Month: November 2025

There was a time when HTC sold more phones than Apple and Samsung. The question is what happened next: Crossover 1×28

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In 2002 we still didn’t have smartphones, but I was lucky enough to see a preview of that future. I traveled to London with Microsoft and at that event the company presented the Orange SPVa big-headed and different mobile because it was based on Windows Mobile 2002. In it you could surf the Internet, write emails or listen to music, although in a limited way because neither the software nor the hardware were very competitive at that time. And yet, the vision was clear: everything was going toward those devices. What was surprising was not only that, but who manufactured that device was HTC. The Taiwanese firm was already beginning to be known for manufacturing devices for others, but it would soon end up launching into the smartphone market taking advantage of the push of Android. In 2011 its market share in the US became superior to Apple’s or Samsung, but after that achievement, the firm started making bad decisionsand other manufacturers joined in – especially from China – who began to make competition much more difficult. HTC never recovered from that and although it experimented with other segments like virtual realityfaded to a paper totally secondary in the technological field. We talk about all this in a new episode of Crossover in which we remember the great milestones of the company and that singular fall almost into oblivion. In Xataka | “It is a brutal economic effort, but we have to act now”: parents who are taking their children to schools without screens

50,000 people paid 120,000 euros to live on a paradisiacal crypto island. Now it is about to disappear under the Pacific

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A group of cryptocurrency investors imagined living in a cryptostate in which everything was based on blockchain technology and, of course, 100% tax free. The project it was so serious that they even found a private island in the middle of the Pacific and named the place Satoshi Island in honor of the bitcoin creator. In it, crypto investors could move in and acquire their citizenship in exchange for a modest 120,000 euros. Eight years later, the Satoshi Islandnot only has it not become the tropical crypto paradise promised of bitcoin and NFT, but is at risk of disappearing under the waters of the Pacific. The origin of the initiative. As and how I collected FortuneIn 2017 and with the support of more than 50,000 investors, the “Satoshi Island” project was launched with the development of a new crypto nation on the private island in the South Pacific previously known as Lataro Islandin the Vanuatu archipelago, east of Australia and halfway between the Solomon Islands and New Caledonia. The small 32 km2 island was leased to the local government of Vanuatu for 75 years by British real estate entrepreneur Anthony Welch who, according to France 24had been living there for more than a decade. In 2021, the transformation to “Satoshi Island”, named in honor of Satoshi Nakamoto, was presented. with the promise to become a crypto city-state, without taxes and based exclusively on blockchain and NFT. The vision included digital citizenship, “crypto-friendly” modular housing, and an economy untethered from traditional fiat. Real estate promises and realities. The plan was articulated under several axes: issuing citizenship and ownership NFTs, building modular homes on 21,000 available plots, adopting renewable energy, decentralized governance and attracting a global community of crypto investors. It sounds like a complicated formula to attract new neighbors to the island and, in the process, “rent” them part of the 90% of the island that was uninhabited. “We are trying to build a community. We are not looking to develop for profit,” assured Welch to Guardian in a satellite interview with the island, given that the island does not have electricity or internet. Bad omen for an economy based on digital transactions. The wall of territorial sovereignty. According what was published through the specialized portal Decryptin 2022 the Vanuatu government, with then Prime Minister Bob Loughman, supported the initiative after ensuring that they had received thousands of applications, which gave more visibility to the project. Obviously, for all the NFTs of Satoshi Island citizenship, the reality is that investors who wanted to live on the island had to obtain Vanuatu citizenship, which “Golden Visa” mode It was awarded in exchange for a generous donation of 120,000 euros. According to data of the International Monetary Fund, around 40% of its income comes from the “Golden Visa”, so the Satoshi Island project was an excellent attraction to attract new residents and obtain large income. The blow of reality. Shortly after, the first alarm signals began to emerge: absence of infrastructure, significant delays in the implementation of the habitability project and the legal complexity of transforming NFTs into property titles. recognized by the state (the real one, that of Vanuatu). Little by little the project has been deflating until, in July 2025, a publication in the project X profile It marked the end of the cryptotropical dream. Furthermore, the project’s demise is not just figurative, as the Vanuatu archipelago is highly vulnerable to sea level rise, coastal erosion and extreme weather events resulting from climate change, a forecast that already is coming true in its neighboring archipelago of Tuvalu, which has already begun its migration for climatic reasons. In Xataka | A Venezuelan invented a lawless city in the middle of an island. Now the millionaires who followed him don’t know how to escape Image | Vladi

Europe is eager for cheap electric cars. Europe’s solution: copy Japan

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The European Union needs electric cars to be purchased. At least if you want your emissions plans to be met. So ambitious that they have forced ban combustion engines from 2035 in a decision that countries like Germany and Italy want to reverse because, in their opinion, their industries are at stake. The truth is that more electric cars are bought every day and the number of followers goes growing. Especially in countries with greater purchasing power, with a better charging network or that are simply doing things better like Portugal where aid is given at the time of purchase and frictions have been eliminated when loading the car. There are a multitude of factors but the truth is that manufacturers feel that, despite growing, the embrace of the customer is not enough to get the industry off the ground. There are fewer and fewer brands that maintain their marketing plans. jump to “all electric” before 2035 because they feel that the sales of this technology is not driving amortizations that they have to do when designing new vehicles, readapting their assembly lines or creating a new network of suppliers around them. The big promise is that “cheap” electric cars will drive these sales. But as we have talked about on other occasions, these vehicles have a fundamental problem: their autonomy. The average European citizen, according to ACEAtravels 34 kilometers by car every day and only once or twice a year he faces long trips (he makes just over 12,000 kilometers annually) where a car with a battery less than 60 kWh of capacity would have to stop on more than one occasion, extending the trip beyond what was desired. However, at the same price, it is logical that you opt for the combustion version because you will have a car that does not cause headaches on those trips (for just a few days a year) and you will also be able to face an unforeseen event with solvency if necessary. The maintenance cost takes a backseat. Right now, the European industry is at a difficult inflection point. It is difficult to make electric cars cheaper because the battery remains the main obstacle when it comes to saving costs. The new Renault Twingo promises to sell for less than 20,000 euros but its 27.8 kWh battery barely anticipates just over 150 kilometers off-road, which makes it practically useless outside the city. Nor does what is to come offer much better guarantees and 25,000 euro cars face combustion options that, as we said, do not cause headaches on weekend excursions or long trips despite the fact that they later lose out in the general maintenance of the vehicle. And small cars have become much more expensive in recent years. As a solution, the European Union is trying to carry out a new regulation for small carswith a contained size and price in line with that of a purely urban vehicle. For this they want to base themselves on the kei car Japanese, a type of car located below the passenger car that offers certain tax advantages… but whose success can only be explained by Japanese particularities. A new category with everything to prove In search of solutions to lower the prices of electric cars and make these urban mobility options more attractive, we know that the European Union is working to create a new category of cars. The idea is to frame it between current passenger cars and light quadricycles. A new category with a contained size and whose main incentives were lower maintenance costs with tax advantages and facilities for manufacturers to reduce car prices. Taking into account these premises, François Provost, CEO of Renault, has confirmed that if the European regulations go ahead they could convert their Renault 5, 4 and Twingo into this type of new vehicles. In statements collected by Coachhas dropped that they could be cars that were below 4.1 meters, with entirely European production and whose emissions in the production process were less than 15 tons of CO2. The words are relevant because the Renault Group has been pushing in this regard for some time. Luca de Meo, its previous CEO and former president of the ACEA employers’ association, He was also in favor of this new category. The French have recently presented the Dacia Hipster, which aims directly at this market. Stellantis has also been betting for some time and has launched up to three heavy electric quadricycles, which is the closest thing to the category at the moment. and in Xataka We learned two years ago that the European Union is working on specifying such a category. Inspiration is kei car japanese. These miniaturized cars develop a maximum of 660 cc and have some very strict length and width measurements. Curiously, they do not have them high up so most of them, to maximize space, have very square shapes in the minivan style. All in all, it is a category with a very particular development that even has sports versions such as the legendary Daihatsu Copen. In Europe, legislators seem willing to copy the philosophy of these cars. As? It is what remains to be defined. In The Coches.net podcast They gave some alternatives to lower prices and one of them is very clear: eliminate obligations regarding safety and driving aids. The mandatory systems that the European Union has introduced such as the lane departure or fatigue warning seat have special relevance outside the city but very little inside it, just where these cars should stay. These are systems that have made urban vehicles more expensive and would be a push to lower their costs again. Furthermore, having a contained size is an incentive for some cities where there is less and less space available. The biggest problem for Europe is that the formula of kei car Japanese triumphs because it is an extraordinarily particular market. In fact, except BYD that has shown its first car For Japan with these premises in … Read more

Mining waste is changing life in the depths of the Pacific

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More than a thousand meters below the Pacific, a turbid cloud slowly disperses. It is not pollution visible from the surface, but it could transform the ocean from its foundations. That cloud—a mix of sediment, metals, and mining waste—is the byproduct of a new global fever: the race for minerals from the seabed. A recent study published in Nature warns of a little-known risk. By extracting metals from the seabed, underwater mining releases a cloud of waste as fine as dust. This material can replace the food that millions of small organisms need to survive. They are tiny, almost invisible creatures, but without them there would be no fish, whales or marine life as we know it. A deep problem. A team from the University of Hawaii at Mānoa analyzed for the first time the effects of a test spill made during a mining operation in the Pacific. Researchers discovered that the waste generated by extracting polymetallic nodules – potato-sized rocks packed with valuable metals such as nickel, cobalt or manganese – can drown the so-called “twilight ocean”, an area that extends between 200 and 1,500 meters deep. The results are overwhelming: the particles from the mining process are between 10 and 100 times less nutritious than natural particles. “It’s like replacing food with air,” explains Michael Dowdlead author of the study. Their work shows that this waste can displace organic particles that feed zooplankton and other species that, in turn, support fish, whales and tuna. The study, carried out in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone – a vast region of the Pacific of 1.5 million square kilometers under license from the International Seabed Authority (ISA) – calculated that 65% of the species analyzed depend on particles larger than six microns, exactly those that would be replaced by mining waste. More than half of the zooplankton and 60% of the micronekton feed on them. The journey of waste. During the process, underwater mining generates a flow of water, sediment and metals that is pumped to a ship on the surface. There the valuable minerals are separated and the rest of the material – a mixture of mud and inorganic fragments – is returned to the sea. The problem is where it is returned. Some companies, such as The Metals Company (TMC), have proposed release the residue in the so-called “mesopelagic zone”, an area rich in microscopic life. According to scientists, this could cause a “cascade effect”: organisms that filter particles to feed would run out of nutrients, and the predators that depend on them—from fish to cetaceans—could migrate or starve. That is why the authors recommend that, if companies insist on mining, they at least return the sediments to the seabed, where they were extracted, even if that is more expensive and technically complex. However, from the company, which financed the study but did not intervene in its conclusions, he assured The Verge which plans to release the waste at a depth of about 2,000 meters, below the area analyzed by the researchers. According to its environmental director, Michael Clarke, the particles dissipate quickly and there is less planktonic life at those depths. The rules of the fund: the battle in the ISA. The rules of the seabed are still being written in slow motion. Regulation falls to the International Seabed Authority (ISA), the UN body in charge of managing mineral resources in international waters. Since 2014, the ISA has been working on a Mining Code that has not yet been approved. For now, it has only granted exploration licenses, but none for commercial exploitation. Meanwhile, some countries are pushing to move forward without waiting for the final code. In fact, Donald Trump has tried to bypass the international process signing an executive order that allowed US companies to be granted permits to mine the seabed. The measure has been seen by ISA Secretary General Leticia Carvalho as a “dangerous precedent that could destabilize ocean governance.” A geopolitical board in dispute. American interest is framed in the technological and trade war with China. The Asian giant controls about 70% of the global rare earth market and has multiple exploration contracts in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone. Faced with this dependence, the White House seeks to guarantee its own supply of strategic metals by promoting deep-sea mining and creating national reserves, but the country has not ratified the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). In other words, the United States not part of the ISA. Meanwhile, countries such as Norway, Japan, Papua New Guinea and China are moving forward with their projects. At the last ISA meeting, 32 nations—including Spain—requested a global moratorium to curb underwater mining until its impacts are better understood. Between two waters. The fate of the seabed is written at the same time in the laboratories and in the negotiation rooms, far from the blue silence thatwe still don’t fully understand. The little we know is that beneath that darkness await the metals of the future and perhaps also the price of extracting them. Image | Unsplash Xataka | When it seemed that the controversy over underwater mining was calming down, the discovery of black oxygen threatens to reactivate it

They cannot force you to work on weekends even if your contract says “Monday to Sunday”

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The Supreme Court has brought order to an area where many companies moved with ambiguity: the possibility of changing the working day at their convenience, by far that indicates it in the employment contract. In a recent ruling, the Supreme Court has unified its criteria and it is no longer enough for the contract to say that you can work “from Monday to Sunday” as a justification for change the work dayyou must negotiate it with employees before applying the change. What exactly has the Supreme Court defined?. The judgment responds to the request for unification of criteria requested by the CGT union in the face of previous contradictory rulings. The origin is a collective conflict raised by the unions after a company decided extend your day Monday through Sunday to serve the needs of its business clients. For more than five years, the staff of that company had worked only from Monday to Friday, so the unions understood that the change in hours represented a substantial modification of working conditions and, therefore, should be subject to negotiation, as established in the Article 41 of the Workers’ Statute. The Supreme Court agrees with the unions and annuls that decision, indicating that, although the contract allowed working “Monday to Sunday”, the change required a formal procedure. In the words of the ruling, “if workers have been providing services from Monday to Friday since 2017 and in 2022 the company informs them that they have to start doing so from Monday to Sunday, this represents a substantial modification of working conditions.” Why is it important. The Supreme Court makes it clear that the regular consolidated working day It cannot be altered unilaterally by the company. The court admits that the contract included the possibility of working from Monday to Sunday, but emphasizes that the practice sustained for years has more legal weight than the generic clause. That is to say, if from the beginning the day was configured from Monday to Sunday, that practice is consolidated, and any substantial change that is applied must be negotiated. According to the ruling, “the company could not decide unilaterally, and without following the procedure of article 41 ET, to start providing services from Monday to Sunday when since 2017 it had been providing services from Monday to Friday.” What it means for workers. The Supreme Court ruling strengthens the position of employees and gives them more tools against non-negotiated shift changes. If a staff has been working a specific schedule for years, that practice becomes part of their contract, even if it is not explicitly written. In practical terms, this means that workers can challenge any substantial alteration to their working hours or schedules if they have not been previously negotiated. This new ruling restores the staff to their previous schedule and declares the business decision void, urging them to negotiate the change in accordance with the provisions of article 41 of the Workers’ Statute. What changes for companies. With its unification of criteria, the Supreme Court places limits on the unilateral modification of the conditions and organization of work by companies, forcing them to reach agreements with employees as long as these changes are substantial and have a justification. The court points out that the company could have easily started the negotiation “claiming that the client company required the services to be provided from Monday to Sunday”, which in the court’s opinion is a more than justified reason, and not directly impose it. In Xataka | It seemed obvious, but the Supreme Court had to remind them: Ryanair cannot elect a union, the employees choose it Image | Flickr (Chris Arnold), Unsplash (Eduardo Alexandre)

If you don’t want to delete photos, videos or files, these cloud storage services can give you extra space

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Horror: you go to take a photo and discover that your mobile phone already has the storage full. There is always the option of deleting applications or files from it, but we don’t always want to get rid of information from our phone. The best solution is to opt for a cloud storage service: They are safe and there are some with very interesting extras. For this reason, we are going to talk to you about some options that may fit you if you are looking for one of these storages. pCloud The first option we bring you is pCloudone that may not be as popular as others on this list, but that works very well. It is a service that we can use on both MacOS, Windows and Linux as well as on mobile phones. In fact, its app allows you to automatically synchronize images or videos to upload them without doing anything else. It also allows you to make backup copies with pCloud and it even has a new photo editor included in all its plans. Another very interesting point about pCloud is the enormous variety of plans and modalities that we have available. The most economical way to get this service is its Premium subscription, which gives 500 GB storage for alone 4.99 euros per month. We can opt, if we prefer, for annual modalities or even for ones that are for life, more economical in the long run. pCloud monthly subscription The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Google Drive Almost all of us, for one reason or another, have a Google account. That is already an argument in favor of us using Google Drivethis company’s cloud storage service. It is a service that is characterized by being secure and very convenient to use, regardless of whether we want to store photos or videos. In addition, it is also perfect if we are looking to have collaborative documents. For free, we have 15 GB that we can use however we want. It is a small figure if we are photography lovers or we usually record video in 4K resolution, so we can get one of their payment plans. In that case, we can have 100 GB storage by 0.49 euros per month (for three months, then it costs 1.99 euros per month). The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Dropbox When looking for cloud storage, it’s impossible not to consider Dropbox. Depending on the plan we choose from all the ones it has, it allows you to restore deleted files (up to 1 year for its Advanced plan). Furthermore, its interface is very fast and easy to use, also allowing you to transfer files up to 100 GB. This service also allows you to choose whether you want annual or monthly billing. Focusing on its prices, the cheapest thing we can hire Dropbox is for 11.99 euros per month. In exchange, we will have 2 TB of storagea figure that is not bad at all. There are also modalities that allow you to share the subscription with other users. The price could vary. We earn commission from these links OneDrive If, in addition to sending photos or videos with your mobile phone, you plan to use the cloud with a Windows PC, OneDrive may interest you. One of its best features is being able to access your files from the same Explorer of this operating system. Besides, integrates with Microsoft 365 to be able to collaboratively edit Word, Excel or PowerPoint documents in real time. This service has a free option, one that only offers 5 GB of cloud storage. If we want more, we have your Microsoft 365 Basic plan available for 20 euros a year, thanks to which we will have 100 GB storage. It is a good option that is also available for iOS and Android. The price could vary. We earn commission from these links iCloud If we have one or more Apple devices at home, then we may be interested in having iCloud with us (although we can also use it with other operating systems). It is a very interesting platform that stands out for offering a simple, minimalist and very intuitive user experience. In addition, it allows you to store backup copies of Apple devices. For free, we only have 5 GB of storage. If we want more, then we should upgrade to one of the iCloud+ plans. The cheapest version that this platform has comes out for 0.99 euros per month and offers in exchange 50GB storage. If we want more, we have two others that offer 200 GB and 2 TB, respectively. The price could vary. We earn commission from these links 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 | Etienne Girardet on UnsplashpCloud, Dropbox, iCloud, Google Drive, OneDrive In Xataka | How I organize my life in the “cloud”: the platforms and organization methods used by Xataka editors In Xataka | Google One, Dropbox, OneDrive, iCloud and all the options, face to face

from uranium to the plug, step by step

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Do you remember Homer Simpson asleep in front of the control panel? For years, that has been the most popular image of a nuclear power plant: glowing bars, red buttons and donuts. Others, however, may think of sirens, black smoke, protective suits and names that continue to weigh: Chernobyl or Fukushima. Between fiction and collective fear, there is a much more normal story—and at the same time more amazing—that usually goes unnoticed: that of giant factories that produce electricity from the power of atoms. If you approach one, you will see towers that seem to breathe water vapor. And inside, hidden behind a heart of steel, millions of atoms splitting in two, releasing energy so enormous that a handful of uranium is enough to power a city for days. Although the debate is served with this type of fontthe truth is that it continues to be one more piece of the energetic present. So, leaving prejudices aside, let’s take a look inside a nuclear power plant: to discover how it works, how it differs from a thermal one, how many are still active in Spain and why it remains at the center of the energy debate. What is a nuclear power plant? A nuclear power plant is an industrial facility designed to produce electricity. At its core—literally—is the nuclear reactor, the place where the magic happens: the fission of atoms. Inside each atom there are protons and neutrons that remain united. When that nucleus breaks—when hit by a neutron—an enormous amount of energy is released in the form of heat. That’s where nuclear energy comes in: the same energy that holds those tiny particles together. Nuclear power plants take advantage of this nuclear fission process to obtain heat, heat water, produce steam and move turbines that generate electricity. It’s that simple. Or, if you look closely, that impressive. Difference between a nuclear power plant and a thermal power plant Confusion is common: “Aren’t a nuclear power plant and a thermal power plant the same thing?” In part, yes. Both use heat to drive a turbine and produce electricity. But the big difference is in the origin of that heat. In a thermal power plantthe heat comes from burning fossil fuels (coal, gas or fuel oil). This releases carbon dioxide (CO₂) and other polluting gases. While, in a nuclear power plant, heat is obtained from the fission of uranium atoms, without combustion or CO₂ emissions during electricity generation. Therefore, nuclear They are considered clean energy in emissionsalthough they leave a different challenge: what to do with radioactive waste? We could say that it is a smokeless energy, but not without questions and I will stop here because we will talk about it at the end. How it works: the process to generate electricity It may sound complicated, but the operation of a nuclear power plant can be explained in a simple way: Imagine a big kettle, like a teapot, only inside there are atoms splitting and releasing energy. Uranium fission. It all starts inside the reactor. Uranium-235 atoms break apart when hit by neutrons. Each fission releases heat and more neutrons, which continue colliding with other atoms, creating a controlled chain reaction. Water heating. The heat produced is used to heat water. This water circulates through pipes under enormous pressure or is transformed directly into steam, depending on the type of reactor. The steam drives the turbine. The force of the steam rotates the blades of a turbine connected to an electrical generator. That movement is what is finally converted into electricity. The electricity is sent to the grid. The generator converts the mechanical energy of rotation into electrical energy, which is transported to homes and industries. Cooling and recirculation. The steam condenses, cools, transforms back into water and returns to the circuit, repeating the cycle. It seems simple, and it is in concept. But behind it there are decades of engineering, thousands of security measures and constant surveillance so that this invisible and powerful energy is always kept under control. In Spain There are two types in operation: the pressurized water reactors (PWR)where water is heated inside the reactor and converted to steam outside, and the boiling water reactors (BWR)where steam is generated directly inside the reactor. How many nuclear power plants are there in Spain? According to the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge (MITECO)Spain has seven nuclear reactors spread over five sites: Almaraz I and II (Cáceres). In operation since 1981 and 1983, with a combined power of about 2,000 MW. It is one of the first that is on the list for closure: Almaraz I in 2027 and Almaraz II in 2028. Ascó I and II (Tarragona). Connected to the grid in 1983 and 1985, they total about 2,000 MW. Its closure is scheduled for 2030 Ascó I and 2032 Ascó II. Chests (Valencia). In operation since 1984; It is the only one with a boiling water reactor (BWR), with 1,092 MW of power. Its closure is scheduled for 2030. threshing (Guadalajara). In operation since 1988, with a power of 1,066 MW. It is scheduled to close in 2035. Vandellós II (Tarragona). In service since 1988, with a power of 1,087 MW. It is scheduled to close in 2035. In addition, there were three others that are already closed: Jose Cabrera (Guadalajara), the first Spanish nuclear power plant. Santa María de Garona (Burgos). Vandellós I (Tarragona), closed after a fire in 1989. In total, Spanish operational reactors generate around 20% of the country’s electricity, according to data from Nuclear Forum. And they do it constantly, 24 hours a day, without depending on the sun or the wind. What is the largest nuclear power plant in the world? If nuclear power plants had their own world ranking, Japan would be in first place. The central Kashiwazaki-Kariwa It has seven reactors and a power that exceeds 8,000 megawatts. Today it is stopped for revisions, but it is still the largest on the planet. The center follows … Read more

In Galicia some parents educated their young son at home. Now they are condemned for “irresponsible unschooling”

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He homeschooling It’s news. And it is on account of a sentence issued by a court in Vigo that has decided to impose a fine of just over 2,000 euros (with severe reproach included) on parents who decided to educate their nine-year-old son at home, removing the little one from the school in which he was enrolled for the 2024-2025 academic year. The ruling is interesting not so much for its consequences (the penalty is not high: 1,080 euros per parent) as for its arguments and because it differs from other rulings on the same topic that yes they were acquittal. One moment,homeschooling? The term may seem strange, but it is not new. In fact, it connects with a movement that started in the US in the 70s. He homeschooling It is neither more nor less than an educational option that advocates educating children at home, far from conventional classrooms and schools. Often focusing educational responsibility on parents and those who practice it stand out above all its ability to adapt to the needs of each child, its personalization and flexibility of schedules, content and spaces. How many people practice it? Hard to know. In Spain it is estimated that there are between 2,000 and 4,000 families unschoolers. If we talk about the United States, there are calculations that indicate that 3% of students between five and 17 years old receive training at home. The variety of data is explained by the lack of censuses (case of Spain) and above all because the practice does not have the same lace in all countries. To better understand the regulatory differences, it is good to take a look at the web of Homeschooling. There are nations that clearly prohibit it, others that protect it and then there are cases like Spain, where there are those who consider that home education moves in “a legal ‘gray area’”. Swampy terrain. That is why sentences like the one just handed down by a judge in Galicia arouse so much interest, especially because not all cases end in the same way. What have they judged in Vigo? What the Criminal Court number 1 of Vigo has ruled on is a very specific case: some parents from Gondomar (in Pontevedra) who decided to take their nine-year-old son out of the public school in which he was enrolled last year to educate him at home. The ruling recalls that, despite the Educational Inspection’s resolution denying deschooling and the warning from the Juvenile Prosecutor’s Office, the parents continued with their plans, betting on homeschooling and a personal itinerary. The boy attended an academy for two hours a week, but the bulk of his education depended on the program decided by his parents. And what does the sentence say? The fundamental and key of the sentence, as precise Vigo Lighthouseis the educational bet chosen by parents. The ruling speaks of “flagrant deficiencies”, an educational project that “does not meet the minimum requirements” and “irresponsible unschooling” that compromises the child’s “academic progress” and, ultimately, will condition his life. “In this case, the education provided directly and almost exclusively by the parents, basically based on their own personal criteria and ideas, without an alternative educational method to the minimally solvent official one and without some evaluative objectivity, represents irresponsible unschooling,” the judge warns in his sentence, disclosed by Lighthouse and with a resounding tone. “There is negligence in education and failures in basic care duties.” Why is it important? Where you put the focus. The sentence focuses mainly on these shortcomings and the “irresponsibility” of the child’s family. In fact the ruling insists in which the parents did not even resort to an “alternative external educational system to the official one” and selected the subjects based on “their own criteria”, without any other reference. In practice this translated into training that, in the judge’s opinion“does not meet the minimum requirements established in the regulatory framework of compulsory education.” The minor participated in activities such as bicycle outings, excursions to the forest, sailing with a jet ski, collecting chestnuts or cooking, but he received “basic” skills in fields such as mathematics or language. For example, his parents did not teach him geometry. The expert who was in charge of examining the case in fact noted a “confusion” between the family routine and the school routine and also pointed out the “privatization of socialization” of the child. Does it explain anything else? Yes. The ruling conveys an interesting message. He explains that “home education may not be criminally reprehensible,” but it must meet a series of requirements, guaranteeing that the child will receive “sufficient” training thanks to an educational system that must be “responsible and competent.” In fact, this is not the first ruling issued by the Vigo court on the subject: at the beginning of 2024 spoke about another case involving parents who educated their son at home throughout the 2021-22 academic year. The Prosecutor’s Office found a crime of “family abandonment” (the same one that has been tried now) and requested five months in prison for the parents and six months of disqualification for parental authority. What was the result? On that occasion the judge acquitted them. Although he homeschooling was underlying in both cases, the judge noted clear differences in both cases. In the 2021-2022 report, it concluded that the parents did not show “carelessness” or “carelessness” and carried out “responsible unschooling.” The little boy continued to be educated with official books, he attended various extracurricular activities and the homeschooling It only really lasted one course. In fact, a year later the minor was already attending another center again, where he continued training “with absolute regularity” and obtained good grades. Is it legal or not legal? Europa Press assures that the ruling of the Court of Vigo warns that the homeschooling It is not a legal option in our country and it is “unquestionable” that parents who do not send their children to school violate an obligation contained in the … Read more

the light of its streetlights and the posters

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Living in a big city is associated with living with a large amount of artificial light. LED street lightsscreens, signs, traffic… great light pollution that is undoubtedly one of the most visible traces of urban progress. But this is something that not only affects biodiversity or sleep, since a study presented in the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions 2025 suggests that it could also be linked to a higher risk of cardiovascular disease. Currently the towns are being left desolate, and the citizens are They are concentrating in the big cities because of the great job or training opportunities they have. But there are always different drawbacks, the noise being possibly very annoying (especially for sleeping and resting), but light is also something to explore. A few weeks ago the topic of the moment was undoubtedly the time change and why experts point out that winter time is the best despite the fact that it gets dark really soon. A debate that focuses on our circadian cycles and sunlightbut we must also take into account the great exposure to artificial lights that we have, especially in large cities. The study. The research, developed by the team of cardiologist Shady Abohashem, from Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, analyzed data from 466 Boston adults without active cardiac pathologies. The researchers crossed their brain scans (PET/CT) with satellite images of urban night glow from the New World Atlas of Artificial Night Sky Brightness. The result was quite clear in this case: the higher the levels of artificial light at night where they lived, the greater the stress-related brain activity and the greater the inflammation of the arteries. Two key indicators of cardiovascular risk, which undoubtedly set off all the alarms. If we put it into concrete figures, the risk of developing cardiovascular disease after five years is 35% higher than that of people who live in large cities. But looking at ten years, this risk stands at 22%. Its mechanism. In order to understand the reason for this data, we have to go to the brain. When this organ detects light at night (a time when in theory there should be complete darkness), the hypothalamic stress axis is activated. This response, maintained over time, can cause inflammation throughout the body and especially atherosclerosis, as has been shown in studies on chronic stress and cardiovascular disease. This phenomenon, Abohashem suggests, would explain how a seemingly harmless environmental factor could be integrated into the cardiac risk equation. Julio Fernández-Mendoza, expert in sleep medicine and author of the recent scientific statement of the American Heart Association on circadian and cardiometabolic healthsums it up like this: “Artificial light at night suppresses melatonin and disrupts the internal clock. This alters blood pressure, metabolism and endothelial function. This new study shows how this alteration can be observed even at the brain and arterial level.” More evidence. But this study is not isolated, since the idea is not new and there is already literature that supports it. For example, a cohort study with more than 400,000 people in South Korea already observed that living in brighter areas increased the risk of heart attack and stroke. The same thing happened in China with a study that detected that prolonged exposure to urban light increased the incidence of coronary heart disease in older adults. Besides, a published review in Sleep Medicine Reviews explains how artificial light can alter melatonin secretion, modify the circadian rhythm and activate low-grade inflammatory reactions in humans. In the end all the ingredients for us to expose ourselves to an alteration in our system. What can we do? Although the new work is observational and has not yet been peer-reviewed, its authors suggest concrete measures that could have a real impact: reducing unnecessary street lighting, implementing motion sensors in residential areas, choosing warm tones (less blue) and, at home, keeping bedrooms dark and free of screens before bed. In the end the idea is the one we have always repeated: maintain good sleep hygiene. Something that is achieved by avoiding looking at your phone minutes before going to sleep or even separating dinner from bedtime in order to maintain the best conditions for our brain. Images | Nao Ya DESIGNECOLOGIST In Xataka | Science has been trying to figure out the best time to go to sleep for decades. And you are already close to an answer

When we thought we had seen all kinds of rehearsals for an invasion, China makes science fiction: robots taking over an island

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At the end of 2024, several military studies from Beijing were published outlining six different scenarios if future unification with Taiwan goes awry. So we tell that the Second World War I advised against all them because, in essence, there was talk of an invasion of the island. From then until now so much China as Taiwan have carried out all kinds of drills under the war scenario background. What you haven’t seen until now is that China has a plan B: robotic wolves. Mechanized herds. This week and through images and videosChina has shown to the world a new generation of autonomous combat systems in an exercise that simulated an invasion of Taiwan. On the landing beach, the traditional “human waves” of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) were replaced by swarms of machines: suicide drones and well-known robotic quadrupeds like mechanized wolves. These units, developed by the state-owned China South Industries Group Corporation (CSGC), represent the first attempt to convert amphibious operations into a scenario dominated byor artificial intelligence. The broadcast images State television CCTV showed these metal “wolves” running across the sand ahead of human troops, detecting obstacles with LiDAR sensors, thermal cameras and autonomous navigation algorithms. Wolf specification. Of 70 kilos of weight and capable of carrying 20 more, these robots were divided into attack, transport and reconnaissance variants, managing to reduce the time between detection and destruction of the target to less than ten seconds. In fact, in one symbolic sequencea single human operator simultaneously directed nine robots and six drones from a 3D interface, while the devices cleared barbed wire and trenches for infantry. @elsa50356 “Breaking from China! The PLA’s latest amphibious landing drills—drones take the lead, and robotic ‘wolf packs’ rush the beach! The future of warfare is here!” 🚀🪖 #PLADrills #ChinaMilitary #Drones #RobotArmy #MilitaryTech ♬ 原创音乐 – Elsa Swarm intelligence. The training, called “Landing Operation in Taiwan” was part of an assault test coastal exercise carried out by the PLA 72nd Division, under the Eastern Theater Command, the unit operating in front of the Taiwan Strait. For the first time, quadruped robots performed as a spearheadfollowed by waves of FPV drones bombing simulated enemy fortifications. In total, the attack cycle was cfour times faster than that of a conventional square. This deployment is part of the EPL’s strategic shift from mass doctrine (the so-called human wave tactics) towards what Beijing calls “smart sea and land tactics,” a doctrine that prioritizes automation, cooperation between unmanned systems and data-driven decision making. The buts. However, the exercise itself revealed vulnerabilities: these wolf robots They lack armor, are easily detectable in open fields and one of them was destroyed by light fire. Chinese analysts they recognized limitations, but they stressed that the goal was not perfection, but rather to demonstrate that the army is willing to progressively replace human soldiers with swarms of coordinated machines. Ukraine in the shadows. The Chinese Army has incorporated direct lessons from the Ukrainian war into its maneuvers, where drones have redefined tactical and logistical effectiveness. According to Chinese military media like Daiwanthe PLA is applying the knowledge extracted from that conflict in its ground training, anticipating a future where hundreds of robots advance at 30 or 40 km/h in coordinated waves. The parallel is clear: if Ukraine demonstrated that a cheap drone can destroy a tankChina wants to prove that a network of smart machines can break coastal defenses in a matter of minutes. The current exercises, which until recently were limited to traditional landings, are already a general rehearsal of algorithmic warfare, where the human decision is reduced to an initial order and autonomous systems execute the rest. Strategic competition. Plus: The accelerated development of these systems occurs while the United States reinforces your deterrence strategy in the Indo-Pacific. According to the CIAan eventual Chinese invasion of Taiwan could occur before 2027, and the Pentagon has designed the so-called hellscape strategy: Saturate the strait with thousands of drones, submarines and unmanned vehicles to slow down Chinese forces and buy time for reinforcements to arrive. Beijing, aware of this, is creating units specialized in war against swarms, equipped with software capable of detecting, tracking and attacking targets without human intervention. Companies like Norincoanother state giant, have presented vehicles like the P60powered by the DeepSeek AI model, which can recognize targets, avoid obstacles and operate in logistics support or combat missions. A future of machines. He China’s advance towards an AI-powered war demonstrates both its technological ambition and its practical limitations. The images of robots breaching simulated beaches are as revealing as their failures in the face of enemy fire. However, beyond immediate effectiveness, Beijing’s message is unequivocal: the future of the war in the strait of Taiwan will be decided by the speed of the algorithms, not the number of soldiers. In that race, China seeks to transform mechanized warfare in smart warreplacing brute force with computational precision. The question is no longer whether robots will be present in the next invasion, but how many will be able to think, coordinate and eliminate before the first human makes landfall. Image | CCTV/China In Xataka | Less than 150 kilometers from Taiwan, the US does not stop accumulating missiles. It’s the closest thing to preparing for war. In Xataka | China has asked Russia for an airborne battalion and training. That can only mean one thing: they are preparing a landing

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