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We had been searching for the origin of the most massive black holes for years. The answer is a cosmic carom of extreme violence

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All black holes They are the fruit of a very violent activity. However, there are some for which the known processes are insufficient. Now, an international team of scientists has discovered how the most massive black holes in the Universe form. It is a process so violent that it needs a huge star cluster to support it. Two groups of black holes. This team of scientists has analyzed the LIGO–Virgo–KAGRA Gravitational Wave Transient Catalog (GWTC4), which includes 153 detections of black hole mergers through gravitational waves. By analyzing all the available data focusing on the spin of black holes, they have seen that all of them can be divided into two large groups. On the one hand, black holes of lower mass, which arose from an ordinary stellar collapse. On the other hand, very massive black holes, arising from secondary mergers in the environment of dense star clusters. Okay, now that you understand. Generally, black holes are formed when a very massive star that has already run out of fuel collapses. This gives rise to an explosion in which the outer layers of the star are expelled, leaving only a very dense core. It is so dense that it generates a great gravitational pull and nothing can escape from it. On the other hand, there are such massive holes that do not fit with this process. They are believed to be second generation black holes. That is, two black holes they merge and then the result merges with another black hole, becoming much more immense. That would be the second group that has been detected in the GWTC4 catalog. Something doesn’t add up. This black hole merger process is so violent that, as soon as the first merger occurs, the result would fly away like a rocket For it to stay in place and merge with a third black hole, something is needed to retain it. These scientists have discovered that these are densely populated star clusters. There are so many stars in them that the gravitational attraction of all of them keeps the black hole still in place. And what does spin have to do with it? Spin is a parameter that refers to the spin of black holes. When formed in the conventional way, the spin is predictable and perfectly aligned with the star that gave rise to the black hole. On the other hand, when they are formed by a process as violent as these consecutive fusions, the spin takes a random direction, but a value predictable from the sum of the spins of the rest of the black holes. These scientists, therefore, saw that all the data coincided with that hypothesis: consecutive mergers in the environment of a very populated star cluster. A forbidden zone. On the other hand, these scientists found a forbidden strip of stellar size in which black holes could not form. There are small or huge ones, but not medium ones. Although this is something that was intuited, the complete set of data they have obtained gives a twist to what is known about the formation of black holes. Relationship with nuclear physics. As explained by these scientists, this detected mass limit seems to be related to a series of nuclear reactions that take place inside stars. Stellar nuclear reactions are nuclear fusion. Humans have learned to control nuclear fission, but it poses risks that would be solved if we also mastered nuclear fusion. Until now It is being a complicated challengebut perhaps these new findings, obtained thanks to gravitational wave analysis, could shed a little more light on this research. Everything adds up. Image | NASA, ESA, STScI and A. Sarajedini (University of Florida)/NASA, ESA, CSA, Ralf Crawford (STScI) In Xataka | What happens if you fall into a black hole, explained simply in an overwhelming NASA simulation

2,500 years ago Athens suffered an epidemic that marked the end of its golden age. Science is determined to know what caused it

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“Words are insufficient when trying to describe this disease. As for his suffering, it seemed almost beyond what is humanly bearable.” Although the news about the hantavirus They make it sound even scarier, that commentIn reality, it is more than 2,000 years old. The chronicler Thucydides wrote it in his ‘History of the Peloponnesian War’ to give an idea of ​​the terrible plague that devastated Athens around 430 BC, an ailment that he himself suffered and took the lives of some 75,000 people. For centuries that epidemic has been remembered as the ‘plague of Athens’although we don’t actually know exactly what caused it. Now a group of Greek researchers have shed some more light on that dark episode. Epidemic detectives. In a hyperconnected world, in which people are capable of traveling thousands of kilometers in a few hours and it comes with blocking a remote strait of the Middle East to put the world economy in check, the specter of pandemics seems more present, but the truth is that humanity takes centuries dealing with him. Before the COVID pandemic, we had, for example, the 1918 flu or the disastrous Black Deathwhich devastated Europe between 1346 and 1353 and (by some estimates) reached 60% case fatality rates in some regions. Long before any of them, in the times of Classical Greece, another equally devastating epidemic was recorded: the plague of Athens. Thanks to authors like Thucydideswho in addition to being a chronicler suffered it himself, today we can learn in detail how that outbreak developed and experienced, which left tens of thousands of dead. The episode was important not only because of its death toll: between 75,000 and 100,000 in the four years that elapsed from 430 to 426 BC One of the deceased was Periclesa historical leader of Athens. In fact, experts usually agree that the plague precipitated the decline of the Athenian Golden Age and its death toll facilitated its final defeat in the war against Sparta. The great unknown. Despite this historical value, the Athenian plague remains shrouded in unknowns. We know when it developed, we know where it developed and there is even evidence suggesting that the initial outbreak occurred in sub-Saharan Africa, spread to Egypt and Libya and then passed to Athens via Piraeus. What is not clear is what exactly caused the plague and why it was so disastrous. And Thucydides was in charge of describing all its symptoms. Now a team from the University of Athens (NKUA) have wanted to clear up this mystery by analyzing the symptoms described by the chronicler and comparing it with that of known ailments. The result they have published it in the magazine AMHA. A pulse on history. If it is difficult to track a viral outbreak in 2026, the task becomes daunting when we are talking about one of the first known epidemics in human history. To face such a challenge, Dr. Dimosthenis Papadimitrakis and his colleagues had an idea: they looked at the symptoms described by Thucydides and other sources, They selected 17 diseases known that more or less fit that symptomatology and created a “metric system” with different scores to determine which of them best fit the epidemic that hit Athens 2,400 years ago. “The most terrible thing, despair”. Whether due to his zeal as a chronicler or because he himself suffered from the disease, Thucydides detailed the symptoms suffered by those who contracted the Athenian plague: migraines, high fever, redness and inflammation of the eyes, bad breath, sneezing, cough and profound gastrointestinal discomfort, such as nausea, vomiting, spasms and painful diarrhea. Over time, rashes, pustules and ulcers appeared on the patient’s skin, especially in the abdomen area. Those who could not stand the disease died after seven or nine days, after experiencing intense burning that led them to take off their clothes or even immerse themselves in cold water. “Gangrene of the extremities and eyes was common among both survivors and victims,” detail experts, who remember that it was not unusual for patients who survived the plague to do so with amnesia. “The most terrible thing was the despair into which people fell when they realized that they had contracted the plague. They immediately adopted an attitude of absolute hopelessness and, by giving in in this way, they lost their capacity for resistance,” Thucydides reflects. “Words are insufficient when trying to give a general image of the illness.” Ruling out candidates. With that starting point, Papadimitrakis and his colleagues developed a list of diseases that the Athenians of 2,400 years ago could have contracted and that coincided to a greater or lesser extent with the symptoms described by Thucydides. They came up with 17 potential ‘candidates’, including cholera, measles, scarlet fever, tuberculosis, Ebola, malaria, smallpox, bubonic plague, ergotism or Lassa fever. Then with that chart on the table, two questions were asked: Which of those diseases caused rashes and gangrene? How many are transmitted between humans? And what historical evidence is there for each of these ailments? Thanks to this analysis they reached a series of conclusions, although the team warns that they are only hypotheses based on probability, not firm and unquestionable truths. “The plague of Athens presents difficulties in identifying the causal agent due to several factors. The main source of information is the accounts of Thucydides, but his lack of medical knowledge and the lapse of up to 20 years between the events and their documentation can lead to erroneous interpretations,” the authors explain. “Furthermore, the inability to isolate or culture the responsible microorganism poses a major obstacle. Even if preserved bodies of plague victims were discovered, the microbes would have decomposed over time.” And what is the conclusion? That of the diseases analyzed, the one with the most votes is typhoid fever. “It appears to meet most of the criteria, so it is considered the most likely agent,” summary the researchers. Furthermore, in a necropolis from the time of the epidemic, remains of the bacteria that trigger this disease … Read more

When the fathers of quantum physics discovered the fundamental ideas of reality, they discovered that a Jesuit had already been there 200 years before.

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The story is a classic of popular science: 200 years before the birth of quantum physics, the Jesuit Ruđer Bošković advanced the central ideas of 20th century physics: field theory, the uncertainty principle and even dark energy. Furthermore, he did it alone. What Bošković did, as Héctor Farrés points outit’s incredible. Not only is it real and important, but it is beyond doubt (Heisenberg himself lor recognized in 58), but what he didn’t do too. The latter is, in fact, the most interesting. What Bošković knew. In 1758, the Jesuit (who was one of the great mathematicians of the time and had even helped fix the dome of St. Peter’s) published in Vienna ‘Philosophiae naturalis theoria redacts ad unicam legem virium in natura existentium‘. In this book he developed ideas that he had already presented almost 15 years earlier in Rome: that matter was not made of extended solid corpuscles (as Newtonian physics maintained), nor of inextended metaphysical monads (as Leibniz thought). For Bošković, matter is essentially composed of dimensionless points that only exist as points of force. In essence, Bošković believed that Newton’s inverse square law was a ‘limiting case’ (for planetary bodies) of a different equation that governed the relationship of all things in nature. Just this idea that scale is important, that the behavior of forces could change radically depending on it, deserves to go down in the history of physics. Because? Because it is the piece that helps us stop understanding matter as impenetrable ‘bodies’ and allows us to understand that impenetrability as an effect: it was giving mathematical entity to atomism. And the most interesting thing is that his later influence is real. It is documented, come on: there is a chain of readings that takes us from these ideas to those of William Rowan Hamiltonthe most direct precursor of quantum mechanics. Apparently, Werner Heisenberg, he of the uncertainty principle, he even said in 1958 that “the remarkable concept that forces are repulsive at small distances and must be attractive at greater distances has played a decisive role in modern atomic physics. (…) Bohr’s quantum theory of the atom can be precisely related to this concept, and the study of the atomic nucleus during the last thirty years has taught us that the particles that constitute the nucleus, protons and neutrons, are bound together by precisely such a force.” However, one should not exaggerate either. As Borges said when talking about Kafka, authors create their own precursors. That is, as Heisenberg himself said, Bošković’s work “contains numerous ideas that have only achieved full expression in modern physics in the last fifty years.” They were brilliant intuitions that are fully understood in the light of quantum physics, but not seeds that logically contained all the physics of the 20th century within them. A very common mistake. Too common, in fact. We don’t usually approach history from what we already know and there, of course, the similarities shine in the middle of the night. The reality is that what we see are usually ‘pareidolias’: things that say more about us and the functioning of our brain than about what happened in the past. Image | Xataka In Xataka | One of the greatest philosophers of the 20th century already identified the problem of Generation Z: “Not tolerating boredom”

The oldest train line in Spain is still running 180 years later. And it moves 40 million passengers

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It is very likely that you have also done the exercise but I don’t know if the subject fascinates you as much as it does me. Have you ever thought about how far and how close we are from our great-grandparents and our great-great-grandparents? The City of Wonders by Eduardo Mendoza explains wonderfully how Barcelona became a technological centrifuge at the end of the 19th century and the first decades of the 20th century. When Onofre Bouvila arrives in Barcelona, ​​the city is very different from the one in front of him when the book ends. A little before what the book tells, Barcelona had already begun to assimilate some technological advances that would be difficult for the average citizen to conceive. One of them was the railway. In 1848, the first train line on the Peninsula was inaugurated in Barcelona.. It’s Barcelona-Mataró. 30 kilometers in half an hour And, indeed, the Barcelona-Mataró is not the first Spanish train line but it is the first on the Iberian Peninsula. Actually, the first train line in Spain is the one known as Havana-Güines Since on November 19, 1837, the first service between these two towns was launched. The objective was to transport the sugar and honey that was produced in the first of these towns from Güines to the port of Havana. However, the first train on the Iberian Peninsula I would have to wait another decade. It was not until October 28, 1848 when the first train from Barcelona left towards Mataró surrounded by the music of the Artillery Corps and the curious who came to Doctor Aiguader Avenue. They explain in The Vanguard that the commotion was considerable to the south of the Parque de la Ciudadela and next to what is now the Estación de Francia, because the atmosphere vibrated with the excitement of witnessing a historical event in our country. The train had 24 cars and had capacity for 900 people. They had almost 30 kilometers ahead of them, which when the service was transformed into a regular line could be covered in 35 minutes without stops and an hour of travel if it stopped at intermediate stops, leaving far behind the five or six hours that had to be spent if traveling by stagecoach. The smoke, coal and soot did not deter those who, according to the Catalan newspaper, sneaked onto the train to be part of that first cap journey. Before, a few lucky They had already had the opportunity to travel between the two cities by train. And a few weeks before the big day, two rehearsals were carried out to check that everything was perfect and worked as it should. It was the result of the work of Miguel Biada. Miguel Biada i Buñol He was a merchant mariner who became a promoter of the first train line on peninsular soil. Although he was born in Mataró, he earned his living as a merchant in the Caribbean where, already in Havana, he had been part of the group of businessmen who promoted and carried out the first Spanish train line, the aforementioned Havana-Güines. Back in Spain, the businessman pushed to push ahead with that first train line that, according to some researchwas projected on the international gauge. These sources suggest that Madrid was required to opt for what It would later be known as Ancho Ibérico. A decision that condemned Spain to be isolated from the European railway network and that It still has its consequences today.. Finally, as we said, the first train line in mainland Spain started in 1848 and became a complete success. In the first year, 675,828 passengers boarded the train among whom, unfortunately, was not its promoter who had died that same year in April. Nor did the five people who, they say, have any good luck. The Vanguardwere run over and killed that first year. These deaths did not put a stop to the expansion plans. And the railway had come to stay in the Iberian Peninsula. It did so decades behind other European countries, but the expansion was so rapid that In 1866 Spain had already accumulated more than 5,000 kilometers of roads. Today, the Barcelona-Mataró has extended to the Massanet-Massanas station and is more than 70 kilometers long. Obviously, it is the first Rodalies line in Barcelona, ​​the one known as R1 that today starts from Molins de Rei and moves almost 40 million passengers a year. Photo | Illustration and photography collected on Wikimedia In Xataka | The Madrid Cercanías have become a nest of problems and delays: their solution is new “megatrains”

I’ve had the Apple Watch on my wrist for 10 years. The only thing I asked for was the Google bracelet

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Server has had an Apple Watch in his drawer for months. And just take advantage of the introductory offer of the Fitbit Air for 99 euros plus 45 euros of balance in the Google Store (just what the straps are worth). Because? Because I’ve been waiting for exactly that product for years. No screen. In my particular case (and like a good part of Spain), practical crossfit daily. and the crossfit It is not a sport compatible with smart watches. Many of the movements require the barbell or kettlebell to hit the wrist, and you wouldn’t want to have a Apple Watch Ultra receiving a little kiss 32 kilos. Being able to have a smart device without a screen is a dream come true for me, since I can meet my health tracking needs without worrying about anything else. Why not the Whoop. Yes, Google has not discovered the fire. Whoop has his own bracelet and Polar launched theirs free of subscription. Whoop’s problem was precisely that, being literally tied to a membership of at least 199 euros per year (and that in the cheapest version). Amazfit has your Helio Strap for the same price than the Google bracelet, although it is a fairly bulky device and very similar to a smartwatch. However, Google has managed to launch a hybrid between a simple strap and a MiBand for 99 euros. A device from which, knowing Fitbit’s history, I expect measurement sensors with higher quality than those I have tried in similarly priced alternatives. I don’t want notifications. It is a completely personal decision, but one of my goals in the last two years is to respect digital disconnection. I’m not the first to buy a smartwatch to not depend so much on the phone… and end up turning my wrist every now and then to see what notification it has. Removing the screen completely eliminates this barrier. No calls, no notifications, no temptations of any kind. Just a device that works in the background measuring my vitals. No subscriptions. Google has done well with the two systems that its Fitbit allows: the paid one and the base one. It is not a device that requires a subscription to enjoy the basics required and, only in case we want to expand its functions, we can choose to checkout. PREMIUM BASE follow-up Steps, calories, distance traveled, cardiovascular load and recovery. Personalized physical activity plans. Steps, calories, distance traveled, cardiovascular load and recovery Measurements Heart rate, heart rate variability, respiratory rate, blood oxygen (SpO2) and more Heart rate, heart rate variability, respiratory rate, blood oxygen (SpO2) and more sport Adaptive physical activity plans Personalized weekly workouts and physical activity plans, adapted to your goals and that you can adapt to your lifestyle – dream Sleep score, schedule, duration and phases. Personalized sleep summaries. Sleep score, schedule, duration and phases. records Notes on weight, nutrition, water consumption, mood and menstrual cycle. Proactive information and statistics about your records. Notes on weight, nutrition, water consumption, mood and menstrual cycle. additional Library with mindfulness sessions, such as meditation, guided breathing, relaxation and more. Library of dynamic workouts led by expert trainers and instructors. Personalized Gemini-based coach – The subscription model for 8.99 euros per month adds Gemini as an ally, but it is not essential or mandatory. The bracelet, without any type of subscription, does everything you would ask of a product of this type. With an app with a lot of potential. The Fitbit app has been renamed Google Health, an important declaration of intent after purchasing Fitbit for 2.1 billion dollars. Google will collect all the data related to health here, finally giving the love it deserves to an app that was far behind its direct rival (Health on iOS). In short, an economical product, which allows me to forget that I am wearing a smart watch or bracelet, and whose information I will only consult at the end of the day as a summary. In Xataka | Best activity bracelets. Which one to buy and most recommended models from 25 euros

Murcia has been paying the first “shadow toll” in Spain for 27 years. This year will end it

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It was 1997 when Murcia approved the Law 4/1997, of July 24, on Construction and Operation of Infrastructures of the Region of Murcia. It might seem like a regulation more related to the infrastructures of the autonomous community, but far from it. Two years later, taking advantage of this text, the Murcia Government gave approval to the construction of the Aunor Highway (the RM-15 highway), granting the concession to a company owned by Sacyr and OHL. In October 2001, the toll road was already in operation. But on this toll highway there are no barriers or personnel to collect the corresponding amount. But yes, the people of Murcia pay for it. It is what is known as a “shadow toll” road. And in 2026 it will end. Goodbye to the first “shadow toll” in Spain Just like explains Sacyr on its websitethis Murcian highway is considered the first shadow toll highway in Spain. A formula unprecedented until then in our country. Operation is simple. The concessionaire company builds and maintains the road for the stipulated period of time. During the years that it is active, the control means certify the number of vehicles that pass on the road but the driver does not stop to pay at any time. At the end of the period stipulated in the contract (in this case, each year), the Government to which the highway belongs pay a variable amountdepending on the number of cars that have circulated through it. That is to say, the cost of traveling on the road does not only affect the driver’s pocket, it is all citizens with their taxes who pay the concessionaire company the amount corresponding to the number of vehicles that circulate on it. In this case, the concession for the RM-15 was 25 years. Therefore, next September the concession period will end and the Government of Murcia will have the opportunity to extend or terminate it and, in that case, take charge of the maintenance and operation of the road itself or contracting the services to a third party. This last option will be the one that comes out ahead, they explain in the local media as The truth. The Government of the Region of Murcia has put out to tender a contract for the maintenance of this road, along with other conservation actions and operations on other roads in the Mula Sector. The amount is 20 million euros and 20 companies have participated in the competition. With the end of this shadow toll, an annual payment of between 10 and 13 million euros per year ends, according to the media. In total, it is estimated that once the contract is finalized, between 305 and 312 million euros will have been paid to the concessionaire company. In its day, the highway was seen as a relief for the residents of the Northwest and Río Mula regions. He explained The truth that the road allowed greater access to the towns in these areas but, above all, it was a much safer alternative than the previous national highway, which crossed municipalities and made it “the most dangerous road in the Region of Murcia.” Photo | Google Maps In Xataka | If the question is how to get rid of tolls, the European Union has a clear answer: being an electric truck

squeeze out wells in the North Sea that had been abandoned for 30 years

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Norway is, on paper, the green Eden of the planet. Nine out of every ten new cars sold on its streets are electric and 98% of its electrical system is powered by renewable sources. However, its main economic engine is exporting what it internally rejects: fossil fuels. The official figures are conclusive: in 2025, the value of Norwegian exports of crude oil, condensate and natural gas will be around one trillion crowns, which represents 57% of its total exports of goods. An unprecedented geopolitical trigger has been added to this Norwegian paradox. The war in the Middle East and the resulting blockade in the Strait of Hormuz have turned the country into “a European gas station.” Resurrecting ghosts of the North Sea. To address this demand, the Norwegian government has made a historic decision. As confirmed by the Ministry of Energy in an official press releasethe country is going to reopen three gas fields in the Ekofisk area (Albuskjell, Vest Ekofisk and Tommeliten Gamma). These wells were discovered in the 1970s, produced between 1977 and 1988, and had been closed since 1998. A consortium operated by ConocoPhillips (along with Vår Energi, ORLEN and Petoro) will invest around 19 billion Norwegian crowns (about 1.5 billion pounds) to reactivate these facilities through four new subsea systems. They are expected to pump again at the end of 2028, operate until 2048 and extract between 90 and 120 million barrels equivalent. This operation will not only generate some 7,600 direct jobs during its useful life, but the extracted gas will go directly to Emden (Germany), while the condensate will travel to Teesside (United Kingdom). It’s not just about reliving the past. Oslo has also offered 70 new exploration licenses, most in extremely sensitive areas such as the icy Barents Sea, getting closer to the coast than ever. According to Norwegian government dataonly about half of the country’s estimated gas resources have been produced, so the remaining 52% is yet to be extracted. In 2025 alone, the country exported approximately 122 billion standard cubic meters of gas. International responsibility. Terje Aasland, Minister of Energy, argues that Norwegian production It is “an important contribution to energy security in Europe.” The data support this extreme dependence: In 2024, Norway exported a volume of gas equivalent to more than 30% of the total consumption of the European Union and the United Kingdom. Furthermore, the government wields an environmental argument: Globally, replacing coal with natural gas in electricity generation reduces CO2 emissions by half. They also argue that gas is the perfect backup for intermittent renewables, providing flexible power when the sun isn’t shining or the wind isn’t blowing. However, not everything is purely altruistic. While the state oil company Equinor registers historic profits, the country’s famous sovereign fund accumulates assets worth 1.9 trillion dollars. The voice of discord. According to Guardianleft-wing parties and environmental associations accuse the government of greenwashing (ecopostureo) and warn of the catastrophic risk that an oil spill near the coastline would pose. The contrast is also evident in the region itself. As Norway turns on the tap, the UK Labor government bans new drilling licenses on climate grounds. The result, just as it is revealed The Telegraphis that British production falls by 15% annually, forcing London to spend 20 billion pounds buying from Norway the energy that it refuses to extract from its own waters. The European dilemma of Oslo. Norway is fully aware of its hypocrisy and is trying to compensate for it with cutting-edge technology. The country inaugurated Northern Lightsthe first large commercial underwater warehouse in Europe. This project injects liquefied CO2 from European industries into the Aurora reservoir, 2,600 meters below the seabed. It is their way of showing that they can extract fossil fuels and, at the same time, lead the way in decarbonization technology. However, Norway has the resources and technology, but lacks direct political decision-making power. as he prays the maximum in Brussels: “If you’re not at the table, you’re on the menu.” The umbilical cord that unites Norway with Europe It is physical and politicalsince it has a vast network of underwater gas pipelines. This mutual dependence has reopened a debate that seemed settled: Should Norway enter the European Union? Although the population rejected accession in 1972 and 1994, the current geopolitical isolation in the face of giants such as China, the United States and Russia is forcing both Norway and its neighbors (Iceland and Switzerland) to reconsider whether they should sacrifice sovereignty in exchange for sitting at the table where their main market is governed. The fossil sunset. Norway has perfected the art of looking to the future with pockets full of the past. The country has become the giant that heats the homes of a scared and war-torn Europe, squeezing an outdated energy model to finance an ultra-developed and clean welfare state. As the financial analyst Thina Saltvedt stated: for the BBC: “More and more people realize that there is a sunset on the horizon. But it’s going to be painful.” For now, while that climatic sunset arrives, Europe has decided to postpone the cold by turning on, once again, the old Norwegian boilers in the North Sea. Image | Norskpetroleum Xataka | No more greeting the driver: Norway launches the first bus where there is not a single human in control

In two years, pork became 29% cheaper on farms and 7% more expensive in supermarkets. The question is obvious

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When we go to the supermarket for fruit, meat, fish or any other food we find labels that inform us of their prices, but that figure is only the last in a long (and complex) chain of costs in which not all the links move at the same pace. That is the idea that they wanted to emphasize the farmers on account of pork: according to their calculations, they charge 29% less today than in 2024 while the supermarkets sell it to us 7% more expensive. The question is obvious: where is this differential, which according to industry estimates has given a jump of 179%? What has happened? That the Coordinator of Farmers and Ranchers Organizations (COAG) just report “the growing gap” between what farms charge for pork and the prices that end customers end up paying in supermarkets. After analyzing the market for two years (from April 2024 to the same month of 2026) and calculate what is called the Price Index at Origin and Destination (IPOD), the agricultural organization has detected two trends that move in opposite directions in the production chain: while ranchers charge less for their product today than two years ago, supermarkets sell it at a higher price. How much more expensive? COAG assures that in April 2024, farmers received 1.83 euros for each kilo of pork. In April 2026 (latest data available) this indicator had dropped to €1.3/kg. The striking thing is that (always according to COAG data) the “destination price”which the consumer pays in the supermarket, evolved in the opposite direction. From €6.45/kg in 2024, it went to €6.9/kg. What does that mean? Basically, while producers saw the price of their goods decline by 28.9%, the rates at which meat is sold in supermarkets grew by 6.9%. Are there more indicators? Yes. The organization not only records the rates that are charged at one time or another. It also calculates the “farm-supermarket differential,” an indicator that basically shows how wide the margin is that separates both ends of the production chain. Their conclusion is even more revealing: while in 2024 the differential was 252%, last month it rose to 431%. The COAG speaks already of “a growing and unjustified gap between what the rancher charges and what the final consumer pays” in the supermarket. “The data show that the drop in the price at origin has not been passed on to the consumer at any time. Quite the opposite: while the rancher was suffering a continued drop in income throughout 2025 and early 2026, the price in the supermarket not only remained stable, but continued to grow,” argues the coordinator, who denounces the effect of this double trend: “A net transfer of income from the producer to the distribution chain and the meat industry.” What do the supermarkets say? Coincidence or not, the COAG report It comes just a few days after Asedas, the Spanish Association of Distributors, Self-service and Supermarkets, publicly complained of the “systematic distortions” and “simplistic approaches” that are often used when analyzing the prices that govern the different phases of the production chain. A speech that “generates confusion” and leads to thinking about “hidden intermediaries.” “There are no abusive margins, the price of the final product is fully justified by real costs, risks assumed and investments made,” they argue from the association, which has presented a study precisely on how to “precisely” compare origin-destination prices. In the analysis, prepared by Manuel Hidalgo, professor of Economics at the Pablo de Olavide University, it is appointment among others the IPOD made by COAG. “It constitutes the most paradigmatic example of how a methodologically deficient approach can generate distorted perceptions about the real functioning of the agri-food chain.” What do they argue? The study signed by Hidalgo warns that the IPOD, “far from providing clarity to the debate, introduces significant distortions” and is based on “a conceptually erroneous premise: the idea that the agri-food chain can be analyzed through a simple binary comparison between two points.” The economist warns of “value creation processes” and remember that more actors than farms and supermarkets participate in the chain that brings food from the fields to the tables. Throughout the report, Hidalgo denounces other errors, such as comparing the lowest prices at origin with “the highest observed” on the shelves, that there are comparisons based on unrepresentative samples or that gross margin and net profit are wrongly equated. And what do they propose then? Alternatively, the economist poses a calculation formula that exemplifies with several products. One of them is olive oil, which is tracked from its price at origin (€2.35/l) to that applied in stores (€7.5/l). In between, it indicates the transformation and distribution phases, during which the oil incorporates an “added value” of €5.15 and a commercial margin. “This increase is not speculation, but the sum of necessary services,” concludes the analysis, presented by Asedas and Caea. What’s happening with the market? Beyond the interpretations of some and others about where the margin of money that separates what is paid on farms and in supermarkets ends, one thing is clear: the Spanish pork market is going through a complex moment. Farmers have been greatly affected by the cases of African swine fever detected at the end of last year in Catalonia, which made China ban the entry gender from Barcelona. In general, the data from the Interporc employer association show that in 2025 exports generally fell by 3.4% annually, dragging down turnover, which contracted by 300 million euros. The impact of swine fever it didn’t take long in letting yourself feel with price drops and the search for new markets. A complex scenario that, months later, was followed by the hangover from the Iran war, which, as in many other sectors (including agricultural ones) was felt with an increase in price of fuels. With this backdrop, and for the sake of a more precise ‘photo’ of what is happening with prices, COAG demands something else from the Government: that it publish updated … Read more

burial mounds from 5,000 years ago

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In 1991, an exceptional drought in the United Kingdom caused them to suddenly appear from the air strange patterns in crop fields that until then seemed completely normal. The archaeologists discovered which were the traces of settlements and structures buried for centuries, revealed only because the plants grew differently on what was underground. An ordinary field that was not so field. From the road, the bohemian farm fieldsCzech Republic, seem completely normal. For decades it was assumed that intensive agriculture had erased any trace of the past. However, beneath that seemingly uniform surface hid a much more complex reality. What seemed like a land without history has turned out to be a intact archaeological map on a massive scale. The discovery: 5,000-year-old burial mounds under the plow. Now, the use of advanced technologies has allowed us to discover dozens of burial mounds Neolithic, some with 5,000 years old. These structures, known as long barrowswere some of the first large-scale funerary monuments in central Europe. Not only that. The most striking thing is that they are not visible to the naked eye and have remained hidden for centuries under cultivated fields. His recent identification changes the perception of these landscapes, which go from being agricultural spaces to authentic historical sites. See without digging: the technology that has made it possible. The researchers counted from the Institute of Archeology of the University of Wrocław that the discovery has not occurred through traditional excavations, but thanks to the combination of various detection techniques remote. Aerial photographs, crop growth analysis, magnetometry and laser scanning have allowed detect invisible patterns from the ground. Each method provides a different layer of information, revealing everything from minimal changes in topography to buried structures. Together, these tools have rebuilt a prehistoric landscape complete without the need to remove the soil. A landscape organized between the living and the dead. Beyond the mounds, researchers have identified thousands of associated structuresincluding settlement areas. The data shows a clear separation between inhabited spaces and funerary spaces. Apparently, Neolithic communities deliberately located their cemeteries on the margins, hundreds of meters away from their homes. This organization reveals a conception of the territory where daily life and death occupied differentiated spaces. Rituals that have been repeated for centuries. Plus: the mounds were not isolated places or for occasional use. Evidence suggests these areas were reused for generations as ritual points. Communities returned to them again and again, thus maintaining their meaning over time. In other words, this turns these monuments into symbolic nuclei within the landscape, more than simple burials. Thousands of footprints under the same field. The study has identified about 3,000 archaeological elements in a relatively limited area, indicating a much higher density of prehistoric activity than previously thought. These are not, therefore, isolated finds, but rather a complete system that includes homes, structures and ritual spaces. In this way, the current agricultural landscape hides a complex network of human occupation. Of punctual discovery of a new way of looking. Beyond the discovery itself, possibly the most relevant thing is what it implies for archeology and science, because even in lands exploited for centuries, the past is still readable if the right tools are used. In fact, the approach allows us to reconstruct not only objects or tombs, but the entire organization of ancient societiessuggesting along the way that many other seemingly “empty” landscapes could also be hiding similar stories. Image | MOs810 In Xataka | About to close, this remote mine in the Polar Circle has found a 2 billion-year-old yellow diamond that weighs 158 carats In Xataka | While building a tunnel, workers came across something unusual in Sweden: not one, not two, but six centuries-old shipwrecks.

Samsung just surpassed TSMC for the first time in eight years. The problem is that it is a mirage

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We are in the middle of the results presentation season. Listed companies share how the last fiscal period went and, although it sounds boring, it allows us to learn interesting details about the business. For example, Apple thinks that the components crisis is going to get much worsebut also where the companies are. Samsung is one of those that can show the most chest due to its good results this beginning of 2026so good that it has achieved for the first time in eight years look face to face at your great rival in chip manufacturing: TSMC. The asterisk is that it is a mirage. a fortune. As we read in the South Korean media The Chosun Dailythe semiconductor division of Samsung Electronics is in luck. During the first quarter of this year, they achieved sales worth 81.7 trillion won with an operating profit of 53.7 trillion won. It is the first time that the division has achieved an operating profit of more than 50 billion won, but the most curious thing is the enormous leap they have made since last year. In the same period in 2025, Samsung reported sales of 44 trillion won with an operating profit of 16.4 trillion won. In fact, the company has earned more in these three months than during all of 2025. to the podium. This best performance has placed the South Korean company as the second best performing semiconductor company in the world. Who is above? Your best friend: Nvidia. The company that is the glue of AI reported an operating profit of 66 trillion won in this period and the two have gone hand in hand in this period. Memory (of course). Samsung got a little lost in the memory race for AI due to the good work of its great rival in this segment, also South Korean SK Hynix. However, he did not waste time and took the opportunity to research how to create the best HBM4 memory modules. This is the high-bandwidth memory that is used by artificial intelligence platforms such as those from Nvidia. In fact, a few weeks ago we told how Samsung had managed to convince Nvidia so much as to AMD to choose their HBM4 chips. Thanks to that impulse, dump all your production to memories for artificial intelligence equipment (regardless of what happens with the consumer market), the company has managed to see sales grow by 69.16% year-on-year and operating profits soar by 756.1%. In fact, the South Korean media points out that, even taking into account the number of devices that Samsung manufactures, the semiconductor division is the one that represented 93.8% of the company’s total operating profit. Very far away. Now, there is an even more interesting fact. All that amount of money has made Samsung the only semiconductor company that comes close to Nvidia, even surpassing, by far, the largest global semiconductor foundry: the Taiwanese TSMC. However, although the South Koreans’ goal is to dethrone the Taiwanese, things are going to have to change a lot because they are very far away in terms of market share. Because Samsung is making a lot of money, but there is a huge gap when it comes to contract chip manufacturing for external customers. This means that Nvidia, Apple and many others continue to come to TSMC first than to Samsung to manufacture its chips. Putting it down with numbers, it is estimated that TMSC took 70% of the market share last year compared to Samsung’s 7%. The plan. And there is a problem in all this: the AI ​​superboom. Because Samsung is doing great selling its memory to hyperscalersbut it is not attracting clients at the same rate and, if at some point the memory market deflates, accounts will begin to decrease. Samsung is moving to prevent this from happening by opening new chip manufacturing plants, partnering with American companies on American soil to develop the market outside Asia and flirting with being the foundry that manufactures chips for Nvidia or Apple in the United States. Other sectors. It is evident that the semiconductor arm is going like a rocket, but… what happens with the rest? On mobile and networks, Samsung reported sales of 38.1 trillion won with an operating profit of 2.8 trillion won. This is where investment comes into play. 6G networksbut also recent releases such as those of the family Galaxy S26 that they have not left as much money in the coffers due to increases in memory costs (Samsung already pointed out that They were not going to favor their own division and that if memory is more expensive, it is for everyone). In Display (TVs and monitors), sales fell 14% year-on-year with operating profits of 400 billion won due to the price of RAM, among other factors, and home appliances had an operating profit of 200 billion won. It is obvious where the goose that lays the golden eggs is and it is not surprising that Samsung wants to exploit it thoroughly. Image | Applied Materials In Xataka | The ratio of CPU to GPU in data centers is approaching 1:1. Intel knows exactly what that means

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