discovered

a man just discovered that robotaxis can do it too

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It is an automatic thought when we check a suitcase: please don’t let me lose it. The airlines They have improved baggage managementbut millions of incidents continue to be recorded every year and it is something that has happened to practically all of us who have taken a few planes. What is not so common is that the person who loses your suitcase is a robotaxi, or rather we should say the one who steals it from you. what has happened. They tell it in Futurism. A few days ago, a man ordered a Waymo robotaxi to go to the San Jose airport in California. The journey went well, it was upon arriving at the airport that the problem arose. The passenger was able to get out of the taxi without problem, but when he tried to open the trunk to retrieve his suitcase, it did not open and the robotaxi left, leaving him without the luggage that he had prepared for his trip. Waym’s responseeither. The first thing the passenger, whose name is Di Jin, did was call Waymo customer service in the hopes they could get the taxi back with his suitcase. However, the person who assisted him told him that the car was on its way to the warehouse and that it was impossible to change its route. Jin decided to take the plane anyway and later tried to get Waymo to send his luggage, but the response was that he had to go pick it up himself. In statements to NBCJin states that “It doesn’t make any sense because it wasn’t my mistake (…) I pressed the button to open the trunk and it just didn’t work” Why is it important. When autonomous driving is questioned, we often focus on safety and overlook incidents like this. What happened to this passenger perfectly illustrates that there is a whole dimension of failures more focused on user experience in unexpected situations. These are errors that a human driver resolves intuitively and quickly, but in this case it became a very complicated situation full of obstacles. The problem is not just security. In China, a system failure caused more than 100 taxis will stop in the middle of the city. In California, several passengers were trapped inside a Waymo because a passerby attacked the car and it crashed. Self-driving taxis have proven to be a safe and effective means of transportation, myself I tried one a few days ago in China and I was surprised how integrated it is into the dense city traffic. What we are seeing most lately are not so much accidents, but problems of this type more related to practical problems that do not affect a taxi with a driver. Image | Xataka In Xataka | The robotaxis did not need a driver, but Waymo has ended up paying delivery drivers to close ajar doors

China has discovered a new mineral on the Moon. It’s so fluorescent it could change the way we make LED light bulbs

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So far, 11 unique minerals have been discovered on the Moon. The last of them has just been revealed by a team of Chinese scientists after analyzing a lunar meteorite. It is an interesting finding, because it gives us useful information about the geology of our satellite. But also because it could have very interesting applications here on Earth. From the Moon to your light bulbs. The material just described It is cerium-magnesium changesite. It is characterized by its glassy, ​​transparent and brittle appearance. The thickness of its granules ranges from 3 to 25 micrometers, less than that of a human hair. Still, it is extremely useful due to its pronounced fluorescence, which could be very useful in improving terrestrial LED technology. A necessary color change. Unlike traditional incandescent bulbs, LED bulbs do not use heat to produce light. They make the most of electricity thanks to a semiconductor material, which allows the flow of electrons from a layer with an excess charge to another with a lack of it. That second layer has what are known as voids. That is, atoms that have lost electrons, leaving something like a free hole. The moment an electron encounters one of these holes, falls inside, in a process in which energy is released in the form of light. The light obtained in this process is blue, but we have all seen that, in general, the light from LEDs is white. The color change is achieved thanks to the coating the bluish chip in which the process occurs with a fluorescent material. This absorbs some of the blue light and, in turn, emits yellow light. Both are what are known as complementary colors of light. Therefore, when you mix them you obtain white light. The more fluorescence, the better. The fluorescence of this lunar mineral is so powerful that it would be a wonderful complement to LED bulbs. White light would be obtained in a much more efficient way, resulting in even greater energy savings. More achievements for China. The Asian country has become an expert in lunar geology, thanks to the Chang’e missions. In fact, the Changesite-(Y) phosphate was already discovered on Chang’e-5, directly related to this other mineral that a meteorite brought to Earth. For now, we can only dream. Logically, going to the Moon to excavate minerals is not very viable. And if it were, it would be good to think twice before jumping in headfirst. We also don’t know if there would be enough on the Moon. It would be necessary to explore it further to know. Therefore, the applications of lunar minerals in terrestrial technology are nothing more than hypotheses. It is interesting, but it does not have a close application in time. What these minerals do teach us. Analysis of lunar geology It can teach us many things. If we find mostly minerals that also exist here on Earth, we can understand that, at some point, similar conditions existed on Earth and the Moon. On the other hand, if many unknown minerals are found on Earth, as is already happening, it is understood that there were conditions on our satellite that have not occurred on our planet. All this serves to understand very well where we are and where we come from. Let’s stay with that instead of thinking about mining our satellite and leaving it without resources as we are already beginning to do on Earth. Image | freepik In Xataka | We have not yet colonized the Moon and we have already filled it with garbage: there are even abandoned golf balls

In 1944, the Nazi occupation of Holland caused a brutal famine. And thanks to her we discovered celiac disease

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The history of wheat is the history of civilization. To be more precise, this cereal is linked to the change from Paleolithic to Neolithic societies, the first complex societies, in 8,500 BC. C. The flowering of our species came thanks to its golden seeds. We had to wait almost 10,000 years to verify that this manna, which for many is synonymous with life, for some of us, is synonymous with death. And, in part, We have the Nazis to thank.. We are in Holland in 1944, in the throes of World War II, and the Wermachtwhich has occupied the country, is fed up with the sporadic rebellions of its native population. The railroad strike carried out by the drivers was reason enough to implement an embargo on food transportation to the northern areas. Survivors interviewed half a century later mentioned how the Hongerwinter or “hunger winter” still sparked flashes of anguish in their minds. According to reports from the time, in areas such as Amsterdam or Rotterdam the shortage caused rationing of 580 kilocalories per adult per day. Faced with this situation, and when a crust of bread could be more precious than the family watch, the Dutch began to eat anything. Your tulips also fell into that category.which in addition to being disgusting and having a negligible energy value, were a food source highly discouraged by doctors, since its toxicity was very high. Would the tulip diet be the beginning of poisoning and indigestion for the population? Yes for the majority, but not for one notable group: the patients at the Juliana Children’s Hospital in The Hague. Discovering celiac disease A child during Hongerwinter. Willem Karel Dicke, a pediatrician, had been investigating these “malnutrition” problems that mysteriously attacked the little ones for some time. In the 1940s, the world average Infant mortality for children under five years old was 15%so, although it was a misfortune, the population was more used to losing children than we are now. Many parents would not have the time or the resources to investigate what caused their children’s weakness, nor would they have the considerations to experiment with their diet, much less if that meant removing the most widespread, convenient and cheap product of all, bread. Although some, the richest, could afford it. For them, the theory of intransigence towards complex nutrients ran at that time, which led to the popularization of the so-called “banana diet”. A regimen that worked, given that this fruit does not contain gluten, but with which adverse effects reappeared in the subjects in their adulthood, as soon as they returned to eating wheat derivatives. As any celiac or person who has lived with one knows, the ubiquity of this product in our pantries is scandalous. Pediatrician Willem Karel Dicke with one of his patients. But in the Netherlands of 1944 there were no bananas. Because there wasn’t there was practically nothing. And yet, despite the lower caloric intake in which society was imbued and the toxic effects of tulips, a good percentage of the children in his hospital felt better than months before. While people were dying in the streets, some children saw how their limbs were getting fatter, their bellies were deflating, and their skin was glowing. If before that episode one in three children with suspected celiac disease died at that time in the Netherlands, the winter of hunger meant that that percentage would fall to zero. What came next is the mere work of field observation. Dicke spent the next few years testing on selected patients. different cerealsmeasuring the weight, growth, general health of the subjects as well as the levels of fat absorption from their feces. By 1950 he was able to publish his findings, which had determined that the cause of “celiac symptoms” came from wheat and rye flour. And no, it had nothing to do with complex nutrients, as had been assumed until then. “Koiliakos,” that mysterious condition that humans had identified in some children since Ancient Greek times and that intrigued pediatricians for millennia, finally had a name and diagnosis. His research earned him a candidacy for Nobel Prize in 1962, but died weeks before the ceremony could take place. Since it is an award that is not offered posthumously, Dr. Dicke missed his chance to go down in the history books in this way. Celiac disease continues to be one of the conditions with the most complex diagnosis, since it is confused with other types of digestive pathologies and its effects manifest in the strangest ways. Without going any further, neurogluten studies How gluten intolerance is behind autism, Parkinson’s or depression. We also do not know how many people suffer from it, and although its existence was known in the 1950s, its diagnosis rate may continue to be lower than the real rate. Today in developed countries there is talk of between 1 and 2% of people with celiac disease and recent epidemiological studies suggest that the disease is possibly ten times more common than it is diagnosed. The percentage of celiacs continues to grow at 15% every year. In Xataka | When the Black Death devastated the continent, Europe became obsessed with a reflex action of the body: sneezing. In Xataka | What we see in Petra is a city “carved in stone”: what it really hides is an amazing water system

James Webb has discovered that carbon “soccerballs” form megastructures in a vacuum

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In 1985, fullerenes were synthesized for the first time, spherical molecules that can have multiple functions in fields such as nanotechnology or superconductivity. Later, in 2010, was discovered that one type of fullerenes, buckyballs, form naturally in space. Now, a team of Canadian scientists has gone much further, deciphering many of the secrets of these curious structures, thanks to the great help of the James Webb Space Telescope. Small balls that make up a huge ball. Buckyballs are spherical structures, made of 60 carbons, with a conformation of hexagons and pentagons similar to that of a soccer ball. In 2010 they were discovered around a nebula called Tc1. Now, that same nebula has been the goal of James Webb, capable of going much further than they were then. To begin with, delicate rays, ethereal filaments and bright layers of gas along the edge have been detected in the nebula. On the other hand, in the heart of the nebula, a curious structure shaped like an inverted question mark has been detected, whose function is a mystery. But if all that were not enough, it has been seen that those buckyballs that were discovered in 2010 are perfectly organized, forming another hollow sphere, much larger. Chronicle of a death foretold. The stars remain lit thanks to nuclear fusion processes that take place on its surface. This is a very long process, but not eternal. There comes a time when they run out of the elements they use as fuel. When that happens, its outermost layers can break off in the form of gas and dust, giving rise to a nebula, like Tc1. The center, however, becomes a white dwarfa type of cold and dense star. The buckyballs are also possibly remnants of material ejected during the star’s last death throes. James Webb sees what others can’t. James Webb has taken the most precise photo ever taken around Tc1. But, also, thanks to his spectroscopic skillshas studied the composition of all that material ejected by the dying star, including buckyballs. The result, as explained in a statement the authors of the study themselves, is an open window to stellar evolution. Many half-baked studies. There are currently several studies underway aimed at explaining all the new findings around the Tc1 nebula. For now, this discovery has led to tracing the chemistry of carbon, explaining mysterious signals and understanding how organic materials change in extreme environments. In addition, it is a discovery that has challenged traditional views on space chemistry and offered clues about how life may have begun. Turning to the amateur eye. Something curious about the photo that has just been published is that it has not been processed by the scientists who took the images. The lead author of the research, Jan Cami, contacted Katelyn Beecroft, a high school teacher who frequently took her students on field trips to the observatory at the University of Western Ontario. I knew that the teacher is a great fan of astronomy and astrophotography and that she was really good at processing raw images taken by telescopes and enhancing even the most subtle structures that appear in them. He was certainly not wrong to ask for help, as Beercroft’s work has been commendable. Now we just have to understand the reasons for all these new findings. We already have the question, literally. We are missing the answers. Image | Katelyn Beecroft/NASA / ESA / CSA / Western University, J. Cami In Xataka | We have been studying the planets of TRAPPIST-1 for years with great hope. James Webb just knocked it down

We already knew that we ate plastic. Now science has discovered the exact chaos it causes in our intestines

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We have long realized that we are surrounded by microplastics, both in the water which we take as in food or even the air that we breathe, causing them to appear even in the human placenta. However, there are still many questions about the consequences of having these microplastics in the body, although science continues to take steps to give us an answer about them. how it can alter our general healthand the last thing we know is related to the effect on our digestive system. Ground zero. Something that is already known by almost everyone is that the intestine is full of billions of microorganisms which are essential for our immunity and also for metabolism, making its alteration related even to issues in the central nervous system. But now, science suggests that microplastics can drastically alter the composition and diversity of this ecosystem by destroying some of the bacteria that we harbor inside us to create a completely different environment that can affect our digestion, but also other parts of the body. How it has been seen. To understand how this happens in real time, CSIC researchers developed a sophisticated patented digestion simulation system known as SIMGI. This is mainly based on introducing artificial particles formed by the typical plastic of water bottles into the stomach and colon and observing how it affected bacterial diversity. From here, different investigations have seen that families of beneficial bacteriaas Lachnospiraceae, Oscillospiraceae and Ruminococcaceaeplummet, while the growth of groups that can generate disease is favored. And we must understand that ‘good’ bacteria occupy a space in our intestine so that nothing else can ‘germinate’ there. But logically, if they disappear, they leave their ‘hole’ for other bacteria to pass through. It goes further. But beyond a bacterial imbalance, there is different research that already points to how microplastics destroy the physical barrier we have in our intestine. In this way, scientists have detected that these tiny fragments cause the generation of oxidative stress and, therefore, the overproduction of reactive oxygen species, which only generates great damage to the tissues. But this chemical attack also adds to mechanical damage, which some experts categorize as ‘sandpaper’, since together they manage to reduce the expression of proteins that are key to maintaining the union structure that characterizes the cells that exist in our intestinal wall. The result. If we destroy the scaffolding that maintains the ‘walls’ of our digestive system, the only thing that will be achieved is that increase intestinal permeabilityso any toxin or bacterial molecule will be able to pass from the intestine to the bloodstream, since there is no ‘wall’ that blocks the access of agents that are not wanted in our body. Logically, the passage of toxins without the control of this intestinal barrier activates our immune system defenses, which results in inflammation maintained over time that favors the destruction of tissues and also progresses in important chronic diseases. There is more. As if that were not enough, it is known that microplastics are excellent transport vehicles, since when they come into contact with our biological fluids they become covered with a “protein crown”. This is something really important, since this layer literally camouflages the microplastic and makes it easier for it to adhere to our living cells. But added to all this, we also see that they can act as the perfect support for bacteria and form what is known as biofilms. In this way, microplastic can be seen as a vehicle for external and potentially dangerous microbial communities directly to our tissues. Where are they going? If microplastics alter our barriers, logically the plastic has a free way and that is why it is capable of traveling to different organs such as, for example, the liver, kidneys or brain. And once here, research already indicates that its accumulation is related to DNA damage, deregulation of the immune system or alterations in our entire hormonal system that can lead to chronic diseases. Images | rimufilms on Freepik In Xataka | Researchers analyzed 280 samples of bottled water. Only one of the brands was free of microplastics

We have been thinking for 40 years that Spain escaped Chernobyl because it was far away. AEMET has discovered that it was pure luck

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“When the lava enters the tanks, it will cause approximately 7,000 cubic meters of water to overheat and evaporate, causing a significant thermal explosion. Our estimates are between two and four megatons. It will destroy absolutely everything within a 30-kilometer radius, including the three remaining reactors at Chernobyl. Then, all the radioactive material in the nuclei will be ejected with virulence and propagated by a large seismic wave. It can reach approximately 200 kilometers and could be lethal to the entire population of kyiv and much of Minsk. The radiation release will be immense and will impact Soviet Ukraine, Latvia, Lithuania, Belarus, as well as Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania and East Germany.” Since, to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster, AEMET published meteorological reconstruction that explained why Spain was left out of the radioactive cloud that affected a good part of Europe, I can’t forget those words from the miniseries which HBO released a few years ago. Mostly because it was pure luck. Pure luck? But Ukraine is very far away. That’s what we used to think, that Spain was spared the hardest part of the Chernobyl hit because we were so far away. However, data from meteorologist Benito Jose Fuentes They say something else: three successive atmospheric reconfigurations that, at the critical moment, sent the radioactive cloud in another direction. But let’s go step by step. Indeed, on April 26, 1986, the Chernobyl nuclear power plant became an unstable “pressure cooker” whose explosion spread radiation throughout much of the continent. In fact, that radiation reached Spain shortly after: there is evidence of air filters in Valencia that detected the radioactivity on May 2, 3 and 4. However, we avoided the worst of the blow. According to Fuentes Lópezthe peninsula was at least twice (on April 29 and the days before May 2) “one turn of the wind” away from receiving a direct blow. Reconstructing the disaster. Sources Lopez has published a simplified simulation that reconstructs on a cartographic scale the evolution of the wind at medium and high levels of the atmosphere. This simulation is what gives us the fundamental keys. To begin with, at midday on April 26, a high pressure ridge extended between the Chernobyl zone and Scandinavia. This caused the winds (at 1,700 meters above sea level) to channel the pollutants to the north and Belarus, the Baltic republics, Sweden and Finland took the first hit. The world found out what was happening, precisely, through the sensors of a Swedish nuclear power plant two days later. Spain plays it. On April 29, the pattern changed and a storm in the Mediterranean (and a ridge in Portugal) turned the wind towards Central Europe. According to Fuentes López’s simulations, with this new direction it was a matter of hours before the radioactivity reached Spain. However, between May 1 and 2, a trough pushed the radioactive cloud towards Great Britain (and the Portuguese ridge acted as a wall that diverted the rest of the smaller clouds towards Italy and the Balkans). A reminder. The curious thing about all this is that, according to AEMET datathe dispersion was due to higher atmospheric waves at high levels and not to surface patterns such as storms and anticyclones. That is to say, the work (in addition to a mind-blowing work of atmospheric history) is a reminder that we normally relate to a small part of the weather. That, of course, is a mistake. The atmosphere is a very complex creature full of levels, teleconnections and strange relationships. We are at stake understanding it better. And I am no longer talking about climate change, or phenomena of that type. I’m saying that in most cases, as we already explained many expertsthe profound psychological, social and cultural consequences “turned out to be a much bigger problem than the radiation.” At the climatic level they will also be. And we really don’t know how to handle them well. Image | AEMET In Xataka | We believed that the “elephant’s foot” was the most radioactive point in Chernobyl reactor 4. we were wrong

We attended a crash test and discovered the new (and first) Ebro full electric

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Wuhu has turned out to be quite a surprise. While Beijing has those aromas and that life of what, clearly, is a great capital, Wuhu, although it is enormous, is more reminiscent of that “neighborhood China.” The multi-hundred-story buildings that can accommodate hundreds and hundreds of families make an appearance, of course, but the atmosphere is different. There are restaurants, small shops, it feels more local, more authentic. It is here where Chery, the technological partner of the Spanish company Ebro, whom I accompany on this trip, was born and has its headquarters. And it shows. Not because the hotel we stayed in belongs to the company, that too, but on the road. A walk through Wuhu | Image: Xataka If in Beijing you didn’t see a single Chery car, here they are religion. They are everywhere, wherever you look. The taxis? All Chery. Personal vehicles? Absolute omnipresence of the Tiggo and Arizzo ranges. BYD, Geely, Toyota, Kia and Hyundai are also here, but Chery’s dominance is absolute. Caught | Image: Xataka It’s something normal. China has that component of betting on the local. It is a kind of pride, something to boast about, using a product born in your city and the government promotes it. That’s why BAIC reigns in Beijing and that’s why when they ask you about your cell phone or watch model, they smile a little when they see that, in my case, they are an honor and a Huawei. The same thing happens with Chery, but today it’s not time to talk about Chery, but about Ebro. Chery is the partner technology from the Spanish Ebro, which uses its platforms to sell its own models in Spain, Portugal and, soon, Bulgaria, Slovenia and Croatia. A Ebro s700 It is, at its core, a Chery Tiggo 7. Knowing that, it will not surprise anyone that Ebro’s new model is based on the Chery QQ3 EV. Because yes, Ebro has finally announced a completely electric car which will be produced in its factory in the Free Trade Zone of Barcelona. It still does not have a name and the specifications are not final, since the homologation is missing, but I can tell you a little something, since I have been able to see it in first person. The new electric Ebro | Image: Xataka This car has a clearly urban vocation and is focused on the younger audience. More circular and oval shapes, 2.7 meters between axles and 4.3 meters long give shape to a more compact car and very different from what Ebro has put on the road to date. It is a risky bet for 1) a brand that until now was synonymous with SUVs and 2) a market whose electrification still has a way to go. It has a 42.7 kWh lithium-ferrophosphate battery, which translates into a range of more than 300 kilometers. It has a 90 kW rear axle motor, which allows it to offer, always according to the brand, 122 HP, 111 Nm of maximum torque, 135 km/h maximum speed and acceleration from zero to 100 in less than 11 seconds. At the moment, his name is Ebro BEV | Image: Xataka The power of the charging system has not been revealed, but it will be compatible with AC and DC and will be able to go from 30% to 80% in 30 minutes. Inside the car we find two generous screens, a 15.6-inch floating central one with 2K resolution and a system powered by a Snapdragon chip, and another smaller one, 10.25 inches, in the instrument panel. In China, analog needles and lights have passed away. Interior of the Ebro BEV | Image: Xataka The price has not been revealed either. and the specifications, as we said, are provisional. When the process of industrial adaptation and approval is completed, we will clear up doubts. This is not the only novelty, although it is the most notable. Ebro has taken advantage of the presentation in Chery’s hometown to announce a new version of the Ebro s400 with 1.5 TGDI engine and DHT transmission with two electric motors. This has a power of 224 HP and consumes 5.55 L/100 km. An interesting thing is that it can move in tandem mode (so that the combustion engine generates energy so that the electric one moves the wheels) or in parallel (both engines working at the same time). In theory, this should help reduce the car’s engine noise and improve the lack of “oomph” seen in the previous model. Restyling of the Ebro S800 PHEV. The s700 and S400 maintain the same front grille design | Image: Xataka Ebro also announced a restyling from the s700 and s800with a new front grille with rectangular shapes inspired, according to the firm, in Barcelona, ​​and aesthetic adjustments designed to homogenize the design and give it a more rounded touch. This has been one of the parts of the day, but today I have also been able to witness something that, to date, I had never seen: a crash test. I don’t know, there’s something, let’s say, funny, in seeing a car going towards another knowing that both are going to break down. Under controlled conditions, needless to say. It has a certain charm and, frankly, the real shame is that it lasts so little, because it’s barely a second. New car for sale, few kilometers, one owner, always in a garage | Image: Xataka For the test, Chery placed a Tiggo 9 (remember, the base of an Omoda 9 SHS) at one end of the road. To the other, a Tiggo 7 that rushed towards him at 50 km/h. At the same time that the Tiggo 7 crashed head-on, the Tiggo 9 received a complete impact against a barrier vehicle at 40 km/h from behind. They are, from what they have explained to us, two overlapping forces whose purpose is to bring the test closer to a real environment. To the right and in the background, … Read more

what a new study has discovered studying flies

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The brain is an extremely energy-demanding organ, as it needs a large amount of glucose to function correctly. But sometimes not everything focuses on functioning to live, but also to accumulate new memories or knowledge, something that students who put themselves in front of books need above all. And now we know that sugar can be your best ally. A new paradigm. A priori, we may think that what we eat is like a large amount of gasoline that we pour into the tank we have inside us. However, a recent study published in Nature describes an unprecedented biological mechanism, pointing out that it is not sugar that magically improves memory, but rather it is consuming it after learning something new, such as a study session, that can consolidate it. All this along with a good rest too. What has been seen? Here the researchers subjected a group of flies to aversive learning that began to be spaced out over time, in this way a neutral stimulus was associated with an experience that was detected as unpleasant so that they learned to reject it. Under this pretext, the researchers observed that subjecting the flies to this learning system causes the “hijacking” of the fructose-detecting neurons, which is a type of carbohydrate, in the brain of the flies. There is more. The fascinating thing about all this is that it happens even when the flies are completely full, so the learning generates a kind of temporary “non-homeostatic hunger.” In this way, after the cognitive effort, if the fly ingests sugar, these neurons, which had been disinhibited by learning, become massively activated. And it is something fundamental because activation triggers the release of a hormone called thyrostimulinwhich acts as the definitive signal to consolidate long-term memory. It’s not just about the taste. This article does not come out of nowhere, but already in 2017 a research group showed that the brain is too smart to be fooled by the sweeteners that give us the sweet taste. Here the concept “caloric frustration memory” was introduced, which pointed out that the brain perfectly distinguishes between sweet taste and real energy value. That is why for certain memories to be optimally consolidated, the nutritional value matters as much or more than the simple taste reward. Furthermore, this same French team demonstrated in 2024 that diverting the flow of glucose to neurons plays a vital role in memory memory. fruit fly, and that the metabolic activation of certain areas of the brain is an essential trigger for long-term memory. In humans. Although this is something that has been seen in flies right now, it offers us an incredible window into evolutionary neurobiology. This is something that gives us hope that, at a fundamental level, brains have evolved to link energy availability with metabolic expenditure in order to create new memories. If we look at the literature, there are studies that have analyzed this same effect in our own brains. Specifically, it has been seen that administering glucose can temporarily improve certain cognitive aspects. This is especially noticeable in verbal memory, episodic memory, and in hippocampal-dependent tasks such as object-location binding. Although in no case should you gorge yourself on sugar to be able to learn much faster. Images | Marcos Paulo Prado Daniel Kraus In Xataka | The memory of young people is deteriorating at a record pace. Science thinks it knows why

The James Webb Telescope has finally discovered Saturn’s best kept secret

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Saturn has become a headache for scientists since the Cassini probe in 2004 took action of its rotation speed that did not coincide with the figures accepted in the scientific community. Little by little, new data has been discovered that helps explain this inconsistency, but it has been necessary for the James Webb Space Telescope to come into play to find the definitive answer. Cassini’s incoherence. In 2004, the Cassini probe took advantage of its visit to Saturn to measure some important dataas its rotation speed. Normally this is calculated by analyzing parameters that occur periodically, such as radio emission pulses. It is a very consolidated method, which has been used to calculate the rotation rate of many planets. With Cassini, it was expected to obtain a figure that would coincide with what the Voyager 2 probe had previously taken in 1981. However, to the surprise of the scientists who studied the data, the numbers didn’t add up. A mysterious push. A planet cannot speed up or slow down without an external force driving it. There should be something driving those changes in rotation speed. Or, at the very least, some unknown factor that was falsifying the results. All this was a mystery until 2021, when a team of scientists from the University of Leicester published a study in which new clues were provided. The auroras enter the scene. For a month, scientists at the University of Leicester measured infrared emissions in Saturn’s upper atmosphere. This allowed them to map a series of variable fluxes of activity in the ionosphere, the layer of the atmosphere in which ionized particles are abundant. That is, atoms that have gained or lost electrons and have acquired a negative or positive charge, respectively. These flows were related to the formation of auroras. However, there was something strange. Unlike on other planets, including Earth, a good part of these auroras were produced by the action of rotating winds within Saturn’s own atmosphere, not only by the influence of the magnetosphere. A reminder about the auroras. The auroras are formed when charged particles interact with the atoms that make up a planet’s atmosphere, exciting them and causing the emission of light. Normally, these charged particles come from solar activity, as happens on Earth, or from volcanic eruptions on nearby moons, as happens on Jupiter. Be that as it may, they are concentrated in a region external to the planets, known as the magnetosphere. In the case of Saturn, the 2021 study showed that auroras were also forming within the planet’s own atmosphere. On Earth, auroras are formed by solar activity A puzzle still incomplete. The interaction of molecules and atoms in the atmosphere with charged particles does not only cause the emission of light. It also causes the emission of radiation in other regions of the spectrum. For example, radio pulses. Let us remember that these pulses are the ones that were used to measure the rotation of Saturn. The auroras could be falsifying them. These auroras, as we have seen so far, are produced by the action of rotating winds in Saturn’s own atmosphere. But where do those winds come from? The rock star arrives. The James Webb Space Telescope is the rock star of space telescopes. A state-of-the-art instrument, capable of reaching where other telescopes could not. Therefore, thanks to him, the necessary measurements could be taken to find the origin of Saturn’s winds. Specifically, it has captured the glow caused in the infrared by a molecule in Saturn’s upper atmosphere, called trihydrogen cation. This is very useful, because it acts as a kind of thermometer. It is very susceptible to environmental conditions, so its ionization state helps to know the surrounding temperature. By carefully analyzing its state in different regions of Saturn’s northern hemisphere, it has been possible to make a map of both temperatures and particle density. The missing piece. The temperature and particle density patterns match those predicted in a series of computer models 10 years ago. In these models, these patterns originated when the auroras themselves acted as a heat source. The endless cycle. What happens is this: the auroras, with all their display of light and radiation, heat the atmosphere at a specific point. This heating causes the movement of particles between points at different temperatures, generating a wind charged with electricity. This wind, in turn, propels electrically charged particles, which cause more auroras to form. It’s a vicious circle or, as the authors of the study explaina planetary heat pump. A perfect system that feeds itself. And, of course, the mysterious external factor that upset scientists trying to measure Saturn’s rotation. Image | NASA | Bruce Waters (Wikimedia Commons) | Vincent Guth (Unsplash) In Xataka | James Webb has been detecting red dots in the universe for years: the only problem is that we don’t know what they are

China has just discovered the largest deposit of rare earths in the world. And he did it just when he needed it most.

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China has a privileged position in terms of possession of rare earthbut it has just surprised the world with a new discovery: the Ministry of Natural Resources has confirmed that the Maoniuping deposit, in Sichuan province, is now the largest deposit of light rare earths on the planet. The news comes at a key moment, since it is these minerals that are the protagonists one of the hottest fronts between Beijing and Washington in their tariff war. What exactly has been found. New exploration in the Maoniuping mining area in Mianning county has confirmed the existence of 9.67 million tons of rare earth oxideswhich represents an increase of more than 300% compared to the reserves that were known until now, as announced by the Chinese Ministry of Natural Resources. With this data, the deposit surpasses that of Bayan Obo, in Inner Mongolia, which until now held the title of the largest light rare earth mine in the world with 44 million tons of proven industrial reserves. In addition to rare earth oxides, surveys have identified 27.1 million tons of fluorspar and 37.2 million tons of barite, both classified as deposits of exceptional scale. Why does it matter? Rare earth elements are the 17 elements that make electric car engines, fiber optic amplifiers, advanced weapons systems and smartphones possible, among many other technological elements that we use in our daily lives. Without them, much of the technology and defense industry simply does not work. China already produces more than 80% of the world supply annual of these materials, according to the state agency Xinhua. And this discovery further reinforces China’s position until now. The discovery within the discovery. According to Wang Denghong, director of the Institute of Mineral Resources of the Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences, what is truly striking about the discovery is not only the rare earths but fluorite and barite. Fluorite is an essential ingredient in the manufacturing of semiconductors and lithium-ion batteries. Barite, for its part, is essential in oil and gas extraction: it is used to stabilize wells and prevent blowouts. Without this element, hydrocarbon exploration, including fracking, would be paralyzed. Restrictions. Since April last year, China introduced export restrictions on seven rare earths and permanent magnets, precisely in response to the tariffs imposed by Donald Trump about Chinese products. China controls the gateway to rare earths, and basically any company that wants to take these materials out of the country needs express government authorization. Exports to Europe have picked up since the new licensing regime was implemented. Those going to the United States remain stagnant, according to collect Interesting Engineering. What’s coming now. With this discovery, Beijing consolidates its ability to use critical minerals as diplomatic and commercial leverage. The West has been trying for years diversify your supply chains of rare earths with projects in Australia, Canada or northern Europe, but none yet approach the scale of the Asian country. Cover image | aboodi vesakaran and ZME Science In Xataka | In 2010, Japan learned to acquire its rare earths without depending on China. Germany wants to copy its strategy now

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