learn

We thought it took us a long time to learn to cook. Until some 780,000-year-old carp teeth rewrote history

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If we think about the technology that has most transformed humanity, it is easy for the wheel, the steam engine or the microchip to come to mind in a more current way. However, there is a much older and more fundamental “technology” that literally changed our anatomy: the kitchen. The evolution. For decades, paleoanthropologists have debated At what exact moment did our ancestors stop consuming raw foods to start processing them through the control of fire. The most recent evidence not only rewrites our chronology, but confirms that mastering cooking was the true driving force of human evolution. How do you know? Date something as precise as the beginning of cooking, but the reality is that Until recently, indisputable evidence of the continued use of fire for cooking They were around 600,000 years old. However, a great finding published in the prestigious magazine Nature in 2022 set back this evolutionary clock. In this case it was at the site of Gesher Benot Ya’aqovin Israel, remains of large carp teeth were found. With these samples and through advanced techniques such as X-ray diffraction, the researchers demonstrated that these remains had been exposed to controlled and relatively low temperatures, being less than 500 °C. The first date. With this evidence it seemed quite clear that it was not an accidental fire, but rather that it was dated 780,000 years ago these animals began to be cooked. This is consistent with the fact that Acheulean hunter-gatherers were already exploiting aquatic habitats, selecting nutrient-rich fish and cooking them in what archaeologists call “ghost hearths,” which were structured fire zones. Another hypothesis. Although direct evidence pointed us back to 780,000 years ago, biological clues suggest that the culinary revolution began much earlier. This is what primatologist Richard Wrangham pointed out, in his book Catching Fire and in subsequent studies published in Current Anthropology, proposing that systematic cooking emerged with Homo erectus approximately 1.9 million years ago. Your arguments. To be able to give this date, this expert focuses mainly on energy efficiency, since he points out that cooking predigests food, breaking down fibers and starches. This allows you to obtain many more calories with minimal effort. But the most relevant thing is that by facilitating digestion, the Homo erectus It no longer needed a massive intestinal tract to process hard, raw vegetables. And here size matters, since intestinal tissue and brain tissue are energetically very expensive, and so, by shrinking the intestine, the excess energy could be redirected to the growth of a much larger and more complex brain. But this softer diet also explains why the molars of the Homo erectus They shrank and their jaws became less prominent. Beyond nutrition. The implementation of cooking not only brought anatomical benefits, but studies indicate that in the case of the first hominids, this was essential for roasting raw meat and killing the bacteria that were inside. But in addition, fire control and the ability to process food were key tools that facilitated human migration. In reassessments of classic sites, such as the Zhoukoudian caves in China, they confirm that the Homo erectus pekinensis used controlled fire to cook deer meat in specific stratademonstrating that this practice was essential for adapting to colder climates outside of Africa. Images | Michael Lock

These tips can help you take advantage of it and really learn

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Artificial intelligence (AI) is changing many things, and one of them is how we study and learn. But it is one thing to talk about AI in the abstract and another, very different, to use it seriously to advance a subject. That’s where the real doubts begin: which tool is worth it, where to start or, above all, how to prevent the chatbot from becoming a a summary machine and you don’t have anything left. In a new video from Xataka’s YouTube channel We wanted to go right to that point, with a practical approach and a real user experience that will probably be familiar to you if you are a student. Francisco Franconi shares his experience with us today. He is a university student and along this path he has discovered real gems to squeeze out. Gemini (yes, on this occasion we momentarily put aside ChatGPT to try a different and, on paper, very promising alternative). Even so, the interesting thing about his proposal is not so much in the specific tool as in the method: our colleague insists that his advice can be applied to any chatbot, because what makes the difference is not the model, but how you use it. The key is not in the chatbot, but in the method In fact, his first advice is very direct: “The first advice I am going to give you is that, If you are going to use AI passively, you are not going to learn anything“And it’s hard to argue. Franconi delves into one of the most common traps: asking AI to summarize a topic, copying it into a document and assuming that this is equivalent to studying. As he explains, this approach only creates an illusion of productivity. The alternative is to use it as real support, as a learning companion, not as a substitute that saves you mental work, and in the video he drops concrete advice to start doing it well from minute one. The second piece of advice points to one of the most powerful advantages of AI in the educational context: its ability to adapt to different levels of difficulty. The key here is to turn the chatbot into a kind of on-demand private teacher, capable of explaining the same thing to you with progressive approaches until you really understand it. “What I do is ask the AI ​​to explain the topics to me in the simplest way, let’s say, as I would explain it to a child. From there you increase the difficulty,” Franconi tells us. And nuance is important: it’s not just about simplification, but about building understanding in layers. “What I do is ask the AI ​​to explain the topics to me in the simplest way” More equally valuable tips appear throughout the video. One of the most interesting has to do with context, something that many overlook when using a chatbot to study: content matters, but how it is taught also matters. “When we take a subject, not only the syllabus matters, but also how the teacher gives the content. The important thing here is that the AI ​​has all the notestexts or slides necessary so that it can use them as a basis to teach you.” That is, if you want the AI ​​to really help you, it is not enough to ask it a generic question: you have to feed it with the real material that you are using in class so that its answer makes sense within the framework of your subject. And, of course, Franconi also enters the field where the casual user is separated from the one who really knows what he is doing: that of prompts. In the video he shares very worked examples, like this one: “You are a studio companion who is an expert in Contemporary Art. Your objective is to show me the contents of the documents that I have uploaded, following a strict and slow order. Your way of working is as follows:”, and from there he displays detailed instructions to guide the model. What is powerful is not just the text, but the logic behind it: defining a role, setting objectives, imposing a rhythm and establishing rules. And the best thing is that this scheme can be easily adapted to any subject. As we say, there is much more in the video. It’s already published in it Xataka YouTube channelso if you want to see all the tips in context, we invite you to see it and leave us your comments both there and in this article. Images | Xataka In Xataka | The change of Google’s search engine with AI was a mystery about its monetization. Finally it will be another subscription

Behind this year’s Nobel Prize in Medicine there is a whole lesson in scientific policy for Spain and it does not seem that we are going to learn it

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The Nobel Prizes arrive and, like every year, the media they are filled with reports on why Spain resists the great scientific awards of the contemporary world. And it is not a lie: the last Spaniard to win one in science, Severo Ochoa, did so 66 years ago. Being a relatively important country internationally, it is a real problem. What we did not suspect is that the Karolisnka Institute was going to make it so clear how ‘real’ this problem is. A little highlighted detail. At this point in the week, the history of the 2025 Nobel Prize in Medicine It has been counted as active and passive; But there is a detail that is worth dwelling on. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Shimon Sakaguchi discovered a subset of T lymphocytes that did not attack anyone or anything. They were a kind of “riot police” of the immune system: they suppressed the activity of other T lymphocytes. The discovery was momentous, but what came next was an enormous silence. Silence? But they just gave him the Nobel Prize! They just gave it to him now, but it was not a bed of roses. Sakaguchi’s idea made sense, but no one was quite clear why that was happening. And, in fact, many people were vehemently against his theses. It took almost a decade for two different teams to reach the same conclusion: the Japanese researcher was right and the key to everything. the problem was in the FOXP3 gene. It seems like a minor issue, but “this double discovery, the cellular discovery of Sakaguchi and the genetic discovery of Brunkow and Ramsdell, has completely changed the paradigm of immunology and has opened two great therapeutic avenues with immense potential.” The relevant question in Spain. This is all very well, but the really relevant question for our country is why in 2020, when the Nobel Prize in Chemistry awarded CRISPR, it did not follow the same logic. Because yes, there are big differences between one discovery and the other: while the former rewarded the technological tool, this one has rewarded the discovery of the fundamental scientific bases. But it is not lost on anyone that the narrative of the award is not just an explanation: it is a framework that justifies inclusions and exclusions. The “forgetfulness” of the 2020 Nobel Prize. Francis Mojica himself he explained to us that “when we discovered CRISPR, I said to myself: “this is going to be crazy in biology” and then absolutely nothing happened.” In fact, that “nothing” lasted for many years. Years in which CRISPR seemed like a scientific curiosity without much importance and working on the subject, as Mojica did, was seen as an eccentricity. And finally, when the award came, it focused on “the development of a gene editing method (CRISPR-Cas9)” and was awarded to the two researchers who discovered that we could use the mechanism to our advantage; but no one remembered the person who discovered this mechanism. And it would be naive not to ask ourselves why. Even if we cannot know what really happened (the prize selection process has been hidden for 50 years), it is a good time to compare the abysmal differences between the research policy of Spain and that of Japan. While in the country of the rising sun, it has been investing in “scientific diplomacy” since the 90s; while Spain has made some isolated effort, yes; but insufficient. This is not about creating intricate conspiracy theories. It is clear that we will not be able to say what would have happened if Francis Mojica were Japanese, but we can ask ourselves what extra-scientific factors intervene in this type of awards and what Spain is doing to value its contribution to current contemporary science. That is, not only what resources are dedicated to research; but what is Spain’s ‘soft-power’, what resources does it put to make our researchers visible, to spread favorable stories or to amplify the work of our teams. The answer to all this, I’m afraid, is “too little.” Image | Ryan Faulkner | Daniel Prado In Xataka | A Nobel with 30 years of history: the discovery of the “peacekeeping gene” that controls our defenses is the 2025 Nobel Prize in Medicine

While all Spain is pending that their children learn English, in the Canary Islands they have another obsession: the German

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The Canarian ties with Germany are strong. And they come from afar. They date back (at least) at the end of the 19th century And they have been reinforcing thanks to the Expats and the Huge weight which has the German market in the Canarian tourism sector, capital piece in the economy of the region. This link explains that in its classrooms it is studied more German than anywhere else in Spain and Parents committed in which their children learn at the same time the languages ​​of Cervantes and Goethe. It is the ‘Germanization’ of Canarian education. What happened? That Canary Islands show signs that little by little in a key area is being germanized: early childhood education. At least if we compare it with the rest of Spain. German influence on the archipelago (and more in zones With a strong foreign presence) it is nothing new, but there are indicators that help to better understand what extent they are pending in their classrooms and homes. The last one left it a few months ago The confidential in A report which shows how parents are betting on their children speak of Goethe’s tongue (almost) from the cradle or even cases of children who chapurre them before the Spanish. Are there figures to try it? Yes. Those of the Ministry of Education, which reflect how the teaching of German stands out in the archipelago against other regions of Spain. Although Canary Islands is one of the communities Less populated of the country is the one that has the most students studying German in the classrooms. At least in the 2020-2021 course They added 31,300considerably above the Community of Madrid (28,300), Catalonia (24,600), Andalusia (18,100) or Balearic Islands (13,800), two regions in which there is also a strong presence of tourists and Expats. And who studies it? That is the most interesting. The language is not only learned by young people who study ESO or university students. In the archipelago he has also penetrated among the youngest children. The 2020-2021 course there was almost 500 students Studying German in the Early Childhood Education stage, data that exceed only Catalonia and Andalusia, with much greater population. If we talk about Primary the figure, the largest registration in the country is triggered. In general the learning of German It is less extended than that of English or French, but still reaches a notable weight in the Canary classrooms. The region stands out For how extended the study of the second languages ​​is. What is the reason? There are several factors that explain that clear Germanization, but two stand out above the rest: the first are the Historical ties Between the Canary Islands and Germany, which date back to 19th century And they explain that there is a German school in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and another in Santa Cruz de Tenerife. According to the Canarian Institute of Statistics (Istac), the Germans are one of the main foreign population groups in the region, although they are significantly below nationalities such as the Colombian, Venezuelan or English. The second factor is tourism. The sector has A crucial weight In the GDP of the region, where it generates thousands of millions of euros every year. And much of that flow of money comes out of German pockets, such as I recognized Recently the Canary Islands government itself, taking stock of the 2024 campaign. statistics From Exeltur they show that in 2024 the German was The second market International most relevant to the tourism sector of the region. Only the British is overcome. What supposes that in practice? That speaking German becomes a key tool, both in the Canary Islands (work or not in tourism) and when looking for a job in the rest of the country or the EU. “Everything that is science and engineering is very enhanced in German, but nothing happens if the girl later chooses to be a hairdresser and not continue studying. I try to give her best for her future,” Explain to The confidential A Canarian mother who pays 600 euros per month (activities included) so that her daughter is formed at the German school. “I know people who have studied in this school and thanks to that they work or live outside.” Is it important? There are those who believe it. “Learning this language here is a priority for two reasons. First because it gives you the possibility of leaving the islands to, for example, exercising as an engineer or sanitary in other places. It is also essential to work in the southern area of ​​the island (Gran Canaria), where tourism is concentrated and people are always needed to deal with Germans,” Marta García reflectshistorian of the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. “Here is key to accessing certain positions and ascending.” That influence explains that there are also adults who throw themselves to study the language to prosper, that the Canarian government has reinforced your bet For the linguistic immersion scholarships to study in Germany (and Ireland) or that there are even cases of children who begin to Chapurrean German before Spanish. Although it is not a generalized trend, a few months ago The confidential He reviewed A specific case, that of a four -year -old girl who entered the German school in Santa Cruz de Tenerife without speaking at all Spanish and surprised her parents by expressing themselves first in German. “I had a delay in language and I worried when I saw her speaking first German. I thought I was wrong and went to see the pediatrician, but luckily she started speaking Spanish last year.” Images | Norbert Braun (UNSPLASH), Guillaume Didelet (UNSPLASH) Via | The confidential In Xataka | For the first time in ten years, La Palma has shown the best creatures of its parties: the disturbing dwarfs that dance Polca

What is and how your “practice” option works to help you learn languages

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Let’s explain what it is The new function Practice of Google translatorwith which the app aims to compete with Duolingo and other tools to learn languages. It is a new evolutionary leap fed by artificial intelligence, and that gradually comes to some users. We are going to start the article explaining what this tool is to know its concept. Then, we will explain in a simple way the basis of its operation. What is the way Practice of Google Translate The Google translator is an application with several functions. The main one is that you write one thing and the app translates it into other languages, but over time functions have been added such as translating the text of an image or translating a conversation between two different languages. Practice is a new function that is beginning to arrive To the application. It is a button inside the app, just like using the camera or entering the conversation mode. And its goal is to help you practice a language. This option allows you practice a language with real language and daily usejust what you would need to establish a conversation with someone. Of course, the application will not teach you from scratch, and you will need to have a basic knowledge of the language to start perfecting it. Although in the future they will add the possibility of learning from scratch. The Google translator It will generate personalized lessons with artificial intelligence depending on the needs you have. Come on, you tell him what context you want to learn, and lessons will be shown to practice the language. The function of Practice It has not yet reached all usersand will do it little by little for the next few weeks and months. The normal thing is that you do not have it yet, so if you are looking forward to trying it you will have to look every time the app is updated. How to use this mode The first thing you have to do is enter the application of the Google translator, and configure it to translate texts of the language you want. For example, if you want to practice English, configure the app to be the language from which you make a Spanish translation. Now, click on the button Practice that will appear below at all if you have the function activated. This will take you to a screen where You must say what motivates you to learn The language. Here, you will have to say What is your goalif you want to learn the language to travel, to work or chat with friends or family. This will cause lessons to adapt to this context. After writing this, click on Start practice. This will take you to a screen where you will see Several cards with recommended situations optionseach of them with a different practice. It can be a practice of confirming keys of a reservation, or another situation based on the needs you have set up before. Choose the card you want and click on the button Practice. When you press on the practice button on one of the options, you will go to the lesson. Here, you will see that Each lesson has several exercisesbeing able to listen and understanding what you tell you or saying something with your voice in a conversation. If you get stuck, the app will offer clues when you don’t know what to say. In the exercises we talk, the Google translator will recognize what you say, even if you pronounce things slowly or clumsy. There are also other exercises from other styles, such as Recognize words in phrases you hearand much more. And if there is something that does not convince you, you can generate the exercises again. Captures | Eduardo Marín In Xataka Basics | Best translator: 22 tools to translate texts, websites, pdfs, conversations or photographs

It is more efficient to learn how your brain works

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The ability to be productive is not only in the ability to make the most The available time. You can also improve that capacity by understanding some cognitive biases and “psychological triggers” of the brain to use them in your favor. Such and as they point out in Fast Companyyou don’t need more hours in the day. You need to adapt your work to match the cognitive peaks of your brain and “deceive it” to Maintain motivation. These are some cognitive strategies to be more productive with less effort. 1- tune in with your ultradian rhythms Unlike Circadian cycleswhich last 24 hours delimiting rest periods, Ultradian cycles They are much shorter and repeated every 90 or 120 minutes. The brain is Designed to work in cycles of high concentration limited to those periods between 90 and 120 minutesfollowed by small laps of lower energy. Trying to give the maximum beyond those cycles is a waste of time. The brain needs to rest To recover energy. Ignoring that rest makes mental fatigue appears, worsens concentration and, with it, stress increases because tasks are extended more than expected. The key is in Organize the day in blocks of deep work 90 minutes with pauses of 10 to 20 minutes between them. Implementing three of these daily cycles usually translates into greater productivity and better quality of the tasks performed. 2- The most difficult first Would you run an Ironman just after a marathon had run? Not to be That you are Verdelissthe most likely answer is not, because the first test has already burned all your energy. In this case, the brain works in a similar way. The prefrontal cortexresponsible for complex executive functions, shows its greatest efficiency in the early hours of the day when we have rested well. The key is think about your brain as a battery. Which is 100% at the beginning of the day, but little by little it reduces its load (cognitive capacity). Use that energy strategically. Take advantage of the first two or three hours of your day to address demanding or very creative tasks that will consume “more energy” or that require greater concentration. Administrative, routine tasks or those meetings in which relevant decisions should not be made, they can wait for later. Doing it backwards would be to waste that valuable energy throughout the day, to get exhausted to the marathon. 3- Sorry, the brain is not multitasking Although everything points to doing several things at once is the best way to advance them all, scientific research They have demonstrated That is not so. In fact, trying to do several things at once is even 40% less efficient What to do them one after another. According to a Published study in Nature By scientists at Stanford University, he points out that those who perform multiple tasks at the same time, often They get worse results in tests of attention, memory and alternation of tasks that those who perform only. Therefore, instead of trying to move all the tasks at the same time, it is convenient to make groups of similar short tasks and reserve blocks of time to complete them (one after another). Thus, small distractions are reduced that interrupt your concentration With the excuse of “it’s just a minute.” 4- Concentration triggers Although sometimes it costs us to recognize it, the human being It is an animal of customsand our brain is able to detect signals from the environment to prepare to face certain tasks. An example is the “cognitive triggers” described by James Clear, author of the best seller ‘Atomic habits‘, as a method To create habits. To give you an example, the way back to your house at the end of the work prepares your brain to enter a “rest mode”, in the same way as preparing a bath with candles and aromatic salts predisposes to entering a mental state of relaxation. Create fixed signals or rituals to immerse yourself in deep work, such as order the table Before starting it, putting certain music or systematically opening your task app, can help you make the brain entered the right state. The research From the University of California they demonstrated that these actions, apparently small and symbolic, act as psychological switches that tell your brain: “It’s time to concentrate.” The repetition of these habits reinforces the approach and reduces the adaptation time that the brain needs between one task and another. 5- The brain is not to remember A joint study of the University of Waterloo (Canada) and the University College London, says the Human working memoryIt can only handle between four and seven simultaneous elements. The research demonstrates that by downloading information, either In writing in a notebook or digitally In an apptension in the cognitive system is reduced and bandwidth for problem solving and creativity is released. To the free the brain from the burden of having to remember thingsthe Zeigarnik effect is avoided, a phenomenon that puts a name to the brain obsession to end The tasks that you have already started. If you have to remember, for example, that you have to go looking for a laundry jacket, your brain will be constantly recovering that information until you complete it, interrupting your concentration in that process. 6- A carrot for your brain Maintain motivationin addition to physical factors, it is also very conditioned by the brain. Again, our animal instinct responds to positive stimuli. As an ass that needs to follow an unattainable carrot to continue walking. The human brain reacts to immediate and visible rewardsso marking an objective as completed activates the Dopamine system that provides well -being and happiness. Taking that into account, Do not plan your tasks as long -term achievementsbut as small frequent achievements that activate the brain reward system. These frequent awards reinforce behavior and generate the impulse to continue with the project and avoid falling into boredom and loss of motivation. In Xataka | If the question is where to … Read more

Learn to communicate with aliens

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A dog with its barking and A cat with its meowdos They try to tell us something. Also They do it with their eyes, With the body and with its gestures. Communication between species has been essential for the development of bothallowing The link and survival. And there are those who think that whales also want to communicate with us. As? Drawing huge circles in the water to see what we do. And we are using that communication with whales to Enter relationship with … aliens. Extraterrestrial communication. We have been trying for decades Find out extraterrestrial communication. The contact possibilities are there, but those of communication are already more complex. However, hope is the last thing that is lost. In 2021, researchers from the SETI Institute, the University of California Davis and Alaska Whale Foundation created the project WHOLE-SETI. The objective was to unravel the complexity of the vocalizations of humpback whales to discern patterns and develop potential ways of Interest communication. Talking with whales. Breenda McCowan is one of the main researchers of the project and, in 2023, published a article in which detailed One of the tests to contact. McCowan recorded 20 minutes of underwater sounds and prosecuted them to try to find a pattern that could attract whales. This is how a 38 -year -old female named Twain approached a hundred meters from the ship … and responded with her own “line” of voice. For 20 minutes, Twain maintained a vocal exchange With the recordings, adjusting their answers in synchrony with the reproduction intervals. This allowed the researchers to adjust the fragments of the recording to which Twain responded best, but also demonstrated something important: a conversational behavior between humans and a whale. Rings. The team has continued ‘speaking’ with whales in recent years, getting much more than noise in its ‘tongue’. Fred Sharpe is co -author of that first article and commented that these whales are “extremely intelligent, with complex social systems, songs and social calls”, but in addition to vocalization, Sharpe explained that “manufacture tools.” Not in the form of objects, but as huge rings that are bubble networks. These rings are, in fact, a sophisticated Hunting strategy which implies the creation of bubble rings to corner and capture both fish and krill. The hunchbacks swim in ascending spirals while they release air by their respiratory holes to create vortices that, on the surface, we see as if they were rings. Thus, instead of spending energy swimming behind the dams, they “catch” a large number of them in those vortices, throwing themselves with their mouths open and swallowing large amounts of dams of a single bite without spending as much energy as in a hunt “to the race.” Rings of the 12 episodes. Images | (a) D. Knaub, (b) F. Nicklen, (c) D. Perrine, (d) W. Davis, (e) G. Flipse, (f) A. Henry, (g) M. Gaughan, (h) H. Romonchik, (i) D. Patton, (J) D. Perrine, (k) S. isstrup, (l) S. Hilbourne Contact. We could assume that this hunting technique is carried out when they are in an aggressive way, but the interesting thing is the new finding of the McCowan team. In a study recent, researchers exhibit and They analyze 12 different episodes in which 11 individual whales created a total of 39 rings with a different goal from hunting: draw our attention. Friendly whales. Sharpe is clear that whales are creating rings in an apparent attempt to interact curiously, playful or simply to observe our response. Jodi Frediani, participant in the study, Comment that “most have voluntarily approached ships and swimmers, producing bubble rings during these episodes.” We might think that perhaps they wanted to eat that body, but the whale behavior did not indicate that: in these cases, during the release of the ring, the whales were motionless, as waiting, with the body in a horizontal position and without signs of food behavior. Nor were dams within the rings or aggressive behavior, so if they did not want to eat, there were no other whales nearby and there was only one individual specimen and the humans, the conclusion of the researchers is that they were waiting for our response. Back to the aliens. “We believe that this is the first communicative exchange of this type between humans and humpback whales in the ‘language’ of the humps,” said Sharpe. And although this behavior of the whales and their communication with rings, another of McCowan’s researchers and partner, Dr. Laurence Doyle, recalled the objective of the mission: contact the aliens. “Due to current technological limitations, a key assumption in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence is that they would be interested in establishing contact. Therefore, they would direct their signs towards human receptors,” he said. That is, we would be the whales in the eyes of the extraterrestrials that are trying to contact. “This important assumption is clearly supported by the behavior of humpback whales,” Doyle said. It may be that contact with aliens arrives sooner or later, something complex due to the size of the universe, but it is evident that, in that search for contact, we have managed to communicate with much closer neighbors. Images | Online Library, University of Hawai’i In Xataka | 10 million dollars to talk to your dog: the prize for those who manage to communicate “bidirectionally” with animals

My new favorite way to learn on any topic is free and is already in Spanish: Notebooklm

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Learning is changing. Or, rather, we are beginning to relear how we learn. With AI as the protagonist. In my case, the click Definitive was caused by a tool: Notebooklm. At first I used it as who tantles a new toy. I uploaded some PDF, he launched some question, compared his answers with those of Chatgpt … I soon started seeing him with other eyes: as a tool to think out loud. Or better: to think accompanied. The moment Eureka He came one night, when I was realizing that there was a book that had been postponing months. It was one of those 300 -page trials that revolve around the same idea, something that sometimes goes very well (‘Atomic habits‘) And others get fatal (‘The monk who sold his Ferrari‘). And he suspected that the second could happen with him. Although I was interested in the subject – the economy of attention – the book was going to stretch it to exhaustion. So I uploaded it to notebooklm and I asked him to do something better than a summary: a conversation, a podcast. I asked him to simulate a talk between two voices to comment on the book, his ideas, his implications, his weak points. The result surprised me. It was not a memorable podcast, but interesting enough to stay attentive for eleven minutes while doing dinner. It was a way of knowing if it was worth going further. After eleven minutes listening to circular discussions around the same idea, I decided not to do it. I will end up throwing some diagonal reading to chapters that interest me especially, but I will hardly invest the time to read it completely. The next day I was repeating the experiment. This time with ‘The love algorithm‘, which is presented as an investigation into Tinder but actually goes much further. Explore the cross between technology, psychology, surveillance capitalism and human relations. Each chapter opens a new line of reflection: the way in which desire is constructed, the way in which algorithms condition us, what ‘consent’ means in a digital environment. That book was perfect for Notebooklm. It generated a rich conversation, without resulting, with diverse ideas that are linked and discussed. He did not take away the desire to read it, on the contrary. He convinced me that it was a great idea. Beyond the podcast, I took advantage that I had at hand ‘OPERATION ELOP‘, the book that speaks of the last years of Stephen Elop in front of Nokia, just before the sale to Microsoft. It was great to see his “line of study”, which even proposes a questionnaire to see if you understood the ideas well and retweet the information or not. Image: Xataka. And you can go beyond books, of course. Take a few PDFs and discuss them. The same with articles with a conductive thread. The possibility of creating podcasts ad hoc Personalized – not something done for thousands, but for oneself – is bestial. Sometimes they are voices that arise from admiration, others from suspicion. Of course, It is not perfect. I would love to adjust the duration of the audio. There are issues that could be dispatched in five minutes. Others well deserve an hour of debate. The personalization that allows right now is scarce, and summaries are rather short. There are also limits: sometimes omits relevant data or remains superficial. And of course, The dreaded hallucinations with which you have to go with lead feet. Even with those failures, it is still useful as the first pass, as a tanteo before knowing if it is worth deepening more. Or to give us a first varnish of knowledge. And something very valuable: It is we who put the sources. We do not listen to generalities difficult to draw or limit ourselves to completely alien editorial decisions. Your interests, your compilations, your readings. Notebooklm does not replace reading or study, but it is A new entrance door. Fast, accessible, almost playfulto understand what something is going on. That previous decision, in this world of information on information and entertainment, is a good compass. And one last lesson: the well -managed AI does not take away the work of learning, it takes away your fear of starting. In Xataka | Google has put a price on the future of AI: $ 250 per month Outstanding image | Xataka with Mockuuuups Studio

In the war cameras vs lidar, Tesla has a lot to learn from an unexpected product: the Chinese aspiring robot

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Light detection and ranging. Or, what is the same, detection and measurement of light. These are the words behind Lidar. This technology uses light pulses to map the environment and discover each and every corner of a stay or an open space almost in real time, as well as to recreate 3D environments with enormous precision. To understand how a lidar radar works, I recommend watching Mark Rober’s video in which it tells the differences between a car equipped with this system and its tesla, which exclusively uses cameras to detect the obstacles that you can find along its path. Beyond the controversy arising in relation to the tests that Rober does, the video explains well Why Lidar is such a complete system. In a simple way, the system takes advantage of the speed of light to emit infrared pulses. These bounce in the object in question and the system calculates how far that object is using the time that the pulse of light has taken to go and return. As light pulses have a very small size and, as we said, it takes advantage of that very high speed of light transmission, can map the objects almost in real time. In recent days, after Mark Rober’s video, the controversy of whether it is better to use an LIDAR or one system that exclusively use cameras and recreations by software is better or worse to guarantee the best behavior in terms of autonomous driving. A controversy that has left people trying launch your tesla against a wall With a road painted in the purest shyesty style. And it is a long time since it made it clear that I would bet everything on the use of cameras for manage your driving aid systems Or, in the future, completely autonomous driving with the robotaxis that wants to put in the streets. At the time, home vacuum robots also lived this moment of indecision. And along the way, Irobot who was the leading market leader has ended up giving millionaire losses and has seen how Chinese manufacturers have eaten much of the market. The secret of the latter: they use lidar instead of trusting everything to the cameras. What can you learn from a vacuum cleaner “We have substantial doubts”, with these words Irobot owners responded to the question of whether they could move forward with their operations. My partner Javier Pastor explained A few months ago when Amazon raised the purchase of Irobot in 2022 (which fell into regulatory terms) The company had a value of 1.2 billion dollars. In the third quarter of 2024, the calculation was about 200 million dollars. Shortly after, The situation has not improved a lot. In 2024, Irobot lost more than 145 million dollars. However, they had reduced their losses by 52%. The company faced a perfect storm. After spending the worst of pandemic, spending on home robots and other products (such as computers) They collapsed. That coincided with the launch of new Chinese products that were faster and faster than Irobot’s: they used the lidar sensor. This system is ideal for improving the capacities of a vacuum robot. It detects better obstacles, mapping the house more precisely and that translates into faster and more effective work. The result is especially good if it is combined with the cameras and artificial intelligence systems to discover smaller obstacles that can go unnoticed or create confusion. In recent years, that has been the trend of the market in cleaning the home. The combination of this system with a more attractive price He has triggered the sales of Chinese aspiring robots, to the detriment of an Irobot that accumulated more than 60% market share. The comparison with Tesla and the electricity car market is evident. The latter are using Lidar sensors in their cars and offer a product equal to or better than Europeans and Elon Musk’s for a fraction of their price. He Xiaomi Su7 and its wide reception He is being a good example of this. Tesla has long since defends that Lidar are not necessary to improve autonomous driving systems but studies say that, as in the case of vacuum robots, the best performance is signed When both technologies are combinedLidar and cameras. In the case of Xiaomi, the videos shown from How your total autonomous driving system operates They are impressive, with very human behavior and managing the smallest spaces very well. This is possible because, among other things, A lidar is better when calculating distances And suffer less when the light falls. Neither does the risk of the camera be dazzled, At least not intentionallygenerating Ghostly brakes. So far, everything indicates that Tesla does not seem willing to return to anything other than the “All Chamber” To save costs. At the moment it has worked but you have to demonstrate that it is as effective as more advanced systems. And there is also the largest electric car market in the world. In China, where foreigners are suffering from the local product, Tesla is hitting a good batacazo in 2025. Photo | Tesla and Irobot In Xataka | “It’s like living millions of lives”: Tesla trusts their own drivers to advance Waymo and Cruise and shoot their value

“If you have time to learn more about this field”

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The arrival of artificial intelligence To our life It is no longer a science fiction films. The young people of the Z generation will have to deal with the different forms of integration of this technology in the working world. One of the main councils of the Millionaire and investor Mark Cuban to the Z generation, which begins to join the labor marketis to understand that dominating this technology is not an option, It is a necessity. Mark Cuban’s advice. The millionaire investor Mark Cuban, co -founder of the Broadcast.com video portal and former owner of the NBA team Dallas Mavericks, assured In the SXSW conference that had tried luck in all kinds of businesses throughout his life. However, the millionaire recognized that, if he was a young man with a whole race ahead, he would devote all his time to a single thing: “If he had 16, 18, 20 or 21 years as of today, he would dedicate every minute of the day to learn about ia. Even while he slept, he would hear podcasts about ia” AI is the future and should be prepared for it. In his speech, Cuban emphasized that the AI ​​not only will automate tasksbut it will also create new employment opportunities and transform existing industries. So young people who now join the labor market will have to deal with IA -based tools Or, what is even better, create them. According to Cuban, the key is not afraid of AI, but in hugging it and learn to work with her. This implies acquiring skills in areas such as automatic learning, data analysis and algorithms development. “Those who dedicated the necessary time, will achieve it,” insisted the businessman and investor, whose fortune It is estimated in about 5.7 billion dollars according to Forbes. Skills beyond AI. The millionaire stressed that the AI ​​domain is not limited to computer engineers or data scientists who train AI models. In fact, in an entrepreneur he considers that those who can combine skills in AI With knowledge in other fields, such as marketing, finance or design, they will be the more demanded in the future since the main task of generation Z will be to integrate AI in business processes. The businessman stressed that The works of the future They will require some kind of AI -related skill. Therefore, investing time and effort to learn about AI is an investment in your professional future. A base on which to undertake. Cuban is one of the protagonists of the television program Shark Tank of the American ABC, in which entrepreneurs must captivate investors to put their money in their ideas. That is why Cuban not only invites young people to learn everything they can about. a good job is guaranteed. The millionaire ensures that knowing how AI works can open new venture of entrepreneurship for young A decade ago. “The AI ​​is never the solution. It is a tool,” Cuban said in his speech during the Conference for Entrepreneurs. In Xataka | “Humans will not be necessary for most things”: Bill Gates does not believe that doctors and teachers have a future In Xataka | The AI ​​promises to shoot the productivity of companies: the problem is that we are not measuring it well Image | Wikimedia Commons (Gage Skidmore)

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