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Speaking in English to a baby still in the womb seems like an absurd idea. Science has just discovered that it is effective

October 12, 2025 by usatoday24

We have long known that Babies recognize their mother’s voice from the womb and who show a preference for their mother tongue a few days after birth. However, now we know a little more thanks to studies neuroimaging studies that have confirmed something we intuited: the brain of a newborn is prepared to recognize foreign languages if it has heard them in the womb during gestation. The experiment. To reach this conclusion, a team from Sainte-Justine University Hospital in Montreal recruited 60 pregnant women from monolingual French-speaking families. From here they did two different phases: prenatal exposure and brain analysis after birth. Prenatal exposure. In this case, a group of 39 fetuses was selected and exposed to recordings of a story during the last month of gestation. To do so, the mothers placed headphones on their abdomen so that the fetus could hear the story in its native language, which was French, and also in a foreign language, which was German or Hebrew. These languages were chosen specifically because their rhythmic and phonological properties are very different from those of French. The second group, of 21 fetuses, acted as a control and did not receive any experimental exposure, hearing only the French of their natural environment, which is what happens in any type of normal pregnancy. Brain analysis. A few days after birth (between 10 and 78 hours), the brain activity of all these newborns began to be monitored while they listened to the same story in three languages: French, German and Hebrew. To do this, they used functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), a non-invasive technique that measures changes in blood oxygenation in the brain to see which areas are activated. The results. They were certainly surprising. The brains of newborns reacted almost identically to their native language and the foreign language they had been hearing in the womb. In both cases, an increase in activity was observed in the temporal regions of the left hemisphere, which is a key area for language processing with Broca’s area, among others. In contrast, when these babies heard the completely new foreign language (the one they had not heard before), their brains showed a different response, with less activation in language areas and more activity in general sound-processing regions. The conclusion. This finding suggests that the fetal brain not only hears, but “learns” to recognize the patterns of a language, which causes a specialization of the left hemisphere. One of the authors point specifically that “Our results provide evidence that even brief prenatal exposure to a foreign language could make it recognizable to neonates, leading to brain activation patterns similar to those observed when listening to their native language.” Anne Gallagher, a neuropsychologist at the University of Montreal and lead author of the study, qualifies the concept of “learning”: “We cannot say that babies ‘learn’ a language prenatally. What we can say is that neonates develop a familiarity with one or more languages during gestation, which shapes their brain networks at birth.” Understand development. These findings reinforce the idea that a newborn’s brain is not a ‘blank slate’, but that the gestational environment contributes a lot to its brain development, since its brain processing begins here to be shaped before birth. However, experts caution that this study should not be interpreted as a guide for parents to expose their babies to multiple languages in order to make them more intelligent or multilingual. But it does give us an idea of how this important characteristic is developing. Limitations. The study, while revealing, also has its limitations, such as a relatively small sample size that prevented, for example, directly comparing responses to German versus Hebrew. Still, it shows that even brief, repeated exposure to linguistic stimuli can modify a newborn’s language brain networks, laying the foundation for future development. Images | Volodymyr Hryshchenko In Xataka | When the first meal is not porridge, but a chop: the rise of carnivorous babies

What are the novelties of the new Google artificial intelligence models capable of thinking and speaking

May 21, 2025 by usatoday24

Let’s tell you What are Gemini’s novelties 2.5the new version of the family of Google artificial intelligence models. This model comes with two different flavors, Gemini 2.5 Pro with all functions and Gemini 2.5 Flash, a lighter version. In this new launch they stand out above all Your “thought” mode and your ability to speak generating audio natively from their answers. But we will explain all this next. As always, these two versions are available for all users, both free and payment. However, payment will have the possibility of using versions without limitations, and interacting with them for a longer time instead of having limited interactions such as free users. GEMINI 2.5 NEWS The main novelty of Gemini 2.5 is its advanced “thought” capacity. With her, before sending you the answer she is generating again, as if she are thinking, and analyzes the data better so that it is as successful as possible. This increases the time it takes to respond, but reduces errors. Here are differences depending on the model. The Gemini 2.5 flash model simply incorporates An internal reasoning process Before generating the answer. In addition, both the Flash and PRO version allow you to access a summary of the internal reasoning process that has been carried out. Gemini 2.5 Pro instead has a deeper reasoning capacity called Deep Thinkwhich allows you to address more complex problems more precisely, especially when creating code or with mathematical and logical problems. A native audio output is also added, allowing you to imitate Google Assistant being able to respond in voice. This is available in Pro and Flash versions, offering a more natural conversation experiencesince you can answer you with your voice. You can also adjust the accent or tone, such as asking for a dramatic voice when I tell you a story. With this movement, we can see that Gemini’s future seems to be to replace Google Assistantsince the new capabilities that you have obtained point to better interactions with users. Another novelty is to be able to practice a more affective dialogue, which means that You can detect emotions in your voiceand thus adjust your answers to this context in a more natural way. In addition, you can also ignore background conversations when you talk to AI to know that you should only answer you. As usual with the launch of a new artificial intelligence model, the context window has also been expanded to be able to analyze very extensive documents, complete code repositories or very long conversations. And security has also been significantly improved, to avoid injecting indirect instructions. In Xataka Basics | Gemini Advance functions that become free in March 2025

How to detect if a Wallapop account is the same as another person you were speaking with

April 28, 2025 by usatoday24

We are going to give you some tips to detect when One person is talking to you from a different account in Wallapopbut he is really the same person. This can sometimes occur in cases like they give you a plant when selling a product, and then talk to you again by passing by a different person. You can always find people willing to waste your time or try to scam, even in online stores like Wallapop. Therefore, it is important to have some tips that help you detect this type of behavior on this platform, and it is precisely what we are going to tell you. Find second false accounts in Wallapop The first thing to get attention is for a new user to write to you by being interested in a product Soon having had problems With another person. This could be simple curiosity, but it must be something that makes you raise your guard. Of course, also keep in mind that it could be that they wait a while before writing to you, that is, it is not something determining. Always look at spelling, the way of expressing itself and the conversation pattern. In the end, no matter how much you change your name and your data, your writing is difficult to change it, and when you do not have things as it is expressed in the same way, with composite phrases with the same length, or even with the same spelling faults or use the same amount of question or score, it is the best way to detect it. Also look at other details of conversation patterns, such as Let the same questions ask you. This is perhaps somewhat less reliable because the person may want to change these things, although some vices such as those mentioned in the way of writing can prevail. Another good clues is Look at the user’s location on the map. If the person who is getting through another is lazy, the location may even be the same, although they may also be quite close. Look at the ads of both accounts On the platform, and check in them if patterns are repeated again when describing products, expressing themselves, spelling and expressions. Also other aspects such as the length of the descriptions or the type of information it puts. And finally, you can Check the assessments of the profiles In the event that both have. Cases can occur in which other users notify them or that there have been problems, and even the opposite, that the two users have crossed comments, and that one has given a good assessment to the other. In Xataka Basics | Finance fines in Wallapop and Vinted: What are the limits to prevent your activities and other platforms from being reported

Spanish: 7 of the most common mistakes we commit when it comes to speaking and writing

January 28, 2025 by usatoday24

Image source, Daniel Arce/BBC Mundo Article information Author, Drafting Author’s title, There is festivalcartagena@bbcmundo January 27, 2025 If you receive such a message you can have several things for insurance, such as who writes it has confidence with you and belongs to the millennial generation. The phrase, which was originally part of a meme with a funny flame with chuecos eyes, is possibly the first with obvious errors that went viral. And it is more or less clear that, who writes it, knows that there are several spelling fouls – “Hello, what are you doing?” It would be the right phrase. But there are other grammatical errors that are also viral, only that they have sneaked in our day to day without being part of a meme. We talk to Mónica Helguera, better known in networks such as “La Profe Mónica”, a graduate in Castilian language and who is dedicated to the creation of educational content today With her we saw some of the most common mistakes we committed in Spanish, both when writing and speaking. 1. The verb to have If we could make a ranking of beaten and vilified verbs by the Spanish speakers, the verb would have won the first prize. It is one of the most used and, perhaps that is why, with which greater mistakes are made. “This verb has a very complex situation. It can function as the main and as an auxiliary and, at the same time, it can even accompany two verbs at the same time.” This, without a doubt, can generate a lot of confusion. In the first place, having, as auxiliary verb, is used to form compound times. To do this, all the simple ways of having are combined with the participle finished in -or of the verb that is being combined: he has bought, we wanted, he had come. Here comes one of the first errors, which is to use the form we have, archaic, to form the first person of the plural. ❌ We have seen your brother. ✅ We have seen your brother. Image source, Daniel Arce/BBC Mundo Its other use, as the main verb is, at the same time, impersonal. That is, it is a verb that is generally used in the third person of singular and, in this case, denotes the presence or existence of something, as in the phrase “there is bread.” In this case, errors are trying to make a concordance between the verb and the subject that has no place. “It is complex to think that a verb cannot pluralize, being that accompanies a plural subject, but in this case, it is a mistake,” says Helguera. ❌ There were several girls. ✅ There were several girls. Recently another meme became viral and, in some cases, the verb has appeared with this error: ❌ When I am a millionaire, I will say nothing, but there will be signs. ✅ When I am a millionaire, I will say nothing, but there will be signs. With the impersonal use of the verb having in the present there are also errors in the way of writing it. They have seen “ay”, “hai” or “there” where “there are”. A classic phrase that is usually taught to differentiate how it sounds about how it is written is as follows: There is a man who says Oh! There – adverb of place. There are – the impersonal form of the verb to have present. Oh! – Interjection to express many and different spirits, from pain to joy. The fourth of errors with this verb is perhaps the most curious and quite repeated and is born by confusion in pronunciation. Let’s see. In this case, the auxiliary verb is confused in infinitive, having, with the sequence constituted by the preposition and the verbal infinitive see. 2. Homófonas words What are homophones? Well, they are pronounced the same, but they are written differently. And here are great confusion that lead to errors, for example: The confusion between AS/has/beam .. and yes, here we have an example that includes the verb having. Have you looked for that AS of football? Look for it. Do what I tell you. Has – form corresponding to the second person of the singular of the present of indicative of the verb to have. AS – One of the cards of the deck or a person who stands out remarkably. Do – imperative form corresponding to the pronoun you of the verb make. “Especially in the difference between you and do, I always try to explain it in the simplest way for people to understand. And I usually do it by asking people to look at the participle. If there is a word that follows that ‘you have ‘or’ do ‘and it is observed that it ends in ado, gone, to, so and cho (as in erased, eaten, broken, printed and said), it will tell me that the previous word is (you have slept, you eaten , you have broken, you have printed, you said), “says Mónica Helguera. Another way to distinguish between you and do is see that the latter indicates an order. Other words that usually confuse because they sound the same are going, berry and fence. Go to the fence to collect berries. Go – third person of the imperative of the verb go. Valla – Cercado or Wall. Bayas – a type of fruit. Image source, Daniel Arce/BBC Mundo Another example of homophones are there, be there, find and aya. Find this detail: there, next to the tree, which is a beech, there are children with their aya. Find – Second person of the singular of the present of the verb find, which means finding. There – demonstrative adverb that place. Hay – a type of tree. Aya – person in charge of caring for children. Another problem with the homophones are those that go with V with B, both sounds that less and less Spanish -speaking people distinguish themselves by pronouncing … Read more

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