wrong

We had been believing that dark matter existed. A new study believes that we were wrong

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For decades, cosmology has been sustained on a pillar as fundamental as mysterious: The dark matter. The invisible glue that, according to the standard model, keeps galaxies together and prevents the stars from being fired by centrifugal force.Represents 27% of the universebut it has a problem: nobody has seen or detected it. It only trusts that it will be there. But now A published study in Galaxies This conception of the concept has changed. The study. Research led by the physicist Rajendra P. Gupta From the University of Ottawa proposes an idea as elegant as radical: what if dark matter does not really exist? According to his work, this ghost component could actually be an ‘illusion’, a side effect caused by something we were assumed: that the fundamental constants of nature are ‘constant’. The importance. To understand the magnitude of this proposal you must first remember the origin of the problem. Specifically, we have to go to the 70s, where astronomer Vera Rubin noticed that the stars at the edges of the galaxies revolved at the same speed those of the center. This completely challenged Newton’s laws, something that is as if a person sitting on the outer edge spinning at the same speed as a sitting near the axis. Physically, it should be triggered. The solution that the scientific community adopted was the existence of a “dark matter”, an invisible mass that generates the extra gravity necessary to maintain cohesive galaxy. This concept became the cornerstone of the cosmological model known as ΛCDM (Lamda-Cold Dark Matter). This model works incredibly well to explain the large -scale universe, but after searches with ultrasensitive detectors and experiments in the LHC We have not found a single particle of dark matter. It has always ‘detected’ indirectly through its gravitational effect on visible objects. The proposal. This is where Gupta’s idea enters. Its model, called CCC + TL (Covarying Couplening Constants + Tirad Light), is based on two different ideas. The first one is the so -called ‘Covriant coupling constants’ (CCC). In this case, the model suggests that the fundamental constants of physics, such as the speed of light (c) or the universal gravitation constant (G), are not fixed. Instead, they evolve and change as the universe expands. This is not a completely new idea (the physicist Paul Dirac already flirted with her), but Gupta integrates it into a complete cosmological model. The second idea raised in the investigation is that of ‘tired light’. A concept that arrives directly from the old hypothesis of ‘tired light’, which postulates that light loses energy throughout its trip through the cosmos. In this case, the Gupta model suggests that the redness of the light of the distant galaxies is not only due to the expansion of the universe but to a combination of both effects. Although the “tired light” as the only explanation, has been widely refuted, its inclusion in this hybrid model is key to its calculations. New terms. Once these two new ideas are taken into account, it is time to modify Einstein’s field equations with these variable constants, the GUPTA model makes new mathematical terms appear. This is something that the author has baptized as “α-material” and “α-energy.” And this is where it is true magic: these terms, which are not a physical substance but an effect of the evolution of the laws of physics, generate the extra gravitational attraction that until now we attributed to dark matter. Dark matter would not be something to find, but a mathematical mirage. It is tested. Something to keep in mind is that theories can be very well written and look very good on paper, but logically they have to demonstrate. For this, Gupta used the SPARC database, a high quality catalog with the rotation curves of 175 galaxies. The method used was the reverse to the traditional. Instead of adding dark matter to justify rotation curves, Gupta took the curves observed and used its model to “subtract” the effect of “α-material”. The result should be the rotation curve generated only by visible (barionic) matter. Something that has wanted to materialize in a graphic taking as an example the NGC3198 galaxy. In this image, the blue line (VO) is the rotation speed observed in the galaxy. The points line (VB) is the speed that should have if only the visible matter existed, according to the estimates of SPARC and the discontinuous line (VBX) is the prediction of visible matter calculated by the GUPTA model. The similarity between the prediction of its model and the estimation of barionic matter is remarkable. Something that the author repeated for several galaxies with promising results to give a very forceful conclusion. A new paradigm. If the CCC+TL model is correct, its implications are huge. Not only would it eliminate the need for dark matter, but, according to the author, it could also explain dark energy and other cosmological enigmas, such as why the first galaxies Observed by James Webb They seem more mature than they should. You have to be cautious. This is, for now, a “proof of concept” as the author himself points out. This means that it is using simplifications, such as treating galaxies as perfect spheres, something that is far from reality in the universe. In addition, its dependence on “tired light” is a friction point with conventional cosmology. Models such as this should demonstrate that they can explain with the same precision as λCDM Key observations such as microwave background radiation or the accelerated expansion of the universe. A new advance. But what is clear with this research is that the scientific community is exploring alternatives, especially when the predominant model presents fissures, such as the absence of a direct proof of dark matter. The Gupta model is, for now, a fascinating possibility. A reminder that in science, the most entrenched truths can be questioned and that the solution to the greatest mysteries of the universe might not be to find something new, but in … Read more

‘Borderlands 4’ has been the great launch of September. Also an example of what is wrong in the current video game

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The last quarter of the year is not just a IMPORTANT MOMENT IN TECHNOLOGY: In the video game market, it also represents a crucial moment. Titles like ‘Ghost of Yotei‘ either ‘Metroid 4‘They will come out over the next few months, but the one that has just arrived is one of the bombings of the last layers of 2025:’ Borderlands 4 ‘. The analysis reflects that it is a hilarious gamebut also something that players are not missing: it is the example of what is wrong in the current megap production industry. And in this story the director of the game is being considered as the villain when we should look beyond: to technology and optimization. We are going to review. The situation. ‘Borderlands 4’ was launched last week and the reception by the players was good. It is a continuous, really fun title that, in addition, looks spectacular thanks to the artistic style so characteristic and that the engine Unreal Engine 5 (Stay with this name) Allows you to offer. The Steam review system is quite broken, but it is a thermometer of both the quality of the players and, at first, the reactions were mostly positive. All that has changed to ‘varied’, which implies that there is more bad than good. The problem is not the game itself: even those who put a bad review admit that it is a ‘borderlands’ and is hilarious. Here the problem is optimization of the game, especially on PC. Players complain that specs Minimum and recommended offered by developers -Gearbox- do not add up to the experience they are having with teams that reach those specifications or that exceed them. A negative A positive, but also talking about performance Randy Pitchford. It is the name of the director of Gearbox and one of the heads after the success of ‘Borderlands’. Also One of the most controversial characters of the industry due both to your actions as to his most recent statements about the price of video games with that “True fans will find a way to pay them”. It is a guy who does not usually go unnoticed and that uses his social networks to ‘chop’ with any user, and with the wave of criticism of his game, he has not lost the opportunity to get into a couple of gardens. There are countless encounters these days between Randy and users and the problem is that he is doing it from Twitter X. This direct communication between managers and public is a fixed double weapon because it gives the sensation of closeness, but for somewhat large companies have communication teams: so that what is happening does not happen. If we take a look at some Steam reviews, many are reflecting the discontent with the game for those words of Randy. Among the messages of the manager, have Those who encourage a refund to ask if you do not agree with the performance (something that, after two hours plays cannot be done), to “accept the reality of the relationship between the hardware of your PC and the software they want to reproduce”, “”program your own engine and we will be your customers ”and another Comments series that a good part of the community has been taken as a “Randy is calling us poor to those who do not have a RTX 5090” The reaction. And what, unfortunately, happens so much in the world of video games: people who pass from the line. A sample is the following message that Pitchford himself shared In X after receiving it by mail: “You are a damn idiot. If you think that the” Premium “games exist or that there are” premium “players, you are a damn delayed. You are the closest that a white man can become a ‘n -r’ -a racial insult, basically. This type of messages, more own ‘Gamergaters’ than from someone civilized, is a sad reality in certain forums and Randy himself commented that he had “caused harm.” And there are already developers who have shown support to the CEO of Gearbox for the situation. Another one with Unreal Engine 5. Seen all this context, we go with what directly affects the game: the engine on which it is developed. When Unreal Engine 5 was presented, the latest version of the Epic Games engine, We all stay with our mouths open. The demo in PS5 It was impressive and promised a lot. The problem is when the games began to arrive. That a game uses Unreal Engine 5 usually involves bulky requirements to make it work, mediocre yields –even in consoles– In many cases and a series of failures that prevent players from enjoying it as a launch as they should. And it is a problem because the engine greatly facilitates the development of video games, so he is tempting for studies, but there are already those who, when he sees the EU5 logo, starts to tremble for how the title will work on his machine. Balls out. It has passed with more recent examples, such as’Metal Gear Solid Delta‘, or the remake of’The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion‘, and Tim Sweeney, CEO of Epic Games, He swept home A few weeks ago, stating that the engine is good, but that studies should start with optimization tasks at an earlier phase of development, and not crossing the task just at the end. The big background problem. As much as it is, and Returning to ‘Borderlands 4’, it is evident that there is a problem. Digital Foundry is an expert medium in the technical analysis of video games, the performance being one of the parameters that measure. From the middle they affirm that there are decisions that do not understand, such as limiting cinematics in real time to 30 fps, the overload that seems to occur when there are many enemies on the screen, the ‘level of detail’, or Lod ‘so aggressive or the pop-in that occurs walking around the world. And that on the … Read more

Japan sent the wrong creature to eradicate the snakes of an island. The disaster was so great that it has taken half a century to solve it

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Once again, desperate situations lead to extreme measures. Save a species Sometimes it implies “exterminating” another. We have seen it in South Africa and Your plan to annihilate miceeither Injecting radio -material material into rhinos hornscases of Wild cat huntor the plan for exterminate half a million owls. However, sometimes things do not come out as governments imagine. In Japan they know perfectly. The incident of 79. The story begins in 1979 on the Japanese island of Amami ōshima, located in Kagoshima Prefecture. That year, rediscover Amami’s rabbit (Pentalagus Furnessi), an endemic species and considered a “living fossil” due to its evolutionary seniority. Before the finding, it was thought that the rabbit was on the verge of extinction due to the loss of habitat and hunting. The discovery marked a before and after for the conservation of the species and highlighted the importance of protecting the natural environment of the island, home from many other unique species. An event that also underlined the need for higher conservation efforts in Amami ōshima, for example, trying to eradicate or control the population of snakes. A wrong “bomb”. Thus, within a few months, Japan launches a plan. Introduce about 30 mushrooms on the island With the intention of ending the population of snakes, specifically Habu (Trimeresurus flavoviridis), which represented a threat to local inhabitants. The idea, on paper, was a fissure plan: that mushrooms, which are natural snake predators, reduce the number of Habus and improve safety on the island at all levels. However, that project was far from infallible. The mushroom was not the ideal creature to eradicate snakes. In the first place, because they are active animals during the day, therefore, they could not catch the nightly hubs, who continued to inhabit the following decades without problem. What happened as a consequence had a huge ecological impact. A specimen of trimeresurus flavoviridis Depredation of endemic species. Thus, during the day, instead of focusing on the snakes, the mushrooms began to prey a wide range of native species, including several that had no natural enemies on the island until then. That seriously affected local fauna, especially endemic and endangered species, such as Amami’s same rabbit that had just announced happily months ago. Hundreds of thousands of mushrooms. The situation reached such a point, that the mushrooms, carried to eradicate a plague, had become even larger and more dangerous, one than reached around 10,000 copies At its maximum point over the year 2000. The truth is that Japan had already started a mushroom control project in 1993 that was expanding over time. As? About 30,000 traps were placed on the island to capture the animals and cameras with sensors to monitor them were installed. In addition, local residents formed the so -called Amami Mongoose Bustersa team specialized in the capture of mushrooms (they came to capture thousands). The end? In 2018 there was the last official capture of a megosta on the island. It happened in April, and since no creature has been captured for a long period of time, the panel of experts, which has the task of determining if the animal is eradicated from the island, estimated that the eradication rate It was between 98.8 and 99.8% In February of last year, reaching a preliminary conclusion that it is reasonable to say/think that mushrooms are eradicated from the island in current circumstances. Finally, on September 3, 2024, the Ministry of Environment of Japan declared The eradication of non -native mushrooms on the island of Amami-Oshima, declared a natural heritage of humanity by UNESCO. The statement was based on the opinion of the group of experts on scientific bases, taking into account that the capture of mushrooms has not been confirmed for more than six years since the last one in April 2018. A unique case. The Ministry itself did not hide the disaster that supposed the attempt to control snakes in 1979. In fact, and as the administration has announced, it is one of the largest cases in the world in which non -native mushrooms have been eradicated that had been established for so long. After the statement, the government explained that it will withdraw the traps that were placed on the island, although it will continue to watch with cameras to prevent a new group of these small creatures from between again. After all, if it took half a century to get them out of there, any contingency method is more than understandable. A version of this article is PUblicó in 2024 Image | Animalia, Tanaka Juuyoh, Patrick Randall In Xataka | We have just found a surprising remedy against Argentine ants pests: caffeine dose In Xataka | The mission impossible to control the invasive plague that is eating the European pine: biomolecules, piñones and citizen science

There was a day that Volkswagen wanted to have “the Bentley of the town.” It went wrong

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If something has shown us the history of the car is that it is completely irrational, extremely competitive and very conservative. The electric car is demonstrating it clearly. The number of brands has triggered and China wants to make a foothold on European soil. The reality is that Only Tesla seems to have found the way Correct and China is moving in Europe … but with Combustion engines. That conservatism is not new. Raising a brand from scratch is only possible with a huge economic effortsustained and almost blind for years and years (like Tesla)with the help of state media (as Xiaomi and its association with one of the national Chinese car companies). But it is also almost impossible to change the perception that the client has of you. Winning to the client and ascending on the ranks of the market can take decades. A good example is Hyundai and Kia that have some of the best -selling cars In our country but they had to start earning market share selling cars much cheaper than those of the competition. But rapid movements, those who want to position a brand in a higher segment almost from nowhere or those that seek to compete with premium brands with a model that equals features but also in price is generally a call to failure. There is a good handful of examples and the Volkswagen Phaeton is undoubtedly one of the most representative. History of a failure Luckily for those who like cars and unfortunately from manufacturers, the purchase of a car is irrational. It has an inevitable part of aesthetic taste but also for quality perception, affinity with the brand and construction of an image and a history based on the past. That makes, for example, Renault fails with Vel satisf either Avantime Although they were very good vehicles that tried position yourself above the generalists. Nor has Stellantis (and before PSA) achieved return to DS to your luxury past Despite the multiple attempts. And something similar happened to Volkswagen Phaeton. By order of Ferdinand Piëch, then president of the Volkswagen Group, the Germans wanted to assault the premium market with a Berlina that was called “The Bentley of the People”. The intention was to stick with the Mercedes S, BMW 7 series and, curiously for being part of the group, with the Audi A8. The bet was so strong that the possibility to match (or improve) in equipment and materials to its rivals with a more adjusted price was not even tan. It was directly to resemble all fronts (also in price) and in the executives of Volkswagen they took a tortazo. In fact, the Volkswagen Phaeton Not even was a version of Audi A8. Yes, he shared some aluminum panels with the Berlina of the four hoops, as explained in Km77 In the early 2000s, but for development it departed from a blank sheet and even The Volkswagen Dresde factory was builtknown for their Glass structure and for being the one that, discontinued the Phaeton, covers the complete electrical models of the company. In that assault on the heavens, the Phaeton was sold above 66,000 euros for what the German triad looked from you. A Audi A8 It was sold at that time slightly below 69,000 euros. A BMW 7 series It started from 67,500 euros. He Mercedes S Yes it was significantly more expensive, starting from more than 71,000 euros. In those early years of the new century, all German luxury Berlins shared two things: they all had versions above 120,000 euros. And they all had gigantic engines. And the Volkswagen Phaeton was not going to be less. Its most “small” engine was already a V6 in diesel and gasoline versions. From there, it could only be dreaming. Volkswagen’s bet was also sold with a V8 4.2 gasoline, the famous V10 5.0 TDI and an endless W12 6.0 of gasoline that was sold with 420 and 450 hp versions. The average consumption of the latter was around (with the homologations of that time) 14.5 liters/100 km on average. And of equipment, the Phaeton was not badly served: heating seats, electric with memory and massage, bi-xenon headlights, four-zone heshlyzizer, indoor in the skin topped with wood and the possibility of replacing the rear seats with two sidewalks to improve comfort. Developing the car, therefore, was not going to be easy. At least this is attesting to 1,100 million euros that, according to Autoweekthe Germans invested in their development. From Automotive NewsHowever, they raise the figure to 2,000 million euros. But despite the expensive development and the good of the product, selling the Phaeton was not simple either. To the point that, according to this last medium, the Germans lost 28,101 euros for each unit sold. Keep in mind that the company had made a effort huge in machinery, employees and a new factory (The Dresden crystal plant) To launch a car that would meet the quality of a vehicle of its price range. It is said that Ferdinand Piëch delivered a series of unnegotiable requirements to put the car on the street among which was the ability to maintain the interior temperature at 22ºC circulating in a sustained way at 300 km/h with an exterior temperature of 50ºC. And all despite the car was limited to 250 km/h. Only for overestimating the capabilities of the car and that there was no open door to the client’s disappointment. But the market did not respond despite the fact that Volkswagen reached up to 100 patents during its development. Estimates that aimed at 20,000 units sold a year were impossible to meet. Even as the years passed. Because during the decade and a half that the car was on sale only 84,253 units were sold. Volkswagen’s most optimistic forecasts, collect in DiariomotorThey could exceed 35,000 units sold. And, as exceed, the 50,000 cars sold. Seeing one of those people’s bentley was not as complicated as seeing a true Bentley but of course it … Read more

Google has finally revealed how much electricity and water consumes its AI. Estimates could not be more wrong

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We knew that generative artificial intelligence was a monster that was forcing companies to make large investments in energybut Google’s first detailed analysis has put the figures for the first time on the table. We go to the point. According to him Google Technical Reportbased on data from May 2025, an average text consultation to Gemini consumes 0.24 Electricity watts. To put it in context, it is something like watching nine seconds of television with a conventional TV of 100 W. Water consumption, which is still necessary to refrigerate serversis 0.26 milliliters per consultation; The equivalent of five drops of water. The carbon footprint of the entire inference process, according to the report, is 0.03 grams of equivalent. Wrong estimates. Just a year ago, third party analysis They estimated that a single consultation of AI in the Google search engine, such as those of AI overViews, could consume about 3 Wh, ten times more than a traditional search. This led to calculations as striking as the deployment of AI in the search engine would consume enough energy to load seven electric cars per second. With Google’s official data in hand, we see that this estimate was wrong by a 12.5 factor. The new software techniques (such as speculative decoding) and the most efficient models architectures (such as the Mixture-OF-Experts paradigm) have completely changed the panorama. Inference, no training. These figures, the most concrete published to date by the company, only take into account Gemini’s consumption by inferring user response. The expensive process of training the great language models that feed these tools remains a mystery, but Google is justified by saying that the massive adoption of generative AI, integrated even in its search engine, has put the focus on inference. In this direct relationship with the user it is also where greater efficiency jumps are getting large technological companies. Google says that, in the last 12 months, energy consumption has divided by 33 and by 44 the carbon footprint of each consultation to Gemini. Much of this jump has to do, not only with more efficient models, but with the improvement of AI accelerators (Tpus and Gpus), a hardware that Google develops internally. The amount of “prompts” per kWh that process the different models of AI Less than Netflix. Google is not alone in this new era of transparency. Sam Altman, CEO of Openai, also shed some light on the consumption of chatgpt. In one June 2025 publicationAltman said that an average consultation to ChatgPT consumes approximately 0.34 or energy Wh and about 0.3 ml of water. The energy figure is slightly higher than Gemini’s, although it is a difficult comparison. Altman did not give details of his methodology, so we do not know if his calculation includes all the factors that Google has considered (such as electrical consumption in refrigeration and in “idle” machines; that is, inactive, but ready for rapid consumption peaks). Both companies have been compared to television: “An hour of Netflix consumes 100 times more electricity than Chatgpt,” says an official OpenAI slide. The same that says that the total impact of AI on US carbon emissions would be around 0.5%. Images | Google In Xataka | The consumption of AI is overestimated and we must worry more about the air conditioning, according to the IAE

The Hubble has just taken the best picture of the interstellar comet. Makes it clear that we were totally wrong about its size

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When astronomers announced the finding of an third interstellar object In the solar system, the first thing that caught attention was its size. There was talk of a core of up to 20 kilometers in diameter, colossal dimensions that fed all kinds of hypotheses, including that it was an extraterrestrial ship. Now, the most clear image of the kite, obtained by the old Hubble space telescope, has reduced expectations. It is much smaller than it seemed. The detailed new image of 3i/Atlas, Published by NASA Hubble teamhas allowed astronomers to limit the size of the comet with much greater precision. According to an analysis presented to The Astrophysical Journal Lettersthe icy nucleus of this object of another star system has a maximum diameter of 5.6 kilometers, but it could be much smaller, just about 320 meters. This new estimate is between four and 60 times smaller than the initial figures. The reason for the initial confusion is that, even for the Hubble, the code core is invisible. What we see is a brilliant “comma”, a dust and gas -shaped gas envelope that is expelled from the nucleus as the first observations from the earth could not distinguish the small nucleus of the huge halo of dust that surrounds it. It is getting rid of on the one hand. The image of the Hubble space telescope not only corrects the size of the kite, but also reveals important details of its behavior, such as an asymmetric dust ejection. The kite expels most of the material from the side that looks towards the sun, forming a kind of bright fan. This is a typical behavior in the comets of our own solar system: the heat of the sun causes the surface ice (pass from gas solid to gas) with more force on the daytime side of the nucleus. In addition, a very weak dust tail is distinguished in the direction opposite to the sun, formed when solar radiation pressure pushes the finest particles. This structure confirms that 3I/Atlas behaves as A classic cometand not as an anomalous object. According to the study, the kite loses between six and 60 kilograms of dust per second, a rate that, although it seems high, is consistent with that of other comets observed at a distance to the similar sun. Goodbye to speculation. This drastic readjustment in the size and behavior of the comet has important implications. A smaller core, similar to that of the other known interstellar comet, 2i/Borisovit fits much better in the cosmological models than one of 20 kilometers, which helps to explain that we have not yet seen more than three objects of other solar systems in our neighborhood. As for its shape, the brilliant cloud of gas and dust makes it impossible to detect if 3i/Atlas has an elongated shape as 1i/’oumuamuathe first known interstellar object. What we do know is that this traveler, which moves at the incredible speed of 209,000 km/h, will continue to be a priority objective for more modern telescopes, such as James Webb. Each new observation helps us better understand these fascinating cosmic tourists and, as it has been clear, to correct some precipitated hypotheses. In Xataka | NASA ignores Harvard’s study on an alleged extraterrestrial ship: “It is an interstellar kite”

Japan thought he had touched back on his birth crisis. I didn’t know how wrong it was wrong

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He has tried pulling a checkbook And even acting as Celestinabut Japan has encountered a seemingly irresoluble problem: birth. The country has gone from demographic winter to the debacle without palliative. That is at least the reading left by the latest government data, which reveal that in just one year (from January 2024 to January 2025) the population of Japanese citizens has been reduced in More than 900,000 peoplethe biggest fall Since at least 1968. There is only one positive indicator: immigration. A fact: 908,574. Talking about birth in Japan for a long time is to talk about falls, pessimistic forecasts and a future full of unknowns. It is nothing new, but that does not prevent when your government publishes official data, as has happened This Wednesdaythe demographic debacle continues to surprise. And rightly. According to the data of the Ministry of Interior, in 2024 the country lost neither more nor less than 908,574 inhabitants, which leaves the census of Japanese citizens in 120.65 million. Far, far from 126.6 million which it reached in 2009. More than a blow. The data is bad in itself and does not improve when it is put in context. As Remember Kyodo News It is the 16th consecutive year in which the census of Japanese citizens fall, a trend that seems to have no softening visos. On the contrary. The 2024 was the greatest demographic collapse of the statistical series, which starts in 1968. You have to go back to that same decade to find a lower birth record than the one scored last year: 687,689. In the opposite pole, the number of deaths (almost 1.6 million) stood at maximum. A percentage: 59%. Demography is not simple statistical theory, it is directly connected to the country’s economy. And that is something that government data makes it very clear: after years of population debacle and with the Gripada Birth engine, Japan has found that barely 59% of its population It is at work age (between 15 and 64), significantly below the world average, which is around 65%, according to the latest estimates of the OECD. With less and less native population of working age and a society in full aging, the panorama facing the country is the least challenging. In fact there are those who warn that a ‘red line’ is crossing. Some authors point out that 2025 will mark the point at which the population born during The Baby Boom In the late 40s, an age in which the percentage of the working population collapses and increases that of those who require care is exceeded. That turning point even has a name: The “problem 2025”. And what does that suppose? That in practice it is quite likely that from now on Japan will meet “a sudden increase” of elders who need care, which will result in “a significantly greater burden for workforce,” warns An IPEI report. As for what he will mean for public coffers, years ago the government has accounts and already calculated that between 2025 and 2040 the general costs of social care will shoot 60%. How to solve it? The big question. Japan has been deploying a range of measures to encourage their birth and reverse their demographic crisis. And that happens so much to dedicate Millions of resources to programs Pronatality and raising aids as encourage the paternal casualties or ease May young people find a partner. It is nothing new or exclusive to Japan. In South Korea, China either Russia Governments have launched similar campaigns with Disrupt results. In the background, however, a key question underlies, such as I already pointed out in 2023 The BBC chain: Increasing the birth of a country is a matter of money? Do the ‘baby checks’ or the paternal casualties? To what extent do these factors influence and how much depends on more structural ones, such as the difficulties in accessing broad homes, labor philosophy, gender inequalities, the cost of life or simply a cultural change that no longer prioritizes motherhood? A word: immigration. Not all demographic indicators in Japan are in red numbers. Moreover, there is one that grew last year until reaching record values: that of the foreign residentsthose people from other countries with permission to remain in Japan for at least three months. According to government data, your number grew by 10.65% (354,089 people) until adding 3.68 million. The records had never reached such a high figure. In practice that means that foreigners already represent almost 3% of the total population, another figure that had never been achieved before. Japan Times Precise that in 2024 661,800 people were moved from abroad, which shows that the fall experienced by this registry during the pandemic, especially in 2021 and 20022. If there are both Japanese citizens and the foreign population, the total census of residents in the country is taken into account. 124.3 millionapproximately 554,000 less than the previous year. Why is it important? Because the influx of foreigners has served for more than softening the country’s demographic bleeding. It also involves a chute of energy for its economy. 85.77% of foreign residents are of working age, a significant percentage for a country with a birth problem and that has been aging years. The increase in immigration also has certain challenges. Its increase coincides with the rise of the ultra -right party Sanseitowho has campaigned by flying the motto of “The Japanese first.” Image | JJ Ying (UNSPLASH) In Xataka | More and more Japanese women decide to marry men from South Korea. And there is something that explains it: the K-Pop

For centuries the Christians pilgrimage to a remote cave to venerate Salome. Problem: They were wrong with Salome

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There was a time, many centuries ago, in which Christians went to an old cave located in the Judea Lowlandsnear the village of Eliav, in search of inspiration. Over the years even a Sacred place For Islam. There (the remains of Salome were supposed to be, a biblical figure with echoes in the origins of Christianity. Some versions identified it as the midwife that attended the birth of Jesus. Others as one of his disciples and witness of the crucifixion. It is even said that she was Maria’s little sister. Now a group of Israeli archaeologists has reached a fascinating conclusion that relies on vestiges located years ago In the cave: I probably Salome that rested in his day in the crypt was neither the midwife nor disciple of Jesus, but an opulent and powerful aristocrat related to Herod. In a place of Judea … The Salomé cave is a wide sepulcher located in Sefeláthe lowlands of Judea, with an exceptional archaeological value. In fact there are those who consider it one of the funeral caves “More impressive” discovered in Israel and “More elaborate” of his time, the known as period of the Second templewhich extended between the centuries VI AC and I DC Specifically, experts believe that the crypt built between the I AC and I DC The cave itself is no novelty. The archaeologists excavated it decades ago, in the mid -80s, after they were located. Throughout the last years, however, they have expanded our knowledge about the grave. By 2022 A group of experts from Israel Antiquies Authority (IAA) made an excavation in part of the enclosure that revealed new data on its architecture and history. He also confirmed that for several centuries that remote Cave of Sefelá was used as a veneration space. And how is it? Wide. Elaborate. And fascinating. The archaeological set includes a lobby, a large patio surrounded by silry stone walls and a funeral cave with several cameras in which they were preserved Kokhimfuneral niches excavated in the rock, in addition to ossuaries. Although archaeologists studied the thorough crypt in the 80s, a few years ago they wanted to go further, analyzing in depth The 350 m2 courtyard and cleaning the inside of the cave. “The patio turned out to be one of the most elaborate of its kind compared to other cemeteries of the same period,” he says An article Posted by the IAA. Among other things, experts met stones with Jewish motifs and “delicate plant designs,” such as rosettes, grenades and acanthus vases. Nothing to do with most access courtyards to funeral caves found by archaeologists, who are usually excavated, not raised with masonry. Cave … and pilgrimage place. If the grave is so relevant, it is not only because of its size, architectural characteristics or decoration. There is another equal or even more relevant factor. For a while the cave was a pilgrimage place. During their excavations of 2022 and 2023 in the front courtyard, archaeologists discovered a row of positions in which clay lamps were sold and rented. “We find hundreds, complete and broken, dating from the eighth centuries and IX DC”, They explain Nir Shimshon-Paran and Zvi-Fire, directors of the excavation. “The lamps may have served to illuminate the cave or as part of religious ceremonies, similar to the candles that are distributed today in the tombs and churches,” They add. In the cave, Greek, Syriac and Arab inscriptions, recorded crosses and indications that reveal that the funeral space remained in use during the Byzantine and Islamic periods were also located. “The excavations show that, in the Byzantine period, the site had become a place of Christian pilgrimage,” experts say, which tells us about a wide period of worship that covers from the 5th century to the IX DC DC The cave of Salome. The question was obvious … Who belonged to the funeral cave? Who rested in his day in the crypt? And why the archaeologists found crosses and dozens of inscriptions recorded directly on the rocks of the walls? The answer is both simple and complex: the Sefelá cave was the resting place of ‘Salomé’. Among the inscriptions in different languages, archaeologists identified several in Greek that mention that same name, ‘Salomé’, supposedly a religious figure relevant to Christians. In An article Published this year on the sepulcher, IAA experts remember that, in the 1090s, the scholars that analyzed the inscriptions have already concluded that the first monks who arrived in the cave in the Byzantine period discovered an ossary with the inscription ‘Salomé’, a relatively frequent name in the Judea of the beginning of the beginning of Christianity. “During the second temple period it was not common Explain Paran to The Times of Israel. “It is possible that the cave contained an ossuary with the name of Salome, although we did not find it. It could have been looted.” So … who was the famous Salome? The midwife of Jesus? A tradition attributes that name to a figure that appears in it Protoevangelio de Santiagoapocryphal text in which a Salomé is cited as a midwife that doubted the virginity of Mary. The story tells that his disbelief earned him a punishment that ended up turning it into a symbol. “According to the Christian tradition, Salome was the midwife of Bethlehem who was called to attend the birth of Jesus. He could not believe that they asked him to participate in the birth of a virgin and his hand dried. He only healed when he held the baby’s crib,” Remember From the IAA. Other versions They place Salome as a disciple of Jesus, Mary’s sister or has even confused her with the mother of Santiago and Juan. “The cult of Salomé, sanctified by Christianity, belongs to a broader phenomenon: the Christian pilgrims of the 5th century found and sanctified Jewish places. The name Salome could have appeared in ancient times in one of the alter’s already disappeared from the tomb and thus the tradition … Read more

Mercedes wanted to jump into the electric car in record time and is clear that they were wrong

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Four years now meet. It was a summer of 2021 when Mercedes launched his ordinance: in 2030 they would be an exclusively electric brand. They wanted to do it by building eight gigafactories to go out to their electric cars and batteries. Today they are clear that they were wrong. “They will last more than expected”. “We have changed the course, electrified combustion engines will last more than expected.” They are the words of Ola Källenius, CEO of Mercedes, in Auto Motor Und Sport Confirming what was an A Voca Secret: Mercedes will not fulfill the deadlines planned in the electric car. The company, therefore, will continue to bet on combustion engines that are key. It is not that he was going to withdraw overnight but that self -imposed obligation of being electric in 2030 led them to significantly reduce their offer until they focus exclusively on the electric car. Two symptoms (1). Although he had been rumored for a long time and in winter Mercedes already said that “There was too much optimism in the industry”there are two great symptoms that came to tell us clear that the time of combustion engines had not died. The first was The failure of EQS as flag bearer of the electric car in the company. The great electric Berlina, “the electric class” has been a failure and confirmed that the customer of a luxury car continues to bet mostly on combustion. Time will say if it is something exclusively linked to the autonomy or there is also a certain political positioning behind. The truth is that the company took advantage of the car to give a wash in the face of the image, sell the maximum refinement with the latest technology and its most advanced software with a Hyperscreen that surprised by groundbreaking. The truth is that the Mercedes client has continued to prefer the most classic class S. Two symptoms (2). The second symptom that advanced that Mercedes had changed course was given by its AMG sports division. The wealthy customer is especially complicated to convince when it comes to electrifying the fleet. To meet the European demands, Mercedes opted in its sports division for A four hybrid cylinders and although He got 680 hpcars that have mounted it have failure in sales. The solution has gone to return to these luxury cars the V8 engines. The company confirmed that will continue working on them And although they will be electrified, the potential car customer of more than 100,000 euros and extremely sports seem to continue asking for huge engines. It is no accident that, in his day, BMW already announced that he would continue to focus efforts on developing combustion engines. Specifically in those of six and eight cylinders. If you want gasoline, you pay it. Everything indicates that, as will happen with lower ranges, we will begin to see Two product categories clearly differentiated in Europe. Pollution policies will lead us to see An extensive electrification (with plug and electrical hybrids) in the low and medium range and a fence to the Combustion engines in the most expensive or luxury offer. In the case of Mercedes, everything indicates that they will continue to develop combustion engines but fenced to their most unattainable offer or Markets where hurry With the electric car are not so many. The confirmation that, in addition to the V8 for AMG, also They will continue selling the huge V12 Limited to the Maybach versions of its class S is a good example. But it is also that Mercedes has focused on “democratizing” its electric cars. He Electric Mercedes It will not be the cheapest car but the German company does want it to become its first great super electric success. And the formula is clear: improve the autonomy. “Rational”. For Källenius, in addition, this strategy is the most “rational.” Yes, the same one that Toyota has been holding so far, to sell the most demanded technology where they ask or let it sell. That is why they continue to focus on hybrids but ensure that the electric car will be key … in Europe. And Källenius knows that multienergy strategy helps them stay afloat. Its hybrid mechanics and huge engines will continue to be key in the United States and in Europe (who can pay it), while needing competitive electric cars in China. “It is our most important and crucial market for our technical innovations,” CEO himself pointed out from Mercedes a few months ago. A product that passes not only through the engine. Here, the latest generation software is essential because without it they do not think they can compete in China. They are aware that “Chinese clients not only use the car to move from A B. For many, it is also a second living room.” And there Mercedes needs to make differences if he does not want to star in a free fall. One that has already begun. Photo | Mercedes In Xataka | The Mercedes Class wanted to overcome the discomforts of the electric car. It is incompatible with a multitude of loaders

We have a big problem with AI agents: 70% of the time are wrong

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The AI agents They fail more than a fair shotgun. That’s at least what reveals A recent study of researchers from the Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) and the University of Duke. These experts have analyzed the behavior of several of them and put them to the test to check if this is a “much noise and few nuts.” AND At the moment it is. Inspiration. Graham Neubig, professor of CMU, explained In The Register how inspiration had been A 2023 article of OpenAi. It talked about what types of work could be replaced by AI systems, but as he said “his methodology was basically asking Chatgpt if those works could be automated.” In that study they wanted to verify it by asking various AI agents to try to complete tasks that theoretically carry out professionals of those works. In Xataka Everything begins by asking a thing to an AI. When the AI ​​is asked for others, chaos begins Theagentcompany. To carry out their study, the researchers created a fictitious company they called The Agent Company and they used it so that different agricultural models tried to complete various tasks. These systems should be able to use access to several services such as Gitlab, Owncloud or Rocketchat to carry out these works, but their performance was disappointing. 70% errors. The researchers used two trial environments called Openhands Codeact and Owl-Roleplay and in them they were testing the most important AI models today. The best of all of them is Claude Sonnet 4, which managed to solve 33.1% of the proposed tasks. Behind are Claude 3.7 Sonnet (30.9%), Gemini 2.5 Pro (30.3%) and, much further, disastrous GPT-4O (8.6%), call-3.1-405b (7.4%), QWEN-2.5-72B (5.7%) or Amazon Nova Pro V1.0 (1.7%). In the best case the models can complete 30% of the requested tasks, but they fail in 70%. Or what is the same: a lot of noise and few nuts according to these benchmarks. Unable agents. During these tests the researchers observed various types of failure in these tasks processes. Thus, there were agents refusing to send a message to colleagues who were part of the task, there were also agents unable to manage popup windows during navigation sessions, and even agents who cheated or cheated. In one of the cases, they highlighted, an agent who had to consult a person in Rocketchat (an alternative Open Source a Slack) did not find it, so “he changed the name to another user to give him the user with whom he had to contact.” But they are improving. Even with those problems, the evolution is being positive in the performance of these AI agents. Neubig and his team tested a software agent that was able to solve about 24% of the tasks involved web navigation, programming and some related tasks. Six months later they tested a new version and achieved 34% of completed tasks. {“Videid”: “X8HJ0VY”, “Autoplay”: False, “Title”: “Chatgpt: What you did not know what you could do | tricks”, “Tag”: “”, “Duration”: “790”} Imperfect but useful. Not only that: these researchers pointed out that even failing so much, AI agents can remain useful. In certain contexts, such as programming, a partial code suggestion with which to solve a certain fragment of a program can end up being the basis of a solution in which the developer can then work. Care where you use them. But of course, agents make so many mistakes can be a problem in scenarios more sensitive to these problems. Thus, if we commission an agent who writes Correos and sends them to incorrect people, the result could be a disaster. There are solutions in sight, such as the growing adoption of Model Context protocol (MCP) that facilitates the interaction between services and AI models so that communication is much more precise and these errors can be mitigated during the autonomous execution of tasks. A benchmark that makes the AI ​​models look bad. For this expert one of the great disappointments is that companies that develop AI models do not seem interested in using it as a metric to improve their developments. Neubig suspected that “perhaps it is too difficult and makes them look bad.” It is something similar to what happens With the benchmark arc -ag2: It is such a difficult test for the IAS that today The best of all models of which they try to overcome it is o3, which achieves – a 3% of completed tasks. In Salesforce they coincide. That previous study is complemented With another realized by a group of Salesforce researchers. They created their own benchmark specifically aimed at verifying how various AI models would be checked when controlling typical tasks in a CRM like those developed by the firm. His project, called Crmarena-Pro, tests those AI agents in areas such as the Sales or Support Department. In Xataka If the question is whether IA is already as good as human intelligence, the answer is: solves this puzzle To replace workers, nothing. In their conclusions, these researchers reveal how the AI ​​models “achieve globally modest success rates, typically around 58% in scenarios with a single shift (execution), but with the yield significantly degrading approximately 35% in multiturn scenarios.” In fact, they explained, “agents are not generally prepared or have the essential qualifications for complex tasks.” The risk of some experts, with A great impact of AI on various jobsit seems precipitated. A complicated future. To these discreet results, the prediction of the Gartner consultant is joined. According to your studiesmore than 40% of the development agents projects will end up being canceled at the end of 2027. The main person responsible for the report, Anushree Verma, indicated that “at present, most of the agricultural projects are experiments or tests of concept in the initial phase, mainly driven by advertising already often badly applied.” The message is clear: there are too many expectations in relation to AI agents, but the current state of technology shows that today its application is problematic and limited. Image … Read more

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