dozens

For centuries price has been a sign of quality. Generative AI is breaking that rule in dozens of sectors

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For centuries, price has served as a cognitive shortcut. If something costs a lot it is because, for one reason or another, it must be worth a lot. An Armani suit, Bang & Olufsen headphonesa McKinsey report. The number has always served to convey certain information to us before seeing the product. It was compressed reputation. With the arrival of generative AI, that is ending in many sectors. Today a logo can cost 15 euros or 15,000. And be the same logo. A market analysis can come from a consulting firm with offices on three continents or from a guy in pajamas who knows how to wear Deep Research. The report may be indistinguishable. In fact sometimes the second one will be betterbecause the guy in pajamas understands the sector and the consultant assigned the junior who was free. AI is breaking the link between production cost and final result. Something very similar to what Antonio Ortiz, AI popularizer and former final boss of this house, in “Artificial Intelligence and unlinking effort and result“. If anyone can generate in minutes what previously required teams, weeks, and invoices with many zeros, price no longer communicates much about quality. It’s starting to be noise. and this will force a signal migration. From ‘how much’ to ‘who’, to ‘how’ or ‘why’. The questions that will matter are going to be “who signed this?”, “what process followed?”, “what human decisions were behind it?” That is, the process will become the product. It is already beginning to be seen with design studios that They obsessively document any iterationor consultancies that not only sell you the deliverable but also also access to the reasoning of their partners. More and more we are digital artisans who charge for showing how we work and not only for what we deliver. AI has made production almost free, so we are being flooded with digital content of all kinds, so scarcity shifts to criteria. Knowing what to ask for, what to discard, what makes sense and what doesn’t. to good taste. AI can do almost anything, and what it can’t, it will learn next year. Deciding well what to do and what not to do is still expensive. There, for the moment and luckily, there is no shortcut. Featured image | Xataka In Xataka | The AI ​​of 2026 brings an uncomfortable truth: the most useful will be the one that watches us the most

There are dozens of influencers obsessed with helping us choose the perfect can of tuna. The problem is that what they say doesn’t make much sense.

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There is a fine line that connects volcanic eruptions, oil combustion, and waste incineration with our kitchens: mercury. A mercury that is produced in dozens of activities (mostly human), which ends up deposited in the waters, transformed into methylmercury by millions of microorganisms, stored in fish and, finally, in our stomach. It was only a matter of time before it became the huge food scandal it is today. Methylmercury also reaches social networks. The problem is so big that there is no shortage of experts and influencers that defend messages such as choosing cans of “tuna” over cans of “light tuna.” The music is that of institutions such as the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) that recommends avoiding large fish; The lyrics hide many problems. At the end of the day, the viral message mixes correct intuitions, with more than debatable scientific evidence (it uses, to begin with, commercial classifications that do not have direct Spanish correspondence). This is not the first time that an idea that sounds good ends up giving us headaches. And why is that a problem? Because, like it or not, fish is a centerpiece of many diets. Not only for its protein contribution, but as a priority source of certain fats that are very difficult to replace by any other means (e.g. omega-3). The thing is, with all that, comes methylmercury. And exposure to methylmercury is a tricky thing: it can harm brain development and be toxic to the nervous system. In fact, it can cause symptoms such as tremors, memory loss, and cognitive dysfunctions. The most vulnerable groups are pregnant women, nursing mothers, babies and young children. Do all fish have the same amount of mercury? No, it doesn’t. According to the Spanish Agency for Food Safety and Nutritionthere are four really dangerous species: the swordfish or emperor, the bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus), the shark (dogfish, mako shark, dogfish, dogfish and blue shark) and pike. These are problematic in women who are pregnant or planning to be pregnant, nursing mothers and children under 10 years of age. In fact, AESAN recommends directly avoid its consumption. The rest of the species are not problematic for the effects of mercury: they are safe and healthy. And the AESAN recommends between three and four servings a week even in the at-risk population. And aren’t there more differences according to levels? That is, are there only dangerous and non-dangerous species? No no. It is true that each species contains a different amount of mercury. In fact, each copy has different levels. That’s where the problem comes from: we need simple ‘rules’ to help us deal with uncertainty. On a practical level, according to the available studies, we can only define species with low mercury content as those on this list: Pollock, Anchovy, Herring, Cod, Bacaladilla, Cockle, Mackerel, Squid, Shrimp, Crab, Cane, Coquina, Carp, Squid, Clam, Choco/Cuttlefish, Lobster, Coquina, Sea bream, Sprat, Prawn, Horse mackerel, Lobster, Prawn, European sole, Dab, Sea bass, Mussel, Merlan, Hake, Razor clam, Oyster, Pomfret, Flounder, Squid, Octopus, Shrimp, Atlantic salmon, Pacific salmon, Sardine, Sardinella, Sardinopa, Plaice, and Trout. Everything else has medium levels and making distinctions between them is impossible on a practical level. So it doesn’t make sense to follow these types of recommendations? In general, any attention we pay to food is good. The system is configured in such a way that, if we let ourselves goour diet gets worse. However, we know that Obsessing over diet is also full of problems.. Using heuristics that complicate the purchase without substantial improvements is not as good an idea as it seems. Image | Tobias Tullius In Xataka | The scientific reason why miracle diets don’t work is you

Spain still has dozens of reservoirs that cannot be used because literally no one has laid pipes

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It was inaugurated in 2015, cost 57 million euros and has a capacity for 30 hm3 of water, but the Siles dam in Jaén hasn’t been used for a decade because no one has made the necessary pipelines to irrigate the Sierra del Segura. It is not an isolated case. An example. The Rules dam was inaugurated a little earlier: in 2004. Today, while the province of Granada is at 29% of its capacity, the Vélez de Benaudalla reservoir is close to 70%. The secret is the same: going 20 years without pipes that allow us to use water. These flagrant cases, but there are many more: Alcolea in Huelva, Mularroya in Zaragoza, Castrovido in Burgos… Is there anything more Spanish than making reservoirs and taking years—or decades—to build the pipelines that make them useful? The house on the roof. In a country like Spain, each useless cubic hectometer is not only de facto lost water, it is also a tremendous ecological damage inflicted on river channels for no reason. And, if that were not enough, it is economic nonsense. It makes no sense to mobilize all the resources necessary to launch a reservoir and then leave it forgotten. Above all, because (whether we like it or not) we live in an agricultural giant that needs water security that we cannot guarantee. The opportunity cost of delaying the pipelines necessary to launch these reservoirs impacts the economic and employment development of entire regions. A Spanish problem? To tell the truth, we cannot say that it is a purely Spanish problem either. Portugal, France or Italy have had similar problems. What happens in Spain is that there is an enormous fragmentation of powers that means that, when any problem appears, everything comes to a standstill. In our case, the central State designs and finances the main dams and key sections. However, it is the autonomous communities, the hydrographic confederations or the municipalities that they must run the secondary networks. And in determining what is the main or secondary tranche (and who should pay the bill) most problems arise. But not the only ones. And it is that, as the processes become eternallicenses expire, works are not awarded, litigation drags on, environmental requirements become stricter and solving the problem becomes impossible. In the end, the dams are what is striking (what is politically profitable). The “last mile” (that whole set of pumping stations, pipelines and treatment plants) is much less striking, as crucial as it is. When problems become entrenched, there are no good solutions and administrations prefer to put the issue aside rather than make decisions. The country of a thousand preys. Because yes, it is true: Spain has many damsbut dozens of them remain vats of water without any use. And as much as the causes are clear, it is still striking that not even water crises like those of recent years manage to solve this. Image | Red Zeppelin In Xataka | “In the next ten years, Spain and Latin America are going to suffer (a lot) with water,” Robert Glennon (University of Arizona)

Spain has dozens of abandoned unique roads. Now he wants to save them making them “historical roads”

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If we have the roads we have today, it was because 125 years ago A Scottish and a Welsh were fed up with the dusty roads In those early years of the car. We start to asphalt those paths, some of them part of the country’s spinebut over time they were abandoned when they were advanced by the highways. The Government of Spain wants to give them a second life. Throughout geography, there are Kilometers of national roads that are in a deplorable state. He Maintenance of highways and roads More used is the one that takes the budget, while others are at your fate. Therefore, this 2025, the Government launches a program that aims to recover and enforce those roads. And the first ‘historical road’ will be a section of the N-IV that passes through desaperros. Spain and its new “historical roads” At the beginning of September this year, the Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility and the foundation of the Spanish Railways They signed A collaboration agreement with an objective: recovery of the historical roads of the State Road Network. The idea is to catalog certain ways as “Historical assets linked to transport”which implies that these roads, at some point before being replaced, helped territorial expansion with population or merchandise movements. To do this, the agreement has a budget of 300,000 euros (200,000 by the Ministry of Transportation and 100,000 covering by the Foundation of the Railways) and, during the next four years, they will have to Identify which roads are suitable to become “historical road.” It is an action that will follow the example of the Program of ‘Green Roads’ which has managed to transform more than 3,500 kilometers of old railway paths for non -motorized use. There are numerous towns and cities that have some of these kilometers of ‘Green via‘With trees, some park, pícon areas and roads to hiking or bike. And it is something similar to what is proposed for these historical roads with the objective of curbing the situation of deterioration and loss to which certain pathways are exposed, as well as to value their contribution to the historical infrastructure of the country. The project has the name of Ivapchete And, in addition to identifying the roads, it must hierarchize the sections according to the patrimonial value of the paths of their linked elements. In principle, the initiative focuses on the Spanish road network, but can be expanded to study roads that are competencies of other administrations, provided they have that historical link with the state network. Perhaps the Map of the National Special Firm Circuit of 1926 can give us a clue what other candidates would be Apart from the initiative, There is already a pilot project: The Deseñaperros. During the coming months, the General Directorate of Roads of the Ministry will promote the elaboration of a recovery project of the Posqued of the old N-IV. It is a segment of 28.6 kilometers between Almuradiel in Ciudad Real and Santa Elena in Jaén. It is not surprising taking into account your Historical importance being the main access between Castilla-La Mancha and Andalucía, Territorial Unity Symbol which facilitated both trade and mobility between the plateau and the peninsular south. For centuries, before being called N-IV, of course, it was an essential artery, but the opening of the most convenient A-4 highway left the N-VI in the shadow. Now, will return to life as the first “historical road”becoming a way associated with non -motorized mobility and valueing its cultural importance. It remains to see what the impact of the project will be and, above all, what other ways can recover in this way. Images | Emilio J. Rodríguez Posada, Concepcion Amat orta In Xataka | These are the roads where we can suffer more jams in summer. If you have to take the car, you are in time to plan

They have needed six years, dozens of patrols and a helicopter

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Czech police He has managed to arrest To the driver who for years surprised all the Internet for appearing sporadically on the highways of the country at the wheel of a car. The 51 -year -old man was arrested after a persecution that involved several patrol cars and a helicopter. One last time. It all started last Sunday 8:15 in the morning when the agents They received the notice of a formula 1 car reposting in a gas station near Dobříš, about 40 kilometers southwest of Prague. Two minutes later a second call arrived: the vehicle circulated at high speed on the D4 highway in the southern direction. In just 15 minutes, the driver was intercepted in the town of Buk. There was resistance. The images of the arrest, where the police claim that they were recorded by the driver himself And his son shows a tense confrontation of almost ten minutes. The pilot, dressed in his red monkey and helmet, refused to leave the car arguing that the police were invading a private property. “There is a policeman everywhere,” you hear screaming in the recordings. He finally gave up and was transferred to be interrogated, although he refused to declare. Six years of search. The persecution of this “ghost pilot” It began in 2019when the first videos of the car appeared circulating on Czech highways. In 2022 he was sighted again, but on all occasions the helmet prevented the driver. The speed radars captured the images, but the investigation stagnated again and again. According to Czech police, They had already located And questioned the vehicle owner in the past, who denied having driven him by road. The legal problem. In case there was any doubt, circulating with this type of vehicles on public roads is prohibited in the Czech Republic. The car lacks lights, flashing, registration and other mandatory security elements. “Race cars of this type cannot legally circulate on the roads because they do not meet the legal technical requirements,” They explained The authorities. There is also the theme of the sharp edges of the vehicle, since they represent a danger for both the driver and the people circulating around. The truth about the Ferrari. Although the driver himself and the media have described him as a Ferrari of Formula 1, automobile experts They have identified The vehicle like a Dallara GP2/08, a car developed by the Italian manufacturer for the GP2 series, a category that functioned as prelude to Formula 1 and that is now known as Formula 2. It is commented that the driver came the entire car to look like a F1 ferrari. The consequences. The case has now passed to the corresponding administrative body to determine the sanction. The driver faces a fine of between 5,000 and 10,000 Czech crowns (between 200 and 400 euros) and the withdrawal of the driving license for a period of six months to one year. The detainee’s son think That the police response has been disproportionate, with “several dozen patrol cars and a helicopter for an alleged traffic infraction.” In Xataka | For Shaquille O’Neal the biggest obstacle to conducting a supercar is its height: they have manufactured a tailored corvette

The place where dozens of animal cells are stored in case there is a great disaster

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In a basement from the Biomedical Research Park in Barcelona, ​​between liquid nitrogen clouds, an incalculable value treasure is saved: an ark of Noah of the 21st century. It does not contain couples of animals, but thousands of small tubes at -196 ° C that retain life. It is the Cryozooa pioneer biobanco that stores cell lines of hundreds of species, many of them to the edge of extinction. It is not an achievement, but a warning. At the head of this initiative is the renowned molecular biologist Tomàs Marquès-Bonet, one of the Greater world experts in genomics of great worlds. As the world has collected, This project is not a great achievementbut a last use resource in the event that the main species of our planet are extinguished. This is explained by the researcher himself: Recovering species with these techniques is the failure of society, but it is amazing to be able to do it. The first must be to preserve in your habitat the animals that remain alive. And when everything else has failed, it is better to have these banks than not to have them, like an ace in the manga Of a biopsy to cell immortality. The concept, inspired by the famous San Diego Frozen Zoo, is as elegant as powerful. The Cryozoo team collaborates with about twenty European zoos and aquariums to obtain small tissue samples, often during routine veterinary reviews. In this way, with a millimeter of leather you can create a stock of cell lines and keep them forever. The process is surprisingly pragmatic. Zoos send biopsies in tubes with a conservation medium. A complex cold chain is not always needed; Sometimes, as in the case of a stranded whale in Valencia, a little serum is enough to start. In the laboratory conservation is consumed. Once the fabric reaches the laboratory, Technicians cultivate cellsallowing them to divide and multiply to form a homogeneous population that is called ‘cell line’. Reprogramming to stem cells. The most revolutionary step is reprogramming. They can take a skin cell and, by laboratory techniques, return it to a pluripotent state, turning it into a stem cell of induced pluripotentiality (IPSC). “A stem cell is a pluripotent cell, which means that it can become what you want,” says Marquès-Bonet. And once this is achieved, the last step of cryopreservation of both cell lines and IPSC in liquid nitrogen is reached, where they can remain viable for decades, waiting for the science of the future to need them. A technique similar to that used for human embryo conservationfor example, in fertility processes. Currently, Cryozoo already houses more than 2,000 samples of almost 300 species, which have generated 350 high quality cell lines. Among its “treasures” are Montseny Triton cells (the most threatened amphibian in Europe), the Pyrenean frog, the ORYX DAMMAH (A species already extinct in nature) and even the rhinoceros Pedro, the longest in Europe, deceased in 2023. Quality on quantity. What distinguishes Cryozoo from other initiatives is not its size, but its obsession with quality. And it is that the bank’s goal is not to have the more cell lines the better, but to have the best and most viable. To achieve this, they have implemented a step that they consider crucial and that makes them unique: sequence the complete genome of each cell line they create. In this way, they ensure that the genome of the cultivated cell is a faithful representation to the original animal without genetic aberrations that have occurred in the laboratory. AND the fact of sequencing it It is also a great advance for science, because on many occasions it is the first time that this technique is done in a specific species. Something that will be in a repository that any researcher can consult. They want to avoid using these cells. With the ability to convert skin cells into ovules and sperm, the question is inevitable: is the ultimate goal of ‘de -sextinction’? But researchers have it clear: it is a red line that they never want to pass. Although technology has already allowed to bring functionally extinct species such as the Huron of black legs or the Przewalski horse, the Cryozoo team considers that its function is to be custodians of the genetic material, not to execute reproduction. They would only make their cells available to a project of this caliber if it had the validation of the International Union for Nature Conservation (IUCN) and a global consensus. Cloning is not the step. Although it can be attractive to make ‘photocopies’ of animals in a laboratory, the reality is that today It is a expensive and inefficient process. The real effort of the researchers today lies in preserving ecosystems so that animals live in them and reproduce naturally. Without man having to intervene. A cell bank to save animals … and also humans. The value of Cryozoo does not only reside in that distant possibility of resuscitating species. Its applications are immediate and revolutionary for current research. And it is that diseases can be studied without damaging any living being by infecting cells with a pathogen to see how cells react. But it goes further, being able to create ‘mini organs’ to investigate the biology of some species, test drugs safely or investigate human diseases in the genetics of these animals. A hope for an uncertain future. The changes that succumb to our planet can cause in the future to be a real climatic emergency. That is why we prepare the ‘end of the end of the world‘To collect all the seeds of the world, and now we also collect all animals. A genetic library that, in the best stage, we will only consult for pure scientific curiosity and never for a planetary emergency. Images | Gary Bendig Julia Koblitz In Xataka | Apocalypse diet: science already knows what survivors will eat a nuclear war

There are dozens of crops with weeks late

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A few days ago began to circulate online A map in which the distribution of rains could be seen in the last two months. Although I had errorsthe distribution of rainfall was fine and showed a very clear photograph: while Central Europe lived a peculiar drought, in the Peninsula he had not stopped raining. And it’s true. So much so that Aemet itself recognized that the soils of much of the country are saturated. That is, they no longer admit water and all the rain was running directly to the channels. That has been causing problems with the hope that the worst of the situation would happen soon. However, the models point to a new atmospheric block in northern Europe. Is Spain in a situation of receiving more water or all that falls will end up being missing (while destroying everything in its path)? We will not be exaggerating a bit? After all, water is water. We have been complaining about droughtNow that it rains we will also manage them to complain? However, abundant rains are already having a direct impact on the field. It is true that crops such as cereals, vineyards and olive groves have benefited; others instead are In full red alert. A clear example is watermelons and melons. As with Huelva’s strawberries, high rainfall raised moisture levels causing a sudden “proliferation of pests and diseases such as Botrytis (a fungus) or Mildiu“They end up rotting plants. But, little by we stop to analyze it, we see that the problem is greater (because it affects much less striking plants). Let’s talk about the chickpea. 30% of the national chickpea production is concentrated in Seville. Well, as the Secretary General of Coag Sevilla says in The debateat this time “the plant would have to measure a span and still without sowing” because the accumulation of water on the grounds makes it unfeasible. In general, the chickpea has to be more than 100 days in the countryside and “this year, hopefully, will pass 60”. That is turning it into a mousetrap and is making many farmers shuffle to sunflower (up to the limits that the PAC allows). And what will happen? That we probably begin to notice a certain shortage of Spanish chickpea in July. That does not mean that the general prices will rise (those of the native varieades probably yes; but that is inevitable). Most likely, large distributors compensate for local shortages with imports from Mexico and the US – if the commercial war allows it, of course. What if in April the same thing happens in March? Well, the thing is complicated. Between April and May the flowering of many fruit trees occurs. Citrus, for example, moisture It is not very good for them And we already know that the olive tree’s plot asks, above all, tranquility. That is, another month of historical rains would be a problem. Also for the water system in general. Because, although we have Even much storage roomwe are not used to working with the reservoirs, the channels and the full pipes. The final result of more rain would be a waste. What if not? Taking into account that March It has been a historic monthmost likely we do not approach the accumulated of the last weeks. That would force us to make bobbin lace (as in the case of chickpeas), but a good part of the field will depend on the meteorology being consistent and does not “deceive” the plants in their development. Do not forget that March has been The coldest month in three years (in terms of thermal anomaly) and that has disoriented the biological machinery of all plant, animal or thing. In short: the long road to summer begins and we will need a little luck if we do not want this Historical blow of luck become an poisoned candy. Image | In Xataka | After the rains of March and with the reservoirs of Media Spain to overflow, another battle begins: who stays that water

The dozens of river channels about to overflow

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These days the keyword is Martinho. According to Aemethigh -impact storms will leave very strong wind gusts (which, in the northern peninsular they can exceed 100 km/h). But that is not the most problematic. The most problematic at this point in March is rain. According to the accumulatedMartinho will cause abundant rains in areas where Many weeks without stop raining: Above all, in the central system and Western Andalusia. That is, the most problematic are the river channels. But first of all, let’s talk about the ‘Fujiwhara effect’. And it is that one of Martinho’s peculiarities is that it comes from the hand of a relatively rare phenomenon in our country and that (most likely) ends up intensifying storm. In general terms, the ‘Fujiwhara effect’ occurs when two systems With low pressures they approach each other and begin to “curl” around a common point. Ultimately, they can get to merge, but (whatever) the phenomenon can introduce changes in the intensity or trajectory of Borrasca. That is just What seems to see: Some of Martinho’s secondary storms are going to start “orbit” around them and may be absorbed. Hydrographic conferences are preparing. The best example is that of Guadalquivir. Only on Monday, March 17, the reservoirs of the basin released 234,135 cubic hectometers. It is not only a very high figure compared to the previous days but also As they point out in the Diario de Sevillaequivalent to all the ability of the swamp of Melonares (221,710 cubic hectometers) and a little more. Although general figures may lead us to deception (the Guadalquivir basin, for example, is 50.35%), There are many swamps that are at the limit of their operational capacity. Ultimately, the figures are conditioned because the rains have concentrated in the northern part of the valley. The three largest reservoirs in the basin are in the southern part and are even more empty (Iznájar, 27.24% of its capacity; La Breña, at 29.22% of its capacity; and that of Negratín, to 31.74%). In the center of the country. In the central system, the situation is not better either. On Wednesday, traffic was interrupted in the M-30 and the M-40 of the city of Madrid and today The possibility has begun to be contemplated that the Manzanares overflows. But this is just an example. Right now, each valley in the northern zone of the Tajo basin is becoming a funnel that channels much more water than they are accustomed (and are surely able to handle). The clearest example is that there are reservoirs that They have unwanted for the first time. And they are over 50 years old. The worst can be to come. Because, as we saw in The case of the Dana de Valenciathe problem is not only the rain: the problem is that all that water has to go somewhere. I do not want to say that we will meet a problem of such magnitude, but what is certain is that many zoans inside the peninsula will receive a huge amount of water. And nobody is sure we know how to manage it well. ‘Prudence’, again, will be the keyword once ‘Martinho’ discharges all his strength. Image | ECMWF In Xataka | If the question is when the rain is going to end, Aemet has bad news. Especially for Andalusia

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