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We thought this bug was a pig. Now we know that it was two meters tall, weighed a thousand kilos and was a killing machine related to whales.

November 26, 2025 by usatoday24

Almost 200 years ago, a paleontologist found some completely improbable bones. They thought about it a thousand times, tried to find some sense in it; but everything ended in the same delirious image: that of a huge pig with the capacity to destroy everything in front of it. And that’s what we called him for decades: the ‘pig from hell’. What we have just discovered, two centuries later, is that we know almost nothing about them. Now they are even more terrible. But what really is a ‘hell pig’? It is the popular nickname by which entelodonts are known; an extinct family of large prehistoric mammals that lived about 30 million years ago. The bug was described for the first time in the 1840sbut it was in the early 20th century that paleontologists assumed it was closely related to pigs or peccaries. It was not something irrational: on a strictly physical level, entelodonts looked very similar to modern-day pigs. Two meters tall, weighing more than a thousand kilos and jaws capable of crushing bones, but pigs nonetheless. With “crushing bones” we are falling short. Recently, a team from Vanderbilt University could examine in detail the teeth of these animals and, thanks to three-dimensional models of dental microwear, they have managed to turn around everything we thought we knew about the role of these animals in North American ecosystems 30 million years ago. Your conclusions they leave no room for doubt: “the largest specimens were capable of crushing bones with an efficiency similar to or even greater than that of lions and hyenas.” Luckily, they weren’t very smart; And, according to the researchers, “it has a brain-body relationship similar to that of reptiles, so they were very unintelligent creatures.” A complex story. At first, experts thought that this monstrous animal was a born hunter. Then, partly because of this familiarity with pigs, they came to the conclusion that they were omnivorous animals, capable of eating small animals and carrion. Now, thanks to this team, we know that they were most likely at the top of the food chain of their ecosystems. This, in fact, raises the possibility that different species (or subspecies) occupied different ecological niches. However, there are curious things. To begin with, entelodonts have nothing to do with pigs. In fact, they are closer to whales and hippos than anything else. But, above all, it shows us the difficulties we continue to have in understanding our past. Little by little, we are understanding that if our way of looking at the past conditions the futureour ability to understand what the world was like 30 million years ago will radically change many things we think we are. And the best thing is that, even though I get melancholic and retrospective, everything we know makes it clear that the “pig from hell” is more infernal than ever. Image | Carnegie Museum of Natural History In Xataka | The deaths of cows, reindeer or rhinos are not a mystery: they are the consequences of a curse, that of “large animals”

Here are all the degrees related to technology and science with their cutting notes

May 30, 2025 by usatoday24

In just a few days the University Access TestAka the Pau. It is a very marked date for the more than 300,000 students who have been preparing for at least two years to face these exams. It is not for less. Pau marks the end of one stage and the beginning of another, one that means making the leap to the university world and prepare for the professional world. If, after considering the different options, you have decided that your future is to study a university degree, the same doubt arises that arose to many at the time: which one to choose. If you usually visit Xataka or you like what we are dealing with on this website, it is possible that You are interested in technology, science, engineering, space or health. Thus, we have filtered each and every grades of each and every one of the faculties and cities so that, at a glance, you can see the offer of degrees, where they are taught and its cut -off note. The degrees of degrees related to technology and its cuts of cuts That the following table with its 1,021 cells does not intimidate you. Using it is really easy. In the upper part you will see a search engine. In it you can introduce the name of the degree, such as “computer engineering”, “artificial intelligence”, “mathematics” or “biotechnology.” You can also search for a city. In any case, and choose the filter you choose, You can order the offer of degrees by cutting note. By default, order is from highest to minor. If you are looking for another degree or want to know other cutting notes, RTVE has a very useful search engine on its website. How you can check, the degree with the greatest cutting note is the double degree of physics and mathematics at the University of Seville: A 13,764. The lowest is the minimum to approve: a five. The offer of degrees that can be accessed with the minimum note is wide and includes endless engineering. In fact, the vast majority of engineering between five and eight on average, and the number of places is usually wide. And that is good news. According to the study “The employability of young people in Spain 2024” of the CYD Foundation on work outputs according to the university career, engineering (electrical, industrial electronics, software development, telecommunications, etc.) are those that offer better working conditions in terms of Stability in contractssalaries and affiliation rates. On the other hand, the Emerging jobs and sectors report 2024 highlights the Professional boom in AI. The demand for data engineers and Machine Learning has grown 625% since 2019, and that of artificial intelligence engineers an annual 83%, both with very low competence of candidates for offer. Last year they enrolled to do 341,831 students and 90.2% approved. That is, 295,250 students took a five or more. Another thing is the average note. In 2024, the average grade of those presented to the general and specific part (necessary to aspire to remove a note greater than ten points) was 7.05 nationwide. If we talk about the degrees contemplated in the upper table, The average note is 8.87 points. Image | Flickr (University of Seville) In Xataka | Pau, EBAU or EVAU 2025: What are the dates in each autonomous community for the selectivity exam

We have discovered that cutting the consumption of an amino acid is related to more life expectancy. In mice, yes

April 21, 2025 by usatoday24

Virtually anything, in excess, can end up being harmful. Water is no exception and amino acids, the “bricks of life” are not. This was demonstrated by a study conducted from one of those compounds. In moderation. In study, conducted in mice, noticed that cutting the intake of isoleucine in the diet of animals helped increase the life expectancy of rodents by 33%. Isoleucine. Isoleucine is one of the essential amino acids. Amino acids are essential molecules for life as they represent The links from which proteins are created. We know thousands of proteins, all of them composed from about twenty amino acids. Our body can synthesize more than half of the amino acids that it requires to create proteins, but nine of these amino acids, the so -called essential, we must obtain them from our food. This is the case of isoleucine, an amino acid that we can find in a diversity of foods such as eggs, soybeans, meat and fish. A previous track. The study started from a Previous indication. A study conducted ten years ago in the state of Wisconsin observed that the diets of people with obesity were richer in this amino acid than the average population. In mice. For Study this correlationthe team went to the laboratory and studied its effect on mice. Laboratory animals divided into three groups: one control, to which no food restrictions were applied, another whose diet was altered to reduce the presence of amino acids, and another whose diet was normal in the presence of amino acids except in Isoleucine. The amount of isoleucine that this group received was ⅔ less than the standard. The mice were six months when they started these diets, which would be equivalent to an age of 30 years in humans. Analziating results. The team observed that the two groups of mice with amino acid restiring lost body fat at the beginning but those who had all the restricted amino acids lost it again soon. More important, the team observed that mice in this diet with less isoleucine increased their life expectancy: 7% in females and 33% in males. Another relevant detail that they observed is that the mice in this diet would ingest more calories. Possibly, they point out, to compensate for the lack of nutritional contribution of this component. Despite this, they also burned more of these calories, which led them to maintain a lower body mass than the rest of the study mice. The details of the study were published In an article In the magazine Cell metabolism. And what about humans? The team responsible for the study was likely that the restriction of this amino acid can have a similar effect on humans. For now that possibility is little more than speculative but the fact that the greatest presence of this amino acid in the diets of people with obesity is already observed implies another indication of the existence of some relationship. Beyond the biological differences between one species, the human diet is much less controllable than that of laboratory mice. The field of nutrition is extremely complex, with an infinity of nutrients, some of which interact with each other. He effect of other factors As our physical activity or tobacco consumption also affect our health and our life expectancy, making it difficult to elucidate the net impact of a nutrient on the human body. In Xataka | We believed that creatine was one of the most useful supplements to gain muscle mass. We are no longer so sure Image | Moerschy

We knew that smell and memory are closely related. And that unlocks an advantage: detect the Alzheimer’s

March 24, 2025 by usatoday24

Alzheimer’s disease may be difficult to detect. The symptoms of this disorder usually become evident only after the progress of this dementia, which is a huge problem. And, in the absence of a definitive cure, our ability to stop the impact of the disease depends largely on early detection. Smell. One of the clues we have when detecting Alzheimer’s in its early stages is through smell. A study conducted by researchers from the University of Chicago analyzed the impact of the disease on our sensory capacity and detected that there is a rapid loss of smell when making us greater could predict with some accuracy The advent of Alzheimer’s disease. Smell of Magdalena. The relationship between memory and smell is very narrow. We know that the evocative capacity of smells It did not go unnoticedbut in recent decades science He has been confirmed This unique connection. The reason for this close relationship can be anatomical. The olfactory bulb is the region of the brain that processes in the first instance the smells and then send the signal to other areas of the brain. This signal crosses key areas of the limbic system, areas linked to emotions and memory. “The olfactory signals reach the limbic system very quickly,” Explain to The Harvard Gazette Venkatesh Murthy, head of the university’s cell and molecular biology department. 515 participants. The study of the University of Chicago had 515 participants, advanced adults, registered in the memory and aging project of the Rush University. These participants were examined annually, exams that test their cognitive abilities to detect signs of dementia. These tests also studied their ability to identify odors, in addition to other health -related parameters. More than memory loss. The team thus found a new link between smell and memory: a rapid loss of olfactory capacity prior to any cognitive loss could predict the arrival of various symptoms associated with Alzheimer’s. These symptoms included a lower volume of gray matter in the areas of the brain linked to smell and memory, cognitive loss and a greater risk of dementia. They also found a relationship between this olfactory loss and the presence of the APOE-E4 gene, a genetic variant considered risk factor in the advent of Alzheimer’s. The details of the study were published In an article In the magazine Alzheimers & Dementia. “This study provides another clue on how a rapid loss of the meaning of smell is a very good indicator of what will end structurally in specific regions of the brain,” ” explained in a press release Jayant M. Pinto, co -author of the study. Get ahead of the disease. Alzheimer’s is an incurable disease for now, but there are different treatments that allow us to delay the development of its symptoms. For that, we must get ahead of the disease as much as we can. Something difficult in a disorder that only shows its consequences once the disease is advanced. “If we could identify their 40, 50 or 60 people with greater risk, we could potentially have enough information to aim them in clinical trials and develop better medications,” also added in a press release Rachel Pacyna, work caoautora. Own initiative. The fact that the change in our smell is rapid and before the arrival of cognitive deterioration opens an important window, putting the patient itself in warning. And it is that most of the ways we have to detect the appearance of dementia is through external evaluations, for example when family members detect memory problems or In language. The loss of smell is something that, in principle, It can be striking to the patient himself and put it on guard or encourage him to seek medical advice. When the smell of the Magdalena stops bringing us memories, perhaps what we are playing is not only the evocation of a memory. In Xataka | We have a new “theory of all” to understand Alzheimer’s. Your key is in small granules Image | Cottonbro Studio

There is no reason why the price of light rises. There is a storm of reasons and are related to gas

February 6, 2025 by usatoday24

Europe does not leave one to get into another. Why has the price of light uploaded this time? Beyond that we have returned to the VAT of 21% in the light invoice, if you have noticed an increase in the price of electricity and gas lately it is for the delicate moment that the natural gas industry lives again in Europe. The perfect storm of gas. This is how They call analysts To a confluence of factors in the gas industry that has the unfortunate European consumers suffering the consequences on the electricity bill. Regulatory measures that come to an end, a sudden reconfiguration of supply routes and the increase in demand for wind shortage have generated a scenario in which electricity prices have firing again, affecting both homes and To industries. Goodbye to the top in the price. More than two years ago that the European Union established a stop at the price of gas as an emergency measure to counteract speculation and relieve the crisis caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. That mechanism expired on January 31so now the reality is different. Much of Europe has started the month of February heating with gas, but without a “firewall” that slows the expense, a situation that has raised criticism of several Eurodiputados. Italy in particular asked to reconsider or adjust the threshold so that consumers do not pay excessive prices. Total interruption of Russian gas. At the same time, the energy relationship between Europe and Russia has not gone to better. The Total gas traffic interruption Through Ukraine, an agreement that since 1991 allowed Moscow to supply the continent, has left several countries in a vulnerability situation. One of the most affected countries It is Moldovawhich is not yet part of the EU block. Although the dependence on Russian gas is getting smaller, the supply maintained relative stability throughout the region. The new gas routes. Given the disappearance of the traditional route, Europe has had to resort to alternatives such as Liquefied natural gas that comes to us by ship from the United StatesCatar and Australia, or the limited use of gas pipelines such as Turkstream. These sources allow to maintain the flow of energy in exchange for a much higher cost than the gas transported by land, which translates into rates of up to 50 euros per megavatio hour and, therefore, a direct rise in the prices of the prices of the prices of the light. A WINDER WITHOUT WIND. The impact is aggravated in the electricity sector, where the demand for gas for generation has reached historical levels. The most flagrant case It happened in Germany because of the famous Dunkelflautebut the analyst Pedro Cantuel He points out that Spain registered in December 2024 the highest demand in ten years. And reservations going down. The last edge of this scenario are gas deposits. Point out Bloomberg that storage levels in key countries such as France and the Netherlands are below the objectives set by the European Commission, adding a layer of uncertainty for next winter. The Difficulty replenishing these storesaggravated by summer contracts with high prices, it is a real risk for the security of the supply that has ended up affecting, like everything else, on the electricity bill. Image | Endesa In Xataka | Forget the industrial revolution: the fastest energy change in human history is happening now In Xataka | 2025 is the beginning of the end for gas boilers in Spain. European regulations have started its long withdrawal

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