millennia Archives - usatoday24

They promised us Rapunzel’s hair with very expensive cosmetics. Science says the real secret has been in your kitchen for millennia

May 27, 2026 by usatoday24

Mythical representations of women, whether Botticelli’s Venus, the Hindu goddess Lakshmi or the maidens of Arthurian legends, often share an unmistakable trait: long, flowing and seemingly unattainable hair. It’s easy to think that such lengths are confined to the realm of mythology, untouched by the harsh reality of split ends and frizz. However, just swipe through TikTok or Instagram to find content creators sporting hair that would rival Rapunzel herself. Many of these influencers They promise that your hair has grown at a dizzying rate thanks to a specific technique: hair oiling or hair oiling. But, faced with shelves full of exotic formulas and luxury serums, an inevitable question arises: do we really need expensive products or has the ancient secret always been hidden in our kitchen in the form of olive oil? The resurgence of an ancient ritual. Although the term hair oiling It may sound like a modern invention packaged for Generation Z, the reality is very different. This practice was not born yesterday under the ring of light of a smartphone. Hair oiling is a technique deeply rooted in ayurvedic medicine from India, with Sanskrit texts from more than 5,000 years ago that already recommended infusing hair with natural oils to restore its shine and relax the mind. Likewise, in ancient Egypt also ointments were used based on animal fat or castor oil for similar purposes. What has changed then? The showcase. He hair oiling In a few months it has gone from being a “legacy trick” to an essential aesthetic ritual. Social media has choreographed it into a highly recognizable scene that includes a slow massage, meticulous application of oils before washing, a warm towel, and blow-drying to an incredibly shiny finish (glossy). Among the avalanche of coconut, argan and jojoba oils, olive oil has begun to reclaim its throne, not only because of its accessibility, but because it has historically been the cornerstone of Mediterranean cosmetics and the basis for extracting the properties of countless medicinal plants. The science behind the shine. Beyond visual aesthetics, the big question is whether slathering your hair in oil really works. The answer from science is a resounding yes, although with important nuances. Rocío Lajarín, doctor in Pharmacy and CEO of Alma Secret, explains in GQ that hair is made up of 90% proteins, mainly keratin. “When we use oils with structural affinity, we manage to reduce protein loss and reinforce the resistance of the hair shaft,” he says. The portal Healthline adds that regular oiling reduces “hygral fatigue” (the repetitive swelling and drying of the hair fiber when wet), acting as a cement that protects the cuticles. If we focus on “liquid gold”, clinical studies support its many benefits: Deep hydration and elasticity: An investigation of the Journal of Cosmetic Science demonstrates how olive oil It penetrates the hair fiber thanks to its high content of essential fatty acids, significantly improving hydration and resistance to breakage. A cocktail of vitamins: Virgin olive oil rejuvenates hair because it contains vitamin E, vitamin C (which stimulates collagen formation) and vitamin A (enhancers cell regeneration). Shield against damage and the sun: The International Journal of Trichology emphasizes that extra virgin olive oil contains hydroxytyrosol, a polyphenol that fights free radicals and cellular damage induced by UV-A rays. In addition, it is highly effective in reducing damage after subjecting hair to chemical processes such as dyes. Antifungal action: The same International Journal of Trichology points out that olive oil has an inhibitory influence on fungi that attack hair, such as Microsporum gypseum. The great debate: Does it make hair grow? This is where dermatology collides with internet myths. Dermatologist Andrea Combalia warns in Telva that at hair oiling “Many benefits are being attributed to it that are not real, such as hair growing faster or increasing its density.” Doctors consulted in Cleveland Clinic They agree that growth rate and thickness are predetermined by genetics, age and hormones. Oils prevent breakage (allowing length to be retained), but do not accelerate the growth phase from the follicle. However, dermatologist Ana Molina contributes in Trends a fascinating fact. It has been observed that the phytoestrogens present in olive oil can have an antiandrogenic effect by inhibiting the enzyme 5-alpha-reductase (which converts testosterone into DHT). Since DHT causes miniaturization of follicles in androgenetic alopecia, “phytoestrogens may help prevent or slow its progression.” Roots or just tips? This is the point of greatest controversy. Oiling the scalp before washing protects the lipid barrier of the skin against the aggressive surfactants in the shampoo. However, hairdresser Daniel Gil in Marie Claire and Dr. Steven Walker in GQ They are blunt: if you have an oily scalp or suffer from seborrheic dermatitis, you should avoid applying oils directly to the roots. Dr. Shilpi Khetarpal of the Cleveland Clinic confirms this: if you are prone to dandruff, applying oil can worsen the problem by feeding the fungus Malasseziacausing more inflammation. In these cases, the hair oiling It should be strictly from medium to ends. A ritual with common sense. At the end of the day, olive oil is not going to rewrite your hair genetics or magically transform you into a Renaissance painting. What science tells us is much more pragmatic and, at the same time, liberating. The true value of this trend lies in understanding hair care as a ritual that respects our natural hair structure, and not as a compulsive accumulation of synthetic cosmetics. Olive oil is a powerful, accessible and dermatologically endorsed tool to defend our hair from pollution, the heat of straighteners and daily wear and tear. Applied with common sense, the liquid gold of our Mediterranean diet is also confirmed as the best cosmetic in our bathroom. Image | Photo by Curology on Unsplash Xataka | For years we blamed stress for baldness without understanding why. Science has just found the missing link

Microsoft has just taken a key step in its technology to preserve data for millennia

February 19, 2026 by usatoday24

Saving data “forever” is one of those ideas that sounds simple until you look closely at the media we use every day. A file can be perfect today and become unreadable in a few years, or decades, due to degradation of the material or, directly, because the support ends up failing over time. Therefore, when we talk about preserving information for centuries, CDs, DVDs, hard drives or tapes are not a definitive answer. And it is precisely in that gap, that of a support capable of resisting without permanent care, where projects like Microsoft’s try to open a different path. Project Silica. This is where this Microsoft Research project comes into play, aimed at rethinking what it means to archive information in the very long term. Instead of relying on conventional magnetic or optical technologies, the system uses ultrafast lasers to modify internal properties of the glass and store data in the form of three-dimensional voxels, which can then be read using optical techniques assisted by machine learning, as detailed by Microsoft in a study recently published in the journal Nature. It does not seek to compete with SSDs or hard drives in speed, but rather to offer a material base specifically designed for long-lasting conservation. looking back. The Redmond giant has been working on this line for years, and one of its best-known demonstrations came in 2019, when he managed to save the movie ‘Superman’ complete on a glass shard about the size of a coaster. That test confirmed that three-dimensional storage within the material was not just theoretical and that, in addition, the support could withstand heat and water, and even demagnetization tests. What changes now is not the fundamental idea, but the degree of technological development that could bring it closer to real preservation uses. From the laboratory to common glass. The central novelty of the 2026 announcement is not only in the estimated longevity, but in the material used to achieve it. Previous research relied on high-purity fused silica, which was limited in cost and production, while the new study demonstrates the possibility of encoding information in borosilicate glass, a widely available and much cheaper material. According to Microsoft, this advancement directly addresses marketing hurdles related to the storage medium. Now, this does not mean that the technology is ready to be deployed, but it does reduce the distance between scientific experiment and real application. Simpler and faster writing. The work released this week introduces relevant changes in the way data is written and read. The team has introduced so-called phase voxels, which can be formed with a single pulse, and has refined the writing of the birefringent voxels to reduce pulses and speed up the process, including a “pseudo-single-pulse writing” approach. Added to this are parallel writing techniques to record multiple data points simultaneously and a simplified reader that now requires a single camera, with machine learning support for classification and interference mitigation. Detail of writing equipment during data coding with high speed multibeam laser pulses The figures. Technically, the system can reach densities of up to 1.59 gigabits per cubic millimeter, which translates to about 4.84 terabytes in around 300 layers inside a glass chip that is 12 square centimeters square and 2 millimeters thick. That capacity is roughly equivalent to millions of printed books or thousands of 4K movies. Of course, this is a capacity that does not go unnoticed. As we can see, rather than competing in speed, the interest is in how much can be preserved in a small space for extremely long periods. 10,000 years. The estimates come from accelerated aging tests in which etched glass plates are subjected to high temperatures to simulate the passage of time, a common methodology in materials science. The results of tests carried out by the research team suggest that information could remain readable for periods of more than 10,000 years under normal storage conditions, a longevity tremendously greater than that of current electronic media. Even so, these are projections based on experimental models, not direct verification on a historical scale. What’s next. We are facing a surprising technical advance, but the technology continues to depend on expensive equipment and writing speeds well below current commercial solutions, factors that determine its viability outside the laboratory. Added to this are challenges of large-scale production, future compatibility and adoption models in institutions that really need to preserve data for centuries. For now, Microsoft places Project Silica in the field of shared research, open to other actors developing specific applications. Images | Microsoft In Xataka | The first hard drives in history were gigantic. Then a miracle happened: miniaturization

He had almost five millennia hidden under the Romanian forest

May 7, 2025 by usatoday24

Lidar has become a central tool in archaeological work. One that has allowed us to find entire cities Lost centuries ago Inside dense forest areas in remote places. But we must not go too far to run into findings promoted by this technology. Bronze age strength. An example is in the remains of a fortress recently found In the Neamt district, in Romania. The remains have been dated in the early bronze age, and their finding was made through measurements by lidar Lidar. Lidar is acronym (Light detection and rangingeither Laser imaging detection and ranging) with which we refer to an analogous technology to the radar but that makes use of the laser instead of the radio waves used by the veteran detection system. This technique has become a very useful tool for archeology since Allows you to explore precisely The relief hidden under vegetation, even when it is dense. This implies that the equipment does not have to perform extensive cleaning of the land, with the consequent impact on local biodiversity. What is more, allows to obtain valuable information before setting a foot on the ground: thanks to the use of drones, the preliminary work can be done at a distance. As a counterpoint, this technology requires additional expert knowledge. The hidden fortress. The site It would correspond to a settlement with various fortified areas and has been dated in the early bronze age, between the fourth and the third millennium before our era. That is, between 4,000 and 5,000 years ago. As explained by the Equio responsible for the study, the spatial disposition of the fortifications allows us to conclude that they had the function of protecting or controlling a “clearly defined” geographical territory. A territory rich in resources such as salt. The study has not yet been the filter of the review by peer and subsequent publication in a magazine, but was presented at the Landscape Archaeology Conference held last year at the University of Alcalá. He abstract or summary can be consulted through the repository Researchgate. The complexity of the environment. Lidar gives archeology a different perspective, an aerial vision of greater precision than that would allow more conventional “bird’s bird” prospects, based on simple optical instruments. This does not imply that all work is done: the land still hidden important information about who built this fortified environment and what their motives were. “Even if some details related to the presence of defensive structures cannot be observed at the ground level, the detailed topographic image is absolutely necessary to understand the complexity of these fortifications in relation to the landscape that surrounds them,” explains the equipment in the abstractof the conference. In Xataka | The use of Lidar has helped discover that in the ancient Teotihuacán it was built so beastly that it affected later buildings, according to a study Image | Image by Lidar del Castillo Racochi, in Ukraine (without relation to the study). Panchuk Valentyn / Neamth district. Pixabay

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