equivalent

They promised us that 20 minutes of sparking was equivalent to 4 hours in the gym. Science says it’s more complicated

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Since humans became aware of the existence of electric current, they have tried to apply that power to their own body. As detailed in a report by The Wall Street Journalthis fascination goes back a long way: from the ancient Roman belief in the healing impact of torpedo fish, to the famous vibrating belt machines that promised to sculpt silhouettes in the 1950s. Today, the industry fitness has taken it a step further with whole body muscle electrostimulation (WB-EMS). The concept itself seems straight out of a science fiction movie: users don a wet suit covered in electrodes that delivers simultaneous shocks to major muscle groups for about 20 minutes. The marketing hook is irresistible, as these strength and bodyweight training sessions are sold as the ultimate shortcut to replacing hours of sweat in the gym. On social networks, dozens of influencers They upload videos doing squats and arm lifts while wearing this bionic suit. But, beyond the aesthetics and the promise of a toned body with little effort, what is true in all this? From the clinic to global fashion The technology behind electrostimulation is not a recent invention nor was it born in a trendy gym. Initially, it was used in hospitals and rehabilitation settings for a strictly medical purpose: to relieve pain, prevent muscle atrophy in bedridden patients, and improve circulation. However, in recent years, it has experienced explosive growth as a business model. fitness. The data is there. On the ClassPass platform, the number of centers offering EMS training worldwide increased more than 16% between 2023 and 2025. International franchises such as the French Iron Bodyfit plan to open more than 50 studios in the United States in the next three years, while the Californian company Body20 has gone from 46 to 67 locations nationwide since 2023. All this despite the fact that it is not an economic activity: classes cost between $40 and $100 per session. To understand the phenomenon, you have to understand how the experience works. The wet suit—water is necessary to conduct electricity effectively—sends electrical impulses directly to the muscle. This forces a greater percentage of muscle fibers to contract simultaneously involuntarily. As described by journalist Ellen Gamerman in The Wall Street Journalthe physical sensation is similar to that of receiving a call on a mobile phone in vibrate mode, with the difference that, in this case, “you are the phone.” Combined with core exercises, the level of muscle contraction makes the effort feel as intense as a high-intensity interval (HIIT) class. If you extend one arm without bending it slightly, the current can cause it to lock up completely until the trainer lowers the intensity of the machine. But who is attracted to this technology? Helge Guetzlaff, business development director of the German brand Miha Bodytec, joked in the American newspaper claiming that it attracts “a lot of lazy people.” However, Sabine Padar, owner of the exclusive Body Alchemist NYC studio, points out that she often has to convince her clients that spending more hours in the gym is not the only way to gain muscle. She insists that EMS sessions aren’t necessarily easier than traditional training, they’re just faster. The user profile is varied: from women concerned about losing strength during menopause to fashion professionals, such as Max Auth, a director of the Wolford brand who confesses to spending about $300 a month on these sessions to maintain his figure with a minimal investment of time. The reality bath Faced with marketing claims that “20 minutes are equivalent to 4 hours in the gym”, the scientific community has decided to take action on the matter. Cedric X. Bryant, executive director of the American Council on Exercise, points in WSJ that these claims are hyperbolic and that what one should expect from these workouts is being greatly exaggerated, while acknowledging that they may offer mild to moderate improvements. To shed light on the matter, various studies have analyzed the real impact of WB-EMS on different population groups: In older and sedentary adults: A research published in Clinical Interventions in Aging demonstrated the effectiveness of this technology in sedentary and thin older women, at risk of sarcopenia (loss of muscle mass) and abdominal obesity. After subjecting a group of 23 women to 18 minutes of WB-EMS (three sessions every 14 days) for 12 months, the results showed significant and positive differences in appendicular muscle mass and a reduction in abdominal fat mass compared to the control group. The study concluded that, given the good acceptance of the technology, WB-EMS is a valid and less daunting alternative for subjects who do not want or cannot do conventional exercise. In recreational athletes: Another essay published in Frontiers in Physiology analyzed the effects of WB-EMS in male recreational runners. For 6 weeks, participants reduced their running training to a single day per week and added a weekly WB-EMS session. The results indicated that the electrostimulation group improved their maximum oxygen consumption (VO2max), their ventilatory thresholds, their running economy and their vertical jump. This suggests that WB-EMS may be an effective stimulus to maintain and even improve performance in periods where resistance training volume is reduced. The definitive comparison (The WB-EMS is not a miracle): To check whether electrostimulation is really superior to classic sweating, the FIT-AGEING project evaluated 89 sedentary middle-aged adults. A rigorous study also published in Frontiers in Physiology divided the subjects into three 12-week programs: traditional concurrent training (recommended by WHO), high intensity interval training (HIIT), and HIIT added to WB-EMS. Finally, all types of exercise induced similar increases in cardiorespiratory fitness and muscle strength. In fact, the scientists explicitly concluded that the changes observed in the WB-EMS group were not superior to those of the other conventional exercise programs. The suit does not provide any extra decisive advantage compared to sweating the shirt in a traditional way. The silent danger of overexertion Despite the obvious benefits, WB-EMS is not a toy and carries risks if not properly supervised. As he … Read more

Getting married in Switzerland was equivalent to paying more taxes than a single person. And a referendum has put an end to the problem

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In Switzerland, marriages they are news. And not because of its rise or fall, demographic issues or new trends when celebrating them. They are for strictly tax reasons. In a historic decision the Swiss have supported majority (with 54% support) a reform that will basically put an end to what is called the “marriage penalty” in the country. In other words, saying ‘I do’ in Switzerland will no longer be (in most cases) a sentence to paying more when declaring income to the Treasury. The decision has come preceded by an intense debate, which gives a clue that the issue does not only have fiscal implications. The background is social, cultural and historical. What has happened? That after years of debate Switzerland has given the ‘green light’ to a key tax change for marriages. Couples in the country who formalize their relationship will stop paying taxes jointly, through a single tax return in which the sum of their income and assets is taken into account. From now on, each spouse will be taxed individually. Just as if he hadn’t gone through the altar. The measure has received the endorsement of 54% of voters during a referendum in which they have discussed more topicsbut it does not mean that it will be activated immediately. The idea is that it be adopted gradually, over the next five years. The cantons have margin until 2032. Is it so important? Yes. In fact in Switzerland (and other countries who have paid attention to the fiscal change) there is no talk of joint or individual taxation, but of something much more forceful: the end of the “marriage penalty”. Because? Because according to its promoters, the current Swiss tax regime punishes those marriages in which both spouses work and enjoy good salaries. In these cases, with the current system, couples are forced to bear greater burdens than they would face if they remained single. That is, the same couple can find themselves in one or another tax bracket (more or less beneficial) depending only on whether they have formalized their relationship. Why’s that? Basically because the Swiss system is a few decades old and is based on a traditional family model in which each household has a single base salary. If the family receives more income (a second payroll) they are usually taxed at a higher marginal rate. “The joint model came from a time when women’s income was considered a ‘complement’ to that of their husbands,” clarify Swiss Info. With the new system, that changes. Does it influence that much? What we have seen so far may sound abstract or too theoretical, but its scope is better understood with practical examples. In January Swiss Info carried out a simulation for different profiles of households with one or another tax system and found that the ‘photo’ changes quite a bit. The summary is very simple: new tax model It mainly benefits marriages in which both spouses earn the same or similar amounts and harms (forcing them to face a greater tax burden) those in which there is a greater imbalance of income between the members of the couple. A practical example. Let’s take the case of a couple in which both members earn the same: 100,000 francs. With the joint model that has been operating in Switzerland for years, its tax burden would be about 6,700 francs. With the new individual taxation system it would drop to 2,700. Things change in couples in which there is only one salary. In these cases (with the same level of income) individual taxation will mean an increase of 32% compared to joint taxation. What is the change looking for? Its promoters assure that the new model will solve a problem that has been dragging down the Swiss economy for some time: a tax system that discourages paid work for those people who provide a second income to their homes. When changing the legal framework, remember Financial Timesthe Swiss government hopes to increase the nation’s workforce by about 60,000 people and increase the national GDP by about 1%. Advocates of the change hope it will help women gain strength in the Swiss labor market. It is estimated that only 60% of Swiss women work full time, a percentage lower than the OECD average, which is around 78%. The “marriage penalty” has also led to some curious practicessuch as couples who marry without legally registering their union or even marriages that they divorce before retiring for tax reasons. Are they all advantages? Not at all. At least that is what the sectors most critical of the measure maintain, warning of several negative effects. The main one, that the new system will result in more bureaucracyincreasing the workload (and costs) of the administration. There are cantons that also fear that the change of model will affect their coffers, punishing them with a loss of income. Beyond the practical issues there is another ideological one: part of the critical sector warns that individual supervision will generate inequalities that will harm traditional families above all. According to the Government, the new framework will more or less half of the taxpayers see their tax burden reduced. 36% would not notice changes and only the remaining 14% will have to pay more taxes. Images | Leonardo Miranda (Unsplash), Ronnie Schmutz (Unsplash) and Leo_Visions (Unsplash) In Xataka | 40,000 euros to say “yes, I want”: weddings in Spain have become events and their price is skyrocketing

Wild chimpanzees drink the equivalent of almost two glasses of alcohol a day

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If we test chimpanzees for blood alcohol levels, we would most likely see that they test positive as sI would have had a drink or two. And here the fault is not in the fact that they have a hidden bottle of whiskey, but in the sugars present in the fruits they consume and their microbial fermentation. But from here on, science has debated whether our attraction to alcohol It is due to an ‘evolutionary accident’ or a direct inheritance from our primate ancestors. Something that has been determined now. A new study. Published by researchers at the University of California and which suggests that wild chimpanzees consume substantial amounts of ethanol in their daily diet. To demonstrate this, the team went to Kibale National Park, Ugandato be able to monitor several chimpanzees. And instead of doing a blood test, the researchers opted for a non-invasive method by analyzing the urine of the 19 wild chimpanzees. In this case, what was being sought was not raw ethanol, but a very specific biomarker called ethylglucuronide which tells us that ethanol has been processed. Your diet. As we have said before, the secret of this discovery is not in the alcohol that we know, but in the fruit. That is why during the research the chimpanzees fed almost exclusively on a species of canopy tree called the African star apple. When specifically analyzing this apple, it was found that it contained alcohol in a proportion of 0.09%, while in some harvests it could reach 0.4%. The results. After performing urine analyzes on the chimpanzees, it was possible to see that, of the 20 individual urine samples collected, 17 tested positive for ethylglucuronide, exceeding a threshold of 300 ng per milliliter of urine. But in addition, of a set of 11 of these positive samples, 10 tested positive again when subjected to a much higher clinical threshold of 500 ng/ml. The “drunk monkey.” The researchers point out here that this continuous intake of fermented fruit translates into an average dose of 14 grams of ethanol per day for the chimpanzees. In human terms, it is as if they had drunk one and a half drinks a day. These findings offer vital physiological support to the famous “drunken monkey” hypothesis which suggests that the attraction that modern humans feel for alcohol has its evolutionary origin precisely here: in an adaptation of our ancestors to locate, through long-distance smell, crops of ripe fruit and, therefore, more caloric thanks to the smell of ethanol. A mismatch. The problem is that this vestige of the past has gone down the wrong path, since the current problem lies in an evolutionary imbalance. While our ancestors chronically consumed ethanol in low concentrations through a fruit-centered diet, today humans have access to distilled alcohol in massive quantities and not through a survival system. Now, this discovery not only changes our understanding of primate feeding ecology, but opens the door to future research into how this natural alcohol consumption could affect the social behavior of chimpanzees, including factors such as aggression or reproduction. Images | David Trinks Brian Jones In Xataka | We believed that war was a unique and exclusively human invention. Until we look at chimpanzees

The global tension cannot with ASML. It will build a huge campus equivalent to 50 soccer fields

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ASML is going to expand. And he will do it in a very ambitious way. This company of the Netherlands has been a lot of pressure by Dutch and American governments because it is The only manufacturer of planet’s lithography equipment capable of producing extreme ultraviolet machines (UVE). These equipment are those used to manufacture the most advanced semiconductors that exist with integration technologies of 7 nm or less. The tension held by the US and China has seriously compromised ASML business in the country led by Xi Jinping. In fact, the sanctions that US administration has deployed and that the Netherlands government has supported them have prevented him from giving his Chinese clients his UVE teams. In addition, since the beginning of 2024 he can not sell in China either Your deep ultraviolet lithography machines (UVP), nor can you provide some support and maintenance services to your Chinese clients. ASML trusts its future despite the delicate situation in which it is located In 2022 the sales of this company in China amounted to 2.9 billion euros, which represented 13.8% of its annual sales. At that time Taiwan was a more important market for Asml than China. In fact, in 2023 the clients of the island bought lithography equipment for a total value of 8,100 million euros, while its Chinese clients disbursed 7.3 billion euros. And, curiously, in 2024 China consolidated as the largest market for ASML with total sales of 10.2 billion euros. ASML has no competition in the manufacture of avant -garde lithographic equipment To understand where this figure comes from, we need to keep in mind something important. As we have seen, ASML cannot sell its most advanced teams to its Chinese clients, such as extreme ultraviolet lithography machines (UVE) or deep ultraviolet (UVP), but at the moment you can give them the solutions that allow them produce chips with mature integration technologies. These are the semiconductors that are mostly used in cars, appliances or electronic devices, among other products, and usually occur in nodes of 28 nm or less advanced. Whatever it is evident that the commercial and technological war that are pouring the US and China in full struggle for world supremacy It is seriously harming both the ASML business and that of many other technology companies, such as Nvidia, AMD, Applyed Materials or Tokyo Electron. In these circumstances it seems reasonable to think that the future of this Dutch company is uncertain, but it is very important that we do not overlook something that we have already addressed in this article: ASML has no competition in the manufacturing market of vanguard lithographic equipment. This favorable circumstance has caused its capacity to produce UVE machines and Haute Opening UVE Be lower than demand, so ASML managers have made a decision: they will build a new campus near Eindhoven (Netherlands) that will allow them continue growing and responding to the growing demand They have their semiconductor manufacturing equipment. According to the newspaper Edthat, precisely, it is housed in Eindhoven, initially these facilities were going to be ready in 2030, but will finally be prepared for the first 20,000 additional employees to be installed in them in 2028. Image | ASML More information | Ed In Xataka | Japan wants to recover leadership as a manufacturer of lithography equipment. And he has a plan to end the Asml monopoly

130 meters with batteries equivalent to 550 model and

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The transport network electrification To reduce emissions as much as possible is one of the challenges that companies and countries are facing. He electric car It is what catches us more closely, but where we also see progress is in the electric plane and in him maritime transport sector. And, in this sense, Latin America has taken a giant step with its new 100% electric ferry: the ‘China Zorrilla’. So much that it is already the largest electric ferry on the planet. Enormous. The ferry is a good starting point to start the electrification of the sea. Among its advantages is the Reduction of direct emissionsbut also lower maintenance costs (in theory) and a significant reduction in Submarine noisebeneficial for life in that environment. According to estimates, electrifying the 50 -meter length ferris to cover 100 -kilometer routes would save 50% fossil fuel in this segment, but what the ‘China Zorrilla’ has done is, as we see in MotorpasionDemential. And it is because of its dimensions. It measures 130 meters long, 32 wide and has capacity for 2,100 passengers and 225 vehicles. The ship has just been thrown into the Hobart shipyard in Australia, where it has been built, and the idea is to communicate the Argentine cities of Buenos Aires and Colonia de Sacramento, in Uruguay. It is a journey of about 55 kilometers that will cover three times a day. To batteries. The electrification problem is the same, whatever the vehicle: batteries. The larger and more capacity need, the larger and more heavy the batteries will be. In the case of ‘China Zorrilla’, these batteries have about 5,000 modules with a weight of about 280 tons. It is an absolute barbarity and, to put this in context, its creators They affirmed which is equivalent to batteries of 850 electric cars. It is the largest battery installed on a boat and its total capacity is 40 MWh. Let’s put the battery of the Tesla Model and Long Range with its 78.4 kWh. They are 0.0784, and the rapid calculations is that the ‘China Zorrilla’ has the capacity of almost 550 model and long rage. It is crazy for a 55 -kilometer journey, but in the end it is the ‘price’ of moving such a monster. And the load? Another mocked. It is the big question that may arise. If, despite the advances in speed, loading an electric car already has a considerable amount of time, what happens if we have to load a 40 MWh battery? The answer is simple: High power electroles. Specifically, giant ‘plugs’ that will admit 15 MW charges. The idea is that these loaders are in both ports, being able to recharge during the eviction and shipping of passengers with 24 MWh capacity. In theorythe 20% to 80% recharge will take about forty minutes and it is estimated that the night load pulls renewable energy, especially in the Uruguayan port. Without rival. Due to the type of controlled journeys that make this type of ships, their electrification is a very interesting idea that is already being explored in other parts of the world. In Spain, we have the ‘Barbarian Cap‘, a ferry that joins Ibiza with Formentera and has a battery of just 1 MWh. Is owned by Balearia, a company that is already shaping A much more ambitious project: Unite rate and tangier. There will be two 100% electric ferries with a total capacity of up to 39 MWh that is also provided that are loaded in 40 minutes in the ports and that will have something very interesting to reduce times: arms in the ports that will replace batteries. It will also have diesel support engines in case things are twisted and capacity for 804 passengers and 225 cars. In this sense, the ‘China Zorilla’ seems to continue reigning in the limited segment of electric ferries. And, in case you are wondering, the name of the ship pays tribute to the Uruguayan actress Concepción Matilde Zorrilla. Images | Buquebus In Xataka | The 100% electric plane of beta technologies aspires to be very versatile: it will also have a passenger variant

Apple anticipates 900 million dollars of tariff impact. It is equivalent to the cost of producing almost two million iPhone

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Apple has released the financial bomb that Wall Street was waiting for: 900 million dollars in extra costs For Trump’s tariffs. The figure, although considerable, is less devastating than feared by analysts, a possible sign of the stealthy preparation that Apple had been executing for months. The backdrop. Apple has exceeded expectations with 95.4 billion dollars in income, but The commercial war Draw a complicated horizon. Actions, in fact, fell 4% after closing. Not because of the present, above the expected, but for what will arrive after June. The market was waiting for clear answers about the future from Apple, but instead received well -calculated evasive. The money trail. Apple has also reduced its sharing repurchase program by 10,000 million compared to the previous year. It is the typical financial movement that goes unnoticed between tariff holders, but betrays a defensive position: Apple is accumulating effective before the commercial storm that is coming. The company that presumed from its treasury now protects it more than ever. Between the lines. “I don’t want to predict the future because I’m not sure what will happen to tariffs,” Cook said in The subsequent call with investors. It is not very common for a CEO to expose its uncertainty, and even less if we talk about Cook, known for its meticulous planning. Perhaps it is a symptom of the real problem: neither an all Apple can foresee the turns of Trump’s tariff policy. Emergency logistics reorganization, diverting iPhone manufacture towards India And from the rest of the products to Vietnam, it is impressive, but improvised: a plan B for which the deadlines have had to be accelerated. At stake. The battle goes beyond 900 million in a quarter: it is for the future of Apple’s business model. It is the sale of premium products with margins far superior to the average of its sector manufactured in Asia. If India is 5% or 8% more expensive than China, as analysts anticipate, it could lead to a blow to profitability. And would go far beyond a quarter. It is the first act of the threat of change for the technological value chain. In Xataka | Apple loses the war against Epic. Fortnite returns triumphant and Spotify already prepares its rematch Outstanding image | Rashed Paykary in Unspash

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