Spain Says Failure to Control Voltage Caused April Blackout
Spain's power grid 'didn't have enough capacity' to control voltage prior to the blackout, partly because generation plants that should have been helping to regulate voltage weren't operating, Environmental Minister Sara Aagesen said in a press conference Tuesday. She didn't say why this happened.
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Fast Company
25 minutes ago
- Fast Company
You might see prettier skies, thanks to new tech from NASA and IBM
What if scientists could predict northern and southern lights like they could an eclipse? What if they could tell you where and when to be outside, within a narrow window, to see these vibrant displays? A new AI might make that possible. Today, IBM introduced Surya, an open-source foundational AI model that was developed in partnership with heliophysics scientists at NASA. 'Surya is like an AI telescope for the sun that can also look into the future,' explained Juan Bernabe Moreno, director of IBM research in Europe, the U.K., and Ireland. Not only can Surya model what the sun looks like now, but it can also predict our star's future behavior. This is key for understanding solar flares, and whether they will produce coronal mass ejections (CMEs) and subsequent geomagnetic storms, which cause northern lights. That's also important, as these can significantly disrupt life on Earth; a severe space weather risk scenario published by the London-based Lloyd's insurance marketplace presented possible global economic losses of up to $9.1 trillion over a five-year period. Subscribe to the Daily newsletter. Fast Company's trending stories delivered to you every day Privacy Policy | Fast Company Newsletters Surya can model future active regions on the sun We are currently at or near solar maximum, which means our star is at the most active part of its 11-year cycle. This means increased sunspots, which are the source of large solar flares. These flares can subsequently trigger CMEs, which—when directed at Earth—produce geomagnetic storms. The increased aurora borealis (northern lights) activity over the past year has been the result of these geomagnetic storms. But these blasts of energetic particles, solar material, and magnetic fields can have negative effects as well. They disrupt communication, overload power transformers, interrupt GPS, present a threat to astronauts, and can even cause newly launched satellites to fall out of the sky. [Photo: IBM] Until now, scientists have struggled to predict solar flares. But Surya provides a visual AI model of the sun. It's a 'virtual' telescope that can predict solar flares up to two hours before they occur, including the location, direction, and strength of the flare. What's more, Surya provides active region emergence forecasting—which can predict which regions of the sun will become active in the next 24 hours—and also gives a four-day lead time for the prediction of solar wind speed. Building an AI telescope Surya was trained on nine years' worth of high-resolution images from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory. These are large (almost 4K resolution) images, in which every detail matters. That was a challenge. 'AI is lazy,' Bernabe Moreno explained to Fast Company. 'Traditional AI—if it sees many images and then sees a detail in one but in no others—it blurs the detail.' advertisement But that wasn't an option with the sun, and so the team had to teach the model to include the details, rather than ignoring them. The key to Surya is that it's not designed to be, say, a tool that predicts solar flares. All of these examples of what Surya can do are simply suggested use cases. It's a foundational AI designed to model the sun in the present and future, which means the use cases for it are virtually limitless. The model is open-source and publicly available on Hugging Face for anyone to use, which the company hopes will foster scientific exploration. It has 366 million parameters; the smaller model size prioritizes performance and wide adoption. (For comparison, experts say ChatGPT-4 has as many as 1.8 trillion parameters.) IBM and NASA's collaboration continues There's more to come from the partnership between IBM and NASA. Surya is just one part of the IBM-NASA Prithvi foundational models, which aim to explore our planet and solar system. Prithvi uses Earth observation data to model weather and climate. NASA has identified five different science priorities, including astrophysics and planetary science, all of which eventually will have IBM-designed AI foundational models.
Medscape
25 minutes ago
- Medscape
Do Women With Acute ACS Face Unnecessary Bleeding Risk?
A consensus statement from two European cardiology organizations contends antithrombotic treatment for myocardial infarction and angina overlooks sex differences that heighten bleeding risk in women. Compared with men, women treated for acute coronary syndromes (ACS) are at a greater risk for in-hospital bleeding related to invasive cardiac procedures and more long-term outpatient bleeding events, according to the statement from the European Association of Percutaneous Cardiovascular Interventions and the European Society of Cardiology Working Group on Thrombosis. Antithrombotic therapies such as heparin and fondaparinux used in invasive ACS procedures typically have a similar efficacy in women and men, but women have a higher bleeding risk of these agents, said Davide Capodanno, MD, PhD, professor of cardiology at the University of Catania, Catania, Italy, and co-author of the consensus statement. Some ways to reduce bleeding risk in women are to adjust antithrombotic dosing for body weight and kidney function, Capodanno told Medscape Medical News , and to opt for radial access over femoral access for percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). 'Our paper shows that women still experience delays in diagnosis and treatment, receive excessive antithrombotic doses more often, and remain underrepresented in trials,' Capodanno said. 'All of this creates the need for clear, pragmatic, sex-informed recommendations.' Physiologic Differences Hormonal differences between men and women play an important role in bleeding risk. Estrogen promotes the production of prostacyclin, increases the availability of nitric oxide, and reduces platelet aggregation. These features might protect against the earlier onset of coronary artery disease, but fluctuations in hormonal status due to the menstrual cycle, use of oral contraceptives, menopause, and hormone replacement therapy can also influence thrombotic and bleeding risks. Sex differences in protease-activated receptor signaling pathways, smaller coronary artery sizes, and a cascade of other factors contribute to the greater risk for bleeding associated with ACS treatment (Figure). Although ACS typically affects postmenopausal women, the incidence is increasing in premenopausal women, whose bleeding risk is even more elevated because of lower platelet reactivity due to estrogen receptors on the platelet surface. Data from nearly 4000 women and 10,000 men undergoing PCI showed women younger than 50 years were four times more likely than men of the same age to experience major and minor bleeding events associated with stenting. Wanted: More Sex-Specific Data Women also often experience delays in the diagnosis of ACS and referral for invasive treatments, such as PCI, for their condition. Clinicians still lack strong evidence to help them address sex differences in clotting and response to anticoagulation, Capodanno suggested. Awareness is improving, but there's still work to be done. 'We simply don't have enough sex-powered data to guide all our decisions. Women remain underrepresented in clinical trials, which limits the strength of sex-specific evidence,' Capodanno said. 'We need to push for more equitable research by enrolling and retaining more women in clinical studies and ensuring that results are analyzed and published separately for men and women.' Sunil V. Rao, MD, lead author of the 2025 joint clinical practice guidelines on ACS from the American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association, agreed. 'There are very few clinical trials of bleeding reduction that have strong female representation,' said Rao, deputy director of the Leon H. Charney Division of Cardiology and director of interventional cardiology at NYU Langone Heart in New York City. One such study, the SAFE-PCI for Women randomized trial Rao led, compared radial access and femoral access in women undergoing stenting. The research showed using radial instead of femoral access for the intervention reduces the risk for bleeding in women. 'We need more trials like this to help guide the clinical community on how to mitigate the risks of antithrombotic therapy in women,' Rao said. Take-Home: Male Isn't Norm How can individual clinicians adjust their practice? 'We recommend actively reducing bleeding risk — for example, using radial access whenever possible, using ultrasound guidance if femoral access is needed, and always avoiding overdosing by adjusting for weight and kidney function,' Capodanno said. Prompt treatment is key to avoid sex-related delays in starting antithrombotic medications. 'Also, be mindful of sex-specific presentations in ACS,' he added. Among these is myocardial infarction with nonobstructive coronary arteries, which includes spontaneous coronary artery dissection, responsible for 25%-35% of myocardial infarctions in women younger than 50 years. According to Rao, European guidelines are generally consistent with North American recommendations with respect to antithrombotic strategies for ACS. 'I don't think we can make strong recommendations to change practice just yet,' he said. 'The message really is to counsel patients, especially female patients, on the benefit-risk balance of antithrombotic therapy, to use evidence-based approaches to reduce bleeding risk — such as radial access — and to refer female patients for clinical trials when possible.' Capodanno reported payment for speaker fees and advisory board participation from Bristol Myers Squibb, Daiichi Sankyo, Novo Nordisk, Sanofi, and Terumo. Rao reported no relevant financial conflicts of interest.
Forbes
an hour ago
- Forbes
4 Reasons Why ‘Self-Blame' Is Your Default State, By A Psychologist
The habit of staying up at night and replaying all the embarrassing moments of your life while stewing in self-blame isn't just a personality quirk. For most people, this recurring phenomenon, often beyond their control, can start feeling like a mental trap where you keep turning thoughts like 'you should have known better' over and over again in your head. This can also disrupt your sleep cycle. A 2022 study published in the British Journal of Clinical Psychology found that people most often ruminate or worry about past mistakes, negative experiences and social interactions, with nighttime being a high-risk period for such overthinking. The reason you stay stuck in this cycle has to do with your mind's tendency to disguise rumination as 'problem-solving.' You might be under the impression that you're figuring out what went wrong or making sure you will not repeat the mistake. However, in reality, you're just reinforcing the guilt and trapping yourself even further in the same emotional cycle. Over time, this habit can end up chipping away at your confidence, relationships and most importantly, your sense of self. A 2025 study published in Self and Identity explored why forgiving yourself is so difficult for some people and why they can be stuck in self-condemnation. Out of 80 participants, researchers found that 41 of them said they couldn't forgive themselves after a perceived failure. For 39 of them, self-forgiveness came easier. Researchers also identified key patterns that keep people trapped in such self-blame. Here are four reasons you're stuck in a mindset of self-blame, based on the 2025 study: 1. Your 'Time Focus' Keeps You Stuck One of the patterns researchers uncovered through the study was a difference in time focus. People unable to forgive themselves tended to experience the past as if it were still the present. This showed up in many ways. They replayed mistakes in vivid detail and reimagined what they 'should have done.' Essentially, they emotionally relived the moment repeatedly, and painstakingly. The researchers described this as a 'past-as-present' mindset. 'It is a raw feeling. Just like it happened yesterday, but I moved my daughter 4 years ago,' one participant explains, remembering how she struggled to forgive herself when she found out her daughter was being bullied in school. In sharp contrast, the group that could more easily forgive themselves showed a 'future-focused' perspective. They acknowledged their mistake and redirected their attention toward growth, how they could change and what the next steps could be, rather than staying shackled to what had already happened. 'I needed to forgive myself so I could stop blaming myself and stop looking toward the past when I needed to be looking toward the future,' another participant explains, highlighting the power of a future-focus in finding self-forgiveness. These findings suggest that when your dominant focus is on the past, it becomes hard to even see the possibility of a different future. When you find yourself ruminating on the past, you may start to feel like this is an unchangeable part of who you are. But it helps to remember that you are not frozen in that moment. Being in the present moment gives you the power to decide what comes next and take actions that can bring about real change. 2. You Doubt Your Own Agency Moving on from your mistakes isn't just about where your attention is. An important factor we often ignore is our belief in our own ability to make things different. The 2025 study found that people who struggled to forgive themselves frequently questioned whether they even had the ability to change the situation or prevent it from happening again. This 'low-agency' mindset left them feeling powerless. Participants who found themselves stuck in self-condemnation harped on their lack of control over their behavior or circumstances. This led to a deepening of their guilt. On the other hand, those who forgave themselves believed they still had agency. They believed in their capacity to make choices and influence life outcomes. This belief allowed them to move forward. If you lack a sense of agency, it's quite possible your mind lingers on your mistakes, negative events and the past as a prediction of your future. Rebuilding self-trust, therefore, is the first order of business. And you're allowed to start small, such as keeping a promise to yourself, showing up on time to a commitment you've made or making one healthier choice than the day before. 3. You See Your Mistakes As A Reflection Of Your Entire Character Often, the heaviest part of self-blame isn't the action itself. It's what you believe that action says about you that can determine how you see yourself. The researchers of the 2025 study found that people trapped in self-condemnation often saw their mistakes as a reflection of their social-moral identity, or their sense of being a 'good' or 'bad' person in their own eyes and the eyes of others. So, instead of viewing their wrongdoing as a single or isolated event, they saw it as proof that they were fundamentally flawed or unworthy. 'I have a particularly bad habit that has developed over many years. I have tried many times to break the habit without success. This is something I should be able to choose not to do, yet I keep doing it. I cannot forgive myself for developing the habit, and I cannot forgive myself for failing to break the habit. It's demoralizing, frustrating, and has ruined my self-esteem,' one participant shares. However, people who managed to forgive themselves were more likely to separate what they did from who they are. They acknowledged the harm but didn't let it define their whole identity. Moving forward can feel like a moral battle when your self-image feels tied to every misstep. 4. You Cope By Avoiding Instead Of Processing When you're drowning in deep guilt or regret, a natural instinct to quiet the discomfort might kick-in. This can happen in different ways for everyone, say binge-watching something, scrolling endlessly, overworking or distracting yourself in other ways. Indulging in these distractions can numb the emotions for a while, but that might not always be a solution for the long term. Researchers found correlations between self-condemnation and this 'emotion-reduction' style of coping. The defining characteristic of this style was pushing away uncomfortable feelings and a steadfast avoidance of processing and working through them. While this silences short-term pain, it leaves the root cause untouched, with guilt floating just beneath the surface. On the other hand, making sense of a certain event or feeling helps give it a proper ending in your mind. You reflect on what you've learned, have a compassionate conversation with yourself or reframe the event as part of your growth. For instance, one participant mentioned, 'In order to be the best parent I could be, I had to forgive myself and focus on my daughter. I just had to make myself understand that there were many factors that contributed to my daughter's depression, and I was not solely to blame.' Keep in mind that while you cannot change the past, you certainly can change the role it plays in your story and determine how it impacts you and your life. Mistakes Are Proof That You Tried To truly break free from self-blame, you need to make a shift in the relationship you have with that moment frozen in time. Your mistakes do not vanish, no matter how much you try. The good news is, they don't have to. When you learn to approach them from a growth perspective, you can see them as separate from yourself and they become catalysts for insight and resilience. An easy way to shift your perspective is using a narrative reframing technique for your past. Instead of just trying to push guilt away or analyze your mistake, you can go back to the memory and forage for moments of growth and perseverance. Done enough times, you'll likely notice that the emotions you associate with the mistake have taken a 180 degree turn for the positive. Do you keep replaying your mistakes in your mind? Take the science-backed Mistake Rumination Scale to learn more about this habit.
