discovered

We have been trying to decipher how 1950 the Antarctica would be like. We just discovered it

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We have always seen the earth in the same way: Green and Brown Earth masses and the poles contrasting in white. Logical, because it has been tens of thousands of years covered by that white command, but the funny thing is that we have been trying to unravel What would Antarctica be like without ice. And we just discovered it in what is a curious and bleak view that could be the future of the earth. Decades melting Antarctica. Making Antarctica is not just a matter of curiosity. It is also key to predicting ice loss and sea level elevation. It is something that has studied Since 1950, but in 1996 the culminating moment came: the creation of the Bedmap consortium. With European support, many measurements and the most avant -garde technology at that time, the researchers marked the goal of creating a complete map of Antarctica. That came a few years later, with the Bedmap1 published in 2001. Bedmap1 Methods. It is what allowed us to know the average elevation of the rock base of Antarctica, the distribution of ice and its volume. Bedmap1 gave us a vision of that scenario with a resolution of five kilometers. In 2013 Bedmap2 appeared, for which they used ten times more measurements than the first and with a superior resolution. For the analysis, the researchers gathered data thanks to airplanes that fly over the area by sending radio pulses that allow measuring both the ice thickness and the most interesting: the depth of the rock bed. Crossing the data of these radars, batimetric data, satellite information and seismic studies, we can have that radiography of Antarctica. Bedman2 To the third is the defeated. And the most accurate so far is the one that crowns this article: Bedmap3. This is the result of the study of more than 82 million data points – some times more than those taken into account to elaborate Bedmap2 – and, as explained from British antarctic surveyit is as if they had removed the 27 million cubic kilometers of ice that cover the territory. In this new analysis, we see the most hidden places of the great mountains, but also details of the deepest cannons. Bedmap 2 already had a great level of detail, but this third map reveals is more depth in some areas. For example, where is the thickest layer of ice. It has been identified in an unnamed cannon in Wilkes, where the ice has a whopping 4,757 meters thick. Bedmap3 Fascinating. The resolution of this third attempt is 500 meters and, as we say, is the result of 70 years of measurements that have combined to give life to the new map. The three overlapping models It is what allows researchers to be more precise when having place statistics: Total ice volume in Antarcticaincluding ice platforms: 27.17 million km³. In Bedmap1, the calculation was 25.34 million km³. In Bedman2, 26.54 million km³. Total ice surface in Antarcticaincluding ice platforms: 13.63 million km² Ice thickness in Antarcticaincluding ice platforms: 1,948 m (excluding ice platforms: 2,148 m) Potential increase in sea level globally if all ice melts: 58 meters. And scary. That last value, the potential increase in sea level, is one of the main utilities of this type of research. It has not varied in the three attempts to map Antarctica and, as one of the researchers of the Bedmap project points out, the utility goes beyond the simple objective of satisfying curiosity. With the new data, Peter Fretwell comments that “it is evident that the Antarctic ice layer is thicker than we originally realized and has a greater volume of ice. It is also buried in a layer of rock located under sea level and is something that exposes ice at a greater risk of melting due to the incursion of warm water of the ocean. It is something that is taking place on the banks of the continent and what Bedmap3 shows us is that we have a slightly more vulnerable Antarctica than we thought. ” Precisely there is the disturbing. If the average temperature continues to increase, Bedmap3 may go from being a simple map to a prediction of the future of the earth. By the way, if you want to toys with Bedmap3, you have it in This link. Images | Bedmap, Bas In Xataka | Whenever there is a cold episode, voices arise that question climate change. The explanation is simpler than it seems

Piri Reis drew in 1513 the most incredibly precise map in America. So much that it included regions still not discovered

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The maps have been, They are being and will bea key piece in the history of mankind. The cartographers carry thousands of years profileing the land From our planet, a silhouette that has gone changing over the centuries and with Europe and Asia as the undisputed protagonists in cartography. However, from the 16th century, the obsession changed to the west: now we wanted to map America. 500 years before, Nordic explorers have already stepped on the American continent, reaching the coasts of what is now Canada and part of the United States and shaking your vision on a map. This Viking document perfectly reflects that ‘perfection’ of the European silhouette and the sketch, or La Mancha, which was the American continent. And, among all the incipient maps of America, the most intriguing may be that of Piri Reis. The reason is that It is very precise for its time And the author said he was based on lost maps, supposedly, drawn by Christopher Columbus. The mysterious Piri Reis map In the Era of the discoveriesExplorers such as Columbus, Magallanes or Vasco da Gama found their best ally on the maps. They helped cross the oceans, but as they did, they were capturing their vision of the ‘New World’ in maps to help in the planning of future expeditions. The map of Juan de la Costa of 1500 is considered the first that includes a representation of America. It has important accurate, but it is the only one made by a witness of the first two trips of Columbus and the terrestrial profile, unequivocally and despite errors, it is America. A few years later, in 1507, the Enigmatic map of Waldseemüllerin which the name “America” ​​was used for the first time. Again, there were errors in the profile of the Eastern coast of South America, but these two explorers were not the only ones who mapped the continent at this time. In 1513, the Ottoman Piri Reis not only mapped the same territory, but did it with a past accuracy and detailing territories that should not be there (because they had not been discovered). In this mapwe find the following: The east coast of South America to Argentine Patagonia. The Falkland Islands. Antarctica Here are several details that surprise and invite you to lift an eyebrow. Piri Reis was a admiral and cartographer who, from a young age, participated in several battles in the Mediterranean, cartographing the territory and its islands. However, in 1501, only nine years after the discovery of America, his uncle and captain Kemal Reis of the Ottoman fleet captured several Spanish ships near the Spanish coast. Questioning the crew and looting the ships, discovered that one of them had been in the New World during Columbus’s journey and had a map drawn by himself that represented the American profile. As he was not a cartographer, he took it to Piri to study it. Thus, the cartographer got to work and, having as a source That Map of Columbusother Portuguese maps and several cards, began in 1511 to design its map. He did it on gazelle skin and surprises that Piri, really, did not travel to the New World, but that he drew everything based on the sources that had gone to an expedition. As well as knowledge of Ptolemaic Mapamundis. The most controversial of the matter? To start, the Falklands. As many times throughout our history, the discovery of the islands has several boyfriends. Numerous maps after 1520 suggest that the Falklands were first sighted by Magallanes, but Portugal also wants merit and attributes it to Américo Vespucio’s trip of 1504. In the map of Waldseemüller the islands are already intuited, but it is in the Piri Reis that are represented in a much more faithful way to reality. Identified as ‘Il de Sare’, the islands have compared with the Malvinas, located east of the Magallanes Strait. The Horn of Argentina is more stretched than it should, also the Caribbean, but surprises how well represented the entire eastern area of ​​the continent is. Creatures … strange On the other hand, and the strangest thing is Antarctica. The first thing is that it is represented without ice, something impossible, since it has been covered by that white mantle. The second is that, officially, it was discovered in 1820. Apart from this, the cartographer made some descriptions of some of the areas and represented both animals and mythological creatures, something normal at the time. Chiripa and controversy For years, Piri Reis’s map was in the shadow. However, in 1929, a group of scholars had the commission of organizing the archives of the Topkapi Palace in Istanbul. The idea was to turn the palace into a museum, so you had to clean the basements and classify everything found. On a wall of the Ottoman Empire section, hidden and forgotten, the director of the national museums, Halid Edhem, found the map. Due to the mentions of Fuentes such as Cristóbal Columbus as it represented unknown details for the Ottomans of the early 16th century, the map was studied almost from the first moment. It is a Turkish national pride since 1933, but there is a problem: although it has extremely well represented areas, others, such as Stretched Caribbean Islands or the Union of Argentina with Antarcticaadded to the intrigue to know how an Ottoman who did not travel to a new world that, when the map was made, was in an extremely early phase of exploration, have raised controversy over the years. The most accepted theory about the map profile. There are those who say that Argentina’s horn is an error of the maps of the time, but also that having run out of space to draw would have motivated that elongated form Theories have been generated on the existence of ancient civilizations with advanced cartography abilities -controlled and without foundation. This may be because, although Piri cited reliable sources, he also referred to the “former kings of the sea.” … Read more

It doesn’t matter if you delete your messages on WhatsApp, Google keeps them the same. The State Attorney General has discovered him for the bad

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Google and WhatsApp have confirmed to the Supreme Court that they will retain the data of Attorney General Álvaro García Ortiz, according to PUBLICA The country. The prosecutor is being investigated for alleged revelation of secrets By filtering information about an agreement offered by Alberto González Amador’s lawyer, a couple of Isabel Díaz Ayuso, to avoid jail for two fiscal crimes. Politics on the margin, they have opened an interesting debate about true privacy in digital environments. Why is it important. The case brings to light a non-tan-known technological reality: erasing messages or emails from our devices does not mean that they completely disappear from the servers of technology companies, which can be forced to recover them by judicial orders. Between bambalins. Messaging applications and mail services maintain backups and records that survive the local erase. WhatsApp does two types of copies: one on the device itself and one in virtual storage that It is managed through Google. This creates a persistent data network difficult to eliminate completely. The general panoramic. This case exemplifies the complex of the storage architectures used by large technological ones, at the technical and legal level: The data is fragmented and doubled on several servers, in turn in several jurisdictions. The backups They are made automatically and in the background, often without explicit knowledge of the user. Complete data elimination requires concrete actions beyond simple erased in the device. In detail. The technical procedure to recover “deleted” messages implies several layers: Forensic access to local copies through specialized software. Request for metadata records (who sent what and when). Recovery of backups in the cloud that can remain even after the local erase. Analysis of Logs of servers that record the activity of communications. The authorities are looking for very specific data that technological ones retain despite the local deletion by the user. Message content, multimedia files exchanged, communications metadata and activity and connection records. The big question. This case illustrates a reality that many users do not know: the elimination of messages on our devices does not guarantee their definitive disappearance. For the common citizen, this means rethinking what we understand by digital privacy; For professionals in sensitive positions, it implies assuming that any electronic communication could be recovered in a future judicial process, regardless of whether or not it was deleted. Will our communicative habits change when we assume that “erased” may not really be? Outstanding image | State Council, Dimitri Karastelev in Unspash In Xataka | If the question is whether your company can add you to a WhatsApp group of work, the law leaves no doubt: it depends on who pays

There is a potentially habitable planet only 59 light years from Earth. The IAC has just discovered it from the Canary Islands

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Spain has a lot to say in the search for potentially habitable explanets. On this occasion, an international team led by researchers from the Institute of Astrophysics of the Canary Islands (IAC) has discovered a planet in the habitable zone of its star, just 59 light years from Earth. The finding. The newly discovered planet is called GJ 3998 d. It is a superstierra, which means that it is significantly larger than our planet, in this case with a mass six times greater than land. The important thing about GJ 3998 d is that orbits its star Within the “habitable zone”which means that it could have liquid water on its surface, whenever it is a rocky planet like ours. The habitable area. This new exoplanet orbit the GJ 3998which is a red dwarf. This type of star is much smaller and colder than the sun, so the habitable zone is at a lesser distance. GJ 3998 D completes an orbit around its star in approximately 42 days, a sixth part of what lasts a land year. Despite the proximity to the red dwarf, it only receives 20 % more radiation than the earth, which makes it a candidate to house the necessary conditions for life. Neighbors. Another point in favor of this new extrasolar planet is that it is relatively close to us, 59 light years away, which makes it a perfect candidate for more detailed studies in the future. Scientists plan to investigate whether GJ 3998 D has atmosphere and if there are signs of oxygen, which would be a strong indicator of the possible existence of extraterrestrial life. But for this they will have to wait for the future spectrograph Andes of the Extremely large telescope (Elt) of that, who will be able to analyze the composition of his atmosphere. Or to the telescope Exo Life Finder (ELF), currently in development by the Institute of Astrophysics of the Canary Islands. A red dwarf galaxy. Red dwarfs are particularly interesting because they are very common in our galaxy. They constitute almost three quarters of all known stars. In addition, its low mass facilitates the detection of planets that orbit around it. GJ 3998 has three known planets: GJ 3998 B, GJ 3998 Cy the newly discovered GJ 3998 d. This discovery was possible thanks to the Hades project, an international initiative that uses the Nazionale Galileo telescope (TNG) at the Rocque de los Muchachos Observatory, in La Palma, to look for planets around small and near stars. Image | Gabriel Pérez Díaz (SMM, IAC) In Xataka | The Webb Telescope has observed a planet so extreme that the clouds are rock and in the cold night 600 ºC ago

China has discovered a source of energy so massive that potentially lasts 60,000 years. The bad news: is Torio

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China sits on a virtually unlimited energy reserve. Only the Bayan Obo mine, in the Interior Mongolia region, could contain about 1 million tons of Torio, sufficient to meet the country’s energy needs for 60,000 years. In interior Mongolia. While the world, with China at the head, looks for alternatives to fossil fuels to complement the intermittent supply of renewables, the answer could be resting under our feet. More specifically, under the ground of Interior Mongolia, the Autonomous Region of China that limits the north with Mongolia. According to South China Morning Posta newly declassified 2020 study has revealed that Bayan Obo’s site could contain enough Torio to supply all the energy needs of China for millennia. Virtually unlimited. Only five years of mining waste in the largest field of rare earths in Interior Mongolia contain both Torio and the demand for US homes for the next thousand years, according to the study of China Geological Review magazine that CMP quotes. If it is exploited to the fullest, Bayan Obo’s mining complex could produce 1 million tons of thorium. We would be talking about enough production to supply China for 60,000 years, the article suggests. Context. The thorium is a radioactive element that is estimated between three and four times more abundant than uranium in the earth’s crust. Until recently, the official figures placed the Chinese reserves around 100,000-300,000 tons, in themselves of the largest in the world. With a potential of 1 million tons, Bayan Obo would go from being the largest rare land mine on a virtually unlimited Torio source. Some geologists described the finding as a change of play that would give China the worldwide control of the production of the material. Not so fast. In most cases, the thorium is obtained as a byproduct in rare earth processing (specifically, monacite) or uranium mining and phosphates. China is already the main producer of rare earths, and therefore manages large amounts of minerals containing Torio. Why don’t you exploit it commercially on a large scale? Because the thorium is a radioactive residue of delicate management. Its extraction, either by acid or alkaline digestion of Monacita, or as a recovery of mining tails, complicates waste management with the use of alkaline acids or metals that generate toxic and radioactive wastewater. Perspectives These challenges are not insurmountable, but require a regulatory framework and an important investment for the thorium to be competitive in front of Uranium in the Obtaining safe nuclear energy. And especially in front of renewable sources, which have been cheaper thanks to the exponential growth of the Chinese supply chain. However, the thorium can end up being key to reducing fossil fuel dependence (after all, renewables need batteries to offer continuous supply), and China already has Torio reactor testslike the TMSR-LF1 of 2 MW and its future scaled 10 MW version that could be ready in 2030. If the results are positive, China could end up making the jump to the first 100 MW Torio nuclear power plants. Image | Google In Xataka | The reactors of molten salts and Torio are the nuclear response to solve our energy future (and silence criticism) In Xataka | The moment of the thorium: what if we do not have to wait for the merger to have much more safer nuclear energy?

In 2016, a urologist discovered that a Disneyland attraction helped expel renal calculations. The story was a bit more complicated

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In September 2016, David Wartinger (Urologist and Professor Emeritus at Michigan State University) He published a study according to which the Russian mountains facilitated the passage of kidney stones and, of course, the media went crazy. The kidney calculations They usually cause intense pain, bleeding, nausea and vomiting. In many cases they do not even go through the ureter them alone and you have to reduce them to dust with shock waves. The mere idea that a simple walk in a fair attraction could help solve it was a bombing. Of course, the story had a small print. Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. At some point in the late nineteenth century, someone found A colossal gold vein in Big Thundera mountain of the southwest of the United States. Quickly, the small mining camp in the immediate vicinity became a prosperous city and the mountain was filled with an intricate system of trains that moved the mineral from one place to another. No one suspected that Big Thunder was a sacred place for the Native Americans. Or, rather, it was a damn place that the natives avoided as a soul that the devil carried. It was inevitable that, sooner or later, a catastrophe would pass. And it passed. Some speak of an earthquake, others of a sudden flood. Be that as it may, the town was abandoned and the mine was closed until, years later, an expedition discovered that the wagons continued to move through the heart of the mountain without anyone who handled them. No, As Randy Meeks explained to usIt is not a real event: the plot of the most mythical mountain of Disneyland. That’s where history begins. A urologist in Michigan. As Wartinger himself explainedthe idea came unexpectedly. “Basically, I had patients who told me that after getting on a certain Russian mountain in Walt Disney World, they were able to expel their kidney calculations (…) I even had a patient who said he expelled three different calculations after climbing several times” As it seems, this theory did not pay much attention until, already retired, he discovered that other urologists They told similar things. It was then, when he felt the need to put it into practice. He did not do it with people, of course: he did it with a 3D model of a kidney with three calculations. He put it in the backpack, went to Orlando and rode 20 times in the Big Thunder Mountain. And what did you discover? “In total, we use 174 kidney calculations in different shapes, sizes and weights to see if each model worked in the same attraction and in two other roller mountains,” Wartinger explained in Msu Today. Interestingly, Big Thunder was the only one that gave positive results. “In the pilot study, sitting on the last car of the Russian mountain showed a success rate of around 64 percent, while sitting in the first cars only had a successful rate of 16 percent.” A simple curiosity … that quickly took out of context. With the help of the same Wartinger, by the way. As explained in Snopesin the interviews given by the retired urologist went far beyond reporting the results of his study. “If you have kidney calculations, but otherwise it is healthy and meets the requirements of the trip, patients should try it. It is certainly a cheaper alternative to medical care,” he said. The problem is that the basis for this is weak. What really does science say? There is no doubt that, as other urologists pointed out, This preliminary evidence suggests that a roller coaster can help naturally expel (very “) small. But, obviously, there is no empirical basis to recommend it. That is, it is a very striking study that could give an interesting clinical trial. A study that was never conducted. And without which, raising it as an alternative is risky: the experience of riding in that roller coaster with a large calculation can be terrible. Image | Renato Mitra In Xataka | There are people addicted to drink up to 15 liters of water daily (and it is a more serious problem than it seems)

A study has discovered a much more efficient activity for your brain than writing by hand or walking: sewing

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We spent the day with hurry to finish tasks pending, accumulating stress and with an excess of dopamine caused by the Infinite social media scroll that, in the long term, ends up undermining our Capacity for concentration. For this reason, neuroscientists recommend performing activities that give a breath to the brain and reduce stress levels. One of the most popular activities to get the body and mind down It is walkingbut a team of researchers from the University of Cardiff have found A curious alternative that, in fact, it has been put Very fashionable worldwide: sew or weave. The relaxing power of sewing In the midst of that maelstrom of things to do to what they call adult life, the brain needs to find A PEACE OF PEACE in relaxing activities capable of reducing daily stress levels. The hobbies They are not just hobbiesbut they are also valuable tools to exercise the brain activating areas related to creativity, psychomotor skills, coordination and even memory. Either sew, Write to Manoo readthese activities offer a healthy escape for stress and a way of exercising our brain in a pleasant way. An investigation of the Faculty of Occupational Therapy of the University of Cardiff published in the magazine Journal of Occupational Science He points out that sewing or weaving, is not only a mechanical movement, but an exercise that stimulates the brain and exercises the ability to concentrate in a single activity. This ability to focus all the attention on a precision motor activity makes stress levels reduce. For its part, the coordinated and constant movement of the hands activates neurotransmitters, keeping neurons working and our dynamic mind. This activity, far from being only for grandmothers, is a valuable therapy that improves the quality of life and helps to achieve a state of mental calm. As with other activities that involve Coordination skills Eye hand, sew or weaving favors the activation of different areas of the brain and releases neurotransmitters associated with well -being. In fact, the effects of weaving or sewing described by researchers at the University of Cardiff are very similar to those discovered by another group of researchers from Florida State University When washing the dishes. It is true that, after an exhausting day at work, the least can feel like it is to wash the dishes. However, the Study data They revealed that carrying out this monotonous and repetitive activity plunged the brain in a state of full attention that increased up to 25% the abstract thinking activity for the generation of new ideas and reduced by up to 27% the levels of stress and anxiety. In fact, as confessed in a Round of Questions in Redditthis is one of Bill Gates’s favorite activities to get rid of stress. Additional benefits for well -being Apart from the obvious mental benefits, sewing and weaving offer physical advantages that can improve the quality of life. These types of repetitive and mechanical activities provide effects similar to meditation: Reduce stress. When concentrating all the attention on the hands and in the creative process, it is possible to reduce blood pressure, which at the same time decreases the risk of cardiovascular problems. This physical and mental relaxation effect helps to disconnect from the accelerated rhythm of daily life. Analytical thought. Measure fabrics or threads, design garments, choose colors, plan projects, etc. All this contributes to strengthening analytical thinking and developing logical processes by establishing an order of priorities in the steps. Increase concentration. The activity requires attention to details, so the capacity for mental approach and attention is enhanced. Immediate tangible reward. Unlike other activities such as meditating, sewing or knitting provides a reward at the end of the work, which contributes to improving self -esteem. In addition to all that, sewing will allow you to repair the damage of your clothes, so, in addition, you are going to save some money while you relax. How much they knew Our mothers and grandmothers. In Xataka | Feeling over at work is normal, but it is not ideal: six techniques to avoid it and be much more productive Image | Pixabay (Wal_172619), Freepik

The Webb Telescope observed the black hole in the center of the Milky Way. Has discovered a chaotic light show

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Three years ago we saw for the first time The Supermassive Black Hole that inhabits the center of our galaxy. Now the James Webb space telescope has opened a window to study its surroundings. And it has turned out to be a chaotic show of lights that never stops. Context. In the center of the Milky Way inhabits A gigantic black hole called Sagittarius a*. Astronomers have managed to unravel the extreme dynamics of their accretion disk, the spiral of gas and dust that turns around it. To do this, they observed it for 48 hours (distributed in several periods of 2023 and 2024) using the Nircam instrument of the Webb Telescope. A disco ball. The observations revealed that sgr a* emits A continuous game of lights and flashes which is characterized by constant blinking interspersed with a series of intense eruptions. These emissions have a weak and continuous component, probably originated in the internal turbulence of the disc, and a bright and short -term component, eruptions associated with magnetic reconnection, in which magnetic fields collide and release huge amounts of energy. Fluctuations can occur in seconds or as changes that extend for days, weeks and months. The explanation. The study of these variable emissions, published in The Astrophysical Journal Letterssuggests that fluctuations intensify at major scales. According to researchers, the small internal disturbances of the disk, associated with fluctuations in density and magnetic field, generate the faint flashes, while large eruptions are related to specific events of magnetic reconnection, comparable to the solar flares, but at levels much older energy. “In our data we observe a constantly changing luminosity,” Farhad Yusef-Zadeh explainsmain author of the study. “Suddenly, Boom! A great explosion of brightness appears suddenly and then calms down, without following a fixed pattern.” This nature, apparently random, demonstrates that the accretion disc is regenerated all the time, causing between five and six and six Great daily rashes, in addition to multiple intermittent outbreaks. The lags. An advantage of the NIRCAM instrument of the Webb Telescope is its ability to observe two infrared wavelengths simultaneously (2.1 and 4.8 micrometers). This allowed researchers to compare how the brightness of eruptions with each wavelength changed. Surprisingly, they discovered that the events observed in the shortest wavelength changed shine a little before the events of the longest. “It is the first time that we see a delay in the measurements of these wavelengths,” said Yusef-Zadeh. “We notice that the longest wavelength is delayed between three and 40 seconds.” This finding is a key clue that energy particles lose energy as they cool, a process known as syncrotron cooling. New observations. Researchers now plan to make a continuous observation of up to 24 hours from SGR A* using the Webb Telescope, which will help them determine if eruptions follow repetitive patterns or if they are truly random. Each flash and every flicker on the accretion disk of the supermassive hole offers us a deeper understanding of physics on the events horizon, one of the most extreme environments in the universe. In other words, it helps us discover how space-time and matter behave under the influence of overwhelming gravity. Image | NASA, ESA, CSA, RALF CRAWFORD (STSCI) In Xataka | The Webb Telescope has managed to penetrate the nucleus of a neighboring galaxy, home to a furiously active black hole In Xataka | Telescopes from all over the world worked together in this image: the black hole of the Milky Way and its magnetic fields

We have been growing lettuce in space for years. Now we have discovered that they are more likely to get sick

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Bad news for astronauts who usually eat healthy. That is, for all astronauts. The crew members ago of the International Space Station consume the vegetables that they themselves cultivate in microgravity: lettuce, peppers, radishes. Some spicy Chile. More recently, vegetables have joined the autoconsumo astronauts of the Chinese Space Stationwhich already has lettuce, cherry tomatoes and chivesalthough it does not carry so much in orbit. The problem is that space salads They are not as safe for consumption as we thought. A team of researchers from the University of Delaware has discovered that lettuce and others Microgravity cultivated vegetables They are more Pollution prone by bacteria such as Salmonella. The study, funded by NASA, shows that under conditions of microgravity, plants tend to open their stomata (the small pores of their leaves and stems) instead of closing them to prevent the invasion of pathogens. To reach this conclusion, the team created a simulated microgravity atmosphere in the laboratory with a device called clinostat, which rotates plants as a chicken in an grill. The results showed that, under these conditions, the salmonella more easily infects the tissue of the leaves. Friendly bacteria also lose their protective effect The researchers explored the use of a friendly bacterium, B. Subtilis, as a solution to the problem. However, bacteria, which on earth helps plants fight pathogens, He failed to protect them in it Simulated microgravity environmentwhich suggests that space changes significantly the interaction between plants and microbes. The finding is important. Not only because he doubts that the salads of the International Space Station are totally safe, but also because it helps to understand the challenges of agriculture in future space colonies. With population growth on earth and the loss of agricultural land, space is an increasingly realistic option for food cultivation. But if they want Avoid an outbreak of salmonellosisthe future farmers of space be worth the future farmers to wash their hands well with soap and water. Image | NASA/Cory Huston In Xataka | The space dream was to spend billions of euros to go to Mars to end eating crickets In Xataka | The food knows very different in space. The reason is more intriguing than it seems: confinement *An earlier version of this article was published in February 2024

We have discovered the largest underground thermal lake in the world. It is at the bottom of a more than 100 meters aser in Albania

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Albania has just been crowned on the world geological map. And big. There, on the border with Greece, a tens of meters deep, an expedition has identified the largest underground thermal lake on the planet. His name, Neuron. Its figures: more than 183 m long, 42 wide and sufficient water to fill A few Olympic pools. The finding confirms the scope of a discovery that dates back several years ago but whose relevance has only been confirmed now, with the help of a Lidar scanner. Its history is as curious as its size. “A steam column”. To understand the scope of the discovery you have to go back a few years ago, at 2021 and 2002, when a team of Czech scientists launched Vromoner, in southern Albania, near the border with Greece. The area resulted especially interesting For geologists because for years the convulsive political context of Balkans had hindered that scientists could thoroughly examine it. There the experts found a vast underground system of thermal sources thanks to a curious track: a steam stream. “From the high vapor column that rose from the limestone massif we managed to locate a chasm of more than one hundred meters deep,” Marek Audy tellsHead of the expedition. They called her atmos. When exploring it, they took an even greater surprise (literally): they found an intense thermal activity and a “great lake.” How large and broad it was, however, it became an unknown that then, for technical issues, they could not clarify. A (huge) suspicion. Which I was clear Audy team was that it had found something big, huge. And again both words can be understood in their most literal sense. The team suspected that the water extension that had been located in Albania was the largest underground thermal lake in the world, at least among those known today. Hence, later the researchers returned to the Sima in a new expedition provided with a reinforced technical arsenal. Thanks to the support of the Neuron Foundation, which contributed funds, the geologists achieved a special lidar scanner and the software necessary to measure the area. The objective of the researchers –The Neuron Foundation reported Before the expedition left – it was to make a map, a 3D model of the underground cave and the lake and even collect samples of animals from the banks. The result of that incursion has been waiting, but it was worth it: today those responsible presume having identified the largest underground thermal lake in the world. A “unique” lake. In a wink to the foundation that supported the project to the lake, Neuron has been baptized. What surprises however is not its name, but its size: 138.3 meters in length by 42 wide with a circle of 345 m. Inside it hosts around 8,335 m3 of thermal mineral water and those who have had the opportunity to visit it highlight the show of its dome, three times greater than that of the main room of the Prague National Theater. “The phenomenon has been subject to a thorough hydrogeological study to confirm its singularity,” The Foundation stands outwhich emphasizes that it is a “unique” lake. And how did they measure it? The team did not start from scratch. Richard Bouda, photographer and member of the expedition, Explain to Euronews that during the first visit they had already prepared a “basic map” with the resources they had. When they returned they did it, however, with a mobile lidar scanner and the system Geoslam which allowed them to precisely probe the cave and the lake. Not just that. They also traced a detailed map of Atmos, including other caves, such as sulfur. “We believe that this discovery will help protect the area and to better understand hydrological flows. Until now, nobody knew precisely how these groundwater connect to the surface,” Bouda comments. The team also trusts that the finding has an impact on the hydrological and geological studies of the region. Images | Neuron 1 and 2 In Xataka | A cave in France hid a strange rock formation. Some researchers believe that it could be a 3D map

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