problem

In the middle of Valentine’s week, strawberries have reached figures never seen before in half of Europe. The problem is not love, it is Spain

by

Hearts, chocolate, bouquets of flowers and pink decorations everywhere: Valentine’s week is synonymous with many things, but above all with crazy prices. What was not expected in half of Europe is that strawberries were going to rise so much. And when I say ‘so much’, it’s ‘so much’. What happened to the strawberries? The peak in demand is predictable: every year, coinciding with Valentine’s week, the demand for strawberries skyrockets. And, furthermore, it is a very inelastic demand: since it is a “special” day, people continue buying them “almost” independently of the price. That has not changed in 2026: what has changed is that the supply has suffered a huge shock. A shock called Spain and Portugal: And more specifically its meteorology. If the frosts of a few years ago caused the shortage of red peppers throughout the European continentthe historic rainfall in recent months has reduced strawberry production, its quality and shelf life to almost historic lows. To give us an idea of ​​the collapse: in Huelva, production has fallen by half compared to 2025. And despite efforts to catch up, production is 38% below from that of the 24/25 campaign. This has meant that strawberries are arriving in the Netherlands at 5.83 per kilo and in France at 6.44. The problem naked. In this case, the problem is that Europe depends completely on Huelva and, in recent decades, it has not been able to do anything to avoid it. Huelva producers have demonstrated an impressive capacity to produce with very high quality at very low prices. That (and the constant rise in production) has meant that no one can build a parallel agribusiness. The problem is that the climate becomes increasingly volatile, the ‘security’ of the Andalusian countryside decreases. and this episode has only confirmed it. What’s behind the story. So what is hidden behind the strawberries at seven euros per kilo in a market in Alicante is the story of the loss of hegemony of one of the most solid and refined economic pillars in southern Europe. That is to say, while strawberries are on their way to becoming an ‘ultra-luxury’ product, Andalusia’s competitive advantage is fading. Are a giant with feet of clay. Image | Alba Otero In Xataka | Spain’s problem with its supermarkets: Huelva strawberries are now cheaper in Germany

Spain’s main problem is not weapons, fighters or drones. It is the number of hands you need to use them.

by

In recent years, the defense debate in Europe has revolved almost exclusively around money and technology. It talks about percentages of GDPmodernization and new systems capable of changing the battlefield. However, there is a much less visible factor that ends up being decisive when it comes time to turn plans into reality. A decade of losing muscle. The news Europa Press gave it. Since 2010, the Spanish Armed Forces They have lost 13,300 troops and they carry a structural deficit that the Military Life Observatory describes as chronic. As of January 1, 2025 there were 116,739 soldiers in active service, very far from the legal minimum of 130,000 established by the Military Career Law. The gap ranges between 13,000 and 23,000 uniformed personnel, a figure that is practically equivalent to an entire army within the system itself. Objectives that are not met. Several weeks ago another news item put the target on an enlightening fact: the regulatory framework establishes a maximum of 50,000 officers and non-commissioned officers, but there are only 40,656 dashboardsincluding 227 generals, leaving a wide margin unfilled. In the troops and Navy, the budget ceiling has limited staff numbers to 79,000 for years, although it is barely exceed 76,000 troops. The distance between what is provided for in the law and what is available in the barracks is not temporary, but sustained over time. More budget on weapons, fewer hands to operate them. The strategic debate in Europe has turned towards the modernization of systems and increased spending up to 2.1% of GDPbut the emphasis has not been transferred with the same intensity to the staff. Weapons programs and technological capabilities are expanding, but the number of military personnel is barely growing or even go back. Hence all this leads us to another reality very different from what we usually think: Spain’s main problem is not fighters, drones or new systems, but rather the great number of staff missing to use them and keep them operational. A 2025 that closed in negative. Despite the government’s commitment to increase staff by 7,500 personnel in four years, 2025 ended with 832 fewer soldiers than the previous year. The drop was especially pronounced at the officer level, where a thousand professionals they abandoned or passed to the reserve without sufficient replacement. Although non-commissioned officers and troops registered slight increases, the global balance was once again negative at a time when the international environment demands just the opposite. Lack of interest. The interpretation of these data leaves little room for doubt. The number of places offered has increased, but the proportion of applicants per vacancy has decreased worryingly. In the troop area the ratio has fallen to 4.2 applicants per placefar from the levels of a decade ago. In officers and non-commissioned officers, the descent is even more pronouncedwith fewer candidates and a worse selection margin, which limits the quality of replacement and anticipates problems of generational change. Salaries, mobility and little incentive for promotion. There is much more, as the report points to lower salaries to other bodies of the State and to an accumulated loss of purchasing power that discourages a military career. Constant mobility can imply a higher cost of living and low salary compensationleading many to give up promotions. The result is that “little interest” in progressing within the institution and a structure that ages without sufficient renewal. Stressed and aged. The other elephant in the room: more than a third of the dashboards exceeds 50 years and the troops also show progressive aging, while the reservists have decreased steadily since 2014. For its part, female participation grows slightly up to 13.1%above the NATO average, but it does not compensate for the overall loss of troops. I remembered the newspaper El Mundo that the system is also facing an increase in harassment complaints that adds reputational pressure at a time of low recruitment. Material capacity without critical mass. All this leaves a more or less illuminating map. Spain is investing in capabilities and is committed to increasingly demanding international missions, but it does so with less staff that fifteen years ago. The organizational structures and operational commitments have not diminished, rather the oppositewhile the human base it doesn’t stop shrinking. From that perspective, everything indicates that, if the trend is not reversed, the country may find itself with a future where the Armed Forces are modernized in equipment, but without the critical mass necessary to sustain them over time and respond reliably to an increasingly demanding strategic environment. Image | Air and Space Army Ministry of Defense Spain, Spanish Army In Xataka | Spain has a dilemma that is difficult to solve: call the US or be the last with a fighter jet in danger of extinction In Xataka | Spain has built a laser that shields the backbone of its Navy: the A400M is now ready for combat

China is building submarines faster than anyone else. And that’s a problem for the United States.

by

In a tense geopolitical moment on a global scale with several open fronts such as Greenland, whose melting ice is allowing us to see nuclear submarinesChina just achieved a historic milestone: it is manufacturing nuclear submarines faster than any other country in the world, according to a report by the International Institute for Strategic Studies. This is a complete surprise to the United States, the power that until now held this title, and threatens the advantage that Washington has maintained for decades. Brief notes on nuclear submarines. Without wanting to delve into their characteristics, it is worth distinguishing what types there are: He SSBN is a nuclear-powered submarine designed to launch ballistic missiles with nuclear warheads (some with intercontinental range). They are strategic second response platforms, practically undetectable and guarantee that if someone attacks first, they will receive a response. The SSN/SSGN are nuclear attack submarines (the second, guided missiles), true maritime control weapons: they can attack land or sea targets, block routes and operate for months without resupply. Context. American hegemony underwater lasts for decades, but Beijing has on its roadmap modernize its military capabilities by 2035: it already has the largest surface fleet in the world in the words of the Pentagon and now he has turned on the turbo to reach the last bastion of the United States: the depths. The data. China has surpassed the United States in the pace of launching nuclear-powered submarines (SSN/SSBN). Thus, between 2021 and 2025, the Asian giant launched 10 units compared to Washington’s seven, according to has discovered the IISS through satellite analysis of the Bohai shipyard in Huludao (northern China), as the epicenter of the industrial leap. In a decade, China has gone from being far behind to leading the race: Why is it important. This shift in underwater hegemony has three implications, one of which points directly to the US: Nuclear deterrence. The new submarines Type 094 and future Type 096 They expand China’s nuclear response capacity in the face of possible nuclear attacks. A preemptive attack is strategically unfeasible. Maritime control of commercial routes. SSGNs with high-speed missile systems add a layer of threat to foreign combat groups in the Indo-Pacific, complicating access for the US and its allies to potentially conflictive areas, such as the South China Sea or Taiwan. At a time when The United States is betting on boarding As a sign of maritime control, China has in this fleet a safeguard for its commercial routes. The United States cannot cope with that pace. John Phelan, US Secretary of the Navy, recognized in Congress that “All of our programs are a disaster, honestly. Our best-performing program is six months behind schedule and 57% over budget.” Phelan mentions the erosion of this industry, which according to the Government Accountability Office Today it faces problems such as aging infrastructure and a shortage of qualified labor. The surprise figures. The IISS Military Balance 2025 leaves other interesting figures to better diagnose the reality of both powers in nuclear submarines: Launch rate from 2021 to 2025: seven from the US to 10 from China. The difference in tonnage is notable: while those from China weigh 79,000 tons, those from the US are 55,500. Active nuclear fleet: The United States wins by a landslide, with 65 units compared to China’s 12 units (plus another 46 conventional ones). Quantity vs quality. We have already seen in the previous point that the United States continues to gain in numbers (still) and it is not the only reason for optimism for the country led by Trump. CNN echoes the IISS report where he explains that “Chinese designs are almost certainly behind American and European submarines in terms of quality.” Among other qualities, in noise: Chinese submarines are noisier, which makes them more vulnerable, they explain. But as a captain warns Retired US Navy Half USNI Officer, Biggest Fleets Win. In Xataka | In the midst of rearmament, Spain has just surprised Europe: 5,000 million for 34 warships and four submarines In Xataka | The new fear of Western fleets is not nuclear. They are conventional submarines armed with surprise and a flag: China Cover | CSR Report RL33153 China Naval Modernization: Implications for US Navy Capabilities—Background and Issues for Congress by Ronald O’Rourke dated February 28, 2014 – United States Naval Institute News Blog, Public Domain

The problem is that, until now, Korean brands ignored 90% of the planet

by

A South Korean cosmetics brand was recently forced to apologize after promoting one of its blushes by describing the shade as the “adorable cheeks of a Mongolian baby.” Controversy broke out when content creator Khaliun reported on Instagramin a video that surpassed 270,000 views, that the brand was exploiting an outdated stereotype. Faced with global pressure, the company modified the text for “a beautiful deep mocha pink color that appears gently warmed by the sun.” This incident is not an isolated anecdote. It is the reflection of an industry that exports its products to the entire planet, but that has historically designed its cosmetics with a single demographic in mind, systematically excluding most of the world’s population. The Western fascination with Korean beauty began in the 2010s. This first wave of K-Beauty focused almost exclusively in skin careexporting concepts such as double cleansing or the coveted “glass skin”. As these were facial routines, inclusion was not an obvious challenge. In parallel, K-pop and K-dramas became the perfect vehicle for soft power. “The visibility of K-pop and K-dramas reinforces the perception of the effectiveness of K-beauty,” explains Professor Hye Jin Lee to cnn. The consequence was immediate: in 2024, South Korea surpassed France as the main exporter of cosmetics to the United States, with 1.7 billion dollars in shipments. The problem arose with the arrival of the second wavewhen the trend expanded into color cosmetics and hybrid makeup. Traditionally, Korean brands They launched their makeup bases in just three to five extremely pale shades, baptized with names such as “porcelain”, “ivory” or “sand”, designed for its domestic market. When making the international leap, darker-skinned consumers found themselves facing a wall: the most innovative industry of the moment, simply, I didn’t make products for them.. The standard that excludes without shouting The K-pop industry has been celebrated for challenging gender norms — male idols wearing makeup or traditionally feminine clothing — but it has not been as racially disruptive. The dominant standards They continue to emphasize light skin, a small V-shaped face, big eyes, and a slim body. A recent academic article, published by International Journal of Social Humanity & Management Research, defines these standards as a form of cultural racism: not an explicit discrimination, but a symbolic system that presents an aesthetic as natural and universal while excluding other corporalities. The mechanism does not need to proclaim “we don’t want dark skin.” It is enough to define beauty as something incompatible with them. In the Asian context, the preference for light skin has historical roots linked to social status and neo-Confucian traditions where whiteness symbolized respect for its principles. This is summed up in the Chinese term bai fu mei (white, rich, beautiful), which is still commonly used to describe a perfect woman. But when that standard becomes a global consumer product, the reading changes. The globalization of K-Beauty has caused cultural clashes evident. On YouTube, the video series “Black Girl Tries Korean Makeup” made the frustration visible of black creators in the face of the lack of dark tones and the omnipresence of whitening products, pointing out a bias of “anti-blackness”. In response, part of the Korean audience defended the brands by arguing that Korea is a monoethnic country and that its standards should not be judged by “the western prism”. another study by researcher Andrea Gómez shows how “Asian beauty” is associated in Latin America with youth, health and clear skin. The concept of whiteness is not just chromatic: it implies status, modernity and privilege. In their interviews, salespeople and makeup artists acknowledged that many clients requested shades lighter than their real skin. Not necessarily to look Korean, but to get closer to an ideal historically linked to social advancement imposed since colonial times. This is where K-beauty fits in as the perfect piece: it sells scientific innovation and, at the same time, reinforces an aspiration for clarity and neatness that was already established. As Vogue Business points outthe global beauty industry “thrives on insecurity and the allure of attainable ‘improvements’ that privilege white skin.” And in many cultures, light skin continues to function as symbolic capital. A deep or strategic inclusion? The real change came when diversity was shown to be enormously profitable. The most representative case is that of the brand THROW. When African-American YouTuber Miss Darcei tried her popular foundation in cushion On social networks, she showed that the initial offer of extremely pale tones left her out. The brand responded by creating new ringtones and sending them to him; In a matter of months they expanded their range to 40 colors. The result of listening to a diverse audience was an astonishing increase in 55.465% in brand sales in the United States. Since then, other brands they have reacted. Dear Dahlia expanded the shade range of its liquid blushes and foundations to reach deeper complexions. K-Brown was born in Seoul focused exclusively on the care of melanin-rich skin. Yepo Beauty launched foundations designed for darker tones under the tagline “inclusive K-beauty.” In addition, corporate discourse also changes. Global giants like Unilever and L’Oréal they have already announced the elimination of explicit references to “whitening” or lightening of the skin on its packaging in the face of international criticism. But not all adjustment is virtuous. When the Youthforia brand released a tone 600 Described by critics as a pure black with no undertones resembling human skin, the product caused a stir and was discontinued. A poorly executed inclusion can quickly become a caricature. The tyranny of beauty The racial and aesthetic debate intersects with another axis of oppression: the obsession with eternal youth. The global popularity of collagen—in powder, cream or capsule—reflects growing anxiety and pressure not to age. This is despite experts such as Dr Afshin Mosahebi questioning the scientific soundness of many of these ambitious anti-aging promises. This demand to stop time falls disproportionately on women. Psychology Today remember that the standards of whiteness and bodily perfection present in K-Culture They are not … Read more

A new “solar system” has just been discovered. There’s just one problem: it shouldn’t exist.

by

Observations from NASA and the European Space Agency telescopes have made possible the discovery of a new exoplanetary system 116 light years from Earth. According to research by an international team led by the University of Warwick published in the journal Sciencethis new “solar system” has a peculiarity: its architecture contradicts the standard model of planetary formation. In short, based on the astrophysics we know, it should not exist. We do not know if it will force us to rewrite current theories, but we do know that we will urgently review them. The discovery. The LHS 1903 system is made up of four planets orbiting a red dwarf, the most common and longest-lived type of star in the universe. The question is how they are arranged: the innermost planet is rocky, the next two are gaseous and surprisingly, the outermost planet (LHS 1903 e) is also rocky. That planet shouldn’t be there. LHS 1903 e It is a large super-Earth (it has 1.7 times the radius of the Earth and 5.79 Earth masses, thus achieving a similar density) located on the periphery, but of course, it should not be in that position, according to current models. It is not a minor anomaly: it breaks the paradigm from the foundations. This provision contradicts the usual pattern that we see in all known planetary systems: the rocky planets (refractory materials) are in the hot zone and the gas giants in the outer cold zone, beyond the “snow line“, where ice makes it possible to grow large nuclei that capture hydrogen. The canonical example is our solar system: the rocky Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars orbit closer and the gaseous Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune orbit further away. Why is it important. According to theory, a planet as large as LHS 1903 e in that cold zone should have devoured gas until it became a giant like Jupiter. But there is another reading: that the formation model fails and is not the only recipe that explains how exoplanetary systems form. But as we mentioned above, red dwarfs are the most abundant stars in the galaxy and if the model fails in this system, it is plausible that it will not hit the mark in much of the cosmos either. There may be other “inverted” systems pending interpretation or that we have misinterpreted. A possible explanation. What the research team proposes is the gas-poor formation mechanism hypothesis. In short, the important thing is not so much where but when. Thus, the planets were formed one after another in the opposite order to our solar system, starting first with the innermost one and going outwards from there. When planets form, they consume the gas available in the disk that surrounds the star. LHS 1903 was formed last, when there was no more gas left, so it could no longer become the gas giant that might have been expected. As explains Lead researcher and University of Warwick professor Thomas Wilson: “It means that the outermost planet formed millions of years after the innermost one. And because it formed later, there really wasn’t enough gas and dust left in the disk to build this planet.” The research method. The data analyzed by the international team comes from the collaboration of NASA’s TESS telescopes and ESA’s CHEOPS exoplanet characterization satellite: the first detects planets with the in-transit method and the second studies them in depth, which allows it to obtain information such as size, mass and, from there, density. Among the alternative hypotheses considered is its birth from impacts between planets or the loss of its gaseous envelope, which they ended up discarding. Astrophysics has pending subjects. Beyond finding a clear mechanism, what seems evident is that observing this system of exoplanets opens up a range of possibilities about how planets form around stars that will last for years. Néstor Espinoza, an astronomer at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore who was not involved in the study, explains it for CNN: “This system provides a very interesting piece of information that planetary formation models will try to explain for years, and I am sure that we will learn something new about the planetary formation process once they are compared to each other.” In Xataka | How the solar system was formed: for the Earth to be born, a star had to die first In Xataka | We have been deceived by the distances of the Solar System: the closest neighbor to Neptune is Mercury Cover | NASA Hubble Space Telescope

The problem is not that your favorite influencer sells you the motorcycle. The problem is that maybe it doesn’t even exist.

by

What text-to-image and image-to-video generation will be able to achieve in the coming years is only easy to imagine if you’re in the business. I have been closely following advances in AI as a method to replace humans doing things. And I can assure you based on my experience that 2026 will be a before and after in a daily practice: consuming content on TikTok or Instagram. It’s happening now. We have been talking about influencers created with AI since 2023. The most famous case is that of Aitana Lopeza model created with AI that surpassed the barrier of 100,000 followers on Instagram. The case remained more anecdote than normal, but in 2025 we began to hear from relevant capital firms in Silicon Valley investing in start-ups created as synthetic influencer agencies. The factory. The girl you see above does not exist. She is an influencer that I created in less than two minutes and for free. If you want to make a minimal investment, you could improve the texture of your skin with Nano Banana Pro 4K or render additional details with Topaz AI. All within the same tool. Higgsfield AI is the largest AI content creation platform, and has had the “AI influencer” function for some time now. With the arrival of models like Banana Pro, the results are indistinguishable from reality. Skin enhancer in Higgsfield. Model created with AI. Maybe it exists… and it’s AI. Until now, we have only talked about creating influencers in a 100% artificial way but… what if I told you that you are already watching videos on social networks of people who exist, but who are not real at the moment you are watching the video? Spanish influencers, such as Janmolinerare starting to use AI to clone themselves and post videos in which they appear, but using an AI avatar that replaces them. This opens the doors to: Much higher content creation volume. Cost savings. What we hate with all our might: more ads created with AI. Indistinguishable. I have been training in this type of tools for some time, my eye is trained to try to detect when it is AI and when it is not, and since the arrival of the latest models I have one thing clear: it is currently indistinguishable from reality, and it will improve even more in the coming years. Big Tech. Microsoft, Google, Meta and Anthropic They are paying real money to content creators to promote their AI, with agreements reaching up to $600,000. The big question is whether, in the medium term, it will continue to make sense for companies to have humans advertise their products… or to have an AI announcing another AI. Image | Higgsfield AI In Xataka | I bought a spell online to make my cat an influencer. Now I have two euros less and even more afraid of AI

Spanish companies have hired again in 2026. The problem is that there is no one to hire

by

Spanish companies start 2026 wanting to expand their workforce, but they face a big problem: they cannot find enough qualified candidates for your vacancies. According to the data of the ‘Labor Market Guide 2026‘ prepared by the consulting firm Hays, companies are ready to grow and hire more staff. However, the labor market has changed and professionals are already they don’t want to give up to their current jobs. Companies step up. The Hays study reflects that 81% of Spanish companies plan to increase their workforce during 2026. The economic growth trend drives the expansion objectives of Spanish companies and, to carry it out, new vacancies have been opened. This growth in job offers is especially noticeable in dynamic sectors such as technology, professional services and industry. However, the big obstacle quickly appears: there are not enough professionals with the necessary training to fill those vacancies. 93% of the companies consulted for the Hays study claim to have serious difficulties in find qualified profilesa percentage that reaches a historical record and is paralyzing many hiring plans. Talent shortage vs. little training. The lack of qualified professionals has become an insurmountable wall in the hiring processes for new vacancies. 85% of companies claim to have launched internal training programs to develop capabilities of its employees. Only 18% of participants openly admit that they are not investing enough in closing this skills gap that holds them back so much. From the employees’ side, the perception is different. Only 48% of employees are aware that training is being carried out in their company to improve their training. This disconnection between what companies promise and what workers see aggravates the situation, making it more difficult to attract and train talent. Qualified external talent is not found, but neither are resources allocated to train the talent that is already on staff. Less job rotation. Unlike what happened years ago, in 2026 professionals have prioritized stability and growth within their company, instead of jumping to another offer. This change in mentality represents a change with respect to the years 2022 and 2023 in which the labor market had high mobility and the workers they changed jobs frequently in search of better working conditions. Even so, 62% of workers feel that their salary does not reflect all the effort that they put in day by day, but that dissatisfaction is not enough to push them to movesince they value stability and personal balance more. Christopher Dottie, regional managing director of Hays for Southern and Western Europe, puts it in clear words: “companies continue to look for talent, while talent continues to look for stability.” Better salary and flexible working hours: keys to attracting talent. To break this inertia and attract available talent, 72% of companies plan salary increases in 2026, with increases of 7% in areas such as customer service, administration and finance, and 6% in the technology sector to meet salary expectations what candidates demand. Furthermore, the flexible days They are imposed as a key piece in attracting talent, although many companies still resist implementing them despite the fact that the vast majority of employees consider them essential for their well-being. In fact, this ability to adapt to demands for flexibility and offer teleworking options is what is tipping the balance. between the public and private sectors. In Xataka | The employment paradox in Spain: we have the highest unemployment in the EU and also the lowest number of job vacancies Image | Unsplash (Beatriz Cattel)

The Government of Mexico says that the measles crisis is a “global problem.” The data says it is a self-inflicted crisis

by

Mexico is going through a very critical moment as far as measles is concerned, since infections they don’t stop increasing in different parts of the country and even with several dozen dead for the infection. And here the question we can ask ourselves is quite obvious: How is it possible that this has happened with a disease that was practically under control? The statements. In the offices of the Ministry of Health of Mexico they have found a rhetorical umbrella for the storm that is falling on them, pointing to the “global context”. According to the official narrative, the rebound in measles that the country is experiencing is simply the local echo of a trend that also you are living in other countriesso it may serve as political consolation not to be the only country to go through this crisis. The problem with this defense is that, when one stops looking at the world map and zooms in on the national data for each country, the excuse falls apart. All this because Mexico is not suffering from measles “like everyone else” but is suffering it with an intensity and lethality that shows structural cracks in its own public health system. Measles is here. To understand the defense of the Mexican Government, we must first grant them the part they are right. Measles, a disease from which many they had forgotten due to their high controlhas had a revival unpleasant in recent years. To give us an idea, the WHO itself registered more than 552,000 cases suspected in 179 countries during 2025, which was accompanied by vaccination coverage that was declining globally while the world looked almost exclusively at COVID-19. In this way, it is a fact that the virus is circulating and, in American countries, the Pan American Health Organization has already warned of a large increase in measles cases between 2024 and 2025 in different regions. The Mexican exception. However, hiding behind the global trend to explain what is happening on Mexican soil is cheating the solitary. The key in this case is in the figures for the month of February, which paint a quite disproportionate scenario compared to its neighbors. To give us an idea, Mexico accumulates more than 9,400 cases confirmed from the end of 2025 to mid-2026. And to put it in context, in all of 2025 America added 14,891 cases, so Mexico is not just another statistic, but is the epicenter of the problem in the hemisphere, concentrating a large part of the infections in North America. His mortality. While in other countries the different outbreaks are being contained, in Mexico the number of deaths is counted in the dozens. Right now in Mexico there are 29 deaths in seven states, and the most worrying data comes from Chihuahua, which accumulates 21 of these deaths, followed by a worrying situation in Mexico City with two deaths and Jalisco, which accounts for 60% of the cases in 2026. The extra problem is that they are not isolated outbreaks, but rather there is active transmission in 32 states and 335 municipalities, so the virus moves with a freedom that suggests that the epidemiological firewalls have failed. The reasons. If the virus is the same for everyone, why does Mexico take the brunt of it? The answer is not abroad, but in the internal management of recent years. The local press here points to a dismantling of the surveillance systems and also to a collapse in the routine vaccination system that has affected children from 1 to 4 years old. Right now the health authorities boast of having administered millions of doses of vaccine against measles, rubella or mumps, but the reality on the street is different. In this case, coverage in rural areas has fallen well below the 95% necessary for herd immunity and high population mobility, anti-vaccine misinformation and a late response that prioritized the political narrative over health containment also play a role. Images | Jezael Melgoza In Xataka | The myth of 37º: it is increasingly clear to us that there is no “normal” body temperature

There are people sharing their court cases with AI. The problem is when a judge considers the conversations as evidence

by

More and more users have an AI chatbot as a companion for everything, whether ChatGPT, Gemini, Claudeor any other. The problem comes when we decide to share sensitive data with this type of tools, especially with commercial models produced by large technology companies where we will always have the doubt of where our data travels. In this sense, there are those who share their legal data with the assistant, which can lead to something like what recently happened in New York. And a city judge just set a precedent historical by considering that any conversation held with a chatbot is public and therefore not protected by attorney-client privilege. That is to say: everything you share with the AI ​​can end up being used against you in court. The case. Bradley Heppner, an executive accused of fraud worth $300 million, used Claude, Anthropic’s chatbot, to ask questions about his legal situation before being arrested. He created 31 documents with his conversations with the AI ​​and later shared them with his defense attorneys. When the FBI seized his electronic devices, his attorneys claimed those documents were protected by attorney-client privilege. Judge Jed Rakoff has said no. Because No. Just like share Moish Peltz, a lawyer specializing in digital assets and intellectual property, in a post on X, the sentence establishes three reasons. First, an AI is not a lawyer: it is not licensed to practice, owes no loyalty to anyone, and its terms of service expressly disclaim any attorney-client relationship. Second, sharing legal information with an AI is legally equivalent to telling it to a friend, so it is not protected by professional secrecy. And third, sending ‘non-privileged’ documents to your lawyer afterwards does not magically make them confidential. The underlying problem. As the lawyer recalls, the interface of this type of chatbot generates a false sense of privacy, but in reality you are entering information into a third-party commercial platform that retains your data and reserves broad rights to disclose it. According to Anthropic privacy policy In effect when Heppner used Claude, the company may disclose both user questions and generated responses to “governmental regulatory authorities.” Dilemma. The court document reveals Also an aggravating factor: Heppner introduced into the AI ​​information that he had previously received from his lawyers. This poses a dilemma for the prosecution, according to account Peltz. And if you try to use those documents as evidence at trial, defense attorneys could become witnesses to the events, potentially forcing a mistrial. What does it mean to you? If you are involved in any legal matter, according to this ruling, what you share with an AI can be claimed by a judge and used as evidence. It doesn’t matter whether you are preparing your defense or seeking preliminary advice, as each query can end up becoming a factor against you. And it does not only apply to criminal cases: divorces, labor disputes, commercial litigation… any conversation with AI on these topics escapes legal protection. And now what. Peltz points out that legal professionals must explicitly warn their clients of this risk. You can’t assume that people understand it intuitively. The solution he mentions involves creating collaborative workspaces with AI shared between lawyer and client, so any interaction with artificial intelligence will occur under the supervision of the lawyer and within the lawyer-client relationship. Cover image | Romain Dancre and Solen Feyissa In Xataka | Folding clothes or taking apart LEGOs has always been a tedious task. Xiaomi’s new AI for robots has put an end to it

Florida has an iguana problem and the coldest winter in years, so it has euthanized more than 5,000 frozen iguanas

by

In the Iberian Peninsula we are having one of the winters with more rainfall in recent yearsbut in the United States they are not exactly having a mild winter either. New York has arrived register colder than in Antarctica and not even the state of the sun has been saved: Florida has broken a cold record of more than 100 years. Thus, Miami or West Palm Beach have fallen below 0°C, something that It hasn’t happened since 1909. This extreme cold literally freezes the iguanas. And that has made it very easy for the Florida authorities to “euthanasia” 5,195 specimens Florida has a serious problem with iguanas. As happens in Spain with the catfishes either in Italy with blue crabs (among other parts of the Mediterranean), the United States has invasive species like the Asian carp, which bothers it so much that They have come to electrify the riversor the iguana, which mainly affects southern Florida. In addition to biodiversity problems derived from introducing an outside species into an ecosystem, altering the trophic chain or that its feces are natural carriers of salmonellais that they constitute a real danger to infrastructure: they build burrows up to 24 meters deep, damaging sea walls (a 1.8 million dollar problem in West Palm Beach), building foundations and even blackouts. Not to mention the risk that an iguana falls from a tree to the head or the hood of your car. Friendly reminder that iguanas can come to measure two meters long and weigh more than 13 kg. It’s raining iguanas. Literally. You probably read the above with surprise because, well, from time to time a little bird falls, but a tremendous iguana is less common. The iguanas They arrived in Florida in the 1960s. and since then they have moved quietly through courtyards and canals. The Sunshine State has a subtropical climate and iguanas are cold-blooded reptiles, but for much of the year, they adapt. But winter comes, especially a winter as cold as this one, and the iguanas are stunned by the cold. They are ectothermic speciesthat is, their body temperature is strongly determined by the environment (they do not generate their heat, as mammals do), so they freeze. This cold stunning affects internal processes such as metabolism, breathing or heart rate. And this is what leads them to fall from trees because they are in standby and lose their grip. A chance to get rid of them. So the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) has taken the opportunity to implement executive order 26-03which temporarily allows anyone to pick up one of those cold-stunned green iguanas without needing a permit to bring it to authorities. In the first two days of February, Residents brought 5,195 copies. Subsequently, they were sacrificed following American Veterinary Association guidelines (AMVA). Or from a technical point of view, they “euthanized” them. Animal welfare vs pest control. According to the FWCnon-native reptile species such as green iguanas or Burmese pythons are only protected by animal cruelty laws. The procedure is known as “euthanasia” insofar as the method of death must be irreversible, rapid and painless. Precisely at that moment in which they are lethargic is the moment considered the most humanitarian to act. In Xataka | The coypu, one of the 100 most harmful invasive species in the world, is at the doors of Barcelona In Xataka | The US has such a big problem with Asian carp in its rivers that it has decided something extreme: electrocute them Cover | Mason Jones

Log In

Forgot password?

Forgot password?

Enter your account data and we will send you a link to reset your password.

Your password reset link appears to be invalid or expired.

Log in

Privacy Policy

Add to Collection

No Collections

Here you'll find all collections you've created before.