Chilean

May the Force of Cristal Beer be with you! A vintage Chilean beer advertising campaign, seamlessly integrated into the original Star Wars trilogy, just resurfaced online, sparking viral attention and legal scrutiny some two decades after its debut.After 20 years following its first broadcast appearance, a controversial advertising campaign that cut Chilean beer commercials into key scenes from the original Star Wars trilogy resurfaced online.Taking to her X (formerly known as Twitter) account on March 2, user Windy…

The crew of the Falkor (too) research vessel is at it again: In January, the team discovered four underwater mountains off the coast of Chile. The vessel has now identified 29 seamounts, hills, and trenches since 2012.Is The Great Barrier Reef Healing?The seamounts range in height from 5,220 feet (1,591 meters) to a staggering 8,796 feet (2,681 meters). For reference, Burj Khalifa—the world’s tallest building—is half that size at 2,717 feet tall. The seamounts were not previously included in any bathymetry database the…

There’s a word in Spanish that the Chilean musician Francisca Straube frequently uses to describe herself: inquieta. It translates closest to “restless,” and it captures her creative spirit perfectly. For years, Straube was a drummer in several punk bands and indie acts, like the beloved outfit Miss Garrison. And then, around 2018, the itch came. “I think I’m restless both creatively and physically,” she says with a laugh. “I wanted to keep making songs, I wanted to play at libraries, I wanted to do shows at…

Image acquired on February 14, 2023, by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite.Although the outbreak of fires in early February 2023 has subsided, the burned area remained visible from space.Wildland fires raged across central and southern Chile in early February 2023. The blazes killed dozens, injured thousands, and left many people homeless. The smoke that previously poured over the Pacific Ocean has since lessened, but the scars on the landscape remain.The Moderate…

One of the most enduring mysteries in modern Chilean history may finally have been solved after forensic experts determined that the Nobel prize-winning Chilean poet Pablo Neruda died after being poisoned with a powerful toxin, apparently confirming decades of suspicions that he was murdered.According to the official version, Neruda – who made his name as a young poet with the collection Twenty Poems of Love and a Song of Despair – died from prostate cancer and malnutrition on 23 September 1973, just 12 days after the…

South Korean electric vehicle (EV) battery manufacturer SK On said it had signed a deal to purchase lithium from Chilean mining company SQM to strengthen its global battery manufacturing capability over the next decade. SQM has agreed to supply SK On with 57,000 tons of lithium hydroxide over five years, starting in 2023, which the company said was enough for 1.2m EVs a year. The company expected the deal to help it meet…

To the dismay of many scientists in Chile, voters resoundingly rejected a draft constitution that would have had major impacts on research, environmental policies, and Indigenous rights. Sixty-two percent of voters said “no” during a referendum yesterday on the new charter, which would have steered the country sharply leftward. “I’m still a bit shocked,” says Olga Barbosa, an ecologist at Austral University of Chile who supported the new constitution. “There’s still so much…

After half an hour's windswept journey on foot and by boat through a craggy forested estuary to the school he attends in remote southern Chile, Diego Guerrero can finally access the Internet.His school is located in the hamlet of Sotomo, around 620 miles (1,000 kilometers) south of the capital Santiago in the region of Los Lagos and inhabited by just 20 families.A rain-drenched scattering of brightly painted wooden and tin houses, Sotomo stands out against a mist-swathed row of rocky outcrops jutting out into the Pacific…

A case study from Chile’s last presidential electionsOn December 21st took place one of the most disputed presidential races in the history of Chile. The two-round voting system left all traditional parties behind in a context of political antagonism that had not been seen for quite a long time and led to the disqualification of conventional parties.But the purpose of this article is not to discuss politics. Instead, it’s about investigating one interesting fact about this election: the number of expressed votes (i.e.,…