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We have been mapping Antarctica for decades. We have just discovered that its largest basins form a single tectonic “fan”

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For decades, researchers have mapped the frozen continent, finding huge depressions and subglacial lakes that have left us in awe. Until now, these formations were studied as isolated pieces of a geological puzzle; However, a new study has turned this view on its head. The demonstration. This study has been published in Nature Geoscience and has just demonstrated that the great basins of East Antarctica are not independent accidents, but form part of a single, gigantic fan-shaped tectonic province. The tectonic fan. The research team, using a combination of subglacial topography, gravity and magnetism data, proposes that this entire vast region is the result of a distributed rotational extension process. To understand it, we can imagine the Earth’s crust in this area opening and stretching asymmetrically, unfolding as if it were a fan. This colossal tectonic movement makes East Antarctica one of the largest known examples of rotational extension in continental crust on the entire planet. The beginning. The origin of this continental scar is closely linked to the history of our planet, specifically to the tectonic phases linked to the fragmentation of the supercontinent Gondwana and the dramatic separation between Antarctica and Australia. As the land masses separated, the crust stretched and fractured, leaving this “bounced topography” that today lies hidden under miles of ice. Its importance. Beyond the undoubted geological and historical value, understanding this structure has a practical and urgent application, since Antarctica is the great thermostat of the Earth and its stability is key in the face of climate change. The topography beneath the Antarctic ice sheet acts as a mold that conditions absolutely everything that happens on the surface. This is seen, for example, in how the shape of bedrock controls the flow of today’s glaciers and determines how subglacial lake and basin systems are distributed. That is why, if we want to predict with mathematical precision how the Antarctic ice will respond to global warming and how it will flow towards the ocean, we need to know the tectonic “pipe” on which it rests to the millimeter. Its mystery. Although the article Nature Geoscience manages to unify structures as massive as the Wilkes and Aurora basins under the same theoretical framework, the authors maintain scientific caution. The exact age at which this fan province formed and the fine geodynamic mechanism that triggered it remain, to a large extent, open questions, and this means that work still needs to be done to find out exactly when the movements of the Antarctic crust will occur. Images | Tam Minton Nature In Xataka | Antarctica was practically the last corner of the Earth immune to touristification. That’s ending

MSI launches the world’s first desktop gaming PC with an AI agent in the form of a ‘hologram’

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Computex 2026 has already ended, but it has left us with several interesting announcements. We already told you a few days ago how MSI had presented several monitorsincluding the first triple-resolution QD-OLED gaming monitor ever manufactured. The same manufacturer has also done something quite curious: it has put an artificial intelligence agent in a gaming PC. And he did it with the appearance of a ‘hologram’. An AI that will help you configure your PC without touching anything A few months ago we brought you an analysis of MSI’s first MEG Visiona gaming PC with an RTX 5090 and where we had a huge screen crowning the tower that gave access to a lot of different functions. The new MSI PC goes in that same direction, although in this case combining an AI agent that runs inside the computer and that has a much more physical presence. Instead of a conventional screen like the previous device had, this MEG Vision X 2 AI⁺ has a cylindrical screen that is integrated within the chassis. In this way, MSI’s AI (called LuckyClaw) will be there in the form of a kind of ‘hologram’ that gives the device a very futuristic look. Be careful, because it is not something merely cosmetic. This artificial intelligence responds to natural voice commandsso it is not necessary to interact with it physically. In this way, we can be immersed in the middle of the game and change things such as RGB lighting, monitor settings or even computer performance profiles without touching anything. What more can we expect from this team? In addition to the above, it will also bring the best NVIDIA graphics card, an Intel Core Ultra processor, WiFi 7 connectivity and a liquid cooling system that is designed to be very quiet even if we push the equipment hard. At the moment, it has no price or release date. New mini PCs and an ‘All in One’ In addition to the previous PC, MSI has also presented other options more oriented to the world of work and productivity, but designed for users looking for equipment that takes up very little space. There we can place the Pro Max Edge AI 11M, an ultra-compact 4-liter device that comes with AMD processors and integrated graphics cards. This, in fact, can be configured with up to 128 GB of unified memory, ideal for working with AI models locally. In addition to this, it has also presented the Pro Max 27TP Z 8MG, an ‘All in One’ device (i.e. It’s all integrated into the screen). It is a computer that even integrates a webcam in a monitor that has a refresh rate of 120 Hz and has an AMD Ryzen 7 255 processor inside. Finally, we also have the new computers that make up the Cubi Nuc AI WCG line. They are very compact devices, designed for both the work world and the home environment. It is an interesting alternative for those users who do not have space for a large PC nor do they want a laptop. Some interesting PCs with a discount from the MSI store These devices are not yet available to buy, as we said above, but there are very interesting options in the MSI store now that we have a 10% discount on everything in it, both complete devices and peripherals. Below we leave you a couple of examples. MSI MPG Trident AS AI If you are looking for a gaming PC, this MPG Trident AS AI is a good option right now. It is a device with an Intel Core Ultra 5 225F as a processor, 16 GB of DDR5 type RAM and a 1 TB SSD. In addition, it has an RTX 5060 Ti as a graphics card. If we take into account the current price of RAM and SSDsit is a top option with the discount it has: it is reduced to 1,399 euros, but with the code ‘COMPUTEXMSI‘ stays in 1,259.10 euros. MSI MPG Trident AS AI 2NVM5-074EU | Gaming PC The price could vary. We earn commission from these links If you want to accompany the previous computer with an ultrawide monitorthis MAG401QR is a top option. It has an IPS panel, 155 Hz and a refresh rate of 1 ms, making it a very interesting option for video games. In addition, it has a good UWQHD resolution (3,440 x 1440 pixels), so it also It is ideal for working with several windows open at the same time. With the same coupon that we indicated above you stay in 323.10 euros. The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Some of the links in this article are affiliated and may provide a benefit to Xataka. In case of non-availability, offers may vary. Images | MSI In Xataka | DDR4 or DDR5? What RAM to choose so as not to pay even more than necessary in the middle of the price crisis In Xataka | Faster (and more expensive) is not always better: the big difference between buying an SSD and an HDD for backups

The super Niño of 1877 wiped out 4% of the world’s population. The one that is already beginning to form promises to be worse, but what does that mean in 2027?

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In the last week, El Niño has become suddenly real. Media like Washington Post, BBC or countless media in Spanish have begun to compare what is coming to us with El superNiño of 1877, the event that “wiped out 4% of the world’s population.” And, stated this way, it is no wonder; The story is simple: “a Child Godzilla is coming and no one knows if we are ready.” That is why it is important to know what exactly we are talking about and if, in short, “we are all going to die.” How serious is the matter? As we said a few days ago, between March and May the reliability of ENSO forecasts is usually worse than normal (because the equatorial Pacific anomalies go through their transition phase). That makes everyone go with “lead feet”; but the data is worrying. Ben Noll of the Washington Post broadcast on May 8 that the North American Multi-Model Ensemble projected “the strongest El Niño on record” between October 2026 and January 2027, with a peak of +3.1 °C in November. They are big words. Above all, because the ECMWF is along the same lines. In the words of Diego Restrepo, “El Niño is rapidly intensifying, and now 8 out of 10 models point to a super event and four project the strongest one on record.” And this looks like 1877? That is Noll’s thesis and it has been repeated a lot in recent days. However, the comparison is misleading. First, because, although the models are pointing to a historical ENSO, they are still models. That is, we still have no idea what is going to happen. And, to be strict, until the models recover their full potential in June, we will not know well. Second because, as argued by Kimberley Reid, from the University of Melbournethe intensity measured in the central Pacific does not translate linearly into impacts. Taking into account everything that has changed in this century and a half at a climate level, the impacts may be completely different. And thirdly because El Niño of 1877 was not the cause of that catastrophe. Yes, it is true that he set the conditions for it to occur but, as noted Mike Davis in “Late Victorian Holocausts”what killed throughout that quarter of a century were colonial policies. And what happened in 1877? A strange combination between a superNiño, the Indian Dipole and a tremendously warm North Atlantic between the years 1876–78 caused a global drought. The problem is that, in a world governed by imperialism, grain exports did not stop and, as local resilience mechanisms had been dismantled, a famine occurred that killed some 50 million people. But the consensus is clear: no matter how intense El Niño was, it caused the problem of its management. And that, although it may not seem like it, is good news. A few years ago the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) published a report with a clear warning: “climate-related disasters” have increased since the 1970s. Specifically, they have multiplied by five over the last five decades. According to their calculations, in the 1980s, 1,400 incidents were recorded – their tables include extreme weather, climate and water phenomena – and in the 1990s, just over 2,200. In the first decade of the 21st century, 3,500 were reached and during the last decade, which spans from 2010 to 2019, it was close to 3,200. Curiously, this increase in the number of disasters has coincided with a decrease in the number of victims. The WMO data is clearalso: from more than 50,000 deaths in the 1970s (incidents basically related to climate and water are taken into account) it went to less than 20,000 in 2010. From an average of 170 a day in the 70s and 80s, it dropped in the 90s to less than a hundred a day and to 40 at the beginning of the 21st century. What will happen? As Restrepo also points out“despite having more information and knowledge, today we have warmer oceans, much more vulnerable ecosystems and collapsing biodiversity. This could generate impacts on health and risks for food, water and energy security.” However, we are more prepared and more importantly we have time to prepare. The ball is in our court. Image | Ben Noll In Xataka | There are more and more extreme weather events. In return, they are leaving fewer victims than ever

James Webb has discovered that carbon “soccerballs” form megastructures in a vacuum

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In 1985, fullerenes were synthesized for the first time, spherical molecules that can have multiple functions in fields such as nanotechnology or superconductivity. Later, in 2010, was discovered that one type of fullerenes, buckyballs, form naturally in space. Now, a team of Canadian scientists has gone much further, deciphering many of the secrets of these curious structures, thanks to the great help of the James Webb Space Telescope. Small balls that make up a huge ball. Buckyballs are spherical structures, made of 60 carbons, with a conformation of hexagons and pentagons similar to that of a soccer ball. In 2010 they were discovered around a nebula called Tc1. Now, that same nebula has been the goal of James Webb, capable of going much further than they were then. To begin with, delicate rays, ethereal filaments and bright layers of gas along the edge have been detected in the nebula. On the other hand, in the heart of the nebula, a curious structure shaped like an inverted question mark has been detected, whose function is a mystery. But if all that were not enough, it has been seen that those buckyballs that were discovered in 2010 are perfectly organized, forming another hollow sphere, much larger. Chronicle of a death foretold. The stars remain lit thanks to nuclear fusion processes that take place on its surface. This is a very long process, but not eternal. There comes a time when they run out of the elements they use as fuel. When that happens, its outermost layers can break off in the form of gas and dust, giving rise to a nebula, like Tc1. The center, however, becomes a white dwarfa type of cold and dense star. The buckyballs are also possibly remnants of material ejected during the star’s last death throes. James Webb sees what others can’t. James Webb has taken the most precise photo ever taken around Tc1. But, also, thanks to his spectroscopic skillshas studied the composition of all that material ejected by the dying star, including buckyballs. The result, as explained in a statement the authors of the study themselves, is an open window to stellar evolution. Many half-baked studies. There are currently several studies underway aimed at explaining all the new findings around the Tc1 nebula. For now, this discovery has led to tracing the chemistry of carbon, explaining mysterious signals and understanding how organic materials change in extreme environments. In addition, it is a discovery that has challenged traditional views on space chemistry and offered clues about how life may have begun. Turning to the amateur eye. Something curious about the photo that has just been published is that it has not been processed by the scientists who took the images. The lead author of the research, Jan Cami, contacted Katelyn Beecroft, a high school teacher who frequently took her students on field trips to the observatory at the University of Western Ontario. I knew that the teacher is a great fan of astronomy and astrophotography and that she was really good at processing raw images taken by telescopes and enhancing even the most subtle structures that appear in them. He was certainly not wrong to ask for help, as Beercroft’s work has been commendable. Now we just have to understand the reasons for all these new findings. We already have the question, literally. We are missing the answers. Image | Katelyn Beecroft/NASA / ESA / CSA / Western University, J. Cami In Xataka | We have been studying the planets of TRAPPIST-1 for years with great hope. James Webb just knocked it down

We have found a time capsule in the form of salt in Chile. And now finding life on Mars is closer

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As we continue to explore how to get to Mars with Artemis II As a critical engineering and logistics bridge in the form of a long-term trial of interplanetary travel, science continues to search for traces of life on the red planet. And it is not easy: although 3.37 billion years ago an ocean covered half the planetMars is today a dry planet devastated by radiation. The question is where to look for that life. The answer, as incredible as it may seem, may be more than 3,500 meters high in the north of Chile, in the Salar de Pajonales, a landscape that is also desolate where there is a range of extreme temperatures ranging between -23 °C and 26 °C, one of the highest solar radiation recorded on Earth, there is hardly any precipitation and winds that exceed 100 km/h. And yet, there is life. There a research team has discovered that plaster constitutes the perfect refuge for life. Spoiler: Gypsum is a common mineral both on Earth like on mars. The discovery. According to this research, gypsum is not only a sedimentary rock, but also a biological repository. Thus, this mineral is capable of harboring both current life in the form of microorganisms that live within the crystals and preserving molecular fossils and microscopic structures. A kind of time capsule that protects organic material from degradation for millions of years. Why is it important. The consequence of this finding in space research is direct: if gypsum is a “magnet” for biological preservation in hyperaridity conditions, the scientific community knows that the abundant sulfate deposits on Mars (such as Gale crater) are a magnificent place to continue searching for traces of extraterrestrial life. If there was life on Mars, gypsum is a likely place to house its traces. Context. The Salar de Pajonales seems like a place from another planet: it is in high mountains where ultraviolet radiation is high, there is extreme aridity and thermal fluctuations reminiscent of the conditions on Mars from billions of years ago, when the red planet began to dry out. In this scenario, life has learned to hide from the unfriendly surface in a lifestyle endolithic to survive. Thus, the mineral functions as a solar shield and moisture reserve. How have they done it. To read what the rocks contain, the Tebes-Cayo team has applied a kind of high-precision molecular and mineral archaeology: With habitability and climate analysis with a meteorological station that recorded data every 20 minutes for 40 years monitoring water activity. Using x-rays, petrography and microfluorescence to create thin sections to distinguish minerals and their distribution without destroying the sample. With microscope, isotopes and DNA sequencing to identify the microorganisms, the trapped corpses and to confirm that the carbon found has a biological and not a geological origin. Yesyes, but. We already know that gypsum is the ideal candidate to search for life on Mars, but that is based on a hypothetical premise: that it ever existed. On the other hand, and although the Salar de Pajonales is reminiscent of the Red Planet, the conditions on Mars are even more extreme than in Chile (there is almost no atmosphere and it is even colder), which may have affected the preservation in a different way. And then there is the practical application: it is one thing to detect these biosignatures in the high mountains of Chile and another to use a robot thousands of kilometers away for the same purpose. In Xataka | Europe has thought of throwing three robots into a volcanic lava tube and now colonizing the Moon or Mars is closer In Xataka | If the question is “how are we going to build houses on Mars” the answer today is “with bricks made of urine” Cover | Luiza Braun and BoliviaIntelligent

Spain turns in the opposite direction to the rest of Europe. Form part of a geological plan: closing the Mediterranean

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Spain and Portugal are dancing to a different rhythm than the rest of Europe. They are moving clockwise and the consequence is clear: a long-term closure of the Mediterranean that connects the Iberian Peninsula directly to North Africa. The convergence between continents is slow, a few millimeters a year (so we will continue needing the tunnel between Spain and Morocco), but one thing is clear: another Pangea is on the way. And the Iberian Peninsula and Morocco will be a unit. In short. Continental plates move. Some separate, others collide, and that continental drift has caused the emergence the Pangea Ultima theory. In 250 million years, there will only be one continent. There is a long way to go for that, but now, some researchers from the University of the Basque Country have analyzed geodetic data that allows them to affirm that the Iberian Peninsula is rotating clockwise. This east-west rotation is driven by the convergence between the Eurasian and African plates, and the conclusion is clear: both are moving between four and six millimeters closer each year. This information is not new, but the researchers’ discovery is to specify the processes that take place at the diffuse boundary of the two western Mediterranean plates. Thanks, Gibraltar. Although the boundaries of other plates are well defined, this does not occur in the Western Mediterranean. There, the processes are much grayer, and there is something called “Gibraltar Arch” which plays an interesting role in this tectonic dynamic. To the east of the strait, the crust absorbs the deformation caused by the collision between the Eurasian and African plates. This ‘Gibraltar Arc’ acts as a buffer, but it has a consequence: in the west of the strait there is a direct collision between the plates, while in the east it is absorbed by the Gibraltar Arc. This lack of buffering from the southwest is what causes the clockwise rotation. Rotational strain rate field. Positive values ​​correspond to clockwise rotation, while negative values ​​refer to counterclockwise rotation. Active and potentially active faults are marked with solid and dashed gray lines, respectively. Double analysis. The researchers combined two types of accuracy analyzes to obtain these results. On the one hand, those of satellite deformation through GNSS system (Global Navigation Satellite System). Analyzing the data, they measured surface displacements with millimeter precision, relying on both permanent and occasional GPS markers. On the other hand, they also analyzed information from recent earthquakes that allowed them to determine the tectonic “stresses” in the area. They are independent data sets, but by crossing them they were able to draw a series of ‘lines’ that have allowed them to better specify the boundary between the plates. So that? Well, to better understand which sectors are in direct collision between plates and which are still more protected by the Gibraltar Arc. And the neighbors? The problem is that, although they claim that it is a rapid tectonic movement, this is true in geological terms. For us it is invaluable, but it also comes into play that we only have satellite data since 1999 and detailed seismic data since the 1980s. Even so, if with such a short range of data we have reached that conclusion in the annual approach, it is because the phenomenon is not in a hurry, but it does not pause either. And the most interesting thing is that this only affects the Iberian Peninsula. It is not that we are going to separate from France, since we ‘drag’ the rest of the continent thanks to the effect of the Gibraltar Arc, but we are not turning in the same direction as other neighbors. Italy, for example, experiences a counterclockwise rotation that exerts pressure in the alpine zoneand in the anatolian plate (where most of Türkiye is), there is also this counterclockwise rotation. Hello, Morocco. While in Turkey the consequence may be more earthquakes or mountain formations, this current speed of between 4 and 6 millimeters will cause, at some point, the Iberian Peninsula and Morocco to unite. This continental collision would close the Mediterraneanbut there is a lot left for it. How much? About 100 million years. They estimate that for 20 million years we will continue at the same speed, but within about 50 million years, things will gain momentum, accelerating the process and turning the region into one of the most active volcanic and seismic areas on the planet. It’s… foolish to worry. present utility. Now, beyond curiosity, the most immediate implication that the researchers point out is a better identification of active faults or areas in which previously unidentified tectonic structures could exist. Asier Madarieta-Txurruka, one of those responsible for the investigation, explains This information indicates where to look for these structures and boundaries to determine what type of folds and faults there may be. Thus, we can anticipate the type of earthquake that there will be and its magnitude in areas such as the Western Pyrenees or the region of Cádiz and Seville in which we know that there are numerous places with significant deformationbut we do not have well identified the active tectonic structures that cause them. And, although there is still a long way to go before the Alps and a new mountain range are founded across the peninsula and all of North Africa to Arabia, knowing better what we have right under our feet is much more useful. In Xataka | We knew that Africa was going to split in half. What we didn’t know was that it would happen so quickly.

In 2025, the salary of 6,800 Valencian civil servants depends on an Access form. Only one person knows how it works

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According to has revealed According to the Audit of personnel expenses of the Generalitat Administration prepared by the Sindicatura de Comptes, the Valencian Community is experiencing a situation that is torn between the surreal and the negligence: two computer systems on which the payrolls of almost 6,800 civil servants and public employees depend cannot exchange data. The only way to achieve this is through an application made in Microsoft Access by a single person who would also be the only one who knows how to maintain and update it. SIGNO and GESPERJU2 do not speak to each other. He SIGN program (Integrated Payroll Management System and Others) is the internal computer system of the Generalitat Valenciana used for the management, calculation and payment of payrolls of civil servants and labor personnel of the Valencian Administration, including education, health and other services, allowing procedures such as direct debits and registrations or cancellations of employees. On the other hand, the GESPERJU2 program is a platform that manages the labor files of the personnel at the service of the Justice Administration of the Valencian Community, in processes such as the management of payrolls, permits and other administrative and human resources situations of its staff of judges, magistrates and Justice officials. What is expected is that the platform that manages payroll and the one that manages whether employees are on leaveon vacation or have requested a leave of absence were connected. To the surprise of the auditors of the Sindicatura de Comptes, these two platforms cannot exchange data. An “improvised” connection. As and stood out The Economistthat the officials of the Department of Justice of the Valencian Community receive their payroll on time and without errors depends only on a “patch” in the form of an application created with Microsoft Access. That’s not the auditors’ most surprising discovery, however. The person who created this application is the only one capable of updating the salary tables and other parameters necessary so that the officials’ payrolls are processed without problems. According to the Syndicate reportthis disconnection between platforms has left the Administration in a situation of “absolute dependence on a person”, in addition to “posing a high risk of continuity of operation if this person could not use this parallel application.” We imagine that at this moment, that person will be the best protected official in the Valencian Administration. Two platforms and end up doing it by hand. Another derivative is added to this unprecedented fact. The Access application has its limitations, so some payroll incidents must be done by hand by an official, so that they are reflected correctly. As the audit report noted, “the calculation of certain payroll incidents is carried out manually (arrears, three-year terms previously consolidated in General Administration positions, salary supplements for vertical replacements or guards), which increases the possibility of errors.” As described in the report, the integration problem would not be limited to Justice. Also mentioned is the risk that, due to a lack of communication between platforms, the same person who has had their position changed or promoted, could “collect two salaries simultaneously” (in the old position and in the new one) without being detected. TALIA: the great promise. TALIA is the new personnel management application that is proposed to replace the current ones and whose first phase has already would be tendered and awarded. The promise of TALIA is that personnel information and payrolls of Administration personnel will no longer live on separate and unconnected islands. However, its deployment is planned for years to come (if deadlines are met), and the precedent of delays and cost overruns in implementations like the one suffered with NEFIS in 2019. Until then, someone in the Valencian Administration will ensure that paid for the Office license. In Xataka | Companies bet everything on returning to the office. The public administration has an ace up its sleeve: teleworking Image | Unsplash (Rafael Oliveira)

Stephen Hawking left a hidden treasure that has just been discovered. The problem is that it is in the form of floppy disks

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The Cambridge University Library houses several historical treasures including letters from Isaac Newton and notebooks from Charles Darwin. Now they will take care also of manage 113 boxes with documents and memories of the physical Stephen Hawkingbut in those boxes they also found a surprise turned into a challenge: floppy disks. Lots of them. Computer pioneer. The famous physicist was an early user of those first computers in which data was stored on floppy disks. When he suffered from ALS this was a very important resource to be able to communicate and work, and now those disks that have just been discovered could contain all kinds of revealing data about Hawking’s life and work. Future Nostalgia. That’s what it’s called the project of the University of Cambridge and its library that precisely tries to safeguard all that information that in the past ended up being stored on floppy disks. Recovering such data is not easy when so much time has passed, and this project tries to educate about the best ways to preserve said information and transfer or recover it from those floppy disks. A format with an expiration date. Although one would think that floppy disks are a more secure way to store data than paper and ink, this physical medium also has clear disadvantages. The iron oxide covering the thin layer of plastic can degrade and lose its magnetic capabilities, meaning data could be lost forever. Each floppy disk is a world. With old books there are not too many problems when it comes to retrieving the information: you open them and read them (if you understand the language, of course). With floppy disks you need the hardware to be able to read them—a compatible disk drive—and also figure out how they are formatted. Leontien Talboom, responsible for this project, explained How to also clean those floppy disks was complex and there were various methods that they were exploring. These included the use of hand soap or isopropyl alcohol. Hawking used both a PC and a Mac. The disks arrived at the project in two batches. The first, with five and a quarter (5.25 inch) disks formatted on an MS-DOS based PC. The second, with three and a half disks, somewhat more recent and that were still used on an old Mac. According to Talboom, they are mainly talks that Hawking gave: “from a technical point of view they are really interesting because his talks were so big that he had to divide them into several floppy disks.” I wrote to speak. Hawking’s illness left him unable to speak for himself, so for years he used various voice synthesizers to express his ideas. Precisely for this reason he wrote so much on the computer and saved those documents on disk: this allowed him to use them later so that his synthesized voice could read said documents. Different discs, different readers. Although 5.25″ and especially 3.5″ discs were the most widespread, other formats were also seen such as eight inch discs which for example were used in the Churchill Archives Centre. Chris Knowles, one of the Future Nostalgia participants, explained how he bought a player for these discs on eBay. “It was a miracle that it worked,” but that allowed him to recover the information from those disks. Forgotten formats. They have also received some three-inch floppy disks, a much less widespread and peculiar format that had some success in the United Kingdom before the 3.5″ format was clearly imposed. To recover them, they ended up using an old reader manufactured by Amstrad that they had to modify to bring it back to life. And then there’s the software problem.. The information recovered from these disks can also pose another challenge: that it was created with software that was abandoned and even ended up disappearing. Some disks, for example, had documents written with a missing word processor called Diamond Word. That’s where a kind of “translation” comes into play to convert those files into something readable in the current era. Safeguarding our past. This work demonstrates how critical it is to try to protect and recover information from these old formats. Many of those floppy disks are 40 or 50 years old, and as Knowles says, “old emails and work calendars may not look like historical documents. They might seem banal. But they’re what Newton’s or Darwin’s letters would have looked like 200 years ago. Now they are fascinating documents that open a window to the past.” In Xataka | The 20 most important personal computers in the history of technology

We knew that the Dart mission changed Dimorphos’ trajectory. What we did not know is that its form also changed

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At the end of September 2022, the Dart mission (Double Asteroid Redirection Test) It made historyInterestingly, stamping against an asteroid. The milestone was not on the impact itself but on achieving with him slightly divert the trajectory of an asteroid, Dimorphos. The expected and the unexpected. In the almost three years since then, we have been learning New details on the effects of Dart’s impact on Asteroid Dimorphos. Now we know, for example, that Dart not only managed to divert the orbital trajectory of the space rock; He also achieved with his impact to make the asteroid orbit deform significantly What happened. The asteroid, explained the team, initially had an oblate form, that is, flattened in the poles, such as the earth, “the shape of a hamburger.” After the impact, Dimorphos became a rather prolata, elongated in the poles, like a rugby ball. “For the most part, our predictions pre-impact on how Dart would change the way Didymos and her moon (Dimorphos) move in space were correct,” ” explained in a press release Derek Richardson, who led the analysis of the effects of the probe. “But there are some unexpected discoveries that help provide a better image on how asteroids and other small bodies are formed and evolved over time.” Tumbos. According to the team that analyzed these orbital changes, the impact would have made dimorphs pass from a state of equilibrium with its main asteroid Didymos similar to that of our moon with the earth, to an irregular one. That is, dimorphs always gave the same face to Didymos, at least Until Dart arrived. Now the system is out of its alignment, Richardson pointed out. This implies that it can stagger changing orientation, even ending up “tumbos”, rotating chaotically and unpredictable. Asteroid formation. Thanks to studies such as the one conducted by Richardson and the team, we can access new clues about the formation of asteroids. As explained by the team, the impact released small rocks that remained in the orbit of the asteroid system. These contributed to altering the orbital movement in the system, but these changes in the gravitational balance do not seem to have altered the form of didymos. This implies, the team added, that the main asteroid of the system was rigid and firm enough to maintain its form after the formation of its moon dimorphs. The details of the work were Published in an article In the magazine Planetary Science Journal. Hera’s turn. The scientific community now has new eyes on the Didymos system, those of Herathe mission of the European Space Agency (ESA) aimed at monitoring the system and collect new data In situ. If everything continues as planned, Hera will begin in October a trip that will lead her to reach the double asteroid towards the end of 2026. The data compiled by Hera They will allow an even more exhaustive analysis of the impact of the Dart mission. This in turn will be what gives us key clues that allow us to plan missions that protect our planet from the asteroid shock. In Xataka | The European Hera probe has just sent us its first photos for the story: we orbit Mars Image | NASA/JOHNS HOPKINS APL/STEVE GRIBBEN *An earlier version of this article was published in September 2024

In the exciting world of the supernovas this newly discovered has something unique: its form is perfect

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Identifying a Supernova is an event that astronomers usually celebrate with enthusiasm. And it is not for less if we consider that it is One of the most violent events with which we can run into the cosmos. Knowing them better is very important because it can help us understand more precisely what the latest stages of The life of mass starsand also the mechanisms that explain how the material caused by stellar synthesis can lead to new star systems. The mathematical tools handled by astrophysics current nuclear fusion that take place in the nucleus of mass stars. During the stage known as the main sequence, stars obtain their energy from the fusion of hydrogen nuclei. As this chemical element is consumed, the star begins to produce helium nuclei, and, of course, its composition begins to evolve. During this process a huge amount of energy is released and the star is forced to continuously readjust to maintain hydrostatic balance, a phenomenon that is the result of the coexistence of two opposite forces capable of compensating. One of them is the gravitational contraction, which compresses the subject of the star, pressing it without rest. And the other is the radiation and gase pressure, which is the fruit of the ignition of the nuclear oven and tries to expand the star. ‘Teleios’ is the perfect supernova If the star is massive enough will begin to consume its helium reserves and produce new carbon nuclei, while maintaining the hydrostatic balance we have talked about. And if the star has enough mass will not stop in carbon production. When this element is exhausted in the nucleus, it will be readjusted, compressing and increasing once again its temperature to stop the gravitational collapse. From this moment the carbon nuclei will enter into ignition through nuclear fusion processes and the production of even heavier chemical elements will begin. While in the star’s core is being carried out Carbon fusionin the immediately superior layer the ignition of the helium is maintained. And above this, of hydrogen. The iron core suddenly contracts under the enormous pressure that all layers of material that it has above the material exerted on it During star nucleosynthesis, stars acquire a layer -shaped structure similar to that of an onion. In the nucleus lies the heaviest element, and from there we are ascending by layers finding more and lighter elements. If the star has accumulated sufficient mass there will come a time when the nucleus will be essentially constituted by iron, and from this chemical element it is not possible to obtain more energy through nuclear fusion processes. At that time the radiation and gase pressure is not enough to counteract gravitational contraction, so Iron core suddenly contracts under the enormous pressure that all layers of material that it has above. The star has lost the hydrostatic balance. At this moment all this matter loses the support that the nucleus exercised, which is now much more compact, and falls on it with enormous speed. When all that star material touches the surface of the nucleus there is a rebound effect that causes it to be fired with a huge energy towards the stellar medium, being disseminated. A supernova has just been produced. Some of them are so energetic that for a few seconds they emit more light than the entire galaxy that contains them. This was probably what happened to ‘Teleios’, the remnant of a supernova recently discovered by an astronomer team from the University of Sidney (Australia). The remnant is nothing more than the material that is spread in a region of space after the production of a supernova In the field of Supernovas, the remainder is nothing more than the material that is scattered in a region of space after the production of a supernova. It usually acquires the shape of an expanding bubble in which it is possible to identify an external and brilliant region in which the shock wave and a diffuse interior section occurs constituted by dense and cold dust and dust. The image we publish on the cover of this article recreates a supernova in the most reliable way possible, and in it we can clearly observe the two regions in which we have just inquired. Astronomers from the University of Sidney have identified the remnant ‘Teleios’ using the Australian Askap telescope (Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder), and have realized something very interesting: its geometry is almost perfectly circular. It is very unusual that the material left after the production of a supernova acquires such a perfect geometry. Although these astrophysics shuffle several scenarios that could explain this morphology, in Your scientific article They propose to carry out more observations to determine why ‘Teleios’ is so different from other remnants. The identification of the conditions that have given rise to this cosmic object can help cosmologists to understand better What happens during the production of a Supernova and what parameters delimit the evolution of the remnant that will remain in space long after this great explosion occurs. In fact, these Australian astrophysicists have estimated that ‘Teleios’ is at a distance between 7,170 and 25,100 light years. Image | Generated by Xataka with Dall-e More information | Arxiv In Xataka | The CERN detector took 20 years to be built. It is one of the most complex machines created by the human being

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