people

Many people wake up between two and three in the morning. And science already knows what they have in common

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Waking up in the middle of the night can be a pleasant experience when we look at the clock and see that we still have several hours of sleep left. dream. However, for many people it can become a frustrating routine that reduces their ability to achieve restful sleep. It is therefore likely that people may wonder why this happens and to what extent it can be prevented. Many things can wake us from our sleep at night. From a mosquito stalking our bed to serious cases of insomnia. Each circumstance may have its particular characteristics, but in any case, a significant part of the population ends up waking up at some point during the night with some frequency. And why does it happen? Beyond the external factors, there are two internal processes related to this. The first is the circadian rhythm, and the second is the sleep cycle. The circadian rhythm refers to “biological clock“which tells us the sleep and wake cycles. It is a collection of biological processes that activates us throughout the day and prepares us for sleep in the afternoon and night. It does so through substances such as melatoninthe “sleep hormone” that transmits this information between different parts of our brain. Our body takes advantage the light we perceive as an indicator of when to secrete melatonin or not. The sleep cycle, for its part, refers to a series of stages that occur and repeat throughout our daily sleep. A night of sleep has between four and six sleep cycles, each with four stages: a REM (rapid eye movement) stage; and three non-REM stages, each deeper than the last. Although the cycles are repeated in their structure, each of the four phases can have greater or lesser presence in each cycle. In the first cycles, the deeper stages predominate. That is why from the first hours of sleep it is easier to wake up and more difficult to fall asleep again. However, there are numerous factors that can affect how often we wake up at night more or less frequently. It is about both internal and external circumstances that can affect our circadian rhythm or our sleep cycle. The age It is one of the main factors. Over time our circadian rhythms changejust like our need for sleep. Age is a determining factor to the point that older people can have their sleep interrupted up to four times a night. The menopause It can also affect our ability to sleep straight through (as well as pregnancy). Age is also linked to nocturiathe interruption of sleep caused by the need to go to the bathroom. Our psychological state can also affect. Stress, as well as disorders related to anxiety either depression They can have a negative effect on our quality of sleep. This is bad news if we take into account that poor sleep quality can aggravate these problemswhich has the potential to generate a vicious cycle. From a mild headache to chronic painphysical pain can also affect our sleep. Like some medications such as beta-blockerscorticosteroids, antidepressants or diuretics They can negatively affect our sleep. How to avoid interruptions Understanding the causes of our sleep problems can serve as the first step to solving them. Adapting to changes in our body can be complicated, but some general guidelines They can also be useful. Guidelines such as correct “sleep hygiene”. Something that can help us is to introduce changes to our schedule. The usual recommendations in this regard usually begin by maintaining regular schedules, going to bed at “prudential” hours, that is, ones that allow us to achieve the recommended seven or eight hours of sleep. Another habit change can happen eliminate nap. Napping can negatively affect our night’s sleep. However, in this sense, science tends to consider that the differences between individuals are high, so there may be important differences from person to person. Another important guideline is to avoid screens or other blue lights in the last hours of the day. Physical activity can also help, although it is usually recommended not to leave it until the last hours of the day. That is, not exercising before going to bed. Eliminating alcohol and tobacco in our daily lives can also help us improve our sleep. Many of the techniques that aim to help us sleep are relaxation techniques. These can also help us so that sleep interruptions do not result in hours of lost sleep. “Empty” our thoughts in a notebook before going to bed, controlling our breathing… these are ways to prevent our stress from affecting our sleep. Lack of sleep and rest has important effects on our physical health and our mood. It is not surprising therefore that it is an issue that worries Spaniards more and more, to the point of becoming one of the countries with increased drug consumption to sleep like benzodiazepines. Like any other health problem, many times treating it is not in our hands but rather health experts must be the ones to tell us the appropriate guidelines to solve our problem. Of course, taking the first steps towards a better dream is still in our hands. In Xataka | There are people who sleep four hours a day and are still functional. It’s the closest thing we have to genetic “superheroes” In Xataka | Drink water right before going to sleep? Science has finally clarified whether it is a good idea or a terrible enemy of sleep Image | Mathieu Bigard *An earlier version of this article was published in May 2023

Anxious people get sick less because their brain detects risks before the rest

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There is a deeply rooted stereotype in our society: the anxious person, the one who worries about everything, the one who checks their symptoms on the internet at three in the morning, is condemned to live less. We tend to think that constant stress, that label of being the “pussy” or the “anxious” of the group, is a one-way ticket to physical and mental exhaustion. However, science has given a fascinating twist to this belief. What if living in a state of alert was not a factory defect, but a sophisticated survival mechanism? Psychology and medicine have begun to discover an extraordinary paradox: always being on alert has a hidden reward. Certain levels of anxiety and constant worry make people less sick from serious ailments, simply because their brain works as an anticipatory radar that detects risks long before the rest of us, allowing them to dodge bullets that the most “relaxed” do not even see coming. The dual nature of neuroticism For decades, the medical community has warned about the dangers of neuroticismdefining it as the general tendency of an individual to experience negative emotions such as worry, depression, irritability and emotional instability. Traditionally, it has been associated with a greater susceptibility to physical and mental disorders, a lower quality of life and, epidemiologically, with a higher risk of mortality. However, as explained in an article published in the scientific journal Science Bulletinwe were missing half the movie by ignoring the evolutionary perspective. From this point of view, having minimal reactions to threatening stimuli—that is, being an extremely relaxed person or with very low neuroticism—is generally not advantageous for survival. To mitigate risks and ensure survival, both animals and our human ancestors needed automatic responses to immediate and future threats. This biological need manifests itself through adaptive emotions such as fear and its anticipatory form: anxiety. The study even rescues an ancient Chinese proverb that perfectly summarizes this philosophy of survival: “Life springs from pain and calamity; death comes from ease and pleasure.” Thus, scientists propose that neuroticism is a paradox. It has evolved in different dimensions to adapt to ecological and cultural changes, influencing our lifestyle in very diverse ways. The claim of the worried We all know someone who is hypersensitive to environmental risks, or perhaps we ourselves suffer from that constant worry about health, the future or security. This new scientific approach offers gigantic emotional validation: that anxiety is not necessarily a weakness, but rather an ancient protective shield. Understanding this changes the rules of the game. It shows us that channeling this hypervigilance well translates into tangible benefits. That inner voice that forces you to go to the doctor when you notice a strange mole, the one that makes you put on your seat belt without thinking or the one that stops you from making a reckless decision, is the evolutionary legacy of your ancestors keeping you alive. But this is not just an abstract evolutionary theory; Clinical data are already demonstrating this. To understand how anxiety saves our lives, we have to look under the hood of personality. Recent large-scale research, such as the macro study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychologyhave shown after analyzing more than half a million people that our personality traits are a key driver that directly impacts our mortality risk. Going one step further to break down which parts of that personality protect us, an exhaustive meta-analysis published in the Journal of Psychosomatic Research analyzed longitudinal data from six studies with 335,715 participants. Their conclusion was blunt: putting all anxiety and neuroticism in the same bag masks vital relationships between personality and health. Researchers found that neuroticism has different “facets,” and not all of them are bad. While traits such as pessimism or cynicism increase the risk of mortality, there are other dimensions that act as real life jackets. The survival mechanism has two aspects: The “Worried-Vulnerable” facet: Data revealed that people with high scores on this dimension have a reduced risk of dying from all causes, highlighting significant reductions in mortality from cancer, cardiovascular diseases, and respiratory diseases. As explained in the studyWorried people tend to be extremely vigilant about their health care. They become concerned at the slightest symptom and seek medical help much sooner, resulting in early diagnoses and life-saving treatments. The “Inadequacy” facet: Characterized by shyness and the feeling of incompetence in the face of adversity, surprisingly also reduces mortality. The key here is danger avoidance: these people are much more cautious and less likely to expose themselves to cumulative risks over time. On the contrary, the study confirm that the destructive facets are cynicism and pessimism, since these individuals tend to abandon themselves, smoke more and, above all, underuse health care services. The reward comes with age If youth and early adulthood are the battlefield where our “threat radar” (neuroticism) works overtime to keep us alive, old age is the time to reap the rewards. There is a false belief that older people become grumpy or rigid. However, the psychology has been demonstrating for decades that aging is, in reality, a process of psychological refinement. Based on the theory of the big five personality traits (Big Five), it has been observed that the passage of time sculpts us for the better. After the age of 60, an astonishing positive evolution occurs. Conscientiousness increases (we become more responsible and focused), kindness increases and, most importantly in this context, neuroticism drops dramatically. The emotional storms of youth and that constant hypervigilance that protected us from danger give way to profound emotional regulation and calm. The human brain appears to be programmed to prioritize stability and social cohesion as we age. Furthermore, current research shows a clear “advantage boomer“. Those born between 1946 and 1964 are aging better than their predecessors, maintaining high levels of extraversion, curiosity and personal agency. Reports like the Mental State of the World by Sapien Labs reflect a generation gap where those over 65 and 70 years old … Read more

the day Naples rejected a Boeing 787 with 200 people on board because it would not enter the airport

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It hasn’t been long since dawn and the passengers are stretching one day in June 2025 thousands of meters above sea level. They left Philadelphia last night and are about to land in Naples. They are about to discover that, whether they slept better or worse, they are going to have a bad awakening. And when they approach eight hours into the trip and already see the Italian coast on the screens in their seats, a voice informs them that they will not land in Naples. There is not much to fear, everything is in order. All. Except for a small bureaucratic error that is currently diverting them to Rome. They will probably find out about that later. All they know is that their flight from Philadelphia to Naples has had to be diverted. And this time it was not due to a breakdown, a storm or a health emergency. The reason is simple: the plane is too big to land in Naples. Two meters, specifically. Two meters that no one noticed The Philadelphia-Naples route operated by American Airlines is a very good option if you want to travel from the United States to Italy and do not have the need to go through the large airports of New York or Rome. It also has the advantage that it flies at night, which makes it easier to deal with jet lag. Encouragement that, surely, was appreciated by the 231 passengers who had to travel on a Boeing 787-8, according to C.B.S.. However, that day, the airline could have put someone else on board. And, for operational reasons, American Airlines used a Boeing 787-9 On that trip June 3, 2025, a plane slightly larger and with greater capacity than usual on a route that It has been operating since 2024. The aircraft are almost carbon copies. Of course, a Boeing 787-8 measures 57 meters long but the 787-9 already extends to 63 meters long. A difference that has implications beyond the number of passengers. And, according to air safety regulations, a Boeing 787-8 can land in RFFS Category 8 airports (Rescue and Fire Fighting Services) or higher. But a Boeing 787-9 does not have it so easy, it needs to do it at airports in Category 9 RFFS. The difference is small but it is substantial. A Category 8 RFFS airport can accommodate aircraft up to 61 meters long. Yes, two meters shorter than the Boeing 787-9. And you can imagine what category Naples airport has. Indeed, about 70 miles awaythe American Airlines flight asks for a runway in Naples but from the control tower someone realizes the problem: the aircraft is not the same as always. For logistical reasons, the airline was using this second, larger version of the Boeing 787 and therefore exceeded the maximum permitted limit of 61 meters. No one in the company updated the documentation or notified of the change. Technically the problem is not in the size of the trackthe problem is in the security measures. And Naples is not prepared to deal with a possible incident involving a plane of this size. Airport categories are not only classified based on the size of the runway, but also take into account their ability to accommodate emergency and firefighting services. From the control tower they see it clearly, there is no choice but to warn the pilots: they must land in Roma Fuimicino. The capital’s airport is the closest airfield where flights the size of a Boeing 787-9 can land and is therefore where the passengers were ultimately taken. From there, they were finally transferred by bus to Naples, a trip that takes between two and three hours. A lesser evil for a problem that would have been much more serious if the aircraft had had a problem when landing. Photo | Dominic Bieri and Flightware In Xataka | The inevitable increase in air travel is leading us to a reality: there are no places, no planes, no planet for so many tourists.

their young people remarry

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It is not very clear how it has done it and if it is something specific (the result of the post-pandemic hangover) or a change in trend that will be consolidated over time, but South Korea has achieved something that until recently sounded almost unthinkable: increasing marriages between young people. Their latest statistics show that, after years in free fall, relationships between men and women in their twenties or who have not yet turned 35 are increasing. It is a fundamental fact for the country because, although the mentality of young people is changing little by littlein conservative South Korean society, marriage and birth rates remain closely linked: it is estimated that something less than 5% of births occur outside of marriage. Young people at the altar? The tables from Statistics Korea are clear: after a decade of decline, relationships involving young people (both boys and girls) in their twenties have begun to rise. Also among South Koreans in their early thirties. If we talk about women, in 2015 the statistical observatory accounted 109,300 links in which girls between 25 and 29 years old participated. In 2023 that figure had plummeted by 49%, until it stood at 55,700. In 2024 the curve reversed with 64,300 marriages and in 2025 the increase was consolidated with 69,300. In the case of men the ‘photo’ It’s very similar. Between 2015 and 2023, unions involving young people in their twenties (25-29 years old) plummeted by 44%, from 67,100 to 34,600. However, in 2024 the number of marriages in that age group rose to 39,800 and last year the growth was consolidated with another 42,500 unions. The same happened with young adults between 30 and 34 years old: since 2022 they have risen by just over 40%, a trend that is again seen among both men and women. Why is it important? Beyond what these data can tell us about the way of thinking of young South Koreans or the cultural changes that the country is going through, marriage statistics are relevant because they are closely connected to birth rates. And the latter are key in a nation that has spent decades mired in a demographic catastrophe who threatens to boycott his economysocial balance and even national security and that only now seems (seems) to be reversing. It is estimated that in 2022 only 2% of babies born in South Korea were born out of wedlock. Other statistics They approximate the data to 5%but in any case they give an idea of ​​how unwilling South Koreans are to become parents without having made their relationship official. In 2024 Statistics Korea published a survey conducted among young people in which it explored precisely this issue and reached an interesting conclusion: although more and more people support having children outside of marriage, less than half of the population (42.8%) sees it as ‘acceptable’. That does not mean that the number of babies born to single parents has grown little by little, going from 6,900 in 2020 to around 9,800 in 2022. What is the change due to? The million dollar question. To begin with, there is an important fact: in South Korea not only do weddings seem to be increasing among twenty-somethings. They do it in general. Official statistics show that in 2025 they will be registered in the country 240,000 linksdoubly good information. Sample an increase of 8.1% compared to 2024 and above all it represents the third year of sustained growth, breaking with more than a decade of declines. Statistics Korea figures show In any case, a good part of those relationships involved brides or grooms who had not yet blown out the 30 candles. Why this interest? There are those who believe that to a large extent this wedding boom is basically explained by the pandemic, a phenomenon that has occurred in many other countries. Those who wanted to walk down the aisle in 2020, 2021 or even 2022 had no choice but to postpone their wedding plans, which explains why this ‘pocketed demand’ has begun to be released in the last three years. Another key factor is what experts call ‘demographic echo’: Today there are more South Koreans around 30 years old getting married basically because there are more South Koreans around that age, the echo boomers. But that doesn’t explain everything, right? No. The pandemic or the shape of the demographic pyramid may explain why weddings are generally increasing in South Korea, but it does not fully clarify why twenty- and thirty-somethings decide to walk down the aisle. Throughout the last half months as Korea Times, Korean Herald either The Straits Times They have tried to clarify this point and have mainly introduced two ideas: a change in mentality and the search for greater stability thanks to the combination of salaries. It is not the only factor, of course. Studies suggest that young people are also changing their conception of marriage, which little by little stops being seen as a social imposition or an institution that restricts individual freedom. In fact, even though the voluntary singlehood movement has arrived to South Korea, there are studies that suggest that young people seem to show more interest for weddings. Is everything perfect? No. Beyond the social trends that may occur naturally, it is undeniable that the State has been deploying measures designed to promote birth and the creation of couples. In fact Korea Times slide an important key: government support for newly married couples, especially in terms of housing. According to the media, in 2025, 39,121 public rental applications were submitted for couples who had just said ‘I do’. Not bad at all if you take into account that they were fighting for an offer of 1,686 homes, which leaves a rate of 23.2 candidates for each accommodation. In certain areas of the country this figure skyrockets to exceed one hundred requests per apartment. There is another important fact and that is that, whether there are more or fewer weddings, in general terms … Read more

There are people very angry about the inaccuracies in Nolan’s ‘The Odyssey’. But not because of the uniforms: because of the diversity

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The most expensive and ambitious film of the summer of 2026, ‘The Odyssey’ by Christopher Nolanhas generated a controversy that already sounds old, but that the conservative factions of the Internet never tire of recovering again and again. The African-American Lupita Nyong’o as Helen of Troy and, possibly, the trans actor Elliot Page as the Ghost of Achilles are two casting choices that have defenders of fidelity to the original text infuriated. Delivery and delivery. The first film of Nolan’s career shot entirely on 70mm IMAX cameras hits theaters on July 17. Nolan, very cleverly, announced his casting practically in full (Matt Damon is Odysseus, Anne Hathaway is Penelope, Tom Holland is Telemachus, Zendaya is Athena, Charlize Theron is Calypso, Jon Bernthal is Menelaus, Benny Safdie is Agamemnon and Robert Pattinson is Antinous) and left out two additions that he knew would make a certain part of the internet up in arms. Lupita Nyong’o as Helen of Troy has been announced later, and Elliot Page as the Ghost of Achilles has not yet been officially confirmed. The rich cry too. The negative reaction came, in large part, from X, with Elon Musk as the main amplifier. The owner of the platform accused Nolan of having chosen these actors to satisfy the diversity quotas of the Hollywood Academy, summarizing his thesis with the phrase “He wants the awards“(He wants the prizes). Kevin Sorbo, known for playing Hercules in the 1990s television series (not exactly the best example of adapting classic myths faithful to the sources) joined the criticism. According to has been countedare recurring themes in Musk’s speech, who, for example, published content alluding to racial theories or anti-immigration conspiracies on 26 of the 31 days of January 2026. We have already seen it. We have seen this reaction on numerous occasions, always from the same sector of the public, and always criticizing casting choices to make it diverse. Disney has suffered it with the latest versions of ‘Snow White’ and ‘The Little Mermaid‘, he made a considerable mess with ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power‘ and his racialized elves. And the Star Wars universe has been enduring these criticisms since the premiere of ‘The Force Awakens’. Troy, bad example. The film that Musk and a good part of his followers invoke as a counterpoint is ‘Troy’, Wolfgang Petersen’s peplum starring Brad Pitt that was released in 2004. There were those who did direct comparisons between Petersen’s version and Nolan’s. But there are countless problems here. ‘Troy’ adapts ‘The Iliad’, not ‘The Odyssey’, and does so very loosely: Patroclus becomes Achilles’ cousin rather than his companion; Briseis kills Agamemnon, destroying the ‘Oresteia’ in the process; Andromache and Astyanax flee through a system of tunnels; compresses a ten-year war into a few weeks; and completely eliminates the Olympian gods. About the Oscars. The most widespread accusation is that Nolan is diversifying the cast to meet the Academy representation and inclusion standardsapproved in 2020 and effective from 2024. The reasoning seems solid at first glance. But the Academy system works differently: a film has to meet two of four possible standards. Standard A refers to the cast, but standards B, C and D cover the creative team, distributor training programs and the composition of the marketing teams. It is perfectly possible to meet the criteria with Caucasian actors. And there is one’s ownOppenheimer‘ (entirely white cast, seven Oscars including Best Picture and Best Director) to prove it. How did he get it? Its costume designer, production director, editor and makeup manager were women; Universal, the distributor, has scholarship programs and marketing managers from underrepresented groups, including a woman as president (Donna Langley) and a black man as head of domestic marketing (Dwight Caines). That accusation falls by itself. Nolan’s response. The director, without needing to mention Musk’s tears, alluded to the controversy in an interview. Nolan defended the historical rigor of the production (including the blackened Mycenaean bronze of the armor, which some users had compared to Batman’s suit) and justified the casting of rapper Travis Scott as an aedo with an argument of artistic coherence: he wanted to emphasize that ‘The Odyssey’ was transmitted as oral poetry, and that rap is the contemporary equivalent of that tradition. The intention, according to the director, is not that the public agrees with each decision, but rather that they do not think that the material has been taken lightly. In Xataka | “It’s not completely understood”: Christopher Nolan admits the harsh reality about ‘Tenet’ and proposes a solution

In 2026 we are hooked on mobile. In 1929 people were alarmed by the “addiction” to crossword puzzles

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At a time when heroin and cocaine were legal tender, activists, journalists and legislators decided that what was really worrying, what was really was destroying western civilization They were crossword puzzles. Yes, as it sounds: crossword puzzles. Yesterday’s moral panics. Thanks to Jose César Peralesone of the country’s leading addiction neuroscience experts, we come to what is likely to become my favorite case of “moral panic”: the newspaper’s anti-hobby movements. Although I would have to search the monumental “Verbalia” of Marius Serra To confirm this, popular wisdom tells us that this evolution of magic square What we know today as a crossword puzzle was invented in 1913 by the English journalist, Arthur Wynne, while working on the ‘Fun’ supplement of the ‘New York World’ newspaper. where does it come from. The success of the hobby was spectacular and throughout the decade newspapers around the world incorporated it into their pages. In 1922, comic strips about people doing crossword puzzles were already circulating, and in 1924, the New York Library assured that “the latest fad to hit libraries is the crossword puzzle” complaining bitterly that “puzzle fanatics” monopolized “dictionaries and encyclopedias scaring away readers and students who need these books in their daily work.” Popularization. That library report was not something isolated. In fact, during 1924, voices of alarm against the threat posed by crossword puzzles became increasingly popular. That year, as the Harrisburg Telegraph stated“professors at the University of Michigan had banned crossword puzzles in their classes.” “Crossword addiction”. Concerned about crossword puzzle fever, the Kingsport Times-News, a Tennessee newspaper, denounced that “if legislators have acquired the habit, as they presumably have, it is difficult to see how they will find time to legislate” and lamented that “opposition to crossword puzzle addiction had not yet been organized”, although they were convinced that it would soon do so. After all, until now he had only “interfered with relatively unimportant matters”, but as the addiction grew the problems would increase. It sounds familiar to us. I have no doubt, As Perales himself pointed outthat opposition to crossword puzzles was nothing more than a “hobby” in those wonderful 1920s that blew up after the crash of ’29. That is to say, to the chagrin of the Kingsport Times-News columnist, that anti-puzzle movement was never organized (or turned into a lobby). However, it is a paradigmatic example of what moral panic is; that is, “a reaction by a group of people based on the false or exaggerated perception of some cultural behavior.” It is something that we have seen repeatedly with video games and that has become an urban myth. But it is when we see it in things like crossword puzzles (or in the dozens of examples that this “technophobia archive” has that is ‘Pessimists Archive‘) when it becomes especially evident. It’s good to remember it from time to time. In Xataka | Helping the waiter clear the table seems like a kind gesture: psychologists see something much deeper In Xataka | The mirage of the hyperpresent father: they dedicate four times more time to their children, but mothers are still on the verge of collapse In Xataka | “It doesn’t give me life”: the phrase that summarizes the vital state of an entire generation of Spaniards in their thirties Image | Ross Sneddon

that people install one in the garden

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Data centers have become the new cell towers: no one wants to live near one, not even if they offer money to build one. There are compelling reasons, such as pollution or what electricity bill prices skyrocket. In this context, a San Francisco startup has had an idea that can be crazy or genius: convert people’s homes into data centers. The idea. SPAN is a San Francisco startup that sells home electrical solutions, such as smart electrical panels or vehicle chargers. His new idea is called XFRAa “distributed data center solution” that installs an NVIDIA GPU node directly into homes. That is, instead of having a giant building full of GPUs, they distribute them in small panels throughout entire neighborhoods. These nodes, which have a design reminiscent of a larger air conditioner, contain 16 NVIDIA RTX PRO 600 Blackwell GPUs, 3TB of memory, and liquid cooling. In statements to Ars Technicathe company’s vice president said that “Data centers are noisy, unsightly and often drive up local electricity bills. This is quiet, discreet and makes energy more affordable for the provider and the community.” Image: SPAN Everyone wins. According to SPAN, their solution is a win-win for both hyperscalers and owners. AI companies are able to increase their capacity more immediately, avoiding the long lead times of large data centers. Meanwhile, owners who install one of these nodes will have discounts and even not pay anything for their electricity and internet bill. Electricity increases are one of the arguments of those who reject data centers, so this may increase their attractiveness for owners. Qlanes of the future. SPAN already has a pilot program underway to test its invention in 100 homes this year. The intention is to begin installing XFRA nodes in newly built homes, although they also consider the option of installing them in existing homes, in addition to offering more powerful nodes for commercial clients. The company’s plans are to install 80,000 XFRA nodes throughout the United States, which would achieve 1 gigawatt of distributed power at a much lower construction cost. Of course, it would not serve to replace traditional data centers used to train AI models, but this computing capacity would be oriented towards other uses such as inference, cloud gaming or content streaming. Context. The AI ​​boom requires a lot of computing power and companies started to build mega data centers like there is no tomorrow. They soon realized the problem: there is no power for so many chips. What has followed is an electrical network that does not support so many data centersthe skyrocketing electricity billthe technologies using nuclear energy and one strong opposition from the community. All of this is making building and launching a data center a process that can take years, That is if they don’t end up being cancelled. Maybe it’s not so far-fetched. The energy problem has led technology companies to consider take data centers to spacewhere energy is unlimited, or submerge them in the sea to cool them. The options are on the table, although there are already those who warn that They are a chimera and we still do not have the necessary technology. In this sense, the idea of ​​SPAN is presented as a much more realistic option, although seeing the rejection that data centers are arousing among citizens, it is not clear that it will be well received. Image | Xataka, with ChatGPT In Xataka | Quietly, Aragón is becoming a data center “powerhouse”: now it has taken a crucial step

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 wants 90% of the people on this map to have an AVE station 30 minutes away. There is small print

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The Ministry of Transport and Urban Mobility wants to turn the train into one of the great mobility axes of our country. To this end, the objective has been proposed to promote the use of high speed in the west of the Iberian Peninsula. The project has a clear headline: an AVE station half an hour away for 90% of the inhabitants of the Atlantic corridor. What has been announced? 9% of the population of the Atlantic Corridor will have access to a high-speed station within half an hour in 2030. This is the conclusion reached by the Territorial accessibility analysis carried out by the Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobilitythrough the Office of the Commissioner of the Atlantic Corridor. If the plans are fulfilled, the Ministry assures that in less than five years a total of 62 high-speed stations will be ready, spread across 28 provinces and 11 autonomous communities. The jump will have to be substantial because right now there are 33 stations available with high-speed service distributed in 8 autonomous communities and 19 provinces. What is the Atlantic Corridor? Within the mobility of the European Union, the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) defines nine major corridors to define your roadmap and investments. These corridors are large spaces through which a very important part of the citizens of the European Union and their goods move. In the different corridors, therefore, all mobility nodes are taken into account, from ports and airports to railways and roads. In the case of the Atlantic Corridor we are talking about a set of communication nodes that link the south of Germany with Paris and the entire west coast of France with Spain (on its western slope) and Portugal, culminating in the Cádiz area. In these moments, the Atlantic Corridor as it passes through our country offers the following data: 5,400 kilometers of railway tracks 2,900 kilometers of roads Nine seaports Five international airports Nine intermodal stations Four cross-border crossings with Portugal or France And it is linked to 13 autonomous communities and 40 provinces By train. Among the infrastructures designed to facilitate movement through all these places is the train. And, specifically, the boost to high speed that the European Union wants to give to encourage the use of this means of transport instead of the plane. These investments, according to the Ministry of Transport, will have to be completed before December 31, 2030 and represent an investment of 3,123 million euros. It must be taken into account that the European Union has been demanding better connectivity by train from Spain and Portugal than should crystallize with a Madrid-Lisbon in 2030. But It won’t be until 2034 when this line is completely a high-speed route. What does it imply? In order to achieve the milestone set by the European Union, it will be necessary for Spain to complete the “Basque Y”, the high-speed project that has been underway for more than 20 years to provide the region with a qualitative leap in railway connections. that seem not to arrive. Additionally, the entire project will need to be completed to connect Spain with Portugal through Extremaduraa journey in which, at the moment, it is not always possible to travel at high speed. And it will also be necessary to bring high speed to Huelva. 90% with small print. The big headline, as we said, is that 90% of the population of the Atlantic Corridor will have a high-speed station less than half an hour from their home… as long as such a station exists in their province. Here is the headline’s trick, if the province does not have a high-speed station, the percentage drops drastically in some cases. For example, in the press release no reference is made to Salamancaone of the conflicting points when talking about high speed in the Atlantic Corridor. The European Union roadmap marks a connection between the Spanish city and Porto but there is little progress in this regard. Another of the region’s usual demands is also discarded: recover the Vía de la Plata railway. The truth is that this project is neither here nor expected. Other data must also be taken carefully. The Ministry of Transport says that 100% of the inhabitants of the Basque Country will have access to a high-speed train station… but in this case less than an hour away and not 30 minutes. La Rioja will also make a qualitative leap, from the current 14% to 99% although no high-speed train stops in the region. These data lead us to the fact that, in 2030, 70% of the population of the Atlantic Corridor will have a high-speed station less than an hour from their home. The Ministry of Transport puts this number at 26.8 million people. Some controversies. However, having a high-speed line close to home does not mean that we have a high-speed train that is always accessible. Spain, the second country with the most high-speed roads in the world (second only to China), is a good example of how a poorly studied growth ended with high speed stations with very little traffic. Nor does living in a provincial capital guarantee that the train always stops. A paradigmatic example of this is Zamorawhere they fight so that more high-speed trains that cover the Galician corridor stop at their stop. And sometimes, The best solution is to offer high-speed stations in the middle of nowhereas a link between large populations. Increasing the number of high-speed stations does not automatically mean having ample schedules to take a high-speed train. However, this shouldn’t be bad in and of itself. A good example is Japan’s dense high-speed network where there are trains that stop exceptionally between origin and destination and others that dot their journey with more or fewer stops. Of course, there the density of passage in the number of trains facilitates mobility and the connection between “fast” trains and those that stop more frequently. Photo | Adif In Xataka | High speed in Madrid … Read more

There are people who buy plants to purify the air in their home. The reality is that you are wasting your time

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When we want to give a little life to our homes, the first thing we think about is putting in several plants with the idea that, in addition to giving it a more natural touch, they will also clean the air we breathe. And it’s no wonder, because all you have to do is take a look around the internet or through the hallways of any nursery to find us. with the promise that pothos, mother-in-law’s tongue or ribbon are “natural purifiers” that eliminate toxins. But It’s not like that. The origin of the idea. To understand why we blindly believe in the purifying power of the plants that we can have in our home, the responsibility lies with NASA and its classic studies published in the 80s. Here, in their quest to find ways to clean the air on space stations, researchers placed different plants in hermetically sealed chambers and injected volatile organic compounds that were partly removed by the plants. This was very relevant, but the extrapolation to the general population, not so much. And these investigations were carried out in an airtight chamber in a laboratory, and at the moment a home or an office is not hermetically closed, but there is the possibility of air constantly entering and leaving through windows, doors or cracks. But this detail has not resonated so much with the population. A bath of reality. This arrived in 2019, where a study from Drexel University analyzed a dozen previous studies to evaluate actual plant performance using a standard metric: the clean air delivery rate, or CADR. Here the conclusion reached is that potted plants do not improve indoor air quality in a relevant way. And the explanation is purely mechanical, since the normal ventilation of any building eliminates volatile organic compounds at a rate faster than the absorption capacity of an indoor plant. Size matters. With this premise, for the plants to match the purification achieved by the ventilation system of a standard building or the simple act of opening windows, you would need between 10 and 1,000 plants per square meter. I mean, you would have to literally turn your living room into a dense, impassable rainforest to notice the difference. Very controlled exceptions. This does not mean that all pro-plant studies lie, but rather that context is everything, since some studies point to a decrease in CO₂ levels. A notable example is a study conducted in a school in Portugal, where flower pots were introduced into classrooms and an improvement in the air was measured. However, the scientists themselves warn that these are highly specific and controlled environments and their results cannot be mathematically extrapolated to what happens in the living room of a normal apartment or in a standard office. There is no evidence. Given all this that we already know, the authorities are sharp noting that there is no evidence that a reasonable number of indoor plants remove significant amounts of pollutants in homes and offices. What do we have to do? In order to improve air quality inside the home, the important thing here is to reduce the use of chemicals and avoid smoking indoors. In addition, opening the windows every day to renew the air is the key measure, as well as the installation of air purifiers, which are almost mandatory in many cases for people who have significant allergies. Images | freepik In Xataka | The countries that pollute the most in the world, gathered in a detailed graph

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