To survive the end of oil, China has resurrected an old German technology from World War II: turning coal into plastic

by

While the world assumes that China’s energy transition is based exclusively on solar panels and electric vehicles — and, in part, it is, consolidating as the first great ‘electrostate’—, reality hides a much darker side. Faced with the outbreak of the Third Gulf War, Beijing has not even flinched. Beyond its immense strategic oil reserves, the secret of its resistance lies in an even more daring maneuver: the resurrection of German technology from World War II. An old German technology. Faced with the instability of oil imports, China has perfected the use of coal to produce petrochemical products. This synthesis technology (historically known as the process of fischer–Tropsch) was originally developed by Germany to sustain its military economy during World War II. Although it is widely known in the chemical industry, its main defect has always been the enormous pollution it generated. China has improved it. Far from settling for an outdated process, Chinese researchers have radically improved it. According to the state agency Xinhuaa team from Peking University has achieved a historic breakthrough by adding a minimal amount of methyl bromide (five parts per million) to the catalytic process. This surgically “turns off” the pathway that forms carbon dioxide as a byproduct, reducing these emissions from 30% to less than 1% and opening the door to near-green manufacturing to convert coal-derived synthesis gas (syngas) into olefins, the building blocks of plastics. At an industrial level, expansion is already a fact. As detailed South China Morning Postin Turpan prefecture (Xinjiang), construction has just begun on the world’s largest coal-to-ethylene glycol (a toxic compound used for plastics and antifreeze) project, with an astonishing capacity of 2.4 million tons per year. Even, as the magazine highlighted ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineeringresearch is being carried out on how to integrate this process (called PFTO) to chemically recycle tons of plastic waste, converting it into syngas and then back into light olefins. Did you see it coming? It is not the first time that China decides to take sides and prevent rather than cure. The Asian giant has decided to completely decouple its industry from maritime vulnerabilities and Western influence. “This is not China’s war, but Beijing began preparing for it years ago,” points out The New York Times. Everything accelerated during Donald Trump’s first term, prompting President Xi Jinping to demand complete “self-sufficiency” that would insulate China from any disruption to foreign supply chains. Time has proven them right. The war in Iran has brutally increased the price of crude oil, suffocating international petrochemical competitors that depend on black gold. In contrast, local Chinese coal has only gotten cheaper. According to Reutersthis has been a financial triumph: shares of companies such as Ningxia Baofeng Energy, which produces millions of tons of chemicals from coal, have risen 30% since the start of the conflict, while traditional Asian refiners such as Rongsheng Petrochemical have lost up to 27% of their stock market value. Furthermore, the Chinese media analyzed by Carbon Brief They insist on a unanimous nationalist message: in the face of a real emergency, coal is the only resource that the nation truly controls, acting as the great “ballast” guarantor of its national security. A change to other sectors. The change is undeniable. As revealed Bloombergthe country’s main coal miner, China Shenhua Energy, has cut its overall budget by 16%, but has almost doubled its investment in coal-to-chemical conversion, from 2.5 billion to 4.1 billion yuan by 2026. But at a devouring pace, as The New York Times provides information that measures the phenomenon: in 2020, China used 155 million tons of coal to manufacture chemicals; by 2024, the figure jumped to 276 million, and in 2025 it grew another 15%, single-handedly exceeding the total annual coal consumption of the entire United States. The research center CREATE confirms this trend in its reportconfirming that the use of coal in the chemical industry grew by 20% year-on-year only in the first half of 2025. Added to this is that, as the American media explains80% of Chinese nitrogen fertilizer (a third of the world’s supply) is already made with coal rather than oil or gas, allowing Beijing to keep its product at less than half the global market price. Behind it there is a very high cost. All this bold industrial maneuver has a severe climate cost that is already setting off international alarms. China’s draft 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-2030) has set extremely cautious climate goals. As the experts explain CREATE and collect Financial Timesthe set goal of reducing carbon intensity by only 17% is “disappointing” and leaves room for the country’s emissions to continue growing between 3% and 6% in real terms over the next five years. This new government plan de facto reverses the international promise to “phase down” coal consumption, replacing it with a consumption “plateau” and explicitly protecting the large-scale expansion of the coal-based petrochemical industry. Only chemical projects already planned to be built between now and 2029 could increase China’s annual carbon dioxide emissions by an additional 2%. The forecasts are resounding. According to Bloomberg, By 2030, China’s chemical roadmap will massively stop using oil as a primary fuel (thanks to the adoption of its electric vehicles) and will take advantage of its modernized facilities to seek 85% self-sufficiency in all advanced materials and chemicals, displacing traditional giants. A feared crisis of overcapacity. The European ideas laboratory MERICS warns of collateral consequences: The Chinese domestic economy, with consumer confidence stagnant since the pandemic, has no way to absorb all this gigantic new production of materials and plastics. As a direct result, Chinese factories are forced to export their immense surpluses to the rest of the world at fire sale prices. This aggressive price war propelled China’s trade surplus to a stratospheric record of $1.2 trillion in 2025. According to the complaint MERICSthese massive exports are cannibalizing the industrial base of other nations; In the European Union alone, up to 500 manufacturing jobs are being lost daily due to the total … Read more

We thought that the superpower of whales was their size. It’s actually the complex chemistry of your feces.

by

When we think about the baleen whaleswe usually imagine giant animals that sail the seas and feed on huge schools of fish, without much relevance to us as humans. However, they have been more important than we can think, being crucial when it comes to talking about the survival of our marine ecosystems. And all thanks to their excrement. What we knew. For years science has known that whale feces acted as a natural fertilizer top level. Now, a new study has brought to light the sophisticated chemical mechanism behind this ‘floating gold’. To understand its great importance, we must look at the base of the marine food chain that is in the phytoplankton. These are nothing more than microscopic algae that have the function of being the lungs of the ocean and the basis of marine life. The ‘problem’ is that to thrive they need iron, since without this mineral these algae cannot grow and could spell the end of all marine life. The feces. This is where enter the classic and revealing study led by Stephen Nicol in 2010, where something astonishing was quantified: the fecal iron measured in the whales was about ten million times higher than that of the Antarctic water that surrounded them. This was important because the whales functioned as a “biological bomb,” recycling and releasing about 50 tons of iron a year into surface waters before industrial hunting depleted their populations. But we were seeing that adding iron to the sea was not enough, since it tends to sink or become inaccessible quickly. So we were asking ourselves a logical question: how is this whale fertilizer made so effective? We already know it. The answer has recently come thanks to research published in Nature which shows how a team analyzed five fecal samples from baleen whales. Here they were able to discover that the secret of being such a good marine ‘fertilizer’ is not in the amount of metals they excrete, but in how they package it, since the feces contain high concentrations of what are known in chemistry as organic ligands. Its function. We can find that it is twofold, the first being the enhancement of the bioavailability of iron. This means it acts like molecular ‘tweezers’ that trap dissolved iron, preventing it from precipitating to the sea floor and keeping it in a format that phytoplankton can easily absorb. But in addition to this, it neutralizes the copper that is present in the ocean and that in high concentrations is lethal for this phytoplankton. In this way, the ligands present in whale feces bind to copper, drastically reducing its toxicity and creating a safe environment for algae growth. Its importance. In addition to being a very curious fact, the reality is that this discovery has changed our understanding of the biogeochemistry of the ocean. And, although we think that whales are not only consumers at the top of the food chain, the reality is that they are gardeners of the sea, since they fertilize the surface waters and protect the phytoplankton that is essential for the rest of the animals that live in the ocean. But these blooms not only feed the entire marine ecosystem, they also capture millions of tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, helping to mitigate climate change. In this way, whale feces help their environment, but also us indirectly. Images | Todd Cravens Annie Spratt In Xataka | China is making an “invisible ocean” of the planet: when it’s done, it will steal the last advantage the US had left

The most viral group in recent weeks is also the strangest and most incomprehensible group you will hear today

by

Two figures with masks with very long noses and white suits with black polka dots (or black ones with white polka dots). A double-neck guitar with more frets than usual. A looper operated with bare feet, also painted with polka dots. And 27 minutes of music that divide the scale into 24 tones instead of the 12 of the Western system. This is how Angine de Poitrine entered the lives of millions of people who had never heard of math rock in their lives. How we met Angine De Poitrine. The video that changed everything was recorded by the Seattle public station KEXP during the Transmusicales festival in Rennes, in December 2025. They published it on YouTube in February 2026. In a matter of weeks it has accumulated millions of views, it has almost 8. In the comments, someone wrote: “The AI: Humans no longer have anything to do in music. Angine de Poitrine: Hold the triangular Martian beer for me.” Quite a diagnosis of the crux of the matter. Twenty years playing the Martian. Khn and Klek de Poitrine (pseudonyms, obviously) have been making music together for more than two decades, since they were teenagers. They launched Angine de Poitrine just before the pandemic, in 2019, although they didn’t start performing regularly until 2023. The name, which in French means “angina pectoris”, is a devotion to the absurd, like everything in this project: the costumes came about as a joke because they wanted to play twice in the same week in the same venue, but the venue wouldn’t allow it, so they dressed up to be booked as if they were another group. And they kept the costumes. But what is this? The music that Angine de Poitrine plays is objectively difficult to describe. Themselves They have defined it as “dada-Pythagus-cubist rock-mantra”which does not clarify much but does point to the unclassifiable spirit of the project. Khn plays a double-neck bass guitar custom builtwhich allows you to play microtones, the intervals between conventional notes. Activate the looper with bare feet while Klek maintains a usually frenetic rhythm on the drums, brimming with changes of rhythm and time signature. What is microtonality. The melodies are based on a system of 24 tones per octave instead of the 12 usual in Western music. Some of his compositions move in time signatures as infrequent as 10/4, 17/4 or 28/4. For a listener accustomed to the Western tradition, the result sounds slightly “out of place”, in a constant tension that is difficult to express. Danick Trottier, musicologist at UQAM, has explained that the duo works primarily with quarter tones, half a standard semitone, creating a dramatically dissonant effect. Influences? There are a few: Frank Zappa and Captain Beefheart, Primus, King Crimson, King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard, and more exotically, Indonesian gamelan and Middle Eastern music. It is not exactly the list of references of a group that thinks about the mass market. And that is the key to why they have attracted so much attention. Nobody knows who they are. The anonymity of its members goes beyond a mere nod to the Internet, but is taken very seriously. Their manager, Sébastien Collin, has undertaken a task of meticulously removing any mention of the band’s two members’ real names on the internet, and the group’s website warns that Angine de Poitrine is “an anonymous artistic project” and that any speculation about the identity of its members may constitute an invasion of their privacy. It goes viral. When KEXP (with a long history of presenting groups that end up becoming references) published the video, the reactions came in cascade: guitarists, jazz fans, progressive rock fans and people who had not paid attention to current music for years decided to spread it. Rick Beatoone of the most watched music analysis YouTubers in the world, claimed to receive 25 emails a day asking about the duo, more than about any other artist in the history of his channel. Dave Grohl He stated that the duo “literally blew his mind” and that he didn’t know how to explain it except to say that they had to be seen. The snowball was unstoppable. What makes the phenomenon unique is that the virality It wasn’t just from top to bottom.: Many of those respected voices started talking about the duo because their own listeners kept sending them the linkmaking fans the real engine of spread, not passive recipients. Ahead of the popes music intellectuals. Immediate success. Success has immediate and quite striking economic translation. Tickets for his concerts in Toronto already have resale prices of over $500. The vinyls of their first album, ‘Vol. YO’, They have sold for $2,000.. Their concert dates in New York, Los Angeles, the United Kingdom, France and Belgium sold out in minutes. This past April 3, 2026 they published ‘Vol. II’, their second album, which includes three of the songs from the already iconic KEXP video and three new compositions. Complex but accessible. There is something paradoxical about Angine de Poitrine: inaccessible music usually slows down uninitiated listeners. Here the opposite happens: difficulty generates analysis and curiosity, and this attracts more listeners, who return to the original video, wondering: “Why do I react like this to this strange thing?” James Gutierrez, assistant professor of music at Northeastern University, point because the thirst for something “obviously insimilable” is the axis of the reaction: this band is the emblem of something that no AI can convincingly replicateand in these times of predictable successes, where it is valued that everything is categorizable, the inimitable is an unexpected value. Another distinguished opinion: Pierre Michaud, associate professor of composition at the Université de Montréal, attributes the success to a “stroke of genius” that combines extreme complexity with a casual presentation. The geopolitical context also appears in the analyses. Gutierrez points out that in a 2026 marked by political gravity, something admirable, creative and playful activates the right mechanisms in the public. We can breathe easy: we continue … Read more

The countries of the Persian Gulf have adopted an unexpected civil protection measure against Iran’s attacks: teleworking

by

When an employee in Riyadh receives an email from his company telling him not to come to the office the next day, the most common reason was usually a sandstorm, construction work, or a holiday. In recent weeks, the reason has been something else: the possibility that its offices, probably located in a downtown financial district, could become Iranian missile target. In the Persian Gulf, teleworking has ceased to be a post-pandemic convenience and has become a civil protection tool in the midst of a geopolitical crisis that has been repeated in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Bahrain since the start of the armed conflict between the US, Israel and Iran. Riyadh: the most visible offices, the first to be emptied. According to published Reutersseveral Western and Saudi companies in Riyadh this week expanded their teleworking recommendations via email or text message sent to their employees. The notices focused on employees working in the King Abdullah financial district, Faisaliah Tower, Business Gate and Laysen Valley, areas where major US banks, technology companies such as Microsoft and Apple, and the Saudi sovereign wealth fund itself are based. The arguments for adopting this measure were not unfounded. Iran threatened to attack American interests in the region in retaliation and, in fact, attacked several Amazon data centers in United Arab Emirates. The order to telework does not mean that this simple measure will keep the civilian population safe, but it does distance them from the international offices occupied by American companies. The Arab Emirates were the first to adopt teleworking. The United Arab Emirates were, in fact, the first in ordering teleworking for its employees, immediately after Iran’s first attacks. According to published the local newspaper Khaleej Times, The Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratization asked private companies to adopt teleworking as a precautionary measure, keeping only workers whose physical presence was essential in their jobs. In those first attacks, four people were injured by debris from intercepted drones that fell on residential buildings, and damage was reported to the dubai international airportthe Burj Al Arab and the Palm Jumeirah. Teleworking recommended, not mandatory. The authorities of other countries in the region, such as Bahrain, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, also followed in the footsteps of the United Arab Emirates and recommended private companies adopt teleworking and restrictions on influx to offices due to the risk of Iranian missile attacks. Qatar, also punished for reprisals against US interests during the conflict, was another of the countries that activated teleworking protocols for its officials. However, something that all of them have in common is that none of them consider themselves as an obligation to teleworkbut rather companies are recommended to adopt teleworking, leaving the risk assessment to their discretion and that of local authorities. The Government of Dubai Media Office confirmed that the emirate’s private sector continued operating normally, with most business activities uninterrupted despite the risk of attacks. A region that learns to work under pressure. Although these countries are not officially at war with Iran, they are involved and targeted in Iranian attacks in retaliation against US and Israeli companies in the area. In this context, many fear that any escalation would lead Iran to attack critical infrastructure in the region more forcefully, which explains the caution of companies even after the announcement of the ceasefire reached in extremis during the early morning. trump qualified the pact of “total and complete victory.” But as negotiators work in Islamabad to turn that provisional ceasefire into a lasting agreement, Gulf companies continue to watch the calendar with one eye on the news and another on their security protocols to protect their employees. In Xataka | Working from anywhere was the dream of teleworking: not notifying those location changes can get you fired Image | Unsplash (Kate Trysh, Microsoft Copilot)

NASA says Artemis II’s Nutella jar is not advertising, but it is not the first brand to benefit from its missions

by

When a good part of the people of a country or several countries are in front of the television united by the same interest, they become the most coveted audience for brands. Therefore, Nutella appeared casually in the NASA live broadcastjust when the Artemis II astronauts broke the record for the distance from Earth reached by humans, it seems like the best advertising in history. NASA denies that it was such a thing, but it is undeniable that brands will do whatever it takes to appear in their images and transmissions. The place, the moment and the perfect moment. It was 2 pm ET when a jar of Nutella passed in front of the cameras inside the Orion capsule, in which the four crew members of Artemis II had just broken a record. At 1:56 pm ET, the spacecraft was 406,771 kilometers from Earth, more than 6,000 kilometers further than Apollo 13 had reached in 1970. NASA broke a record, while the Nutella jar floated with its label perfectly visible. The publications on networks and memes did not take long to arrive, as did the responses from Nutella and NASA itself. NASA denies advertising. The press secretary of the US space agency, Bethany Stevens, denied that it was advertising in statements to Futurism: “NASA does not select crew meals or food in association with brands.” A legal loophole. NASA does not advertise brands on its space missions. However, there have been companies that have found a way to advertise themselves. For example, in 1984 Coca Cola designed a can that worked in weightlessness in such a way that the drink remained bubbly without leaving the container. When it became aware of this idea, Pepsi also wanted to get on the bandwagon. Both received approval from NASA to test their cans aboard the STS 51-F mission. Its astronauts tested the effectiveness of the dispenser and the taste of the drinks with results that the space agency did not consider optimal. Therefore, the decision was made that carbonated drinks are not part of the astronauts’ menu. Nowadays They can drink coffee, tea, orange juice, lemonade or flavored breakfast drinks, but not these types of soft drinks. space pizza. As if the soft drinks weren’t enough, in 2001 there was another brand that wanted its moment of space glory. Since the issue of drinks turned out to be complicated, at this time it was a pizzeria that wanted to adapt its products to the space. Pizza Hut’s marketing people figured that if that didn’t propel their brand to stardom, nothing would. For this reason, they prepared a lighter space pizza, to facilitate its transportation, which was also made in airtight containers. The ingredients were carefully chosen so that they could be preserved longer and were as nutritious as possible. The final result was sent to the International Space Station on Russia’s Progress spacecraftso in this case it is true that it was not a NASA thing. It is also true that the pizzeria itself did not deny at the time that, beyond looking for new food options for the astronauts, what they were mainly looking for was advertising. Eat in space. The task of eating in space is increasingly pleasant. While it is true that fresh foods should still be avoided and priority is given to dehydrated and vacuum-packaged options, astronauts have many options to choose from. They can even bring treats or foods that remind them of home, as in the case of Jeremy Hansen, who has taken the Orion capsule. various traditional Canadian dishes and ingredients. Therefore, it could be that some member of the crew chose to bring Nutella as a sweet treat. The decision of a Mexican astronaut from carrying tortillas for fajitas in its day has led to them being one of the most used ingredients in space today. A whim or craving can have a great future in space food. Although in the case of Nutella it seems that it has been more useful for the brand than for the future of the space. An uncertain future. Space missions like Artemis II are exceptional today, but the goal of space agencies is for them to be part of their routine in the future. Therefore, it would not be unusual for brands to find a way to include advertising in their broadcasts. If they become a routine, there won’t be as many people on the other side of the screen, but it will still be very profitable for them. As it has been for Nutella; Well, deliberately or by chance, it has possibly had the best publicity in its history. Image | NASA | Nutella In Xataka | A study has tried to find out why space food is so bad: it’s not the food, it’s the astronauts

Sleeping in on the weekend seems like the perfect solution to your tiredness. Your body has a very different opinion

by

Sleep eight hours a day religiously is for many a goal that they almost never manage to achieve, since the alarms sound too early and the days lengthen, accumulating a dream debt which we tried to settle on Saturday morning. But here the question is obligatory: are we achieving anything by sleeping 10 hours on Saturday? The answer. Here science has wanted to investigate the debate about whether doing this recovery sleep technique on weekends is useful or is a temporary patch. And the truth is that there are endless different options that mean we don’t have a ‘yes’ or a ‘no’. Cardiovascular shield. At first glance, science seems to agree with people who decide that the weekend is for sleeping, since several studies suggest that it is quite positive for our health. One of these analyzed more than 90,000 people and concluded that the group that accumulated more compensatory sleep on the weekend had a lower risk of developing heart disease. And more specifically, these people had up to 20% less risk of suffering from coronary heart disease. On the other hand, another study used data from the NHANES surveys carried out in 2018 and noticed an association between recovering hours of sleep and a lower prevalence of cardiovascular diseases, which is something that stands out especially in patients who slept less than 6 hours during the week. There is small print. In science there are contrary points, since researchers, when they affirm measurement methods and look beyond self-completed questionnaires, reality is more complex. Here is a study with 70,000 people who used accelerometers to objectively measure sleep threw cold water on previous evidence by pointing out that compensatory weekend sleep is not associated with lower mortality or fewer cardiovascular events. More alterations. Apart from all this, different scientific reviews point out that the evidence is heterogeneous, pointing out that sleeping more on the weekend does not always manage to correct problems such as insulin sensitivity, which is altered after previous days of sleep restriction. And it is known right now that biologically, lack of sleep triggers complex processes such as insulin resistancethe activity of the sympathetic nervous system and systemic inflammation. And all this cannot be fixed in a silly weekend of sleeping a few more hours, since a much longer sleep regulation would be needed to once again have an optimized biological system. Beyond the heart. Although we usually focus on the engine of our body, the reality is that there are effects much further than that. In the case of mental health, science suggests that weekend recovery carries a lower risk of depression. But other articles on health-related quality of life suggest that the “optimal” duration of recovery sleep is not the same for everyone, and can vary greatly depending on the sex and chronotype of each individual. The verdict. Right now science tells us that there is an association, but not a proven coincidence. In this way, trying to pay off your sleep debt on the weekend is undoubtedly better than continuing to sleep little seven days a week, but it is not a metabolic time machine. What you have to keep in mind is that the final effect will depend on how much deficit you carry during the week and how many hours you try to achieve, but in the end the medical advice that we should stick with is that the objective is to have consistency in daily rest so that it is as optimal as possible. Images | Slaapwijsheid.nl In Xataka | We have accepted that “deep sleep” is the standard for sleep quality: science points in another direction

transforming desert sand into the cheapest and most durable road material in Africa

by

Honda is experiencing one of its most complicated moments. On the one hand, it has canceled several launches of its electric cars in North America, has paralyzed the development of Afeela which it developed in collaboration with Sony and has announced losses of around $15.7 billion. Now they are in a moment of restructuring to get out of the slump, but they have not left aside some of their most experimental projects. One of them is PathAhead, a startup that emerged from its internal incubator that has presented a construction material made of desert sand with which it intends to pave roads in Africa. The problem they want to solve. Only about 20% of African roads are paved, according to data from Honda itself. This figure has a direct impact on the region’s economy, since in the end a place where transportation access is difficult makes logistics more expensive, limits access to markets and slows down development. Furthermore, according to the firm, conventional materials for road construction (natural sand and crushed stone) present variations in resistance depending on their geological origin, which makes it difficult to guarantee uniform quality. The solution: desert sand turned into arid. As we have mentioned before, the company behind this project is called PathAhead, and it has developed a material that it calls Rising Sand. The company describes it as the world’s first artificial aggregate made from desert sand. The process consists of agglomerating fine grains of sand (about 100 micrometers in diameter) into larger, more uniform particles using heat and pressure, increasing their resistance. Image: Nikkei Asia The result, according to the company, is roads with a useful life of more than 20 years, double that of those built with conventional materials, and a life cycle cost that is 60% lower, according to its estimates. The deployment plan. PathAhead plans to begin demonstration trials in Kenya in 2027, followed by Tanzania and South Africa. If the results are positive, mass production will begin in 2028 in its own factory in that country. The startup’s financial goal is to reach revenue of $270 million by 2034. The company has so far raised about 136 million yen (approximately $850,000), with Honda as one of its investors. Where PathAhead comes from. The startup was born within the Ignition program, which Honda launched in 2017 to encourage the creation of new businesses among its employees. Masayuki Iga, its founder and CEO, worked for years at Honda’s research center developing automotive materials. “I created PathAhead with the desire to apply the technologies and knowledge accumulated in that experience to directly address the challenges of our society,” declared Iga during the presentation in Tokyo. Why it draws attention now. Sling has increased its spending on R&D by 55% in the last five years, to exceed one trillion yen in the recently closed fiscal year. That the company maintains and even expands its commitment to internal innovation while undergoing a profound restructuring of its core business is, at the very least, a sign that it does not want to reduce its long-term bets. If PathAhead can prove that its material works on an industrial scale, it could become more than just an experimental project. We’ll see if it ends up having a place in the industry. Cover image | Sling In Xataka | The car industry has condemned the manual gear shift to extinction. A company wants to avoid it: BMW

EEEU vetoed the largest Chinese drone manufacturer. He did not expect that he would be left without the largest Chinese drone manufacturer

by

In December 2025, the US government banned DJI, making it the Huawei of drones. It was an absolutely crazy idea.with American drone pilots themselves warning about the Trump administration’s terrible decision. To no one’s surprise, the play did not go well. what happened. Late last year, the United States Federal Communications Commission (FCC) decided ban all drones and critical components of these small aircraft that were manufactured in foreign countries. The measure affected the import of new drones, remaining existing ones operational. But the government did not take into account a small detail: DJI is the main reference in drones worldwide and, literally, there are no alternatives. What is happening. Already in 2025, Greg Reverdiau, co-founder of the Pilot Institute in Arizona, conducted a survey in which 8,000 pilots participated. 85% made it clear that they could stay in business for about two years. From then on, without access to DJI drones, the outlook was unsustainable. Photographers Videographers Farmers Surveyors Emergency services Security forces Major figures in the industry make it clear that no one is going to replace the gap that DJI has left, whether in capacity, affordability, reliability or ease of use. The alternative. GoPro launched a drone, Karma, in 2018. It failed and was never heard from again. Companies like Parrot also launched consumer drones almost ten years ago, but today there is no trace of them. American companies like Skydio have pivoted completely towards defense, with drones worth thousands of dollars and million-dollar contracts with the US military. When asked if they intended to manufacture drones for consumption, the answer was a clear no. Goodbye to 90%. DJI dominated the US drone market with a 90% share, and there are no real alternatives to replace drones that are reaching the end of their useful life. With no possible DJI replacement in sight, the question is no longer who will take over, it’s how long the current fleet will last before volunteer firefighters, farmers and rescue teams run out of work tools. In Xataka | Best drones. Which one to buy and recommended models from 50 to 3,500 euros

Spain has been building a bridge with China for years. Now it is the European Union that needs to cross it

by

Pedro Sánchez is going to land in China this week for the fourth time in three years. No other Western leader comes close. Why is it important. What seemed like a diplomatic eccentricity has become a trend. A year ago, Spain seemed an outlier in Europe due to its favorable and close stance towards China. Today it is France, with its calls for tougher trade measures against the Chinese government, who seems isolated, according to analyst Noah Barkin in his specialized newsletter. Watching China in Europe. The context has changed everything: the war in Iran, the volatility of the Trump government and the tariff as a political weapon have pushed Europe towards where Spain already was. The context. In recent years, Spain has attracted a constellation of Chinese companies while maintaining a discourse of rapprochement with China that the rest of the EU viewed with skepticism, if not suspicion. The map of Chinese presence in the country is already considerable: The result of all this rapprochement is also reflected in capital flows: Chinese investment in Spain went from 149 million euros in 2024 to 643 million in 2025, an increase of 331% in a single year. Nevertheless, has done little to reduce Spain’s large trade deficit with the Asian giant. The pattern is known: investment arrives, but Spanish exports do not grow at the same rate. Openness has a price. Between the lines. Barkin describes it like this: Pedro Sánchez has positioned himself as the most openly pro-China and Trump-critical leader in Western Europe. This gives Spain a position as unique as it is uncomfortable. Being China’s favorite interlocutor on the continent means assuming the diplomatic costs of that position when the EU needs to maintain a common voice vis-à-vis China. The contrast. While Spain opens its arms, the European Parliament cautiously reopens its ties with China after eight years of distance. A delegation of MEPs visited China this week on the first official trip since 2018, with a clear message, according to coverage by Traffic light China: commitment does not mean concession. The European Union negotiates with one hand and shields with the other. Spain, on the other hand, has opted for the extended hand, practically alone. The big question. Is Spain a pioneer or a lever? A pioneer sets the path that others end up following because it is the right one. A lever is an instrument that others use for their own purposes. Barkin warns that Spain is following the Orbán model: welcoming Chinese investment without the necessary checks and balances. The comparison may be unfair in its nuances, but it points to a very real risk: that the Spanish opening strategy lacks the reciprocity that Europe needs to negotiate as a bloc. In Xataka | Donald Trump’s tariffs are having an unforeseen effect on China: its factories are getting stronger Featured image | ZQ Lee, Sam Williams

the battlefield is divided between camera yes or camera no

by

“Morons with a camera in their faces”, this is how Will Wang described the users of Ray-Ban Meta glasses during a interview with Financial Times. Who is this man and why does he say that? Wang is the CEO of Even Realities, a Shenzhen-based startup that (surprise!) also sells AI glasses, but with an important difference. No cameras. It is Even Realities’ commitment to differentiate itself in the emerging market for glasses with artificial intelligence. His glasses do not have a camera to avoid “social friction”, something he Meta’s glasses can’t boast so much. Furthermore, recently we learned that Ray-Ban Meta records when you take them off and everything recorded was viewed by contractors in Kenya. It is the perfect marketing campaign for Even Realities, which boasts that its glasses only collect essential data, they do not store data in the cloud unless the user explicitly consents, and when they do, the data is always encrypted and sensitive information is eliminated. Why is it important. If Even Realities’ proposal succeeds (and with the controversies that Meta is accumulating, it has options) we may be facing a division of the AI ​​glasses market into two categories: On the one hand, glasses with cameras, like the Ray-Ban Meta, which see and record what is happening around us. On the other hand, tubeless glasses like those from Even or Mijia that function more as an extra help for the user and that does not affect the rest of the people we come across in any way. Even G2. This is the name of the latest model of the Chinese brand. The Even G2 have microphones, speakers and a screen integrated into the glass so that only the user can see it, similar to that of Meta Displaybut in this case it is a panel of monochromatic (green) micro LEDs. Among its functions are real-time translation up to 35 languages, voice-controlled teleprompter, GPS navigation notifications with visual indications and a voice assistant with AI. The Even G2 now They can be purchased for 700 eurosmuch more expensive than the Ray-Ban Meta Gen 2 which costs 419 euros. Wang has an explanation for this price difference: “They are losing money (…) the only way it makes sense to them is if they can really benefit their model by collecting data,” he assured the Financial Times. This is what the internal screen of the Even G2 looks like. Image: Even Realities What does Meta say about all this? Regarding Even Realities they have limited themselves to describing it as a “Chinese competitor wannabe” and insists that the data does not come out of the glasses unless the user gives permission. What they do not say is that, by agreeing to use the AI ​​assistant, we are also agreeing to give up voice, text, image and video. That is, if you want to use Meta AI, you have to jump through the hoops and the fact that it is specified in its terms of use does not make it any less questionable. The market already has a leader (for now). Despite the controversies, Meta continues to lead this new category at a great distance from its adversaries. According to the consulting firm OmdiaMeta has 85% of the market and has already sold 7.4 million units of its glasses. There is an important fact and that is that the vast majority of glasses with AI are in the US, so perhaps the ranking could change if this product becomes popular in another country, especially China, which is already registering the fastest growth. Image | Even Realities, Meta. With own edition In Xataka | The Oakley Meta Vanguard promise to be the athlete’s glasses. Three weeks later, my nose has a different opinion

Log In

Forgot password?

Forgot password?

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

Your password reset link appears to be invalid or expired.

Log in

Privacy Policy

Add to Collection

No Collections

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