Hunger

As Europe builds data centers to achieve independence, its power grid enters the hunger games

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Europe finds itself at a crossroads. If you listen to the CEO of Mistral, you should start investing big to stop being the technological vassal of the United States. That implies investing and part of that investment is in data centers. But American Big Tech is also moving and, if in the US they find frontal opposition to the construction of data centersthey move and there are countries like Spain that are favorite destinations. But there’s a huge problem: it’s not so much about money as it is about energy. And European macroplans are colliding with the reality of the electricity grid. Full speed ahead. The United States has the most brutal data centers on the planetbut Europe has a plan to arm itself and achieve that technological sovereignty. The plan goes through energy thanks to geothermal energy and, above all, renewables. Europe is a power in this and Spain has already shown its plumage to attract European and Big Tech data centers. esteem that there are 5,400 in the US and 3,400 in Europe, and Europe wants to close the gap. There is a very small problem: renewables are not enough to satisfy the voracity of data centers. We are constantly seeing it: data centers need constant power, but when they enter intense computing phases, the expense is so high that they need energy spikes that renewables cannot satisfy. That’s where they come into play. nuclear, gas and even coaland a Europe that cannot play that due to environmental policies is where it has its weak point. Spain. There are several points to analyze. As we say, Spain is one of the countries that is presenting itself as one of the best assets to host data centers. Aragon, specifically, is a community that is pushing hard in this direction and serves as an example. AWS is going to put some gigantic data centers in the community, adding more than 10,800 GWh of energy per year. To contextualize, it is more than all the current electricity consumption of the community. But it is not only happening in Aragon and the fear is that the saturated Spanish electricity grid will now have to deal with those data centers that they can collapse the network. He blackout ghost it’s still there and it’s already been warned in the Official State Gazette that an increase in installations that are not capable of withstanding voltage dips pose a very high risk for the network. the hunger games. Because first the principles of agreement came and, now, the different EU countries are realizing that, perhaps, it is not such a good idea. One of the most recent cases is that of Energinet, the state operator of Denmark’s electricity grid, which, in March, suspended all new large-scale connection agreements by receiving requests that would reach 60 GW, with 14 GW of them being for data centers. As in the case of Aragon, it must be put in context and, according to According to CNBC, the country’s maximum demand is 7 GW, so that total of 60 GW exceeds the country’s consumption almost nine times. It is not about canceling plans, but about an extension until we discuss what to do with that demand, but there are already those who point out that the extension cannot be ruled out because, simply, the country’s network may not be prepared. Estimation of increased energy demand for data centers FLAP-D. But they are not the only ones. Amsterdam, London or Dublin can no longer absorb the brutal energy consumption of artificial intelligence and the technology industry has set his eyes on the northern countries (in which wind energy is the protagonist) and in those in the south (with solar as a guest star). They are three important names because they are part of the FLAP-D, the conglomerate of Flankfurt, London, Amsterdam, Paris and Dublin that, historically, have been the dominators of the data center sector. Because these facilities have existed before the arrival of AI, but with the conversion to computing centers for AI is when their consumption has decreased. shot and when these metropolitan areas cannot meet demand. Those needs are so exaggerated It is estimated that data centers accounted for almost 80% of Dublin’s electricity consumption, forcing Ireland to impose a de facto moratorium on new data centers in its capital until 2028. braking. The situation, of course, is not the most promising for those who are building the AI ​​infrastructure at the moment. The boss of SMIC, one of the Chinese companies that is leading the country’s technological transformation, pointed out a few weeks ago that the AI ​​Big Tech companies are building all the infrastructure they will need over the next decade. in just one or two yearswhat is generating that plug in stock components worldwide. But then there is the energy plug which, as we see, is not small. And, obviously, it also generates delays in supply. According to the calculationsa decade to connect the new facilities to the electrical grid. If Microsoft, or whoever, builds a data center by 2027, but can’t pull the plug until 2037, something is clearly wrong. What is clear is that regulators are going to look at these projects with a magnifying glass because there is a physical limit that is that energy and connection requests. In fact, it is already recommended that before coming with a monstrous data center and then looking to see if there is a plug, construction plans take into account consumption and connection planning to national networks from the beginning. But there’s another problem: You can build a data center today that consumes x energy, but when you upgrade to more powerful platforms, those calculations may blow up. Either that… or self-powered data centers, as already stated made in Dublin. In Xataka | Data centers are real “heaters”. And they are settling in regions as hot as Aragón

We have been using the excuse of hunger for years to justify our bad mood. Science has just proven us right

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There are people who when they are hungry seem to completely lose control and jump at the slightest, making it difficult to approach them. And it is not a lack of patience for waiting for lunch or dinner, nor is it a personality trait, but rather It’s pure biology. Here society has even given it a name to explain this phenomenon that relates quick anger to the desire to eat: ‘Hangry‘, a fusion between hungry (hungry in English) and angry (angry in English). The definitive experiment. Although this attitude has been internalized in society as a personality trait, like someone who wakes up and can’t have a conversation, science has a lot to say. Specifically, a study published in the journal PLOS ONE in 2022 continued to 64 adults for 21 days to see what happened. Using an app, participants recorded their levels of hunger, anger, irritability, pleasure and arousal five times a day, accumulating more than 9,100 observations. And here the results, the truth is, were devastating: being hungry was directly associated with negative emotions, such as anger or being irascible. A great anger. If we go into detail, the feeling of hunger It was able to explain 34% of the cases of anger, 37% of the cases of irritability and also a 38% drop in the feeling of pleasure. But the most important thing is that this correlation remained firm even after scientists controlled for variables such as age, sex, weight, or even personality traits when not hungry. Because? The answer to these mood changes seems to lie specifically in what we need to ingest: glucose. And it makes a lot of sense, because this carbohydrate acts as the main fuel for our brain and its scarcity generates a true energy crisis that forces the body to draw energy from other places, such as ketone bodies. The brain here is a really demanding organ, since, although it only represents 2% of the body weight, it consumes around 20% of the energy, and in these situations it is noticeable. And it is proven. Without going any further, a study published in 2014 analyzed 107 couples for 21 days, measuring their blood glucose and measuring aggression. The best thing is that they quantified it with a voodoo doll that represented their partner and a pin cushion. From here it was seen that the lower the glucose levels were at the end of the day, the more pins were stuck in the doll. The conclusion seemed very clear: glucose acts as the “fuel of self-control.” Without it, the prefrontal cortex, which is in charge of regulating impulses, loses its ability to stop the amygdala, which is the center of primitive and less rational emotions. What happens. When the brain detects this lack of “fuel”, it does not interpret it as “the restaurant reservation has been delayed”, but as a vital threat that there is a lack of food in the environment. That is why to compensate, the adrenal glands release both cortisol and adrenaline, which are involved in the stress situation. Logically, an increase in these hormones generates irritability that is typical of hypoglycemia. Although if we go further, there are studies that suggest that the brain, in emergency situations such as hunger, prioritizes survival over patience or social courtesy, making us ‘jump’ at any interaction. The good news. Here, being aware of what is happening to us and that it is related to hunger is the most valuable thing to avoid getting angry with our partner or friend. Logically, this makes the brain understand that it is not in the middle of the jungle and that it needs to look for food as soon as possible, but it will only delay a little returning to the glucose levels to which it is accustomed. Images | freepik In Xataka | We thought that quenching hunger with Ozempic was the definitive remedy against obesity. Until we look at the muscle

We thought that quenching hunger with Ozempic was the definitive remedy against obesity. Until we look at the muscle

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The revolution of drugs as they are OzempicWegovy or Mounjaro have undoubtedly marked a before and after in the approach to obesity, which previously went under the knife when measures focused on lifestyle changes failed. A priori, we are sold the idea of ​​having a very pronounced weight loss, but the reality is that many patients are falling into protein malnutrition and losing a large amount of muscle mass. We are getting more data. We do not know the drugs completely when they begin to be marketed, but as patients use them, they emerge. new side effects or situations that pharmaceutical companies had not initially imagined. Here a revealing new studywhich will be presented at the European Obesity Congress, has put figures on these effects of malnutrition that accompany successful treatments. And all this indicates that the strategy followed with Ozempic must be changed so that doctors can give precise indications of the nutritional strategy that must be followed during the treatment period to avoid serious health problems. Not having an appetite is bad. A priori, those who take Ozempic want to have less desire to eat, and for it to practically be a task that becomes an obligation in order to survive. But the problem is that people end up having too little hunger, as a new scientific study has shown. analyzed over 5,700 days of nutritional data of 332 overweight adults between July 2025 and 2026. What was seen. Of all of these, the 116 users who were taking drugs like Ozempic consumed drastically fewer calories than the control group, something that was quite expected, but the most important thing was the protein intake that plummeted when the drugs were taken. Specifically, medicated patients consumed an average of 53.8 grams of protein per day, and adjusted to their body weight, this amounts to just 0.6 g/kg/day. To put it in perspective, 88% of these patients fell well below the official recommendation of consuming 0.8 g/kg/day of protein, and far from optimal levels for preserving muscle during weight loss. The reason. Lack of hunger literally makes people skip meals, basically because they do not have that physiological need to put anything in their mouth. Here the study could see that patients taking Ozempic or similar skipped 40.4% of dinners, 31.3% of breakfasts and 30.5% of lunches. In this way, by reducing eating to a few moments of the day, it is almost impossible to achieve the around 25 grams of protein per meal that the body needs to synthesize new muscle and maintain the structure it has. It has consequences. In medicine, the fact of losing muscle mass is what is called sarcopenia and until now it was mainly associated with people who were not physically active, such as the elderly or those who were bedridden. Here scientific reviews suggest that between 25% and 40% of all the weight lost by users taking Ozempic is muscle. And in a very important proportion with respect to fat loss, making it so that almost for every two kilos of fat lost, one is muscle. In older adults or patients with type 2 diabetes, the situation is even more serious, since high doses of semaglutide accelerate sarcopenia, reducing vital metrics for longevity and quality of life, such as grip strength or walking speed. In addition, severe calorie restriction brings with it deficiencies of micronutrients such as vitamin D, vitamin B12 or iron. How to avoid it. Here, medical guidelines increasingly point to a personalized approach in which a highly nutritious diet is established to prevent the patient from having a macronutrient deficiency while losing weight. This is why it is already being recommended that during weight loss it is recommended to increase protein consumption from 1 to 1.6 grams of protein per kg of weight, prioritizing a minimum of 20-30 grams at each meal. In addition, a ban should be established on skipping meals, with eating times having to be very measured, even a little, but at different times throughout the day to avoid prolonged fasting. Maintain muscle. This should be the primary objective and that is why, along with a diet rich in protein, strength exercise with weights, bands or even calisthenics should be encouraged. In this way, the body has the signal to maintain the amount of muscle despite the fact that there is a loss of fat due to the medication. And here the objective is to lose weight, but without having to remove the bricks that are literally building our body, since if we manage to lose weight, but are left without muscle mass, the quality of life is not going to be the best. Images | Haberdoedas Anastase Maragos In Xataka | Ozempic’s “great rebound”, in figures: science reveals that the weight returns four times faster than with a diet

All the money in the world won’t satisfy AI’s RAM hunger

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There is no RAM for so much AI. At this point in the film, no one can ignore that we are fully immersed in a new component crisis. Unlike the perfect storm that shook the technology industry in 2020, the new crisis is due to something very specific: the voracity of data centers and the artificial intelligence. In recent weeks we have seen negativity everywhere, but now one of the main people responsible for the lack of RAM comes to say that things are not going to stay the same. They are going to get worse. 30% of the goal. Chey Tae-won is not just anyone. This is the CEO of SK groupone of the largest conglomerates in the world and a South Korean giant that controls everything from the energy industry to chemicals and telephony. In addition, it has SK Hynix, one of the largest manufacturers of memories from around the world. If there is an authorized voice in this crisisof course it is yours. And what did he say? Well, there’s still a RAM storm left for a while. In a recent interview, stated that memory supply will be more than 30% below AI demand for this year. That is, by turning all their production to high-performance memory for AI, completely abandoning the consumer sector, they will be far from be able to satisfy what companies like NVIDIA they are claiming. structural problem. As we say, we have been talking about the state of the industry for weeks, but now we understand the extent to which the consumer sector has taken a backseat to memory manufacturers. That “we have given everything and we are going to fall within 30% of the goal” is tremendously revealing and explains the reason why everything with a memory chip is rising in price. Micron, SK Hynix and Samsung are the three companies that lead production by memory. They make both consumer memory (that of the mobile phone, the PC, the routerTV or car) as a professional (high-bandwidth HBMs), but their production is not unlimited: if they want to increase performance in one type of memory, they must lower that of the other. And that’s what’s happening: the AI ​​business is memory hungry, and for every unit of high-bandwidth memory produced, several units of standard memory must be sacrificed for other devices. This creates a bottleneck and an “unprecedented” shortage, according to Micron’s vice president, as the AI ​​industry is consuming all memory production capacity, creating a tremendous shortage in the conventional branch. All sold. As consumers, buy an SSD, a RAM module and a Large capacity HDD is a luxury right now, but to those who control chip production, it’s going well for them because they are selling all production before starting to “print” chips. Chey Tae-won himself has commented that the profit margins on his HBM4 chips are stratospheric, around 60%. Micron has already commented that all of its HBM memory production capacity for 2026 is already sold, and These are statements similar to those of Western Digital a few days ago. This implies that they have already sold components that do not exist for graphics cards that do not exist and that will power data centers that do not yet exist. abandoning ship. Samsung, SK and Micron are expanding their production lines and opening factories, but getting clean rooms It’s a slow process for them to start making chips, and Micron’s new plants, for example, aren’t expected to start making RAM until 2028. And when they do, it’ll likely be memory for data centers, not consumer price relief. In the end, there are only a few suppliers for many manufacturers, and that has another consequence: there will be brands that they have to get out of the car. The CEO of the SK group has commented that “there will probably be PC and smartphone manufacturers that will end up abandoning their businesses”, but he has not been the only one. A few days ago, the boss of Phison, a company that makes memory controllers, pointed in the same line. And it is easy to understand: if a manufacturer with low volume costs much more for memory, it has two options: sell a PC/mobile with less RAM or sell that same product much more expensive. Neither is a good idea. The price of 32 GB of DDR5 RAM from Crucial. Micron’s Crucial no longer exists Not very hopeful forecasts. The big question is when this solution will end. From SMIC, the large Chinese foundry, it is estimated that storm remains for a while because everyone wants to build their infrastructure for the next decade over the next two years. There are analysts who estimate that manufacturers – such as those in the automotive sector – are stockpiling AI out of “panic” that it will run out and now HBM4 memory is being produced, but in a few years there will be superior technology that will make AI faster and more capable… and the industry will turn to it again if the bubble doesn’t burst first. Domino. Meanwhile, companies like TeslaIntel or the Japanese giant SoftBank They want to get fully into the DRAM market and the companies Chinese companies like CXMT have an opportunity to meet the demand for AI for devices such as laptops. And, although we now see how it has impacted the price of loose components, we have to wait to see what happens in already assembled devices. Lenovo has pointed that the price of laptops is going to rise, but there are also warnings about important price increases in mobile phones, above all in low and mid-range devices, where the price of RAM represents a large part of the product cost. As I have said before, we have to cross our fingers so that the mobile phone or PC does not break, since once it is time to change it, paying the price will not be something pleasant. Images | Xataka, Bananovaya In Xataka | We … Read more

We have discovered the “button” that activates our hunger. And it is the next revolution in weight loss medications

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In the molecular complexity that reigns in our body with the aim of controlling all its processes, Weight and appetite are undoubtedly one of the most complicated to keep under control.. Now, an international team of scientists has shed light about a molecular mechanism that acts as a master modulator, changing the way our brain processes hunger and satiety signals. Something that can give rise to new medications such as the famous Ozempic. The study. Published in the journal Nature, this research focuses on a key player in our metabolism: the melanocortin-4 receptor or MCR4. In this way, you can think that MCR4 is the “guardian of appetite” because it is nothing more than a protein present in our neurons that, when activated, tells us that we are satiated and that it is time to burn energy and reduce food intake. However, the operation is not as simple as the switch that turns the light on or off in our house. This is where its lesser-known, but crucial, partner comes into play: the MRAP2 accessory protein. The big change. Until now, it was known that the MRAP2 protein interacts with MC4R, but the consequences of this relationship were not fully understood. The new research reveals that MRAP2 has a drastic effect on the behavior of the appetite guardian and this is where the role it may have as a therapeutic target comes into play. What was known until now is that MC4R receptors tend to clump together on the surface of cells, forming “oligomers” or, to simplify, working in pairs or groups. Now the study shows that when MRAP2 enters the scene, it breaks these bonds and forces the MC4R receptors to act as “monomers”, that is, alone. A priori, the fact of going from being paired to acting alone may be insignificant, but the consequences it has are enormous and completely modify the recipient’s response to stimuli. Boosts the main signal. This is one of the effects caused by the MRAP2 interaction in this equation. Specifically, it has been seen that when it is in a monomeric state, MC4R becomes much more efficient in activating signaling pathways mediated by the G protein. This means that, with the same amount of stimulus (the α-MSH hormonewhich makes us feel satiated), the cell’s response is considerably stronger. Cancels stop signal. Normally, after activation, the receptors recruit a protein called β-arrestin2, which acts as a brake: it stops signaling and causes the receptor to be internalized, removing it from the cell surface to “reset” the system. Surprisingly, MRAP2 impairs this process. It hinders the recruitment of β-arrestin2, which in turn reduces the internalization of the receptor, so its ligands can bind to it in a much simpler way. The receiver on the front line. By preventing the receptor from entering the cell, MRAP2 allows MC4R to remain on the cell surface longer, ready to continue receiving signals. It’s like keeping a soldier on the front lines of battle instead of sending him to rest. In summary, MRAP2 acts as a “tuner” that modifies the MC4R receptor, biasing its function toward more potent and sustained G protein-mediated effects, while disabling its own braking system. The importance. Once this process has been understood, we move on to its importance in the clinic. The first thing that has been seen is that mutations in the MRAP2 gene are associated with cases of severe obesity in humans. This study provides for the first time the detailed molecular mechanism that explains why. Bottom line, if MRAP2 isn’t working properly, the MC4R “appetite keeper” doesn’t get that extra boost, becoming less efficient and contributing to an energy imbalance. These findings open a new avenue for drug development. Instead of looking for molecules that simply activate or deactivate MC4R, one could now think of therapies that modulate the interaction between MC4R and MRAP2. We could design treatments that mimic the effect of MRAP2 to enhance the satiety signal in people with obesity, offering a much more sophisticated approach tailored to the biology of our body. More drugs. Right now on the market we have different treatments that are focused on those people who have the most problems losing weight. We talk especially about GLP-1 agonists such as Ozempic or Mounjaro, which have given good results. But on the horizon we can see that they will not be alone and many others will arrive. Images | i yunmai Drew Hays In Xataka | Solving one of the great myths of losing weight: if “walking quickly” works by itself to lose weight

Hunger and thirst begin in the head and we have found neurons responsible for it

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Hunger and thirst are basic sensations for our annoying subsistence that are. Our body needs to remind us that it needs water and nutrients regularly and evolution has laid the foundations for a more complex mechanism than we might think in principle. So complex, that we are still studying it. Interpret the signal. A new study has found New clues On the way in which our brain interprets the existence of a need to feed and hydrate, and how this need into action becomes. The team was even able to make drinks that were avoided by mice became desired by these thanks to the stimulation of certain neurons. Generalist and specialized. The team managed to identify groups of nerve cells from the tonsil involved in the sensations of hunger and thirst, some of them specialized in one of the functions, others more versatile. This led to the discovery of the first group of “thirst neurons” in the tonsil. “When we activated these neurons, the mice drank more, and when we suppressed their activity, the mice drank less,” indicated in a press release Federica Fermani, who led the study. “We also identified another group of neurons in the same region of the tonsil that generated thirst but also played a role in regulating hunger.” Optogenetics The team resorted to various tools Genetic for the study of the activity, including a so -called optogenetic. This technique allows to activate specific neurons using light -sensitive proteins and a laser capable of accurately reaching the cell. The team He combined this tool With silenced techniques that allowed to “turn off” neurons to study how their absence affects the animal’s behavior. They also resorted to methods focused on the monitoring of individual neurons in different brain regions to, through their connections with other cells, map the functioning of neuronal networks. The details of the methodology and the results of the study were published In an article In the magazine Nature Communications. And in humans? As is logical, what we find in mice does not always have its reflection in humans. Despite this, the study responsible for the study indicates that the structure of the amygdala is similar in mice and humans. This implies that the recent findings could help us in understanding how emotions and motivations can influence our eating habits, both in regard to food and in relation to the drink, they explain. Beyond subsistence. The team studied how the work of these neurons shapes our tastes and preferences. Eating and drinking is not only a matter of subsistence but also awakens taste, although this sometimes depends on preferences that we do not fully understand. In its analysis, the team analyzed this connection by offering mice a less desires but stimulating neurons in the central region of its tonsil. They observed that this neuronal stimulation changed the preferences of the animal, which increased its predilection for a beaten before disdained. As explained by those responsible for the study, the work of these neurons can also facilitate the work of understanding why some people feed on less or more. Knowing the work of these neurons could help us avoid health problems derived from these behaviors associated with them. In Xataka | Neuroplasticity: the people who defend that the Internet is changing our brain forever Image | Tukhfatullina Food Photography/Stylist / Lakshmiraman Oza

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