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The “bottom of the barrel” was the cheapest waste of the oil industry. The war in Iran has just turned it into an unaffordable luxury

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Historically, the fuel oil has been known in the oil industry as the “bottom of the barrel.” Typically cheap and underappreciated, this byproduct comes from the bottom of distillation towers, the equipment where crude oil is heated and split into multiple products. In fact, very often, this fuel cost less than a barrel of crude oil, and refineries sold it at a loss as it was a simple remnant of the process necessary to manufacture high-value products such as diesel. However, as expert Javier Blas warns in your column for Bloombergthe Iran war has turned the industry upside down. That waste that no one wanted has become an ultra-expensive raw material overnight, which is bad news for the global economy. Despite being overshadowed by other distillates, the fuel oil plays an immense role in the modern world, driving container ships that act as the workhorses of globalization. The breakup of a market at the limit. In the current conflict, all eyes they are set in the rises and falls of crude oil. However, the real drama is hidden in the physical maritime bunker markets, where the traditional relationship between the price of crude oil and refined products has been completely broken. With crude oil hovering around $100, the fuel oil It shouldn’t be much more expensive. In reality, it is trading at $140 a barrel in Singapore and almost $160 in the Emirati port of Fujairah. A report of Lloyd’s List explains that the average price of the fuel oil of very low sulfur content (VLSFO) in the 20 main bunkering centers reached $1,005 per ton, double its pre-war cost and the highest figure since the Russian invasion of Ukraine. For his part, analyst Clyde Russell warns in his column Reuters that, while crude oil futures are confident of a solution, prices for physical cargoes are sending signals of an impending crisis and a supply chain that is buckling under pressure. The missing link. The key to this specific crisis lies in geography and geology. As Blas points outrefineries in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates produce 20% of all fuel oil sold internationally. Added to this is a crucial geological factor: the crude oil from the Persian Gulf generates much more fuel oil than that of other regions. For example, when distilling a barrel of Saudi flagship crude oil (Arab Light), approximately 50% of what comes out is residue for fuel oil, compared to 33% left by US WTI crude oil. This explains why the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz is a death trap specifically for this byproduct. The logistical panic. The real urgency is no longer just the price, but physical availability. The shipping industry has raised the alarm because supplies are critically low in Singapore and Fujairah, two of the world’s most important bunkering hubs. “If we do nothing, we risk ending up with dry supply points in Asia,” Vincent Clerc sharply warnedCEO of shipping giant Maersk. To avoid collapse, Maersk needs to be proactive and is transporting its own fuel around the globe to have the right amount in the right place, an unprecedented challenge that Clerc compares to the logistical juggle experienced during the Covid-19 pandemic. On a day-to-day basis, the charter market is paralyzed. Scott Bergeron, CEO of Oldendorff Carriers, confess to Lloyd’s List that there are problems getting fuel quotes, and that “availability for April is a big question mark.” The operational consequences will be drastic: Global slowing: Ships will reduce their speed to conserve fuel. Port congestion: Massive congestion is expected in ports that still have reserves. Accelerated scrapping: Older and inefficient fleets could be forced to be scrapped due to the enormous costs. Furthermore, according to Clyde Russell in your column for ReutersAsian refiners are cutting production, and countries like South Korea could restrict exports, pushing dependent nations like New Zealand into rationing measures. The environmental dilemma. This severe lack of supply is even putting pressure on climate regulations. Given the suffocating lack of distillates, The Maritime Executive details that the regulators could be tempted to temporarily suspend IMO 2020 emissions regulations. This would allow ships to return to burning heavy fuel oil (HSFO) widely, freeing up ingredients for other critical sectors. Meanwhile, ships already equipped with scrubbers (scrubbers) can still legally burn the cheaper HSFO. As the price gap between clean and dirty fuel widens, these shipowners are realizing massive savings; In fact, this price spread reached $189.50 per ton in Singapore. The current crisis leaves no room for maneuver. As Javier Blas saysthe world has already spent its main lines of defense against this oil shock: compromised refineries have been avoided and strategic reserves have been emptied. Looking to the future, the only variable capable of balancing consumption with a meager supply is the “destruction of demand” through suffocating prices. Ship fuel may come from the bottom of the barrel, but it has proven to have the ability to sink or keep afloat international commerce. Today, without a doubt, it has become the world’s main problem. Image | Photo by william william on Unsplash Xataka | The US Navy already knows what is going to happen to the planet: the mission to open Hormuz is the closest thing to a suicide operation

The US ignored Ukraine’s pleas to Russia, and now Iran has turned the US into Ukraine

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In recent years, something curious has happened in the military world: the most influential drones on the battlefield are not the most advanced, but some of the cheapest. Small devices with triangular wings and simple engines, inspired by Iranian designs, have ended up starring thousands of attacks in several conflicts and forcing entire armies to rethink how to defend their skies. Paradoxically, stopping them usually costs much more than making them. And the United States has realized it late. The war that changed the battle. we have been counting. The Russian invasion of Ukraine inaugurated a new phase in modern warfare marked by the massive use of cheap drones capable of overwhelm the defenses traditional aerials. Since 2022, Russian forces have launched tens of thousands of Shahed drones (of Iranian origin) against Ukrainian cities and infrastructure, forcing kyiv to develop an improvised but increasingly sophisticated defense. This experience, acquired in extreme conditions and under constant bombing, has turned the country into the most advanced laboratory in the world to combat this type of weapons. What began as a desperate fight to protect their airspace ended generating new tacticselectronic warfare systems and interceptor drones specifically designed to destroy these low-cost loitering munitions. The weapon that changes the economy of war. The success of Shahed drones is based on brutally simple logic: its price. Each can cost between $20,000 and $50,000, a paltry figure compared to the systems designed to stop them. For years, Ukraine and other countries have been forced to use anti-aircraft missiles that can cost hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars to shoot down a single drone. This asymmetry turns each interception into an economic defeateven when the target is destroyed. To solve the problem, Ukraine began to develop cheaper solutions: interceptor drones that pursue and attack the Shahed, mobile teams with machine guns, electronic jamming systems and surveillance networks adapted to detect these devices before they reach their objectives. The great strategic paradox. Here appears one of the most striking ironies of the current conflict. For years, Ukraine asked for more help to defend against Iranian drone attacks used by Russia and developed specific technology to combat them in view of the fact that no one (or few) paid attention to them. Even now we know who came to offer that experience and those systems to the United States in meetings held at the White House, where he presented proposals to create anti-drone defense networks in the Middle East. That offer was ignored at that time. Ironies of fate, months later, after the start of the war with Iran and the launch of thousands of drones against American bases and allies, Washington has been forced to knock on kyiv’s door and ask for help. In a sense, the conflict has reversed the roles: The most powerful military power in the world is now facing the same dilemma that Ukraine has been trying to solve for years, defending its positions from swarms of cheap drones that force it to spend fortunes to be neutralized. The world calls kyiv. This accumulated experience has turned Ukraine into a unexpectedly valuable partner for countries now suffering similar attacks. Governments in the Middle East, Europe and the United States have begun to request advice, technology and training to defend themselves against Iranian drones. Zelensky himself confirmed that his government has received multiple requests to share knowledge on interceptors, electronic warfare and air defense tactics adapted to this type of threat. kyiv has responded sending experts and systems to some US bases in the region as it tries to balance that aid with its own defensive needs against Russia. From laboratory to export power. The war has also transformed the Ukrainian defense industrial sector. Local companies produce now thousands of interceptor drones every month and have developed models capable of pursuing and destroying Shahed at a fraction of the cost of traditional missiles. Some manufacturers claim to be able manufacture tens of thousands of monthly units, which has aroused enormous international interest. Gulf countries, especially Saudi Arabiahave begun negotiations to acquire Ukrainian interceptors and technology, seeking more sustainable solutions than relying exclusively on extremely expensive Western anti-aircraft systems. A new global race: anti-drone defense. The rise of these technologies reflects a change unimaginable until recently in contemporary military logic. The great powers have discovered that systems designed to intercept ballistic missiles or fighter jets are not necessarily effective against swarms of cheap, mass-produced drones. In the Persian Gulf, Israel and the Arab states have had to spend large quantities of missiles Patriot, THAAD or Iron Dome to stop relatively cheap attacks. This dynamic has caused a global career to develop more economical solutions, from interceptor drones to automatic air defense systems capable of confronting massive threats. A global lesson. In short, what began as a regional war in Eastern Europe it’s over redefining the way many countries understand air defense. Ukraine, which for years fought almost alone against massive Iranian drone attacks operated by Russia, has unexpectedly become the world reference to combat this threat. The paradox is simple and obvious, because the technology and tactics developed by a country that was fighting to survive have become essential to protect some of the most advanced military powers on the planet. In the new drone war that extends from Europe to the Middle East, the experience accumulated in the skies over Ukraine has become one of the most valuable strategic assets of the moment. So much so that even has invested the papers with the United States. Image | ArmyInform, Lycksele-Nord, Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine In Xataka | The United Kingdom has opened the kamikaze drone that exploded at the European base. The surprise is capital: it is not from Iran, it is “made in Russia” In Xataka | Shahed drones are spreading terror in the Gulf. Ukraine has offered the solution and the price to pay has a name

China has turned OpenClaw into a viral phenomenon. And then it has prohibited its officials from using it

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The appearance of the AI ​​agent OpenClaw has meant that we are living in a kind of second “DeepSeek moment“They know it well in China, where its use has exploded in such a way that the Government has had to act. And it has probably done well. An absolutely viral AI. The OpenClaw project has caused a real earthquake in China. In cities like Shenzhen there are queues to physically install it and people paying for others to install it remotely or in person. The AI ​​agent is breaking all popularity records for programming projects, and for example has already surpassed two legends such as React or Linux in terms of stars awarded on GitHub, a measure of the popularity of open source projects. In just three months, OpenClaw has managed to surpass the legendary leaders of this ranking in GitHub stars: react and linux. Source: Star-History.com Solution to Chinese fragmentation. The secret of this success in the Asian giant is not based only on the curiosity of users, but also on the fact that OpenClaw provides a striking solution to an endemic problem in the country: the fragmentation of business software. With an average of 150 independent IT systems per company and 60% of them without APIs or documentation, AI integration seemed to be an insurmountable wall. OpenClaw solves the problem because you can take control of the machine, “see” buttons and text boxes, click and type in browsers, and operate as if you were a human. Tokens everywhere. That ability has turned this project into an absolute “token hole.” Unlike a conventional chatbot like ChatGPT, OpenClaw works continuously and autonomously, and it is not uncommon to see an advanced user consume 50 million tokens daily. The impact has been massive: at the end of February, Chinese models such as Kimi 2.5 or DeepSeek were already devouring 61% of the global OpenRouter tokens, a platform that allows you to easily use APIs from dozens of AI models. The fever has been such that Kimi has generated in 20 days more income than all expected by its creator, Moonshot IA, by 2025. Alarm. The problem is precisely that: when software has the ability to “see” everything that happens on a screen and execute commands by itself, the security risks are enormous. This has made the Beijing government go from enthusiasm—cities like Shenzhen offer million-dollar subsidies for their development—to a policy that is now totally restrictive. Government agencies, state-owned companies and large national banks have received urgent notices prohibiting the installation of OpenClaw in office devices and even in mobile phones that are used in this type of segments. Be careful with your data. Practically since it went viral, many have warned of the cybersecurity risks involved in using OpenClaw. An initial audit of the skills available on ClawdHub detected hundreds of them as malicious. That was the germ of the OpenClaw alliance with the Spanish cybersecurity firm VirusTotalpart of Google. The risk with this project is threefold: You have access to private data Can communicate with the outside You are exposed to untrustworthy content and attacks from prompt injection One of lime and one of sand. For large Chinese technology companies, the government’s measures are bittersweet. On the one hand, they have rushed to offer one-click OpenClaw deployments in their clouds for interested users. On the other hand, state restriction has meant that some of the AI ​​startups such as Zhipu (Knowledge Atlas Technology JSC Ltd.) or MiniMax Group have quickly fallen on the stock market for the news. China and control. There is another key element in that political movement: the loss of control. The Beijing government has already fought a battle in the past to curb the power of giants like Alibaba, and that caused the “Asian Jeff Bezos”, Jack Ma, came out very badly. An autonomous AI agent that operates outside of that government control represents a challenge to the mechanisms that China has been perfecting, especially with its Great Firewall. An uncertain future. These new restrictions pose a complex future for the project in China. The Asian giant has embraced AI more than anyone else, but the security risks in this case are so clear that limits had to be set before things got out of control. Even so, the project is Open Source, which will make it difficult for its deployment to be halted by end users and enthusiasts, no matter how much the Chinese Government wants it. Image | OpenClaw | Paul Kagame In Xataka | Every time Facebook had a competitor, it bought it: it is exactly the same thing that OpenAI is doing

Someone paid for the bus in England with a strange coin in the 50s. It turned out to be a treasure from Cádiz from 2,000 years ago

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In the 1950s, public transportation in the English city of Leeds functioned as that of any other large citywith tickets costing a few pence and collectors checking the change. One day, someone took out a strange coin to pay his ticket and the person responsible for collecting the ticket immediately noticed that it was not a legal British currency. And instead of throwing it away, he decided to keep it. The story. What this cashier who kept the coin did not know, and what it would take his relative seven decades to discover, is that that bus ticket It had been paid with a relic from more than 2,000 years ago and of Spanish origin. From a wooden box to the museum. The story of this peculiar discovery has recently come to light thanks to Leeds Museums and Galleriesnoting that for about 70 years, the coin was forgotten in a small wooden box. The important thing here is that, after the death of James Edwards, who was the one who collected this bus ticket, the piece passed into the hands of his grandson, Peter Edwards, who is now 77 years old. Intrigued by the ancient and worn appearance of the object, Peter decided to investigate its provenance with the help of experts from the University of Leeds, and this is where it was discovered that it was not a piece of scrap metal, but a bronze coin from the 1st century BC. Where it came from. Analysis of the coin revealed that it was not minted in the United Kingdom, but that its origin was thousands of miles away. Specifically in Gadir, present-day Cádiz, in one of the oldest and most prosperous Phoenician settlements in the West. The design of the coin is a classic of Carthaginian and Phoenician-Punic influence in the Iberian Peninsula, with an obverse that shows the profile of Melqart, a deity of the Phoenicians and recognizable for wearing the mythical skin of the Nemean Lion. On its reverse, the coin shows two tunas, the indisputable symbol of the ancient Cádiz fishing industry, accompanied by inscriptions in the Phoenician alphabet. How he came to England. There are many doubts that arise when we talk about a coin from the 1st century BC that ended up being a payment method at a bus station in England. The main hypothesis used by the researchers is the result of the recent historical context, since it is believed that the coin was found in the Mediterranean region by a British soldier during or just after World War II. After taking it to the United Kingdom as a souvenir or amulet, the piece must have ended up mixed with everyday change. From there, it was exchanged as legal tender until it ended up in the box of a curious person who knew that this coin had something unique. Your new home. After unraveling the mystery, Peter Edwards has decided to donate his grandfather’s piece to the local authorities and today, the Gadir coin is part of the Leeds Discovery Centre, an institution that houses thousands of historical coins. And, although it is not a great treasure, it is undoubtedly an artifact that perfectly shows the migrations of everyday objects thousands of years ago. Images | Leeds Museums and Galleries In Xataka | North Africa was off the map in the Bronze Age. A metallic waste has put it at the center of History

Collapsing fiber prices in Spain has turned out very well for Digi. And still the accounts don’t work out

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Digi continues with its unstoppable pace until it aspires to become in the third Spanish operator. What might have sounded utopian not so many years ago is getting closer to becoming a reality. The new milestone for the Romanian operator is in its volume of fixed broadband clients. For the first time, they have surpassed Vodafone. The numbers. According to Expansion dataat the end of 2025 Digi has achieved a historic result. For the first time, it has reached Vodafone Spain in volume of fixed broadband customers (mainly fiber). Not only were the data spectacular in terms of volume, Digi attracted almost twelve times more users than Vodafone throughout the year. A difference in acquisition that shows the sustained growth of the Romanian operator. Far from the giants. Both Telefónica and the MásOrange group remain unbeatable, doubling the numbers of Digi and Vodafone in Spain. Despite this, Digi has become the third operator by clients in the residential market, since within Vodafone’s figures there is a significant weight of corporate business. Digi’s strategy. Prices, prices and prices. Digi’s strategy is to offer a quality service at the lowest possible price. And this works. Your Trojan horse is cheap fiberalong with mobile lines at a very reasonable price. A low cost strategy that has led it to be the absolute king in portability, something that has led its competition to sink their prices with fees aimed at directly fighting Digi. Yes, but. Despite its fantastic numbers in customer volume and portability, Digi reported 33 million in losses in 2025. The aggressive pricing strategy together with a large investment means that the operator’s profitability remains negative. Despite this, it is expected that in 2026 Digi will study big plans, like going public. Meanwhile, investment in fiber deployment, network leasing and infrastructure will continue to make it difficult to make enough money while preserving current prices. Image | Digi In Xataka | Digi wants to become one of the largest teleoperators in Spain. And that is why it has gone from 4,000 to 10,000 workers.

Microsoft wants Copilot to do more complex tasks. To achieve this, it has turned to Anthropic AI

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For a long time, when we talked about artificial intelligence at Microsoft, there was one name that came up again and again: OpenAI. The relationship between both companies was decisive for the takeoff of ChatGPT and also for the launch of Copilot. But the AI ​​board is moving quickly. New models, new players and increasingly intense competition are pushing large technology companies to diversify their bets. In that context, Microsoft’s latest move is understood. The advertisement. Microsoft has decided to integrate Anthropic technology within Copilot, the assistant that is already part of tools such as Outlook, Teams or Excel within Microsoft 365. Among the new features is coworka tool based on Anthropic technology aimed at facilitating tasks within the work environment. But that’s not all: Claude’s models will also be available within the Copilot chatbot alongside the more advanced OpenAI models, thus expanding the capabilities of the assistant without depending on a single artificial intelligence provider. From asking for something to delegating work. Microsoft explains that Cowork is designed to go a step beyond the classic model of an assistant who answers questions or writes texts. The idea is that Copilot can take care of entire tasks within Microsoft 365. When the user makes a request, the system converts it into a work plan that runs in the background. To do this, it uses data from Outlook, Teams or Excel. From there, in theory, you propose actions, ask for clarification if needed, and allow the user to review or approve each step before the changes are applied. Some examples. Let’s imagine, for example, that we ask Copilot to review our agenda in Outlook. The system could analyze the calendar, detect conflicts between meetings and identify lower priority meetings. From there I would propose different adjustments, such as rescheduling some appointments or reserving blocks of time to focus on more important tasks. Once those suggestions are reviewed and approved, the system itself could apply the changes automatically, accepting, rejecting or rescheduling meetings and reserving blocks of time to focus on other tasks. The strategy. As we noted above, the move also reflects how Microsoft’s AI strategy is changing. The company has maintained a very close relationship with OpenAI for years and continues to be one of its largest shareholders, with a stake close to 27% after investments of around $13 billion since 2019. However, the rise of new models and the rapid evolution of the sector are pushing large technology companies to not depend on a single technology. Incorporating Anthropic tools within Copilot points precisely in that direction: building an ecosystem capable of relying on different models depending on the task. Platforms before models. What we are seeing with decisions like this is that the race for AI is not limited to developing increasingly advanced models. It’s also about deciding where those capabilities are going to live. In the case of Microsoft, the answer seems quite broad: The company has been integrating Copilot into more and more products and services in its ecosystem (and also external ones). For some users, this constant presence can be very useful; For others it can be somewhat invasive. But beyond these perceptions, the movement clearly shows Microsoft’s strategy. On the whole. So this is not just about adding another technology within Copilot, but rather reinforcing the idea that Microsoft wants to turn this assistant into a meeting point for different AI capabilities within its software. Incorporating Anthropic models alongside those of OpenAI points precisely to that scenario. Rather than relying on a single technology, the company appears to be laying the groundwork for a Copilot capable of combining different solutions as the AI ​​market continues to evolve. Images | Microsoft In Xataka | The best and worst of the Internet we know has been built on anonymity. AI brings bad news

The mayor of Lisbon has turned it into a magnet for European startups

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Carlos Moedas does not feel like a conventional politician. The current mayor of Lisbon and former European Commissioner for Innovation recently insisted in which his training as an engineer marked his management. The idea: less rhetoric and more structural solutions. And it certainly seems to carry out this proposal, because it is leading a transformation that seeks to position the Portuguese capital not only as a tourist destination, but as one of the most relevant technological nodes in Europe. unicorn factory. The nerve center of this transformation is the call Unicorn Factorya hub of innovation that was launched in 2022 and that has become the flagship project of its mandate. Since its creation, this initiative has multiplied its size by five, and today it already houses thematic divisions specialized in cutting-edge sectors such as AI, blockchainhealth or green technologies dedicated to the agricultural field. The success is tangible: 17 “unicorn” companies (valued at more than $1 billion) have moved their operations to the Portuguese capital. Attracting startups. Moedas explained in comments to Financial Times how the real challenge of Lisbon is not to see companies born, but to help them grow. The project attracted 300 companies in 2025, a figure that represents notable growth from 250 the previous year. Among them there are companies with founders from the US, Brazil, or Denmark. Favorable conditions. To attract these startups Moedas has used several levers. The first is to sell Lisbon for what it is: a safe capital with a great quality of life. The second is to highlight that the tax regime for qualified immigrants is advantageous, and there are also tax credits for R&D, which of course is a strong argument for companies that consume a lot of resources in those initial phases and can thus receive aid in this process. But. The road, Moedas openly acknowledges, is not without potholes. Portuguese bureaucracy remains complex – the same thing happens in Spain – and that can deter entrepreneurs. The mayor of Lisbon states in the interview that a good part of his time is spent talking on the phone with foreign founders and helping them overcome these bureaucratic barriers. “Politicians do not create jobs, the markets create them,” he repeats: their job is to facilitate, not hinder, or at least that is the message. Competence. Although the activity is notable, there are founders of companies who know that the market is raffling them off. María Ribeiro Soares, from Immersiv Studios, warned of the difficulty retaining talent compared to markets with higher wages such as the United Kingdom or Germany. The other venture capital. There is another peculiarity in this entrepreneurship market. Lisbon startup founders have realized that while traditional venture capital is cautious, the so-called family offices are very willing to bet on these projects. These investors, often experienced, high-net-worth former founders, provide funding but also advice. Lisbon is not alone. The rise of Lisbon as a technological node is also accompanied by other Portuguese innovation centers such as Braga and Porto, where, for example, the biotechnology sector flourishes. There is also a direct connection with universities oriented to this market, and in that northern region of Portugal alone there are already some 1,200 startups with a combined valuation of close to 9 billion euros, according to the FT. The other great challenge. Portugal’s efforts to attract external talent have led to the arrival of numerous digital nomads, but this has had a counterproductive effect: it is causing an exodus among young Portuguese. They cannot access a housing market adapted to the pockets of those nomads, who charge triple. Rental prices have skyrocketed, and that has created tension that the mayor must manage. Image | EU2017EE Estonian Presidency | Aayush Gupta In Xataka | Portugal’s radical proposal to stop touristification: an underwater cable that connects with the US

We believed that GLP-1 drugs were only going to change obesity. They just turned upside down how we treat addictions

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The famous GLP-1 receptor agonistsamong which some protagonists such as Ozempic stand out, have revolutionized the treatment of type 2 diabetes and of obesity. However, for some time patients and doctors had been reporting a “side effect” that was as surprising as it was hopeful, since it was seen that this treatment made people not feel like drinking alcohol or smoking. New routes. What began as a trickle of anecdotes in doctors’ offices has ended up being the target of study by different research teams who have seen here a new way of understanding the mechanism of addictions in humans. Now, a recent study published in B.M.J. backed by new clinical trialssuggests that these medications could be the key to treating addictive substance use disorders. How it looked. The heavyweight of this new research is a gigantic cohort study published in 2026, where the data of 606,434 United States veterans with type 2 diabetes. Here it was divided into two groups: those who started treatment with GLP-1 drugs such as Ozempic and those who took SGLT2 inhibitorswhich is one of the accepted treatments for advanced type 2 diabetes. The results. But the most shocking data came when analyzing patients who already had a previous history of addictions. In this group, the use of Ozempic resulted in a dramatic decrease in addiction problems requiring urgent treatment, but also saw a lower rate of hospital admissions, lower drug-related mortality, a drop in overdoses, and even a significant reduction in suicidal ideation and attempts. The essays. Although observational studies are very valuable, they also you have to go to the laboratory to see what is happening. Here, a 2025 randomized trial demonstrated that taking Ozempic dramatically reduced alcohol self-administration in a laboratory setting. Here patients reported less anxiety about having to have a drink or a cigarette, fewer days of heavy consumption, and incidentally, a decrease in the number of cigarettes they smoked per day. In the past, a study published in 2022 showed that using exenatide it was not possible to generally reduce the days of consumption of these drugs, but it was possible to see how the drug had a direct effect on some specific parts of the brain that are related to the reward centers. Because? That a drug designed for the pancreas affects our relationship with alcohol and tobacco, the truth is that it can raise many questions. The answer lies in the brain, since some reviews suggest that GLP-1 receptors not only regulate blood sugar or slow down gastric emptying. These receptors are also found in key brain areas that control the dopamine pathway, which is why, by activating them, drugs such as emaglutide or liraglutide attenuate the sensation of reward. In rodents, for example, they block the reinforcement produced by substances such as cocaine, opioids or nicotine and, basically, the drug stops “feeling good.” A paradigm shift. As can be seen every day, constant drug use over time can have devastating consequences for the lives of people and those around them. The problem is that right now there are few approved pharmacological therapies to support these addicts, and this makes any clue to have a new therapeutic door welcome. Although more research and large-scale Phase III trials are needed for regulatory agencies to officially approve their psychiatric use, GLP-1 drugs appear to be doing something that medicine has been seeking for decades: “satiating” not only physical hunger, but also the brain’s chemical hunger. Images | lilartsy In Xataka | Ozempic not only eliminates hunger, it is rewriting the supermarket ticket: goodbye to ultra-processed foods and spending on snacks

The Earth turned on its great geological engine billions of years earlier than we estimate. We know it from a microscopic crystal

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For a long time, textbooks They have painted the primitive Earth like a ball of infernal and static magma, being a “lid” of inert rock where life or complex geological movement was impossible. Specifically, it was thought that the plate tectonicsthe engine that shapes the continents and recycles our planet’s nutrients, had taken much longer to start. However, we were wrong. How he did it. Science, in a recent article, has just put on the table the definitive evidence that indicates that the Earth began to move much earlier than we believed: at least 3.3 billion years ago, and most likely, more than 4 billion ago. And the key is not in the gigantic mountains under our feet, but in small fragments of glass smaller than a grain of sand. And if we want to travel in geological time, you have to go to jack hillsin Western Australia, where the oldest known fragments of terrestrial rock are found. The protagonists of this story are zircon crystals, extremely resistant minerals that act as authentic geological hard drives. The interesting thing is that, when they form, they trap isotopes and tiny amounts of other elements inside that tell us exactly what the environment was like at the time of their crystallization. The results. According to detailed analysis that collects Natureand supported by key works such as those published in the prestigious magazine PNASthese S-type zircons hide unmistakable geochemical signatures. Specifically, they reveal that, instead of a static and dead Earth’s crust, subduction processes already existed. That is, the oceanic crust was already colliding and sinking under other plates, melting back into the Earth’s mantle. A double life. But researchers have not limited themselves to looking at a specific era, but have traced the proportions of trace elements such as uranium, niobium or scandium in different zircons from Australia, Greenland and South Africa. Here they observed that during the Eoarchean, the Earth did not have a single geological behavior. Instead, it had two tectonic regimes. The first of these, known as a ‘stagnant lid’ with areas of crust dominated by plumes of oceanic magma that simply pushed upwards. On the other hand, it also had the ‘moving lid’ zone, which were active zones where volcanic arcs were already forming and there was subduction, very similar to modern plate tectonics, recycling the Earth’s crust. But there is more. As if that were not enough, other published studies in Science and Geology have contributed even more pieces to the puzzle, such as the transform faults in the Pilbara Craton of Australia that show horizontal movements 3,000 million years ago, and even inclusions of fresh water in zircons from more than 4,000 million years ago, which suggests that there were already emerging continents interacting with the atmosphere and the water cycle. It changes everything. Knowing that plate tectonics started so early is not a mere geological whim, since tectonics is the Earth’s thermostat: it regulates the carbon cycle, releases fundamental gases into the atmosphere and creates the necessary environments for the chemical breeding ground. In this way, if more than 4,000 million years ago our planet was already recycling its crust, having primitive continents and fresh water, it means that the conditions for life to emerge occurred much earlier than what science books dictated. Once again, the Earth shows us that, from its most remote beginnings, it has always been a living world. Images | Javier Miranda In Xataka | There are scientists deliberately causing earthquakes in the Alps and they have a good reason for it

bombs have turned dogs into other animals

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Wars were never limited to the front nor did they end when fighting ceased. Throughout history they have altered landscapes, cities, customs and even everyday behaviors in unexpected ways, leaving silent transformations that only become visible over time. Some of them do not appear in history books or official balance sheets, but they reveal the extent to which a conflict is capable of reordering life itself on its margins. Also from your animals. The war beyond humans. Various studies hrevealed in recent months that the Russian invasion of Ukraine has not only left a devastating mark on the civilian population, but is also quietly transforming to the animals who shared that human environment, especially domestic dogs, whose fate has changed radically since the beginning of the conflict. Many were abandoned during evacuations, others were trapped in occupied territories or combat zones, and in a very short time they went from being dependent pets. to forced survivors from an extreme environment, becoming a hybrid population between the domestic and the wild. A studio born on the front. The latest research, published in the journal Evolutionary Applicationsanalyzed data from 763 dogs in nine regions of Ukraine thanks to the joint work of shelters, veterinarians and volunteers, including dangerous areas near the front lines. A key part of the work was carried out by Ihor Dykyy, a zoologist at the Ivan Franko National University of Lviv, who collected observations while serving as a volunteer with the Ukrainian armed forces in Donetsk and near Kharkiv, where he lived with dogs injured, traumatized by explosions and dependent on the improvised care of soldiers. Abandonment and breaking of the human bond. According to the lead author of the study, Mariia Martsiv, from the University of Lviv, the start of the war caused a especially dramatic situation for pets: some owners managed to escape with them, but many animals were left at train stations or abandoned in occupied areas. Although the study focused on domestic dogs, a large part no longer living under the direct care of humans and had passed into what was closest to a wandering existence, marked by scarcity, constant danger and the need to adapt quickly. The brutal selection. The data reveals that, in a surprisingly short period, the front dogs began to look similar more to wild species such as wolves or dingoes than domestic breeds. Extreme snouts, heavier bodies, or light coats became less common, while specimens increased smaller in size, with erect ears, straight tails and fewer white spots. As the researchers explainwar has acted as a ruthless filter favoring traits that improve survival: lighter animals that set off fewer mines, hide better, and present a smaller target for shrapnel. It’s not evolution, it’s survival. Scientists emphasize that these changes do not represent accelerated biological evolution, since the time elapsed is insufficient for profound genetic alterations. In fact, what happens they say is more similar to an immediate selection: Dogs with less adapted characteristics simply do not survive. It was also detected that in combat zones there are fewer old, sick or injured animals, and that dogs they tend to group togethera typical strategy of wild species to increase the chances of resistance in hostile environments. Between feralization and dependency. The work indicates that, despite the increasingly “wild” appearance and behavior, the majority of dogs continue to depending in part of humans for food, supplementing their diet with plants, small animals or carrion, including remains of fallen soldiers, and many have been informally adopted by Ukrainian troops. However, the team from the University of Gdansk, led by Małgorzata Pilot, also observed clear cases of feralizationdogs that no longer depend on people and have returned to a completely independent life. War as an ecological disaster. Although the study focuses only on dogs, its conclusions point to a much larger problem. As ecologist Euan Ritchie, from Deakin University, warns, if a species as adaptable and mobile as the dog is being affected so profoundly, the consequences for less flexible animals can be devastating. War, beyond the brutal human tragedy, also emerges as an environmental disaster that reconfigures entire ecosystems and leaves invisible scars long after the guns fall silent. Even dogs stop being dogs. Image | Ivan Bandura, Jorge Franganillo In Xataka | If the question is what Russia is going to do after the war in Ukraine, Europe has found a disturbing clue: millions of projectiles In Xataka | We had seen everything in Ukraine, but this is unprecedented: Russia is not launching drones, it is launching “Frankensteins”

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