young

Young people are stopping drinking beer like crazy. That’s why Mahou wants to sell you water as cosmetics

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On May 28, social networks in Spain woke up flooded with pink, lychee and promises of beauty. That day YUZZ saw the lightthe new business adventure of the influencer María Pombo in alliance with the brewing giant Mahou San Miguel. Under the motto Here You Glowis presented not as a simple drink, but as a revolutionary concept of fun skincare: a soft drink that “takes care of you on the inside so that you shine on the outside”, formulated with hyaluronic acid and vitamin C. The deployment was massive: the strategy started with mystery videos, a WhatsApp channel that was fuming with thousands of followers looking for clues and culminated in an experience pop-up in the heart of Madrid. However, beyond the indisputable success of the call, the launch uncovers a striking contradiction: that of an industry traditionally linked to nightlife and beer trying to bottle the idyllic universe of health, cosmetics and well-being. Why does a brewery sell beauty? Beer is beer you might be thinking. However, the alcoholic beverages sector is going through a moment of profound transformation in the face of the decline in consumption among new generations. This is where they make the leap towards functional soft drinks, since it responds to an unstoppable global trend. In fact, the wellness market It already moves 480,000 million dollars in the United States, with annual growth of up to 10%. Europe follows in the same wake, and Mahou is looking for its piece of the pie. But to connect with Generation Z and millennials It is not enough to launch a product; a narrative is needed. This is where María Pombo comes in. The industry is witnessing an evolution of influencer marketing, it is no longer about paying a well-known face to hold a can, but rather a “shared business model” based on co-creation. Pombo has been involved from day one, sharing the development process organically with her more than four million followers. This drastically reduces the consumer’s natural resistance to conventional advertising. The label under the magnifying glass. While marketing works perfectly, the scientific community has raised eyebrows when analyzing the list of ingredients. Can you really drink cosmetics? According to Dr. Emiliano Grillo, specialist in Dermatology, is blunt in the magazine Cuore: “There is no way for you to eat the skincare“. The expert warns that, for oral hyaluronic acid to have a real impact, it would require much higher doses than those anticipated in this type of recreational formats. But the biggest problem with YUZZ is not what it promises, but what it hides: sugar. Although the brand prides itself on being a low-calorie drink without sweeteners, nutritionist Paola Sánchez explains in the same medium that each can contains about 10 grams of sugar, the equivalent of two cubes, from the concentrated apple juice that serves as a base. The pharmacist Mencía Hermosa goes one step further and points out the paradox of the product: the consumption of sugars is directly involved in the glycation process, a mechanism that damages collagen and “contributes to skin aging.” That is, the soft drink could be torpedoing the effect it promises to generate. For her part, the pharmacist and disseminator Lena de Pons dissects the formulation in Infobaedenouncing that “the narrative sells more than the evidence.” De Pons clarifies that YUZZ is governed by food regulations, not cosmetics. Legally, they can only claim that it helps collagen because it covers 15% of the Nutritional Reference Value (NRV) of vitamin C, a tiny amount. “A fruit salad has more antioxidants,” says the expert ironically, also regretting that the word “science” is used in the campaign without providing independent studies that support the bioavailability of its formula in the body. The undeniable triumph of narrative. At the end of the day, the reality of YUZZ depends on the lens through which you look. If we evaluate it under the rigor of dermatology, trying to replace a cream with a soft drink is nonsense. As a timely and recreational alternative to a mixed drink with alcohol or a traditional soft drink loaded with artificial additives, it is an option that the experts themselves consider acceptable. But in the corporate field, the move is masterful. How to conclude Article 14in a saturated market where attention is the rarest commodity, getting an entire country to debate about your brand is the greatest success. Mahou and María Pombo have made the initial impact. Now they face the real challenge: to demonstrate that this cross between a brewery and skincare It has enough commercial history to survive on the shelves once the noise of social networks has died down. Image | instagram Xataka | It’s cheaper and less anxiety-inducing: ‘solo-maxxing’ is Generation Z’s answer to the stifling dating industry

a star bar in a galaxy that is too young and gaseous

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The James Webb Space Telescope has done it again. He has found a phenomenon in the Universe that contradicts the physics known until now. In this case, the discovery consists of a star bar in a galaxy that should not host a structure of this type. The good thing is that, properly understood, this discovery can help unravel a mystery for which there was no explanation. We will have to modify what we knew about galaxies, but in exchange we have answers to questions that we did not have before. A stellar bar in GN20. Many star bars are known in the nearby Universe. It is even known that there are some in our Milky Way. However, they are not found at points close to the Big Bang because they are slow to form, so they could not have been born so early. Furthermore, in those early stages of the Universe there was a lot of gas in the galaxies, the movement of which is believed to inhibit the formation of stellar bars. All this is what makes the find so rare. recently described by a team of scientists from Leiden University. And, thanks to James Webb, they have found one of these structures in GN20, a very old massive galaxy rich in gases, which formed about 1.5 billion years after the Big Bang. It is a galaxy that is too young and has too much gas to already host a formed star bar. Nothing fits. Let’s clarify concepts. Star bars are elongated arrangements of stars found at the centers of galaxies, rotating as a rigid unit. With this rotation they drag the gas around them and lead it to the galactic nucleus as if it were a funnel. This possibly serves to feed the galaxy’s central black hole. The detection is clear. The authors of the study have confirmed that they are looking at a star bar using three different methods. To begin with, it was carried out a technique called isofocal analysis. This consists of drawing a series of imaginary lines on a galaxy that join points with the same brightness. It is something similar to what is done on topographic maps with contour lines. Once this is done, changes in brightness can be detected that indicate the presence of specific structures. In this case, the galaxy’s light is stretched and rotated in a way that corresponds to a star bar. But that’s not all, its existence has also been proven with an independent mathematical analysis and with observations from the NOEMA telescope. Once this structure was detected, it had to be seen as clearly as possible. That’s where James Webb comes into play, whose near-infrared camera is capable of go beyond the veil of gas and dust which makes observations in the oldest stages of the Universe difficult. An impossible size. With all these observations, it was also possible to measure the galaxy, which extends over 7 kiloparsecs or, which is the same, 22,800 light years. It is too big for known physics. On the one hand, because of what we have already seen. To grow so much it should have started forming a long time ago and, supposedly, in the youngest stages of the Universe such a structure could not be formed. And, on the other hand, because such a large star bar should collapse according to the description of current models. Gas to the rescue. These scientists have discovered that, curiously, this galaxy has survived so long thanks to gas. We have seen that, normally, gas makes its formation difficult. But that happens when the gas moves slowly and orderly. However, in this case, in the inner disk of the galaxy there is highly turbulent gas that would act as a shield thanks to a phenomenon known as radial shear. Shear what? Normally, gas in galaxies moves in concentric circles, so that those in the center move faster and those outside move more slowly. This is known as differential rotation. In this case, however, there are turbulent movements, with the gas moving in a disorderly manner, in such a way that in different rings it rubs, drags and mixes. That’s radial shear. This, broadly speaking, helps the bar grow instead of hindering its formation. Two key points. When entering with the James Webb to observe the star bar closely, two important details were seen. On the one hand, at the point where it coincides with the outer disk of the galaxy, to the south, there is a large accumulation of gas that acts as a hot spot for the formation of many stars. On the other hand, in the center the bar contributes to sweeping a lot of material into the black hole of the galactic nucleus. What it teaches us. All of this makes us rethink the physics of star bars, but it also helps scientists understand something that until now was a mystery: inert elliptical giants. These are very large and young galaxies that They are already inactive. That is, new stars are no longer forming within it. With everything discovered in GN20, the authors of the study that has just been published consider that the star bars could be the reason. By creating star-forming hot spots and sweeping material into the black hole, they essentially make the galaxy live very fast. Create a lot of stars very quickly and use up your fuel early. They live fast, die young and leave an enigmatic corpse that, perhaps, is no longer so enigmatic. Image | NASA | Leindert A. Boogaard et al (2026). In Xataka | James Webb has just discovered oxygenated water in the most unexpected place we could think of: Pluto’s moon

We talk to young Spaniards who reject consciously using AI

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While the AI is increasingly integrated into studies, work and daily life, a parallel and still minority phenomenon is brewing in the subsoil of public opinion and professional environments: that of a current of young people who view this technology with skepticism, fatigue or rejection. Some try to limit its use; others directly reject it. Although young generations have quickly embraced and integrated these tools into their daily lives, there are studies that point to the growth of a certain reluctance. A survey conducted in 2026 by the Walton Family Foundation, GSV Ventures and Gallup reveals how despite the fact that 51% of American Generation Z say they use AI weekly, “negative emotions towards it have intensified in the last year.” The study reflects concern about the “cost” that the continued use of this technology may have on “creativity or critical thinking.” Diego Castilla, member of the History Student Association of the Carlos III University of Madrid, is one of them. In his opinion, “AI stupidifies the mind.” Understand that the use of this technology is driven by increasingly academic and work rhythms. harder to hold. He tries to stay out of it and assures that he only uses it in a “very specific and specific” way, because he is convinced that “it creates bad habits.” For him, in addition, there is something easily recognizable in the content generated by AI: “It is noticeable. What is made by AI lacks soul.” Along these lines, Marcos, a 26-year-old graphic designer, believes that young people lead the “resistance” or “rejection” of AI. While he observes how the older generations feel a genuine fascination with this technology – “they love making songs, videos and images” – and accept its use without questioning it, he perceives a much more critical view among young people. Faced with the “devotion” that he detects in some older people, Marcos observes in youth a growing need to “escape from AI.” In fact, he considers that interest in “the physical” is gaining more and more strength: “I see more young people interested in having books, attending craft workshops or dancing…”. Activities that, in his opinion, respond to the desire to get away from digital, “rest” and “connect” again. “There are many valid reasons to reject AI” The ecological impact, the possible loss of autonomy, the potential risk for certain professionals, the power accumulated by large technology companies behind these tools… The reasons for distancing ourselves from AI are multiple. Marcos Escudero-Viñolo, professor at the Higher Polytechnic School of the Autonomous University of Madrid, knows several profiles that show a total rejection of AI: “Some for neo-Luddite reasons, that is, they reject AI for its social impacts; others for degrowth reasons, that is, they reject it based on its enormous ecological impacts; others practice resistance or active boycott of this technology, for example, as a criticism of heteronomy “Some combine these and other factors.” Although these positions seem to be a minority, they are present especially among young profiles linked to groups environmentalists either degrowth —as Ecologists in Action, beyondGrowth either Your cloud dries up my river—, but, according to Escudero-Viñolo, also among students, researchers or some professionals. (Unsplash) For Francisco José Estupiñá Puig, a contract professor at the Faculty of Psychology of the Complutense University of Madrid and co-director of the addictive behavior research group Controlab, “there are many valid reasons to reject AI,” and these can be framed in “ethical, political or ecological positions.” In some sectors, skepticism—which often does not reach rejection— is perceived with more intensity. “It is more common that from the artistic field they can feel threatened and even generate very strong rejection,” says César Poyatos Dorado, professor of educational technology at the UAM. This is corroborated by Marcos, a graphic designer, who finds in his professional environment a growing reluctance towards works generated entirely with AI.ç Paula Jimenez, content creator in a 27-year-old communications agency, he feels that “AI is making us idiots.” She is concerned about the widespread use of these tools to carry out “creative and human tasks,” and believes that this concern is becoming more and more evident among young people: “In fact, I consider myself one of those young people who claim not to do things with artificial intelligence.” Along these lines, Marcos, a 19-year-old History and Politics student, observes among his group of friends “a great rejection of AI,” and although he believes that this position is not the majority among young people, he does consider it to be increasingly common. Between rejection and critical use “It’s the same as when a smoker admits that tobacco is bad but continues smoking. Young people use AI because it is a very practical resource but they are afraid that AI can replace people in their jobs, they criticize that what is created by AI is not as creative or interesting…” This is how María Ángeles Gutiérrez García, teacher, explains the ambivalent relationship that many of her students have with this technology; They are “capable of making many arguments against artificial intelligence despite the fact that they use it.” Manuel Armayones, professor of Behavioral Design at the Open University of Catalonia, believes that this tension between use and rejection responds to a growing sense of discomfort. “They use AI, but at the same time they are not clear to what extent doing so is legitimate or harms them in the long term (…) We are facing a technology that not only changes how we do things, but also how we think, decide and perceive ourselves as professionals,” he explains. (Unslpash) According to Armayones, many young people feel that integrating AI is almost mandatory in order not to be left behind, but at the same time they fear being the ones who stop making decisions and taking on a supervisory role: “For this reason, rather than frontal rejection, many times what we see is a need to set limits and understand what role we want to have in that system.” This … Read more

Cases in young people are skyrocketing and science points to our lifestyle

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When we think of patients with colon cancerour mind can automatically go to a middle-aged person with different risk factors behind them. However, epidemiology is documenting a radical change in statisticssince more and more young people are being diagnosed with this type of cancer, which makes us reflect to look for the ‘why’. The experts. Winette van der Graaf, professor of Medical Oncology at the Netherlands Cancer Institute (NKI), points to this new reality and states that “I would never have imagined that I would be seeing patients with colorectal cancer at the age of 19” as collect The Country. With this phrase he gives voice to a global trend that epidemiological studies continue to confirm, since cancer is no longer a disease almost exclusively of old age, and the incidence is growing at a rate four times faster in young people than in older people. An explosion. Data supports the medical concern through multiple international macro studies, such as the one published in 2024 in The Lancet. Here, 50 countries were analyzed and showed that early-onset colorectal cancer (between 25 and 49 years) is increasing in 27 of them. But the most revealing data is in 20 of those 27 territories, where the increase in cases is exclusive to young people or is advancing much faster than in the adult population. The fastest pace is taken by countries such as New Zealand or Chile, growing at 4.0% annually, and Puerto Rico with 3.8%. Furthermore, in 14 countries, including Spain, the United States and the United Kingdom, cases are increasing in young people while remaining stable in those over 50 years of age. Among the youngest. The figures here are scary, since, according to the data From the CDC, data on colorectal cancer among adolescents tripled between 1999 and 2020. If we go into detail, in the 20 to 24 year old group they grew by 185%, while in the 10 to 14 year old age group the growth was 500% as the incidence went from 0.1 to 0.6 cases per 100,000 children. The Spanish case. Here, a study based on real data from the Virgen de la Victoria Hospital published in JCO Global Oncology in 2024 analyzed more than 24,500 patients and found that 22.2% had early-onset cancer, being present before the age of 50. And we can go further, by making a list of the types of cancer that have increased the most in our territory: Sarcoma: increased by 43.4% in young people compared to 28.6% in older people. Kidney: rose 27.8% in young people compared to 20.1% in older people. Testicle: grew by 16.3% in young people, while its incidence fell by 13.1% in older people. Because? Here experts point to a combination of very diverse factors that try to explain it, although none of them is definitive. One of these is an inadequate diet with an increase in the consumption of red meat and calcium-deficient diets that is complemented by a tendency toward a sedentary lifestyle. But in addition, the excessive use of antibiotics could be severely altering our intestinal microbiota, added to the impact of bacterial infections during childhood. And it even goes further by considering the role of the exposure we have since childhood to chemical elements such as pesticides or pollution in general to give it an explanation. Images | brgfx on Magnific Julia Koblitz In Xataka | Neither cure nor die: why the next great revolution against cancer is to make it chronic

The wealth gap between young and old in Spain is skyrocketing and we have a suspect: housing

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Just look at the list of greatest fortunes in Spain of the last two years to realize that not only have their assets grown, but even among the wealthiest a gap has been created increasing among the rich and ultra-rich. This wealth gap is not an isolated phenomenon among the richest 1%, but rather has permeated to the entire population, leaving a worrying generational scar to which they have already put a figure: 340,000 euros. That is the difference in assets that today separates a person under 35 years old from someone who is between 65 and 74, according to a report which has just been published by the Santalucía Institute. A generation that starts from scratch. The data from the report maintain that the median wealth of those under 35 years of age in Spain has plummeted by 76.7% in the last 18 years. Not only do they accumulate fewer assets than their parents at the same age, but a growing proportion of young people “lack significant assets, which limits their financial stability and their ability to undertake long-term vital projects,” the report notes. The participation of young people under 35 years of age in the country’s total net wealth went from representing around 8.2% of the national wealth in 2002 to just 2.1% in 2022. For their part, those over 75 years of age, in the same period, went from representing 8.3% of total wealth to 18.3% in 2022. wealth transfer that has been redesigning the economic map of the country. This means that, although the net wealth of Spanish households has grown by 80.9% in the last two decades, this growth has mainly benefited those who already had a certain initial wealth, making the balance of wealth growth lean more towards the older (and more wealthy) population. The brick that only rose for a few. The report from the Santalucía Institute assures that the heritage in Spain rests almost completely in the homethus explaining the origin of the wealth growth of the oldest segment of the population. More than 80% of household assets are real estate. That has favored those who bought properties when prices were affordable. Those that came laterToday’s young people have found a market where buying a home is little less than a utopia. The property rate among those under 35 years of age has fallen from 35% in 2023 to 30% in 2025, continuing with a clear downward trend. Without home ownership and with skyrocketing rents At historic highs, the assets of young people have no basis on which to grow. Added to this is the job insecurity that characterizes this age group, which further reduces their savings capacity, closing a circle of which it is increasingly difficult to escape. The generation gap in figures. According to data from the ‘Family Financial Survey‘ conducted by the Bank of Spain, the gap between generations reached its historical maximum in 2022 and rose an additional 3% in 2024, the last year for which the entity’s data is collected. People between 65 and 74 years old accumulate on average more than 425,000 euros in deposits, investments and real estate assets, compared to the 83,000 euros that, on average, those under 35 have available. The distance between generations, estimated at 340,000 euros, has never been so great. Beyond the gap between generations, a report Prepared by FEDEA economists based on data from the Bank of Spain, it confirms that wealth inequality in Spain has grown constantly in the last two decades. The richest 1% concentrates around 21% of the country’s total wealth, while the poorest half barely reaches 7%. The Gini index, which measures this inequality, has risen from 0.57 in 2002 to 0.69 in 2022. Income also distances. The problem for the youngest is not only the accumulated wealth, but also in the income they receive every month. The median income of households between 65 and 74 years old already reaches 34,700 euros per year, this is 2,700 euros above what households headed by those under 35 years of age earn. The most striking thing is the speed at which this change has occurred since, in 2022, that difference was just 500 euros per year, but in just four years that difference has multiplied by five. Young households already have 8% less income than older households. Less income, less savings, less assets. The Santalucia Institute report, just as the OECD for yearswarns that this model points to structural inequality that will have direct implications for housing, the ability to save (and consume), and the redistribution of wealth. In Xataka | How wealth inequality has changed in the world since 2008, explained with a simple graph Image | Unsplash (Towfiqu barbhuiya, Brayn Ramos)

Eric Schmidt warned young university students that AI will change everything. Response from the university students: boo him

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We are living a curious moment in daily technological life. Well, in many ways, really, but obviously artificial intelligence is something that takes up a good part of the conversation and it seems that there are no half measures. Or wild optimism about how good this technology is for humanity (for the few who are striking gold, rather) or criticism and opposition. Because while Big Tech and technology gurus evangelize about the benefits of AIthere are more and more They oppose this technology and the gluttonous infrastructure it needs to function. And nothing represents that duality as well as the loud booing that Eric Schmidt, former CEO of Google, received when he spoke about AI in his graduation speech at a university. Schmidt’s speech. In large American universities it is common for them to invite personalities to give the graduation speech and, in Arizona, the chosen one was billionaire Eric Schmidt who commanded Google and Alphabet. He took the stage and, in front of 10,000 students, gave a speech that addressed several topics, but focused on the impact of modern technology on society. Last December, Time magazine selected its person of the year for 2025. And this time, they were the architects of artificial intelligence. So today we find ourselves on the verge of another technological transformation. One that will be bigger, faster and more impactful than what came before. It will affect every profession, every classroom, every hospital, every laboratory, every person and every relationship they have. I know how many of you are feeling about this. I can hear them. There is a fear. There is a fear in your generation that the future has already been written. That the machines are already coming. That jobs are evaporating. That the climate is being destroyed. That politics is fractured. And that you are inheriting a disaster that you did not create. And I understand that fear. It’s rational. And it is amplified every day by social media platforms with algorithms that have learned with great precision that fear drives clicks and anxiety drives engagement. But I want to tell you something tonight in the clearest way possible. To talk about the future as if it had already been decided is to give up on the only thing that really matters. They are giving up their ability to act. The future doesn’t just arrive. It is built in laboratories, in college dormitories, in startups, in classrooms, in legislatures. And the people who will build it will be you and people like you. The booing of Schmidt. Depending on whether you are on the most optimistic side or the most critical side of the current situation of artificial intelligence, you will imagine the fragments in which the public could react to the speech, but one thing is clear: graduates do not seem to like being reminded of the world they are inheriting, that a technology that is far from perfect is going to impact all aspects of society (already is doing so, in fact) and that, with a certain hypocrisy, the blame is placed on the social media algorithms that serve as speaker of certain currents of thought. Whatever path you choose, AI is going to be part of it – Eric Schmidt Especially from a person who was in positions of responsibility at Google and Alphabet for more than 15 years, and Google works the way it works. In his speech, the former CEO addressed other issues such as that the same tools that connect us are the ones that are isolating us and more that “the question is not whether AI will shape the world: it will. The question is whether you will have been part of artificial intelligence.” The new Industrial Revolution. The video of Schmidt’s booing is not framed in a vacuum and has not been the only one that has gone viral in recent weeks. a few days ago, Gloria Caulfield received the same treatment from graduates at the University of Central Florida. Gloria is Vice President of Strategic Partnerships for Tavistock and Executive Director of the Lake Nona Institute and hit a nerve when she compared artificial intelligence and the moment we live in with the Industrial Revolution. Glory commented that we live in a time of profound change and, unlike Schmidt, he had to stop a couple of times due to the force of the boos. In fact, he reacted by pointing out that it was evident that there was a division of opinion and that he loved the passion of the students. He commented that, in his day, his generation had the same problems with the birth of the Internet and insecurity about the future, but it did not seem to convince the students. There was also applause, of course. Weird climate. These types of positions by personalities who give speeches about AI, as we say, are not isolated. Someone very active in this sense is Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia and a person extremely involved and interested in the development of AI, who also gave a talk recently at Carnegie Mellon University in which he commented that there is no better time to start working on “the job of your life”, which AI is a positive network for humanity because it provides opportunities that favor young people and that AI “will create many new jobs and new industries.” “AI is not likely to replace you, but someone who uses AI better than you could” – Jensen Huang Another example is that of monumental anger of the graduates of calartsone of the most important universities in the world in the arts segment, when the president of the institution began to praise artificial intelligence. The problem here is that, again, young people are not so convinced that AI is going to change their future… for the better. As they point out in Guardiana recent study suggests that about half of young Americans are more worried than excited about the rise of AI in … Read more

their young people remarry

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It is not very clear how it has done it and if it is something specific (the result of the post-pandemic hangover) or a change in trend that will be consolidated over time, but South Korea has achieved something that until recently sounded almost unthinkable: increasing marriages between young people. Their latest statistics show that, after years in free fall, relationships between men and women in their twenties or who have not yet turned 35 are increasing. It is a fundamental fact for the country because, although the mentality of young people is changing little by littlein conservative South Korean society, marriage and birth rates remain closely linked: it is estimated that something less than 5% of births occur outside of marriage. Young people at the altar? The tables from Statistics Korea are clear: after a decade of decline, relationships involving young people (both boys and girls) in their twenties have begun to rise. Also among South Koreans in their early thirties. If we talk about women, in 2015 the statistical observatory accounted 109,300 links in which girls between 25 and 29 years old participated. In 2023 that figure had plummeted by 49%, until it stood at 55,700. In 2024 the curve reversed with 64,300 marriages and in 2025 the increase was consolidated with 69,300. In the case of men the ‘photo’ It’s very similar. Between 2015 and 2023, unions involving young people in their twenties (25-29 years old) plummeted by 44%, from 67,100 to 34,600. However, in 2024 the number of marriages in that age group rose to 39,800 and last year the growth was consolidated with another 42,500 unions. The same happened with young adults between 30 and 34 years old: since 2022 they have risen by just over 40%, a trend that is again seen among both men and women. Why is it important? Beyond what these data can tell us about the way of thinking of young South Koreans or the cultural changes that the country is going through, marriage statistics are relevant because they are closely connected to birth rates. And the latter are key in a nation that has spent decades mired in a demographic catastrophe who threatens to boycott his economysocial balance and even national security and that only now seems (seems) to be reversing. It is estimated that in 2022 only 2% of babies born in South Korea were born out of wedlock. Other statistics They approximate the data to 5%but in any case they give an idea of ​​how unwilling South Koreans are to become parents without having made their relationship official. In 2024 Statistics Korea published a survey conducted among young people in which it explored precisely this issue and reached an interesting conclusion: although more and more people support having children outside of marriage, less than half of the population (42.8%) sees it as ‘acceptable’. That does not mean that the number of babies born to single parents has grown little by little, going from 6,900 in 2020 to around 9,800 in 2022. What is the change due to? The million dollar question. To begin with, there is an important fact: in South Korea not only do weddings seem to be increasing among twenty-somethings. They do it in general. Official statistics show that in 2025 they will be registered in the country 240,000 linksdoubly good information. Sample an increase of 8.1% compared to 2024 and above all it represents the third year of sustained growth, breaking with more than a decade of declines. Statistics Korea figures show In any case, a good part of those relationships involved brides or grooms who had not yet blown out the 30 candles. Why this interest? There are those who believe that to a large extent this wedding boom is basically explained by the pandemic, a phenomenon that has occurred in many other countries. Those who wanted to walk down the aisle in 2020, 2021 or even 2022 had no choice but to postpone their wedding plans, which explains why this ‘pocketed demand’ has begun to be released in the last three years. Another key factor is what experts call ‘demographic echo’: Today there are more South Koreans around 30 years old getting married basically because there are more South Koreans around that age, the echo boomers. But that doesn’t explain everything, right? No. The pandemic or the shape of the demographic pyramid may explain why weddings are generally increasing in South Korea, but it does not fully clarify why twenty- and thirty-somethings decide to walk down the aisle. Throughout the last half months as Korea Times, Korean Herald either The Straits Times They have tried to clarify this point and have mainly introduced two ideas: a change in mentality and the search for greater stability thanks to the combination of salaries. It is not the only factor, of course. Studies suggest that young people are also changing their conception of marriage, which little by little stops being seen as a social imposition or an institution that restricts individual freedom. In fact, even though the voluntary singlehood movement has arrived to South Korea, there are studies that suggest that young people seem to show more interest for weddings. Is everything perfect? No. Beyond the social trends that may occur naturally, it is undeniable that the State has been deploying measures designed to promote birth and the creation of couples. In fact Korea Times slide an important key: government support for newly married couples, especially in terms of housing. According to the media, in 2025, 39,121 public rental applications were submitted for couples who had just said ‘I do’. Not bad at all if you take into account that they were fighting for an offer of 1,686 homes, which leaves a rate of 23.2 candidates for each accommodation. In certain areas of the country this figure skyrockets to exceed one hundred requests per apartment. There is another important fact and that is that, whether there are more or fewer weddings, in general terms … Read more

A young man has solved a mathematical problem that lasted 60 years in 80 minutes with ChatGPT. That’s the least interesting thing about the story.

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He is 23 years old, his name is Liam Price and he has no advanced mathematical training. Even so, a few days ago he opened the Erdös problem websitepicked one at random and pasted it into ChatGPT. I didn’t know the history of the problem or who had tried it before. What he received back seemed like a good solution, and after consulting with a friend who was studying mathematics, the two realized they might be on to something special. A few hours later Terence Tao, one of the most renowned mathematicians in the world, confirmed that problem #1196 of Erdös, a conjecture about primitive sets of integers that had not been solved since 1966, had a solution. I had found her GPT-5.4 Pro in just 80 minutes. Not like that. This problem analyzed a question about the behavior of a particular mathematical sum on primitive sets, that is, sets of integers where none divides the other, when those numbers become very large. Jared Lichtman, a Stanford mathematician, had spent years on the problem and had made partial progress, but he and those who had tried before were starting from the same starting point that seemed like the right path. A novel idea. GPT-5.4 used another starting point. He stayed in the airmetic terrain and used a special function called von Mangoldt functiona classic tool of number theory known for its connections to prime numbers and Riemann zeta function. No one had thought about that approach to the problem, and as Lichtman explained when talking about the OpenAI model solution, “The LLM took a completely different route.” The achievement is real, but with nuances. Litchman praised the proposed solution by GPT-5.4, but there is one detail that has been omitted in many comments on this event: the raw output of ChatGPT was, in the words of this mathematician, “pretty poor.” This solution made it necessary for several experts to interpret it, detail it and extract from it the underlying idea that allowed the conjecture to be solved. Price didn’t know he had the solution until his friend read it, and he wasn’t sure until Tao confirmed it. The official repository of AI contributions to Erdös problemsmaintained by Tao himself on GitHub, classify the result as a solution generated in human-AI collaboration, not as a solution developed solely by AI. The distinction is important. A previous scandal. A few weeks ago Sebastien Bubeck, a researcher at OpenAI, posted on X that GPT-5 had “solved” several Erdös problems. That publication exceeded 100,000 views, but the mathematical community and also that surrounding the AI ​​industry criticized that statement. Demis Hassabis, CEO of DeepMind, called that statement “shameful.” What had actually happened is that the model I had found solutions to already solved problems on the web. Bubeck finished deleting the original tweet and tried to back down, but all this raised doubts about the validity of the application of AI to solve mathematical problems. AI and the mathematical success rate. Terence Tao and Nat Sothanaphan maintain the aforementioned record of all AI contributions to Erdös problems on GitHub. Each of the entries in that list or table is classified with a traffic light: green for complete solution, yellow for partial progress, and red for failure. In the category of completely AI-generated solutions with no known prior literature there are three green, fourteen yellow, and eight red traffic lights. However, the repository itself adds a unique comment: those who try to use AI to solve these problems and fail do not usually report it, so it is likely that AI has been applied “silently” to a large number of these problems without success, and those attempts do not appear in any table. There is a clear bias here because only successes generate headlines. Trying to measure what matters. In February 2026, eleven mathematicians created the initiative “First Proof“. In it they included ten mathematical problems that arose naturally in their research projects. For each one they included encrypted answers uploaded to a verification site, and they gave the AI ​​systems a week to try to solve those problems that had never appeared in any training data set. Preliminary results indicate that today AI models cannot overcome that barrier autonomously, and what happens is that there are still limits to what AI can really contribute in mathematics. But then, is there a revolution or not? Terence Tao offered a clear explanation as to why GPT-5.4 had succeeded where others had failed for 60 years. What had happened was what he described as a collective blockage of the mathematical community, because everyone started from the same origin because it was “the natural one”, the one marked by tradition. The AI ​​didn’t know that was the “correct” way to start, and that ignorance turned out to be an advantage. It’s not that the AI ​​was smarter, it’s that it had no biases about how to approach the problem. Now it remains to be seen if this novel way of trying to solve problems in unorthodox ways works. This will confirm whether what happened with Erdös’s problem number 1196 was an isolated case or whether a 23-year-old boy has managed to change our vision of how to tackle mathematical problems. Image | Universal Pictures In Xataka | There is a mathematically perfect way to cut a ham and cheese sandwich and it has been discussed since 1938.

pay young people for dating apps

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To desperate problems, desperate solutions. In full demographic debaclethe authorities of Kōchi (a prefecture in southern Japan) have decided to help their young people find a partner a peculiar shape: paying for their subscription to dating apps. The aid is only aimed at residents under 40 years old, cannot exceed 20,000 yen (110 euros) and is limited to a list of certified social networks, but it gives an idea of ​​the extent to which the Administration is determined to reverse the birth crisis that is clouding the future of the country. That it has focused the focus on apps is not a coincidence either. Help to flirt. Japan is not willing to sit idly by while its birth rate declines at a rate record speed and the country is moving deeper and deeper into a demographic catastrophe of unpredictable consequences. Over the last few years, the Japanese authorities have launched millionaire programs to activate their birth rate, which includes from numerous ‘baby checks’ to job improvements that facilitate conciliation. In few places, however, have they been as imaginative as in Kōchi Prefecture. There the Government has decided help your young to pay dating apps. “Helping singles”. Kōchi’s idea is as simple as it is shocking. a few days ago the prefecture announced a “subsidy program to cover app usage fees.” Said like this, it may not seem too interesting, but things change when you go down to detail. Its objective is very specific: to lend a hand to young people in the region who want to register on dating platforms and, ultimately, “to help singles who want to meet someone or get married.” With small print. The measure, of course, has fine print. Only Kōchi residents between 20 and 39 years old can apply and must prove that the app began to be used on April 1. In fact, the aid is designed to pay for subscriptions between April 2026 and March 2027. Its amount is also limited: in no case can it exceed 20,000 yen, about 110 euros. The curious thing is that Kōchi is not the first to use this trick. In the region of Miyazaki They also launched a similar program in 2025, although with an aid of only 10,000 yen per year, and in Tokyo they have even promoted a dating app focused on a very specific user profile: people looking for a stable partner. Is any application worth it? No. That is another of the peculiarities of the Kōchi initiative. The prefecture subsidizes only subscriptions to certain apps preselected, although among them is Tapple, a platform very popular among singles in Japan. Curiously, just a year ago it incorporated a function that allows its users to verify officially their marital status, which allows the rest of the people in the network to know if they are married or not. In the list from Kōchi also includes Pairs, D3 or Omiai, among others. A well-calibrated bet. That the Kōchi authorities have decided to bet on dating apps is no coincidence. A few years ago the Government carried out a survey in which, among other questions, he asked the Japanese how they had met their partners. A quarter (25%) of those who had gotten married acknowledged that they contacted their better half through dating apps, which makes them the great matchmaker in the country. 21% said they had met their spouse at work and 10% at a school. How much does it cost to flirt? It is also no coincidence that Kōchi has set its subsidy at 110 euros per year. “The current price of annual membership fees is just over 20,000 yen, so we set the amount to cover most of it,” explains an official to The Sankei Shimbun. Those who benefit from the measure will only have to cover the rest of the costs. In its efforts to make it as easy as possible for singles, the prefecture even has a specific program which helps those who move to Kōchi to look for a boyfriend or girlfriend. Again it may seem like a strange initiative, but in Japanese society only a tiny percentage of babies are born out of wedlock. If Kōchi (or any other region) wants more children, it first needs more couples. Goal: more babies. Although Japan is not the only country suffering the effects of demographic winter, the situation there is particularly worrying. Their multiple efforts to reactivate their birth rate do not seem to be giving results (unlike what seems to happen in South Korea) and in 2025 the country recorded its tenth consecutive year of decline, reaching a new historic floor. The outlook is so discouraging that Japan is moving at a minimum demographics I didn’t expect to see until the 2040s. Kōchi is no exception. Macrotrends shows that takes years losing inhabitants. Images | Kochi Prefecture Victoriano Izquierdo (Unsplash) In Xataka | Japan wanted to know what bothers its citizens most about tourism. The answer is extremely Japanese

Inheritances have become the key for young people to buy a home. In Galicia they are giving them up

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The data is shocking. In a country where inheritances and donations have become the ‘key’ that allows thousands of young people to acquire their own homes, something difficult to consider without that family support, in Galicia a curious phenomenon is being recorded: a record of inheritance renunciations. Just last year almost 4,000 people They said ‘no’ to the possibility of receiving the legacy that their parents, grandparents, uncles or any other relative had left them when they died. Nor is it a new phenomenon Nor is Galicia the only region in which resignations growbut his case is paradigmatic: those 4,000 cases mark a historical maximum. The question is… Why the hell are inheritances rejected? What has happened? That at a time when inheritances have become the “ticket” that allows many young people take the leap from tenants to owners of their own home, a curious record has just been recorded in Galicia: a historical maximum of heirs renouncing their family legacies. The data has advanced it Vigo Lighthouse. In 2025, almost 4,000 people in the region said ‘no’ to the assets left to them by their deceased relatives. The media cites statistics from the Notarial College of Galicia, which also shows that the current volume of resignations far exceeds that of a few years ago. Why do they do it? The big question. As it reflects a recent report of ARAG, Galicia is one of the autonomous communities that offer a more attractive tax framework for inheritances between descendants and spousesat least those that do not exceed one million euros. There are other taxes that come into play, such as municipal capital gains that can be applied to urban properties, but it does not seem that this is the reason that explains the trickle of inheritance renunciations. What is it then? The reality is that there is no single answer. One of the reasons that most influence resignations is (as ironic as it may sound) the inheritances themselves. Its nature. When we think about them, money accumulated in savings accounts, farms, houses and vehicles comes to mind. The reality is that in many cases legacies are ‘poisoned gifts’. What does that mean? That legacy properties don’t just add up. They also ‘subtract’, either because they arrive accompanied by unpaid mortgages, loans or guarantees or simply because the value of the inheritance does not compensate for the cost of assuming it. The latter may sound strange, but it can occur in inheritances from uncles to nephews or between brothers. Bonuses aside, if the value of the legacy is not high, it may not be worth paying capital gains, notary and registrar. Year pure renunciation Resignation in favor of another person (translative) 2011 18,933 800 2012 23,235 777 2013 28,783 689 2014 34,340 741 2015 37,623 756 2016 38,826 687 2017 43,001 776 2018 46,684 826 2019 47,421 818 2020 44,582 745 2021 55,576 1,124 2022 55,509 1,099 2023 56,179 1,117 2024 54,866 1,273 2025 (until October) 46,265 1,041 Are there more reasons? Yes. Like a good part of Spain, Galicia is a territory in full change: its population tends to concentrate and uninhabited areas increase. In practice, this means that part of the inheritances left in the community are simply rural or forest properties with difficult (or no) access, buildings in ruins and plots reduced to their minimum expression in a land characterized precisely by his smallholding. In short, properties of low value, off the market and that may even entail liabilities, such as keep them clean to avoid fires. It is also not unusual for inheritances to include plots whose ownership is fragmented among different family members, sometimes unrelated to each other. Lighthouse explains People also come to the offices of notaries who want to renounce legacies simply because they had no relationship with the deceased or want to avoid family problems that could lead to lawsuits. ccaa RESIGNATIONS IN 2024 RESIGNATIONS IN 2011 Andalusia 10,889 2,443 Aragon 1,229 505 Asturias 2,033 713 Balearics 1,526 728 Canary Islands 2,123 645 Cantabria 712 210 CASTILLA AND LEÓN 3,347 1,358 CASTILLA-LA MANCHA 2,123 592 Catalonia 9,672 4,815 VALENCIAN COMMUNITY 5,502 1,615 Estremadura 1,209 311 Galicia 3,859 1,051 COMMUNITY OF MADRID 5,687 2,050 REGION OF MURCIA 1,752 390 Navarre 744 207 the Basque Country 1959 1,103 Rioja 500 197 Is it just a matter of inheritances? No. Other factors are added to the above, such as the lack of liquidity of the heirs at the time in which they must receive their legacy or simply the increase in inheritances processed in life. In the end, resignations are increasing, but so are agreements between living relatives who anticipate the process to avoid conflicts or benefit from tax advantages. In the background there is also a purely demographic component: as societies like the Galician one age deaths increasewhich in turn leads to more inheritances and the possibility of increased resignations. Is it something new? No. Nor does it only happen in Galicia. A quick search in the newspaper archive shows that rejections of inheritances have been increasing for some time and they are not rare in other autonomous communities either. just a year ago The Country revealed that the proportion of rejected inheritances had risen considerably to reach historic highs in the historical series. Their percentages must be handled with some caution because they are based on statistics in which resignations are equated with renunciants when in reality a legacy can fall on several people who do not accept it. In any case the data of the General Council of Notaries are eloquent: if in 2011 the organization recorded 18,933 resignations (“pure and simple renunciation of inheritance or legitimate”), in 2016 there were already 38,826 and in 2024 (last annual data closed) 54,866. The 2025 results are still partial, but show about 46,300 rejections through October. Why is it so shocking? Partly because of the context. The General Council of Notaries itself published a report at the end of 2025 which shows that “donations … Read more

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