relates the BcN employee, François-Pierre Goy, responsible for the collections prior to 1800. “I recognized Mozart’s handwriting, his way of drawing the brackets, the rounded treble clefs leaning forward, the double final bars with fermatas above and below,” explained Goy to Le Monde. If it is not common to find an unpublished work by Mozart, that specific discovery was even more exceptional: the notebook dates from the end of the 18th century, but it is not signed and the BnF stored it among twenty manuscripts that were in the process of being recataloged. Following the trail. Goy had a hunch (one based on his extensive knowledge of the Austrian composer), but that is not enough to attribute an anonymous notebook to Mozart. To confirm his suspicions he went to Laurence Decoberthead of the Iconography and Documentation Service of the Department of Performing Arts of the BnF and a good connoisseur of the Austrian composer. In fact, he participated in the exhibition ‘Mozart, a French passion’, in 2017. Their analysis must also have pointed to Mozart’s authorship because Goy and his colleague decided to turn to a third specialist. Just a few months ago, in April, there was a knock on the door of Armin Brinzingthe director of the Mozart Library at the Mozarteum University of Salzburg. The expert did not have many doubts either: he confirmed the attribution and, above all, highlighted the historical importance of the work. “It is Mozart’s most important discovery in decades,” claims. What does the notebook contain? The document contains 44 handwritten folios with seven short works for flute and harp, as well as composition exercises, nothing strange if we take into account the context in which the experts place it: the BnF believes that it collects the composition lessons that Mozart gave to Marie-Louise-Philippine de Bonnières de Guînesan aristocrat three years younger than the Austrian and who is remembered above all for her skill as a harpist. “The use of French paper in the manuscript and its content (composition exercises and seven pieces for flute and harp) suggest that it bears witness to the lessons that Mozart gave directly from May to July 1778, during his last stay in Paris, to de Guînes,” explains the French organization. The young harpist, who was 19 years old at the time, was the eldest daughter of Adrien-Louis de Bonnières de SouastreDuke of Guînes and great lover of music. In fact, the duke himself was reputed to be a virtuoso flutist. By hiring Mozart as a composition teacher, he hoped that his daughter would create “great sonatas” for the instruments they both played: she the harp; he the flute. “I’ve tried everything”. The notebook located between the shelves of the BnF completes an episode in Mozart’s life that we already knew in part. Through a letter that Wolfgang wrote in May 1778 to his father, Leopold, who remained in Salzburg, we know, for example, that his young pupil may have been a skilled harpist, but she did not seem to have the makings of a composer. “She has no ideas, nothing comes of it. I’ve tried everything with her,” recognized Mozart frustrated. In general, his stay in Paris was not as profitable as he expected. He did not receive the recognition he desired and Goy explains that the duke never paid the Austrian for a flute, harp and orchestra concert that he commissioned. “We don’t even know if the Guînes family ever performed the pieces.” Why is it important? Locating a lost Mozart manuscript is always good news, even more so if (as in this case) it includes several unknown pieces. The notebook found by Goy, however, presents a series of peculiarities that make it even more interesting on a historical level. For example, the works are intended for a flute that the duke had bought in London, an instrument “rare, if not unique in Paris”, clarify from the BnF. Furthermore, Mozart did not devote the same attention to the flute or harp that he did to other instruments for which he created more repertoire, such as the clarinet. The new BnF work is also completed with annotations that seem 100% taken by the student and six blank final pages, without annotations. The big question. The manuscript is fascinating, but the truth is that experts seem to have few doubts about its origin. The BnF believes that it is one of the pieces “confiscated” in the mansion of the Duke of Guînes in mid-1794, during the Terror period of the French Revolution. Goy himself remembers that in the National Archives of France there is an inventory that cites “two bundles of sheet music” bound books taken from the aristocrat’s house in May 1794, after he sought refuge in England. The truth is that in recent years music lovers have enjoyed the discovery of various works unknown by Mozart, including pieces from his adolescence. “One of the most important”. Whoever wants to enjoy the short pieces for flute and harp that have just been resurfaced from the BnF archives can do so now in a performance made June 21 in the Ovale room of … Read more

Behind the masked king in ‘Kingdom of Heaven’ was a superstar. And it didn’t even appear in the credits

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If you go to Google and search ‘The Kingdom of Heaven’the film released in 2005 by Rydley Scott, the first thing you will find is a list of its cast. In it there are some superstar accounts (actors and actresses) that you may remember from the film and one that will not be familiar to you at all. And it is logical. In fact, if it were up to her to participate in the movie would never have been revealed. His goal was to interpret, embody one of the main characters and then take a step back. It wasn’t difficult if we take into account that, although his character is key to the plot, he shot all the scenes in a couple of weeks and hidden behind a mask. 21 years are nothing. In Spain ‘The Kingdom of Heaven’ premiered in 2005a whopping 21 years ago, but that does not mean that the work in which Ridley Scott (‘Gladiator’ or ‘Blade Runner’) tried to capture the spirit of the crusades of the 12th century and the later siege of Jerusalem of 1187 continues to make people talk even today. The last example is left by the website filmstartswhich has published an article delving into one of the most unknown curiosities of the film: the identity of the actor who played the king Baldwin IVa fascinating historical figure who ascended to the throne while still a child, died when he was just over 20 years old and had to face two formidable rivals: the Sultan Saladin and leprosy, an ailment that deformed and accompanied him for much of his brief existence. What’s so curious about it? The figure of King Baudouin IV is fascinating. His character in ‘The Kingdom of Heaven’ too. If you have seen the film you will remember that in almost all of his appearances he appears with his face covered by a silver mask. The brief scene in which he is not wearing it, we are shown a face so deformed by leprosy that his features are completely blurred. It doesn’t matter which actor is behind it. The makeup makes him unrecognizable. Taking into account that the real Baudouin suffered from the same illness, the use of the mask and makeup is more than understandable. What is less common is that when the film was released, in 2005, the actor did not participate in the promotion and his name was left out of the main credits. If you check them you will see Orlando Bloom mentioned, Liam NeesonEva Green, Jeremy Irons…, all with the characters they embody; but no sign of King Baudouin. Yes, Edward Norton. The most curious thing is that the mysterious performer was a top-level star. Behind Baudouin’s mask was hidden Edward Nortonwho was 36 years old at the time. If in 2005 Scott could boast of hits like ‘Gladiator’ or ‘Black Hawk Down’, Norton was not far behind. In the late 90s he had starred in ‘American History X’ and ‘Fight Club’ and just a few years before he had participated in ‘Red Dragon or ‘The Italian Job’. If Norton did not appear in the main credits and his participation was relegated to the background for the gallery, it was not because the director or producers of the film decided so. It was the actor himself who wanted to take a step back. His goal was to get into the filming of a blockbuster, see how Scott worked… and then discreetly disappear. Furthermore, since his character wore a mask, by doing so he trusted increase your halo of mystery. Click on the image to go to the tweet. How do we know? Because it was Norton himself who told the intrastory of his participation in the film several years later. To be more precise, he did it in February 2007, during an interview with Guardian. By then his participation in ‘The Kingdom of Heaven’ was already more than known and a reader asked him a question that movie buffs had been asking for some time: “How did you manage to participate in the movie and why didn’t you appear in the credits?” His answer is very simple: at that time his schedule prevented him from getting involved in the filming, but he wanted to see first-hand how Scott directed a project of such magnitude, so he accepted a role. Of course, not just any one. “Ridley Scott and I had been talking about making a movie for years, but it never happened. He asked me if I would play another role in ‘Kingdom of Heaven,’ but I was about to shoot ‘Down in the Valley’ and simply didn’t have the time. But I read the script and asked him who would play the man in the mask. He told me he was going to find someone who could imitate Ridley’s voice. James Mason. I told him he could imitate James Mason pretty well.” A tempting offer. As if that offer wasn’t attractive enough, Scott he assured him that the king’s scenes could be filmed in “just two weeks”, which would hardly interfere with the preparation of ‘Down in the Valley’. It was the push that Norton needed, who, beyond the nuances of the leper king character, he was interested in something else: “I wanted to see how a film of that magnitude was shot.” “I could have just gone to visit him (Scott), but I was curious if the process was different when it’s so busy. He certainly knows how to shoot films of that scale and is comfortable with it.” “It was worth it”. These are not the only revelations Norton made during the interview. The American actor acknowledges that he fulfilled his goal of seeing up close how Scott performed behind the cameras and recognizes that the effort was “worth it.” However, he believed that his name should not appear in the credits. At least that’s how it appears the answer which he shared in 2007 with Guardian: “I didn’t … Read more

Computer companies didn’t make money on computers. What they are doing is making money thanks to AI servers

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On Friday, May 29, Dell shares they grew 39% suddenly. Since becoming a publicly traded company seven years ago, Dell has never had a rise like that. At first glance, this growth would seem strange, but the company has discovered that with stagnant PCs, the focus had to change. Nothing has gone wrong with that turn of the helm, but other traditional PC manufacturers have also taken advantage of the opportunity. The PC is dead, long live the server. In recent years the PC segment has been struggling with low margins and sales that have slowly been slowing down. Manufacturers were totally tied to that situation, but some have taken advantage of the opportunity that AI offered them. Dell and Lenovo rub their hands. Dell published its financial results and they were spectacular: 88% year-on-year growth thanks to the fact that its revenue in the server segment has risen 757%. Not only that, its guidance for this year has improved as well, further boosting confidence in the company’s near-term future. Lenovo also had a fantastic quarter: May was its best month on the stock market since 1999, doubling the value of your shares thanks again to that fever for hardware dedicated to AI. AI as a shield against inflation. The entire sector is experiencing a paradoxical situation: the cost of components such as DRAM memories or SSD units is absolutely shotbut companies are earning more than ever. Dell has tripled its net profit to $3.44 billion, allowing it to offset those costs through almost daily price increases. Lenovo has managed to maintain its margins because once again the market is willing to pay whatever it takes for servers and AI infrastructure. Beyond hyperscalers. One might think that to have resources in the age of AI it would be necessary to turn to hyperscalers (Amazon, Microsoft, Google), but Dell and Lenovo have shown that their experience in servers has managed to offer an alternative for all types of clients. Jeff Clarke, chief operating officer at Dell, explained that the need for AI hardware is so enormous that this segment continues to break sales records. The PC is no longer the protagonist. Although Dell’s Client Solutions division—which includes its revenue from PC and laptop sales—grew a more than decent 17%, that figure pales in comparison to the 181% growth of its infrastructure division. Lenovo follows a similar line: its shares rose 22% last Friday after confirming that its AI revenues manage to offset the weakness of the traditional PC business. The focus changes. Something similar happens with HPE, the company that spun off from HP to focus on the business segment. Its server business hasn’t grown as much, but they already have contracted orders worth $5 billion and that guarantees a promising second quarter. Other consumer products makers are also migrating to AI infrastructure: Foxconn has absolute trust in which the demand for these components will continue to be exceptional in the coming months, and the same happens with Quanta Computer, which continues to see how its servers do not stop growing in importance in revenue for the company: They were already 80% of the total in the first quarter of 2026. Image | Dell In Xataka | For some people there is something much better than having a PC at home: having a server rack

We knew that living near the sea made us “gain” years of life. What we didn’t know is that it was literally

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We have known for a long time that getting closer to nature has benefits for our health. Beyond avoiding pollution in our cities, getting closer to the natural environments around us can improve our psychological well-being, perhaps even encouraging us to lead a more active life. Little by little, we are also observing that something similar happens if we change the mountain for the sea. More sea, more life. A study has observed a correlation between residing in coastal areas and greater longevity. The analysis provide evidence of the link between bodies of water and the health and well-being of people. Of course, the relationship between “blue spaces” and health is a little more complex than it might seem. 50 kilometers. The study observed that the benefits of living near the ocean improved the quality of life of people residing within a strip of about 50 kilometers of the coast. Inland, however, they observed a very different trend: people who lived near bodies of water of a certain size (about 10 km² in surface area) tended to have shorter life expectancies. “Globally, coastal residents are expected to live a year or more longer than the median age of 79, and those who lived in more urban areas near inland rivers and lakes were more likely to die around age 78. Coastal residents likely lived longer due to a variety of interconnected factors,” highlighted in a press release Jianyong “Jamie” Wu, member of the team responsible for the study. 66,000 census areas. The study was carried out in the United States, where the team analyzed 66,263 census areas, studying life expectancy and its relationship not only with the proximity of bodies of water, but also with socioeconomic and demographic factors to control the results. Details of the study can be found in an article published in the magazine Environmental Research. Searching for the cause. The team points out different factors that could mediate this relationship, such as milder temperatures, better air quality, more opportunities for recreational activities, better transportation, less vulnerability to droughts, or income. These factors could explain why residing near the coast is associated with a longer life expectancy, in contrast to people who live near inland waters. “Pollution, poverty, lack of opportunities to be physically active and a greater risk of flooding are the main triggers for these differences,” Yanni Cao indicatedco-author of the study. Correlation or cause? Fits remember that the existence of a correlation does not always imply the existence of a direct (or even indirect) causal relationship. For example, if income is the determining factor, this causal relationship could take different forms. A possible route would start from the fact that the coastal areas they would be more expensiveso they would attract people with more income, income being a factor that we know affects our life expectancy. Another possible way would be that coastal areas generate higher incomes by offering more job opportunities, and these incomes would again be the determining factor in longevity. In both cases the mediating factor is the same, but the causal relationship is not. In Xataka | Why it is hotter in cities than in the countryside: the urban heat island effect In Xataka | Perhaps aging better does not depend only on the body: science is also beginning to study the effect of art and culture Image | Emiliano Arano This article was originally published in August 2025

The ‘Improved Games’ wanted to show that the future of sport is doping. Things didn’t go as expected

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It is still too early to know if the Enhanced Gamesthe famous ‘Enhanced Games’ that were held this weekend in Las Vegas with some rules on doping infinitely more lax than those of any competition recognized by the IOC, will achieve their commercial objectives. Whether or not it has been an effective marketing campaign. What is already clear is that they have deflated at a sporting level. Its organizers promised an evening full of heart-stopping records and marks by athletes ‘enhanced’ with steroids, EPO or testosterone, but they have obtained only one record. The question that remains is… And now, what? Doped athletes? To the Enhanced Games Many things may be blamed on them and their philosophy will be more or less convincing, but there is one thing that cannot be blamed on them: going head-on. The event, held over the weekend in Las Vegas with the pomp of a great showadvanced its objective already in its name: ‘Improved Games’. Its purpose was to organize an athletics, swimming and weightlifting competition in which athletes could doping almost without restrictions. The only limit was that they did not use illegal drugs and the drugs had been prescribed by a doctor. From there, wide Castilla: anabolic steroids, testosterone, EPO… The use of prohibited equipment was even allowed, such as polyurethane suits similar to those that the International Swimming Federation (FINA) banned years ago. The idea was very simple: to prove that, in order not to remain “stuck” and allow athletes to give “the best version” of themselves, official sport must rethink its vetoes. @enhanced_games A $1,000,000 WORLD RECORD SWIM! Kristian Gkolomeev wins the Men’s 50m Freestyle in 20.81 and takes home $1,000,000 bonus + 250,000 first place finish and reclaims his 50M Freestyle world record. ♬ original sound – Enhanced Games The value of a good show. Although the idea is provocative and has earned it enormous media exposure, the organizers of the Enhanced Games wanted to give the event the appearance of a great show. The competition was held at Resorts World in Las Vegas, in a stadium with capacity for 2,500 people and after months of a speech measured to the millimeter to generate expectation. In his favor he had two great claims, beyond the controversy. The first, a team of media athletes. Among the athletes who agreed to participate, Olympic medalists or podiums from world tournaments such as Leidy Solis (silver in Beijing 2008), Fred Kerley (silver in Tokyo 2020), Kristian Gkolomeev (silver at Gwangju 2019) or Hafþór Björnssonweightlifter who reached a world record in 2025 and is famous above all for playing “the Mountain” in ‘Game of Thrones’. And that among a wide etcetera. 42 athletes. In total, 42 athletes (sprinters, swimmers and weightlifters) participated in the Enhanced Games, the vast majority of whom were doped. Guardian precise that of all of them there were only three people who chose to participate in the tests in a ‘clean’ way, without consuming chemical substances that would be equivalent to a disqualification in any official tournament. Their participation in the event gave an extra point of epicness to the Enhanced Games and reinforced its main challenge: Can the consumption of testosterone, EPO, steroids or polyurethane suits really make a difference? Don’t say sport, say money. The second claim that we referred to before explains what Gkolomeev, Björnsson and many other athletes who agreed to participate in the Enhanced Games were doing yesterday in Las Vegas. Beyond their greater or lesser harmony with the underlying message, if they decided to compete it was because the organization promised great awards: $500,000 per test, half of it for the winner. If he also managed to set a world record in one of the “definitive tests” (100 m dash and 50 m freestyle) he could earn an extra one million. And how was it? Not as good as the organizers (probably) expected. Despite the expectation generated, the advertisements who claimed that records were already being broken in training and throughout the hype generated around the use of chemicals, the reality is that the first Enhanced Games only managed to crown a world record. The Greek swimmer did it Kristian Gkolomeevalmost in extremis. Under the watchful eye of the organizers, he managed to complete the 50 meter freestyle in 20.81 seconds, slightly lower than the 20.88 official record achieved by the Australian. Cameron McEvoy in March. Proof of the relief that this meant for those responsible for the Enhanced Games is that, after the race (and in further demonstration that the tournament was more intended as a show than a sporting event), the executive director of the ‘Games’, Max Martin, he knelt before Gkolomeev to proclaim his victory. The mark of 20.81 will not be officially valid, but it will allow the Greek to pocket the bonus of one million dollars. “Maybe next year I’ll beat it again,” he said. A pyrrhic victory. Martin did not save on superlatives when evaluating the competition and went so far as to celebrate that the Enhanced Games have “changed the world”. “We have seen how records were broken and how 12 athletes broke personal bests,” celebrated. The reality is that the balance of the first ‘Improved Games’ has been discreet and has certainly fallen far below the expectations generated by the organization itself. Beyond the consumption of doping substances allowed in the event, Gkolomeev, for example, scratched his record with the help of a ‘supersuit’ banned by FINA. Doped vs ‘clean’. Apart from the fact that there were athletes who broke their “personal records” thanks to doping, as the organization claims, in some cases the competitions were won by the few athletes who claimed not to use drugs. This was the case, for example, of Hunter Armstrong, who won the 50 m backstroke against two doped rivals, or the sprinters Tristan Evelyn and Fred Kerley, who in addition to taking the winner’s check he threw a jibe to their opponents: “They have to train a little harder, … Read more

Six reasons why I didn’t buy a Kindle and won’t regret it in 2026

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Almost four years ago I made the leap to eReaders (electronic book readers) to, in a way, force myself to read a little. At that time I hadn’t gotten into reading for quite some time and I wanted to buy a reader. But there were many to choose from. Kindle was my first choice because they are the best known, but after a lot of reading, especially analysis, and watching a few videos of use experiences, I opted for the Kobo Clara 2Ethe previous generation of the current Kobo Clara BW (129 euros) and is also available in a version with a color screen called Kobo Clara Color (169 euros). Now, Why did I finally choose this eReader and not a Kindle? These are all the reasons that led me to it, and those that keep me “stuck” to the brand. The price could vary. We earn commission from these links First eReader or casual readers To anyone who makes the jump to an eReader for the first time or who simply reads from time to time, I recommend that Don’t spend too much money on a reader. The experience is different from reading physically and if you haven’t tried an eReader for a few hours it is better to go for a model with a good quality-price ratio than to buy something that you don’t end up liking. Here we can find the basic Kindle (119 euros), but it has certain shortcomings compared to the Kobo Clara 2E or the Kobo Clara BW, such as water resistance. I was looking for a model with which I would have a very good experience so that it would be attractive for me to read, always taking into account the price. The Kobo Clara BW currently sits between the basic Kindle and the Kindle Paperwhite (169 euros), but it costs little more than the first. Unless we are looking for a much cheaper model (maximum about 80 euros), I would bet on Rakuten first. Amazon Kindle (latest generation) The price could vary. We earn commission from these links How difficult it was to pass books from the computer Amazon has made it a lot simpler over the years, but Before it was not so easy to transfer books from the computer to the reader. I don’t like shopping on my mobile at all and I do everything from my PC, so the “odyssey” that I was at that time set me back a lot. Yes I know that Caliber It has always been there and is one of the best digital book organizers we can have. But I’ve always preferred not having to install anything to do something as basic as transferring a file to a device. Water resistance, audiobooks and more When I bought the eReader I did so with one goal in mind: to read all the published novels of A Song of Ice and Fire, those of ‘Game of Thrones‘ by George R.R. Martin. Although it is true that I did not get to read them all because I have been delving into other literary works, I wanted to do it with a compact device that would allow me to read anywhere. And when I say anywhere, I mean anywhere. By this I mean that I enjoy reading on the train, on the terrace of a cafe and even in the pool. If there is something that has seemed essential to me, it is the water resistance from Rakuten Kobo. We don’t see it on the basic Kindle and over the years it has become an increasingly important feature to me. After all, they are devices that are oriented towards portability because you can carry thousands of books in a single reader. There are also other functions that I find especially interesting, although these can also be found in Amazon eReaders. A good example is that of the audiobook playback. It is not something that I have used personally, but I do find it very practical to continue enjoying literature in certain scenarios, such as when driving. Origami covers It may seem silly, but when buying the Kobo Clara 2E I also did so thinking about the origami case that I also bought that same day (it is also available for the Kobo Clara Color / BW and for him Kobo Libra Color). It is a folding case that allows you to support the reader on a surface to act as a support. And I find it especially interesting for several reasons. The first is that you can fold the case to better grip the reader. But above all, I found this cover practical because for some time now I have been using a treadmill next to a lift-up desk. Sometimes I watch a series on the computer, but other times I delve into reading. And I can do it without having to pick up the eReader; I put it on the table and that’s it. SleepCover for Kobo Clara Color/BW The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Amazon support What makes me not want to get into Kindle? While it is true that some eReaders seem very attractive to me (Paperwhite and Colorsoft Signature Edition mainly), news like that Amazon will stop supporting some of its models…they pull me very far back. It’s not the end of the world, but eReaders are very durable devices. And the fact that the Kindle that you bought in 2011 continues to work as it did on the first day and that you lose access to the Amazon store through the reader… is not something that particularly attracts me. Readers with color screen The Kobo Clara 2E has its limitations when it comes to reading manga, and especially comics and magazines. In any case, the six-inch screen is fine for reading only text because it doesn’t matter if the page is cut, you will have a good experience. But of course, it can’t be cut into manga, comics … Read more

The banks didn’t want anything to do with oil. Wall Street has solved it with the 2008 mortgage strategy

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Oil and gas producers in the United States are turning to the financial magic of Wall Street to fuel their acquisitions in a frenetic race for growth. To achieve this, they are packaging thousands of pots into investment vehicles and selling stakes to American investors, replicating the exact same model that has long been used for mortgages, auto loans and other sources of securitized income. Away from the spotlight, the number of these operations has grown rapidly in recent years. Industry experts consulted by Financial Times They estimate that the total amount of debt issued through this format already ranges between 20,000 and 30,000 million dollars. It is a fundamentally opaque market, where most transactions are closed privately. Historically, independent oil and gas producers financed its operations through loans reserve-based (RBL) and high-yield debt. However, the situation has changed drastically. Some commercial banks have reduced their exposure to the extractive sector to meet their sustainability strategies under environmental, social and governance (ESG) policies, or in response to public concern over climate change. Added to this is the fear of traditional investors of “stranded assets” and the general uncertainty about the long-term viability of the sector in the midst of the energy transition. In addition, rising interest rates have raised costs, making high-yield debt too expensive or inaccessible for many producers. To survive, companies They have found an alternative way: They transfer their mature wells, known as proven, developed and producing (PDP) reserves, to a newly created Special Purpose Entity (SPE). This entity operates independently and is structured to be “bankruptcy-remote”, ensuring that the transferred assets are completely separate from the balance sheet of the producing company and safe in the event of its bankruptcy. Attracting conservative money By isolating these high-quality assets, the bonds issued by the SPE manage to achieve an “investment grade” rating. This seal of quality attracts a new class of investors who would normally avoid oil risk: pension funds, insurance companies and large asset managers looking for structured financial products with stable returns. For the oil companies, business is great. The securitization allows them to obtain advance rates (advance rates) of between 55% and 75% of the value of the reserves, figures significantly higher than those available in traditional RBL loans. To convince credit rating agencies, the secret lies in diversification and insurance. On the one hand, thousands of assets are grouped together; for example, Raisa Energy closed an operation combining more than 3,000 wells operated by more than 50 companies in more than 20 counties. On the other hand, long-term hedges are contracted to protect investors from oil fluctuations, reaching up to 85% of the entity’s production for a period of five to seven years. The “time bomb” and the cracks in private credit But financial engineering sometimes hides structural cracks. Brandon Davis, founder of energy intelligence company AFE Leaks, describes in FT These price hedges act as a “ticking time bomb” in case other production costs increase. If the price of oil rises, the company’s income is capped because the difference goes to the hedging counterparty (usually a bank). However, if at the same time there is inflation in operating costs, such as field services or water treatment, the profit margin backing the bonds could be seriously eroded. The cracks in this engineering are not an isolated case in the energy sector, but a symptom of a greater malaise in the opaque world of private credit on Wall Street, where patience (and money) is beginning to run out. This risk is framed at a time of growing tension for the entire private credit ecosystem on Wall Street. Investors are starting to demand their money back. In Cliffwater’s $33 billion fund, clients requested to withdraw 14% of their capital in a single quarter, but the firm said it only I would pay around 50% of those requests, forcing the other half to wait. If the panic spreads, traditional banks will not escape unscathed either. Lending by US banks to non-depository financial institutions, which includes private credit, reached 1.2 trillion dollars in the middle of last year, almost tripling its share compared to a decade ago. Furthermore, as with oil wells, the securitization market as a whole is extremely sensitive to external regulatory or macroeconomic shocks. A clear example occurred recently in another sector: Mpower Financing had to postpone the sale of almost $250 million in bonds backed by loans to international students. The cause was investors’ fear of the new restrictive visa policies of the Donald Trump administration. If regulatory changes or geopolitical crises hit the energy sector unexpectedly, oil securitization could face a similar collapse in demand. The danger of forgetting the nature of the business Wall Street has packaged a high-risk industry into a tame-looking product, but geology and the global market are difficult to tame. “The trick has always been to convince the rating agencies that measures have been put in place to mitigate the risk,” warns Olivier Darmounieconomist specialized in credit markets at HEC Paris. “But that’s the inherent thing about oil and gas, it’s an inherently volatile business.” Darmouni points out the ultimate risk: “If something goes wrong, the main problem will be that oil and gas will run out of capital” if producers start defaulting on bond payments. As long as the money keeps flowing, the machine will not stop. But as Laura Parrott warnshead of private fixed income at Nuveen, the market is experiencing a lot of effervescence. In scenarios of such investment fever, he concludes, “people are going to be trapped.” Image | Photo by David Vives on Unsplash Xataka | Climate change is no longer profitable: WallStreet and large investors abandon green policies

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