researchers

Some researchers believe that AI is making us more dumb. We have listening the same from the calculator

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The AI ​​is making us dumb. A recent study has revived an old fear: that of technology by decorcing our cognitive abilities. It has happened with writing, calculators, television or internet. With the irruption of Great language modelsAI is in the center of the debate, but does it really make us more dumb? A MIT study. A few days ago a study conducted by MIT researchers About the “cognitive cost of using chatgpt in the educational context of writing an essay.” In the study, which lasted four months and had 54 participants, they wrote an essay a month while monitored by electroencephalography. The participants were divided into three groups: one used chatgpt, another used the search for Google and the third did not use any tool. The group that used Chatgpt gave the worst results in brain activity and also became more lazy with each essay they wrote. It has logic. If we use a tool to do a homework for us, the natural thing is to stop doing that task manually. Thanks to the calculators we no longer need to do great operations by hand. Having a GPS we arrive at our destination without having to memorize the route and with a search engine like Google it is no longer necessary to know by memory all the rivers of Spain. With the AI ​​we already saw how Some programmers no longer know. The key question that arises is: does this dependence imply a real decrease in our intelligence? A historical fear. It is not the first time that we fear that a new technology will become less intelligent, in fact it is a constant fear throughout history. In the 370 AC, Socrates already questioned if the writing was weakening our ability to memorize (the funny thing is that he did it In a book). With the pocket calculators came the fear that we forget to perform math operations by hand. A fear that It was fulfilled (Who makes divisions by hand having calculator?), But that does not mean that we are worse in mathematics. In fact, this Meta analysis He concluded that calculators do not negatively affect performance and even improve the attitude towards mathematics. Technology and brain. For years we wanted to know the effects of new technologies on our brain and television has been in the spotlight. In This studythe researchers verified how seeing films our brain entered a mode of “low demand” similar to that of deep sleep. In This other study They conclude that seeing a lot of television is associated with a lower volume of gray matter. Something similar concluded This study about the effect of playing a lot of video games. The Internet was a radical change in the way we access information. In This 2011 studythe ‘Google effect’ was coined or how, when we know that we can access the information whenever we want, we tend to memorize less specific data. Instead, we remember better how and where to find that information. Without clear evidence. Studies that say that technology makes us dumb either lazy There are many, but there are also others who claim that There is no clear evidence that it is so. The appearance of new technologies changes the way we entertain ourselves, we look for information or work, but that does not necessarily imply that there is long -term damage in our cognitive ability. The comparative advantage. The theory of Comparative advantage It was developed by David Ricardo in the early nineteenth century in the context of international trade and is defined as the ability to produce a good or service at a lower opportunity cost than others. In his Column in The Free Presseconomist Tyler Cowen applies this theory to the IA issue. The opportunity cost in this case is the time and energy that we dedicate to a task or, as they say in the study of MIT, the cognitive cost. Less effort does not mean more silly. Following the concept of comparative advantage, memorizing the capitals of all countries would mean a high cognitive cost, greater effort. Here the AI ​​would have a comparative advantage over us because its effort is almost null. On the other hand, when performing more creative and analytical tasks, such as writing an essay on geopolitics, we have the comparative advantage. We can interpret it as if it reduces our capacity, or we can interpret it as AI is an assistant who deals with more repetitive tasks so that we can focus on the most important. It is not the AI, it is we. Returning to the analogy with the calculator: it is not the same to use it to make complex operations than to depend on it to add 1+2. Obviously, what chatgpt does Little has to do compared to the calculator. The abilities of language models are infinitely higher and the risk to depend too much on it for too many things It is very real. However, There are psychologists who affirm That the impact on our intelligence will depend on the use we make of it. As the psychologist Jason Lodge says in This great articleAI is the electric bike of the mind. To close, the best example I can give you is this article. Reading all the studies that I have cited and draw conclusions would probably have taken more than one working day. What I have done is ask Gemini, Chatgpt and Perplexity to summarize some of these texts. It has helped me to understand everything better and faster. Or I could have asked for That the whole text and copy it literally And I wouldn’t have learned anything. Image | Gemini In Xataka | Chatgpt is taking some people to the edge of madness. Reality is less alarmist and much more complex

How to predict the next epidemic? For researchers the solution is very simple: using AI

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It arrives with heat, sneaks without invitation and leaves its trace on the skin: a red mark, an insistent itching, a sleepless night. The mosquito does not need a presentation; His buzz is part of summer. Now, we share our life with another invisible being: artificial intelligence. Silent, precise, without wings or sting, has begun to fight a battle with the old enemy. And in this story, only one can stay. The battle. A team of researchers from the University of Southern Florida, led by biologist Ryan Carney and computer engineer Sriram Chellappan, They have developed An intelligent surveillance system that uses artificial intelligence to identify, track and combat the most dangerous mosquito of the moment: Anopheles Stephensian urban vector of malaria that has already begun to expand in Africa. A unique method. The project key is to join advanced technology with citizen participation. On the one hand, they are developing intelligent traps equipped with artificial intelligence, capable of attracting, capturing and automatically identifying mosquitoes. On the other hand, the project relies on mosquitodashboard.orga global platform released in 2022 that collects photographs of mosquitoes sent by people from their mobile phones. Thanks to a visual recognition system, the panel identifies the species and generates in real time an interactive map that helps scientists follow the trail of the most dangerous vectors. And why? Chellappan team has developed unique algorithms capable of identifying a mosquito with only one photo, automatically recognizing its head, thorax, abdomen, wings and legs. This anatomical classification allows to distinguish species with great precision, even in challenging conditions. As He explained To Reuters, the advance in AI has allowed to identify where the diseases carrying diseases are because then the public health authorities can go there and launch control efforts to prevent new outbreaks. A global alert. Behind this technological deployment there is a real urgency, since mosquitoes such as the malaria transmitter are adapting and surviving in urban environments. However, there is a solution, because researchers have estimated for Reuters that smart traps could be manufactured for less than $ 150, which would facilitate their massive distribution as an early warning system in vulnerable regions. A war with many fronts. Although artificial intelligence promises to revolutionize the fight against mosquitoes, it is not enough by itself. “It will require more than one strategy,” He has warned Entomologist Tom Mascari in statements to Reuters. Technology is a key ally, but does not replace traditional measures such as the use of repellent. What is coming. In the next five years, the Carney and Chellappan team has planned to improve its algorithms, incorporate more species into the system and train a new generation of African scientists. The idea is that the fight against mosquito does not depend only on technology, but also on international knowledge and collaboration. And, perhaps, for the first time, the buzz of summer is not only a nuisance, but an opportunity to anticipate the enemy. Image | USF Xataka | Elche has proposed to release 2.4 million tiger mosquitoes in his city. He does it for a good reason

Some researchers have calculated mathematically which are the most tourist cities in the world. Bad news, Barcelona

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Each summer Barcelona usually Be news in the foreign press for its attractiveness as a tourist destination. After all, its mixture of Mediterranean climate, beach, culture, architecture and gastronomy attract every year to hundreds of thousands of travelers from other parts of the world. However in July 2024 The Ciudad Condal monopolized holders in the media of the entire planet for a rather different reason: fed up with saturation, a group of neighbors dedicated himself to shooting visitors with water guns next to posters in which messages such as “Tourists Go Home” were read. That was a sample (The nth) The impact of the sector in the Catalan capital, a phenomenon that has now been black on white in A study which identifies Barcelona as the city most pressured by tourism. Tourist density. That is the parameter that has analyzed Nomad Esim in A report published a few days ago, a study in which he is dedicated to examining how Overurism It is affecting some of the most popular destinations in the world. To do this, it has basically valued two parameters: the size of the cities and the number of foreign visitors who receive each year, which allows it to calculate their “density” of travelers. With the results it has elaborated A 40 -cities ranking Headed by Porto, Cancun and Barcelona, ​​which leads the list. Why’s that? Nomad technicians have estimated that Barcelona receives about 20.37 million tourists who are forced to be distributed by an urban area of 101 square kilometerswith what the concentration of visitors per km2 amounts to 201.722. There is no other city on the list that approaches him. The second in the ranking, Cancun, has 147,887 tourists per km2 and in Porto do not even reach 144,000. The fourth place is occupied by New York, with 137,712, which Dubrovnik (112,500), Florence (107,843), Kyoto (98,651) and Lisbon (88,000). Mallorca occupies the 37th position, with 5,137, and Paris the 29th (16,820). Issue of density and size. That data does not mean that Barcelona is the one that receives the most tourists. Not much less. New York, Kyoto, Los Angeles, Paris, Las Vegas or London (to quote only some examples) receive more visitors than the city, according to the information that Nomad Esim manages, but its largest urban extension explains that the tourist massification is not so high. The data of the report They must also be taken as what they are: a report, with their biases and limitations. His estimate of tourists does not coincide for example with the global data that the city handled in the late 2024 (15.5 million). In 2023 the observatori of tourism spoke of 15.6 million of visitors, balance that rose to 25.9 million if the region was taken into account, not just the city. The report It is interesting in any case because it provides clues about other destinations and connects with a feeling that has been breathed for years in Barcelona: The discomfort from the neighbors for the tourist. The pressure on residents. In his report, Nomad has done something else: calculating the “pressure” that tourism exerts on the local population of each of the destinations. To do this he crossed the flow of tourists from each city and its census. The most bulky data is taken in that case Orlando, with 241 tourists for each resident. They are followed by Santorini (220), Queenstow (116), Mykonos (105) and Cozumel (94). Barcelona occupies the 24th place of the international list, with an average of 13 visitors per local, a result slightly lower than that of Mallorca (20). If both metrics are mixed, the surface, total register of neighbors and influx of tourists, the first in the list is Cancun, followed by Orlando, Dubrovnik, Kyoto, Florence and witches. Barcelona is in tenth place and Mallorca in the 32nd. Of the imforms to the streets. The study is interesting because it gives a measure of the pressure that great destinations support, including Barcelona or Mallorca, a phenomenon that has caused resident mobilizations that claim a more sustainable tourist model. The Protest with guns Water was surely the most media, but not the only one: in Barcelona (as in other locations) the neighbors have taken to the streets to show their rejection of massification or demand a greater access to housing, a market conditioned for tourist pressure. The risk: die of success. Saturation supposes something else: a threat to the quality and future of its own destination. The “No List 2025” of Fodor´s, one of the most solera guides among the Anglo -Saxon travelers already has proposed To their readers who “reconside” spend their vacation in three emblematic destinations in Spain that face the risk of dying of success or are directly saturated. Which is it? Canary Islands, Mallorca … and Barcelona, ​​who share a list with international destinations such as Bali, Venice, Lisbon, Koh Samui (Thailand) or Agrigento (Sicily). It is not that they have asked for charm, but about the consequences that tourist success is having in the functioning of cities. Image | Sung Shin In Xataka | The tourism paradox in Spain: if you have not reserved your vacation in the Canary Islands, it is possible that the same thing costs to go to the Caribbean

Coffee is more expensive than ever. Some researchers have discovered how to make it the same as rich using less coffee

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Cocoa and coffee have experienced a Notable price increase This 2025. different Geopolitical factors, climatic and of transport They have caused the price of coffee to reach absurd limits. For some executives of coffee companies, we are immersed in one “unsustainable bubble”And it is logical that, with coffee at the point more expensive for the last 50 yearslet’s ask ourselves how to prepare the best coffee wearing fewer grains. A group of scientists already has the answer: taking advantage of the Fluid dynamics. And they have reached the same conclusion that the baristas have been promulgating for years. The problem. 2024 meant the culmination of an upward trend: the price of coffee had Uploaded almost 170% in the last decade. A Perfect storm I was promoting that the crops were more scarce in the main coffee producing countriestariffs have not helped, transport has also been sometimes interrupted and there are brands that absorbed the impact of the price increase Until they stopped doing it. Filter coffee. This price increase affects both robust variety like Arabicaand a group of researchers from the University of Pennsylvania wondered if they could make an excellent coffee wearing less grains. Arnold Mathijssen is an assistant professor at the Faculty of University Arts and Sciences and Comment That, although there are several research on fluid mechanics and many others on particles, they have joined both to see if they can enhance coffee extraction. To do this, they focused on one of the elaborations that allows the most control when making coffee: The filter. Here we can precisely establish the temperature of the water, we control how it affects coffee, the amount of grain, the milliliters of water and, With a good millwe can find the right grain thickness to optimize extraction. The perfect point. The team used high -speed cameras to measure water penetration in coffee and the truth is that it did not use techniques that the baristas did not know, but it is interesting to know how they evaluated the process. Margot Young is co -author of study And he states that, before starting directly with coffee, they used transparent silica gel particles in a glass cone (such as the classic Chemex) to see the path that follows the water. With the high -speed chamber and several sensors, they observed how small avalanches were produced inside the “coffee” bed. Little by little, water with a constant jet, the particles mixed better, improving coffee extraction by increasing contact between liquid and grains. They played with different heights, They discovered That, when the water is poured from too much height, the jet breaks into drops that drag air to the cone and the grains, reducing the efficiency of the extraction. If the coffee is poured very close, the penetration is insufficient and the contact between water and grains is reduced. The jug with the swan neck. It is also in a bull or boiler Adequate teapot. To take advantage of fluid dynamics and maximize contact between the elements, Ernest Park, co -author of the study, comments that it is essential to use a swan’s neck. They are with an elongated and curved ‘pitorro’ that allow consistent and precise jet. “If you use a conventional teapot, it is difficult to control where the flow goes,” says Park, “and if the flow is not constant, it does not penetrate enough.” In real experiments with coffee, measurements confirmed that extraction can be optimized by prolonging the spill time using slow and constant movements to take advantage of that Avalancha dynamics. If it is not done at fair speed and height, coffee will be stronger or softer because it will be above or sub -expire. Beyond coffee. It is curious that they have used measurements and physical theories to, as we say, to reach the same conclusion that the baristas have been proclaiming in books and channels like YouTube: A swan neck, slow circular movements and a medium height when preparing filter coffee is ideal to maximize extraction and be able to make a good coffee with less grains. It is interesting to see that this booklet is the one that any coffee enthusiast can have, controlling temperatures, amounts and extraction times However, the researchers comment that they did not do this for fun. Mathijssen says they had “the tools of other projects and we realized that coffee was an interesting model system to explore deepest physical principles that go beyond the kitchen.” For example, this type of fluid behavior helps to understand how water erodes the rock under waterfalls or in the dams. ” “You can start with something small, such as coffee, and end up discovering mechanisms that are important at industrial scales” – Mathijssen The importance of science. But well, beyond “I came looking for money and found gold”, it must be said that coffee and science are very close. And it is not so much a search on how to prepare the best coffee using less grains, but a way to optimize the elaborations to have the best possible drink. He MIT has a course in which students and researchers seek to prepare the perfect cup controlling all the processes and techniques to achieve it. They combine elements, play with temperatures and pressures and calculate everything millimeter to obtain knowledge that They move to Café Diario thanks to the development of better techniques, more sophisticated tools and industrial processes (such as grinding or roasted) much more precise. Images | For City, Ernest Park, James Hoffmann

Eating slowly is an old trick to satisfy us before. Now some researchers have an idea to make it easier: spicy

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The spicy is a culinary element that is indifferent. It is not considered a flavor like sweet or acid, what molecules such as capsaicin do is “deceive” our sense of touch and make it think that we are burning ourselves. An evolutionary mechanism to prevent us from eating the fruit of some plants. More spicy, less calories? Now a team of researchers He has discovered A new potential in the spicy, to help us ingest less calories. The team observed in its study that the ardor feeling made the participants consume less food and with it, less calories. The key may be in something that we already know about previous studies: eating more slowly makes us eat less. What I would do The spicy It would be to eat slower, which in turn would increase the feeling of satiety and indirectly, causing us to eat less. “We know for previous studies that when people (eat) more slowly, they eat significantly less,” pointed in a press release Paige Cunningham, co -author of the study. “We suspected that making a more spicy meal could stop people. We think, we are going to try, in controlled laboratory conditions, if a small amount of spicy (…) will make people eat more slowly and therefore eat less.” Sweet, or spicy paprika. In his study, the team carried out three experiments in which a total of 130 people participated. The team prepared different versions of the same dish (more or less spicy) altering the proportion between sweet and spicy paprika in order to keep the taste altering only the spicy. “Science is proof and error. I prepared a recipe, and I saw how far the spicy could take, then we tried it,” Cunningham explained. The team recorded the participants during the food to monitor their behavior when eating. They checked how how much food they consumed, but also the water they drank, the duration of the food, speed, rhythm of chewing, etc. It is not water, that time. They could see that the participants ate less and that they did it more slowly, something that can explain as a mediating cause in the relationship. The team was able to contrast this with an alternative hypothesis, the possibility that they ate less because they drank more water and that is why they were filled before. This turned out to be the case. The details of the study have been published In an article In the magazine Food Quality and Preference. It is not always easy. According to the team itself, previous studies have revealed that various food properties, such as texture and even food shape can have similar effects. Even A recent study Performed by the same team indicated that something similar happens when we burn with a food too hot. Introducing auditory patterns can also help. A Recent study He pointed out that there are different factors, for example gender, which affect the speed with which we eat our food. The same study indicated that there are also external factors, such as rhythmic patterns, which can make us eat faster or more slowly. In Xataka | We have been studying chocolate and tea compounds for more than 75 years. Now we know that they help control blood pressure Image | Qurratul Ayin Sadia

We have been trying to recover the concentration for years using white noise. These researchers believe that we are self -taught

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In 1984, the German director Philip Gröning He wrote to the prior of the Great Cartuja requesting permission to record a film about the isolated and lonely life of the Cartujos monks in the heart of the French Alps. That is, about the great silence. The monks told him they had to think about it and thought about it for 16 years. He left everything recorded in ‘Into the great silence‘And every time I cross the movie I think about the same thing: that this deep and dense silence is an endangered species. In the modern world We can only use noise cancellation And, if perhaps, put on white, pink or brown noise. Or we believed. But is it really for something? That is what Joel T. Nigg and his colleagues from Oregon Health & Science University have wondered. In A recent article They have systematized everything that is known so far and, although there is good news, their conclusions are a jug of cold water. To start because, although it is an issue that is spoken a lot, there is no quality research that is based. NIGG’s team He just found 13 Useful studies (with 335 participants in total). The sample was limited, but enough to explore how the different types of noise affect the attention and cognitive function in young children and adults. And what have they discovered? Indeed, as we thought“White and pink noise improve performance in tasks that require attention for those who have ADHD symptoms.” For going to the data, they found “a small but significant positive effect (improvement of between 8 % and 10 %) in the executive care” of these people. In addition, the results are surprisingly consistent. In fact, it seems, those who were not medicated, obtained better results. What is the problem, then? That the effect is reverse in the case of people who did not have ADHD. “In this case, white and pink noise negatively affected the performance in the task,” Emily Reynolds explained. A notice to navigators. Because on the one hand, it is a good sign that, often, the information we obtain online, from mouth and even the theoretically reliable sources. The evidence available in these fields is usually much more anecdotal than we would like to confess. However, we should not exaggerate the conclusions of this work. After all, as the authors themselves saidthe investigation is scarce and not as good as we would need. That allows us to draw some conclusions, discard some things; But do not unbrush all the pitch. So … we must stop putting white noise? At least we should rethink it if what we want is to concentrate. It can be used for other things and, who knows, there may be cases that are better than the alternative (listening to music, having the background TV …); But in general terms, it seems that it would be necessary to rethink it a bit. Image | ICONS8 TEAM In Xataka | Four experts explain what it really is like to have a good night: sleeping “of a pull” is a myth

While half the world seeks more lithium, some researchers from China have eliminated it from the equation: batteries with bacteria

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The shortage of critical resources such as lithium and cobalt has been being a warningsince they are essential for the manufacture of batteries. However, a group of Chinese engineers have found a solution that does not require mining or polluting processes: it only needs bacteria. The study. Researchers from the Shenzhen Advanced Technology They have developed A battery that works with live bacteria. These microorganisms are electroactive, that is, they produce electricity. So the system uses hydrogels that contain living bacteria To conduct electricity and generate it, in addition within the soft material they are protected. Tangible applications Biobatería has a small size and ability to generate energy autonomously, ideal for integrating into portable devices, especially in the medical field. One of its most promising uses is the precise control of physiological functions such as blood pressure, by directed bioelectric stimulation. In this way, a door opens to new forms of physiotherapy, real -time monitoring and devices that do not require frequent recharge or toxic materials. More technical. Biobatería generates electricity thanks to the activity of bacteria such as Shewanella Oneidensis MR-1, which are contained in a alginate-based gel. The material It can be molded With 3D printers, which allows to design it. Its size of 20 mm in diameter and 3.2 mm high contains: a gel with bacteria that acts as an anode, another gel with a chemical that acts as a cathode, and a special membrane that allows the passage of ions between them. Replaces lithium? Its specific capacity (0.4 mAh/g) and energy density (0.008 WH/L) are lower than those of lithium -ion batteries, this biobatría offers a more sustainable alternative: it does not use critical materials or toxic components. In addition, it maintains a bacterial viability of 70 % during its operation and reaches 97.6 % at the end, which speaks of remarkable stability and efficiency. Forecasts Biobaterías are still far from reaching lithium in capacity or energy density. But what they lose potentially, compensate for it with other virtues: they are recharged alone, they are highly efficient and, above all, biocompatible. These qualities make them especially suitable for very specific uses, such as nerve stimulation, control of physiological functions or the operation of bioportile devices. Image | Unspash and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory – PNNL Xataka | Biological batteries? These bacteria can create a world based on renewable energies

Overcoming our brain when making the purchase is not easy. Some researchers have developed a tool to achieve it

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“Codazo theory.” It’s how we could translate Anglo -Saxon expression, “Nudge Theory”, Which refers to the study of actions focused on giving us A “little push” Towards a specific decision. The concept is especially used in the context of the behavioral economy, That place where the economy is mixed with psychology. We know that companies often resort to these “pushcins” to lead us to purchases that generate more benefits but can we use this tool to improve health? Digital tool. The answer is yes, and there are many researchers who work to develop this type of tools. The last It has been developed By a team of Duke-Nus Medical School and it is a digital tool that aims to facilitate the task of choosing healthier products in our purchase on-line. An imperfect system. Choosing healthier food products is not always easy. Yes, we can always make sure that our purchase car is full of fruits, vegetables and other basic foods to cook at home, but this option is not always realistic. Labeling systems such as Nutriscore They can help us choose better, but they have Important limitations. The first is that evaluating the healthy of a product in a simple index is not always easy and sometimes leads us to important inconsistencies. The second, that this index must compete with marketing strategies that seek to buy a product, regardless of how healthy or ceases to be. Beyond labeling. To exceed these limitations, Duke-Nus’s team designed a digital tool destined to facilitate a purchase on-line better informed at nutritional level. This tool complemented the information available on the Internet purchase page, adding additional information. This additional information included a traffic light based on the index Nutriscore of products, complemented with other tools. First, the page ordered the products based on this index, first showing the healthiest products instead of doing it alphabetically. Second, the tool incorporated the follow -up of the products in the purchase car, indicating what proportion of food was labeled as green, yellow or red. Third, the digital tool also showed healthy alternatives (with similar prices and characteristics) to selected products. Studying alternatives. The team tested the tool through an experiment. They asked a group of participants to make three purchases on-line over three to six weeks. Some of the participants used this tool, while others used the conventional portal. The team observed that the purchase cars of the people of the intervention group scored better in the nutritional index. They also contained less calories, less fat in total and less saturated fats, less sugar and less salt. The details of the study were published In an article In the magazine American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Public health issue. By will or necessity, there are many people who seek to eat healthier, and that begins in a healthier purchase. Achieving it for oneself is not easy, but it is not to help these people without falling into prohibitions and Tax Methods. Here is like the behavior economy and Nudge Theory They can help us: the same tool often used to take us to more advantageous options for sellers can also be used to improve the health of consumers who wish to improve their diet. In Xataka | The three expert tricks so that they do not lead you with food labeling, according to one of the country’s biggest specialists Image | Lothar Boris Piltz

Humanity has been using the Earth’s magnetic field as a navigation guide. Some researchers want to retire it

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In recent decades, GPS has become part of our day to day. If it is a military technology, the global positioning system has been guided by roads, forests and seas, in the city and in the mountain, but always with an important limitation, access to satellites that place our navigation devices. That could change. Magnav. Thanks to magnetic navigation systems or Magnav, and more specifically to a new development that uses a quantum adjustment system that promises more precise navigation. A navigation, in addition, immune to interference, accidental or caused, which allows significantly reducing satellite navigation dependence. Magnav systems (Magnetic-Anomaly Navigation) o Navigation by magnetic anomaly are based on the fact that the Earth’s magnetic field It is not uniform. That is why it is possible to use a magnetometer that indicates our position by measuring small variations in the magnetic field of the planet. Use the Earth’s magnetic field as Navigation reference It is not something new but something we have been doing since the invention of the compass, but the new system promises to achieve unusual precision. That’s where the quantum dimension of the new system comes into play. Navigation “quantum”? The new technology, They explain their developersis based on the use of quantum magnetometers that combine a noise elimination system with a cartographic algorithm. The magnetometers are based on the optical detection of the precession of the atomic spin, for which they use a steam cell that contains rubidium atoms, They detail. This technology opens the door to measure the magnetic field of the Earth with greater precision, which translates into a better capacity to locate ourselves on the map. All this, they also highlight, in a device small enough to be used in autonomous vehicles or in fixed wing drones. Q-ctrl. Behind this system is an Australian company, Q-Ctrl (name that refers to “Quantum Control”) The company emerged in 2017 Like a Spin-off of the quantum science group of the University of Sydney. By land and air. RecieBy land and air. Recently, the team responsible for this system put it to the test. With satisfactory results: the device obtained errors in the measurements up to 46 times less than the inertial navigation systems usually used as a complement to the satellite. The measurements were made on flights at a height of 19,000 feet, in which it was also possible to fly with a total error in the 22 -meter trip, 0.006% of the distance traveled. The results were “consistently” at least 11 times better than those obtained with inertial systems. The team responsible for the development of the new tool has published some details in an article. The article has not passed the pairs review filter but can be found freely Through the repository Arxiv. Substitute or complement. Satellite navigation systems are central today and this is precisely its weak point: the emergence of GPS signals puts both commercial routes and passenger transport, but it could also put into check military operations in cases of armed conflict. The interception of these signals can therefore be used as well as a commercial and war weapon. We have various tools that allow satellite navigation to attend, but few systems can at the same time have the accuracy of these without depending on them. That is why having alternative mechanisms of high precision can be more precise than ever. In Xataka | The North Pole is moving very fast, and that has forced many airports to rename their clues Image | NOAA NCI / Q-ctrl

Spain has a huge problem with contaminated waters. These researchers believe that the solution is the poplars

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We say little, but Spain is an aquifer country. According to data from the Ministry of Ecological Transitionthese cover more than 90% of the national territory. To the point that the supply of two out of ten Spaniards depends on them. In this context, it is still worrying that the country has been overexploiting them, contaminating them And even making them disappear. And, eye, between 20,000 and 30,000 cubic hectometers of water come from there. Is there any way to save them? There are many. Many. But historical experience tells us that everything that entails rationalizing consumption is not simple in the medium term. Is the “Say law“In full performance: each resource is free for the efficiency improvements that the water system has achieved thanks to the new restrictions, investments and management improvements, they are dedicated to other economic sectors. They take it pointing at the Datadista For years: decades of “emergency measures” in front of drought has only ended up serving to “expand irrigation, increasing the problem of overexploitation and contamination of aquifers and wetlands.” The point is that the problem continues to grow, we continue to take water from the subsoil and the consequences begin to be very serious. The management that never comes. Wwf Spain revealed in 2019 that The four most important aquifers in the country have been sheared for years.Beyond: According to the reports of the Geological and Mining Institute“For decades, salinization of Mediterranean and insular Spanish coastal coastal aquifers have been known.” Despite this, “only in a few cases this situation is well managed.” What if we look for another way to ‘save’ the aquifers? That has been asked at the University of Granada and Institute for Agricultural and Fishing Research and Training of the Junta de Andalucía. And thanks to the European project Life Wood for Future, they have analyzed the impact of the chopperras on aquifers. Your findings They are very interesting because “It has shown that the chopperras purify the waters contaminated by agricultural fertilizers and that this crop has the capacity to take advantage of nitrates in their growth and prevent contaminating groundwater.” And no, it is not a theoretical issue. The researchers They are convinced That “the chopperras prevent the most important groundwater from the province, which covers 39 municipalities and widely exceeds the maximum concentration limits of legally established nitrates, 37.5 mg/l in groundwater, be contaminated.” An incredibly powerful approach. Because “due to their rapid growth, since they can reach about 20 meters high in ten years”, the poplars not only purify nitrate water naturally, but “They have a great ability to kidnap CO2 of the atmosphere, up to 20 tons per year. “ It is funny (so to speak) because suddenly two of the country’s large pending subjects, the management of aquifers and The health of treesare so intimately connected. Image | Silvan Schuppisser / Garnica In Xataka | In Spain, cutting urban trees looks like national sport. These Swiss have just demonstrated that it is a mistake

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