Scientists

Trying to understand why human beings like alcohol so much, these scientists have just found a fundamental clue: drunken monkeys

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More than two decades ago, Robert Dudley wondered how it was possible that we liked alcohol. In 2014, the evolutionary biologist of the University of California in Berkeley published “El Mono drunk”, a book where he explored The evolutionary roots of that transcultural hobby to alcohol. According to Dudley, it is the fans of primates to fermented fruits (rich in sugars and with a very light alcoholic content) what is behind all this. The problem, as with all the hypotheses of evolutionary biology, was to demonstrate it. Now we have found some tests. Because Science Advance magazine He has just published a study which shows that wild chimpanzees consume the alcoholic equivalent to one or two human cups. That is, exposure to this substance is regular and “probably” was also in our past as a kind, as Dudley said. How have you discovered it? The team analyzed the fruits consumed by the wild chimpanzees in Uganda and in Ivory Coast. Thus, they discovered that these 21 species had a concentration of 0.3% alcohol on average. To the extent that these animals consume about 4.5 kilos of fruit, the amount of ethanol consumed daily is more than the 14 grams that has a standard glass in the US. Of course, “by adjusting for body weight, which in chimpanzees is around 40 kilos in front of about 70 in humans, the exposure equals almost two glasses,” Explain in SINKSEY MARO, main author of the study. It is true, however, that as consumed throughout the day, researchers have not found signs of drunkenness in chimpanzees. So drink alcohol is something natural? This is a usual confusion when we put on the table lAs evolutionary explanationsbut evidently it is not prices. To start because there is nothing ‘natural’ per se. The Natural-artificial ‘distinction It is something that has very little scientific, philosophical or social basis. We have reached a point where everything is artificial. But, on the other hand, the world has changed a lot. Although the hypothesis can explain the origin of the taste for alcohol in all human societies, constant exposure to alcohol of great concentration such as the one we suffer today has nothing to do with that of our ancestors. Therefore, our taste for alcohol may have a certain evolutionary base; The abuse of ethanol and the health problems it causes are something else. Something much more dangerous. Image | Adam Wyles In Xataka | The greatest fear of the alcohol industry is summarized in just five words: being abstemious is fashionable

Scientists have folded salty ice and discovered that it behaves like an electric generator

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When we think of ice and salt, it is normal to imagine a road in the middle of winter: the accumulated snow on the asphalt, the trucks spreading salt in a hurry and the neighbors trying not to slip on the icy sidewalks. It is a typical scene in the north or in the mountain areas, where winter turns the landscape into postcard, but also a daily challenge for those who have to move between cut roads or pedestrian crossings turned into traps. What we usually see how a simple help against ice on roads, can actually hide an energy potential. A team from the University of Xi’an Jiaotong, in collaboration with ICN2 and Stony Brook University, has managed to try it in the laboratory. A discovery with “taste” to salt. A pinch of salt for a material to deform, produce electricity. This phenomenon has a name and is called flexoelectricity. It had already been observed in moving glaciers or in ice plates under pressure, but never with results as powerful as those achieved in this study. According to the studythe team frozen water with different concentrations of common salt (NaCl) and created ice blocks in several ways: cones, beams and plates. Then they applied flexion tests – check the ice on two supports and exert pressure from above – and measured the electricity generated. The result was surprising: salty ice generated up to 1,000 times more electric charge than pure ice. The key ingredient. But how can salt enhance something as inert as ice? The answer is in the salted water microchannels that are trapped between the crystals. As the ICN2 press release detailssalt prevents ice from freezing. When folding, water and salt ions move from compressed areas to the stretched, generating an electric charge flow, what scientists call a “Current streaming”(Drag current). In practical terms, the effect is so strong that experimental devices reached values ​​comparable to the best piezoelectric materials used today in the industry, According to research. Depend on ice. At first glance, this technology could have applications in extreme environments, such as scientific stations in polar regions, where installing conventional energy infrastructures is very difficult. The finding contrasts with reality. Since 2000, glaciers have lost 273,000 million tons of water annually, According to ESA. That is equivalent to the consumption of the entire world population for three decades. The setback is already translates into a loss of 5% of the global ice volume, with visible consequences: increased sea level and less availability of fresh water in rivers such as Ebro. Thus, to talk about ice as an energy resource raises an uncomfortable paradox: depending on something that melts increasingly faster. That’s not all. Beyond the environmental dilemmas, the study itself recognizes that there is still much to solve. As they point out in Techxploresalty ice devices suffer mechanical fatigue: after many flexion cycles, their ability to generate energy can fall to 80%. In addition, much of energy is lost in the form of heat, which makes efficiency still lower than that of commercial piezoelectric devices. The look is wide. Even so, the finding opens a fascinating door. “Its advantages – abundance, sustainability and low cost – make it a promising candidate for clean technologies,” Underline the ICN2. And researchers believe that the model is not limited to ice: it could be applied to other porous solids containing fluids inside. The paradox, however, persists: while science explores how to take advantage of the hidden energy on ice, climate change melts at an alarming pace. Perhaps this discovery not only serves to think about new technologies, but also to remember the value of a resource that is disappearing. Image | Photo by POT ON Unspash and Freepik Xataka | A Microsoft Data Center in Mexico collided with the reality of the electricity network. Your solution: use gas generators

and a ranking with their respective scientists

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A synthetic fertilizer that has allowed to feed two billion people. A vaccine against COVID-19 developed in record time. Surgical techniques that converted mortal operations into routine. Behind each of these advances there are names and surnames of scientists whose innovations have saved millions of lives throughout history. The ranking that quantifies the impact. The web Science Heroes He has created a curious classification that estimates how many lives have saved the main medical and scientific discoveries in modern history. From Synthetic fertilizers Fritz Haber and Carl Bosch (more than two billion lives) to surgery for blue baby syndrome developed by Helen Taussig, Vivien Thomas and Alfred Blalock. The site allows to explore the biography of each scientist and understand how their work transformed medicine and society. Image: Our World in Data Why do these figures matter. Although estimates are approximate and subject to uncertainty, these data make visible the impact that scientific research has on our lives. As explained from Our World in Data“It is inspiring to remember that creative, entrepreneurial and tenacious people can contribute greatly to our lives.” The main protagonists of the list. In the upper part of the ranking there are inventions that have saved hundreds of millions of lives: synthetic fertilizers that allowed the green revolution, the Blood transfusionsthe Diabetes insulin wave penicillin. Also highlight more recent innovations such as the COVID-19 vaccine developed by the Sarah Gilbert team, which according to estimates saved 6.3 million lives only in its first year. Beyond the numbers. Science Heroes works as a kind of mini wikipedia focused exclusively on scientists whose research has had a massive impact on public health. By clicking on each name, users can access the biography of each scientist where they explain, in addition to what they discovered, how they did it and in what context. As They recognize From Our World in Data, “none of these scientists worked in isolation,” but their innovations were achieved thanks to collaborative efforts and the previous work of other researchers, hence it is difficult to quantify their success. The difficulty of measuring saved lives. Quantifying the real impact of a scientific discovery is not simple. As the source itself warns, all these estimates must be taken “cautiously” due to the complexity of isolating the effect of specific innovation. However, these exercises help to understand the magnitude of scientific and medical progress. The most common is to tell the deaths, but it is also important to recognize the lives that have been saved, although calculating it ends up being more complex. Cover image | OUSA CHEA In Xataka | What science says about one of the existential debates of being an adult: whether drinking milk makes sense or not

This is how scientists are working to find all who remain

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While the axolotl becomes a global icon, a star in laboratories around the world, an exotic pet and Even a character in Minecrafthis only natural home on the planet is about to disappear. The last time an exhaustive census was made, in 2014, scientists They could only find 36 copies in the Xochimilco channelssouth of Mexico City. A decade later, the search has begun again and is a counterreloj race to save this amphibian. The question is if any. In 1998, Xochimilco’s waters They housed 6,000 of these creatures per square kilometer. By 2008 this figure had collapsed to 100. Now, the question asked by the Ecological Restoration Laboratory of the UNAM is If one is still alive in this environment. A search between networks and DNA. Each sunrise, while a magic fog rises from the canals, Basilio Rodríguez, a former fisherman in the area, throws his stroke into the water. He does not look for fish to eat, as their ancestors did, but to the axolot, an animal that he himself remembers as a delicacy: “smooth, soft, juicy, very rich.” But today, the networks go up again and again with the same disappointing capture: tents and tilapias, two invasive species that are, in part, guilty of this story. But traditional fishing is not the only strategy they are following. Great hope is deposited In an innovative technique such as environmental DNA analysis. To carry it out, scientists collect water samples to look for the genetic traces that the axolotes leaves in its path. And it is one of the opportunities they have in their front by not having found any axolotes. An amphibian with regenerative capacity. Ajolote is an extraordinary animal. He is famous for his neotany, that is, the ability to remain in a larval state throughout his life. This eternal youth, linked to their stem cells, gives it a superpower that fascinates science: Regeneration. If you lose a leg, a piece of brain or heart, you are able to regenerate it completely in a matter of hours. A fragile species that goes to the abyss. There are different factors that influence the disappearance of this species. The first of these are the invading species that have invaded their ecosystem. The tents have devoured axolote eggs, while the tilapias are eaten to the young and compete for the food. No less important is the destruction of your home, since Xochimilco’s water has been drastically deteriorated by urbanization, pesticides of agriculture and pollution. Noise and tourism is also something that can be lethal for these amphibians. Being night animals that love silence, the presence of humans in their natural habitat making floating parties makes their ‘happy’ place become an impossible place for them. Famous in the world and absent at home. While its wild population disappears, the axolotes is living an explosion of global popularity. Its regenerative capacity is key in research on aging and cancer. His adorable appearance has made him In a merchandising product: T -shirts, keychains and stuffed animals. But experts warn. Having thousands of Ajolotes in captivity, many of them albinos and modified for research, will not save the species. The key is to restore its habitat, a titanic task that would cost about 30 million euros, according to researcher Luis Zambrano. The rescue plan is already preparing. Given the impossibility of cleaning everything Xochimilco at once, the UNAM team has launched an ingenious plan B: Create Ajolot shelters. The idea is to collaborate with the Chinamperos, the local farmers who cultivate in the artificial islands. The project consists of restoring the chinampas and surrounding them with moats and filters that prevent the passage of tilapia. In these small aquatic coffers, you could introduce seats raised in captivity with a genetic as pure and similar as possible to wild ancestors. They already look for money to carry it out. To finance this new project, the UNAM launched the campaign “Adopt an Axolotl”. In this way, for about 30 euros, anyone could adopt virtually one of the 140 copies that live in the center, give it name and help finance the creation of these shelters. Something that gave them an income of four million pesos. There are many animals in dangers of extinction. In addition to the ajolotes, in Spain this is a problem that is also present, as in the case of the Canary Islands, which is considered as the community with more species in this situation. Those responsible They can be other animalsbut Also humansas in Brazil. Images | Mattias Banguese In Xataka | During World War II, Australia sent an ornitorrinco to Churchill. Died on the trip and 82 years later we know why

The sleep apnea makes sleep in hell. Scientists believe they have a solution: blow shells

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Sleep but not rest, is what happens to millions of people around the world suffering from sleep apnea. This disorder occurs when, during sleep, our breathing is interrupted, something that can significantly affect the quality of our dream and, with it, to our rest. Blow shells. Now a new study has investigated “treatment”: blow shells. In a small randomized and controlled essay, a team of experts observed that the technique of blowing snails, based on an Indian traditional practice, It offered good results when reducing the symptoms of the obstructive sleep apnea. Shankha. The technique known as Shankh’s blow has its origin in a religious practice of Hinduism. The term Shankha refers to A type of marine snailown family mollusks Turbinidaelike those of the species Turbinella pyrum. A modern use. The group responsible for the study now proposes a new use for this technique, to relieve the symptoms of the obstructive sleep apnea, at least among people with moderate levels of the disorder. As the equipment defends, the technique is a simple and low -cost intervention that can relieve the need to resort to pharmacological or mechanical treatments. A modern use. The group responsible for the study now proposes a new use for this technique, to relieve the symptoms of the obstructive sleep apnea, at least among people with moderate levels of the disorder. As the equipment defends, the technique is a simple and low -cost intervention that can relieve the need to resort to pharmacological or mechanical treatments. Today, the main treatment against this ailment is Continuous positive pressure machineCPAP for its acronym in English. As their name suggest these devices keep the respiratory tract “blowing” air towards a mask that patients are placed at bedtime. Although it is an effective technique, the treatment is cumbersome and uncomfortable for those who must follow it. From the experience to science. The study, Explain in a press release Krishna K. Sharma, who led the team, emerged from the perception of the positive effects that the technique could have on this aspect of respiratory health. So he decided to test the technique. In the study 30 people participated between 19 and 65 years with moderate apneas. 16 of the participants learned the practice of the snap of Caracolas, while the remaining were assigned by way of control a deep breathing practice. Everyone had to practice for at least 15 minutes a day before being evaluated after six months. The results of the evaluation showed that the experimental group, explains the team, showed 34% diurnal drowsiness lower than the control group. They also reported less apnea and were detected higher levels of blood oxygen when sleeping. The Study details They were published in the magazine Erj Open Research of the European Respiratory Society. In Xataka | Apple Apnea detector is a new step in converting clocks into diagnostic tools. It is not clear if they will get it Image | Krishna K Sharma / Erj Open Research

In 1959 scientists in the USSR resolved a doubt that many will have been done: Can we tame the fox?

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A few days ago It went viral on social networks the case of a family that reported how, after save a trapped fox On their land, this had become a regular visitor to which they fed and protected. Foxes are wild animals but in many contexts, even in densely populated areas, these mammals cohabit with our species. This implies a certain parallel with our idea about how we domesticate some of the animal species that now live with us, especially animals that live in our homes such as dogs and cats. We can then ask some key questions, such as whether possible Domesticate these animalsor even if we will not have begun to do it with this cohabitation. The brief answer to both questions may be “yes”, but of course, there are important details to take into account. To answer the first question in more detail, we have to go back in time, back in 1959and more specifically to the Soviet Union. But before, a little context. Foxes (Vulpes) They are a genre of canids, which makes them not very distant relatives of dogs and wolves. We distinguish a dozen fox species, among which the common fox or red fox stands out (Vulpes Vulpes), The species that is surely more familiar to us, which inhabits a huge diversity of ecosystems in Eurasia and North America, but can also be found in other regions of the globe. Returning to The USSR of the late 50the great domestication experiment of the fox was devised by Dmitri Belyaev and driven by Lyudmila Trutboth experts in Soviet genetics. These researchers wanted to know if the selective crossing of the most meek specimens of the species could lead to the appearance of the so -called “domestication syndrome”, that is, the tendency to accumulate certain characteristic features: flaccid ears, youth facial features or mottled fur, among others. Thus they could prove that these features could effectively associate with the domestication process, as would have happened in other species. The second hypothesis was to study if these external features were related to genes associated with calm and more “friendly” behaviors towards humans. Generation after generation The team was selecting the most meek specimens to continue with an experiment that survived even the fall of the Soviet Union. An experiment that lasted during more than six decades. But 15 generations were enough to obtain first results. By the 1970s the team had already achieved meek copies, Like Pushinkacapable of living with those responsible for the experiment. The experiment that survived even the fall of the Soviet Union. Belayaev died in the mid -1980s and Trut less than a year ago, In October 2024. The descendants of their foxes They still last. Russian domesticated fox, Siberia fox or domesticated silver fox, are some of the names by which this subspecies of the fox is known, also by its “scientific name” Vulpes Vulpes f. amicus. Are we doing it again? It is possible that Trut foxes are not the only vulpids in undertaking the path of domesticon. In Europe and other places in the world, the populations of foxes are not uncommon that They live in suburban areas and even fully urban. The possibility that that of these populations is a case of self -controlling has also attracted the interest of some scientists. According to narrated a few years ago Author Virginia Morell for the magazine Sciencethis was the case of Kevin Parsons. Intrigued by foxes that was in the streets From the city where he worked, Glasgow, this Canadian decided to go to the collection of foxes of the national museums of Scotland. The institution had a collection of about 1,500 skulls obtained in the 1970s, when the city of London and surrounding areas carried out a hunting campaign to reduce the number of foxes in the environment. The bone remains belonged therefore to animals hunted both in rural and urban environments. Parsons photographed and studied more than a hundred of these skulls, identifying their features in search of clues about domestication syndrome. And found them: the “urban foxes” presented shorter and more wide snouts, and smaller brains than hunted in rural environments. The details about his study were published in 2020 In an article In the magazine PROCESS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B: BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES. The implications of domesticating a wild animal, of creating new species or subspecies perhaps within a period not too long, are complex, with different ethical and ecological variables to consider. Do this With just being aware of it It is problematic since we cannot even take the precautionary measures necessary to avoid inconveniences. That is why the coexistence between foxes and humans has a dark side, not because of particular cases such as the one we mentioned at the beginning of the article but as a consequence of the urban life modes. There is therefore not much that we can do, but knowing the phenomenon may help avoid the possible negative consequences that it could have. In Xataka | Four years ago someone ran over a dog in Brazil: today we know that it was not a dog or should have existed Image | Brett Jordan

What are constellations and why scientists are still taking advantage of this millenary tradition

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The human being has from prehistory looking at the night sky to guide himself, either looking for the north to establish our course, or in order to know what is the ideal time for the planting of a crop. We have also often sought in the stars the esoteric and the divine. The stars have helped us to locate in space and time. And to guide ourselves in the tangle of bright dots that populate the night sky we have often resorted to an old “trick”: the constellations. What is a constellation The constellations are Star groups that are close to each other in the celestial vault. Not so in the universe, the stars that share a constellation Thousands of light years can be located on each other, it is only their position related to the field of vision that we have on earth. The constellations were created when our ancestors assigned a form to these groups: whether the shape of a person or deity (as in the constellations of Andromeda, Orion or Virgo), an animal (the major and minor bears, or the constellations of Aries and of Taurus), an object (such as Erídano, the oven or the clock) or other mythological being (such as the hydra or draco). The constellations change depending on the time of the year and the region in which we place ourselves: there are constellations that are only visible in winter, others in summer; Some can only be seen from the southern hemisphere and others from the north. All this due to the relative position of the earth regarding the “backdrop” of the universe and the sun, which blinds our vision of the stars during the day. The constellations are therefore groups of stars in our sky and the way in which their position is distributed. Groups that were probably used Since ancient time as a mnemonic trick to distinguish stars and, with them, identify times of the year or to use as a compass with which to guide us. How many constellations are there? To use constellations as a systematic tool, scientists have developed an “official” constellation list. Thanks to this we can list a specific amount of constellations. How many? 88 in total. And who says it? The institution in charge of designating constellations is the International Astronomical Union (UAI), responsible for the nomenclature of many other elements in space and in the celestial vault. The delimitation of the celestial borders depending on the constellations as we know it today was approved by the UAI almost a century ago, in 1930. It was then that the proposal of the Belgian astronomer was published Eugène Joseph Delporteapproved two years before by the General Assembly of the agency. What is the origin of the constellations These constellations came to us through ancient Greece, but we know that they did not originate there but had a even older originperhaps in the Babylonians or in other civilizations of the surroundings of the “fertile growing”. We also know that this type of cartographies arose In various civilizations Far from each other, from South America to China. These constellations came to us through ancient Greece, but we know that they did not originate there but that they had an even older origin, perhaps in the Babylonians or in other civilizations of the surroundings of the “growing fertile” lifting. We also know that this type of cartographies arose in various civilizations distant from each other, From South America to China. The origin of the “modern constellations” is in two points. The first, the fact that the era of exploration led Europeans to have to orient themselves in the southern hemisphere, where some of the constellations are not visible, but where the reference of these can also be useful. How science uses constellations Although constellations are based on tradition and not on the use of the scientific method to order the stars, science makes use of them in certain contexts. Precisely this need to “cover holes” It is due to the use made by constellations today and is to serve as a reference for the Observation of objects and phenomena astronomical. The celestial vault can be divided into latitudes and lengths, with its degrees, minutes and seconds, in the same way we do with the surface of the globe. This way of dividing the sky can be useful, but it is also not very intuitive if we do not have other references. On Earth we have cities, countries and continents; In the sky, constellations can help us intuitively locate a specific point in the vastness of the night sky. Difference between constellations and galaxies Are not the galaxies of stars also? The constellations resemble galaxies in the fact that both terms refer to groups of stars, but beyond this fact, the differences are non -existent. While constellations represent groups of stars that are in proximity from our perspective, galaxies are formed by groups of stars that are found gravitationally anchored each other. Galaxies are also composed of many other elements linked in the same way, from dust and gas clouds even black holesthrough planets and asteroids. The terminolgia can be confusing by the way we have to name some and other elements. For example, if we talk about Andromeda we can be referring to both a constellation and The homonymous galaxy. This coincidence is precisely because the galaxy was baptized with the name of the celestial region where you have to look to find it: the Andromeda constellation. In Xataka | Star rains, planetary alignments and lunar phases: all the astronomical events that we have in sight Image | Stellarium Web / NASA

Scientists launched a cow at the depths of the China Sea. They discovered eight unexpected visitors to the feast

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The ocean is full of surprises. Sometimes, as happened several years ago in Canada, the enigmas appear floating in the form of human feet adrift. However, in others, most, you have to go down to the depths to try to solve the mysteries. That was precisely what a group of researchers proposed. It all started by throwing the body of a cow. A cow at 1,600 meters. In one of the most unusual marine experiments carried out, a group of scientists He threw a dead cow at 1,629 meters deep in a continental slope of the South China Sea, in front of the Chinese island of Hainan, with the aim of simulating the sinking of a whale and studying the Behavior of scavengers of deep water. What they found surprised even the most experienced researchers: Eight sleepy sharks Pacific (Somniosus pacificus) They appeared in the place, marking the first documented observation of this species in the region. The finding not only unexpectedly expands the distribution map of this elusive shark, but also provides valuable information about its behavior patterns, food hierarchies, physiological adaptations and its possible geographical expansion. An unexpected visitor. Although the Pacific Sleeping Shark is a species with a wide distribution in the north of the Pacific Ocean (from Japan to Alaska and to the south to Baj real extension of its habitatits possible displacement due to climate change or even the existence of a stable population and not yet registered in that region. Food label. The recorded images By underwater cameras they not only confirmed their presence, but revealed unusual behavior for large predators: a kind of Shift systemin which sharks aligned to feed the body, giving the place to other individuals who approached from behind. This type of “Food label”rarely observed in predatory species, suggests that the order in food could be determined by the competitive intensity of each individual, instead of a chaotic struggle for resources, which would indicate a more complex level of social organization that was suspected in these animals. New clues. He study He also documented variations in behavior according to body size. The specimens that exceeded 2.7 meters in length were much more aggressive and direct In the attack on the carrion, while the smallest sharks opted for cautious movements, surrounding the body in circles before approaching. The employer suggests that even in an environment where food is scarce and random opportunities, sleepy sharks could have developed a coexistence strategy with hierarchical ranges that minimize direct conflict. One More Thing. Another remarkable finding was a behavior of Ocular retraction observed during feeding. Since this species lacks Iglestop membrane (The protective “third tab” that other vertebrates such as cats or certain reptiles have), researchers believe that this retraction reflects a Evolutionary adaptation To protect the eyes during bites or struggles, which brings a new data on the defensive physiology of these sharks in their natural environment. The unknown. And more, since the recordings also showed other revealing aspects. Namely: several sharks carried visible parasites In his eyes, identified Like copepodsalthough it was not possible to precisely classify the species. This detail reinforces biological parallelism among the sleeping sharks of the Pacific and their best -known relatives, the Greenland sharkswhich also usually host parasites in their visual organs. Apart from sharks, the experiment attracted a surprising variety of abyssal fauna, such as Caracol fish and numerous amphipodsall attracted by the source of decomposition organic matter. These records confirm that the deep areas of the South China Sea not only house a biodiversity still little documented, but could be more productive of what was believed so far, against the idea that tropical depths are biologically poorer than their polar counterparts. The great unknown. In the background, the presence of these sharks raises a crucial issue: is it a recent expansion of its rank due to global warming, or has it always been part of its habitat and simply had never been observed? It is known that the species has occasionally appeared in such remote regions like Palaos or the Solomon Islandswhich suggests that there could be more southern populations than the scientific literature indicates. However, the “frequent appearance” in the southwest of the China Sea, According to the team itself Researcher led by Han Tian, rather suggests a structural lack of data in a little explored region rather than a recent change in the distribution pattern. In that sense, the experiment with the body of Vaca has not only contributed a specific observation, but has opened a way to review key concepts on the marine biogeography of abyssal species. Know the depths. He find It underlines the usefulness of simple experiments, but carefully designed to obtain data on remote environments, inaccessible already often little understood. The idea of simulating a whale sinking with a cow was not only effective, but proved to be a powerful Ecological magnet able to reveal complex biological interactions. In a context where Climate change and Human activity They are altering ecosystems even at great depth, this type of research is crucial to understand the invisible functioning of the deep ocean. The appearance of eight sleeping sharks where no one was waiting for them, behaving with order, measured aggressiveness and sophisticated adaptive mechanisms, is one more proof that marine depths They keep secrets that we are barely beginning to understand. Image | Ocean-Lond-Atmosphere Research (2025) In Xataka | A Canadian coast had been receiving human feet for years. Science has resolved mystery In Xataka | Carnivorous crustaceans, devouring worms and missing bodies: the scientific mystery of the caimanes at the bottom of the sea

Some scientists have rowed 225 kilometers in 45 hours between Taiwan and Japan. It seems absurd but there are good reasons

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In 1947 the Norwegian explorer and ethnographer Thor Heyerdahl He had an idea To demonstrate that the former inhabitants of Peru were able to navigate to the coasts of Polynesia in pre -Columbian times: to manufacture a rudimentary raft and cover the journey himself. Sounds crazy, but experience went well and seems to have created school, like He has just demonstrated An anthropologist determined to reveal how humans were managed to travel between the coasts of Taiwan and the islands of southern Japan. Along with the rest of his colleagues he has chosen to follow the footsteps of Heyerdahl, manufacture a cedar canoe with tools from the Paleolithic and then launch to the Pacific waters. When, where … and how. Researchers who are dedicated to studying the first human settlements in East Asia have a rather accurate idea of ​​when and where the first migrations were made, but there is a question that still takes away their dream: how noses they moved? How did they travel through sea, raffling waves, winds and currents, with hardly any resources? How did the first settlers manage to arrive for example do 30,000 yearsTo the island Yonaguniin the archipelago of The Ryūkyūcurrent Japan? After all, Taiwan is more than 100 kilometers and the distance is even higher from the continent. “Simple questions”. That kind of questions are what the anthropologist was asked a few years ago Yousuke Kaifufrom the University of Tokyo. During his investigations in the deposits of the Okinawa Islands he found vestiges that give away that there were already humans in the region 30,000 yearsbut nothing that clarifies how they got there. “There are stone tools and archaeological remains, but they do not answer those questions,” confesses to The Guardian. That there were no evidence did not mean that Kaifu and his colleagues could not raise hypotheses … and demonstrate them. “We started this project with simple questions: ‘How did the Paleolithic peoples arrive at islands as remote as Okinawa?’ ‘How was your trip difficult?’ ‘What tools and strategies did they use?’ ” remember The Japanese anthropologist. “Archaeological evidence, such as vestiges and artifacts, does not offer a complete vision, since the sea, by nature, drags them. So we turn to experimental archeology, in a line similar to The Kon-Tiki expedition of 1947 of the Norwegian Thor Heyerdahl “. In the skin of the ancestors. Like Hayerdahl and his mythical expedition Kon-Tiki, Kaifu and his colleagues assumed the complicated task of putting themselves into the skin of their ancestors of thousands of years ago. How did they travel? How did they guide themselves? What materials did they use for their vessels to draw the currents of the region? First they tested with Juncos balsas and bamboo, but ended up ruling out the idea. With these materials they obtained too slow ships to overcome The Kuroshioone of the strongest sea currents and that conditions navigation in the northwestern Pacific. His next option was to try a canoe made with Japanese cedar, such as those used in the area thousands of years ago. In order for the experiment to be as faithful as possible to reality, the researchers talled a cedar one meter thick with stone axes and then carved it until opening a cavity inside and giving the shape of a canoe of 7.5 meters of length. The result was ‘sugime’, a boat not very different from those used thousands of years ago. In 2019, after waiting for the sea to calm down, a team of five crew (in which scientists and remakes were included) rose on board and tried it. And how did they do it? As the Paleolithic men, without GPS or any other modern navigation device, would have done only by the stars, the sun, waves and instinct. The expedition started from Taiwan Rumbo Yonaguni, in Kyūshū. The island is not visible from the Taiwanese coast (and in fact it was not for much of the journey, when it was hidden from the waves), but the scientists verified that on clear days it is not difficult to contemplate it from the mountains of Taiwan. Hence the populations of 30,000 years ago they met her. The raft left in July 2019 and its crew had to row more than 45 hours and cover a journey of 225 kilometers before reaching its destination. It was not easy, but the team reached Yonaguni to the second night, reinforcing the theory that thousands of years ago the first Okinawa settlers were able to travel in Canoas from neighboring Taiwan. During the syglura, yes, They suffered crampspain and hallucinations and even were forced to Browse water Often to prevent the raft from getting causing. “They achieved something extraordinary”. The experiment was completed in July 2019 thanks to the support of several institutions but has not achieved authentic impact so far, when the University of Tokyo He has revealed The experience. The reason? A few days ago there was a documentary about the trip and two academic articles published in Science Advances. In one the experts report the 45 -hour experiment between Taiwan and the island of Yonaguni. In the other they share virtual recreations hundreds of possible routes to know which could be the “most plausible”. “The general public usually considers the Peoples of the Paleolithic as ‘lower’, mainly due to their ‘primitive’” culture and technology, ” collect the report. “In marked contrast, our experiment has shown that they achieved something extraordinary with the rudimentary technology they had.” The experiment also confirms the growing interest in archaeological reconstructions and tests with boats that copy old models, something that (in addition to the case of Hayerdahl) we have seen in Indonesian research, France either United Arab Emirates. Images | © 2025 Kaifu et al. CC-BY-AR In Xataka | In 1973 a scientist wanted to find out why we fight. So he crossed the ocean in a mini raft full of strangers

In 1950 two scientists wondered if possible a nuclear bomb of 10 gigatons. Its results are hidden locked up

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On October 30, 1961, a Soviet bomber furrowed the skies of the Arctic towards Novaya Zemlya. Under his fuselage he hung an artifact the size of a bus: an unprecedented nuclear pump. At 11:32, the called TSAR pump He released. A parachute slowed its fall, allowing the plane to move away. Then, a detonation illuminated the sky with a fireball of almost 10 kilometers in diameter and a fungus -shaped cloud that amounted to more than 65 kilometers. The show was surreal: the pump, With 50 megatones explosive (more than 3,300 times that of Hiroshima), became a symbol of the Nuclear madness. But it could be much worse. The awakening of a new era. With the atomic bombardment of Hiroshima and Nagasaki In August 1945, the world changed irreversibly. Those bombs, 16 and 21 kilotons respectively, they marked the beginning of the destructive power without a paragon of Nuclear weapons. However, despite their fearsome capacity, these weapons were only the first step towards a much more sinister technological escalation. What would later transcend the most reckless imagination. The most powerful pump ever detonated would be That Soviet tsar of 50 megatones, although designed to reach 100. However, the most disturbing thing is that this was not the summit. In hidden, the United States had still planned More huge. The “Super” concept. Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs were based In fission: A chain reaction in which heavy nuclei are divided releasing energy. But as we said, in parallel to their development, some scientists imagined a second stage: The fusion. This implied union of light nuclei (as deuterium and tritium) to form a heavier one, releasing even more energy. It happens that this reaction required an initial fission explosion to activate, which would give rise to the concept of the Hydrogen pumps. In the 1940s they were just a theoretical speculation … but everything changed very soon. Photograph of a replica of the tarum pump housing Communism comes. After the detonation of the First atomic bomb Soviet in 1949, the United States accelerated its thermonuclear programs. The fear of communism, enhanced by the revolution in China that same year, made the National Security Council recommend quadruply military spending. In that context, the figures of Edward Teller and Stanislaw Ulam appear, who devised The design that even today supports the H bombs. In 1952, the “Mike” test of Operation IVY demonstrated for the first time the Thermonuclear principle: an explosion of 10.4 megatones (500 times Nagasaki) that left a crater of 1,900 meters wide. Despite such force, that was not enough for Teller. The Soundy germ. Two years later, in 1954, the so -called “Shrimp” bomb during the Castle Bravo test. A powerful explosion was expected, but the result of 15 megatons (1,000 times Hiroshima) even surprised its designers, both by strength and by the devastating level of radiation released. However, Teller’s impetus did not stop there either. I wanted more, Much more. It was then that one of the most delusional and terrifying projects of nuclear history emerged: the Sundial Project. Designed by Teller and his colleagues from the Livermore Radiation Laboratory, the plan proposed a new destruction scale: no already kilotons or megatones, we entered In the gigatons. A couple of brothers. They were designed Two weapons: Gnomon and Sindial. Gnomon would act as “primary”, with a detonation of 1,000 megatons aimed at detonating Soundy, which would reach a power of 10,000 megatons, that is, 10 gigatons. For placing it in perspective, he thinks again The image of the beginning. Well, the figure exceeds 200 times the tsar bomb, and almost does not fit in the conceptual framework of the physics of conventional explosions. The potential apocalypse. The logic behind Sindial overflows any traditional calculation. To such powers, the laws of escalation of destruction They lose any validity: The heat, pressure and energy released would be so monstrous that, a priori, they would open a hole in the atmosphere. In fact, A report Del Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists pointed out that a pump like a sundial, detonated about 45 kilometers of altitude, could cause fires in an area of the size of France. The death toll would be unthinkable, not only because of the immediate explosion but by global radioactive sequels. Hiroshima, with 140,000 victims, would be a sigh against cataclysm that would represent Sindial. It was not science fiction. Although it might seem like a laboratory fantasy, the Sundial Project It was not a joke or an eccentric occurrence. Declassified documents and historical analysis indicate that Livermore’s team worked seriously For years in the development of Gnomon, with concrete plans to test it in the Redwing operation of 1956. That test was canceled, but the mere existence of the plan shows to what extent the fear, scientific ambition and deterrence had pushed the superpowers to border the abyss of the unacceptable. Echoes of Sindial. Suindial never materialized, but his mere conception forced A critical reflection In American politics. The growing destructive power of these weapons overflowed not only military strategy, but also ethics, logistics and land physics itself. While many ruled out their tactical utility for being impracticable (a pump of such dimensions was impossible to launch), its potential as an instrument of symbolic terror was enormous. As with The TSAR pumpits value was more political than operational: a floating threat that showed how far a nation could go if I wanted. Monster in the shadows. Finally, the Soundal project is It was diluting between political restrictions, international treaties and practical sense (without serving as precedent). The Ratification of the treaty Partial prohibition of nuclear trials in 1963 was a brake on atmospheric tests, which in practice made it impossible to continue advancing in the development of extreme performance weapons. The strategy then went on to favor smaller, portable and operational multiple eyelets, leaving behind the vision of total apocalypse that represented Sindial and its cousin Soviet sister. Imagine the unimaginable. What’s doubt, today sundial is just a footer … Read more

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