invisible

A 20-year-old experiment with girls walking in pairs revealed one of society’s invisible glues

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Between 2005 and 2006, a pair of Israeli researchers selected twenty-four young girls and had them walk in pairs. That was it. They did not explain anything else, nor did they ask them for anything extra: essay after essay, Zivotofsky and Hausdorff they recorded the girls while they walked together. It seems trivial, but beneath those trivialities there are surprising things. And “often, a distracted gaze does not perceive it, but synchronization between people walking together is quite common.” The researchers realized that, in half of the cases (many more if they were holding hands), the girls spontaneously coordinated their steps with whoever was walking next to them. The interesting thing is that, far from being a curiosity, it is a key element of who we are as a society. It is no coincidence that robots still they have not mastered it. Human beings synchronize. It is not just the work of Zivotofsky and Hausdorff on walking in pairs, nor the studies that they have been confirming. Cardiorespiratory synchronization is well documented in social contexts (couples touchingchoirs, conversations with friends or familyetc.). They’re just two examples from a field of research that, over the past 20 years, has tracked the prosocial effects of these kinds of things. Why do we do it? There are two large brain networks that seem to be involved in all this: the mentalization network (allows us to infer intentions, beliefs and other people’s mental states) and the mirror neuron system (which, as traditionally believedare the basis of empathy; and are co-activated during joint action tasks). But none of this answers the question that interests us: why do we do it? On an evolutionary level, I say. And although there is debate about it, researchers tend to think that the prosocial benefits of this synchronization help us live in society. After all, studies suggest that walking in sync with a stranger improves your impression of them, even without speaking. It is so effective that there is no lack of studies that analyze how this motor synchrony has been historically used as a tool for group cohesion. Also in contexts of aggression, war and dehumanization of foreign groups. Two walking together. It is surprising, in this context, that Homer already defined friendship as “two walking together”. Because it is exactly that. It is also a tool to break negative dynamics. It is not automatic, it is not something direct; but going for a walk, holding hands, is a way to connect that, lately, we are abandoning. It is true that, with these studies in hand, causality is complex to determine. One can never be sure if it is the synchronization that makes us ‘fit’ or the fact that we are compatible that makes synchronization easier. However, the impact of a world in which every time we interact and we touch each other less is yet to be known. Image | Richard Bell In Xataka | Robots have a problem that no one has solved in decades: they get lost. A Spanish engineer believes she has found the key

Singapore achieves an almost invisible solar cell that generates energy even in the shade

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The windows of a car parked in the sun or the lenses of smart glasses can be future charging points for a battery. And the technology has already reached that point thanks to scientists from the Nanyang Technological University in Singapore (NTU) who have just published in ACS Energy Letters a new type of transparent, ultra-thin solar cell based on perovskite, a semiconductor material with compositional versatility that conventional silicon cannot match. In short. The team, led by Associate Professor Annalisa Brunohas managed to manufacture cells just 10 nanometers thick. To have an even greater dimension: a human hair measures about 70,000 nanometers, that is, if that hair were the Eiffel Tower, this film would be a sheet of paper placed next to it. However, there is an even more revealing piece of information from the study, since the natural roughness of the surface on which the cell is deposited—about 2.8 nanometers according to microscopy measurements of the paper itself—represents almost a third of its total thickness. But the milestone is not in its form. The real paradigm shift proposed by this technology is the end of exclusive dependence on direct sun. Unlike conventional silicon panels, these perovskite devices generate electricity under indirect light and diffuse light conditions, making them especially useful in high-density urban environments where vertical facades and frequent cloud cover limit direct solar exposure. “Buildings consume about 40% of the world’s energy, so we urgently need technologies that turn their facades into energy generators,” explains Bruno. According to the team’s initial calculations, if we covered the glass façade of a large skyscraper (such as those in the Marina Bay financial district) with this technology, we could theoretically generate hundreds of megawatt-hours per year. We are talking about covering the annual consumption of about 100 four-bedroom apartments. These are preliminary figures, of course, but the potential is there. The secret is in evaporation. How do you keep a window looking like a window while generating energy? The answer is that these cells are semitransparent and neutral in color, with no apparent dye that reveals their presence. To manufacture them, the team used a vacuum thermal evaporation process: the base materials are heated in a vacuum chamber until they evaporate and are deposited on a surface forming an ultrathin and uniform film. Without toxic solvents, without the usual defects of solution methods. What distinguishes this work from previous attempts — and there have been many, the study compares its results to decades of studies — is that it is the first time ultrathin perovskite cells have been made using entirely vacuum processes, from start to finish. That is not a minor detail because vacuum processes are already used by the large-scale semiconductor industry, which considerably shortens the path to industrial manufacturing. The data, but with nuances. Let’s get to the numbers, which is where this technology really comes into its own. In their completely opaque versions, these sheets manage to transform 7%, 11% and 12% of the light they receive into energy, using minimum thicknesses of 10, 30 and 60 nanometers. What if we want the window to remain a window? The 60 nanometer semi-transparent model allows 41% of visible light to pass through and maintains a non-negligible efficiency of 7.6%. According to the researchers, it is the best that has been seen to date with this type of materials But here the real tension of this type of engineering appears: the more transparent, the less efficient. The study identifies the 30 nm cell as the one that best balances both variables—it has the highest potential for combined light utilization efficiency—but allows less visible light to pass through than the 60 nm cell. There is no perfect solution; There is a compromise that each application will have to negotiate according to its priorities. But what about stability? This is where any perovskite technology has to prove its maturity. The data from the study itself shows that 100 nm cells last projected for about 15,400 hours before degrading to 80% of their initial performance. The 60 nm ones, 5,800 hours. The 10 nm ones, 4,100 hours. These are figures that speak of a laboratory, not of a window exposed to rain, temperature changes and years of use. Professor Sam Stranks, from the University of Cambridge, sums it up precisely in a separate commentary on the study– The balance between transparency and generation is promising, but the next critical tests will be long-term stability, durability and performance on large surfaces. The roofs are already occupied. The next frontier of urban solar energy is the millions of square meters of glass that cover our buildings, cars and devices, surfaces that until now were passive by definition. The progress of the NTU team, already patented through NTUitive and in conversations with companies to validate the process, points in that direction. There is still a way to go, especially in real durability. But for the first time, that path has an industry-compatible manufacturing method, cells that operate with a fraction of the available light and a thickness that makes the word “invisible” not a marketing metaphor, but a technical description fairly close to reality. Image | ACS Energy Xataka | Coal is back in fashion in many countries. The problem is that it is clouding the sky from the solar panels

Benidorm triples its population in summer and does not run out of water. The secret is a miracle of invisible engineering

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We assume that when we turn on the faucet water comes out. It is an almost automatic, everyday gesture that we rarely stop to think about. However, ensuring that this resource springs up clean and safe in Benidorm, a city that its population triples In the middle of the summer high season, it requires a true miracle of engineering and management. In the Marina Baixa, one of the regions of the Valencian Community with greater water stresscatering to millions of annual visitors is a colossal puzzle. As reported by local mediathe philosophy of those who operate this gear is perfectly summarized by Ciriaco Clemente, manager of Veolia in Benidorm: “In a territory where the pressure on water resources is structural and permanent, guaranteeing that the water reaches the tap in perfect sanitary conditions and that, once used, it returns to the environment without damaging it is not an option, it is an obligation.” The challenge of quantity and quality. The water challenge is not exclusive to the Alicante coast, it is a national problem. According to official data from the Ministry of Health (SINAC)the quality of water in Spain is increasingly threatened. The filtration of nitrates from industrial agricultural activity is saturating the self-cleaning capacity of many aquifers, putting local water treatment plants in hundreds of municipalities in check, especially in inland Spain. While much of inland Spain deals with nitrate pollution, Benidorm faces its own perfect storm: extreme seasonal demand and the threat of shortages. The city not only needs to ensure that there is enough water for everyone, but that its quality is impeccable under all circumstances, regardless of whether it comes from the Guadalest reservoir, the Amadorio reservoir or the Bajo del Algar Canal. To overcome this crisis, the tourist capital has shielded itself around two essential infrastructures managed by Veolia: the Drinking Water Treatment Station (ETAP) and the Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP). Beyond thirst. Water quality is synonymous with public health and economic survival. In fact, consuming water with nitrate levels close to or higher The European legal limit of 50 mg/L carries serious risks, and recent medical studies suggest that even much lower thresholds could be linked to oncological problems. Treating water to the millimeter is, therefore, a matter of life or death. On the economic level, as the newspaper highlights Informationfor the enormous hotel plant in Benidorm, opening the tap and letting water flow with total health guarantees “is not a secondary detail: it is a basic requirement to operate and to maintain the trust of visitors.” In addition, the system must be able to withstand the onslaught of the weather. According to Alicante Plazathe ETAP faces extreme scenarios after episodes of torrential rains, when the water collected arrives with enormous turbidity due to the dragging of sediments. Given this, the plant adjusts its treatments in real time. “Our responsibility does not end with there being water; it ends when that water reaches the tap in perfect condition,” says Noelia Llinares, ETAP plant manager, in these media. Leaving behind traditional management. As detailed by Veoliathe answer is in technology. A digital ecosystem has been deployed in Benidorm that includes network-wide sensors, leak detection algorithms and remote control systems. This has allowed the milestone of reducing water losses in the network to minimum levels of 5%. To support this burden, ETAP itself already received a powerful injection of more than 9 million euros in its last major expansion in 2010. But the cycle does not end at the sink. The WWTP works under a strict circular economy philosophy: used water is not waste, it is a resource. Today, 35% of the water that reaches the treatment plant is already reused, mainly for agricultural irrigation. And there is an extra factor that adds complexity: wastewater treatment plants are electricity devourers. To counteract this, María José Martínez, head of the WWTP, details that the facility uses byproducts such as biogas or sludge to generate its own energy. “The objective is clear: for the plant to become increasingly self-sufficient and for its environmental footprint to be as small as possible,” says Martínez. The next challenge: squeeze regeneration. Behind all this there is an ambitious project underway: the Regenerated Water Master Plan. The short-term objective is to take advantage of up to 2 additional cubic hectometers of regenerated water for purely urban uses, alleviating the suffocation of conventional sources and reinforcing the network against drought. Benidorm has empirically demonstrated that the high numbers of mass tourism and water sustainability are not antagonistic concepts, but rather necessary allies. In a context marked by climate change, the experience of the city of Alicante provides an inescapable journalistic and vital lesson: intelligent water management is no longer a simple competitive advantage or a green slogan. It is, purely and simply, a question of survival. Every drop counts, from the moment it is dammed until, thanks to engineering, it is regenerated to start again. Image | Diego Delso Xataka | The future of 150,000 hectares of crops is decided today. We have been fighting for decades, but the wars over water have only just begun

invisible plasma bubbles that can leave you without GPS

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The Earth is enveloped by the ionosphere, a layer of ionized gas that acts as a dynamic boundary between the atmosphere and outer space. This region has several key functions for humanity, ranging from protecting us against solar radiation (it absorbs ultraviolet radiation and X-rays) to functioning as a conductive medium for radio waves and satellite signals. But the ionosphere has a problem when night falls on the magnetic equator: a phenomenon occurs that can destabilize GPS, air communications and telecommunications. Although science has been studying it for decades in other equatorial parts, the African Atlantic sector has been a historical blind spot. Tenerife is right in that void and the German Aerospace Center (DLR) been watching for more than ten years to heaven from there. The discovery. The DLR team has confirmed the presence of plasma bubbles (EPB) over Tenerife on a poster in the XVII International Equatorial Aeronomy Symposium (ISEA-17). The phenomenon is not new, but it is the first time that it has been recorded continuously and systematically in this strip of the Atlantic. For this monitoring, they have used two instruments at the same time: a GNSS receiver and an atmospheric luminescence detector, a combination that allows studying the bubbles on both a small and large scale, essential to thoroughly understand their structure. The bubbles that DLR has documented form exclusively at night, reach their peak activity at the equinoxes and can extend vertically up to 1,700 kilometers above the geomagnetic equator, with structures between 40 and 100 kilometers wide moving east at about 100 meters per second, such as collects the Geophysical Research Letters. Whether or not it appears on a given night remains difficult to predict even in the most studied regions. Why is it important. Beyond an atmospheric curiosity, plasma bubbles have direct consequences on critical technologies. As they ascend, they generate ionospheric scintillation: rapid, unpredictable fluctuations in radio signals that degrade GPS, disrupt air communications, and affect satellite telecommunications. And it is not something theoretical: in the geomagnetic storm of April 2023 the European navigation system EGNOS he suffered it. But the phenomenon is also unpredictable: the spatial gradient induced by EPBs is a challenge for aircraft guidance systems in precision approaches, according to Satellite Navigation. Knowing how they behave in the African Atlantic sector is a problem with direct consequences for aviation safety and the digital infrastructure of the region. Context. As explains this study of the Complutense of Madrid in collaboration with the ICTP of Trieste, plasma bubbles are decreases in the electronic density generated by the mechanism of Rayleigh-Taylor instability in the equatorial night sector. When the Sun falls, the ionosphere loses stability: the lower layer becomes denser than the upper one, so the light plasma rises, leaving holes empty of electrons. The bubbles. This same phenomenon was detected recently at the pyramids of Gizah, another area in North Africa. In November 2023, in the midst of a geomagnetic storm, a radar station on the Chinese island of Hainan detected an ionospheric disturbance over the pyramids of Giza, almost 9,500 kilometers to the west. using a LARID super radar (Low Latitude Long Range Ionospheric Radar) developed at the Institute of Geology and Geophysics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and which was independently validated by GPS receivers in Africa. AND they are not the only ones: There are satellites such as COSMIC-2, GOLD and Swarm that make specific observations. How they do it. The GNSS receiver, which has been operational for more than a decade, detects the flickering that bubbles cause on satellite signals, capturing small-scale irregularities, but without showing their actual shape or size. That is what the second instrument is for: the atmospheric luminescence detector captures the faint light emission that ionospheric oxygen emits at night: where there is a bubble, that light disappears, revealing the actual shape and size of the structure. A decade of GNSS data plus large-scale images: that combination is the methodological novelty of the work. The philosophy is completely opposite to that followed in Egypt: the DLR observes in situ with high resolution and structural detail, the LARID observes at a distance with enormous range but less geometric precision. Yes, but. The DLR research at the moment is a poster and not a scientific paper, with everything it entails: peer review, complete data or conclusions that are more than preliminary. On the other hand, and although the study of the Giza pyramids analyzes the same phenomenon, the detection of plasma bubbles was carried out by an independent Chinese team and with different technology. In addition, many open questions remain, such as how often they occur over Tenerife, how it changes with the seasons, when the scintillation is intense enough to affect navigation systems. In Xataka | Satellite images leave no room for doubt: it has rained so much that Morocco has not looked so green for a decade In Xataka | A 2.5 billion-year-old geological wonder: Zimbabwe’s Great Dam seen by NASA from space Cover | ESA (Sentinel-2) and ESA (Proba-V)

I thought my kitchen couldn’t fit one more whim. Until they invented the invisible induction hob

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The Spanish we cook less and lessand Roig himself predicts that in a few years there will be no kitchens in the houses. For everyone who thinks otherwise, good news: the induction cooktop industry is progressing at a dizzying pace. The invisible induction. There is a phenomenon going viral on networks such as YouTube Shorts, TikTok and Instagram: the induction invisible. They are in the most literal sense of the word, since they are invisible to the eye and can be placed practically anywhere on the countertop. Although they may seem like a magical solution, these new induction systems have technology that we already know and some important cons to know. How to achieve it. Countertops with invisible induction allow you to cook directly on the countertop surface, without the need for a visible plate. The technology is the same as in a conventional induction hob: a system of electromagnetic coils generates a field that induces electric currents in ferromagnetic materials. The surface of the countertop acquires only the residual heat, the intensity of which will largely depend on the material used in it. Thus, like any other induction system, it is much more complicated to burn yourself compared to a ceramic hob. Novy undercounter induction. The pros. In addition to the design, which allows us to completely forget that we have a plate embedded in the countertop, cleanliness is a very strong point. It is enough to clean our countertop regularly without fear of damaging the plates, since they are under the surface. There is also a gain in surface area, since the plate They are also usually quite easy to control, some of them using wireless controllers, others using a traditional remote control or, as in the case of some Cecotec models, we can choose where to install the visible button panel. The buts. Invisible inductions cannot be installed on any countertop. Brands like Cecotec They sell theirs at a pretty cheap price.recommending porcelain or granite materials that withstand temperatures greater than 400 degrees and with a minimum thickness depending on the model. Invisible Cooking Surface plate. Viewed unassembled it is not so futuristic. Although the companies that market them overlook it, invisible induction has a small counterpart: the heat has to pass through the countertop. This creates a barrier that slightly increases consumption, although as an induction system they are still much more efficient than traditional glass-ceramics. If you are worried about leaving marks over time, for now (these plates have been on the market for a few years, although they are still unknown), no big complaints. The manufacturers assure that the countertop is treated so as not to become marked with use, although it will depend on the care with which we place the pots and pans on it. Go deeper. Repairing this type of hob is also more expensive than traditional induction hobs. Despite this, modular installations are usually used so that they can be replaced without it being necessary to completely change the countertop. If Roig is right and in a few years there will be no kitchens, at least those who resist eat only precooked You can have the most beautiful one. In Xataka | Goodbye to the hood in the kitchen. Hiding it is not enough for Samsung: it has integrated it into its new induction hob

The ugliest and most hated building in Paris is its only skyscraper. Since they cannot demolish it, they have come up with another solution: make it invisible.

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For more than half a century, the Paris skyline has remained practically frozen. You may not have realized it, but in the historic center practically no building can exceed seven floors. This norm was born after a controversial construction of the seventies that provoked such public rejection that it changed forever the urban rules of the city. Today, that architectural experiment is once again at the center of the debate. And they have found a solution. The tower that should never have existed. In a city famous for its uniform horizon of six or seven-story stone buildings, the dark silhouette of the Montparnasse Tower It has been breaking the visual harmony of Paris for more than 50 years. Inaugurated in 1973 with 59 plants and nearly 210 meters high, the mass was born as a symbol of progress in a capital that was trying to modernize after the post-war period and transform the deteriorated Montparnasse neighborhood into a business district. The project had the political support of President Georges Pompidou and the Minister of Culture André Malraux, and had to demonstrate that the city could hug “the modernity of electricity”, fast trains and telecommunications. However, the result was an enormous monolith of dark brown steel and glass that stood out brutally above the urban fabric of the 19th century, almost immediately becoming the building most hated in the capital. Aging too quickly. As usually happens in hyperbolic projects that do not end well, the problem started even before that the tower was finished. The plan had been conceived in the fifties, but could not be started until the end of the sixties due to lack of technology, money and experience to build a skyscraper of those dimensions in Europe. When it was finally built, its late modernist aesthetic already seemed dated, and its dark color (compared by some critics to a nicotine stain) contrasted violently with classical Parisian architecture. It almost instantly became a crooked line of the capital. The black sheep. The public reaction was so negative that just four years after its inauguration, the City Council prohibited building buildings of more than seven floors in the city center, pushing out the skyscrapers towards the business district of La Défense. Since then, the tower has remained an urban anomaly or, if you will, a reminder to avoid: the only skyscraper in historic Paris. The most repudiated building in the most photographed city. Over the decades, many controversial buildings in Paris ended up being accepted and even lovedfrom the Eiffel Tower itself to the Louvre pyramid or the Pompidou Center. The Montparnasse Tower, on the other hand, never achieved reconcile with the Parisians. Jokes about its presence became part of popular culture: many say that the best view of Paris is from your viewpoint because it is the only place from which the tower cannot be seen. Others describe it as the box in which the Eiffel Tower arrived packaged. Even local politicians have called the building of “urban catastrophe”and for years proposals arose to tear it down completely. However, despite widespread rejection, the skyscraper has also maintained a curious cultural life. For example, the famous “French Spiderman” Alain Robert climbed the towerand has also appeared in movies and continues to attract tourists who climb to its observation platform to contemplate the city. An impossible demolition. You may be thinking about it. If Paris hates its own creation, why the hell hasn’t it been knocked down? As tempting as the idea of ​​removing the tower from the Paris skyline is for many, tearing it down was never an option. a realistic option. The reason? The building still houses offices, has a huge commercial infrastructure at its base and its demolition would involve a gigantic cost in addition to enormous logistical and environmental problems. Even those who would like to see it disappear acknowledge that it would be financially unviable. The tower is too big, too complex and too integrated into the neighborhood to simply erase it from the map. This reality forced the city and the promoters to look for an alternative solution: If the most hated skyscraper in Paris could not be destroyed, we would have to try to transform it. EITHER directly delete it. The solution: make it disappear. From this paradox was born one of the most ambitious urban renewal projects in the city. Because the strategy is not to demolish the Montparnasse Tower, but to radically alter your appearance so that, in essence, it is not “seen” and stops dominating the Parisian horizon. The plan, promoted by a consortium of French architects and accompanied by the remodeling of the surroundings designed by Renzo Pianoaims to replace the dark façade with a kind transparent crystal leather crossed by garden terraces, balconies and vertical gardens that visually fragment the volume of the building. The idea is quite clear: lighten its presence to the point that the gigantic brown block stop imposing yourself about him skyline. A “trick” worth 700 million. The transformation of the tower and the entire urban complex that surrounds it will exceed 700 million of euros and aims to convert a degraded environment (marked by an almost abandoned shopping center and an unwelcoming concrete platform) into an open space with squares, pedestrian walkways, green areas and new connections with the neighborhood. In this way, the tower will retain its structure original plan to reduce carbon emissions during construction, will incorporate more efficient energy technologies and add high-rise gardens and a rooftop greenhouse. The project has been caught for years between political debates, neighborhood concerns and architectural discussions, but the closure of the building to evict the tenants now opens the door to start of works. The strange fate of the Montparnasse mass. In short, more than fifty years after that giddy inauguration, the Montparnasse Tower is still being an anomaly repudiated in the city that banned skyscrapers after their construction. Paradoxically, that same singularity has also turned it into a species of unintentional icon … Read more

an “invisible” galaxy made up almost 100% of dark matter

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The Universe continues to be that great unknown. Not only because of its vast immensity, but because human research and subsequent theories that explain its functioning continue to require tweaks and reformulations. we have seen it when calculating the distances between planets of the Solar System, the size of Jupiter either what is the training mechanism of planetary systems. Now, a research team from the University of Toronto has discovered to the strongest candidate for a “dark galaxy”, something that until now was only considered a possibility. The candidate. The study presents the discovery of CDG-2, an acronym that literally means Candidate Dark Galaxy 2. It is an object 300 million light years away, in the Perseus cluster, with a peculiarity: it is almost completely dominated by dark matter, with a minimal number of stars. Thus, between 99.94% and 99.98% of its total mass would be dark matter and it only delivers a light of “only” six million suns compared to the brightness of tens of billions of the Milky Way. Context. Galaxies are something like the Lego pieces that make up the universe and they all contain dark matter. The dark matter It is something scientifically fascinating: it is invisible, it does not emit or reflect light, but its gravitational influence was the scaffolding on which galaxies were formed and is what holds them together today. In the Milky Way, estimates suggest that between 65 and 90% of the mass is dark matter, depending on the model, but astronomy has always wondered if there were even more extreme galaxies. The “dark galaxies” were until now just a theoretical prediction. Why is it important. To begin with, because it empirically confirms what the theoretical models contemplated, but it has more implications: It opens a new way to detect galaxies from statistically significant groupings of globular clusterswhich serve as a trace. As a case study: the most probable hypothesis is that neighboring galaxies ripped away the gas necessary for star formation, leaving only the skeleton. It makes us look at its “twin” CDG-1 with different eyes. Detected previously, it could be a case of an even more extreme dark galaxy, possibly a pure dark matter halo. How they discovered it. The research team came across this galaxy in a striking way: looking for its shadow, since it is practically undetectable. Their fingerprints were four globular clusters, small dense concentrations of stars around the Perseus cluster. After analyzing its disposition with statistics and ruling out that its grouping was a matter of chance, they pointed the three most powerful telescopes available, Hubble, Euclid and Subaru, towards that region and created the image that evidenced its existence. Is, in the words of the main researcher Dayi Li, “the first galaxy detected solely through its population of globular clusters.” Image: NASA, ESA, Dayi Li (UToronto); Image Processing: Joseph DePasquale (STScI) Pending subjects. However, CDG-2 is still a candidate and not a confirmation, which is why it keeps its name. To confirm with certainty the mass of dark matter it would be necessary to measure the velocities of its stars or clusters, something technically very difficult with current technology due to how little they shine. It will be necessary to wait for James Webb and new Euclid observations to improve the image of this object to better define it or continue finding more dark galaxies like it hidden in the universe. It would require measuring the velocities of its stars or globular clusters, something technically very difficult given their extreme tenuity. The next few years, with James Webb and new observations of Euclid, will be crucial to refine the portrait of this object and track whether there are more galaxies like it hidden in the large clusters of the universe. In Xataka | A new “solar system” has just been discovered. There’s just one problem: it shouldn’t exist. In Xataka | We have been deceived by the distances of the Solar System: the closest neighbor to Neptune is Mercury Cover | POT

the invisible leak that locked a town in an industrial dystopia

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This afternoon, the Basque authorities restrictions have been lifted in Muskizbut the fear still remains. Living in the shadow of the largest refinery in the Basque Country, Petronor, has turned this Biscayan municipality into a scene straight out of England at the end of the 19th century. Its streets have been empty, schools with minimal activity and neighbors equipped with masks. The mist that covered the town on Thursday and part of Friday was not fog, but a toxic cloud. The invisible escape. It all started on Thursday morning due to a technical incident in a gasoline tank at the petrochemical plant, which caused the evaporation and emission into the atmosphere of the volatile fraction of the fuel. According to the Muskiz city councilbetween 10:15 and 11:00 a.m., stations such as the one in the San Julián neighborhood recorded peaks of between 100 and 200 micrograms per cubic meter (µg/m³) of benzene. To put the figure in perspective, the regulatory limit value for the annual average is just 5 µg/m³, meaning that emissions far exceeded the recommendations of the World Health Organization (WHO). In addition, the chemist Néstor Etxebarria (UPV/EHU) warned that not only benzene escapedbut also toluene and xylene, completing the dangerous chemical cocktail known as BTEX, very volatile and toxic substances. The real danger of hydrocarbons. To understand the severity of the leak, it is necessary to explain what benzene is. Simply put, it is a colorless, volatile liquid with a sweet smell. that penetrates very easily into the bloodstream through the lungs. In the short term, acute inhalation causes poisoning similar to that of solvents: drowsiness, dizziness, headaches, tremors and, in severe levels, loss of consciousness. However, the real danger lies in its long-term effects. International health and environmental agencies (IARC, ATSDR, EPA) classify benzene as a confirmed human carcinogen (Group 1). This substance directly attacks the bone marrow, depressing the formation of blood cells, which can trigger aplastic anemia and acute myeloid leukemia. The WHO itself assumes in its guidelines that, being a genotoxic agent, there is no exposure threshold that the human body can safely tolerate. Any dose, no matter how small, increases the risk. Communication chaos, dizziness and fear. Despite the obvious chemical danger, the management of the crisis has outraged those affected. Although the escape occurred on Thursday morning, The Mail denounced that the Basque Government It did not issue preventive confinement recommendations until 8:17 p.m., ten hours after the incident. The usual Petronor emergency sirens, which sound every Thursday as a drill, remained silent yesterday, and neither mass alert was sent (ES-Alert) to cell phones because Public Health considered that “it was not an emergency.” While the Local Police patrolled with megaphones asking residents to lock themselves in, the director of Public Health, Guillermo Herrero, minimized the crisis in Radio Euskadiensuring that there was no “risk for the population” and that a “normal life” could be led. This vision contrasted head-on with that of the mayor of Muskiz, Eduardo Briones, who to the microphones Chain Being, He recommended not going out because “it is better to sin by excess.” The human impact was immediate. In statements to The MailItxaso Etxegarai recounted how her asthmatic daughter lost her appetite and suffered severe headaches, while her eyes stung. For his part, retiree José Taboada had to go look for his wife at work because, after inhaling the air, “he had gotten dizzy” and “had lost consciousness a little.” Panic also crossed the walls of the refinery. chow to detail The Jumpdozens of contract workers abandoned their jobs on Friday morning. “No one has told us anything clearly. While we are waiting, we are at the site of toxicity,” an operator reported to the BEsuffering from a sore throat. Unions such as LAB and CCOO demanded the paralysis of the plant. Impunity and legal loopholes. This episode is not an isolated event, but rather the straw that breaks the camel’s back for a population accustomed to living with industrial pollution. In fact, it is the third incident in just two months (in December there was another leak, and this same Sunday an electrical failure caused immense flames and black smoke) As detailed by the chemist and environmental disseminator Julen Rekondo in COPE chainthe problem lies in a flagrant legal vacuum: Spanish regulations sanction companies if they exceed the annual average of benzene, but does not contemplate punitive limits for sharp point peaks. This allows serious episodes not to count as an infraction. Neighborhood fatigue. Petronor’s shadow is long. The refinery is responsible of more than 10% of greenhouse gas emissions and Public Health data show that the Muskiz area registers mortality rates from lung cancer between 11% and 45% higher than the Basque average. Added to this is citizen distrust due to “revolving doors.” The residents gathered this week remembered that former senior officials of the Basque Government, such as Josu Jon Imaz or Iñaki Zudaire, ended up occupying positions of maximum power in Petronor and Repsol, which raises doubts about the rigor of institutional control. To channel this satiety, the neighborhood platform “Las Karreras Variant Stop“has called a protest demonstration for this Sunday, March 1, at 12:00 p.m., demanding real solutions. The air clears, but the indignation remains. The sirens never sounded, but the silence in Muskiz has been deafening. Although at two in the afternoon on Friday, February 27, the authorities lifted the preventive confinement when benzene stabilized at 2 µg/m³, normality here is a fragile concept. The gas will dissipate with the wind currents, but the uncertainty of living in a chemical Russian roulette remains entrenched in the lungs of a people who demand to stop being the collateral damage of industrial progress. Image | Zarateman and Gustavo Fring Xataka | The United Kingdom has found lithium under its feet, but extracting it is going to be a billion-dollar logistical nightmare

the new “atomic bomb” is invisible

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In every major conflict or world war, there was a time when a technology apparently secondary changed the rules of the game and redefined what it meant to have an advantage. Sometimes it is not the loudest, nor the heaviest, nor even the most visible weapon, but the invisible infrastructure that supports everything else from the air. A war in the clouds. The invasion of Ukraine has shown that the modern battlefield is not only measured in kilometers conquered or armor destroyed, but in megabits per second. High-speed satellite connectivity transformed the way to fight by allowing almost instant command, control and coordination at any point on the front. That has led to a dark reversal, because when that network is cut, not only is the Internet lost: Vision, synchronization and response capacity are lost, and the affected army is suddenly disoriented in an environment where every second decision can be lethal. The digital trap. Taking advantage of Russian troops’ desperation to regain access to Starlink after geo-blocking imposed by Elon Musk on SpaceX, a Ukrainian cyber assault unit launched a covert operation on Telegram. The trap: offering false registration services on a supposed Ukrainian “white list.” What happened? That Russian soldiers, believing they were reestablishing their connection, voluntarily sent terminal identifiers, account data and exact location coordinates. Instead of the Internet, they received 155 mm artillery fire. More than 2,000 data entries and thousands of dollars paid for the fictitious service turned the technological necessity into a kind of lethal “honeypot”, where each attempt to reconnect revealed a target. Starlink as strategic infrastructure. In this way, the SpaceX constellation not only facilitated communications, but also allowed to operate dronescoordinate attacks and maintain digitalized logistics on an extended front. A trap that has possibly been a pioneer in the Ukrainian war, but that will surely be the “norm” in future conflicts. When the company limited access only to verified terminals Because of Ukraine, Russia was suddenly deprived of a system on which it also depended. The interruption, in fact, has slowed offensives, forced a return to more vulnerable manned vehicles and generated chaos described by Russian voices as an operational “hell.” Connectivity stopped being a complement and became backbone of combat. Satellite Internet as an “atomic bomb.” The digital deception operation was not only a brilliant tactical action, but the verification of a strategic reality: In contemporary war, dominance of the information spectrum and networks is equivalent to the air superiority of the 20th century. Without real-time data there are no precise drones, no coordinated command, and no synchronized attacks. Disconnection de facto turns a modern force into an army blindexposed and extremely slow. Thus, the adversary that controls the network is not only able to listen and observe, it also has the ability to decide when the enemy speaks or, as in the case at hand, when he falls. Balloons in the sky. The data that confirms the importance of being “connected” on the battlefield has arrived this week. Given the loss of Starlink and the delay of its own Rassvet satellite constellationMoscow has activated emergency solutions such as the Barrage-1 stratospheric ballooncapable of raising 5G communication equipment to 20 kilometers in height to offer regional connectivity. The idea is not new and it could work as temporary nodebut it lacks the global coverage and resilience of thousands of laser-connected satellites. Furthermore, its lower altitude makes it a potential target for anti-aircraft defenses, hunting drones or electronic warfare, transferring the battle for connectivity to the physical sky as well. Without a network there is no modern war. If you will also, the Russian dependence on commercial systems and the Ukrainian effectiveness in exploiting that vulnerability reveal a profound change in the nature of the conflict. Digital infrastructure is no longer a simple logistical support, it has become a decisive weapon that articulates all the others. While Moscow searches technological patches and alternatives that time will tell if they are improvised or not, kyiv has shown that cutmanipulating or controlling the net can upset the balance on the front line faster than any ground offense. In the war that is being fought in Ukraine, and possibly in those to come, whoever dominates the connection in space, dominates the combat. Image | Support Forces of Ukraine Command, Ukraine Defense Ministry In Xataka | It is evident that Russia can absorb thousands and thousands of casualties. So Ukraine is already designing a much riskier plan In Xataka | An unprecedented experiment is happening in Ukraine: bombs have turned dogs into other animals

We just discovered that silicon has an invisible bottleneck, and that has a direct impact on our solar panels

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You turn on a solar cell and wait for the electrons to flow. But there is a moment, invisible and very brief, in which a part of them simply stops. A new study published in Physical Review B just explained why. The discovery. Researchers from the Madrid Institute for Advanced Studies in Nanoscience (IMDEA Nanoscience) and the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research in Germany (MPIP) have discovered that, in silicon, photoexcited electrons do not activate immediately when they receive light. For a few picoseconds (millionths of a millionth of a second) they become stuck in small traps of the material before they can circulate and generate current. The person responsible has a name: a phonon bottleneck. What are phonons and why do they matter? Silicon has a peculiarity compared to other materials: for an electron to be released when receiving light, photons are not enough. According to account IMDEA Nanoscience in its note also needs the collaboration of phonons, which are the vibrations of the crystalline lattice of the material itself. As has been discovered, when such timing vibrations are scarce, electrons become temporarily trapped in surface defects near the edge of the energy band. What no one expected to find. Enrique Cánovas himself, one of the authors of the study, recognize that the discovery was accidental. “What we observed was an accident. We expected an instantaneous response, but instead we saw the electrons take a breather,” he says. Until now, the phonon bottleneck was known in high-energy situations, when silicon was excited with very energetic electrons. This is the first experimental record of the phenomenon with low-energy excitations, which occur with near-infrared light, or even below, the absorption threshold of the material. Until now unexplored territory. Why it has practical relevance. Silicon is the heart of the vast majority of solar panels of the world. Any inefficiency in how your electrons respond to light has direct consequences on the performance of those photovoltaic cells. Understanding that this transient delay exists, and that it has an identifiable cause, opens the door to two possible paths: designing materials or structures that minimize this jam, or even taking advantage of it in a controlled way to improve the behavior of the device. It remains to be seen if the impact of this phenomenon is significant enough to justify redesigns in the manufacturing of solar cells and photovoltaic systems. Cover image | yue chan In Xataka | Imitating photosynthesis to transform CO2 into fuel was always a dream. One that has already come true

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