proven

We have been dreaming of infinite “solar gasoline” for decades. A new material inspired by plants has just proven that it is possible

by

Nature has been keeping a secret in broad daylight for millions of years: photosynthesis. For decades, science has pursued the dream of replicating this process to create clean, sustainable fuels, but “artificial photosynthesis” has always run into walls of inefficiency and technical complexity. Until now. In short. A team of Chinese researchers has developed a method that mimics the natural process of transforming carbon dioxide (CO2) and water into the basic components of gasoline. We are no longer talking about abstract theory; It is a system capable of creating “solar fuel” without depending on expensive chemical additives, bringing us closer to the holy grail of renewable energy. The advance, recently published in the magazine Nature Communicationscomes from a joint team of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. Researchers have designed a new composite material: tungsten trioxide modified with silver atoms (Ag/WO3). The end of chemical “tricks”. The truly revolutionary thing about this “magic dust” is not only its composition, but what it manages to avoid. To date, most attempts at artificial photosynthesis cheated: they used “sacrificial agents”, organic chemical additives (such as triethanolamine) that facilitated the reaction but were irreversibly consumed in the process, making it unsustainable and expensive on a large scale. This new system breaks that barrier. According to the scientific studythe catalyst achieves the light-driven conversion using only pure water (H2O) as an electron donor. No additives, no tricks. The result of this reaction is the efficient production of carbon monoxide (CO). Although it sounds like a harmful substance on its own, in the chemical industry this molecule is pure gold: it is a key intermediate that, mixed with hydrogen, forms the “synthesis gas” necessary to manufacture complex hydrocarbons such as methanol or synthetic gasoline. Air fuel. We are at the gateway to “solar fuels.” The importance of this finding lies in its ability to decarbonize sectors that electric batteries cannot easily cover, such as commercial aviation or heavy shipping. Furthermore, the researchers stand out in their paper who have come up with a “universal strategy”. Its material (Ag/WO3) is not an isolated invention, but a versatile “charger” that can be coupled to various types of catalysts (such as cobalt phthalocyanine, C3N4 or Cu2O) and improve their performance drastically. In fact, by combining this material with cobalt (CoPc), they achieved an efficiency 100 times higher than that of the catalyst acting on its own, equaling the performance of old systems that used polluting additives. It is a pure circular economy: capturing the gas that warms the planet (CO2) and turning it into a valuable resource. The secret is to imitate the leaves. To understand how they have achieved this, you have to look at a tree leaf. In natural photosynthesis, the processes of breaking down water and fixing CO2 are separate. Plants use a molecule called plastoquinone (PQ) to temporarily transport and “store” electrons excited by the sun before using them, acting as an energy buffer. Without this buffer, the electrons would be lost before they could be used. Chinese scientists asked themselves: “Can we build an artificial plastoquinone?” And the answer was tungsten. The developed material works as a bioinspired cargo reservoir: The battery: Under sunlight, tungsten changes its chemical structure (a valence swing from W6+ to W5+), temporarily trapping electrons as if it were a micro-battery. The bridge: When the system needs energy to convert CO2, the silver (Ag) atoms act as a bridge, releasing those stored electrons just at the right moment to recombine with the “gaps” of the catalyst. This solves the big problem of artificial photosynthesis: time and load management. While the water oxidizes, the system “saves” the solar energy to have it ready when the CO2 enters. From the laboratory to the real world. The best thing about this research is that it has not remained a theoretical simulation under perfect lamps. The team built an experimental device equipped with a Fresnel lens (to concentrate light) and took it outside to test it under natural sunlight. The data from the outdoor experiment are revealing: Solar rhythm: The system began to produce detectable gas from 9:00 a.m., reaching its peak production between 1:00 p.m. and 2:00 p.m., faithfully following the intensity of the sun. Durability: The system demonstrated enviable robustness, maintaining its effectiveness over 72-hour test cycles without showing significant downtime. A bridge to the future. As reported by the South China Morning Postthis advancement builds a critical bridge between renewable energy and high-demand industrial applications. The study authors conclude that their work not only eliminates the need for unsustainable sacrificial agents, but provides a versatile design principle for building autonomous photocatalytic systems. Although there is still a way to go to see solar gas stations, the basic science—the mechanism for storing the sun’s energy in a chemical powder—is no longer a theory. Image | freepik Xataka | Germany has had a crazy idea to solve one of the problems of renewables: covering a lake with solar panels

We believed that imagination was exclusive to humans. Kanzi, the bonobo who drinks “invisible coffee”, has just proven the opposite

by

For decades, cognitive science has drawn a firm red line between us and the rest of the animals that is the imagination. Although animals can use tools and even solve complex problems, the ability to disconnect from immediate reality and imagine a scenario that does not exist was considered something exclusive to humans. Until Kanzi arrived. Kanzi. A bonobo that is world famous for its mastery of lexigrams to communicate and that has now starred a published study this week in the magazine Science that could rewrite the books of evolution. And it is no wonder, since Kanzi not only knows how to order food, but also knows how to pretend to eat it when it’s not there yet, and being completely aware of what it does. The tea party. The study published earlier this month presents the strongest evidence to date for the representation of pretend objects in a great ape. And for a human Pretend you are drinking coffee by imagining you have a cup in your hand It is something very simple to do. But until now in apes it was something unthinkable. But to prove us wrong about our exclusive quality, the studio designed an experiment where they sat Kanzi down and interacted with empty objects. Specifically, they pretended to pour juice from an empty bottle into a juice or eat “grapes” that did not really exist. But the best thing is that it was not a simple imitation, but Kanzi followed the game with astonishing precision as if he really imagined it. The juice trick. The objective here was to rule out that Kanzi was simply copying movements without understanding the basic concept, and to do this the team designed three tests. The first of them began with the researcher pretending pouring juice into one of several empty glasses. Kanzi was then asked to interact with them by picking one up. In this case, in 68% of the 50 tests, Kanzi chose the glass that “contained” the imaginary juice, ignoring the other identical but “empty” glasses. Fact versus fiction. This is where the crucial point of the investigation is, since if Kanzi were confused, he would treat real and imaginary juice the same. This was not the case, since when given a choice, Kanzi preferred the real object in 78% of the cases. Something that may seem insignificant, but that shows that it maintains two simultaneous mental representations: the physical reality of the empty glass, and the fake reality where we play that the glass has juice. The same thing happened when imaginary grapes were used instead of juice, where Kanzi maintained a 69% success rate in identifying the location of the pretend food. Decoupling reality. The technical term being discussed here is decoupled secondary representation, which is the brain’s ability to hold an image of the world that contradicts direct sensory information. That is, what is being seen or heard. Until now, it was debated whether this ability emerged with modern human language, but Kanzi’s results suggest that this “spark” of imagination was already present in the common ancestor we share with bonobos and chimpanzees. between 6 and 9 million years ago. This is something that also changes our understanding of childhood play, since when a two-year-old takes a banana and pretends it is a telephone, he is exercising a cognitive muscle that evolution has been refining long before telephones or cultivated bananas existed. Exception or rule. It must be taken into account that these experiments have not been done with just any bonobo, but rather an “enculturated” ape since it has spent its life surrounded by humans and trained in the use of lexigramsmaking it have extraordinary capabilities. This gives rise to some critics, such as comparative psychologist Daniel Povinelli, who usually argue that these results could be the result of intensive training that “humanizes” the ape’s mind, rather than a natural capacity in the wild. Although it is something that the investigation tries to counteract with rigorous controls to ensure that Kanzi was not responding to human clues. Images | Will Rust In Xataka | Humans are evolving live on the Tibetan plateau. And understanding what happens there will be essential in space

We have been using ginger as medicine for 2,500 years. Science has just proven us right

by

Before pharmacies occupied every corner, ginger already existed. What for more than two millennia was the best kept secret of Asian pharmacies, today is undergoing the most rigorous examination of the microscope. This underground stem—technically a rhizome, not a root—has gone from being a simple cookie seasoning to becoming a protagonist in clinical nutrition. As Dr. Joshua Forman, a gastroenterologist in Maryland, says, in an interview with Washington Postsometimes we become obsessed with expensive and complex drugs while ignoring what is in front of us. “It’s funny how the simplest things go unnoticed,” reflects the expert. From the herbalist to the laboratory. “Popular wisdom” is no longer alone, science has taken over with force. A massive review of 109 clinical trials published in Nutrients confirms that ginger is not a placebo; It works, especially when the digestive system rebels. But the findings go beyond simple stomach relief. In fact, a meta-analysis in Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine has brought to the table something unthinkable years ago: its ability to help regulate blood sugar and protect the heart in patients with type 2 diabetes. What does the scientific verdict say? If we look at the evidence, ginger works with almost surgical precision on three fronts. First, in pregnancy; Just 1.5 grams can change a woman’s day with morning sickness. Furthermore, a study in it Taiwanese Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology even compared its effectiveness against menstrual pain with that of ibuprofen, with astonishing results. However, the most fascinating thing happens at the cellular level. Recent research in JCI Insight They suggest that ginger could “stop” the hyperactivity of certain body defenses, something key for those who suffer from lupus. Even in the brain, the magazine Frontiers in Nutrition points to a shield effect that could delay the progression of diseases such as Alzheimer’s by reducing inflammation of neurons. The chemistry of the rhizome. The secret of ginger resides in its compounds bioactives: gingerols, shogaols and zingerones. These compounds act on nerve receptors (such as 5-HT3 and TRPV1) that regulate pain and nausea signals. Additionally, ginger is a real accelerator. In the teststhe stomachs of those who took it took only 12 minutes to empty, almost half that of the control group. Of course, a warning for sailors: it is a master at relieving nausea, but if vomiting has already started, its effect is much less. It is not a “magic” solution for everything. Despite its rise on social networks like TikTok under tags like #GutHealth, experts warn: Be careful with him Ginger Ale: Dr. Forman warns in the post That most commercial ginger sodas contain corn syrup and artificial flavorings, but almost no real ginger. The ideal is a homemade infusion (grating the root and boiling it for 10 minutes). It is not a miraculous “detox”: there is no conclusive evidence that ginger “shots” on an empty stomach detoxify the body or lose weight on their own without a balanced diet. Dangerous interactions: Because ginger inhibits platelet aggregation, it should not be combined with anticoagulants such as warfarin, as increases the risk of bleeding. Science and nature, hand in hand. Ginger has gone from being a simple home remedy to becoming an “evidence-based supportive complementary option.” While it should not replace medical treatment in severe cases, science confirms that this rhizome is one of the few “superfoods” that truly lives up to its name, offering a low-cost and highly effective solution to improve daily quality of life. Image | Unsplash Xataka | There are people taking a “shot” of apple cider vinegar in the morning. Science has an opinion on this

a hotel chain has proven just the opposite

by

The hotel sector put the scream in the sky given the prospect of a possible reduction in working hours to 37.5 hours per week. From tourism employers they predicted an economic catastrophe for the sector, predicting closures and loss of competitiveness. Finally, the reduction in working hours came to nothing after not pass the parliamentary procedure, But the reality experienced by a small hotel chain in the Balearic Islands has been radically different, demonstrating that those fears were far from reality. After apply the reduction of working hours He has fewer problems with the workforce and the business is going from strength to strength. Fears in the sector. The hospitality and tourism sector was one of the most belligerent with applying the change in working hours proposed by the Ministry of Labor to 37.5 hours per week. According to himor published by The reasonsector estimates anticipated an increase of between 6% and 8% in labor costswhich will mean an additional cost of 2,538 million euros overall. The CEHAT employers’ association warned that the reduction to 37.5 hours per week would imply “a loss of competitiveness” and that the employees of the 300,000 companies that make up this sector would work “112 minutes less per week” which, according to them, would break the already delicate economic balance. MarSenses against the current. MarSenses Hotels & Homes is a small hotel chain with five establishments in Mallorca and one in Menorca, assisted by a staff of around 515 workers. In 2023, Rodrigo Fitaroni, CEO of the chain, decided not to wait for the Government to implement the reduction in working hours and began to apply it on his own. In 2024, its entire workforce worked 38.5 hours per week. The results were so positive that this year they have reduced it again to 37.5 hours per week, being pioneers in the adoption of this working day model. Fitaroni explained to Business Insider that they sought to “improve the work-life balance and well-being of the workforce”, and that this reduction was only the first step. “If the reduction in working hours goes well, we will continue to decline. But it will depend on how the worker performs and if productivity continues to be good,” noted the CEO. In addition to the reduction in working hours, the hotel chain has applied a salary increase of 8% in the last two years. Which, added to the reduction of working hours without loss of salary, translates into an average increase much higher than the average for the hospitality sector, which was around 3.8% annually. Results far from estimates. Just like Fitaroni himself counted to the Balearic newspaper Breaking Newsthe results obtained after applying the reduction in working hours contradicted the sector’s estimates. One of the most notable indicators is that the absenteeism levels from work of the chain dropped drastically below 5% from the first year. It is a very notable percentage since the industry average Balearic hotel rates are between 14.8% in Mallorca and 20% in Menorca. These data are accompanied by greater employee commitment and satisfaction, which has translated into an increase in revenue per available room. “We are trying formulas that no one has tried,” declared Fitaroni, who began his career in hospitality working as a waiter. “We come from operational positions and we know what it is like,” says the CEO. Pioneers in caring for their “Kellys”. MarSenses has not only innovated in the application of reduced working hours in the hospitality sector, but has also done so with exceptional measures in one of the most punished groups: housekeepers, popularly known as the “kellys”. The Balearic chain paid special attention to the 30 housekeepers it has on staff. These professionals face very hard work days cleaning between 20 and 30 rooms a day, which generate very intense physical wear. For them, not only does the reduction of the working day apply to 37.5 hours like the rest of the workforce, for those over 58 years of age, the working day is reduced to 32 hours per week. The Country collected the opinion of Sara del Mar García, president of Kellys Unión Baleares, who applauded the initiative of the Balearic hotel company. “MarSenses is a very important step and it is the one that the rest of the hotel chains should take,” said the union representative, alluding to the hospitality agreement in the Balearic Islands that postpones until 2028 the obligation for companies to adopt measures for the well-being of these workers. In Xataka | High level of cleanliness, multilingualism and resilience in the face of setbacks: requirements of a job offer to be “Kelly” Image | MarSensesPexels (Liliana Drew)

Ode to rounded corners, the visual element that has proven Steve Jobs right once again

by

Let’s pay a small tribute to a visual element that we almost never pay attention to, but that is already an integral part of our lives. Let’s talk about rounded corners. They are everywhere and have taken over technology. We love them. We are full of devices and interfaces dominated by rectangles and squares with rounded corners. They are more elegant, softer to look at, much less aggressive and strident. But there is a true psychology behind that way of designing objects and interfaces. For example: since we were little we always knew that sharp corners were dangerous – today corner protectors for children are a big deal. These elements facilitate visual perception, and their introduction into the technological world deserves to be remembered. Steve Jobs was right (again) Andy Hertzfeld was one of the team members who developed the Apple Macintosh. In May 1981 he shared a curious story, now recovered by the Computer History Museum. Lisa OS 1.0. Look at the edges of the calculator app. They are rounded! The protagonist of that story is Bill Atkinson, legendary Apple engineer and Hertzfeld’s partner on that project. At that time Atkinson was working on the development of his QuickDraw application – then called LisaGraf – and although he usually worked from home, if he made any significant progress he would quickly go to the office to show off the improvement. That’s what happened that spring. Atkinson approached Apple’s offices in mythical “Texaco Towers” Cupertino campus and showed how he had added code to be able to draw circles and ovals very easily. Programming that was much more complicated than it seems because square roots were usually involved to achieve it and the Motorola 68000 of the Lisa and the Macintosh did not support floating point operations. Atkinson managed to solve it with calculations that only used addition and subtraction—he was probably inspired by the Bresenham algorithm—and began to fill the screen with circles and ovals while his companions probably smiled in astonishment and satisfaction. But there was someone who was neither too amazed nor too pleased. That someone was Steve Jobs. Upon seeing the demonstration, Jobs said —Okay, circles and ovals are fine, but How about drawing rectangles with rounded corners? Can we do that too? —No, there is no way to do it. “It would actually be really difficult to do, and I don’t really think we need it,” Atkinson replied, probably annoyed that Jobs hadn’t been too impressed with his method for creating circles and ovals. —Rectangles with corners are everywhere! Look around this room! Hello, Mac OS X with rounded corners (2001). Sure enough, the room had objects like whiteboards and tables with rounded corners, and Jobs insisted that they were everywhere and that he only had to look out the window to notice. He ended up convincing Atkinson to take him around the block and point out all the rectangles with rounded corners they saw. After seeing a no parking sign that was rectangular with rounded edges, he said: —Okay, I give up. I’ll see if it’s as difficult as I thought. And he went home to work on the problem. The next afternoon he returned to the office with a huge smile: his new demo I didn’t just draw rectangles with rounded cornersbut it did it almost as fast as it did drawing rectangles with corners. He added that code and called that primitive “RoundRects”. In our pockets we usually carry a device that makes good use of these rectangles with rounded corners. The iPhone, of course, does it. That design element soon became an integral and indispensable part of the Macintosh operating system interface. And it also ended up being part of the hardware (hello, mobile phones with rounded corners) and software design at both Apple and many other technology companies. Source: Freepik. The Cupertino firm also fully integrated it into its iPhones starting in 2013, when iOS 7 and its “squircle” arrivedan even more subtle type of rectangle with rounded corners that he ended up using, for example, in his icons. It was one more example of the particular relevance of a design element that has ended up completely taking over our screens and the technological world. Long live the rounded corners. In Xataka | Many young people already see and hear everything at 1.5x. They didn’t get there by chance: there was a lot of money at stake

Police have proven to be faster confiscating him

by

Exceed speed limits It has consequences. In some cases, the infraction does not exceed some hundred euros and a good review of Card pointswhile the most serious can punish themselves with jail sentences. An Austrian driver who stopped for Circular at 123 km/h With his bugatti chiron, he would have preferred any of the aforementioned sanctions, in order not to have to face the punishment that the Austrian police imposed: seized his car. Bugatti Chiron runs a lot, sir agent A driver in Austria was arrested by the police for leading 123 km/h in an area where the maximum limit was 60 km/h. This speeding, which represents more than double the allowed limit, led the police to apply the usual regulations in these cases: the immediate confiscation of its bugatti chiron. According to him Austrian medium Heutethe incident occurred in the famous Ringstrasse of Vienna, a ring -avenue surrounding the center of Vienna with a 60 km/h speed limit. A Patrol equipped with a mobile radar He took positions in the immediate vicinity of Parliament to control speed infractions in that area. What they did not expect is that they would end up stopping and confiscating a car with 1,500 hp driving twice the speed allowed by a city with such restrictive traffic standards. In his defense, the 38 -year -old driver alleged that the supercar, who carried German registration, belonged to a friend, but this did not prevent the authorities from confiscating the car immediately, as collect in a video Uploaded to YouTube by a witness. In addition to the confiscation of the vehicle, the driver also lost his driving license on the spot. This incident underlines the seriousness with which Austria is trying the Serious traffic infractions, a regulation that It has endorsed recently to dissuade offenders. Touch the image to go to the original message Traffic Law in Austria Austria has recently implemented stricter laws against speeding, allowing vehicle confiscation in cases of serious infractions. This regulation applies to drivers who Speed ​​limits exceedin an effort to reduce accidents and improve road safety in the country. The regulation establishes that, in case of exceeding the limit out of the town in 50 km/ho more than 30 km/h in town, the driver will run out of driving license. In this case, the Chiron driver doubled this maximum limit of 30 km/h when driving at 123 km/h. In addition to these limitations, it is specified that if it circulates above the speed limit at 60 km/h in a populated area (in this case the limit was exceeded at 63 km/h) the car will be retained a maximum of 14 days. The confiscation of luxury vehicles such as Bugatti Chiron sends a clear message that no one is above the law, regardless of its economic status. The Austrian government has been interested in selling the cars it seized, but as the driver claimed at the time of the seizure, he was not the owner of the Support, the procedure would be complicated since it would be necessary to decide whether the property of the owner or responsibility of the driver prevails. 2.5 seconds were enough The bugatti chiron is An exceptional hypercocheequipped with a 8.0 -liter W16 engine and four turbocharger that produces 1,500 hp and 1,600 nm of motor torque. With these benefits, it can accelerate from 0 to 100 km/h in just 2.4 seconds, so a pressure on the accelerator of just over a second would be enough to far exceed the speed limits of the ringstrasse. Its original sale price was around three million euros more taxes, so it is an exemplary sanction for whom They exceed speed limits And, without a doubt, a surprise for the employees of the municipal deposit. In Xataka | Bugatti Veyron was a jewel that cost 1.7 million dollars: Volkswagen lost 6.7 million with each one that sold In Xataka | If you exceed the limit more than 50 km/h, you run out of card: the EU wants to declare war on speeding Image | Unspash (Nikola Tasic), 912fordgt

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.