Month: January 2026

Testing the first light bulb in 1879, Edison came across a material that would be discovered 125 years later: the prodigious graphene.

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Edison has been one of the most prolific inventors of history. In fact, while he was looking for a way to make the light bulb, he carried out an exhaustive materials science experiment: tried more than 6,000 organic materials before decant by the carbonized bamboo filament. eye to the old patent no. 223,898 because it has all the necessary ingredients for the recipe. Tremendous Edison spoiler. He had, without knowing it, set up a primitive nanotechnological reactor to obtain graphene. That same graphene on which Philip Russell Wallace would theorize 20 years after the inventor’s death and 125 years before Konstantin Novoselov and Andre Geim won the 2010 Nobel Prize in Physics for isolating it with the duct tape method. Or so he has discovered a recent study from Rice University. The prodigious graphene. Graphene is an allotrope of carbon that has a two-dimensional structure of atoms woven into a hexagonal network. Beyond this curiosity, graphene is an amazing material: it is 200 times stronger than steel but much lighter (airbrush, even lighter than air). It conducts electricity and heat better than any known metal. If we also take into account that it is almost transparent and very flexible, we have a prodigious material for technology. Without going any further, for semiconductors. It could also be used to improve roads or for responsive robotic tissues. And there’s a trick: when its layers are somewhat disordered and not stuck together like a block, they are much easier to separate. This is what Edison achieved unintentionally. Edison’s recipe. He turbostratic graphene can be produced by applying a voltage to a carbon-based material until it reaches a temperature of 2,000 to 3,000 °C, known as Joule heating instant. But what Edison had in his power was to light one of his newly patented light bulbs. Unlike the current ones, theirs had carbon-based filaments, more specifically bamboo. When you flipped the switch, the filament heated up and produced… light and maybe graphene. Account Lucas Eddy, the paper’s lead author, was looking for ways to mass-produce graphene with accessible, affordable materials and tried everything from arc welders to trees that had been struck by lightning. Then he remembered the light bulb. Edison’s patent It was a magnificent scheme to reproduce the experiment. Of course, it was difficult for him to find Edison-style light bulbs with carbon filaments and not tugsten. Then he only had to apply power to 110 volts and turn on the switch for 20 seconds. If you go too far, graphite can form instead of graphene. Why is it important. To begin with, because until now we thought that to obtain this prodigious material we had to resort to 21st century technology, but no: there were conditions to do so in the 19th century. On the other hand, it validates Joule heating as an efficient and scalable way to generate high-quality graphene from cheap carbon sources. And why not, because it opens the doors to reviewing other scientific experiments in history: who knows if other nanomaterials have not been synthesized by chance? under the microscope. Using the lens of an optical microscope, the research team was able to see that the carbon filament had gone from dark gray to a shiny silver. A visual change that predicted the suspicions that I ended up certifying with the Raman spectroscopywhich uses lasers to identify substances through their atoms with high precision: it was turbostratic graphene. While Edison experimented to create a light bulb for everyday use he was able to produce the wonderful material of the future (of today’s future). Obviously there is no way to know for sure what happened in their Menlo Park laboratories because even if the original light bulb were available for analysis, any graphene produced would probably have converted to graphite within a few hours. In Xataka | Electrocute elephants to win a war or how anything went in the fight between Tesla and Edison In Xataka | Don’t call it graphene, call it “goldeno”: this is the new material that is achieved using a peculiar Japanese forging technique Cover | Image of Thomas Edison, ca. 1918–1919. Source: National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), United States and HY ART

The regulations allow you to take home a product from three weeks ago

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We go to the supermarket, we pick up a package of eggs where it says in big letters “Category A” or “Fresh Eggs” and we assume that those chickens They laid the eggs a couple of days ago. But the reality is very different, and the legal and biological sections follow very different paths. And it’s something easy to see if we look closely. on best-before dates and if we do the necessary math we will see that what the law considers “fresh” can take almost a month in the world. Many doubts. Seeing this, the most logical questions we can have in this case is if it is safe to consume or even if it is legal. And the reality is that it is. But there is a small print in the 28-day regulations that you need to know before deciding whether to make a curdled tortilla or homemade mayonnaise. The 28 day clock. To understand what we are buying, we must first go to the BOE and to European regulations. In this case, category A eggs —those that we usually find on the supermarket shelves— have a very specific commercial life cycle. According to marketing regulations, these eggs must be classified, marked and packaged within 10 days of laying. But this is where we have the key information: the best before date is set in a maximum of 28 days from laying. That is, the law allows an egg to be legally sold and consumed up to four weeks after it comes out of the hen. In this way, as they collect the labeling technical guides and AESAN itselfthat is the deadline to supply them to the consumer. Therefore, under the legal umbrella, “fresh” does not mean “placed yesterday.” Means “within the 28 day window“. How to know the real age. This is where we find the picaresque and calculation that many popularizers like the doctor Fernández Viso has shared on his TikTok account. In this case, the packaging rarely says the “selling date”, because it is not mandatory, if the ‘best before’ date appears. And with this you can do a kind of reverse engineering. To do this, let’s give an example. If we are in the supermarket on January 8 and see a container of eggs with the best before date of January 18, the operation is quite simple. The deadline in this case is 28 days after placement, and if they expire on January 18, it means they were placed around December 21. That is why nothing fresh. Its meaning. Although originally this time frame was limited to 21 days in order to guarantee proximity and consumption a little more, the reality is that it was changed to 28 days to reduce food waste. It is not that the egg magically stays “ultra fresh” until the 28th, it is that it has been prioritized that they do not end up in the trash if they are still suitable for consumption. The truly fresh one. There is a category that is much more recent, and it is the one that says “extra” or “extra fresh” on its packaging. The EU Delegated Regulation specifies that this term can only be used during the first 9 days after laying. If you see that label, you are guaranteed real freshness. If you don’t see it, you are looking at a standard egg that can be from 10 to 28 days old. The problem is that, in the consumer’s head, the term “fresh” on the shelf is interpreted loosely. Good business practice guides recognize this disparity: the legality of labeling does not match what people intuitively understand by freshness. Furthermore, the common commercial practice of mixing lots on shelves, which is legal as long as traceability is respectedmakes us lose the perception of the exact age of each container of eggs. Food safety. Knowing the age of the egg is not only a question of gastronomic quality, it is a safety issue. The AESAN and the EFSA (European Food Safety Authority) warn that extending the storage time increases the risk of Salmonella poisoning. Risk mitigation. This is a risk that grows exponentially the longer eggs are stored, both in the store and at home. Therefore, the experts’ recommendations are clear, and depend on the calendar we follow. Specifically, for cooking, that is, for the egg to be well set or cooked, it can be rushed until the best-before date without problem. But for raw consumption such as mayonnaise or tartars, freshness is critical. In this case, it is recommended to use eggs that are more than two weeks away from expiration. Images | Jakub Kapusnak In Xataka | Having a cup of coffee as soon as you wake up seems like a great idea. Science has something to say about it

What Zealand explains about climate change

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For decades, geography books taught us that the world was divided into six continents. In 2017, the scientific community made official the existence of a new “intruder” of colossal dimensions: Zealandia. With an extension of 4.9 million square kilometers —equivalent to the entire European Union—, this mass of continental crust separated from Australia and Antarctica about 80 million years ago. What makes Zealandia an absolute anomaly is not just its size, but how well it has been hidden. Unlike the rest of the continents, 94% of its body is sunk under the Pacific. Only its highest peaks manage to show their heads, forming what we step on today such as New Zealand and New Caledonia. This geographical timidity kept it as a “ghost continent” until technology allowed us, finally, to pierce the abyss. The mission to rescue the past from the abyss. Everything changed in the summer of 2017. Expedition 371 of the International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) It was not a pleasure cruise: the ship JOIDES Resolution set sail with a mission almost surgical. For two months, 32 scientists worked piecework, in 24-hour shifts, to extract “witnesses” from the seabed: cylinders of rock and sediment recovered almost five kilometers deep. These sediment cores are not just mud and stone. They are, in the words of paleontologist Laia Alegret, in statements collected by The Conversation, authentic “libraries of climate history”. The findings were surprising, despite being under the sea today, the scientists found pollen from land plants and spores, in addition to thousands of microfossils of organisms They only live in very warm and shallow waters. This confirmed that Zealandia was not always an underwater world, but had periods of land covered in vegetation. The “mirror” of future climate change. The relevance of Zealandia goes far beyond a geological curiosity. According to researchers from Rice Universitythis submerged continent constitutes a “critical region” for climate science, precisely because it is one of the places where current climate models show the greatest deficiencies. If models fail to accurately reproduce Zealand’s past climate, they warn, their predictions of future global warming may be incomplete or biased. The focus of attention is placed especially on the Eocene, between 53 and 41 million years ago, a time in which the Earth functioned as a true “greenhouse planet”. Carbon dioxide concentrations were much higher than today and there were no permanent polar caps. Studying this period in Zealand allows scientists to “look back at our future,” offering a glimpse of how the planet will respond to conditions extreme greenhouse effect greenhouse effects similar to those we could achieve in the coming centuries. One of the hottest spots. One of the most disturbing findings was the identification of episodes of rapid warming—rapid in geological terms, that is, on scales of thousands of years—during which ocean currents changed unexpectedly. The sediments reveal the arrival of deep water masses originating near Antarctica, a phenomenon difficult to explain in a warm world without permanent ice. This discovery, underlined by The Conversationchallenges the current understanding of how heat is redistributed in the oceans and forces us to rethink some basic assumptions of global ocean circulation. The violent birth in the “Ring of Fire.” Zealand’s history is one of a geological “roller coaster” driven by plate tectonics. According to the results published by the expedition directorsRupert Sutherland and Gerald Dickens, the continent was sculpted by two major tectonic events: The Great Divorce: First, it was torn from Australia and Antarctica 85 million years ago, stretching and thinning until it sank. The Resurrection of Subduction: About 50 million years ago, something “globally significant” happened. What scientists call a “massive subduction rupture” began, giving rise to the Pacific Ring of Fire. In simplified terms, this process caused huge portions of the seafloor to curve, parts of Zealand to temporarily rise above sea level, and then the continent to sink back more than a kilometer to its current configuration. It was not a local phenomenon. These tectonic forces altered the direction and speed of movement of many tectonic plates across the planet, in one of the largest geodynamic readjustments of the last 80 million years. Microfossils and the response of life. To reconstruct these movements with surgical precision, scientists they rely on benthic foraminifera. These single-celled shelled organisms are “diagnostics of the deep.” By analyzing its remains in the ship’s laboratories, researchers can determine whether a rock stratum belonged to a shallow beach or an abyssal plain. Furthermore, complementary technical studies, such as those presented in Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology and marine Micropaleontologyanalyze the biotic response to hyperthermals (peaks of extreme heat). The results indicate that marine life does not react uniformly: the magnitude and speed of warming determine whether ecosystems adapt, reorganize or become stressed. These data are essential to improve predictive models of current climate change. A sea of ​​discoveries at risk. Zealandia’s exploration has shown that continents remain to be discovered and that the ocean floor holds the answers to the most pressing questions about our climate survival. However, science depends not only on curiosity, but on investment. Despite the scientific success of the 2017 expedition, there are countries that later do not intervene adequately due to lack of payments. This leaves future expeditions in the air that could continue to unravel the mysteries of this seventh submerged continent, a territory that, although hidden under thousands of meters of water, has a lot to say about the air we will breathe tomorrow. Image | Unsplash and World Data Center for Geophysics & Marine Geology Xataka | For thousands of years, human beings have avoided crossing the Taklamakan Desert. Now China is raising fish there

monitor every move of Russia and China in the Arctic

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First World War II and then the Cold War turned Greenland into a magnificent surveillance platform belonging to Denmark but granting the United States a VIP pass that it now wants to switch to annexation. Because that piece of frozen land (less and less) has rare earthsbut the most attractive thing has always been its strategic location. Old radars are not enough. The melting of Greenland has opened new sea routes that Russia and China have welcomed with open arms. the advantages it offers compared to traditional routes. Of the 15 military bases that the US had in Greenland in 1945, now only one remains: the Pituffik Air Base or Thule. And a problem: outdated and insufficient systems to monitor what happens there, such as acknowledged the Pentagon first and the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies after. So they have gotten to work to solve it: the United States Department of Defense agency responsible for the development of cutting-edge technologies for military use (DARPA) has requested a new technology collected in Frosty. This program aims to develop new radars that operate reliably in the harsh Arctic environment. DARPA is seeking proposals capable of detecting aerial targets at least 75 kilometers away with a detection probability greater than 90%. The coveted new polar “silk road”. The launch of this new radar is important because it would mean having a real lookout in the Arctic and on the new route that has appeared so that the great world powers can gain commercial and military advantage. China has already made clear what do you want be a “great polar power”“. The immediate advantage is reduce shipping times to Europe from up to 50 days to less than half (on its route through Suez). This recent academic article In its security report, the United States Coast Guard reviews other possible risks such as the expansion of its fishing grounds, access to natural resources for scientific cooperation and mentions the existence of its advanced fleet of modern icebreakers and Chinese submarines capable of operating under the ice. Spoiler: With current technology, they are difficult to detect from the surface. For Russia, the new passage route that is being opened is a threat to the current North Sea route, which operates under its jurisdiction. Furthermore, Greenland is part of the GIUK bottleneck (shared with the United Kingdom and Iceland) that its northern fleet must pass through to reach the open waters of the Atlantic, at the gates of the United States. We are talking about nuclear submarines as advanced as the Borei-A class and the Yasen-M. Also at stake is the sovereignty of the Lomonosov Ridge, an underwater mountain range that links it to Greenland, which could eventually give it exclusive rights to vast hydrocarbon reserves. And that’s without talking about the massive rare earth deposits The technical challenge of being so far north. The northern lights are very beautiful, but they generate a huge amount of electromagnetic noise when they occur. Since the Earth’s magnetic field lines also converge at the North Pole, the ionosphere is unstablegenerating scintillation that corrupts the GPS signal and absorption in the polar cap. In short, conventional radars not only fall short, but sometimes also go blind. The DARPA wish list. What the US agency wants It is essentially transforming the electromagnetic chaos of the Arctic into a detection tool with a brain in the form of processing software with advanced algorithms that dynamically “filter” interference from geomagnetic storms to isolate potential threats. Furthermore, it would not be a single giant antenna, but rather a mesh of small mobile nodes that share data to triangulate targets. These are the radars you request: A passive environmental noise radar that does not simply emit a signal and wait for the bounce, but uses natural radio frequency noise from the environment to detect objects. That is, it does not treat noise as an interference, but as a source. If a ship passes through that noise, it generates a disturbance that can be detected. Radars Over-the-Horizon that, unlike line-of-sight ones, which travel in a straight line and collide with the curvature of the Earth, these are capable of bouncing waves off the ionosphere to be able to detect objects beyond the Earth’s curvature. They are indicated to detect maritime vessels or aircraft flying at low altitude, thus evading conventional radars. An externally illuminated radar with high-power transmitters located at great distances as power sources, like Alaska’s HAARPwhich allows objects to be illuminated indirectly. For when. As mark your roadmapthe receipt of industry proposals for the tender ended on January 30 and the next 18 months will focus on algorithm development, offline implementation and laboratory testing. Between 2027 and 2028, the integration of the software into real hardware would take place, with field tests in Point Barrow and Poker Flat, Alaska. Therefore, to see this new and ambitious radar network in action we will have to wait until 2028. In Xataka | Russia and China already had an advantage over the US in the Arctic. After Greenland, it has multiplied In Xataka | Now that Europe has sent its troops to Greenland, a question emerges that no one wants to ask: what happens if the US invades it? Cover | JoAnne Castagna / US Army Corps of Engineers (Public domain)

This new short is inspired by his science fiction work

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The comics and animation of the eighties are the key aesthetics of a project that, if all goes well, will see the light of day soon and that comes with a label well known to Spanish fans: that of Alfonso Azpirithe much-missed artist who gave visual form to the great successes of the Golden Age of Spanish soft in games for dynamicTopo and other companies. His unmistakable style is part of the DNA of a very promising project: ‘Love Story’ The origin. To trace the origin of this idea we must go back to a tiny science fiction story written by Carlos Buiza (an essential figure in the development of Spanish science fiction in the sixties as co-creator of the magazine Nueva Dimensión) and which was illustrated by Azpiri still taking his first steps, in 1972. Buiza had already obtained some fame with a story, ‘El asfalto’, which Chicho Ibáñez Serrador adapted in an episode of ‘Stories to keep you awake‘ which achieved notable relevance. In 1972, Buiza published ‘Love Story’ in an issue of ‘Triunfo’ magazine dedicated to science fiction, along with an illustrated header of an Azpiri still far from his days of fame but in whose lines the future genius was already guessed. Later, Azpiri would transform the story into a comic, which appeared on the author’s compilation album ‘Pesadillas’, published in 1985. The influences. ‘Historia de amor’ will become a short film directed by Jose Luis Quirós and David Díaz-Guerra, but it takes a leap in its visual references from the seventies, focusing on a style more typical of the eighties, when Azpiri, already in full command of his art, published comics such as ‘Lorna’, ‘Mot’, ‘Nightmares’ or ‘The Vagabonds of Infinity’. The authors also mention authors of the time such as Moebius or Frank Miller, and animes such as ‘Ghost in the Shell’, ‘Evangelion’ and ‘Cowboy Bebop’ as key influences. What is it about? AZ, a dreamy alien on a barren planet, Polkj, is kidnapped by humans. But he wants to discover the secrets of the universe, life and love before they experiment on him. The connection that arises with humans clashes with the objective of these invaders: that AZ be infected with a virus that will exterminate his species and allow humans to escape from a dying planet Earth. Who is behind. ‘Love Story’ is co-directed by José Luis Quirós and David Díaz-Guerra. The first has been twice nominated and winner of the Goya Prize, and is behind very personal works, such as ‘The tower of time’. Next to him is the Runik Animation studio, which has collaborated in the making of films such as ‘Planet 51’, ‘Catch the Flag’, ‘Fantastic Beasts’, ‘The Avengers’ and ‘Pacific Rim’. As for Díaz-Guerra, this is his first short film as a director, but he has experience as a screenwriter and, significantly, as a theoretical physicist, which guarantees a very stimulating approach to the science fiction that is a core part of the short. How will it be done? The short will use 3D animation as a basis for modeling and lighting, working in real time with Unreal Engine. There will be motion capture to reduce costs and, finally, traditional animation sequences for selected moments. All of this will be combined with selected sequences drawn with watercolors, in search of a style with a nostalgic touch that goes back to Azpiri’s comics. How much and for when. The estimated budget of the project, according to what the creators of ‘Love Story’ tell us, is 50,000 euros, of which they already have 10%. There is a long road ahead of searching for financing to reach the planned goal of releasing in the fourth quarter of 2026. At this moment, Runik Animation, together with producer Juan Nieto and Nvidia (which collaborates by providing hardware to the team) are in the initial phase of developing the script and storyboards. In Xataka | 30 years of ‘Navy Moves’, when Dinamic made the best game of the year in the entire world

How technology hacked psychology so we can’t put down our cell phones

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You’ve spent two hours, three, in an impossible position looking at your cell phone in the middle of a kind of trance. A notification made you unlock it and after jumping from one application to another for a few minutes, you fell into the black hole of the scroll infinite. You could hardly say what you have seen or if you have enjoyed any of the dozens of videos that have passed you by. What perverse mechanism has been capable of hijack your attention for hours? The first thing you have to know is that not even rats escape this spell. In the 1940s, a psychologist named BF Skinner tried to find out how our brain’s reward system works by studying the reactions of laboratory rats with an experiment: the animals learned that if they pressed a lever, they got food. Easy, but it gets complicated. The most interesting part of the experiment, known as skinner boxand the one that can most be compared to the time drain that social networks are is the following part: Skinner stopped rewarding the rats every time they pressed the lever and started giving them food sometimes and sometimes not. Was this enough to discourage them? Far from it: they had tried the benefits of intermittent reinforcement. The logic of intermittent reinforcement For rats, the possibility of food was enough, just as you have only received interesting notifications a few times out of the many times you look at your cell phone, or only one of the publications you have compulsively consumed has satisfied your curiosity. Intermittent reinforcement is a psychological pattern that is characterized because rewards are given unpredictably, so that it creates a hook and strong attachment. “The mechanisms behind social networks are the same as those of slot machines,” David Ezpeleta, neurologist and vice president of the Spanish Society of Neurology, explains to Xataka. He intermittent booster It is also a vice of toxic human relationships, where affection, attention, and validation are marketed. In the case at hand, both the rats with the food and you with the likes, DMsor finding something you want to buy, get a hit of dopamine, a neurotransmitter that is released in pleasure-related situations, when the random reward finally appears. “They are short-duration, high-intensity stimuli with the possibility of reward. For every ten times we look at the networks, perhaps we only receive a reward on one. And that possibility is more addictive than a sure reward ten times,” he points out. The first thing we do when we wake up, the last thing we do before going to sleep. (Unsplash) “Technologies are capable of doing anything to keep you reading headlines, clicking links, adding favorites, commenting posts, retweeting articles, looking for the perfect GIF to answer a hater“, writes Marta Peirano in The enemy knows the system (Debate). The text is from 2019, and although some behaviors may have changed since then (who answers with GIFs anymore?) and neither TikTok nor the reels still dominated our attention, the mechanisms that go behind our hitch They are the same since Skinner. There are more and more people who have a profile on some platform and use them for more activities. They are a source of socialization, entertainment and information: 49% of Spaniards between 16 and 30 years old say inform of what happens through social networks, especially Instagram, according to the latest Eurobarometer youth survey. Don’t leave the platform It is precisely this platform that has grown the most in Spain in the last year, followed by Tik Tok. The oldest ones like X (Twitter) and Facebook are in decline although the latter is still the second most used (after Instagram), according to a report from the CNMC. Algorithms are the heart of this design. They are a set of hypercomplex, changing and opaque mathematical operations that decide what you see. They are not neutral or “objective”: they are machine learning systems that select and prioritize content that maximizes user interaction. That is, the algorithm observes what you devote the most attention to, and repeats that pattern to show you more of the same. Social media algorithms have the ability to modify ideas, behavior patterns and, in some cases, contribute to the radicalization of thought, the polarization and to conflict: visceral reactions (anger, fear, indignation) generate more clicks, shares and comments than other types of content. A study published in the journal Science shows that small changes in what is prioritized in a feed can accelerate feelings of political polarization in a very short time, evidencing how the technology behind the algorithm not only organizes content, but also shapes attitudes and emotions. And what purpose does your anger serve them? Regardless of whether or not there is a black hand behind it that wants to direct our attention and our time to a certain focus, the main function of this machinery is to keep you within the current application. Don’t feel the need to consult a website, specialists or an encyclopedia: attention time is the economic value that is sold to advertisers. Can we talk about addiction? Another phenomenon that greatly encourages time to slip away between applications is the so-called Fear of Missing Out (FoMO), whereby it seems that if we do not see everything that happens we feel that we are not part of the conversation, generating problems such as anxiety and giving rise to a continuous and compulsive connection, driving dependence on device platforms. But can we talk about addiction to social networks? For Ezpeleta, “you can talk about addiction when you need the stimulus and, when you withdraw it, anxiety appears.” And at least two important elements are needed: opportunity and habituation. (Unsplash) Each of these apps that fight for your time have something in common: they are on the same device, one that you use to wake up and that is the last thing you look at before going to sleep. For many people it is also a work tool, … Read more

For the first time, electrified cars are outselling gasoline cars. It is the beginning of the inevitable

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We already have the data on car registrations in 2025. And the inevitable has become reality: the electrified car has prevailed. Driven by countries like Germany or the United Kingdom, the alternatives to the combustion car make it clear that the future of the industry depends, yes or yes, on a plug. A discreet recovery. EU registration data for 2025 shows a clear trend: a significant increase in the registration of both electric and hybrid vehicles. Overall registrations rise by a discreet 1.8% but the change is not in the total volume, it is in the type of car that is sold. The data. The pure combustion vehicle is beginning to reduce its share in the European market. HEV (hybrids and microhybrids): 34.5% Gasoline: 26.6% BEV (pure electric): 17.4% PHEV (plug-in hybrids): 17.4% Diesel: 8.9% Others: 3.3% He electric car It already occupies third place in the ranking, doubling sales of diesel cars but below hybrids. Adding figures, the year-on-year variation (YOY) in December 2025 was an increase of 51% for pure electric cars and 36.7% for plug-in hybrids. The key countries. Figures from January to December 2025 show a substantial increase in electric car registrations in countries such as Germany (+43.2%), the Netherlands (+12.6%) and France (+12.5%). The data in countries like Spain is striking, which lead the growth in hybrids (+23.1%) and plug-in hybrids (+111.7%) in the latter case. The decline of combustion. At the end of 2025, gasoline car registrations fell by around 20%, and 24.2% in the case of diesel car registrations. If these figures are sustained in the short term, it will not take long for purely electric vehicles to surpass gasoline vehicles at the European level, placing them in second place in the ranking below HEVs. A bit of a trick. The photograph is clear: the electrified vehicle is growing at a rapid pace, but in cases like Spain there is some fine print. We are the country that has grown the most in adoption of HEVs (hybrid vehicles), but this category also includes MHEV. These are vehicles that combine a combustion engine with a small electrical system (generally 48V) and a low-capacity battery. They never circulate in 100% electric mode, but the small electrical system helps reduce emissions and consumption. Yes, but. It is also worth remembering that the total number of registrations does not only tell us about the preferences of individual users: the data reflects the registrations intended for companies and renters. Specifically, passenger car registrations in 2025 were quite distributed, with 50,213 in the case of channels for individuals and 43,362 for companies. The Transportation electrification is moving companies to buy electrified vehicles in volume, to comply with future European restrictionswho have recently lowered their forecast of reducing carbon emissions by 100% to now talk about 90%. Image | Xataka In Xataka | The Prosecutor’s Office believes that Moeve has saved 7.7 million euros in taxes. And the punishment is clear: dissolution of the company

After “skincare”, the new cosmetic fever focuses on one of the most hidden corners of the body: the scalp

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For years the message was simple: maintain good hydration and, please, do not go to sleep without removing your makeup. Then we immersed ourselves and fell in love with a new trend: the skincare and his feared ten steps exported from South Korea. Now, in 2026, when it seems that we already have the keys to a good routine integrated, and our pulse does not tremble when deciding whether the serum goes before or after the moisturizing cream, a new task arises. In the midst of a fever to optimize health, the focus moves a few centimeters higher: the scalp. The ten-step routine falls short It is increasingly common to find yourself in cities or, failing that, on TikTok, with centers of hair spa Japanese inspired. Cranial massage, activation of energy points, water jets and hair diagnosisall seasoned with an environment that offers an experience of absolute relaxation. With a proposal this striking, it is not surprising that these treatments have become the new object of desire. beauty. But, as happens with almost everything that promises well-being and succeeds on social networks, an inevitable question arises: are we facing a new gesture to care for our well-being based on science or a new fashion without much sense? This “instagrammable” fusion of hair care with moments of relaxation was born in Asia but the franchise Japanese Head Spathanks to viral videos, has awakened the desire of thousands of users and has managed to adapt the treatment to the European public; especially when emphasizing the relaxation and well-being part. (Unsplash) Aída García, the promoter of the business, discovered the technique at a fair in Miami, but also through TikTok videos, mostly from accounts in Saudi Arabia, where many users wondered when something like this would arrive in Spain. It was then that it detected this gap in the market and decided to take the step, currently having more than 25 centers spread throughout the national territory. “It seems easy, but behind it there are years of experience, an incredible team and a very strong focus on marketing; for example, TikTok has been key because every time we upload a video, our agenda fills up” Aida Garcia, promoter of Japanese Head Spa It is clear that the virality and striking nature of the treatment is what attracts so many users, helping the proliferation of these establishments. Not in vain, these types of centers top the list of trends in spas and wellness, with a 233% increase in searches in 2025 compared to the previous year according to the report SpaSeekers. But there is undoubtedly another compelling reason for this growth. And it is that in a day to day where they prevail the rush and frenetic paceany help to lower the revs is welcome: “They come here from girls who give it to their mothers because they have seen it on TikTok, women aged 30-40 who come accompanied by their partners or grandmothers with their granddaughters. Nowadays, when we have cortisol through the roof and we are going a mile an hour, everyone needs to stop, that is why a hair spa treatment is super giftable,” explains García. This trend around the globe has meant that the endless skincare routines with ingredients such as hyaluronic acid or niacinamide are also transferred to scalp care. As an example, the term “scalp serum” recorded, for much of 2025, a monthly average of more than 910,000 results on social networks such as Instagram or TikTok; assuming an increase of 77% compared to the previous year. Furthermore, if we focus on the global market, sales of products and treatments dedicated to the scalp grew by 4.2% in 2024 and the trend continued to increase in 2025, the year in which articles intended for this area of ​​the body reached 9.6 billion of dollars. (Unsplash) South Korea is not far behind in this trend, honoring its deep cult of beauty. What’s more, the debate about hair loss has transcended the merely aesthetic and has become a public policy issue thanks to the South Korean president and his proposal to cover baldness treatments by the national health insurance. According to Lee, for many young people the problem has stopped being aesthetic and has become “a survival question“On the other hand, when it comes to the viral, there are many spa centers in the country in which famous and influencers enjoy those 15 or 18 steps which includes the Head Spa treatment promising to cleanse, revitalize and balance the scalp. Indeed, the entire experience of this ritual, if we focus on its relaxation aspect, is something positive and can benefit us. However, it is when it comes to hair diagnosis and the avalanche of products with active ingredients where we have to put the brakes on and be more cautious. There are no shortcuts to healthy hair The truth is that although these spas claim that in general they are treatments suitable for all types of hair and scalp, they always urge people with specific conditions such as psoriasis to consult with a dermatologist first. And that’s what we have done, although to satisfy all our doubts: “People have a profound lack of knowledge about health in general, and about the aesthetics and health of the skin and hair in particular, it is something that I see a lot in consultation, that false sense of information. Sometimes they make cherry-picking and they do not know how to relate the concepts, which in the end is the most important thing,” says Dr. Silvia Berjón, a specialist in trichology. The Glowmour Clinic doctor agrees with the sensory and well-being benefits that these treatments provide. Emphasizing “the value of human contact and the release of oxytocin that can cause this relaxation process.” Furthermore, from its focus on longevity medicine emphasizes that not only healthy habits influence a longer and fuller life but, as supported by science, “also activities that nourish emotionally and help reduce stress”, such as these types of rituals. Even … Read more

Thousands of workers were needed to build the colossal Golden Gate. Just to maintain it you need 200 people

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There are few symbols as recognizable of the United States as the golden gatethat colossal orange bridge inaugurated in 1937 that crosses the San Francisco Bay. And no wonder: 1,280 meters of bridge hanging on two 227-meter-high towers with 600 thousand rivets each. It enters through the eyes and also, it also sounds. The subject of countless photographs and an extra in numerous films and series, it is also the place chosen by many people. to end his life. The colossal construction of the Golden Gate. When the Golden Gate opened almost a century ago, it was considered an architectural landmark that combined engineering and modernity. And no wonder: the work lasted more than four years, cost more than 35 million dollars (from the 1930s) and the construction techniques were cutting-edge. However, they faced challenges such as the turbulent currents, the hurricane winds and the dense fog in the area. Not to mention its proximity with the San Andreas and Hayward fault. One of the solutions was to make the structure of the Golden Gate something dynamic and not rigid, which allows it to better deal with wind and tide (literal). In addition, it is designed so that the two towers absorb the tension generated by the passage of vehicles through the suspension cables. One of those towers had to be built in the middle of the open ocean, something exceptional at the time. High turnover and a lot of security. Although its construction is carefully documented and there is an extensive graphic archive, there is no record of how many people worked on its construction beyond the fact that there were 10 contractors with their respective subcontractors, there was a lot of turnover (note: we were in the context of the Great Depression) and that at the peak of the work there were hundreds of men working, with critical roles such as structuralists, divers, spinners to weave the cables and painters and riveters. Unfortunately, 11 people died during this imposing construction. And this despite the fact that its chief engineer, Joseph Strauss, stood out for its commitment to job security: They installed a safety net under the bridge that would save those 19 workers who became part of the Halfway-to-Hell club (halfway to hell). 200 people for maintenance. Although the exact figure is unknown precisely due to the turnover and number of contractors, there are estimates which point to figures between 4,000 and 8,000 workers who participated directly in the construction between 1933 and 1937, which seems plausible. What is most striking is that for its maintenance about 200 workers are needed among engineering professionals, metal workers, painters, mechanics, electricians, communications technicians, street and garden maintenance, among others. The maintenance team. In the age of AI and automation, San Francisco Bridge Maintenance pulls trades with a multidisciplinary team led by a captain who oversees patrol activities 24 hours a day. As a curiosity, since 1937 there have been 11 captains. As a summary, these are the main positions and their functions: Painters and metal workers. They work at height and in confined spaces. They are responsible for painting, sandblasting old paint, and repairing corroded steel and rivets. Structural Engineers: They carry out visual and sensor inspections of each of the thousands of rivets and cables, in addition to ensuring the operation of the machinery. Safety and Traffic: With a flow of 100,000 vehicles daily, accidents and breakdowns are the order of the day. It is a 24/7 operational service to avoid collapsing the city. Why so many people. As we have seen in the previous point, maintenance logistics is specialized and has a certain complexity being at altitude, it requires always being available and the environment is aggressive. Paint the Golden Gate It has its own, hence it has its own section within the bridge website. To begin with, it is not painted every so often, but rather it is painted continuously and in parts. And maintenance is selective and based on priority: it is a battle against corrosion. The combination of the humidity of the Pacific and its high salinity is a ticking time bomb for steel. Although they chose the International Orange tone because of how well it integrates with the environment and its visibility, this paint protects the steel from UV rays and humidity. On the other hand, inspections of its expansion joints and seismic dampers are frequent to ensure that it can flex without breaking due to vibrations and earthquakes. In Xataka | More than 2,000 people had committed suicide at the Golden Gate. The solution has been as simple as it is shocking for those who throw In Xataka | In 1976 Boston built its most amazing skyscraper. Until its windows became lethal guillotines Cover | Photo of Maarten van den Heuvel in Unsplash

young people are alone and no longer want to flirt like before

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I’ve never been much into dating apps. I tried it once—shortly, just enough—and it overwhelmed me. Too many faces, too many conversations started at the same time, too much feeling of choosing men as if they were menu options. I closed the app and thought maybe the problem was mine. For years, that feeling seemed to remain in the minority. The dominant narrative was different: if you weren’t in the apps, you were missing something. He matches as a gateway to an active, modern and socially validated sentimental life. But something has begun to break in that story. And it is not their critics who say it, but the companies themselves that built the business of swipe. Today, dating platforms recognize that young people still want to love, but they feel less and less capable of starting a relationship. Not because of a lack of desire, but because the process has become emotionally burdensome, socially exposed, and psychologically demanding. In the midst of a hyperconnected generation, the result is not more love, but more loneliness. According to a report Elaborated by Match Group with Harris Poll and The Kinsey Institute, 80% of Generation Z believe they will find true love one day, more than any other generation. However, only 55% feel ready for a relationship right now. This distance between desire and action is what the company has called the readiness paradoxor “paradox of readiness.” Contradiction is key to understanding the current moment. Young people want relationships, but they don’t know when—or how—to start them. The same report notes that almost half of Generation Z say they are not ready for a relationship right now and that 75% are in no rush to get into one. As I explained to Fortune Chine Mmegwa, head of strategy at Match Group, the process becomes a cycle that feeds on itself: very high standards of emotional preparation lead to waiting; waiting, loneliness; loneliness, to the desire for connection; the desire, the fear of not being ready. The result is not detachment, but paralysis. Hyperconnected loneliness This paralysis does not occur in a vacuum. It occurs in a context where youth loneliness has skyrocketed, even among people with an active social life and constant presence on networks. a study published in PLOS One defines this phenomenon as a “social ambivalence”: young people surrounded by people who, even so, feel deeply alone. In Spain, data from the State Observatory of Unwanted Loneliness show that Almost seven out of ten young people admit to having felt lonely recently, regardless of the number of friends or followers they have. The amount of interaction does not compensate for the lack of emotional depth. Have likes It is not equivalent to feeling accompanied. The Match Group Report confirms this feeling where more than 50% of Generation Z say they feel lonely despite having online connections. And, unlike previous generations, many admit that they seek connections not so much for love as to avoid loneliness, something that later generates guilt or the feeling of entering a relationship “for the wrong reason.” The fear is not of the appointment, it is of public failure Added to this emotional fragility is a decisive factor: social networks have changed the very way of starting a relationship. An appointment is no longer requested. Instagram is requested. And many times, everything stays there. Follow each other, watch stories, react with an emoji, observe for weeks—or months—without taking a clear step. A permanent phase of trial and error that reduces risk, but also blocks progress. When a relationship seems to be moving forward, the pressure doesn’t go away; moves to the public showcase. According to data collected by Fortune From Match Group reporting, nearly half of Gen Z’s relationships begin with a soft launch on Instagram —an ambiguous photo, a story without context— compared to 27% of the population as a whole. He hard launchon the other hand, is perceived as a serious commitment by 81% of those who have done it. Making a relationship official is no longer just another phase, it is experienced as a symbolic contract. Fear of public failurehaving to delete photosmanaging explanations, exposing oneself to judgment—works as a brake before even starting. Better not to start anything than to have to undo it in front of everyone. Match Group describe this climate as a real “performance pressure” applied to one’s love life. This retreat is not exclusive to dating. As we already analyzed in XatakaGeneration Z is consciously reducing their public exposure on social media: fewer posts, more private messages; Less footprint, less risk. This climate is reinforced by a change in the ways of dating. How to collect Business Insidertraditional flirting is on the decline: asking for a profile has replaced asking for a coffee. Dating apps and the pandemic have weakened the “muscle” of talking to strangers in person, creating more social anxiety. The result is not rejection of contact, but rather a passive, prolonged and unresolving approach. Some experts clarify, however, that it is not so much a loss of skills as a code change. Generation Z is more direct with its boundaries and expectations, and less tolerant of prolonged ambiguity. The indefinite is tiring. The confusing is exhausting. That fits with report data Year in Swipe 2025 of Tinder, where there is a growing rejection of “minimum effort” and ambiguous signals. Trends like clear-coding or the loud looking —explicitly saying what you are looking for and from where—reflect that desire for emotional clarity in an ecosystem that, paradoxically, pushes us to say nothing and wait. Apps adapt: ​​less pressure, more context Faced with this scenario, dating applications have decided to change their approach. They no longer sell the promise of hooking up quickly, but rather on reducing the anxiety of the first contact. Tinder, owned by Match Group, has been the most explicit in this turn. Last year he launched Modesa system that allows you to choose how and from where to meet people: classic mode, … Read more

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