Month: February 2026

We have been dreaming of infinite “solar gasoline” for decades. A new material inspired by plants has just proven that it is possible

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Nature has been keeping a secret in broad daylight for millions of years: photosynthesis. For decades, science has pursued the dream of replicating this process to create clean, sustainable fuels, but “artificial photosynthesis” has always run into walls of inefficiency and technical complexity. Until now. In short. A team of Chinese researchers has developed a method that mimics the natural process of transforming carbon dioxide (CO2) and water into the basic components of gasoline. We are no longer talking about abstract theory; It is a system capable of creating “solar fuel” without depending on expensive chemical additives, bringing us closer to the holy grail of renewable energy. The advance, recently published in the magazine Nature Communicationscomes from a joint team of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. Researchers have designed a new composite material: tungsten trioxide modified with silver atoms (Ag/WO3). The end of chemical “tricks”. The truly revolutionary thing about this “magic dust” is not only its composition, but what it manages to avoid. To date, most attempts at artificial photosynthesis cheated: they used “sacrificial agents”, organic chemical additives (such as triethanolamine) that facilitated the reaction but were irreversibly consumed in the process, making it unsustainable and expensive on a large scale. This new system breaks that barrier. According to the scientific studythe catalyst achieves the light-driven conversion using only pure water (H2O) as an electron donor. No additives, no tricks. The result of this reaction is the efficient production of carbon monoxide (CO). Although it sounds like a harmful substance on its own, in the chemical industry this molecule is pure gold: it is a key intermediate that, mixed with hydrogen, forms the “synthesis gas” necessary to manufacture complex hydrocarbons such as methanol or synthetic gasoline. Air fuel. We are at the gateway to “solar fuels.” The importance of this finding lies in its ability to decarbonize sectors that electric batteries cannot easily cover, such as commercial aviation or heavy shipping. Furthermore, the researchers stand out in their paper who have come up with a “universal strategy”. Its material (Ag/WO3) is not an isolated invention, but a versatile “charger” that can be coupled to various types of catalysts (such as cobalt phthalocyanine, C3N4 or Cu2O) and improve their performance drastically. In fact, by combining this material with cobalt (CoPc), they achieved an efficiency 100 times higher than that of the catalyst acting on its own, equaling the performance of old systems that used polluting additives. It is a pure circular economy: capturing the gas that warms the planet (CO2) and turning it into a valuable resource. The secret is to imitate the leaves. To understand how they have achieved this, you have to look at a tree leaf. In natural photosynthesis, the processes of breaking down water and fixing CO2 are separate. Plants use a molecule called plastoquinone (PQ) to temporarily transport and “store” electrons excited by the sun before using them, acting as an energy buffer. Without this buffer, the electrons would be lost before they could be used. Chinese scientists asked themselves: “Can we build an artificial plastoquinone?” And the answer was tungsten. The developed material works as a bioinspired cargo reservoir: The battery: Under sunlight, tungsten changes its chemical structure (a valence swing from W6+ to W5+), temporarily trapping electrons as if it were a micro-battery. The bridge: When the system needs energy to convert CO2, the silver (Ag) atoms act as a bridge, releasing those stored electrons just at the right moment to recombine with the “gaps” of the catalyst. This solves the big problem of artificial photosynthesis: time and load management. While the water oxidizes, the system “saves” the solar energy to have it ready when the CO2 enters. From the laboratory to the real world. The best thing about this research is that it has not remained a theoretical simulation under perfect lamps. The team built an experimental device equipped with a Fresnel lens (to concentrate light) and took it outside to test it under natural sunlight. The data from the outdoor experiment are revealing: Solar rhythm: The system began to produce detectable gas from 9:00 a.m., reaching its peak production between 1:00 p.m. and 2:00 p.m., faithfully following the intensity of the sun. Durability: The system demonstrated enviable robustness, maintaining its effectiveness over 72-hour test cycles without showing significant downtime. A bridge to the future. As reported by the South China Morning Postthis advancement builds a critical bridge between renewable energy and high-demand industrial applications. The study authors conclude that their work not only eliminates the need for unsustainable sacrificial agents, but provides a versatile design principle for building autonomous photocatalytic systems. Although there is still a way to go to see solar gas stations, the basic science—the mechanism for storing the sun’s energy in a chemical powder—is no longer a theory. Image | freepik Xataka | Germany has had a crazy idea to solve one of the problems of renewables: covering a lake with solar panels

Big Tech is paying up to $600,000 to influencers to promote their AI. Now the race is about perception

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Big technology companies are deploying their heavy artillery to attract users for their artificial intelligence services. Just like they count From CNBC, Microsoft and Google have found their new battlefield in influencers, with contracts that reach six-digit figures. The dimension of the phenomenon. According to data from Sensor Tower, generative AI platforms spent more than $1 billion on digital advertising in the United States during 2025, an increase of 126% compared to the previous year. That large companies promote their products through influencers is nothing new, and it is also a business that is very profitable for them, since by investing a small fraction of their budget they can get an avalanche of new users. According to CNBC, in order to attract new users for their AI services, Microsoft, Google, Anthropic and Meta They are hiring content creators to promote your tools on social networks. Figures. Microsoft and Google are paying between $400,000 and $600,000 to content creators for multi-month collaborations, according to sources close to the media. These contracts are not limited to specific publications, since according to the medium, they seek to ensure that influencers integrate AI tools into their usual content, tutorials and workflows. “We’re seeing a massive increase in creator spending from these AI brands. We’re getting a lot more interest from AI brands every month,” counted to AJ Eckstein, founder of Creator Match (an agency that connects brands with creators). How these agreements work. Collaborations range from LinkedIn posts explaining how to use Claude Code even videos on Instagram showing functions of Microsoft Copilot or the assistant Comet by Perplexity. Megan Lieu, AI and technology content creator with nearly 400,000 followers, explains told CNBC that his sponsored deals typically range from $5,000 to $30,000 depending on the campaign. Its most important collaboration to date has been with Anthropic to promote products from Claudealthough he did not specify the exact figure to the media. Some influencers can charge up to $100,000 per post, according to Eckstein. The other side of the coin. Despite the astronomical numbers, not all content creators are willing to jump on the AI ​​bandwagon. Jack Lepiarz, known as Jack the Whipper and with more than 7 million followers between YouTube, TikTok and Instagram, account to the medium that systematically rejects any agreement related to artificial intelligence. “I cannot with a clear conscience support something that is going to make it difficult for normal people to earn a living,” he declared to the outlet. Lepiarz previously turned down a $20,000 contract to promote AI imaging tools and says even $100,000 or $500,000 wouldn’t change his mind. Perception with Copilot. For Microsoft, these influencer campaigns can be especially key. And despite its large user base in Microsoft 365 services, only 3.3% pay for Copilotas told from Windows Central. The company needs its AI assistant, integrated into Windows, Microsoft 365 and Edge, to be perceived as a natural tool in daily work, and at the moment it is being especially difficult for them to achieve that. It’s public time. Big Tech hiring influencers occurs precisely at a time when companies are investing more than ever in advertising their AI tools. A few days ago we told precisely the case of Anthropic, which spent a million on ads during the Super Bowl. Separately, Google and Microsoft increased their digital advertising spending to promote AI products by approximately 495% last month compared to the previous year, according to Sensor Tower. The media also says that OpenAI multiplied its advertising investment tenfold in 2025. After years of making its tools known, it is now time to shape our perception of them. Cover image | aerps and Hillary Black In Xataka | The person who is earning the most money on Twitch by broadcasting 24 hours a day is not a person: it is an AI

why the head is not the thermal “chimney” that we have always been told

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When winter approaches, many people cannot go outside without some basic items, such as a jacket, gloves and also a hat. The latter, in addition to being a complement that suits some very well, has also represented a mantra that has been repeated on different occasions: heat ‘escapes’ largely through the head. There are nuances. This is something that is accompanied by stratospheric figures, such as between 40 and 50% of our body heat ‘escapes’ through the skull. But the truth is that science adds nuances to these data so that we can be much calmer, although in the case of newborns we can have an interesting debate. The origin. To understand why half the world believes that the head works like a human chimney, you have to travel to the 1970s. And more specifically to the United States Army Survival Manual. At that time, experiments were carried out with subjects exposed to extreme cold temperatures. The methodological problem, or rather the subsequent interpretation, was that the participants were wearing arctic survival suits that covered the entire body… except the head. Logically, when measuring the heat loss, the researchers found that most of it escaped through the only area that was bare. And from here arose the need to wear a hat because almost all the heat was released from this part. What is known now. Subsequent studies have been responsible for dismantling this belief. that 40-50% of the heat is released through the skull. The conclusion of science indicates that physical reality is much simpler, since heat loss is proportional to the surface of exposed skin. In this way, if the head of an adult represents approximately 7% of the body surface, it will contribute only to diffuse 7-10% of body heat that is being lost. They have proven it again. In addition to the most classic studies that have been done, science has also wanted to analyze this phenomenon in cold water swimmers. using neoprene suitscomparing when their head is submerged and when it is above the water. Here it was seen that the skull does not dissipate heat disproportionately, but is simply exposed skin with nothing special that indicates that it should be protected more than another part of the body. The cold of the head. Although the percentage of heat lost here is low, there are physiological reasons to protect it. Specifically, the head, and especially the face and scalp, are areas with very little fat or muscle insulation compared to other parts of the body. In addition, they have a large number of blood vessels and thermal receptors on the surface, which makes them much more sensitive to the sensation of cold. This means that, although 50% of the heat is not lost through the skull, cooling the head gives us greater thermal discomfortso by covering it we feel much warmer. In addition, it also acts on cardiovascular reflexes and lowering core temperature. Therefore, wearing a hat in winter is useful, but it works the same as wearing gloves or a good scarf: it is another layer of insulation, not a magic cap. An exception. There is always an exception to every rule, and in this case they are in babies. in a newbornthe head is enormous in proportion to the rest of the body, occupying a much greater percentage of body surface than in an adult. This means that they do lose more heat here than in any other part of the body, and that is why we always see a baby with a hat on almost from the time they are in their first days of life. Science has pointed out Because in full-term newborns, an insulating hat can reduce total heat loss by 75% and oxygen consumption by 85% compared to being naked. In low resource settings or in low weight babies, the use of wool hats is clearly associated with a lower incidence of hypothermia. But with control. In healthy, full-term babies who are in warm rooms, or practicing the skin-to-skin method, the evidence suggests that the hat does not always provide a clear extra benefit and even, if combined with excessive warmth, it can promote overheating. With or without a hat. In conclusionit must be taken into account that the head is not a special part where a large amount of heat is released. However, in everyday life it is usually the only part of the body that we wear naked in winter and it has little natural insulation, so covering it is an efficient strategy to improve thermal comfort. Images | Jonathan J. Castellon In Xataka | The cold is so savage that Ukraine has activated the most kamikaze option: the “50,000 Russians per month” or giving Moscow what it wants

keep your prices intact for more than 20 years

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There are two almost unquestionable realities: that almost everything is made in China and that everything has gone up in price (except the televisions). However, these two maxims go hand in hand with the mundane lighter, the one we use to light birthday candles, the barbecue or even a cigarette… to who still smokes today. Because the bulk of global lighter production is no longer manufactured in China, it is concentrated in a single city. And that city has achieved something very difficult: maintain the price of a lighter in one yuan (about 12 euro cents at the exchange rate) for more than two decades. The resistance. Large brands such as BIC, Clipper or Zippo have localized and more or less dispersed production: the French BIC has in France its main plant for Europe, in the United States for the North American market, for South America has plants in Brazil and its large plant in Mexico; the catalan Clipper manufactures in Spain, China and India and Zippo boasts of being “Made in USA” while almost all of its production is in Bradford, Pennsylvania. It doesn’t matter, they are an absolute minority. Where Christ lost the lighter. 70% of world production is in Shaodonga city in Hunan province (China). Which started at the end of the 20th century as a wandering industry in search of low costs came to stay in Shaodong, turning it into a highly specialized technology giant that exports to more than 120 countries. According to XinhuaShaodong produces more than 100 billion lighters a year, with data from 2023. The People’s newspaper details (the official newspaper of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China) that in 2022 Shaodong supplied 3.52 billion lighters to the entire world. With this enormous production volume they have managed to keep the manufacturing price almost stagnant for more than 20 years thanks to automation. Why most come from China. The short answer is economies of scale. A lighter essentially requires metal parts, plastic, pressurized gas and an ignition mechanism, more than 30 parts and various techniques such as flame control and ignition intensity. For a few cents it is only profitable if you produce millions a day in a concentrated industrial ecosystem made up of by 87 companies where you have everything you need nearby. Yang Zhiyong, design engineer of the largest local lighter producer in Shaodong synthesize How has the evolution been: “Before, 1,000 workers were needed to produce a million lighters manually, now with automation the same production is achieved with just a few people. (…) Thanks to automation and technical improvements, we have managed to reduce costs to a minimum.” Specifically, from 0.1 yuan to 0.015 yuan. And yes, he acknowledges that his iconic one-yuan lighters are still lucrative. One lighter, one yuan. Lighters are small and technically simple gadgets (although everything has its secret and its room for improvement and innovation), but there is a trick to the fact that the retail price of disposable lighters has remained unchanged despite the competition and the increase in prices of materials and labor: industrial innovation and economy of scale. In 2002 was founded Shaodong Lighters Association to unify the industry, encourage innovation and standardized pricing in a collaborative, win-win approach. Because lighters are small, but their market is big. There is room to surprise and innovate. To stay at the forefront of the industry, the municipal administration has created an institute for smart manufacturing technologies and local companies are exploring new markets, especially in developing countries. Likewise, there are companies that strive to give a twist to the design of the lighter, providing a functional and cultural touch. In fact, Yang explains “These culturally influenced designs have found a receptive market in Europe and Asia,” Yang said. They have a plan B. Rising raw material costs, global competition and stricter environmental regulations may sooner or later lead the industry to migrate to other cheaper regions such as Southeast Asia. In this case, Shaodong aspires to sell knowledge: product development, training and after-sales services. In Xataka | The rare earth capital of the world is making gold thanks to them. And it is also being poisoned In Xataka | China was the great polluter of the planet: now it is emerging as the first “electrostate” in history Cover | Julius Drost

Science and longevity experts are clear about what time you should wake up

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For years, the culture of effort and extreme productivity has sold us the “five o’clock club“like him Holy Grail of successtaking as examples to CEOs, influencers or personal development gurus who point out the need to wake up at five in the morning. However, science focused on aging has a very different message: waking up too early is not only not productive, but it can shave years off our life. The experts. Sebastian La Rosaa doctor specializing in longevity, already pointed out that the optimal time to wake up is in a very specific window: between 6:45 and 7:00 in the morning. And the reality is that the scientific literature supports its claims based on clinical experience quite well. Without going any further, an analysis that lasted for 20 years in large groups of people revealed that the lowest point of mortality risk is exactly around seven in the morning. From this point on, extremes (as often happens in biology) are quite expensive. The extremes. Get up constantly after 8 in the morning raises the risk of mortality from all causes by a staggering 39%. But being a night owl and waking up super early every day isn’t good for your health either. This is what they saw from the data extracted from the UK Biobankwith a sample of more than 433,000 people, showing that the evening chronotype (going to bed late and getting up late) has a 10% higher risk of mortality total compared to early risers, impacting more harshly on people over 63 years of age. More tests. On the other hand, a massive study from the University of Exeter found that people who wake up naturally between five and seven in the morning reduce their risk of premature mortality by between 20 and 25%. This fits perfectly with the recommendation to go to sleep between 10:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m. to achieve 7 or 8 hours of restful sleep and protect, in the process, cardiovascular health. The golden rule. While 7:00 a.m. seems like the evolutionary magic hour, researchers at Harvard and other pioneering institutions have reached an even more important conclusion: consistency is the most important factor. In this way, having irregular sleep schedules, such as going to bed and getting up at very different times each day, increases the risk of mortality between 20 and 48%. In fact, the regularity of the sleep-wake cycle has been shown to be a stronger predictor of mortality than the total number of hours slept. This forces the scientific consensus to establish that sleeping between 6 and 8 hours is ideal, with exactly 7 hours being the figure linked to greater survival in large population cohorts. But if we choose to sleep less than seven hours or more than eight hours, the body can become unbalanced and increase the risk of death. Hacking the internal clock. Behind all these statistics there are pure cellular mechanics. In animal models, it has been proven that having “high amplitude” circadian rhythms, with very marked differences between daytime alertness and nighttime rest, directly correlates with greater longevity. When this biological clock is altered by living behind sunlight, we alter metabolic pathways critical for aging such as via mTOR, sirtuins or IGF-1. Exposing yourself to natural light as soon as you wake up around seven in the morning is the signal that the brain needs to set this complex hormonal mechanism in motion, mitigating oxidative damage and preventing cardiovascular diseases and cancer. Images | muntazar mansory In Xataka | If you fall asleep in less than five minutes, you don’t have a “superpower”: it’s a warning signal from your brain

Florida has an iguana problem and the coldest winter in years, so it has euthanized more than 5,000 frozen iguanas

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In the Iberian Peninsula we are having one of the winters with more rainfall in recent yearsbut in the United States they are not exactly having a mild winter either. New York has arrived register colder than in Antarctica and not even the state of the sun has been saved: Florida has broken a cold record of more than 100 years. Thus, Miami or West Palm Beach have fallen below 0°C, something that It hasn’t happened since 1909. This extreme cold literally freezes the iguanas. And that has made it very easy for the Florida authorities to “euthanasia” 5,195 specimens Florida has a serious problem with iguanas. As happens in Spain with the catfishes either in Italy with blue crabs (among other parts of the Mediterranean), the United States has invasive species like the Asian carp, which bothers it so much that They have come to electrify the riversor the iguana, which mainly affects southern Florida. In addition to biodiversity problems derived from introducing an outside species into an ecosystem, altering the trophic chain or that its feces are natural carriers of salmonellais that they constitute a real danger to infrastructure: they build burrows up to 24 meters deep, damaging sea walls (a 1.8 million dollar problem in West Palm Beach), building foundations and even blackouts. Not to mention the risk that an iguana falls from a tree to the head or the hood of your car. Friendly reminder that iguanas can come to measure two meters long and weigh more than 13 kg. It’s raining iguanas. Literally. You probably read the above with surprise because, well, from time to time a little bird falls, but a tremendous iguana is less common. The iguanas They arrived in Florida in the 1960s. and since then they have moved quietly through courtyards and canals. The Sunshine State has a subtropical climate and iguanas are cold-blooded reptiles, but for much of the year, they adapt. But winter comes, especially a winter as cold as this one, and the iguanas are stunned by the cold. They are ectothermic speciesthat is, their body temperature is strongly determined by the environment (they do not generate their heat, as mammals do), so they freeze. This cold stunning affects internal processes such as metabolism, breathing or heart rate. And this is what leads them to fall from trees because they are in standby and lose their grip. A chance to get rid of them. So the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) has taken the opportunity to implement executive order 26-03which temporarily allows anyone to pick up one of those cold-stunned green iguanas without needing a permit to bring it to authorities. In the first two days of February, Residents brought 5,195 copies. Subsequently, they were sacrificed following American Veterinary Association guidelines (AMVA). Or from a technical point of view, they “euthanized” them. Animal welfare vs pest control. According to the FWCnon-native reptile species such as green iguanas or Burmese pythons are only protected by animal cruelty laws. The procedure is known as “euthanasia” insofar as the method of death must be irreversible, rapid and painless. Precisely at that moment in which they are lethargic is the moment considered the most humanitarian to act. In Xataka | The coypu, one of the 100 most harmful invasive species in the world, is at the doors of Barcelona In Xataka | The US has such a big problem with Asian carp in its rivers that it has decided something extreme: electrocute them Cover | Mason Jones

ByteDance, Alibaba and Tencent are spending $647 million on AI. Or rather: in Christmas bribes by AI

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The big three Chinese tech companies have decided that the best way to get users for their AI chatbots is to literally pay them to use them. Between them, they are investing more than $2.9 billion in incentives during the Lunar New Year, the biggest Chinese holiday. It is a war with a single intention: to be the gateway for AI in the country. Subsidy war. The Chinese Lunar New Year has become another major battleground to win the AI ​​race. As they say from the LatePost newsletter (translated by Recode China AI), Alibaba leads with 3,000 million yuan (about 431 million dollars) that it will distribute to its users for its app qwenfollowed by Tencent with 1 billion yuan to yuanbaoand Baidu with 500 million. ByteDance, for its part, has secured the most expensive sponsorship of the Spring Festival Gala to promote Doubaoits chatbot that already has 100 million daily active users. In Xataka ByteDance is not satisfied with TikTok and has just started a new career: one that leads it to create its own AI chip User acquisition. Companies are using money in different ways but with the same objective: hooking users. Alibaba is subsidizing real purchases, from milk tea to hotel reservations, all through its Qwen assistant. According to Bloombergsome stores that offered milk tea have been overwhelmed by orders that had been placed through the chatbot. Tencent offers digital envelopes of up to 10,000 yuan (1,219 euros) directly in cash. On the other hand, ByteDance has taken advantage of its muscle in social networks to integrate Doubao throughout its network of applications. Between the lines. The most interesting part of all this is that it seems that none of these companies yet know how to monetize their AI tools, according to industry sources cited by LatePost. “Monetization models for Chinese AI companies remain murky, a challenge that is also reflected in the United States,” points out Shi Jialong, analyst at Nomura. They are buying users in the hopes of later figuring out how to convert them into revenue. {“videoId”:”x8jpy2b”,”autoplay”:false,”title”:”What’s BEHIND AIs like CHATGPT, DALL-E or MIDJOURNEY? | ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE”, “tag”:”Webedia-prod”, “duration”:”1173″} Competence. The situation is radically different from that of a year ago. DeepSeek changed the rules of the game your R1 model last year, gaining 10 million active users in less than a month. And just as they mention in LatePost, that set off a chain reaction, causing Tencent to dive headlong into AI after years of caution, Alibaba to prioritize its Qwen app above everything (even its Quark browser), and ByteDance to accelerate its investment in talent and infrastructure. Yields. ByteDance reported net profits of about $40 billion in the first three quarters of the year, while Tencent reached $30 billion and Alibaba about $10 billion. according to LatePost. Despite having achieved lower profitability in its operations, Alibaba intends to increase its investment in AI infrastructure, specifically from 55 billion to 69 billion dollars in the next three years, as pointed out in the newsletter. ByteDance, for its part, was processing an average of 63 billion tokens daily with its AI models at the end of 2025, a growth of 200% in six months. In Xataka "The world is in danger": Anthropic’s security manager leaves the company to write poetry And now what. The subsidy war to be the gateway to China is not new. As well as remember In Bloomberg, in sectors such as shared transportation or food delivery, they have experienced this battle of companies throwing incentives at their users. And companies lose money massively until the market consolidates. The difference is that here users are not afraid to change AI models and quickly switch to the one that offers the best technical performance, as indicated the OpenRouter report. It will be interesting to see what the market share of the main AI models in China looks like when they stop flying the envelope. Cover image | Arthur Wang and Solen Feyissa In Xataka |Google is going to borrow money to pay back in 100 years. You have to believe that in 100 years Google will still be there (function() { window._JS_MODULES = window._JS_MODULES || {}; var headElement = document.getElementsByTagName(‘head’)(0); if (_JS_MODULES.instagram) { var instagramScript = document.createElement(‘script’); instagramScript.src=”https://platform.instagram.com/en_US/embeds.js”; instagramScript.async = true; instagramScript.defer = true; headElement.appendChild(instagramScript); – The news ByteDance, Alibaba and Tencent are spending $647 million on AI. Or rather: in Christmas bribes by AI was originally published in Xataka by Antonio Vallejo .

Months ago, Mallorca began fining drivers in its ZBE. Now he has a problem with German tourists

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Joachin Fischer is one of the many (many) German tourists who like to enjoy the landscapes, weather and coves of Mallorca. For decades he has been visiting the island at least twice a year. If his name has stood out among the thousands of compatriots who spend their summers in the Balearic Islands, it is because a few months ago posed in front of the cameras of the press showing a fine, a sanction of 200 euros sent by the Palma City Council for (and this is the key) having accessed the Low Emissions Zone (ZBE) from the city with your car. fischer claims who drives a Tesla suitable for driving on the BZE, but that is not the only feature of his vehicle. Another (crucial) is that it has a foreign registration, which partly explains the fine. Your case is important because is not the only one German tourist who claims to have suffered a similar sanction in Palma. What has happened? That the activation of the low emissions zone (ZBE) in Palma is having unexpected protagonists: German tourists. The Balearic capital launched zoning a little over a year ago and months later, in julybegan to apply sanctions to drivers who do not respect it. Until then, nothing out of this world. At the end of the day, Palma City Council has only adjusted to what the Climate Change Law for cities with more than 50,000 inhabitants. The surprise came after time, in Novemberwhen it was found that the measure was causing friction with tourists who arrive in Palma with their foreign-registered cars, even the zero-emission ones. Why’s that? The news gave it Mallorca Diary last fall: tourists who arrive in the city with their own vehicles risk fines if they enter the streets delimited in the ZBE. And this is basically because they do not have the option of registering their license plates to process the permit. Even in those cases where they drive models that meet the technical requirements. “They are not authorized to enter the ZBE, since the DGT system is not universalized throughout the EU and each country has its own classification method, so the level of emissions of cars with foreign registration cannot be automatically verified,” They explained in November from the municipal Mobility area of ​​Palma. “They may be exempt only if they register in the system and justify their residence, meeting the established requirements.” And what is the problem? That last nuance. In the website that Palma City Council dedicates to the ZBE includes a specific section on “vehicles with foreign registration plates” in which two points are especially highlighted. The first is that “vehicles registered outside of Spain are not classified according to the criteria of the environmental label of the General Directorate of Traffic.” The second, that drivers of vehicles with foreign registration interested in accessing the ZBE must process a “authorization”a permit designed primarily for residents and owners of properties, businesses or parking spaces. The question is… And the tourists? Many of the thousands of Germans who spend their summers in the Balearic Islands rent cars with Spanish license plates with a badge that allows them to circulate without problem through the Palma ZBE, but there are also cases like Fischer’swho prefers to disembark with his own vehicle. What’s wrong with them? In November Fischer counted to the Balearic press that he had received a fine of 200 euros from the City Council for driving his electric Tesla where he shouldn’t have been. “I only entered Jaume III for a moment to pick up my 14-year-old daughter after shopping in El Born,” he lamented the man, who assures that he prefers to use his private car and not a rental one because it “amuses him” and gives “greater flexibility” when planning his trips. “Not being able to register my car, I thought that my green ecological device and the electric car license plate would be enough to avoid the fine, as is the case in low-emission zones in German cities. But that was not the case.” Is he the only one affected? It doesn’t seem like it. On those same dates the newspaper Mallorca Zeitung assured that he was receiving “more and more messages” from readers with fines. The Mallorcan press has also echoed complaints from those affected who speak of “discrimination” against Europeans with foreign cars or point out how complicated it is to register a vehicle on the list of authorized license plates, especially for those who do not speak Mallorcan or Spanish. One of the arguments put forward by critics is a note posted on the DGT page which explains that, although Spain does not issue badges for foreign vehicles, that does not have to be a problem. “If your car has an environmental label in its country of origin (Germany, Austria, Denmark, France) it is considered to have the Spanish equivalent,” he clarifies. There is who also remembers that Palma is not the only city council (neither in Spain nor in Europe) that applies mobility restrictions in the center, and insists: the rules are the same for everyone and “ignorance does not exempt from guilt.” Images | Sergiy Galyonkin (Flickr) and Đorđe Pandurević (Unsplash) In Xataka | Houses are so expensive in the Balearic Islands and the Canary Islands that they are expelling even Germans and British people from the market.

The fastest private plane in the world is now ready to fly, covering non-stop intercontinental routes and less jet lag

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Few aircraft projects raise as much expectation as that of the Bombardier Global 8000 because he who It will be the fastest civil aircraft in the world since the Concorde It has some characteristics that leave people open-mouthed and others, such as the promise of ending jet lag, that arouse some skepticism. And furthermore, it is rigorously complying with its roadmap to go from becoming an ambitious prototype in testing to being a certified commercial reality: a few days ago completed its international certification process and can now operate without restrictions in the European sky. He Bombardier Global 8000 breaks records. In its test flights, one of its aircraft reached a Mach speed of 0.941, even exceeding Mach 1.0 (Mach. 1.015) in a dive, making it the first aircraft within its commercial people transportation category to break the sound barrier in a controlled and sustainable manner. And also, in the fastest civil jet in active service. However, his certified maximum operating cruising speed is Mach 0.95, exceeding its own expectations and leaving behind others like the Gulfstream G700 or the Dassault Falcon 10X. This is possible thanks to its engines GE Passport and its aerodynamics. Its propulsion system is optimized for a high bypass ratio and thermal efficiency, enabling long flights. Its wings have a design Smooth Flĕx Wing critical: it is a variable profile structure that optimizes lift both when flying at low speed and at cruising speed. This minimizes resistance and improves stability against turbulence. With intercontinental capacity. Precisely its surname 8000 comes from its autonomy: it is capable of flying 8,000 nautical miles, about 15,000 kilometers. Again, its engines and design are largely to blame. If we take into account its range and speed, in practice it means that it is practically capable of linking two cities in the world without the need for stopovers. It is no longer that it can connect New York with Hong Kong, it is that compared to the traditional commercial flight it could save almost two hours. Goodbye to damn jet lag? As if flying from one end of the planet to another non-stop and in less time was not enough, the Bombardier Global 8000 promises minimize jet lag through pressurization and systems engineering. Go ahead something: the jet lag It’s not just lack of sleep and jet lag, it’s also an effect of air pressure. While a standard commercial airliner maintains cabin pressure equivalent to 6,000 – 8,000 feet, the Global 8000 maintains it at only 2,900 feet (about 880 meters) even when flying 41,000 feet. This means more oxygen in the blood of people traveling, so fatigue is reduced. Likewise, it integrates the Soleil System LED circadian lighting based on the dynamic position of the sun depending on the destination. A most exclusive aircraft. This aircraft does not skimp on details to optimize flight or comfort. Thus, it has a HEPA filtration system that renews the cabin air in less than 90 seconds, it has very comfortable a priori Bombardier patented Nuage seats with zero gravity position, four private suites with king-size beds and there is no shortage of shower on board. Beyond its innovations and luxuries, it has something essential from a practicality point of view: its design allows it to operate in small airports and even on wet and bad runways, so it can land or take off in up to 2,050 airports. According to Bombardier, this marks the difference with the competition. The interior of one of its exclusive suites ready to fly. As we mentioned in the intro, the Bombardier Global 8000 already has everything to fly. After the envelope validation phase which took place between 2021 and 2023 where the company verified that elements such as the wing and the stabilizers supported transonic shock waves without losing structural integrity, they moved on to the testing and certification phase. First Transport Canada, then the FAA American and a couple of weeks ago, the European, which opens the doors to accepting deliveries in the United States and Europe. However, the first customers of the launch have already begun to receive their units from 2025. By the way, those who own the previous model, the Global 7500, you can upgrade it to the new Global 8000. In Xataka | The largest plane in the world has just broken its record for flight hours: its real mission is even more ambitious In Xataka | The whale of the skies says goodbye: the Airbus Beluga ST retires after years transporting other aircraft parts Cover and images | Bombardier

SMIC is the Chinese TSMC and sums up all investment in AI

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The semiconductor industry has pressed the panic button. Unlike the chip crisis of 2020the new one has not been caused by a ‘perfect storm’ and has a first and last name: artificial intelligence. The push for this technology and the rampant construction of data centers has caused a stock out of all computer components. And if the world’s leading companies have been caught on the wrong foot, the Chinese ones are no exception. To the point that SMIC has confirmed the lean times. The Chinese industry has activated “crisis mode.” Crisis (don’t bother…). At this point, introductions are unnecessary. The RAM market is broken because the main players (Samsung, Micron and SK Hynix) have focused on creating memory for data centers. The reports point to an NVIDIA that would ‘pass’ on launching consumer GPUs this year because you need all possible wafers to create GPUs focused on AI. And after the SSD price risethe following can be the processors. A few days ago, a report from Reuters noted that Intel and AMD were beginning to notify Chinese customers to sit tight for new shipments of server CPUs. Because we always talk about NVIDIA as if it were the only one that creates components for data centers, but the chips Threadripper from AMD and Xeon from Intel are key parts of servers. According to Reuters sources, AMD has warned of an increase in delivery times from eight to ten weeks. And if we look at an Intel whose sales in China represent 20% of its general income, they point out that the price of the fourth and fifth generation Xeons are being rationed and, in addition, increasing the price by 10%. As with other components, they are not enough. From hope to victim. From Reuters they point out that AMD hopes that its relationship with TSMC will allow it to maintain the supply chain. The problem is that TSMC has to be working hard to supply all its customers. NVIDIA is putting pressureQualcomm also needs its premium range mobile processors this year and they are the ones that make Apple’s processors. SMIC -Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp- is the main Chinese semiconductor company. It is the one that in recent years has gained prominence defy US restrictions and provide high-performance chips to Huawei. It is also the great hope, together with Huawei itself, to develop a GPU that can cope with NVIDIA. Zhao Haijun is the co-CEO of SMIC and has come forward to be anything but reassuring. Double reservation. SMIC is winning more money thanks to demand, but production capacity is limited, to the point that he considers that the industry has entered “crisis mode.” “Customers are hesitant to place orders because no one knows how many memory chips will be available and, therefore, how many orders for phones, cars or other products they will be able to build,” stated to investors. In fact, analysis from Counterpoint reflect this crisis with a figure: 2.5%. This is what would have lowered the shipping forecast for Honor, OPPO and Vivo phones for the coming months. That leads manufacturers to book with multiple suppliers, something Zhao has compared with the “double booking” behavior that can be seen on an airline. “If one airline is fully booked, passengers will immediately book another, making total bookings appear inflated even though actual demand has not increased proportionately.” In essence, if the production capacity is limited, but the companies that need chips reserve several suppliers that draw from the same source, it seems that the demand is beastly, although, in reality, this is not so much the case. The result is the same: the system collapses. Car-free highways. The note of the double reservation is not the only pearl that Zhao has left. It is evident that, whether they can handle the demand or not, it is good for SMIC because Chinese companies eager for chips to develop their AI (of which They don’t stop releasing new models) are purchasing components for their data centersand the executive commented that “no one has really thought about what exactly those data centers will do, but companies would love to build the total capacity of the next 10 years in just one or two years.” “It’s like building train stations and high-speed highways even if there aren’t that many cars that need them yet” – Zhao Haijun Three billion dollars. But it’s about being there, having a place at the table where the conversation that, they hope, will shape the future is being defined. American Big Tech plans burn more than 650 billion dollars this 2026 alone, a brutal increase if we take into account that the investment was 400,000 million in 2025. But if we look at the global estimate, with Alibaba, Bytedance or Tencent in the equation, the estimate is three trillion dollars for the next five years. Crisistunity. In the face of crisis, opportunity. We have already commented that AMD, Intel or NVIDIA they are saturated. Also Samsung, SK Hynix and Micron on the memory boat, and in that scenario is where there are certain companies that can begin to carve out a space for themselves at an accelerated pace. SMIC is one of them, satisfying the demand of local customers, but memory manufacturers such as CXMT or YMTC that They had never painted anything in the conversationyou have a chance. We already know that PC manufacturers such as Asus, Dell or HP are considering buying CXMT memories and that Lenovo has already started to do so. And it is not only a window for Chinese companies: Intel has an adventure with the Japanese SoftBank to stand up to Samsung and its HBM4 memories. And even ByteDance would be working on your own AI chip. The problem is the same one we have been talking about for a long time: no matter how much they increase production and no matter how much new players appear, they are all playing in the same game, that of allocating most … Read more

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