scissors

We have been fighting with fish bones for centuries. China just won the war with molecular scissors

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For fish lovers, carpin (gibel carp) has historically been a culinary paradox: a meat appreciated for its tender texture and its rich protein profile, but a real challenge for the diner due to its more than 80 “Y”-shaped intermuscular spines (IBs). This inconvenience has caused countless incidents in cafeterias and visits to the emergency room, but now China has made a radical decision: rewrite the DNA of the species to adapt it to our needs. The “Zhongke No. 6”. The research team from the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), led by academician Gui Jianfang, has announced success of the creation of a new variety called “Zhongke No. 6”. Unlike other scientific advances that remain in the laboratory, this specimen is a variety specifically designed to reach consumers’ tables and transform the aquaculture industry. Molecular surgery at the embryonic level. The key to success lies in a “surgical attack” on the fish’s genome. Scientists identified the gene runx2b as the “architect” responsible for giving the order to the fish’s body to develop those 80 pesky spines. Using CRISPR/Cas9 technology, described by researchers Like “molecular scissors,” they cut this specific genetic code during the embryonic stage. The process has proven to be of unprecedented precision. The main skeleton of the crucian carp – spine and ribs – develops completely normally, allowing the fish to grow, swim and stay healthy. However, the biological pathway that activates intramuscular spines, the ones that really get in the way of eating, do not develop. A six-year challenge: From the laboratory to production. Although the announcement of “Zhongke No. 6” is recent, the journey began years ago. According to the scientific journal Aquaculturethe seminal study that demonstrated the viability of these spineless mutants was originally published in early 2023. That initial work was the result of a six-year systematic effort under the CAS strategic program called “Design and Creation of Precision Seeds.” This project is especially complex because the crucian carp is hexaploid (it has six sets of chromosomes), which forced Gui Jianfang’s team to simultaneously edit all copies of the genes involved to ensure that not a single spine appeared in the new generations. More than an easy-to-eat fish. “Zhongke No. 6” has not only been emptied of thorns; has been optimized for industrial efficiency. According to published technical data, this variety presents accelerated growth since it reaches “commercial size” in less time than wild varieties. Additionally, it is designed to survive in dense, intensive aquaculture environments, where diseases often decimate production. Finally, it requires significantly less feed to produce the same amount of protein, reducing costs and the environmental impact of feed. The limit of the natural. However, this scientific advance places us before an uncomfortable mirror. As official sources conclude from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, this milestone represents a triumph of applied science that solves an ancient problem, transforming a difficult-to-eat fish into an efficient and safe source of protein. But, from a more critical perspective, an inevitable question arises: by optimizing every stroke of life for our comfort, what are we losing along the way? If we keep editing species so that they grow faster, are more resilient, and have no natural “defects,” we will reach a point where we won’t really know what we are eating. “Zhongke No. 6” is undoubtedly an engineering miracle, but it is also a reminder that the line between nature and the factory is increasingly thin. Image | Needpix Xataka | All the fish we eat are contaminated by methylmercury. But there are only four specific ones to avoid

The terror of wars was always stepping on a mine. In Ukraine they carry scissors, because the panic is thinner: a spider web

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In May we count that an unexpected weapon had begun to be added among the Ukrainian troops: scissors. Given the brutality of the conflict, a technology had sneaked in to evade electronic warfare and enter the enemy camp on both sides as he had not done before: destroying the lines, making attacks invisible and evading any attempt at interference. Now, the tangle of cables has intensified. A deadly web. In 2025, the Ukrainian front is no longer understood without a sky and ground crossed by thousands of drones and by kilometers of optical cable that transform the land into a physical and tactical tangle. What started as a technological revolution to compensate for human shortcomings has evolved into an industrialized war in which each innovation immediately generates a counter-innovation, and where Ukraine, which for years led the initiative, now faces a scenario in which Russia obtains a sustained advantage. Fiber optic drones (invulnerable to electronic shielding) have colonized trenches, roads and wooded areas, leaving visible and invisible networks that slow down every movement and that, in the middle of the night, they get confused with real traps. Narratives from units like the Ukrainian Rangers show a landscape in which advancing is as dangerous as retreating: cables hanging from trees, entrenched in mud, or accidentally attached to weapons and vehicles after each mission. There is no “safe zone.” The great transformation is not in territorial advances, but in the Russian ability to hit supply lines tens of km from the front. What yesterday was a rearguard today is a vulnerable gray zoneand what once required manned aviation is now accomplished by swarms of small, remotely guided vehicles. The explosions that convoys have reached on theoretically protected roads confirm that Moscow has given absolute priority to the war of attrition: attacking where it hurts most, preventing rotations, exhausting Ukrainian drone pilots and forcing brigades to walk dozens of kilometers on foot to avoid detection. This logistical pressure not only undermines military resistance, but also alters the political balance: a country that loses strategic depth also loses negotiating capacity. The Rubikon unit. It we have counted before. The appearance of Rubikon, the elite unit that reorganized Russian doctrine after the Ukrainian incursion into Kursk, marks a before and after. Recruiting the best pilots, integrating optical drones, FPV and “mother” platforms like the Molniya, they exported a lethal model to the Donbas: attack supply before infantry, eliminate enemy pilots before riflemen, destroy capabilities before positions. Its success lies less in technology than on the scale: Russia produces more, deploys more and lets China nurture its fiber optic industry without limits. In Pokrovsk (the crudest laboratory of this mutation) Ukrainian soldiers calculate that Russian drones surpass them in a ratio of 10 to 1. The city, turned into a puzzle of ruins where the front line changes every few hours, exemplifies how tactical air dominance has become the decisive factor in controlling the terrain. The Ukrainian crisis. Ukraine continues to cause severe damage in the final strip before the front, where traditional FPVs remain lethal. But the rest of the board has leaned against her: a shortage of optical cables, pilots forced to launch from ever greater distances, disrupted logistics chains and a military industry struggling to produce what Russia receives on an industrial scale. Some controls they insist in which the strategic error is to prioritize the destruction of Russian infantry instead of replicating the Rubikon model: hunt down the operators, saturate the logistics nodes and act in depth. However, any solution requires resources that Ukraine does not have and that its allies provide too slowly. Chinese fiber optics, the officers point outis tipping the balance with more weight than many Western diplomatic decisions. Between swarms and cables. The conclusion is disturbing: war no longer depends so much on territorial advances as on who controls the drone ecosystem, who has more operational pilotswho can saturate the most kilometers of enemy rear and who turns rival logistics into a prohibited zone. The front, turned into a spider web physically by wires and digitally webed by unmanned swarms, is being redefined at a speed that Ukraine struggles to match. If kyiv does not regain the technological initiative and achieve a steady supply of optical capabilities and long-range platforms, 2026 could be the first year in which Russia’s structural advantage in drones not only complicates Ukrainian offensives, but seriously limits its ability to sustain current defenses. Image | reddit In Xataka | Russia had managed to manufacture drones and missiles despite the sanctions. So selling Zara clothes was a matter of time In Xataka | The round of peace meetings in Ukraine has ended. Russia says it is “ready”, but for war with Europe

Madrid has already set the card brake on the classrooms. The scissors will not cut all centers by educational equally

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The Community of Madrid just put date to an idea that had been around for some time: Limit the use of screens among the little ones. From the 2025/26 course, children in children and primary schools of public and concerted centers will not be able to work with digital devices individually. The official objective is to protect them from excessive or inappropriate use, something that, they say, will benefit more than half a million children. What changes in Infant and Primary? In practice, this means that in childhood and primary school it ends to have each one its tablet or its laptop. According to the Community of Madrid, teachers will not be able to send duties that require screen outside school and, within the classroom, only shared use and always with a pedagogical purpose will be allowed. This use will be very measured: in the first cycle of children (up to 3 years) there will be no contact with screens, in the second cycle (3 to 6 years) it will be limited to an hour weekly, in 1st and 2nd primary school also at one hour, in 3rd and 4th at an hour and a half and up to two hours per week in the last two courses. The exception of high school. ESO plays with other rules. Instead of a veto, the Community of Madrid leaves the decision in the hands of each institute. They will be the ones who mark whether or not they are used tablets, laptops or mobiles in class, adapting the rules to the reality of their students, their maturity and the way in which the subjects impart. Private schools: the great nuance. Not all schools are in the same bag. As Madrid’s Diario stands outthis regulation is only imposed on centers with public funds. The private ones are left out, although they are encouraged to apply their own criteria to regulate the use of technology in the classrooms. Exceptions and special cases. The regulations leave some open doors. For example, students with special needs can use tablets or computers without limits if recommended by a psychopedagogical report. In addition, the decree allows devices to be used in those options or programs that are not understood without technology, such as some digital or robotics projects. Progressive Supervision and Adaptation. It will not be a change overnight. The educational inspection will be responsible for controlling that the decree is applied correctly, but also to help the centers so that the change is as traumatic as possible. In addition, schools with projects where each student has their own device will have an extra year, until 2026/27, to adapt and reduce the use of screens. Open context and debate. Not everyone sees this change with the same eyes. The more than 400 allegations received that the debate is still open: are we protecting children or limiting their contact with tools that will be key in their future? The Madrid community is committed to the first reading, but the pulse between traditional education and digitalization is far from resolving. Images | Freepik (1, 2) In Xataka | The icing on the cake to the works of Madrid: the city has become a gymkana of reforms, cuts and discomfort

Ukraine soldiers are starting to carry scissors. It is the only way to face Russia’s most lethal weapon

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At the beginning of January the New York Times told which was no longer possible to hide in the Ukraine War. Before the brutality of the contest a technology had sneaked into Evade electronic war and enter the enemy field of both sides as I had not done before. The threat was destroying the lines, making attacks invisible and evading any attempt at interference. Now, that technology has become stronger and deadly in Russia: the optical fiber. The Russian offensive. I explained it a few hours ago BBC in a report. In the Ukrainian town of Rodynske, a few kilometers from Pokrovsk, the war has acquired an even more devastating dimension with the intensive use of 250 kg planning pumps and surveillance and attack drones. The recent impact of one of these projectiles devastated administrative and residential buildings, leaving behind a destruction landscape. Russian troops, unable to take Pokrovsk directly, have begun to surround it strategicallycutting supply routes through a siege that intensifies with every day. The immediate presence of Russian drones about Rodynske reveals that Moscow has advanced from the east, beyond the previously identified positions, displaying their weapons since recently captured areas. The unstoppable rise of fiber. Under that changing scenario, a technology has been perfected as the most feared weapon in the conflict: guided drones by fiber optic cable. Unlike traditional models, their physical connection with the controller makes them immune to electronic interference, one of the most important defensive pillars so far. Although slower and can be tangled (for example, in their passage through trees high), their ability to operate in closed environments, such as Inside buildingsand to stay hidden, each movement of Ukrainian soldiers converts into a possible death sentence. In that sense, Russia has taken the front in its implementation while Ukraine still tested themand although now tries to accelerate its production, the technological difference continues to incline the balance on the battlefield. Fiber cable anchored to a drone in Ukraine The front lines. This new type of threat has completely altered the dynamics of Ukrainian detachments. Soldiers as it is or came, from the 68th Jaeger battalion, They described the BBC How simple transfer to a position can be more lethal than direct combat. The pressure has forced the units to remain much longer in the trenches, without the possibility of rotation. Maksym, gunner of the 5th Assault Battalion, says that they could alternate every few days, but now there are those who take until 120 days in a row on the front. Fatigue, moisture, constant death and the impossibility of lowering the guard have redefined combat. Oses, chief of recognition, explained that Russian tactics have evolved towards small and mobile infiltrations: Motorcycles, quadrimotos, patrols of one or two men who penetrate enemy lines such as scattered pieces on a chess board. Pros and cons of fiber in war. Detailed it in a Interview for The War Zone Yas, a commander of the Ukrainian unmanned units (drones). Operate drones by fiber optic offers an essential tactical advantage: it allows silent control, without detectable emissions, and makes many electronic warfare systems obsolete. However, the system also presents limitations. Drone management It requires great expertisesince an inexperienced pilot can cause losses due to control failures or even unwanted explosions. In addition, the fiber cable can be easily broken or entangled, and technology itself is expensive and difficult to access (especially for Ukraine). Despite this, the success index of fiber drones to achieve and hit their goals Round 50%figure that clearly exceeds that of conventional radiofrequency drones. However, less than 5% of the Ukrainian drone park, According to Yascurrently uses this system, mainly due to the shortage of quality units and the saturation of local manufacturers, many of which, in the beginning, reversed Chinese components without fully understanding the operating requirements in combat. The asymmetric race. In that sense, Russian capacities are not only imposed by number, but by the speed with which Adapt solutions. Every time Ukraine changes frequency or introduces improvements, Moscow responds quickly, climbing his countermeasures in a coordinated way. He has done so with control channels and video transmission. In that context, fiber optic drones They represent a momentary tactical advantage window. Although in Ukraine ranges of 15 and up to 20 kilometers with drones of this type have already been reached, Russia operates models of up to 30 kilometers. Yas lamented to the environment that, except in the case of conventional drones, the Ukrainian State has not yet managed to establish A solid infrastructure of production and deployment for fiber optic drones. A gap that can determine the difference between maintaining defensive positions or losing strategic ground against the enemy. Endurance. In The BBCa Ukrainian soldier said that the fear of drones Invisible Because of the fiber he has led them to start carry scissors everywhere To cut the cables. Technology has already given enough episodes of authentic nightmare where drones have entered buildings chasing human objectives. Meanwhile, and although Russia has made important advances, the Total Take Donetsk It is still far from being an immediate reality. Ukraine continues to resist, but suffers the shortage of ammunition, the imperative need for weapons and a worrying lack of qualified personnel against a more numerous Russian army and with better institutionalized processes at the moment. Yas is clear: The future of the war of drones will depend not only on technology itself, but who is able to organize it and multiply it faster. Meanwhile, every drone that raises the flight with a fiber optic coil becomes a silent bet between life and death. Image | Ministry of Defense of Ukraine In Xataka | The Ukrainian invention that has allowed to repel the waves of Russian attacks: a 41 km fiber optic cable In Xataka | The problem of many to cross the border and flee from the war in Ukraine is not the passport. They are your phones

The World Cup, paper, scissors exists. And it is a very serious thing

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Netflix has taught us with ‘The squid game‘That children’s games are a very serious thing. As we grow, we stop playing most of them, but there is such an entrenched one that we use it when it is discussion or to decide something quickly: the stone, paper and scissors. And it is so important that there are even World Cups with thousands of dollars at stake. WRPSA. In this story, it is difficult to differentiate what is a joke from what is serious. Your YouTube channel seems a parody, and in the gallery of its website they modify works of art so that it seems that are playing this game and they have even one section of browser games that call “simulators.” But no, the World Stone Association, Scissors exists and is not an American, as we might think, but has a presence throughout the world. The adventure of World Rock Paper Scissors Associationor WRPSA, began in 2015. He was not born out of nowhere, but taking the witness of the World Rock Paper Scissors Society who had already held international championships between 2002 and 2009. And both one and the other organized tournaments of what you are thinking: stone, paper and scissors, facing those who consider them as the best players in the world and giving juicy awards. Rules. Should we explain how it is played? Basically, participants simultaneously perform one between three gestures: stone (closed fist), scissors (two extended fingers forming a ‘V’) and paper (the palm and all extended fingers. The mechanics is that the stone wins the scissors, the scisso known However, to compete in international events, at least with the rules of the WRPSA (Lizard and Spock are gestures that are not allowed), there are a number of elements that we must take into account. The first thing is that players must show their gesture at the same time. The hands should be hidden until the gesture is launched, they should look into each other, the best of three, five or seven rounds is played, there is a variant by teams and referees that are responsible for not cheating. Strategies. This game seems pure random and, obviously, there is a very, very important factor of randomness, but there are also some strategies that can be used to increase the possibilities of victory. Some are logical, such as not always using the same pattern, since it is something that can be used against you. Others have more psychology behind. For example, the research They suggest that winners tend to repeat their movements, while losers change to another gesture. Therefore, if you win, you are more likely to repeat the gesture and, if you lose, you can take advantage of the fact that the repetition trend exists in the winning case and trying to anticipate. For example, if they beat you with stone, the opponent may once again use stone, so you would get the victory. The best play to win? May your tactic be randomly. A Chinese mathematician named Zhijian Wang discovered that the most precise way to win is by choosing a random strategy. Also discovered That the most common pattern among the losing players of his study was precisely the stone, paper and scissors, in loop. Damage. As a notion in case you want to become a professional, it is not bad, but … Do you earn money? Depends. In the annual edition of the World Rock Paper Scissors Championships of Toronto, a main prize of up to 10,000 dollars is offered. The Rock Paper Scissors League From the United States, which organized events throughout the territory, distributed prizes of between $ 1,000 and $ 5,000. Other minor tournaments offer food checks, gift cards or film tickets for a year, but when a large sponsor gets into the equation, the monetary amount triggers. It was the case of the 2005 “championship” starring the Bud Light brewing brand, which during the Super Bowl of that year gave a prize of one million dollars. In 2006 and 2008 He sponsored The American League with a prize of 50,000 dollars to the champion and a pass for the international championship held in China. Jump to Europe. Some of these championships have been broadcast on television and, apart from the commented, some minor tournaments have been held that have cash awards, but above all they are a drinking food party with a good atmosphere. And in Europe we have not been left out of this peculiar sport. Perhaps, the most famous league on the continent is organized by Wacky Nation in the United Kingdom, giving prizes of up to 20,000 pounds in the 2019 edition. In Spain, the awards have been somewhat more modest, something curious if we take into account that culturally it is a game that is frequently used to decide something in a simple, fast and fair way. In 2023, the Polytechnic University of Valencia celebrated The first stone, paper and scissors tournament, a closed competition to its students, with 128 registered and with an award that consisted of a paratrooper experience for two people. Last year, the Caja Rural de Navarra and the General Commission of the University Tent They celebrated A tournament with 64 participants and 500 euros of the winner, 200 euros for the second and 50 for the third. Asia to your roll. But if we were talking about the finals of a World Cup in China before, it is because in Asia, as usually happens, they are at another speed in this type of issues. It makes a lot of sense, in reality, since in China it is where, during the Han dynasty (206 AC to 220 AD) there was a game called Shǒushìlìng It is the predecessor of the current game. China arrived in Japan in the seventeenth century, where it adapted and consolidated with the gestures and rules we use today. After the 2008 Olympic Games, the Championship of the International Stone Federation, Paper and Scissors with … Read more

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