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Sweden was on the verge of eliminating banknotes as a payment system. Now it asks its citizens to save cash just in case

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Few countries in the world have turned their backs on cash with so much conviction as Sweden did in its day. For years it was the great global laboratory of digital money and a place where, paying in cash, It was almost a strange gesture. In the Nordic country, it is common to find businesses where “card only” signs are read without anyone protesting. Its financial system seemed to have resolved the future of payments once and for all. Now, that same country has just taken a turn that no one expected: recommending that its citizens save a certain amount of cash in case all their digital payments system collapses. From inventing banknotes to almost eliminating them. Sweden has a unique history with paper money. In 1661 it was the first country in Europe in introducing billsand it was also where the Riksbank, the central bank, was born oldest in the world. That pioneering vocation led her, centuries later, to lead the race towards a completely cashless economy. The numbers reflected it clearly: if in 2010 39% of Swedes said they had paid their last purchase in cash, in 2020 that percentage had fallen up to 9%. According to the Riksbank itself, currently only one in ten Purchases in Swedish stores are made with physical money. Anders Ohlsson, CEO of Deutsche Bank Corporate Bank, summed it up like this: “I don’t think right now people in Sweden know what the different currencies are like.” A central bank that asks you to keep banknotes at home. The Riksbank published some recommendations which were surprising coming from one of the most digitalized financial systems on the planet. The Swedish central bank asked all households in the country to keep at least 1,000 Swedish crowns in cash for each adult (just over 90 euros at the exchange rate), as a cash reserve for possible emergencies. “This amount should be considered as a reference and is intended to cover one week of essential purchases. Households may need more or less cash on hand, depending on the number of people in the household or their specific needs. Whenever possible, households are recommended to keep cash in various denominations,” the Swedish banking entity says in its statement. Too digital to be invulnerable. The underlying reason for making this peculiar call is not nostalgic but strategic. An economy that depends almost entirely on digital payments is also an economy exposed to power outages, cyberattacks or geopolitical tensions. The Visa and Mastercard networks, on which a large part of the Swedish payment system is based, are of American origin, which adds an extra layer of vulnerability in an increasingly uncertain international context. The Riksbank itself puts it bluntly in its statement: “Access to different payment methods improves people’s ability to make payments in the event of temporary disruptions, crises and, in the worst case, war.” It is not an unfounded threat. In recent months, several European countries have reviewed the resilience of your critical infrastructures before him security deterioration and the increase in uncertainty on the continent. Diversify so as not to depend on a single system. Beyond cash, the Riksbank’s warning to citizens is committed to a more diversified payment strategy. He recommends having access to at least two cards from different networks (a Visa and a Mastercard, for example) so that, if the systems of one of them fail, payments can be made with the other. It also advises having access to mobile payment services like swishthe popular Swedish application that operates on a different infrastructure than traditional bank cards. For whom use Apple Pay either Google Paythe Swedish central bank reminds that it is advisable to always have the physical card on hand and know the PIN, since the physical chip allows payments to be made even without an internet connection. All of this advice will be developed in more detail in the Riksbank’s 2026 Payments Report, due on March 12. Sweden, which for years led the way to paperless money, is now a reminder that no system is foolproof. In Xataka | If we want to know what the end of cash will be like, we only have to look at a country that is experiencing it: China Image | Unsplash (Tobias Flyckt, Emil Kalibradov)

A plant was on the verge of extinction in the Mojave Desert. So they built a solar park on top

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The Mojave Desert is not only a paradise when it comes to filming movies, setting video games and name operating systems: It is also home to thousands of plant species that are accustomed to an extremely hostile climate. It is estimated that there are about 2,000 species and a very specific one is in danger of extinction. Until they decided to build one of the largest photovoltaic plants in the United States on top of it. The Gemini Solar Project. In short. The journal Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution revealed a few weeks ago the results of a curious study. The ‘threecorner milkvetch’ plant (which has a name for everything except a plant) went from 12 specimens in the Mojave Desert to 93. This plant was being evaluated for inclusion in the Endangered Species Act in the United States and not only has its number multiplied: the new plants are larger and produce more flowers. And they have “only” had to build one of the largest photovoltaic plants in America on top of it, next to Guanchoi in Chileto achieve it. Threecorner milkvetch. It is a creeping plant that has curious needs: it only grows in sandy soils of the Mojave Desert. However, it is dependent on rainfall because its seed remains dormant in the soil and only germinates and reproduces with favorable rainfall. In dry years, it remains completely unnoticed, waiting for a little rain. And it is so rare that the species remains under evaluation for status as threatened or endangered under U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service regulations. In the same desert there is another threatened species: the desert tortoise Gopherus agassizii. The habitat of the two species should be the last one on which it would be decided to build a photovoltaic plant, but there is the Gemini Solar Project. The plant Megaplant. When such an installation is to be carried out in the desert, a technique known as clearing and leveling is used. In essence, all vegetation is removed, the land is leveled and prepared for install the pillars of the solar panels. Not only is a lunar landscape created, but any type of latent seed beneath the surface, such as that of the threecorner milkvetch, is destroyed. However, the Gemini Solar Project’s approach was different. The company wanted the land because it is especially ‘fertile’ within the US to harvest sunlight, but concessions had to be made. One was to minimize the alteration of the habitat of both species to conserve the desert surface with all its biological resources, preserve the topsoil and adapt the facility to the natural relief. On the US Geological Survey website we can see photos of little turtles between the panels. Works. This is part of what we know as ‘ecovoltaics’, with a branch called ‘agrovoltaics’ that we have also talked about and that, although it can be used by companies as a facelift, it serves to unite energy activities with agricultural activities. In the study on the impact of the Gemini Solar Project and the evolution of the plant, researcher Tiffany Pereira discovered what we have mentioned: there were more plants and they were healthier. This showed that the energy company had done its part by not destroying the soil because the seeds had been able to germinate, but they found something else. The plants inside the installation evolved earlier than those outside it and grew not under the panels, but in the strips between the rows. This implies that they still need intense sunlight to mature. The yellow zone is where the Sun shines the most hours. The blue one is the stripe that varies depending on the position of the Sun. The red one is where direct light never shines. Okay, but then… what is the role of the panels in the improved evolution of these plants? The hypothesis used by the researchers is that the panels provide partial shade on the groundslowing down evaporation. We have already said that seeds are dormant until they have the necessary humidity conditions to germinate, and in this context, a more humid microclimate has allowed plants to grow more and produce more seeds. Not all the field is oregano. Now, like almost every scientific study, we look at the other side of the coin. The rainfall in recent years has been favorable and we will have to see what happens with periods of prolonged drought. In a few years we could talk about long-term effects. But, in addition, this absence of plants under the panels could indicate a possible loss of potential habitat in very humid years. In any case, Pereira’s study is not isolated. Other studies point to improvements in both the number of flowering plant species and pollinators in agrovoltaic installations in a state like Minnesota. AND in China there are also indicators that those photovoltaic plants in deserts is contributing to the moisture pocket construction in which plants can thrive more easily. As we said, it remains to be seen the impact of the panels on the creation of a “new” biodiversity in the long term, but for now, what is evident is that it is not necessary to raze land to build a photovoltaic plant. Images | DRI, Tiffany PereiraGemini Solar Project In Xatka | The biggest fiasco of solar energy is in the Nevada desert: it is useless and its promoter blames a Spanish company

Science is on the verge of achieving something that would end our human experience as we knew it: suffering

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The Holy Grail of modern pain medicine has always been the same: achieving the analgesic power of morphine without its side effects such as respiratory depression, addiction or tolerance. And although until now it seemed impossible, one study has suggested that the key is not to ‘numb’ the body, but to ‘attack’ the way the brain processes suffering. The study. A team led by Gregory Corder of the University of Pennsylvania has developed a gene therapy that acts as a “switch” for chronic pain. What is revolutionary is not just that it works, but how it does it: it eliminates the emotional distress of pain without erasing the protective physical sensation, keeping the patient safe but free from suffering. The problem is not feeling, it is suffering. Pain has two very clear components: one that is sensory, which is necessary to human survival (as it is to withdraw the hand when we get burned), and the other is the affective or the emotional. This second is what generates the feeling of constant suffering that can destroy the quality of life of a patient who lives with chronic pain or neuropathic pain that affects the nervous system, such as the hated ‘sciatica’. According to the study, titled, the researchers identified a specific group of neurons in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC). These neurons are sensitive to opioids and are responsible for encoding the “unpleasantness” of pain, and this is where they have tried to attack, but surgically and without pills. The tool used. The scientists used a tool known as DREADD (Designer Receptors Activated Exclusively by Designer Drugs). To do this, through a viral vector, they inserted synthetic receptors specifically into the cingulate cortex neurons of mice with neuropathic pain. From there, they administered a drug that has no effect called DCZ. This compound, despite not doing anything to the body in mice, acts as a key that “turns off” the neurons that have been modified in their brain in a very specific way. The result. The chronic pain behavior disappeared and they began to act like completely healthy animals. However, when exposed to an acute thermal stimulus, they were able to withdraw their paw. In this way, his survival system was working, but his anxiety system was completely turned off. The AI ​​that reads pain. One of the biggest challenges in pain research is that mice can’t tell us “it hurts a 7 out of 10,” which is why scientists classically relied on biased tests. But this is over thanks to an AI called LUPEwhich is a Deep Learning platform and has the ability to analyze hundreds of hours of video of mice moving freely. But what is relevant here is that it has the ability to detect spontaneous micro-behaviors associated with pain that the human eye would miss. Thanks to LUPE, the team was able to objectively confirm that the pain relief was real and not an error of human interpretation. The opioid crisis. The most promising thing about the study published a few days ago is the security profile. Unlike morphine, which generates tolerance, that is, more and more doses of medication are needed to have an effect, and addiction, this gene therapy is completely the opposite. In this way, it does not generate addiction, meaning that the mouse does not have to seek a higher dose to maintain that sensation and the effect remained stable. The arrival of humans. Although the success in mice is resounding, the jump to humans is complex, since we are really different and requires many more safety studies. However, the path is set. The team is already planning the next steps towards clinical trials, although it is something that may take many years to become a reality in our daily lives. Images | Sasun Bughdaryan In Xataka | We have accepted that sport is “medicine” for the body. Now science is discovering its side effects

We thought dinosaurs were on the verge of extinction before the meteorite. we were wrong

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The most emblematic mass extinction in Earth’s history without a doubt occurred up to 66 million years ago. It marked the end of an era like the Cretaceousand with it, the disappearance of dinosaurs that were not birds. But what was that extinction really like? This is the big question that experts have asked themselves and that it is already beginning to have light. For decades the scientific community has debated whether dinosaurs were already in decline before they abruptly went extinct or whether they were wiped out while they were still thriving. This is where the new has had an impact published study in the magazine Science in which the Spanish researcher Jorge García-Girón from the University of León participates, who sheds light on this debate. Simply put, the research refutes the idea of ​​a prolonged decline and suggests that dinosaurs were diverse and divided into distinct ecological regions just before the asteroid impact. The fossils of the south. Much of the uncertainty about this issue comes from a bias in the fossil record. The only well-dated faunas that span the extinction boundary come from northern North America (in the famous Hell Creek Formation). This made it impossible to know whether the extinction pattern observed there was a global or local phenomenon. In this case, the research team focused on a fossil-rich unit much further south, in the San Juan basin of New Mexico, known as the Member Naashoibito. The age of this formation has been a matter of controversy for years and was often considered much older. But now by applying geochronology techniques with Argon dating and magnetostratiography, the study has finally achieved precise dating. The results are conclusive: the Naashoibito Member dates back to the latest Cretaceous, which corresponds to up to 66 million years. This means that the fossils found there, which include a variety of species, preserve some of the last known non-avian dinosaurs. They lived a maximum of 340,000 years before the asteroid impact and were contemporaries of the Hell Creek fauna. Separated by weather. This finding is crucial because, for the first time, it allows us to compare two different faunas from the same end of the Cretaceous. And the result refutes the idea that we had all about decline in our minds. And the study not only dates the fossils, but also uses powerful ecological models to analyze the diversity of terrestrial vertebrates throughout North America. The results show that, far from forming a homogeneous and cosmopolitan fauna, the dinosaurs maintained high diversity and clear endemism until the end. In other words, it can be said that the dinosaurs were “strong” and divided into distinct regional assemblages. In this case, the study identifies two clear bioprovinces in the north and south that remained stable during the late Cretaceous. What separated these faunas? The analysis suggests that the main factor was temperature. More than a simple geographic division, different dinosaur communities were adapted to different climates. For example, the data propose that warmer southern regions may have been more tolerable for sauropods, while colder, more temperate northern regions were more suitable for hadrosaurines. The conclusion. The sum of the evidence points directly to the fact that non-avian dinosaurs were abruptly annihilated at the end of the Cretaceous. They were not in a decline as was thought, so they did not have this factor on top of them that would already condemn them to extinction if the disastrous event on Earth had passed. Instead, it has been seen that its ecosystem was diverse and biogeographically compartmentalized. Extinction in this way was sudden and, as the later fossil record demonstrates, was followed almost immediately by the rapid diversification and rise of mammals. Images | Vaibhav Pixels In Xataka | A museum kept bones for 20 years that they thought were rubble. Now we know that Mexico had its own T-Rex

Some users will get rid of the increase of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, according to The Verge

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Last week the news jumped: Xbox Game Pass Ultimate rose price. And it was not a minor change, but orn 50% increase that placed the subscription at 26.99 euros per month in Spain. For some, it was an inevitable adjustment. For others, a jump too abrupt to justify it without further ado. But in the midst of the stir, there are important nuances. According to The VergeMicrosoft has begun to send emails to certain users of the European Union clarifying that this new price will not apply to all equally. At least, not for the moment. “At the moment, these increases will only affect the new purchases and not to your current subscription in the market where you reside, provided you have orn Automatic recurring plan“Says Microsoft.” If you decide to cancel your plan and buy it again, you will be charged the new current rate, “adds the company. The notice adds one more detail: if in your market there will be a price increase, these users will receive a notice at least 60 days in advance and may cancel or modify your plan. This condition, however, seems to be applied only to the markets where the people who received the message reside. For now there is no official confirmation about which countries are included in this exception, but The Verge mentions cases such as Ireland, Germany or Poland. In Xataka we have contacted Microsoft to know if Spain is part of that list and update as soon as we have an answer. In development. Images | Xbox | Capture (The Verge) In Xataka | Game Pass is already an unsustainable investment: more than 2,000 euros for each console generation and with nothing in property

Nikola had everything to revolutionize the world of hydrogen trucks. Now is on the verge of bankruptcy

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In 2014, and just over a decade after the appearance of Tesla, Nikola arrived. It was another automotive company, another that honored the electrical engineer and inventor And that he also wanted to mark the way in the world of electric vehicles. However, his incursion was not in the cars segment, but of trucks, which earned him the nickname ‘THE TESLA OF TRUCKS‘. He immediately caught attention, with promises such as electric and hydrogen trucks with autonomies of 2,000 kilometers. Today, its trucks are a mere memory and the company is on the verge of bankruptcy. On the edge of the abyss. That is what sources point in both Bloomberg as of The Washington Postwho claim that anonymous representatives of the company have told them that the company is evaluating their financial and liquidity needs to carry out a financial restructuring. And within the options, the sale of the company, the aforementioned restructuring and bankruptcy are included. The question is how a company that became valued -during a very brief period of time, yes- above a giant like Fordit has ended in this situation. And the full photo is quite eloquent. Chulo was, really, but it was just an idea Nikola Tesla. It was in 2016 when we met the company’s first truck, a six -wheeled beast, a power of 2,000 hp and the ability to accelerate from 0 to 100 km/h in 30 seconds to maximum load. It could also maintain a speed of 100 km/h rising a 6% slope and, thanks to a pile of hydrogen, it had an autonomy of almost 2,000 kilometers. Your name? Nikola One. 375,000 dollars was what they were going to ask once to production, something that would begin in 2020. However, that 2020 and without having sold a single truck, Nikola became a public company. It was a strange movement because the only thing that existed were promises. Already We said In its presentation: very nice on paper, but although the truck could be reserved paying a tank of $ 1,500, there was no product. Two. Tre. Even so, Nikola continued to present trucks. The TWO was the following in 2017, a truck of which they did show a prototype that moved with electric motors and autonomies more restrained than those of the first: between 800 and 1,200 kilometers. It also has hydrogen battery, cameras instead of mirrors. And then the Tre In 2018, repeating hydrogen formula, up to 1,200 kilometers and a design more adapted to European roadswhere long morro trucks do not have so much place due to their maneuverability. They had three trucks on their way, but none produced and the promise was still to start deliver LO TESLA AND THE COMPANY affirmed that I already had customers with reservations of even 800 trucks in the US. Controversial. They did not wait and, in 2018, Nikola sued Tesla. It’s funny, really, but beyond the word game, it is because Nikola asked the Musk company due to alleged patent infractions for the Tesla Semithe proposal of electric truck of Tesla. According to them, Tesla had copied three key points of the Nikola One, such as the fiselogue design, the enveloping windshield and the entrance door. They looked, yes (and, for tastes, colors, but the semi looks like a van split in half and the One a more futuristic vehicle). But the main course arrived in 2020: due to accusations of fraud, The CEO and founder of Nikola, Trevor Milton, resigned. It was after a devastating report that Nikola described as a “ocean of lies” and pointed to Milton as responsible for mulminating shareholders to bet on the company. “There was no stack of fuel in the truck. We never affirmed that it existed,” Milton defended himself, who also boasted of having a lot of development technologies that turned out to be from third parties. Cancellations. Since 2020, the waters have been calmer, but that there would be no controversy does not mean that things were good for doors inside. The Badger, His rival against the Cybertruck de Teslait was canceled along with other prototypes and the number of hydrogen trucks does not give to sustain the company. In Bloomberg they point out that, during the first nine months of 2024, only 200 were sold and in October the company said they had effective to finance their operations until the first quarter of 2025, But not beyond. In December They offered Up to 100 million dollars in shares, but it seems that things have failed to take off. We will see what happens with ‘The Tesla of the trucks’, but its situation does not look good. In Xataka | Toyota wanted to make the star technology and the alternative to the electric car. They already doubt that it is possible

Netflix and AI enthusiasm bring Wall Street to the verge of an all-time high

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NEW YORK — Netflix, Oracle and other big tech companies boosted the New York Stock Exchange on Wednesday, as profits at those companies rose and enthusiasm grew about the revenue prospects that artificial intelligence can generate. The S&P 500 rose 37.13 points, or 0.6%, to 6,086.37, approaching its all-time high set last month. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 130.92 points, or 0.3%, to 44,156.73, and the Nasdaq Composite rose 252.56, or 1.3%, to 20,009.34. The gains came even as most U.S. stocks fell under the weight of another rise in Treasury yields. For example, smaller company stocks in the Russell 2000 index lost 0.6%, and about two out of every three stocks in the S&P 500 sank. However, the gains from large influential stocks were more than enough to make up for it. Netflix helped lead the rise after it announced that live events such as American football games and a fight between Mike Tyson and Jake Paul helped it add nearly 19 million subscribers during the latest quarter. It also reported higher profits than analysts expected, and indicated that it is increasing subscription prices in the United States and other countries. Netflix titles rose 9.7%. The Netflix logo on a remote control. (Jenny Kane/Associated Press) On the other hand, Travelers advanced 3.2% after also beating analyst expectations for its earnings in the last quarter. The insurer said gains on its investments and growth in net written premiums helped it overcome losses created by Hurricane Milton, which hit the Florida coast in the Gulf of Mexico in October, and other catastrophes. Some of the market’s strongest boosts came from companies related to artificial intelligence. Oracle rose 6.8% after advancing 7.2% the previous day, ahead of the planned announcement — which ultimately came late on Tuesday — about Stargate, a joint venture that the White House says will begin building data centers. and the generation of electricity necessary for the further development of artificial intelligence in Texas. The partnership formed by Oracle, OpenAI and SoftBank will invest up to $500 billion. Shares of SoftBank Group Corp. in Tokyo rose 10.6%. Other AI-related stocks also gained ground, continuing their already fantastic run. Nvidia, the company whose chips are driving much of the movement toward AI, rose 4.4%. Its shares are above $147 after just two years ago they were below $18. The yield on the 10-year Treasury bond rose from 4.57% to 4.60%. It had been largely retreating since an encouraging update on inflation last week, but is still well above its position in September, when it was below 3.65%. In the cryptocurrency market, where prices have risen on hopes that President Donald Trump will make Washington more cryptocurrency-friendly, bitcoin was just above $104,000. On Monday it was above $109,000, a record.

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