Spaniards

make hair of all bald Spaniards

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When the Spanish government refused to join in supporting the attack on Iran by the United States and Israel, something unexpected happened on Turkish social networks: an avalanche of memes, declarations of affection and promises of discounts at hair transplant clinics. The phenomenon is neither spontaneous nor capricious: there is a history of concrete gestures behind it, and it says a lot about how geopolitics is processed on the internet today. No to war. Sánchez’s Government has refused from the first moment that the United States uses the bases of Rota and Morón de la Frontera, located in the south of Spain and operated jointly between the US and Spain under an agreement signed in 1953, but whose sovereignty remains Spanish. Washington’s reaction was immediate: in a press conference at the White House with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Trump called Spain a “terrible partner” and announced that would cut all commercial relations with the country. President Sánchez responded by referring to the now legendary slogan of “No to war”, and the Minister of Finance, María Jesús Montero, was even more direct: Spain “will not be a vassal” of any other country. Novel. This is an unprecedented position in the European context: the United Kingdom, which initially also refused to use its bases to attack Iran, ended up authorizing them under the “collective defense” formula in the face of Iranian counterattacks. France and Germany also did not directly condemn the US attacks. Spain, however, called the intervention “unjustifiable” and “dangerous,” and aligned its reading with that of international law, not with that of its Atlantic partners. The position has generated both the rejection of parties such as PP and Vox and the alliance, even if it’s in the form of a memeof ultra-leftists and ultra-rightists under the same flag. The memes arrive. Among the most unique reactions that have aroused this positioning There is the wave of affection that, via meme, is arriving from none other than Türkiye. open declarations of love across the Mediterranean, unconditional support without losing humor and offers for bald Spaniards who want hair implants. It is a movement that has arisen spontaneously and regardless of whether they reach us distorted from here (most are in Turkish and refer to their own memetic mythology), but the wave is fascinating. Although it has very clear precedents. Help in fires. One of the reasons that Turks use to worship Spain is the shipping in August 2021 of two Canadair aircraft through the EU Civil Protection Mechanism together with a team of 27 people. Spain was not the first country to respond, but it acted quickly. The fires that summer were the worst in Türkiye’s modern history: almost 95,000 hectares They had burned at that point in the year. The affected areas (Antalya, Muğla, the Turquoise Coast) concentrated part of the summer tourism and entire rural communities saw their forests burned in days. Internal indignation was considerable, because Erdoğan’s government admitted not having firefighting aircraft, and foreign aid acquired great symbolic weight. Recognition of Palestine. In May 2024, Spain made the recognition effective of the Palestinian State together with Ireland and Norway. Israel immediately withdrew its ambassadors in Madrid, Dublin and Oslo, but the reaction of the Arab world was the opposite: Saudi Arabia called it a “positive decision” that affirms the right to Palestinian self-determination, Egypt described it as “a welcome step” and Qatar welcomed it as a move towards the solution of the conflict. Turkey does not have an Arab majority, but it does have a Muslim majority, as well as a historical position of support for the Palestinian people and a foreign policy that, under Erdoğan, has maintained increasing distances from Israel. Spanish recognition in 2024 placed us as one of the few Western European countries willing to pay a real diplomatic cost for a cause that generates massive support in Turkish society. It was, furthermore, a decision of the Spanish government with a broad social support. They like memes. The political meme in Türkiye has a long tradition of using high-intensity irony. Turkish internet culture (one of the most active in the region) has produced memes about relations with Russia, about Erdoğan and the opposition or about Turkey’s position in NATO. Because Turkey is a member of NATO but maintains trade relations with Russia, opposes military intervention in Iran and has been critical of Israeli policy in Gaza long before that position was popular in Europe. On that map, Spain appears in 2026 as the only major Western European country that speaks the same geopolitical language as Ankara. The climax: the bald men. Perhaps the perfect distillation of the memes that capture the romance between Türkiye and Spain are those that refer to Türkiye as a hair implant superpower. The Turks have grabbed notorious bald men from Spanish folklore (that is, footballers) and planted them lush manes or have played before and after. Nothing unites people more than styling soccer players as if they were Famosa dolls. Header | @1907medya__ in X In Xataka | Going on vacation to Greece is not unusual. The strange thing is that there are thousands of Turks going to a Greek Lidl

14,000 Spaniards live in Dubai. Not everyone is fleeing from the Treasury, but everyone is equally terrified of the missiles

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The Iranian attacks against the Arab Emirates in retaliation for the US and Israeli offensive have trapped thousands of Spaniards in Dubai, including content creators and celebrities who denounced their situation on the networks. And under the missile fire, a paradox: the city that promised security and zero taxes has been suffering for two days from an attack that could have devastating economic consequences. Spaniards in Dubai. After the attack by the United States and Israel on Iran On February 28, the response consisted of a wave of retaliation with 137 missiles and 209 drones directed against the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain and other positions with a US military presence in the Gulf. The region’s airspace closed and tens of thousands of people were left without flights. Among them, Spaniards like Ofelia Hentschel, a MasterChef 9 contestant and content creator who released videos that, due to their content, quickly went viral. in them explained that, while on vacation in Dubai, he had begun to hear “bombs and tremors in the hotel” while sunbathing by the pool, and that air traffic was paralyzed. What made his case spread in an extraordinary way was that he claimed that the Spanish embassy “does not speak, does not answer”, while Italian and French citizens were receiving a response from their diplomatic representations. Frustration led her to the phrase “Stop paying taxes, because as you see they are of no use.” Ah, the irony. Hentschel is located in one of the favorite destinations of those have moved their tax residence outside of Spain precisely so as not to contribute to the taxes whose effect she now needed. This was not necessarily the case (Hentschel was awayis not a resident of the Emirates) but the phrase once again triggered a debate that already existed: that of the limits of reciprocity between the citizen who pays more taxes for having more income and the State. Less than 24 hours laternow calmer, Hentschel commented that she had been contacted by the embassy and that she felt “super supported by Spain.” More Spanish. Hentschel’s case was the most covered in the media, but not the only one. The Cordoba paddler Javi Garrido was in Dubai with his girlfriend and his coach, finalizing the preparation for the Gijón paddle tennis tournament. Garrido opted for a different tone than Hentschel, with a message of calm to his followers, where he spoke of the desire to return “as soon as possible.” His profile (elite athlete in the middle of preseason) points to another segment of the large group of Spaniards who at that time were in the Emirates for reasons that have nothing to do with tax evasion. It is also the case of Hugo KyotoSpanish who makes videos about investment and personal economy. Kyoto is closer to the profile that has been criticized: resident in Dubai, with content about money and investments and that the media noise identifies with those who settle there in search of tax advantages. Spanish expats. The Spanish community in the United Arab Emirates has grown steadily over the last decade. According to data from the Spanish Embassy in Abu Dhabi The Consular Registration Registry had 8,500 registered in 2024, although ambassador Íñigo de Palacio’s own estimates suggest that the real number could be closer to 14,000, given that around 38% of residents are not registered. Between 2022 and 2023, 404 new Spanish residents were registered, and between 2023 and 2024 that figure almost doubleduntil reaching 722. Among them, executives displaced by multinationals, engineers in infrastructure projects, airline and hospitality staff, and also a segment of content creators and digital entrepreneurs, undoubtedly the most in the media (and criticized). The real profile of the Spanish expat in Dubai is mostly work-related. In addition to that, the tax reality is more complex than simply transferring residence to the Emirates, which does not guarantee the end of tax obligations in Spain. The Double Taxation Agreement between both countries, signed in Abu Dhabi in 2006, establishes that only Emirati nationals can benefit from the status of tax residents in the UAE, and the tax authorities of the Emirates themselves They do not issue tax residence certificates for stays of less than twelve months. Influencers in danger. The attack has not exclusively affected Spaniards, and content creators from different nationalities They have reacted with a mixture of disbelief and terror to the attacks. The city that has been sold on numerous occasions as a synonym for safe luxury has shown this weekend in its skies the luminous trail of intercepted missiles. Dubai’s illusion of invulnerability has fractured in a few hours. Beyond the war. All this leads us to the fact that the logic of Iranian retaliation transcends the military. Tehran was targeting not only US military installations, but also the economic architecture of the region: the financial and logistical hubs of the Gulf that for three decades have functioned as a lever for the order that the US and Israel want to preserve. The attack on the Jebel Ali port, the Dubai international airport or the financial districts of Abu Dhabi are more than planned. They are not collateral damage. That’s why, with 88% of its GDP generated by expats, tourism, finance, aviation and maritime transport, a deterioration in the perception of security can produce a flight of these economic assets in the form of influencers and visitors. Dubai and Abu Dhabi had converted their security and stability on the basis of its attractiveness, and the Iranian missiles brought out such accurate tweets like that of investor TK Robinson in X: “I moved to Qatar to escape taxes; now I’m fleeing missiles.” Header | Darcey Beau in Unsplash

More and more Spaniards use AI in their daily work. They also fear losing their jobs because of it.

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Artificial intelligence has ceased to be a technological promise and has become something that more and more Spanish workers already have installed in their daily routine. Not long ago, talking about AI at work sounded like science fiction and, on many occasions, it was even seen like a trap at work. Today, the data tells a very different story and adoption not only growsbut it does so at a speed that surprises even the analysts themselves. A report from the InfoJobs platform highlights that in the last year not only has the percentage of employees who use AI in their work grown, but increasingly understands them better. It is increasingly used at work. According to the IV InfoJobs Artificial Intelligence Report63% of professionals in Spain regularly use AI tools in 2026. This figure represents an increase compared to the 52% recorded in the 2025 report and 50% in 2024. Within this increase in the presence of AI in the workplace, the report highlights that the spontaneous use of AI stands at 51%, 17 points more than in 2025. The data indicates that the difference between the total use of AI and that declared has been reduced from 18 to 12 points. That is, workers not only use AI more, but they also better identify what technology they have in their hands and what they can do with it. They have an AI and they know how to use it. In 2025, 48% of professionals said they did not know or did not know how to use AI tools. In 2026, that percentage has fallen to 28%, a reduction of 20 points in just one year. In this sense, the generation gap becomes more visible. Among those under 35 years of age, the declared use of AI reaches 63%, compared to 47% among those over that age. Mónica Pérez, Director of Communication and Studies at InfoJobs, summarizes it like this: “Artificial intelligence has gone from being an emerging technology to being progressively integrated into normal work processes. Beyond the increase in its use, the data reflects greater identification and awareness of the use of this tool by professionals, which points to an increasingly consolidated adoption in the work environment and a paradigm shift.” ChatGPT leads, machine translation goes down. Among the most used AI tools in Spanish companies, ChatGPT-type chatbots stand out, which have gone from 37% in 2024 to 52% in 2026 and already top the ranking of the most used. The integration of AI in design tools and as a programming assistant does not go unnoticed, with a significant increase in use in the workplace, standing at 17% and 16% respectively. For its part, automatic translation, one of the main uses of AI at work in 2025, it drops from 58% to 51%. The percentage of users who claim not to use any specific tool in their work has been reduced from 7% to 4%. All this fits with what is happening globally that, by eliminating friction at work, employees tend to take on more tasks, generating more fatigue and workload if it is not managed well. Fear of dismissal grows. Having a greater understanding of the potential of AI tools and knowing what they are capable of also increases the uncertainty about your future job. 39% of those interviewed for the InfoJobs report believe that AI will cause some specific layoffsalthough without replacing specialized work, a percentage higher than 30% in 2025. 23% predict more widespread substitution, while the same percentage considers that the workforce is not easily replaceable with AI alone. This perspective varies depending on presentation of your position to AI. Among those who already use AI regularly in their workplace, 46% see the scenario of specific layoffs as likely, compared to 26% of those who do not use it. The AI ​​gap between companies. According to the study ‘Digitization of the Spanish company‘ Prepared by the UGT union with data from the INE, 21.1% of companies with more than 10 workers used AI in 2025, which represents a considerable increase compared to the previous year in which 9.55% was registered. Among large companies with more than 250 employees, the percentage rises to 58.2%, an increase of 13 points year-on-year. The data from the report indicates that Spain exceeds the OECD and EU average in AI integration, with 20.3% of companies regularly using AI. However, Spain is still very far from the implementation of this technology in Denmark (42%), Finland (38%) or Sweden (35%). Despite the general increase in the use of AI, there is data that indicates that this progress is not being transferred to internal talent since the percentage of ICT specialists in companies it has been reduced from 16.44% to 15.67%, a figure that UGT describes as “unexpected and disturbing.” In Xataka | The biggest fear was that AI would take our jobs. The reality is that it is replacing those who are learning to work Image | Unsplash (Anastassia Anufrieva)

The Great Rental Review of 2026 is going to be dramatic for thousands of Spaniards for one reason: 1,700 euros more

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The usual thing around these times is that people start talking about New Year’s resolutionsprojects, trips… plans for 2026 that is already around the corner. That’s the usual. In Spain there are thousands of families who face the year with a very different feeling: restlessness. They are tenants, they have been residing in rented houses for years and now they see how their contracts are about to expire in a very different scenario to the one they had when they signed them, back in 2021. Things have changed so much that there are those who estimate that some tenants will have to pay up to 4,600 euros more per year if they don’t want to move. What has happened? For thousands of Spanish families, 2026 will not be the year of North America World Cup nor that of Eurovision without Spain. 2026 will be the year in which they will have to decide whether to move or agree to pay much more for their homes. The reason is a phenomenon that some have baptized as “the big rental review” and in practice it is nothing other than the expiration of the contracts signed between 2020 and 2021. After the five-year extension that marks the lawnow many tenants have to sit down and negotiate with their landlords. But that’s normal, right? Correct. Contracts signed from 2019 onwards last five years if the landlord is an individual or seven if it is a company. During this period they are renewed annually automatically and the normal thing is that the rents are updated in a controlled manner, based on the CPI or the IRAV index. That hasn’t changed. What is special about the rental contracts signed in 2020 and 2021 is that they were agreed in a very specific context, conditioned by the impact of the crisis of COVID-19. It comes with taking a look at the price chart of Madrid prepared by Idealista to understand it. After years of moderate rent increases (or stagnation), in mid-2020 rents began to become cheaper and did not recover until well into 2021, when they gained momentum that continues even today. What does that mean? That if you signed a rental contract in January, February, March… 2021, you did so at an advantageous time that has kept you ‘safe’ these last five years from the price increase that the market has accumulated. Now, once that agreement expiresif your landlord wants to renegotiate the contract, he will do so in a very different context, with rents in maximum values. Has rent become so expensive? Yes. Until now we could get an idea thanks to platforms like Idealista. Now we have a theoretically more precise tool: calculations from the Ministry of Social Rights and Consumption prepared from data from the INE, the Tax Agency and the IEF. The results has advanced them The Country and they show that contracts that must be renewed in 2026 will become more expensive by up to 383 euros per month compared to the time of the original signing, which translates into about 4,600 euros more per year. That would be the forecast for the most extreme cases (not the average), but it is eloquent. Is there more data? Yes. The estimates of advanced consumer The Country show an estimate of how much rents will rise per year for a household with a median income. For Spain as a whole, this calculation shows an increase of 1,735 euros. In the case of the Valencian Community it would reach 2,686, in the Canary Islands 2,267, in Madrid 2,042, in Cantabria 1,869 and in Andalusia 1,952. In the rest of the regions analyzed, the increase in median income ranges between 1,408 and 884-329 euros/year, the latter data corresponding to Ceuta and Melilla. And the calculation of 4,600 euros/year? It comes out of the heaviest estimate, the one that corresponds to the Balearic Islands. There the Consumption data show the increase in rent prices can exceed 4,615 euros per year. As a reference, Idealista indicates that in March 2021 the residential square meter was rented on the islands at 11.2 euros. Today it is above 19. If we take an 80 m2 apartment as a reference, that means that a tenant who five years ago paid 896 euros/month today would have to pay 1,528. That is, 632 more. When managing the advanced table by The Country It is worth keeping several keys in mind. To begin with, it does not include data from the Basque Country or Navarra due to their regional regimes. Nor from Catalonia, since one relevant part of the population resides in declared neighborhoods “stressed market areas”which influences their prices. The increase calculations also seem to have been carried out with respect to the values ​​at the signing of the contract (2021), which leaves the doubt as to whether they have taken into account the updates of recent years. Another fundamental factor is the context: the estimates are based on a portfolio managed by Sumar, which takes time pressuring its government partner to extend hundreds of thousands of rental contracts about to expire. Does it affect many people? The answer is once again positive. At least if we take Consumption as a reference. After examining the data from the Household Panel, Pablo Bustinduy’s department has come to the conclusion that in 2020, 568,500 contracts and in 2021 another 632,300. The first ones have been completing their five years of validity in recent months. The latter will begin to do so from January, affecting 1.6 million people. The communities that will (potentially) be most affected are Madrid, Catalonia, Andalusia and the Valencian Community. The first saw 145,900 contracts signed in 2021, affecting some 404,100 people. In Catalonia, 112,700 and 301,000 were recorded respectively, although there the tenants have the declaration of stressed areas in their favor. In Andalusia there are some 85,500 contracts with 213,700 affected tenants and in the Valencian Community there were 65,500 agreements with 155,000 people involved. Anything else? Yes. … Read more

We Spaniards are stopping having Christmas trees because they don’t fit in our house. So there are already companies renting them

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The year or the city doesn’t matter. At least in Spain, Christmas usually comes accompanied by a series of images that are repeated December after December, invariably: streets full of colored ledsbalconies in which they begin to appear papanoels and other Christmas decorations, shop windows in which gold, silver and reddish colors suddenly predominate… and living rooms in which trees full of tinsel and garlands sprout overnight. Year after year the same questions are also repeated: better natural or artificial tree? And above all… What the hell do we do with it after Epiphany, when it’s time to pick up the decorations? Where do we store it, if we already have the storage room all the way up? There are those who have seen In those doubts a promising business. Tree Earrings. There is no Christmas without decorations. And there is no Christmas decoration worth its salt without a good tree. It’s been like this all our lives, but just in case there were any doubts, cities like Vigo, Barcelona, Badalona either Madriddetermined to build gigantic trees in the heart of the urban area. Something similar happens in businesses, offices and homes. People demand trees (both artificial and natural), something that is felt in the nurseries and the big chains of decoration. As a reference, the National Christmas Tree Association (NCTA) estimates that each year they are sold in the US between 25 and 30 million of natural Christmas trees, which requires a huge plantation with hundreds of millions of copies distributed throughout the country. The dilemma, whether you choose real or fake fir trees, is… What to do with them later? A question, a business. There are those who have seen that question and the demand for Christmas trees as a business. After all… Why rack your brains choosing decorations, assembling them, disassembling them and then looking for a place to store them for months if we can pay a company to take care of everything? Or better yet, what if instead of buying the tree we rented it? Leasing trees may sound strange, but there comes a quick search on Google to find a few companies that operate in Spain and they dedicate precisely to that: to temporarily give up trees full of lights in exchange for a fee. The offer is wide and includes everything from small specimens to others of large size and size, for both indoor and outdoor spaces. But is it a business? Yes. The holidays may only last a few weeks, but if companies like Ximenezthe Córdoba company that has been in charge of setting up decorations in Vigo, Madrid, Barcelona or Milan, is that Christmas decorations can become a million dollar business. After all, it is not only families who demand decoration. Governments and companies of all kinds also do it, from businesses that do not have space to store decorations the rest of the year to hotels that need trees for their living rooms and hallways. In a warehouse in Madrid… One of the most popular Christmas tree rental companies in Spain is B&M, a family business with twenty years of experience that works from a warehouse in Tetuán, Madrid. Recently those responsible they explained to The Spanish Newspaper Every campaign, about 200 trees come out of there ready to decorate and that the company itself is in charge of collecting once the holidays are over. Their work involves several challenges, such as matching the taste of their clients and coordinating the logistics that require dismantling and removing 200 trees during the second week of January. “The pickup is intense because on the 9th everyone wants you to pick it up.” “Three, four hours at least”. The company also makes it clear that although it may seem like a simple task, preparing the ideal tree requires work. First they convey a proposal to the clients. Then they shape it. “A four or five meter tree is a job for five or six people, who have to spend at least three or four hours on it,” clarifies the signaturewhich explains, for example, that there are businesses that want trees with their corporate colors. How much do these services cost? In your website There are rates (with delivery and collection service included) ranging from 265 to 2,800 euros, without VAT. It all depends on the tree you want. They range from 1.5 to five meters. Are there more options? Yes. The demand for Christmas decoration is intense enough that it has encouraged other businesses, such as those that are committed to sustainability and offer a rent in pot. Your proposal? Instead of buying a plastic tree or taking a felled fir, rent one that you can place in your house alive, with its pot. Once in your living room you can decorate and take care of it and after Christmas the company will collect it to take it to a forest or to its nursery of origin. Images | Arun Kuchibhotla (Unsplash) and Jared Lind (Unsplash) In Xataka | Without knowing it, we all honor Thor during Christmas thanks to a pagan ritual: the Christmas tree

We Spaniards have been calling all donuts with holes “donut” all our lives. Now it is private property of Bimbo

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Cases of all types and types pass through the Supreme Court table. That’s nothing new. What is curious is that its magistrates rule on a lawsuit in which pastries, linguistics and brands are combined, all well mixed in a legal dispute so full of chiaroscuro that justice has taken a while almost a decade in reaching a conclusion. As if that were not striking in itself, at the center of the dispute was one of the most famous sweets in the country: Donut. We explain ourselves. Word of the RAE. If you open the RAE online dictionary and type “donut” you will see that the meaning From the word is clear, at least to academics: a donut is basically a “spongy, donut-shaped piece of pastry, fried and usually glazed or covered in chocolate.” A type of donut. The RAE also clarifies that the term comes from the registered trademark Donut. The million dollar question is… Is donut (like that, in lower case and with an accent) the same as Donut? Does the fact that the first word has been in the Royal Academy’s dictionary for years allow any Spanish company to use it freely or is it the exclusive property of the company that popularized it, Bakery Donuts (Bimbo), owner for decades of the DONUT brand and others that have included the term? Almost a decade of lawsuits. The above questions are more than just questions thrown into the air or theoretical reflections. They are at the bottom of a dispute that may date back to beginning of 2017when a long legal tug-of-war began centered on the word “doughnut.” Around that time, Bimbo Donuts Iberia filed a lawsuit before the Commercial Court No. 9 of Madrid when it detected that another third-party company (Atlanta Restauración Tematica) was offering donuts on its website that, although they were called Redondoughts, were described as “doughnuts.” For Bimbo, this represented a violation of its trademark and it decided to sue. Why’s that? The Confidential has had access to the last ruling in the case, which allows us to understand the arguments put forward by both parties. For Bimbo, the fact that another company used the term represented two things: first, a use of its brand, which has been cared for for decades; second, an example of unfair competition that affects their interests in the candy market. For Atlanta things are different. In your opinion“donut” is nothing more than a word in common use, a word recognized by the Royal Academy. As if that were not enough, he claims that he has not even used it “as a trademark”, but rather on his website, where at the time it had an “insignificant” reach. In fact, the company is dedicated to selling to professionals in what is known as ‘Horeca’ channela label that basically refers to establishments such as hotels, restaurants and cafes. To the Supreme. Bimbo’s claims were unsuccessful in the first instance. Not in second either. As remember Five Days, This last court even recognized that the word donut is descriptive, in common use and appears in the RAE dictionary. The multinational did not give up and the issue ended up in the Supreme Court, which is the one that has had the last word. The most curious thing is that for its magistrates the reality is somewhat different than for previous judges. “It cannot be ignored that the use of the same word by Atlanta may imply per se an improper use of the reputation or notoriety of the Donut brands, with the consequent impairment of their distinctive character and reputation,” reasons the ruling of the Supreme Court, which even speaks of the risk of “loss of prestige.” “The third party unfairly benefits from the attractive power of the brand.” In case there were any doubts, the ruling recalls that Atlanta did not exactly use the term RAE (with a lowercase letter and an accent), which leads the court to point out that the company did not act in a “loyal” manner towards the “legitimate interests” of Bakery. “It affected its renown, distinctive character and exclusivity,” he remarks. An armored brand. The conclusion? Whatever the RAE says, the unauthorized use of the word ‘Donut’ for commercial purposes (at least in Spain) violates the rights brand of Grupo Bimbo. Hence the multinational spoke of a “historic legal victory.” In his opinion, the ruling recognizes “the renown” of his brand and grants it “maximum protection.” In reality, since Atlanta has already removed the word from its website and its use was “limited,” it does not impose compensation or a fine. Images | Donuts In Xataka | There are people counterfeiting Rioja bottles and selling them in Vietnam: a growing problem for the wine industry

A conflictive aesthetic is conquering the feet of thousands of Spaniards: “barefoot” footwear

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At seven in the morning, Fernando puts on his shoes barefoot before leaving for the school where he works. They are thin, soft, almost like a second skin. “Before I ended up with sores on my little fingers; now I can stand all day,” he tells us in an interview for Xataka. A few years ago you would have been looked at strangely for wearing sneakers with minimal soles and separated toes. Today, however, it does not go unnoticed as modern: the barefoot It has become a trend. From an alternative corner of the wellness world it has jumped to the feet of thousands of people. Influencers they recommend itshoe stores are multiplying and even Queen Letizia He wears them at public events. The phenomenon mixes fashion and physiology, and promises something as simple as it is powerful: walking again as we were born, barefoot. From niche to phenomenon. The rise of barefoot It has been meteoric. In just a couple of years, the concept has gone from health and natural parenting forums to digital catwalks. “At first they were ugly and almost no one used them,” remembers Fernando, 39, one of the first to try them in his circle. “But I saw people on Instagram talking about them, they said they were good for the feet and I decided to try them. From the first moment I felt very comfortable.” Like him, thousands of consumers discovered this type of footwear on social networks, recommended by social media accounts. physiotherapy either chiropody. Mar Oncina, owner from the shoe store DePeus in Alicante, confirms the change to Xataka: “When I opened, 80% of my clients were children. Now almost half are adults.” In just a year and a half, he says, interest has grown “hugely.” Schools ask for discounts for AMPAs and large chains, from Inditex to Mustang, have begun to launch their own minimalist lines. “People have understood that this is not just fashion, it is health,” he says. Walking ‘natural’. He barefoot proposes an idea as simple as it is radical: walking again without artifice. The difference with conventional footwear is in the structure. These shoes eliminate the heel (the so-called drop), cushioning and rigid insoles; Instead, they offer a thin, flexible sole that allows the foot to move and feel the ground. As explained in Podoactivathe main purpose of minimalist footwear is to promote a more natural gait and posture, strengthen the intrinsic muscles of the foot and promote proprioception. The foot, with its 28 bones and more than 100 tendons, is prepared to cushion naturally; What happens is that we have spent our entire lives enclosing it in rigid structures that atrophy it. a study published in Nature reinforces that idea: walking barefoot modifies the way the feet interact with the ground and how forces are distributed when walking. The researchers, led by evolutionary biologist Daniel Lieberman, discovered that people who walk without shoes develop thick calluses, but without losing tactile sensitivity. In other words, leather soles protect, but do not disconnect from the ground, while cushioned soles alter the natural way of walking and increase the impact on the joints. From children’s footwear to the adult boom. Paradoxically, the revolution of barefoot It started with the little ones. Mar tells us clearly: “It all started when my sister, an occupational therapist, decided that her daughter would only wear respectful shoes. She explained to us that children who go barefoot better develop gross motor skills, balance and foot strength.” From that family conviction, their store was born, and with it, a new market. Iraia, 36 years old, explains to Xataka that she discovered the barefoot looking for the best footwear for her daughter Alazne, who was unstable when taking her first steps. “I was convinced by the idea that the feet should move freely and without being deformed. Soon I started using them too and my posture changed. The lower back pain has disappeared, and my toes have literally separated.” Stories like yours are repeated in shoe stores and online forums. And although most started looking for health, many stay for comfort. “I no longer feel like coming home and taking off my shoes,” says Iraia. “It’s like going barefoot all day.” The view of the experts. Almost everyone agrees on the same idea: barefoot It’s not for everyone. “Whether it eliminates back or hip pain is questionable,” clarifies podiatrist Carles Espinosa interviewed by RAC1. “Yes, there are benefits if it is done with adaptation, but you cannot go from a shoe with a heel to a flat one overnight.” From the podiatry portal insist on the need of a progressive transition: gradually reduce the height of the heel to avoid injuries to the Achilles tendon or muscle overload. They also warn that hard surfaces, such as asphalt, are not the best to start with. Dr. Alberto Martínez Oller, from the MO podiatry clinic It’s even more concrete: “It is not recommended for people with flat feet, bunions, injuries or neuropathies. Nor for impact sports or uneven surfaces.” Their recommendation is clear: consult a podiatrist before making the change. Still, he recognizes the potential benefits: improved balance, muscle strengthening, increased mobility and prevention of deformities. In fact, some specialists fear, precisely, that viralization will turn a medical recommendation into a fast-moving fashion. “Walking naturally does not mean walking without control,” warn. The fever for well-being can lead to confusing minimalism with miracle, and each foot tells a different story. Digital fever and the power of the algorithm. If anything has driven the expansion of barefoothas been digital word of mouth. “The role of networks has been fundamental,” says Mar, from DePeus. “There are people who have known how to communicate it very well, such as podiatrists or physiotherapists who have reached thousands of people. The problem is that along with good information, many hoaxes also circulate.” “Transformation” videos abound on TikTok and Instagram: feet before and after months using barefoot, posture comparisons or 30-day barefoot challenges. … Read more

Restoring vision is one of the great challenges of contemporary technology. These Spaniards have had an idea and it seems to work

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In January 2018, the car Tonya Illman was riding in got stuck in the sand. They were on Wedge Island, 180 kilometers north of the Australian city of Perth; so while they waited for roadside assistance to arrive, Tonya took a walk on the beach. And it was there, among the dunes, where saw something sticking out of the sand. It looked like an old bottle and he picked it up thinking it would look good on his shelf. Then, as they emptied it of sand, they found a note: a form on the back, a small handwritten note on the back. Tonya had just found a message that had been thrown into the sea from the German ship Paula on June 12, 1886. A message that had taken 132 years to reach its destination. Well, this, just like this, is how we tried to restore sight to blind people: throwing electric bottles into the sea of ​​neurons in our brain. Now a Spanish team wants to change that. What has happened? That a team from the Miguel Hernández University of Elche and the Center for Biomedical Research Network (CIBER) just published data from a new “round-trip” cortical machine vision system; that is, capable of adjusting stimulation according to the neuronal response. The results (despite being in a preclinical phase) they are excellent. How does it work? It is a device of about four millimeters with 100 microelectrodes that is implanted through a small hole of about 10 millimeters. The interesting thing is that it is a system that records and stimulates at the same time. This is what allows you to adapt the stimulus patterns in real time and fine-tune the stimulation to adjust it. And that has been the complicated part. In the end, sending stimuli to the brain is trivial; But during all these years it was a lot like throwing a bottle into the sea: I knew what you were sending, but not what was being received. With these new ones closed, everything changes. Are they the first to get it? Reviewing clinical trials databasesit seems that there are a couple of other companies developing the same type of devices: the trend seems clear and we can see how the market is changing from the They seem to be a little more advanced, but not too much. Which is good news for the UMH and for Spain. It is clear that the only way we have right now to move forward on this problem is ‘personalizing’ the way systems stimulate the brain. And the only way to do it is through these closed circuits. It is still curious that the field of research has survived such notorious failures as those of retinal prostheses (which left many people in the lurch). But here we are, one step closer to being able to look back. Image | Ruiqi Kong In Xataka | Hundreds of blind people received bionic implants to restore their sight. Now they are out of support

Spaniards eat much less fish than 30 years ago and a big reason is on the horizon: laziness in cooking it.

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The data is clear. Fish consumption has been going on for decades losing ground in the refrigerators and kitchens of Spanish homes. We eat less and less, which is already noticeable in the sector, with the loss of thousands of fishmongers. There are, however, certain businesses that seem to be weathering the storm and even your sales increaseand they achieve it basically thanks to a different bet, focused on the sale of ready-to-eat fish, online orders and home delivery. It is interesting because this reveals to us that the great fish crisis may not be so much a question of taste as much as it is a question of habits and cultural change. What has happened? That fish is not immune to the social and consumer changes that have been affecting the food industry for years. Only in his case the trend is especially interesting. Sector data has long shown that Spanish households buy less and less fresh fish, which among other things has precipitated the closure of thousands of fishmongersbusinesses that deal with other challenges, such as the lack of generational change. There are clues, however, that in reality not the entire sector is suffering. We Spaniards today may have less fish in our refrigerators or cook it less than our parents or grandparents, but the consumption associated with leisure, the away from homeis not having a bad time. Not only that. There are certain specialized businesses (such as those dedicated to the sale of ready-to-eat fish or home delivery) that they assure be selling more. Do we eat less fish? If we base ourselves on the data Regarding domestic consumption from the Ministry of Food (MAPA), the answer is clear: yes, with fluctuations. His latest reportwith data for the year from August 2024 to July 2025, shows that the consumption of fishing products has decreased by 2.1%. If we talk specifically about the purchase of fish (not counting shellfish or preserves) the puncture has been 4.4%, 5.4% in the case of fresh merchandise. They may not seem like big declines, but the crisis facing fish is better understood when the temporal focus is expanded and per capita consumption data is analyzed. In that case, a collapse is confirmed that has hit the sector squarely. own Fedepesca warns that in recent years “local businesses in general and fishmongers in particular have lost a third of their stores.” Does all consumption fall? Not quite. Recently we told you how there are certain species that have seen their consumption rebound (in the case of smoked salmon and trout) and above all how fish consumption seems to be resisting and even increasing outside the home. This is suggested by the “extradomestic consumption” report of Mercasawhich in 2023 saw a rebound of 2.6%. The last ones quarterly data They also show an increase in the demand for fish. The truth is that for years it has been easier to find establishments and even chains that serve poké dishes with salmon, sushi, sashimi or ceviche, in addition to the traditional fish offering. Year Per capita consumption of fish products (kg) Per capita consumption of fish (kg) fresh fish frozen fish 1990 30.4 19 13.6 5.4 1995 29.4 18.2 14.6 3.6 2000 24.32 14.45 11.72 2.73 2005 28.36 16.40 13.39 3.01 2010 27.3 15.38 12.05 3.33 2015 25.9 14.46 11.64 2.82 2020 24.83 13.25 10.58 2.68 2024 17.99 9.31 7.31 2 And on other channels? A few days ago the SER published an analysis which gives clues to other business avenues that seem to be weathering or even saving themselves from the decline in fresh fish consumption: businesses dedicated to the marketing of ready-to-eat foods and those focused on home delivery. That is, those that facilitate and personalize consumption. There is not much data, but SER provides two specific examples that help understand the phenomenon. The first is the Catalan supermarket chain Plusfreshwhich offers customers the option of taking home ready-to-eat fish. The company claims that they have installed ovens in all their establishments, which has allowed them to considerably increase sales of seafood products. “Five years ago, 8% of the fish we invoiced went through the oven, today it is around 16%. In these five years we have doubled the sale of these products,” precise. He is not the only one walking in that direction. In your line “ready to eat”Mercadona has included salmon and sushi poké. Are there more examples? Yes. The SER cites another case: Peix a Casaan online fishmonger that allows you to schedule deliveries and that has gone from selling a few boxes of fish a week to managing between 100 and 150 orders each day. Its owner explains that a decade and a half ago began to bet on the fish delivery service, a formula that it hasn’t gone bad: From working with fifteen well-known clients, we have gone on to dispatch thousands and thousands of annual orders with an enviable year-on-year growth rate of around 20%. Why’s that? Because the sector suspects that the problem is not that fish is no longer liked or that it has become too expensive. In fact, in the last year, domestic demand for smoked salmon and canned clams and mussels has increased. considerably. The key would be something else: a cultural change that prevents younger people from buying and preparing fish at home. “We have a special focus on the young public, those people up to forty years old, who we have seen are not having access to seafood. For us it is a key audience,” recognize from Pesca de España. It won’t be easy because in the background there is a larger trend: a growing interest in cooked and ready-to-eat food, which has even led some (among them Juan Roig) to predict the end of traditional kitchens at home. Images | Jorge Franganillo (Flickr) In Xataka | A Japanese restaurant has taken its obsession with fresh fish to the extreme: it lets you catch it yourself

On the island of Djerba there was a ten-meter tower made of skulls for 300 years. Those of 5,000 Spaniards

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There are dozens of monuments in the world that should never have been erected. One of them stood for centuries on the Mediterranean island of Djerbain Tunisia. Yes, the region where The fictional city of Tatooine was recreated for the Star Wars saga, where George Lucas glimpsed a young Luke Skywalker discovering the path of the force. This mysterious place, beyond being an iconic place for fans of the saga, housed one of the most macabre constructions in history: Burj Al-Rus, a tower made with the skulls of 5,000 Spaniards. This is your story. In the 16th century, also called the “Century of Discoveries”, Spain rose as a world superpower and He assembled an empire so large that it dominated territories throughout the globe: Africa, numerous colonies in Asia, half of Italy, the Netherlands, Burgundy and much of America, from the current United States to Argentina. As his hand extended over so many regions, controlling and managing them became a problem. In fact, the management of the Mediterranean alone became a great headache for the Christian countries, especially for Spain, since the Ottomans and Berbers They carried out raids and they captured slaves wherever they could. It was also at this time that a fearsome figure emerged: Turgut Reis, also known as Draguta privateer, pirate and Ottoman admiral who has filled pages of historical literature ever since for his cruelty. Not only their fleets They attacked the ships of the empire dailyhindering trade routes, but managed to plunder even coastal areas and enslave their people. During this time, Jean de La Valette, general of Malta, was obsessed with defeating the Turks and reconquering the city of Tripoli, which was now under their power. So in 1559 he convinced Philip II to command a fleet of 28 ships and 50 galleys with 30,000 Christian soldiers. These forces would be led by Juan de la Cerda y Silva, fourth Duke of Medinaceli and Viceroy of Sicily. Hundreds of men left Syracuse, in present-day Sicily, for Tripoli. But when they arrived they saw something they did not expect. The enemy defenses were superior than thought. They turned around due to De la Cerda’s decisionwho pointed out that that battle was impossible win it without the relevant artillery equipment or, at least, cannons. Several troops were sent to Malta to warn of the situation and the rest of the fleet stopped on the island of Djerba (also called Los Gelves) to wait for reinforcements. The Djerba massacre and the construction of the tower There they fortified themselves as best they could and tried to build some defensive sites against a possible arrival of the Ottomans. And boy did they arrive. In less than two months, almost 90 galleys under the command of Piali Baja and its commander, Turgut Reis (Dragut). He chaos and fear It seized the troops, who were waiting for their commander’s decision. Between the choice of fighting or retreating, he chose the second when the Muslims had already landed and started a massacre. Pialí Bajá fought the Spanish, or what was left of them, for three months. While his generals managed to escape, 5,000 men led by Álvaro de Sande were isolated. Half of them were soldiers and the other half were simple sailors.. Without any help, they surrendered to the Ottomans, but Dragut showed no mercy. He didn’t even take them as prisoners. Directly ordered cut off the heads of the 5,000 survivorsclean their skulls and bones and, together with mud, build a tower on the beach built with Spanish skulls and adobe. This terrifying monument that could be seen from the sea dozens of kilometers away, would serve as a warning against future attempts at conquest. This tower was called Buj Al-Rus, which means “Tower of Skulls.” It was more than 10 meters high and stood for almost 300 years, until 1848, when the king of Tunisia ordered its demolition and buried the remains. Later, a monolith would be erected in its place in memory of the thousands of Spaniards who perished atrociously on that island. Turgut Reis, for his part, ended his days in the Ottoman siege of Malta, on June 23, 1565, at the age of 51, after being wounded during the siege of Fort San Telmowhen a cannon shot mortally wounded him in the neck. Image: Wikimedia Commons. Burj-er-Roos, engraving by Sir Grenville T. Temple, Bart. (1841). In Xataka | A group of archaeologists has discovered a new unknown language thousands of years old. The problem is that they don’t know how to decipher it.

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