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Behind this year’s Nobel Prize in Medicine there is a whole lesson in scientific policy for Spain and it does not seem that we are going to learn it

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The Nobel Prizes arrive and, like every year, the media they are filled with reports on why Spain resists the great scientific awards of the contemporary world. And it is not a lie: the last Spaniard to win one in science, Severo Ochoa, did so 66 years ago. Being a relatively important country internationally, it is a real problem. What we did not suspect is that the Karolisnka Institute was going to make it so clear how ‘real’ this problem is. A little highlighted detail. At this point in the week, the history of the 2025 Nobel Prize in Medicine It has been counted as active and passive; But there is a detail that is worth dwelling on. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Shimon Sakaguchi discovered a subset of T lymphocytes that did not attack anyone or anything. They were a kind of “riot police” of the immune system: they suppressed the activity of other T lymphocytes. The discovery was momentous, but what came next was an enormous silence. Silence? But they just gave him the Nobel Prize! They just gave it to him now, but it was not a bed of roses. Sakaguchi’s idea made sense, but no one was quite clear why that was happening. And, in fact, many people were vehemently against his theses. It took almost a decade for two different teams to reach the same conclusion: the Japanese researcher was right and the key to everything. the problem was in the FOXP3 gene. It seems like a minor issue, but “this double discovery, the cellular discovery of Sakaguchi and the genetic discovery of Brunkow and Ramsdell, has completely changed the paradigm of immunology and has opened two great therapeutic avenues with immense potential.” The relevant question in Spain. This is all very well, but the really relevant question for our country is why in 2020, when the Nobel Prize in Chemistry awarded CRISPR, it did not follow the same logic. Because yes, there are big differences between one discovery and the other: while the former rewarded the technological tool, this one has rewarded the discovery of the fundamental scientific bases. But it is not lost on anyone that the narrative of the award is not just an explanation: it is a framework that justifies inclusions and exclusions. The “forgetfulness” of the 2020 Nobel Prize. Francis Mojica himself he explained to us that “when we discovered CRISPR, I said to myself: “this is going to be crazy in biology” and then absolutely nothing happened.” In fact, that “nothing” lasted for many years. Years in which CRISPR seemed like a scientific curiosity without much importance and working on the subject, as Mojica did, was seen as an eccentricity. And finally, when the award came, it focused on “the development of a gene editing method (CRISPR-Cas9)” and was awarded to the two researchers who discovered that we could use the mechanism to our advantage; but no one remembered the person who discovered this mechanism. And it would be naive not to ask ourselves why. Even if we cannot know what really happened (the prize selection process has been hidden for 50 years), it is a good time to compare the abysmal differences between the research policy of Spain and that of Japan. While in the country of the rising sun, it has been investing in “scientific diplomacy” since the 90s; while Spain has made some isolated effort, yes; but insufficient. This is not about creating intricate conspiracy theories. It is clear that we will not be able to say what would have happened if Francis Mojica were Japanese, but we can ask ourselves what extra-scientific factors intervene in this type of awards and what Spain is doing to value its contribution to current contemporary science. That is, not only what resources are dedicated to research; but what is Spain’s ‘soft-power’, what resources does it put to make our researchers visible, to spread favorable stories or to amplify the work of our teams. The answer to all this, I’m afraid, is “too little.” Image | Ryan Faulkner | Daniel Prado In Xataka | A Nobel with 30 years of history: the discovery of the “peacekeeping gene” that controls our defenses is the 2025 Nobel Prize in Medicine

110 years later we finally know what sank the ‘endurance’ in the Antarctic. The culprit was not the ice: it was much worse

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He Endurancethe legendary ship of Ernest Shackletonbecame a symbol of resistance and heroism after its sinking in the icy waters of the Weddell Sea in 1915. There began the myth, because during more than a centuryits end was wrapped in a halo of mystery, attributed to the lethal coup of the ice against its rudder. Now, science He has revealed That the truth was more complex and, in a way, disturbing: the ship was never prepared to survive. The myth and the truth. As we said, for more than a century, 110 years to be exact, Ernest Shackleton’s heroic story and his antarctic ice crew was accompanied by the conviction that the endurance was the wooden ship more robust of his timevictim of a fatal blow of the ice against his helm. However, Recent research They have dismantled that narrative. The thorough analysis of the wreck discovered in 2022 reveals that the ship I was convicted From the beginning: it was not a single impact that sank it, but the accumulation of compressive forces that crushed their weak structure and, very important in the final story, Shackleton I probably knew When he left for Weddell. The expedition trapped. Endurance sailed in 1914 with the ambitious plan of cross the Antarctica on footbut at the beginning of 1915 he was caught in a solid ice. For ten months the crew resisted on board until the pressures began to deform the ship. The covers were combined, the helmet vibrated with a crash and the newspapers of the sailors picked up the sound of the creak of the wood under huge forces. On October 27, 1915 Shackleton ordered to leave the shipand weeks later the helmet ended up sinking after a succession of pressure onslaught that started masts and opened the structure in two. Idealized cross sections of the first Antarctic ships. The endurance was of the type (a); The type Deutschland (B) Fortress with mud feet. Far from being the invulnerable ship of the legend, the endurance was born as a ship of Polar and Hunting Tourism of bears and morsas in the Arctic. Its design lacked the critical reinforcements to survive trapped in an icy sea: it had no diagonal beams that kept the bands of the helmet or racks that supported the machine room, its most fragile area. Over there, According to witnesses As the scientist Reginald James or Captain Frank Worsley, the iron plates combined and the soils bulging while the ice pressed incessantly. The Rudder and the keel departed, but they were not the cause but the consequence of that structural weakness. Pecio discovered in 2022 Shackleton knew it. It is one of the keys that light has seen now. The most revealing thing is that Shackleton I did not ignore Those defects. He had participated in rescues from other ships shattered by ice and advised the German Wilhelm Filchner reinforce with diagonal beams Your Deutschlandthat thus managed to survive eight months trapped. Even in a letter to his wife he admitted that the endurance was not as solid as The Nimrodthe ship of your previous expedition. Even so, He acquired it Without modifications, moved by the urgency of undertaking a colossal project in the midst of their debts, their personal failures and competition with other explorers for reaching Antarctic glory. The re -written history. He New study of Jukka Tuhkuri Disassemble the myth of the invulnerability of the endurance, showing that it was an inappropriate ship faced with a relentless environment. However, this finding does not decrease the figure of Shackleton, but it frames it With more realism: A leader who risked aware that the adventure could cost the ship, but that miraculously saved his entire crew. At a time when polar exploration was a jump of faith towards the unknown, the wreck of the endurance was not only the end of a ship, but the proof that even the stronger wood yields Before ice pressurewhile human will manages to survive where the technique fails. Shared destination. The truth is that the Endurance drama It was not an isolated episode. Decades earlier, in 1876, twelve American whales They sank in front of Alaska for lacking the necessary reinforcements against compressed ice, dragging with him the livelihood of hundreds of families. Something similar happened in 1903 with The Antarctica Swedish ship trapped and shattered in the Weddell Sea. And, in contrast, the case of Deutschland It demonstrates how simple modifications could make the difference between sinking and survival. If you want also, all these episodes draw a pattern: polar ice does not forgive improvisations or risk economies. Shackleton, with his leadership instinct, achieved what other captains They did not achieve: save all his men, although at the expense of expose them to sacrifice of a ship that had never had to face the brutality of the white continent. Image | Picryl, PicrylFalklands Maritime Heritage Trust In Xataka | More than a hundred years later, we have found the remains of Shackleton’s ‘endurance’ sunk in the Antarctic In Xataka | We have been trying to rescue the shipwrecked with the oldest computer in the world for 120 years. We just took a huge step

40 years ago three researchers insisted on blurring the borders of quantum physics, today they have won the Nobel

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It was 1935 and Erwin Schrödinger was already tired of reading nonsense. It was not a decade since the birth of modern quantum mechanics, but the world had already filled with delusional pseudophilosophical reflections on what reality really was. It was then that poor Erwin inflated his noses and decided to talk to us about his cat. The happy cat of Schrödinger. Of his cat, of a closed opaque box and, in addition, of a container with a poisonous gas. The container in question is controlled by an opening device that only works if a radioactive particle disintegrates over a certain period of time. After that period, the probability that the cat is dead is 50% and that it is also alive of 50%. “If we do not open the box,” the standard version of this ‘paradox’ tells us, “the cat will be alive and dead at the same time.” Or, in other words, we could be calm: as long as we did not open the box, the cat would not be really dead. According to many interpreters, in fact, it would be the one that opens the box that kills the cat. No one understands poor Erwin. The interesting thing about all this is that, although it has been used to the fed up to illustrate The idea of ​​quantum overlapSchrödinger used it to demonstrate how absurd it was to apply categories of quantum mechanics to the real world (macroscopic). For the Austrian physicist, the happy cat would be alive or dead regardless of the opening of the box or not. But … what if not? However, half a century after all this, there were a group of researchers from the University of Berkeley who did not have it so clear. For some years it was known that we were missing a key piece to understand the process of molecular disintegration. That is, “the ability of individual particles to disintegrate is well known” (this is, for example, the physical fact that there is Behind carbon-14); What happens is that according to what we knew about physics, that could not be. The particles should not disintegrate. Between 1984 and 1985, John Clarke, Michel H. Devoret and John M. Martinis They performed a series of experiments With a closed electrical circuit with superconductors and showed that, well, Schrödinger was wrong. How was it wrong? As I say, the intention of the cat’s mental experiment was “to demonstrate the absurdity of this situation, since the special properties of quantum mechanics usually disappear on a macroscopic scale. The quantum properties of a complete cat cannot be demonstrated in a laboratory experiment.” However, since these researchers were successful in demonstrating that the very strange properties of the quantum world can also be seen in a larger system, none of this is so clear. This explains very well people like Anthony Leggett Because, although “a macroscopic system composed of numerous pairs of Cooper remains many orders of magnitude smaller than a kitten”, the key of the experiment is that “there are phenomena that involve a large number of particles that, together, behave as they predict quantum mechanics.” A Nobel to kill a cat. “It would surprise you very much if the ball suddenly appeared on the other side of the wall. In quantum mechanics, this type of phenomenon is called a tunnel effect and is precisely the type of phenomenon that has given it the reputation of being strange and not very intuitive,” explained the award committee. That is precisely what these researchers showed that it could happen at the macroscopic level. But they did something else. And I do not mean to lay the foundations that have allowed us to create the technological system we know: from the transistors of the computer microchips that we see everywhere to quantum cryptography. No. I mean blurring the wall that separated the world from the very small with the world we know. Along the way, “they killed a cat”; But because of the gap they opened, one of the best science we have was sneaked. Image | Nobel Foundation In Xataka | Don’t call it “Nobel Prize,” call it “how Swedes are dynamiting current science”

A one million years of years suggests that the ‘homo sapiens’ does not come from Africa

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The history of human evolution is a fascinating puzzle that we lack many pieces. Each new fossil adds details, but occasionally, one of them does not fit the image we had. Or rather, It forces us to redraw the puzzle completely. This is what has just happened with the analysis of a skull of one million years old found in China, an investigation that, according to its authors, “totally changes” our understanding about when and how we arise, since I would question Our origin based in Africa. The study. Published In the prestigious Science magazinea team of scientists from China and the Museum of Natural History of the United Kingdom, a posture that the lineage of the Homo sapiens began to separate from their relatives, such as Neanderthalsat least half a million years before what was believed. And this is not a short time. The skull The protagonist of this story is the skull of Yunxian 2approximately one million years old, which was damaged. This caused that at first it was classified as the skull of a Homo erectus, One of our most primitive ancestors. But nothing is further from reality. Thanks to digital reconstruction technology, which included computerized and modeled tomographies, researchers were able to restore their original form. The analysis. Once the results were had, the surprises arrived. The skull did not belong to a Homo erectus, It showed a mixture of primitive and modern features. According to the study, Yunxian 2 is actually an early member of the clado Homo Longi, a sister species of Homo sapiens which also includes Mysterious denisovans. “Our research reveals that Yunxian 2 is not Homo erectusbut an early member of the clado Longi And it is linked to the Denisovanos, “said Professor Chris Stringer, co -director of the research.” This changes the thought a lot because he suggests that a million years ago, our ancestors had already been divided into different groups, which points to a much earlier and more complex human evolutionary division of what was believed, “he continued explaining. New temporal line. Until now, most genetic studies placed divergence between the lineage of the Homo sapiens and that of the Neanderthals about 600,000 years ago. However, this new analysis has changed everything and the dates remain as follows: Origin of the clado sapiens: It is now estimated at approximately 1.02 million years. Origin of the clado Longi: It is calculated in about 1.2 million years. Separation of both lineages: the study places the divergence between the lineage sapiens and the Longi 1.32 million years ago. This implies that three large groups of humans with large brains –Homo sapiens, Homo Longi (including denisovanos) and Neanderthals – could have coexist for almost a million years, much longer than was thought. Africa. Although the appearance of these fossils in the Asian continent can make us think that the origin of our ancestors is not in Africa as thought, we must have caution. Professor Stringer himself, one of the study authors, warns that there is not enough evidence to affirm that our species evolved in Asia instead of in Africa. The task that is now ahead is to select fossils with a similar age found in Africa and Europe and do the same study. That is why the scientific community is enthusiastic right now, but in a critical position. Dr. Aylwyn Scally, an evolutionary geneticist at the University of Cambridge, points out that both genetic and fossil -based analysis have significant uncertainties, especially when establishing such old chronologies. “More evidence is needed to be safe,” he says. What is clear is that Yunxian 2’s skull has opened a new and exciting window to our past, demonstrating that the history of human evolution is much deeper and more complex than we imagined. Images | Ranjit Pradhan In Xataka | “This is not a penguin.”

A paleontologist discovered a frozen bison for 50,000 years. Then he stewed him to eat it with vegetables

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Almost half a century ago, in the middle of the Summer of 1979the American paleontologist Dale Guthrie received one of those calls that accelerate the pulse of any fossil lover like him. Some miners had found close to Fairbanks, in Alaska, which seemed to be part of the body of a bison of the ice age. At least that was what suggested the confusing knead of hooves, legs and skin that had peeked between the mud while the operators were looking for gold. Years after that call (and after intense work through) Guthrie and his colleagues celebrated the one who has probably been one of the most delusional banquets in the history of humanity: a stew with flesh of 55,000 years. What the hell is this? Something such that Walter Roman and his family have to think about the summer of 1979, when they discovered in a mine north of Fairbanks (Alaska) something that little or nothing had to do with the gold they were looking for. While working in the area they realized that something appeared between the frozen land: the remains of what seemed like a Ancient ancient creature of tens of thousands of years. They were so surprised that they warned of the finding and the news ended up arriving at Guthriepaleontologist at the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF). Something better than gold. Guthrie had to drive about an hour On gravel roads to get to the Roman mine, but the effort was worth it. Once there he observed what they looked like muscle tissues, bones and black hair, the remains of an ancient semi -soured steparia creature between the ice. “Roman’s finding was a novelty for both. He had found an authentic mummy, an exceptional event,” I would report Years later Guthrie in one of his books. The body had peeked thanks to the force of the hose with which the miners worked, powerful enough to remove part of the frozen mud, but not to completely release the body. Seeing him Guthrie decided to finish the task to prevent the meat from breaking down. With you, the Bison Priscus. The paleontologist concluded that what he had before him was a Bison Priscusan exceptionally well -preserved steparium bison if you take into account that tens of thousands of years had lived. Unfortunately, not everything was good news. Ice accumulations prevented removing the body quickly. And the summer heat played against him. To get out of trouble Guthrie took A decision Worthy of King Solomon: he waited for a large part of the body to appear, cut what could be preserved in one of the powerful freezers of the UAF and then excavated the rest of the body that was still embedded in the icy mud, which included the head and neck of the animal. When he had all the pieces he assembled them with the help of a specialized taxidermist. Not just that. As it details An article Published in 1986 in the Magazine of the University of Alaska (UA), the researchers were responsible for preserving the bones, hairs, insects, wood fragments and plants … any fragment that would be hidden among the ice, however insignificant, to rebuild the last instant of the life of the bison. For that same reason, the geology of the area analyzed in detail, in addition to the orientation and position in which the body was. Once the work was completed they baptized the animal ‘Blue Babe’. Why ‘Blue Babe’? For a double wink. The first, to the coloration that acquired the body for the chemical reactions that occurred during the excavation. The body was covered with a layer of Vivianita that, when exposed to the air, acquired a bluish hue. The second is a reference to American folklore: Blue Babe It is the name of the blue ox that accompanies Paul Bunyan, a popular US and Canada figure, a strong and large lumberjack. A bloody story. So far the funniest part. What Guthrie and his colleagues discovered (in the excavation His wife also participatedMary Lee) when examining the body was much less enjoyable. On the back they found brands of claws and teeth that led them to conclude that Blue Babe was killed by a Panthera Leoatrxan extinct and related feline with the African lions. The beast opened the side of the bison, killing and leaving exposed vertebrae, ribs and muscles that later were responsible for devouring other carnivores. A first radiocarbon dating of a skin fragment led them to think that this event occurred some 36,000 yearsalthough subsequent studies have proven that they fell short and traced it to 50,000 years. Much more than a fossil. He Panthera Leoatrx And the rest of the beasts who participated in the bloodthirsty Festin were not the only ones who put the vote at the coast of Blue Babe. When examining the body the scientists found out something else, that the bison died towards autumn or winter, which favored the body to cool quickly and ended up freezing before their 50,000 -year -old dream. Your state of conservation It was so extraordinarily good That the paleontologists found blood coagulated in the skin, bone marrow, fat … and something else: they found that the muscle tissue that the lion and rest of the beasts had not realized had a color and texture very similar to that of fresh meat. So, why treat it the same? “A small part of the neck”. “All of us who worked on this had heard the stories of the Russians who excavated things like bison and mammoths at the north end and were frozen enough to eat them,” He came to confess Guthrie in statements collected by Obscure atlas. “So we said: ‘Do you know what we can make’ prepare a meal with this bison ‘.” No sooner said than done. The paleontologist and his colleagues decided to try a piece of one of the best preserved parts of Blue Babe, the neck. The banquet was held in … Read more

Printers have been a terrible product for 30 years. The fault is Nash’s balance

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Let’s go back to 1949. A young mathematician named John Nash Find an original idea for your thesis at Princeton University. Game theory already existed thanks to the previous works (1944) by John Von Neumann and Oskar Morgenstern, but the von Neumann model focused on zero -sum games (one player wins, the other loses). Nash had a spark of genius in proposing that in any game there should be at least one point where no player could improve his situation by changing his strategy unilaterally. Formalized that idea in a short two -page article (‘Equilibrium Points in N-Person Games‘) In January 1950, and with it revolutionized history. Including printers. Is the printer the worst technological product in history? And is that the printers is an almost manual example to apply the call Nash balance. These types of products have been following – at least, to a large extent – the economic model of the machin and blades: you sell cheap the first, but face the second. Consumers know that when we buy an ink printer, the price will be economical, almost ridiculous. But we also have assumed that ink and cartridges for those printers will be very expensive. And if they are not, what will end up being is Ink subscription… either to the printers themselves. Not only that: in the last 30-40 years we have seen how printers have become-probably- The worst technological product in history. It is no longer only that printers can get stuck or work erratically. The real problem is terrifying form in which manufacturers have protected their business, preventing in all possible ways that users can for example use Compatible cartridges and tonniers of third parties. Nash’s balance explains very well why manufacturers do what they do. Imagine two great manufacturers such as HP and Canon with two options: Expensive and blocked cartridges (current model) Cheap and open cartridges (which allow competition and lower prices) Given this situation, HP and Canon managers know that three types of market situations can be found: If both keep expensive and blocked cartridges: they earn a lot If one “opens” its cartridges and lowers prices and the other remains closed: the one that opens loses income and the one that is still closed earns more … or the opposite. Whatever happens, one will end up winning a lot and the other losing a lot. If both open: there is strong competition again, but both win less Given that scenario, manufacturers make an inevitable business decision: they close their cartridge technology and sell it face Because that’s what gives more benefits to everyone. Nash’s balance is fully fulfilled here: it describes a stable point for each player (company) but does not ensure that the result is the best for the whole. Collectively and from the social point of view, the optimal would be to open the technology and lower prices: companies would earn less, but the market would be larger and fair. Reality, as we know, is very different. But maybe that reality can change. We need a “Tesla printer” The printer user has therefore 30 years constant bleeding which translates into an exaggerated expense in cartridges and also in an erosion of time and productivity. What has happened with printers is something extraordinary: We have normalized that printers are almost more a problem than a solution. The Open Printer, a striking printer project “Open Source” and is based on the use of HP cartridges but accepts compatible third -party cartridges. Source: The Open Printer. And that is why we have a panorama in which there is a great opportunity for a revolution in the printers market. This segment is hungry for an ethical disruptive: the manufacturer who abandons the current Nash balance can change everything here. It is a mature field in which an innovative based on transparency and reliability could not only capture the market, but even redefine it. What the market needs is a kind of “Tesla printer”. And we refer to a printer that causes in this segment what Tesla managed to provoke in the car industry: a machine that has a great design, a reliable operation and that is also designed to last. But above all, that offers an alternative to current printers and their dictatorial philosophy with cartridges. Here are some projects underway. The project The Open Printerfrom the Parisian startup Open Tooks, is intended as A repair ink printer, Open Sourceand that focuses its operation on reparable cartridges. Its creators claim that this printer is created “with standard mechanical components and with modular parts”, which theoretically simplifies its assembly, modification and repair. Source: The Open Printer. In fact, the Open Printer works with a small Raspberry Pi W plate as an operations center. There are no proprietary firmware or cartridges with DRM. It is designed to use HP63 cartridges (HP 302 in Europe) both in black and in color but they serve both those of HP and third parties. And not only can you print on AAR or A4 folios, but even in 27 mm paper rolls. There are no details about its price or availability for the moment, but the idea will not be launched directly, and will first be launched as a collective financing project. We know for previous failures (and frauds) that such financing models It has its risksbut in this case that option seems reasonable and we only have to wait for the best of the project. That may not be the only launch in this regard, and in fact There is an even more interesting rumor. Frameworkthe company that has conquered us with its repairable laptops, seems to be considering the idea of ​​creating its own printer (modular and repairable? We expect that!). This is how at least a recent message indicates in X in which they commented on how “one of you must have sabotaged the office printer and has forced us to manufacture one. It is not possible that HP is selling printers that broken.” … Read more

125,000 years ago the Neanderthals ate bones to survive. Today we discovered that they were right

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In the police comedy Brooklyn 99during a party the detective Charles Boyle meets the gastronomic writer Vivian Ludley, with whom he talks about the last meal on earth. The policeman, in a clamor for his love of French food, chooses El Hortelano: a tiny French bird that eats a single bite, with skin, viscera and bones. “A challenge to God”, They call it. Vivian replies that the practice is illegal, But he confesses that he had academic permission to try one: “The peak was very crispy,” he recalls with fascination. The scene may seem eccentric, but opens a question that is not less: what is in the bones that makes them so valuable – at the same time so controversial – in the history of food? Western oblivion. For centuries, the bones were a natural part of the human diet. The neardentals They came to ride “Fats of fat” in places like Neumark-Nord (Germany), where 125,000 years ago they broke bones of deer, horses and cattle to extract marrow and heat fragments with water until obtainable lipids. It was not a whim: it was survival, a way to avoid the so -called starvation of the rabbit, caused by eating too much lean protein without sufficient fat. Later, many cultures continued with practice. In sub -Saharan Africa, for example, rural communities even chew long bones as part of the daily diet. In Asia it is common to eat flags and fins of fried fish until they are crispy. And in Europe, popular cuisine always turned to the thorns of canned sardines and anchovies, softened by sterilization. However, speaking today of what bones are as such, this practice of consuming them disappeared. Most meat reaches the clean, boneless plate, ready to avoid discomforts. The bone has been relegated to the secondary paper of the broth. As Chef Jennifer McLAGAN explains: “We no longer see bones as useful. People consider them a discomfort, something to get rid of.” But that perception begins to crack through The search for “superfood”and the bones are on the table again. What is inside the bones? The short response would be essential nutrients. But I will not be so simplistic, the bones are mainly formed by calcium and phosphorusin addition to containing iron, magnesium and potassium. In protein terms, up to a 25 and 33% of the content of an animal It corresponds to collagen, a key structural protein for bones, skin and joints. In my case, I discovered it by accident. After an injury doing crossfitthe traumatologist told me about the importance of collagen To recover fabrics. Beyond prescribing supplements – which also opened the door to the veal bone broths, rich in natural collagen. It was my first conscious contact with this part of the animal we usually throw without thinking. Science behind. In a National Geographic report describe how bones They are one of the denser tissues in nutrients: they provide collagen, fat marrow and minerals. But science clarifies. An article, Posted in Frontiers in Nutritionpoints out that the benefits are modest: some trials show minor improvements in skin and joints, although with methodological limitations. A meta -analysis in Orthopec Reviews It points positive effects on bone and articulating health, but insists on the need for broader and standardized studies. In addition, we are not designed to bite hard bones: they can splinter, damage teeth or pierce the digestive tract. And large animals bones tend to accumulate heavy metals such as lead or cadmium, which advise against consuming them in excess or un controlled dust, According to Healthline. The heat and pressure of the long broths allow to extract collagen and minerals safely, and some studies They suggest a certain benefit when ingesting collagen peptides. However, the reviews of the studies consulted coincide: Quality trials are missing, with standardized protocols and clear clinical markers. A new trend? The interest in bones does not happen in a vacuum. A couple of months ago, the “Carnivorous Diet” for Babies: families that offer ribs or cord to their children as part of the Baby-Led Weaning. Health and expert authorities They coincide in which to introduce meat from six months is recommended by its iron and zinc. But they warn that a strictly carnivorous diet in babies lacks fiber and vitamin C, essential nutrients for development. At the same time, startups in Europe and Asia experiment with powdered bone -based products: breads, sausages, patches or nuggets that incorporate calcium and collagen without bothering the consumer. According to National Geographicthe initial results are positive: when the bone appears as an invisible ingredient, acceptance is high. Collagen is more present. Korean cosmetics and social networks They have converted To the collagen in a global phenomenon, associated not only to joint or bone health, but above all to beauty and anti -aging. From facial creams to soluble coffee powders, the promise is to erase wrinkles, combat sagging and rejuvenate the skin. However, skeptical voices such as that of the surgeon Afshin mosahebi Remember that scientific evidence It is limited and that, by ingesting it, the collagen does not reach the dermis: it decomposes in amino acids like any other protein. The bone broth is a nutritious and comforting classic, but Not a guaranteed age. The real secret to aging well is still in basic habits: do not smoke, protect from the sun, maintain a balanced diet and sleep enough. An unexpected return. Of the “fat factories” Neanderthals to Korean cosmetics, bones have accompanied humanity in multiple forms. Today they return to the scene between broths and collagen powders. The difference is that, this time, they do not arrive as a resource of survival, but as a market as a product: what was previously thrown, is now sold as a trend. Image | Freepik Xataka | Boomers trust pills and supplement, generation Z in “functional snacks”: two ways to look for the same

Thousands of people have been drinking apple vinegar for years before eating to lose weight. The fault has an erroneous study

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A couple of months ago, the last viral trend of social networks was taken on an empty stomach in the morning recently raised: the “morning sucks.” There were all kinds: apple vinegar, of grass Or even A tablespoon coconut oil. Everyone promises the same: flat bellies, express detox and accelerated metabolism. Under the appearance of natural remedy, the illusion of a quick solution was really sold. In particular, apple vinegar stands out as the biggest protagonist, since a study endorsed it, but it was a misinterpretation. The origin of the myth. We have always heard that phrase of “speaking people understand”, although quite simplistic it is that misunderstandings are the order of the day and in science they are usually given. To get to the origin of that study, the tracking takes you to a study published in BMJ Nutrition, Prevention & Health. This research became popular to ensure that apple vinegar helped lose weight. However, According to Sciencedailythat study has been retracted after detecting inconsistencies in data and serious errors in statistical analysis. In science, a retraction is an exceptional mechanism: it means recognizing that the results are not reliable and, therefore, that the study should no longer be cited as evidence. It is a guarantee of self -correction, but it is late when the finding has already traveled media and viral videos. The viralization of myth. The networks did the rest. Under hashtags like #guthealth or #morningritual, vinegar It settled In morning routines with other “shots” that promise express benefits: ginger, turmeric, teas detox. As we detail in Xatakathis phenomenon is understood in the framework of the culture of immediacy: we live at a time when rapid and visible results are sought. A morning drink fits perfectly with that promise of instant change. The problem is that neither vinegar nor any of these mixtures fulfill what they promise. And in some cases They can have adverse effects: Excessive consumption of fasting vinegar can irritate the stomach and esophagus, damage tooth enamel and cause digestive discomfort. More studies. Beyond the retracting study, there are research that has analyzed the effect of vinegar on metabolic health, although scientific evidence remains low. A systematic review, Posted in Pubmed Central in 2021evaluated clinical trials on this product. According to this work, vinegar can have modest effects on the reduction of blood glucose and total cholesterol. But the same review warns: there is no solid evidence that it causes clinically relevant weight losses. In other words: vinegar is not a burning, much less a magical solution to lose weight. The mirage of detox. The rise of these “morning shots” also relies on the language of the detox. However, experts Remember that Detoxification does not work like this: the body already has organs such as the liver and the kidneys that fulfill that function continuously. Chupitos do not “clean” the organism, but they do perpetuate the idea that there are miraculous shortcuts to compensate for excesses. An even greater paradigm. The history of apple vinegar is, in the background, a lesson on how health myths are built in the digital age. A study with methodological errors, amplified on social networks, became a global ritual. And although today we know that there was no evidence behind, the practice was already installed in millions of morning routines. The lesson is clear: easy solutions are rarely, and health is not built with shortcuts. Image | Freepik and Pexels Xataka | There are people taking a “sucking” apple vinegar in the morning. Science has an opinion about it

For years summer is synonymous with gastronomic parties. In Galicia, hoteliers believe they are unfair competition

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If you travel to Galicia in summer it is likely that in addition to beaches, seafood and tourists In search of the best cove in which to plant your umbrella, find something else: Gastronomic parties. There are tens. To hundreds. From entrance spring to Autumn well advanced It is possible to meet throughout of the region quotes dedicated to percebe, Carneiro Ao spongrazors, Albariño or hamburgers, between a long long etc. They are so many and so many people move in Ribadeo (In the province of Lugo) local hoteliers and merchants They have said enough. The reason: where others see a mass celebration they have detected something else, one “unfair competition”. In a place in Galicia … Ribadeo is a small town of the Eastern Mariña (Lugo Province) of somewhat less than 10,000 inhabitants. However, in summer thousands of tourists attracted for their heritage, landscape, gastronomy, environment and especially their great jewel: The beach of the cathedralsone of the great natural monument of the Peninsular North. The INE calculates that only between June and August were housed in the hotels of the municipality 28,200 travelersthousands of potential clients for shops, coffee shops and restaurants in the town. Local trade … and something else. The fact is that in Ribadeo (as in many other villas in Spain) there are not only stores and bars. Throughout the year and especially in summer, fairs, markets, gastronomic parties are held … events organized in the most central streets and squares and that capture the interest of neighbors and visitors. The large dating calendar serves for the people to be more attractive, but the local merchant association (Acisa Ribadeo) He just lifes his voice to alert that not everything is positive. In his opinion also represents a “unfair competition” For businesses that work throughout the year, not only in summer. “Without Control” celebrations. The matter is serious enough for the organization to have been treated as a great point of the day in a Extraordinary Assembly held this week. Has even dedicated A reportunanimously ratified and in which he exposes why (in his opinion) the celebration “without control” of this kind of quotes undermines its profitability. “It includes the arguments for which Acis emphasize. “Acisa is not against the celebration of these markets and events, what we reject is that they be held without control, on the poorly appropriate dates and with excessive durations,” claims The Association Manager, Jesús Pérez. “In recent months, events with little planning have been held, without transparency with respect to the promoters or the purposes to which the benefits are dedicated, becoming scheduled every little time and in the middle of high season. This implies direct and unfair competition for local trade and hospitality and a deterioration of the ribadeo image.” Why’s that? Acisa complaint That kind of specific quotes “take advantage of the work that takes place throughout the year” to boost the people and capture visits. And they also do so by taking advantage of the high season and “the best locations” of the town in exchange for “minimum or null taxes for the benefits they get.” “The rates that pay for occupying public roads are in many cases symbolic, ridiculous or non -existent,” Crows. In summary, merchants and hoteliers feel that the fairs stand up during the high season while they are responsible for serving, paying rent and taxes and generating employment in the town throughout the year. “In addition they do not always comply with the basic regulations, such as the issuance of purchase tickets, nor are they subject to health, labor or fiscal controls. They do not generate employment in the municipality and use municipal services such as works, hooks of light or cleanliness, which we pay all ribadenses,” Pérez argueswho also clarifies that these celebrations “do not contribute anything new” to customers. “The products and services they offer can be found in local businesses with higher quality.” The debate, served. That in general (not only in ribadeo) the markets, festivals and gastronomic parties They attract people It is difficult to discuss. The key to Acisa is when and how they are celebrated. And especially the impact they have on small businesses entrenched in the town. Hence they speak of a “direct unfair competition” for entrepreneurs who do assume fixed expenses, taxes and “normative obligations” that, denounce, “are not always assumed by the organizers” of that kind of appointments. “They seek to place themselves in the moments of greater tourist influx in ribadeo, taking advantage of the previous effort and investment made by the sector to attract visitors to the town,” insists The collective. Moreover, in its report it warns that “in many cases” specific events “lack clear planning” and transparency, which can compromise “the tourist image” of Ribadeo. “Prioritize improvised and very poor quality activities compared to the value of trade and local hospitality.” What do they suggest then? In Your report Acisa demands “order, regulate and compatible” these events with the “legitimate interests” of the merchants and hoteliers of the town. They even speak directly of limiting authorizations to “protect the local economic fabric”, restricting permits for those appointments that enter direct competition with local businesses or extend for too many days or repeatedly in the same year. Aware that fairs, festivals and markets help to boost the town, even suggests rethink the calendar of the celebrations. What in practice translates into organizing them “preferably” outside the high season or dates in which the flow of customers, such as Holy Week, summer or Christmas months, “when local trade and hospitality already make an extraordinary effort to meet the demand.” “We don’t need them”. “Ribadeo does not need this type of event in high season. We consider that they can be held promptly in low season following the premises collected by the report prepared by Acisa,” its president concludesCarmen Cruzado. The group leaves out the bag, yes, the events of a solidarity and non -profit nature and those with a limited duration, a … Read more

24 years ago, the earth was symmetrical. Now the northern hemisphere is “unequivocally” darker than the southern hemisphere

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NASA’s last 24 years of satellite data reveal an “unequivocal” trend: the earth has lost its balance, and now the northern hemisphere reflects less light than the southern hemisphere. How is that? Until a few years ago, our planet maintained an almost perfect symmetry in regard to its albedo: its reflectivity from the perspective of an observer in the earth’s orbit. Despite its obvious differences (the north dominated by terrestrial masses and the south by oceans), both hemispheres reflected practically the same amount of sunlight to outer space. Now that doesn’t happen anymore. The northern hemisphere is absorbing more solar energy than the southern hemisphere, breaking the balance that had been maintained for a long time. In figures. The new study, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciencesquantifies this divergence at 0.34 wm – 2 per decade. It is a statistically significant value that points to a deep change in the energy engine of our planet. And why? The study, led by Norman Loeb, from the NASA Langley Research Center, points to a combination of factors; The first one, somewhat paradoxical. According to Loeb, the main engine of the growing asymmetry is the aerosols, the tiny particles suspended in the atmosphere against which we have been fighting for some time. Thanks to environmental protection measures, fine particle pollution has decreased significantly in Europe, the United States and China in recent years. Less contamination means a cleaner air and, therefore, less particles that reflect sunlight. The result is that more radiation reaches the surface and is absorbed. In the southern hemisphere it has happened just the opposite. Mass events, such as Australian forest fires of 2019-2020 or the eruption of the Hunga Tonga volcano in 2022, injected huge amounts of aerosols into the atmosphere, temporarily increasing the reflectivity. There is something else. To the aerosols we must add the change in the Albedo of the surface itself. The northern hemisphere is losing snow and sea ice at an accelerated pace, in this case because of global warming. If white and bright surfaces (which reflect the light) are replaced by water and dark terrain (that absorb it), the hemisphere is further darkened. Clouds are missing. What has most bewildered scientists is the role of clouds. For a long time it was theorized that clouds would act as a natural compensatory mechanism for this phenomenon: if a hemisphere darkened by external factors, atmospheric circulation would adjust cloudiness to reflect more light and restore balance. However, the data shows that this is not what is happening. The study concludes that the contribution of clouds to the difference in reflectivity between hemispheres is surprisingly small. The reason is complex: it seems that the changes in the clouds of the tropics are being canceled with the changes in the highest latitudes, questioning one of the fundamental hypotheses on the self -regulation of the earth’s climate. A problem. That a hemisphere hotly gets more than the other is not a simple academic curiosity. The Earth’s energy balance is the engine that drives atmospheric and oceanic circulation; that is, our climate and our weather patterns. This imbalance is already having consequences. The northern hemisphere not only heats up faster than the south, but is also seeing an increase in rainfall in tropical latitudes. If the intertopical convergence zone, the land rain belt, moves north, the consequences will be hard for billions of people.

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