Month: November 2025

These are just two examples of how China is buying Europe

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For more than a decade, Chinese capital has been buying hundreds of European companies, one after another. Centenary brands, technological leaders, industrial jewels. A map of acquisitions that has changed the ownership of some historic companies. This is the x-ray of the main European companies that are in Chinese hands, sector by sector. Automotive The Swedish and Italian assault. The automobile sector has been one of the main objectives from the beginning. Technology and robotics The German jewel. China has targeted strategic technology companies, especially in robotics and engineering. Agribusiness The Swiss giant. One of the largest Chinese acquisitions in Europe, and in the world. Energy and infrastructure Ports and nuclear. China has invested in strategic energy and port infrastructure assets. In some cases it remained an attempt that did not bear fruit. Tourism and hospitality The European tourism and hospitality sector has also attracted Chinese capital: Luxury goods and fashion European luxury brands have been another strategic target. Lanvin (France): Fosun acquired the French fashion house, one of the oldest haute couture brands in the world, in 2018 for an undisclosed amount. Time after adapted the name of its fashion division. Telecommunications A sensitive sector where operations have encountered more resistance. Also in Spain. Missing? Sectors such as banking, where Chinese acquisitions have been more limited by regulation, and defense, practically shielded. Also the pharmaceutical sector, where they have barely achieved important operations. The context. This shopping list is a good reflection of the Chinese strategy of the last 15 years: Access to technology. Global brands. And strategic positions in Europe. But the panorama has changed. Large acquisitions have given way to ground-up investment, especially in electric vehicles, concentrated in countries like Hungary that offer tax advantages and somewhat more regulatory laxity. BYD is a great example. Just like CATL. turning point. Europe is tightening its surveillance now that China changes tactics. Spectacular purchases have been reducing. Now is the time for new factories, electric cars and a subtler battle for the continent’s industrial future. In Xataka | Alibaba’s strategy with AI is very simple: achieve the same thing that Google achieved with Android Featured image | Luca Massimilian

Spanish scientists have created a material that swallows 99.5% of light. And it is great news for renewables

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At first glance they look like invisible needles, thin to the extreme and tiny like a thousandth of a human hair. A group of Spanish researchers has created ultra-black nanoneedles that absorb up to 99.5% of the solar radiation they receive, a record figure that not only sets an optical record, but will increase the efficiency of solar thermal plants. Made in Euskadi. The discovery comes from the Thermophysical Properties of Materials group at the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU). There, the researchers have designed a surface composed of copper cobaltate nanoneedles—a mixed oxide of copper and cobalt—with exceptional optical properties. Its ultra-black tone and its resistance to humidity and high temperatures make it ideal for solar tower receivers. According to tests, the material achieves an absorption of 99.5% of sunlight, surpassing black silicon (95%) and carbon nanotubes (99%). “We are looking for ultra-black materials for more efficient solar towers,” noted researcher Íñigo González de Arrieta. A change for solar energy. In concentrating solar thermal power plants (CSP), hundreds of mirrors reflect and concentrate sunlight towards a central tower. There, heat is used to melt salts that retain thermal energy and allow electricity to be generated even when the sun has already set.The key is to take advantage of each photon: if the receiver material reflects part of the light, that energy is lost. And this is where the new nanoneedles come into play. Until now, the most used material was black silicon, with an absorption level of 95%. The new nanoneedles, on the other hand, could raise that figure significantly and, with it, make solar thermal energy, one of the most promising clean sources in countries like Spain, more competitive and profitable. Beyond the blackest black. Carbon nanotubes seemed unbeatable: dark as a vacuum, capable of trapping almost all light. But they had an invisible enemy: the heat and humidity deteriorated them quickly. The copper cobaltate nanoneedles, developed by the Basque team, endure what their predecessors could not. They withstand temperatures above 700 degrees without losing effectiveness and, in addition, they are more stable. In solar towers, that difference can translate into more energy and less maintenance. A real impact. Dr. Renkun Chen, from the University of California, San Diego, is collaborating with the Basque team and the United States Department of Energy to study the feasibility of applying nanoneedles to industrial solar plants. “We observed that these nanoneedles performed better than the carbon nanotubes used until now, and that their performance increased when coated with zinc oxide,” Chen explained.. However, González de Arrieta himself clarifies that there is still some way to go: the next pilot-scale tests will determine if the process is economically viable and if the material can be produced industrially without losing its optical properties. Darker, brighter. Ultrablack nanoneedles are an example of how nanotechnology applied to energy can have a direct impact on global sustainability. The UPV/EHU team plans to continue developing new compounds with better thermal and optical conductivity, designed to withstand the challenges of future solar towers. Promoting this renewable energy offers many advantages: it is totally clean and can also be used when the sun does not shine,” recalled González de Arrieta. And if everything goes as expected, the future of solar energy could be, paradoxically, darker than ever. Image | Flickr Xataka | In the midst of a trade war, there is a battle that China has already won: that the world depends on its new energy

A Harvard astronomer has accused NASA of hiding 3I/ATLAS images. has an explanation

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Avi Loeb, the controversial cosmologist of Harvard University, has accused NASA of withholding important data on the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS, and is mobilizing the US Congress to demand its release. But this alleged concealment of evidence is not what it seems. Weeks without seeing the photos. In one post on your blogLoeb denounces that NASA has not made public images of the object taken with the HiRISE camera of the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter probe from Mars orbit for weeks. These images, captured between October 2 and 3, when 3I/ATLAS passed within 30 million kilometers of the red planet, are, according to Loeb, “extremely valuable” scientific data. The reason is that they would have a resolution of 30 kilometers per pixel, three times greater than the best available image of the interstellar object, taken by the Hubble Space Telescope. This “side perspective” could be important for understanding the object’s geometry and its brightness, so Loeb asked US Congresswoman Paulina Luna to demand that NASA’s acting administrator, Sean Duffy, release it. The explanation. NASA has justified the lack of images with a very earthly argument: the delays caused by the closure of the United States government since October 1. NASA is officially on “shutdown” and with 83% of its staff on unpaid leave due to the lack of agreement in Congress on the 2026 federal budgets. Only the International Space Station control room and the operators in charge of ship and satellite security, as well as a handful of critical jobs, continue to function. The rest (a large part of science, dissemination, aid processing, etc.) is on pause. Why so much interest in 3I/ATLAS. Comet 3I/ATLAS is the third interstellar object detected in our solar system. Since its discovery, it has shown behavior somewhat disconcerting which has led Avi Loeb to defend the hypothesis that it could be an artificial extraterrestrial object. The latest anomaly occurred near its perihelion (the closest point in its orbit to the Sun) on October 29, when 3I/ATLAS shone brightly in blue and experienced an acceleration which cannot be explained by the gravity of the Sun. Most likely? That the comet was degassing as it warmed up, and the sublimated ice acted as propellants. If you don’t pay attention to it you get bored. Loeb has calculated the possibility that 3I/ATLAS is a natural object: “less than one part in ten quadrillion”. The astronomer highlights the trajectory almost perfectly aligned with the plane of the planets, an unusually large mass, a very low proportion of water (only 4%) and a surprising abundance of nickel as evidence. But this is not the first time that Loeb has proposed that an interstellar object is a technological and “possibly hostile” object. In fact, it’s the second time he’s done it (the first with ‘Oumuamua), and we only know of three interstellar objects that have visited our solar system. The scientific community does not play along. Compared to Loeb’s hypotheses, the vast majority of astronomers offer much more mundane explanations. The blue glow is consistent with emissions of ionized gas from other active comets. Other physical characteristics could be explained if 3I/ATLAS were the ejection of a piece of exoplanet by a natural collision far from Earth. As for the news that “NASA” activated its defense protocol against 3I/ATLAS, it also has a simple explanation: the International Asteroid Warning Network has chosen measure the position of the interstellar comet for an observation campaign that had been planned since 2024, not with the aim of defending ourselves from. an alien attack, but to improve astrometry systems. Image | Q. Zhang and K. Dattams In Xataka | The theory that says our Universe was created in a laboratory: when science merges with science fiction

a temporary robot with AI, drones and without labor rights

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The “robots eat us” is far away for some jobs. In others, that science fiction scenario became a reality a long time ago. Every time it is more common to see that department stores are operated by robots and that automated or remote-controlled machines they have made a space in a framework in which there is a lack of labor. The countryside does not escape from that reality and in a country as dependent on agriculture as Spain, there are already those who are testing self-employed seasonal workers with artificial intelligence who They work tirelessly. And the controversy is served. Temporary with AI. A few days ago there was XXX IRTA Fruit Daysa meeting in which agricultural companies present technical innovations for the sector. One of the participants was Moreno Intec del Pla, a distributor and manufacturer of agricultural machinery specialized in fruit harvesting that has to its credit the Tecnofruit: a picking platform with conveyor belts on which human workers manually place the fruit. At this year’s event, the company presented a robot that has been in development for four years. It is a kind of huge container that has the fruit tanks, diesel tank, engine and wheels, but that has eight drones hooked to its upper part. Each of them is armed with an arm that they use to pick up the fruit (apples, in this case) and place it in the containers. The main advantage? They don’t get tired and each unit has integrated lighting to continue working, whatever the time of day. How it works. Each drone has cameras that allow the specimens to be identified, and a artificial intelligence It is responsible for analyzing whether the piece fits the parameters predefined by the farmer. This system can be configured to harvest all units or to discriminate based on size or color, and although it has remote control so that a single person can control up to five harvesters with the tablet, operation is autonomous. Apart from harvesting, it can also perform other functions such as the selective elimination of small fruits and, although the system currently uses a diesel engine with the aim of guaranteeing long autonomy, there are plans to create electrified versions. Costs and labor. Lluís Asín is responsible for the IRTA Fruit Growing program and, as we read in Segrecomments that systems like this represent “an important leap in the competitiveness of the sector.” He states that between 30% and 40% of the production cost of a plantation corresponds to the harvest and that platforms like this can help improve the profitability of the fields. And, of course, the debate is on the table because the robot arrives to directly replace human labor. Sergi Moreno is the technical director of Tallers Moreno, promoters of this robot, and assures that “it replaces the human part of the process. Each drone acts as if it were a person, but with the ability to operate day and night without rest.” He continues by pointing out that “the main problem of the sector is the lack of labor at the time of harvest”, but it is not perfect and can be seen in the demonstration video: “the same productivity as in manual work has not yet been achieved.” Japanese impulse. Now, Moreno is clear that “the future of the field depends on this automation,” and although Tallers Moreno have been the promoters, the robot has the impulse from Kubota Corporation. This is a Japanese agricultural machinery manufacturer that is developing and marketing autonomous drones for fruit and vegetable harvesting. plantation care. It is not unusual for proposals like this come from Japansince the country is going through a deep birth crisis that is affecting all sectors of society, and work in the field is not left out of this. This automation, in addition to reducing labor costs by 30% (a figure that coincides with IRTA’s estimate), allows increase the height of trees so that they produce more and they claim that the return on investment occurs in just three weeks. World. The development of this machinery is not isolated and Kubota is working hand in hand with the Israeli company Tevel Aerobotics Technologies. Like many other countries, Israel has a problem with agricultural labor, which is why it is looking to accelerate the development of these autonomous drones. It is one of the epicenters of both development and testing, but there are other countries involved. In the United States, states such as California or Washington are already integrating drones in fruit and vegetable harvesting. lettuce. In Europe, Italy and Spain have pilot collection programs underway and are also creating development and collaboration platforms, such as Tallers Moreno. Chile is evaluating the implementation for apple and grape farms. Debate. There are other countries in which putting drones to work is being well developed or valued, and the debate is served for the reason you can imagine: it is something that directly replaces the human worker. There are already voices that warn of a future in which the majority of these seasonal jobs will be absorbed by local automation, threatening livelihood of thousands of workers around the world. Furthermore, there are those who point to a unequal access because it will be the large producers that, with more means, will access this machinery, further strangling the small plantations. There is also the opposite argument, the one that defends robotic labor, pointing that there is no one who wants to work in the field and that new jobs will be created, with people who will have to train to control and maintain these robots. We continually talk about robots in facilities like car megafactoriesdepartment stores of companies such as Amazon and even in the kitchenbut now the field can be that place where robots perform another silent surprise. Although it will be necessary to see if the collection speed improves, because currently it is far from optimal. Images | Tevel In Xataka | You cannot get on the … Read more

China has a gigantic desert in Tibet with countless hours of daylight. And he’s filling it with solar panels

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A year ago we had in Xataka how a huge solar park in the Chinese province of Qinghai, in the heart of the Tibetan plateau, served as an ecological experiment: under the panels, the shade retained moisture and made vegetation sprout in the middle of the desert. Today, that same place – the Talatan Solar Park – has become something much greater. It is the largest clean energy facility on the planet, a “blue sea” of silicon that already covers more than 600 square kilometers at three thousand meters above sea level. Where before there was nothing, China is lifting an energy ecosystem without comparison in the rest of the world. The scale has multiplied. Where last year there was talk of a 1 gigawatt solar park, today a complex extends that reaches 15,600 and 16,900 megawatts and continues to expand. Its area – between 420 and 610 square kilometers – is seven times that of Manhattan. Furthermore, it is not alone since 4,700 megawatts of wind energy and 7,380 megawatts of hydroelectric dams are deployed around it, completing an unprecedented hybrid system. The result: enough renewable energy to supply almost all of the plateau’s needs, including the data centers that power China’s artificial intelligence. According to CleanTechnicaevery three weeks China installs as many solar panels as the entire capacity of the Three Gorges Dam, the largest hydroelectric project in its history. A global clean energy laboratory. The Tibetan plateau, with its pure, cold air, has become the most ambitious energy laboratory in the world. There, China is experimenting with an electricity production model based exclusively on renewables. Electricity generated in Qinghai—40% cheaper than coal, according to the NYT— powers high-speed trains, factories, electric cars and data centers. In fact, the region is home to new computing centers dedicated to artificial intelligence, which consume less energy thanks to the altitude and low temperatures. “Hot air from servers is used to heat other buildings, replacing coal-fired boilers,” explained Zhang Jingang, vice provincial governor. In the words of Professor Ningrong Liu, in his column for the South China Morning Post: “China is not only leading the transition to green energy; it is building the 21st century energy scaffolding that sustains its industrial leadership in electric vehicles, batteries and solar technology.” Three sources that beat in unison. The magnitude of the project is only possible thanks to centralized planning that combines three main sources: solar, wind and hydroelectric energy. During the day, Talatan panels capture more intense solar radiation than at sea level; At night, thousands of wind turbines collect the cold breezes that sweep across the plains. When both systems fluctuate, hydroelectric dams balance the grid. Also, from the New York Times They described a system reversible pumping: excess solar energy during the day is used to raise water to reservoirs located in nearby mountains, which release that water at night to generate electricity. And under the panels, life returns. The shade of the plates reduces evaporation and soil erosion. According to China Dailythis year the vegetation has recovered up to 80% and 173 villages have benefited from the associated livestock farming. A local shepherd, Zhao Guofu, said: “My flock has grown to 800 sheep and my income has doubled since I grazed between the panels.” The perfect geography for the sun. No other country has taken solar generation to similar altitudes. The altitude plays in favor of physics, at 3,000 meters the air contains fewer particles that block light and the low temperatures reduce the thermal loss of the panels. This efficiency is multiplied in Qinghai, one of the few areas of the Tibetan plateau with large plains, where it is possible to build without the limits of the mountainous relief. The Talatan Desert, once an arid and worthless land, has become an energetic jewel. local authorities offer symbolic leases and have developed roads and high-voltage lines connecting the plateau with the industrial centers to the east. That energy travels more than 1,600 kilometers to factories and cities. According to CleanTechnicaChina already operates 41 ultra-high voltage transmission lines, some longer than 2,000 miles and up to 1.1 million volts. The global scale: no one comes close. Other countries have tried to generate clean energy at altitude, but with modest results. Switzerland, for example, inaugurated a small solar park in the Alps, at 1,800 meters, with barely 0.5 MW. For its part, in the Chilean Atacama Desert, a 480 MW project operates at 1,200 meters. By way of comparison, the Talatan complex multiplies the capacity of the Bhadla Solar Park in India, and for more than seven that of the Al Dhafra Solar Park in the United Arab Emirates, which until recently held records. The superpower of clean energy. China produces and consumes more renewable energy than any other country on the planet. In 2024, was responsible of 61% of new solar installations and 70% of global wind power. That same year, it achieved the capacity targets it had set for 2030. In the first six months of 2025added 212 GW solar and 51 GW wind, and the country’s carbon emissions fell for the first time. In this context, Talatan Park is both a symbol and an infrastructure. China is exporting its renewable technology around the world, from Asia to Africa, following the logic of Belt and Road Initiative. For the academic Ningrong Liu: “China wants to stop being the world’s factory to become the engine of the world’s factory.” It is not just about manufacturing panels, but about selling the complete model: engineering, financing and know-how to build green networks in other countries. The less visible side of the miracle. It’s not all clean energy and pastoral harmony. In its report, The New York Times recalled that access to Tibet remains strictly controlled by the Communist Party, and that Western media were only allowed to visit Qinghai on a government-organized tour. There are also human and environmental costs. CleanTechnica documents how the giant power lines that transport energy from west … Read more

The “foodies” have turned the historic centers of Italy into hell, so the cities are getting serious

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Italy is at war. In a not so particular one that it shares with other countries and cities: the battle to stop mass tourism. He is trying with all his might through higher rates, entrance fees that they folded After initial success, a veto key boxes and even taxes on tourist dogs. Now, several cities have agreed on one thing: stop the ‘foodies’. As? Prohibiting the opening of new restaurants in historic centers. In short. Going through the historic center of any Italian city is like entering a culinary amusement park. There is not only restaurants wherever you lookbut these constitute a fair in which eye-catching posters appealing to tradition and artisans who prepare fresh pasta in front of the windows of the premises, like circus animals, are a constant. Now, cities like Rome, Turin, Florence, Palermo and Bologna have launched restrictions when opening new restaurants in their historic centers. Displacing the population. Although Italians love their traditional cuisine as much as anyone, they are getting tired of their city centers becoming theme parks. There are especially bleeding streets, like Via Maqueda in Palermo or Via del Pellegrino in Rome (to a lesser extent), which are basically a succession of premises. As he comments The New York Timeshundreds of new restaurants have opened over the last decade in just a few streets of those tourist spots, establishments that dress in tradition, but are not and displace the local population far from their homes. It is something that is seen in many other cities in the world in which the tourism is doing that the price of land rises in very specific points, also that of rents, and the locals see how traditional businesses disappear while others linked to that consumerism flourish. “We must protect the center”. In the case of Italy, the aim is to fight against gastronomic gentrification, which is replacing historical markets and local stores with businesses aimed at mass tourists, and they also want to protect the authenticity and daily life of citizens. But we also want to preserve tradition and diversity compared to more homogeneous or franchised models. Luisa Guidone, Councilor for Commerce of Bologna, comment that “the center must be protected, maintaining the mix of existing stores that allow citizens to have their daily experience when shopping.” Everyone makes their war. As we say, the prohibition or limitation on opening premises is not part of a national initiative, but rather of each municipality. In Palermo, new restaurant licenses have been expressly prohibited in emblematic areas such as Via Maqueda. In Florence, no new openings of bars, restaurants or any food establishments in more than 50 streets in the center and some peripheral ones. In the aforementioned Bologna, until June 2028, new projects aimed at commercial activities that want to open in the historic center and in Rome or Turin will be carefully studied. more of the same (especially around the Vatican). Then, there are exceptions. For example, Florence allows you to open establishments such as art galleries, bookstores or crafts, anyone that is not focused on mass hospitality. Not just food. But this goes beyond gastronomic gentrification. In it Corriete di Bologna we can read that the restrictions They imply that, until 2028, it will be prohibited to open new money exchange stores, call centers (which are telephone centers, Internet connection points and money transfer points) in the historic center, as well as “buy gold” or automatic cash machines.slot machine‘. Debate. Now, promoting something like this is complicated when tourism represents almost 12% of the Italian economy and the gastronomic tourism It is an important source of income. In fact, in the NYP article they include statements from tourists who only want to eat. Also those responsible for FIPE, the Italian Federation of Food and Tourism Companies, who point out that “sometimes, the Coliseum is an excuse for an American among a cacio e pepe and one amatriciana“In addition, it is criticized that each city is waging war on its own and there is no law promoted at the national level. In any case, as we said at the beginning, it is evident that Italy has a problem with this mass tourism that is displacing the population that really lives in those cities. Traditional businesses have closed or have been converted, going from selling useful foods for citizens to traditional dishes wrapped in a striking way for tourists. And finding the balance seems tremendously complicated. Images | Anna Church, Maxime Steckle, Matej Buchla In Xataka | “Fodechinchos free”: in a bar in Galicia, tourismphobia is being redirected against Spaniards from other regions

We had a very serious problem with our resistance to antibiotics. Now we are closer to solving it

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One of the great threats that humanity faces today is without a doubt the antibiotic resistancewhich leads to emergence of bacteria that are resistant to all pharmacological weapons that we have. This forces science to have to look for new antibiotics and new ways to ‘attack’ a bacteria. And at the moment it seems that we are approaching this great milestone with a new antibiotic that was hidden in plain sight. The problem. Having bacteria that you cannot compete against is undoubtedly a death sentence for the person who is unlucky enough to be its host. Something that responds to the mechanisms that these microorganisms have to evolve and develop ‘tactics’ that allow them to escape our antibiotics. A very typical situation in a hospital, especially where a bacteria that has been exposed to a treatment, but has survived, will adapt to that environment. This makes the WHO categorize antimicrobial resistance as “one of the top 10 threats to global public health.” Put another way: we are running out of antibiotics that work, since bacteria are evolving faster than we are discovering new drugs. And this is something that is also magnified by our own fault by taking antibiotics uncontrollably or not complete treatment guidelines appropriately. That is why the discovery just made by a team from the University of Warwick and Monash University is so spectacular: have found a “silver bullet” that had been hidden in plain sight for 50 years. The discovery. Published in it Journal of the American Chemical Societywe are talking about an antibiotic that, in early tests, has been shown to be up to 100 times more powerful than existing drugs against high-priority resistant bacteria, such as feared Staphylococcus aureus methicillin resistant (MRSA). The molecule in question is called pre-methylenemycin C lactone (compound 5), and it has arrived to try to save humanity from this pandemic we are experiencing. But the most surprising thing is where they found it: in the Streptomyces coelicolora soil bacteria that is literally the “model organism” for the production of antibiotics and which has been studied endlessly since the 1950s. That is to say, we had a possible solution before our eyes and we had not realized it until now. This bacteria produces a well-known antibiotic called methylenemycin A that is low potency and is not used clinically. However, scientists decided to investigate not only the final product, but the intermediate steps of its biological “assembly line.” This is where it was seen that it intermediately produced methylenemycin C, which has much more powerful antimicrobial effects. And this is a lesson for science: we are always left with the result of the reactions (that is, the final product). But now what should be done is analyze everything that happens between the first substrate and the final product. Because we are seeing how methylenemycin A was discovered 50 years ago and it was not until now that one of its intermediate products has been a protagonist in this fight. As. To achieve this, the team used genetic engineering. Basically, they “sabotaged” the bacteria’s production chain by creating a mutation that eliminated the gene. mmyE. When this piece is missingthe bacteria could no longer complete the process and began to accumulate the “intermediate steps.” Something similar to when in a production line we remove one of the tapes and an intermediate version of what we were manufacturing begins to accumulate. The tests. When they tested the activity of the new molecule, the results were astonishing. Compound 5 (pre-methylenemycin C lactone) was “one to two orders of magnitude more active” (i.e., 10- to 100-fold) than methylenemycins A and C (the final products). In this way, it was finally possible to see that the result was up to 256 times more powerful than even some drugs. Something that is revolutionary. The great hope. Being powerful is all well and good, but the real battle is against resistance. That is, when the bacteria come into contact with this antibiotic, they can develop a system to get rid of its lethal effect. And this is where there is good news, since after subjecting the bacteria E. faecium At increasing concentrations of the new antibiotic for 28 consecutive days, a standard method for forcing the emergence of resistance, no resistance was detected. A new way to search. Until now, the intermediate products generated in the production of different medicines had been ignored. Now this study puts an end to this custom, since it has become clear that the identification and testing of the intermediate elements of biosynthesis can lead to a great revolution. Now with this new treatment, preclinical tests with animals remain to assess its safety with the aim of subsequently moving on to tests in humans and the evaluation of its side effects. Images | CDC Myriam Zilles In Xataka | AI has opened a chest that had been closed for almost 4 billion years: the salvation of antibiotics

The Japanese Shinkansen was the fastest train in the world until China defeated it. The reason: the “piston effect”

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In a very summary way, the piston in a four stroke engine It is responsible for moving the air inside to compress it and facilitate the burning or explosion of the fuel or to push it out of the combustion chamber. That is, it is dedicated to pushing the air up or down. Now imagine a train arriving in a tunnel at more than 300 km/h. Suddenly, the train goes from being outside to moving the air inside the tunnel. To push it to the bottom. Your movement It would be very similar to that of a piston. The train moves in a straight line and around it the tunnel would behave like a combustion chamber. That doesn’t seem like a problem. It doesn’t seem like it if we think that the air is simply pushed to the outlet where it is released without further problem. It’s also not a problem if your high-speed lines run over a bridge more than 100 kilometers long. But if you are a mountainous country and you have made the railway your star medium to move millions of people hundreds of kilometers an hour. Yes, you have a problem. Because the piston effect is pure physics and solving it to gain speed is not being easy. When they were the best In 1964, while Spain began to open up to the world, Abebe Bikila won his second Olympic Marathon in the streets of Tokyo. He did it wearing Puma Osaka shoes.nothing to do with the famous 42,195 meters that he covered barefoot in Rome to win four years before. We do not know if Bikila took that first Shinkansen that linked the cities Tokyo and, precisely, Osaka. The bullet train had begun to operate in Japan that same year, promoted by the Olympic Games in the Japanese capital. Then, the two cities were linked by a train that reached peaks of 210km/hbecoming the first high-speed line in the world. More than 60 years later, Japan is no longer the country with the highest number of high-speed kilometers of the world. Today it is China. It makes sense, taking into account that the country is huge, so if this means of transportation were promoted, sooner or later they would surpass their neighbors. Spain, by the way, also surpassed Japan in this area years ago. But it is very likely that something else has hurt Japan more. China is making the bullet train its flag. Its latest advances with the maglev, which levitates thanks to very powerful magnets to avoid friction with the track, has reached a combined speed of 896 km/h at the intersection of two CR450 trains. The problem for Japan is that China has a lot of money. And if it is necessary to build eight of the 10 longest bridges in the world to solve geographical accidents, they get to work. Japan has to deal with a lot of mountains and a more traditional system: tunnels. And that when you want to make a train pass at very high speed is quite a problem. When a train fully crosses the threshold of a tunnel, what is known as piston effecta problem that prevents increasing the walking speed further. The consequences are as simple as they are serious: loud explosions, breakage of equipment… and the eardrums of passengers. Upon entering the tunnel, the air is compressed and the movement of the train moves it towards the exit. However, some of that air rebounds and generates pressure changes that can be especially painful for passengers, even affecting their middle ear. When moving outside, a pressure wave is created that moves at the speed of sound and when the train leaves the tunnel, a shock wave and a sound explosion are created that, it is calculated, can be heard 400 meters away. It is known as tunnel boom. Japan is now experiencing a problem carried over from the past. Their trains are wider than the European ones but their tunnels are narrower. This was to reduce infrastructure costs but also to run less risk of landslides in the event of an earthquake. At first this was not a problem but when the speed of the trains increased they realized that they could not continue moving. In China, trains also use wide tracks like their neighbors but since they do not preserve inherited structuresthe new tunnels built are wider. This reduces the void effect produced with the entry of the train into the tunnel and, therefore, mitigates the problems for passengers. Furthermore, as less resistance is generated when the train passes, energy expenditure is also reduced. The solution for the Japanese is not simple. On the Tokaido Shinkansen, the first high-speed line (the one that connects Tokyo with Osaka), 13% of total kilometers They run inside tunnels. But the Sanyo Shinkansen line runs through tunnels half of the time. and he Hokkaido Shinkansen which is under construction (this line is only partially open) contemplates the roofing of 80% of the layout. The most effective solution that has been found to the problem is to produce trains with a very long and sharp nose. The aerodynamics tries to imitate the beak of the Kingfisher that can dive into the water generating minimal splashes. Following the same concept, the longer and sharper the nose of the train, the less resistance the train encounters at the entrance and the more gradually the pressure wave is generated. The other solution has been expand the section of the tunnel at its entrance. The “door” is wider and also has side openings that allow part of the air to escape. air moved by the train. This escape route generates a lower pressure wave, allowing the train not to cause unwanted discomfort to passengers and to travel faster. It has even been thought of hermetic trains with controlled pressure. During its tests, Japan continues to search for trains that can reach a top speed of 400 km/h. However, the structures inherited from … Read more

A Spanish company won the “golden” contract for the Stonehenge highway. It came out regular

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The United Kingdom has just shelved a project that has been on the table for 20 years: build a road near Stonehenge connect once and for all the jammed London with the southwest of the country. And along the way it has won a ‘golden’ contract that had been awarded to the Spanish company FCC. The figure? 2,000 million euros that remain on the way and a London connection that will continue to be gibberish. Let’s go in parts. Stonehenge is one of the most visited monuments. It is estimated that every year they come 1.5 million tourists to participate in the mystery of this set of monolithic rocks that someone placed it there more than 5,000 years ago. Everything has been theorized and we have two things clear: it is unlikely that one day we will know the motivation behind the workbut we know that the acoustics were impressive. Less imposing is the A303, the road next to it and which is a real nightmare. London is one of the most congested cities in the world. With a population of nine million, 14 in the metropolitan area, and thousands who go to work daily, that connection with the southwest has become one of the entrance arteries to the city. The tunnel is going to cost how much? The problem? Although it is a highway, in the section that passes through Stonehenge it becomes a two-way road. This implies brutal congestion, and that is why in 1995 work began on a solution. The Highway Agency has explored alternative routes, but in the end the easiest thing was to bury the road. Easy, but not cheap: four kilometers long for a tunnel with a cost My dear of 183 million pounds. Then it doubled up to 470 million, 540 million and up to 1.7 billion pounds that they estimated in 2020. It was a stratospheric increase, but Highways England was clear that it was the only way. In fact, They developed a firm project and, in 2022, was awarded to the Spanish FCC Construction. Next to the Italian Webuild and the Austrian BeMo Tunnelling, would give shape to that tunnel whose cost had promoted up to 2 billion pounds. But in the end it was not even the UNESCO (concerned because the tunnels will pass through a World Heritage site) nor the environmentalists who have managed to stop the project. It was the Labor Party. In 2024, the Conservatives were out of power, Labor came in and they found themselves a £22bn hole. Already last year, Chancellor Rachel Reeves stated that there would be cuts and that if there were projects they couldn’t afford, they wouldn’t do them. He also commented that all transport projects exceeding £1 billion would be subject to a “comprehensive review”. And, as a result of that situation, and after months on the tightrope, a few days ago communicated that The British government had definitively canceled the project of the new Stonehenge road. Apart from the tunnel, there was a viaduct, new intersections between the A303 and local roads and green bridges for pedestrians and non-motorized vehicles, but for Reeves and his government, the work was “unaffordable” in the “challenging legacy financial landscape”. The legal battle begins The problem is that something that has been around for 20 years and that was awarded to three companies a year ago has not been frozen in time. At this point, the different companies and Highways England itself had already invested around £180 million in the development, including land assessment, archaeological and heritage preservation studies, as well as public consultations. Although the Government has shelved the A303 Stonehenge project, the problem of which is still there, there is still a way to go for the parties involved. Now the FCC legal fight begins, which, as we read in Expansionhad already completed all the design work for the highway. And it is expected that both the Spanish company and Webuild and BeMo will receive compensation for this cancellation, although the amount has yet to be determined. Images | National Highways In Xataka | They find next to Stonehenge a ring two km in diameter made up of enormous underground wells

Marcus Licinius Crassus was the richest man in the Roman Empire thanks to an old business: real estate speculation

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Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg and Larry Ellison are the richest people in the world. Your personal assets It exceeds the annual GDP of many countries, which gives an idea of ​​the size of their wealth. However, that proportion of wealth is not exclusive to modern fortunes. Marcus Licinius Crassus was one of the richest men of the Roman Empire and his fortune was estimated to be equivalent to the entire annual budget of the Roman treasury. The most curious thing about the history of this Roman millionaire is that the way in which he amassed his fortune would not be out of place in Spain in the 20th or 21st century. Millionaire on father’s side The historian Plutarch was responsible for recording the life and work of Crassus in different chapters of ‘Parallel lives‘. Thanks to this work we know that Crassus amassed one of the most formidable fortunes in Ancient Rome. Marcus Licinius Crassus was born around the year 115 BC in Rome, into the Licinia gens, a family of plebeians with roots in the early days of the Roman Republic, so, although they did not enjoy a great fortune, let’s say that their economic situation was comfortable. His family had already held important consulates during the Republic, so they had a certain presence in Roman political life. His father, Publius Licinius Crassuswas consul in 97 BC, but during the civil war between the supporters of Gaius Marius and Lucius Cornelius Sulla (which took place between 88 and 82 BC), his father and brother were killed in those clashes, and the family lost their property. Bust of Marcus Licinius Crassus After the death of his family, Crassus inherited a small fortune, but had to flee to Hispania, where he hid for months. Later, he joined the side of the general and dictator Lucius Cornelius Sulla, a Roman general and dictator who defeated his rival Gaius Marius and ruled Rome from around 82 BC. Sulla supervised the entry of Marcus Crassus into the Senate and thus opened a way for Crassus to start building your wealth from a position of power and began to be known as Dives“the rich one.” According to his biographer Plutarch, Crassus began his political career with a fortune of 300 talents. According to the inventory of his fortune on the eve of his last campaign, his fortune reached 7,100 talents. Real estate speculation is not a modern invention The basis of Crassus’s extraordinary wealth was the massive purchase of property confiscated from political enemies during Sulla’s rule. When Lucius Cornelius Sulla took control of Rome, those who opposed him lost their properties, and these were sold at very low prices. Crassus bought almost all of them for prices well below the market price. In Rome it was common for the insulaebuildings built of wood and cement crowded together on several floors, they would burn to make fire inside, and it would jump from building to building burning entire neighborhoods. Remains of a Roman insulae As his fortune grew, Marcus Crassus bought more and more slaves that he would use to make his fortune grow even more, forming a small army of more than 500 highly qualified slaves such as architects, bricklayers, carpenters, etc. The Roman millionaire, aware that the fires of the insulae They used to extend to several buildings, he created a brigade of slaves who acted as firefighters and, it was rumored, also arsonists. As and how did he count The CountryCrassus arrived at the fires and offered the owners of the burning buildings and their neighbors ridiculous amounts of money for the property. Faced with the imminence of being left with nothing left over from the flames or having it collapse, they could at least recover part of their investment, so many accepted the sale. Only at that moment, his army of slaves went into action and put out the fire. Afterwards, the rest of the slave architects and builders restored the building, and then resold it, making an enormous profit from its sale because, after all, slave labor was free. As and how do they count In National Geographic, his slaves were even more valuable than the silver mines and land he also owned. According to Plutarch’s story, this strategy helped the skillful negotiator Crassus to gain a good part of the insulae from Rome. Plutarch said that Crassus always built for speculation, never for his own enjoyment. Crassus’ excessive ambition led him to negotiate with Julius Caesar and Pompey the creation of the First Triumvirate, although in reality Crassus’ aspirations were more about obtaining the granting of public contracts and perks for his businesses than the good government of Rome. In fact, hated Pompey. His downfall: exchanging ambition for envy However, as his fortune and political position increased, Crassus yearned for more than wealth. He sought military glory. In 72 BC he received command to end the slave rebellion led by Spartacuswhich had the support of an army made up of between 70,000 and 120,000 slaves who rose up. Marcus Crassus managed to defeat a large part of the rebels and crucified 6,000 slaves along 200 km of the Appian Way as punishment and warning to the rest of the rebels. However, many of them managed to escape, and it was his hated political partner Pompey who managed to hunt them down, putting an end to all the work that Crassus had done. By giving the final blow to the revolt, Pompey took all the credit for the victory, being received in Rome with all the honors of the laurel crown, while Crassus had to settle for a discreet owatta minor recognition. Orodes II, king of the Parthians Crassus did not give up in his attempt to demonstrate his superiority against Pompey and tried to expand his conquests and fortune by facing Pompey. to births in Syriabut his defeat in the Battle of Carras (53 BC) was catastrophic on a strategic level. There he died along with … Read more

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