DNA

Nintendo Switch 2 seems not innovative. After trying it, it is 100% DNA Nintendo

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Today is thrown Nintendo Switch 2 And, as some claim, “it is the least innovative console in history.” That exaggerated phrase can be read in Redditbut although it may seem that it is the impression of a single user, the truth is that there is a runrun both inside and outside the industry about the role of the New Nintendo console. Nintendo Switch It was a revolution. Although it was the concept of Wiiu brought to an end to which, by technologythat machine could not reach, the hybrid console has not only filled the pockets of the Japanese company with More than 152 million units soldbut opened the way for the definitive success of this type of devices. Steam Deck, Asus Rog Ally either Lenovo Legion Go They drink, unquestionably, of switch, and it is unquestionable that the machine was more than an innovation, a revolution. The problem is the phrase that Nintendo is synonymous with innovation In everything he does when, precisely, when talking about historical consoles, we see that It is not so much like that. In fact, Nintendo Switch 2 is the most logical thing they could do from Nintendo. Nintendo Switch 2 is 100% Nintendo spirit Beyond what users can think about the machine, that it does not innovate when, apparently, it was forced to it is something that is resonating within the industry. On who? Then by one of the most authorized voices: Shuhei Yoshida. Yoshida was an emblematic piece of PlayStation. It was one of the initial members of the PlayStation project when Sony wanted to stand up to Nintendo after the betrayal of the Nintendo PlayStation and it was the President of Sie Worldwide Studioscoordinating dozens of studies and, currently, The indies that arrive in PlayStation. His career is full of successes (also some other bad decision, such as Do not trust in ‘Demon’s Souls’the game that preceded successes like ‘Dark Souls‘,’Bloodborne‘ either ‘Elden Ring‘), And after his retirement he is dedicated to saying what he thinks about the industry. Your opinion about Nintendo Switch 2? That Nintendo sacrificed innovation to have a more powerful console. In a recent podcastYoshida commented that “Nintendo is losing its identity. For me, they have always been those who created new experiences, such as designing a hardware and games that together give us a new experience. ” Basically, Nintendo has opted only for more power. In fact, The only thing he likes It is the ‘Welcome Tour’ (a collection of mini -games that will allow us to know the console better) and ‘The Duskbloods‘, The new of the creators of …’ Demon’s Souls’. But the opinions that Nintendo should really worry are those of their investors. In the presentation of the financial results, one of them asked about Switch 2 is a “bridge” console towards a new more innovative generation, and it was Nintendo’s own president, Shuaro Furukawa, who took the baton confirming that the hardware is more polished than in Switch and that innovation goes on the other hand. It is not the only one that has it, but the joy-with mouse function are an interesting addition “In recent years, developers have needed higher performance processing to achieve one of Nintendo’s most important objectives: new ways of playing. Therefore, this time we aim to design a hardware with a great performance capacity, ”said Furukawa. In summary: more power will allow ways to play that could not be experienced in Switch, and two of their first games are an example. ‘Mario Kart World‘It is huge, with an open world mode and 24 runners on the track, something impossible on Switch. AND ‘Donkey Kong Baniza‘It is a show in the destruction of the stage. Nintendo always innova? When we talk about games, and here it is already a personal issue, I consider that the company always offers something new. Two recent examples are ‘The Legend of Zelda Tears of The Kingdom‘carrying to the extreme the freedom of the first installment with a large engine of physical and a’Super Mario Wonder‘That shows that, after so many years, the formula of the Super Mario in 2D is not exhausted. But, when we talk about hardware, the thing is very different and, in fact, that “Nintendo always innova” has only been seen twice: when they have urgently needed it. In this graph we can see something vital for any company: Hardware sales. It is with video games with what they get money, but in the end it is the fish that bite the tail and more consoles sold more potential software. And what the figures tell us is that, if we do not count the Nesyour first console, Nintendo has only taken the imagination for a walk when his business was in danger. After nes, he arrived SNESwhich was a generational change from 8 to 16 bits and, therefore, only had more power. More than the same of SNES to a Nintendo 64 That it was a beast, but that stood out for its analog stick in the command resulting from the need to control characters in three dimensions. That extra power allowed the 3D that were already in other systems. Nintendo 64 stuck a tube, but the worst came with its next console: Game Cube. Was A authentic graphic beastmore powerful than PlayStation 2 that swept his generation, but sold extremely little. There Nintendo needed a change and, with the code name ‘Nintendo Revolution‘, they launched Nintendo Wii. He sold what is not written and, after her, tried, precisely, to innovate. The result? A wiiu that arrived with A bad namea worst marketing and the doors of a generational change -that of Xbox One and PS4– For which it fell in potential. Nintendo was held for sales of Nintendo DS and Nintendo 3DSbut a new revolution was urged and Switch arrived. After 152 million consoles sold, and counting, Nintendo cannot play it with hardware And, precisely, he has done the same thing that already worked with Super Nintendo and … Read more

The arrival of the human being to South America, seen through the DNA of the heirs of the last great migration

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Throughout our history as a species, Homo sapiens We have managed to reach the most remote corners on Earth. Millennia before the era of exploration, our ancestors undertook a trip that took them out of Africa and populate the great continental masses from Europe to South America. Among all these great migrations, one of the most surprising was the one that led humans from Siberia to Patagonia, a 10,000 trip whose details are knowing. History in genes. A new genetic study has given us new clues on the great migration that resulted in the population of the Americas. A migration of 20,000 kilometers whose implications still last in aspects as apparently distant as health. The study allowed to draw the history of migrations until the considered “final border” of human migrations, Tierra del Fuego, Explain the team responsible for the study. History of a millennia trip. This great migration would have begun in Siberia between 27,000 and 19,000 years ago Approximately during the last glaciation, in what we know today as the Bering Strait would have formed a “bridge” of land due to a lower sea level than the present. Through Alaska, these populations would have arrived in North America, but the expansion through this continent would have been only an intermediate stage. The study focuses on the second part of the trip, when part of the new American population crossed the Central American Isthmus to enter the last continent in being populated. The last border. The new genetic analysis allows us to know how humans expanded in South America. The responsible team detected that lineages In this continent they began to diverge with each other between 14,000 and 10,000 years ago. From this point, the South American population began to separate into four groups. The first to disintegrate was those who populated the Amazon basin, while the rest was distributed among the high areas of the Andes mountain range, the desert area of ​​the Chaco, and finally, Patagonia. Reading migration in genes. For its study, the team sequenced the genomes of 1,537 individuals belonging to 139 villages of the continent. The details of the study were published In an article In the magazine Science. Very long -term implications. The consequences of this migratory movement and its vicissitudes still last and some of them still weigh on the native peoples of South America, especially as a consequence of the isolation of some of these populations with respect to the rest of humanity. This could explain why some populations were more susceptible to the introduction of infectious diseases by the first Europeans to reach the continent. “Those migrants carried only a subset of the genetic heritage in their ancestral populations (…). Thus, reduced genetic diversity also caused a reduced diversity in immunity -related genes, which can limit flexibility when fighting several infectious diseases,” stood out in a press release Kim Hie Lim, Co -author of the study. From the past to the present. Knowing new data on the genetics of American peoples can also help us in the present. This information is valuable when studying treatments of genetic diseases, or to better understand the functioning and impact of certain medications. In addition, the closest relationship between American and Asian populations implies new data on a population that, recalls the team responsible for the new work, covers 50% of the world’s population. In Xataka | A cave has revealed the macabre Mayan ceremony to honor its gods: there are 100 bones and none is where it should Image | Soyyosycocomiel / Martin St-Amant

12 million people delivered their DNA to 23Andme. The company broke and its data are about to change hands

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For years, spitting in a tube was the first step of an irresistible promise: discovering your roots, knowing your genetic predispositions, even finding family members lost by the world. Everything without moving home. The company behind that phenomenon was called 23ndmeand achieved something unusual: to turn genetics into a mass consumption product. That story has just turned. Regeneron Pharmaceuticals has reached an agreement to acquire the main assets of 23Andme for 256 million dollars, According to the official statement published by the pharmacist. It is a transaction that must still be approved by the Banking Court and by US regulators. At stake is a platform that has managed the DNA of millions of people worldwide. An announced end. The 23Andme fall has not been sudden. In recent years, the company went from being valued at more than 6,000 million dollars to fight for its own survival. His commitment to a more ambitious model – based on developing medicines, offering medical consultations by subscription and expanding digital health services – did not set. As details The Wall Street Journalthe company burned more than one billion dollars and ended up offering part of its assets in limit conditions. The sales agreement does not cover the entire business. Regeneron would keep the essential: the direct genomics service to the consumer, its biobanco of genetic samples and the research and total health divisions. The telemedicine subsidiary Lemonaid Health is left out, acquired in its day for 400 million dollars, whose closure will be made in an orderly manner outside this operation. Privacy: The real battlefield. The operation has re -placed privacy in the center of the debate. Regeneron has promised to respect current data use policies and has committed to undergoing independent scrutiny, as established by the judicial framework of the process. Even so, doubts persist on how one of the world’s largest genetic databases will be managed. The suspicion is not new. In 2023, 23Andme was a victim of a massive data filtration which affected 6.9 million people. As TechCrunch revealedthe attackers accessed the profiles of those who had activated the function of “genetic family”, obtaining names, locations and percentages of shared DNA between relatives. The company attributed the incident to the reuse of passwords by users, but the damage was already done. Anne Wojcicki, the face of an era. The 23Andme story cannot be told without mentioning Anne Wojcicki. Co -founder, visible face, visionary of personalized health and, at the same time, responsible for business decisions that led to collapse. His plan was to convert the company to an integral provider of medical services, but this did not prosper. He tried to recover control, but his power vanished with the beginning of the judicial process. According to WSJtheir actions with preferential vote were annulled and their offers rejected by the Board of Directors. Wojcicki opted everything to DNA as strategic assets. And for a while it seemed right. The company that helped to found transformed the way millions of people related to their health. It also showed to what extent a genetic database can become a mined field of legal, ethical and technological risks. A new stage, the same questions. Regeneron aspires to keep a powerful platform, a still recognized brand and an immense volume of genetic information. In its official statement, he affirms that his intention is to maintain service for current users and continue to develop new ways for personalized medicine. Images | 23ndme In Xataka | We have visited the place where the demographic hopes of Spain are literally deposited: the Semen Bank of Granada

We have just discovered that 20% of our DNA comes from an unknown hominid population: population B

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Perhaps at this point on remembering that human evolution is more like the branched structure of trees than to the linear image that we often use to illustrate it, that image in which our ancestors are irrigating and pertrechating tools. However, the bifurcations of these tree branches fail to illustrate some evolutionary changes. Because sometimes species not only diverge, they also converge. A recent genetic study has detected The trail in the human DNA of an old population that separated from our main lineage approximately 1.5 million years ago to converge some time later. The study has estimated that the genetic legacy of this second population (or population b) represents approximately 20% of our DNA today. The study responsible for the study also raises the possibility that this legacy has been positive for our species. According to the hypothesis raised, these genes would have been contributed to improve our cognitive capacity. “The question about where we come is one of those that has fascinated humans for centuries,” explained in a press release Trevor Cousins, co -author of the study. “For a long time, it had been assumed that we evolved from An ancestral continuous lineagebut the exact details of our origins are uncertain. “ The separation of these two evolutionary branches would have given rise to an evolution in parallel of the Populations A and B. The evolution of the population to correspond approximately what we already know, although the new work allows us to know in more detail its evolutionary history. As explained by the team responsible for the study, after the separation of the two populations, the population A would have suffered a “Bottleneck”: While the population B prospered, the A had to cross a period in which its numbers were very scarce, a situation that also implied a drastic reduction in genetic diversity. From the population A would have emerged the main human species of the past, including not only our species but also the “bifurcation” that would give rise to the arrival of Neanderthals and Denisovanosanother human species (or subspecies) that would have inhabited Central Asia hundreds of thousands of years ago. Reunion between species The history of population B is still enigmatic. The study has not recorded events such as population bottlenecks. We know that the core of this population disappeared but that at some point their roads crossed with the population A, giving rise to genetic exchange. He “Reunion” between populations It would have given more than one million years after separation, about 300,000 years ago, according to the estimates of the study responsible for the study. After this reunion, population B would fade without leaving another trace. The genetic inheritance that each population would have left in modern humans would be unequal. While we should about 80% From our genetic material, to population B we could owe the remaining 20%. The study detected that these genes of population B would concentrate sections of the population’s own genes A. Scheme that represents the evolution of the two populations and their relationship with Neanderthals, Denisovanos and ‘Homo Sapiens’ contemporaries. Cousins, Aylwyn Scally & Richard Durbin (2025). This suggests, explains the team, that both populations would have been little compatible. The uncompatibilities would have been purified over the years through the process known as purification selection, a process in which natural selection is eliminating harmful mutations. On this legacy, the team also indicates that these are genes closely linked to the functioning of the brain and the Information processing. This could imply that this small genetic inheritance could have had a great impact on the evolution of human intelligence and in the Evolution of our species. The analysis focused on the study of contemporary humans and not on the bone remains of prehistoric populations. The team resorted to the 1000 Genomes Project initiative, thanks to which it had a large genetic database with information about inhabitants of Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Americas. The details of the study were published In an article In the magazine Nature Genetics. The history of evolutionary convergence is long. Perhaps the best known case is that of the Neanderthals (Homo Neanderthalensis). This already extinct species occupied Europe and Asia tens of thousands of years before our species left Africa but, once they found themselves They coexisted in various areas of Eurasia. Thanks to its genetic legacy (which varies according to populations but usually around 1% or 2% among non -Afro -descendant), we know that the coexistence of sapiens and Neanderthals gave a lot of: The union of these species engendered hybrids whose lineages ended up merging with those who gave rise to contemporary humanity. In Xataka | North Africa was outside the bronze age map. A metallic waste has been put in the center of history Image | Pixabay / Pxhere

12 million people delivered their DNA to 23Andme. The company broke, but the problem for users goes further

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“Discover what your DNA says about you and your family.” This is how 23Andme, a company that proposes something as simple as sending a saliva sample and receiving information about the origin of your ancestors or possible relatives lost over time. No needles, without blood: a domestic genetic test that promises personal answers to ancestral questions. A few days after registering on the platform, the user receives at home a small box with a collection tube. You just have to deposit a saliva sample and return the package by mail. From there, the DNA is digitized and analyzed by algorithms. Three or four weeks later, the results appear directly on the entrance tray. In bankruptcy. Open the door to the past for less than $ 120 seemed a proposal for success. However, things did not go as expected. Last Sunday, 23 Andme accepted Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Law, that is, he declared himself in bankruptcy, and his CEO, Anne Wojcicki, soon presented her resignation. This outcome was not sudden. 23Andme had been facing doubts about his business model, disputes with investors and a concern for the property of his huge genetic database. Has never reported net benefits And its stock market value has collapsed in recent yearsentering a complicated field. Wojcicki tried to get the company several times, but its proposals were rejected again and again. “Although it disappoints me that we have reached this situation and that my offer has been rejected, support for the company and I intend to participate as a bidder,” The executive said in a shared message this Monday in X. Privacy nightmare. More than 12 million people, according to figures that we found on their website, shared their DNA with 23andme. Now, they could see how their data end up in the hands of another company. It is a very real possibility: the restructuring process includes the sale of assets with the objective of “maximizing the value of the business.” The situation has lit the alarms of the Attorney General of California, Rob Bonta, who issued an consumer alert focused on privacy. In it, he recalled that any citizen has the right to ask the company to eliminate their data and the destruction of any genetic sample that still retains. The company, on the other hand, has assured that there will be no changes in the way it protects user data during the bankruptcy process. However, your security history is far from being impeccable. Without going any further, last year One of its databases with millions of profiles on the Dark Web was leaked. Images | 23ndme In Xataka | My data has been filtered, now what: the steps you should always take that there is a massive filtration on the Internet that can affect you

8,000 years ago a group of farmers crossed the Aegean Sea. Its trail can still be seen in the DNA in Media Europe

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A little before 7,000 before Christ, the western hunters-gatherers and the center of the Anatolia They started cultivating. It seems likely and unimportant. But that little change ended up causing a deep social, economic and demographic reorganization of the entire European continent. And it is not an exaggeration. It was so strong that even today we can see her on the maps. PH2TER What are we talking about? Between 6,000 and 4,000 before Christ, those Neolithic Farmers of Anatolia They began to move beyond the Aegean And, progressively, they took agriculture to Europe and North Africa. They thus became the ancestral genetic component of this whole area of ​​the world. Subsequently, the arrival of the shepherds of the western steppe (the known as Yamnaya culture) He finished configuring the basic genetics of the historical peoples of Europe, but the strength of the legacy of the anatolian farmers remained very strong. Above all, in the south of the continent. How can this know? Taking into account that the databases are even more incomplete than we would like and, therefore, there is always enough speculative content, a map can be built by comparing historical and contemporary samples. On the map, you can see a spectrum in which blue represents populations with greater “genetic distance“With the neolithic anatolic farmers and the red the slightest distance. And, to tell the truth, it has enough surprises. Detlef Gronenborn, Barbara Horejs, Börner, Obe Who is who (genetically speaking)? As usually explained, in the European countries of the Mediterranean there is a greater genetic closeness with the first European farmers. Specifically, Greece and Italy are the sites with the greatest closeness. Sardinia, of which we already knew that They were a very unique genetic populationit seems that the palm is taken. As a curiosity, it seems that current anatolia is not so great. Paleogenetics for beginners. All this is still a curiosity of an amateur forum (one that presumably has serious reliability problems as we approach detail). However, it is a good example of the enormous depth that genetic studies give us to understand the intrahistory of humanity. As we said Half decade ago“Paleogenetic techniques are like Galileo’s telescope: they let us see where we could not until now, but we need to accumulate evidence, works and studies to know what is true and what is a mirage.” As happened with carbon-14 techniques (it took almost 40 years to be reliable to one hundred percent), we are about to see how the past changes. Image | PH2TER | In Xataka | The past of the future: how science changes (constantly) our way of seeing dinosaurs and the past in general

We have just rewritten the genealogy of the inhabitants of the Cantabria of the Paleolithic. Thanks to DNA found in the mud

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If we want to enter tens of thousands of years ago in the genetics of our ancestors, the only path we have is to study the bone remains in search of the low genetic material remaining in them. Or at least that used to be the case. 46,000 years ago. Because a new study has achieved Back 46,000 years in the past by analyzing sedimentary challenges in a Cantabrian cave. The genetic material found showed a common genetic ancestry among the inhabitants of the cave and populations settled in southern France in the same era. The mirror and his red lady. The history of the study of the archaeological site of the cave of El Mirón, located in Cantabria, begins with excavations initiated in 1996. Archaeological prospects would give one of its main fruits in 2010, with the discovery of the red lady of El Mirón. It was a partial skeleton that belonged to a woman from between 35 and 40 years deceased about 19,000 years ago. The appellation is due to the fact that the bone remains were found covered with a red ocher paint whose origin would not have been in the direct environment of the cave. Sedadna. One of the most striking details of the study is in its methodology. The new analysis of the remains of the site did not focus on the bone remains of the red lady, even on other types of bones. Instead they noticed the mud. The Sedadna methodology focuses on the sedimentary remains of DNA that still keep genetic information about the ancient inhabitants of the cave, humans or animals. These remains, Explain the study responsible for the study They allow us to ride ourselves very prior to that of the Red Lady, up to 46,000 years ago, in the Musteriense era, when the Neanderthals still inhabited Europe. From Fournol to Cantabria. However, the most relevant period in the new study is the Solutrense, the period in which the last maximum glacier occurred, approximately between 25,000 and 21,000 years ago. The sedadna extracted in the strata of this era allowed genetically to link the human populations that inhabited the cave in this era with other human groups. Specifically with the one known as Fournol lineagea group that we link with some deposits in Spain and in France. The new study allows us to better trace the genealogies of the human groups that inhabited the Peninsular North in Paleolithic. A genealogy that also covers the ancestry of the Villabruna lineage, which would have reached the region in bass Magdaleniensefrom the Balkans and northern Italy. The details of the study were published In an article In the magazine Nature Communications. Great carnivores. Another study key is in animals that inhabited the cave and, therefore, that they could be found in these times among the Iberian fauna. The team found traces belonging to carnivores such as leopard and hyenas, as well as the Dole, Wild Dog Asian or Indian Wild Dog (Cuon Alpinus), A canid now present in Southeast Asia. They also found DNA belonging to ungulates such as mammoths and rhinos, in addition to deer. In Xataka | “Look dad, ox”: the curious story of how an eight -year -old girl unwittingly discovered the paintings of the Altamira cave Image | University of New Mexico

We have been looking for the mysterious ancestor town of the Indo -Europeans. We have a new track in DNA

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We know that Latin languages ​​have their common origin in Latin peoples such as the one that ended up forging the Roman Empire. We know that Germanic languages ​​had their origin in the Germanic tribes that at that same time inhabited northern Europe. But these two language families have a common trunk that goes back to prehistory, the language protoindoeuropeo. Now, who spoke this language? CLV. A new study He has discoveredthrough a genetic analysis in several archaeological sites in Europe, a new prehistoric group, an archaic society that they have called people of the Caucasus-Bajo Volga or CLV (Caucasus-Lower Volga). As the study concludes, this town could be linked to the protoindo -European language and with Its expansion. The protoindoeuropeo. The protoindoeuropeo (foot) language is the “common ancestor” of numerous contemporary languages, including Spanish and the rest of languages ​​spoken in the Peninsula (except Basque). A list that includes from English to Persian, through Russian and Greek. It is estimated that about half of the world population speaks languages ​​with this origin. This language would have been the speech of one or more prehistoric peoples of the border region between Europe and Asia. The migrations starring this group would have given rise to the speakers of this language ending their linguistic imprint in much of Eurasia. And more than linguistics, also genetics. From Yamnaya to Clv. Genetics had already given us important clues about these peoples, allowing us The so -called Yamnaya culturea population that would have inhabited the steppes north of the Caspian between the years 3,300 and 2,600 before our era. These analyzes had focused on this culture as probable vector of Indo -European expansion around the year 3,100 aec But there was a problem with its own name: the Anatolias languages, a group of languages ​​already extinct among which was included, for example, the hitita. These languages ​​would have been the first to break down from the common Indo -European trunk, before acquiring “steppe features.” This implied that this separation would have occurred before the arrival of Yamnaya culture and that there should be a protoindo -European group prior to this from which both anatolias languages ​​arose and those that would later derive in the Greek, Latin or Celta. Now, the new Study points to the people of the CLV as possible common ancestors of both. More than 4,000 years ago. All thanks to genetics. The new work studied the DNA of 435 individuals found in various archaeological sites in Eurasia, covering a period between the years6,400 and 2,000 AEC the details of the study were broken down In an article Posted in the magazine Nature. Missing link. Genetic analysis pointed out that Yamnaya’s group would have inherited about 80% of its ancestry of the CLV population, which in turn would have legacked about 10% of its ancestry to the anatolians. This makes this mysterious group the common ancestors of the populations that initiated the expansion of Indo -European languages ​​during the Copper Age. In Xataka | Looking for money, they found gold: this was Dmanisisis Gora, the megafortiness of the Caucasus built 3,000 years ago Image | XVODOLAZX / Denis Vitchenko

Europe has the highest rate of multiple sclerosis in the world. The explanation lies in the DNA of the steppe shepherds

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First there were hunter-gatherers about 45,000 years ago. The first modern humans arrived in a Europe where the Neanderthals still reigned. Then there were the farmers of the Middle East about 11,000 years ago and finally, about 5,000 years ago they were the nomadic pastoralists of the steppes of Central Asia. That is, according to research published in the journal Naturethe common genetic heritage of Europeans. A heritage that explains why, in an incredible historical twist, multiple sclerosis affects us more. A DNA mutating in the middle of the great steppe. While agriculture gained weight in the world, the great Eurasian steppe continued doing its thing. The culture yamnaa group of pastoral towns that arose in the enormous plains south of the Urals and east of the Black Sea, generations and generations passed living with livestock. Variant. It was there that it emerged (and was selected) a small genetic variant that strengthened natural immunity against zoonoses; that is, against livestock infections that could easily jump to the human communities that raised them. 5,000 years later, this genetic variant is behind the fact that Europeans have a higher risk of suffering from Multiple Sclerosis. The deep origins of current diseases. The study led by the Universities of Cambridge and Copenhagen (but with the participation of many more) analyze in detail from the DNA of almost 5,000 individuals spread throughout history. Some studied remains date back to about 34,000 years ago. The reconstruction. Reconstructing humanity’s immense genetic tree, researchers found numerous keys to understanding why there are specific geographic areas or ethnic groups that suffer from some diseases more than others. They realized that southern Europeanswith a greater genetic legacy from the agricultural people of the Middle East, have a greater predisposition to develop bipolar disorders; that people from the East had a higher genetic risk of developing Alzheimer’s or diabetes; and those from the northwest had a heightened risk of sclerosis. A medical enigma. For years, scientists have tried to understand why Europe has, with about 143 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, one of the highest incidence rates of sclerosis in the world. As I said in the previous paragraph, as you go south and east those differences fade, but (even so) the greater risk of developing this disease It is a European ‘differential fact’. Understanding better. The most interesting thing about all this is that the idea that the answer lies in the genetic history of its inhabitants It is not only a historical curiosity. On the contrary, thinking about this from an evolutionary point of view allows us to understand the disease in a new way. In Xataka | Where genes, do what you see: the surprising genetic differences (and similarities) within the Iberian Peninsula Image | Charlotte Venema *An earlier version of this article was published in January 2024

We are wrong about the origin of sunburn

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We all know that if we spend a lot of time exposed to the sun without protection we will burn The skin becomes red, hot and inflamed and hurts with a simple touch. Then it peels off and for days we can barely touch each other. That’s clear, we don’t need science to explain it to us because practically all of us have experienced it at some point. However, we were wrong about the origin of those sunburn. We have always thought it was due to DNA damage. That’s what the textbooks say. Now, however, an international team of scientists has shown that, in reality, they are the RNA damage those that give rise to that unpleasant effect. These researchers, coming from the University of Copenhagen and Nanyang Technological Universityin Singapore, they carried out their experiments both in mice as in human skin cell cultures. This is very important, since not everything that is studied in mice can be extrapolated to humans, but cell cultures can help understand the effects on our species. With both types of experiments they observed that the response to RNA damage is much faster. At least, it is the one that seems to be closely related to sunburn. It may seem that this does not give us any interesting information. What does it matter if it’s DNA or RNA? Sunburns hurt just the same! And yes, that’s true, but this seemingly trivial fact It can help us a lot in the future. DNA or RNA? DNA is the instruction book of an organism. It contains all the information about who we are and what we need to stay alive. Our DNA contains the instructions to synthesize insulin when glucose builds up in the blood or to help us sleep through melatonin when night falls. They also include data about the color of our eyes or the way our hair grows. Everything we are is in DNA. All our cells have the same DNA, but not all DNA is used in all cells. For example, the gene with the instructions to synthesize insulin is in the cells of the eye, but it is not necessary there. It will never be used. Yes, it is necessary in the cells of the pancreas, since it is the organ that is responsible for synthesizing it. It is used there. This use of a specific gene is what is known as gene expression. The gene turns on where and when it is needed. In this case, in the cells of the pancreas (where), when glucose accumulates in the blood (when). Differences between DNA and RNA. Credit: Sponk (Wikimedia Commons) We already know what DNA is. Something more or less immutable. It can undergo mutations, but it remains more or less fixed throughout our lives. On the other side we have RNA. This is another nucleic acid. DNA is deoxyribonucleic acid and RNA is ribonucleic acid. It differs in the presence of a different sugar within the molecule: ribose In the case of RNA and deoxyribose in the case of DNA. There are many types of RNA: transfer RNA, ribosomal RNA, messenger RNA… Each one has a function, but in this case we are going to focus on the messenger, since it is the one mentioned in the study of sunburn. We have already seen that DNA is used only when and where it is necessary. This use consists of using the information contained in a gene to build a protein, which will carry out the desired function. These proteins are synthesized in cellular organelles called ribosomes. But there is a problem. Ribosomes are unable to read DNA. said very roughly speaking, It is a language they do not understand. They understand the language of messenger RNA. Therefore, when a gene is to be expressed, its information is transcribed into messenger RNA. Like when we translated a page from an instruction book that was in English into Spanish so that our grandmother knew how to use the washing machine. That is the function of messenger RNA. With this well learned, we can move on to the next thing. What does all this have to do with sunburn? Sunburn is caused by exposure to the Sun’s radiation. Specifically, ultraviolet raysespecially type B (UVB). This generates DNA damage, it is totally true. In fact, these DNA damages can accumulate and eventually lead to a melanoma. None of that has changed. However, we usually think that sunburns are that first warning that DNA has been damaged and, in reality, it turns out that it has not. It is the messenger RNA the one who gets upset. How UVB affects ZAK signaling pathways to cause sunburn symptoms. (Lind et al., Molecular Cell, 2025) After reading the literature and carrying out several experiments, the authors of the study that has just been published thought that sunburn could be related to a protein called ZAK-alpha. This is involved in the response to something known as ribotoxic stress. That is, when a failure is detected in the messenger RNA, this protein starts the immune system to attack the cells in which this damage is found, so that the altered messenger RNA not translated on the ribosome. If that happened, you would get failed proteins and could be dangerous. This immune system response also launches an inflammatory response. The skin turns red, becomes hot, swells… What does it sound like to you? Indeed, sunburn! This entire cascade of reactions to ultraviolet radiation was detected in human skin cell cultures. But what would happen in a living organism? The scientists tried to genetically modify a group of mice so that the gene with the instructions for synthesizing the ZAK-alpha protein was not present. If there was no ZAK alpha, when the mice were exposed to ultraviolet B radiation They did not experience burns. On the other hand, with ZAK-alpha intact they did. What is the use of knowing all this? The authors of the research believe that this new … Read more

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