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14,000 Spaniards live in Dubai. Not everyone is fleeing from the Treasury, but everyone is equally terrified of the missiles

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The Iranian attacks against the Arab Emirates in retaliation for the US and Israeli offensive have trapped thousands of Spaniards in Dubai, including content creators and celebrities who denounced their situation on the networks. And under the missile fire, a paradox: the city that promised security and zero taxes has been suffering for two days from an attack that could have devastating economic consequences. Spaniards in Dubai. After the attack by the United States and Israel on Iran On February 28, the response consisted of a wave of retaliation with 137 missiles and 209 drones directed against the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain and other positions with a US military presence in the Gulf. The region’s airspace closed and tens of thousands of people were left without flights. Among them, Spaniards like Ofelia Hentschel, a MasterChef 9 contestant and content creator who released videos that, due to their content, quickly went viral. in them explained that, while on vacation in Dubai, he had begun to hear “bombs and tremors in the hotel” while sunbathing by the pool, and that air traffic was paralyzed. What made his case spread in an extraordinary way was that he claimed that the Spanish embassy “does not speak, does not answer”, while Italian and French citizens were receiving a response from their diplomatic representations. Frustration led her to the phrase “Stop paying taxes, because as you see they are of no use.” Ah, the irony. Hentschel is located in one of the favorite destinations of those have moved their tax residence outside of Spain precisely so as not to contribute to the taxes whose effect she now needed. This was not necessarily the case (Hentschel was awayis not a resident of the Emirates) but the phrase once again triggered a debate that already existed: that of the limits of reciprocity between the citizen who pays more taxes for having more income and the State. Less than 24 hours laternow calmer, Hentschel commented that she had been contacted by the embassy and that she felt “super supported by Spain.” More Spanish. Hentschel’s case was the most covered in the media, but not the only one. The Cordoba paddler Javi Garrido was in Dubai with his girlfriend and his coach, finalizing the preparation for the Gijón paddle tennis tournament. Garrido opted for a different tone than Hentschel, with a message of calm to his followers, where he spoke of the desire to return “as soon as possible.” His profile (elite athlete in the middle of preseason) points to another segment of the large group of Spaniards who at that time were in the Emirates for reasons that have nothing to do with tax evasion. It is also the case of Hugo KyotoSpanish who makes videos about investment and personal economy. Kyoto is closer to the profile that has been criticized: resident in Dubai, with content about money and investments and that the media noise identifies with those who settle there in search of tax advantages. Spanish expats. The Spanish community in the United Arab Emirates has grown steadily over the last decade. According to data from the Spanish Embassy in Abu Dhabi The Consular Registration Registry had 8,500 registered in 2024, although ambassador Íñigo de Palacio’s own estimates suggest that the real number could be closer to 14,000, given that around 38% of residents are not registered. Between 2022 and 2023, 404 new Spanish residents were registered, and between 2023 and 2024 that figure almost doubleduntil reaching 722. Among them, executives displaced by multinationals, engineers in infrastructure projects, airline and hospitality staff, and also a segment of content creators and digital entrepreneurs, undoubtedly the most in the media (and criticized). The real profile of the Spanish expat in Dubai is mostly work-related. In addition to that, the tax reality is more complex than simply transferring residence to the Emirates, which does not guarantee the end of tax obligations in Spain. The Double Taxation Agreement between both countries, signed in Abu Dhabi in 2006, establishes that only Emirati nationals can benefit from the status of tax residents in the UAE, and the tax authorities of the Emirates themselves They do not issue tax residence certificates for stays of less than twelve months. Influencers in danger. The attack has not exclusively affected Spaniards, and content creators from different nationalities They have reacted with a mixture of disbelief and terror to the attacks. The city that has been sold on numerous occasions as a synonym for safe luxury has shown this weekend in its skies the luminous trail of intercepted missiles. Dubai’s illusion of invulnerability has fractured in a few hours. Beyond the war. All this leads us to the fact that the logic of Iranian retaliation transcends the military. Tehran was targeting not only US military installations, but also the economic architecture of the region: the financial and logistical hubs of the Gulf that for three decades have functioned as a lever for the order that the US and Israel want to preserve. The attack on the Jebel Ali port, the Dubai international airport or the financial districts of Abu Dhabi are more than planned. They are not collateral damage. That’s why, with 88% of its GDP generated by expats, tourism, finance, aviation and maritime transport, a deterioration in the perception of security can produce a flight of these economic assets in the form of influencers and visitors. Dubai and Abu Dhabi had converted their security and stability on the basis of its attractiveness, and the Iranian missiles brought out such accurate tweets like that of investor TK Robinson in X: “I moved to Qatar to escape taxes; now I’m fleeing missiles.” Header | Darcey Beau in Unsplash

follow today’s Unpacked 2026 presentation live

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Important day for Samsung. Like every year, and practically at the gates of MWC 2026, the Korean firm has summoned us in San Francisco to attend his Galaxy Unpacked. At this event we will almost certainly learn about their new batch of smartphones and innovations in artificial intelligence. It is an important event and, as it could not be otherwise, you will be able to follow it live and direct with us. The first Galaxy Unpacked of the year will take place today, February 25, at 7:00 p.m., Spanish peninsular time. You can follow it on our live page, on YouTube (where we will have an exclusive surprise) and on Instagramsince our colleague Eva Rodríguez has flown to the other side of the pond to attend the conference. The schedules according to regions are as follows: Spain: 19:00 (18:00 in the Canary Islands). Mexico: 12:00 PM. Colombia: 1:00 PM. Venezuela: 2:00 PM Chile and Argentina: 3:00 PM. Samsung Galaxy Unpacked 2026, live What we hope to see Unless there is some surprise in the form of glasses, a new format wearable or, who knows, a quantifier ring, it is to be expected that the main protagonists of the Unpacked that concerns us today will be the Galaxy S26. If everything goes as in previous years, the family will be made up of three terminals, the most powerful and complete being the Ultra model. Along with the folding ones, which we will surely see in the summer, the company’s portfolio does not seem like it will change much. It makes sense. After all, 2026 is a difficult year for the consumer technology sector, which is exposed to a pressing lack of chips, specifically RAM and storage. Thus, the Galaxy S26 surely represents an incremental improvement compared to the last generation focused on specific aspects, such as the camera and the battery. AI, of course, will once again occupy a central space in the presentation. Samsung is betting big on Galaxy AI and, in fact, we know that one of the big news this year is its multi-agent approach with Bixby, Google Gemini and Perplexity. Three assistants in a single device, let’s see how Samsung has managed it. As for other devices that could have their share of prominence, Samsung has not talked about them for a long time. glasses with Android XR. It has also been two years without renewing the Galaxy Ringwhich now, with silicon-carbon batteries on the table, would perhaps make more sense. We will clear up doubts in just a few minutes, see you live! In Xataka | Follow Galaxy Unpacked live

If we want to live on the Moon we need oxygen and NASA already knows how to extract it: with a giant mirror

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Goodbye, Mars, the Moon has returned make it a priority. Really, except for an Elon Musk obsessed with terraform the red planetthe rest of the countries and even NASA had something between their minds: returning to the Moon. And come back in a big way, too, laying the foundations to create a settlement. For this we need oxygen, and NASA has just taken a great leap for humanity in the project to harvest oxygen from the lunar regolith. And all thanks to a giant mirror. In short. The Moon is a mine. Not only does it have enormous potential to obtain energy through photovoltaics, but it also has a huge amount of resources in its soil. The satellite is covered in ‘lunar dust’, also known as regolith, and part of its composition is oxygen. With current technology you can’t separate the chaff from the grain, but that’s where NASA’s carbothermal oxygen production reactor, or CaRD, project comes into play. The mirror | Photo: NASA The prototype installed on Earth is a reactor that has a huge precision mirror that concentrates a beam of sunlight on a reactor, heating its interior to temperatures of about 1,800ºC. The enormous amount of energy generated causes a carbothermic reaction which produces, among other elements, oxygen. It is the evolution of the high-power laser that NASA development in 2023, but unlike that tool that needs an enormous amount of energy, and other solutions based on electrolysismirrors are nourished by the sunlight they can concentrate. Regolith. According to According to the US agency, the technology “has the potential to produce several times its own weight in oxygen each year and in an automated manner, which will allow for a sustained human presence and the creation of a lunar economy.” And that lunar dust not only has oxygen. The regolith is composed of O2, but also metals. If the different components can be separated, we can obtain other resources and, in addition, the resulting dust as waste can be used as construction material for make bricks and roads. In fact, there are projects to ‘dope the regolith with bacteria to be able to cultivate directly in the lunar soil. The ESA approach. These advances by NASA occur while the rugged steps of the Artemis program which plans to take humans to lunar orbit this year, with future missions in which we will set foot on the satellite again. But as we said, the ESA also wants its piece of the pieand relies on electrolysis to separate metals from oxygen. Regolith and urine cement: the best cement | Photo: ESA The problem, as we said before, is the enormous amount of energy necessary to carry out the process. This molten salt electrolysis heats the regolith to 950ºC with calcium chloride to achieve the same objective that NASA has: release oxygen and separate it from iron and aluminum. And it is also collaborating with NASA to ensure that human presence in the medium term, experimenting with a mixture between human urine and regolith to create cement. Everyone wants a piece of cheese. But the one who has plans as ambitious as those of the United States with the Moon is… China. The Asian giant is completing phases of the space race dizzying speedwith launches every two by three and some very aggressive plans. Before 2030 it wants to send its first astronauts to orbit the satellite, with a manned moon landing scheduled for 2029/2030. Furthermore, together with Russia, they are building the International Lunar Research Station that they want to have in operation by 2030, complete by 2035 with thousands of scientists on board and with a nuclear reactor as a heart to get stable energy. When the enormous problem posed by the get oxygen stably on the Moona giant step will have been taken in international ambitions to place a long-term base on the satellite. That is, furthermore, SpaceX’s new plan. Elon Musk confirmed a few days ago that Mars was no longer the priority because quick results are needed, and the Moon is a much more favorable scenario. There are many eyes focused on the same objective, one we haven’t stepped on since 1972. Images | NASA, ESA In Xataka | Faced with the need to look for weapons against superbacteria, science has opted to send viruses into space

In this city in Ukraine, going outside is not an option because of the drones. So they have found a solution: live underground

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For decades war was thought of as a recognizable front line, with more or less secure soldiers, trenches and rearguards. The massive emergence of drones has dynamited that scheme: the sky has become a permanent hunting ground, the distinction between combatant and civilian has been blurred and entire cities now live under the constant threat of cheap and lethal machines that can attack at any moment. In Ukraine they have forced everyday life to hide underground to continue existing. Kherson and the threat behind the windows. The key Ukrainian city has become the most extreme example of how drones have transformed war and civil lifeto the point that going outside has become the closest thing to a “death sport”, with Russian quadcopters operating from the other bank of the Dnieper that they hunt random people in what the Ukrainians themselves describe as a “human safari.” In a city of wide avenues and tsarist architecture, today the sky is the true enemy, responsible for hundreds of deaths and thousands of injuries in a single year, in what the United Nations and human rights organizations describe as war crimes and the world’s most intensive use of drones against a civilian population. Live underground. Faced with the impossibility of completely protecting the surface, life in Kherson has declined literally underground. There is no rhetoric, since they literally live underground with hospitals, maternity wards, public offices, theaters and cultural spaces moved to basements and former Soviet shelters, while playgrounds have been replaced. through underground game rooms and all schools in the city operate only online. This forced displacement has created a strange and oppressive routine in which day-to-day life passes between corridors, bunkers and improvised roomsbecause any exposure to the open sky can end in seconds with a guided explosion from a remote camera. It is the real version of any scenario that science fiction cinema or literature ever staged. Improvised defenses. Faced with this omnipresent threat, the authorities have deployed a combination of solutions that illustrate the extent to which the city lives in an almost post-apocalyptic future, with kilometers of anti-drone networks covering entire streets, mesh tunnels over the main access roads, electronic interference walls next to the river and hundreds of concrete capsules spread along the sidewalks to offer immediate shelter. Even so, those responsible themselves admit that nothing is completely effectivebecause drones evolve, dodge defenses, throw grenades or mines and turn any daily journey into a desperate race in which you cannot run faster than the machine you are chasing from the air. Live, not just survive. In this extreme context, the effort is not limited to keeping the population alive, but rather to preserving a minimum feeling of normalityespecially for the little ones, children, who grow up under constant stress and fear of going outside. In fact, there is a whole network of psychologists, educators and volunteers who organize dance, art or biology classes in basements, install sandboxes so that the little ones can touch the ground and even create spaces where choosing, playing and learning is a form of emotional resistance in the face of a war that invades everything. The idea is clear in Kherson: it is not enough to hide, you have to keep livingeven under layers of cement. The laboratory of a disturbing future. If you like, Kherson is not just a devastated city, but an advance which many fear will become the norm in many other conflicts of the future, one where cheap and precise drones democratize the ability to attack civilians with an ease that was unthinkable just a few years ago. Thus, after a Russian occupation, a liberation celebrated and an immediate return of horror from a distance, the city has been trapped a kilometer from the front, with a population reduced to a fraction of the original that, despite everything, refuses to leave. Underground, between networks, shelters and constant alarms, Kherson survives like a brutal warning of how the war of the future can empty the streets and push human life to simply hide to exist. Image | Ministry of Defense of Ukraine In Xataka | A drone takes aim and blows up a Russian penguin in front. It is the result of an increasingly absurd war In Xataka | Three Russians surrender on camera: what was previously a “normal” scene in the war in Ukraine is science fiction

so you can see if you live in an area that is at risk

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Let’s tell you how to look at areas at risk of flooding with the new experimental map created by Google. With this tool, you can navigate and zoom into any area of ​​the world to see where there are dangers of extreme flash floods, with special interest in those river and sudden floods. For example, at the time of writing this article we find that a good part of Spain cannot absorb even one more dropwhich makes the storm feast expected in February be especially dangerous. You can see this on the Google map, especially in the west of the country. Google Flood Risk Map To enter this map you have to go to the website sites.research.google/floods. This will open a world map, with a column on the right where you can turn visualizations on or off. By default they will be shown above all areas most in danger of flash flooding what’s in the world. On this map you will be able to zoom in or activate a hybrid map to see satellite photos of the areas. You can get closer to the area you want, where you will see colored dots information that indicates the danger of flooding in each area. Here, if you click on any of the points On the left you will see a window with expanded information, especially seeing how the dangers evolve and from what source the information is obtained. In Xataka Basics | V16 beacon map: how to use it to see which ones are activated in real time in Spain

This is the impressive interactive map to see the Earth in 4K live from space and monitor satellites

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Cartographically speaking, our planet is fascinating: its evolution over time, what it’s really like taking into account the precision of physics and of course, per se: the mountain ranges, the irregularities of the coasts, the tectonic plates… all of that looks great from space. And be careful, because the space that surrounds the Earth It is full of satellites: only Starlink ones around 15,000 units. But satellites allow us to have a fabulous view of the earth. And in fact, some of the main space projects that monitor the Earth have their recordings open, without going any further, what the International Space Station “sees” either NASA events They are available to anyone. The problem is that not everyone knows it, nor do the tools shine for having a clear and intuitive interface. So to someone who loves astronomy it occurred to him to create it to follow from satellites to shooting stars or racing cars. SatellitesArg Although you can see the Earth from space live and in 4K without doing anything, it is worth setting your location for a more personalized and precise experience of everything it offers. From here, there are several ways to select a satellite to follow, some as intuitive as tapping on “Satellites” and selecting from the list (there are some as popular as Starlink or BlueWalker 3) to see, for example, the ISS live camera. However, you can also save them to your favorites. Another interesting option is “Visible Passage”, which is what happens when a satellite crosses the sky illuminated by the Sun while it is night in your location. To do this, simply select a specific satellite, open it on the map and click “Visible path”. Within “Best steps” those satellites that will be highest and brightest in the coming days are shown. Likewise, there are filters to, for example, see only the steps at dawn or dusk. The “Radar” option is used to locate a specific satellite, something especially interesting if done from a mobilesince with the help of the compass you can hunt it at some point in the sky. You can also view those that are nearby, use augmented reality to superimpose the trajectory using your phone’s camera. Although you can see in real time, you can also go back to monitor past trajectories and have access to astronomical events, the phases of the moon and even have a map of the stars in the sky. But even if you don’t take advantage of all those functions, the option to see the Earth in real time in 4K by tapping on “ISS Live Camera” It is simply spectacular. In Xataka | This map shows what the Earth will be like in 250 million years. If it comes true, Spain will be very lucky In Xataka | The Earth has moons that we don’t know about: exploring them is key to revealing the secrets of our solar system

They live glued to an app looking at the sky as if it were 1939

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Greenland had been installed for decades in a feeling of security, as if its geography and distance protected it from everything, and that certainty was has suddenly broken: in a matter of days the population has gone from joking that “nothing ever happens there” to talking seriously about evacuation, preventive flight to Denmark, or what will happen to their children if one day they wake up being “Americans”. Live in fear. counted on an extensive report the Guardian that these days on the island we are grappling with a question: how do we survive psychologically when a military threat stops being a movie and becomes a concrete possibility. The impact is not only political: insomnia, anxiety, daily nervousness, questions that are not answered with speeches but with emergency plansand the feeling that no one is prepared for something they have never experienced, because Greenland has no historical memory of modern invasions and its public life was built precisely on the idea that the world was far away. Look at the sky like in 1939. The British media recalled the parallelism. The most powerful image of this moment is civil surveillance become routine: inhabitants of Nuuk following flights on applications, observing the port and the sky as if waiting for a storm that has not yet struck, interpreting every movement as an omen, getting scared by a plane transport that takes off from a nearby base and fearing that it is the beginning of “the inevitable.” That wait has something from 1939 not because of the exact military comparison, but because of the emotional climate: the certainty that we are entering a dangerous time, the impression that prior guarantees They are no longer useful, and the feeling that the coup (if it comes) will not be diplomatic. In this tension, the telephone becomes a domestic radar and life becomes tiny. The threat of “necessity”. The key to fear is not just that there is strategic interests in the Arctic, but the language coming from Washington sounds like appropriation and force: the idea that Greenland is “necessary” for American security, even if it is part of the kingdom of Denmark, shifts the debate from the political to the existential. When a power speaks like this, the smaller population automatically feels powerless, and that feeling repeats. At that point, even the hope that everything remains rhetoric no longer calms its inhabitants, because the recent precedent of harsh interventions feeds the idea that the unthinkable is no longer impossible, just a matter of time. The Thule base in the United States Diplomacy to the limit. The encounters that youtook place in Washington They offer momentary relief because they suggest dialogue, but what remains is a cold feeling: the fundamental disagreement and, at its core, the American position have not been resolved. hasn’t changed. The presence of top-level figures adds gravity and uncertainty, because it is not perceived as an exchange between allies, but as an asymmetric negotiation where one party feels they can “afford” to impose conditions. Even when the tone first becomes somewhat conciliatory (Trump vaguely promising that “something will come out”), the underlying message remains disturbing: options are not ruled out, Denmark’s inability to deal with Russia or China is insisted on, and the idea that American control would be the solution is maintained, which for Greenlanders sounds less like protection and more to substitution. The European military turn. The great visible change has come in the last few hours, when Europe has begun to put troops in Greenland: France, Sweden, Germany and Norway have announced sending military personnel on a reconnaissance mission in Nuuk, and Denmark frames it as part of an effort to explore security options in an Arctic increasingly disputed by Russia and China. It is a movement that, by itself, is already historic in terms of atmosphere: Greenland goes from being a remote territory with a discreet military presence to becoming a Allied deployment scenario and a narrative of “reinforcement” that is normally associated with “hot” borders, not with an ice capital where public life breathed calm. People notice the change in the most basic: more flights, more ships, more uniforms, more signs that something is moving beneath the surface. The exceptional within NATO/EU. What is striking is not only the shipping itself, but what it represents: the idea of ​​deploying European forces in a territory linked to NATO and the EU sphere as a preventive response to a political crisis with the United States is something that break the script usual of the alliance, where military reinforcement is intended against external threats, not to manage the risk of an internal struggle. Although it is presented as recognition and training before Russia and China, the social perception is another: This happens because there is a specific threat and because time seems to speed up. In other words, the deployment suggests that Europe is trying to convert the symbology in deterrence: demonstrate presence, unity and material reality on the ground so that the discussion stops being just a game of statements. Fear of another colonization. Furthermore, beneath geopolitics lies a deeper wound: the memory of Danish colonization and the fear of repeating the pattern with another “owner.” For part of the Inuit population, the idea of ​​“another colonization” is not a metaphor, it is rather a real ghostand that is why fear is not expressed only in terms of sovereignty or resources, but also human: what will happen to studies, rights or daily life or identity. The crisis, paradoxically, also activates a reinforcement indigenous identitya more marked cultural separation with respect to Denmark and a visceral rejection to be treated as an interchangeable object in a global conversation where Greenland appears as a “prize” mineral and strategic position. A disturbing conclusion. Deep down, what emerges is an uncomfortable truth that the population perceive clearly: in a world where we are seeing invasions, wars and border changes, “international legality” not enough as an emotional shield, and that is why … Read more

Mexico City began a battle against the last of its markets that sold live animals. And he just won it

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Mexico City says goodbye to a historical image: the stalls dedicated to the sale of live animals in the Sonora Marketa complex of almost seven decades located southeast of the historic center of the capital. Since January 1, CDMX applies a restriction to this type of commerce, which in practice means that stalls with cages of chickens, ducks, sheep pigeons or fish tanks will no longer be seen in the square. The veto also extends to the marketing of dogs or cats. The authorities of the capital warn that the measure aims to mark a before and after in the sector: “There will no longer be the sale of animals in the public markets of Mexico City and the example begins with the Sonora Market.” New times, new approach. “As of today, the Sonora Market begins a new stage, leaving behind the sale of animals and moving towards a model that respects the law and protects sentient beings,” claimed on Thursday the head of Government of CDMX, Clara Brugada. According to the data managed by the Venustiano Carranza district, where the Sonora Market is located, there were 84 locations (out of a total of 400) dedicated to the sale of living creatures. The idea is that they will now refocus their positions towards other areas, such as the marketing of pet accessories and food or herbalism. Precisely for this purpose, the authorities have committed to giving them financial support: about 50,000 pesos (2,400 euros) to each affected person. Why that decision? What matters, but (at least in this case) when matters even more. The decision comes after a court order that responds to a request from the animal rights group. ‘He goes for his rights’ and calls into question the sale of live animals in the capital’s markets. However, the controversy around Sonora goes back much further: in 2021 a fire which affected several locations and has already attracted interest in the situation of their animals. Complaints on the subject can also be traced years back and they explain the ruling that now forces part of the market to refocus. Those who ignore it and continue selling animals risk closing their stores or even losing their concession. Among the affected merchants there are those who consider the measure “unfair.” “We live in a country with double standards: everyone eats chicken, but criticizes those who sell it,” laments in The Country a saleswoman. Why is it important? First, for its impact in Sonora. Second, because the CDMX Government wanted to present the measure as a turning point, a change that will go beyond the venue and extend to other similar spaces. “It is a historic day in which we tell Mexico City that there will be no sale of animals in public markets. And the example is set by Sonora,” claimed on Thursday Brugada. “We are an animalistic city.” The truth is that the Sonora Market has been particularly controversial. In December the Efe agency cited to an animal rights organization that claims to have documented the presence of mutilated dogs, with ailments or even painted to pass them off as exclusive breeds. The agency assures that it is not unusual for animals to be purchased in markets that are then dedicated to unorthodox uses, such as rituals, target shooting or bait. Click on the image to go to the tweet. What does the law say? The legislation already restricts the sale of live animals, as the deputy recalled Manuel Talayero during a speech in the Congress of Mexico City in September, when was banned the exhibition of pets in cages. “Removing animals from display cases is one more step to tell society that they are not things. This initiative is a step to end something that is already in the law: the prohibition on the sale of live animals in markets.” The Animal Protection and Welfare Law of CDMX, reformed in 2023, makes clear the prohibition of “selling live animals in public markets” or places that do not meet certain minimums, which include guaranteeing “good sanitary conditions” and facilities that prevent the spread of pests. Businesses also need a permit to raise and sell pets. Are there exceptions? In case there were doubts about the role of venues like Sonora, in a resolution In November, the Supreme Court of Justice (SCJN) clarified that “the exception to the general rule of allowing the sale of live animals in places that comply with the regulations does not extend to public markets.” The Chronicler was echoed yesterday that the Court declared that the CDMX congress has jurisdiction to legislate on issues related to animal protection. Images | Sasha India (Flickr), Thomas_H_foto (Flickr) and Carlos Adampol Galindo (Flickr) In Xataka | If the question is how to protect bees and other insects, in Peru they are clear: recognizing their legal rights

A simple gadget is making a species evolve live and direct: hummingbirds

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During the late 1820s, Rene Lesson visited many times the ornithological collection of François Victor Masséna. Every morning, he crossed the doors of the Parisian palace of the Dukes of Rivoli and immersed himself in the more than 12,000 species they had accumulated there. Some say he fell in love there. Sometimes, just before immersing himself in work, he would come across a very young woman Anna d’EsslingMasséna’s wife. Lesson, who was well aware of his social situation, never said anything; but in his papers he described Anna as “a woman of exceptional beauty, elegance and education.” I imagine that, for this reason, when he discovered the amethyst-headed hummingbird among the Duke’s specimens, he thought of her. I imagine that, for this reason, Lesson named it after him. What I can’t imagine is what the French ornithologist would think if we told him that we were “evolving” the hummingbird he gave to Anna until we changed it forever. But that’s how it is. The evolution live and direct. I came to this story (and Global Change Biology study which supports it) thanks to a bluit by Carlos Cabido. It is, as the evolutionary ecologist says, “another case of rapid evolution that has generated observable adaptive changes in a very short period.” The “smoking gun.” But let’s start at the beginning: researchers at the University of California Berkeley analyzed the population expansion and the morphological changes in the beaks of hummingbirds in relation to a very specific device: the feeders that, since the 1930s, have been used on the west coast of the United States. These are simple sugar water dispensers, but (always according to researchers) they have caused a series of very striking changes. What changes? On a regional and temporal scale, “the density/use of feeders appears as the best predictor of population expansion”; well above other variables analyzed. This means that the installation of these dispensers is the key to the expansion of hummingbirds. Linked to that, researchers they observed significant changes in the morphology of the beak: it has become longer (to better access the feeder) and sharper (in a context where territoriality is becoming more important because it is linked to a very concentrated resource). And all this in a couple of decades. That is, in about ten generations. Why is it important? Above all, because it is one more example that a cheap, massive and standardized device (if it creates a new food environment) can reconfigure body structures and behavioral repertoires. And, beyond all that, because it shows that, if environmental change is intense and sustained, natural selection works like a shot. However, all that glitters is not a hummingbird. In fact, Anna’s hummingbird is almost an exception. As far as we know, countless hummingbird species They are suffering (and big time) the changes linked to the Anthropocene: although the Anna is growing, its first cousins ​​are in clear decline. And yes, it is our fault. Yeah this study shows that we have great power to change nature, the overview reminds us that “with great power comes great responsibility.” Image | Robert Bottman In Xataka | The domestication of cats remains a mystery. But we are closer to knowing where and why it happened

We have been obsessed with Japan for decades to understand people who live over 100 years. The key was in Brazil

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For decades, when science was searching for secrets of aginghe always looked in the same places: Japan’s “Blue Zones”Sardinia or the icy and homogeneous populations of northern Europe. However, researchers have pointed out that all this time we have been ignoring a biological gold mine: Brazil. The study. Understanding why there are people who live to be over one hundred years of age is undoubtedly an objective of science to to be able to unlock possible therapies in the future that will extend our lives much longer. Since it is curious that in specific areas such as Japan the population ages far beyond the normal average, being a mystery to science (although the reasons are already gone). The latest research on the matterpublished on January 6 in Genomic Psychiatry, has identified a genetic mix in the South American country that could contain protective variants invisible in more uniform populations. The Brazilian superhumans. The study, led by geneticists Mayana Zats and Mateus Vidigal de Castro, is based on the analysis of a group of more than 160 centenarians and at least 20 supercentenarians, who They are those people who are over 110 years old. Among these people, some quite relevant figures stand out, such as Sister Inah, who reached the age of 116, and several of the oldest men in the world, according to the LongeviQuest Atlas. But what really makes this group of people who have been analyzed by researchers special is not their age, but their biological resilience. Its biological resistance. The researchers’ main thesis is that the intense Brazilian miscegenation, fruit of centuries of interaction between indigenous populationsPortuguese colonizers, enslaved people of African origin and European and Japanese immigrants, has created a unique genomic diversity. By analyzing this genetic “breeding ground”, scientists have identified millions of variants that do not appear in large international biobanks. The hypothesis suggests that this mixture allows protective variants to emerge that are practically invisible in homogeneous populations. It is, in essence, a search for the genes of resilience in an environment of maximum diversity. COVID resistance. Without a doubt, it is one of the most fascinating examples of this history, since before the arrival of vaccines, three supercentenarians of the study they managed to survive the disease. By analyzing their immune response, the researchers found a concentration of cells related to innate defense that was very efficient. In this way, it was seen that individuals not only live longer, but also have a defense system capable of neutralizing threats that are lethal to people decades younger. Something that seems to be related to an increase in biological processes related to autophagy, that is, the ability of some cells to literally clean the body of harmful components. What was already known. This paradigm shift connects with previous works such as those done by researcher Manel Esteller on the epigenetic profile of the Spanish María Branyasthe oldest Spanish person of all time. In this case, what was done was to understand the “biological clock” of longevity in Europe. Now, the Brazilian project expands the map into the unknown. By sequencing entire genomes in this mixed-race population, scientists have discovered some eight billion undescribed variants, many of which could have a functional impact on how we age and how our cells withstand the test of time. Towards the future. The study of Brazilian supercentenarians is not only a matter of biographical curiosity about who holds the age record, but a critical step towards genomic medicine of the future. By understanding how the mixture of ancestors can concentrate protective factors against degenerative or infectious diseases, science is getting closer to discovering whether there is a biological “formula” for longevity that can be translated into therapies for the rest of the population. Brazil, with its genetic mosaic, is demonstrating that the most complex answers to our survival could be written in the genes of those who, against all odds, have seen more than a century of history pass by. Images | Unsplash In Xataka | The change of year has a weapon to slow down your aging: a list of New Year’s resolutions

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