years

For years we have seen dolphins swim towards orcas without fear. Now technology has found out why

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Until very recently, marine biology had an unwritten rule about the North Pacific: the orcas are the queens and dolphins, at best, a nuisance; and at worst, food for the orcas. However, science suggests that we were really wrongsince orcas and white dolphins have been caught collaborating with each other. It’s not a casual interaction.. It is a coordinated hunting strategy to catch the elusive Chinook salmon, documented for the first time thanks to a technological arsenal that includes drones and subjective cameras attached to the animals themselves. This is something that has been demonstrated in the study Led by Sarah Fortune, it focuses on northern resident killer whales, a subspecies that feeds exclusively on fish. For five years, researchers were seeing something that didn’t add up: the dolphins weren’t running away from the orcas, but rather deliberately swimming toward them. A collaboration with meaning. And these two species, which in theory should be far apart, do not collaborate just for the sake of it, but for a common good: the food. Dolphins, faster and more agile, act as scouts, locating schools of salmon. The orcas, with their brute strength and size, are responsible for the final capture of the largest specimens, impossible for a dolphin to hunt alone. The result? A shared feast. The orcas have been observed dividing the prey and allowing the dolphins to feed on the scraps and pieces that come off, in a kind of food “non-aggression pact.” Something that escapes everything we knew until now. How they discovered it. Observing this from a boat is really complicated, since seeing what happens underwater is almost impossible. To achieve this, the Fortune team used CATS tags. Some devices adhere to the orcas using suction cups and are like biological black boxes. They have the ability to record high-definition video in the deep sea, capture the acoustics around them and also have accelerometers and magnetometers to record depth and movement. A complete technological set that allowed us to obtain 258 documented events of dolphins interacting near the heads of the orcas. A silent mode. The acoustic analysis revealed the most fascinating fact about the intelligent behavior of these cetaceans. the orcasfamous for their complex use of echolocation for huntingreduced their own clicks and whistles when dolphins were present. The researchers’ hypothesis is clear: the orcas are outsourcing the sonar. They let the dolphins do the noisy work of finding the fish and they just listen and follow their marine “hunting dogs.” It is a brutal energy optimization. The orcas are saved the metabolic cost of searching and the dolphins gain protection and access to giant salmon that their jaws couldn’t process alone. The salmon crisis. This alliance may not be entirely natural, but rather a forced adaptation to a situation of food scarcity. Something that has meant that two predators have to learn to tolerate each other and cooperate to survive. Images | Vidar Nordli-Mathisen In Xataka | Sharks are disappearing off the southwest coast of South Africa. Scientists have a theory: killer whales

a list of New Year’s resolutions

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We tend to think that our body is like a machine that it wears out with use and the passing of the years. It is undoubtedly a mechanistic vision that is similar to seeing our joints like a hingeDNA as an instruction manual that does not vary as it is ‘imprinted in stone’ from birth. However, everything can change to lengthen our life. The habits of life. That at the beginning of each year we make a list headed by a change in the lifestyle habits we have, is certainly not a crazy idea. all because science knows that our habits do not burn calories or relax us, but rather they reprogram our genes. To this end, there are many published studies that offer us a general idea of ​​how exercise, sleep and social relationships act as “genetic activators” that can lengthen our life, or at least live it with fewer diseases. Exercise as a security patch. For years, the recommendation to play sports focused on having a healthier heart that pumped better. We now know that the impact is much deeper: reaches our cells and DNA. This is what different studies point out that show that exercise modulates DNA methylation. To understand this word, we can imagine DNA as a fuse box, and methylation are those switches that turn the lights on and off at home. Well, taking this into account, a sedentary lifestyle keeps the biological fuses that promote cellular aging active. A way to stay young. But the opposite happens when we have an active life with moderate physical activity: these changes in DNA are reversed so that our muscle looks much younger. And taking care of our cells is taking care of ourselves, since their aging causes us to age too. This is something that has been seen in an analysis of 3,000 human muscle sampleswhich confirms that those people more fitness They have “younger” genetic and gene expression profiles. But when there is inactivity we do not remain as if nothing had happened, but rather induces aging profile. Loneliness and chronic stress. If exercise optimizes our DNA to be younger, chronic stress and feeling alone completely corrupts the system. And when the body detects a hostile environment it activates a very clear defense mode: it increases pro-inflammatory particles. And when we talk about inflammation, nothing good can be behind, since it means tissue destruction and also being more prone to contracting diseases such as viral infections, which also leads to accelerated immune aging. The light. We live in a constantly enlightened societyand our body does not have its updated genetics for this, since it is still anchored in a time where there were no televisions, screens or anything. Only darkness at night on the street and also in the houses. And the application of light at different times of the day It has a consequence that we have already talked about: lack of melatonin. The problem is that melatonin is not just the “sleep hormone”; It is a biological signal that tells the body that it is night. By suppressing it, especially with short-wave or blue light from screens, we cause a chronodisruption. That is, we break the internal clock that we all have. It’s a problem. Melatonin directly affects the regulation of such important aspects as glucose levels and also blood pressure. But above all it prevents the brain “cleaning” that is done at night when we sleep to eliminate particles that They greatly influence diseases as relevant as Alzheimer’s. Social relations. Perhaps the most surprising point of recent research is how Interacting with other human beings affects our biology at a molecular level. It’s not just about “feeling good,” but social interactions promote genetic regulation. What has been seen is surprising: it improves the regulation of blood pressure and slows down the aging of the immune system. Aspects that logically the longer they delay, the better quality of life it will give us. Images | Gabin Vallet In Xataka | The promise of 120 years is dismantled: biology sets a life ceiling that is quite difficult to break

60 years ago they had to literally “slice” code into punched cards

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Nowadays, programmers have countless resources when developing their creations. It was even before the revolution of AI and vibe coding. “Click code” is complex, but at least it is relatively comfortable thanks to modern integrated development environments (IDE) that facilitate programming in all types of languages. Not only that: programming is free, and any relatively modest PC can do it, although AI assistants have increased costs. Half a century ago things were very different, and those who dedicated themselves to programming did so with significant obstacles. There were no personal computers, access to mainframes and servers was only for the privileged and there were not even monitors on which to see how you programmed. Everything was much more artisanal and uncomfortable, and punched cards are the legacy of an era that shows that any past time was not always better. Who needs a screen? I explained it in a Foone Twitter threada technology collector and historian who recounted how programmers got by in 1962. To begin with, those programmers had a very different image than the young people who today create giant companies from scratch with flip-flops in their college dorm room or a garage. These programmers tended to be adults who also dressed in a jacket and tie: the ways were different because to access this world one had to work for large companies, the only ones where you could have access to a mainframe of the time. The example that this technological historian gave was that of IBM 7090one of the first computers based on transistors and not on vacuum tubes, like its predecessor, the IBM 709. That was a revolution in power, because the performance of the previous one was multiplied by six and the IBM 7090 managed to execute 100,000 floating point operations per second. But as we said, to program that computer there was no interface like the current one: you did not write while seeing the code on the screen. They were also not multi-user or multi-threaded systems, so only one person could use “all” that power at a time. That made these machines very precious and very expensive assets that IBM actually rented. In 1962 he rented one of these computers for a month It cost $63,500.which with inflation would be equivalent to $421,000 today. If we do a simple division (a month has about 44,000 minutes), each minute of use of that computer would cost about 10 current dollars. In a couple of hours one had spent the same amount that a good PC or laptop costs today, for example. This imposed clear restrictions when using these machines, because time was money in them. That’s where punched cards came into play, which had a capacity of 80 characters each, the maximum size of a line, although curiously the normal thing was to use only the first 72 characters and not go beyond there. The IBM template allowed you to program on paper without going overboard. To punch the cards, a special machine was used, which for example was manufactured by IBM itself and which could be mechanical or, if they were more modern, electromechanical. The idea was simple: the characters that someone typed on that machine were “translated” on the punched card, where perforations were made according to the characters on each line. To program, you didn’t sit down at that electromechanical machine and start typing commands without stopping. Instead the program was written by hand or typed. IBM had prepared templates that made it possible not to get lost and to avoid exceeding the number of characters per line. Wait, it took a while to run your program This meant that a program with all its lines ended up occupying a stack or deck of punched cards on which were all the instructions of the program, which also had to be perfectly ordered in the appropriate sequence. That deck of punched cards was given to the computer operators, who inserted them along with a task control card that told the system how and for how long it had to be executed, for example. Other programs could be in run queue (remember, it was one job at a time, and other programmers also used the same system), so it wasn’t just arriving and executing. This is what a computer program looked like in the 60s. That program could take a long time to complete its execution, so the programmer did not wait for the result to appear, but rather the operator left both the deck and the printed result in a small cubicle where the programmer could then access to pick it up. The problem, of course, is that the program could be wrong, not work or give an unexpected output. In that case, the error had to be detected, the punched card or cards that caused the error corrected, and the program run again. There were striking advances at that time such as being able to convert punched cards into stored programs on magnetic cassette tapessomething that made the reading of those punched cards faster. That was basically the process that programmers followed in their daily lives, who usually used FORTRAN or COBOL in their programs. These machines were used, for example, for the development of projects such as CTSS (Compatible Time-Sharing System), one of the first operating systems that was programmed by the MIT Computing Center. They were also used by NASA for the Mercury and Gemini space missions, and in fact an IBM 7904 was also used to run the flight planning software on the Apollo missionsbecause it had not yet been programmed for the new System/360 that had been acquired for NASA. There were also more curious applications that are still being explored today: in 1962, mathematicians Daniel Shanks and John Wrench were pioneers in using these computers for mathematical calculations and calculated the first 100,000 decimals of π. A year earlier, another mathematician, Alexander Hurwitz, used an IBM 7090 to discover the two largest prime numbers … Read more

In the last three years, Spain has gained 1.2 million singles. In exchange it has added… 105,000 married people

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Spain is (increasingly) a country of singles. Although there are still more married than divorced, separated, widowed or people without an ‘official’ partner, the latest statistics from the INE reveal that the sum of these last categories already exceeds that of those who have said ‘yes I want’. Logical if you take into account that in the last three years the number of married people has grown by 0.5% while the number of single people shot up by 9.2% and the number of divorced people by another 8.8%. These are data that must be handled with some caution, but they show that something is changing. New times, new ways of living. A country of singles. That singleness is gaining strength as a vital plan is nothing new. We have been talking about the ‘great recession’ of romantic love, spin entry of traditional courtship or even how (despite the rise in prices and the difficulty of accessing credit) more and more people You choose to buy your home alone, without sharing expenses with a partner. Despite all of the above, it is still interesting to take a look at the INE statistics on the marital status of the population, especially when (how it just happened) show a newly updated photo. Year Singles Married Widowers Separated 2024 14,532,528 19,058,788 2,909,384 3,228,054 2023 14,357,158 19,017,938 2,911,402 3,141,053 2022 14,058,103 18,877,848 2,912,811 3,049,715 2021 13,304,355 18,953,251 2,899,639 2,966,450 One figure: 14,357,158. The definitive records of the INE show that last year there were 19.06 million married people residing in Spain, 14.53 million single people, 2.91 million widowers and 3.23 million divorced and separated people. If the ‘adult’ population of the country, over 16 years of age, is taken into account, the conclusion is clear: people who have said ‘I do’ continue to represent the largest group. They assume 45.8%compared to 34.9% of singles, 7.8% of divorced people and 7% of widowers. Does the marriage last? Yes. And no. It is true that it is still the largest group if we talk about marital statuses and it is also true that there are more married people in Spain today than in 2021, but the tables from the INE leave another, much less flattering reading: the married population has grown less than the single or divorced population. In 2024 there were in Spain 105,537 marrieds more than three years earlier, representing a growth of 0.55%. If we talk about singles, their number has grown by 1.23 million people during the same period, which translates into a rebound of 9.23%. The group of divorced or separated people has gained 261,604 people in three years, with a growth that is close to 8%. Year Average age of first marriage (men) Women 2023 37 34.9 2018 35.6 33.5 2013 34.4 32.2 Beyond the INE. The INE is not the only indicator that something is changing in Spanish society. Another (also of a statistical nature) is Eurostat, which has been documenting for a long time how we get married later and later. According to your dataIn 2023, on average, Spaniards said ‘I do’ for the first time at the age of 37 and Spanish women at 34.9. It is interesting for several reasons. To begin with, because these data place Spain as the European country in which we later made relations official. If we talk about men (37 years) we are tied with Sweden, but if we focus in women (34.9 years) we are above the Nordic nation, where the average is 34.8. We not only delay our passage through the altar. He has also done it motherhood. In fact, pregnancies among women over 40 years of age have skyrocketed in recent decades to represent close to 10% of the total. The way we face our life horizon has changed so much that there is more and more leisure on offer focused on singles or it is easier, for example, to meet people who decides to buy a home without having a partner. Less ‘I do’. The trend is also reflected in the last yearbook of the Spanish Episcopal Confederation, although in their case the figures reflect religious links. In 2024 the Church registered 31,462 Catholic weddings, below the 33,500 a year before and far from the more than 110,000 in 2007. They are values ​​in line with the latest statistics from the INE, although when handling them it is advisable to keep certain keys in mind: their record only tells us about “civil statuses”, so, remember in 20Minutes Pau Miret, CED researcher, does not include those singles who have decided to change marriage for “non-marital cohabitation.” That is, settled couples who share a home and function in practice as a marriage, but choose not to make it official. Image | Ismail Hamzah (Unsplash) In Xataka | The slow but inexorable “Japanization” of Spain: births have fallen by 50% since the time of the baby boom

More than 40 years later, many still believe that the best advertisement in history was made by Apple

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In a few days there will be an anniversary that may be celebrated in some way by those most veteran or sentimental Apple fans: that of the broadcast of an advertisement so mythical that it has its own name (and what a name): ‘1984’, the first Macintosh advertisement. But not because he gets older does he become forgotten, quite the opposite. To put ourselves a little in context, the kings of consumer computing They were IBM (even with MS-DOS as the operating system), so the launch of a computer designed for easy use and a friendlier graphical interface needed a good presentation. We had to try to break a trend and beat a rival that takes the form of Big Brother in the popular spot, which we will remember now before talking about the curiosities about it. Choosing the moment The Super Bowl is an American sporting event whose millionaire audience has caused the price of a 30-second ad during the broadcast to reach the 3.4 and 4 million euros. It is the grand final of the NFL (the national football league) and also the focus of attention of which brand is the one that has invested a good pinch in starring in those seconds. It is not surprising then that the eighteenth edition of this final (that is, the one in 1984) was the moment chosen by Apple to present an advertisement that broke quite a bit with the usual and that, as we will now see, had notable figures behind the cameras. In fact, as on NPR they remember was repeatedly voted the best ad of all time when it doesn’t even show the product. The cast and the figures In the advertisement we see that the protagonists are, on the one hand, a group of people with similar features and in some way uniformed (the proletarians), and on the other hand, the athlete who ends the broadcast to which they attend (played by Anya Major). And Fred Goldberg, an account executive at the Chiat/Day advertising agency who acted as a liaison between Steve Jobs and the creatives of the ad, spoke about the cast in a book about his experience in advertising. that they remembered on CNN. The executive comments that around 75% of these actors were skinhead and “pretty unpleasant beings,” in Goldberg’s own words. He adds that there were fights and altercations and that the security personnel went with police dogs to control them and that they even harassed the leading actress. There were a total of 200 (uncontrollable) extras. The filming lasted three days (which apparently caused a lot of trouble) and they charged a total of $10,000. The official issue and the previous VIP pass The advertisement was broadcast publicly on January 22, 1984 in the Los Angeles Raiders’ final against the Washington Redskins, in which the former won 38-9 at Tampa Stadium. Although it was not strictly the first time it was broadcast, since Goldberg also says that it was previously shown to evaluate it for the contests. At that time the leaks and leaks They were not as much the order of the day as is the case today with mobile phones, but a lot of care was taken regarding the prior pass condition in petit committee so that there weren’t any. This pass was made at midnight in Twin Falls (Idaho, USA), in the KMVT studios, and the only feedback What he had was that of a television station worker, who called the agency asking what that was. In fact, in Mental Floss They spoke with Tom Frank, the person in charge of making that first showing on December 31, 1983 (after 00:00) of a 60-second version of the spot. Frank explained that he understood the choice of that small station at that time due to the small audience and that he is unaware of the fact that an incorrect date for this screening was revealed to the press, in addition to curious facts such as that they also broadcast the spot “Lemmings” (lesser known) and that he is not personally a user of Apple products. The teachers behind the cameras The announcement had to be somewhat shocking because it was the presentation of the Macintosh, considered the first personal computer with a simple user interface interaction and aimed at a more general (non-specialized) audience. And to create it not only did it have to have a striking theme, it also had to get the best staff. Not in vain was it counted on Ridley Scott for direction, who had directed films like ‘Alien’ and ‘Blade Runner’ a few years before (in 1979 and 1982 respectively). And if you have seen the second one, the advertisement will probably have reminded you of it since it has a futuristic appearance (for the moment) like said production. According to Goldberg, Steve Jobs was very enthusiastic when he was presented with this idea for a spot based on the dystopian novel ‘1984’ by George Orwell. “He (Steve Jobs) was the kind of person who, when you show him something, has a visceral reaction. He was totally into it, he really liked it” Fred Goldberg, Chiat/Day For the executive, that futuristic appearance was very appropriate for the effect they wanted to cause with the advertisement. What we see in it is a group of proletarians with shaved heads who attend to the broadcast of a message by a kind of Big Brother, in which the anniversary of “the Information Purification Directives” is celebrated, until the protagonist enters and destroys everything. The message is the following (we put the original and the translation into Spanish): “Today, we celebrate the first glorious anniversary of the Information Purification Directives. We have created, for the first time in all history, a garden of pure ideology—where each worker may bloom, secure from the pests purveying contradictory truths. Our Unification of Thoughts is more powerful a weapon than any fleet or army on earth. We are one people, … Read more

Japan had dominated total car sales for more than 20 years, until China knocked on the door

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Projections for 2025 anticipate a historic change in the global automobile industry. And as they point out data According to Nikkei China, Chinese manufacturers expect to reach approximately 27 million vehicles sold globally, surpassing the almost 25 million expected from Japanese brands. It is the first time in more than two decades that Japan has lost absolute leadership in total automobile sales. Why is it important. For more than 20 years, Japanese manufacturers have dominated global vehicle sales figures. Toyota, Honda, Nissan and company have become a global reference in sales volume and efficiency over all these years. That China is going to overtake them reflects the mammoth change that is happening in the automobile industry, with the Asian giant conquering every possible corner at a speed that is difficult for the rest of the competitors to digest. In detail. According to data from Nikkei China based on information from manufacturers and figures from S&P Global Mobility until November 2025, China’s growth in this sector will be 17% year-on-year. The figures include both passenger and commercial vehicles, and include both domestic sales and exports. The Chinese domestic market represents around 70% of these total sales, where new energy vehicles (pure electric and plug-in hybrids) already account for almost 60% of passenger cars sold. Brands such as BYD and Geely have entered the global top 10 manufacturers by sales this year, while Chery has consolidated as one of the largest exporters in the country. Exports support growth. The domestic market in China is a jungle. Overcapacity and increasingly fierce price competition They are making a dent in the country, which is why Chinese manufacturers have intensified their international expansion. In Southeast Asia, traditionally dominated by Japanese brands, Chinese sales will grow by 49% to reach around 500,000 units, according to data from the report. In Europe, despite the tariffs imposed Regarding electric vehicles, it is expected that there will be sales of about 2.3 million vehicles, benefiting from the fact that many plug-in hybrids are exempt from additional taxes. Emerging markets also joinand the figures indicate that Africa will register 230,000 vehicles sold (32% more) and Latin America will reach 540,000 units (33% more). A turning point. Japan reached its peak sales in 2018 with almost 30 million units. In just three years, the eight million vehicle lead it had over China in 2022 has completely evaporated. Japanese brands have lost market share in key Asian markets and are struggling to adapt to the electric transition, where they have arrived late. Toyota maintains its strength in segments such as pickups and is committed to carbon-neutral combustion engines (via renewable fuels) and hybrid technology, but in China, the largest market in the world and capital of the electric car, that approach is costing them dearly. Not even Honda, Nissan and Mitsubishi, which now they collaborate on software and electrical infrastructure, can withstand the storm coming from China, a country that has specialized above all in batteries, software and production speed. And now what. Japan has a great challenge ahead if it wants to recover ground in electrification and stop the erosion in markets where until recently they dominated strongly. China does not have a bed of roses either, since its challenge will be to maintain the pace in a context of growing protectionism, with the United States and Canada Tariffs of more than 100% already apply to Chinese electric companies, and those of the European Union of up to 45.3%. Things are going to be interesting. Cover image | BYD and Xiaomi In Xataka | Ferdinand Porsche devised the first car with an electric motor in each wheel. Today a Chinese manufacturer is going to make it possible

Exynos had been the ugly duckling of chips for years. BMW thinks the opposite.

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When choosing a high-end Samsung, the dilemma between betting on the Exynos version or the Qualcomm version has always been clear. In fact, until just a generation ago Samsung reserved its chips Exynos for the “non-Ultra” models, and provided its flagship with Snapdragon Elite on duty. Its chip division has been in crisis for almost a yearbut the latest leaks point to the comeback being close. Meanwhile, the company has a plan to revitalize the income of this business area: bet on the automotive industry. bmw. According to Korean sourcesBMW has chosen the Samsung Exynos Auto V720 to give life to a very important vehicle for the German brand: the next iX3. It will be the first electric car to use this platform. One of the current wars in the automotive sector is precisely to lead in infotainment systems, and there the processor plays a fundamental role. The Exynos Auto V720. This processor will be manufactured in a five nanometer process, and its announcement will be imminent according to the source. It is not the first time that BMW has opted for the Korean company, since flagship vehicles such as those of the Series 7 of the company have been betting on platforms such as the Exynos Auto V920 since 2023. Why is it important. Samsung’s Samsung LSI (Large Scale Integration) division is responsible for the design and development of chips and solutions for semiconductors. It is not only responsible for manufacturing Exynos processors, but also ISOCELL image sensors or the 5G modems themselves. Without a detailed shock plan, the data on the table tells us of estimated losses of 1 trillion won in 2024, a result that was partly due to the inability to integrate the processor Exynos 2500 in the Galaxy S25 series. Beyond smartphones, a crucial division for Samsung, fully entering the automotive world is an important step to clean up its accounts. In fact, Samsung’s move goes beyond simply supplying the Exynos Auto. Recently, Harman (Samsung subsidiary) agreed to purchase ZF Friedrichshafen’s ADAS unit to reinforce its presence in advanced assistance systems (cameras, radars, critical computing, etc.). Interior of the BMW 7 Series The software war. The current war in the automotive world is not about the engine, It’s in the software and the screens. It’s getting to that pointthat manufacturers such as Volkswagen have come to declare that “they are not phones, they are cars”, as an argument to reintroduce the haptic buttons that their customers missed so much. The European Union itself has had to take action on the matter, and the new Euro NCAP will be valued very positively the return of physical buttons. Despite this, screens are here to stay. Image | bmw

With the “late” eating into the Christmas holidays, a new phenomenon gains weight in Spain: the Australian New Year’s Eve

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The year changes with the twelve bells midnight on December 31st. That has no discussion. What is questionable is that the New Year has to be celebrated at night. If you are more of a daytime person than a night person, if you don’t want to go to bed in the wee hours of the morning, hungover and resigned to spending the first morning of 2026 tossing and turning in bed… Why not bring the party forward a few hours? What if instead of gathering our family and friends for dinner we meet at noon? What if we ring in 2026 (or any other New Year) when they do it in Sydney, where the 12 bells ring when we are having lunch? What has happened? Bells, grapes, firecrackers, the first advertisement of the year, the trappings of the star presenter on duty, whether the layer of Ramonchu either the dress of the Pedroche… In Spain, New Year’s Eve has its traditions (apparently immutable), but that does not mean that more and more people choose to rethink how and especially when they celebrate the change of year. In fact, for a long time there has been a way to celebrate it that has gained followers: “Australian New Year’s Eve”. And what does it mean? It sounds exotic, but it’s actually very simple. The “Australian New Year’s Eve” consists of nothing more nor less than bringing forward the celebration of the New Year by a few hours. There is a 10-hour lag between Madrid and Sydney, which means that while in mainland Spain we sit at the table to eat in the most populated city in Oceania, there are in full transition of year. It is a simple geographical curiosity, but there are those who have seen in it a perfect hook to rethink when we celebrate the New Year in this corner of the planet. Instead of doing it at midnight, after an extensive dinner, they join the “Australian New Year’s Eve” and uncork the cava when the residents of Sydney or other regions of Australia, where they govern, do so. multiple time zones. One celebration does not have to exclude the other (a Spaniard can celebrate the New Year at 2:00 p.m. and 12:00 a.m.), but it does help to shift the focus away from the night. It is similar to the “pre-grapes” that have been celebrated for years, but in a somewhat different way: with food, parties and using Australian time as a pretext. But… Is it successful? Yes. At least in certain regions of Spain, where the concept of “Australian New Year’s Eve” seems to have caught on. A quick search shows chronicles about early celebrations in Teruel, Castellon, Valencia, The Palm…but if there is a place where the ‘Australian-style’ party has found fertile ground, it is Alicante. It has been organized there for a long time a few years and has expanded to several municipalities. The celebration has become so profound, in fact, that it moves so many people in restaurants and at night parties. So many people? The newspaper recently Information asked that same question to hoteliers and found a surprising response. According to the president of the Alicante Restaurant Association (ARA) reservations for lunch and dinner on December 31 are already practically equal in number, which shows that more and more people are bringing forward the celebration of the New Year. What’s more, part of the nighttime demand appears to be shifting to midday, when customers find more diversity in exchange for cheaper rates. “In the evening pack, the normal thing is set menus, which are somewhat more expensive,” says the hotelier. Prices are around 100 or 110 euros, practically double that of lunch, which is also usually served without a set menu and includes a drink. At first glance it may seem that restaurants are losing, but the reality is that if the daily clientele and the dinner clientele are added, businesses gain demand. Furthermore, New Year’s Eve menus may be more expensive, but they also entail more expenses for the establishments, which reduces their final profitability. From another association of hoteliers in the province of Alicante, Apeha, confirm There are starting to be more reservations at midday than at night. Is it just business? No. The phenomenon is not only seen in bars and restaurants. Daytime celebrations, including symbolic grapes, music and “chimes” are also celebrated with institutional support of the town councils. In Senija they present them for example as “Bells in the Sun” and in Crevillent the City Council advertises both the “Australian Chimes” as the “New Year’s Eve Party”. They are not unique or isolated cases. In Alicante you can find other towns that have taken their festivals beyond nighttime hours. Why this success? The big question. Costs aside, Apeha provides a key piece of information: the regular customer who books a restaurant on the 31st at noon is usually, clarifypeople of a certain age or with small children. “It’s not so much young people who go to clubs as people who prefer to go out at noon to get home at a productive time.” The truth is that the “Australian New Year’s Eve” is not an isolated phenomenon. It coincides with two others that are going in the same direction. The first is the afternoon boom. As the supply (and demand) of leisure diversifies and is no longer monopolized at night, more and more people choose to visit bars and clubs earlier. Instead of going out at night he does it in the afternoon, which is felt at Christmas itself. “Australian New Year’s Eve” may be expanding, but so is the “Good Afternoon” and “New Year’s Afternoon”advanced versions of Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve. More partying, less cooking. The other trend has to do with how we organize our Christmases and our habits in the kitchen. We start enjoying before December 24 or 31 because we are less willing to spend hours in the kitchen to prepare … Read more

why the specimens of the 21st century no longer look anything like those of a thousand years ago

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In recent decades, the image of the unchanging bear of wild nature has given way to a different reality. Science is now watching as the bears They are changing their physiognomytheir DNA and their way of interacting with the world in order to survive two great pressures: the persecution of humans and the climate change. The Italian experiment. The most surprising case is that of Apennine brown bear in Italy. For centuries, this animal has lived on a biological island surrounded by the civilization that has managed change the animal both physically and genetically. This is something that science itself has collected and that has been seen in the weight of the animal, since this animal weighs an average of between 140 and 210 kiloswhile their closest relatives usually weigh 350 kilos. And this was not a conscious selection, because for generations humans systematically eliminated the largest, boldest and most conflictive specimens. Those that remained in the ecosystem were the smallest and also the most docile specimens that began to reproduce. Selection of the shy ones. This reality connects with the theories of Alejandro Martínez-Abraín on “shy-selected” populations or selected for their shyness. According to this concept, historical hunting not only reduced the number of predators, but acted as a psychological filter. We have pruned the personality of the species, eliminating the brave and leaving behind a lineage of animals whose main characteristic is the extreme avoidance of human beings. with the aim of not giving us problems. Also in the Cantabrian Sea. While the character of the bear changes in Italy, if we come to Spain it is easy to see how we are breaking the calendar of our own species. In the north of the peninsula, climate change has begun to dismantle hibernationone of the most sacred biological processes of the species. Data collected since the mid-1990s shows a clear trend: females are leaving their nests earlier and earlier due to rising spring temperatures. In this way, what once represented an awakening regulated by biology and food availability at the end of April or May, is now an uncertain exit conditioned by shorter winters. The hidden biological cost. By leaving the burrow early, mothers with babies face a mountain that has not yet fully awakened because spring has not arrived. In this way, the bear cubs, vulnerable and with a developing immune system, are exposed to pathogens and also to the attack of adult males that also activate early. In this way, climate change is not only warming the air, it is forcing the bear to live in a time lag with its own ecosystem. Something that also adds to the scarcity of resources that can compromise their survival. In the Arctic. Here the situation has reached an almost science fiction level of genomic complexitysince the subpopulation of polar bears in southeastern Greenland has become the living laboratory of adaptation to global warming. These animals live in an environment that no longer has the sea ice necessary to hunt seals for much of the year, but they have found an emergency solution: using the glacial ice that breaks off from the fjords. Inside. The deepest adaptation they are undergoing is within their cells, as researchers point out that they have identified more than 1,500 specific fragments that are active specifically in this population. These elements seem to be altering fat metabolism, since they cannot depend on seal fat as they have until now. That is why they have to look for other sources of fat such as eggs, poultry or reindeer. To do this, their genetic profile is changing to allow them to process terrestrial energy sources, a metabolic transformation that could be the species’ last line of defense against an ice-free Arctic. Which is what is being achieved with the increase in the Earth’s temperature. A new coexistence. This global metamorphosis poses a management dilemma for the 21st century, since with the abandonment of rural areas and the boom in nature tourism Encounters between humans and bears are more frequent than ever. But this is a problem, since although the ‘shy’ ones have remained in nature, the lack of fear they have can reverse the trend of security that we have before them. That is why the key to the future is not only in protecting the animal, but in managing its behavior. The goal is to achieve what they call “zero habituated bears,” which implies the use of more aggressive measures: from the use of firecrackers and rubber bullets to reinforce fear of humans, to surgical waste management to prevent bears from seeing towns as easy food. Great plasticity. This is a great characteristic of bears as we have seen, since they have reduced their size in Italy, they come out of hibernation earlier in Spain and they are more omnivorous in the Arctic. But this “redesign” is also a reminder of our omnipotence: even when we try to save species, we end up altering their very essence so that they can survive on a planet we have made in our image. Images | Mark Basarab In Xataka | Faced with the largest flood of wild bears in memory, Japan has taken a measure: emergency hunts

2,000 years ago, Seneca said that “it is not that we have little time to live, but that we keep wasting it.” Science agrees

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20 centuries ago, a man from Cordoba who had been quaestor, praetor, senator and consul of Rome and tutor to Emperors sat down to write a small treatise on the brevity of life. That was where he wrote that “it is not that we have little time to live, but that we waste a lot.” That phrase has spanned decades and decades, sticking in the minds of thousands of people and illuminating their lives. Or, simply, filling out internet pages that we have learned to consume as if it were any other entertainment product. A very popular one, by the way. In recent months, the Internet has been filled with Seneca quotes. The head of this report is one of them, but not the only one (“If you want to find true happiness, do not look for it in the great or the new, but in the serenity that simplicity brings.“, “there is no favorable wind for those who do not know where they are going“, “It is not that we have little time to live, but that we waste a lot“, etc, etc. ). And it’s curious… Does it make sense to go back to types from 2,000 years ago to solve our modern-day problems? And surprisingly it may be so. That’s what Philosophy professor Christopher Gill asked himself a few years ago.What if all that philosophical gossip goes further? “To what extent can we moderns recognize in these essays a plausible response to mental illness?” he asked. His answer, after studying Stoics and Aristotelians, is that Seneca’s texts; but, in general, these “philosophical essays were designed to function as a psychological analogue of the ancient medical regime.” What we would call today “lifestyle management” or “preventive medicine.” And, therefore, beyond the ‘pop philosophy’ of recent years, it is possible to find something of value in all those classic texts. Some of value, but not everything. In 1965, when she entered the Chinese Academy of Traditional Medicine, chemist Tu Youyou entered into a very long race to analyze each and every one of the remedies that the ancient Chinese civilization had been selecting. Most of them were pure pseudoscience, of course. A mixture of superstition, credulity and placebo. However, hidden among the trickery, there were real gems. The best example is the artemisinina revolutionary treatment against malaria. A treatment that earned him the Nobel Prize in 2015. It was sold like a Nobel Prize for traditional medicine, yes; but in reality, it was a Nobel for the slow work of screening, testing and discarding by the Ningbo scientist. That is what should be done with the practical philosophy of the Greeks and Romans. And, in this case, it seems that Seneca was right. First of all, because we have systematic biases that they push us to postpone and waste time. Secondly, because much of the “lost time” is not even conscious: it is pure “cognitive friction” (interruptions, multitasking, attention waste, etc.). And finally, because, according to available evidencewhen we reduce the lack of time, well-being increases. That is to say, it is not so much that we lack time as that we do not have a “well-lived” life. How do we fit all this together? Well, very good. Because “all this”, moreover, fits into the general idea not only of Seneca’s pamphlet in which it appears; but in the general outline of Stoic philosophy. And it is worth remembering that under all the naturalistic scaffolding of the philosophy of the old Stoics there was, above all, an ethical question: an imperative to live in accordance with nature (a, by the way, very rationalist vision of nature). In this sense, the Stoics they used to pay attention to what the human being could or could not do: since you have limited control over the length of your life, you must focus on how you live it; They told us while they invited us to order our behavior through moral criteria by dint of attention and peace of mind. Image | Fabio Comperelli | Prado Museum In Xataka | What is Stoicism, the Greek philosophy from 2,000 years ago that has become fashionable again today

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