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This is how going to bed with a full stomach affects sleep

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Closing the computer late, shuffling home and sitting down to dinner at ten at night. For us it is a picture of customs; For the rest of Europe, an incomprehensible eccentricity. However, the shock is not only cultural but also biological. Although our social “normality” dictates that dinner is served after dark, our body tells a very different story. Evolutionarily, our body is not designed to digest large amounts of food when the sun has set. It’s not just about counting the calories we put on the plate; The real problem, the one that acts as a real time bomb for our health, is what the clock ticks when we put the fork in our mouth. Eating dinner late is altering our metabolism, sabotaging our quality of sleep and, silently, increasing our cardiovascular risk. Your pancreas doesn’t know that in Spain they have late dinners. To understand this phenomenon, we must look to the chrononutritionan emerging field of study investigating the close relationship between food intake and circadian rhythms. Our body works like an orchestra perfectly synchronized by light and darkness. By eating dinner at odd hours we are desynchronizing “peripheral watches” of vital cells located in the pancreas or liver. Meal timing acts as a critical signal for these peripheral biological clocks, which can modulate the quality of our sleep by regulating the rhythm of our central clock. The immediate consequence is a drastic worsening of glucose tolerance and insulin secretion. When we really should be sleeping. Here the body comes into conflict. On the one hand, there is a large release of cortisol (the well-known stress hormone) and, on the other, the release of melatonin is delayed, which is the master key to falling asleep. In fact, large-scale data support this: comprehensive analyzes of chrononutrition patterns reveal that later meal times—including the first meal, middle meal, and last meal of the day—as well as greater number of meals, are directly associated with higher scores on the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), which translates into a worse rest. Added to this is a problem purely mechanical: A reduced time gap between the last meal and bedtime can lead to a prolonged sleep latency period, that is, we toss and turn more before falling asleep. And digesting while lying down is the perfect recipe for the appearance of gastric reflux, a discomfort that can ruin anyone’s night. You eat the same as your early-rising neighbor and you gain more weight. According to the study published in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolismadults who eat dinner at 10:00 p.m. burn 10% less fat and suffer a 20% higher blood sugar spike than those who eat dinner at 6:00 p.m., even if both groups eat exactly the same and go to bed at the same time. Alexis Supan, dietician at the Cleveland Clinic, summed it up perfectly: “When you eat late at night you are going against your body’s circadian rhythm.” The natural limit should be marked by the beginning of melatonin secretion. The researcher Marta Garaulet, a world reference in chrononutrition, has already demonstrated that people who eat later at midday lose less weight than those who eat early, even when they consume the same calories, expend the same energy and sleep the same. The time alone makes the difference. The consequences of ignoring this limit go far beyond the scale. A study led by the institute ISGlobalbased on cohort NutriNet-Santé with more than 100,000 participants, concluded that dining after 9:00 p.m. It is associated with increased cardiovascular risk, especially impacting the risk of cerebrovascular disease in women. On an emotional level, a recent meta-analysis from 2025 details that eating late worsens the rhythms of key neurotransmitters such as serotonin and dopamine, increasing the risk of depression. On top of that we hit the same clock twice. But there is a modern factor that makes this scenario worse: screens. Not only do we eat dinner late, but we do so under the beam of our cell phones. Light of any kind suppresses melatonin, but as you warn harvardthe blue night light does it in a much more powerful way, blocking it for twice as long as other lights and moving our circadian rhythms out of phase by up to three hours. Recent clinical studies have demonstrated that exposure to blue LED light significantly suppresses melatonin secretion after two hours of exposure and maintains this suppression over time. We have a late dinner and then look at our phones in bed: a combination that our biological clock simply cannot accommodate. Our children are headed towards the same error. The problem worsens when we look at the new generations. The magazine The Lancet has warned that Spain could be the fourth country in the world with the highest childhood obesity in 2050. The VALORNUT project of the Complutense University has shed light on this: Late dinners and very long “eating windows” in children translate into more improvised diets, with lower nutritional value and worse cholesterol profiles. Furthermore, 60% of these children sleep fewer hours. The experts’ recommendation it’s clear: concentrate all meals in a period of less than 12 hours. The solution is to adjust the clock. So when should we have dinner? The golden rule agreed upon by experts is to allow between three and four hours to pass between the last meal and the time of going to sleep. If we take the Spanish average of going to bed around 00:30, we should be finishing dinner, at the latest, at 21:00. Here it is important to qualify the context. We have been cushioning this metabolic blow in part for decades thanks to a cultural pillar: the Spanish Mediterranean diet tends to make dinner a much lighter meal than the midday meal, leaving the energy weight of the day in earlier hours. A late, heavy, ultra-processed dinner followed by a trip straight to bed is not the same as a light dinner with some physical activity before going to sleep. … Read more

Toyota has created the city of the future and it is full of AI and cameras that protect you. It’s also a privacy nightmare

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At the foot of Mount Fuji, Toyota he has been building a city for years entire designed from scratch to test their future inventions. It’s called Woven City, and it already has its first inhabitants. And although the city does not lack one bit of technology, living there also involves making certain concessions in terms of privacy. Below these lines we tell you all the details. Why does this exist? At CES 2020, then-Toyota CEO Akio Toyoda advertisement that the company was going to build a laboratory city on the land of a former factory in Susono, in the Japanese prefecture of Shizuoka. The idea was not to create just another corporate campus, but to build a real urban environment where engineers, researchers and residents would coexist and test advanced mobility, robotics, artificial intelligence and sustainability technologies. The project, developed under the subsidiary Woven by Toyota, has cost about 10 billion dollars, according to they count from Ars Technica, and its first inhabitants arrived just a few months ago. In detail. Woven City has, at the moment, about 100 hand-selected residents, who they internally call Weavers. They are Toyota employees and people chosen for their technological profile. They live in Japandi-style apartments (fusion between Nordic and Japanese) equipped with domestic robotics and health monitoring systems. The city is powered by rooftop solar panels and hydrogen fuel cells, and its streets are designed in three categories based on vehicle speed: expressways, personal mobility zones, and pedestrian-only areas. When completed, the total area will be about 294,000 square meters, although only about 10% of the planned space is operational right now. What is proven there. Residents act as beta testers for a diverse list of projects: from AI karaoke systems that choose songs based on mood to an air conditioning system capable of eliminating 95% of pollen from the environment, something relevant in a country where half of the population suffers from allergies. Delivery robots, tricycles or, as point the middle, the Guide Mobi, an autonomous vehicle that acts as a digital towboat to take cars out of the garage and take them to their owners without the driver having to move. According to they count From Ars Technica, 98% of residents have given permission for a robot with cameras to operate within their own homes. Here comes the problem. For all of this to work, Woven City is full of cameras. Many. According to the mediumyou could count up to eight cameras at a single intersection, and dozens more spread across the roofs of buildings, common spaces, and even the small cafeteria there. All that network of images feeds what Toyota calls the AI ​​Vision Engine, an artificial intelligence system designed to monitor, catalog and report on activity in the city. The system can identify people and follow them from camera to camera based on their clothing, without using facial recognition. They used it in a demo to detect potential thefts in a business. What Toyota says. The company says it has its own consent management system called Data Fabric, which allows residents to decide what data they share and what they don’t. “We allow Weavers to select what they want to share or not. Whether they don’t want to share anything or if they want to share everything is up to each individual,” explained John Absmeier, CTO of Woven City, told Ars Technica. The data, according to Toyota, is not sold to third parties. “At least for now,” they added in the media report. Between the lines. That 98% of the residents have accepted practically all the privacy conditions does not say as much about trust in Toyota as it does about the profile of the people who live there: they are selected technicians, who know perfectly well what they are agreeing to and who have come precisely to participate in the experiment. Kota Oishi, CEO of Woven City, recognized Japanese citizens, like Europeans, are especially sensitive to privacy and demand to know exactly what their data will be used for. The leap between this group of controlled volunteers and the implementation of similar technology in a real city with millions of ordinary people would be enormous, and questions about mass surveillance inevitable. The other big bet: a Own AI. While all this is happening on the streets, Toyota is working in parallel to not depend on the large technological giants in terms of artificial intelligence. Daisuke Toyoda, son of President Akio Toyoda and head of the Woven City project, counted on an interview in April to Automotive News that developing AI internally is key to protecting jobs and the company’s industrial knowledge. “If you only work with the biggest or best companies abroad, you run the risk of becoming a mere user,” he said. Toyota sees AI not as a tool to cut staff, but to digitize the knowledge of its best workers and raise the level of the rest. One of the most striking projects of this line is an AI clone of Akio Toyoda himself (even with his voice, his way of speaking and his philosophy) that is already used internally to train managers. And now what. Woven City is still in its infancy: only 10% built, 100 residents and many robots that “don’t do much yet,” according to counted the middle. The objective is reach 2,000 inhabitants when all phases are complete. Toyota does not expect it to be profitable in the short term; understands it as a long-term technological incubator to test its technology in more open, but controlled spaces. Cover image | toyota In Xataka | Chinese manufacturers no longer know what more innovations to incorporate into their cars, so they have added a toilet to one

We attended a crash test and discovered the new (and first) Ebro full electric

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Wuhu has turned out to be quite a surprise. While Beijing has those aromas and that life of what, clearly, is a great capital, Wuhu, although it is enormous, is more reminiscent of that “neighborhood China.” The multi-hundred-story buildings that can accommodate hundreds and hundreds of families make an appearance, of course, but the atmosphere is different. There are restaurants, small shops, it feels more local, more authentic. It is here where Chery, the technological partner of the Spanish company Ebro, whom I accompany on this trip, was born and has its headquarters. And it shows. Not because the hotel we stayed in belongs to the company, that too, but on the road. A walk through Wuhu | Image: Xataka If in Beijing you didn’t see a single Chery car, here they are religion. They are everywhere, wherever you look. The taxis? All Chery. Personal vehicles? Absolute omnipresence of the Tiggo and Arizzo ranges. BYD, Geely, Toyota, Kia and Hyundai are also here, but Chery’s dominance is absolute. Caught | Image: Xataka It’s something normal. China has that component of betting on the local. It is a kind of pride, something to boast about, using a product born in your city and the government promotes it. That’s why BAIC reigns in Beijing and that’s why when they ask you about your cell phone or watch model, they smile a little when they see that, in my case, they are an honor and a Huawei. The same thing happens with Chery, but today it’s not time to talk about Chery, but about Ebro. Chery is the partner technology from the Spanish Ebro, which uses its platforms to sell its own models in Spain, Portugal and, soon, Bulgaria, Slovenia and Croatia. A Ebro s700 It is, at its core, a Chery Tiggo 7. Knowing that, it will not surprise anyone that Ebro’s new model is based on the Chery QQ3 EV. Because yes, Ebro has finally announced a completely electric car which will be produced in its factory in the Free Trade Zone of Barcelona. It still does not have a name and the specifications are not final, since the homologation is missing, but I can tell you a little something, since I have been able to see it in first person. The new electric Ebro | Image: Xataka This car has a clearly urban vocation and is focused on the younger audience. More circular and oval shapes, 2.7 meters between axles and 4.3 meters long give shape to a more compact car and very different from what Ebro has put on the road to date. It is a risky bet for 1) a brand that until now was synonymous with SUVs and 2) a market whose electrification still has a way to go. It has a 42.7 kWh lithium-ferrophosphate battery, which translates into a range of more than 300 kilometers. It has a 90 kW rear axle motor, which allows it to offer, always according to the brand, 122 HP, 111 Nm of maximum torque, 135 km/h maximum speed and acceleration from zero to 100 in less than 11 seconds. At the moment, his name is Ebro BEV | Image: Xataka The power of the charging system has not been revealed, but it will be compatible with AC and DC and will be able to go from 30% to 80% in 30 minutes. Inside the car we find two generous screens, a 15.6-inch floating central one with 2K resolution and a system powered by a Snapdragon chip, and another smaller one, 10.25 inches, in the instrument panel. In China, analog needles and lights have passed away. Interior of the Ebro BEV | Image: Xataka The price has not been revealed either. and the specifications, as we said, are provisional. When the process of industrial adaptation and approval is completed, we will clear up doubts. This is not the only novelty, although it is the most notable. Ebro has taken advantage of the presentation in Chery’s hometown to announce a new version of the Ebro s400 with 1.5 TGDI engine and DHT transmission with two electric motors. This has a power of 224 HP and consumes 5.55 L/100 km. An interesting thing is that it can move in tandem mode (so that the combustion engine generates energy so that the electric one moves the wheels) or in parallel (both engines working at the same time). In theory, this should help reduce the car’s engine noise and improve the lack of “oomph” seen in the previous model. Restyling of the Ebro S800 PHEV. The s700 and S400 maintain the same front grille design | Image: Xataka Ebro also announced a restyling from the s700 and s800with a new front grille with rectangular shapes inspired, according to the firm, in Barcelona, ​​and aesthetic adjustments designed to homogenize the design and give it a more rounded touch. This has been one of the parts of the day, but today I have also been able to witness something that, to date, I had never seen: a crash test. I don’t know, there’s something, let’s say, funny, in seeing a car going towards another knowing that both are going to break down. Under controlled conditions, needless to say. It has a certain charm and, frankly, the real shame is that it lasts so little, because it’s barely a second. New car for sale, few kilometers, one owner, always in a garage | Image: Xataka For the test, Chery placed a Tiggo 9 (remember, the base of an Omoda 9 SHS) at one end of the road. To the other, a Tiggo 7 that rushed towards him at 50 km/h. At the same time that the Tiggo 7 crashed head-on, the Tiggo 9 received a complete impact against a barrier vehicle at 40 km/h from behind. They are, from what they have explained to us, two overlapping forces whose purpose is to bring the test closer to a real environment. To the right and in the background, … Read more

George RR Martin never had full creative control over ‘Game of Thrones’. Other authors have learned their lesson

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“This is no longer my story” is probably the worst phrase a writer can say, and it is supposed that came not long ago from the mouth of George R.R. Martinmore or less coinciding with the avalanche of audiovisual adaptations of its ‘Game of Thrones’ universe. There is the eternal question of whether the author himself is the best director or showrunner in the screen adaptation of his work, and it will depend a lot on what “author” and what “work”. What is clear is that the shining stars of the publishing market do not want to make the “Martin mistake”: seeing how your world is transformed by others without control or your own voice. Feeling that the story you saw being born no longer belongs to you must be one of the worst experiences for a creator. And given the continuous boom in news of adaptations that have been working deadline at a frenetic pace, names like Brandon Sanderson or Sarah J. Maas are clear that they are not interested in following the path of the eternal debtor of ‘Winds of Winter’. The Martin case As long as you are interested in content, interviews and news about the adaptations of ‘Game of Thrones’, it is easy to come across statements by George RR Martin about his discontentand even something more painful, assuming distance with its own adaptations. At the beginning of the ‘Game of Thrones’ project, his involvement was greater and his role was much more decisive. Although the showrunners main ones were always Benioff and Weissand creative control fell to them, Martin participated as executive producer, occasional screenwriter and advisor. However, starting in season five his role was diluted, and with it his closeness to the direction of the series. Benioff and Weiss, despite having some clues about the outcome, it is true that they had a difficult task to say the least: finish a story that not even its creator had already finished at that time. It is not surprising that given the path that the controversial closureMartin got off the wagon and acknowledged in numerous interviews that his ending was not going to have anything to do with that of the series. Arrive when you arrive. It came out so-so. With this experience, let’s call it bittersweet, one would expect Martin to be more cautious with future adaptations… But not. In ‘The House of the Dragon’ he appears again as co-creator and executive producer and, once again, at first everything seemed to flow normally in the first season. At least until again different points of view with the showrunner of the series, Ryan Condal, once again create creative tensions. The friction already exists, to the point that HBO asked Martin to take a step back from the project. Months later the author would return to production. “George and Ryan had a disagreement about the direction season three should take. At that point, it became clear that the process and communication with them had broken down and we needed to start from scratch. So, naturally, there was a period where we all took a step back for a while until we could find a new way to move forward.” HBO insider And now we have ‘The Knight of the Seven Kingdoms’again with George RR Martin as producer and with active involvement. Everything seems to be going well with this new adaptation, but the first season has just finished and experience teaches us that problems begin to appear after the second, so we still don’t know what direction it may take. Others will not make concessions Even so, one cannot put all the responsibility on him or treat this fact as an isolated case. Without focusing on other disciplines where rights and authorship are also a minefield, in the publishing world the relationship between authors and adaptation rights is always they have been complicated. Just look what happened to Tolkien’s work; a real legal tangle with rights fragmented for decades, limitations of creative control of Tolkien and heirs, while different companies managed books, merchandising or characters. What ultimately resonates is that even having the rights doesn’t guarantee real creative control either. The impact that certain decisions or a controversial ending can generate directly affect your work, fandomto your reputation and, why not say it, also to your ego. Therefore, the emphasis that a few months ago is not so crazy Taylor Swift having recovered the rights to all his music; We’re not just talking about the albums, but about the visuals, creative direction, music videos… and in literature it’s a bit the same, it’s fighting to have control over everything that your creation entails. It’s normal that Sanderson doesn’t want to get his fingers caught. When an author signs with a studio to adapt their work, a sale of rights occurs to transfer the production of the series or film, temporarily or permanently. Here comes an important point: these rights can be exploitative (including books, possible spin-offs, merchandisingvideo games) or they can be separate rights where the production company or studio does not have full ownership. Now, taking into account the stumbles of other writers with this type of agreement, the essential thing for this new generation, even if the transfer of rights occurs, is to negotiate creative control clauses. This is where Sanderson He led the way a few months ago. After years of trying that did not bear fruit, the author of Cosmere is now taking advantage of his editorial power and his legion of followers to take the reins of the adaptation of his work on Apple TV. He will be the architect of the universe; He will be in charge of writing, producing, advising and will also have decision-making power. That is a level of involvement that not even JK Rowling or Martin enjoy. “I flew to Hollywood and pitched my projects to all the major streaming platforms and studios. Basically, everyone tried to bid on ‘Mistborn’ and ‘The Stormlight’. In the end, … Read more

The most dangerous time of the drought is now. Just when we have the reservoirs full

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Spain has just officially emerged from the drought that it has been dragging on since 2021. And no wonder: the reservoirs are at 83.5%; That is, the highest level recorded in the month of March in the entire historical series. That also explains why we are not talking about it: restrictions have been lifted, administrations have been relaxed and, beyond some very specific places, no one talks about the drought anymore. It is right at this moment that the next water crisis is being prepared. The paradox of abundance. At least, that’s what explains Jorge Rodríguez-Chueca in The Conversation. This professor from the Polytechnic University of Madrid is convinced that now is the time to think about what would happen if it doesn’t rain more all year. Because it is precisely when water begins to run out that the system is most in danger. After all, just one dry year (without changes in consumption) would be enough for the drought to return. The wettest January on record may be, for all we know right now, a mirage. What really is a drought? And it is that, according to the researcherdrought does not begin when there is a lack of water; It begins when consumption is unable to adjust to the variability of inputs. That is why we must stop reactive management and start thinking ahead. But let’s not rush: there are still scars from the drought. And, no matter how happy we are about the current situation, it would be reckless to forget that the effects of the previous drought are still with us. According to many researchers, the It started in 2021 and was the worst drought in 200 years. and, in early 2024, reservoirs reached historic lows. It is true that the situation began to recover shortly after, but it has taken more than two years (and a historic event) for the drought to end. A historical pattern. The most interesting thing about Rodríguez-Chueca’s work is the idea that, in periods of abundance, demand increases (not only is more water consumed, but more is irrigated, more permits are granted, and more facilities and parks are created). When drought hits, consumption is higher and that accelerates the crisis — and the margin for action is smaller. We have seen it many times. As explained in Datadista“since the deep drought of the 1990s, each dry period has served to implement emergency measures (…) or allow practices that were not eliminated when the rains returned, they were used to expand irrigation, increasing the problem of overexploitation and contamination of aquifers and the wetlands they feed.” Will we fall into the same mistake again? That is the big question and there are no signs to be optimistic. Above all, because the problem goes beyond what Rodríguez-Chueca points out: we are talking about a structural problem. Irrigation modernization is a poisoned gift: it reduces water needs per hectare, yes; But that has pushed many dryland farms to be converted into irrigation. Ultimately, each innovation and improvement creates a more efficient system, but more dependent on missing water. This is what has led us to this situation. Image | Anthony Da Costa In Xataka | In the middle of one of the most extreme droughts in living memory, Catalonia has had an idea: start cutting down trees

turn a missile into an explosive “storm” in full descent

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In the most advanced missile defense systems, each interception can cost millions of dollars and requires seconds of decision perfectly coordinated. It turns out that these systems were designed under a key assumption: that each threat would be identifiable, unique and treatable as a single objective. Iran has found a “hole.” Multiply a missile. In the last weeks of war, Iran has found a gap in the “millionaire” shield of Israel: convert a missile into everything a “rain” of threats in the middle of the descent, in a matter of seconds and just at the moment when the defensive systems have less room to react. The key is not to launch more missiles, but to change their nature at the critical moment, transforming a single interceptable target in dozens of submunitions that fall at high speed over large areas. It is a subtle but decisive change, because it breaks the logic on which anti-missile defenses are designed: detect, track and destroy a single target before impact. The “rain” that overflows the system. The analysts counted in The Guardian that Iranian cluster warheads release between several dozen and up to nearly a hundred submunitions at high altitude, dispersing them over areas that can span dozens of kilometers. At that point, the system stops dealing with a missile and starts dealing with multiple simultaneous threatsFurthermore, each one with a different trajectory and impact point. The result is an instant saturation where what was a controllable problem becomes a chaotic scenario where the defense must decide in seconds. what to intercept and what notknowing that it can’t cover everything. Chart providing an overview of the typical trajectory of a ballistic missile compared to other missiles and hypersonic boosted glide models The structural failure. The success of this tactic lies in exploiting a fundamental limitation: the systems like David’s Sling or even the iron dome They are optimized to intercept before dispersal, not after. If the missile is not destroyed in high phases (especially in the middle phase outside the atmosphere), the window of opportunity closes quickly. Once the submunitions are released, intercepting them individually is, in practice, unfeasible even for the world’s most advanced defensive networks. The invisible cost. Beyond the physical impact, the Iranian strategy introduces a problem economic and logistic. Intercepting a missile is already very costly, and trying to neutralize dozens of submunitions it is much moreto the point that the exchange stops making sense for the defender. Each attack requires interceptors to be expended expensive and limited against much cheaper threats, progressively eroding arsenals. Thus, even when most attacks are intercepted, the simple act of forcing defense already fulfills a strategic objective. Less missiles, more effect. Paradoxically, Iran does not need to launch large salvos to maintain the pressure. The reason: its current doctrine aims to combine moderate volumes with amplified effects, relying on hard-to-locate mobile launchers and a decentralized command structure designed to survive intensive bombing. This allows you to sustain constant attacks, even if they are few, but with the ability to impact specific objectives and keep Israeli defenses active continuously, forcing them to react again and again. A preview of the war to come. As we have been seeing in Ukraine and since the beginning of the war in the Middle East, what is happening with Iran’s missiles It is not just a tactical adaptation, but a preview of how can they evolve high intensity conflicts. Turn a single system into multiple threats, saturate advanced defenses and wear down the adversary without need for numerical superiority redefines the balance between attack and defense. And if this logic is extended (and everything indicates that other actors are watching it closely), current anti-missile systems could face a challenge for which they were not designed: not stopping missiles, but stopping real storms of explosives. Image | Yoav Keren In Xataka | The US is going to end its war in the Middle East with a very uncomfortable reality: Iran had years of advantage underground In Xataka | If the question is “how close are we to an escalation in Iran,” the answer is US A-10s flying there

The chemical composition of galaxies has always been full of unknowns. James Webb has taken a huge step to solve it

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The James Webb Space Telescope sees where others can’t: its infrared vision pierces clouds of cosmic dust and reaches galaxies so far away that it took billions of years for its light to reach us. Looking far into space is, in that sense, looking back in time. However, what James Webb has seen in these galaxies differs from what was expected: these early galaxies seem to have too much nitrogen, much more than expected. Among the exotic possible explanations of science, hypotheses such as gigantic stars never seen before, black holes functioning as catalysts for galactic chemistry or large quantities of stars have passed. In fact, that was the topic of conversation in the middle of a phone call while Mexican astrophysicist José Eduardo Méndez-Delgado waited in line for the doctor. On the other end of the line, his colleague Karla Arellano-Córdova, who was in Edinburgh. In that informal talk they decided to change the prism: perhaps the problem was not the galaxies, but how we measure them. The discovery. The proposal from this international team is to analyze three light signals from the same oxygen ion to calculate temperature and density at the same time, without starting from one to calculate the other (the original source of error). The result: the gas was a hundred or a thousand times denser than was assumed in those galaxies. With that correction, the galaxies turned out to be richer in metals than they appeared and the excess nitrogen was drastically reduced. Why it is important. First, because the metallicity of a galaxy is directly related to its history: the more metals there are in its composition, the more stars have been born and died within it. Until now we were underestimating this figure, which made those early galaxies appear very different from our own and suggested a sharp and discontinuous evolution. Now they look more like what we know. But the elements essential for life, such as carbon, oxygen or nitrogen, did not exist when the universe was born: they were manufactured by the stars inside and expanded when they died. Hence the interest in knowing the chemistry of galaxies: it helps to understand when the universe had the necessary ingredients for life. With the wrong measurements, we don’t know if those ingredients were there earlier and in more places than we thought. Context. The standard method to know the composition of a distant galaxy is to analyze the spectral lines of its light based on the density of the gas and its temperature. The problem is that in these primitive galaxies the gas is much denser than expected, so its application as a thermometer works poorly. And from here on, everything failed. The nitrogen anomalies appeared in the first scientific data from the James Webb Space Telescope, as this either this. Since the results did not fit the models, the scientific community threw itself into trying to find explanations. This paper proposes to take a step back: before interpreting stellar physics, check that the measurements are correct. Besides, the Webb now allows it: simultaneously detects oxygen lines in the ultraviolet and in the optical in such distant galaxies. How they do it. In essence, the trick is choosing the right signals. One of the oxygen light lines, visible in ultraviolet, has a special property: it does not distort even if the gas is very dense, something that happened with the lines they were using previously. By combining it with two other signals from the same atom, the research team can calculate temperature and density at the same time, as if they were solving two simultaneous and independent equations. Using statistical simulations, the team found that the results were consistent with other independent measurements of the same galaxies. Yes, but. As the team explains in the work, their method corrects the density error, but not other possible errors that are equally important: the gas of these galaxies also has internal temperature variations, and that can bias the results in ways that this study does not resolve. Furthermore, the method only works well when all three light signals from oxygen are clearly detected. In three of the six galaxies analyzed this was not possible, and the results are less precise. Nitrogen remains a problem. The overabundances come almost entirely from a particular ion whose emission is extraordinarily sensitive to temperature: a variation of just ten percent in that parameter would reduce the calculated nitrogen by half. No one has yet measured that temperature directly. However, it points out a path to follow before looking for “exotic” explanations: verify that the measurement tools are up to par. In Xataka | For a time it was one of the asteroids most watched by astronomers: the Webb has just resolved a key doubt In Xataka | James Webb has been detecting red dots in the universe for years: the only problem is that we don’t know what they are Cover | Oleg Moroz

build luxury cruise ships. And he’s doing it at full speed

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For decades, Europe has been without a doubt the world reference in the construction of cruise ships with four outstanding shipyards: in Italy, Germany, France and Finland. However, beneath those luxurious interiors hide ambitious works of engineering in the form of small (relatively) cities that navigate the oceans. China was already an authority in the construction of freighters and container ships, but cruise ships resisted it. three years ago timidly entered the sectorbut he is burning stages in record time. The Adora Flora City is almost ready. Last Friday the Love Flora City (in Chinese, Aida Huacheng), left dry dock in Shanghai. In short: only your test trips and final delivery are ahead of you on your roadmap, although tickets can now be reserved for their first cruises at the end of the year from Guangzhou. Everything is going as planned and at printing speed too: it was assembled in just nine months. This impressive luxury cruise ship has been built by Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding Co. at the city’s shipyard and with Guangzhou Nansha as its home port. It is 341 meters long and 37.2 meters wide and inside there is capacity for 5,232 passengers, distributed in 2,144 cabins. Your design is inspired on the Silk Road and Lingnan culture, with floral motifs throughout the ship in a nod to Guangzhou. However, Huacheng is “City of Flowers” the nickname of Guangzhou. Why is it important. Because building a cruise ship is one of the most complex projects in naval engineering, which demonstrates its scarcity and the seniority of the classic European shipyards, and China has demonstrated both its technical power and its enormous learning capacity. And in what way: China has stepped on the accelerator on its learning curve. From the first to the second cruise it has shortened construction deadlines and reduced its external dependence, with a near date to be completely independent. Aid from the West has been a double-edged sword (for the West): it has helped create a competitor that, based on precedents in other sectors, can change the naval industry drastically. Context. Adora Cruises was born in 2015 as a joint venture between CSSC and Carnival Corporation, the largest cruise operator in the world. China provided shipyards and the market and Carnival provided its experience and the brand. But the pandemic disrupted plans, the relationship cooled and Carnival ended up withdrawing completely. When it was born, its goal was for the ships to be operated by the Asian division of Aida Cruises, a subsidiary of Carnival (hence its name Aida). At the beginning of this year, Adora integrated with other state operators under the China Cruises brand in a movement in which, although Adora maintains its recognizable name, it seeks to optimize its operational performance and consolidate its presence in the Chinese market. It is already an entirely Chinese project. The first cruise. He Love Magic City (Aida Modu) was the first large cruise ship manufactured entirely in China. Among its specifications, a length of 323 meters, capacity to accommodate up to 5,246 passengers on its 14 decks and 2,125 cabins with a style that combines Western with Chinese. In this case, assembling the helmet cost them a little more: 11 months. detaching from Fincantieri. But while for the Adora Magic City intensive technical support from the Italian shipyard Fincantieri, with the Flora City, Chinese engineering is almost on its own. The construction and coordination of work is now entirely Chinese. Ficantieri and the RINA classification society are still in the project, providing licenses, the design platform and some parts, but they are no longer supervising. What’s coming As reported by XinhuaLast Friday, China Tourism Group and CSSC signed a memorandum of understanding for the construction of a new cruise ship. Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding plans to accelerate the construction of a cruise ship assembly base and already has in mind the date to deliver the first independent, that is, 100% Chinese, large cruise ship: in 2030. The idea is to pave the way to enter the mass production phase. In Xataka | We believed that the most incredible thing about megacruises is their size. It turns out that the real miracle is their kitchens In Xataka | From trips for honeymooners and retirees to Gen Z phenomenon: this is how cruises are being saved Images | Adora Cruises

Skyscrapers are full of glass, so some Spanish researchers have had an idea: let them serve as "solar panels"

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Every 60 minutes, the Sun bathes the Earth with enough energy to cover the world’s consumption for an entire year. The data, remembered by the Polytechnic University of Madrid (UPM)it’s overwhelming. But there is a problem: harnessing all that energy in our cities hits a literal wall. Classic solar roofs are becoming too small for us in increasingly dense cities, and hanging rigid and heavy panels on the facades of buildings is not a realistic option. To avoid this aesthetic and space blockage, the laboratories have found a pioneering solution: using new two-dimensional materials. These are microscopic layers that will allow the windows of any skyscraper to be converted into totally invisible solar panels. With Spanish seal. The Silicon and New Concepts for Solar Cells (SyNC) research group of the Solar Energy Institute (IES) of the Polytechnic University of Madrid (UPM) has managed to manufacture micro-prototypes of ultra-thin and highly efficient solar cells. The secret of this technology lies in the so-called two-dimensional photovoltaic materials. Imagine a sheet so thin that it is only a few atoms thick; For all practical purposes, it is so thin that physics considers it to lack a third dimension. Science knows this family of compounds with a complex name, transition metaldicalkogenides (TMDC), among which molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) and tungsten diselenide (WSe2) stand out. Their great rarity—and their greatest virtue—is that, despite being an almost invisible layer, they have an extraordinary capacity to absorb sunlight. In Xataka Solar panels have an invisible and very brief moment in which they do not work. And solving it is key to your future The actual scope. To understand this technology, researchers published a study in the scientific journal Nano Energy. In it, they simulated what would happen if the façade of a real skyscraper, the Torre Picasso in Madrid, were covered with semi-transparent windows made with these materials. The results estimate that between 16% and 23% of the building’s daily electricity consumption could be covered. If this technology is also combined with areas of opaque modules, the generation could exceed 30% of the energy needs of the skyscraper. Natural light, real colors and savings on the bill Historically, the big “but” of solar windows has been the poor visual quality. Alternative technologies, such as organic or perovskite cells, often act as a filter that colors the light entering the room in unnatural reddish, yellow or brown tones. As explained by UPM researchersthe structure of TMDC materials solves this root problem: they allow a very balanced absorption of visible light, which eliminates the problem of unwanted “coloring” of light. The result is lighting with a natural and warm tone, achieving a Color Rendering Index (CRI) greater than 90, a very high quality metric for work spaces. In addition to generating electricity, in very sunny places like Spain, these glasses naturally block excessive glare. This means that the skyscraper not only produces its own energy, but also saves a lot of money by not having to turn on the air conditioning as much. From the microscopic laboratory to the factory. Creating these ultra-thin solar cells is a work of very high precision. To manufacture the prototypes in the laboratory, the UPM team has used a technique called hot-pick-up. Using this method, they use a small transparent bubble to select, collect and deposit fragments of the materials, creating tailored stacks that combine the best properties of each one. But the goal is not to stay in the laboratory. IES-UPM researchers are already working with new techniques to scale this process and cover large areas, such as entire windows. According to the scientists themselves“through spraying and deposition techniques of these solutions, manufacturing processes could be scaled, reducing costs and allowing the industrialization of this disruptive technology.” The ace in the hole: catch the lost heat. The potential of these two-dimensional materials goes far beyond solar windows. Another investigation from the same team, published in the scientific journal ACS Applied Energy Materials, demonstrates that by modifying molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) with an element called niobium, the material acquires impressive thermoelectric properties. More simply, this means that in the future, these materials could not only capture sunlight, but could also have applications in thermal sensors or in the recovery of energy from the heat wasted by machines or buildings themselves. {“videoId”:”x81qnhf”,”autoplay”:false,”title”:”Is it possible to generate energy at zero cost?”, “tag”:”Energy”, “duration”:”109″} The new skin of the city. The lightness, flexibility and low manufacturing cost of these solar cells makes them one of the most promising options to achieve the desired “green cities”. Two-dimensional photovoltaic technology shows us that the ecological transition in dense urban environments no longer depends only on finding space on roofs to place large rigid panels. The real paradigm shift consists of transforming the very “skin” of buildings – their windows, their walls, their facades – into active sources of clean energy, ensuring that any surface can be an ally against climate change. Image | Photo by Arthur Mazi on Unsplash  Xataka | Plastic solar panels have always been more of a dream than reality: China has just changed that (function() { window._JS_MODULES = window._JS_MODULES || {}; var headElement = document.getElementsByTagName(‘head’)(0); if (_JS_MODULES.instagram) { var instagramScript = document.createElement(‘script’); instagramScript.src=”https://platform.instagram.com/en_US/embeds.js”; instagramScript.async = true; instagramScript.defer = true; headElement.appendChild(instagramScript); – The news Skyscrapers are full of glass, so some Spanish researchers have had an idea: let them serve as “solar panels” was originally published in Xataka by Alba Otero .

An end of February with 20 ºC, haze and full reservoirs is not "good time": it is the sign of a completely misplaced meteorology

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If we take a brief look at how February 2026 is ending (the sun, the 20 degrees, the haze, the candy-like reservoirs), it is difficult not to say to ourselves: “Finally some good weather!” Above all, if we take into account that after these days of calm, a front will enter from the northwest, inaugurating meteorological spring in style. And yet, it is inevitable to raise an eyebrow. But let’s start at the beginning…. The arrival of a front from the northwest is not only synonymous with rain, but with a progressive drop in temperature and the return of the frosts after disappearing for a few days. Of course, the southern half is not going to notice it too much. Otherwise, the haze has been there for days causing problems (and locust rains in the Canary Islands) and, in the background, a DANA starts to give signs about what will approach Andalusia on Monday or Tuesday. In Xataka After the rains, Spain faces the same problem as a year ago: a devastating fire season Where is spring? If that’s the question, the answer is that it’s already here. Not just because this weekend ‘astronomic spring’ beginsbut because the meteorological dynamics have made everything accelerate in a strange way. Neither the processions deceiveneither allergies disappear. And that means the trap is already here. Because, although the reservoirs are full, they are not filled homogeneously. While Spain is at 83%, there are many basins with many problems (the Segura is at 47.2% and that of Júcar at 63.7%). And, starting in March, both evaporative demandas consumption (agricultural irrigation, urban peaks, tourism) skyrocket. Therefore, with the history of poor management that we have in the country and this feeling of “false security” that is spreading, having the reservoirs full unfortunately means nothing. Absolutely nothing. {“videoId”:”x7zoac4″,”autoplay”:false,”title”:”Climate change and the influence of humans”, “tag”:”Earth”, “duration”:”304″} More problems, many problems. To all this we must add that we do not know what is going to happen from now on. We will never know, it is true: but this precipitation scenario is so new and unusual that all scenarios are open. The only thing that is clear is that, if we do not start managing the forest, forest fires are going to mark the country as soon as the heat arrives. The new normal? That is the second big question because the pan-European studies agree that we are going towards an earlier start of spring compared to previous decades. But no one is very clear if this is an anomaly or a first step. What is clear is that, no matter what happens, this is especially noticeable here in the south. And that is the first big question: Are we prepared? Are we willing to do what we have to do? Image |AEMET In Xataka |In China they are deploying metal firefighters. Maybe they are more useful than robo-waiters (function() { window._JS_MODULES = window._JS_MODULES || {}; var headElement = document.getElementsByTagName(‘head’)(0); if (_JS_MODULES.instagram) { var instagramScript = document.createElement(‘script’); instagramScript.src=”https://platform.instagram.com/en_US/embeds.js”; instagramScript.async = true; instagramScript.defer = true; headElement.appendChild(instagramScript); – The news An end of February with 20 ºC, haze and full reservoirs is not “good weather”: it is the sign of a completely misplaced meteorology was originally published in Xataka by Javier Jimenez .

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