Rock

Telecinco hits rock bottom in the most spectacular way in a black summer, and signs the day with the lowest audience in its history

by

Thursday, July 2, should have been just another day of the summer after-dinner meal. And like a domestic thriller TV movie, it became the worst in Telecinco’s 36-year history. The stars have aligned in the negative to reach the disastrous milestone, since not only is it the icing on the cake of a collapse in audiences that has been brewing for years, but the stratospheric audiences of the World Cup mean that, for the moment, Telecinco is going to have a very difficult time raising its head. Not six. Telecinco closed on July 2 with 5.97% screen share: the worst daily data in the chain since records exist. That same afternoon, Spain beat Austria 3-0 in the round of 32 of the World Cup 2026 and brought more than nine million viewers to La 1, which closed the day with 26.7% share and 63.7% during the match itself. The golden minute arrived at 10:51 p.m., with 10,447,000 people watching Spain advance to the round of 16. Not just football. As we said a few days ago, not only football is to blame: it is that Mediaset’s entire summer plan to recover audience is leaking: that same day ‘Love… or whatever arises!’ it signed a minimum with 5.1% and 439,000 viewers; ‘Summer moves’ fell to 5.8% and 431,000; and that collapse also dragged down ‘El Diario de Jorge’ (7.4%) and ‘Allá tú’ (7.6%). Even the prime time suffered the blow: the series ‘She, damn soul’ scored its minimum number of viewers in its third episode. However, ‘First Dates’ surpassed a repeat of ‘El Hormiguero’, which corroborates Carlos Sobera’s dating show as one of Mediaset’s most reliable assets. Because it was already coming off an ominous June: the month closed with an 8.3% share, the worst June in the history of the network and also the worst month in the regular season, even ahead of the previous negative record, 8.4% in December 2025. Not even heavyweights like the final of ‘Survivors’ or the outcome of ‘Temptation Island’ managed to reverse the figure. Downhill and without brakes. Since the chain he let Paolo Vasile go to reinvent himselfdid not find a substitute for the formats that sustained its leadership, such as ‘save me‘, which also went through its own via crucis. The 2025-2026 season closed with an 8.9% average quota, the worst in its history and the fifth consecutive record to set a new low. He contrast with La 1 It is especially striking: in five years, the public channel has gone from 8.8% to 12.1%, while Telecinco has done the opposite, from 13.1% to 8.9%. Great summer plan. ‘Love…or whatever comes up!’ It debuted on June 22 with 6.8% and 632,000 viewers. ‘The Peace Show’ started with 7.8% and 638,000. ‘Summer moves’ premiered with 7%. None of the three has exceeded 8% since then. Meanwhile, Antena 3 maintains the after-dinner atmosphere with ‘Sueños de libertad’ above 14% on average and La 1 exploits the World Cup to lead a month of June that had been belonging to Atresmedia for 22 months. The figures are unequivocal: it is not that people have stopped watching traditional television. It is a specific problem for Mediaset. The last puff. The fourth piece of the plan remains: ‘From Monday to Friday’, presented by Santi Acosta and Beatriz Archidona, two faces that already lead ‘From Friday’ in prime time on Fridays for three seasons. The program inherits the slot from ‘Jorge’s Diary’ from 6:15 p.m. adds a team of 16 collaborators in which faces from the extinct ‘Sálvame’ coexist (Lydia Lozano, Karmele Marchante, Rosa Benito, Terelu Campos, Antonio Rossi), which points to a timid attempt to recover what was the last great success of Mediaset’s afternoons. His only problem: he faces, in his debut, nothing less than an afternoon of warming up for a game in Spain. In Xataka | Telecinco has ‘El Rosco’ but does not have ‘Pasapalabra’. Antena 3 has ‘Pasapalabra’ but does not have ‘El Rosco’

3,000 years ago there were no notaries, so in Sweden agreements and marriages were closed with footprints carved in rock

by

In Atapuerca there are animals, in Irulegi there is a hand and in Lake Mälaren, in central-eastern Sweden, there are feet. Thousands of footprints carved into rock that are between 2,500 and 3,700 years old. To date, archeology thought that they were a sample of symbolic or religious art, but a recent study proposes something much more practical and not at all ornamental: they were contracts engraved in stone. Take off your shoes and sign here. Fredrik Fahlander, an archaeologist at Stockholm University, has examined hundreds of footprints carved into rock surfaces along the southern coasts of the Scandinavian peninsula and has found that these petroglyphs are not placed at random nor do they belong to the same person, like when you mess around with fresh cement. So that it lasts, exactly like the contracts. In fact, that is their hypothesis: when two people wanted to seal an agreement, a friendship or a marriage, they engraved their footprints together on the rock. Faced with the oral promise, the stone made it permanent. Map of southern Scandinavia where carved footprints have been found. Fredrik Fahlander Why is it important. Because they offer a different vision than what we know about how prehistoric societies worked. Historically we have assumed that formal pacts were typical of cultures with writing, but this study shows that peoples without writing could also formalize commitments using the physical landscape as support. On the other hand, as important as knowing what those footprints mean is knowing what they were not: in the Scandinavian Bronze Age, the sacred and the symbolic was engraved in bronze and deposited in tombs and the foot prints are not in either of those two places. They appear only and exclusively on rock exposed to water. It is no coincidence: it reveals that these traces did not belong to the world of the dead or to that of symbology, but to that of the living and their agreements. Context. The Nordic Bronze Age lasted from approximately 1700 to 500 BC. During that period, Scandinavian people left tens of thousands of rock carvings with various common motifs, such as ships, animals, human figures or circles. The category of footprints is rare within this set: they are very careful, carved to life size and with so much detail that they even show the straps of the sandals. The main site studied is the Mälaren region, which during the Bronze Age was a bay of the Baltic Sea. The uplift of the land after the last ice age has made it possible to chronologically date the engravings: those located at higher altitudes are older. In detail. In the Mälaren region, 627 carved footprints have been documented in 140 sites, although it is not an isolated phenomenon: they are present throughout the province of Småland and on the Bjäre peninsula. They are deliberately arranged around water sources and shallow depressions where rainwater collected and flowed, as well as near natural crevices and mineral areas. In addition, there are certain patterns: most sites have a single footprint or an odd number. When there are two, they are almost always different in size and shape, suggesting that they belong to different people. In some cases, the second print was added some time after the first. Fahlander interprets this as an accepted invitation: the first print proposes the link, the second confirms it. If both were recorded at the same time, the commitment was sealed simultaneously by both parties. Yes, but. The study hypothesis is coherent and well-supported, but it remains a hypothesis. In fact, as Fahlander himself explains, these footprints probably had more than one meaning or purpose. However, there are no written sources from the time that confirm it simply because they do not exist. In Xataka | When they opened a remote tomb in Poland, archaeologists discovered something strange: two women embracing In Xataka | Archaeologists have found a puzzle in a Neolithic tomb: where the hell are the heads of its 77 skeletons? Cover | Fahlander, F. (2026). “A Step in Stone. Ontologies of Podomorphic Petroglyphs in Southern Scandinavian Bronze Age”

the German electric beast that devours 17 m³ of rock per shovelful

by

The transition to electric mobility is not exclusive to passenger cars and motorcycles: heavy machinery is also embracing electrification. Beyond leaving diesel behind, the real challenge is to find a viable alternative to internal combustion in terms of power and torque. A few weeks ago an imposing Liebherr excavator started to operate in a copper mine in Bulgaria. What is striking is not only the machine itself (that too), because it is in fact the fifth electric excavator that the German manufacturer delivers to Assarel-Medet, but that the Bulgarian mining company is becoming one of the most advanced heavy electric fleet operators in the world. The new electric excavator Liebherr. The model R 9350 E It is a large tonnage mining excavator, with 330 tons of operating weight, which integrates a 1,200 kW electric motor, approximately 1,600 HP. In nominal power it slightly exceeds 1,120 kW. its diesel counterpartbut the real difference in performance is greater: an electric motor delivers that torque constantly throughout the operating range, while the diesel only reaches its maximum power in a narrow band of revolutions. It will be powered by a high voltage cable whose voltage has not been specified, although this type of machinery is custom designed of the client’s needs. According to the manufacturer, this engine offers advantages over combustion engines: it reduces vibrations and noise, prolongs the useful life of the components and lasts the entire useful life of the machine, reducing operating and maintenance costs. The excavator is equipped with a customized 17 cubic meter bucket, specifically designed to maximize productivity under the operating conditions of the Assarel mine in Pazardzhik. Why is it important. To begin with, because it operates with zero greenhouse gas emissions and does so while maintaining productivity compared to the diesel version. In open pit mining this eliminates direct emissions at the extraction front and considerably reduces fuel logistics within the deposit, two factors that in operations of this scale have a significant economic and operational impact. In fact, the R 9350 E offers superior power, performance and durability compared to the equivalent G6 diesel version and does so with lower maintenance and operating costs. Although the environmental advantage is evident, what truly tips the balance is the economic aspect: if the electric one performs the same or better and costs less to operate, the decision is made on its own. Context. The delivery of this unit is not an isolated milestone, but is part of the long-standing alliance between Assarel-Medet, Alki-L and Liebherr-Export, which dates back to 1993. Within the Bulgarian mining company’s strategy to decarbonize its operations, this is the fifth electric excavator that it has incorporated into its fleet: it is no longer a prototype or a pilot test, but rather a consolidated commitment that indicates where the sector is moving. On a global scale, the electrification of heavy mining machinery has been accelerating for years. Large manufacturers such as Volvo or Caterpillar have been exploring electrical solutions for heavy machinery for years and beyond regulatory green objectives such as the EU’s achieve climate neutrality by 2050there are the numbers: according to a report by IDTechEx As collected by Mining.com, a single 150-tonne mining truck can save more than five million euros in fuel over its lifetime if electrified. In those with larger tonnage, the savings are even greater. How have they done it. The technical key is direct power supply from the electrical network. Unlike battery solutions common in light vehicles, an excavator of this caliber is connected by high-voltage cable to a dedicated substation within the mine. This eliminates the problem of autonomy and allows it to operate 24/7 without having to stop to recharge, something that no battery can offer on this scale. Yes, but. The fine print of such an electric excavator has similarities with the old price debate between combustion and electric cars: the electrified versions have a higher acquisition cost, although Komatsu estimates Up to 50% savings on total cost of ownership of your electric excavator versus the equivalent diesel one. In machinery that can cost around five million euros in its diesel version, long-term accounts can tip the balance. On the other hand, an excavator with a 1,200 kW engine is conditioned by the available electrical infrastructure: it needs a substation and high voltage wiring within the mine itself. Furthermore, this model works well in large-scale open pit operations, but cannot be extrapolated to underground deposits or smaller mines without an equivalent investment in infrastructure. The electrical transition in heavy mining is a reality, but its pace is determined by the geography of the deposit and the investment capacity of the operator. In Xataka | While Europe discusses the electric car, China is mass introducing the next level: the electric truck In Xataka | From devouring diesel to being 100% electric: the incredible transformation of a 650-ton mining excavator in India

Nuclear waste is a problem, so Germany is looking for the solution in a Jurassic rock in Switzerland

by

Nuclear energy is capable of generating clean electricity, continuously and in large quantities. A marvel except for two small details: the risk of a possible leak and what to do with its waste. The most widespread solution is bury them in a nuclear cemetery and wait. How much? Well, it depends, but it could be hundreds of thousands of years, until they are no longer dangerous. The million dollar question is where. An international research team led by Germany has started to drill a hole in a Swiss mountain to try to answer it. The project. Her name is DEBORAH (Deep borehole to resolve the Mont Terri Anticline Hydrogeology), stands for deep drilling to understand the hydrogeology of the Mont Terri anticline and is exactly what it does. Your goal? Document in great detail the layers that exist and their properties. There is some especially interesting material: Opalinus Clay. This deep experiment involves the German Geosciences Research Center GFZ and the German Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR), the Nuclear Waste Service (NWS) of the United Kingdom and Swiss researchers from the University of Bern. Why is it important. Because it can be the ideal rock to build a radioactive waste deposit. As details GFZSwitzerland has already made the decision, but Germany and the United Kingdom (the other parties to the project) have not yet. The key is what the analysis of the drilling says: details such as how much water it allows to filter, at what speed or where it will be key to making the decision. It is not trivial: a leak, no matter how slow and small, can contaminate aquifers. What’s special about it. The Opalinus is a clay rock dating back to the Middle Jurassic, with an estimated age of approximately 175 million years. Simply put, it is clay that has been compacted into rock. And it has a property that makes it a good candidate for nuclear storage: its very low permeability. Context. The study of Opalinus is not new by any means: GFZ’s on your radar for 30 years because, in addition to its very low permeability, it has properties such as its plasticity (under pressure, warps instead of breakingsomething convenient if it works as a radioactive deposit) or its ability to retain certain radionuclides. Switzerland has already chosen it, but it remains to be known how it behaves under the conditions that exist in much deeper areas, where, for example, temperature or pressure change noticeably. How they do it. In the Swiss canton of Jura, near the municipality of Saint-Ursanne, there is that Mont Terri. In its bowels there is an underground laboratory that is accessed through the security gallery of a highway tunnel, about 150 – 200 meters underground. A drilling platform works continuously there, advancing meter by meter, until reaching a depth of 800 meters. The drill uses a hollow crown that allows extracting intact rock columns, the sample that is later analyzed in the laboratory. Each advance works as a witness insofar as it reveals the age, the composition, the fractures and the differential quality: how it behaves with water. In addition, they use seismic and gravimetry techniques to obtain a complete x-ray of what is hundreds of meters deep. In Xataka | Ships have been damaging the oceans with noise for centuries. Germany is working on silent propellers to solve it In Xataka | 700 tons of nuclear waste have arrived in Germany from England. The Germans are not entirely happy Cover | Ilja Nedilko and Evangelos Mpikakis

In 1954, Ann Elizabeth Hodges was hit by a rock. And thus he became the only person who has had a meteorite fall on him.

by

Let’s say you’re on your couch enjoying a quiet afternoon. Suddenly, an infernal sound wakes you up just a moment before you see how a rock violently destroys your bookshelf, your old “vintage” radio and bounces towards you. It will take you a little longer to realize that the rock has passed through the ceiling before hitting you. And as strange as this story may seem, it is totally true. It was a clear afternoon in 1954 when a meteor struck Ann Elizabeth Hodges. The woman was lucky and only received a huge bruise on his waist. But he could have experienced a consequence as tragic as that of his poor radio. After all, we are talking about a piece of rock that fell at hundreds of kilometers per hour, burning on its frictional path towards the surface of this small planet. Ann ended up in the hospital but not because of the blow, but because of a small nervous breakdown caused by the huge crowd that came to see what had happened. Let us remember that in the 1950s, the Cold War was in full swing and conspiracy theorists did not miss an opportunity to see Soviet planes fly over (and explode) in American skies. So, after the sighting of the meteorite, a small host of curious people gathered around the Hodges house. And here began the adventures of the famous Sylacauga meteorite, whose name is due to the Alabama town where it fell. The fragment that hit Ann was called “Hodges meteorite“, while the complete meteorite, which broke into three about nineteen kilometers above the surface, it was much larger, probably almost half a meter. After the commotion, the assistance to Mrs. Hodges and the uncertainty, the United States Air Force sent a team to collect the remains of the meteorite. The stone’s fame rose incandescently over the next few days, continuing until a couple of years later. The media and residents of the entire region echoed the impact and there were those who wanted to buy the meteorite. For his part, Eugene Hodges, Ann’s husband, hired a lawyer to recover the rock from the hands of the State. At the same time, finding out about the mess, Bertie Guy, the landlord of the house, claimed ownership of the stone, much to the chagrin of the Hodges, with the intention of covering the repairs that the meteorite had cost her. The stress caused by all this diatribe and as attention on the meteorite faded, along with the potential buyersthey pushed Ann to donate the Sylacauga meteorite fragment to the Alabama Museum of Natural History. But Ann, according to the chronicle, never stopped being afraid of something falling through her ceiling again. Other “lucky” people in the history of extraterrestrial impacts Anna E. Hodges is the first and only person (at least reliably) to have been injured by a meteorite. But it is not the only case related to an extraterrestrial rock described in our history. Luckily for the rest, none of them have been hurt, if we can believe their version. Let’s go back to August 1992, in Mbale, Uganda. A boy was heading to the village when a fireball thundered in the sky. Shortly after, a pebble hit the top of a banana and fell on his head. According to reports, a huge meteorite weighing almost a ton would have exploded fourteen kilometers from the surface, disintegrating. Did the fragment belong to that meteorite? We will never know for sure. This is what happens with hundreds of other testimonies that ensure the impact of a meteorite: unlike the Sylacauga meteorite, there is no evidence or analysis that demonstrates the origin of these rocks. That does not mean that there are, as we said, dozens and dozens of stories about meteorites (many of them with tragic endings). An example can be found in the 2016 Indian story in which it was stated that a bus driver had killed by space rock impactafter an explosion was heard. NASA, however, confirmed that this was not possible since the incident did not coincide with any detected or predicted astronomical event. The protagonists of other documented cases have had much luckier in which the meteorite passed very closely, without hitting them. We are talking, for example, about Michelle Knapp, whose Chevrolet was pierced by a meteorite to his surprise, in 1992. Not so long ago, in 2004, an alien rock happily entered through the roof of the Archer family home in Auckland, New Zealand. The rock just bounced and she remained lying, expectant, on the floor of her living room. If you want to join the club of those “hit by a meteorite” you better be patient. Just like calculation an engineer at the German Aerospace Center named Christian Gritzner, a while ago, the chance of this happening is 174 million. To do this, it calculated the surface area we occupy, our average life expectancy and the habitable surface area. That, added to the calculations of meteorites that fall per year, provided the result we were talking about. Fragment of the Chelyabinsk meteorite It is estimated that up to 10,000 tons of material interstellar crashes to Earth every year. It is not a trivial number. Why aren’t stories of meteorites falling on us more frequent? The first and most important reason, without a doubt, is the fact that almost everyone does it at sea. After all, water occupies most of the earth’s surface. On the other hand, a large amount of this material disintegrates in its fall, leaving a faint trail of dust and gas. As we mentioned, there are many testimonies collected in the press and reports from people who have had a supposed meteorite fall on them. In fact, many of the versions date back a long time, even from other times when “the stars fell from the sky.” But we can assure you that Ann Hodges’ case is unique and special. Nobody would want a monster like the … Read more

Almost everything is more expensive than ever, but televisions are at rock bottom. It is the result of a “suicide pact”

by

Technology is in an economic shaker. If we consumers have become accustomed to something, it is that, as the years go by, a product drops in price, even if it is updated with better features. It is clear in the console segment: as each generation progressed, the hardware improved and the price fell. That’s over. Buy a PS5 or an Xbox Series in 2026 It is more expensive than when they came out in 2020. But the consoles They are not the only thing that rises: There is more competition than ever in streaming services and they have all agreed to raise prices from time to time. It’s not just technology: dwellingmedical expenses, cars, meal… However, There is something that has collapsed: televisions. Because although there are very expensive models, the price of televisions has fallen more than almost any other consumer product in the last quarter of a century. And we owe it all to something that one of the industry’s leading glass manufacturers named in a curious way. A 25-year suicide pact. Although there is something else in the equation, something much more important. The “suicide pact” and the mother glass You can say in the comments if you have been walking around a large area this Christmas and have been tempted to buy a new 65-inch TV. Not because you need it, but because you saw it at a ridiculous price. For 400 eurosyou can buy one right now. Inch/price, they are much more attractive than the 24 inches that you can put in the kitchen. These prices on huge televisions do not seem to have been affected by the multiple crises we have experienced in recent years. What if that of the chips, then transportation, that of the Ukrainian warthe current RAM… The price of televisions has followed suit and, although the most cutting-edge OLEDs or risky technologies They have very high pricesan LCD TV is very affordable. In Construction Physics They mention a very interesting fact. In a advertisement On Black Friday 2003, a barely 20-inch LCD television in 4:3 format with a resolution of 640 x 480 pixels (laughing) cost $800. In the same ad, 32-inch CRT TVs for $380 or 27-inch TVs for $150. Today, those TVs are gold for playing retro games, by the way. In Xataka already we started having to talk about different technologies of liquid crystal panels. 21 years ago we were already talking about OLEDs when I was content with a small 15-inch TFT screen to play ‘Age of Empires 2’ and ‘Half Life 2’. In the end. But well, I’m going around the bush. In 2022, Mark J. Perry published in AEI the following graph: He shows us in a crude way what he was saying: the price of LCD technology had been plummeting rapidly while other goods and services increased dramatically. It’s funny to me that I don’t see the computer hardware on the list, we’ll see when I update the graph in a few years… He estimated that, since 2000, the price of televisions had fallen 97%. There are others informationbut the conclusion is the same: prices through the floor in a short time. That crash occurred a decade earlier. In a document of Corningone of the largest glass manufacturing companies, noted the following: “LCD technology continues to grow and there are abundant opportunities to expand both the functionality and performance of displays. So the expansion of LCD technology must be a great success story, right?” “FAKE” In the document, it is clarified that for consumers it is great news because they can access better and bigger televisions at a fraction of the price. Even other technologies such as plasma had to be adapted. In the same Black Friday ad from 2003 we see a Daewoo of 42 inches with 480p resolution for $2,300. I remember that a 50-inch Samsung 1,080p arrived at my house for 700 euros in 2007. However, for the manufacturers, it was not as happy a story as it was for the consumer. “The LCD platform looks like a 25-year suicide pact for display manufacturers,” Corning noted in its report. It is a segment “characterized by hypercompetition, excess investment and periodic lack of profitability, but which at the same time requires sustained investment to differentiate a product that has a low return.” They pointed out that, within that chain, glass manufacturers were still able to make considerable profits, although there was increasing pressure. But that price drop is not limited to extreme competition between a few companies. There is something else behind it, and that “something” is the “mother glass.”. Known as “mother glass” in English, it is a main element in the manufacture of LCD panels. It’s a process which is made up of several stages. On the one hand, there is that mother glass, which is a sheet of glass substrate on which other layers are deposited. Broadly speaking: We have the glass plate on which layers of semiconductors are deposited. Using a photolithography process, TFT transistors and pixel electrodes are marked across the entire sheet. It is something that is repeated several times until the active matrix on the mother glass is completed. The next step is to use another mother glass to which RGB color filters and electrodes are applied. Both glasses are well cleaned, aligned and sealed with perimeter glue. It’s like a sandwich. There we would have a mother glass with many screens, and the next step is to cut them to obtain individual modules. The fourth step is to combine those modules or cells with backlight units, the control PCB and the metal casing to have the complete LCD module. It is tested and, when it is ready, it is delivered to the assemblers, who are the ones who already create monitors, televisions, mobile phones or anything with a screen. Here you can see the process: What is the key? That those large sheets of glass have been increasing in size little by … Read more

Migingo is a tin rock where 500 people live. It is also the center of the world’s smallest war

by

Curious islands in the world there are several. Like Migingo… not so many, because we are talking about a geographical anomaly. It is a tiny rock formation that emerges in the lake victoria and in which it is difficult to find a millimeter that is not covered by a uralite shanty. There are about 500 people living in this space smaller than a football field, but apart from this situation, Migingo It is something much more. It is the scene of Africa’s smallest war. Kowloon 2. Okay, that’s an exaggeration because In Kowloon there were 1.9 million inhabitants per square kilometerbut in Migingo there is not much privacy either. The island is rocky and has an area of ​​about 2,000 m². It is estimated that the population density is about 65,000 people per km², but it is really difficult to make calculations because it depends a lot on the sources. In 2009 it was said that the island had a population of 131 people, but it has also been lying at 500 people (creating a much higher density of 250,000 per km²), and up to more than 1,000 people. There are no basic services, but there is a casino, four bars, several brothels and a pharmacy. Something is something and the question is… how did it get to this situation. two fishermen. It all started in 1991, when two Kenyan fishermen landed on the island. It is very close to a larger island, called Usingo, and at that time everything was covered by weeds. The receding of the lake’s waters left more of the land visible, and fishermen began to arrive and settle. The reason is that it was easier to operate directly from the island than to go to its vicinity every day in search of prey. In the 1950s, the Nile Perch was introduced to the lake. It is an invasive and predatory species that destroyed the local fauna, but transformed the region’s economy. An estimated one million metric tons were exported annually in 2006 and, by then, the industry had a commercial value of $250 million to Uganda. That is to say: this fish was the second economic engine of the country, only behind coffee. And Migingo is located in a strategic point as it is very close to some of the most important deep water points of the lake, and where there are the most fish. Pirates. Something I haven’t said is that Migingo belongs to Kenya. It is located within what the country considers its territory according to the colonial boundaries of 1926. But there is a problem: those banks rich in Nile perch are in Ugandan territory. The fishermen of Migingo go a few meters into the fishing territory of the neighboring country every morning, and we already know what happens when one country steps on another’s resources. There is reports which indicate that the boats unloaded more than 100 kilos of fish a day, generating profits in one day between three or four times more than what a Kenyan or Ugandan generates in a good month. Word spread and attracted the most undesirable: pirates who landed with assault rifles, threatening the few who lived on the island, stealing the fish, the gear or the menhaden motors. The locals called for help, and Uganda was the first to respond. Uganda comes into play. The logical thing would have been for Kenya to respond, since the island is theirs, but in 2004, those who arrived were Ugandan authorities and police. They saw that money was moving there and the maritime police planted two flags: theirs and that of Uganda. The reports of 2009 indicate that the authorities were not much better than the pirates. Fees for Kenyan fishermen to get to the island, taxes, fines, kidnappings, torture and claims of people disappearing and never returning. The island’s population (mostly Kenyans, but also Ugandans) asked Kenya for help. And, now, Kenya responded. The smallest war in the world. Following popular pressure, politicians were forced to act. In April 2009, a Kenyan official arrived, accompanied by a dozen police officers, and declared that the land belonged to his country. He brought down the Ugandan flag and raised the Kenyan flag. One day later, Uganda shipment 60 marines and the region was on the brink of armed conflict. Since then, the situation has eased somewhat, but the flags continue to fly in a disputed territory that has nothing to do with land, but with fish. There is nothing around Migingo, while in nearby Ugandan waters the production is extraordinary. Complicated. This conflict has been studied as if it were an example, or a test, of the resolution of postcolonial conflicts, when Europe divided up Africa with square and bevel. The problem is that it’s not getting anywhere. Kenya and Uganda formed a committee to sort things out, but it was abruptly dissolved after failing to reach an agreement on the mound. And most recently, in November 2025, the residents of Minigno they asked both governments to give some response. Meanwhile, human rights associations continue alerting regarding acts of slavery to which Kenyan citizens are supposedly subjected by the Ugandan authorities, the island still lacks basic services such as a sewage treatment plant or proper waste management and everything is dumped directly into the lake. And, although it has suggested a form of government based on a condominium scheme in which both exercise joint sovereignty, nothing has been achieved. Images | Google Earth In Xataka | This is life on the most remote inhabited island on Earth: the improbable story of Tristan da Cunha

Einstein is the biggest rock star of the 20th century

by

Every now and then a news story is published where this or that scientist claims to have achieved something surprising: deny or confirm a theory put forward by Albert Einstein more than a hundred years ago. The unusual interest that the physicist arouses today is only the result of a process that already occurred while he was still alive: his status as a “star”, his status as celebrity. How is it possible that a theoretical physicist has achieved such fame and recognition? At Xataka we believe we have the answer: remove Adele and Taylor Swift because, behind Einstein’s casual hair, hides the biggest pop-rock star of the 20th century. Einstein’s story has everything to succeed, a story that could be called “the gravitational physics equation that made Spielberg cry”: that of a young Jewish man, shy, somewhat clumsy and with speech problems who fails his exams and, as he finishes his degree, cannot find a job. in yourshas to get to work in a gray patent office. That young man will take three years to revolutionize the world of physics and, by extension, the world in general. The tours Einstein spent much of the 1920s and 1930s on tour. Precisely, he was outside Germany when the Nazis took power and that, taking into account the desire they had for himsurely saved his life. He visited many places and there are hilarious anecdotes. Of course he was also in Spain. And the media and society at the time went a little crazy. Julio Camba wrote in El Sol that “the public that filled the classroom of the Faculty of Sciences. Mr. Einstein was welcomed with a great round of applause. Undoubtedly, all of us gathered there admired him a lot; but if someone asks us why we admired him, they will put us in quite a serious situation.” Cartoons like this image of Bagaria that we attach below filled the front pages of the newspapers in Madrid, Zaragoza and Barcelona. After all, he was already a Nobel Prize winner (the diamond disk of science). Thanks to that it became popular even among the popular classes, such as says historian Thomas Glickwalking down the street, a chestnut seller recognized him on the street and shouted to him “Long live the inventor of the automobile!“How long live it!” The groupies and the haters There is no rock star without groupies. That’s how it is. Fans sneaking into the singer’s house to steal a souvenir are a classic in the world of music. It also happened to Einstein. In late May or early June 1978, Michel Aron (newly named editor of New Jersey Monthly) approached a 27-year-old editor named Steven Levy and said, “I want you to find Einstein’s brain.” Rumors had been circulating for years about the brain in question. Steven Levy scoured the entire United States to find the coroner who performed the physicist’s autopsy. When he found Thomas S. Harvey He confessed that he had stolen the organ without the family’s permission and had been taking it around the United States for more than 30 years. Undoubtedly, Einstein also took the fan phenomenon to another level. Einstein some strong smear campaigns. It is logical, taking into account that among his detractors were some of the greatest experts on haterism in history. “100 scientists against Einstein“was perhaps the most aggressive campaign. But he resolved it with a phrase: “One hundred? Why so many? If I were wrong, only one would be enough…”. For the rest, the truth is that it must be recognized that he quickly became an endearing, distracted and somewhat crazy being. Einstein for a while They say that at a social gathering, Marilyn Monroe crossed paths with Albert Einstein, they started talking and, at some point, she said to him: “Professor, we should get married and have a child together. Can you imagine a baby with my beauty and intelligence?” Einstein very seriously responded: “Unfortunately I fear that the experiment will go the other way and we will end up with a son with my beauty and intelligence.” The anecdote, which is almost certainly lieshows the social and cultural stature of that Jew from Ulm called Albert Einstein. A carving that has generated countless cultural products. Some tremendously good. Become a symbol of peace, creativity and the use of science to help humanity, any excuse is good to celebrate it publicly. For our part, we just need to finish with what is perhaps the most important quote that Einstein said in his life. “Rest and be relatively good.” In Xataka | Einstein’s first violin had passed unnoticed. Until an auction house put it up for sale. In Xataka | What is a light year and why it is impossible to travel it in less than a year, according to Einstein’s relativity In Xataka | More than 100 years ago Einstein predicted gravitational lensing. Thanks to this we have discovered a “dark matter bridge” Image | Collab Media

In 2015, a man found a rock and kept it thinking it had gold. Ten years later he discovered his true value

by

Imagine that one day, while searching for precious metals with a metal detector, you come across a strange reddish rock. You immediately think that it may be hiding gold, so you don’t hesitate to take it home. After numerous attempts to pierce it and discover what’s inside, you give up. It is a practically invulnerable rock, at least with everyday tools, such as grinders. This is what we just described This is what happened to David Hole.an Australian who used to explore Maryborough Regional Park with his detecting equipment in search of precious metals. And yes, he found the rock and tried to open it without success. In the end it turned out to be something much more valuable than any precious metal: a celestial body that had probably traveled to our planet from Mars or Jupiter, in other words, a meteorite. The Maryborough Meteorite The cosmic rock was discovered by Hole in 2015, although the man did not know what it was until 2018. Three years after its discovery he decided to take it to the Victoria Museum of his country in search of answers. Geologists Bill Birch and Dermot Henry They immediately suspected that it was a meteorite. And this was actually a surprise since most of the “meteorites” that people bring to the museum are not actually meteorites. The specialists had a peculiar piece measuring 38.5 cm x 14.5 cm x 14.5 cm. The next step was to photograph it and do a thorough analysis that consisted of making a small cut in order to analyze its composition. After analysis, it was confirmed that it was a meteorite with a high percentage of iron, that is, an ordinary H5 chondrite meteorite, which suggests that its formation could have occurred in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. The origin of the Maryborough Meteorite, it should be noted, is a hypothesis, as researchers do not know exactly where it came from or when it may have impacted Earth. However, radiocarbon dating indicates that the rock has remained on Earth between 100 and 1,000 yearsalthough it is believed that it could have crossed our atmosphere in a period of time between 1889 and 1951, that is, in a recent period. If we talk about the value of the meteorite compared to gold, it is difficult to establish a comparative framework, but the museum points out that this is much more valuable. They say that finding gold on Australian soil is more common than finding a meteorite of these characteristics. “This is only the 17th meteorite found in Victoria,” they point out, adding that they are important scientific elements that “take us back in time” to study our Solar System. Certainly, meteorites contain valuable information about the formation of elements in the universe and give us a unique opportunity to study them closely to analyze their characteristics and chemical composition. A different type of research, but complementary, to the missions that are driven towards space, such as that of James Webb Space Telescope u the ambitious OSIRIS-REx. Images | Museums Victoria In Xataka | Who or what excavated the ravines on Mars? The answer is even stranger than we always thought In Xataka | There is already speculation even with Martian soil: the largest piece of Mars on Earth has just been sold for 5.3 million dollars

The only way to confirm the signs of life on Mars is to bring the rock to the earth: there are three great volunteers

by

NASA’s Rover Perseverance has given us one of the most exciting news of recent years. In an old river bed in the Jezero crater, he has found a rock that could contain, In the words of NASA directorone of the “clearest signs of life we ​​have seen on Mars.” Baptized as Cheyava Falls, the rock has dark deposits whose chemical, mineral and textural characteristics, on earth, are associated with microbial life. But scientists cannot be safe from here. Unless… Mars Sample Return. Perseverance did his job: in July of last year he identified a place of very high scientific interest, analyzed the rock with its instruments and, most importantly, pierced a core of the rock and kept it in a sealed sampling tube. This little treasure, along with 29 other sampling tubes, waits patiently on the Martian surface. The problem is that, however advanced the instruments of the rover are, they have their limits. To confirm if those possible “biofirmas” are the product of old microorganisms or geochemical processes without biological intervention, there is only one solution: bringing samples to the earth to analyze them in our laboratories. And this is where The plans collide with a hard reality. The plan to collect these samples, the ambitious Mars Sample Return mission, has been de facto canceled waiting for a cheaper and faster solution. Truncated due to lack of budget. NASA’s original plan to collect the 30 samples of the Perseverance Rover was to send a ship to the surface of Mars, that a small rocket would take off with the samples (delivered by Rover itself or by a drone) and that an orbiter (in this case, contributed by the European Space Agency) to bring them back home. The project ended up becoming a bottomless well. According to an external audit, the budget shot up to 11,000 million dollars with an estimated date for 2040. The situation reached such an extent that the US administration He proposed to cancel Mars Sample Return for his excessive budgetprioritizing other programs such as Artemis to return to the moon. NASA was forced to put the project in pause and look for faster and more cheap alternatives. A career to counterreloj. Time runs against NASA. Not only for the potential historical value of these samples, but because China plans to launch its own sampling mission in 2028. Tianwen-3 is a simpler mission, which would not bring selected rocks but from the ground where the probe landed, but that would return to Earth in 2031. It would be a Sorpasso symbolic in full rule, advancing the United States in a milestone that had at hand. Before the collapse of its official plan and the probable symbolic defeat, NASA did what has been best given in recent years: to look at the private sector. The agency Explore two paths simultaneously: one based on public technology already tested, such as the “Sky Crane” landing system of Curiosity and Perseverance, and another open to “new commercial capabilities.” Voluntary companies. They haven’t taken to appear. Lockheed Martin has put on the table a groundbreaking proposal: executing the mission For less than 3,000 million dollars and under a fixed price contract, which means that it would assume any extra cost. Your plan is based on reusing and adapting technology already tested in missions such as Insight and Osiris-Rexwith a simpler and more light architecture than the original Mars Sample Return. Another of the great candidates is Rocket Lab, a company that, despite its youth, also has experience on the red planet: its components travel aboard Perseverance and other missions. Your proposal is to send a probe to collect the samples and send them to the Martian orbit and a second probe to bring them to the earth, with a third probe called Telecommunications Orbiter for Mars (MTO) that not only would support the mission, but would serve as a basis for future manned missions, establishing a robust communications network between Mars and the land that Rocket Lab could exploit commercially for decades. And Spacex? NASA It does not rule out using starship as a vehicle to bring to the Martian surface all the necessary equipment. If Elon Musk fulfills its ambitious deadlines, Starship could offer an unprecedented load capacity to an unbeatable cost. The final decision on which path is expected for the second half of 2026. What is clear is that NASA is at a crossroads. The samples collected by Perseverance have the potential to confirm that on Mars there was extraterrestrial life. But to find the answer, you must first bring them home. And the solution may not be in a public program, but in companies that have offered to do the job for less than half. Image | Rocket Lab In Xataka | Perseverance has found what, according to NASA’s director, is “the clearest indication of life we ​​have seen on Mars”

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.