humanity

The fascinating migration route of humanity since its beginnings, on a striking map

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The map you see above these lines has a strange orientation and a curious coloration, but its meaning is essential for the human species: it summarizes at a glance that everyone comes from the same place and that it took us 200,000 years to get everywhere. Spoiler: in the long run, we all come from Africa. Our ancestors moved, the question is when, how and where. What is this mapto. These answers are synthesized by the map “A Walk Through Time“, the work of cartographer Jeff Blossom from the Harvard Center for Geographic Analysis, dates back to 2013 and is part of the National Geographic Out of Eden Walk project. For its preparation, he used data from National Geographic Maps and ESRI geospatial layers. The map uses a special projection to stretch the world map without any ocean cutting it (Dymaxion map or Fuller projection) and the colors follow the rainbow: red represents the oldest and magenta the most recent. That is, from 200,000 years ago in Africa to America about 10,000 years ago. The years that appear on the map are thousands of years before the present and indicate when humans arrived in each area. A Walk Through Time: Human Migration Throughout History. harvard Why is it important. Because a picture is worth a thousand words, which science has spent maintaining and demonstrating that all modern humans (Homo sapiens) descend from the same African population. For example, a button: almost 40 years ago Cann, Stoneking and Wilson analyzed mitochondrial DNA from 147 people from around the world and concluded that we all share a common African ancestor. The map is also important for political reasons: we live in a time when there are people who see migration as a threat. This map reminds us that moving is natural to our species. In fact, the sedentarization of human populations It is a relatively recent phenomenon. The origin. As in a video game, the “Start” is in East Africa, in the Great Rift Valley, the area of ​​Ethiopia, Kenya and Tanzania. There is the region with the highest concentration of ancient human fossils: the oldest remains of Homo sapiens come from the Omo Kibish sites (Ethiopia), which are about 195,000 years old. However, the oldest known human fossils come from Jebel Irhoud (Morocco), with 300,000 years behind it. For more than 130,000 years, humans lived inside Africa without leaving, or at least without leaving a record of it. The great journey of humanity. 60,000 years ago, something happened that invited humanity to leave Africa, perhaps climate, demographics, or both. The best-known route took the southern coast of Asia and reached Asia in less than 15,000 years. Europe was populated between 45,000 and 35,000 years ago, leaving some of the first works of art in history, such as the paintings in the Chauvet cave (France, about 36,000 years ago) or Altamira (Spain, about 35,000 years ago). Evolutionarily speaking, in no time we covered Eurasia. The sites show that America was the last great conquest of humanity: the first crossed Beringia, between Siberia and Alaska, between 20,000 and 15,000 years ago. However, there are sites such as Chiquihuite Cave (Mexico) that suggest previous arrivals. The tip of South America is the furthest point that humanity has reached from Africa. And that white line? As a curiosity, the white line corresponds to the path of Paul Salopek, a journalist who it was proposed travel the 42,000 kilometers that separate the origin of the species from Tierra del Fuego. What the map doesn’t say. The map is a great simplification: there was no orderly migration that advances in such a clear and clean way through regions: there were multiple exitsreturns, mixtures with neanderthals and extinctions in the process. In short: everything is much more complex than this rainbow map. A good example is Australia: the map places it between 50,000 and 45,000 years before the present, but there are archaeological evidence from 65,000 years ago. The map does not stand out for its precision, but it serves to give us a glimpse of where we came from and how much it cost us to get here. In Xataka | The great demographic transformation of Spain: the surprising graph that summarizes 35 years of migration In Xataka | The two types of countries in the world, on a map: those that are becoming demographically extinct and those that are not Cover | Harvard, out of Eden

SpaceX has already launched more satellites than all of humanity combined. And it will remain that way for a long time

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SpaceX went public just a few days ago, so that is the main topic of conversation around Elon Musk’s space company. However, in the meantime, he has broken a record that has gone much more unnoticed. As explained In his Twitter account, former space industry executive Christian Keil, SpaceX has already launched more satellites into space than all of humanity combined. Colossal figures. As of June 12, when the publication was made, SpaceX had launched a total of 15,262 satellites. The sum of satellites launched by all agencies, public or private, since the space race began in 1957, is 15,138. The most curious thing is that SpaceX has existed since 2002, so it has done in just over 2 decades the same thing as all humans dedicated to space in 70 years. Advances in rockets. Much of SpaceX’s success is due to the advances made in rocket manufacturing and reuse. Its first successful launch took place in 2008, with Falcon 1. It was coming off 3 failed launches and the company was on the line. A fourth failure could have bankrupted him. However, everything went well and just two years later the company’s first great colossus arrived: Falcon 9. As reported from spaceIn 2025 alone, this rocket has been launched 165 times. Most of the launches have been loaded with satellites for the Starlink constellation, in which Elon Musk hopes to have 40,000 satellites. Unless another company suddenly gets its act together, it doesn’t seem like SpaceX is going to lose the record. More releases. In addition to the Starlink satellites, SpaceX is now very focused on its space race to the Moon and Mars. They are already one of the two main private partners of the Artemis Program, but they do not leave aside their individual dream of traveling to the two most coveted space objectives for human beings. That will mean a lot of launches, but also data centers will do it that Elon Musk wants to launch in his quest to diversify the company and turn it into an artificial intelligence giant. It hopes to eventually place a million data centers in space. The launches would be made with its Starship rocket, which is still in the testing phase, although it must move quickly to comply with the steps agreed with NASA. for Artemis III. Most launches are loaded with satellites Satellites only. We should not confuse the launch of satellites with that of rockets in general. For now, the record broken by SpaceX has been around the launch of satellites. If we consider ships for any purpose, the sum of all humanity has launched more. Sticking to the releases, The Soviet Union alone carried out more than 2,000while SpaceX is behind 682 launches. It is true that SpaceX launches are more concentrated in time, but its record is based on the fact that each rocket is usually loaded with many satellites. Even so, the pace does not stop and Elon Musk has already expressed on occasion his interest in launching more than a thousand Starship ships per year. If that is true, it would soon surpass the Soviet Union and, perhaps, eventually, all of humanity. This satellite thing is just the beginning. Image | SpaceX | US Space Force In Xataka | Elon Musk knows that TSMC is overwhelmed: Terafab is his idea to completely change the global chip industry

There is a spontaneous competition to design the “Flag of Humanity.” And the best design is an engraving of Voyager

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It is more than seen and proven that borders and flags sometimes become the focus of conflicts and enmities. The fact of seeing our own planet from the outsidethrough the images taken by Artemis II, helps us understand that, deep down, we are all part of the same whole. A whole that still does not have its own flag. Therefore, for many years now and then someone has proposed a single flag for all of humanity. Now, with everything related to the trip to the Moon, the proposals are once again reaching social networks. The first proposal. In 1970, an Illinois farmer named James Cadle, inspired by the landing of humans on the Moon on Apollo 11, decided to create a flag that represented our entire planet. The result was a simple flag, easy to reproduce, in which the Earth is seen as a blue marble, accompanied by a smaller white one, representing the Moon. The background was yellow and black, in honor of the Sun and the blackness of space. The flag was first raised on a rural power pole that Cadle himself climbed, but has since been part of several space projects. More minimalist concepts. Continuing with the minimalist and, above all, unifying concepts, in 2000 the Danish designer Anne Kirstine Rønhede designed a new flag of Earth. This time there was also a light blue marble, surrounded by a white border representing its atmosphere and a darker blue background representing the cosmos. A symbol of unity. In 2015, Swedish designer Oskar Pernefeldt created another flag of Earth. Seven linked circles are represented, one for each continent. It is hoped that it can be used as a symbol of Earth on future missions to Mars. Science enters the scene. The arrival on the Moon of Artemis II has inspired more people to look for a flag that represents us as a planet. And since it was science that got us there, the most recent proposals focus precisely on it. The pioneers in this type of messages were Frank Drake and Carl Saganwho in the 70s decided to compose messages that combined the scientific knowledge of humanity to launch them into space in search of possible intelligent life. This is how the Pioneer Plaque emerged, a physical gold-anodized aluminum plate that was attached to the Pioneer 10 and 11 probes, in case an alien civilization intercepted the ship. To cover more space, they also designed a radio message, which was named the Arecibo message. It was a signal transmitted through the Arecibo radio telescope, hence its name. A flag based on the Pioneer Plaque. Recently, 2D and 3D designer braingrub has proposed in your X account an Earth flag based on one of the components of the Pioneer Plaque. This is the pulsar map, a diagram that indicates our exact location in the Milky Way. Pulsars are a type of star that is used to map space, because they emit radio rays at very regular and specific periods. Like a unique lighthouse. On the map there are 14 lines that indicate different pulsars located around the Earth. Each line also contains symbols that indicate, in binary, the exact pulse of each of these pulsars. Thus, through its unique pulse, you can find those headlights and, through the relative distance represented in the lines, find the Sun, which is the point at which all of them converge. From the Sun to the Earth, everything would be simpler for an intelligent civilization. An ideal moment. It is not surprising that this is one of the most interesting Earth flag proposals that we can find on the Internet. Without a doubt, the concept is very suggestive, especially in a time when we increasingly see how much we lack unity as humanity. Images | NASA | James Cadle | Anne Kirstine Rønhede | Oskar Pernefeldt |braingrub In Xataka | Artemis II has five different hot sauces on board: the reason is a radical change in what we consider “space food”

Artemis II takes off successfully and humanity returns to the Moon after more than 50 years

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Artemis II It has taken off successfully and we are not facing just any launch. What we have seen marks the return of beings humans heading to the Moon more than half a century after the last missions of the Apollo program, a milestone that for decades seemed reserved for the history books. This time, furthermore, it is not just about returning, but about taking a crew further from Earth than any human being has gone in more than half a century, in a mission designed to validate NASA’s deep exploration system in real conditions. To understand the dimension of this takeoff, it is worth stopping for a moment at what exactly Artemis II is. The mission represents the first crewed flight of NASA’s new exploration system, which combines the Orion spacecraft, the SLS rocket and the Kennedy Space Center’s ground systems. For approximately ten days, the astronauts will evaluate the behavior of the ship in real deep space conditions, something that until now had only been tested without people on board. NASA itself raises it as an essential step to pave the way for future missions designed to return to the lunar surface. The journey that returns humans to the lunar environment Before reaching this moment, what we have had has been a countdown with some tension. In the hours before, the teams had to review an anomaly in a temperature sensor of a battery of the abort system, which NASA attributed to an instrumentation problem and which, according to the agency, would not affect the launch. Added to this was another incident in the flight termination system, the safety mechanism that allows the rocket to be destroyed if it deviates from its trajectory and poses a threat, a problem that placed the mission in “no go.” Both setbacks were left behind before takeoff and are now part of the background of a day that finally went ahead. The planned flight path of Artemis II Over the next few days, what we will see will be a relatively short, but very demanding mission. After launch, the spacecraft will first enter a high orbit around the Earth for about 24 hours to check that all systems are working correctly, before beginning the journey to the Moon. From there, the crew will perform various maneuvers, including a manual control test and approach to the upper stage of the SLS, to validate Orion’s behavior in real situations. The plan is to circle the Moon and return without setting foot on our satelliteon a journey of about ten days designed to rehearse each key phase of the trip. The crew of Artemis II If you look at the crew, What we find is a very measured mix of experience and symbolism. Reid Wiseman is the mission commander, accompanied by Victor Glover as pilot and Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen as mission specialists, four profiles who have already experienced space first-hand. Together they have accumulated 660 days in orbit and 12 spacewalks, which fits with a mission in which every decision counts. Added to that is something that also weighs: Koch will be the first woman to travel to the Moon and Hansen the first non-American to do so, opening a new stage in who is part of these trips. There is a detail that touches us a little more closely and that we should not lose sight of. Part of this mission also passes through Spainspecifically by Tres Cantos, in Madrid, where Airbus Crisa has designed, manufactured and validated the Thermal Control Unit of the European Service Moduleintegrated into Orion. This system is responsible for supplying air and water to the crew and maintaining the temperature within appropriate levels for both the astronauts and the equipment. It is a discreet piece within the whole, but without it it would not be possible to sustain a mission like this in safe conditions. In development. Images | POT In Xataka | The Artemis II astronauts will carry out experiments in what will be their own study models

Humanity has been wondering for years how to adapt to climate change. The Mayans already achieved it centuries ago

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Beyond its architecture, urban planning and art, there is an aspect of the Mayan civilization that fascinates archaeologists: its decline. Over time, historians have understood that the decline was not sudden nor did it respond to a single factor, rather there was a sum that included changes in trade routes, wars and, above all, adverse weather, with droughts. severe and prolonged. Now we know something more. Even during the stages of Classic Terminal (800-1000 AD) and Postclassic (1000-1500 AD), while large urban centers succumbed, there were settlements that adapted to climate changes. What has happened? Which a group of archaeologists has just published an article in which they capture their years of research in a Mayan settlement located in ‘Birds of Paradise’, some wetlands located in the north of Belize. The site itself is not new. Scientists identified it long ago a few years with the help of lidara tool that is revolutionizing archaeology. What is new are the conclusions that its analysis has left. He study is published in the magazine PNAS (Proceedings of the National Academy of Science) and, among other issues, concludes that the wetland offers valuable information about how the Mayans responded to the social and environmental changes they dealt with during two crucial stages of their history: the Classic Terminal and Postclassic, a period that goes from the 9th to the 16th centuries. What have they found out? As they explain from New York University (NYU), to which the main author of the study belongs, one of the most interesting readings that the site leaves is the extent to which the Mayans adapted to the vagaries of the climate. Basically, researchers have proven that at a time when large urban centers were abandoned, pressured in part by intense droughtsthere were Mayan settlements that managed to survive in the wetlands. As? For its ability to adapt to the environment. And how did they do it? Taking advantage of the means they had at hand. “Wetlands provided resources for hunting and fishing to ancient populations, in addition to serving as refuge in periods of drought and social upheavals,” they explain from NYU. The environment supplied them with something else, equally or even more valuable for their settlements: construction materials. The site in question that they have analyzed in Belize in fact includes eight mounds of earth that could have served as a base for building buildings and a large elevated limestone platform. The experts also rescued wooden posts, animal remains and ceramic artifacts, clues that tell us about how life continued while other nearby urban centers declined. What do the experts say? “Together these findings reveal a highly adaptable community with diverse tools, food and construction materials. It shows us that Mayan communities could change habitats and survive extreme climates,” explains Timothy Beachprofessor at the University of Texas at Austin, who nevertheless recognizes that “we still do not know the size of this wetland population and its functioning.” Now archaeologists aim to go one step further. “Our next moves include expanding the excavations to understand how the Mayans built with unconventional wood, how they ate, and how this settlement fit into a region that was suffering from widespread abandonment.” Why is it important? Because of the historical era we are talking about. In their article, the researchers assure that the Belize site demonstrates the ability of the ancient Mayans to adapt to “the profound challenges” that they had to live through from the 9th century AD. For reference, a team led by the University of Cambridge discovered not long ago that between 871 and 1021 they happened eight persistent droughtsof at least three years, in the Yucatán Peninsula. The worst of all actually lasted more than a decade. The scientists arrived at that conclusion after analyzing a stalagmite from a Yucatan cave. And, beyond how spectacular it may be, the data is interesting because it tells us about the challenges that the Mayans faced during the Terminal Classic (800-1000 AD), when the limestone cities of the south they were abandonedthe dynasties declined and civilization moved north, losing part of its political and economic power in the area. Are there more conclusions? “As the large urban centers of the Mayan regions succumbed to interconnected socio-environmental factors, the communities of the Birds of Paradise complex persisted through that transition by constructing a series of elevated structures of earth, stone and wood with direct access to the abundant resources and connectivity offered by the riparian wetland system,” reads the article published in PNAS. “It provides evidence for persistent populations between the Elevated Interior Region and coastal regions during the Terminal Classic to Postclassic. While nearby highland urban centers were abandoned, this population continued to emphasize wetland agriculture and provides our best evidence for other subsistence strategies, such as fishing and gathering other proteins, reflected in the faunal assemblage,” they add the researchers. What did they dig? That is another of the surprises that the study leaves behind. Archaeologists discovered what NYU describes as “the largest collection of architectural wood” located inland, as well as artifacts that help historians understand everyday life in the wetlands. It may seem like a minor issue, but it is not common to find remains of wood in Mayan sites. On the contrary. Their very nature causes them to degrade in tropical environments. In Belize, experts have discovered “a unique opportunity” which allows them to better understand how the ancient Mayans built, what types of wood they used and how they used each one. Is it so uncommon? The majority of preserved Mayan wooden remains are figurines, spears and boxes that were recovered mainly in caves in Belize at the beginning of the 20th century. Remains have also been found in mountainous and saline areas in the south of the country. The new findings go further. “It challenges long-held beliefs that sites like this could not survive in the American tropics and suggests we might be overlooking similar sites,” admits Lara Sánchez-Morales, professor of anthropology … Read more

Mexico was supposed to be giving oil to Cuba out of “humanity.” Now we know that he was charging millions

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On the coast of Veracruz, Mexico’s diplomatic and energy machinery has applied the handbrake. The image of the ship Ocean Marinerdocking in Havana on January 9 with 85,000 barrels of crude oil, seems to be the last postcard of an era that is abruptly closing. As confirmed France 24that was the last successful shipment before geopolitics cut off the flow. His replacement, Swift Galaxywas scheduled to sail in mid-January, but his trip was quietly canceled and he disappeared from the logistical calendar of Mexican Petroleum, how they have advanced in The Country. What happens in Mexican ports is the reflection of a tension that goes beyond commercial matters. After the American intervention in Venezuela on January 3 and the fall of Nicolás Maduro, the president of the United States, Donald Trump, was blunt: “No more money or oil will reach Cuba. Zero.” The threat was accompanied by an executive order that promises tariffs on any nation that supplies crude oil to the island, which Trump has described as a “failed nation.” Caught in this crossfire, Claudia Sheinbaum’s government navigates between two waters. On the one hand, it defends the “sovereignty” of helping a sister nation; On the other hand, in the Washington offices, their own accounting books tell another story: formal businesses and punctual payments that refute the purely humanitarian narrative. Solidarity after the storm From the National Palace, the speech has tried to avoid direct confrontation appealing to history. President Sheinbaum has reiterated that Mexico, faithful to its diplomatic tradition of voting against the blockade from day one, has the sovereign power to decide whether to “sell or give” oil to Cuba. This rhetoric gained strength at the end of 2024. After the collapse of the Cuban electrical system and the devastating passage of Hurricane Rafael in November, the Mexican government started labeling their shipments under the umbrella of “humanitarian aid.” However, here the enigma arises. Although the president assures that there is a humanitarian donation channel other than the commercial one, her administration has not offered specific figures on how many barrels are given away and how many are charged. Everything is opacity in the help, while the business has lights and stenographers, as highlighted The Country. While the political discourse focuses on solidarity, the financial documents are cold and exact. Pemex, which is listed on international markets, cannot afford ambiguities before the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). According to the information delivered to this regulatory body, the Mexican oil company maintains a current contract with the Cuban government since July 2023 through its subsidiary Wellbeing Gasoline. Far from being a hidden charity, the figures revealed by the director of Pemex, Víctor Rodríguez Padilla, show an active and lucrative commercial relationship. In 2025, Mexico sold oil to Cuba worth 496 million dollars. If we add what has been invoiced since the start of the contract in 2023, the total figure amounts to about 1.4 billion dollars. Rodríguez Padilla was emphatic in denying that Cuba does not pay its debts, a common perception given the island’s crisis. “Of course they pay us! We have a business relationship too. They are very formal in their payments,” the manager assuredclarifying that there are no overdue invoices. To try to minimize the impact of these revelations before the scrutinizing eyes of Washington, Pemex has argued thatAlthough the figures sound high, they are marginal for the company: they represent less than 1% of its crude oil production and just 0.1% of its oil sales. It is an “open” contract that depends on Mexico’s availability, and not an unbreakable commitment. The domino effect: why the tap was turned off The current crisis is not explained only by Mexico’s decisions, but by the collapse of Havana’s historical suppliers. For years, Venezuela was the island’s lifeline, shipping up to 100,000 barrels a day during the time of Hugo Chávez. However, after the capture of Nicolás Maduro and the US intervention in Caracas, these shipments ceased completely in January. as detailed BBC. Mexico then became the last lifeline, sending approximately 20,000 barrels a day, a figure that, although far from the island’s total needs, was essential. to maintain minimum services. The pressure escalated when Republican congressmen, such as Carlos Giménez, put the Treaty between Mexico, the United States and Canada (T-MEC) on the table. The threat it was clear: If Mexico continues to oxygenate the Cuban regime, the review of the trade agreement in 2026 could become a nightmare for the Mexican economy. Faced with the risk of tariffs that would damage its own economy, Mexico chose to suspend hydrocarbon shipments. The consequences of this supply cut are immediate and alarming. A graph made with data from Kpler and published by the Financial Times illustrates the seriousness of the moment: Cuba’s crude oil imports have plummeted and, according to the estimates displayed in the report, the island only has oil reserves left for between 15 and 20 days. The situation has raised alarm bells at the United Nations. The Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, he warned through his spokesperson that Cuba is at risk of imminent “humanitarian collapse” if its energy needs are not met. Without fuel, not only do the lights go out; The pumping of drinking water, the transportation of food and the operation of hospitals are stopped. Faced with the impossibility of shipping oil without suffering commercial reprisals, the Sheinbaum government has modified its relief strategy. The president confirmed that, while the Foreign Ministry seeks “diplomatic ways” to resolve the oil issue, Mexico will ship this week shipments of food and basic products managed by the Secretary of the Navy. It is a palliative for a crisis that is, above all, energy. In this maximum pressure scenario, an unexpected edge arises. As Trump closes the oil fence, he has also dropped comments that suggest the door is not completely closed. The American president recently stated that “we are negotiating with Cuban leaders right now,” hinting at conversations about immigration issues and the … Read more

In 2020, humanity was confined by covid. And that caused a species of bird to modify its beak to survive

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During the COVID-19 pandemic the world stopped completely. Something that scientists have named ‘anthropause‘: a sudden silence of human activity that left many of us confined at home and that even affected nature. This effect was so extreme that even a species of bird changed its beak as science has now seen. The study. Although in the past we saw some disorders in nature, such as the appearance of wild boars in Barcelona or dolphins in Venetian ports, now a team from UCLA has gone further. a study published in PNAS indicates that a population of urban birds modified his physical anatomy in record time. The objective they had was to survive the absence of humans at that time. But the most surprising thing is that when everything returned to normal and humans began to go outside, the birds returned to their original beak. The dilemma. To understand the discovery, you first have to know the protagonists: the dark eyed juncos. Some small birds that are very common in the field of the University of California in Los Angeles. Before 2020, these birds had short, wide beaks. Something that makes perfect sense, since they were in an environment full of students and, therefore, His diet was based on leftovers. that were left This is why it needed to have a robust beak to handle these ‘artificial’ foods. In contrast, their relatives that live in wild forests have longer, thinner beaks, designed like precision tweezers to search for insects and seeds hidden in vegetation. The pandemic. When UCLA closed its doors in 2020 and the students disappeared, so did the easy food. And this was where the university researchers saw a unique opportunity to study what happens when you eliminate humans from the ecological equation. The results. What was seen in this case is the new generations of reeds that were born precisely in this time of ‘loneliness’ they developed longer and thinner beaks. All this because since there was no human garbage, they had to behave like wild birds again, foraging on the ground and looking for food alternatives. But what was most fascinating happened after the reopening. As soon as students (and their snacks) returned to campus in 2022, the morphology of the peaks quickly reverted to the urban form with a short, thick shape. This is ultimately an extremely rapid evolutionary change that is very rare to see. A change of mind. What makes this study so relevant to the scientific community is the speed of the field. Generally, we think of evolution as a process that takes thousands of years. However, what we observed here suggests that urban species have a much more elastic capacity for adaptation than we believed. Since it’s not just the peak. Previous studies by the same team had already noted behavioral changes: during the pandemic, these birds lost their fear of humans, becoming less aggressive and more curious, although that behavior also readjusted with our return. Its importance. This case is a brutal reminder of our ecological footprint. We don’t just alter the climate or the landscape; our mere presence and our waste acts as an evolutionary force that shapes the biology of the animals around us like these birds. The UCLA rushes have taught us that nature is not static; It is a dynamic system that reacts to our habits almost in real time. The question that remains in the air is: if a couple of years of silence changed the shape of a bird, what other invisible changes are we causing without realizing it? Images | Vincent van Zalinge David Mitran In Xataka | The insects of Antarctica had been living peacefully for thousands of years. Until microplastics arrived

The absurd legal battle between Elon Musk and the game “Cards Against Humanity” has ended in a bittersweet ending

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The creators of the irreverent card game Cards Against Humanity have reached an out-of-court settlement with SpaceX, ending a legal dispute financed by his own fans. Although they promised to distribute the 15 million dollars they would receive from the company if they won the trial, there will be no trial to hold No money to distribute. The origin of the dispute. The story begins in 2017. Cards Against Humanity raised $2.25 million from its fans to buy land in cameron countyTexas. The goal? Legally block the construction of the wall promoted by Donald Trump on the border with Mexico. The purchase of the plot was possible, in addition to the ingenious marketing campaign, thanks to 150,000 donations of $15 each. The problem arose when SpaceX, which has the Starbase launch complex right next door, began using the empty Cards Against Humanity plot to store material. Elon Musk against the card game. In 2024, Cards Against Humanity accused SpaceX of invade your property for at least six months. In addition to starting a new marketing campaign, this time against Elon Musk, the owners of the game sued the company for depositing construction materials, gravel and debris on their plot without permission. Amid insults against Musk, whom they called “a billionaire even richer and more racist than Trump,” Cards Against Humanity promised $100 for each of the 150,000 crowdfunding participants. As? Demanding $15 million from SpaceX as compensation for the crime. Bittersweet ending. Finally, Cards Against Humanity has informed its fans that there will be no trial. SpaceX and the card game have reached an out-of-court agreement whose figure has not been revealed, but which the creators of the game describe like “Musk did the legal equivalent of throwing dust in our eyes and kicking us in the balls.” So why have they accepted it? Cards Against Humanity explained that a trial “would have cost more than we probably would have earned from SpaceX.” “According to Texas law,” they add“we probably wouldn’t have been able to recover our legal costs. We had the truth on our side, but Musk and SpaceX could have easily outspent us.” How will they compensate the fans? This is where the story takes a Cards Against Humanity turn. The 150,000 donors who helped buy the land will not receive cash, but only “comedy.” The company will send all entrants “a new, exclusive mini-pack of cards about Elon Musk,” which they hope to ship in early 2026. In an email to fans, the company summed it up: “Since we can’t give you what you really wanted—cash from Elon Musk—we’re going to make it up to you…with comedy!” The land is empty again. Images | Ministry of Communications of Brazil, Mercado Libre In Xataka | A genius named Tom Mueller designed the engines for the Falcon 9. And now that genius wants to beat SpaceX on its own turf

74,000 years ago, a volcanic eruption led humanity to the edge of extinction. We begin to understand how we survive

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74,000 years ago, in a remote lake north of Sumatra, a volcano erupted. But it wasn’t a normal volcano. According to archaeologist Jayde N. Hiniak“The Toba expelled 2,800 cubic kilometers of ash to the stratosphere, created a crater of 1,000 soccer fields” and caused a global winter. That could take our species to the edge of extinction: for more than half a century, many anthropologists are convinced that it was that eruption (one of the greatest known eruptions) that reduced the human population to about 10,000 fertile couples. It would be the most critical moment of Homo Sapiens since it arose. It is true that the theory is controversial and the debate around the real climate change that the Toba created is still very alive; However, no one doubts that what happened that day in Sumatra was a huge catastrophe. And that can be seen in archaeological remains. As Hiniak pointed out“Most archaeological sites show a history of resistance.” In areas such as South Africa or the lowlands of Ethiopia these climatic changes led to the adoption of technological innovations such as the development of arches and arrows. In much closer places (such as Indonesia, India or China), the population also suffered deep changes that allowed him to survive. All this can be known because the Toba left many geological samples distributed throughout the world. Studying the deposits before and after the ash of the volcano gives a lot of information on how these societies changed socio-technologically. The flexibility was key. Regardless of what Toba will cause (or not) drastic reduction Of the population, what is clear is that it allows us to draw conclusions about what was the fundamental feature that explains the survival of human communities: behavioral flexibility. Something that allows Image | Tetiana Grypachevska In Xataka | When Newton reached the fundamental laws of physics there was already a sign that said “Leonardo was here”

Labubu Humanity Bags are being small. So its creator already knows how to sell even more

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Labubu have become a global phenomenon. In China alone, for 2024, they reached sales for about 355 million euros and, since then, their figures in the rest of the world They grow at a rhythm of 480%. To Spain too The fever arrived: The stores They ran out of stock and many buyers have had to resort to Wallapop or Vind, with the consequent Risk of falsifications. Pop Mart, the manufacturer of the stuffed animals, He has shot in the stock market After affirming the CEO Wang NO that its initial forecast of reaching 2.8 billion dollars in sales for this year can grow 50% to 3,580 million, something that, says “would be quite easy.” He would be able to double the income of 2024. And they have explained how they plan to do it: launching the “Mini Labubu“ From the bag to the mobile. With their rabbit ears and a very sinister smile, the labubu have conquered bags and backpacks of their buyers, after being popularized by influencers like Lisa, from the K-Pop Blackpink groupDua Lipa, Madonna, David Beckham or Kim Kardashian. Now Pop Mart wants to conquer something much more common and transversal than a bag: the smartphone. As the company explained, the Mini Labubu can be placed on phones, and will not take them to launch them. It will happen this week. The ‘Sonny Angel’ taught the way. The mobile accessories market is huge, but none explains so well the step that is going to give Pop Mart with the Mini Labubu like the ”Sonny Angel‘, those little “plastic angels” that after being created in 2004, are now glued to many mobile and even laptops of very young people from Spain after being a viral phenomenon in Tiktok. The key was the version ‘Hipper‘, designed to fit with the mobile and corners and frames of the screens and popularized by celebrities such as Rosaría or Victoria Beckham. And they took steps such as collaborating with covers of covers such as Casetify that show Pop Mart where sales can continue to grow once they launch the reduced size labubu. In fact, They already collaborate With brands such as Disney, DC, Marvel, Minions, Capcom, Garfield, etc. As explained in The Economist, China is now “Cool”and has everything to conquer Europe. Without supplying, but with a plan. Wang said that it is very optimistic for the company’s performance “in foreign markets”, and believes that “there is a very wide space for growth”, predicting that the sales of North America and Pacific Asia will match those of China in 2024. The problem is that Labubus’s production does not give to meet demand. This explains average resale prices of $ 121 (and up to 240 euros), compared to the 30 dollars that are officially sold. It is the same problem that Xiaomi also faces in China with The resale of su7but they are working on expanding the production capacity, and Yuan Junjie, president of the Pop Supply Chain Center Mart, states that produce 10 times more than in the same period last yearwhich translates into 30 million units per month. They plan to continue improving, with two new factories abroad and two in China. At the moment they have benefited from Getting with Labubus is an art. Image | Dushawn Jovic in Unspash and Pop Mart In Xataka | Most brands take decades to leave the “Death Valley.” Xiaomi has taken two electric cars

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