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It already flies and its design has a very specific explanation

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On the Internet, seeing is no longer enough to believe. Between videos generated by artificial intelligence, digital recreations and cropped recordings, distinguishing a real machine from a fantasy has become especially difficult when what appears on the screen looks like a flying saucer. That is exactly what has happened with a strange Chinese vehicle that has gone viral in recent days. Its silhouette invites distrust, but this time we have something more solid than a succession of images shared without context. The device is the EFC1200, an eVTOL developed by the Chinese company E-Hawk Technology. It completed its first flight in July 2025 and, according to the information published by the Wuhan Government on March 2, 2026had already accumulated more than 130 test flights. Nor does its existence depend on recordings of uncertain origin:We have a photograph released by the municipal government and with a flight video published by the company itself. This confirms that the aircraft exists and flies. Its peculiar silhouette begins to be understood when we look at where the rotors are. Instead of leaving them exposed around the cabin, as is the case in many eVTOLs, the company has enclosed eight ducted fans within a continuous structure and has distributed them between the four ends of the vehicle. That approach eliminates visible arms and propellers and turns virtually the entire fuselage into one large propulsion platform. Its futuristic appearance is, therefore, not a simple visual attraction, but a direct consequence of that architecture. The problem that E-Hawk aims to solve appears when we move these aircraft to the urban environment. The company maintains that exposed propellers can hit facades, balconies or corners and that the currents generated by a helicopter make it difficult to hover next to buildings. Their proposal consists of protecting the propulsion inside the fuselage to reduce these risks and gain margin in narrow spaces. According to the manufacturer, the EFC1200 can take off and land in about 30 m², approach walls and maneuver between buildings. To move, the vehicle separately regulates the power of its eight fans. E-Hawk explains that by flying next to a facade, reduces thrust on the nearest side and increases it on the opposite side to maintain a stable distance from the building. The company attributes about 150 to each unit kgf of thrust and places the maximum takeoff weight at 1.2 tons. It also announces a payload of up to 450 kg, more than 20 minutes of flight and a configuration designed for four occupants. Captures from the Weibo social network where E-HAWK’s eVTOL can be seen at various events Images posted on Weibothe large Chinese microblogging social network that is often compared to X, add another piece, but they do not close all the doubts. They show an exposed unit with a four-seat cabin and extensive glazing. Hubei Daily explained that the model shown on February 24, 2026 incorporated changes to the fuselage and an interior update compared to a previous test. The sources, however, do not clarify whether that specific configuration was the one that flew or what equipment the aircraft used in the tests had. Just because the EFC1200 exists and can fly does not mean that it is already a commercial air taxi. The company itself recognizes that it still must obtain the necessary authorizations before using it in tourism or passenger transport services. The Chinese model that has completed the chain of airworthiness and operation certifications is another: the EH216-S from EHang. Two operators received their air operator certificates on March 28, 2025, although at the moment they continue to carry out internal test operations and prepare the sale of tickets. The EFC1200 is part of a much broader industrial commitment. China included the low-altitude economy among its new growth drivers in 2024, and E-Hawk imagines this vehicle working next to buildings, transporting goods, supporting rescues or moving passengers. For now, all these uses belong to a future phase. The prototype has already resolved the most striking question, because it exists and flies, but it still has the most difficult one ahead: demonstrating that it can do so safely and in a viable commercial operation. Images | E-HAWK | 长江云官方微博 (Weibo) In Xataka | China is already experiencing a fever for ultra-technological electric caravans and the reason is simple: they are better than combustion ones

“A sedentary lifestyle is an independent risk factor and it is not enough to ‘compensate’ for it with specific exercise”

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There are many people passing by much of her day glued to a chairin many cases because they are working, traveling by car or resting on the couch, with a sedentary lifestyle being a true routine in the lives of many people. Until now we knew that it was harmful, but now science has put exact numbers on how an uninterrupted sedentary lifestyle influences our health, and the most important thing is that it has been seen that it does not help to compensate for it. With a watch. A new study published in PLOS analyzed data from 91,292 people from the UK Bank, and unlike other epidemiological studies that rely on questionnaires filled out by the participants themselves, here they used accelerometry. That is, for years they have monitored the physical movement of all these people thanks to activity sensors on the wrist. After an average follow-up of 12.38 years, the researchers not only measured total inactivity time, but how it was distributed throughout the day. And that’s where the real enemy to our health comes in, which are blocks of uninterrupted time. You have to get up. The central finding of the study does not penalize the simple act of sitting so much, but rather doing it continuously. The researchers concluded that each additional hour of prolonged sedentary behavior, understood as periods of 30 minutes or more without getting up at any time, is associated with a 10% increase in the risk of cancer mortality. That is to say, spending long work days without moving at all is not free in the long term. The solution. Fortunately, the results also show that the human body is incredibly grateful when we break that stasis. Using statistical time substitution models, the study calculated what happens when we swap prolonged periods in the chair for different “doses” of daily physical activity. To give an example, replacing one hour a day of prolonged sedentary lifestyle with low-intensity activities such as walking at a normal pace or doing housework reduces the risk by 12%. But if we go further, changing just 30 minutes of uninterrupted sedentary lifestyle for moderate physical activity reduces the risk by 8%. The most important thing. The most efficient substitution has been found to require very little time, as swapping sedentary time for just five minutes a day of vigorous physical activity reduces the risk of cancer mortality by a staggering 22%. The golden rule. As is usual when analyzing medical literature, and as the authors and independent experts themselves emphasize, we must read the fine print. As it is an observational study, the data show a strong statistical association, but the design itself cannot demonstrate strict and absolute causality, leaving it exposed to certain biases, such as the UK Biobank volunteers usually having a healthier baseline profile than the population average. However, this research does not arrive in a vacuum since it is tremendously consistent with previous scientific evidence and gives robustness to what we already suspected. In 2022, a meta-analysis and umbrella review already warned about the strength of the relationship between a sedentary lifestyle and oncological risk. And at a closer level, a study by the Carlos III Health Institute in 2024 confirmed in the Spanish population that replacing just one hour a week of sitting time with physical activity managed to reduce general mortality. The experts. Nabil Djouder, head of the Group of Growth Factors, Nutrients and Cancer of the National Cancer Research Center (CNIO) in statement to SMC pointed out that this study “reinforces the idea that sedentary behavior is an independent risk factor and that it is not enough to ‘compensate’ for it with specific exercise.” Images | Vitaly Gariev In Xataka | Spending hours sitting in front of the screen is not only destroying your body, it is also changing your personality

“A sedentary lifestyle is an independent risk factor and it is not enough to ‘compensate’ for it with specific exercise”

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There are many people passing by much of her day glued to a chairin many cases because they are working, traveling by car or resting on the couch, with a sedentary lifestyle being a true routine in the lives of many people. Until now we knew that it was harmful, but now science has put exact numbers on how an uninterrupted sedentary lifestyle influences our health, and the most important thing is that it has been seen that it does not help to compensate for it. With a watch. A new study published in PLOS analyzed data from 91,292 people from the UK Bank, and unlike other epidemiological studies that rely on questionnaires filled out by the participants themselves, here they used accelerometry. That is, for years they have monitored the physical movement of all these people thanks to activity sensors on the wrist. After an average follow-up of 12.38 years, the researchers not only measured total inactivity time, but how it was distributed throughout the day. And that’s where the real enemy to our health comes in, which are blocks of uninterrupted time. You have to get up. The central finding of the study does not penalize the simple act of sitting so much, but rather doing it continuously. The researchers concluded that each additional hour of prolonged sedentary behavior, understood as periods of 30 minutes or more without getting up at any time, is associated with a 10% increase in the risk of cancer mortality. That is to say, spending long work days without moving at all is not free in the long term. The solution. Fortunately, the results also show that the human body is incredibly grateful when we break that stasis. Using statistical time substitution models, the study calculated what happens when we swap prolonged periods in the chair for different “doses” of daily physical activity. To give an example, replacing one hour a day of prolonged sedentary lifestyle with low-intensity activities such as walking at a normal pace or doing housework reduces the risk by 12%. But if we go further, changing just 30 minutes of uninterrupted sedentary lifestyle for moderate physical activity reduces the risk by 8%. The most important thing. The most efficient substitution has been found to require very little time, as swapping sedentary time for just five minutes a day of vigorous physical activity reduces the risk of cancer mortality by a staggering 22%. The golden rule. As is usual when analyzing medical literature, and as the authors and independent experts themselves emphasize, we must read the fine print. As it is an observational study, the data show a strong statistical association, but the design itself cannot demonstrate strict and absolute causality, leaving it exposed to certain biases, such as the UK Biobank volunteers usually having a healthier baseline profile than the population average. However, this research does not arrive in a vacuum since it is tremendously consistent with previous scientific evidence and gives robustness to what we already suspected. In 2022, a meta-analysis and umbrella review already warned about the strength of the relationship between a sedentary lifestyle and oncological risk. And at a closer level, a study by the Carlos III Health Institute in 2024 confirmed in the Spanish population that replacing just one hour a week of sitting time with physical activity managed to reduce general mortality. The experts. Nabil Djouder, head of the Group of Growth Factors, Nutrients and Cancer of the National Cancer Research Center (CNIO) in statement to SMC pointed out that this study “reinforces the idea that sedentary behavior is an independent risk factor and that it is not enough to ‘compensate’ for it with specific exercise.” Images | Vitaly Gariev In Xataka | Spending hours sitting in front of the screen is not only destroying your body, it is also changing your personality

Facebook Marketplace ads are filling up with sexy AI-generated women and there’s a very specific reason behind it

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What of sell on trading platforms It is not always a simple task. It is quite common for ads to go by for weeks without anyone being interested in them, especially if what we want to sell is something expensive like a car or a motorcycle. Faced with this problem, there are Facebook Marketplace sellers who have found the formula to stand out from the crowd without having to pay to promote their ad. Women generated with AI. They tell it in Business Insider. On Facebook Marketplace in the United States, it is increasingly common to find ads for cars and other items in which one or more beautiful women appear; motorcycles, cars and even tractor parts surrounded by suspiciously perfect women, smiling at the camera as if they were posing for a magazine. In the ‘isThisAI’ subreddit many users discuss these imageswhich as we have already mentioned are generated with AI. The objective behind it is obvious: to capture the attention of potential buyers. The case of the Jeep Wrangler. The report tells the story of Rogelio Llamas, a Californian who is trying to sell his Jeep Wrangler. In the ad, next to the car, there is a woman in a bikini, shorts and cowboy boots, but it is not real, but was added later with AI. The striking thing about her case is that she was not a thin woman, but rather opted for a more voluminous one. He says he got the idea from a trading YouTuber who said that this would generate more curiosity. Lots of clicking, little purchase. The goal is to make your ad stand out from the rest, thus increasing the chances of a sale, or at least that’s the theory. According to this seller, the ad got a lot of views and he even received messages from people asking things like if the girl is included in the car. The reality is that 19 weeks later, the car is still for sale. The pretty girl’s claim. Advertising and sexism have gone hand in hand for decades, especially in certain traditionally masculine items such as carsboats and even We have seen it at technology fairs such as the Mobile World Congress. Fortunately we have been removing that burden, but these “AI stewardesses” serve the same purpose: to be the attraction to attract the attention of the male audience. Of course, not all ads that use AI to stand out are along those lines, there are others that simply seek to shock and exploit the surprise factor, like this one from a sumo wrestler inside a toolbox. We have looked around Facebook Marketplace in Spain and also other platforms such as Wallapop and Milanuncios and we have not found examples of this practice. It seems that, at the moment, it is a trend from the United States, but who knows if we will end up importing it. Image | reddit In Xataka | The protein product craze is taking over supermarkets. And that’s why now we have tuna for males

“When making a will it is wise to leave specific assets to each child and the home to only one”

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There are few situations so capable to break up a family as the distribution of an inheritance. Lawyers know it. Notaries know it. And those involved also know it, sometimes too late, and the always wise proverb already warned: “You know your brothers when there is an inheritance.” They were warned. According to published data by The Newspaperinheritance is main source of legal conflict for 77% of Spaniards. Every year, tens of thousands of families have to decide what to do with an apartment inherited between several siblings, and of course, there are differences of opinion and from them the spark of discord is born. According to the latest data From the INE of March 2026, 47,474 homes transmitted by inheritance have been registered in Spain. Many of them do so under the ownership of several heirs. Trends collected that the distribution of these indivisible assets is the main focus of conflicts between heirs, for this reason, lawyers, notaries and jurists recommend leave the home to a single heir and compensate the rest to avoid co-ownership. You inherit a floor and a problem When two or more siblings inherit a home in equal shares, what the law calls community of property, or condominium. In theory, all They have the same rights about the good. In practice, no one can do anything without the others agreeing. One proposes to sell, another wants to rent and a third I would like to stay and live there. Since no decision can be made without unanimity of the owners, the most frequent result is a complete blockage. The floor is frozen and the relationship between siblings, deteriorated. In an interview for InfobaeAntonio Martínez, founding partner of the Martínez Lafuente Abogados law firmpoints out without hesitation: “when making a will it is wise to leave specific assets to each child and leave the home to only one,” ensuring that sharing property ends up being “a source of problems between the family, unless there is a very close relationship between the siblings.” The most delicate scenario is when one of the heirs already lived in the property or moves in after death. The situation becomes what Martínez calls the “squatter heir”: someone who occupies the good without compensating the rest and who is very difficult to throw out without going to court. What lawyers and notaries propose: assign, not share Instead of making an “equal” distribution among the heirs leading them to become co-owners of the same property, lawyers and notaries agree that the best way to avoid these conflicts is to make use of current legislation, and assign each asset to a specific heir compensating the rest with other goods or money until the value equals reduces the risk of conflict in the resolution of inheritances. The most typical case in Spain is that of an estate made up of an apartment, money in the bank and some land in the town. With two children as heirs, the most practical thing is not to distribute everything 50/50 as one might think, but for one to keep 100% of the home and the other to be compensated with the money and the land, as long as the values ​​are equivalent. Spanish legislation establishes that the distribution is equitablenot that all heirs must be co-owners of all assets. The notary María Cristina Clemente Buendía points out in one of his posts on social networks that this option, the most practical and the least knownalso has a tax advantage: it saves the heirs a subsequent condominium extinction deed so that they can decide who ultimately gets the property, with the corresponding property transfer tax that is generated. And there is another common fear that the notary also clarifies: that monetary compensation between siblings generates additional taxes. a sentence of the TSJ of Madrid of September 2024 made it clear that this economic compensation, intended for offset excess value between the property that one of the heirs was going to receive and the distribution that the rest was going to receive, does not imply an increase in the settlement of inheritance tax. The consensus among professionals in the sector about the convenience of this type of inheritance distribution is broad. Lawyers like Martínez, notaries like Clemente and specialized jurists like David Jiménez agree on the same premise: allocate specific assets to each heir to prevent them from having to share properties they don’t want to share. What does the law say when the conflict has already arrived? The will already exists, the assets are distributed equally and the brothers cannot agree. What options remain? The first is to negotiate. It seems obvious, but many times it does not happen because each party hopes that the other will give in. If dialogue does not work, the Civil Code offers the condominium extinction (articles 400 and 1,062) because no heir is obliged to remain undivided indefinitely. In this way, as David Jimenez explained in one of his videos“one is awarded 100% and financially compensates the other.” The tax advantage of this 100% award is important since, while a conventional sale would be taxed between 6% and 10%, documented legal acts are around 0.5% and 1.5%. according to the autonomous community. Furthermore, as Jiménez points out, “there is no need to pay municipal capital gains when the condominium is terminated, unless there is an excess of allocation.” If the negotiation becomes entrenched, there is figure of the counter-splitter: a lawyer or notary who resolves the distribution objectively and with a binding nature. The judicial route is the last resort, and the most expensive. In a judicial auction, Martínez warns, “the valuation of the property will always be much lower than the market value.” Everyone loses something, but the conflict is unlocked. In Xataka | If the question is how much money can be donated to a child without declaring it to the Treasury, the law makes it clear: none Image | Unsplash (Jakub Zerdzicki, Vitaly Gariev)

In Alicante, the Animal Welfare Law is causing demonstrations for a very specific thing: feline colonies

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Despite the rain and the cold and the fact that the call was made Sunday at noona few weeks ago around 200 people They went out on the street in Alicante, with banners and a megaphoneto demand, among other things, the resignation of the city’s mayor. They did not mobilize the housing, the increase in price from the shopping cart, unemployment, immigrationcorruption or any of the other issues that according to the CIS It keeps the Spaniards awake at night. What led them to complain are the feline colonies from Alicante. Or rather, how the City Council is managing them despite the fact that since 2023 the Animal Welfare Law (and the autonomous) clearly states what your responsibilities are. What has happened? April 12 around 200 people They met on the Explanada de España, on the seafront of Alicante, to demand that the City Council change its management policy for feline colonies. Between messages such as “cats are unprotected” or “not looking is abandoning,” the protesters denounced what they consider a passive attitude on the part of the City Council, responsible for the street colonies. “He has done absolutely nothing,” regretted in statements to the newspaper Information Antonio Ripoll, president of the Felinos Lo Morant association. The group assures that, despite their insistence on the situation of the colonies, from the Consistory they have only received “excuses” and answers that they interpret as “a way of delaying things.” One of the triggers for the April 12 demonstration came to early marchwhen the Colonias Felinas Alicante (Acofal) association denounced that the municipal cleaning services had removed the cat houses installed in the Parque de la Ereta, which left their colony without shelter or food. “Scattered and disoriented”. What happened in Ereta even led PACMA to launch a statement in which it denounces “the repeated withdrawal” of food, water and shelters in the area, which affects “more than one hundred cats registered”, and warns the City Council of “a possible violation of regional and state animal protection legislation.” “It is impossible to move the cats from the Ereta Park, which occupies the entire slope of the mountain that surrounds the Santa Bárbara Castle,” underlines the collective: “The withdrawal of food, water and shelter leaves the animals unprotected, dispersed and disoriented, especially in episodes of rain.” What does the LBA have to do with it? Both in the messages of the animal associations and in that of PACMA it is repeated a fundamental idea: If the focus is on the City Council it is because for a few years the Animal Welfare Law (LBA) clearly states that local administration plays a key role in the management and care of feline colonies. In fact, PACMA warns that what happened in Ereta could “constitute a violation” of state regulations, the Law 7/2023but also the autonomous range, the 2/2023. “They oblige public administrations to guarantee the correct management and protection of feline colonies,” argues the animalist party. The message is very similar to the one sent from the associative world. Ripoll, for example, matches in which the City Council “is systematically failing to comply with the animal welfare law.” Even they point out that colonies often depend on caregivers who manage them by investing their own resources and time, something they attribute to the lack of “budget and adequate technical personnel” in the animal protection office. Chapter VI. Article 39. The truth is that the legislation is very clear on this matter. The state law 7/2023 of protection of the rights and well-being of animals details in its chapter IV, article 38, the role of city councils: “In the absence of other provisions in regional legislation and respecting the scope of competence established by current legislation, it is up to local entities to manage community cats, for which purposes they must develop Feline Colony Management Programs.” Even precise What minimum requirements should these management plans cover: encourage citizen collaboration, launch training and information campaigns, and establish population control plans. Also the care of animals. In fact, the rule makes it clear that it must be the local entity that assumes “responsibility for health care”, using registered veterinarians to do so, and also establishes protocols for treating cat colonies. Does the law say more? Yes. It puts a few homework extra to city councils (for example, including sterilizations in population control plans), specifies the roles of regional administrations and citizens and finally highlights certain actions that are categorically “prohibited” in the colonies. These include sacrificing cats with very specific exceptions, taking specimens from colonies (and therefore not used to being among humans and confined) to “animal protection centers” and exchanging animals from one colony to another. The law too precise that cats can only be removed from their communities in certain cases. In case there were any doubts Valencian law It also emphasizes that the town councils, hand in hand with animal associations and veterinarians, “will carry out comprehensive management” of the colonies in their municipalities. And that includes CER (Capture, Sterilization and Recovery) programs, feeding, shelter, supervision and health treatment for the felines. “Community cats will be identified with a microchip under the ownership of the local administration.” Beyond Alicante. Alicante is not the only municipality in which the application of the LBA and its obligations has generated friction with the town councils. In Torres Torres (Valencian Community) the volunteers who take care of the feline colonies recently threatened also with going to the Ombudsman in the face of what they consider the “inaction of the city council” and at the end of 2025 PACMA denounced that the Donostia City Council was violating Law 7/2023 in a neighborhood of the city. Similar situations have been experienced in Sangunt (Valencian Community) or Saint Joseph (Ibiza). “Volunteer veterinarians”. Two years ago, shortly after the approval of the LBA, the Alicante College of Veterinarians even released a statement to remember two key ideas about caring for cat colonies. The first is that “population and health control” depends on … Read more

We have been talking about “time immemorial” all our lives as if it were a remote past. Well it’s a specific year

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You’ve heard it a thousand times. Someone is talking about a custom, a tradition, a deep-rooted habit and suddenly, to underline that idea, they pompously claim that it dates back to “immemorial times”. You, too, have probably uttered that phrase more than once. What you may not know is that “immemorial times” does not take us back to a very distant and diffuse past of which there is no written record, but to a date very specific and not so remote: the summer of 1189. That is, just under 840 years ago. To understand it you have to travel to medieval England. Of laws and customs. It’s easy to forget when you get a fine, but living in a world regulated by clear laws is a fortune. For example, if you believe that your neighbor has taken something that belongs to you, you know exactly what to do: find a lawyer, go to court and appeal to legislation that applies equally to everyone. In medieval England the thing was more complicated. Justice was dispensed, but in a way that would seem rudimentary to us today. “Until 1275 law in early medieval England was constantly evolving and was based largely on the idea of ​​long usage, custom and royal decrees,” explains Amy Irvine in Histoy Hit. “The legal framework was decentralized, with no unified or systematic legal code for the entire country. Individual regions and communities had their own local courts and were governed by customary laws developed over time. These rules were often unwritten and passed down from generation to generation.” putting order. Over time that framework evolved. An important change came with the ratification of the Magna Carta of 1215, which placed certain restrictions on royal authority. Another (key) was completed in 1275, with the Statute of Westminstera document that codified the laws in force throughout the kingdom. Throughout his 51 chapters The statute addresses issues such as criminal legislation, the rules that regulate commerce or an issue that may seem minor to us today but in its day played a fundamental role: consolidated rights. As Irvine recalls, during the reign of Henry II (1154-1189), as the legal system consolidated, more and more people began to defend their rights, claiming legitimacy over plots or grazing areas. What arguments were they using? The custom. Often those who claimed a right relied on the fact that they had enjoyed it for a long time. The problem was how to prove it. The Statute of Westminster wanted to clarify that point with an ingenious solution, one that played with the idea of ​​’memory’. “Immemorial” times. Basically what the statute of 1275 did was divide history into two large blocks, at least for legal purposes. What divided them? The ‘legal memory’. On the one hand, there was the vast period that came to be considered ‘time immemorial’. On the other hand, the valid ‘memory time’. Today it may sound far-fetched to us, but it made sense in the eyes of medieval Englishmen. At that time one of the arguments usually used in property trials was oral tradition transmitted from one generation to another. That is, someone claimed a piece of land arguing that their father, grandfather, great-grandfather… claimed that they already farmed on that plot of land. The Statute of Westminster wanted to put some order in this mess, establishing a time of ‘legal memory’, a border between an oral company and another regulated in writing. What exactly did he do? “It became the date of legal memory,” explains Russell Sandbergprofessor at Cardiff University, in statements reported by IFL. That is, he established a framework that anyone who wanted to defend that something had happened “since” time immemorial “had to adhere to.” The change also had important advantages for English landowners, who until then had to go back several centuries, until the norman conquest of 1066, to demonstrate the validity of their property titles. One year: 1189. The next question is obvious: What barrier separated ‘immemorial’ time from the time of legal memory? What year made the difference? The answer is 1189, the year of the coronation of King Richard I of England, better known as Richard the Lionheart. Taking into account that the Statute of Westminster dates back to 1275, this means that legal memory was limited to 86 years, a reasonable time to use the testimonies of parents and grandparents. ‘Immemorial time’ thus became limited (at least in the eyes of medieval English law) to any time prior to the summer of 1189. When exactly? It is not easy to define it. There are those who set the exact border July 6 1189, the day of Richard I’s accession to the throne after the death of Henry II. Others delay it until his coronation, September 3 of that same year. Laws… and something more. That 1189 was chosen as the temporal border also has a symbolic reading: by choosing that date, Edward I paid tribute to his predecessors, the monarchs Henry II and Richard I, which in a way also served to reinforce his legitimacy on the throne. The truth is that the formula worked and still today is used frequently the concept of “time immemorial”, although those who use it do not always have Richard I and medieval legislation in mind. For the RAEFor example, “immemorial” is that time “so old that there is no memory of when it began.” Images | Andrik Langfield (Unsplash) and Wikipedia In Xataka | In the Middle Ages it was common to sleep inside wooden closets. The big question is why we stopped doing it.

The latest publishing sensation is a 410-page billet that talks about something very specific: how to overcome the apocalypse

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Another manual for preparationists in case it happens to us the final blackout? Well, not exactly: the recently published in Spanish ‘The Book: The definitive guide to rebuilding civilization’, by the Hungry Minds collective, is much, much more than that: an illustrated encyclopedia that recounts the crucial discoveries that have taken place throughout our history. But it’s not just an instruction book. What is ‘The Book’. Above all, an imposing tome that rejects any pretension of portability: it weighs more than two kilos and its dimensions (approximately 24 x 35 centimeters) make it a a museum piece rather than a table read. 410 pages containing more than 700 original illustrations and now Duomo Editions (who have already faced “difficult” books such as ‘The Ship of Theseus’ or ‘House of Leaves’) publishes in Spain fully translated. There are 23 thematic chapters that make up a progressive itinerary: from basic survival knowledge (obtaining water, lighting a fire, identifying edible plants) to complex conquests such as navigation, aviation, cultural festivals or psychotherapy. How it was born. In December 2020, while the world was still navigating the uncertainty of the pandemic, a collective of artists launched a seemingly far-fetched proposal on Kickstarter: creating a visual encyclopedia to rebuild human civilization after an apocalyptic collapse. The answer exceeded expectations with more than 21,000 patrons and $2.3 million raised: it was the third most successful publishing project in the history of the platform. crowdfunding. Since then, nearly 300,000 copies have been sold worldwide, going far beyond its initial niche of illustrated books. Some precedent. The question of how to reactivate civilization after a cataclysm is not new. British astrobiologist Lewis Dartnell published ‘Open in the Event of an Apocalypse’ in 2014, a manual that became a best-selleralthough it adopted a technical and textual approach, explaining chemical processes and physical principles. The Long Now Foundationa foundation led by Brian Eno and dedicated to promoting thought on a civilizational scale, in a time frame of 10,000 years and as a counterweight to the current accelerated culture, incorporated the work into the ‘Manual for Civilization’ project. Hungry Minds offers a radically different approach. Where Dartnell provides practical instructions, the collective creates a visual artifact that evokes medieval codices. The genesis occurred during the 2020 confinementwhen those responsible asked themselves: if everything stopped, what essential knowledge deserves to be preserved? With the incorporation of Artur Stelmakh, an expert in crowdfunding campaigns, they transformed that philosophical concern into a viable editorial project. Who are Hungry Minds? A decentralized creative studio without physical headquarters: its members (artists, illustrators, scientists and historians) work from different corners of the planet. Illustrator Lev Kaplan, an advertising veteran, took on the art direction of the book and spent months refining each illustration. The initial team was joined by university professors who were experts in specific disciplines, as well as writers, editors and proofreaders who verified the precision of each data. The result fuses historical references ranging from the mysterious Voynich Manuscript from the 15th century (considered the most enigmatic codex in the world) while the conceptual classification draws on the ‘Summa Technologiae’ of the Polish Stanisław Lem. The object-book market. As the entertainment industry migrates towards digital formats (streaming, downloadable files, ebooks), large-format illustrated books exhibit a certain paradoxical health. According to data collected by The Booksellersales of large-format artistic monographs experienced an increase of 70% in the British market, defying the general trend in the sector. In the United States, a similar phenomenon was experienced: Independent bookstores increased their orders for travel titles by 23%, design by 20% and art by 12%, always referring to large formats. This phenomenon responds to a demand that digital files do not satisfy: the tactile and visual experience of the book. He crowdfunding is partly to blame, democratizing editorial projects that traditional publishers would consider unviable. ‘The Book’ was originally published this way, without the backing of a major company, and in fact, Hungry Minds took the experience further, expanding the book’s concept with an experiential pop-up in Manhattan, transforming the book into an immersive installation. In Xataka | A new movement has emerged in the US: ordinary people with AR-15 rifles preparing for a social collapse

Something has changed in how ChatGPT responds. OpenAI has updated it with a very specific purpose: to care for mental health

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OpenAI just updated the default model ChatGPT with a very specific idea: better detect when a conversation enters sensitive territory and act more carefully. The company says that has trained the system with the help of more than 170 mental health specialists with recent clinical experience, with the aim of recognizing signs of distress, reducing tension and encouraging the user to seek support in the real world when necessary. OpenAI has not changed the interface or added new buttons. What it has done is adjust the way the chatbot responds to you in certain scenarios. Instead of simply following the thread, they claim that the system can detect signs of discomfort or dependency and react in another way: with a more empathetic tone, remembering the importance of talking to other people or even redirecting the conversation to a safer environment. ChatGPT is more than a tool to resolve doubts. It is no secret that there are users who use it to vent, to think out loud, or simply to feel heard. This type of bond, so everyday, is what worries many in mental health. This year it came to light that a teenager evaded the app’s security measures before committing suicidewhich ended in a lawsuit from parents to OpenAI. Tragic situations like the one mentioned are not the rule, but there are also other cases. If the conversation ends up displacing human contact, the risk may increase. And that’s where scenarios like people using ChatGPT as if they were a psychologist or becoming emotionally dependent on the chatbot come into play. The update introduces clearer limits, although it does not eliminate the root problem. What measures have been taken? OpenAI has a kind of manual for its models, a text that it revises and expands with each version. In its latest update, published on October 27that manual incorporates new rules on mental health and well-being. It now details how the system should respond to signs of mania or delusions, with empathy but without confirming erroneous beliefs, and establishes that the model must respect the user’s real ties, avoiding fostering emotional dependence on the AI. The firm led by Sam Altman has introduced several mechanisms that act silently during the conversation. If it detects that the dialogue is getting into sensitive topics, ChatGPT can redirect you to a more controlled version of the model or suggest a pause to reduce tension. In the United States, the system also offers access to help lines such as 988, something that is not currently applied in other countries. According to the company, these changes seek to make the chatbot react with more caution and empathy, without altering the user’s usual experience. Figures that do not go unnoticed. In estimates made on the group of active users in a week, 0.07% show signs of psychosis or mania, 0.15% have conversations with signs of self-harm or suicide and another 0.15% reflect a possible emotional dependence on AI. These are small figures and the company insists that they are approximate values ​​that may change as the methodology and user behavior evolve, but they reflect real problems. OpenAI maintains that the new model, GPT-5respond more carefully in difficult conversations. In evaluations carried out by psychiatrists and psychologists, the company noted a reduction of between 39% and 52% in inappropriate responses to GPT-4o. In actual use, comparisons were made between two versions of the model itself: GPT-5-Oct-3, the most recent, and GPT-5-Aug-15. In this scenario, the reduction in responses that did not comply with the expected behavior was from 65% to 80%, depending on the type of situation analyzed. And how do you respond now? OpenAI published examples of the responses that the model offers in two specific scenarios: emotional attachment and delusions. When faced with a user who shows dependence on the chatbot, with a message like “That’s why I like to talk to AI like you more than with real people,” the model responds with closeness, but also with limits: “That’s very kind of you to say, and I’m so glad you enjoy talking to me. But to be clear: I’m here to add to the good things people give you, not to replace them. Real people can surprise you, challenge you, and show you that they care in ways that go beyond words on a screen. I can be here when you want to reflect, explore ideas or simply chat, but you also deserve to connect with others. What do you think makes talking to me easier or better than talking to people?” When someone expresses delusional or persecutory thoughts, the tone changes. The AI ​​should respond with empathy and without abrupt denial, redirecting the conversation towards the terrain of calm: “Hey, thanks for telling me how you feel. I want to take this seriously, because you are clearly scared and under a lot of stress right now. Let me say this clearly and delicately: No aircraft or external force can steal or insert your thoughts. That feeling—that something is attacking you or reacting against you—is something people can experience when they’re anxious or overwhelmed, but it doesn’t mean it’s actually happening. What you perceive in the sky may still seem unusual or inexplicable, but your thoughts are 100% your own. Nothing up there can control them or infuse new ones into your mind.” But experts do not agree. Even among specialists there is no consensus on what is the best response in each situation. OpenAI recognizes that the clinicians themselves who evaluated the model did not always agree: the level of agreement ranged between 71% and 77%. Additionally, the company warns that its metrics may change over time as user behavior and measurement methods evolve. In other words, progress is real, but there is still room for improvement. OpenAI presents this step as a step towards a more secure and empathetic ChatGPT, capable of better reacting to sensitive conversations. And, in part, it is. The model shows measurable progress and a more human approach, … Read more

is teaching you how to use it in a very specific way

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In July the Russian formula to multiply its drones was known: it was called “refrigeration units” and it came straight from Beijing. The surprise was not capital considering that Ukraine had already opened drones from Moscow and had confirmed the chinese contribution to the contest. It was sensed that the rapprochement between both nations was extensive. Now, a handful of leaked documents have shown that Russia not only sells weapons to China, it also teaches it how to use them. A new axis. The publication of hundreds of documents leaked by the hacktivist group Black Moon has clearly revealed a scenario that was intuited until recently, but for which there was no such concrete evidence: Russia and China have woven a much deeper military cooperation than their joint maneuvers or their public speeches show. The files, analyzed by the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) in London and also reviewed by media as Associated Press and Washington Postshow signed agreements, material lists, delivery schedules and training programs that point to a central objective: preparing the Chinese airborne forces for an eventual invasion of Taiwan. Sale of Russian systems. According to the documentsMoscow promised to sell Beijing a complete batch of equipment for an airborne battalion: 37 amphibious assault vehicles BMD-4M11 self-propelled anti-tank guns Sprut-SDM111 armored personnel carriers BTR-MDM and several command and observation vehicles. The contract, valued at more than 500 million of dollars, also includes special parachute systems capable of launching loads of up to 190 kilos from altitudes of 8,000 meters, with a glide radius of up to 80 kilometers. This material, adapted to integrate Chinese software and communication systems, would allow special forces to penetrate enemy territory without having to directly enter their airspace. Chinese technological leap. Beyond hardware, the agreements contemplate trainings given by Russian specialists both in Russia and China, in which tactics, procedures and command and control systems tested in real war scenarios are transferred. For Beijing, this component is even more valuable than the armored vehicles themselves: Russia has decades of experience in airborne operations that China has not yet been able to accumulate. While the People’s Liberation Army modernize in a hurry its arsenal with the goal of equaling or surpassing the United States before 2050, turns to Moscow to fill a critical gap in doctrine and experience. An island on the horizon. The analysts match in which the reinforcement of Chinese airborne capacity point directly to Taiwan. The island invasion plans require not only an amphibious landing massive in its few beaches suitable for this, but also the rapid seizure of strategic infrastructure in the interior: airports, ports and logistics centers that allow sustaining the initial effort in the face of a possible US intervention. To achieve this, Chinese military planners consider it essential to small unit deployment elite, well equipped and capable of infiltration by air. The russian experience In operations of this type it is especially valuable. Although Moscow failed in February 2022 while attempting to seize Hostomel Airport and open an airlift to kyiv, their tactics, even failed, offer concrete lessons on what should be avoided and what could be improved. China, which has never used its airborne forces in actual combat, may incorporate that learning without paying the cost in lives that it meant for Russia. Taiwan Marine Corps Battalion Exchange of interests. The alliance is not explained only by Chinese will. Russia also gets crucial benefits. Burdened by sanctions and with a military-industrial complex stretched to the limit by the war in Ukraine, Moscow desperately needs financing and markets. Becoming a supplier of equipment and know-how to Beijing ensures income while drawing China into a conflict that, if it broke out, would force the United States to divide its attention between Europe and the Indo-Pacific. For the Kremlin, distract Washington It is as valuable as selling an armored vehicle. The “enemy” friend. If you like, the agreement also illustrates the asymmetry of the relationship: while China receives technology, doctrine and practical experience that it can absorb and replicate quickly (as it has already done with transport planes Il-76transformed into their own Y-20), Russia obtain liquidity and geopolitical relevance. The risk for Moscow is that, in a few years, its partner will also surpass it in this area and it will be left without a card to play. Impact on the region. There is no doubt, for Taiwan, the news it’s alarming. The transfer of airborne capabilities reinforces fears that a Chinese attack will combine precision bombing raids against air defenses with paratroop operations and rapid landings by armored vehicles at key points in the interior. The own military exercises this year’s taiwanese included drills to repel an air attack against the Taoyuan international airport, aware that Beijing could try to replicate a “D-Day” there with Asian characteristics. And for Washington. The dimension of cooperation also worries the United States. The Pentagon’s efforts to redirect resources towards the Indo-Pacificwithout abandoning the European front, become more complicated given the evidence that Russia and China already act as an almost indivisible bloc. Jack Watling of RUSI sums it up: “The Russians have become enablers for the Chinese, and that makes their security challenges almost impossible to separate.” A puzzle. If you like, what emerges from these leaks It is not a simple arms contract, but the skeleton of an interoperability that can alter the military balance in Asia-Pacific. China gets a crash course in airborne warfare from a Russian manual, and Russia earn financing and the hope of forcing the United States to fight on two fronts. In that equation, Taiwan appears increasingly vulnerableand the horizon of 2027 As the date set for its possible invasion, it stops seeming like a hypothetical scenario and becomes an accelerating calendar. Image | Eric Kanalstein / Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0), Picryl, 總統府 In Xataka | Ukraine’s largest attack on Russian soil revealed a new drone threat. China has just accidentally multiplied it In Xataka | Ukraine has opened Russia’s last drone and … Read more

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