programs

The US has cut programs for research and science. Europe and Spain are recruiting their scientists

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The Trump Administration has cut substantially the funds allocated to finance universities and, with them, the research projects that were being carried out, as as they point out from Nature. So American scientists have had no choice but to look for solutions to the draconian cuts in their country. Europe in general, and Spain in particular, they have become a magnet unexpected for all that talent, with programs that promise stability and million-dollar resources. Talent drain. According to information from the Ministry of Science, the call for the ATRAE program, aimed at incorporating researchers of international prestige with experience abroad in Spanish R&D centers, received 254 applications for the 2025 call. This implies an increase of 32% in applications, marking a historical record, because in 2023 no applications arrived from that country and in 2024 they only accounted for 16% of the total. 33.5% of them came from scientists from the US, which represents more than double that of previous editions. Finally, the scholarship program has selected 37 researchers in a program that allocates 38.9 million euros. Of the selected researchers, 56.7% come from American institutions and universities. Scientists who choose Spain. The Country collected the reasons why some of these researchers had decided to leave the US to continue their work in Spain. Vincenzo Calvanese, a 43-year-old Italian researcher who works at the Josep Carreras Institute in Barcelona after a decade in the United States, says that “many of my colleagues are having a very difficult time because of the political and economic events that affect science.” He encourages other colleagues to follow in his footsteps in Spain or other countries in Europesince the program represents “one of the few opportunities to ensure the future of research and some professional security.” ​Audrey Sawyer, a 43-year-old American hydrogeologist who has joined the research team at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, expresses a similar concern: “I have never seen a situation like this in the US. I feel very bad for the researchers and students, they are very talented and are facing serious challenges.” Although she applied before the most recent cuts, she clearly sees how federal funding affects areas like biomedicine and climate change. Europe: a troubled river gains fishermen. According to a survey made by Nature Among the US scientific community, 75% of researchers have seriously contemplated emigrating due to the cuts and layoffs promoted by Trump. In this scenario of uncertainty, Europe fights back taking out the nets to try to attract a good part of that talent dissatisfied with cuts in US research. The EU has doubled the funding of the European Research Council (ERC) with 500 million euros to provide it with more resources for these new researchers under the umbrella of the program Europe horizon. Spain distributes the incorporation of these new researchers in a balanced way: Catalonia receives 35.1% of the funding provided by these new scholarships, Madrid receives 29.7%, and entities such as the CSIC host 29.7% of the researchers. In this way, local research is reinforced with international talent, new students are trained and more funds are attracted from international competitions. The exodus is not only about science. The desire to leave the US does not only occur in the scientific field, some EU countries have doubled the number of residency applications and citizenship of US citizens. It is the case of Irelandwhich went from receiving 31,825 in all of 2024, to 3,692 applications during the month of February 2025 alone. Europe’s response to those requests has been different, tightening requirements to obtain residency or, as in the case of Spain, eliminating the “Golden Visa“which granted a residence permit in exchange of an economic investment. In Xataka | Of course digital nomads love Oviedo. It’s not because of the way of life: it’s because they charge 90,000 euros Image | Wikipedia, Unsplash (National Cancer Institute)

Hotel chains are strengthening their loyalty programs for a reason that has nothing to do with hotels: AI

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Marriott, Hilton and Hyatt, three of the largest hotel chains in the world, are accelerating their loyalty programs to get direct reservations, he explains Financial Times. The immediate objective is to save the 15-25% commissions they pay to Booking or Expedia, but the real concern is another: to prepare for when AI agents book trips for us. Why is it important. Who controls the relationship with the client when the AI agents become widespread will control the business. Hotel chains have seen this movie before: This is what happened to e-commerce stores that sold directly, but were disintermediated by Amazon Marketplace. Or to the bloggers who went from publishing on their own websites to platforms like Substack, which promised range and parne. Or the developers who went from selling software directly to depending on the Apple and Google stores. Or, ahem, the media that lost control of distribution to, basically, Google. The facts. Hotel chains are promoting their programs: Marriott Bonvoy reached 260 million members in September, up 18% from a year ago. Hilton is making it easier to access higher tiers while partnering to use points outside of its wallet. Marriott’s CFO has already stated that AI bookings “could be cheaper than OTAs.” Translation: they prefer to pay commissions to OpenAI than to Booking. But only if they maintain control of the data and the relationship with the customer. Between the lines. The obsession with loyalty programs has its logic. If they can get 260 million people to be “Bonvoy members” with registered preferences and accumulated points, when the AI ​​agents arrive they will have to count on them. Or so they hope. Because this strategy assumes that AI agents will care about brands. But maybe not. Yes, but. A really useful conversational agent will scan all the available offer, compare prices in real time, read thousands of reviews and book. Without needing to see any interface. Without the brand mattering too much. Optimizing for price, location and reviews, not whether it’s a Marriott or a Hilton. If the customer never sees the brand, many decades and many dollars invested in brand recognition evaporate. The big question. Who will we trust more: Booking, which we know charges the hotel a commission, or an AI agent whose incentives we do not know to take us to one place or another? At least current platforms are transparent: they charge the hotel and you pay for what you see. With opaque agents making decisions for us, we won’t even have that. In perspective. This pattern will be repeated in dozens of industries. Insurance comparators, marketplacesrestaurant reservations, investment selection… Any digital intermediary whose value is “helping you choose” can be replaced by an AI agent that chooses for you. Hotels will not be the only ones building loyalty walls. Any company whose contact with the end customer is intermediated by digital platforms should be preparing. Because AI agents won’t arrive in five years. The first ones are already here, clumsy, but improving every quarter. In Xataka | AI agents are very useful, until they turn against you to leak information: the dangers of ‘prompt injection‘ Featured image | Michael Mrozek

LA1 has achieved for the first time that all its programs exceed 10% audience. The question is at what price

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RTVE 1 has first achieved that all its daily programs exceed 10% screen share. An achievement that, however, puts a few questions on the table: is it a sustainable change or a timely surprise? And beyond: Have you done it by lowering its public television category, going down to mud to compete? Will these programs and approaches be maintained once there is a turn in the government? Many questions from a figure of Share Certainly notable and that marks a before and after for the corporation. The figures. That 10% share occurred Last Monday, September 22when an average of 12.5% ​​of Share. That is, only behind Antena 3 and its 13.9% on average. In the morning strip, the ‘morning news’ (20.2%) and ‘The time of 1’ (17.6%) stood out. ‘Mañaneros 360’ maintained a double emission with very solid results (15.5% and 11.1%) and the ‘1’ mediodia news highlighted with 14% of Share. In the afternoon, ‘straight to grain made 10.4% and surpassed its Telecinco and Four competitors. ‘Wild Valley’ (11.4%) and ‘The Promise’ (12.5%) They followed leaders and ‘bad languages’ made its own record with 10.6%. ‘Here the earth’, finally, made 11.7%. The night block, already with mainly non -daily programs, was composed of ‘News 2’ (12.1%), ‘La Revuelta’ (11.7%) and ‘Masterchef Celebrity’ (13.7%). How it has been done. The figures have been achieved with a thorough reorganization of the grill, with four magacins that cover current and politics, and a commitment determined by entertainment and direct formats, and covers from the ‘morning news’ at 6:00 to the end of ‘Masterchef Celebrity’ at dawn, all with two -digit quotas. It is the key to understanding the new strategy of the1: greater weight of informative magazines, competitive entertainment and programming for diverse audiences. Go to mud. Maybe the attempt to recycle the wicker of ‘Save Me’ They will not work in audience, but the intentions were clear: compete directly with private chains. But here we find the first dilemma of this success of the1: the borders between public television and entertainment of private chains are blurred. There are those who denounce a kind of “Telebasura covert“, that is manifested in Commercial formulas as sponsorships, promotions and Product Placementwhat has even gained some sanctions to the entity in programs such as’Great Prix‘or’ Masterchef ‘. Politicians in RTVE. This leads us to the political issue. The current composition of the Board of Directors of RTVE, with majority of counselors related to government blockis being perceived as excessively politicizedwith doubts about the informative plurality and the representativeness of the programming. Many critics see open pro -government affiliation in presenters such as Silvia Intxaurrondo (which has had to defend themselves from abilities to favor the government), Javier Ruiz or Jesús Cintora (the latter in the 2, and both investigated by RTVE itself After vulneration complaints of plurity and rigor) The issue on the table is: Does this new RTVE prioritize profiles and content aligned with the interests of the management, raising the risk of indirect censorship or systematic bias? Something may have to do with the renewed success of the1, but … Do you have continuity? Nothing is forever. This political affiliation is real or perceived (which has also been reflected in decisions as significant as the Eurovision abandonment), What is clear is that it could mean a risk for all these programs when there is a change in political orientation in government. Ruiz himself seems to reflect on it in This interview with El Paíswhere he assumes that he will end out of the entity once there is a turn in the government. There was already talk of it around Broncanowhich has the most media program, but it is understood that the entire grill is marked by a specific orientation, these programs (and audiences) would be in danger. In that case, La1 would have to put on the table if you are more interested in the audience or loyalty to whom the Moncloa occupies. Controversies of a lifetime. For decades, RTVE has been subject to constant political fluctuations that condition its management and programming, making its effective independence difficult. In 2006, the government of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero promoted an important reform with the Law 17/2006 of the radio and television of state ownershipwhose objective was to independent the corporation of political power to guarantee stability, plurality and autonomy similar to the BBC model. The law conceived RTVE as a corporation with public capital, regulated as a commercial company, with a council appointed by consensus in Parliament with qualified majority and long mandates to avoid political interference. However, this reform has been Historically undermining for political conflicts. Successive governments, especially that of the PP after Zapatero, altered the conditions to resume more direct control, as happened when the qualified majority to appoint the directors and returning the executive greater capacity to influence the direction of RTVE. These recent measures have Formal independence weakened which sought to get and put control again in partisan hands. Header | RTVE In Xataka | 739 million euros: an audit of the Treasury points to a possible budget hole in RTVE

If Spain is hooked today to programs like ‘OT’ or ‘Big Brother’ is due to a single man: Toni Cruz

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Toni Cruz’s death last Friday at 78 serves us to radiograph the Current Cathodic Business Status. And above all, it is a reliable evidence that those who were architects of television as we know it are retiring or dying (that is, the one that the first years of the private ones were configured). Although for years it was not in front of the camera, its role has been key in some of the greatest successes of recent years. Great successes. Gestmusic launched, in collaboration with public and private channels, great success programs such as’Operation Triunfo‘,’Big Brother‘ either ‘Martian chronicles‘, being a cross essential part of the design and development of these programs. Little can be added to the founding importance of the three: our primeR talent showour first reality and an unclassifiable but very influential program that reached stratospheric audiences at an impossible schedule. The thing did not end there, and with the passage of time, Gestmusic was generating variants of these primal formats, with successes like ‘Rain of stars’, ‘Your face sounds to me’, ‘You do vouchers’, ‘Do not laugh that it is worse’ or ‘Look who dances!’ Cruz and Mainat ended up selling their part of Gestmusic to Endemol in 2017. The Baron of Bidet. For the general public, Toni Cruz became famous since the end of the sixties and even entered the eighties with the trench, in the company of Josep Maria Mainat and Miquel àngel Pasqual. With them he co -length several successful television programs, such as ‘No Passa Res’ (TV3) and ‘Tariro, Tariro’ (TVE), which led him to a large extent how television worked inside. The next step was clear. Gestmusic arrives. In 1987 the trench published its latest album (‘Marro!’) And created the producer Gestmusic. Its foundation coincided with the arrival of private televisions and the massification of regional and local, and their success catapulted when one of the trio members, Pasqual, left the producer due to health problems and sold its part of Gestmusic to one of the most powerful multinationals in the audiovisual world, the Dutch Endemolcreator of the original ‘Big Brother’ format. Two rode together. In a relatively short period of time, two very relevant proper names have disappeared from the national industry, perhaps those that have best defined the tone and style of mass television of the 21st century. Almost three years ago It was Paolo Vasile, who left his position as CEO of Mediaset. Without it we would not have had a format as influential as’Save me‘, in addition to giving green light to programs produced by Cruz himself, such as’ Big Brother’. Between the two agglutinate (one as creative force, another as necessary administrative work from the most successful channel dome for many years) the mass of headers with the greatest impact in Spain in recent decades. It is no longer just about the success of audience of programs such as ‘Operation Triunfo’ or ‘Big Brother’, but beyond the obvious (these two franchises continue to add editions today), their seal is still very present in current programs of great impact. The legacy. For example, one of the most successful programs today is ‘Your face sounds to me’, which has reached maximum of 25.1% quota: it is the nth variant of the ‘Operation Triunfo’ template (interpretation of pop standards, jury, skill), but with the template of “the contestants are famous”. A template that is lately devouring all competitions and realities… And that Gestmusic also invented with the very thunder and unclassifiable ‘Big Brother’ with Celebrities That was ‘Hotel Glam’. Martian chronicles follow. And not only that: the studied balance of dynamics of order and chaos of ‘Martian chronicles’ continues to be in more harmless formats, such as’El Hormiguero‘(He shares part of his production team with the Sardá program). And, of course, with all kinds of pink information programs, starting with ‘Save Me’, also essential to understand the current television formats. So far, so close. Gestmusic and Vasile gave some of the last chest that the industry has lived, taking into account that many of the current success formats are variations of ‘Big Brother’, ‘Operation Triunfo’. Television has always lived to cannibalize its own hits, so regardless of the issues about its future, what is very clear is that Cruz has been an essential part of understanding television in recent decades, and as we have reached what we have now. Header | RTVE – Gestmusic In Xataka | Thirty years later, there is still an unbeatable television format in Spain: desktop soap operas

Target will reduce its diversity and inclusion programs

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Since last week, Several US retailers and companies have announced their decision to reduce their diversity, equity and inclusion DEI programsafter conservative activists spoke out before the White House against these plans and the new administration led by Donald Trump showed its support. According to the president, these policies, which at some point were designed to represent a minority within the population, are unconstitutional. It is for that reason that On his first day as president, Trump signed an executive order proposing to end DEI programs. To date, the companies that have eliminated or reduced these programs are Walmart, McDonald’s, Ford, Harley-Davison, John Deere, Lowe’s and recently Target. Although The retailer had promoted these policies years ago with the aim of helping African-American employees with its “Belonging at the Bullseye” plan. or take the position of corporate advocate for the rights of its LGBTQ+ or even disabled employees, Target announced that it will back off with some plans. Regarding these new adjustments, Kiera Fernández, director of community impact and equity at Target, mentioned in a memo that this is just a “next chapter,” she said, as well as noting that “as a retailer that serves millions of consumers every year, days, We understand the importance of keeping up with the changing external landscape, now and in the future”. Although the company has committed in recent years to giving a voice to minorities during 2023, faced an anti-inclusion social media campaign from its consumers who mentioned that certain items sold in their stores encouraged early sexuality in children. Keep reading: –Walmart has the ideal flashlight on sale: from $189 to $19 for a limited time–5 Hidden Benefits of Sam’s Club Membership–7 Target Items You Should Buy Before Spring for Under $25

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