people

evacuate people from a flood

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Drones in China are increasingly integrated into daily life; since using them in night showsas exam invigilators and even as aid in natural disasters, such as fire extinguishing. Now we have been able to see how a drone rescued a person trapped by the floods that occurred in Guangxi. What has happened? they tell it on the Global Times X account. In late June, a drone evacuated a driver who was trapped on the roof of his truck in Guangxi, southern China, where Typhoon Maysak caused a dam to breaktriggering a massive flood. In the videowhich was broadcast on Hangzhou television, you can see how a firefighter helps the man put on the harness and then the drone lifts him into the air, transporting him to a safe area. A delivery drone. According to the Global Times, the drone that can be seen in the video was not a specific model for carrying out rescues, but rather it was a DJI delivery drone with a multirotor design. It has not been revealed specifically what model it was, but it is clear that it was capable of supporting the weight of a person without any problem. Not just rescues. They count in ChinaDaily that a drone company owned by the Guangxi Beibu Gulf investment group (which in turn It is owned by the Chinese government) activated its emergency response and sent a drone team to inspect the area. They used drones to illuminate and assess the condition of the area, locate trapped people using infrared cameras, and bring them supplies. It had already happened. Although it is not common, in China they already had some experience in rescuing people using drones. Last year around this same time, The New York Times published a video in which a drone rescued a person who had also been trapped in a flood. In this specific case, it was a drone that was transporting the belongings of someone affected by the floods when it saw that there was a person on a roof and changed its plans. There are more similar videos, such as this one from a fisherman either this other in which a drone rescues a child from a flooding river. Drones to the rescue. The drone operator who carried out this improvised rescue that we were talking about recognized the New York Times that carrying a person hanging from a drone is not allowed, “but in an emergency, if someone is about to drown, it is something that the law would ignore.” At the moment we have seen somewhat improvised attempts, but there are already companies developing special drones to carry out this type of tasks. The low altitude economy. It is what the Chinese government calls all the economic activity that derives from the different commercial uses for drones. China has turned this market into a national priority and they expect it to move $490 billion by 2035. Among the most common uses for drones is delivery of food orders, transport of medicines or surveillance tasks. Image | Global Times In Xataka | China is playing with an unusual idea: turning trucks and containers into a take-off runway for drones

There are a lot of people replacing the oil on ham toast with coffee and orange. And oddly enough, it makes sense.

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“You insist on putting olive oil on our Iberian ham toast and this is like putting sugar on top of a chocolate cake.” Víctor Sanchego did not know it, but with those words was about to make thousands of people prepare the strangest breakfast we’ve seen in a long time. How come you don’t have to add oil to the ham? Sanchego’s argument is that “the fat of Iberian ham contains more than 60% oleic acid, the same component of extra virgin olive oil.” Therefore, as happens in a perfumery when we have already worn several colognes, when we mix oil and ham at the same time our taste buds become saturated. “Instead of helping it enhance the flavor, it is subtracting it,” says the ham man. The reality, of course, is more complex. The general idea is true for Iberian ham: adding oil (especially if it is an intense and complex one) blurs the flavor profile and can actually oversaturate the bite. This, however, does not happen with the rest of the hams or with the rest of the oils. It is, so to speak, a borderline case. And a well-known one, at that. The normal thing when we talk about Iberian ham, in fact, is that it is recommended to enjoy it alone or with an accompaniment that cleanses the palate, such as a piece of neutral bread. Nobody usually proposes eating a plate of ham with a glass of EVOO on the side. The striking thing about all this is not that. The striking thing is the coffee with orange zest. Because Víctor Sanchego does not propose to eat ham with white bread, nothing like that. He suggests smearing the bread in a mixture of black coffee and orange peel, toasting it and, now, putting the Iberian ham on top. It’s a strange thing, yes; but we cannot define it as madness either. We said before that the ideal thing is to eat Iberian ham with something that ‘cleanses the palate’ and Sanchego’s idea goes directly there: coffee, due to its dry and intense qualities, allows us to enhance the organoleptic properties of our ham. Is it the most interesting decision? Well, the truth is that I couldn’t say. On a theoretical level, there could be dozens of similar combinations that fit better with our usual organoleptic repertoire; but without a doubt it is bold and many of those who try it (on social networks) They are delighted with the result. And that, without a doubt, is good news. Not because of the ham, not because of the coffee, not because of the orange zest. It’s good news because culinary Talibanism It is a practice that greatly impoverishes our understanding of food. And it limits us for no reason. Being open to ‘playing’ with products as iconic as Iberian ham is a symptom of a gastronomic maturity that, used well, can help us resolve problems in a much simpler way. big problems of the food security of the century. Image | Stephan Coudassot | Nathan Dumlao In Xataka | We’ve been telling ourselves for 100 years that breakfast is the “most important meal of the day.” The problem is that it is not true In Xataka | We’ve gone from “breakfast is the most important meal of the day” to “I grab something quick and stick with it.” And that has problems A version of this theme was published in 2025

Spain has a license only for automatic cars and more and more people choose it

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Getting your driving license without using the clutch and changing gears is now a reality within the reach of anyone who wants to learn to drive in Spain. This is permit B limited to automatic vehiclesa modality that more and more driving school students choose, but which also generates many doubts about how it works or how to request it. That’s why below these lines we tell you all the details. The same permission, but with a nuance: only automatic Despite what many people believe, there is no new or independent license for automatic cars. We have approached some driving schools to ask about it and, as they explain, the permit is the same as it has always been, B, only in the document an annotation is added which indicates that the holder can only drive with automatic transmission vehicles. As expected, those who obtain their license with a manual gear car, however, are enabled to drive both types of transmission without any restrictions. That note It is popularly known as “code 78” and appears printed on the back of the card, next to the permit category. In Spain, the Instruction 2019/C-134 of the DGT, something already marked in the General Regulations for Drivers, says: “if the applicant takes the practical exam with an automatic transmission vehicle, that circumstance must be reflected in the permit and will only enable him to drive cars with those characteristics.” Why is more and more requested? The rise of this type of permit goes hand in hand with the automobile market itself. Two decades ago, automatic transmission was almost a rarity on Spanish roads; Today, however, there are more and more models (especially electric and hybrid, which do not have a clutch) that They are sold exclusively with this transmission. According to share El Periódico, of the 600,000 category B permits issued each year in Spain, between 33,000 and 37,000 already carry this limitation to the automaticwhich places code 78 between 5.5% and 6.2% of the total. However, as the media points out, in the driving school sector the figure they handle is around 10% of the licenses issued. Gear lever on a Volvo CX60 Asking several driving schools, they affirm that this modality has been implemented for a few years. On the other hand, Raül Viladrich, president of the Federation of Driving Schools of Catalonia, counted to El Periódico that the demand started between 2018 and 2020, although it clarified that it is still much lower than that of the traditional card. It is also a case of generational changesince more and more young people see manual transmission as something of the past and, directly, have no intention of ever driving a car with a clutch. How is it obtained and what is the difference with the traditional exam The learning process is identical to that of the conventional B license, that is, you go to the driving school, you take the theory exam, you have your practical classes and a final exam, with the only difference that both the classes and the driving test are done with an automatic transmission vehicle. You also don’t have to make the decision when you first register, since you can start with a manual car and, if you decide, you can upgrade to an automatic car at any time. This is exactly what a former student, Elena García, tells us, who opted for the automatic mode. Elena says that she chose this route because the car she had at home was already automatic, so it seemed like “the best option” to learn directly with the type of vehicle she was going to use later. Even so, he explains that he started his internship with a manual car, but that, after fifteen or twenty classes, he decided to switch to an automatic car. According to him, in your driving school the automatic option existed and was offeredalthough at first they directly recommended the manual. Elena admits that, almost a year after getting her license, not having access to manual cars does not worry her. And in your immediate surroundings you only have automatic vehicles and, when you travel or need to rent a car, you always find hassle-free automatic car options. What happens if you drive a manual car with this permit Basically, if they catch you, fine the song. “They are prohibited from driving any type of car that is not automatic,” assures Sergio Olivera, president of the National Confederation of Driving Schools (CNAE) to El Periódico. And the thing is that whoever has a license with this entry and uses a vehicle with a manual transmission faces a fine of 500 euros and the loss of four points on the license. The Traffic Law considers this situation a very serious infraction, comparable to driving without a permit. In the event that you have obtained your license only with an automatic car, but you want to drive a manual one, it is currently mandatory to go through a practical exam again, this time with a manual transmission car, without the need to repeat the theoretical part. Less procedures to remove the restriction This requirement, however, has an expiration date. And it already exists a European directiveapproved at the end of 2025, which It is intended to replace the complete practical exam for a training course of only seven hours at a driving school to be able to obtain the B permit without any transmission limitations. According to explained Viladrich to El Periódico, this course can be taken both during the process of obtaining the license itself and later, and its entry into force is expected, in principle, for 2029, although there is still no set date for its application in Spain. This model, in fact, already works in other European countries. In France, Germany or Switzerland, drivers with this limitation can eliminate it through specific training, without having to be re-examined from scratch. The future is automatic Just ten years ago, automatic cars accounted for … Read more

There is a scientific scale to measure how much you enjoy watching pimples explode and many people have high scores

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The paths of the Internet are inscrutable. Sometimes, the videos that set trends on social networks are more than understandable. For example, who isn’t going to like kitten videos? However, on other occasions, there are videos that divide society. It is the case of the videos of exploding pimples. For some users, they are as pleasurable as exploiting them in person. For others, precisely those who can’t stand it in real life either, they are the height of unpleasantness. But what is it about the act of popping pimples or seeing it on the screen? Why are there so many people who enjoy it? Actually, with psychology in hand, it is not so strange. The problem is that, if we change psychology for dermatology, it can be dangerous in some cases. Although not as much as we think Why do we enjoy popping pimples so much? For starters, our penchant for popping pimples is related to dopamine. Humans experience pleasure when a surge of dopamine is released in our brain. In reality it is a much more complex process, but we can keep that in a simplified way. It is the hormone that dominates reward systems. That is, those who They are set in motion when we do something that is beneficial to us as a species. For example, sex is beneficial, because it helps us perpetuate the species. Eating chocolate is beneficial because it gives us energy. The brain does not distinguish between energetic and healthy, so it also generates that feeling of pleasure that makes us want to repeat. If we have a lot of sex it will be easier for us to reproduce and if we eat a lot of chocolate we will have a lot of energy. That’s the summary of how reward systems work. Unfortunately, not everything that activates reward systems is always good. Drugs, for example, can replicate that feeling of pleasure, despite not providing us with any benefit. Leaving that aside, stopping feeling pain also gives us pleasure, logically. It’s good for us. Furthermore, from a much more superficial point of view, what is beautiful and aesthetic is equally pleasant. For that reason, there are people who get so much pleasure from exploding pimples. With a single gesture of her nails, they are removing something painful and unsightlyso they get a good shot of dopamine. What about the videos? The case of videos that circulate on social networks is not exactly the same. There we are only spectators. We are not directly exploiting the pimples. Even so, just take a look at the visualizations to see that they cause a sensation. A feeling that, in fact, is not new. In 2021 already There was a team of Austrian scientists who were interested in the reasons why so many people enjoy these types of videos. They carried out an investigation with 80 women, of which 38 reported that they enjoyed these videos and 42 indicated that they did not. Their brains were analyzed using functional magnetic resonance imaging while they watched several of these videos, so it was observed that, indeed, those who enjoyed them showed greater activity in brain regions associated with pleasurelike the nucleus accumbens. Later, in 2024, these same scientists They developed scales that they called the Grain Exploitation Enjoyment Scale. (PPES) to evaluate people who enjoy this guilty pleasure. The study was carried out through two experiments. In the first, 104 people participated and were asked questions aimed at evaluating the PPES scale. In addition, they were made to watch videos of people exploiting pimples, with complete freedom to move the video forward or backward if they saw it necessary. Thus, the scale was found to be appropriate, since higher scores corresponded to a lower probability of forwarding the video. Many people watch videos of exploding pimples because of the controlled risk Then, with the scale already evaluated, a second experiment was done, this time with 501 people, who were asked questions to score through the PPES scale, but also through other personality scales. The objective was to check what type of traits lead someone to enjoy these videos. Thus, it was seen that, mainly, people with higher PPES scores are those who feel pleasure with situations of possible death or discomfort in controlled and non-threatening situations. It should be said that this does not mean that possible death is pleasurable, but the adrenaline of risky situations does, when seen from the outside, without real danger. People who enjoy these situations also tend to be lovers of horror movies, for example. To a certain extent, this human tendency is also linked to the survival of the species. Enjoyment in risky situations leads us to observe them conscientiously and learn in case, when the time comes, we find ourselves in a similar scenario in real life. It is true that exploding pimples is not fatal, but it does pose a certain risk, so seeing it from the outside, in a controlled way, can cause a feeling of pleasure. If we add the dopamine from seeing something unsightly removed, we can understand the fury of these viral videos. What are the risks of popping pimples? We have seen that people who enjoy pimple popping videos do so because they see a certain dangerous situation. It is not doing bungee jumping, but it has its risk. Now, to what extent is it dangerous? To find out, I have contacted Rosa Tabernerdermatologist at the Son Llátzer Hospital (Palma de Mallorca) and member of the Spanish Association of Dermatology and Venereology. To begin with, he explained something very interesting to me: the reason why in viral videos (and in reality) you see those yellow threads when removing the pimple. The key is in the keratin that accumulates in the pores of the skin. “Pimples or blackheads correspond to what dermatologists call open comedones,” he begins. “When this opening is more dilated than normal and sebum secretion is increased, keratin accumulates in that pore.” Keratin … Read more

95% of young people manage to escape

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Generation Z is taking positions in the labor market. According to the IV HR Challenges and Trends Report: Keys to the new work balance prepared by Pluxee, intergenerational management in the workplace is already a strategic challenge for 95% of Spanish companies, with up to four generations coexisting on the workforce simultaneously. However, these generations could not be more different and that will impact the relationship of the youngest with companies. So much so, that a survey has revealed that nine out of ten young people have reservations about using company resources for personal matters, or downplay the importance of respecting their work schedules. Rules are meant to be broken. Something that Generation Z has clearly demonstrated is that work etiquette is not made for them. According to the data obtained by PapersOwl after interviewing 2,000 young people between 18 and 34 years old, 95% of young people from generation Z said that it was acceptable to leave work early ( or arrive later), use company resources for personal matters and even take a nap at work. Another worrying fact is that 29% of members of millennials and generation Z have been using ‘catfishing‘ impersonating another person during a recruitment and then disappear without a trace and leave the company that hires them in the lurch. Schedules are optional. Leaving work early is, by far, the rule most frequently broken by Generation Z. 34% of those surveyed claim to do so, as is arriving late without prior notice, a practice that 18% of those surveyed regularly do. On the other hand, 27% of Gen Zers said they had called in sick just to take a day off. 11% of those interviewed claimed to have signed up for more hours than they actually did. in the record of your day. Go to work, but not always to work. Those who attended work at the assigned time were also not exempt from “cheating” at work. 11% claimed to have had a nap during work hours. Four out of ten young people claimed to put into practice “coffee badging”. That is, clocking in at the workplace just long enough to have a coffee and make an appearance to avoid the return-to-office regulations, and then go to work. work from another location. Among the reasons that lead them to do so, 66% affirm that it is because of their desire to obtain greater flexibility in the working day, while 44% prefer to work from another more comfortable place, or 32% choose to work in an environment less prone to interruptions. silent vacation. The report Out of Office Culture Report prepared by The Harris Poll in May 2023, indicated that around 40% of young millennials and generation Z had at some time done “silent vacation“. This term refers to pretending that you are active, when in reality you are taking a day off (or several) without the company’s permission. PapersOwl’s data goes a little further. They have revealed that 51% of young people from Generation Z have done it between one and three times in the last year, while 4% of those surveyed have done it more than five times in the last 12 months. 52% argue that they did it to recover from stress either avoid burnout. Unstable jobs. A new study of 2026 published by PapersOwl on Gen Z at work highlights that only 45% of young people between 18 and 28 years old describe their current work relationship as solid and committed. 32% define it as “complicated” and 21% define it as “convenient for now”, but without a long-term horizon. A new phenomenon also appears: almost 6 out of 10 Gen Z workers admit to having used artificial intelligence tools in their work without communicating it to the employer. And 7% have resigned in the last year as an act of protest motivated by feeling ignored or undervalued. A version of this article was published in February 2025. In Xataka | “They are much more daring”: Gen Z is overturning all labor consensus in its massive entry into work Image | Pexels (fauxels)

“When things move fast, people make mistakes and it costs them money”

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Next to the Fiorano track, the small circuit inside the Maranello factory on which Ferrari tests its F1 cars every winter, the noise is deafening. “When things move too fast, people make mistakes,” he explains. Bogdan Botezaturesearch director of bitdefenderone of the largest cybersecurity companies in the world. Botezatu could refer to the sports cars that, right at that moment, are spinning around the circuit without stopping. But he’s actually talking about something else. Last month, Bitdefender released its first Cybersecurity Grand Prix Fan Threat Indexan elaborate study of the risks and threats that spectators of sports around the world, including F1, face every weekend. The purpose of the investigation is simple: to show the multiple tools that hackers have around them to violate the privacy of viewers and, in the most extreme cases, raid their bank account. “Frauds are evolving. Last year, cybercrime had a turnover of around 9 billion (trillion in English) of dollars globally. Of those 9 billion, only 1 billion came from the scamming“explains Botezatu. His index aims to monitor how scams evolve. In the middle of the Soccer World Cupwith millions of viewers glued to their mobile phone screens every day, the phenomenon is more current than ever. Bitdefender, however, focuses on another area: motorsports. For years, the company has collaborated closely with Ferrari, whom it sponsors and offers cybersecurity solutions for its F1 team. This is no small matter: Ferrari, like all other F1 teams, jealously protects its technical findings. Industrial espionage has always been the order of the day in a competitive environment. With Bitdefender, Ferrari aims to limit damage in today’s highly digitalized environment. “If you look at what happens to large companies, they are constantly being attacked by ransomwareintellectual property theft, infiltrations… But they are protected, they have their own cybersecurity teams, they can protect their perimeters, they can service their infrastructure, they have agreements with companies like Bitdefender. They are protected,” Botezatu points out. We are not, he implicitly suggests. “Things at home are fundamentally different,” he continues, “spectators watching F1 or other motor sports don’t have these safety nets, they aren’t even aware of the risks of cybercrime.” When we sit in front of the television to watch an F1 race or a soccer match, we focus on sport. The only problem is that on the other side of the screen there is a army of scammers and hackers trying to take advantage of the show. To take it out at our expense. The range of tools available to scam us is wide. From merchandise from smuggling (fake t-shirts, accessories, jackets, caps; in the case of football teams, t-shirts) to fraud in the purchase of tickets (often with juicy and pompous “last minute” offers), passing through the ecosystems of streaming. Much of Bitdefender’s talk emphasizes this last aspect. How it works The order of the factors is almost always the same: before a big event, such as an F1 GP or a football tournament, there is an uptick in fraud due to illegal tickets, in addition to a growth in fake advertisements. merchandising. During the celebration of the event, the numbers increase exponentially. streaming malicious, in most cases disappearing at the end of the show. After the race or the game, the scam in the form of highlights or surveys that give rise to abuse. “In the case of motorsports, its ecosystems are dominated by speed. You have to sell or buy tickets quickly, you have to find a service streamingyou have to find legitimate stores merchandising. If there are mistakes, they cost money,” Botezatu reasons. “And there is also an emotional investment during the weekends,” he adds, pointing to the impetuous, nervous and effusive aspect of the sports fan. It’s not just about watching an F1 race or a soccer match: you want be part of itso decision making is sometimes conditioned. Bogdan Botezatu. One of the advantages of protecting users during sporting events is that the behavior of cybercriminals is predictable. The scammers They know that the activity is concentrated during the weekends on Telegram or Discord channels and on streaming unofficial. There are suspicious VPNs, aggressive ads, fake subscriptions and a long list of mechanisms to capture our attention and surprise us. Its operation, in the case of streamingis always the same: First there is amplification on social media: Telegram channels, Facebook groups, Discord servers and Reddit discussions. Then direct monetization is sought: unlock payments, force interactions with ads, redirect users, push notifications push. He streaming of the race is secondary. And finally, the infrastructure is disposable: domains that appear and disappear just before and after the race often use the “cc” domain. Another problem identified by Bitdefender is the services of streaming of Android. We talk about applications like Playfy TV and Cricfy TV. According to them, they require installing APKs and are risky. At the same time, all this It is related to the “streaming boxes” offered by Chinese companies, specifically BADBOX 2.0. They put malware on Android, phones, tablets and much more. Its impact is very high, they seek compromise devices before even reaching the consumer. Using this technology we open our devices to the enemy, according to Botezatu, who specifically focuses on this mechanism. He streaming sports is fundamentally based on Discord servers, Telegram channels and communication systems. backup They work by invitation. The references of streaming They are deleted after the races, the servers are migrated and there is a very high link rotation that makes it impossible to chase them or protect against them effectively. For all this, the Bitdefender expert insists, it is very important to be aware of the risks involved. His summary is very simple: if you have to install something, a bad sign. Given the location of the talk, in the heart of a racing circuit, and the orientation of Bitdefender, sponsor of an F1 team, it is natural to suspect that his efforts are aimed at motor sports fans. and your Fan Thread Indexin … Read more

there are people learning it the hard way

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Password sharing is a very common practice in payment services, one that those services don’t like it at all. There are people who have thought that if they shared the Netflix password, why not do the same with ChatGPT or Claude. There are reasons why this is a very bad idea. Goodbye privacy. Most people (myself included) have shared Netflix or Spotify passwords, where the worst that can happen is that you see your friend or family member’s viewing history. However, with an AI chatbot we share a lot more information, sometimes very sensitive. In it Wall Street Journal They tell of cases of several people who have had the most uncomfortable situations because they wanted to save money, such as a student who used ChatGPT to keep track of the symptoms of her Chron’s disease. His partner could see how many times he went to the bathroom and even know details of what each bowel movement was like. Customization issues. They also talk about the problem of Olivia Martin, a nursing student who shares a ChatGPT Plus account with at least six other people. There have been no cases of sensitive information here, but rather the chatbot works fatally. The reason is that they receive very disparate data since each one studies one thing, which means that they sometimes answer things that go beyond the topic of their study. Another student tried to write a letter of recommendation and ended up mixing up everyone’s work experience. He describes it like this: “It’s gotten a little confusing, like I think I’m a mix of all my friends.” Companies prohibit it. Both the ChatGPT terms of use as Claude’s They expressly prohibit the sharing of credentials with other people and warn that we are responsible for all activities carried out with our account. OpenAI does consider the possibility of us creating an account on behalf of another person, as long as they have authorized us to do so. They know too much about us. Years ago we were surprised that companies like Google know everything about usbut with AI chatbots the level of information has multiplied. Google needs to deduce our likes and concerns from things like our history, our location, and our searches. There are people who talk to ChatGPT to ask for love adviceThey tell him their problems as if he were a psychologist and also as if it were a virtual doctor. They are not searches without context, they are private conversations with many details. Incognito conversations. Sharing a ChatGPT or Claude account can make sense between people who are working on the same project, as long as we only use it for that. For more personal queries, both ChatGPT and Claude allow the creation of incognito chats that are not saved in memory, which prevents other users from seeing their content. Of course, he won’t be able to remember anything if you bring up the same topic again and you will have to explain everything to him again. Image | Xataka with Magnific In Xataka | Your Passwords Won’t Resist the “Quantum Apocalypse”: How to Protect Your Files with Post-Quantum Encryption Today

Cancer in people under 50 years of age has been growing for decades. A macro study finally points to the big culprit: biological aging

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The increasing incidence of cancer in young adults is one of the most debated topics in recent oncology. In recent years, exhaustive reviews have warned of an increase in diagnoses in those under 50 years of agealthough medical science had long been searching for the underlying mechanism that connects the dots between modern lifestyle and the early onset of this hated disease. The answer. A new study recently published seems to have found a key piece of the puzzle, which is nothing more than that our cells are aging faster than our ID card. This is the conclusion of research published in the journal Nature that indicates that accelerated biological aging is associated with a greater risk of developing early-onset cancers, especially solid cancers such as lung, stomach and also uterine cancer. Two concepts. To understand the finding, we must first differentiate between chronological age and biological age. The first of these is immovable, since it is nothing more than the years that have passed since our birth. But biological age is flexible, since it is calculated by evaluating the physiological state of a person through blood biomarkers and metabolic profiles. It reflects how “old” our tissues and organs really are. How to measure them. To measure this, Tian’s team used models already consolidated in scientific literaturesuch as PhenoAge and the Klemera-Doubal method. With these tools, they crossed the data of more than 150,000 adults from the UK Biobank and approximately 10,000 program participants. All of Us of the United States. The result shows a dangerous imbalance. This means that those people born in more recent decades had a greater tendency to have a biological age higher than that corresponding to their date of birth. And this time “jump” has direct clinical consequences such as the appearance of cancer. To be more specific, it has been seen that every time we have a person with a biological age higher than their corresponding age, they have an 8% higher risk of having early-onset solid cancer before the age of 50. If we compare the extremes, individuals located in the tertile with the greatest biological aging have a 15% greater risk of developing the disease compared to those in the tertile with the least biological wear and tear. The context. The main thing is not to fall into alarmism, since, although it is true that cancer is increasing in the youngest people in society, it is also increasing in all remaining bands due to multiple factors such as general population aging and better screening methods that allow us to detect cancer earlier. However, the specific data on early onset are undeniable, since large studies point to significant increases in thyroid, breast, colon, kidney and endometrial tumors in the 20 to 49 age group. Colorectal cancer, specifically, is the one that worries the most due to its escalation in young adults. The lifestyle. That we are biologically aging much faster than we should is not magic, but rather it seems to be influenced by different factors related to lifestyle. These include rates of youth obesity, prolonged consumption of diets rich in ultra-processed foods, a sedentary lifestyle, and exposure to environmental toxins. What this new work provides is the quantification of the damage, since these risk factors accelerate the biological clock. We must keep in mind that the human body is exposed to pro-inflammatory factors for more years from early stages of life, which makes it easier for DNA damage to accumulate faster than cellular mechanisms can repair it. In Xataka | Experts agree about the sun and hair: “It is one of the most exposed areas and one of the most forgotten”

In the nineties many people had a cactus next to their computer. It wasn’t for decoration, it was to protect yourself from radiation

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A few days ago we were talking about a myth circulating that says that if you put a coin on top of the router improves WiFi. It’s as stupid as a temple, but it’s the typical easy-to-do trick that ends up going viral. In the nineties we did not have social networks and the word viral had a completely different meaning, but myths of dubious credibility were also spread, such as the one that said you had to have a cactus next to your computer to absorb its radiation. The origin of the myth. It is believed to come from from an observation made at the geobiology institute in Chardonne, Switzerland, in 1987. It was not a formal experiment, but rather the perception of the institute’s employees who claimed that placing a cactus next to the monitor reduced their symptoms of fatigue and headache after spending many hours working. To that anecdote was added, without links or details, the reference to “a NASA study.” There is no evidence to support any of this, but the use of institutional names was enough for the myth to spread with a semblance of scientific rigor that it never had. Fear of radiation. The word radiation acquired a very negative tone especially after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. However, not all types of radiation are harmful. “Bad” radiation is ionizing radiation, such as x-rays or gamma rays, but in the case of a computer, it is low-frequency electromagnetic radiation, non-ionizing and incapable of altering our cells. This and other myths (such as related to 5G) arise from the false belief of associating any type of radiation with something dangerous and harmful. Why a cactus. The fact that a cactus is recommended and not any other plant has to do with the fact that they have a high water content and of course, like water absorbs radiation since it is assumed that the cactus will also do it. It can absorb radiation, yes, but no more than any object: by that rule of three, a watermelon or a jug of water next to the computer would achieve an even greater effect. In addition to the fact that the electromagnetic field that a computer can emit is not harmful, it goes out in all directions, so to protect us from it, we would have to surround the entire machine with cacti, not place one next to it and that’s it. Efficacy not found. In 2018, a group of Turkish scientists set out to check if changes occurred in the electromagnetic field by placing a cactus nearby of the screen. They were made with LCD monitors and old tube monitors, as well as different varieties of cacti, including some large ones. They measured the electromagnetic field by placing the cactus in various positions and came to a clear conclusion: the effect was null. Although this trick has been refuted, the popular belief has remained and there are those who have taken advantage of it. Who is it? The cactus sellers. Image | Magnificent In Xataka | We could assume that the plant world was one of the last AI-free corners. we would be wrong

The people from Cruzcampo had to come to explain to us how to drink beer

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There are few things more closely linked to summer than the gesture of taking a frosted glass out of the freezer and filling it with beer. And honestly, it’s fascinating. Not only because no one is quite clear why this movement has become so popular, but because for years sommeliers and brewmasters have said that it is not a good idea. The last one was Francisco Javier Soriano, one of the people behind the beer that grows the most in Spaindeclaring “totally enemy of the frozen glass because it breaks the cold temperature of the beer”. A lot of memes, a lot of jokes, but it happened: the people from Cruzcampo had to come and explain how to drink beer. Wait, wait… breaking the temperature of the beer? Here are at least three ideas complicating the physics of the matter. The first is obvious: the frozen glass supercools the beer. A priori, each formulation of this drink is optimized for a specific temperature and putting it in -18 degree glasses is something that no brewery takes into account. In a world like ours, where the temperature consistency of drinks in summer leaves much to be desired, the trend for frozen glasses is understandable. But it has costs: in the end, the TRPM5 taste receptor needs heat to activate. If the drink is very cold, we don’t feel it. The second idea goes hand in hand with the latter: the aroma also disappears. The colder the beer is, the fewer bubbles it lets out and that means there are less “organoleptic effluvia” traveling to our nose and rounding out the experience. The third was the one added by another brewmaster, Xabier Cubillo, when he said that “It is very refreshing, but the aromas are no longer noticeable and the foam falls off sooner”. “Let people enjoy things.” That’s clear: let everyone drink their beer however they like. Our intention, in addition to pointing out that “the more we know about alcohol, the more dangerous it seems”is simply inviting us to reflect on why we are drinking beer. Given that beer does not hydrate and is not healthyit is reasonable to think that we drink beer because we like it. That is, because we want to enjoy the flavor, aroma and texture of the product. And if so, we must keep in mind that “extremely cold” kills everything interesting that the drink may have. Now, if what we want is an extremely cold drink for the summer, there is not much more to add. Spain is, today, the second largest beer producer in the European Union. That was about 41.29 million hectoliters in 2024 and, when it comes to consumption, we drink 52.8 liters per person per year. And the market, little by little, begins to follow in the footsteps of wine trying to hide the risks of alcohol with culture. But if we want to follow that path, it wouldn’t hurt to be consistent. And, in that sense, frozen cane in summer is not a mistake. That’s why it doesn’t matter what sommeliers, brewers or journalists say. Frozen beer is a choice: one that prioritizes cold over flavor. And it is not a bad decision, as long as we do not fool ourselves and are aware of what we are doing and what we are losing. Image | CCALM 2016 Zombie Party In Xataka | Spain can tell itself as many times as it wants that it hates Cruzcampo. The figures say a very different thing

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