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We have been blaming hygiene for our allergies for almost 40 years. Ancestral DNA has just shown that the problem is more complex

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Every time a child develops a asthmarhinitis or eczema, one of the questions we ask ourselves is why it happens, and one of the ‘culprits’ we point to is excess cleaning. Right now it is a reality that we live in environments that are too neat, using disinfectant gel all the time and not letting the little ones play in the mud because logically they can get stained. However, science here has ‘traveled’ to the past to find out the origin of allergies. What have they done? Here two new and massive studies based on the analysis of prehistoric DNA are putting the famous “hygiene hypothesis“And the paradigm we face now is that the evolutionary adaptations that our immune system has developed over the last 10,000 years to survive pandemics, curiously, are designed to protect you from allergies, not to cause them. A return to the past. To understand the plot twist, we must go back to 1989 where epidemiologist David Strachan proposed the hygiene hypothesis. Here it was proposed that the lack of exposure to microbes during childhood in most modern societies deregulated the immune system, since it literally did not grow with good training under its belt. In this way, it was proposed that, by not having real pathogens to fight against, the body created an imbalance that caused the immune system itself to attack substances that are not actually a threat, such as pollen or mites. And it seemed to make sense. A genetic journey. The first blow to this hypothesis has been dealt by a great published research in Nature this same month of April. Here the researchers analyzed almost 16,000 ancient genomes from individuals who lived thousands of years ago. What they discovered here is that the transition to agriculture in the Neolithic changed everything, since human societies became dense, we began to coexist closely with animals and, with this, large-scale infectious diseases arrived. But these pathogens that we began to face, despite the many deaths they generated, also favored hundreds of immune variants to ensure our own survival. But there is more. This is where parallel research that is revolutionizing our understanding of asthma and autoimmunity comes into play. Here is an article preprint has crossed ancient DNA with the modern complete genome with the aim of looking for differences between our DNA and that of our ancestors. Logic dictated that a system “revolutionized” by evolution to fight bacterial and viral infections of the past would be the cause of today’s allergies. But the data show exactly the opposite, as the study reveals that genetic variants that were positively selected in recent millennia have strengthened defenses in “barrier tissues” such as the intestine, against pathogens, but at the same time reduce allergic inflammation. The variants. Among these defense genes We have, for example, LYZ, which codes for lysozine, a fundamental antimicrobial enzyme in our secretions that destroys part of the bacteria. We also have FUT6, which is involved in protein fucosylation, a process vital to the interaction between our mucosal immune system and the gut microbiome. Why are we allergic, then? If our genetics have been evolving for 10,000 years to protect us from allergies in the lungs and intestines, the question is inevitable: why do cases continue to increase? Here science suggests that the problem is not simply an excess of cleaning in the present, but a profound imbalance. In this way, we do not need to catch diseases or live surrounded by human society, but the problem is that our immune system, genetically adapted to the strong pathogenic pressures of the first agricultural societies, expects to encounter a series of commensal microbes in the environment. The ‘problem’ is that these microbes are no longer present in modern cities and that is why the genes we have with a protective function cannot do their job correctly. Images | Drazen Zigic on Freepik In Xataka | The allergy season in Spain has been extended by 25 days since the 90s. And 2026 brings very bad news about it

Samsung has shown a new device with AI. It is not what we imagined and is reminiscent of an Apple idea

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When they tell us about a new device with artificial intelligencethe normal thing is that we think of a mobile phone, a laptop or, at most, the disappointing Rabbit R1 either Humane AI Pin. That’s why it’s interesting to stop when a company like Samsung teaches something that doesn’t quite fit into any of those boxes. What we have seen this time is not a common gadget, but a rather revealing clue as to how the South Korean giant could imagine a possible home interface of the future. What Samsung has shown in Milan is called Project Luna and, at least for now, it moves in the field of concepts. It is a desktop device with a mobile circular screen that acts as a head and can rotate to face the user. The company’s materials also show that this head not only rotates, but also changes orientation depending on the angle it needs. With that combination, Samsung draws a home device that wants to look less like a conventional speaker and more like an object designed to interact with the user. A concept that points further than a speaker One of the scenes that Samsung has used to show Luna places it on a kitchen table, connected to the user’s smartphone, playing music with an interface reminiscent of a record player and answering questions both by voice and on screen. In that same demonstration he also appears controlling the lighting in the room and suggesting food options for the day. Additionally, there are projectors scattered around the kitchen that display data such as the calories in the recipe or a calendar notice for a dinner party. And that’s where Luna begins to tell us something more interesting than her own design. In an interview with Fast CompanyMauro Porcini, Samsung’s chief design officer, explained that this concept represents more of “a vibe, a feeling of the type of design language we want to use.” The phrase matters because it lowers any immediate commercial reading and forces us to look at it differently. Rather than anticipating a launch, the firm seems to use this project to teach the type of language and relationship with the user that it wants to explore in future AI devices. And at that point it is difficult not to remember Apple. In August 2024, Mark Gurman told Bloomberg that the company was moving forward with the development of a home desktop device that would combine an iPad-like screen with a robotic arm. The proposal, according to that informationwas conceived as a home control center, a tool for video calls and a remote surveillance system, with a screen capable of tilting and rotating 360 degrees using actuators. It has not materialized as a product, but there is some underlying parallel with what Samsung is now teaching. The most interesting reading may not be in looking for an exact equivalence between what Samsung has taught and the rumors about Apple, but in stopping at the underlying trend. What we’ve seen suggests that home AI could end up taking a much more tangible form than the assistants or screens we already know. We are not yet talking about a consolidated category, far from it. But it does provide a fairly serious clue as to where the industry could move in the coming years. At this point, the temptation is to think: okay, that sounds good, but where exactly does something like this fit into our daily lives. Because we can imagine it on the kitchen counter, recommending a mealanswering a quick question or accompanying us while music plays, and the scene is even convincing. The problem is that that same house is already full of devices that already cover a good part of all that. Images | Samsung In Xataka | Meta spent 2 billion on a Chinese AI startup. China is clear that it was a conspiracy

We believed that procrastination was a time management problem. Neuroscience has shown that it is a survival instinct

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Almost all of us have been in the situation of being faced with a task that must be done no matter what, such as studying an exam or handing in an assignment. We know that it is something important, and that we should start addressing it now, but suddenly we are doing something totally different and insignificant like reorganizing the drawer or watching a video on YouTube. What seems so common is what we call procrastinationand we understand more and more why we do it. The context. For decades, popular culture has told us that procrastination is a time management problem or, worse yet, simple laziness. However, neuroscience has a very different message when it points out that procrastination It is not an organizational failure, it is a crisis of emotional regulation. The brain. To understand procrastination, we must first look at the anatomy of our brain, which often functions as a large battlefield divided into two sides. On the one hand we have the limbic system, which is one of the most primitive parts of the brain and whose function is simply to keep us alive, away from pain and seeking immediate pleasure. On the other hand, we have the prefrontal cortex, which is the most evolutionarily ‘modern’ area, located right on the forehead. This is where we have rational thinking, long-term planning and logic. What is known. Already a 2021 review pointed out that these areas are activated when you have to do a task that generates anxiety, boredom or insecurity, such as studying an exam. And it is no wonder, because the limbic system detects this situation as a “threat”, and automatically hijacks the prefrontal cortex to prioritize immediate emotional relief by looking at Instagram over the long-term benefit of starting to study to pass. We know more. Now, this year, a new study has taken a new step to understand this brain system, by identifying in primates a specific neuronal circuit that functions as a “brake” for motivation, and that connects two parts of the brain: the ventral striatum (VS) with the ventral pallidum (VP). The researchers discovered that when we face tasks associated with discomfort or the possibility of failure, this VS-VP circuit is activated, inhibiting the action, as if it were an emotional protection mechanism taken to the extreme. The most striking thing about the study is that, by interrupting this circuit in the laboratory, the subjects immediately restored their motivation, “releasing the brake” and tackling the difficult task. It’s not laziness. This new line of research is consistent with previous research that associated procrastination with stress, fear of failure, and anxiety. In this way, when seeing a blank document or a very complex Excel sheet, the amygdala activates a flight response. In fact, it has been seen that chronic procrastinators tend to have worse connectivity between the amygdala. the anterior cingulate cortex, which makes them less able to filter negative emotions and distractions. In short, the brain will procrastinate to protect itself from the psychological discomfort caused by a task. Hacking. Seeing how complex this all is, blaming yourself or calling yourself “lazy” is of no use. But it is true that you have to follow a strategy to be able to hack our perception of stress and reward, starting to break up the work, making it so that, instead of setting out to “write the entire work”, you should opt for “write only the title and the first paragraph for five minutes” to trick the amygdala. It is also possible to block sources of easy dopamine with a blocking system on your computer or mobile phone that makes it difficult to access Instagram or YouTube to watch a video. This way, if the immediate reward requires an effort like going to the next room for the phone, the prefrontal cortex has time to intervene and put us in concentration mode. Images | Ashkan Forouzani In Xataka | Procrastinating is a death trap for your brain in the form of anxiety. The problem is that we don’t know how to avoid it.

China has shown that the good and cheap electric car exists. So Citröen has had to get its act together

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China is doing very well with the cheap electric car. And if not, tell them BYD Dolphin Surfa 100% electric vehicle that the company finances at just over 3% for 125 euros per month. Without financing it costs 19,990 euros which, after aid, can become 11,780 euros. Saving exceptions like Dacia Springwhich compete in a much lower league, Western manufacturers have no choice but to respond. And Citröen has been the first to do so. 11,700 euros. Citroen has been lowering the price of its ë-C3 for more than a yeara car that was launched on the market for more than 20,000 euros and that, since its launch, has been reduced by almost half. Now, after aid, the Citröen C3 costs 11,700 euros, with an eight-year warranty. What it offers. With a price practically identical to the Dolphin Surf, an almost identical autonomy (220 km under the WLTP cycle), and a technology relatively similar to that of the Chinese alternative, we are finally talking about a price at which the company can be competitive. What China offers. Both vehicles, in their most economical version, have LFP batteries. The main difference is in the charging system: 65 kW for the BYD and 30 kW for the Citröen. The key, however, is not in the specs: it is that BYD has been offering a competitive price since its arrival in Spain, which has catapulted it into the top 3 of the best-selling electric cars in the country. Beyond Tesla. There is no electric car that sells more than the Model 3 in Spain. This is to be expected, given the reliability, range and price of the vehicle. Just below Tesla, we have the BYD Dolphin Surf, which has sold more than 1,332 units so far this year (compared to 2,489 for the Model 3 and 2,023 for the Model Y). Taking into account that they play in completely different leagues, the BYD case is a resounding success. A purely urban car that sells practically twice as much as its direct rivals. The electric C3 has 634 units sold, placing it in the top 9. The ranking points to something very clear: the price is the main purchasing factor for the Spanish electric companyand Western manufacturers will have to tighten their grip if they want to compete with China. In Xataka | The electric cars with the most autonomy that can be bought in 2026

The Aragón justice system has shown how expensive it can be for a company to get involved with dismissal letters: 46,665 euros

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There are mistakes that can be corrected with a simple apology. And then there are errors that, once committedhave legal consequences that no apology can undo. A freight transport company in Huesca discovered this in the worst possible way when it fired one of its employees, regretted it days later, trying to back down, and then fired him again. All of this while the worker was at home on medical leave. What seemed like an internal bureaucratic mess ended up in court and with compensation of more than 46,000 euros. The dismissal letters the devil carries them. Two layoffs, one leave and fifteen days of chaos. As documented in the sentence In the case that reached the Superior Court of Justice of Aragon, the worker had been in the company since 2011, with an indefinite contract, and had accumulated more than a year of medical leave due to a cervical injury when, on December 14, 2023, he received a burofax from his company informing him of the disciplinary dismissal. As indicated in the dismissal letter, the employee had carried out incompatible activities with his low status. The worker did not take long to react and began the process to challenge the dismissal in court. But then something unexpected happened. On December 20, just six days later, a second burofax arrived in which the company declared that the first dismissal was annulled and that an internal disciplinary file was opened in its place. Not satisfied with this, on December 29 they received a third burofax containing another dismissal letter, this time accompanied by the payroll and the corresponding settlement. Within two weeks, the employee had received two dismissal communications and one cancellation while was still convalescing at home. Why the company wanted to back down. As stated in the ruling, the company argued that the first dismissal had been a procedural error and considered that the initial letter had formal defects related to the applicable collective agreement, since the worker had questioned by email whether the merchandise transportation agreement or the chemical industry agreement should apply. The company’s intention was to annul that first dismissal, open the correct disciplinary file and issue a new letter in order. From his point of view, the only real dismissal was that of December 29, which had never been challenged by the worker. The company also tried to demonstrate to the court that the underlying reason for the dismissal was legitimate: a private detective report recorded the worker carrying out physical activity during his medical leave, which he interpreted as a simulation of the disability or, at least, as a behavior incompatible with recovery. A dismissal letter is not a draft. The problem for the company is that the dismissal letter is not a simple administrative communication with the employee, but is a document with key legal value with which an entire dismissal process begins with very well-defined deadlines and procedures to give maximum guarantees to both companies and employees. He article 55.1 of the Workers’ Statute establishes that disciplinary dismissal must be notified in writing, with the facts that motivate it and the effective date. Once that letter is delivered, a legal mechanism is put in place that neither party can stop unilaterally. The law itself contemplates the possibility for the company to retract the dismissal and provides a way out when a company wants to correct a poorly formulated dismissal, but as stated in article 55.2 of the Workers’ Statute, it is subject to very precise conditions and deadlines. Furthermore, it is only admitted if, during that rectification period, the company keeps the worker registered with Social Security and pays them all salaries. In this case, the ruling states that it was not proven that the company had complied with that requirement, which blocked this means of rectification. Without the worker’s acceptance, there is no turning back. On the other hand, and beyond the administrative procedures, there is an additional requirement that the company did not comply with in its process of rectification of the first dismissal: for the employment relationship to be restored, the worker who has been dismissed must expressly accept it. It is not enough for the company to declare on its own that the dismissal is without effect. The Supreme Court already established that a communicated dismissal determines that the worker is not obliged to accept any subsequent retraction from the company, and that claiming before the courts in that situation does not constitute any type of abuse. In this case, the employee did not explicitly accept the annulment of the first dismissal or return to his position. The email he sent to the company questioning the applicable collective agreement was not considered by the court as a tacit acceptance of the withdrawal, but rather as confirmation of his dismissal status. The employment relationship, in the eyes of the law, had been terminated on December 14 and no subsequent communication from the company could change that unilaterally. The outcome: more than 46,000 euros in compensation. The TSJ of Aragón also ruled out the argument about physical activity during sick leave. It was proven that the outputs recorded by detective They were walks or runs of about 40 minutes of moderate duration that, according to the medical assessment, were not contraindicated for the worker’s recovery from the cervical injury. With all these arguments on the table, the court declared the dismissal inadmissible, the first, because the second no longer had any legal value, and established compensation of 46,665.34 euros, calculated based on age of the worker. The company appealed that decision to the Superior Court of Justice of Aragon, which confirmed it in its entirety and also ordered it to pay 800 euros in costs. Dismissal letters, especially if they are not well formulated, are carried by the devil. In Xataka | He had been in the same notary office for 16 years and was fired for not passing the trial period: the Supreme Court ended up seeing the … Read more

We have spent our entire lives blaming spring for our tiredness. Science has just shown that we have lived deceived

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March is coming, the days are getting longer, temperatures rise and suddenly our body begins to fill with a feeling tiredapathy and drowsiness that takes over us. Traditionally, this is considered ‘spring astheniaand people, logically, do not stop searching for their symptoms on the Internet and buying expensive vitamin complexes to compensate for the bad feeling that the change of season leaves. But… What is true in all this? A paradigm shift. Until recently, evidence on this phenomenon was scarce and contradictory; however, a key investigation published in the Journal of Sleep Research has recently come to shed light on the matter. The research, led by Dr. Christine Blume from the Center for Chronobiology at the Psychiatric University Hospital of Basel, followed 418 adults from Germany, Switzerland and Austria for more than a year, from April 2024 to September 2025. Every six weeks, participants answered questionnaires about fatigue, drowsiness, insomnia and sleep quality, and at the end of the research they only had to cross-check information to determine if there really was any interfering pattern. with our health. The results. Here what was seen is that a resounding 47% of the participants claimed to suffer from “spring asthenia”, but the reality is that when the information was cross-checked there was absolutely no seasonal or monthly variation in the levels of fatigue, daytime sleepiness or quality of sleep. And statistically the tiredness that people feel in spring is statistically identical to what they feel in autumn or winter. In fact, fatigue in daily activities tended to decrease slightly as the days had more daylight hours, without any specific “peak” of fatigue being recorded during the spring. In this way, the conclusion drawn is that the discrepancy between what people think they feel and what objective data shows suggests that we are dealing with a cultural phenomenon and not a genuine seasonal syndrome. Why do we believe it? This is where the study gets genuinely interesting, since the authors do not simply deny the phenomenon, but rather propose a psychological explanation for why we experience it so convincingly. Nocebo effect: if we expect to be tired in spring, we interpret any sign of fatigue as confirmation of what we thought was going to happen. Cognitive dissonance: good weather generates high social pressure to enjoy it with outdoor activities. The problem is that when the energy does not appear, saying that you have ‘spring asthenia’ is a good excuse to not feel guilty for not following the group. Labeling effect: Like wine tasting better when we’re told it’s expensive, knowing that “you get tired in spring” actively changes how we interpret our own physical sensations. What chronobiology says. It is a reality that we are not robots and that our body reacts to the environment, and this is where chronobiology confirms that there are seasonal variations in sleep linked to the number of hours of daylight we enjoy. Studies in pre-industrial populations in Tanzania, Namibia or Bolivia show that in winter they sleep approximately one hour more than in summer. Likewise, recent research on university students in Seattle confirms that exposure to daylight is vital for our circadian rhythm, however, none of these physiological changes translate into a “clinical picture” or a peak in fatigue in spring. In medicine. Nowadays, when you go to your primary care doctor, it is impossible to receive treatment for ‘spring asthenia’ because it is not included in any official classification. However, doctors warn that a patient who arrives with great fatigue for consultation should not be sent away, even though he relates it to the arrival of spring. It must be remembered that there are many diseases that can cause this condition, such as anemia, a severe allergy, an infection or even thyroid disorders, among others. A lucrative business. While science dismisses the existence of ‘spring asthenia’, the reality is that people’s sensation is the perfect breeding ground for private clinics and dietary supplement brands. When we feel bad, we want a quick solution with a pill, and this makes the sale of multivitamin complexes, caffeine pills and a host of products related to reducing fatigue increase their sales. Images | Vitaly Gariev Arno Smit In Xataka | Only one in four Spaniards has rested on vacation. The culprits: work anxiety and the inability to disconnect

The Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra has shown us a wonderful future. One full of screens with privacy technology

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Many revolutions come without us realizing it and by surprise. As if they were a supporting actor that no one seemed to pay attention to and turns out to be the real star of the movie: This is how the privacy screen arrived of the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra: an innovation that no one expected and that made the AI ​​or the cameras of that mobile barely matter. Because although all those things add up, they are an evolution that we were all waiting for. But the privacy screen thing is something else: it is an everyday revolution and so obvious that one can only think how it is possible that we are in 2026 and no one would have invented something like this before. Samsung, as our colleague Ana Boria rightly says – please, don’t miss the Short -, has suddenly destroyed the entire industry of tempered glass that protects privacy. For years we have seen how it was possible to add a “privacy protector” in the form of protective glass to our mobile phone or laptop. With it it was possible to prevent any curious/gossip from taking a look at our device over our shoulder, but Samsung has made these protectors no longer necessary, because it has shown us how this technology can be part of the device’s screen itself. The idea is not entirely new, of course. HP has already applied a similar idea in some of its laptops a whopping 10 years ago. He called it Sure View and developed it in collaboration with 3M. That technology effectively allowed the viewing angles of the EliteBook 1040 and 840 to be critically reduced, but the proposal did not seem to work. Image: Samsung. Samsung, however, has gone a step further because this privacy screen can not only be activated and deactivated whenever we want: it can even be activated or deactivated in a personalized way for each application: if you want the privacy screen mode to be activated every time you look at your bank application, you just have to select this option in the settings. The customization of this feature is also extraordinaryand Samsung allows you to adjust it so that it is activated automatically, for example, when we receive notifications, or that the screen also goes into “anti-gossip” mode just when we are entering a PIN for an application. With the function activated, the screen only looks good to those looking at it from the front. This is one of those ideas that show that not everything is invented in the world of technology and that a real practical and everyday improvement as “silly” as this can be much more important and impactful than some AI options that remain fireworks. In fact, here Samsung has surprised us with an innovation that should make apple blush: the Cupertino company does not stop boasting that They are the champions of privacyand although they have certainly traditionally stood out in this section, here Samsung has left them biting the dust. To them and to everyone. Privacy screens have already become one of the clear technological innovations of 2026. Now We just hope that all manufacturers follow the story and end up implementing similar systems on their mobile phones. That may take some time, of course, but today it seems inevitable to think that what Samsung has done is open the door to a wonderful future in which we will be much safer from gossip. Good for Samsung. In Xataka | Image | Xataka with Freepik

We have been searching for the origin of life in hot puddles for years. Bennu has shown that radioactive ice works just as well

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When the capsule OSIRIS-REx mission landed in the Utah desert in September 2023, NASA knew it had a treasure on its hands. We are talking about a bit of black dust that was collected millions of kilometers from Earth and that was about to rewrite one of the most important chapters of science: the origin of life. What we knew. Until now, the predominant theory regarding the origin of life told us that for “cook” all the basic components of life, such as amino acids, heat and liquid water were needed to make a kind of hot chemical soup. However, science has just flipped the script: the bricks of life They are not only formed in heatbut they can be born in the most extreme cold and under gamma radiation. And that completely changes our understanding of how we got here, and also of the possible presence of life in any corner of the Universe. The importance of Bennu. Definitely is the protagonist of this whole story, and it is nothing more than an asteroid of about 500 meters in diameter which functions as a fossil from the early solar system. But the most interesting thing is that it is approximately 4.6 billion years old, the same age as the Earth, although, unlike our planet, its surface has not melted or been drastically altered by geological processes throughout its ‘life’. And little by little we are learning more about this asteroid thanks to the samples brought by OSIRIS-REx that had already been confirmed in preliminary analyzes an unusual abundance of carbon, nitrogen, water and organic compounds. But what the team led by Penn State University has now found goes one step further. The surprise. This same team, when analyzing the isotopic composition of the amino acids present, especially glycine, came across a chemical signature that did not fit with the classical theory of formation in hot water. A radioactive freezer. Until now, we thought that amino acids in asteroids were formed primarily through aqueous alteration processes: ice melts from heat, liquid water interacts with rock, and voilacomplex organic chemistry. However, science now suggests that liquid water is not necessary for amino acids, an essential molecule of life, to form. Simply from simple ice they can arise without much problem. And there are many of these in the universe. The catalyst. The other important factor in this formation was the energywhich in this case came from gamma radiation emitted by radioactive elements that were abundant in the early solar system. And the energy could not come from thermal heat, since this process occurs in icy environments, long before the asteroid was compacted or heated enough to have liquid water. This explains why we found amino acids both in asteroids that underwent a lot of water heating and in those that remained “drier” and colder. Life, it seems, is more stubborn than we thought and can begin to develop in the most hostile conditions of the vacuum of space. An increasingly complex menu. But we are not just talking about simple molecules, since analyzes of Bennu samples have identified a variety of compounds. Among these is tryptophan, which is an essential amino acid, much more structurally complex, and vital for terrestrial life. Besides, DNA and RNA components have been detectedin addition to ammonia and amines, surpassing in richness many samples of famous meteorites such as that of Murchison. Backlash to Panspermia. If amino acids can easily form in irradiated ice grains in the solar nebula—before the planets even formed—it means that these “ingredients” are spread throughout the solar system. The fact that Bennu, a B-type carbonaceous asteroid, is packed with these compounds reinforces the idea that Earth didn’t have to produce all the components of life itself. A constant shower of asteroids and meteorites during the late intense bombardment could having “sown” our planet with a pre-made deep space biological starter kit. That is why in the end looking at a grain of Bennu dust is looking at ourselves. Or, at least, to the chemical great-great-grandparents who made us here today. Images | NASA Hubble Space Telescope In Xataka | NASA has just announced that this large asteroid has a 1% chance of impacting Earth. That’s not normal

A Brazilian has shown that having Internet in mid-flight is possible with Starlink. It has also shown that it is a real danger

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If the Internet does not reach the plane, let the plane reach the Internet. One of the Azul Linhas Aereas travelers must have thought something like this, who along with another hundred passengers began to discount the first minutes of their flight. A flight that began on the ground but has not yet ended. And our protagonist tried to connect to the Internet during takeoff using a Starlink antenna and a battery that far exceeded the maximum allowed capacity. The flight has landed but is not over. And the company is now investigating what happened. On Instagram. It’s where the Azul Linhas Aereas traveler has published his invention with the following text: “Who hasn’t suffered the frustration of getting on a four-hour flight and not having Internet? When you get on the plane and the WiFi doesn’t work… Your problems are over.” The video briefly shows how the passenger places the Starlink antenna on the window and hooks it to the window blind. From it, a cable hooks up to a large battery stored in the pocket of the front seat. Click on the image to go to the original post What is Starlink? Starlink is a internet service through satellite connection designed by SpaceX, Elon Musk’s company. The system is simple, with thousands of satellites orbiting around the earth, the service seeks to ensure that a small antenna can provide Internet to anyone anywhere in the world, no matter how remote it may be. To do this, the customer mounts the antenna and points it towards the sky. From there a signal arrives that is interpreted by a router included in the pack to, in turn, multiply the signal so that we can connect to the network. Its latency is high compared to fiber optics, so it is not a system to compete with home connections, it is designed to provide Internet to areas without 4G or 5G coverage. And does it work on a plane? Of course, the operation is exactly the same as if we placed the antenna on the ground. In this case, what the airline passenger did was put the antenna in the window pointing outside to improve signal reception. For the rest, it works exactly the same as if we contracted Starlink to have Internet at home. In fact, Starlink service is being offered to airlines. And although it has been the trigger between the latest tantrum between Elon Musk and Michael O’Leary (CEO of Ryanair), the truth is that Starlink will be offered this year on Iberia, British Airways or Vueling flights. And the first tests with United Airlines They were already very satisfactory. Starlink improves what is already known because, although a plane also connects via satellite to offer Internet on its flights, the bandwidths that customers demand and its applications are increasing, which has been reducing the speed of data transfer that each device on board can enjoy. But it’s a danger. However, what this passenger has done is a real danger that is being investigated by the airline. In the Brazilian State Post Office They explain that the Starlink antenna was powered by a 60,000 mAh portable battery. Its 222 Wh capacity is far from the 100 Wh maximum that can be carried on board a plane according to Brazilian aviation regulators. Large power banks can be a danger on board, so Aeronautical authorities limit them in size and number. And it is that batteries can self-combust if a thermal leak occurs, which may be caused by overheating or a blow that results in a short circuit. The problem is already huge if we are on land But it can be much more serious if the plane is fully operational because lithium ion batteries are very difficult to turn off and, in addition, they release gases that are harmful to our health. That is why the size of the battery is limited and if an incident occurs, it is manageable by the crew. Photo | Wikimedia and Fallon Micheal In Xataka | Airlines are beginning to regulate and restrict the use of power banks on airplanes: South Korea leads the way

The Spanish business that Vodafone sold as ballast is now worth three times as much. Zegona has shown that the problem was the owner

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according to further Populi Voicea medium with a good track record in telecom exclusives, Telefónica has started talks with Zegona to acquire Vodafone Spain. The negotiations are recent (just a few weeks) and it was Movistar who picked up the phone first. Telefónica wants to close the operation in the first half of 2026. The rumors come from months ago. The problem is that arrive late, and that has a price. A little more than two years ago, Zegona bought Vodafone Spain for about 5,000 million euros. Vodafone (the British parent) was selling a problematic asset: It was the third operator in a market of four. He was caught between the scale of Telefónica and the agility of the low-cost He inherited a network that required constant investment. And he also inherited a tarnished reputation after years of complaints. For the British group, Spain was a drain of money and effort. For Zegona, a poorly managed gold mine. And in just two years, the fund has proven that he was right: Has returned to its shareholders 1.4 billion euros in dividends (28% of what was paid by Vodafone Spain). Has reduced the number of shares in circulation by 69%. And yet its current capitalization is around 3.6 billion. For fund shareholders, the return has been spectacular: The stock went from 345p when they bought Vodafone (less than 100 when they announced their intentions) to over 1,565p now. It has multiplied by 4.5 in two years. Vodafone Spain generates around 4.5 billion annual revenues and, with more focused management than before and without the bureaucracy of a global giant, it has become a profitable operation that Zegona can continue to exploit… or sell to the highest bidder. Telefónica is now negotiating from a weak position. It needs the operation (Marc Murtra has repeated that Movistar must lead the consolidation of the Spanish market) and the market knows it. An ERE of 4,500 people has just closed. And while Telefónica prepared the house to add more furniture, its price has fallen 27% since the end of October. Zegona, however, its value has skyrocketed. The price of this indecision is between 2,000 and 7,000 million extra euros. regarding what the purchase of Vodafone Spain would have cost in 2023. Zegona is in no hurry. It can wait, it can squeeze, it can even stay as it is. Telefónica now cannot afford that luxury because buying Vodafone Spain is not an expansionist move, it is an almost defensive necessity: needs critical mass before Europe forces further consolidation where Movistar is the main course, not the diner. But when negotiating is a necessity and the other side knows it, the price stops being a variable and becomes a toll. If the operation crystallizes, it will create a giant with more than 45% of the Spanish market, great cost savings by eliminating duplications (headquarters, networks, contracts…) and intense regulatory scrutiny from Brussels. Although not as brutal as it would have been with Vestager because Ribera has another look. Telefónica knows it and so does Zegona. The difference is that one is late and the other can afford to wait. That changes everything in a negotiation. In Xataka | The great dilemma of Spanish telecos: either they become giants or China swallows them Featured image | Vodafone, Telephone

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