investigated

Science has investigated why we bite our nails or leave everything until the last minute: “controlled explosions”

by

Biting our nails until it hurts, bingeing on junk food after a stressful day either open TikTok just when we have to start workingit is not an irritating habit that we would like to erase from our daily lives. But the reality is that science is beginning to see these behaviors in a radically different way: as a protection strategy for the organism. The brain seeks survival. As pointed out by different experts such as clinical psychologist Charlie Heriot-Maitland, author of Controlled Explosions in Mental Healthour brain prefers to inflict controlled “microdamage” on itself rather than face a greater and unpredictable threat. And the premise from which affective neuroscience and evolutionary psychology start is forceful: our brain is not programmed for us to be happy, but it is programmed to seek survival. Which is precisely what we did thousands of years ago when we tried to hunt or flee from predators. Systems that are still very present in our genetics. A hypersensitive system. This threat detection system is hypersensitive today. In the modern world we do not have to flee from a predator, but criticism from the boss or the fear of failing in a project activates the same alarms that a predator in the savanna activated in our ancestors. And faced with this unbearable stress, the brain looks for an escape route that acts as a “safety valve.” This is what Heriot-Maitland calls “controlled explosions.” Nail biting. Why can something as absurd as biting your nails or picking your skin be “protective”? The key is predictability. And in a chaotic world and an emotional, abstract and difficult to manage threat, cause us a little physical damage (like biting a cuticle), causes the brain to divert attention towards a specific, real stimulus and, above all, under our control. In this way it works as a “costly signal”, since we prefer a small and known damage to cushion emotional pain that we perceive as potentially devastating. Procrastinating is not laziness. scientific literature speaks in this sense of the self-handicapping (self-limitation), which suggests that we put obstacles on ourselves to protect our self-esteem. This way, if you stop studying for an exam and fail, you can tell yourself, “I failed because I didn’t study.” It’s a small damage to your ego. However, if you study to the maximum and fail, the conclusion is much more painful: “I failed because I am not capable.” The brain prefers the narrative of lack of effort (microdamage) rather than facing the threat of incompetence that poses greater emotional damage to anyone. It is not exclusive to us. In nature, there are numerous social insects that resort to defensive self-immolation in order to save their colony, as we already saw. In our case, the mechanism is something like this: we sacrifice our current well-being, such as physical health, to reduce a perceived long-term risk. The problem is that this system is designed for life or death situations, not to manage the chronic stress of the 21st century. In this way, what began as a useful defense ends up becoming a self-defeating pattern that generates more anxiety than it relieves. How to avoid it. If we understand that modern nails or procrastination are defense mechanisms, the solution changes completely. In this way, modern therapies, such as Compassion Focused Therapy, They propose that the first step It is not fighting against the habit, but understanding the reason for its existence. The most important thing in this case is not to punish yourself, since self-criticism is perceived by the brain as other threatens more, which reinforces the need to resort to the destructive habit to calm down. In this way, if we generate security, the brain will not have the need to cause these “controlled explosions.” Images | Sander Sammy Tim Gouw In Xataka | Procrastination is one of the great temptations of the mind. There are techniques to avoid it, according to science

Scientists have investigated what happens to your brain when you play video games. And they have surprising news

by

There is something strangely comforting about dissonance. Sometimes, while I’m fighting with a crochet hook trying to make a scarf not end up looking like a dish towel, I like to put the TV channel in the background. TacticalGramma. Michelle is 59 years old, she is a proud grandmother and, while I clumsily count wool stitches, she is annihilating entire squads in Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 with a precision that any teenager would want for themselves. The scene has that visual irony: technology has not come to isolate us in a basement, but to rescue our neurons from rust. For decades, the social narrative sold us that video games “rot” the brain; Today, science is beginning to suggest that, if you want to reach 60 with good mental agility, perhaps you should take control. The brain clock. A study published by Nature has managed to compare the health of neural connections with the person’s actual age—what is known as brain clocks. The team led by Carlos Coronel-Oliveros has discovered that players who are experts in strategy titles like StarCraft II They have a mental structure that is much more resistant to the passage of time. On average, the brains of these players function with the agility of someone four years younger, according to a statistical estimate based on neuroimaging models. An efficiency phenomenon that neuroscience calls Brain Age Gap (BAG). When Sudoku is no longer enough. While classic brain games are isolated and repetitive tasks, an action video game forces the brain to manage an avalanche of information in real time. This level of constant demand—planning movements, reacting to attacks, and filtering out distractions simultaneously—forces neurons to reorganize. To reach this conclusion, the research team used research techniques whole-brain modelingcombining fMRI with machine learning algorithms capable of detecting subtle patterns in connectivity. The results showed more efficient integration in the so-called “frontoparietal hubs”, key regions for attention and executive function that are usually among the first to deteriorate with age. Changes in brain hardware. This apparent rejuvenation has a physical reflection in the structure of the brain. Science has found that, just as a muscle develops with exercise, certain key areas of players become denser and more robust. Studies in Scientific Reports and Translational Psychiatry reveal that those who regularly play action titles have more “gray matter” in regions responsible for coordination, attention and making quick decisions. It is as if the brain had expanded its information highways to react sooner and better to each stimulus. But the most useful change is the refinement of our visual “filter.” Research in PLOS ONE show that the players They develop a superior ability to ignore unnecessary noise. It’s not that they see more, it’s that their brain has learned to process only the information that really matters to win the game, optimizing the energy expenditure of the visual cortex. The ‘learning to learn’ factor. What is truly significant is not being more precise within the game, but the impact on the ability to continue learning. A study in Communications Biology showed that video game training Action speeds up the speed at which people learn new tasks, even when they are unrelated to the game. As they explain psychologists Daphne Bavelier and C. Shawn Green, these games train the brain’s attentional control. The result is improved cognitive adaptation, valuable in an ever-changing technological world. But experts still debate the degree of “far transfer”—that is, the extent to which being a keyboard whiz makes you better at managing a real crisis or a complex spreadsheet. When the benefit runs out. Even so, it is advisable to lower your enthusiasm. Most of these studies they are correlational: they do not allow us to state with certainty whether playing transforms the brain or whether certain already “agile” brain profiles are more inclined to enjoy video games. Furthermore, the effects vary depending on age and life context. Side B is not minor either. Researchers warn that excessive exposure can cause cognitive fatigue and sleep disturbances. The World Health Organization recognizes the video game disorder as a real problem when gambling becomes a compulsive behavior. The neural benefit depends on the balance that if the challenge stops being stimulating and becomes automatic or addictive, the protective effect disappears. Not just any game will do. Another key point is that not all video games produce the same effects. The strongest benefits are seen in action and real-time strategy games, which require quick decisions and multitasking. As experts point outonce a game stops being difficult and becomes mechanical, brain plasticity stagnates. Speed ​​and time pressure seem to be essential ingredients for keeping machinery in shape. There is something hopeful about seeing someone like TacticalGramma master a digital environment. The science doesn’t say that video games are a panacea, but it does suggest that brain aging doesn’t have to be a one-way path to decline. Perhaps the secret to a healthier brain is not in a pill, but in our ability to continue to face what is difficult and accept the frustration of constant learning. For now, I’m going to leave crocheting for a while. Image | freepik Xataka | The art of self-deception: why our brain defends our mistakes even if it knows we are wrong

A study has investigated how many microplastics we inhale daily when breathing. And has an unpleasant surprise

by

From a time to this part, microplastics seem to have sneaked into all areas of our life: From the lettuce that we eat In the salad, even In men’s testicles. This polymer is not only found in the earth where vegetables are grown, in the oceans where the fish are or in The springs where the water we drink comes out. And the idea that all these particles are in the environment that we breathe more and more consolidates. Already in the past ‘Nature’ magazine He published the first evidences that showed that microplastics are found in the air that surrounds us. But now A recent French study Published in the magazine ‘Plos One’ gives us more details about the concentration of these polymers that we are constantly breathing, and how the car is one of the biggest foci we face. The good news is that this gives rise to solutions to reduce your presence. The conclusion of this new study are very direct, but also alarming: we are inhaling a drastically greater microplastics than we believed. The previous estimates have fallen short, very short. The new figure suggests that an average adult inhales about 68,000 microplastic particles every day. One hundred times more than what was calculated so far for the range of more dangerous particles. An invisible enemy that attacks our lungs The problem of measurements that were done so far was a matter of view. The most common methods in this type of detection, such as infrared spectroscopy, are effective to detect particles up to 20 micrometers. However, they are completely ‘blind’ with the smallest particles, which are known as PM_10 (less than 10 micrometers), and that are the ones that can make the lungs the most damage when the different defense mechanisms that the body has. This new study, led by French researcher Nadiia Yakovenko, has used a much more precise technique called Raman spectroscopy, capable of ‘see’ particles of up to a micrometer, eliminating the limitation that the conventional spectrometer had. In this way, we have a new molecular zoom that has revealed that the situation of our environment is much more alarming than was thought. Taking advantage of this new technique, the investigation was conducted in the path of knowing the place where there is a greater concentration of microplastics. In the case of an apartment, the average measure measured was 528 particles per cubic meter. But the problem was when measuring in the car, where the figure shot up to 2,238 particles per cubic meter. Box chart showing the concentration analyzed with microplastics in cars and apartments. Seven apartments and five cars were analyzed. In this way, the simple fact of this in the car makes us exposed to a concentration of microplastics four times higher than that we expose ourselves in our own home. And this is not due to anything other than the amount of synthetic material that we have in a car, such as plastic splashing, carpets or upholstery. All this, added to a very small space and that can be without ventilating for many hours, makes it the ideal breeding ground for the cabin to be filled with microplastics that we breathe at the time of starting to drive. Because the reality is that we do not ventilate the cabin before driving, but that we enter the car, we start and go. The new and alarming daily account: 68,000 particles Here comes the data that changes everything. When combining its findings with those of the history of the bibliography, the team has recalculated the exposure we face on average. In total there are 68,000 particles small size (less than 10 micrometers) to which an adult is faced daily. These are the most worrying particles, since being so small They can reach the alveoli and cross the alveolocapilar barrier formed by pneumocytes and blood capillaries. This means that they can end in our blood. In a lower exposure range are the particles with a larger size ranging from 10 to 300 micrometers. These being larger do not reach the alveolocapillary barrier, but are ‘trapped’ in the mucous membranes of the upper respiratory tract, although they are not harmless, since they crawl to the throat and end up in our stomach. It has important health consequences. This constant exposure to plastic fragments It is not harmless. The authors of the study remember that the inhalation of these particles can be associated with damage to lung tissue, inflammation, increased oxidative stress and also to the appearance of chronic diseases such as COPD. But microplastics do not ‘travel’ lonely. They can transport with them different heavy or polluting metals that adhere to their surface and that once within the body can be released and alter endocrine functions such as endocrine disruptors or increase the risk of other diseases. In this way, this new study demonstrates that there is still much to investigate microplastics and redipline as a complex a public health problem that occurs silently and ‘invisible’. Images | Flyd Brock Wegner In Xataka | More than 50,000 microplastic particles per year: that is what an average citizen ingests according to the first estimate we have

Efffetá and Emaus sold as “Catholic retreats.” Now his organizers are investigated for behaving as sects

by

Problems in the so -called Spanish “Catholicism”: the HAM, one of the associations behind the secretists Catholic retreats Efffetá and Emaus, is being investigated. After the complaints that support the actions of the archbishopric of Madrid, some mysterious and transformative activities that have been receiving close attention, not always positive, in the past months. What happened. The Archbishopric of Madrid has decided in 2025 intervene and dissolve HAMan association that was falsely presented as a religious congregation. The reasons include numerous allegations of heresies, sexual abuse, spiritual and power abuses, as well as behaviors considered “sectarian,” how to separate the youth of their families. The investigation was led by the Rota court, with the support of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and the Civil Guard, which also analyzes a possible case of continued abuse. The tentacles of the work. The measures affect not only Madrid but other Spanish dioceses, such as Toledo, Sevilla and Getafe, where the HAM had presence and convents. The HAM (acronym for merciful love sisters) had been approved as a public association of faithful in 2007 and came to have a secular branch of about 300 members. The association was famous especially for organizing retreats Efffetá and Emausspear heads (especially the first) of the known as “Catholicism Guay”. Catholicism … Guay? Emaus are Contemporary Catholic retreats They have acquired Great notoriety In Spain and Latin America for its approach, its secrecy and its emotional impact. Emaus He was born in the seventies in Miami and is oriented to adults. Efffetá is inspired by its structure but is an activity aimed at young people between 18 and 30 years old. Born in Colombia in 2013 and expands rapidly, arriving in Spain only a few months later. Both retreats are Initiatives promoted by lay that have previously gone through the experience, and that they are called “servants.” Those who attend for the first time are called “walkers.” Secretism is key. One of the key standards of these retreats is secretism: participants must deliver mobiles and watches at the beginning and are asked to reveal anything about the activities to “not anticipate surprise” to future assistants. The motto of retreats, in fact, is “what is said here, here stays.” And what is lived there? Testimonies of personal transformation, group dynamics, cults of worship and symbolisms such as masks, strings or the construction of symbolic “walls”. In addition, these retreats cannot be repeated: it is only allowed to attend as a participant once in life. Subsequently, it can only be returned as a server, helping in the organization for others. Serious complaints. Although its many defenders defend secrecy as an integral part of the experience, to the point of taking it to its famous motto, it is what raised suspicions from the beginning (the psychologist Miguel Pearl spoke of a “Emotional and ideological bombardment”), which have been confirmed with the case of HAM, dissolved upon receiving “multiple complaints of abuse of power, abuse of consciousness and affective-sexual incidents.” The intervention of the ecclesiastical authority responds, in addition to the complaints, to a concern for methodologies that can lead to emotional manipulation, families or thought control, all characteristics of the sects. Hakuna connection. If we talk about “guay Catholicism” it is inevitable to refer to the group of Catholic pop mass hakuna. This new spirituality for young Christians has a lot to do with the activities of Efffetá and Emaus, and eldiario.es stands outIn fact, that the town of Las Rozas where the musical movement led by the priest and ex of the Opus Dei José Pedro Manglano carries out was the old headquarters of the daughters of merciful love. At the moment, the archdiocese is erasing every trace of the Internet HAM: the Hamilías YouTube channeland his videoserie ‘GODIDIENCIAS“. Everything suggests that the popular retreats managed by the association could disappear or, at least, take a turn towards a less mysterious orientation. Cabacera | Efffetá In Xataka | The Bible was always the most sacred book. The young Christians are filling it with post-ps, underlined and cuquis covers

The Tesla Robotaxi has been in the street for less than 72 hours. Is already being investigated for security problems

by

On Sunday, June 22, Tesla will begin publicly in the Robotaxi race. The company put, for the first time, its completely autonomous cars on the street. Since then, they operate with a handful of vehicles to a group of people previously chosen. In less than three days, they are already being investigated. June 22. It was the first day that Tesla’s robotaxis started walking through the streets of Austin. And although the promises in recent years had been grandiloquent, they did it within the regulations. That is: a handful of cars, a handful of chosen people and a handful of travel. Although something like that could be expected, the company’s first steps in the sector are still far from the Cybercab Promised, artifacts without flyers or pedals that should act as a kind of ships with wheels that take you anywhere inside a city. Let’s not forget that Elon Musk promised that we would see this in 2026. Under investigation. In less than three days, the NHTSSAthe agency in charge of security in the United States has opened an investigation to make sure that these vehicles are safe, they explain in Bloomberg. The reason is the slightly erratic behavior of some cars. At the moment they are only preliminary reports, they point out from the economic environment, but the NHTSA already warns in their response that they will take measures if they consider that the safety of passengers and the rest of the traffic agents are being endangered. Moment in which Tesla Robotaxi circulates in the opposite direction. Click on the image to go to the original tweet In the opposite direction. One of the reasons that has led NHTSA to the work table has arrived with a video published on social networks in which a Tesla is seen that doubts when taking a left output, to which it is bound at the intersection by the previously chosen lane. After hesitating, it moves to the right and enters a lane where cars circulate in the opposite direction. Subsequently, a double continuous line is skipped to return correctly. The entire incident can be seen in the Tweet published by Rob Maurer in which he shows without cuts a trip of more than 20 minutes aboard one of the robotaxis of Tesla. Specifically, Tesla’s doubts and erratic behavior are found in the 7th and 15th minutes of the recording. Many lights and some shadow. Except for this incident, in the rest of the video you can see how the car behaves with a lot of ease between traffic and that does not usually hesitate to take a way out or in which lane should be positioned. Nor does it give the feeling of circulating at an abnormally low speed or hindering the rest of the road agents. Despite this, we must bear in mind that the trips that have been made are very few and with very chosen people. In fact, Maurer himself is known for having had a podcast focused exclusively on the company. Sawyer Merritt, who looks in his biography of X that he is Tesla’s investor, He also published a video in which the car is seen exceeding the maximum allowed speed in a street after exceeding a signal that reduced the limit to 30 mph. Zero error. Actually, the two incidents have not put anyone at risk but NHTSA research gives an idea of ​​strict security measures that regulators want to demand from companies that put their cars on the street. Hence the Waymo and Cruise developments They were extended for years and that the tests are limited in space or in time. Keep in mind that a small mistake with a car can generate important damage to a person and that we ask the autonomous car that is much safer than the human driver. In fact, the company itself assured in the presentation of Tesla Cybercab that “Mobility stinks” because, among other things, “it is not sure”. That firm control of regulators is the one that forces Tesla to breach their own promises. That is, they have to circulate with humans and cars with flyers and pedals. But also that the area of ​​use is very limited and that the service between six in the morning and midnight. Question of time. The publication of the news made Tesla’s actions slightly down. The same ones that had risen since Sunday after the finding that the robotaxis service was launched. However, this fluctuating movement is relatively absurd since it is a matter of time that a company robotaxi is immersed in an accidenteither because of yours or for an unexpected movement of any other traffic agent. It is something that all companies of this type have to deal with but the problems They took Cruise ahead and Xiaomi and the rest of the manufacturers They were attracted attention by the institutions after Three passengers died aboard an Xiaomi Su7 which seemed to be working with activated driving aid systems. The NHTSSA and TESLA. Nor is it the first time that the NHTSA and Tesla look at the faces. The company has been accused of “Delivery advertising”together with other manufacturers, because the name of Autopilot overalls the real capacities that their cars can offer to the general public. But Tesla has also gone through the NHTSA scrutiny due The autonomous driving system was deactivated not to leave a trace of its involvement in shocks. The company has also always played to the limit of legality in some aspects, such as using your own customers like Beta Testers In the streets before making officers the updates of your Autopilot. Photo | Tesla In Xataka | Tesla’s economic future goes through autonomous driving. At the moment everything is problems

TSMC is being investigated by the US. It faces a possible fine of 1,000 million dollars, according to Reuters

by

TSMC is at a crossroads. This manufacturer of Taiwanese semiconductors, The Major on the Planetis subject to an investigation of the US Commerce Department Since October 2024. The organization that Gina Raimondo then led suspected that this company could secretly arrived agreements with Huawei to take care of the manufacture of your semiconductors for smartphones and applications of artificial intelligence (AI). At the current situation of tension between the US and China this accusation is very serious. The US government definitely included Huawei in its blacklist in 2020, and one of the immediate consequences of this decision was that TSMC should stop producing semiconductors for this Chinese company. Two years later, in October 2022, the US administration decided to include All the Chinese semiconductor industry In his blacklist, which further cut the TSMC client portfolio. Fortunately for this company, Everything seemed to be clarified just a month ago. Finally, TSMC is likely to be unscathed from this conflict In December 2024 TSMC broke its commercial relationship with Powerair, a Singapore company that, apparently, was responsible for delivering to Huawei the chip manufactured by TSMC that appeared on the card for the Ascend 910b. Interestingly, this was the second company presumably responsible for reaching Huawei integrated circuits produced by TSMC. In 2023 this last company stopped offering its manufacturing service to the Chinese Chips Design Company Sophgo to illegally mediate with Huawei. The CSIS has accused TSMC of having made two million Ascend 910 chips indirectly for Huawei However, their problems did not end here. At the beginning of last March the CSIS (Center for Strategic and International Studies), An American organization that is dedicated to elaborating strategies that seek to guarantee the security of the US, accused TSMC of have manufactured indirectly for HuaweI For 2024, no less than two million chips of the Ascend 910. With these integrated circuits this Chinese company could have produced a huge number of units of its ascend 910c solution, which is currently its hardware for the most advanced. The most interesting thing was that the CSIS argued that Huawei had once again resorted to “ghost” companies that acted as intermediaries between her and TSMC. However, the author of the report did not exculpate the Taiwanese company: “TSMC manufactured large amounts of Ascend 910b of Huawei in the name of ghost companies and sent them to China, thus violating US export controls.” This is the reason why, According to Reutersthis integrated circuit manufacturer could receive a fine of billion dollars, or even more, from the Department of Commerce. US regulation establishes that in this context The sanction can ascend twice the value of the transactions that have violated export restrictions, which could place this fine as one of the highest in history by this type of infraction. Image | TSMC More information | Reuters In Xataka | The US tariffs are already hurting two of the companies that support Taiwan’s economy: TSMC and Foxconn

The OCU has investigated what happened to the light bill since January and has reached a conclusion: 44% more expensive

by

We are just three months from 2025, and the light of light is already one of the more commented issueseither by Inflationvolatility of the energy market or fiscal policies. Now, the OCU brings bad news. Short. The Organization of Consumers and Users (OCU) has issued a statement warning about the climb on the electricity bill in Spain. Last February, the indicators have shown a 5% increase over the month of January and this has caused that, with respect to February 2024, the annual increase has been 44%. And no one gets rid of this, it affects the users of the regulated rate (PVPC) as well as those of the free market. In data. The impact has been especially severe for users of the PVPC regulated rate, whose average bill has gone from € 56.81 to € 81.60 in just one year. However, the problem is not limited to this group. The OCU has warned that many free market clients have also suffered increases in their rates due to reviews made by marketers in January. The reasons. Several factors have contributed to this climb and here we have talked about it. The first would be The high price of gasimportant to set major electricity prices. In addition, wind energy production is has reduced in February, which has caused greater dependence on sources such as gas. Finally, the upward modifications have influenced Electrical system tolls and VAT return to 21% Since January. What can we do? But we are not going to wear ashes, because there are different measures. First, it is advisable to periodically compare electric rates using tools such as The CNMC comparator or independent platforms, such as the one that has the OCU, Octopus Energy either Selectraamong many others. Second, it is important to review the contract conditions, paying special attention to possible price reviews, permanence commitments and additional costs for non -essential services. Another effective strategy is the use of appliances at lower cost or valley hourshow to program the washing machine or dishwasher, but this is only possible if you are inside the PVPC. On the other hand, replace traditional bulbs By LED and go like a father turning off lights from empty rooms. Another “tricks” that people take into account is to disconnect or unplug to Avoid ghost consumption. However, something that people do not usually take into account is FRIDITIONAL TEMPERATURE ADJUSTMENT, The water heater and The air conditioning To avoid excessive consumption. Along the same lines, for this winter, although more with a view to the coming, The heat pump It can be an efficient option, but the investment is quite high. How do I know if I am paying more? From the CNMC They have developed A system through the QR code that comes with your light bill to access a comparator with your power and consumption data, which will help you understand the invoice and teach you what are the best offers on the market. Finally, it is advisable lower 5% VAT In the light invoice. Forecasts The heavy rains of recent weeks will have a positive impact on the light bill. The large amount of rainfall They have raised The level of the reservoirs, increasing the generation capacity of the hydroelectric plants. However, the reservoirs belong to companies and will see how They store and release water. Image | Unspash Xataka | The Light rate rose in this last month of August: the most affected, those welcomed to PVPC

There are people who never know when to leave a series. Someone has investigated the exact moment to do so

by

It has all the meaning of the world that we discuss and reflect tirelessly on what point the series spoils, how the series are not eternal and what methods we can find to anticipate the tragic moment in which our favorite series ceases to be what it was. After all, we invest a lot of time in them: They are hours and hours of our free time, and when they stop liking ourselves, we continue looking for their company in the hope that they will do it again. Sometimes it happens, sometimes not. Daniel Parris’s Newsletter Significant Star It is dedicated to answering these types of questions using thousands of data collected in databases of the most varied. ¿When we stop finding new music? ¿What classic films endure the passage of time? ¿They die more famous now than before? And above all, the essential:People hate as much as it looks like Coldplay? (In this case I can speak for me, and no statistics are needed). In this line of transcendental questions that can be answered with statistics (A fan of statistics assures us, but that’s another issue), it’s’How many episodes of a series have to endure before stopping seeing it?‘Before continuing, it would be necessary to clarify that these data start from the logical fallacy of thinking that a note in IMDB is the mother of the lamb, and a series (or episode) that suspends in IMDB is effectively bad, when there are thousands of variants (Review Bombicscult series to which the well-mal dichotomy does not feel good or, punch, that many times people are wrong) that question this reasoning. But let’s start from there. The average grade as a canon Parris calculations take, for example, to calculate the average grade of all the episodes of a series. Puts the example of ‘Friends‘, which has an average (quite high) note of 8.34. We can say that this is the intermediate quality point: an episode with more note that will have a greater quality than the majority, with less that quality will be lower. There are series whose first episodes are already around this average note (‘Game of Thrones‘, for example), in other cases the series take to find that average note. The aforementioned ‘Friends’, for example, It does not reach that 8.34 to the seventh episode. Well: Parris calculation consists in taking all IMDB series and Compare the note of each episode with this average grade, and the result is a differential. Most of the series, it seems to be, take six or seven episodes to achieve that average quality. It is clearly appreciated in this graphic Image: Stant significant Is it a lot? Is little? Well, it is a considerable amount of hours, but Parris overlooks a very complicated topic to quantify: the last episodes of a series are better/more interesting/more exciting than the former because … This is how stories work! The first episodes always serve to prepare the way and then have interest. The data we can get from this is: do not trust a statesman to make cultural criticism. But let’s continue. After all, as Parris says, the verySeinfeld‘It took 16 episodes in find your Mojo. How much before I take me? But you can go further, and expand the photo: what if we go to the seasons? Practically All series have a time when interest begins to declinewhere they have been elongated beyond the reasonable, where everything that could be counted has been counted and we entered into argumentary arches that are repeated, characters that no longer have grace, loss of originality, skacuartos spirit and other phenomena that can come to load the memory of a series in its entirety because, again Paradigmatic case of ‘Game of Thrones’ It appears, many times from the end is what people remember the most. Let’s look at this new picture: Image: Stant significant Again using that average note as the base of the quality of a series, we have to in most series there is a change between the fifth and sixth season. From there there is no back. Of course, There are variables: In ‘Game of Thrones’ the greatest fall in the valuations with respect to the first is the eighth season, in ‘House of Cards’ the sixth and in ‘Star Trek: Discovery’ the fourth. They are not necessarily the last seasons, but the most disappointing season. There is no clear rule, but a more or less immutable truth: there is no series that can be prolonged indefinitely. Can conclusions based on mathematics from here be drawn? Well yes and no: It seems more or less reasonable to think that no series can survive foreverbut there are some that after a great quality descent recover something from its initial attraction. The advice that can be removed from this data is: there is no unique solution and applicable to all series, but in general, when you start seeing a decline in quality, leave it. In very, very rare occasions things will be like in that wonderful episode eight of the first season. Header | Warner In Xataka | The 17 best streaming series of 2024 and where to see them

investigated Tesla for the death of a worker

by

The day had to come when Personal interests of Elon Musk They will collide with their Commitment to cut out in the US administration at the head of Doge (Department of Government Efficiency). That day has arrived. The Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA), which is equivalent to the Labor Inspection in Spain, is investigating the death of a worker in Tesla Gigafactoría in Fremont, but has refused to make public The investigation not to reveal the identity of the complainants. At the same time, Doge is analyzing What officials say goodbye To save costs, so Osha’s officials are feeling the pressure of giving bad news to the CEO of Tesla and that is firm their dismissal order. Research in Tesla. In August 2024, Víctor Gómez, an employee of a company subcontracted by Tesla, died electrocuted while performing maintenance in electric panels of the Texas Gigafactory. According to his family’s complaint, the company did not deactivate energy systems during the review that Gomez was going to make, which caused the fatal accident. As usual, the Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA), under the Labor Department, initiated an investigation that confirmed the violation of the security standards by Tesla, such and as confirmed Reuters. Institutional silence and suspicions. Although OSHA closed the investigation in February 2025 and issued judicial citations against Tesla, the complete results have not been made public, an unusual procedure since, as has happened in previous labor inspections That has had Tesla, the investigation has been made public. As published by Reuters, the sudden opacity by Osha has coincided with the Doge campaign to cut personnel in government agencies. The Labor Department is one of the 15 agencies that Musk has put at your point of view Since Donald Trump put him in front of Doge. Greg Casar, congressman of the district where the event occurred, demanded transparency to Osha sending a letter A Scott Ketcham, deputy secretary of the agency: “Americans have the right to know if Tesla and their contractors put at risk the life of a man and if Tesla will follow the safety standards in the workplace in the future,” Casar wrote. A stone in Tesla’s shoe. It is not the first time that Osha fine to Tesla for putting the health of her workers at risk. In 2023, the company was sanctioned with $ 7,000 for exposing its workers to Hexavalent chromea carcinogenic substance used in the Cybertruck manufacturing process. As published ForbesTesla would already accumulate 29 complaints and $ 400,000 in fines Since 2021. Space X is not far behind the number of incidents in its facilities. An investigation of Reuters He revealed 600 injuries not reported at the company’s Texas plant, registering an accident rate six times higher than the average of its sector. Damocles’s sword on his heads. David Michaels, professor at the Public Health School at George Washington University and Osha director during Obama’s mandate, warns that Doge You will have access to confidential files of complainants and officials of that agency. That raises an important deterrence in denouncing irregularities since Doge could access that information. “If you know that your name will not be secret, you will think twice before informing about something”, He pointed out Professor a The Newyorr With the Doge pointing to the Labor Department, a clearing arises Conflict of interest: the same person who directs the fouched companies, controls the future of the organism that regulates them and its officials. In Xataka | Complaining about a Tesla in China has a high price: some customers have had to pay compensation for criticizing the brand Image | (Trevor Cokley), Tesla

Mike Johnson announced that the previous January 6 investigation will be investigated

by

The president of the House of Representatives, Michael Johnson (R-Louisiana), announced the creation of a new committee to investigate “false narratives” on the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol by supporters of the president donald trump. Hours earlier, Johnson had downplayed a question about Trump’s pardon of the assailants saying that Republicans “were not looking back, but forward.” But the new committee will look back and work to rewrite the history of the assault on the Capitol. Republicans want deflect blame from Trump for telling his supporters to “fight like hell” and march on Congress before they broke into the building to interfere with the certification of Trump’s 2020 election loss. Johnson said in a news release that Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-Ga.), who led Republicans’ counterinvestigation into the original bipartisan Jan. 6 committee, would lead the new effort. “House Republicans are proud of our work so far to expose the false narratives spread by the politically motivated January 6 Select Committee during the 117th Congress, but there is still much work to do,” Johnson said. In his own statement, Loudermilk listed the causes of the January 6 attack, notably omitting the man whose name was on the flags that the mob carried. “What happened at the Capitol that day was the result of a series of intelligence, security and leadership failures at multiple levels within numerous entities,” Loudermilk said. Loudermilk’s panel will be a subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee chaired by Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), who noted there are unanswered questions about live pipe bombs that were discovered in buildings near the Capitol on Jan. 6. Keep reading:· Enrique Tarrio, the former leader of the Proud Boys of Cuban origin pardoned by Trump after being sentenced to 22 years for the assault on the Capitol· Trump pardons more than 1,500 Capitol attackers; Enrique Tarrio will be free· JD Vance contradicts Trump and refuses to pardon those who carried out violence in the assault on the Capitol

Log In

Forgot password?

Forgot password?

Enter your account data and we will send you a link to reset your password.

Your password reset link appears to be invalid or expired.

Log in

Privacy Policy

Add to Collection

No Collections

Here you'll find all collections you've created before.