unprecedented

The war and the unbearable heat have led Europe to unprecedented spending. And Türkiye has become the perfect supermarket

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For centuries, in the Mediterranean, white was much more than an aesthetic question: whitewashed facades, light roofs and narrow streets helped reflect solar radiation and keeping homes several degrees cooler long before the invention of air conditioning. Two thousand years later, Europe once again discovers that fighting the heat has become a priority. Europe is paying two unexpected bills. For decades, Europe built its prosperity on one premise: that the continent would enjoy a relatively stable environment, both in climate and security. That scenario has changed at high speed. Heat waves are increasingly intensewar has returned to the continent, and both phenomena are forcing governments to spend billions in two needs that previously seemed secondary: cooling their cities and strengthening their armies. Air conditioning as critical infrastructure. Heat waves have ceased to be exceptional episodes and have become an economic factor permanent. Schools, hospitals, companies, data centers and industries need air conditioning systems capable of maintaining their activity even during extreme temperatures. Air conditioning has ceased to be a domestic luxury and has become a essential infrastructurewhile countries in central and northern Europe discover a need for which they never prepared their buildings. Türkiye had been preparing for years. It happens that, while Europe was beginning to discover the problem, Türkiye already had a powerful air conditioning industryextensive manufacturing capacity and an enormous logistical advantage over Asian competitors. The result is that Turkish exports of air conditioning, heat pumps and other refrigeration systems they are growing to the heat (pun intended) of a continent that needs to modernize millions of buildings and also do so under criteria of energy efficiency and sustainability. The other great urgency: rearmament. I counted the weekend the Washington Post that the climate is not the only front that is strengthening the Turkish position. The progressive withdrawal of the United States from European security and increase in military spending have placed the Turkish arms industry in a privileged position. Its drones, armored vehicles, ammunition and other defensive systems have demonstrated competitiveness, availability and attractive prices just when many European countries are looking for new suppliers to accelerate their rearmament. From awkward partner to supplier. For years, Türkiye was viewed with suspicion within NATO for the purchase of the Russian S-400 systemthe tensions with Greece, its policy in Syria or the temporary blockage of Sweden’s entry into the Alliance. However, the context has changed profoundly. Europe needs weapons. It needs to control migratory flows. And now it also needs technology to adapt to a much more hostile climate. That combination has notably reduced public criticism of Ankara and reinforced its diplomatic weight within the Alliance. Trump and Erdogan’s position. Plus: the good relationship between Donald Trump and Erdogan has added another layer to this change of scenario. The American president has publicly praised the Turkish leader and has left the door open to unblocking old disagreements, such as the one related with F-35 fighters. At the same time, the upcoming NATO summit in Ankara will serve to showcase Turkey as one of the essential actors in the new Western security architecture. The great European paradox has a clear winner. Thus, the two great crises that today condition the future of Europe seem to have no relationship with each other. One comes from the atmosphere in form of heat waves increasingly extreme. The other comes from the deterioration of the geopolitical scenario and the return of war to the continent. However, both converge on the same point: they force Europe to buy what it needs most. And few economies seem so well placed to take advantage of both trends. like the turkish. While the continent seeks how to protect itself from the heat and military uncertainty, Türkiye is establishing itself as one of the major providers of solutions to both problems. Image | Wikimedia In Xataka | The map that splits Europe into two when the heat arrives: where there is air conditioning and where there isn’t In Xataka | The Rhine is running out of water due to heat waves. And that is a logistical and energy disaster for Europe

2,200 years ago, the Earth’s magnetic field collapsed. Some wine amphorae recorded it with unprecedented precision

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Finding some ceramic at a site is a fairly common occurrence, but in archeology the context is almost everything: this way you can discover from the Roman legions took away their vices there where they were going 1,800 years ago they were already used as piggy banks. Or even strange movements of the Earth. It’s what has happened in three sites in Jerusalem, where 24 pieces of ceramic have functioned as a kind of millennia-old compass record. The discovery. A research team from Tel Aviv University, Ariel University and the University of California, San Diego has managed to obtain geomagnetic information from 17 handles of wine amphorae from the island of Rhodes and seven jugs made there in Jerusalem, more specifically from the sites of the City of David, the Jewish Quarter and the Givati ​​parking lot. What makes them special are two things: on all of them the names of the potter and the supervisor of that year’s production appeared. There is another surprising fact from the analysis of the pieces: reveal that between the years 206 and 156-155 BC the Earth’s magnetic field lost more than 30% of its intensity. The scientific explanation. When clay is fired at high temperatures, the iron-containing minerals it contains are oriented according to the magnetic field that exists at that moment and when they cool, they stay that way forever… or until they are heated above the Curie temperature. If they are heated some time later in a laboratory under certain controlled conditions, it is possible to obtain the signal and intensity of the magnetic field from the time of manufacture, which is known as “archaeointensity analysis.” Why is it important. Because the ceramic pieces revealed that the magnetic field weakened much faster than estimated with current models. On the other hand, because magnetism offers an alternative to radiocarbon to date ancient objects and structures with a precision that carbon cannot always offer. Already there were studies that they affirmed it, but this confirms it for the Hellenistic era. Context. The starting ceramics are stamped handles of amphorae made on the island of Rhodes between the 3rd and 1st centuries BC. In the Hellenistic period, these amphorae circulated throughout the eastern Mediterranean, loaded with wine or oil. Greek amphorae they used to have engraving the name of the potter and the annual official who supervised production, called the eponym. This administrative custom turns the Rhodes amphorae into a chronological instrument of incredible precision: it is possible to date pieces with a time deviation of less than one year, something that is rarely seen in archaeology. In detail. Collaterally, this finding also has implications for the acra fortressa building that the Seleucid king Antiochus IV ordered to be built around 167 BC to control the city during the time of the Maccabees and whose exact location has been one of the most lively debates in archeology in Jerusalem for decades. In 2015, at the Givati ​​car park site, a team of archaeologists discovered part of a defensive ramp that they associated with Accra. The problem is that one of the vessels found in its structure belongs to a ceramic type that does not appear until after 130 BC, that is, decades after when Antiochus IV ordered the construction of the fortress. If the ramp were part of the original Acra of 167 BC, the vessel in its foundation would have to date from before that date, not later. Furthermore, its magnetic intensity fits with a manufacture from the end of the 2nd century BC. C. What does this mean? That ramp may not belong to the original Accra structure. Yes, but. The study concludes that a jug found under a defensive ramp in the Givati ​​car park is too recent to be linked to the original construction of the Accra fortress. But that information does not resolve anything: the ramp could have belonged to a later renovation phase or the jug could have been placed there later. On the other hand, Previous investigations in the Levant They already pointed to a drop in the magnetic field between 220 and 160 BC, and this finding supports it with unprecedented precision. Even so, 24 vessels are an insufficient sample to consolidate the curve on a regional scale: more samples are needed from more sites. In Xataka | A cargo sunk in a Swiss lake 2,000 years ago confirms it: the Roman legions did not deprive themselves of anything In Xataka | The most polarizing and divisive scientific debate of the moment has to do with wine. With one 1,700 years old Cover | Israel Antiquities Authority and Toa Heftiba

Global warming has stepped on the accelerator at an unprecedented rate and we are getting closer to the point of no return

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In recent years we are seeing how the climate is changing radicallyand the reality is that we know well that the Earth’s climate system is accumulating heat at an unprecedented rate. And it is not a stimulation that we do in our heads, but it is the main conclusion of the fourth edition of the report Indicators of Global Climate Change. The figures do not leave much room for maneuver, since, according to the panel of more than 70 researchers from 56 institutions around the world that have participated in the analysishuman activities have pushed global warming to 1.37 °C in 2025. And most worrying of all is that, if the current trend continues, the mathematical projection indicates that we will cross the dreaded 1.5 °C line in approximately four years. An unprecedented rhythm. The analysis, supported by an immense Earth observation network and aligned with the program data Copernicus and institutional repositories such as NASA Earthdata, shows that the rate of human-induced warming remains at a historical maximum of about 0.27 °C per decade. Because? The report points to a lethal combination, such as record levels of greenhouse gases and, paradoxically, a continued decline in sulfur dioxide emissions. The latter is important because, by reducing sulfur aerosols, part of the warming effect of greenhouse gases, which was previously mitigated, has been “unmasked.” As Piers Forster, lead author of the study and director of the Priestley Center for Climate Futures at the University of Leeds, explains, the key to understanding the magnitude of the crisis lies in the Earth’s energy imbalance since this indicator measures how quickly heat accumulates in the system. In the researcher’s words: “Without human influence, it should be close to zero, but it has been growing since the 1970s and is now at a record level, doubling in recent decades” The carbon counter. Perhaps the most urgent data that the scientific consortium provides for short-term decision-making is the update of the remaining carbon budget. This concept defines the total amount of carbon dioxide that humanity can still emit into the atmosphere before exceeding the 1.5 °C limit is inevitable. As of early 2026, that estimated remainder was just 130 gigatonnes of CO₂. If we take into account that in 2024 global greenhouse gas emissions reached a historical maximum of 56.8 Gt of CO₂ equivalent, mathematics tells us that at the current rate, that budget will be completely exhausted in about three years. Oceans under pressure. Beyond the average surface air temperature, the updated climate indicators portray a transversal impact on all biomes. Something that we have repeated a lot is that the oceans are the planet’s great thermal sink, and the report introduces a critical monitoring indicator to monitor them, which are the days of marine heat waves. Globally, the year 2025 experienced 65 days under these anomalous conditions, meaning that this number has tripled since 1991, severely disrupting carbon exchange between the ocean and atmosphere, altering acidity levels and threatening coastal infrastructure and marine habitats. sea ​​level It continues its continuous advance, fueled by the melting of land ice and the thermal expansion of warmer waters. Consolidated records show a record of 23 centimeters of increase since 1901 and the current rate of rise is around 1.8 mm per year and, far from stabilizing, it is accelerating by leaps and bounds. Images | Marcin Jozwiak In Xataka | Three days and above the 95th percentile: AEMET’s golden rule for declaring a “heat wave” in Spain

AI is going to generate unprecedented wealth. The question everyone is starting to ask is who is going to stay with her?

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There is a hot debate surrounding the profitability of AI. For now, the wild investment in data centers It is not contributing at all to the growth of the US economybut there are those who believe that AI is already generating wealth, The problem is that we still don’t know how to calculate it.. Meanwhile, a crucial question is emerging in all of this: If AI ends up being the goose that lays the golden eggs, is it fair for companies to keep it all? Give back to the people. A few days ago, Donald Trump made a comment that went somewhat unnoticed, but is very relevant. During a conversation with reporters in the Oval Office, he said he hopes AI companies will “give something back to the public,” that is, to share the wealth they are generating. His exact words, according to Reuterswere: “I’m going to meet very soon with the 12 or 15 most important executives, and we are talking about giving something back to the public, and if we do that, the public will be very rich (…) I think they will do it, and I think that will make it very popular.” Why is it important. That the president of the United States mentions the possibility of sharing the wealth that AI is going to generate is a way of admitting what we have been observing for a long time: AI is reconfiguring the labor market and that for many people that means being fired. Of course, Reuters contacted OpenAI, Meta, Anthropic and Google to evaluate the president’s statements and none of them did so. Yes, but. These statements They arise in a context in which the popularity of AI among citizens is at a minimum, so it may be a way to appease the growing rejection in American society. According to a Reuters and Ipsos poll53% of citizens fear that AI will leave them or someone in their household without a job. Additionally, 73% were concerned about the increase in the use of AI. A public fund. It is one of the options that are circulating and that OpenAI itself recently proposed. The logic is that, since AI is going to generate a lot of wealth, the state buys shares and then distributes the profits among the population. That is, the state becomes a partner in AI and shares the return on that investment, like Norway’s sovereign fund with oil, but with AI as a resource. The other option would be to impose a tax on company profits, but for whatever reason they do not defend this idea as much. Qmaybe it’s not enough. The most apocalyptic scenarios They point to a future in which AI does all the office work. In one opinion column in Financial TimesVinod Koshla, founder of a venture capital firm, anticipates that AI will do around 80% of the economically valuable work that humans do today, causing massive unemployment. In this scenario, a sovereign wealth fund may not be enough, so it proposes several changes, such as equalizing capital gains taxes with wages, and creating a 20% “token” tax from 2030 on income derived from AI computing and replacing human payrolls with automated systems. This collection would first go to cover unemployment for those who lose their jobs and, if the bet on AI goes well, it could then be used to lower the cost of basic services that can be automated (healthcare, personalized tutors or legal assistance) so that they stop being a luxury linked to income. Image | Igor Omilaev in Unsplashedited In Xataka | The future of geopolitics is played in AI models: Claude Fable 5’s veto indicates that Europe is offside

“They are an ecosystem of unprecedented aesthetic pressure”

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Technology has shaped the way we interact with the world and, by extension, with ourselves. For decades, the debate about unrealistic beauty standards focused on traditional photographic retouching to remove the wrinkles of age or stylize the figure to fit into what is conceived as the ‘model’ body. However, the arrival of artificial intelligence has changed the rules of the game and we are no longer passive spectators of unattainable bodies, but now we have algorithms in our pockets that, in real time, return to us an artificially “optimized” version of our own face. They are studying it. Empirical research has begun to isolate the specific effect of AI-based filters versus mere social media exposure. A robust study published in it Journal of Consumer Behavior analyzed almost 800 users in two phases and identified the exact mechanism of the psychological damage generated by AI and the false reality into which it puts us. In this case, the use of beauty filters that have AI behind them generates a direct drop in our own self-esteem and increases rejection of our current body image. The reason for this stands out in the “discrepancy theory” as the AI ​​creates a hyper-realistic “ideal self”, and when the camera is turned off, there is an anxiety-inducing clash between the algorithmic version and the “real self”. New terms. This phenomenon has led the medical literature to coin a new clinical term: filter dysmorphia. Here is a review that synthesized 18 studies from the last two decadesconcluded that the amplification of unrealistic ideals by AI and filters in general is triggering not only body dissatisfaction, but also eating disorders and anxiety and depression. And, as expected, the most vulnerable groups are adolescents and young adults. A new evolution. Until now we could see how technology offered us filter tools to improve our beauty and look more beautiful in photographs or videos. But now AI has become a facial evaluation tool. That is to say, there are people who submit to the scrutiny of artificial intelligence to know if they are handsome or ugly, internalizing the machine’s gaze in case many ‘defects’ begin to appear. Internalizing this speech directly correlates with low self-esteem and an increase in compulsive behaviors to improve your appearance. There is no neutrality. Here, a study from 2025 shows us as important data that 82% of images generated by AI lack cultural inclusivity. This means that aesthetic evaluation models such as SCUT or MEBeauty They present significant disparities and ethical biases, causing AI to impose culturally restrictive ideas of beauty. It has impact. To measure it, Dove’s 2024 macroscopic report, carried out on 33,000 people in 20 countries, provides figures that contextualize the severity of this aesthetic pressure. For example, it is projected that 90% of online content will in the future be generated or altered by AI, but it is also suggested that 2 out of 5 women would be willing to give up a year of their life in exchange for achieving the “ideal body.” This exposure to “digitally curated beauty,” mediated by social media algorithms, has consequences in the physical world, as a 2024 systematic review established a clear causal line: body dissatisfaction derived from these digital ecosystems pushes 70% of young women and 60% of young men to seriously consider undergoing cosmetic surgery. The experts They agree on the great problem involved in the use of AI for these purposes of seeking rational beauty and making decisions based on what the machine says. This is something we find in statements by Nuria Oliver, doctor in artificial intelligence from MIT, for El Paíswhich points to the following: “Its impact on aesthetic violence operates on at least three interrelated levels: the active definition of canons of beauty, the modulation of the visibility of content and the incorporation of aesthetic bias in analysis and decision-making systems. All three are worrying; together, they constitute an ecosystem of unprecedented aesthetic pressure.” Images | Kevin Costello In Xataka | Cosmetics experts are clear about the future: “People are generally very receptive to products from China”

The US has signed peace with Iran in Versailles. The last time someone did it was the prologue to an unprecedented disaster

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There is a historical irony that is difficult to overcome: the Treaty of Versailles It was signed in the same room (the Hall of Mirrors) where, in 1871, the German Empire was proclaimed after the French defeat. In 1919, France chose that same place on purpose to reverse the humiliation and force Germany to sign its defeat in the same scenario of its triumph. That peace was intended close a war…and twenty years later, Europe was entering an even worse situation. Peace in the same place, again. donald trump has signed an agreement with Iran in a place steeped in history: the Palace of Versailles. The image is powerful because it inevitably refers to the last great peace treaty sealed there, the one from 1919when Europe believed it was healing the wound of the First World War. That peace, however, was an imperfect peace: humiliated Germany, left open economic and political wounds, and fueled resentment that, two decades later, facilitated the rise of Adolf Hitlerthe collapse of the European order and the Second World War. The symbolism today is disturbing because Trump presents this pact as a historic victory, but many see in it the same pattern: a hasty truce, ambiguous concessions and structural problems that remain intact. From surrender to something else. Just a few weeks ago Trump demanded “unconditional surrender” of Iran. He signed memorandum This week it’s practically the opposite. Washington has agreed to release billions in frozen assets, relax sanctions, allow Iranian oil exports and open the door to a reconstruction fund. of 300 billion dollars funded by regional partners. In return, Tehran promises to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, contain its regional allies and continue talking about its nuclear program. The shift is enormous: from maximalist rhetoric to a negotiation that many in Washington consider a strategic transfer. The weapon that defeated Washington. The most striking thing is that Iran did not win this negotiation on the battlefield, but in the global economy. The closure of Hormuz (through which around 20% of the world’s oil passes) unleashed a cimmediate energy crisis. The threat of a global economic collapse was the factor that, according to Trump himselfpushed him to close a quick deal. I feared a spiral similar to that of Herbert Hoover and the Great Depression. Therein lies the great Iranian victory: it has shown that it does not need to militarily defeat the United States to impose conditions; just touch the circulatory system of the world economy. What was not resolved. There is no doubt, the central problem is still alive. The agreement barely touches the Iranian ballistic arsenal, leaves the question of its regional militias in the air and only establishes vague mechanisms to manage its enriched uranium. Trump even has publicly accepted for Iran to keep part of its missiles, something that until recently was a red line. The architecture of the pact is dangerously similar to that of the 2015 nuclear deal which he himself demolished during his first term. The difference is that now he signs it with less pressure and with an Iran that has proven its capacity for economic coercion. A peace that strengthens the adversary. Instead of weakening the regime, the war seems to have consolidated it. The apparatus of the Guardians of the Revolution still intact At its political core, the new leadership presents itself as surviving a direct clash with Washington and the flow of money can reinforce its internal stability. In practice, Trump has saved a regime he claimed he wanted to overthrow. That’s one of the most uncomfortable parallels. with 1919: Sometimes treaties do not close conflicts, they simply reorganize forces and give the actors time to recover. The poison of the 1919 Treaty. When the Treaty of Versailles was signed after the First World War, the winning powers imposed gigantic economic reparations on Germany, the loss of key territories, severe military limitations and, above all, the famous “guilt clause”, which forced Berlin to accept responsibility morale of the entire war. On paper it was a punishment. In practice it was a political bomb watchmaking. German society felt that peace not as closure, but as a historical humiliation that fueled a narrative of national betrayal and desire for revenge. From humiliation to Nazism. That resentment found perfect fuel in the hyperinflation of the 1920s, massive unemployment and the economic collapse after the crash of 1929. It was in that broth that Hitler built his rise: promising to break up Versailles, restore German greatness, and return lost sovereignty. And he did it. He reoccupied the Rhineland, rearmed the country, absorbed Austria, and dismantled the European order as Western democracies tried to buy time with concessions. The peace of 1919 did not prevent the following war; He incubated her slowly. and when broke out in 1939was much more devastating than the first. The lesson of Versailles. The great historical teaching of the Treaty of Versailles It was not that peace failed immediately, but that a very bad peace can incubate a worse war. In 1919 it was believed that the European chaos had been contained and what was done was to postpone it while growing up in silence. Today the risk is not a literal repetition, but the logic is recognizable: United States economic pressure easesIran retains tools of coercion and its nuclear capacity remains not completely neutralized. If Tehran concludes that being on the brink of the bomb is not enough to deter and that the real shield is to become another North Korea, this agreement could end up being remembered not as the end of a war, but as the prologue to a much larger crisis. Image | US NAVY, William Orpen In Xataka | The US entered Iran with the intention of disarming it and changing the regime: it is going to leave by strengthening its position and paying it money In Xataka | Iran always thought it would need a nuclear bomb to defend itself against the US: it has … Read more

A submarine has descended to 7,000 meters in the Indian Ocean and has found something unprecedented: a whale graveyard

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The deep ocean remains the great unexplored archive of our planet, and each descent into the abyssal zone has the potential to reveal something unusual that we were not aware of before. This is what has happened to the expedition of the Fendouzhe submersible which has been found in the Diamond Zone, southeast of the Indian Ocean, a large cemetery. What they have seen. After 32 dives to suffocating depths of between 4,616 and 7,001 meters, researchers have mapped an unfathomable megasite with a 1,200-kilometer-long strip strewn with fossils and skeletons. It is, by far, the largest cetacean necropolis ever documented. This discovery has been captured in an article published in Nature where the discovery is described as a “whale necropolis”. However, we are not talking about a single mass burial as a result of a catastrophic event, but rather about a historical sinkhole where the corpses of dying whales have been accumulating for millions of years. The identification. The team identified 476 fossil cetaceans and five active biological communities from recent carcasses in a minimal sampling area. Extrapolating from these figures, scientists at the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) estimate that there could be about 750 fossils per square kilometer. In the words of an expert like Stephen Godfrey, according to statements collected by LiveScience: “It’s as if each of these whale falls were a new little restaurant opening along a 1,200-kilometer shopping center.”. A trip through time. The importance of the discovery lies not only in the astonishing quantity of the remains of these whales, but also in their age. Using strontium isotope dating, researchers have been able confirm that some of these fossils are at least 5.3 million years old, dating to the Early Pliocene. Among the recovered bones, which are mainly upper jaws, five species of beaked whales and one species of baleen whale have been identified. But the paleobiological star of the discovery is a extinct speciesnamed as Pterocetus diamantina. Life in death. At 7,000 meters deep there is much more life than we think, but in the form of bacteria. The problem is that the energy that comes from the surface is not in the form of light, but literally whale carcasses that fall under their own weight and feed a large ecosystem. We know that specialized bacteria thrive in the dark by breaking down the oils inside bones and releasing hydrogen sulfide. This chemical energy serves as the basis for a food web that attracts insane densities of organisms that number up to 2,840. individuals per square meter. These include, for example, bone-eating worms or bivalve mollusks. Its importance. According to published notes, the importance of the Diamond Zone is twofold. On the one hand, it vividly documents how a concentrated resource such as a giant corpse can sustain diversity under overwhelming pressures. On the other hand, preserving fossils from the late Miocene and Pliocene provides a large “library” of how whales adapted, grew, and colonized the oceans. Images | Jonathan Hsu In Xataka | Jordi Martí, architect: “A green awning on the terrace is like having a radiator over the window”

Millions of teenagers have turned AI into their go-to psychologist. It is an unprecedented challenge for medicine

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In society there is a fairly well-established debate about how affect social networks to the mental health of the youngest and there is even debate about the possible consequences they have, going so far as to propose very clear limits to access them. However, while the focus was on the recommendation algorithms of TikTok or Instagram, a new trend has been quietly growing on the screens of millions of teenagers: the use of generative AI as a therapist. New therapies. Here, research led by the RAND Corporation has put on the table the magnitude of this phenomenon when analyzing a sample of 1,058 young people between 12 and 21 years old. And the figures paint a quite revealing picture by pointing out that 13.1% of adolescents and young adults use generative artificial intelligence to obtain advice about their mental health. But the most worrying thing is that this percentage shoots up to 22.2% if we look exclusively at the oldest age group, that is, those between 18 and 21 years old. And although it can be defended as something specific, the reality is that 65.5 of these users turn to AI on a monthly or even greater frequency. Works? The most striking thing we have learned from this study is not only that young people consider AI as a psychologist, but that those who attend leave quite happy, since 92.7% of users stated that they found the advice provided by the AI ​​useful. And among the reasons they give for their satisfaction, what stands out above all is the possibility of resorting to their ‘services’ at any time, the absence of economic barriers and, above all, the feeling of privacy and lack of human judgment. All of this together is turning large AI models into the first line of emotional support for Generation Z. The other side of the coin. Just because a tool is perceived as useful by the user does not mean that it is clinically safe, because the intersection between generative technology and psychiatry is a minefield, and major medical institutions are already raising their hands. In summer 2025, the American Psychological Association issued an official warning about the risks of relying on AI for the diagnosis or treatment of mental disorders. Among the reasons they give, it stands out that language models are designed to predict the most likely next word and sound empathetic and convincing, but they lack real understanding, clinical context and the ability to manage severe crises. The security. Added to this warning is the devastating context contributed by researchers from Stanford University, who also in 2025 evaluated the responses of several chatbots to mental health queries. Their conclusion was worrying as they saw that in 1 in 5 cases, the artificial intelligence provided advice that was unsafe or inappropriate for the user’s situation. A real challenge. Right now we are at an inflection point where AI is filling a huge gap in a mental health system that, globally, is collapsed and inaccessible for a large part of the young population. And furthermore, prohibiting or blocking access to these tools does not seem like a realistic solution in the face of millions of users who have already integrated them into their emotional well-being routine. That is why the real challenge for technology companies and health agencies is twofold: on the one hand, improving the security barriers of the models so that they refer users to human emergency services when necessary. Images | Daria Nepriakhina 🇺🇦 In Xataka | There is a weapon of mass destruction against our ability to remember things: stress

No missiles, no rifles, no bombs. Ukrainian drones are carrying a type of cargo unprecedented in war: elderly people

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During the Soviet blockade of Berlin in 1948, an American pilot began to throw chocolates tied to small cloth parachutes on children watching the planes from Tempelhof airport. That improvised initiative ended up becoming the famous “Operation Little Vittles“, one of the most unexpected images of the Cold War: military aircraft used to carry hope instead of weapons. Decades later, Ukraine is finding equally unusual uses for its war machines. Lifesaving robots. For years, unmanned vehicles were associated with a very specific idea: transporting weapons, ammunition or explosives where the risk for soldiers was too high. The war in Ukraine is expanding that definition with an image that would have seemed unthinkable just a few years ago. In some of the most dangerous sectors of the front, the same ground drones that are part of the war machinery are being used to evacuate elderly people trapped between bombings, mines and artillery fire. In a conflict marked by the automation of combat, one of the most unexpected loads carried by these vehicles are not projectiles or supplies, but old people who no longer have a safe way to leave their homes. Rescue through no man’s land. The last known operation took place near Limánin the Donetsk region. While carrying out a logistics mission, a ground drone unit from the Kraken group was approached by a woman who asked for help to leave the area along with three other people, one of them injured by shrapnel. After coordinating the procedure for days, the operators sent a Zmiy Logistic vehiclea kind of remote-controlled four-wheeled buggy capable of transporting up to about 500 kilos of cargo. The drone traveled about 16 kilometers to the agreed point, rpicked up the four evacuees and began the return journey to a river crossing where Ukrainian soldiers completed the rescue and took the wounded to a hospital. The impossible life in the gray zone. These rescues They show a less visible reality of war. Despite years of fighting, there are still civilians living in the so-called “gray zone”, a strip of land disputed between both armies that can reach between 16 and 20 kilometers wide. There are practically no public services, shops, schools or hospitals left there. Power outages are common and bombings are part of the daily routine. However, many older people continue to resist in those places because they don’t want to leave the houses where they have lived all their lives, because they care for sick relatives or because they hope that the war will end before being forced to leave permanently. Iron soldiers on a new mission. It is not an isolated case. They remembered in Insider that in early April, another 77-year-old Ukrainian woman was evacuated from the same area using a ground drone operated by the 60th Mechanized Brigade. The images They went around the world because the soldiers approached her with a blanket on which a message as simple as it was revealing could be read: “Grandma, get on.” The scene summarizes the extent to which these systems are evolving. Originally designed to transport supplies, plant explosives or even assemble remote weaponry, the so-called “iron soldiers” are beginning to take on rescue tasks that previously would have required exposing soldiers or volunteers to extreme danger. Total automation. Behind these stories there is a much deeper transformation. Ukraine and Russia are accelerating the incorporation of unmanned ground vehicles to carry out missions that They are too risky for people. Some carry ammunition, some carry medical supplies, and some incorporate remote-controlled weapons. The Ukrainian goal is especially ambitious: Minister of Digital Transformation, Mykhailo Fedorov, has announced the purchase of 25,000 ground drones during the first half of 2026 and aspires for all frontline logistics to one day depend on these systems. During the first quarter of the year alone, unmanned vehicles performed more than 21,500 missions. Unexpected consequences. The usual image of military innovation may be associated with increasingly destructive systems, but the Ukrainian experience is showing an unexpected consequence of that technological revolution. The same robots that were born to keep soldiers away from danger are being used to remove vulnerable civilians from some of the most dangerous places in Europe. As militaries race to automate combat, ground-based drones are proving military technology can play a role, too completely different: become the ultimate escape vehicle for those trapped in the ruins of an endless war. Image | ArmyInform In Xataka | Storks have become the best anti-drone weapon of war. And Russia and Ukraine are taking note In Xataka | Ukraine has been terrorizing Russian soldiers with its heavy drones for years. Now they are literally giving it back.

In the year 958, King Sancho I of León was so fat that his court forced him to do something unprecedented: the first miracle diet.

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His reign was fleeting, troubled and controversial, but Sancho I of León It well deserves to go down in the books of national history. And it deserves it for two compelling reasons, never better said. The first is that if he was removed from the throne in 958, it was not because of a game of palace conspiracies and disputes between nobles. Or those weren’t the only reasons, at least. The trigger was his exorbitant bellya belly so prominent that it earned him the nickname ‘El Gordo’ and made his subjects doubt whether he was the most suitable person for the throne. The second is that he can boast of having completed perhaps the most successful (and earliest) “miracle diet” in Spain. We explain ourselves. When I was a child, in the 940s, there was little reason to think that Sancho could one day become a relevant character in the kingdom of León. His status as the third male child of Ramiro II relegated him to a secondary position, behind his Vermudo brothers (died 944) and Ordoño. And if the crib had not favored him, his health was not buoyant either: he was not a young man given to long rides or exercising. Theirs were rather the comforts of the palace, especially those that were served in fountains, well watered with oil. From Ramiro ‘the Great’ to Sancho ‘the Fat’ Miniature representing King Sancho I of León. At the table, Infante Sancho did not hold back. They say that it was given to anthological feastswith seven meals a day, sometimes consisting of 17 dishes, among which there was no shortage of stews with game meat. Perhaps history exaggerates and has deformed his figure, but it has left us at least one piece of information to give us an idea of ​​how plump Sancho was and to what extent he developed morbid obesity: it is said that, already in his adult stage, he came to weigh 240 kilos. If his father had been nicknamed Ramiro ‘the Great’ —or ‘the Devil’, as his enemies referred to him—and his predecessor Alfonso “the Monk”Sancho was given a much less epic and much more descriptive nickname: ‘el Crassus’. Or directly ‘El Gordo’. However, it was one thing to be fond of lavish banquets and quite another to renounce the throne and settle for the delegated government of the county of Castile, a responsibility that had been assigned to him in 944. Once his father died and his older brother became Ordoño IIISancho organized a rebellion between 954 and 955 to expel him from power. The trick came to fruition. His attempt to overthrow him by force was a resounding failure, but in a surprising turn opportune for Sancho’s interests, Ordoño III died not long after, thus granting him the accession in 956 to the crown of a kingdom that was facing delicate moments due to internal tensions and Muslim incursions. His belly didn’t help either. It was bad to weigh 240 kilos, but worse to combine such weight with that of a crown that required being willing to be embedded in armor. As Professor Margarita Torres recalls in an article of the Royal Academy of History (RAH), in the 10th century a king was expected to will combine certain qualities: good judgment, balance, firmness… and the skills of a war leader. It would have been very difficult for Sancho I to appear on a horse on the battlefield, as well as fighting while brandishing a sword or even something as crucial for the crown as providing offspring. Such a condition undermined his image among the kingdom’s aristocracy, who ended up losing respect for him. Add to that the memory of Sancho’s failed coup against his brother Ordoño III and the decisions he made once seated on the throne, which led him, for example, to distance himself from his uncle, the influential Count Fernán Gonzálezand a perfect cocktail will emerge for the fall from grace of a novice monarch. Helping the king lose weight Just two years after being crowned in Compostela, ‘el Crassus’ lost his precious scepter, which passed in 958—by siege—to the infante Ordoño Alfonso. Sancho managed to save his skin and took refuge where he knew he would be safe: in Navarra, with his grandmother, Queen Todoan old woman more than 70 years. The story of Sancho I could have ended then. Fortunately, her maternal grandmother was a woman of means and decided to ask for help from the person who would have the least qualms about plotting against a Christian monarch: Abd al-Rahman IIIthe caliph of Córdoba, an interesting ally both for his position and his resources. At his service he had a renowned doctor, the Jewish scholar Hasday ibn Shapruta skilled, polyglot, cultured man who could help the king overcome his overweight. In exchange for the alliance with Abd al-Rahmanto which the Navarrese joined, the supporters of Sancho I agreed to hand over fortresses on the border. It was not a bad payment for a move that not long later, in April 959, would allow him to return triumphant to the capital of his kingdom while Ordoño IValias ‘el Malo’, was forced to flee and end up in Córdoba. The second and definitive stage of the reign of Sancho I began, which would last until his death in 966. The surprising thing is that—if we believe tradition—the Sancho who returned exultantly to León had little to do with the one who had fled some time ago to take refuge in his maternal grandmother’s castle. In fact, the nickname ‘Crassus’ had become too much for him. The reason? The strict “bikini operation” to which Shaprut had subjected him before his return to the throne, in Córdoba. The remedy was so effective that it is said that Sancho lost more than 100kg in a matter of a few weeks. Before embarking on following the diet of the wise Jew, it is better that you take note, however, of what you will need, … Read more

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