usatoday24

expand the SER zone to Sundays and beyond 9 p.m.

March 30, 2026 by usatoday24

Parking on the streets of Madrid will be more complicated and more expensive. This is what can be deduced from the modifications introduced in the Sustainable Mobility Ordinance, which regulates traffic in the city. With the latest changes, the city government team has approved the extension of regulated parking services to new neighborhoods and the possibility of extending hours, including Sundays and holidays. What is the SER zone? He Regulated Parking Service (SER) is the measure applied by the city of Madrid to control surface parking in certain neighborhoods. The aim is to facilitate parking for residents and put certain obstacles in the way of outsiders to guarantee the rotation of the space. It is a system that we see in many cities in Spain for especially stressed areas where there is a high volume of cars parked on the street or where there is a large influx and residents have problems parking. In the case of Madridis characterized by: Green spaces: parking for up to two hours. It’s where you pay the most. Blue spaces: parking for up to four hours. Intermediate price. Blue and green spaces: long-term parking of up to 12 hours. Where you pay the least. Cars with an ECO label pay half and Zero emissions cars park for free with no time limit. Cars without a tag cannot park outside their neighborhood. The hours are from 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. Monday to Friday and Saturdays from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. In August and on December 24 and 31, hours end at 3:00 p.m. On Sundays and holidays the service is not active and, therefore, you can park without a time limit and completely free of charge. What has been approved? On March 24, The Plenary Session of the Madrid City Council approved some modifications to the city’s Mobility Ordinance. It has been reflected that vehicles without a label (DGT badge A) They will be able to circulate through its streets (the initial plan went through ban its circulation already in 2025) and some changes in the SER zones of Madrid. These changes will make parking on the streets of the capital more difficult since the SER service will be extended to new neighborhoods in the coming years and the door opens for the hours to also be extended, including Saturdays and Sundays. According to the Madrid City Council“the initiative responds to the need to guarantee the availability of parking for residents in neighborhoods that concentrate intense commercial, cultural, sports, tourism and leisure activity, causing a high influx of visitors. With the extension of the Regulated Parking Area (AER), as established in article 49.1 of the current WHO, the aim is to balance the availability of parking for residents with the necessary rotation on public roads.” More neighborhoods. The changes in the regulatory text do not confirm the extension of the SER zone to more neighborhoods but do open this possibility “whenever the neighbors require it”, in the words of the council. In total, if the projects go ahead, the service would be extended to 18 new neighborhoods spread across six districts. Those responsible assure that 51,819 parking spaces would be created to be distributed among the districts of Fuencarral-El Pardo, Latina, Carabanchel, Usera, Ciudad Lineal and Puente de Vallecas. In order to expand the SER service, it will be necessary to have the agreement of the district board that will make the decision after consulting neighbors and associations. The calendar goes through the following extensions: Before December 31, 2029: neighborhoods of Peñagrande (Fuencarral-El Pardo), Valdezarza (Moncloa-Aravaca), Opañel and San Isidro (Carabanchel), and Costillares (Ciudad Lineal). Before December 31, 2035: Valverde (Fuencarral-El Pardo) Lucero, Aluche, Los Cármenes and Puerta del Ángel (Latina) Puerta Bonita, Abrantes, San Isidro, Opañel and Vista Alegre (Carabanchel) Zofío and Orcasur (Usera) Pueblo Nuevo, Quintana, Concepción (Ciudad Lineal) and San Diego, Palomeras Bajas and Numancia (Puente de Vallecas) The big exception will be Moratalaz, whose councilor has managed to get an amendment approved so that the SER service cannot be extended to this neighborhood. Longer. But, in addition to the fact that payment for parking will be extended to more neighborhoods if the district boards approve it, it will also be possible to extend the number of hours in which this service is active. Among the modifications, the possibility has been included that on days when a high demand for parking is expected or at specific times, the district Government Board may extend the hours beyond 9:00 p.m. from Monday to Friday and 3:00 p.m. on Sundays. They can even activate this regulated parking system on Sundays and holidays. The Madrid City Council points out that these extensions will be punctual and cannot be extended “in a fixed manner.” Therefore, “special situations that require temporary extension” will have to occur. However, there is no limit to the number of times in which this new protocol can be applied. Photo | Madrid City Council and Quique Olivar In Xataka | The secret of the perfect pedestrian neighborhood is more than half a century old and is hidden behind one word: Woonerf

A Japanese store begs its customers to sell it their used equipment.

March 30, 2026 by usatoday24

Building a computer today is more complicated and more expensive than it was just a few months ago. It is not just that some components are in short supply, but that the market balance has shifted and is directly affecting availability and prices. Memory is one of the best examples of that pressure, and what is happening in that market It’s starting to have knock-on effects.. What seemed like a problem limited to certain user profiles has been gaining scope and can no longer be understood as something isolated. The scene that explains everything. In Akihabara, one of the great electronics and computing centers in Tokyo, a store has decided to do something unusual: ask its own customers to sell it their used computers. Sofmap Gaming posted a message on his X account in which he openly acknowledged the situation: “Gaming PCs, even second-hand, are really out of stock right now.” Next, they launched a direct request: “Please, if you are going to buy a new one, sell us your gaming PC…”. The scene was completed with practically empty shelves and another revealing detail: the store itself assured that it is buying back quite expensively and that it buys practically any PC, whether gaming or not. Click to see the original message in X It is not an isolated case. We are facing the visible consequence of a tension that has been accumulating in the hardware market for some time. First it affected those who assembled their own equipment, with increasing difficulties in finding certain components or assuming their price. Then it began to be noticed in manufacturers and assemblerswho have had to adjust configurations and rely on previous stock to keep up. Now, that pressure has ended up being transferred to the point of sale, where it is no longer just about selling, but also about getting the product. What’s behind the shortage? To understand what we are seeing we have to look at a clear change in the industry’s priority. The explosion of AI has skyrocketed the demand for memory for chips and systems intended for that businessespecially in the data center environment, and that is altering how production is distributed. Part of the problem arises in the most advanced memory used for AI, but its impact ends up spreading to the rest of the market. From Micron they summarized it this way in statements to CNBC: “We have seen a very strong and significant increase in demand for memory, and it has far exceeded our ability to supply it.” Consequences. The pressure on memory ends up trickling down to the devices we buy, whether in the form of higher prices or less ambitious configurations. As we have said, it has already put in the computer industry, but it is also threatening the smartphone sector and the consoles. Without going any further, Sony recently announced an increase of 100 euros on the PlayStation 5. And everything seems to indicate thatCars are not going to escape this crisis either.. Old hardware that is revalued. In this context, what until recently we considered old hardware begins to have a different value. Not because its performance has changed, but because the market around it has. What we have seen in Akihabara is not an isolated anecdote, but a sign of the extent to which availability has become a real problem. When a store asks its customers to sell it their own equipment, what it is showing is that something does not fit into the usual supply chain. Images | Andrey Matveev In Xataka | The price of RAM has skyrocketed and the best example to see the debacle is a 100 euro PC: the Raspberry Pi

Cocoa is so expensive that some suspect that a shipment with 12 tons of Kitkat has been stolen

March 30, 2026 by usatoday24

There was a time when big robberies had their own Hollywood epic: the Bank of England goldthe diamonds of the Great Antwerp Raidthe tickets from the Federal Reserve or the assault on the Mint and Stamp House of The Money Heist. Well, in 2026, European organized crime has decided that the most valuable thing you can take with you in a truck is 413,793 chocolate bars. No, it’s not a joke. In a statement to the AFP agencyNestlé has reported the theft of a shipment of more than 12 tons of KitKat chocolates, an incident that the multinational warns could cause supply problems right in the middle of the Easter campaign. A blow to Easter. According to the company, one of its logistics trucks carrying 413,793 a batch of chocolates KitKat has disappeared while transferring between the production center and the distribution center. According to pointed Reutersthe vehicle had left a factory in central Italy bound for Poland, but its trace was lost somewhere along the way. Since then, neither the truck nor the merchandise have been located and the investigation remains open. Nestlé warns that the disappearance of more than 400,000 units could be noticed in stores in the coming weeks, just at one of the times of greatest chocolate consumption of the year with the arrival of Easter and coinciding with the preparation of traditional sweets and cakes during these days. Pay attention to the black market. The company assures that it is collaborating with local authorities and its logistics network to try to locate the sweet shipment, although for now there are no details about the exact point of the journey at which the truck disappeared. The brand also warned that the stolen bars could enter unofficial sales channels in European markets. To combat this, KitKat noted that it is possible to trace the origin of products by scanning the unique lot codes listed on each bar. If the traceability system detects a coincidence, an action manual has been put in place to alert the company. Make a KitKat. Despite the seriousness of having lost almost half a million chocolate bars, the company has found humor in the face of such an unusual situation. A spokesperson for the brand made fun of KitKat’s famous slogan about taking a break or, as they call it, “making a kitkat.” “We’ve always encouraged people to take a break from KitKat, but it seems thieves have taken it too seriously and made off with more than 12 tonnes of our chocolate.” The truth is that, joking aside, the thieves have taken a button so voluminous that it will hardly go unnoticed if they try to “place” it on the market. “While we appreciate the exceptional taste of criminals, the truth is that merchandise theft is a growing problem for businesses of all sizes,” KitKat stated in its statement. brown gold. The theft comes at a time when the cocoa market is experiencing its biggest correction in decades. After reaching all-time highs above $12,000 per ton in 2024, the price of cocoa at origin has fallen more than 60%, reaching around $3,165 per ton at the end of March 2026. However, that moderation has barely reached the consumer and the cocoa prices They rose by 18% in the EU during 2025. Despite the price of the raw material having moderated, European supermarkets keep prices rising because manufacturers passed on the increases when the market was skyrocketing, but they took it more calmly when it fell. In Xataka | Coffee and cocoa have become so expensive that they are drowning themselves: buyers do not have the money to send them Image | Unsplash (justin, Gabriel Santos)

CEO Toyota believes his extreme perfectionism is a problem

March 30, 2026 by usatoday24

Japan is an extremely peculiar country. It is for many reasons in the eyes of a European. One of them is the mixture of humility at work and absolute dedication to the company to achieve a common objective that materializes in designing and producing the best possible products. The contrast is more complicated to understand if possible in the automobile industry. Toyota is considered the mother of what we know today as “toyotism”. A formula to work in a chain with a very limited stock. That is, without a safety net that allows unforeseen events to be handled with a warehouse large enough to support production until the problem is solved. This is achieved, of course, by building a chain that is oiled with the precision of a Swiss watch. But also with the certainty that what goes on the market is the best version of what each worker has in hand. Toyota revolutionized automobile assembly line production by giving the workers themselves the power to stop production if any failure was detected. It is a way of working that can only be carried out when, when developing the parts and design of an entire car, you work with the firmness of philosophy Kaizen. This Japanese word defines the pursuit of perfection through continuous improvement. This allows each modified part in the process of producing a new car to have the support of years of experience behind it. This way of working has been a competitive advantage until now has made Toyota the largest car manufacturer of the world. The company was, in 2025, the world’s largest automobile producer, with more than 11 million units manufactured. Volkswagen is second and remained at 9 million units manufactured. It is the result of production measured to the millimeter and reliability earned by hard work. That philosophy kaizen which Mazda or Toyota boast has allowed the latter to always be at the top of the reliability rankings, a value when it comes to putting millions and millions of units on the market. But this way of working has its drawbacks when you have to make agile decisions. China is the train to follow “If things don’t change, we won’t survive.” The phrase is from Koij Sato, CEO of Toyota, and is especially relevant because, as we pointed out, it comes from the head of the world’s leading brand. The message was sent to 489 suppliers with the aim of making them understand the importance of improving competitiveness against Chinese companies, they state in Automotive News. According to AutoblogToyota’s quality standards have been so strict that parts have been returned with small resin wrinkles that had no impact on a vehicle’s dynamics or reliability. The same thing was happening with thousands of wire harnesses that would have been returned because they showed minor signs of discoloration. Small aesthetic defects that buyers did not even notice because they are hidden inside the vehicle itself. Now Sato has asked its suppliers to be more flexible to save money on production and be more agile. The message launched by the company’s CEO is not coincidental. Months ago, a consulting firm specialized in reverse engineering I already alerted Toyota that their electric cars were designed as combustion vehicles and that penalized them when producing them. The problem is that, according to this company, producing an electric car is so different from a combustion car that it is almost equivalent to two different products even though both have four wheels and a steering wheel. They pointed out, for example, that Toyota used steel bars and reinforcements in the steering column or to hold the dashboard, thinking about reducing vibrations. However, Chinese manufacturers and Tesla choose to increased use of plastics because those vibrations are almost non-existent in an electric car. This allows them to produce cheaper and faster. And get lighter cars. “The average customer doesn’t even see these parts,” explained Shoji Nishihara, purchasing manager for Toyota’s vehicle development department, in statements reported by forumelectriccars. The final goal is complicated. The company aims to improve competitiveness by reducing production times and making the final quality of its products more flexible. A complicated balance if we want to continue being the reference in terms of reliability. For now, Toyota believes that its perfectionism was already bordering on healthy. Photo | toyota In Xataka | The legend of the Toyota Supra, one of the legendary Japanese sports cars: the fusion of illegal racing and the Kaizen philosophy

AEMET points this year to the opposite

March 30, 2026 by usatoday24

We are already in Holy Week and the question that is asked a lot during all holy days is the same: is it going to rain? And it is no wonder, because practically every year during Holy Week there is some day that is quite bad and forces the much-loved processions to be suspended, causing sad scenes of people crying for not seeing the image to which they have devotion or for not being able to show off the work of an entire year. An exceptional year. But this year This does not seem to be the case, since, after the logical doubts of the previous weeks, the AEMET has confirmed that climatological stability will be the norm this Holy Week. The sun as the norm. The dominant note of this Holy Week will be thermal recovery, causing the cold fronts to be left behind and maximum temperatures to experience again. a general rise in most of the country, leaving us with a fully spring atmosphere. In the case of the regions of Andalusia and the Levant, they will be in luck as they will benefit most from this rise, causing the thermometers to be at a very pleasant 20-25 ºC. In the case of the center and north of the peninsula, they will also see mild weather, moving in a range of between 15 and 20 ºC. There is small print. Just because we are talking about general stability does not mean that the entire country will have clear skies. As is usual when Atlantic anticyclones dominate, the extreme north and some areas of the Mediterranean will bear the brunt, although without major storms in sight that are practically reduced to zero probability. In this way, the AEMET maintains active warnings in areas such as Empordà and the Balearic Islands due to strong winds from the north, which will alter the maritime situation. Something that has already resulted in the closure of the main port of Menorca. Some exception. Until Holy Thursday, the weather map will leave us with some weak rainfall on the Cantabrian coast, and there could also be scattered showers in the Balearic Islands and the southeast of the peninsula. Furthermore, the intense cold is relegated to the mountains, meaning that only weak frosts and some light snowfall are expected, but at altitudes above 1,500 meters, affecting the Pyrenees and the Iberian System. At the end of the week. Unfortunately, weather doesn’t mix well with long-term planning. This means that right now, for April 4 and 5, the predictive models point to possible instability that suggests some rain in the west and south of the peninsula, but nowhere near something widespread in a large area of the region. But the a priori idea that we should have is that the sun will prevail in a good part of the peninsula, and will ensure that all devotees can enjoy a good Holy Week. In Xataka | The Polytechnic University of Valencia has fulfilled the ancient dream of farmers: predicting drought

There are two things I won’t go on a trip without. One is a powerbank and the other is a VPN

March 30, 2026 by usatoday24

Almost every year, I take advantage of Easter to escape outside. I am one of those manic people who prepares an endless list with pen and paper so as not to leave anything behind, whether it be clothes or tech things. In the latter, beyond the mobile phone or chargers, There are two things that I never lackas the title of this article says: one is a powerbank (I have a 20,000 mAh one) and the other, a VPN. The first thing is obvious: I want to prevent both my cell phone and my partner’s from running out of battery. The VPN, which I have installed on my mobile and laptop, is a tool that I carry to use, especially If I am going to use public WiFi like that of the airport or that of a hotel. Because? To increase my security. There are still a few days left and I haven’t chosen which one I will take, although a free one is not an option. Of those that I have on my radar, one of the most interesting is Surfshark: it is easy to use, I can install it on all my devices and it only costs 1.88 euros per month in its two-year modality. Surfshark Starter Subscription – monthly The price could vary. We earn commission from these links More security on public WiFi networks at the click of a button As we have already told you more than once, although there are free VPNs, Its security leaves something to be desired in most cases. For this reason, it makes a lot of sense to opt for a paid one like Surfshark if we are looking for an extra security in generalbut especially in those WiFi networks that we find when we travel abroad. Simply install and activate it to pass all our Internet traffic through a secure tunnel. This way you increase your privacymaking it more difficult for third parties to track your activity. Additionally, as I mentioned above, Surfshark has the added bonus that, with a single account, you can install it on all your devices. And if we talk about price, in the case of Surfshark, the truth is that it’s not that bad. Its 24-month modality costs 1.88 euros per month, which is a total of 50.76 euros. To this we must add that the company gives us 3 extra months, so we will enjoy the service for 27 months. It is an affordable price, but even more so if we take into account that we will have a VPN for a while, both at home and if we are going to travel again during all this time. Some of the links in this article are affiliated and may provide a benefit to Xataka. In case of non-availability, offers may vary. Images | Daniel Nelson, Phil Mosley In Xataka | Why it is dangerous to connect to public Wi-Fi and what you should do to protect yourself In Xataka | Best VPNs 2026: guide with the 17 best services to protect your online privacy

twelve countries have just decided that much better with Bizum

March 30, 2026 by usatoday24

Bizum has not only conquered the Spanish: now it is who leads the construction of the pan-European payment system that aspires to stand up to VISA and Mastercard. That is, who aspires to be the face of European sovereignty in payments against the great American solutions. The new company that will coordinate this alliance of national solutions will have its headquarters in Madrid. Why is it important. Europe moves trillions of euros in daily digital payments and almost all of that infrastructure passes through American hands. That twelve EU countries plus Norway have decided to join, and that they have chosen Spain as their headquarters, is a declaration of geopolitical intentions. “We want to not depend so much on American solutions,” said Fernando Rodríguez, deputy general director of International Expansion at Bizum. Difficult to explain it more clearly. The context. The project starts from a previous alliance between Bizum, the Italian Bancomat Pay and the Portuguese SIBS, which was later joined by Blik (Poland and Slovakia) and Vipps MobilePay (Nordic countries). In parallel, the scheme werodriven by the European Payments Initiativealready operates in Germany, France and Belgium. All of them now converge under a common architecture: a central infrastructure that acts as a “bridge” and guarantees that a user in Oslo can pay a user in Lisbon without any American intervening. Between the lines. The choice of Madrid has not been automatic. It has been, according to the protagonists themselves, “the first compromise solution” reached between the partners, which says a lot about the difficulty of what is to come. Choosing a venue is the easy part. The shareholder agreement that will determine the governance and distribution of power, the selection of the CEO and the negotiation of a legal process that the parties describe as “long and complex.” There is an obvious risk: that national interests will strain the alliance. Coordinating 13 countries with different banking cultures and different market sizes is something we have not yet seen in Europe. Main winner? Bizum. With difference. Their 31 million users They are almost 20% of the total clients of all the allied systems, and that weight has been enough to convert Madrid into its headquarters and place Spain at the center of an initiative that no one would have imagined led from here ten years ago. We did not see the leap from national payment application to European sovereignty lever. The big question. Whether this consortium will be able to challenge Visa and Mastercard for real ground depends on whether it manages to go beyond payments between individuals. Electronic commerce and point-of-sale payments, planned for 2027-2028 and what has been achieved so far we have only seen the tip of the icebergoften with walk-around approaches; They are the litmus test of truth: that is where the American networks have their most profitable business and where Europe has been down for decades. Go deeper. The president of the Spanish Banking Association, Alejandra Kindelán, also has been clear about this: Europe needs to gain autonomy at a time of rising geopolitical upheaval. Payments, in this context, have ceased to be the usual infrastructure and have become a matter of sovereignty. And dependence on American networks is increasingly seen in Europe as a problem to be solved. Featured image | Xataka with Mockuuups Studio In Xataka | Europe seeks its sovereignty in rare earths and knows how to achieve it the fast way: with a supermine in Sweden

Balcony rental at 9,000 euros

March 30, 2026 by usatoday24

Religious fervor cannot be bought with money. The best places to contemplate it, yes. For some time now something curious has been happening in Andalusia: Holy Week comes preceded by a news blast about quotes and increases and decreases (usually just increases) in rental prices. The chronicles in question have nothing to do with housing, not even with the rates charged by hotels or Airbnb. Its focus is on the balconies of cities like Seville or Malaga with the best views of the religious steps, small viewpoints for which you can pay now. 9,000 euros. There are those who talk about “commodification” of Easter. What has happened? There is news that, no matter how much it is repeated year after year, is still that: news. The balconies in the center of Seville or Malaga are a good example. From long ago the media have been counting the prices increasingly exorbitant that are requested during Holy Week for these spaces, places with privileged views of the religious processions. What is curious (as has just been proven in Andalusia) is that, as is the case with residential or vacation rentals, the terrace business is not reaching its ceiling. In the end it is nothing surprising. Something similar happens with the terraces of Valencia during the Fallas, those of Vigo at Christmas or in other cities Spanish when celebrations are organized in the street, which includes, for example, the celebration of football titles. If there are balconies with good views there is guaranteed business. One that can bring in hundreds or even thousands of euros in a few days. Are they that expensive? The data has been provided by the College of Property Administrators (CAF) of Seville. According to their estimates, enjoying a good balcony in the historic center to admire the images of El Silencio, El Gran Poder or La Macarena costs several thousand euros. To be more precise, 6,000 in exchange for a whole week. The data draws attention for two reasons. First because it is double than what was requested a few years ago (in 2023 the average was around €6,000). Second, because in cases in which a privileged location is combined with catering services, this cost can skyrocket until reaching €9,000. Does it only happen in Seville? No. A few weeks ago the Andalusian press reported that in Malaga the rent for accommodation with the best views of the processions had also skyrocketed. In mid-March, 15 days before the start of Easter, Malaga Today assured that Airbnb was asking for 900 euros for a two-night stay in a studio on Larios Street. In Cisneros (also in the center) an apartment with windows facing the street was rented for €500 for two days, a figure that rose to €750 on Booking. What exactly is paid? Basically two things. Dates. And location. Rents do not skyrocket just because. They do it mainly in accommodations with balconies located in strategic areas from which to admire the images of El Silencio, El Gran Poder or La Macarena (in the case of Seville) or El Cautivo, Cristo de la Buena Muerte or Los Estudiantes (Málaga). The height, the quality of the views or the specific day complete the rates and explain why there are cases in which €9,000 is requested for a week. Also that rentals have stopped being a private business and have become ‘professional’ hand in hand with companies. Does it only happen with balconies? No. The subscriptions for chairs and boxes of the Official Race offered by the General Council of Brotherhoods and Brotherhoods of the City of Seville are not affordable for everyone. Especially after experiencing a 3% year-on-year increase. The price table published by the organization shows that rates range from €90.5 for a chair in Plaza Virgen de Los Reyes to 1,016 for the best boxes in Plaza San Francisco. Between both figures there are several options above €100. For example, on Avenida Constitución (Tribuna Faro) there are places available for €161.3. It may seem like a lot, but a subscriber recently recognized to The Country who rents out the two chairs he has at the beginning of the Official Race for double what they cost him (170 each). And that’s because he gives them to a friend. “If it wasn’t him, I could ask for whatever I wanted, and even more so right now with the boom around Holy Week in Seville,” presume. The fertilizers represent the main source of financing for the brotherhoods that organize Holy Week in Seville. Why is it so important? Beyond the interest aroused by the exorbitant prices that are asked (and paid) for the best balconies in Seville or Malaga to follow in the footsteps, the topic raises another interesting question: the debate on commodification of Holy Week, an event that (beyond tourism or the law of supply and demand) has a religious reason for being. “We have become accustomed to the fact that there is no area of human activity that is not subject to commercialization, because the justification is that everything is subject to costs and the same thing you pay to go to the theater or football is paid to see Easter in the front row,” I was reflecting recently in The Country Alberto del Campo, professor of Social Anthropology at the Pablo de Olavide University. Images | Jon Connell (Flickr) 1 and 2 In Xataka | In Sagunto they have voted on whether tradition or equality should have more weight in the Holy Week processions. They have been quite clear

Science finally shows that they hunted the largest beasts of their time

March 30, 2026 by usatoday24

The classic image of neanderthal as a brute hominid with no intelligence and that barely survived by scavenging what other predators left behind, it is increasingly being left behind as we make new discoveries. Precisely, we now know that 125,000 years ago, our evolutionary cousins They were Europe’s apex predators, capable of organizing to take down the most formidable land creature of their time: the straight-tusked elephant. A beast that doubled the size of today’s African elephants and reached 13 tons in weight. The mystery of the spear. To reach this conclusion we have not traveled back in time, but rather we have gone to Leringen in Germany. Here in 1948 archaeologists found a skeleton of the straight-tusked elephant, with a 2.4 meter yew spear stuck between the ribs. A priori it seemed like the definitive proof or, as some anthropologists have called it, the smoking gun of Neanderthal hunting. However, scientific skepticism prevailed: was it a coordinated attack or did a group of opportunistic Neanderthals find an elephant trapped in the mud and finish it off? This is where a great debate has been generated that has now been closed in 2026 with the publication of a new scientific article. What have they done? Here the researchers have basically focused on the skeletal remains of the animal that was found, and the objective was to find the details of the hunting process. What they saw was that the cut marks and damage to the bones did not correspond to a simple opportunistic shot, but to a frontal and tactical attack. In this way, experts point out that the Lehringen spear is no longer an anomaly or a happy coincidence, but rather irrefutable proof of systematic hunting behavior. The context. In addition to what has now been known, in the past researchers demonstrated that the hunt for these titans was not an isolated event, but rather a systematic and recurring practice. The problem that was seen is that shooting down a 13-ton elephant raises the obvious question: what do you do with so much meat before it rots? This is where the classic perception of the Neanderthal falls apart. An elephant of that size provided enough calories to feed 100 people for a month, and processing that amount of meat and fat required three basic points: Groups of people larger than previously believed, which break with the idea of small nomadic bands of 20 individuals. Settle in a specific area when you have plenty of food. Master fire and techniques, such as drying meat so that it can last for a long time. A new image. With all this research, the truth is that the textbooks have to be rewritten, since you can see how Neanderthals had the cognitive ability to plan, the communication necessary to coordinate mass ambushes, and the social structure to process and store tons of food. Images | Wikipedia Generation with AI In Xataka | The great mystery of sex between Neanderthals and Sapiens: genetics suggest that Neanderthal males preferred human women

The problem for the US is not that China is mass-producing a new hypersonic missile. It costs the same as a Tesla

March 30, 2026 by usatoday24

The most advanced military systems have had something in common: exorbitant prices and limited production, with weapons that can take years to manufacture and cost millions per unit. It happens that there is a less known fact that is beginning to change everything: today it is possible to build technology capable of traveling more than 1,000 kilometers in minutes using components derived from the civil industry. And China is in the lead. What a car costs. It we count in November of last year. China has introduced a quiet but profound change in modern warfare: a hypersonic missile, the YKJ-1000capable of reaching speeds of up to Mach 7 and traveling more than 1,000 kilometers for a price around at $99,000that is, equivalent to that of a high-end car like a Tesla Model It is not a trivial fact, although it may seem anecdotal, it is actually the core of the problem you have right now. United States in Iranbecause it completely breaks the traditional logic of military balance: for the first time, an extremely advanced weapon allows to be exclusive and expensive to become something potentially massive, accessible and replicable on a large scale. It’s not the technology, it’s the cost. Because the challenge for the United States is not that China has developed a new hypersonic missile, but that it has done so extremely cheap. While intercepting a threat can cost millions per attempt (with systems like Patriot, SM-6 or THAAD), destroying that missile costs dozens of times more to manufacture it. This creates a brutal asymmetry where the attacker always wins financially, forcing the defender to spend disproportionate amounts just to stay safe. In this scenario, defending yourself is no longer sustainable, especially in the face of massive attacks. Mass production. Unlike traditional programs, this missile is not a limited or experimental piece, but rather a product designed to be manufactured in large quantities. using civil materialscommercial supply chains and components already available on the market. China has not only reduced the cost, but has industrialized productionallowing us to imagine scenarios where hundreds or thousands of these systems can be rapidly deployed, saturating any existing defense without the need for absolute precision. Invisible launchers. The change is not limited to the missile itself, but how it unfolds– Can be launched from platforms hidden in shipping containers, trucks or common industrial facilities, integrating into global civil infrastructures. This virtually eliminates any predictability on the origin of the attack, expanding the scope of the threat to any point within its operational radius. In other words, war no longer has defined fronts and begins to depend more on a diffuse network where the attacker can appear anywhere without prior notice. The swarm effect. Added to this logic is the parallel development of advanced drones like the TM-300capable of flying at high speed, with stealth capacity and also designed for mass production. In that light, the combination of cheap missiles and swarming drones creates a scenario in which even sophisticated defenses can be overcome. simply by volumenot because of technological superiority. It is not necessary for all attacks to be successful: it is enough for some to do so to generate a disproportionate strategic impact. Change of era. If you like, all this points to a structural transformation: one where the advantage is no longer in having the most advanced weapons, but in being able to produce them faster and cheaper that the opponent can defend himself. The central idea, as we saw in Ukraine and now in Iranis clearly imposed: the problem for the United States is not that China is mass manufacturing a new hypersonic missile, but that it is doing so at a ridiculously low costaltering the balance between attack and defense and opening the door to a war where quantity and price can prevail over technology and sophistication. Image | x In Xataka | China is sending drones to an island 100 km from Taiwan. The problem is that Japan and the US are filling it with missiles In Xataka | China has drawn a very clear red line to Japan: being an ally of the United States is good, supporting Taiwan is bad.

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