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The Middle Ages seem like a dark age. Until you discover that they were able to count up to 9,999 on their fingers.

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Historians have been trying for decades free her from her bad reputationbut it’s still hard not to feel a pang of compassion when one thinks of the Middle Ages. Logical. We have been burned with the idea that it was a time of wars, epidemicsfamines, wars and superstition in which humanity moved away from the advances of previous centuries to throw itself into the arms of barbarism. Things change when you find out that an 8th century monk was capable of doing something that will probably seem impossible to you (and most people): count up to 9,999 with your handsrepresenting any number with just your fingers. Count with your hands? Exact. If we keep doing it in a rudimentary way (and limited) today, in a time when almost everyone walks around with a phone in their pocket, imagine how important the art of counting on your fingers was centuries ago. How do you do addition and subtraction when you have nothing to rely on? And by nothing we do not mean a calculator or a primitive abacus, but tools as basic as paper and a pencil or pen to take notes. For centuries those who wanted to do calculations were content with what was closest to hand. And usually that was (pardon the redundancy) his own hands, his 10 fingers and the universe of combinations that opened up his joints and, above all, his imagination. The result is an ancient art that has fallen into disuse over the centuries, but came to acquire an astonishing level of perfection. In fact it can date back to ancient times, long before the Middle Ages. One name: Bede Venerabilis. If we know the peculiar way our ancestors had to count astronomical figures with their fingers, it is thanks largely to a Benedictine monk who lived between the 7th and 8th centuries in what is now the United Kingdom. His name: Bede, although he is usually known as Saint Bede the Venerable. In 725 the religious wrote ‘De temporum ratione’ (‘The Calculation of Time’), a treatise that talks about the cosmos, calendars and the best way to calculate the date of Easter, a relevant topic in its day. Before addressing most of these questions, the author however touches on a simpler and more important question: “De computo vel loquela digitorum”how to make beads with your fingers. Bede does not expose us to a system devised by him, but rather he describes to us a practical art that has its roots long ago. The power of one hand. “Before we begin, with the help of God, to talk about chronology and its calculation, we consider it necessary to first briefly show the very necessary and practical technique of counting on the fingers,” starts Bede in the first chapter. From there it goes on to explain how we should place our fingers to show the numbers from 1 to 9,999. By complicating the system a little more you can reach 999,999. There is even a symbol for the million “Somma di arithmetica”, by Luca Pacioli. And how the hell do they do it? With imagination, ingenuity and also a certain agility with the hands. Especially if what we want is to represent high figures. In Scientific Culture UPV/EHU mathematics professor Raúl Ibáñez signs an interesting article which details how the system works, including graphics and translated quotes from Bede himself, who first explains how to place the fingers of the left hand to represent low numbers. “When you say one, bending the left little finger, place it in the middle joint of the palm. When you say two, bend the second finger placing it in the same place,” clarifies the Benedictine monkwho continues patiently explaining to us how to show figures with the left hand, move to tens or make the jump to hundreds and thousands with the help of the right. The key is in the meaning of each hand and groups of fingers, which are assigned the value of the units of thousands, hundreds, tens and ones. If we want to go further and express tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands we will only have to vary the position of each of the hands with respect to the body. Beyond the Middle Ages. In a video published in 2020 by the BBC, Seb Falk, author of ‘The Light Ages’, also explains how centuries ago they managed to represent astronomical quantities with their fingers. The most surprising thing is that the system long predates Vera. “It was used from Roman times to the Middle Ages (11th to 13th centuries) throughout Europe,” says the historian. “Just as when we write we have a column for units, another for tens, for hundreds and thousands, they dedicate the little finger, ring and middle fingers of the left hand to the units and the index and thumb to the tens. On the right, the thumb and index indicate the hundreds and the other fingers, the thousands.” In short: ten fingers, 9,999 numbers. It’s all a matter of internalizing the system, understanding its dynamics and playing with positions. The truth is that the method is so curious that it has aroused the interest of authors after Bede, such as the mathematician Jacob Leupoldwho addresses it in an 18th century treatise; or the famous Luca Pacioliwhich refers to (with some changes) in ‘Summa’. Why get so complicated? At a time when we are accustomed to walking with smartphones (with their respective calculators) in their pockets and it is not difficult to find paper and ink, perhaps we will be surprised by the system that the Venerable Bede tells us about. Things change when we think about the resources they had available centuries ago. And the range of possibilities that such a system opened up, which only needs something as simple and universal as the fingers of the hands. “It was a code, a sign language, that was used in markets, as it was an effective way to communicate … Read more

you discover that your partner is cheating on you

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“Crazy eye is not wrong,” shouted a television celebrity who became a meme for that phrase. And maybe he was right. Only today that intuition no longer depends on smell, but on artificial intelligence. Where once a suspicious perfume or an after-hours message was enough, there are now algorithms that track faces, locations and profiles with a precision that would make the best private detective shudder. In the era of digital loveeven detect the horns has been updated with a new app: Cheater Buster. Formerly known as Swipebusterthis application was born in 2016 with a direct promise: let you know if your partner has an active profile on Tinder, the dating app most used in the world. Its operation is simple: the user enters the name, approximate age and a location. Within minutes, the platform scans Tinder for matches. The disturbing thing comes with its latest update: facial recognition. According to the company itselfnow it is enough to upload a photo for the system to search for visually similar profiles, even if the user uses a fake name or a different alias. “We learned that people want answers, not suspicions,” They explain from the official website. For a price that around €17.99 per searchthe app offers data such as the last connection, the place where Tinder was last used, the date the account was created and even if the profile has a premium subscription (Tinder Gold either Platinum). All without having to have a Tinder account. The service boasts 97-99% accuracy, and a minimalist privacy policy: it only requires an email to operate. “While it may seem deceptive to use an app to catch a cheater, it is also deceptive to deceive someone,” defend their creators. The digital jealousy industry Cheater Buster is not alone. There are dozens of apps and platforms that promote romantic surveillance. According to the legal portal Versus TexasWe live in an era of digital infidelitywhere deceptions “no longer require motels or secret calls,” but rather apps that disguise themselves as calculators, file managers or even news readers. Among the most hidden, according to that medium, are: Calculator Pro+ or KYMS, which appear to be simple mathematical utilities, but hide secret photo galleries or encrypted chats. Telegram and Signal, which allow conversations with self-destructive messages. CoverMe, which offers fake phone numbers and “shake lock” features. The phenomenon has even reached viral entertainment. On social networks, creators like Jorge Cyrus, with his series Exposing Infidelsshow the extent to which digital research has become a form of spectacle. In one of his latest videosFor example, downloads data from a Netflix account (with the user’s permission) to track the IP addresses used by her partner and, through ChatGPT and public databases, determines that the boyfriend was not in Almería, but in Valencia. Domestic technology turned into sentimental detective. But the problem goes beyond gossip. On social networks, every click, like or search leaves a trace. We live in an ecosystem where privacy is an illusion. All you need is a phone number (as happened to my partner) or a social media account to reconstruct a person’s digital identity and access information about their love life, location or interests. From here we enter the field of “digital shadow”– Even deleted or old data can persist on invisible servers and databases. The culture of everyday surveillance This excess exposure turns everyone into potential surveillance, you no longer need to be a hacker to discover infidelity. Today, anyone with time and curiosity can keep track of a partner through their digital activity, their connections or their last “online.” Recent studies warn of the growing normalization of these practices. One of them, published under the title I’m not for salereveals that many young users do not understand the real extent of tracking personal data, especially location data. another job, A Systematic Survey of Unintentional Information Disclosure, documents how small, everyday actions—uploading a photo, commenting on a post, liking it—can reveal intimate patterns of behavior without conscious intent. The phenomenon not only affects love, but our notion of intimacy. According to ISACA, More than 60% of global users are willing to sacrifice some of their privacy “in exchange for trust or transparency.” This logic, applied to relationships, explains the growing normalization of espionage consensual: checking the partner’s cell phone, sharing passwords, using apps to track locations. But the ethical limit is diffuse. To what extent is it legitimate to use artificial intelligence to confirm a suspicion? An Oxford study shows that AI-mediated decisions They can distort our perception of what is ethical or acceptable, especially in emotional contexts. If an algorithm suggests to us that someone is lying, are we more likely to believe it without human evidence? The British sociologist Toby Paton, director of the Netflix documentary about Ashley Madisonsummed it up like this: “Infidelity was not invented by the Internet, but it was made quantifiable. Today, deception leaves metadata.” Additionally, privacy experts warn that uploading another person’s photo without their consent to a facial recognition database can violate he General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which considers this type of information to be especially sensitive biometric data. In this context, tools like Cheater Buster arouse both fascination and concern. Its clean interface and its promise of “emotional tranquility” hide a deep debate: to what extent can we—or should we—keep an eye on the one we love? The moral dilemma multiplies when we remember that these searches can be done without consent. Although the app claims it does not store sensitive data, the simple act of uploading a photo of another person to a facial recognition database already violates basic privacy principles. Loving suspicion has always existed, but today it is supported in gigabytes and GPS coordinates. Technology didn’t invent infidelity, it just made it easier to prove. Perhaps, as the Netflix documentary on Ashley Madisonthe most disturbing thing is not that these tools exist, but that they reflect an uncomfortable truth: that fidelity no longer depends only on the will, but also … Read more

Encell has everything to house extraterrestrial life. And Europe is moving to discover it before anyone else

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When NASA’s Cassini probe sent the first images of the water vapor jet That world was not dead. It was on, and the content of an underground ocean was expelling to space. Since then, Each new satellite data He has reinforced an idea that excites astrobiologists: if there is a place beyond the earth where to look for life, it is there. Short. A new Cassini data analysis, collected almost twenty years ago, has reinforced the possibility of Encelado to meet all the conditions to house life. The European space agency is clear: Encell is already a central objective of its long -term exploration plan, and it is time to launch a mission to answer the big question at once. The ingredients for life. For life to exist as we know it, three things are needed: liquid water, energy and several basic chemical elements: carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorus and sulfur. Once all seems to have them. We know that a global saltwater ocean is hidden under its icy cortex. The energy is provided by the friction of the tides that Saturn causes and, probably, Hydrothermal sources in the seabedsimilar to fumaroles that here are full of bacteria and more complex organisms, such as worms and snails. Promising news. Thanks to the brain speakers, who launch samples to space, Cassini was able to analyze the composition of their ocean. Although most of the essential elements had already been detected, including phosphorus, a new finding between probe data has re -raised enthusiasm. A study published in Nature Astronomy Analyzes a Cassini flight from 2008. The ship crossed the brain feathers at 18 km/s. That speed, which seemed like a problem, turned out to be useful: the impact broke the molecules in a way that allowed them to identify them better. The result has been the discovery of new complex organic molecules, such as aliphatic compounds, esters, ethers and other molecules with nitrogen and oxygen. On Earth, these molecules are linked to reactions that give rise to amino acids, the basic pieces of proteins. ESA plans. With such promising scenario, Europe does not want to be left behind. In his scientific road map Voyage 2050, Encesto is already the star destination for a future mission. The idea includes an orbiter and a landing module. The orbiter would fly over the brain feathers several times with more precise instruments than Cassini. The landing would pose near the “stripes of Tigre” of the South Pole, where the geysers emerge, to directly collect the newly fallen snow. It would be the first time that a probe analyzes a world with an active ocean, although it would not reach the surface until 2058. Europe is not alone in the race. The United States also has its proposal: the mission Alcamadus orbilandermarked as a maximum priority in the Survey decadal of 2023. Your plan is very similar: orbit first and then land. China, meanwhile, already works in nuclear technology for deep space probes and Enced is among its future goals. Image | POT In Xataka | If we want to find extraterrestrial life, we already know at what point in the space we must look for: the “Terminator”

Five months later we continue to discover things about the blackout in Spain. And every time they are worse news for Europe

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Five months later of the great blackout of April 28a preliminary report from the Technological Research Institute (IIT) of the Pontifical University Comillas has put the focus in an insufficient synchronous generation program in the peninsular south as a “fundamental cause” of the electric zero. The document, commissioned by Endesa and Iberdrola and sent to Entso-E, also questions operational maneuvers of Electrica de España (REE). A “collapse due to overtension.” The report introduces this unpublished concept in Europe. A phenomenon in which the tension rises uncontrollably by disconnecting renewable generation that operates with constant power factor. According to IIT calculationsthe safety margin available on the 220 kV network was 1,019 MW, but the disconnections exceeded 1,600 MW. Take into practice it would be when a renewable plant is disconnected, the tension rises. That increase causes new disconnections, which makes the tension rise more, in a vicious circle that ends in the collapse.As details the quotation note of Comillasthat cascade reaction is not precedents in the continent and shows that the simple verification that the tension is within the “is not enough” range to guarantee stability. A fragile and little inertia network. The debate is not “renewable yes or no”, but how to adapt the network and how it operates in high renewable penetration scenarios. The Iit Identify four critical points: Little programmed synchronous generation: in Andalusia there was alone A combined cycle group On the way, when the usual were several. Weak Network: At 9:00 in the morning, 35% of the 400 kV network was disconnected in the central and south areas. Dopsy inertia: In Andalusia it fell to 1.3 seconds, 35% less than the 2 seconds recommended by Entso-e. Risky maneuvers: between 12:00 and 12:30, Ree He connected eleven lines additional to try to cushion the oscillations, but those operations further reduced the safety margin. The chronology of a collapse announced. The government report had already described one morning with “Atypical volatility”. At 12:03 there was a first 0.6 Hz oscillation; At 12:19, another of 0.2 Hz but with a three -time amplitude. To stabilize, Ree reduced exports and connected lines that were disconnected. Far from improving the situation, the system tension increased. At 12:26, ​​the operator reached order the start From a combined cycle center in Andalusia, but the coupling time was more than an hour and a half: there was no room. From 12:32 The chain reaction began. At 12:33:19, the Peninsula It was completely dark. Shock of stories. Here it opens The crack between reports. The Government pointed to Ree in June for poor programming and a “insufficiency of dynamic tensions control capabilities.” Ree, in his own document, replied that there were several power plants that did not fulfill their obligation to absorb reactive energy, which aggravated the crisis. The electrical companies, meanwhile, denied any ruling and accused the government and ree of “opacity.” The new IIT report adds to debate Reinforcing the thesis that a scheduled synchronous generation was missing and questioning the operational maneuvers of the system operator, although it emphasizes that the analysis has the endorsement of international experts such as Goran Anderson and Pier Luigi Mancarella. And now what? The IIT recommends reviewing synchronous generation programming, strengthening tension control, using more predictive metrics and better coordinating all agents. The Government tried in July to approve A decree “antiapages” with sanctions, greater public control and more prominence for self -consumption, but the text shipwrecked in Congress. In addition, the Iberian Peninsula remains an “energy island”, with only 3% interconnection with France, which amplifies any operational error. Therefore, Spain and Portugal They have pressured To Paris to accelerate interconnection runners, “fed up with promises without calendar.” Closer and closer. Next Thursday, the European Network of Transmission Systems Operators (ENTSO-E) will publish your factual report with detailed chronology and the final technical data of the 28th. That document will be the basis on which Brussels and Member States discuss responsibilities and measures. The story of the 28th is not yet closed. And the Comillas report has just reopened it with a clear message: the energy transition does not fail to be fast, but for do not reinforce the network and the rules at the same pace. Image | Freepik Xataka | Selling smoke is now a business in Soria: it purifies it and sells it as CO2 to make soft drinks

We have taken 60 years to discover that a key treatment against diabetes does not work as we thought

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The drugs may well be the substance that we study the most before getting the market: preclinical and clinical trials; experiments In vitroin animals and in people … everything to make sure the treatment is safe and works. But sometimes the question is another: because works. Because the answer can be so complex that we are late for decades to unravel it at all. Also in the brain. Something like that It has happened with metformina compound used for more than six decades in the treatment of diabetes: a new study has found that This drug It acts in our brain and not only in the liver as we believed before. The discovery opens the door to possible new therapeutic, more effective and precise pathways, in the treatment of diabetes. Rap1. The new study develops around Rap1 proteina protein that is usually found in the brain region known as ventromedial hypothalamus (VMH). As the team observed in its analysis, metformin acts in this region “turn off” the rap1 function. Modified mice. To check it, the team administered a high fat diet, with which they emulated the effects of type 2 diabetes, to modified mice so that they did not have the rap1 protein in their VMH. Then they administered several types of drugs against diabetes: metformin, insulin and GLP-1 agonists (peptide similar to glucagon 1). When this protein disappeared, metformin ceased to be effective in reducing blood sugar while the other treatments continued to work. The team performed another test to demonstrate the key role of the brain in the functioning of metformin. For this they inject small amounts of the drug diréctorly into the brains of mice with diabetes. They were able to observe that, in doing their blood sugar levels, they decreased, even with “thousands of times smaller” doses of which they are usually administered orally. Combined action. The new study suggests that the biochemical mechanisms with which metformin acts in our body are more complex than we thought. Until now we knew that the drug acted on the liver and we also had evidence that the intestines also act. Now we not only have evidence that it acts on the brain, but it seems that in this context it responds to smaller doses than is required to act in the other areas of the body. The details of the study have been published In an article In the magazine Science Advances. New treatments. The responsible team keeps the hope that the new discovery will contribute to the development of new treatments against diabetes, drugs that focus on this “path” of the brain. The effects of this drug go beyond the control of diabetes, the team recalls: it has also been linked to slower cerebral aging. Of course, it can also have adverse effects, although uncommon, one of the most serious is lactic acidosis, a serious and potentially deadly disease. In Xataka | This is the great hope of competition to replace Ozempic. Your weapon: banish needles with a pill Image | Sweet Life

Galileo Galilei of the 21st century is an unknown man who has discovered more moons than no one is going to discover

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If they asked you about an astronomer, you would probably think of Copernicus or Galileo Galilei. Maybe Carl Sagan came to mind. If they add “to be alive,” you might answer Neil Degrasse Tyson or, in the event that you are a fan of Queen, Brian May. The name that would hardly come out in the conversation is Scott S. Sheppard, an astronomer as prolific as unknown. The number 1 in yours. Yeah Cristiano Ronaldo He is the greatest scorer in the history of professional football, Scott S. Sheppard is the CR7 to discover objects in our solar system. In total, he has put his name in more than 200 planetary moons: 78 of Jupiter, 119 of Saturn, three from Uranus and three of Neptune. Practically half of all known planetary moons. A record that, as points out Iflscienceprobably will never be overcome, and he has continued to swell it in recent months. The true king of Jupiter. In April, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) confirmed the discovery of two new moons in Jupiter, raising the official total giant to 97. Their provisional names are S/2017 J 11 and S/2017 J 10. Both are small moons and with retrograde orbits, that is, they revolve in the opposite direction to the rotation of the planet, something common in the outer and smaller satellites of Jupiter. And yes, he has discovered them Scott S. Sheppardthat with these two new findings, he adds almost 80 moons of Jupiter to his credit. To put it in perspective: Galileo discovered the first and largest moons of Jupiter in 1610. Since 2000, Sheppard has overwhelmingly dominated the search for Jovian satellites. What is resisting: Planet 9. He extensive curriculum Sheppard looks more like the index of an astronomical atlas than to the discoveries of a single person. In addition to natural satellites in Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptunethis astronomer of the Carnegie Institution for Science in Washington DC has also discovered 23 minor planets, six candidates for dwarf planets, three comets that bear their name (Sheppard – Trujillo, Sheppard – Tholen and Trujillo – Sheppard) and The most distant object ever observed In the Solar System: 2018 Ag37 “Farfarout”, about 130 times the distance between Earth and the Sun. This is where your work becomes even more fascinating. Many of his discoveries are transneptunian objects such as 541132 Leleākūhonua “The Goblin”. And it is no accident. Sheppard and his colleague Chadwick Trujillo found them while looking for something much bigger: The hypothetical planet nine. Themselves proposed in 2014 The existence of a superstraier -type distant planet to explain the strange orbits grouped from objects such as the Minor Sedna planet. Image | Carnegie Science In Xataka | What types of satellites exist: guide not to get lost in a gigantic network of which we are increasingly dependent

It is a masterpiece of the Spanish comic, but they had to discover ‘Paracuellos’ in France so that we would pay attention here

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It is unanimously considered one of the masterpieces of the Spanish comic: ‘Paracuellos’ by Carlos Giménez is genuinely (for his tone, for his graphics and, of course, for his theme) from here. However, It was not easy to find a hole in our bookstores. As if one of the stunted children of the work were, ‘Paracuellos’ was the result of an initial misunderstanding that forced Giménez to seek space in other markets. And then he returned in style. ‘Paracuellos’ is one of those capital works of the Spanish comic that is simple to find in any bookstore. He coda in that sense with ‘Maus’, with ‘Watchmen’, and within the national space, with Mortadelowith Superlópez and with few more, because the editorial world of comic in Spain is a continuous recycling of successes. But finding ‘Paracuellos’ is, for years, very easy: in fact, Penguin Random House has launched a total edition on the occasion of its 50th anniversary that collects all the volumes of this work in giant format. Their virtues are obvious From the first moment: above all, the exquisite drawing of Giménez, supernaturally endowed to provide overwhelming personality to his creatures, is already in 1975, when he began to create it, absolutely extraordinary. A lot of Children dressed all the same, but each with a very important personality Thanks to the looks, sad and naive, but very distinctive, with which they receive the designs of adults (educators, wardens, nuns, inspectors, family members, members of the phalanx). As a good heir to the tradition of the Españo and the Spanish Berlanguian cartoon, it is the portrait of a terrible situation but without humor disappearing completely from children’s lives. Children marked by fears of very diverse type (to be abandoned, to be beaten, to lose the few privileges that scratch among their peers -because they know how to draw, because they have a toy, because they know how to play football -), but at the same time they are unable to lose their innocence, which turns their adventures into experiences halfway between the endearing and terrible. And, of course, above any other value, there is the ruthless portrait, in the first person (We are not, yes, before a strictly biographical comicalthough in part it is) of an atrocious reality: The life of admitted children in social assistance homes during the Francoist postwar. Children of defeated in the civil war, orphans or families in extreme poverty, educated under the yoke of nationalcatolicism and the Falangist discipline. Hunger, punishments, loneliness, institutional violence … A portrait that, despite its crudeness is not lacking hope and tenderness. Liked more in France The first episodes of the series were published from 1975 in several Spanish magazines such as ‘Thank you very much’, ‘El Papus’ and ‘Yes’. They had a very limited success, so Giménez was forced to leave the work after the publication of only two albums. He told so For rtve.es: “No Spanish editor of the time wanted to publish them in their magazines. They were horrified to see those pages full of familic and sad children with those disproportionate eyes and those most disproportionate ears yet yet.” The absence of eroticism or humor for adults in ‘Paracuellos’ closed the doors in Spain, but In France he found an alternative route in the legendary magazine magazine ‘which began to publish it in 1976. A much more prone market to recognize the talent in the cartoon made it a success and from there jumped to other countries in Europe, similar success. 20 years later, in the late 90s, Giménez resumed the work with four more albums. In 2016 he would return to her again coinciding with the 40th anniversary of the series, with three albums that Finally they would conclude it. ‘Paracuellos’ remains, despite the wide parenthesis over time, and thanks to the integrity and quality of Giménez, as a total work, of a caliber that has made that Your candidacy is presented on some occasion to the Princess of Asturias de las Artes. It is an essential piece of our comic that, however, had to be recognized outside to start appreciating in your country of origin. Header | Penguin Random House In Xataka | The most famous superlupez has not long since existed: how Jan transformed him from parody to adventure

If there is something that biologists did not expect to discover is that billions of moths look at the stars to orient

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Imagine having to travel a thousand kilometers to a place where you have never been. Now imagine you have to do it at night, without GPS, or maps of any kind. To finish curling the curl, imagine that you only have one chance in your life to do so. You don’t have to imagine it because we are not talking about a person, but of moths. The annual pilgrimage of the Bogong moths. This is the feat that billions of Bogong moths (Infusa agrotis) They perform every year in Australia. And scientists have just discovered that they are oriented looking at the stars. This discovery, Posted in Nature magazineconverts the Bogong moth in the first insect of which you have a record that uses a stellar compass for long -distance navigation, a skill that until now was believed reserved for animals such as some night migratory birds. The trip of a life. Each southern spring, these moths undertake one of up to a thousand kiometers. They hatch in the warm plains of southeastern Australia and fly towards a handful of cold caves in the Australian Alps to spend the summer (a process called Estivation). When the fall arrives, those same moths undertake the trip back to their breeding areas to reproduce and, finally, die. The big question that has fascinated biologists for years is how they do it. No one teaches them the way. It is a round trip that each individual performs only once. A team of researchers, led by David Dreyer from the University of Lund, had already demonstrated in 2018 that the moths were sensitive to the magnetic field of the earth, Like other animalsbut they suspected there was something else. They had their eyes on the sky. A planetarium for moths. To confirm your hypothesis, The team designed an ingenious experiment. They captured migration during their migration and introduced them into a flight simulator. This device, similar to a small planetarium, held the moth allowing him to beat the wings and turn freely, while a sensor recorded his flight address. The team did several tests: They canceled the magnetic field: using a coil system, they created an environment without magnetic clues. Thus they made sure that any correct orientation was due to visual signals. They projected a natural starry sky: under an artificial night sky, identical to the one they would see in the time of migration, the moths were oriented persistently in their correct migratory direction: to the south in spring and north in autumn. They turned the sky 180 degrees: In the final test, the researchers rotated the projection of the starry sky 180 degrees. The response of the moths was immediate and amazing: they invested their flight direction almost exactly 180 degrees. They project random stars: to make sure they did not respond simply to the light, they projected an image with the same amount of stars and brightness, but randomly distributed, without forming recognizable patterns. In this situation, the moths flew disoriented, without a clear direction. Unexpected. These results demonstrated without a doubt that the moths not only see the stars, but use them as a true compass to maintain a specific geographical direction for thousands of kilometers. It was already known that other insects, such as players, use the Milky Way to orient. However, they do it to move in a straight line and quickly move away from a lot of manure, a short -term orientation and without a fixed destination. The achievement of the Bogong moth is much more complex. Use the stars to “discern specific geographical directions” and sail towards a “distant objective”, something radically different and much more sophisticated. A brain connected to the stars. The researchers did not stop in behavior. They also analyzed the brain of the moths and discovered visual neurons that responded specifically to the rotation of the starry sky. Interestingly, these neurons showed their maximum activity when the moth was heading south, regardless of whether it was spring or autumn, which suggests that they have a wiring neuronal system to detect a fundamental light blue orientation. This does not invalidate its magnetic compass. In another experiment, the scientists observed that on completely cloudy nights, when the stars were invisible, the moths were still oriented correctly. The conclusion is that the Bogong moth has an incredibly robust and redundant navigation system. It uses both the Earth’s magnetic field and a stellar compass, probably using a system to calibrate the other or to take over when one of the two fails. There are still mysteries to solve, such as what stars or exact constellations use or how they compensate for the rotation of the earth throughout the night. But what is clear is that not only the ancient sailors looked at the stars to find their way. A tiny insect, on his only trip, also does. Image | Pexels In Xataka | If the question is whether there is an “invasion” of moths in Murcia, the answer is that of every year by these dates

In the 50 we decided to bombard food cans with huge amounts of radiation. Thus we discover a new bacteria: ‘D. Radiodurans’

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What happens if we bombard Escherichia coli? Well, many things may probably happen, but what happened in 1956 was that those responsible for this extreme experience discovered a new species of bacteria. They discovered it for a simple fact: Deinococcus radiodurans It is a bacterium with enormous resistance to ionizing radiation. In his experiment, the team submitted the can to a Dose of 4,000 gray (gy) of radiation-γ. A radiation capable of sterilizing almost anything. At first, its discoverers baptized the species as Micrococcus radioduransbut decades of taxonomic work led to reclassify the species as a member of a new genre that was called Deinococcus. The new name of the bacteria: D. Radiodurans. Almost seven decades after the discovery of its first member, the strange family of the deinococcus already has 11 cataloged species. The “strange” is not a saying: the name of this genre comes from the Greek word “Deinos“, Which can be translated as” strange “or” unusual. “ Seven decades of study have allowed us to enter the mechanisms that D. RadioduransUse to get unharmed from exposure to ionizing radiation (it is estimated that the bacteria can leave “rositas” of Dose equivalent to 5,000 gy and get to survive even higher levels) and the breaks of the DNA chains that usually result from this type of exposure. This bacterium uses several “tricks” of survival that, according to An article Posted in 2005 in Naturecan be classified between passive, and active or enzymatic mechanisms. Among the passive mechanisms that this bacterium has, the fact that D. Radiodurans Porta with several copies of its genome and with a condensed organization in its nuclear body. Thus you can avoid the dissemination of DNA fragments generated upon receiving radiation, explains the signatory team of the article in Nature. Regarding active or enzymatic mechanisms, the article explains that this unicellular organism has processes for the Damaged DNA repair. Also how much with mechanisms that limit DNA degradation after receiving radiation. The study continues In the last 20 years we have continued advancing in the study of this strange bacteria. Last year without going any further, the magazine Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences published a new article detailing a study that revealed new aspects of the resistance of this bacterium. The article studied the presence of a series of metabolites of this bacterium that, in combination with manganese, could form a powerful antioxidant agent. The team analyzed a synthetic version of this compound they called MDP, composed of manganese ions, phosphate and a small peptide. As they observedthe MDP components form a much more powerful complex when protecting against radiation than the compounds formed by the combination of manganese and the individual components of the MDP. The resistance of the bacteria can fascinate us but if so much attracts the interest of the scientific community is not only out of curiosity. Discoveries such as MDP antioxidant can help us protect our own radiation body and its effects. If we want to do long -term space tripsprotect us from Cosmic radiation It is essential; as it can also be to protect people who could be exposed to excessive radiation doses here on Earth. We do not know much about the origin of this bacterium but decades of study have given us enough information to rule out some ideas perhaps more typical of science fiction, such as the one that is postulating that it is an extraterrestrial organism or the fruit of the entry into the nuclear era. D. Radiodurans It is a bacterium, which implies a clear bond with the rest of the living beings of this planet and the evolution of its gender does not seem something that can occur in a few decades. The study of this bacterium, and of other similar will continue, either to satisfy our natural curiosity or to try to find new ways to protect us against radiation. In Xataka | The last time we lost a radioactive capsule ended in tragedy: Kramorsk nuclear incident Image | Michael Daly laboratory, uniform Services University / Catalan

The best apps and services to discover which series or film, and help you discover new titles

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We bring you a small collection of services to find new series and movies to seebecause sometimes apps suggestions are quite far from being effective. Therefore, there are other external and third -party alternatives that you can use for this. We will have everything from pages and apps that serve to vote or keep the content of the content you see and have sections of recommendations, to other services that have been specially designed to recommend what to see depending on what you like. And as we always say in Xataka Basics, these are our suggestions, but maybe you know others. Therefore, we invite you to miss any service on the list, tell us in the comments section so that all readers can benefit from the knowledge of our xatakers. Chatgpt, Gemini and the like Conventional artificial intelligence chats are the first to can help you with recommendationsboth in their payment and free versions. All you have to tell you is that you want to find free series and movies, and make recommendations. Here, it is also important give examples of titles that you likeeither generic or better that they are related to the type of series or film you want to find. Thus, they can take these tastes into account to recommend. You can also tell you the genres that you like the most. Justwatch Justwatch is a fairly popular service because you can configure what streaming services you have, and then when looking for series and movies it tells you which one is available. But it also has A system of recommendations and discoveries where to find something to see. In this section you will see recommendations based on the virality of the moment, on the searches that users do. It also has a section of novelties and another for searches many filters which includes rotating or IMDB, genres, languages, countries of origin or premiere years. So you can find the best of the best. IMDB This is one of the main series rating portals worldwide, and hundreds of thousands of users use it to put notes to series and movies. Precisely because of that, it is a place to go to know which are the best and worse ones you can see. In addition to lists with the best series and films in history according to the note of the spectators, it also has A section called What to seewhere you can meet several lists of suggestions. These can be for streaming services, at the favor of others, and even the most popular of the moment. Rotten Tomatoes It has positioned itself as the great successor of IMDB, and stands out because in its notes those of critical experts of film and the rest of the people differ, sometimes having great differences. The web also has its list of news and more viewed series or filmsas well as a page with several articles with recommendations. Taste.io This is a page in which you can calculate your cinematographic taste, and then use this calculation to Make custom recommendations. For that, the web will show you a series of films, and you will have to value them. When various values, a taste profile will be created and will show you the recommendations, also based on other data such as the streaming platforms you have. The premise of this service is that the people who will make best recommendations are those that have your same personal tastes. Therefore, once your taste profile is created, compared to other users With similar tastes to make the recommendations. Tasdive This is a fairly simple service, in which you simply write a series or movie that you like, and then I recommend similar things. In addition, in each of the product sheets you will see how many users like or do not like, as well as reviews. In addition to films and series, this service It also serves other types of entertainmentsuch as music, books, games, and even places and brands. It is not the most complete, but it is easy to use. Likewise pix Since at first we have mentioned artificial intelligence systems, there are specialized pages such as likewise that have also created your own AI to make recommendations of content You just have to enter your website and ask what type of series or movie you want to see. Viewing tracking pages There are many apps to follow and control the series and movies you seewhere you are marking and valuing each chapter or film. Among them you have Time Time, Trakt, Letterboxd either Justwatch among many others. These are services that you can use both on its websites and in mobile applications. These services offer several ways to discover content. On the one hand, You can look what your mutuals are seeing and other people you see that they have tastes related to you. In addition, apps They usually have suggestions sections where you will also find recommendations based on your tastes. Reddit Reddit is the greatest metacomunity in the world, A Community of Communities. On this website, you have many subbredits dedicated to films and series where you can find recommendations of all kinds. There are even omunities such as R/TelevisionSuggestions made exactly for this. It is worth taking a look. Use specialized pages And finally, you can also turn to The analysis and recommendations of specialized pagessuch as our partners of ESPINOF either Sensacine. From this page is where I get many suggestions from new series and films, and as it is also recommended that can also help you. In Xataka Basics | 14 apps and services to discover new music in Spotify, Apple Music and other streaming services

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