shouldnt

A new “solar system” has just been discovered. There’s just one problem: it shouldn’t exist.

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Observations from NASA and the European Space Agency telescopes have made possible the discovery of a new exoplanetary system 116 light years from Earth. According to research by an international team led by the University of Warwick published in the journal Sciencethis new “solar system” has a peculiarity: its architecture contradicts the standard model of planetary formation. In short, based on the astrophysics we know, it should not exist. We do not know if it will force us to rewrite current theories, but we do know that we will urgently review them. The discovery. The LHS 1903 system is made up of four planets orbiting a red dwarf, the most common and longest-lived type of star in the universe. The question is how they are arranged: the innermost planet is rocky, the next two are gaseous and surprisingly, the outermost planet (LHS 1903 e) is also rocky. That planet shouldn’t be there. LHS 1903 e It is a large super-Earth (it has 1.7 times the radius of the Earth and 5.79 Earth masses, thus achieving a similar density) located on the periphery, but of course, it should not be in that position, according to current models. It is not a minor anomaly: it breaks the paradigm from the foundations. This provision contradicts the usual pattern that we see in all known planetary systems: the rocky planets (refractory materials) are in the hot zone and the gas giants in the outer cold zone, beyond the “snow line“, where ice makes it possible to grow large nuclei that capture hydrogen. The canonical example is our solar system: the rocky Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars orbit closer and the gaseous Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune orbit further away. Why is it important. According to theory, a planet as large as LHS 1903 e in that cold zone should have devoured gas until it became a giant like Jupiter. But there is another reading: that the formation model fails and is not the only recipe that explains how exoplanetary systems form. But as we mentioned above, red dwarfs are the most abundant stars in the galaxy and if the model fails in this system, it is plausible that it will not hit the mark in much of the cosmos either. There may be other “inverted” systems pending interpretation or that we have misinterpreted. A possible explanation. What the research team proposes is the gas-poor formation mechanism hypothesis. In short, the important thing is not so much where but when. Thus, the planets were formed one after another in the opposite order to our solar system, starting first with the innermost one and going outwards from there. When planets form, they consume the gas available in the disk that surrounds the star. LHS 1903 was formed last, when there was no more gas left, so it could no longer become the gas giant that might have been expected. As explains Lead researcher and University of Warwick professor Thomas Wilson: “It means that the outermost planet formed millions of years after the innermost one. And because it formed later, there really wasn’t enough gas and dust left in the disk to build this planet.” The research method. The data analyzed by the international team comes from the collaboration of NASA’s TESS telescopes and ESA’s CHEOPS exoplanet characterization satellite: the first detects planets with the in-transit method and the second studies them in depth, which allows it to obtain information such as size, mass and, from there, density. Among the alternative hypotheses considered is its birth from impacts between planets or the loss of its gaseous envelope, which they ended up discarding. Astrophysics has pending subjects. Beyond finding a clear mechanism, what seems evident is that observing this system of exoplanets opens up a range of possibilities about how planets form around stars that will last for years. Néstor Espinoza, an astronomer at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore who was not involved in the study, explains it for CNN: “This system provides a very interesting piece of information that planetary formation models will try to explain for years, and I am sure that we will learn something new about the planetary formation process once they are compared to each other.” In Xataka | How the solar system was formed: for the Earth to be born, a star had to die first In Xataka | We have been deceived by the distances of the Solar System: the closest neighbor to Neptune is Mercury Cover | NASA Hubble Space Telescope

There are TikTok influencers reading ‘Wuthering Heights’ and not understanding its vocabulary. It shouldn’t surprise us

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A viral video where a young Spanish woman complains about the difficulty of reading the romantic classic ‘Wuthering Heights’ has sparked a generational debate about reading comprehension. But beyond the controversy, the data show a real problem: reading skills are falling in all generations, with digital natives being the sector of the population most especially affected. The video. It lasts just two minutesbut it has been generating debate for days. A 25-year-old girl complains, with her copy of ‘Wuthering Heights’ in hand, that she finds the language archaic, she needs to consult the dictionary constantly to understand terms like “tin” or “par excellence”, and she estimates that it will take months to finish it. The video has accumulated millions of views and has unleashed a generational war on social networks: how is it possible, say the most veterans, that a university student does not know relatively commonly used words or is not used to consulting a dictionary? The conversation should not be limited to pointing out blame and differences between educational levels. We are facing a generational change that alludes to how written language is processed, and ‘Wuthering Heights’ has become the accidental battlefield on which to explore that transformation. New times. There is a gap between contemporary narrative aimed at young audiences and literary classics. Young Adult (YA) prose, a genre that attracts millions of readers on social networks (a fact: 55% of the readers who roam TikTok are between 18 and 34 years old, and 78% they are women) prioritizes immediacy, agile dialogues and direct descriptions. It is literature designed for rapid consumption, in tune with digital rhythms. Emily Brontë, for her part, wrote for Victorian readers accustomed to long subordinate clauses, detailed descriptions, and a vocabulary that assumed a certain formal education. Distance is both temporal and structural: different narrative architectures for differently trained brains. The data. The TikTok viral could be interpreted as an isolated anecdote, but a recent study by the BBVA Foundation prepared by Spanish researchers with international data from the Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC). It reveals a progressive decline in reading and numerical skills since the Millennial generation: those born after 1980 show significantly lower cognitive skills than Baby Boomers and Generation X when they were the same age. According to the study, Generation Z obtains reading comprehension scores up to 20 points below Generation PIAAC standardized testswhich evaluate the ability to understand, interpret and use written information. The gap widens in numerical skills: young people born after 1995 show difficulties in interpreting graphs, calculating percentages or solving basic mathematical problems applied to real situations. The deterioration is systematic, and also affects developed countries with advanced educational systems. Eyes that do not see. The studies of eye tracking from the Nielsen Norman Group document how users read on the Internet following an F pattern: two horizontal sweeps across the top, followed by a quick vertical scan down the left side. Reading becomes selective keyword tracking. This behavior, typical of Internet browsing, is inappropriate for complex texts that require following arguments developed over multiple pages. The architecture of attention changes: we move from deep dive to shallow scan. The fault of social networks. Digital platforms are designed to capture attention through short, dopamine content. The algorithms reward 15-second videos, striking images, and texts that are consumed at a glance. The attention economy does not encourage depth, and reading ‘Wuthering Heights’ requires the opposite: sustained concentration, tolerance for ambiguity, the ability to memorize information while constructing cumulative meaning. They are skills that atrophy without training. If new generations show systematic deficits in these areas, the consequences transcend the debate over whether or not someone can read a Victorian classic. They affect how we process information of all kinds: medical, legal, financial, political… The young woman in the viral video may be a symptom of something more worrying than the inability to read texts with unusual vocabulary. Facilitate access? This controversy opens up a multitude of tremendously fascinating sub-controversies: educate better or facilitate access to complex texts? For example, Penguin Random House launched its collection in the United Kingdom in 2019. Penguin English Library with updated translations of classics, maintaining the original meaning but eliminating obsolete linguistic turns that slow down reading. The also British The School of Life He published versions “translated into modern English” of philosophers such as Schopenhauer and Nietzsche. AND apparentlythese editions sold 40% more than traditional versions among readers under 30 years of age during the year 2020-2021. But there is also the counterargument that simplifying language impoverishes the experience of reading. The classics are not just arguments or themes that can be transported to any packaging. For example, Brontë’s prose, with its labyrinthine subordinate clauses and convoluted vocabulary, builds atmosphere and rhythm. Removing that complexity to “make it easier” to read is like reducing the length of a classical music symphony because today’s listeners prefer three-minute songs. The search should perhaps be to improve reading training, not to adjust the texts to the less prepared reader. In Xataka | The best books to read in 2026: a selection of readings from all genres for a year between pages

Bermuda shouldn’t be there, but there is a compelling reason for it to remain after 30 million years

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Bermuda is an anomaly in themselvessince it is normal that they were not there. To understand it, you have to know that this volcanic archipelago was formed 30 million years ago, and the normal thing, after so much time of inactivity, is that the oceanic crust would have cooled and sank. But this has not happened, and science now believes it knows why. The study. A priori the islands should be submerged, but They are still there elevated about 500 meters above what would correspond and Yale University wanted to find the solution. And the truth is that they have found it hidden 20 kilometers under our feet. An x-ray of 400 earthquakes. To solve the mystery, researchers did not use excavators but seismic waves. Analyzing the data of almost 400 earthquakes recorded by the BBSR station in the Bermudathe team managed to create a map of the innermost layers beneath the archipelago. What they found is a unique structure in the world: a lower layer about 20 kilometers thick located right between the planet’s crust and mantle. And its function is really important, since it acts as a floating support that keeps the Bermuda on the surface without sinking. And all thanks to the fact that it has a much lower density than the material that surrounds it that generates a buoyant force. Something unique. Beyond understanding why Bermuda is still there, we also see that this is a very unusual structure. So much so that it is unlike anything seen in other similar archipelagos, such as Hawaii. Its origin. When it comes to finding out how that plate is in its current location, there are several theories currently in force among the scientific community. The first of them is based on the fact that a remnant of volcanic activity from 30 million years ago was “sealed” under the crust. The second theory that is used focuses on a chemical process where sea water penetrates the rocks of the mantle, altering them and making them less dense, and, therefore, causing them to float. But whatever the origin, the study confirms that Bermuda sits on a tectonic anomaly that defies geological models. The end of myths. The truth is that Bermuda has always been a great mystery, starring for example in the ‘Bermuda Triangle‘ where it is said that things like airplanes disappear. Something that we try to explain with the meteorological phenomena that develop in this location. But what seems to have finally turned out is how Bermuda was in that location when it should have been on the seabed for many years. Although this has only made geologists have to rethink how tectonic plates work under the oceans. In Xataka | Spain turns in the opposite direction to the rest of Europe. It is part of a geological plan: close the Mediterranean

the only insect in Antarctica has started eating something it shouldn’t

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We tend to think of Antarctica as the last bastion of naturebeing a desert of ice oblivious to everyday problems from the rest of civilization. But the reality is that that place is not free from problems We live in the warmest (and most populated) areas of the planet. Something that we have proven thanks to a small insect that has survived ice ages and extreme conditions. Microplastics. And this insect has given us the key that it is eating microplasticsthose particles that little by little we give more attention to our environment. But the curious thing, as a study has shown, is that they have managed to penetrate the terrestrial food web of the frozen continent. And the truth is that there is little plastic, since there is little human life. The protagonist. the insect in question analyzed is the Antarctic Belgiuma flightless mosquito (since it lost its wings so that the wind would not drag them) and is considered the largest purely terrestrial animal on the continent. Despite measuring between 2 and 6 millimeters. This is possible thanks to their extraordinary survival capabilities, having the ability to withstand freezing of their body fluids and extreme dehydration. But nature has not prepared it for the consumption of microplastics. The study. The researchers they got analyze its diet thanks to the collection of larvae during an expedition in 2023. When analyzing the samples collected with advanced techniques, it was clearly seen that there were plastic polymer fragments inside the organisms. And although the proportion was low, the laboratory experiments told a different story. And the moment insects are exposed to an environment with microplastics, they ingest them with the same ease with which they eat algae or moss, which is their usual diet. That is, they do not discriminate against them. The impact. In humans we are still trying to find out the effect of microplastics on ourselves, and in mosquitoes it seems that in the short term it does not seem to be lethal. This way, these insects could continue going about their lives as normal, but there could be a subtle effect on the amount of fat reserve. Something that in an environment where every calorie counts to survive the cold, any caloric deficit is a risk. The state of the ecosystem. In this way, the concern is not about the survival of this insect, but rather lies in how the human hand reaches even those areas where we do not have a very strong presence. The arrival of microplastics that coincide with those used in research equipment, tourist clothing and marine waste gives us a wake-up call on how we must reduce our impact on the environment. And this ingestion of microplastics tells us that pollution has become evident in this ecosystem. But there is good news: there is no risk that the presence of these microplastics will begin to ascend the food chain of the different species because there are no predators that eat this insect. The change. However, this discovery definitively breaks the illusion of isolation. From the deepest ocean trenches to larvae on the islands of Antarctica, there is no place left on Earth free from the imprint of our polymers. The Antarctic Belgium has survived millions of years of hostile climate; Now we will have to see how it adapts to the Anthropocene. Images | 66 north FlyD In Xataka | Eight months ago a robot disappeared under the ice of Antarctica. Today we have recovered it and it brings disturbing data

sharks appear that shouldn’t be there

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Our planet still has many mysteries that we are still understanding today. We found the last one in Mammoth Cave in the United States, where The longest known cave system on the planet is located and where they were ‘hiding’ two new species of prehistoric sharks. These have been trapped in the limestone rock for 325 million years, and thanks to their great state of conservation, they are allowing us to rewrite what we knew about the evolution of these predators. A mystery. The question in this case is mandatory: how did two sharks end up in a cave system and not in an underground lake? To understand how these two species ended up in these Kentucky caves, you have to look at the geological clock. In this way, we know that about 325-340 million years ago, during the period MississippianNorth America did not have its current configuration. The area now occupied by Mammoth Cave was submerged under a shallow tropical sea that was part of the sea route that connected to the supercontinent Pangea. Its fossilization. When these sharks died, their bodies sank into the soft sediment of the sea, but over millions of years this sediment became the limestone that today forms the caves where they have been found. This was in addition to the subsequent erosion that created the Mammoth Cave tunnels, which has acted as a natural excavator and exposed fossils that would otherwise have been encased in the solid rock. Over millions of years, that sediment became the limestone that today forms the walls of the cave. The subsequent erosion, which created the Mammoth Cave tunnels, has acted as a natural excavator, exposing fossils that would otherwise be encased in the solid rock. The protagonists. The species that have been identified belong to the order Ctenacanthus, a lineage of primitive sharks with defensive spines on their dorsal fins. Specifically we have Troglocladodus trimblei, a shark baptized thus in honor of the park guard and his troglodyte origin and whose teeth are key, suggesting that he fed on soft prey such as small fish, catching them quickly instead of crushing them. The other protagonist is Glikmanius careforumwhich is the bone crusher. This is because it had a powerful jaw and teeth designed for cutting and crushing. In this way, it was very easy to crush bones and shells, which is why it fed on other small sharks, fish and orthocones. The importance. This finding is undoubtedly an ‘abnormality’ for science. This is because sharks have skeletons made of cartilage and not bone. This means that the cartilage (being softer) decomposes very quickly, which is why 99% of the shark fossils we find are just teeth. However, the tranquil and protected environment of Mammoth Cave has allowed for unusual three-dimensional preservation. Not only teeth, but also jaws, cranial cartilage and fossil fins have been found preserved in the walls and ceilings of the cave passages. Images | David Clode In Xataka | We thought dinosaurs were on the verge of extinction before the meteorite. we were wrong

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