Hidden

We just found an entire ecosystem hidden under the ocean crust

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For decades, science believed it was clear how life worked in the ocean abysses and pointed out that around the hydrothermal vents, which are the classic volcanic chimneys that spit out boiling water, oases of strange creatures flourished on the surface of the seabed. But a recent expedition has broken our schemes and it points out that life not only clings to the surface of these chimneys, but also hides beneath the earth’s crust itself. As we have seen. To achieve this featthe expedition named under the “VentUnderoworld” project entered the waters of the Pacific aboard the research vessel Falkor. But the researchers’ eyes were not enough, they had to use the robot SuBastian ROV submarine. And with this equipment the researchers did something that is rarely attempted: physically lift fragments of the oceanic crust around the hydrothermal vents. And in that underwater “underworld,” a vibrant macroscopic ecosystem thrived. What was seen. Until now, science assumed that benthic animals at these depths lived exclusively at the interface between the ocean floor and water. However, the images and samples collected confirmed the presence of live animals in these underground caves. And the great protagonist of this discovery is the Riftia pachyptila, which is nothing more than a huge tube worm which can measure more than two meters. Organisms that are famous for lacking a mouth and stomach and depending on the bacteria on the seabed to feed themselves while they were living and growing prosperously protected under the crust. But they were not alone, since they also found snails and a complex network of invertebrate animals. How they arrived. One of the great mysteries surrounding marine biology was how tube worms managed to colonize new hydrothermal vents so quickly after a volcanic eruption, especially due to the high temperature it reaches. This discovery provides the missing piece of the puzzle. Here the study concludes that there is a fluid connection between surface and subsurface ecosystems, and this causes the larvae of these animals to travel through hydrothermal fluids below the seabed, moving through cracks in the oceanic crust to colonize new areas from bottom to top. That is, the interior of the crust is not only a refuge, but a kind of underground “highway” of life. A new paradigm. This discovery is not something minor, since if these hidden cavities are inhabited in the Eastern Pacific Ridge, it is very likely that this underground ecosystem extends over a large part of the world’s underwater mountain ranges. In this way, expanding the “biosphere” into the interior of the crust means that the habitable volume of our planet has just become much larger, proving that there are still many mysteries here on our planet to be discovered. Images | bearfotos on Freepik In Xataka | China is making an “invisible ocean” of the planet: when it is finished it will steal the last advantage that the US had left

Singapore is the hidden “heart” of the Internet and global telecommunications. It all started with a tree from there.

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We live in a connected and globalized world where (almost) everything is in the cloud and available through the internet. Although these connections seem invisible to the eye, they are not: submarine cables are responsible for of 97% of intercontinental traffic. If you take a look at the world submarine cables mapyou will see that there are areas that are true deserts and others that are tangles. One of the most congested points is precisely in Singapore. That the enclave is on the maritime route between Europe, the Middle East and East Asia partly explains why: geography is a historically compelling reason. However, the real trigger was a very curious Scottish doctor and a tree native to the Malay Peninsula. The impressive Singapore node. That Singapore is Asia’s great connectivity hub is a reality: it unites East Asia, South Asia, the Persian Gulf, the Mediterranean and Europe. But it is not only a busy area, it is among the large exchangers that keep the world connected through their interconnection density and operational resilience. Approximately 30 active cables and many others in imminent deployment converge in just 720 square kilometers of territory, according to TeleGeography. To prevent your seabed from becoming a tangle of cables, the deployment is restricted to three specific areas awarded in strict order of arrival eight landing stations. On the Equinix campus is the Singapore Internet Exchange (SGIX), a point where traffic is literally exchanged between hundreds of operators throughout Asia at a very short physical distance, which translates into ultra-low latency. In addition, its redundant capacity is such that when other critical routes fail, it is capable of absorbing traffic diversions, as happened during the Red Sea crisis in 2022. That tangle of cables is Singapore. Submarinecablemap Context: geography as state policy. Singapore’s reality as a first-rate hub is largely to blame for its strategic location: it is at the southern end of the Malaysian peninsula, where the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea meet. In the Strait of Malacca, right where it becomes the Strait of Singapore, its narrowest point is only 2.8 kilometers wide and there are areas where the depth around 25 meters. over there 80,000 ships pass through each year. Its position is key, but there is a milestone that marked everything: in 1819 the British East India Company obtained the right to establish a trading post over there. Since then, the Strait of Malacca has been a usual suspect in international trade: it is where much of the world’s oil (even more so than Hormuz, which is currently raging with the conflict between the United States, Israel and Iran). Is one of China’s doors to the world. And also the area through which any cable that connects the West with East Asia passes. Many ships, many cables and little space constitute a potential recipe for disaster, which your government conscientiously manages and continues to promote vigorously. favorable regulatory conditions to attract more wiring. The material that started submarine cables. We have made a small flashback to the 19th century with the British East India Company that we now return to. When in 1822 the Scottish surgeon William Montgomerie was in Singapore precisely at the service of the East India Company, something caught his attention: the handles of parang (a type of machete) were made of a material that looked like plastic wood. Of course, unlike wood, this material did not splinter, was resistant to impacts, molded to the workers’ hands and was immune to water. A marvel, come on. A material with properties that he had never seen in his life, so he sent a sample to London for exhibition at the Society of Arts. There were no wires in Montgomerie’s head, what he had in mind were surgical instruments. In 1845 the Society awarded him an award and engineers began to work with this prodigious substance. Illustration of the Palaquium gutta. Franz Eugen Köhler, Köhler’s Medizinal-Pflanzen – (1883) Köhler’s Medizinal-Pflanzen in naturgetreuen Abbildungen mit kurz erläuterndem. Plastic before the plastic boom. Gutta-percha is the dried sap of trees native to the Malay Archipelago such as the Palaquium gutta, a natural latex that becomes rigid when cooled and has waterproof, saltwater-resistant and electrically insulating properties. Taking into account that Bakelite did not arrive until 1907in the 19th century it was the only material with that magnificent combination of properties, ideal for insulating an electric cable at the bottom of the sea. At that time there was no fiber optics, but there was telegraph. The rapid industrialization of gutta-percha. British engineering stepped on the accelerator and by 1851 we already had the first submarine cable with gutta-percha crossing the English Channel, led by the brothers Jacob and John Watkins Brett. The “nervous system” of the British Empire It grew at dizzying speed: by 1866 it had 15,000 nautical miles and by 1900 it reached 200,000 nautical miles. Singapore was already on the wiring map thanks to London’s connection to Hong Kong through India and the Strait of Malacca, laid by the British-Indian Submarine Telegraph Company. That stretch of coast where the cable reached in 1871 is where the Meta or Google cables pass today for identical geographical reasons as they do now, a century and a half later. The environmental drama. We have already seen that in the West there was a real furor over gutta-percha, the obtaining of which had small print: unlike rubber, it was not enough to bleed the tree, it had to be cut, removed the bark and boiled. An adult tree produced between one and seven kilos. For the first attempt at a transatlantic cable, which dates back to 1858, it required an enormous amount: for 2,500 nautical miles in length (4,630 km) 300 tons were needed. Only two years after Montgomery introduced gutta-percha to the old continent, Tomas Oxley estimated that the 412 tons exported to Europe had caused the felling of 69,000 trees. He Palaquium gutta disappeared from Singapore by 1857 and much … Read more

With the arrival of good weather in Ukraine, Russia thought it was a good idea to bring out its hidden tanks. It wasn’t at all

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In 2022, many analysts assumed that tanks would remain the undisputed symbol of land power, but four years later the battlefield has evolved to the point where multi-ton vehicles can be neutralized for systems that fit in a backpack and cost thousands of times less. A return at the worst time. Winter is giving way to spring in Ukraine, and Russia has decided it was time to bring out its armored vehicles again after almost one year of limited useconvinced that she could regain initiative on the front. However, this movement has collided head-on with the current reality of the battlefield: an environment saturated with drones, remote mines and sensors where any concentration of vehicles becomes an almost immediate target. What on paper should have been an offensive reactivation has translated, in its first stages, in massive losses of material, with mechanized attacks that have ended in authentic “massacres” in a matter of minutes. From hiding to exposing yourself. For much of the last year, Russia had chosen to reduce the use of vehicles and advance with small groups of infantry to minimize their exposure. That tactic, although costly in lives, was more difficult to neutralize in a battlefield dominated by drones. But the enormous human wear and tear (with hundreds of thousands of casualties) has forced Moscow to rethink its approach. The return to mechanized attacks is not so much a choice as a necessity: replacing men with machines, even if that means assuming a new type of vulnerability. The Soviet heritage. It we have counted on other occasions. To sustain this change, Russia has begun to turn to its deeper reservesreactivating T-72 tanks from the 1970s and 1980s that remained in storage for years. This movement reveals an important turn in the contest, because it is no longer about deploying the best available, but rather to maintain volume at any price. The Russian military industry is still capable of regenerating units, but increasingly with older materialmore heterogeneous and less adapted to an environment where threats come from above and not from the front. A battlefield that does not forgive armor. The problem from the Moscow sidewalk is that the context has radically changed. Drones, capable of detecting, tracking and attacking vehicles with great precision, have turned mechanized advances into operations andxtremely risky. Added to this are remotely deployed mines and coordinated attacks that turn any movement in a trap. What was once the spearhead of offensives now behaves like a slow, visible and predictable target, especially when deployed in a group. Hit logistics to wear out. In addition, a parallel strategy is added to this direct pressure on the vehicles: the continuous attack to the rear. The Ukrainian coups against fuel tankslogistics nodes and supply centers seek to make any accumulation of armored vehicles on the front meaningless. And without fuel and maintenance, even a large number of vehicles lose operational value. Thus, the Russian problem is not only how many tanks you can deploy, but how long you can keep them functioning in real combat conditions. Accelerate burnout. In short, Russia appears to be trading a depleting resource (the labor) for another that is also beginning to become scarce: his armored legacy of the Cold War. In the short term it may be able to sustain the pressure on the front, but if current losses continue, the material cost can quickly grow to become unsustainable. In that scenario, the return of the tanks It does not seem to represent a return to conventional warfare, but rather a risky bet on a battlefield that has already evolved. faster than them. Image | Telegram In Xataka | Iran is winning the war with “Ukrainian mathematics”: there is no need to shoot down US fighters, it is enough to force them to take off In Xataka | Europe’s fear of an unprecedented situation in the Mediterranean: a Ukrainian drone has left a ticking bomb floating

A 4.6 billion-year-old “recorder” was hidden in asteroid dust: what it said changes what we knew

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We think of memory as something linked to memories that fade or transform over time. But there is another form of memory that is much more precise and stubborn, one that does not depend on people or technology and still preserves information with extraordinary fidelity. Some rocks are capable of recording the magnetic environment in which they were formed. That is what happens with the dust of a very particular asteroid: small particles that have preserved a magnetic signal for billions of years that today allows us to reconstruct what the solar system was like in its early stages. That “record” is not a metaphor. It comes from particles collected on the asteroid Ryugu and brought to Earth in 2020 by Japan’s Hayabusa2 mission. As Eurekalert points outa team led by Masahiko Sato has analyzed their magnetic behavior and has found signals that suggest that these particles retained information from the environment in which they were formed. This opens the door to reconstructing what the magnetic fields present in the protoplanetary diskthat is, the “nursery” where the planets were formed. {“videoId”:”x86bfqj”,”autoplay”:false,”title”:”JAMES WEBB: A TIME MACHINE and a SPACE TELESCOPE”, “tag”:””, “duration”:”504″} A trace that cannot be erased. The key is how some minerals react to the magnetic field when they form. Its internal structures, formed by small magnetic domains, are oriented following that field and remain “locked” when the material solidifies. That process leaves a lasting mark that scientists can measure today with highly sensitive instruments. This phenomenon, known as natural remanent magnetization, turns these particles into physical witnesses of the past. The challenge. The first analyzes of these samples offered very different conclusions: some studies suggested that they preserved a stable magnetic signal from the early solar system, while others argued that they had formed in a region with practically no magnetic field. There were also those who suggested that the signals detected could be due to contamination during analysis on Earth. Part of the problem was based on these works, which were based on a very limited number of particles, just seven, which made it difficult to obtain solid conclusions. New samples. To resolve these discrepancies, The team significantly expanded the number of particles analyzedgoing from seven to 28, which allowed us to work with a much more solid statistical base. After applying demagnetization techniques to eliminate possible modern signals, the results showed a clearer pattern: 23 of the 28 particles retained a stable magnetic signal. Of these particles, eight showed two stable components and one presented spatially inhomogeneous magnetization directions, something difficult to explain if the signal had been introduced later on Earth. In Xataka We have a serious problem in our plans to colonize Mars: the astronauts’ blood is mutating Why is it important. The detected signals suggest that these materials originated in an early phase of the solar system, approximately between 3 and 7 million years after its formation. They also point to water alteration processes in the asteroid’s parent body. So we can say with great confidence that Ryugu is not just a pile of rocks: it is a valuable archive of the early solar system that has allowed us to better understand the magnetic environment of those times. Images | JAXA In Xataka | NASA is on its heels, so it has made a decision: advance its return to the Moon to 2030 (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 A 4.6 billion-year-old “recorder” was hidden in asteroid dust: what it said changes what we knew was originally published in Xataka by Javier Marquez .

Science is clear that being a good person gives happiness. The problem is the hidden cost of “overdoing it”

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Since we were little, society has bombarded us with a very clear message: you have to be good people. It’s a moral imperative, yes, but over the past few decades science has attempted to answer a much more pragmatic question: does being kind to others have a real impact on our happiness? This is where A group of researchers wanted to give an answer. What we know. The answer to this question is ‘yes’ according to the latest articles that have been published on the matter. But we must keep in mind that taking kindness to the extreme, leaving our ‘skin’ for others without attending to our own needs, has a real impact that translates into burnout and also in a great emotional exhaustion. And surely, some people can see themselves very reflected in these concepts of literally being very ‘burned out’ for being very kind to others and attending to all the favors they ask of you without thinking about oneself. The positive part. The idea that “good people are happier” is not a simple phrase of Mr. Wonderfulbut it is a conclusion with solid empirical support, especially in the field of positive psychology. Here the researchers were able to see, for example, in a Japanese sample that happier people performed more daily acts of kindness. What’s more, they found that forcing people to simply “count” their own kind acts for a week measurably increased their happiness. There are more studies. Beyond this case, which is very classic, the bibliography leaves us with a great meta-analysis that reviewed decades of research to conclude that help, donate or support others is consistently associated with persistently higher well-being, even if modest in some cases. Something that was also demonstrated in the experimental works of Sonja Lyubomirskywhich made it clear that assigning a group of people the task of “performing acts of kindness” significantly increases their well-being compared to control groups. The negative part. If being good is so positive… Should we give ourselves to others without limit? The answer here is a resounding ‘no’. As has always been heard, the middle ground is where virtue lies, since reaching absolute altruism causes compassion fatigue and burnout. And it is no wonder, because altruism taken to the extreme, especially in highly demanding contexts, is dangerous. The studies on health professionals and caregivers clearly show that high exposure to the suffering of others, combined with a strong compassionate orientation but without clear limits, triggers the risk of psychological collapse and, therefore, serious problems such as anxiety. Its consequences. An empirical study on altruism that exists among co-workers revealed that, although constantly helping colleagues encourages cooperation, in the long term it is associated with great emotional exhaustion and depersonalization of the relationship. That is, the system collapses if aid becomes chronic and absorbs own resources. And the problem is that when people are very compassionate with the rest of the world, they are usually incapable of being very compassionate with themselves and have much greater wear and tear. Here empathy needs a protective shield that is nothing more nor less than a series of limits regarding interpersonal relationships. Although logically there are cases that are difficult to mark because we tend to be too kind. The society. To fully understand the picture of human goodness, one must do zoom out since it is not about what we do individually, but about the ecosystem where we are living. Here the World Happiness Report 2025 dedicate an entire chapter to analyze on a global level how kindness and happiness interact. And their conclusions are revealing, since they point out that the greatest predictor of individual happiness is not the frequency with which we do good acts, but the expectation that others will do good things too. In this case, the report gives a very illustrative example: the expectation that, if you lose your wallet, a stranger will return it to you. Here, believing in the goodness of others has a brutal impact on reducing inequality of happiness within a country, and as the SDSN network points out In their adaptation of the data for Spain, “believing in the goodness of others is much more related to happiness than previously thought.” Images | Brooke Cagle In Xataka | If the question is “where is the secret to happiness,” an expert believes it is hidden in these 15 statements

has now created the first chemical map of the hidden face

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While NASA chokes on the MoonChina is going like a rocket. Not literally, but they lack little. The satelliteand has become a priority again in space exploration due to its potential in scientific research, but also like mine and even as a ‘battery’and everyone wants their share of the space cheese. China is completing steps at an astonishing speed in their goal of going to the satellite and has just reached another milestone: they have created the first chemical map of the hidden side of the moon. And it is something with the potential to accelerate the next steps on the satellite. In short. A investigation conducted by the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Tongji University and the Shanghai Institute of Technical Physics has led to chemical mapping of the entire satellite. That includes something that was “unexplored” in this sense until now: the hidden face. Until nowalmost half of the lunar surface that remains hidden from our eyes was “uncharted chemical territory” because… well, we hadn’t been there. In the Apollo missions, materials were collected that allowed, together with the observation missions, to carry out this chemical profile of the satellite, but only of the visible part. It is, in short, where we had been. The Chang’e-6 mission changed that when, in June 2024, returned from his mission on the hidden side with about two kilos of material from the South Pole-Aitken basin. AI. They were the first samples collected from the far side and the only thing researchers could cling to if they wanted to develop that chemical profile of the satellite. It is, so that we understand each other, like the DNI, and to create the chemical map, they have used artificial intelligence. They dumped the sample data along with other orbital spectral data collected by the multiband imager. Kaguya from Japan and, after a process of data cleaning and refinement, the researchers have mapped the distribution of six large groups of oxides. We are talking about iron, titanium, aluminum, silicon, calcium and magnesium, and this is something that allows us to develop a hypothetical historical profile of the Moon. For example, we now know that the highlands have a higher concentration of magnesian rocks compared to the visible side. And even if you think “so what,” this indicates that the Moon’s magma ocean crystallized asymmetrically: first in one of the hemispheres and then in the other. Importance. There is still data to be revealed, but this chemical map is more important than it may seem. It is a different way of mapping the satellite and… well, it conditions everything we want to do on the Moon soon. Rough wayis a key advance to understand both the elemental composition and the geological evolution of the planet. You can also create a chronology of impacts and something more “useful”: it is a guide for future missions. By having data on the composition of the soil and the probability that there are more or less resources In certain areas, this chemical map allows moon landing sites to be selected based on very specific data. For example, if future missions want to focus on collecting regolith rich in certain elements, the chemical map is a thread of clues to pull on. Future. Because we are no longer talking about “well, when we return to the Moon…” we are talking about powers that have very clear plans not only to send automated probes, but to set foot, again, on the satellite. He NASA’s Artemis program -which continues to accumulate problems- will be the first manned flight around the Moon in 50 years, and future trips They are aiming for lunar landings. China, for its part, wants to send the Chang’e 7 probe to the south pole in search of ice; Chang’e 8 to test the utilization of resources directly on the satellite and manned flight missions for 2028 and a moon landing in 2030. Russia was also in the loop with the Luna project, as well as the creation of the space base in collaboration with China, but its solo projects have been delayed. Therefore, the fact that we have the first chemical map of the satellite is not only an achievement to satisfy scientific curiosity, but also a guide for those future missions on the ground. In Xataka | Mars was the great space battleground between China and the US. Now it’s the Moon and there’s too much at stake

There is a luxury development in Madrid that has been “hidden” for years and is stealing the spotlight from La Finca and La Moraleja

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If we think about luxury developments in Madrid, names like La Finca or La Moraleja probably come to mind. However, there is a new player on the Madrid luxury real estate board, one that has gone unnoticed for decades and has recently become fashionable among the richest. Low profile. Álamos de Bularas is an urbanization that has been standing since the 1980s, but has gone unnoticed in the shadow of more high-profile names such as its neighbor La Finca. Its strong point is precisely that: combining luxury and exclusivity with a lower profile and less media noise than other areas. But just because it is not the most famous urbanization does not mean that it does not offer high-level luxury; a search on housing portals most popular returns us a few properties that border and even exceed 4 million euros. Tranquility is what is most sought after. Like other luxury developments such as La Finca, Somosaguas or Monte Alina, our protagonist is located in Pozuelo de Alarcón (which by the way is the richest municipality in all of Spain) specifically in the northwest area. Álamos de Bulara is a fairly small urbanization, located next to Monte del Pilar, a forested area of ​​about 800 hectares. Access is closed and has private security. The location factor. In statements to the AD Magazinethe head of the Ketier real estate agency highlights that location is a key factor for more and more buyers to look at Álamos de Bularas. The urbanization is very well connected, with access to both the M40 and the A6, allowing its residents to be in the center of Madrid in less than half an hour and in the center of Pozuelo in just 10 minutes. In addition, it is very close to some prestigious private schools and sports clubs. The new refuge for VIPs. The housing crisis is also impacting how and where the wealthiest shop. We were recently talking about luxury apartments in Madrid were so expensivewhich urbanizations like La Moraleja or La Finca were becoming more “affordable” options“for the great fortunes. According to a Colliers report A year ago, the square meter in neighborhoods such as Salamanca or Chamberí reached peaks that exceeded 27,000 euros per square meter. This has caused many buyers to seek residence in peripheral areas, where demand has increased. In Xataka | The rich neighborhoods of Madrid and Barcelona have changed their accent: millionaires from the US and Mexico invest their fortunes in Spain Image | Max Vakhtbovych, Pexels

that is on the hidden side of the Moon

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Just as it happens when you want to see a shower of stars or meteorites, to observe the universe well you have to flee from civilization. If you are looking for an elevated place, all the better. That explains why there are large observatories in the Atacama desert in Chile, in the Roque de los Muchachos from La Palma or the Square Kilometer Array in Australia and South Africa: deserts, volcanic peaks or remote plains are ideal candidates. That on Earth. Astronomer Jack Burns, whose career began in the late 1970s in the Very Large Array of New Mexicohas spent his entire professional life defending that the next big jump is the Moon. Time is proving him right. The Earth is not enough. Clear skies, a dry atmosphere (humidity distorts signals), and getting away from humanity’s electromagnetic noise are essential to having a good observatory. But as Burns has seen firsthand, even in an environment as privileged as that of the VLA, there are insurmountable limits to knowing more about the origin of the universe for two reasons: Earth’s ionosphere blocks much of that low-frequency spectrum. There is still electromagnetic pollution from humanity, for example electrical, telecommunications, radar infrastructures… that mask the signal. The problem of signs of the beginning of the universe. The most abundant element in the universe is neutral hydrogen, but while in the laboratory it emits at 21 centimeters of wavelength, if the signal arrives from the dark ages traveling through the universe, it reaches the Earth stretched to a range that cannot be heard well. From Earth. These radio signals from the cosmic dark ages, a period of between 200 and 400 million years that It started “only” 380,000 years after the Big Bangare really weak and reach frequencies below 50 MHz (very low), so it is difficult to capture them from Earth. Hajor. Wikimedia CC BY-SA 3.0 The solution is on the far side of the moon. The far side of the moon is probably one of the quietest places in the inner Solar system as the mass of the satellite serves as a kind of natural shield that blocks terrestrial and solar signals. When it’s night on the moon (a night that can last up to 14 Earth days), it is possible to achieve almost complete electromagnetic silence: without direct solar radiation and without interference from the Earth. Ideal for listening to the cosmos. Why is it important. Hearing about the dark cosmic age sounds abstract, but being able to observe them would be useful to better specify the models that explain how the first stars and galaxies were formed, not to mention the advances it would allow in the observation of dark matter, dark energy or gravitational waves. In addition, it opens the doors for the moon to become a permanent scientific platform for humanity. This is the LuSEE-Night radio telescope. It’s time for presentations: Lunar Surface Electromagnetics Experiment – Night It is the radio telescope designed to take advantage of that silence. It operates in a range from 0.1 to 50 MHz with the goal of mapping the first low-frequency sky and potentially capturing those first signs of the dark ages. Technically, it had to overcome contradictory demands: it was required to have high sensitivity to detect the weakest signals and, at the same time, high resistance to deal with a hostile lunar environment with large thermal variations. This minimizes its own noise so as not to dirty the listening and with the ability to communicate with the Earth. A winding path. The program has been full of disappointments: in 2024, the first American lunar landing in 50 years, the Odysseus module, landed poorly and broke a leg. It only had time to transmit two hours of data, enough time to at least confirm that the hardware was working. In March 2025, Firefly’s Blue Ghost 1 achieved the first successful private lunar landing and now LuSEE-Night will travel on its successor, Blue Ghost 2, which will land on the far side of the moon without anyone on Earth being able to see it. What comes next. If LuSEE-Night is successful, the roadmap is ambitious: develop FarViewa colossal lunar interferometer on a larger scale that would allow the study of the dark ages with a precision hitherto impossible. The project would begin assembly in the 2030s and would have initial funding from NASA. In Xataka | The hidden side of the Moon is no longer a mystery. A NASA camera is to blame In Xataka | The far side of the Moon hid an icy secret. We finally know why it is so different from what we see Cover | NASA/Firefly Aerospace

After “skincare”, the new cosmetic fever focuses on one of the most hidden corners of the body: the scalp

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For years the message was simple: maintain good hydration and, please, do not go to sleep without removing your makeup. Then we immersed ourselves and fell in love with a new trend: the skincare and his feared ten steps exported from South Korea. Now, in 2026, when it seems that we already have the keys to a good routine integrated, and our pulse does not tremble when deciding whether the serum goes before or after the moisturizing cream, a new task arises. In the midst of a fever to optimize health, the focus moves a few centimeters higher: the scalp. The ten-step routine falls short It is increasingly common to find yourself in cities or, failing that, on TikTok, with centers of hair spa Japanese inspired. Cranial massage, activation of energy points, water jets and hair diagnosisall seasoned with an environment that offers an experience of absolute relaxation. With a proposal this striking, it is not surprising that these treatments have become the new object of desire. beauty. But, as happens with almost everything that promises well-being and succeeds on social networks, an inevitable question arises: are we facing a new gesture to care for our well-being based on science or a new fashion without much sense? This “instagrammable” fusion of hair care with moments of relaxation was born in Asia but the franchise Japanese Head Spathanks to viral videos, has awakened the desire of thousands of users and has managed to adapt the treatment to the European public; especially when emphasizing the relaxation and well-being part. (Unsplash) Aída García, the promoter of the business, discovered the technique at a fair in Miami, but also through TikTok videos, mostly from accounts in Saudi Arabia, where many users wondered when something like this would arrive in Spain. It was then that it detected this gap in the market and decided to take the step, currently having more than 25 centers spread throughout the national territory. “It seems easy, but behind it there are years of experience, an incredible team and a very strong focus on marketing; for example, TikTok has been key because every time we upload a video, our agenda fills up” Aida Garcia, promoter of Japanese Head Spa It is clear that the virality and striking nature of the treatment is what attracts so many users, helping the proliferation of these establishments. Not in vain, these types of centers top the list of trends in spas and wellness, with a 233% increase in searches in 2025 compared to the previous year according to the report SpaSeekers. But there is undoubtedly another compelling reason for this growth. And it is that in a day to day where they prevail the rush and frenetic paceany help to lower the revs is welcome: “They come here from girls who give it to their mothers because they have seen it on TikTok, women aged 30-40 who come accompanied by their partners or grandmothers with their granddaughters. Nowadays, when we have cortisol through the roof and we are going a mile an hour, everyone needs to stop, that is why a hair spa treatment is super giftable,” explains García. This trend around the globe has meant that the endless skincare routines with ingredients such as hyaluronic acid or niacinamide are also transferred to scalp care. As an example, the term “scalp serum” recorded, for much of 2025, a monthly average of more than 910,000 results on social networks such as Instagram or TikTok; assuming an increase of 77% compared to the previous year. Furthermore, if we focus on the global market, sales of products and treatments dedicated to the scalp grew by 4.2% in 2024 and the trend continued to increase in 2025, the year in which articles intended for this area of ​​the body reached 9.6 billion of dollars. (Unsplash) South Korea is not far behind in this trend, honoring its deep cult of beauty. What’s more, the debate about hair loss has transcended the merely aesthetic and has become a public policy issue thanks to the South Korean president and his proposal to cover baldness treatments by the national health insurance. According to Lee, for many young people the problem has stopped being aesthetic and has become “a survival question“On the other hand, when it comes to the viral, there are many spa centers in the country in which famous and influencers enjoy those 15 or 18 steps which includes the Head Spa treatment promising to cleanse, revitalize and balance the scalp. Indeed, the entire experience of this ritual, if we focus on its relaxation aspect, is something positive and can benefit us. However, it is when it comes to hair diagnosis and the avalanche of products with active ingredients where we have to put the brakes on and be more cautious. There are no shortcuts to healthy hair The truth is that although these spas claim that in general they are treatments suitable for all types of hair and scalp, they always urge people with specific conditions such as psoriasis to consult with a dermatologist first. And that’s what we have done, although to satisfy all our doubts: “People have a profound lack of knowledge about health in general, and about the aesthetics and health of the skin and hair in particular, it is something that I see a lot in consultation, that false sense of information. Sometimes they make cherry-picking and they do not know how to relate the concepts, which in the end is the most important thing,” says Dr. Silvia Berjón, a specialist in trichology. The Glowmour Clinic doctor agrees with the sensory and well-being benefits that these treatments provide. Emphasizing “the value of human contact and the release of oxytocin that can cause this relaxation process.” Furthermore, from its focus on longevity medicine emphasizes that not only healthy habits influence a longer and fuller life but, as supported by science, “also activities that nourish emotionally and help reduce stress”, such as these types of rituals. Even … Read more

While the whole world looks at oil, Venezuela’s true treasure is hidden in the basements of London: its gold

by

Perhaps the great treasure of Venezuela not oil. In fact, since the United States attacked Caracasa series of theories have begun to be heard loudly that have a common denominator: the greatest Venezuelan loot is thousands of kilometers from the nation, under the soil of the capital of the United Kingdom. The gold trapped in London. Yes, under the streets of the cityin the vaults of the Bank of England, remain immobilized about 31 tons of gold belonging to Venezuela, an asset that in 2020 was valued around 1.4 billion pounds and that today it is worth much more after the strong rebound of the metal price. The capture of Nicolás Maduro for the United States has returned This issue is brought to the international forefront, reopening a question that has been without a clear answer for years: who really has the right to control these reserves. Although global attention often focuses on Venezuelan oil, gold represents about 15% of the country’s foreign reserves and has become a key piece of a political, legal and geopolitical pulse that far transcends Caracas. Recognition and blocking. The origin of the blockage dates back to 2018after a disputed presidential election and the tightening of sanctions promoted by Trump during his first term. The United Kingdom, along with dozens of countries, stopped recognizing Maduro as legitimate president and, under pressure from the Venezuelan opposition, refused to authorize the repatriation of the gold, alleging the risk that it would be used to prop up an authoritarian regime or directly diverted. Added to this, as later revealed former national security advisor John Bolton, an express request from Washington for London to maintain the blockade, which placed the British central bank and the Government at the center of a battle that mixed international law, sanctions and diplomacy. Bank of England A judicial labyrinth. In 2020, Caracas went to court British to claim the gold, arguing that they needed those funds to deal with the pandemic. However, the process became complicated when Juan Guaidó, then recognized by London As interim president, he also claimed ownership of the reserves. The litigation led to a legal tangle about who the Bank of England should obey, a question that remains unresolved even after Guaidó lost international recognition. The result is a legal limbo in which the gold remains immobilized, without any of the parties being able to dispose of it. Piracy accusations. From the Chavista environment, the retention of gold was denounced as an act of “piracy”an accusation made at the time by Delcy Rodríguez, which was later marred by the scandal known as Delcygate following his alleged secret trip to Madrid in 2020 despite an EU entry ban and the alleged sale of Venezuelan bullion. Although Rodríguez has adopted a more conciliatory tone After the fall of Maduro, offering cooperation to the United States, the British position remains firm: Foreign Minister Yvette Cooper has reiterated that London maintains political pressure because it considers it key to force a democratic transition, even underlining the formal independence of the Bank of England in the management of assets. The dangerous precedent. The Venezuelan case is not an exception, but rather part of a trend increasingly controversial: the immobilization of sovereign reserves in a context of growing geopolitical confrontation. We have told it: after the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Western countries froze about 300,000 million of dollars from the Russian central bank, largely deposited in Eurocleara measure that has generated tensions with Moscow and has revived the debate about the security of keeping assets abroad. Historically, these sanctions have been rare but not unprecedented, from the Soviet confiscation of Romanian gold in 1918 to blockades of countries like Iran or North Korea in the second half of the 20th century. Global distrust. Thus, the climate of uncertainty is leading many countries to rethink where do you keep your reservesdriving repatriation movements and fueling the recent gold rally as an active refuge. For analysts and central banks, the Venezuelan episode is a clear warning of how politics can interfere with assets that were traditionally considered untouchable. While the Bank of England remains officially silent (and many ingots), Venezuelan gold remains buried under London, converted into a symbol of an increasingly international financial order. more fragile and politicized. Image | Bank of England, Eluveitie In Xataka | The mission in Caracas revealed that the best kept secret in the US is not a drone: it is called DAP and you will not see it in the movies In Xataka | The attack on Venezuela has recovered an uncomfortable truth: that it would not have happened to North Korea for a very simple reason

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