effects

The special effects of 2025 are worse than those of 2010. And part of the blame lies with us viewers

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When James Cameron released ‘Avatar’ in 2009, the film industry contemplated what seemed the future of visual effects. The film set a technical standard that, paradoxically, today’s cinema not only has not surpassed, but often does not even reach. The problem is not technological: software tools have advanced exponentially since then. But the industry has evolved in a way that everything looks worse than before. The sooner, the better. It is not necessary to go to the undisputed peak of the digital image that represented Cameron’s movie. ‘Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest’ featured Davy Jones and his beard of tentacles, one of the best live-action CGI integrations ever seen. ‘Interstellar’ featured the participation of astrophysicist Kip Thorne for their spatial sequences. It is enough to compare the photorealistic texture of Na’vi or Jones with the plasticized finishes of Marvel or DC to see that something fundamental has changed in the way of producing special effects. The common denominator in all of them was time. In this analysis about the visual effects crisisit is explained that the productions of that decade had post-production calendars that ranged between 18 and 24 months. ‘Avatar’ He had two full years for the effects phase. Its consequences have started from comparable times. The spectacular images in ‘Inception’ of the city folding in on itself, another milestone of the era, took months of planning. Luxuries that are practically unthinkable today. Increasingly. The problem is the quantity. The latest studies indicate that while a commercial film from 2010 contained approximately 600 shots with visual effects, current productions usually exceed 3,000 shots. This 400% increase has not been accompanied by proportional budgets or calendars. Quite the opposite: hasty effects, poorly worked compositions and a digital homogenization that detracts from the personality of the images. Tremendous expectations In your situation analysisTreehouse Detective explains the case of the prequel to ‘The Thing’, which in 2011 remade John Carpenter’s 1982 classic. The special effects team Studio ADI, led by Alec Gillis and Tom Woodruff Jr., built physical creatures with animatronics and prosthetics over several months of pre-production. After test screenings, Universal Pictures made a decision that Gillis would rate how devastating: Almost all practical work was replaced by CGI in post-production. Audiences expected to see digital effects in a science fiction horror film and considered practical effects “old-fashioned.” Paradigm shift. This case illustrates a profound cultural shift in expectations. During the 2010s, CGI went from being an exceptional tool for what was thought unattainable with practical effects to becoming the standard. The irony is that the greatness of films like ‘Alien’ or ‘Jurassic Park’ (where CGI was mixed with practical effects) was built precisely on the tangibility of their creatures. But the industry, and with it the audience, developed a dependence on digital finishing that is associated with prestige and quality, regardless of whether the final result can be improved with traditional effects. The economy of effects. The proliferation of streaming platforms has radically reconfigured the economics of special effects. Films produced directly for Netflix, Amazon Prime or Disney+ operate with significantly lower budgets than productions destined for cinemas, while the public maintains their visual expectations. This impossible equation has put pressure on the entire FX production chain. The era of auctions. The contract awarding system has evolved towards an auction model that prioritizes cost and speed over quality. The studios put projects into competition between multiple effects companies. The one who offers to complete the job in less time and for less money gets the contract. This process creates a competitive spiral in which small studios accept unsustainable conditions in the hope of maintaining their position in the market. Studies that close. It is a system that sometimes has extreme consequences. ‘Sonic the Hedgehog’ case: after the public’s rejection of the character’s original design, Paramount ordered a complete redesign. Moving Picture Company, the studio responsible for the effects, had to redo hundreds of shots without a deadline extension or significant additional budget. The studio closed its Vancouver headquarters shortly after, with multiple sources indicating that the project had contributed significantly to their financial problems. It is not an isolated case: Rhythm & Hues, winner of the Oscar for the effects of ‘Life of Pi’ in 2013, declared bankruptcy weeks before the awards ceremony. The company had agreed to complete the job at a loss to maintain its reputation, a pattern that media outlets such as VFX Voice have documented. Visual effects artists and technicians frequently operate in crunch to meet deadlines that were unfeasible from the beginning. The lower union rate In the visual effects sector, unlike other technical departments in film, it leaves these professionals without protection against abusive working conditions. The causes. The deterioration in the quality of the special effects does not respond to a single cause, but to pressures from two opposite directions. Movie studios have optimized their production structures to maximize profit margins, outsourcing visual effects work to companies competing in a wild race. The public has developed inflexible expectations about the omnipresence of CGI, rejecting alternatives. As technology advances, the time and money available to apply it decreases. Just compare budgets: ‘Avatar’ operated on a total budget of $237 million, of which a substantial portion was allocated specifically to technological development and visual effects over several years. Meanwhile, an MCU production distributes a similar budget among multiple items (salaries, marketing) while compressing post-production calendars to just six or eight months to meet immovable release dates, established years in advance. In Xataka | Either CGI designers get their act together or our televisions will continue to put their movies on the ropes

We have accepted that sport is “medicine” for the body. Now science is discovering its side effects

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Physical exercise can be prescribed as a drug in doctors’ offices, even though it is not packaged in a simple pill that we take. This is because the evidence behind it has made it more than clear that playing sports can prevent a large number of chronic diseasesI know even have a very good old age. But behind all this, too There is a negative part behind doing physical exercise. Its side effects. If we accept exercise as a drugwe must also accept that every drug has a leaflet, specific doses and of course some adverse effects. That is why as a society we have the problem of having begun to sell the fact of “exercising” in a generic way, ignoring the fine print that this task has, as recognized by the Spanish Heart Foundation itself. And it has a very simple solution: personalizing physical exercises per patient. The problem of metaphor. The slogan “exercise as medicine” is undoubtedly an excellent marketing campaign within the world of public health, but for science there are several important flaws. As different scientific studies point out, exercise does not act like a classic drugsince it does not have a predictable response in a patient as if it occurs as a pill. This forces us to always think that the effect can be very different for each person. In this way, by calling exercise a drug we can make invisible the diversity of individual responses. And there is no universal “squat pill”, since doing this exercise in a specific person can be very beneficial, but in another it can be be the origin of a pathology due to overload. And all because we throw ourselves into exercise without planning how to do it, since we find it very easy to pick up some weights and start building biceps. The damage numbers. We often hear that it is a great danger to stay sitting on the couch, and it is true because they are many diseases related to a sedentary lifestyle. But according to different studies done in the United States, people who meet or exceed the recommendations for moderate or vigorous exercise They have a 44 to 66% chance of developing musculoskeletal injuries. than subjects who remain inactive. In addition to this, although cardiovascular health improves with physical exercise because the heart reduces its heart rate, for example, the “maintenance cost” of the physical body increases dramatically with the amount of exercise done. A question of biases. Without a doubt, this is one of the most critical points that scientific literature reveals regarding the lack of transparency in clinical trials related to exercise. This is something that was seen in an analysis that included 103 trials on knee osteoarthritis, where it was found that 6% of the participants suffered direct damage from this exercise. But the most worrying thing is not the number, but the low information: many patients who abandon studies due to pain or discomfort are not classified as “victims of adverse effects”, which generates an artificially high perception of safety. This problem is repeated in oncology, where the motto “exercise is medicine in oncology” live with non-trivial adverse events which have forced us to propose much stricter monitoring systems to protect patients. We pass each other sometimes. The underlying problem in this case is undoubtedly recommending intensive or complex programs without a clear benefit/harm relationship compared to an alternative that is much simpler. But, on the other hand, we also fall into the phenomenon of “quaternary prevention” making medicine focus on avoiding harm from its own interventions. by overmedicalizingnullifying the benefits of physical exercise. The necessary consensus. In this way, the authors who popularized the concept of ‘exercise as medicine’ explicitly recognize that exercise is not without risks. Even the WHO itself In its guides it maintains that inactivity is the greatest population risk, but there is fine print that must be taken into account: Exercise should be ‘prescribed’ starting with a low intensity, and not opt ​​for maximum intensity from the first day. This causes a person who has spent years on a couch to begin to carry a lot of weight, for example, and end up injured. Pain is not always bad, and the patient must be educated so that they see that fatigue from the gym does not have to be medicalized with pills. Patients with cardiac risk must be evaluated to prevent uncontrolled exercise from aggravating the situation. Be supervised. The conclusion in this case is that exercise is obviously necessary and without a doubt it is one of the practices that can prevent the appearance of many diseases. But we always have to be aware of what we do. Loading the body with a large amount of exercise from minute 0 can cause significant injuries or the aggravation of diseases that are already present. In this way, the possibility of being in a gym with trainers who can advise on the progression curve that should be followed can be an interesting idea to have the benefit of exercise without the consequences of doing it aggressively. Images | Jonathan Borba In Xataka | Doing cardio or strength training: for science there is no debate about which is the ideal exercise after 50

14 applications and services to use AI, filters and terrifying effects in them

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Let’s tell you 14 apps and services to create your Halloween photos wearing artificial intelligencefilters and effects. Thus, you can create a thematic avatar to use on social networks at this time or do something more sophisticated and elaborate, all depending on what you need. In most cases these services are paid, although with free versions with limited functions, but enough to allow you to create these effects. In each of the services that we indicate we include a description and links to install them. And as we always say at Xataka Basics, these are our proposals, but if you miss any on the list, we invite you to Leave us your ideas in the comments section. Thus, all our readers will be able to benefit from the knowledge of our xatakeros. Gemini Gemini has burst like few others into the field of applications with which apply filters to photos or modify them as you want. With Nano Banana you will be able to upload a photo of yourself and have it make changes without altering your face, such as putting on a terrifying Halloween costume. The only thing you have to do to squeeze the Gemini image editing is to upload a photo of yourself, and next to it attach a prompt suitable. You can have several examples in our guide tricks and ideas for juicing Nano Banana. The AI ​​will make changes using that photo as a reference, but applying the necessary changes to the photo, using the face you upload. ChatGPT ChatGPT It still doesn’t have the same level as Gemini when it comes to applying filters or changes to photos while keeping you recognizable or maintaining your features. However, with this artificial intelligence Yes, you can make creations while maintaining recognizable features such as your hair and facial hair. You just have to upload the photo with a prompt in which you ask them to I reimagined it in a Halloween stylesuch as a character from the nightmare before Christmas. The results are surprising. freepik This is an application with which you can make compositions and edits using artificial intelligence. The negative part is that you will need the payment plan for almost everything most interesting, like applying a Halloween filter or training its AI to recognize your face and then make all kinds of creations using it. For these things you will need their rate of 16 euros per month. CapCut Although it is best known as a video editing tool, CapCut also has several options that allow you edit your photos with effects and filters with which to decorate them to your liking. Here, what you should know is that most items are paidalthough you will be able to explore them and see how they look without paying. There are some free ones, although they are quite few. Of course, both the effects and the filters have a special section of content for Halloween. Link: Google Play and App Store https://apps.apple.com/es/app/capcut-editor-de-vídeo/id1500855883 PicsArt This is a popular photo editor, with a lot of settings you can apply, filters, stickers, effects, crops, overlays and creative mixes, plus some collages. It is, therefore, a fairly complete application in terms of options. Furthermore, at this time they have a section of filters for Halloweenwhich range from simple ones to other more advanced compositions. Of course, its free version with ads is somewhat limited, and for many things you will have to go to the paid one. Fotor Another well-known photo editor that is used to make all kinds of adjustments to your captures. Has an artificial intelligence assistant to help you, and has AI options such as reimagining photos, improving their quality or converting them to video. You can also create realistic portraits, remove backgrounds, and enhance your selfies. And like any self-respecting app on dates like this, it also has halloween filters within its sets of thematic effects, plus when you reimagine the photo by AI you can also ask for something similar. Photoshop Express A very complete photo and video editor with all kinds of quick filters and effectsas well as correction tools, and many other things. You can make quite professional edits, as well as apply styles with just two taps. Among its huge number of styles, filters and effects as well you have several related to Halloweenwhich you can find quickly thanks to its search engine. Of course, in its free version you will have to deal with watermarks and certain limitations. snapchat Yes, this is a social network, but it is well known for allowing you take photos applying all kinds of filtersincluding those with Halloween effects. They are augmented reality filters, so before taking the photo you can see how the mask you are going to apply looks on you. B612 If you like Snapchat effects, B612 is an application dedicated to augmented reality effects. You have dozens of them, hundreds, so many that you will have to use the search engine. And if you search for Halloween, you’ll see that there are a lot of related effects. These are both AR skins and color filters and themed stickers. You choose the one you want and then you will see on the screen using your camera how it will look. Then, you take the photo or video you want, and voila, you have it. It is free, although there are some sticker packages that require payment. LightX An application that allows you to apply all types of artificial intelligence filters to your photographs, in addition to being able to make retouches, color changes, etc. It is paid, although it has a free plan with ads. You have many Halloween effects and editions from which to choose. Bylo AI This is an online tool that offers you editions based on artificial intelligence for your photos. It is paid, although you have a free plan with 5 credits per day to be able to do small tests. It’s like having the best AI … Read more

Spaniards who make special effects for Hollywood tell us about AI

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We already had clear that Spain has become indisputable superpower of the comic mainstream United States. It is not only there that ours are triumphing internationally. By the Comic-with Malaga Many of those responsible for the VFX study were passed The ranch To break down its spectacular curriculum, and we had the opportunity to talk to two of its members, Isaac de la Pompa and Sofia Balestrini. With your help We take the pulse of the state of the special effects in Spain and review its trajectory: The Ranchito was founded in 2004 by Félix Bergés and since then has become a European and global leader in VFX, with more than 200 employees. Among the films and series in which they have participated are ‘The Snow Society’, ‘A monster comes to see me’, ‘Jurassic World: the fallen kingdom’, ‘Game of Thrones’, ‘Stranger Things’, ‘The Mandalorian’ or ‘Westworld’. All success races have a turning point, and in the case of El Ranchito, it was ‘the impossible’ of Juan Antonio Bayona. We ask how your meeting was with the director of ‘The snow society‘: “Bayonne had already worked with Félix Bergés in’ The orphanage ‘and had him again. The effects became very Old School, With real water, and the result was so good that they came to call us no less than ilm (George Lucas’s effect company) to make a projection of the film. “ What impressed so much to the geniuses of the effects of Industrial Light & Magic? “It was shot in a Valencia pool. We bought a computer specialized in making water, waves and that type of fluids, but there is not a pixel on the screen. The only thing we retouched was the foam of the top of the waves, which is a mixture of real image and effects generated by computer.” When the film opens, it sweeps at the box office worldwide. “And above all, the Best Supporting Effects prize of the visual Effects Society in 2013 wins.” And from there, El Ranchito’s phone does not stop sounding. It is a before and after: “Before that, Felix had tried by all means to enter the American market, without getting it. An occasional interview, and nothing more. But the prize made the difference.” The prize and the price recognize: “Here we were more cheaper than those of Los Angeles. It was still a time when in Los Angeles there was labor (now everything is already democalized around the world), and it was much cheaper to take things to us.” For example, ‘Game of Thrones‘. “Chapter eight of season five, which we were not sure how to dobut we accepted because Felix had a lot of value, he accepted everything. I would not have dared. “Before, from HBO they made sure:” They made us a previous exam, they sent us a plan of season 4 in which some skeletons came out and told us ‘take, animated, compose it and others’ “. They had courage, but HBO too: “Suddenly they had to get out of their comfort zone, put aside all the American, Canadian and English companies, and have a Spanish company that had not done a project of that size.” When Ranchito had a good coil of international projects, important orders followed. ‘The Mandalorian’, without going any further: “There were effects that ILM did not give time to finish, and they called us. Above all we made ships of ships.” And he gave them chance to meet an idol: “And of course, we had call with John Knoll (Creative Director of ILM, responsible for the effects of innumerable films with the company since 1989), which is a very rare feeling, being in a videoconference with such a reference. “ The future of special effects The next question is inevitable: How do you see the future of the sector, especially with the arrival of artificial intelligence tools? “At the moment there is no total change, but tools have appeared that facilitate the work, in microtheses that simply make the artist’s life a little simpler. For example, making a mask is a laborious task that before had to make frame by frame, and now there are models that do it automatically.” Nor is the panacea at the moment, they warn: “Then you have to retouch, you have to refine, but the progress is there” “But in general,” they tell us, “there will be a paradigm shift, it is the absolute future. Some professions such as 3D modelers are going to die and they will have to convert to other things.” And yet, “there are limitations.” What kind of limitations? Techniques (“In some aspects that seem unimportant details when generating images, AI is still very green”), but above all legal and use: “Lionsgate has reached an agreement with Runway to feed with a 20,000 films of which they have rights and be able to generate new ‘legal’ productions with AI. It is insufficient, they need many more references to create something with meaning.” That is to say, The current IAS are so sophisticated because they “cheat” in that sense: “Google and other IAS are based on millions and millions of references that take without permission, and that is why the videos are so sophisticated. We cannot do that, and legally we are now in anyone’s land.” Technology exists, the intention exists, but the logical legal maze of power or not being able to use images without permission is such a caliber that we may take years to see how this tangle is faded. In Xataka | What is the work of an artist of visual effects, in the words of Carolina Jiménez (‘Marvel’, ‘El Hobbit’, ‘Cosmos’ …)

The effects of polar jet undulation

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If last week it was marked by a stable atmospheric situation and (especially) by heat, which begins today promises to come with storms and rainfall as great protagonists. The culprit that meteorologists point out: the polar jet. Change in the trend. The experts foresee That this week is marked by instability and storms, as a result of several troughs that will parade through the northern peninsula pushed by undulations of the polar jet. A good part of the territory will say goodbye during these days to the warm event that put the thermometers above the 35º Celsius in much of the country. The passage of troughs. As They already anticipated last week The experts, the reason for this change is in the passage of a trough (several, probably), an elongation of low pressures. The passage of these troughs is bringing unstable time with rainfall and storms that are being locally strong and from the weekend They affect north of the peninsula. As he points out The meteorologist Duncan Wingen for Meteoreda particularly bold polar jet is behind the change in the meterological trend. A change that implies the end of the warm episode that last week alerts a good part of the country. Rain, and more. The forecasts of the State Meteorology Agency They speak of “rainfall and/or locally strong storms” in several areas of the northern peninsular half, such as the Eastern Cantabrian, Alto Ebro, Pyrenees, Iberian and Northeast of the Plateau. The worst part probably falls on the Iberian mountain range. While Aemet He has issued Various yellow warnings for rains and storms, orange notices (for storms) will be activated today in the regions located in the region, as well as in Soria’s adjacent plateau. Already on Tuesday, the agency Point out The continuity of the “locally strong storms”, which during the morning would affect the east and south of the northern plateau, and also to Eastern Iberian environments and Betic. Thermal roller coaster. While the weather change is being more pronounced in the northern half of the Peninsula, between today and tomorrow the temperatures will descend, “normalizing”, in most of the country, according to forecasts. However, the situation could change again from Thursday. According to Meteorologists point outthe arrival of a new dorsal on Thursday, accompanied by dust in suspension, could lead to the return of high temperatures, although their rise would be more located in the Mediterranean area, including the Balearic archipelago. In Xataka | The Artikutza reservoir in Navarra has remained empty despite the rains. His destiny is another: the demolition Image | ECMWF

The ice age had a solar storm so powerful that its effects can still be detected in trees

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How powerful can it become a solar storm? More than one will have ever asked this question for mere curiosity. And also out of necessity. Answering this question is important in order to prepare in the face of potential storms of great magnitude, but it is complicated: we have a limited sample and the most intensity events are those that happen less frequently. But now we have a new track. The mother of all storms. A recent study has analyzed The remnants of the greatest solar storm of which we have record to date. The storm, about 500 times more powerful than the largest solar storm since the beginning of the space era, would have happened about 14,300 years ago. Although We already had enough previous clues about this eventThe new study facilitates the work of preparing for such events, and can also help us improve our radiocarbon dating techniques. 14,300 years ago. The discovery of this solar storm has been possible thanks to the detection of a radiocarbon peak, the well-known carbon-14, happened towards the year 12,350 AEC, towards the end of the last glacial period. This implies that the storm is not only the most powerful of which we have record, it is also the only solar storm known outside the Holocene, the contemporary geological era (if we exclude the existence debated from the anthropocene). Different storms. The storm analyzed was a solar particle storm. There are different events That we can catalog as solar storms, each with its characteristics, such as radio blackouts, solar radiation storms or geomagnetic storms. Radiation storms, such as the one studied, are produced when large amounts of charged particles from the sun reach the magnetic field of the earth. This field tends to divert the particles towards the poles, making the effect on high latitudes greater. Carbon 14. The team responsible for the new study He turned to a new model Chemist-Climatic, Socol: 14C-EX, for analysis. This is a model designed to rebuild solar storms of particles in climatic conditions of the past glaciations. Thanks to this model, they explain, it was possible to verify that this solar storm was 18% stronger than the event of the year 775 EC, the largest solar storm known until the discovery of this event. “Compared to the largest event in the Modern Era of Satellites (the 2005 particle storm) the old 12,350 AC event was about 500 times more intense, according to our estimates,” explained in a press release Kseniia Golubenko, co -author of the study The details of the study were published In an article In the magazine Earth and Planetary Science Letters. More than establishing a record. The study allows us to establish a new framework to the “most pessimistic scenario,” says Golubenko. Knowing what we can face gives us essential tools when preventing this type of event. The study can also help scientists who study something very different: archaeologists. The analysis has been based on carbon-14, a very important isotope when it comes to very diverse organic matter remains, from fabrics to ships. Understanding the peaks of this isotope caused by the impact of loaded particles from the Sun can help us to date back objects created in past times. In Xataka | NASA has calculated how much time we would have to prepare before a devastating solar storm and has got to work to get that time Image | NASA/GSFC/CIL

Intermittent fasting is the fashion diet. At least among scientists who study their effects on microbioma

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Inside they coexist Billions of microscopic organismsmany of which have our Digestive tract set as a place of residence. Throughout the last decades we have been realizing the outstanding role that this internal ecosystem plays in our health, far beyond gastrointestinal health. There are many factors that can affect our microbiome, including our genetics, our place of residence, The people with whom we livethe drugs we consume or Our daily habits. And of course, our diet. Our diet can affect different ways to the microbiome of our interior. For example, the introduction of a pathogen such as the clostridium difficile bacteria can cause the Intestinal “ecosystem” balance Go to the fret due to the propagation of the bacteria. However, without reaching pathological extremes, the nutrients we consume, such as fiber, can also affect the microorganisms that reside there. What we eat affects, but this also implies that what we stop eating also matters. Following a diet leads us to make a series of decisions focused on achieving a goal, often (not always) this is that of losing weight, but the changes introduced will have diverse effects, including that of affecting, for better or worse, our microbiome. He intermittent fasting It is one of the most famous diets in recent years. That is why the diets that temporarily restrict our caloric intake and which are referred conventionally with the name of intermittent fasting have received Great attention by the Nutrition experts. Logically, this has led to various research groups to investigate How the intermittent fasting to our microbioma affectswhat are the potential benefits and what the risks of these changes. The problem is that, as usual, the results of these research are quite diverse. What seems true is that intermittent fasting affects our microbiota. One of the last studies in this regard has attracted the attention of some despite not having been published in a magazine after passing the pairs review process. The work was led by researchers at Anhui Medical University and it was Recently cited by the magazine Newscientist. The study, conducted with mice, suggested that intermittent fasting could damage the intestinal barrier and cause a disruption in the microbiota, increasing the risk of intestinal inflammation. However, the door also opened therapeutic roads that could avoid these problems, such as indolaletic acid administration. The manuscript detailing the analysis, available in repository Research Squareis still in the process of review for publication in the magazine Scientific Reports. That is why we must take these results with a certain degree of skepticism. In statements collected by the magazine itself NewscientistSathidananada Panda del Salk Institute for Biological Studies of California He raised some doubts Regarding the methodology, such as the fact that the manuscript did not point out the details of the diet to which it underwent mice or that these were of a very young age when starting with the diet. For better or worse Other studies have drawn a somewhat more optimistic perspective regarding the effects of intermittent fasting on our microbiota and with it on our well -being. Of course, I did it by introducing an additional element, combining the intermittent fasting with a protein dosing diet, which space in a balanced way the proteins that we consume throughout the day The studypublished almost exactly one year ago in the magazine Nature Communicationspointed out that intermittent fasting “It showed promise” in the improvement of intestinal health, and did precisely attending our microbioma. According to details the teamin addition to seeing an increase in their levels of certain proteins, such as cytokines, participants who followed the protocol marked by intermittent fasting also experienced an increase in the presence of beneficial microbes in their digestive system, microorganisms associated with lower body fat and better global health. The studies of Scientific Reports and of Nature Communications They are two of the most recent in the matter but not the only one. Last year a group of researchers published A systematic review of literature In the magazine Frontiers in Nutrition. This type of work compiles thoroughly the previous studies carried out by analyzing a specific relationship, in this case that of intermittent fasting and the gastrointestinal microbiota. What detected the team that led this “study study” is that there was a varied literature and a “substantial heterogeneity of the results” that made it difficult to validate results, although these seemed to suggest that intermittent fasting could improve the wealth and diversity of the microbiota. What seems increasingly evident is that this type of diets affects our microbioma and that we must continue studying the consequences of this relationship. In Xataka | We are increasingly clear that our microbiome is key to our health. Our protein sources can also alter it Image | Foodie Factor / Cats Coming

The collateral effects of LaLiga blockages in thousands of users

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Soccer Week, Blocking Week. With the support of a judicial sentenceLaLiga has power to ask the operators to Block certain IP addresses. The problem of killing flies to guns is that these blockages do not affect only the domains related to the retransmissions that LaLiga considers illegal: companies and individuals that have little or nothing to do with football are being affected. Visiting a website is not available is a draft problem, even more so if the address you need to access is necessary to work. Movistar and O2 They are at the head of criticism, but even “small” operators like Digi They have been intensifying the blockages for months. From Xataka spoken with affected and compiled several of the testimonies that flood both social networks and forums. The problem is common and easy to replicate: football day, problem day. Why indiscriminate blockages At first glance, it clashes that the order of an operator to block a unique IP address, supposedly to issue illegal content, can leave dozens of websites inaccessible that they have no relation to her. Although it seems illogical, this effect is a direct consequence of how an important part of the Internet infrastructure works. A habitual (and economic) practice in web accommodation is shared hosting, where multiple sites operate from a single server and share a single IP address. This configuration causes an unwanted collateral effect: as the blockade applies to the complete direction, it cannot differentiate individual sites. Thus, if a website with supposedly illegal football streaming shares the IP with the website you use to work, both will be blocked if the operator is given the order. It is the reason why a fall or blockade in a CDN (Content delivery network) as Cloudflare either Vercel It ends up causing dozens of websites to cease to be accessible. If the service provider blocks an address, those that share it fall as dominoes. How it is affecting users There are several more than known websites to which users They are not being able to access certain websites during the game days. In the closest cases, Xataka companions have suffered problems to access platforms such as Bluesky from the average in specific cases. Always on the weekend (coinciding with the game days). In some cases, the service provider clarifies that we cannot access a certain website by the judicial block. In others, simply do not load the page It is the same case as a server, which a few weeks ago suffered several problems to enter forocoches (where there are already numerous threads reporting difficulties to access the forum). The tonic was exactly the same. In the hours before the party, access to this address was blocked. It was not until the hours after the meeting when it could be accessed normally, both from mobile data and from WiFi. This is a relatively lower problem. Gravity increases when the user cannot access their web platforms necessary to work. This is the case of Álex Jiménez, a journalist of the Local section of Córdoba in eldiario.es. “In my case I am a Digi user. The blockade is simple: at the time the weekend arrives and LaLiga’s games, Besocy’s website stops loading, showing the message I shared in the publication. I have tried to use other devices such as my personal phone or the tablet, both for wifi and by mobile network, and the blockade continues to exist. Normally it stops working both Saturday and Sunday. There is no margin of doubt: the message you see when trying to access Besocya platform that provides media tools, is that “this IP address has been blocked in compliance with the provisions of the judgment of December 18, 2024”. Even more concrete is the case of Rodrigo, who has a Homelab At home to house some of your websites. During the hours before the matches, in some cases from noon, Cloudflare begins to cut the tap. “I use Digi, in my case I have hired the 10GB because I give it enough use since I have a homelab at home and I lodge enough services for the public too. I am happy in that aspect, speed, stability and support. Until the day D arrived, when I see that I cannot access one of my webs Being failing. And indeed, with a VPN, in my case I use protonvpn, connecting even to a server in Spain, everything worked magically, it was to disconnect the VPN and nothing was loaded. Since then I began to monitor all the cloudflare IP’s, at least those that assign me, by region or the plan that I have hired with them. And as a clock, every time there would be football, Cloudflare fell and the second my websites. Rodrigo’s case is one of the most visual, since he has shared with us the hours in which Cloudflare begins to give problems: they coincide with the meeting days and begin to “revive” when the game ends. Fall in the days that there is a game, during the previous hours and its celebration and with return to normal after its completion. This is the blockade that, indiscriminately, are applying operators under court order. What can I do as affected LaLiga blocks are protected by a judicial sentence, one that Rootedcon He wants to lie down after collecting data and testimonies of users and companies that are suffering the blockages in legitimate web addresses. He has been trying to propose nullity incident since February. For now, This is a legal practice (although with serious doubts around and with several demands against him) and we cannot prevent in any way that the operator is given to carry out the blockade. Despite this, we can put some practices into play to try to overcome these blockages. Use VPN: In Xataka We have detailed How to avoid the lalaiga block to cloudflare using VPN. This is the easiest way to skip the restriction since, to perform the blockade the operator not only … Read more

Drinking too much affects our brain. And its effects are not far from those of a brain injury

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We know that alcohol is a risk to our health Even in small doses. However, it is also known that the problems associated with alcoholic beverages grow significantly when we exceed the limits of what we call “moderate consumption.” Like a brain injury. A new study has observed That excessive alcohol consumption was related to the appearance of hyaline arterosclerosis, a disorder linked to brain lesions. The team highlights that, the association observed between alcohol and disorder should not be understood as proof in itself that alcohol is causing brain injuries. “Severe alcohol consumption is an important global public health problem linked to an increase in health problems and death,” pointed in a press release Alberto Fernando Oliveira Justo, co -author of the study. “We observe how alcohol affects the brain according to people age. Our research shows that excessive alcohol consumption damages the brain, which can lead to memory and cognition problems.” Hyaline artosclerosis. As explained by the study responsible for the study, the Hyaline artosclerosis It is a disorder that causes narrowing of some blood vessels, which makes them thicker and rigid. This in turn makes it difficult to flow from blood and therefore end up causing damage to the brain. This disorder can be originated in areas of the brain where there have been damaged injuries or tissue. Another disease linked to this disorder is Diabeteswhich can cause similar effects concentrated in the kidneys. From autopsies. In his study, the team responsible for the analysis had 1,781 participantsalready killed ages above 75 years. To study the impact of alcohol in their brains, cases in which brain autopsies of the bodies were used. Thus the equipment was able to look for signs of brain injuries such as TAU protein accumulations and signs of hyaline arterosclerosis. How much is a lot. The question of How much alcohol is a lot of alcohol It is difficult to answer clearly and concisely. The tolerance of our body with respect to this substance depends on factors such as our age, sex or body mass. In his study, the team conducted interviews with the relatives of the deceased people on which the study was based. From the information they classified these people among those who never drank (965 people in this group); moderate drinkers (319 participants); excess drinkers (129 people); and ex -owners who did it in excess (368 people). Finding the relationship. Once other factors were controlled, the team estimated that people in the category of excessive consumption had a risk of cerebral vascular lesions 133% higher than those who did not drink. The risk was 89% higher in the case of former owners and 60% higher in the case of those who drank moderately. The team also found indications of a relationship between alcohol consumption and the appearance of tau clusters, although this was a lower magnitude than that observed with hyaline arterosclerosis. The details of the study were published In an article In the magazine Neurology. A difficult balance. The team also observed other relationships in its study. For example cognitive problems that manifested between drinkers or a 13 -year reduction in the life expectancy of excess drinkers with respect to non -drinkers. The study represents a new test of the risks associated with alcohol. It is not rare to find information about the benefits of low gradation drinks such as wine but experts usually coincide in pointing out that, in regard to health, risks exceed possible benefits. In any case, these risks increase with consumption, something that we must also take into account. In Xataka | If the alcohol industry no longer had enough problems, it has now encountered one more: Ozempic Image | Adam Wilson

We have compared the effects of the Mediterranean diet with those of the so -called “planetary health diet”. There are surprises

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Something everyday as eating can have a huge impact on our health, but you can also put a small grain of sand in environmental protection. The problem in these cases is that it is not always easy to demonstrate reliably the impacts of our diet on our health and the environment. Some scientists have tried. As beneficial as the Mediterranean diet. A group of researchers He has been studyingface to face, the health and environmental effects of two diets: the traditional and well -known Mediterranean diet, and the least known planetary health diet. According to this analysis, adhesion to both diets presents similar benefits for both our health and our environment. Planetary health diet. The planetary health diet, or PHD for its acronym in English is a diet Proposal in 2019 By a group of experts from the Eat-Lancet commission, associated with the medical magazine The Lancet. It is a diet that prepares the consumption of plant foods and limits the consumption of meats and dairy products (although it does not eliminate them as in vegetarian and vegan diets). “In 2019, the planetary health diet (PHD) was developed to optimize global dietary quality at the same time that the impacts of food production within sustainable borders were maintained,” indicated in a press release Mercedes Sotos Prieto, researcher at the Autonomous University of Madrid and co -author of the study. “However, evidence of how PHD is compared to the Mediterranean diet (…). We have evaluated the effects of both diets on mortality for any cause and the environmental impact on a large (sample) representative of the Spanish population.” 11,488 participants. The study was carried out from compiled data in the study of nutrition and cardiovascular risk in Spain (Enrica). The data of this cohort allowed to track 11,488 participants over 14.4 years. To analyze the adhesion to each of the diets two indexes were used, the PHD Index and Medas Score. These measured the consumption of certain foods associated with each of the diets, the planetary health diet and the Mediterranean diet, respectively. The environmental impact of these forms of food consumption was carried out through the Sharp-ID tool (Sharp-Indicors Database), which allows estimating greenhouse gas emissions based on land uses. Health impacts were measured through mortality, through the National Death Index. The analysis also included information about other variables to adjust the results. Less mortality. The study results They indicated a positive effect of both diets about health. In the case of the PHD, the study showed a decrease of approximately 22% in the risk of death during the period studied when comparing the group with greater adhesion to this diet with respect to the group with less adhesion. In the case of the Mediterranean diet, the comparison between the mortalities of the groups with the greatest and lesser adhesion was approximately 21%. A very similar positive effect, so much that the difference is statistically irrelevant. More than health. The second point of interest is that of the environmental impact of diets, calculated in this case based on emissions that are estimated to the different options. In the case of the PHD diet, the estimate calculates emissions equivalent to 4.15 kg of CO₂ a day, with a soil use estimated at 5.54 m² a day. The Mediterranean diet, on the other hand, is calculated emissions equivalent to 4.36 kg of CO₂ per day, with a land use estimated at 5.43 m² a day. Results, again, very similar. The details of the study have not yet been published in a scientific journal, but were presented at the beginning of the month at the Congress of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC). An open debate. The PHD diet is a relatively recent formula, proposed less than a decade ago. In his presentation it was received with a certain degree of skepticismsomething logical if we take into account the difficulties facing science when analyzing something as complex as nutrition and the effects of food on our body and our health. That is why studies are required to test the Initial results. Experiments such as this incline the balance in favor of this type of diets but when addressing this type of issues all additional information can be useful. In Xataka | Coffee has no cholesterol but does raise its levels. And someone has discovered the perfect elaboration to limit it Image | Louis Hansel

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