The northern hemisphere has the highest snow extension of the last 20 years. In Spain that sounds like science fiction

While the extension of Arctic Ice was in January the second lowest Since there are satellite data, snow is giving a surprise. According to the NOAAsnow levels in the northern hemisphere are the highest in 20 years. Although the truth is that Europe (even less in Spain) we are not noticing it. What about snow in the northern hemisphere? It is soon to know. As we knowthere are many descriptors of winter in the hemisphere that may seem inconsistent with each other, but that are only a sample of the enormous climate complexity of the earth. As with Any extraordinary event (And, of course, this amount of snow is) now it remains a whole series of analysis to know what is behind and what we can expect in the coming years. So much to Nevado? So we know more detailed analysis, the increase in snow extension It is mainly due to the strong snowfall that were in early February in Asia and North America. Especially, a huge snowstorm that lasted a week caused many problems In Russia in general and In the distant this Russian in particular. In the US and Canada too They are having more Normal Snowbut the Russian storm is the key push for these historical records. And in Spain? On our side, the extension of snow in Europe is below the average. And, as a result that snowfalls are becoming more irregular, higher levels, Spain is even worse. In the Cantabrian Mountains, for example, We are at 72.6 hm³ Faced with the average of 250. In the Pyrenees, 764 compared to 1400 of the average of the last 10 years. On the other hand, the central and Iberian systems accumulate about 5 hm³ compared to 50 on average. The only one Discordant note is Sierra Nevada: The surroundings of the most southern ski resort in Europe has 12.7 hm³. That is, not only is it twice as the central mountain ranges, but almost exactly the same amount of snow as in the average of the last decade. Little snow … For now. As Nacho Espinos explained in Meteored“just 7% of the mountainous surface in Spain” is covered with snow. In aggregate terms, there are 1,160.9 hm³ of snow compared to 2,000 average. Of course, we will have to wait to see how the year ends: in the 2023/2024 season, the great snow peak came between March and April. And, honestly, time is unpredictable that (despite the “advanced spring” we are living) any scenario is reasonable. Image | NOAA | Joan Oger In Xataka | Snowing stations at the end of the century: the most pessimistic models show what could happen in our high mountain

Marijuana was for years one of the most potential industries in the United States. Now has entered Barrena

HE Curves come For him cannabis sector In the United States. Curved and slippery curves that will make it difficult for companies focused on that market for two reasons, both equally challenging. One is the imminent expiration of debt they face and that some experts encrypt in 6,000 million dollars. The other is The legal framework in which they are forced to operate, a context that deprives them of some of the advantages and facilities that companies in other sectors do in trouble. There are those who already talk about bubble burst of cannabis in the US and fears that a bankruptcy waterfall now arrives. A sector in trouble. There are no quiet times for the American cannabis industry, forced to deal with a series of challenges, including financing, debt expiration and laws. Bloomberg explains in A broad analysis which is summarized in a single sentence: companies in the sector face the need to deal with a millmillionary debt without the ‘Legal oxygen ball that they would have if their activity were another. What does that mean? That because of the nature of his merchandise, cannabis, which It is still illegal In the eyes of the federal administration, companies in the sector face a particularly vulnerable situation when they have to deal with their creditors. Most businesses can resort to the bankruptcy court and shield themselves to renegotiate their debt; But like Remember From the firm Harris Beach Murtha, the companies dedicated to cannabis do not usually enjoy the protection of the US bankruptcy code. “To date, US courts have been reluctant to administer bankrupt confirm In Fox Rothschild. “Virtually all bankruptcy cases involving a restructuring or sale of cannabis -related entities Controlled Substances Lawthe CSA “. A figure: 6,000 million. This handicap, derived from the legal status of its merchandise at the federal level, is important right now because the sector faces the perspective of having to deal with a quite considerable debt in not much time. According to the calculations Shared with Bloomberg By Beau Whitney, chief economist of Whitney Economicsnext year will overcome a debt of up to 6,000 million dollars. And the figure includes only the largest companies in the sector, those that operate in several states. And two percentages: 42 and 27%. That default figure (6,000 million dollars) is bulky, but alone it does not say much. If it is so important, it is because it catches the sector at a complex moment in which at least part of the industry has not yet managed to market legal marijuana a stable business. Whitney handles A couple of data They help to understand it: if in 2022 more than 42% of distributors claimed to have obtained benefits, last year that percentage had been reduced to 27%. They are figures from the past, but as Bloomberg requires They talk to us of the future of the sector: part of those companies that have not yet been able to consolidate will probably end up broken. Others will have no choice but to sit with their creditors in a scenario that is not favorable. “The refinancing of this cycle will be carried out at much higher interest rates and companies will not have the cash flow to manage it,” confirms the economistwhich speaks of “a huge debt bubble.” What is the legal scenario? Marijuana Policy Project (MPP), an US organization dedicated to promoting legalization, explains it clearly: “Although the vast majority of states have reformed the laws on cannabis, the position of the federal government has remained practically unchanged since the early 70s. Except for rare circumstances, at the federal level marijuana and its products are illegal and They are subject to the application of the criminal law. “ Despite this federal framework, MPP remembers that “state governments record and regulate the production and sales of cannabis.” Right now There are states in which it allows the consumption of marijuana for medical but not recreational purposes, others that have legalized both uses and also certain territories in which it is totally illegal. In A plane in which the regulatory framework of each of the states at the beginning of this year, the American Nonsmoker´s Rights Foundation (ANRF) calculated that there are 39 in which smoking is allowed at least for medicinal purposes. Looking to the future. The result of this difference in criteria between the Federal Administration and the states themselves derives in a complex scenario, Recognize MPPin which a person “can fulfill a set of laws on marijuana and at the same time violate another.” Until now the federal government has not considered that state regulations shock with the Supreme clause which is pronounced in its favor in the Constitution, which is explained in part because the cultivation and sale falls on private companies. Last year the Department of Justice He moved file For marijuana to be classified as a less dangerous substance, which would have direct effects on companies in the sector, reducing their expenses and favoring that many are “profitable”according to the industry itself. With the change of government and the arrival of Donald Trump to the White House (and his New prosecutor, Pam Bondi) An unknown is now opened. And what are the figures? Apart from the legal framework, the 6,000 million debt about to defeat calculated by Whitney They tell us about something else: the weight and implementation that has reached the sector in the US. Pew Research Center data show that eight out of 10 Americans (79% of the population, to be exact) have at least one store where they can buy marijuana in their county. Moreover, the same study center calculates that 54% of Americans He lives in a state that allows the recreational use of marijuana and around 15,000 dispensaries are distributed throughout the US, especially common on the west and northwest and points like Michigan or Oklahoma. The Flowhub firm in fact indicates that the legal cannabis industry is directly related to 440,400 jobs full -time and that in … Read more

Some beavers have built a dam that had been postponed for seven years

While in Spain we have A kind of rural thriller With the appearance of very particular animals for the country’s rivers, there are other stories that tell the importance of this family of creatures In the ecosystem around the floods and settlements of civilizations. We refer to the beavers and Your ability to build natural dams that helped moderate the force of floods. His last work has raised them. A paralyzed project. For seven years, the Government authorities of the BRDY region in the Czech Republic tried to carry out A project to build a dam on the Klabava Riverlocated about 40 kilometers southwest of Prague. Its purpose was to protect the local ecosystem, especially to a kind of crab in critical danger of extinctionpreventing sediments and acid from two nearby ponds from contaminating the river. However, the project, Approved in 2018 with more than one million dollars in financing and with all the necessary permits, it was paralyzed Due to prolonged negotiations on the use of land that had previously served as a military training field. And then the beavers arrived. Beesters to the rescue. While bureaucracy delayed construction, a group of beavers advanced to humans and, without waiting for permits or studies, built a series of dams naturally. His intervention not only solved the problem by which the authorities had planned the dam, but also expanded the wetland area to almost 20,000 square meterstwice what engineers had projected. It is not a trivial event. We are talking about a spontaneous work of creatures that saved the authorities approximately 1.2 million eurosas reported The Nature Conservation Agency of the Czech Republic. Natural engineers. As we said at the beginning, beavers are known for Its extraordinary construction and landscape modification capacity. To build their dams, they begin by placing small stones in the riverbed, compacting them with mud and repeating the process to form a pond, a space that Then they expand to create a wetland. Why do the hell do this? Researchers believe that Your main motivation is security: They are excellent swimmers capable of enduring up to 15 minutes underwater, but on land they are quite clumsy and vulnerable to predators such as bears, wolves and pumas. In this way, building an aquatic habitat allows them to take refuge from any threat. And it is not the first time. Surprisingly, the case of the Czech Republic is not the first in which animals have taken the initiative in conservation projects. In California, the beavers helped Restore a flood plain to the northeastern Sacramentogenerating ecological benefits and Saving money to the authorities. And in Idaho, After the Sharps fire, the areas where there were beavers were intact and greenwhile the surroundings were devastated. In places where its introduction is prohibited, as in some areas of California, groups such as the Yurok tribe They have begun to build structures that imitate the dikes of Castores to attract them naturally and take advantage of their benefits. In Oregon, scientists discovered that Castor’s dams They leaked heavy metals and contaminants with double efficacy that an expensive stormwater treatment plant. The “but”. However, and As we have counted recently in Spaindespite their enormous contribution to the regeneration of ecosystems, the beavers are often seen as a discomfort due to the damage that causes trees and crops, as well as the possibility of flooding fields and roads. The resurgence of the beavers. Eurasian beavers were hunted almost until extinction in Europe, but they have been reintroduced in several regions, including the Czech Republic. Scientist journalist Ben Goldfarb, author of Eager: The Surprising, Secret Life of Beavers and Why They Matterstressed that beavers have helped humanity for centuries, and that the recent history of the Czech Republic is a sign of how these animals can solve environmental problems efficiently. He had National Geographic Gerhard Schwabexpert in beales in Bavaria, who is not surprised at the effectiveness of rodents, although he doubts that the ” last January. However, it recognizes its extraordinary ability to transform the landscape and modify the flow of water. The conservation dilemma. It is possibly the last of the legs to deal with these creatures. Despite its impressive engineering capacity, the unpredictability of the beavers represents a challenge for conservation projects. In this regard, He explained to New York Times Emily FairfaxProfessor of Ecology at the University of Minnesot Its constructions cannot be planned with precision and many times they are considered an invasive species. It is possible, therefore, that this tendency to underestimate its positive impact has led to their actions to go unnoticed or directly ignored in the planning of environmental projects. That said, more and more studies and specific cases show that His role in wetland restoration is invaluable. Allowing these creatures to act freely, instead of intervening with artificial and expensive solutions, could represent a natural and sustainable alternative for the conservation of water ecosystems. Image | Timothy G. Lumley In Xataka | After missing centuries, there are people letting goals for the Tajo and other rivers in Spain. The problem is that we don’t know who

“China has been in the electric car for ten years”

Year 2017, Ford announces that it will invest 4.5 billion dollars to completely transform the brand. The year and Mark Fields have just begun, then CEO of the company, confirmed that they would invest in electric cars and completely autonomous driving. In five years would launch 13 more or less electrified models And in 2021 they would have a completely autonomous car in the market. Just a few months later, Tesla’s price (then raising the launch of Tesla Model 3) surpassed Ford. Undoubtedly, the strength of Elon Musk’s had pressed a company with more than a hundred years behind him and responsible for launching the First big mass car in their country to invest strongly in a completely foreign technology for them. We are in 2025, Ford has launched the market Ford Mustang Mach-Ehe Ford F-150 Lightning (an electric pick-up) in the United States and, recently, the Ford Explorer and the Ford Capricars that are actually different bodies of the same vehicle. With fewer spotlights, the Electric Ford Puma. In addition, they have decided leave the company in two in what they have called Ford Model E (electric and software) and Ford Blue (combustion). The idea is to function as a rocker and that the weight that now falls to Ford Blue is balanced until falling on the side of Model E in a transfer of powers of combustion to the electric. All that strategy, however, does not go through a good time. Jim Farley is now the Ford CEO and has strong opinions about the moment the company is living. Burning 2,000 million dollars It is the cost to be paid for a strategy that is not working. In the last presentation of results, Farley has confirmed that the company provides a decrease in the expected benefits of 2,000 million dollars. Collect in Bloomberg that in 2025 do not expect benefits (before tax) above 8,500 million dollars and that could be below 8,000 million dollars, far from the 10.200 million dollars collected in this item in 2024. Since last summer , the company’s actions have suffered a hard adjustment, losing its value more than 35%, as a consequence of the bad expectations collected with each new report. Ford has to face a market, that of the electric car, where the margins of benefits are scarce or have vanished given the sales volumes with which these companies work. But, in addition, its CEO ensures that the cars they like in the United States are the opposite of what an electric car should be. They are clients who “have very demanding cases for an electric vehicle. They tow, drive out of the road, make long road trips. These vehicles have worse aerodynamics and are very heavy, which means Very large and expensive batteries“, Farley says that It is not the first time which points to large vehicles are a problem for electrical technology. In fact, this approach is those that have cost 1.9 billion euros to the company. In full fever from the gigantic electric car, Ford launched a seven -seater electric explorer. The car should fight with the great American SUVs from electrical technology. Last summer of 2024, Ford confirmed that he canceled that development and that he would not launch the car to the market because there was no demand. Since then, the company’s CEO ensures that this type of cars need gigantic batteries, very expensive to produce and more complicated to make profitable. That is why the intention is to sell the smallest possible electric cars. The problem is that the company itself has decided to start the house for cars such as the Ford Mustang Mach-E or the Ford F-150 Lightning. Rest in peace the Ford Electric Explorer of seven seats. The other alternative is directly Learn from China. The Asian country has managed to position itself as the most leading country in this technology and, in fact, Farley himself has been the first to praise his way of working and in Confirm that Ford is shining His cars to understand how they got their competitive advantage. In words a The New York TimesFarley said that China is 10 years ahead in the manufacture of batteries which gives them a strategically more advanced position and, therefore, do not have to face the enormous economic difficulties facing companies such as yours. To this Chinese competition, American car manufacturers have now to face a possible commercial war that could seriously increase their products. The Ford Mustang Mach-E, for example, is also manufactured in Mexico and must be taken into account that Steel and aluminum tariffs They will also end up uploading the final price of the product. Regulatory changes that have not been contemplated in the last presentation of results. Ford’s hopes are put in BlueOval Citya huge factory that has cost 5,600 Millions of dollarsdesigned in 2021 and subsequently projected under the umbrella of the Inflation reduction law by Joe Biden. A program that, now, is in the air with the arrival of Donald Trump to power. With that program they hope to produce batteries at lower cost in the coming years. However, Farley is clear: in China they have been in China to the United States and, at the moment, there is no American company that can match in benefits and load time the batteries of Catl. Photo | Ford In Xataka | Ford is clear that the future of the European car is electric. And also that you will say goodbye to 4,000 employees for it

The companies of AI have been jumping the copyright for years. They have just suffered a disturbing legal defeat

Thomson Reuters He has won The first important case against AI in the United States. This legal victory can end up being an important precedent in an open war that exists between generative companies and human creators and content creative companies. When chatgpt or existed. One of the curiosities of the case is that the demand arrived in 2020, even before the revolution created by Chatgpt and other generative AI models occurred. At that time Thomson Reuters demanded the startup of the so -called Ross Intelligence. According to them, the company had reproduced material from its legal research division, called Westlaw. The judge, inflexible. As they explain In Wiredthe defense arguments did not convince Judge Stephanos Bibas, of the Court of the District of Delaware. In his sentence he indicated that “none of Ross’s possible defenses is sustained. I reject them all.” Fair use, nothing. Normally IA companies are shielded in the doctrine of fair use (“Fair Use”). This legal criterion maintains that limited use of protected material is allowed without needing permission from the owner of those rights. As explained in Wiredel, four factors are analyzed: the reasons for creating the work, its nature (if it is an essay, a poem, a private letter), the amount of material used, and how that use impacts the market value of the original. Be careful for what copies. Thomson Reuters won two of those analyzes, but the fourth was for Judge Bibas the most important, because Ross “wanted to octize with Westlaw developing a substitute for the market.” That is: they were copied to try to compete with them in the same market. A precedent with a problem. Curiously Ross Intelligence closed its doors in 2021, precisely Faced with costs of the dispute. It is precisely the opposite with AI giants, who usually have many more economic resources when defending these types of demands. The legal precedent is undoubtedly relevant, but it may be more difficult to wield it if the litigation costs cannot be supported by the plaintiffs. Care, generative. The appearance of all kinds of generative models has unleashed a wave of demands for copyright violation. One of the most important cases is what The New York Times holds against Openaibut there are others like the one that affects Microsoft by Github Copilotthat of Stable Diffusion and Midjourney or the recent one Meta scandal and the books with copyright that he used to train his AI models. Fair use and competition. Precisely this judgment raises an important legal obstacle for AI companies. First, for that argument of the fair use that may now not work. And secondly, due to the fact that when using those works protected by copyright, the impact for the original works can be remarkable. Images | WIRESTOCK | Solen Feyissa In Xataka | Openai has used Copyright content to train its models: now it faces a wave of demands

After 24 years of saga, it seemed impossible to reinvent the wheel. ‘Civilization VII’ has achieved it

One more shift and I leave it. When we talk about a shift strategy game, specifically one of the saga ‘civilization’that phrase is a cliché. That is why it is less true, and something that I have discovered in recent days with the analysis of ‘Civilization VII’ is to what extent I missed that feeling that I had for months with the fifth installment and that lost some magic With the sixth. It is always difficult to talk about a strategy game because what it offers is very different from what we can live in an adventure or action title, these being more linear and anchored experiences, in general, to which developers want you to live. In a ‘civilization’, the strategy has to do, but it doesn’t matter the plans you make because the artificial intelligence of the game is there to punch. And from the last game of the remarkable saga of Sid Meier I have two things to say. The first is that I thought I was tired of the franchise formulasince I have been with this experience for many years and, despite being the VI in the market, I kept playing every time to V (For me, the best). The second thing I have to say is that I was wrong. I didn’t know to what extent. Who wants historical fidelity Every time a game with historical dyes is launched, there is no lack of those who argue that any detail that comes out of what is considered ‘historical fidelity’ is something that ruins the experience. I read some comments of this style when it was learned that in this game we could have Isabel I of Castilla as the leader of the Han of Chinabut let’s be serious: we are in a saga in which it is goal to launch the atomic bomb with Gandhi. We cannot come now with historical fidelity. I admit that it is shocking for those who carry several deliveries of the saga, but choosing leader and civilization separately is something that changes everything. If the saga already allowed us, more or less, to do what we would like, Now freedom is total. Each of the leaders has some attributes and their own tree, but each civilization also has its characteristics. Taking advantage of that mechanics is what will help us to have a better or worse in the game (not in fun, but in terms of frustration) but I think, otherwise, it is pure ‘civilization’. This is: to found the capital of our empire, building buildings of production, fun, research, economy or military in the adjacent boxes; Found new cities and try to conquer the map. All this in shifts and while we make crumbs with some neighbors who, many times, are quite touches noses. I think the best thing I can do is tell you about my first game. I started with the Vietnamese Trung Trắc, who faced the Han dynasty. Well, my civilization, precisely, was that of Han. Attributes: militaristic and scientific. “It serves me,” I thought, so … to work. As I knew it was the game for the analysis, I wanted to give it pepper (I regretted immediately) and I started in medium difficulty, with huge map and founded my capital next to a volcano (they enter into the erupting destroying buildings from time to time). I started expanding and soon I founded two other cities: one mining company and one agricultural, all with the sea, so it could happen in the future. I continued advancing my city and creating only some units, Until I met Benjamin Franklin. All good at first. Also with Machiavelli, whom I met shortly after. And with José Rizal things also like silk. “I am a pacifist,” I thought, although Trung is doing the military. To Machiavelli, no water When I followed my ball expanding and strengthening my relationship with the three, Machiavelli and Benjamin went their heads and declared the war mutually, also Rizal. He supported whoever supported, two were going to be angry, so I did what any militarist shark mind would do: I supported Rizal, who lived much further, and went into war with Machiavelli and Benjamin. Both. I wanted to stay its cities, so it came from pearls. I started to fortify my cities and reinforce the borders. I created a siege ballist and destroyed one of the cities of Machaiavelo. It was the one hundred and peak turn and my enemy were no longer two dead as Italian and the American, but … the crisis. I knew that crises were a mechanics of the game, but I was so concentrated that I didn’t see him coming. And it arrived, as if it were Lehman Brothers in 2008. Aid The crisis reached my empire with social discontent and an economic hole due to the number of units it had to maintain. I did what a leader does: look for oil in a foreign nation And keep pressing my enemies without paying attention to my people when, suddenly, everything ended. Antiquity came to an end and the era of discoveries came. It was necessary to decide what civilization to make the leap and chose the Norman (total, put to burst historical fidelity …) and discovered something curious: the crisis had vanished. My units had made the leap to their most current versions of the new age, the buildings had changed design, some that no longer served were gone and all the wars had vanished (although the relationship with the enemy leaders did not improve). He had to start over a new era, one that rewards you with juicy resources if you are going to explore new continents, where there will also be other factions with which to decide how to relate. And there I was, with the crisis resolved as if by magic, with a city of Machiavelli in my possession, having demonstrated to Benjamin how the Chinese are spent controlled by a Vietnamese and with a new … Read more

In a town in Badajoz they have encountered a strength of 5,000 years ago. And a Roman with a suspicious burial

The Spanish territory is is filling with solar panels. Whether it’s Taking advantage of the roofs of industrial estates or in huge Photovoltaic plants in the middle of the fieldenergy are clear that we must take advantage of the country’s solar potential. What happens is that, from time to time, they run into unforeseen events. Such as, with a huge strength of copper age. Photovoltaic archaeologists. This was precisely what happened in 2021, when Action was inspecting an olive grove to lift the Extremadura I-II-III photovoltaic complex. The plan was to have an installation that, together, provided 125 MW of renewable energy, enough to satisfy the annual consumption of more than 65,000 families. Then, I know They encountered With a wall. Or what should have been a wall 5,000 years ago. Cortijo Lobato. Near the municipality of Almendralejo in which Actiona was carrying out the works, the plant appeared of what, at some point, must have been an imposing fortification. As they tell The countryin the baptized as a Cortijo Lobato site, a fortress composed of three concentric walls, 25 semicircular towers and three grave with four meters wide and two depth was erected. The total area was about 13,000 square meters with a single entrance of less than a meter wide. The most important tower rose on a hill of more than 300 meters above sea level, a strategic point from which to control the surroundings. Around it, adobe walls between 1.3 and 1.5 meters wide that were reinforced with the aforementioned concentric exterior pits and walls. You can see the silhouette of the towers and the walls Undermining morality. César Pérez is the director of the excavations, belonging to the Archaeological Research Team of Tera, and argues that this intricate defensive complex not only had as its objective to be a physical barrier, but to discourage whoever wanted to cross it. The problem is that, although it was raised at some point 5,000 or 4,800 years ago, it seems that, 400 years, then it was destroyed. The culprit: a fire. And it is estimated that it was caused, because the wooden doors would be strategically placed outside any flammable material. In addition, numerous arrow points have been found, suggesting that, either it was an enemy attack, or an act of internal rebellion. The result was the same: the destruction of the complex. Three years of work. At the time of discovery, the archeology team focused on protecting the surroundings of Cortijo Lobato. Cease commented A few months ago, during the first three years, “it has been possible to delimit, conserve and it is now when it is being known in depth. We have the possibility to document it to make it known to society, which is to whom the site belongs. ” At the same time, energy continued with its plans to lift the complex, but adapting to the situation. “We had to modify the project as a kind of ‘tetris’ to adapt the configuration of the panels to the different areas of the deposit. In the end, we have managed to preserve the generation capacity at the same time that it was possible to protect all the areas of archaeological interest that have been discovered, ”said Jenifer Andreu, from Actiona. Roman mystery. However, the story had a little girl, which gave the discovery of a mysterious grave. Montserrat Girón is the Coordinator of Archaeological Teams of Tera and comments that they have focused on giving a first sweep to pave the way to following investigations. And it turns out that they have not only found the remains of the inhabitants of the 2800 BC, but also of the 5th century DC Specifically, an almost superficial tomb that had the remains of a male between 25 and 35 years old who lived in the time of the low Roman Empire. He was face down and with a military dagger on his back. You cannot know if nailed or not, but Montserrat jokes saying that, although it is a mystery, it does not look good. Face down and with a dagger on the back. It may be that of that person and be buried with him as a tribute … or who was killed The reason is that, beyond the dagger, the body was whole, except the feet, which seem to have been cut, and the grave had much smaller dimensions than necessary for a body of that size, indicating that it was a Hurd burial. As much as it may be, the efforts at this time is to continue investigating the area of ​​this huge bastion in which they have appeared multitude of vestiges such as loom plates, plates, flint arrow tips, chisels and even ornamental and religious elements. Images | Tera Act In Xataka | We have found new vestiges of the Roman era. We are not very sure what they did in a cave of the Pyrenees

Hundreds of years ago, no one saw a beaver in the Tagus. That has just changed and is not even the strangest of all

The saddest thing that can be said of an animal can be said of the Iberian Castor: No one is very clear when it was extinguished. For years the researchers have discussed whether the last specimens disappeared in the seventeenth century, in the eighteenth or, even, in the nineteenth century to realize that all this was wet paper. But the only available evidence They place them in the second century BC. After that moment, nobody knows what happened to them. But something happened in 2003. In the spring of 2003 and illegally, someone introduced 18 European beavers from Bavaria. No one knows for sure who was or why he did it. In fact, They were discovered by surprise Thanks to “the existence of a series of indications, very conspicuous, that reveal the establishment of a small population of beavers in northern Spain.” What we do know is that, although it was tried to eradicate, it was not achieved. And now, he has overflowed the Bajo del Río Aragón course where he found himself and is now considered all the purposes An native animal subject to environmental protections. Beyond the Ebro. If the Pyrenees had worked as an effective barrier to the beaver, once the situation has entered the situation again. A few years later, we had found Castores in the Duero Basin and in the Guadalquivir. What we hadn’t found were still beavers in the Tagus. And in June 2024, two researchers They found themselves With them in Zorita de los Canes, province of Guadalajara. That is, more than one hundred kilometers in a straight line of the closest place where they had previously reported. What is happening here? Because if we stop to think for a moment, we will discover that this expansion of the beavers It is not natural. In 2023, Teresa Calderón biologist calculation that the beavers of Tormes would have taken 40 years to get there by their own means from the closest documented population. In the Andalusian case, or there is a way for these specimens to travel alone the 365 kilometers of southern submeta that are between the stretch of the Guadalquivir where they were found in 2023 and the closest point where we had previously found them. The only rational explanation is that Someone is putting them there. “Beaver Bombing”. Thus (“Bombing of Castores”) is what is called a little rare practice for years: to release groups of illegally managers in areas where they had supposedly lived. And they not only do it without permission: they do it without previous studies, or guarantees, or planning. “As the IUCN establishes, to make a reintroduction of any extinct animal in a territory it is necessary to carry out a series of studies that are almost common sense,” Francisco José García rememberedBiologist and expert in mammals from the climate semm, “we have to know why they were extinguished at the time, under what conditions the animals lived then and if these conditions are maintained. And we must work on the social perception of the species, You can’t do your back things to society. And then? The problem, as happened with The reintroduction of the wolfgetting that “social and political support” is complicated and some groups have decided not to wait. The story gives for A rural thrillerbut he raises many doubts about what will happen in the future. Not only if Castor’s communities will grow in Spain, but this practice will be extended to more species. Image | Svetozar Cenisev In Xataka | Franco introduced an exotic sheep in the Teide to content the hunters. Now it is ending its ecosystem FacebookTwitterFlipboardE-mail

Years ago Mexico opted to offer longer school days for children. Caused an increase in divorces

A time ago a group of economists from the University of Tennessee It was done A peculiar questionfor the concepts and ideas that combines and also its implications: does the school’s school day influence The divorce rate parental? If the time children spend at school clearly affects To the dynamics of the families, conditioning as basic aspects as the hours of adults for other tasks, does that factor interfere with the couple’s breakdown? And if so, how? And why? After crossing school data and separations recorded for several years in Mexico, the experts reached A curious conclusion: The expansion of school days or have greater access to schools with extended schedules does seem to affect divorce rates. It increases them. School Conference (and something else). Over the years articles (many) have been published on how the different school day models They affect To students, their performancehe school abandonment or the “Child Wellness”. The debate It is old and root in a dilemma on which they have run ink rivers: Continuous school day or departure? There are those who ensure that this response has implications that go far beyond the classrooms, such as The gender gapthe Differences of opportunities or family poverty. Click on the image to go to Tweet. A new factor: divorces. María Padilla-Romo, Cecilia Peluffo and Marian Its derivatives: The separations. And they have done it based on a very specific question: how does the expansion of the schooling work affect divorce rates? To find out they basically handle two sources, the statistical records of marriage ruptures and school data on the expansion of the school day in the public primary schools. In Mexico they found databases for both fronts, so the country ended up becoming its particular (and huge) laboratory. The data they obtained and interpretation have just reflected them in An essay Posted in Journal of Public Economics. But what did they analyze? The researchers took advantage of a phenomenon that played in their favor: the “Large -scale expansion” of the model of Full -time school (Full-Time Schools, or etc, with a “Extended Day” of Between six and eight hours) In Mexican municipalities from 2007 to 2016. To be more precise, economists resorted to census data from the monitoring of the monitoring Program etc. of the Secretary of Public Education that corresponded to the 2007/2008 academic year, in which It began to applyand 2015/2016. Then they compared the degree of implementation of that program of school day expanded by municipalities and were fixed in women in divorce procedures in each of those locations. In short, they crossed data. The information on marriage ruptures was obtained from the National Institute of Mexican Statistics and Geography (INEGI), where the cases processed between 2000 and 2016 consulted. And the surprise came. After working with the different records, the researchers discovered that there seems to be A marked relationship between the extension of the school day in the primary centers and the ruptures. At least in Mexico. “We found that the expansion of the school day in 3.5 hours causes a significant increase in divorce rates,” explain economists in Your article. “In addition, the effect is increased with each year of exposure from municipalities to full -time schooling.” A well calibrated trend. The experts They go further and share their calculations on the relationship between both factors, broad teaching days and ruptures. “We found that, as a result of an average increase in the availability of etc. of 24 percentage points, the divorce rate increased by 0.041 divorces per 1,000 individuals (an increase of 12.6 in relation to divorces in the municipalities treated in the year prior to the opening of the first etc) “. Moreover, researchers even appreciate that “the effect increases over time” and the increase in the divorce rate is higher when families enjoy the longest teaching days for seven years. “Our main estimates suggest that the availability of ETC It gave rise to 23,119 additional divorces between 2009 and 2016, or approximately 4.7% of the total number of divorces presented during that period of time, ” The study abounds. Its authors also detected another key trend: the longest school days gave rise to greater divorce rates in areas where less traditional social norms overwhelmed on marriage, divorces and female work. Click on the image to go to Tweet. The question: Why? Extend a few hours the time that primary school The article From Padilla-Romo and his companions suggests that it is not. Maybe it’s a few hours, but influence classrooms. And the reason is that this extension of school days is in its own way “an implicit subsidy for children’s care.” Having their children during a broad period in schools – on its website the Mexican government points out that in etc From 8.00 to 16.00 h– Parents have more time. Especially women, in which It regularly falls The care of the offspring. And those hours can use them in working outside their homes, in exchange for a salary that reinforces their economic independence. Although the researchers recognize that the greatest job among women can have other consequences, such as generating “conflicts”, that mothers with an “abusive couple” remain less exposed to it or simply increase the flow of money that enters home, what That facilitates to face the expenses involved in divorce and separation, the researchers suggest that the economic factor is essential to understand the phenomenon. “A disproportionate fraction”. “Mothers and other female members of the family dedicate a disproportionate fraction of their time to the care of children. The longest school days provide them with an increase in their effective time provision, which translates in better opportunities to acquire individual income “, Zanjan The three authors of the study. “As a result, the negotiation positions at home are probable.” “Our results show that the extension of the school day gave rise to higher divorce rates in areas with less traditional social norms on marriage, divorce and the priority of women in jobs, … Read more

50 years of research on depression psychotherapy leave a surprising fact: we have not improved anything

Since the 70s, hundreds of studies have examined the effects of psychotherapies against the depression. They have done it with many different experimental approaches and designs. They have done it insistently and, as if that were not enough, in an increasing number. That has allowed us to know two things: the first is that psychotherapies They are effective. The second is that this effectiveness has not moved an apex in 50 years. How can we know? To begin with, thanks to Pim Cuijpers, Professor Emeritus of Clinical Psychology at Amsterdam University. He and a team of researchers They gathered 562 randomized controlled trials that had been published in the last 50 years. These essays are the highest methodological quality that are currently (although, as the authors point out, average Caldiad is not as high as it should). In total, the researchers gathered information of 66,361 patients. Most American adults, but with a significant number of people from other countries. From there, they only had to weigh the interventions, the results and see what happened. What did they find? To begin with, they found that psychotherapies work. In fact, his conclusions were that, as the years go by (and studies), the “evidence that psychotherapies are effective is solid and grows over the years.” The surprise was not that, of course. The surprise was that, for many studies that have been added over the years, “they found no sign that the effects of therapies (psychological against depression) have improved.” None. The effectiveness of these treatments has remained surprisingly stable throughout all these years. And how does all this leave psychotherapy? In a strange situation. In a context in which the consumption of benzodiazepines does not stop growing (and, remember, Spain is World Ansiolithic Consumption Leader With more than 91 daily doses per 1,000 inhabitants), psychotherapies appear as an effective solution; But we are not improving. That is, we have a tool, but we cannot climb it. If the problem continues to grow (and is doing it), we will need more and more resources. Resources that, from the financial crisis and despite the concern of recent years, do not seem to be arriving. The question is no longer “What are we failing“,” Why we can’t improve more “,” where is what limits us to go further “, which also: the question is how we do it better. And it is urgent to find an answer. Image | Cuijpers et Atls | Nik Shuliahin In Xataka | Work stress as germ of depression: work pressure enhances mental disorders

Log In

Forgot password?

Forgot password?

Enter your account data and we will send you a link to reset your password.

Your password reset link appears to be invalid or expired.

Log in

Privacy Policy

Add to Collection

No Collections

Here you'll find all collections you've created before.