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The 48fps format makes ‘Avatar 3’ hyperrealistic. It’s just what turns back part of the public

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The new installment of ‘Avatar‘ is distanced, in technical terms, from practically all the other films with which it shares the billboard: Cameron’s thoroughness when it comes to capturing his vision in images has led him to generate, for example, 45 different versions of the film adapted to the conditions of each possible type of theater. This has also led him to declare that the best format to see this third installment it is at 48fps. But not all cinemas are prepared nor does it necessarily have to be a dish to the taste of all viewers. What are 48 frames per second. James Cameron wants us to see 40% of ‘Avatar: Fire and Ash’ at 48 frames per second, double the film standardconvinced that this system offers the most natural visual experience to capture the world of Pandora. However, all previous attempts to impose HFR (High Frame Rate) have failed, since ‘The Hobbit‘ until ‘Gemini‘ by Ang Lee. The reason: to the untrained eye, the image is too sharptoo similar to home video. The question that remains is: why does Cameron opt for a technology that systematically causes visual rejection in viewers? Why Cameron likes it. James Cameron maintains a personal position on HFR: he refuses to classify it as a cinematographic format, but rather defines it as a creative tool at the service of narrative, comparable to any other technical resource. Approximately 40% of ‘Avatar: Fire and Ash’ has been shot at 48 frames per second, concentrating mainly on the underwater sequences and flight scenes where, according to the filmmaker, the increase in visual clarity enhances the feeling of spatial presence. How it works. Cameron’s technical strategy is articulated through the Variable Frame Rate (VFR), which dynamically switches between 24fps and 48fps according to the expressive needs of each scene. As Cameron explainshe framerate high is counterproductive in moments of dialogue or everyday interaction, where it generates an unwanted hyperrealism that emotionally distances the viewer from the fiction. Therefore, scenes with characters talking or walking remain in the traditional standard. The technical process is completed with TrueCutMotiona technology that allows you to adjust the level of motion blur and image smoothness scene by scene. This granular control is intended to avoid the dreaded “soap opera effect” that worked so poorly in ‘The Hobbit’. Cameron conceives of the HFR fundamentally as a technical improvement for 3Dnot as an autonomous aesthetic revolution. In Spain what is closest to Cameron’s proposal is lto Cinity technologyof Chinese origin, which only screens the Odeon network in five theaters and which combines 4K, 3D and HFR. Why does it look like that? The reason we see 48fps with that extreme smoothing effect is because cinema has operated at 24 frames per second since sound demanded standardization of projection speed a hundred years ago. Each frame captures the image for approximately 1/48 of a second, generating a motion blur that the human brain interprets as natural or rather, as “cinematic.” He HFR duplicates that information: 48 images per second with half speed motion blurwhich equals more sharpness in fast movements. The technical advantages apply above all to 3D projections, as Cameron assures: framerate High resolution prevents the image from blurring when panning, and reduces eye-straining flicker in 3D projections. It also helps maintain clarity in low-light scenes, where traditional 24fps results in blurry images. It’s your fault. What we must keep in mind is that the problem that we associate with 48fps It’s psychological, not technical.. Viewers have been trained for a century to associate 24fps with cinematic narrative and framerates superiors with television broadcasts. When the image is too sharp, the brain immediately detects the artifices of the staging. Digital effects, makeup, sets, everything is camouflaged with 24fps images, because we enter more easily into the lie of cinema. The HFR, however, is too clear, too revealing. Previous failures. The first major commercial commitment to HFR came in December 2012 with ‘The Hobbit’. Peter Jackson filmed his entire Tolkien trilogy at 48fps using RED Epic cameras, but the critical and public reaction was devastating because the image was too sharp, almost like that of a reality show. Technically there were no objections to the result, but at the same time it proposed an aesthetic opposite to what was expected from a fantasy story. The HFR versions were never released in domestic format, which makes them curious pieces of lost media in the digital age. Ang Lee went further with the semi-unknown ‘Billy Lynn’ and with ‘Geminis’, which raised the fps to 120. The first could only be projected in those conditions in six theaters around the world and the second, a few more but not many: fourteen in the United States. Both failed commercially, since the HDR versions were released covertly fearing a failure like ‘The Hobbit’. Once again the hyperstylized and fantastical aesthetic came face to face with the dizzying hyperrealism of 120fps. The exhibitors, in addition, they had to acquire HFR licenses for $500 for equipment that they would almost never use. In Xataka | It is possible that ‘Avatar 3’ will sweep and raise millions of dollars. And it is perfectly possible that you lose money despite it

There was a time when the Lottery Jackpot “took you away from work.” Today it barely takes away a part of the mortgage

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Someone who already has gray hair still remembers that, thirty years ago, May you get the Christmas Fat Man It was practically the key to financial freedom. With the full prize of one tenth (about 30 million pesetas in the 90s) you could buy several houses, pay mortgages and even ensure the well-being of your family with that stroke of luck. Today, with a prize of 400,000 euros (328,000 euros after taxes), that story sounds very different. One of the main conditions is that, in the mid-nineties, the real estate market in Spain I played in another league. Buy an apartment…or several In cities like Madrid, a home of about 90 square meters could be found for less than 14 or 15 million pesetas, according to official statistics. That meant that Fatty Christmas allowed to buy two apartments medium-sized in a big city, or buy one, pay off the mortgage and a good pinch to maintain a good margin of liquidity. In those years, the award was not just help: it was a complete break from financial worries. As was often heard at the doors of lottery administrations while the winners uncorked bottles of champagne, it was a prize that “kept you off work.” Thirty years later, the prize is still striking in terms of numbers, but its real purchasing power has changed. El Gordo has been frozen at 400,000 euros per tenth for more than a decade, while the price of housing has followed an almost constant upward trajectory. In Madrid, the average house price It ranges between 5,500 and 5,758 euros per square meter, which implies that with the 328,000 euros net of the prize, you can barely purchase 60 or 70 square meters at an average price. In practice, this means that Gordo no longer even guarantees a standard floor in many neighborhoods of the capital. Barcelona offers a similar image. With average prices located at 3,084 euros per square meter, the Gordo de Navidad allows buy a modest home or a medium-sized apartment in peripheral areas, but it is far from the purchasing capacity it had in the nineties. The comparison leaves no room for doubt: where before the prize opened the door to buying an apartment in the city and a house on the beachtoday it is barely enough for one, and not necessarily in the best conditions. The contrast is softened slightly if the market is viewed from more affordable cities. In capitals like Zamora or Lugo, where average prices are between 980 and 1,300 euros per square meter, El Gordo continues to allow you to buy spacious homes or even more than a small property. However, even in these more affordable markets, the premium no longer equivalent to that massive asset leap that it represented three decades ago. The difference is not so much in the amount of the prize as in the uneven evolution of prices. This purchasing capacity is also explained by the general price context. He housing cost It was much more aligned with the average income of the population and access to property was not subject to the housing and demand pressure that characterizes the current market. El Gordo, in that scenario, functioned as a real wealth multiplier. A Gordo with more salary, but less power make a salary comparison helps to better understand this change of scale. In the 90s, the average annual salary in Spain was around 2 million pesetas (about 12,000 euros). In that context, the Gordo of 30 million pesetas was equivalent to approximately 15 times the annual salary of a worker medium, which reinforced its perception as an immediate economic transformation: decades of income concentrated in a single stroke of chance. Today, according to the latest data from the National Statistics Institute, the median salary annually in Spain is around 23,300 euros. With this reference, the current Gordo’s 328,000 euros is equivalent to just over 14 times the median annual salary. The proportion, curiously, is not that different from that of the nineties. The big difference appears when that salary multiple faces the price of housing (and all goods in general), which has grown much faster than income. That’s the key to change. Although the premium maintains a similar relationship with salaries, your ability to buy a home has deteriorated drastically. The real estate market has become decoupled from wage growth, and El Gordo, by remaining fixed, has been trapped in the middle of that gap. What was previously enough to buy two apartments today barely covers one, and in many cases forces them to continue getting into debt, although to a lesser extent. The social meaning of Gordo has changed. In the nineties it was synonymous with total economic independence. In 2025, it is still an extraordinary stroke of luck, but its role has shifted, no longer guaranteeing financial freedom, but financial relief. In Xataka | There is something even more difficult than winning the Lottery Jackpot: not making mistakes with the Treasury when collecting it Image | Flickr (srgpicker)

Spain turns in the opposite direction to the rest of Europe. Form part of a geological plan: closing the Mediterranean

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Spain and Portugal are dancing to a different rhythm than the rest of Europe. They are moving clockwise and the consequence is clear: a long-term closure of the Mediterranean that connects the Iberian Peninsula directly to North Africa. The convergence between continents is slow, a few millimeters a year (so we will continue needing the tunnel between Spain and Morocco), but one thing is clear: another Pangea is on the way. And the Iberian Peninsula and Morocco will be a unit. In short. Continental plates move. Some separate, others collide, and that continental drift has caused the emergence the Pangea Ultima theory. In 250 million years, there will only be one continent. There is a long way to go for that, but now, some researchers from the University of the Basque Country have analyzed geodetic data that allows them to affirm that the Iberian Peninsula is rotating clockwise. This east-west rotation is driven by the convergence between the Eurasian and African plates, and the conclusion is clear: both are moving between four and six millimeters closer each year. This information is not new, but the researchers’ discovery is to specify the processes that take place at the diffuse boundary of the two western Mediterranean plates. Thanks, Gibraltar. Although the boundaries of other plates are well defined, this does not occur in the Western Mediterranean. There, the processes are much grayer, and there is something called “Gibraltar Arch” which plays an interesting role in this tectonic dynamic. To the east of the strait, the crust absorbs the deformation caused by the collision between the Eurasian and African plates. This ‘Gibraltar Arc’ acts as a buffer, but it has a consequence: in the west of the strait there is a direct collision between the plates, while in the east it is absorbed by the Gibraltar Arc. This lack of buffering from the southwest is what causes the clockwise rotation. Rotational strain rate field. Positive values ​​correspond to clockwise rotation, while negative values ​​refer to counterclockwise rotation. Active and potentially active faults are marked with solid and dashed gray lines, respectively. Double analysis. The researchers combined two types of accuracy analyzes to obtain these results. On the one hand, those of satellite deformation through GNSS system (Global Navigation Satellite System). Analyzing the data, they measured surface displacements with millimeter precision, relying on both permanent and occasional GPS markers. On the other hand, they also analyzed information from recent earthquakes that allowed them to determine the tectonic “stresses” in the area. They are independent data sets, but by crossing them they were able to draw a series of ‘lines’ that have allowed them to better specify the boundary between the plates. So that? Well, to better understand which sectors are in direct collision between plates and which are still more protected by the Gibraltar Arc. And the neighbors? The problem is that, although they claim that it is a rapid tectonic movement, this is true in geological terms. For us it is invaluable, but it also comes into play that we only have satellite data since 1999 and detailed seismic data since the 1980s. Even so, if with such a short range of data we have reached that conclusion in the annual approach, it is because the phenomenon is not in a hurry, but it does not pause either. And the most interesting thing is that this only affects the Iberian Peninsula. It is not that we are going to separate from France, since we ‘drag’ the rest of the continent thanks to the effect of the Gibraltar Arc, but we are not turning in the same direction as other neighbors. Italy, for example, experiences a counterclockwise rotation that exerts pressure in the alpine zoneand in the anatolian plate (where most of Türkiye is), there is also this counterclockwise rotation. Hello, Morocco. While in Turkey the consequence may be more earthquakes or mountain formations, this current speed of between 4 and 6 millimeters will cause, at some point, the Iberian Peninsula and Morocco to unite. This continental collision would close the Mediterraneanbut there is a lot left for it. How much? About 100 million years. They estimate that for 20 million years we will continue at the same speed, but within about 50 million years, things will gain momentum, accelerating the process and turning the region into one of the most active volcanic and seismic areas on the planet. It’s… foolish to worry. present utility. Now, beyond curiosity, the most immediate implication that the researchers point out is a better identification of active faults or areas in which previously unidentified tectonic structures could exist. Asier Madarieta-Txurruka, one of those responsible for the investigation, explains This information indicates where to look for these structures and boundaries to determine what type of folds and faults there may be. Thus, we can anticipate the type of earthquake that there will be and its magnitude in areas such as the Western Pyrenees or the region of Cádiz and Seville in which we know that there are numerous places with significant deformationbut we do not have well identified the active tectonic structures that cause them. And, although there is still a long way to go before the Alps and a new mountain range are founded across the peninsula and all of North Africa to Arabia, knowing better what we have right under our feet is much more useful. In Xataka | We knew that Africa was going to split in half. What we didn’t know was that it would happen so quickly.

Your employees are going to mobilize to claim part of those benefits

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Black Friday has become one of the most important sales days for global trade, and a unique opportunity for employees to give visibility to your claims pressing with mobilizations on one of the days with the highest sales volume of the year. On November 28, coinciding with the start of Black Friday, unions and representatives of the staff that make up the Inditex group throughout Europe, have called for different coordinated mobilizations in front of emblematic stores of the company in countries such as Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg, Portugal, France, Italy and Spain. These actions aim to take advantage of the moment of maximum commercial visibility to put the distribution of profits and the recovery of an extraordinary bonus linked to the group’s economic results at the center of the debate. Non-strike mobilizations. The unions and representatives of the Inditex European Works Council propose these mobilizations as another step after years of putting on the table the need for economic recognition for the collective efforts of the workforce. In their communications They point out that they have tried to sit down and negotiate with Inditex through other means, such as letters to management and requests at each meeting, but the company has not responded to their demands. As confirmed by Rosa Galán, representative of CCOO at Inditex, it is important to point out that this is not a strike, but rather protest concentrations at the doors of the main stores in the center of large cities to give visibility to their demands that come “after exhausting other avenues” and as one more step in their efforts to sit down to negotiate. They ask for the return of a bonus that disappeared. In Galán’s words, until 2020, Inditex employees throughout Europe received a variable bonus linked to the annual company profitsas a way of recognizing the contribution of the staff to the good financial results of the group. This incentive was closely linked to strong sales campaigns, such as Black Friday for its great impactso that a part of the commercial success also reached directly into the pockets of those who run the stores and support the day-to-day running of the company. However, after the pandemic that bonus was eliminated and has not been implemented again until this year, when has done so by limiting its application to the managers who form your shareholders meeting. A pat is not enough. Despite the good words and recognition that the board of directors dedicates to the group’s global workforce, the Inditex European Works Committee wants this recognition to materialize in the recovery of that bonus linked to profits in a context of good results financial like the current one. “We are asking once again that a company that has enormous profits, which are the result of the work of its staff, distribute those profits fairly,” stated Galan to Reuters. A context of growth. In the last exercises, the textile empire founded by Amancio Ortega has achieved record profits. In fiscal year 2024, closed on January 31, 2025, the brand recorded 5,866 million euros of net profit. This represents a growth of 9% compared to the previous year, thus adding its third consecutive year of historical results. The consolidated data of the first quarter of 2025 mark a continuing trend with an increase in net profit of 0.8%, up to 2,791 million euros. Inditex has not responded to our requests for information, although declared to the EFE news agency that “for the moment” is not going to issue any comment on the union announcement. In Xataka | A few weeks ago Amancio Ortega collected 1,552 million from Inditex: he just invested them in the second largest purchase in its history Image | Unsplash (Praswin Prakashan)

Last October was the second driest in the last 100 years. And Asturias has taken the worst part

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The storm that It is landing from this Thursday In our country we should not be fooled: we are not receiving enough rain for the time of year we are in. And we can say much more: Asturias is bearing the brunt of the droughtbeing somewhat surprising because we all have the image of a green landscape and constant rainfall. The notice. The AEMET national report It was already quite clear when he reviewed October 2025, pointing out that it has been one of the warmest and second driest months so far in the 21st century in Spain as a whole. But if you zoom in on some regions, the truth is that the situation is much more alarming. If we focus on the monthly climatological summary for October 2025 in Asturiasthe AEMET points out that it has been ‘warm and very dry’. And this is something that is confirmed by alarming data: Rainfall decreased, with 37.4 l/m² in October, 71% less than the reference value for the region in the months of October. This also makes it one of the driest since 1961. Hotter than usual: average temperatures of 14.6 °C, being 1.5 °C above the reference between 1991 and 2020, with average maximums of 19.7 °C and minimums of 9.4 °C. Throughout Spain. Beyond Asturias, the AEMET describes a very dry pattern in much of the interior and northern peninsula in October, with areas of extremely dry nature in sectors of the eastern Cantabrian coast, which fits with the marked deficit observed in Asturias and its Cantabrian environment. This contrasts quite a bit with other areas that had episodes of very intense rain, as in the case of western Andalusia, where it is getting used to having less rain. At the national level, the fact that October 2025 is the 16th driest in the series and, at the same time, the sixth warmest, reinforces the signal of warmer Octobers and the high interannual variability of rainfall, with October 2024 as the wettest in the entire historical series as a close counterpoint.​ The reservoirs. If there is not enough rain, we are faced with a drought situation that mainly affects the reservoirs. In the Asturian case, the Alfilorios reservoir is around 30% of its capacityd, which translates into a pre-alert situation for the Cantabrian Hydrographic Confederation, while Tanes remains below 50%which already affects supply planning in the central area of ​​Asturias. Given this situation, the Oviedo City Council has already activated measures anti-drought, such as the closure of ornamental fountains without a closed circuit, continuous jet fountains, the reduction of flushing and the cessation of irrigation of parks. Rains come. Although in Spain we are already seeing the arrival of intense rains with storms such as Claudiathe reality is that recovery from drought will depend on many factors such as the effective accumulation of precipitation and its distribution over time to feed reservoirs and aquifers. Images | Keith Mapeki Bogomil Mihaylov In Xataka | The two most important weather models in the world are discussing whether Santander is going to freeze next week. And the cold is winning

Regenerating tooth enamel is the holy grail of dentistry. And they have achieved it using a part of the sheep

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Cavities are a real nightmare for many because of the pain they cause and also because of the mandatory visit to the dentist, which for some It resembles hell itself. And it is no less a problem, since untreated tooth decay is one of the most common problems in the world, affecting some 2,000 million patients worldwide, such as point the Global Burden of Disease 2019. A serious problem. A cavity requires quick dental treatment, since it is impossible for them to cure on their own or with a simple pill. This is because mature tooth enamel, what we see of the tooth, is a hard tissue, without cells and, therefore, cannot regenerate itself once it is damaged by bacteria. In this way, if not treated, cavities progress, destroys the tooth and takes us straight to the dentist’s chair for a filling. This is where the dentist must remove all damaged enamel and replace it with some kind of putty that hardens to look like enamel, although it really isn’t. The objective. For years, science has been searching for the “holy grail” of dentistry: a method to regenerate enamel biologically. However, getting the enamel compound to grow in an aligned and orderly manner, as biology does, is a nearly impossible thing. The now. A team of researchers from King’s College London has achieved something radically new: using keratin, the protein found in our hair or even in the wool of sheep. With this project, the researchers, instead of betting on a “patch” as now, keratin self-assembles into a fibrous network and forms structures as if it were the perfect scaffold. This is where the magic happens. This keratin scaffold guides the ordered growth of the molecules that make up the tooth. The study discovered that the keratin structure itself is flexible and reorganizes itself during mineralization (changing from β-sheets to α-helices), actively orchestrating the formation of the new mineral layer. It has already been tested. To check If this new material worked, they took human teeth and artificially caused “white spot lesions,” which are the first visible stage of a cavity. With this base, the keratin film was applied and incubated in a mineralization solution, resulting in a comprehensive repair of the tooth with an adequate structure. The future. The most important thing is that this regeneration is not just aesthetic; It is functional. The study measured the mechanical properties of the repaired enamel and the results surpassed one of the current standard treatments: resin infiltration. Both in the hardness and mechanical properties tests, it was seen that the result was really positive when it came to being able to use the tooth as if it were the integral version. In this way, this study establishes a preclinical framework for using a platform based on keratin, a cheap, abundant and biocompatible material. The manufacturing process is simple and does not use solvents. This could represent a “paradigm shift” in the clinical management of early caries. Instead of just having to drill and fill them, the possibility of curing and regenerating them is offered to restore both aesthetics and mechanical properties. Images | Pierre Villedieu Ozkan Guner In Xataka | If you always brush your teeth after eating, science has something to tell you: you’re doing it wrong

Portable batteries are part of urban infrastructure in China. I have tried them and I need them to arrive in Europe

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After a decade of writing about gadgets and tens of thousands of miles of travel under my belt, a few weeks ago a destination managed to make me nervous. I was traveling, for the first time, to China. A few days before leaving, I realized that I did not have any batteries with the necessary certification and buying them in Spain is complicated. My idea was to get one there, but to my surprise I came across reality: hives of external batteries on every corner. Below I will tell you about my experience renting one and testing its loading speed. Powerbanks as urban infrastructure. A few months ago, my colleague Javier He already commented on his fascination with this ecosystem of external batteries that anyone can rent. It is really not something so new, since it has running since 2017 and its concept is very interesting. In China we need the cell phone for everything (AliPay and Wechat They are two apps that are your bank, your transportation card, your payment card, your way of ordering in restaurants and much more) and it is something that drains the battery. Therefore, the idea arose to locate stations with several external rental batteries at strategic points in the city. The market is dominated by four companies, they are in the main cities and the process is as simple as: Scan the station’s QR code. Take one of the removable batteries. Use them while we eat or move. Return them to any other point on the network (it does not have to be at the station where we took it). Photo: Xataka Photo: Xataka Photo: Xataka Photo: Xataka Photo: Xataka Photo: Xataka renting one. For me, who went with a iPhone 16 in your pocket (whose battery is no wonder), having something like this available was a lifesaver. And, since science doesn’t do itself, during breakfast I rented one available at my hotel with the intention of using it while I ate and returning it just before leaving. The process is indicated just above these lines and, in my case, I used AliPay. Photo: Xataka You have to go with the application previously configured and, in my case, I loaded a Revolut prepaid card. I didn’t have any problems during the week I was in Beijing. I scanned the QR code of the charging station with AliPay itself and… blessed translation system. It works when it wants and it translates some things regularly, but enough to understand it. The price is 0.12 yuan per minute (about 0.014 euros), but since I don’t have a bank account in China, I had to pay a deposit of 99 yuan (about 12 euros). As soon as I paid, the app told me what power bank I had to remove it and the station itself made the corresponding battery LED flash. To load. Charging experience. The first thing I liked is that you don’t need absolutely anything other than the battery. This includes a USB-C, Lightning and even micro-USB cable. They are short cables, but they are appreciated so you don’t have to carry yours in your pocket. It has LEDs that indicate the charge level and there really isn’t much more to say about the design. Regarding their characteristics, it depends, but they usually have 5,000 mAh and the big asterisk is in the power. 5V/2.4A It is about 12 W and that implies that it will charge at a slow speed. But hey, it is designed so that you can carry it for a while or while you eat and spend at least half an hour/an hour with it. Photo: Xataka On my iPhone 16, the charging times were as follows: I started with 26% battery and in 30 minutes I reached 45%. At 60 minutes it had reached 64%. After 90 minutes it was charged up to 82%. As I say, a slow experience, but I see it as feasible to spend an hour eating or walking between stores, and recovering 38% allows you to survive the rest of the day. When you return it, you have a map where you see all the available stations. I simply went to a different one, clicked on the finalize the transaction button, scanned the QR again and inserted it into the indicated slot. The final price was 14 yuan after almost two hours in my possession, about 1.73 euros to my account. And, the next day, I already had the 99 yuan deposit back in my Revolut. Reviews. Discussing the move with our teammates, we agreed that the price is not high for us, that we use the euro and for those 1.7 euros, well… it allowed me to continue the rest of the day. But we also wonder how the Chinese would view those 14 yuan. And it seems not very well. One of the complaints It is precisely that the price has been increasing in some points. If at the beginning it cost one yuan per hour, now it ranges between two and six. The reason is that it depends a lot on the location (more or less tourist areas, hospitals, hotels, bars, etc.). Coupled with the fact that it is a very fair power and cell phones have more and more battery life, it is almost better to buy an external battery if you know that every now and then you have to rent at one of these stations (which, in addition, can be full at times and you have to go around looking for another one to return the battery. The businesses themselves have also been dissatisfied at times, since it is a market monopolized by a few companies that, evidently, control both the rental price and the profits. Future. Despite this, for tourists, it is an extremely attractive option due to its convenience and because, let’s not fool ourselves, the exchange rate to our currency is favorable to us. And for the industry, it represents an important benefit. In 2020, … Read more

We have carried the burden of reproductive delay on women. But men also have their part (and the proof is in the sperm)

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Let’s talk about semen because it’s important. We already knew: the quality of sperm, for example, is directly related with the life expectancy of men. However, in recent days the situation has taken an interesting turn. A few days ago, a group of researchers from the Sanger Institute and King’s College London advertisement that “aging” has more consequences than it seems. It is not only that, with age, sperm accumulate mutations; is that the percentage of sperm with mutations does not stop growing. And that changes many of the things we thought we knew. What exactly have they done? The team sequenced semen samples from individuals between 24-75 years old and They discovered that the process accumulation of mutations is not just a matter of wear and tear. There is, interestingly, a combination of chance and positive selection. That is, he has found evidence that there are “winning” variants in the testicles. The study concludes that it “concludes a 2–3× risk of known causal mutations with age and estimates 3–5% of sperm with a pathogenic mutation in middle-aged and older men.” The numbers are low, but the paradigm changes. The paradigm? It is not just that the older you are, the more mutations there are, but that these mutations compete with each other and thrive within the testicle (intratesticular positive selection). This means that the risk window widens beyond the simple annual arithmetic sum. For years, we have carried the burden of delayed parenthood on women. In a simplistic (and now we know hasty) way, the public debate has loaded thethe responsibility of reproductive planning about them. But also the health-scientist: the risk profiles were defined by the gestational age of the mother. And yet, men also have their part. What is hidden in the sperm. Although, as I cannot help but repeat, the risk is low, we cannot ignore that the greater presence of variants linked to neurodevelopmental disorders and developmental syndromes changes the general picture. The reality is that, despite everything we know, we know very little. And that is a problem because, whether we want it or notthe trends are very solid: the age of having children it’s going to be delayed all over the world. Image | Quinn Dombrowski In Xataka | Having many children sounds great as a way to preserve the species. Until you start passing genetic mutations

The rise comes just when he is considering selling part of his business

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Warner Bros. Discovery has once again touched one of the most sensitive keys in the entertainment market: the price of HBO Max. The company has announced in the United States a new increase that coincides with a stage of internal transformation, marked by the review of its divisions and conversations with potential buyers. The movement confirms that the period of low prices to attract subscribers is fading. Instead, the giants of the sector seek to consolidate their business, even at the cost of raising rates. While new increases are announced in the United States, in Spain theirs is about to be applied. The adjustment was communicated at the end of September and will come into force this October 23with prices ranging from 6.99 euros per month in the basic plan with ads to 15.99 in the premium, and an annual option of 109 euros. It is the first rate review in quite some time and, according to the information available, there is no confirmation that it will be repeated in the immediate future. In the United States, the increase is already effective. Starting this October 21, new HBO Max subscribers pay between one and two dollars more per month depending on their plan. The basic one with ads now costs $10.99, the standard one $18.49 and the premium one $22.99. Current monthly customers will see the increase reflected in their next bill, starting November 20, while annual customers will notice it when they renew. Warner Bros. Discovery has assured that everyone will receive at least 30 days’ notice. A long anticipated move. In September, its CEO, David Zaslav, publicly acknowledged that the company saw room to charge more for its services. “We believe we are well below the price,” stated during a conference at Goldman Sachs. That idea sums up the moment the industry is experiencing: many platforms are seeking profitability after years of accelerated expansion. For now, nothing indicates that HBO Max will raise prices again in Spain in the short term. The company has not communicated any additional adjustments beyond the one that comes into effect this October 23. In any case, it is advisable to be especially attentive to subscription renewals and promotions from this moment on. On the verge of a large-scale transformation. The company has confirmed that it is moving forward with its plan to divide into two companies before 2026: one dedicated to streaming and content production, and another to the international television business. In recent months, the company has received interest from several firms and an offer from Paramount Skydance. According to its CEO, David Zaslav, the objective is “to identify the best way to value all the group’s assets.” Images | HBO Max In Xataka | That Apple is going to broadcast F1 is just the tip of the iceberg: its plan to become “the iTunes of sports”

They seemed like useful tools for WhatsApp Web, but they were part of a large spam campaign

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When it comes to using third-party applications and software that interact with WhatsApp, you have to be especially careful, since you never know what may lie in store for you. In this sense, a massive spam campaign has used 131 fraudulent extensions of Chrome to automate mass sending on WhatsApp Web, affecting more than 20,000 users. Researchers at cybersecurity firm Socket have reported of the operation, which has remained active for at least nine months. what has happened. According to the investigationthe extensions were presented as CRM or contact management tools for WhatsApp, promising to increase sales and improve productivity. Names like YouSeller, Botflow or ZapVende hid their true function: injecting code directly into WhatsApp Web to send massive messages without the user’s permission, bypassing the platform’s anti-spam systems. The spam business model. According to Socket, all extensions They shared the same code base and they came from a single Brazilian company, DBX Tecnologia, which sold a white label reseller program. Researchers say that affiliates paid about 2,000 euros in advance to rename the extension with their own logo and name, promising recurring income of between 5,000 and 15,000 euros. “The goal is to keep massive campaigns running while evading anti-spam systems,” explains security researcher Kirill Boychenko. How the fraud worked. The extensions used sophisticated techniques to manipulate WhatsApp Web. They ran alongside legitimate WhatsApp scripts, using internal functions to automate message sending. Users could configure send intervals, pauses, and batch sizes specifically designed to circumvent detection algorithms. According to the researcher, DBX Tecnologia even published tutorials on YouTube explaining how to adjust these parameters to prevent WhatsApp from blocking accounts. Why is it dangerous. Although these extensions are not considered malware classic, they also represent a significant risk. When an extension injects code into web applications like WhatsApp, it can read your messages, monitor your actions, and send automated content using your account. The extensions had full access to the page WhatsApp Webpotentially allowing them to access private conversations and personal data. What to do now. According to firm, Google has already removed the extensions from its store, although they were available for more than nine months, accumulating tens of thousands of downloads. If you have installed any extension related to WhatsApp or message automation and it appears in the list of extensions provided by the research, you must delete it immediately. To do this, access ‘chrome://extensions‘ in your browser, review the entire list and uninstall any suspicious or unrecognized tools. Above all, pay attention to extensions that request permissions to access all websites or modify page data. Just because it’s in the store doesn’t mean it’s safe.. Socket recommends Regularly review installed extensions, reject those that ask for excessive permissions, and be wary of tools that promise to “boost” popular services. The presence of an extension in the Chrome Web Store does not guarantee security, as well as in the rest of the extension and application stores. Cover image | AI-generated with Gemini In Xataka | It’s a matter of time before WhatsApp ends up filling your phone’s memory, unless you do these three things

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