error

We have been believing for more than a century that the appendix is ​​a useless organ and an evolutionary error. We were very wrong

by

If there is an organ with a bad reputation in human anatomy, it is the appendix. For the vast majority of people, this small worm-shaped pouch connected to the large intestine only serves one thing: to become inflamed, to cause appendicitis urgently and have us undergo surgery. But the truth is that it is more useful than we thought, since science has seen that it has a great impact on our immune system and also in life expectancy. An evolutionary success. Something that marvels me about evolution is that it does eliminate everything that has no use for humans, but if the phylogenetic branch has been maintaining it, it is for a reason. and here a 2013 study analyzed the anatomy of 361 species of mammals and the results were devastating: the appendix is ​​not exclusive to humans and great apes, but has evolved independently at least 32 times. And the question is: why? This theory was later reinforced with a 2017 analysis which identified between 29 and 41 evolutionary gains of the appendix, compared to the very few losses that stood at less than seven. And in biology, when a trait evolves repeatedly in completely different lineages, it means one thing: it provides a crucial adaptive advantage for survival. Its usefulness. If it doesn’t help digest leaves as Darwin believed, then… What does it do? The latest research, including a comprehensive 2023 review published in The Anatomical Record, confirm that the appendix acts as a microbial reservoir and a support for the immune system. This way we know that the appendix is ​​filled with lymphoid tissue and is strategically located outside the “main flow” of the intestine. And it works as a kind of bunker for our microbiome, and in this way, when we suffer a severe intestinal infection that “sweeps away” our bacterial flora, the appendix releases beneficial bacteria hidden inside to quickly recolonize the intestine. And tested. A 2023 study showed that primates with appendages have a relatively lower risk of severe diarrhea episodes early in life, reinforcing their vital role as a protective shield against deadly infections. Its relationship with longevity. The most fascinating discovery about the appendix came in 2021, where a team of researchers published in the journal Ecology and Evolution a study in which they crossed data from 258 mammal species. Controlling for variables such as body size and phylogeny, they looked for patterns between the presence of an appendage and the lifespan of the species. The conclusion they drew was none other than determining that the presence of the appendix is ​​directly correlated with greater maximum longevity. And the reason is in positive natural selection. In this way, by drastically reducing mortality caused by infectious diseases and diarrhea, species with an appendix have a clear survival advantage that allows them to extend their life expectancy. Image | Eugene Chystiakov In Xataka | We have been measuring death wrong: science now believes that our biological expiration date is more hereditary than we thought

a widespread error reveals that the coasts are much more exposed

by

One of the great ‘fears’ we have regarding global warming is the rise in sea level and the risk of floods in coastal locations in much of the world due to the melting of the poles. But now we have bad news: the vast majority of scientific studies on the risk of coastal flooding have started from the wrong premise. And it is not a miscalculation in the thaw or in the CO₂ emissionsbut we have been measuring wrongly where the ‘zero’ is. They have realized. This is what has been revealed by a new study published this month March in Nature that has shaken the foundations of coastal climate projections. Here the research has pointed out that the sea level on the coasts is, on average, about 30 centimeters higher than what the risk models assumed. And in some areas of the planet, the difference exceeds one meter. How is it possible? To understand where the problem is, you have to look at how a flood risk map is created. When researchers calculate which areas will be underwater if sea levels rise, they need a starting point like a baseline, and the problem is that this starting point was very wrong. The problem. To reach this conclusion, the researchers reviewed 385 peer studies published between 2009 and 2025 and discovered a pattern: more than 90% of these investigations used “theoretical geoids” to mark this baseline. The problem is that a geoid is an idealized gravitational model of the Earth that assumes an ocean at perfect rest. However, the real ocean is far from being completely at rest, since there are different factors, such as prevailing winds, ocean currents, water temperature and salinity, that cause water to accumulate more on some coasts than on others. That is why when the researchers compared these theoretical models with the real measurements obtained through satellite altimetry and tide gauges, the discrepancy was evident. They change the world. At a global level, if this correction is adjusted to real factors, the underestimation of coastal sea level is between 24 and 30 centimeters. And although it may seem like a manageable figure, in coastal topography 30 centimeters makes the difference between a dry promenade and a flooded city. The most worrying thing is the geographical inequality of this error, since, while in some areas of the global north the deviation is smaller, in the South the effective sea level becomes one meter or more higher than what had been projected. But there are even exceptional areas where extreme figures of up to 5.5 or 7.6 meters are reached. Greater risk. By applying these new models of the seas, the Wageningen researchers discovered that, given a projected 1 meter rise in sea level, the coastal area at risk of flooding is 37% greater than previously thought, which puts an additional 132 million people in the danger zone. The rhythm does not change. Although this may seem like we are experiencing an increase in the speed of sea level rise, the truth is that everything remains at the same point, and with a speed that remains the same as that at which it had been previously measured. What changes in this case is the starting point, since by starting from a base that was too low we were experiencing a false sense of security. This means that we are now closer to the critical flood thresholds than we thought, so the time margin we thought we had to build dams, relocate populations or adapt infrastructure in megacities in Asia or on Pacific islands has just been drastically reduced. The next step. To solve this historical “blind spot”, the research team has not limited itself to pointing out the error that has been made, but has processed the corrected data using supercomputers and published it openly. The goal here is for governments and climatologists to be able to recalculate their coastal risk maps using the actual sea surface and not a theoretical globe. In Xataka | Someone has created a simulator where you can see if sea level rise is going to reach your house or not. Image | Adam Dillon

We believed that Generation Z was returning en masse to the Church. An error in a survey is to blame for the mirage

by

Stadiums vibrating with thousands of twenty-somethings raising their arms, eyes closed, singing to god. International pop stars posing in nun’s habits on the covers of their most anticipated albums. And, as a backdrop, an incessant barrage of headlines announcing the unthinkable: the massive return of the youth to the church pews. Over the past few months, the world seemed to witness a fascinating twist in the script. Generation Z, the most secular and secularized demographic cohort in history, was re-embracing Christianity. However, when you scratch the surface of this apparent spiritual awakening, what emerges is not a collective epiphany, but a trap. A gigantic demoscopic mirage. What they sold us as the great rebirth of faith is, in reality, a monumental miscalculation where the armies of artificial intelligence, the mischief of paid online surveys and the desire to believe in a revival have completely distorted the true—and much more complex—religious transformation of young people. We believed that faith was returning to the streets, but the fault was in the method. The spark that ignited the narrative of the great Christian revival jumped in the United Kingdom with the publication of the report The Quiet Revivalcommissioned by the Bible Society. Based on survey data YouGov, The study showed a spectacular figure: monthly church attendance among English and Welsh young people aged 18 to 24 had quadrupled, going from a marginal 4% in 2018 to a resounding 16% in 2024. The news spread like wildfire. Entire dioceses held conferences to “turn up the volume” on this revival, and politicians in the British Parliament used the report as proof that “Christianity is neither oppressed nor decayed,” as reported by BBC. However, demographic experts were quick to raise alarm bells. Surveys considered the “gold standard” of sociology for using random probability samples—such as the British Social Attitudes wave Labor Force Survey— showed a diametrically opposite film. According to these rigorous metersthe percentage of practicing Christians between 18 and 34 years old had not only not risen, but had fallen from 8% in 2018 to 6% in 2024. The danger of surveys opt-in If young people are not filling the churches, where do the miracle figures come from? The answer lies in the architecture of the internet itself. The report of the Bible Society was based on surveys opt-inthat is, panels where users voluntarily register in exchange for financial rewards or points. Demographer Conrad Hackett warns that this format suffers an “existential threat.” Those who respond to these surveys usually seek to maximize your profits filling out questionnaires at full speed, lying about their age to access more surveys, or using Virtual Private Networks (VPN) from other countries to get paid in hard currency. Worse still, Artificial Intelligence has come into play. The researchers have detected armies of chatbots programmed to imitate humans and fill out surveys en masse. The fake young people in these polls are so unreliable that, in similar studies carried out in the USA12% of those surveyed opt-in under 30 years old even stated that he had a license to pilot a nuclear submarine. The “great awakening” was largely an algorithmic hallucination. The situation in our land In Spain, the optical illusion is similar. Phenomena like Hakuna Group Music They managed to bring together 12,000 young people at the Vistalegre Palace, while events such as Calls They gathered 6,000 people at the Movistar Arena. Both are betting on Contemporary Worship Music (CWM), an evangelization format of Protestant and evangelical heritage, full of giant screens, pop-rock and raw emotions. But the noise of the stadiums clashes head-on with the silence of the parishes. The comparison of the official reports of the Spanish Episcopal Conference (CEE) is devastating. If we analyze the transition from the previous exercises to the most recent data, the fall of the sacraments is an undeniable constant: Baptisms: They fell from 152,426 registered in 2023 at 146,370 in 2024which represents a year-on-year decrease of 3.97%. The magnitude of the collapse is better understood if we look in the rearview mirror: in 2007the Church celebrated no less than 325,271 baptisms annually. Communions and weddings: Inertia drags the rest of the life cycle. First communions fell by almost 5% (standing at 154,677), and Catholic marriages fell by 6%, remaining at a reduced 31,462 ecclesiastical unions. Institutional collapse has other profound social consequences. Given the collapse of baptismal prayers, more than 150 Spanish town councils now offer “civil baptisms” or lay welcome ceremonies to celebrate the arrival of newborns. At the same time, the bleeding of vocations has left Spain with only 15,285 priests, whose average age is around a worrying 65 years. The problem It’s so pressing that has forced bishoprics like that of Tui-Vigo to make lay women official to lead “Celebrations of the Word” in the villages in the face of the total lack of priests. The only discordant note—the small statistical lifeline to which the Church clings—is the baptism of children over 7 years of age. This figure experienced a reboundrising from 11,835 in 2023 to 13,323 in 2024. A figure that suggests a paradigm shift in Spanish Catholicism: conversions that are much more thoughtful, personal and less conditioned by “cultural” inertia. The great gap between Spirituality and Religion To understand Generation Z in Spain, two concepts must be drastically separated: the Catholic institution and the search for the transcendent. Here comes into play what my partner in Xataka defined as: “The 29-59% paradox.” According to the Barometer on Religion and Beliefs in Spain (BREC) of 202561% of young people between 18 and 24 years old declare themselves indifferent, agnostic or atheist. Only 29% define themselves as Catholic, a figure much lower than the 46% national average. However, just because they don’t set foot in a church doesn’t mean they are pure materialists. That same report reveals that 59% of young people firmly believe in the existence of the soul and 45% in “energies.” As the sociologist Mar Griera explainswe are not facing a return to dogma, … Read more

the margin of error is only five centimeters

by

If everything goes well, and that is saying a lot when it comes to the work that is taking place in northern Europe, in 2033 one of the most hyperbolic and complicated excavations on the planet will have been completed: that of the longest and deepest tunnel of the world, a work kilometer under the sea whose sides advance irremediably until they find themselves at a point whose margin of error is tiny. Engineering under the fjords. He Rogfast project represents a qualitative leap in the history of European infrastructure: we are talking about an underwater tunnel of almost 27 kilometers long and 400 meters deep that will cross the bedrock under the Norwegian fjords to connect Stavanger, Haugesund, Bergen and the intermediate communities through a continuous route without ferries. Its scale is such that it will reduce travel time between Norway’s two large western cities in forty minuteswill alter the work and logistics patterns of the entire region and will become the axis of the future E39, the great coastal highway that aims to fluidly link the south and center of the country. The most in everything. Conceived to be completed in 2033 and executed by drilling direct into solid rockRogfast will not only be the longest underwater road tunnel in the world, but also the deepest, a work that takes advantage of the experience accumulated in more than forty Norwegian underwater tunnels and demonstrates the national preference for this type of infrastructure over bridges exposed to severe weather conditions. The hidden heart of the project. At 260 meters below sea level, in a cavern carved out of living rock, two underwater roundabouts They allow the main tunnel to be connected with a branch to Kvitsøy, the smallest municipality in Norway. It is a design unprecedented: an internal cruciform that not only guarantees the connection with the island, but also acts as an operational safety valve to maintain the flow of vehicles even in the event of partial closure. The tunnel’s twin pipes function as redundancy and as a refuge: Any driver trapped by an incident can evacuate through internal exits to the other gallery, monitored by location cameras capable of guiding rescue teams with precision. This approach, which avoids exclusive dependence on a single route, responds to both the extreme geology and the Norwegian priority for safetywhich requires at least fifty meters of rock between the tunnel vault and the seabed, a distance that helps stabilize the structure against water pressure. Tunnel map No margin of error. Here comes the trickiest part, because simultaneous execution from both ends requires extraordinary topographical precision: when the two TBMs meet, they must do so with a deviation no greater than, attention, five centimetersa tolerance among the strictest in the world. To achieve this, they use rotating laser scanners capable of capturing two million points per second and creating digital twins of the tunnel, allowing ccorrect any deviation in real time. Such fine control is not a technical whim: a larger deviation would involve removing large additional volumes of rock and a significant environmental and economic cost, in addition to increasing structural risks. Added to this is a challenging environment where, at more than 300 meters deep, the tunnel is already has suffered leaks of salt water, forcing the development of new grout injection techniques to seal the rock mass and guarantee the safety of the crews. Rogfast as a key piece. The tunnel is integrated into a broader program to transform the E39 on a route without ferries, with the aim of reducing the current twenty-one hour journey between Trondheim and Kristiansand by almost half. This involves building additional bridges, tunnels and links that completely redefine mobility on the West Coast, a region historically marked by its fragmented geography. Rogfast is the most complex component of this strategy, due to its depth, length and the integration of technologies longitudinal ventilation, vents to Kvitsøy, surveillance cameras, traffic radars and real-time alert systems to manage incidents. All these elements will not only improve safety, but will also allow dynamic control of vehicle flow and rapid response to breakdowns or congestion within a closed environment at great depth. Economic impact. The project is not limited to its technical feat; its economic influence is (will be) deep and lasting. By eliminating ferries, it reduces logistics costs and expands commercial possibilities for key industries such as seafood, which will be able to reach markets more quickly. Likewise, it creates new employment opportunities during its construction and facilitates access to jobs, education and public services for communities until now isolated by geography. Reducing travel time as well will attract more tourism towards the western Norwegian landscapes, especially towards Bergen and the nearby islands, promoting an already consolidated sector. Official estimates estimate that by 2053 they will circulate daily about 13,000 vehicles through the tunnel, figures that consolidate it as a structural axis of the coastal Norway of the future. The final frontier. Although there are longer tunnels, such as the Seikan in Japan or the Channel Tunnel under the English Channel, none combine the length and depth that Rogfast will reach, which will descend to 392 meters under the seawell below the 240 meters of the Seikan or the 115 of the Canal. In this way, Norway strengthens its position as a world leader in underground engineering and in the construction of rock tunnels under bodies of water. Rogfast will become, when it opens in 2033, the maximum expression of this tradition: a gigantic infrastructure that demonstrates how a country with an impossible geography has learned to move under its own fjordsguided by technological precision, safety as a principle and the ambition to unite what nature separated. Image | ImpleniaStatens Vegvesen In Xataka | The largest hotel in the world is not in Las Vegas or Dubai. It is in Malaysia and has 7,351 rooms In Xataka | 125 kilometers of water separate 140 million inhabitants. China is going to solve it with a mega railway … Read more

Has anyone had a historical error?

by

The history of Baikonur Area 31 It is also the story of the Russian space race: an infrastructure born in the 1960s, a direct heir to the Soviet era, which has supported the most reliable manned launches on the planet for decades. However, a simple mistake on a service platform has now put that legacy in check, leaving Russia on the brink of being temporarily outside the human orbit. An oblivion like a mirror. The apparently routine launch of the Soyuz MS-28 was hiding a silent catastrophe: A service platform weighing more than twenty tons, essential for preparing the rocket at Baikonur’s historic Area 31, was not secured before takeoff. The result was devastating. The colossal pressure of the engine the structure was torn off and threw it into the pit of flames, destroying it and severely damaging the only Russian complex still capable of launching manned missions and Progress freighters to the International Space Station. The later images showed a scenario typical of the Soviet era in decline, while Roscosmos I was trying to downplay to a ruling that calls into question something deeper than a procedural error: Russia’s real capacity to sustain its role in the last great space cooperation that still links it to the West. Baikonur as a symbol. The incident breaks out at the worst moment for Moscow. After years of underfunding, talent drains and diversion of resources to the war in Ukraine, its civilian capabilities have been reduced at levels that contrast with official rhetoric. Until recently, Russia cut back on manned launches to save money, now it faces the possibility of not having any operational means for months or even years. What was once a simple routine (tuning up a Soyuz rocket) has become a political test for the Kremlin: repairing Area 31 will require investments and prioritization, something difficult when all resources are absorb in front. The question, inside and outside Russia, is whether the government is willing to spend what is necessary to maintain its seat on the ISS or whether it prefers to let the infrastructure degrade while its narrative assures that “there will be spare parts” and that “everything is under control.” Eñ Area 31 Inverted dependency. The historical irony is clear. In 2011, the United States was completely dependent on the Soyuz after retiring the space shuttle. Today, Russia is at the mercy of SpaceXthe only operational door to the station. And it’s not just about astronauts. The Progress freighters are critical to maintaining the laboratory’s orbit and to managing the Russian attitude control system, which desaturates the US gyroscopes. Its possible absence would force us to improvise maneuvers with docked ships, consume more propellant or increase the pressure. about Dragon and Cygnusat a time when Boeing Starliner was still is not ready. Temporary loss of Russian launch site makes SpaceX the sole logistical support total of the station and leaves Russia without the minimum tool to claim a role equivalent to that of yesteryear. The structural risk. The blow to Baikonur reveals another vulnerability: the lack of redundancy in global spatial architecture. Russia had already closed the iconic Site 1 to turn it into a museum, leaving Area 31 as the only option. Now that single point fails. Alternatives within Russia cannot be quickly configured to handle manned missions, and rebuild or adapt such infrastructure takes years. The incident, far from being anecdotal, shows the accelerated decline of the Russian space ecosystem and questions its ability to fulfill international commitments as basic as keeping the only inhabited space station alive. The space community will have to watch whether Moscow prioritizes this repair or whether, as some analysts fear, the war will absorb even this last vestige of cooperation. Uncertain future. The platform accident not only damages a pit of flames: erodes the Russia’s position on the ISS and forces NASA to plan for a scenario in which Russia is partially or completely excluded from manned launches for years. This would reinforce dependence on US systems and anticipate a possible political outcome: that Russian participation becomes merely nominal. until 2030. At a time when the station is facing its final years, the breakdown represents an extremely fragile balance. A single mechanical failure, caused by human forgetfulness, could speed up separation of the space trajectories of Washington and Moscow and mark the beginning of the end of the last scientific enterprise that still unites the two powers. Image | NASATV In Xataka | Russia wants to know how trips to Mars will affect us, so it is going to launch a thousand flies and 75 mice on a rocket In Xataka | SpaceX is on track to have more money than NASA. He has achieved this, in part, because he does not pay taxes

What is this Google Play Store error and install the app anyway

by

Let’s explain to you what it is and how to avoid the message Your device is not compatible with this versionwhich may appear in the Android application store. It may appear on some mobile phones very occasionally when you want to install an application that interests you. We are going to start the article by explaining what exactly this message is, so you can know what the error is due to. And then, we will tell you how to avoid this problem for be able to install the application as well. Why does this message appear? The applications on your mobile phone are like the programs on a computer, when a developer creates them, they establish a series of minimum requirements and compatibility. They do this to make sure that the application works as it should, and that the user experience is not good. The message that your device is not compatible with a version appears because the app is not optimized for your device or its featuressuch as your Android version or your hardware, such as RAM or other requirements. Sometimes it can also even be due to the type of device, when you want to install an app on your mobile that is only for Android TV or vice versa. Come on, your mobile phone does not meet what is necessary for the application to work correctly, and therefore you can’t install the app for not being suitable. As we have told you, sometimes it can be due to the requirements or the type of device, but it can also happen with apps that worked until now if your phone is old and the app has received an update that changes its minimum requirements. How to install unsupported applications When this message appears, there is no way to install the app from the official Android app store. However, you have an alternative using the files Android APK. These are executable files, just like Windows .exe files, and they help you install applications manually. Install an APK on Android it is relatively easy. First you have to download the application file from a repository trusted, which is what the pages that host these executables are called. One that I personally recommend is APKMirror. Once you have downloaded the file to your mobile, making sure it is the one aimed at the architecture of your processor, simply enter it to launch it. They will ask you for permissions to do it and that’s it. Here, you just have to keep in mind that when you install the APK of an unsupported app it may not work well on your mobile or it may not work at all, since in the end, it still does not meet the developer’s requirements. Of course, you can always try downloading an older version. In Xataka Basics | Gemini on your old Android: what you need and how to get the most out of it

Sending this 320 dollar goal from Japan to Spain costs $ 29. Sending it to the US costs 2,000, and it is not a typographic error

by

For international vendors, Sending certain products to the United States makes no senseso to avoid these sales they are going to a singular technique: not touch the price of the product, and instead raise shipping prices to absurd amounts. It is an infallible method and a curious response to Tariff policy restrictive imposed by Donald Trump. 2,000 dollars to send a product of 320. A Japanese eBay seller called Ninjacamera.japan sells an objective for Olympus cameras that It has a price of $ 319.99. So far everything is fine. The surprise is carried by those who want to ask for that product from the US, because sending it there costs 2,000 dollars, when shipping to countries like Spain costs $ 29. In Xataka we have checked the data, and it is indeed so. Because. The reason is simple. As soon as he started his presidency, Donald Trump initiated a tariff war with everyone, but also ended the exception “of Minimis”. This exception allowed packages with value below $ 800 could enter the US without paying taxes. It is something that Companies like Temu or Shein They took the opportunity to “exploit” commercially in the North American country, but now that commercial shortcut has disappeared. Result: Send “cheap” products to the US is too expensive. The US online buyers have it raw. This exemption ceased to be active for China and Hong Kong in May 2025, and for the rest of the world the exemption was definitively eliminated at the end of August. The change especially affects US online buyers, especially those who take advantage of foreign online stores to acquire all kinds of cheap products. Sellers have an easy solution. As they point out in 404 mediaFor foreign sellers it is much easier to raise the shipping price to absurd amounts – like those 2,000 dollars for the photographic objective – than to erase their inventory products to exclude them from their sale in the United States. Goodbye to negative criticism. Not only that: impose on buyers the theoretical cost overrun to which the new tariffs would make them see how that goal of 320 dollars would cost them much more expensive and the rest of the users do not. If they do not know the situation well with the tariffs, they would probably punish the seller with online criticism of all kinds. These sellers avoid this problem to a large extent with the simple technique of raising shipping prices. Another example. As indicated In The Wall Street Journala customer bought a 77 dollar shirt from a Swedish brand and in addition to the shipping costs of $ 30, another $ 42.35 were charged for tariffs. The shirt was actually manufactured in China: while Sweden products have 15%tariffs, If they come from China that figure rises to 54%. Another bought components from Canada worth $ 640 to fix an oven and charged him no less than $ 1,192.12 for “government charges”, in addition to an intermediation commission of $ 128.17. An unsustainable situation. For American buyers the situation is really complex, and buying products of all kinds that come from abroad can end up getting extraordinarily expensive. The big messaging companies operating in the US —Fedex, DHL and UPS – indicate in WSJ that US consumers are still confused by the situation Despite its FAQand they don’t just understand the implications of tariffs. At this step the confusion will become something else. Tariffs continue to negotiate. The commercial war between the US and China remains at a delicate point. After an escalation almost comical Of the tariffs that one and the other were going to activate, both countries They signed a truce At the end of May and special conditions were also granted for semiconductors and electronic products. All these terms still do not materialize, but China has many more assets to negotiate than Europe, whose agreement with the US was A disaster for EU countries. Spain (and the rest of the world) are fought for now. This type of extraordinary uploads of shipping prices or “government taxes” surcharges only affect US buyers. That is the reason that the prices we see in all types of electronic commerce platforms have not triggered at the moment, but tariff policies and the delicate commercial balance could cause Notable prices changes that consumers pay when buying products abroad. In Xataka | China has found the formula to avoid reciprocal tariffs with the US: “dropshipping” of semiconductors

It seemed a measurement error, but the neutrino who crossed the Mediterranean in 2023 was real. And nobody knows where it came from

by

At the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea, at 3,500 meters under the surface, a high -tech sensor was crossed by a subatomic particle with a demential energy. For months, scientists thought it was a measurement error. The detector, still evidence, must be badly calibrated. But now they know what really happened. February 13, 2023. The KM3net European Network, which had barely installed 10% of its Arca submarine telescopes, He detected a flash. In the middle of the night (for more signs, at 1:16:47 UTC), more than a third of the 21 sensors located 80 km from the coast of Sicily illuminated. It was not a subtle flash, they recorded more than 28,000 photons. The event, baptized as KM3-230213A, corresponded to a muon that had crossed the detector almost horizontal with an energy of 220 Petaelectronvolts. That is 100 million times the energy of the visible light photons. A flash 30 times more energetic than the largest neutrino detected to date, far exceeding energies that are reached in the large Hadron collider of the CERN. It was impossible. Or not? A little context. To understand the magnitude of this discovery, you must first talk about neutrinos. Nickname “Ghost particles” For a good reason, they have no electric charge, their mass is almost nil, and they barely interact with matter. Right now, billions of neutrinos from the sun and other corners of the universe They are going through our own body Without we notice it. This elusive nature makes them the perfect cosmic messengers. TO Difference of cosmic rays (which are charged particles), neutrinos are not diverted by magnetic fields. They travel straight from their point of origin, bringing pure information about The most violent and energy events of the Universe: Supermasive black holes, supernova explosions or gamma rays bursts. The true ghostbusters. The challenge with the neutrinos is to catch them, and here the km3net (Kilometre Cube Neutrino Telescope), an observatory of titanic proportions still under construction under the Mediterranean. It is not a traditional telescope, but a gigantic underwater infrastructure that uses the sea itself as a detector. It consists of a network of vertical lines anchored to the seabed, equipped with thousands of hypersensitive eyes: digital optical modules. Quite occasionally, a neutrino clashes with a water molecule, producing other particles, such as the muon, that travels faster than the light in the water. This phenomenon generates a blila light flash known as Cherenkov radiation. KM3net sensors capture this brightness and, analyzing the time and intensity of light, scientists can reconstruct the direction and energy of the original neutrino. A record neutrino. After a year of meticulous analysis, KM3net confirmed what seemed impossible: the detection of the most energetic neutrino ever observed. A muon with a 220 PEV demential energy crossed the detector as a cannon bullet on February 13, 2023. His almost horizontal trajectory was key to rule out that it was “background noise”, such as atmospheric muons, which are produced by the Cosmic rays interaction With the Earth’s atmosphere. Such a particle could not have crossed hundreds of kilometers of rock and water to reach the detector from above. The only plausible explanation is that an even greater energy neutrino came from the cosmos, interacted near the detector and generated the muon that the sensors saw pass. The finding, published in the prestigious Nature Magazinebrings us closer to one of the most extreme events documented. The problem: nobody knows where the hell came. In search of the source. Seen in perspective, detecting the particle was the easy part. Now comes the complicated: find out its origin. The scientists pointed their antennas in the direction of the neutrino and scanned the skies in search of some cataclysmic event that could have generated it. They checked gamma ray catalogs, X -rays and radio waves in search of blázares (galaxies with supermassive black holes that throw jets of matter towards us) or any other transitory phenomenon. The result: they did not find a clear source. Although the direction points to a region of the sky with several candidates, none of the known blízares in the area fits perfectly. According to the Project researchersIt is probably an extragalactic source, but its position close to the plane of the Milky Way does not completely rule out our own galaxy. Make your bets. With Spanish participation through the University of Granada and the Valencia IFIC, the data analysis puts on the table two main hypotheses. On the one hand, an unknown cosmic accelerator, such as an active galactic nucleus or an burst of gamma rays that astronomers have not yet identified. On the other, the most exotic and exciting possibility: a cosmogenic neutrino. The flash could be the result of the interaction of a cosmic ray of ultra-high energy (particles that travel through the universe with even more extreme energies) with a photon of the cosmic microwave background, the echo of the Big Bang. It would be the first detection of such a neutrino. In Xataka | The Canary Islands will play a central role in the Cherenkov telescope network. And just took a fundamental step

In the last one they agreed to the end of the war in Ukraine by error

by

This Friday a meeting will take place with historical character depending on what is remembered (or not). Finally, and if nothing twists, Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, the heads of state of the United States and Russia, They will gather in Alaska With the Ukraine War as the main conductive thread. One thing should be quite clear: whatever they are talking about, we should keep calm and wait for a second translation after the first statements. An error He already put an end to the contest a few days ago. The misunderstanding. The scene took place last week and the German medium Bild. Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff erroneously interpreted Vladimir Putin’s statements during his meeting at the Kremlin. The Russian president maintained his goal of obtaining total control of the Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Lugansk, Zaporiyia and Jersón, offering only a partial high in the attacks (limited to not hitting energy infrastructure or large cities in the rear), but without contemplating a high fire. Washington, meanwhile, had proposed to freeze the war on the current front line in exchange for broadly lifting the sanctions and establishing new economic agreements with Moscow, an initiative that was rejected by the Kremlin. What happened? That Witkoff confused the Russian demand of “peaceful withdrawal” of Ukrainians in occupied territories with a supposed Russian withdrawal of those same areas, a carafal error that, according to officials Ukrainians and Germansdemonstrates ignorance and incompetence in territorial matters of Washington. Diplomatic repercussions. The episode, apparently, It was discussed In a recent night videoconference between Witkoff, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Vice President JD Vance and European partners. The meeting left the Europeans already Ukraine surprised with an unprecedented truce of war. A situation that, once understood, gave way to the feeling that the Trump administration does not have a unified vision of the situation, with the confusion of Witkoff as Inexplicable and central factor. In addition, a Criteria difference: Rubio defended the direct involvement of Europe in the negotiating process, while Vance and Witkoff preferred to just inform the allies of the steps Trump will adopt. A history of disagreements. Had a few hours ago The Financial Times that previous summits between Trump and Putin have been marked by unusual dynamics and episodes that feed the perception of a constant tactical advantage for the Russian leader. From Your first encounter At the Hamburg G20 Summit in 2017 (where Trump confiscated The notes of his interpreter and held private conversations without the presence of US officials) until the meeting of Helsinki in 2018When he publicly questioned the conclusion of his own intelligence services on Russian interference in the 2016 elections, the employer has been of interactions without transparencyAcritic acceptance of Putin’s statements and absence of internal control mechanisms. Other contacts, such as in Vietnam or in the G20 of Buenos Aires, They repeated the format of informal exchanges and without registration, reinforcing the image of a Trump more inclined to the personal relationship than to the structured confrontation with its counterpart. Putin tactics and risks. Analysts and veterans of negotiations with the Kremlin, as the former French president François Hollande, They warn that Putin combines an exhaustive domain of the technical and legal details with a strategy of “professional lie” and manipulation of the times. Among his methods is Deliberately lengthened Conversations with extensive stories, introduce half large truths and offer minimal concessions to appear movement without modifying their substantial position. Past examples They include denying any relationship with safe separatists in Donbás despite the evidence of military and financial support, or rejecting international border monitoring claiming that there were no violations. This style, together with your absence of pressure internal policy and its experience of decades, contrasts with a Trump described by European interlocutors as emotional, impatient and little inclined to factual analysis, which It makes vulnerable to the biases that Putin can explode. Demands and position of Ukraine. President Volodimir Zelenski insists In participating directly in the conversations and has declared that it is willing to stop the fire, but not to give in occupied territory. Trump, who has suggested a possible “exchange of territories for the benefit of both”, contemplated a trilateral summit, although finally Keep the bilateral requested by Putin as initial format. Vice President JD Vance admits That an eventual agreement will leave both parties unsatisfied, but acknowledges that it works to coordinate agendas that allow the three leaders to sit. Expectations The Alaska meetingfirst since Trump’s return to the White House, occurs at a time when the US president no longer Face the limitations that imposed in his first mandate a vigilant congress and advisors who tried to channel the relationship with Moscow. Now acts with a much greater marginbacked by a small team and without significant internal counterweights, while Putin continues to operate in an environment where It has no rivals immediate. Observers like Kirill Rogov They anticipate that the Kremlin will try to persuade Trump to accept his narrative and stop the support of Ukraine, a strategic objective that does not require substantive concessions. Although the Summer Russian Offensive It has had limited results and external factors (such as Trump’s threat to impose tariffs to the Indian oil) They could give him incentives to dialogue, the general expectation is that Putin will seek to win time, while Trump will prioritize get an agreement that can present as personal victory in foreign policy. And, in the background, please there is someone to translate what they agree on. Image | Trump White House Archced In Xataka | Ukraine has opened the most advanced Drone Kamikaze in Russia. Now they know what the key to their power is: nvidia In Xataka | Europe has 700 aircraft to fumigate crops that seemed harmless. Until he took them to Ukraine

Log In

Forgot password?

Forgot password?

Enter your account data and we will send you a link to reset your password.

Your password reset link appears to be invalid or expired.

Log in

Privacy Policy

Add to Collection

No Collections

Here you'll find all collections you've created before.