Month: March 2026

They are disassembled down to the ports. And we have tried it

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The MWC hasn’t started and I was already able to try one of the most curious devices of the entire event: the Lenovo ThinkBook Modular AI PC. The modular thing It fits perfectly, it perfectly describes his aspiration: disassemble into pieces to be able to update the laptop as needed. And to expand the possibilities, because it is a really striking all-in-one. Lenovo has brought a good amount of news around laptops and tablets. It has updated its Yoga, ThinkPad, Legion and ThinkBook families. Apart from business models, the company brought several experiments. Having a laptop that expands your workspace by simply separating the parts is the main novelty. Lenovo ThinkBook Modular AI PC data sheet Lenovo ThinkBook Modular AI PC Concept SCREEN 2x 14-inch 16:10 OLED panels Resolution of 3,840 x 2,400 pixels 120Hz refresh 500 nits Touch screen DIMENSIONS AND WEIGHT 313 x 233 x 16-23.9mm 1.15 kg (single screen) 1.41 kg (dual screen) PROCESSOR Intel Core Ultra 7 255H GRAPHIC CARD Intel Integrated RAM 32GB STORAGE 1TB M.2 PCIe SSD CAMERA 8MP BATTERY 33Wh OPERATING SYSTEM Windows 11 CONNECTIVITY Wi-Fi 7 PORTS 1x USB-C 2x USB-A 1xHDMI 2x Magic Bay Pogo Pin 1x Audio combo jack OTHERS Harman Kardon 2+2 Speakers 4 microphone array Dolby Atmos Smart Amplifier Color: Moon Gray PRICE Unspecified A compact laptop that disassembles into modules Motorola engineers must have asked themselves: “How many modules do we put in the new laptop?” And someone answered: “Yes.” Because it blew me away during the presentation: when I thought it couldn’t be cut any further, there were still pieces left. The laptop looks like a normal ThinkBook device when folded. But no, because it has a secondary screen that is anchored to the main one, although on the back. The laptop can project content forward and backwardtwo people could play a game of sinking the fleet, for example. Or use that secondary screen to work in parallel: the panel is dismantled. This is where the soul of transformer begins: Lenovo has created a double workspace. He secondary panel It can stand up thanks to a magnetic leg. And when connected to the computer, it is powered by energy and data. Of course, both screens are touch screens and can be configured to extend the workspace or double the existing one. The Lenovo ThinkBook Modular AI PC also allows the keyboard to be detached. This makes it easy to type remotely while the screens are projecting a presentation, for example. With another extra ability: the secondary panel can be placed in the physical keyboard recess. I thought I had had enough of a modular concept, but no: Lenovo reserved some removable ports. Located one at each end, it is possible to remove them to place an extra USB-C port, for example. OR An HDMI, the two connectors that Lenovo currently has as a sample. As it is a concept, the Lenovo ThinkBook Modular AI PC could evolve with more port-like accessories. Dozens of uses for a single device It is surprising when dismantling and when all the parts are placed on the table. Also in the number of formats that the laptop assumes just due to its peculiar mechanics: Traditional laptop with touch screen. Laptop with front and rear touch screen. Laptop with secondary screen in parallel. Panel included for presentations. Laptop with full screen surface and split in two. For work, for acting, for playing… The parts can be changed and thus improve the computer’s capabilities. It is also more easy to repair and, in principle, to update. As long as the concept ends up being viable for Lenovo. Magnets are the invisible protagonist of the device: all components are riddled with magnetic elements. The secondary screen is anchored by magnet, the keyboard is the same, the foot to support the panel in parallel is magnetic… And its connector is the same, of course. This makes assembly and disassembly much easier. The parts aren’t always easy to attach, though: I had a hard time keeping the secondary panel upright with the magnetic “kickstand.” Great as a concept. Something fragile in practice I took one apart and put it back together several times. First with all the effort dedicated to the task, then trying to record the process with the mobile phone while using the other hand to tame the transformer. The pieces seemed solid enough to me.although it is difficult to know where to go to unpin them. Although Lenovo assured me that it was a proof of concept, I saw the ThinkBook Modular AI PC as sufficiently fine-tuned. I noticed a certain fragility, such as the unstable support of the secondary panel, that said panel could not be adjusted in brightness (it had not yet been foreseen) or that the lower fan rubbed against the case when gripping the laptop at that point (happened to me a couple of times). Logical drawbacks for a device in development. That Lenovo innovates in a segment where almost everything has already been invented seems like an excellent idea to me. Especially since dividing the laptop by modules adds expansion, updating and repairability possibilities. Also fragility, of course. It is not yet known if it will be released on the market, but surely all the accumulated experience ends up in the rest of the family. As a concept, I thought it was outstanding. Images | Ivan Linares In Xataka | The latest from Lenovo is a gaming laptop with a rollable screen. It makes more sense than it seems

This is the most modern icebreaker in the Russian fleet

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For centuries, Arctic ice has been a physical barrier to navigation. It is not just about extreme temperatures or rough seas, but about plates capable of closing entire routes for a good part of the year. In this scenario, clearing the way for ships does not depend solely on maps or satellites, but on very specific machinery: the icebreakers. According to CSISRussia has the largest fleet of icebreakers in the world, nuclear and non-nuclear, and that capacity has become a tool that combines logistics, economics and state presence in one of the most disputed regions on the planet. One of the most recent examples of that bet is the nuclear icebreaker “Yakutiya“. This ship is part of project 22220, a series designed to support annual navigation in the Russian Arctic and facilitate transit along the Northern Sea Route. Built at the Baltic Shipyard in Saint Petersburg and operated by AtomflotRosatom’s icebreaker division, the “Yakutiya” is part of a generation of ships that Russia considers key to maintaining maritime activity in its Arctic waters. A boat designed to navigate the most difficult routes on the planet World Nuclear News reported on October 10, 2024 that the first of its two RITM-200 reactors had reached the minimum controlled power level after fuel loading and corresponding verifications. By December 2024, the vessel had completed the builder’s pre-delivery sea trials. Already in April 2025, the “Yakutiya” was sailing towards its home port in Murmansk and, according to The Barents Observerwas expected to continue into the Kara Sea to support operations in the Western Arctic. Beyond its construction chronology, what defines the “Yakutiya” are its technical capabilities. According to Rosatom data, the ship measures 173.3 meters in length and 34 meters in width, with 33 meters at the waterline, dimensions that allow it to open channels wide enough for large ships. Its displacement is around 33,000 tons. In open water conditions, it can reach a speed close to 22 knots, about 40 km/h. The most determining characteristic is its ability to break ice up to three meters thick. Rosatom explains, Furthermore, these ships are defined as universal nuclear icebreakers. They are designed to operate both in the open sea and in shallow areas of the arcticincluding the mouths of Siberian rivers. This combination significantly expands its field of action within the network of Arctic routes, where ice and depth conditions can change significantly depending on the region. In addition, icebreakers of this class can escort large commercial vessels, including oil tankers and liquefied natural gas carriers. Each unit is designed to operate for decades, with an estimated useful life of at least 40 years and a crew of approximately 75 people. To understand why Russia invests in ships like the “Yakutiya” you have to look at the map of the Arctic. The Northern Sea Route runs along the northern coast of Russia and connects the Bering Strait with the Kara Strait (Kara Gate), according to CSIS. The same analysis indicates that Moscow considers this sea route a pillar of its economic and security strategy in the region, since it facilitates the transportation of resources and reinforces its presence in an increasingly disputed area. In this framework, the advantage of scale in icebreakers makes it easier to maintain maritime transit in extreme conditions and sustain commercial and state activities in the region. The “Yakutiya” is one more piece within that commitment to the Arctic. What remains to be seen is to what extent Russia will be able to continue expanding and modernizing this fleet in a complex international context and with an industry subject to external pressures. Images | Rosatom | Atomflot In Xataka | As the US approached, the satellites have captured a shadow: Iran has resurrected a Russian Frankenstein for what is to come

the Honor Robot Phone dances to your music as well as takes photos of you

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Over the years I have seen innovations that passed through mobile phones in a flash. The motorized cameras They were one of them: they became popular between 2018 and 2020 and then disappeared from the market as if they had not existed. Until Honor has arrived with his Robot Phonea phone that maximizes the bet of the original motorized cameras. The brand brought its latest innovations to Barcelona, ​​although the presentation had a bitter taste. The foldable Honor V6 It will still take a few months to arrive and the robotic mobile does not even have a date. Its state is experimental, it cannot be touched. It does allow you to invoke the camera using gestures. A gimbal tied to a smartphone Vivo has been including its gimbal mechanism in the X family for years, a three-axis stabilizer that simulates the stabilization accessory. But Honor’s bet is radically different, since the Robot Phone includes a authentic gimbal. And orchestrated with AI. The idea behind the phone is to offer automated photo and video taking without us having to worry about keeping the person in focus or following them. The Robot Phone can do all that without the need for extra accessories: the rear camera deploys when commanded. Either from the phone settings or by gestures: The front camera must recognize the palm of the hand, like the photo application does to take a selfie without touching the phone. Once the detection is made, an icon appears on the screen to notify you. At that moment you have to turn your hand so that the robot camera comes out. The robotic arm is activated by coming out of its rear socket and facing the user. The process between detection and the moment the camera is active takes about ten seconds. It’s not fast, it still needs some polishing. The gimbal of the robot camera consists of three axes with motors developed by Honor itself. The brand assures that they are the smallest in the world and that it has achieved reduce its size by 70% with respect to similar engines. The result of including this motorization is a very small, versatile and, according to Honor, very robust accessory. They use the experience and materials they already use in the hinges of the V-foldings. More than a camera Instantly attention-grabbing, you don’t expect a robotic arm to come out from behind a phone. That surprise ends up leading to empathy: Honor highlights the robot’s ability to interact with the user. For example, you can follow the rhythm of music by moving your head up and down. Or emphasize the conversation when we interact with the AI. Honor proposes different use cases for the phone. It is a camera that follows the action, that avoids shaking and that can pan without moving the mobile. In addition, it is capable of becoming a co-worker thanks to AI: it can become a work co-pilot. All thanks to Honor AI already Gemini. No specifications at the moment As a proof of concept, we still don’t know much more about its technical sheet other than that it has a Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 as a processor and a 200 megapixel sensor for the robotic camera. The mobile has a solid construction (probably aluminum), straight edges and a screen that will not be far from 6.7 inches. It will be a premium range with all the law. It is a risky concept and I don’t quite see its more practical side, but the curious one. For video recording I think it’s an excellent idea, also for those who want to record everything: the Robot Phone can identify the environment and react to what it sees. AI action tracking is one of its best capabilities. It is still somewhat clumsy in practice, it is difficult to interact with the camera and You can see that the software is a bit green: The robotic camera did not always appear when making the hand gesture. And you had to close the capture application to try again. Live stuff. The return of motorized cameras under the protection of AI I remember having tested many mobile phones with cameras that were hidden in the phone to ensure that the entire screen surface was usable. He OPPO N3 He was one of the first, Asus Zenfone 6 It is another of the models that brings back the most memories: it allowed you to follow people taking advantage of the movement of the camera. The Honor Robot Phone has gone much further. It is a mobile phone that is unlike any other, at least for now. It offers different solutions to all those who use the phone to record video. And embrace the great presence that AI is having in all technological devices. Because, if robots are one step away from get to our housesthe advance could well be the Robot Phone. If the cell phone one day comes to make my bed, I’ll sign it. Images | Ivan Linares In Xataka | Best Honor phones in quality price. Which one to buy based on use and six recommended models

“He who postpones everything will not leave anything completed or perfect”

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Yeah Hugo Gernsback Had it not been born, it is likely that what we know today as “science fiction literature” would be something different, less exciting and certainly less popular. After all, he forms, together with HG Wells and Jules Verne, the shortlist of “parents” of the genus. Despite this role, his relevance as a publisher, businessman and even inventor, Hugo is often remembered for one of his most delirious creations: ‘The Isolator’, a futuristic cucumber-shaped anti-procrastination helmet. Your goal, repel distractions. If Gernsback had read Democritus he could have saved it. In a place in Abdera… Classical antiquity was an era rich in talented thinkers, but few have been as prescient as Democritusa polymath born (it is believed) in Abdera around 460 BC Throughout his long life Democritus traveled, studied various disciplines and above all developed one of the theories of his teacher Leucippus that fascinates us most today: atomism. 1,400 years before John Dalton was born, its defenders maintained that the cosmos was made up of indestructible particles that combine in a vacuum, atoms. Throughout his life Democritus reflected on ethics, mathematics and art. His encyclopedic erudition has made him one of those thinkers to whom (with greater or lesser reliability) countless proverbial quotes. Some are ambiguous and open to various interpretations. Others, like the one he supposedly dedicated to procrastination, are forceful… and almost prophetic. Ear pull. The phrase in question sounds almost like a slap on the wrist, but in reality it is not surprising for that reason. It does so because it is valid in full 2026. Perhaps Democritus pronounced it more than 2,300 years ago in the forum of some cop Greek, but it could perfectly come from the lips of a coach determined to motivate his followers: “He who postpones everything will leave nothing finished or perfect.” In other words, be careful with procrastinating because, although at first it may be a relief, in the end it will make you feel frustrated. The approach fits well with the way of thinking of Democritus, who encouraged seeking the euthymiaa term that comes from the Greek ‘eu’ (good) and ‘thynos’ (mood) and that basically advocates a balanced state of mind. It is difficult to experience harmony, stability and calm if tasks drag on that are never completed. What’s more, for Democritus the smart It is not aspiring to a fickle and thoughtless pleasure, but to a calm spirit. Current yes, new no. In reality Democritus was not the only (or first) philosopher of classical antiquity who reflected on what we know today as “procrastinate”. Long before him it is said that the poet already did it Hesiod and one of the most influential intellectuals of the Roman Empire, the statist and philosopher, also spoke on the subject in a certain way. Marcus Aurelius. “Do not be negligent in your actions, nor muddle in your conversations, nor wander aimlessly in your imaginations, nor, in short, constrict your soul or become dispersed, nor in the course of life be overly busy,” it reads. Meditations. His words (like those of Seneca) are interesting because they reveal that the temptation to ‘waste time’ and postpone tasks has been troubling man for millennia. Why is it important? That a philosopher born almost 2,500 years ago would worry about procrastination (albeit with different words) is curious, but if Democritus’ words resonate strongly so many centuries later, it is because of something else: their astonishing clarity. First because they focus on a problem that (we now know) is almost inherent to humans. Second, because as the wise man from Abdera already sensed, postponing tasks can be a destructive habit that ends up weighing down our spirits and making it difficult for us to achieve the valuable euthymia. A percentage: 20%. Joseph Ferrari, professor of psychology, warned a few years ago in an interview published by the American Psychological Association about the extent to which we are prone to postpone tasks that (for one reason or another) we do not want to face. “One of my favorite sayings is ‘We all procrastinate, but not everyone is a procrastinator.’ We all put off tasks, but my research has found that 20% of people in the US are chronic procrastinators. They put off tasks, they make procrastination their way of life.” To understand its scope, Ferrari remembers that this 20% is “a greater number than that of people diagnosed with clinical depression or phobias” and warns of its implications. It’s one thing to postpone tasks punctually and another to “chronically procrastinate.” Whoever is in that last category, he warns, is no longer dealing with a time management problem, but with “a maladaptive lifestyle.” “Irrational circle”. The issue would not be relevant if it were only a matter of laziness, something that prevents us from being more productive. The problem, remember Charlotte Lieberman in The New York Timesis that it also “makes us feel bad” and involves knowingly making an incorrect decision. “People get caught in this irrational cycle of procrastination due to an inability to improve negative moods around a task,” matches Fuschia Sirois, professor of psychology at the University of Sheffield, United Kingdom. There are even those who, like researcher Tim Pychyl, they think that procrastination is actually not a time management problem, but rather an “emotion regulation” problem. Different theories have been formulated regarding its reasons and effects. For example, there are those who relate it to “the immediate urgency of managing negative moods” and those who believe that procrastination “exacerbates” anguish and stress. “The temporary relief we feel is what really makes the cycle very vicious,” Lieberman warns us. Science to the rescue. What Democritus perhaps could not imagine in the 4th century BC is the extent to which our own organism sets traps for us. In recent years, science has asked itself on several occasions why we are so tempted to postpone annoying tasks and has obtained fascinating answers. For example, in 2018 a group of researchers published a study … Read more

Sleeping straight is a modern invention, not an evolution

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Regarding sleep, there are some deeply rooted beliefs such as that falling asleep in less than five minutes is good (spoiler: not at all), that we need to sleep eight hours (we are probably sleeping too much) or that sleeping straight through the night is ideal. There are no two without three and indeed: neither. In fact, if you wake up around three like magic, it’s not strange. After all, getting eight hours of uninterrupted sleep is a modern invention. Sleep science, history and biology all point in the same direction: we have never slept straight through. Understanding and assimilating this can change the way we approach our nights. Why it is important. Because we live in a time in which sleep disorders and the use of sleeping medicines are the order of the day, this reminder has therapeutic value. There are people with insomnia who do not have a disorder, but rather an ancestral biological pattern that clashes with modern life. It is not a problem of the dream, but of our expectations. Be careful, this is not an excuse for not treating pathological insomnia, but it is an excuse to help people reduce their anxiety regarding sleep and taking medication that they may not need. When the night was divided in two. Until about two centuries ago, it was not normal for people to sleep straight through. The pattern was the following: people went to bed shortly after dark, slept for about four hours, and then woke up for a little while to go back to sleep later, until dawn. It is known as biphasic sleep and is widely documented throughout the planet. Virgil already spoke of “the hour in which the first sleep begins for weary mortals” in his Aeneidalthough one of the people who has studied it the most is Roger Ekirch, who dedicated 16 years of research and gathered more than 500 references from documents of all types. Why we lost biphasic sleep. In two words: artificial light. Since the 18th century, when humanity had oil, gas or electric lamps, the night became useful time. And as we already know, light is not harmless to the brain: inhibits melatonin production and alters our circadian rhythms, advancing them. The more light we get before bed, the later we fall asleep and the less likely we are to wake up in the middle of the night. The Industrial Revolution did the rest: the rigidity of schedules ended up concentrating rest in a single block. What human evolution had established throughout our existence, the frenetic life of production and its advances had disrupted it forever. Return to the origins. When science subjects volunteers to conditions that simulate long winter nights, without lights, clocks, and completely dark, people spontaneously return to biphasic sleep with a quiet period of wakefulness. This 2017 study in a Madagascan farming community without electricity corroborated this pattern in real-world conditions. Light not only regulates sleep, it also affects our perception of time. Research from the Environmental Temporal Cognition Lab at Keele University evidence that with low lighting it seems that time passes more slowly, an effect that is magnified in people with a low mood. This explains why for many people winter feels eternal and depressing. And why if you wake up at 3 am time seems longer. What to do when you wake up in the middle of the night. If this nocturnal awakening has a biological basis, the key is in how we respond. The usual treatment through Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia Give specific guidelines: if you haven’t slept for more than 20 minutes, get up and do a quiet activity with dim light, such as reading. And go back to bed when you feel drowsy. Also, forget about the clock: looking at the time triggers anxiety. But above and beyond procedures, it is important to understand something: this vigil does not have to be an alarm signal, but rather a sign of something deeply engraved in human nature. Accepting it instead of fighting it is often the shortest path back to sleep. In Xataka | The work ethic has been selling for years that getting up at 05:00 AM is good. Science is clear that absolutely 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 Cover | iam_os

Science had always believed that only humans understand geometry. Until we noticed the crows again

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The perception of geometric regularity in shapes, a variant of elementary geometry, has long been considered an ability that only human beings had. And it is no wonder, since from quite early stages of development and across multiple cultures, our species has demonstrated a natural understanding of spatial rules. But this has changed in a species similar to crows. A radical change. Although this innate quality of humans was quite well established, science has now shown that the crows too They have geometric understanding. A cognitive milestone that rethinks what we thought we knew about animal intelligence and the evolution of pure mathematics. A myth. The scientific bases showed a notable gap between human abilities and those of the rest of the animal kingdom with regard to euclidean geometry. Previous research had already seen that primates lacked the ability to recognize geometric regularity in tests of visual perception of shapes, something fundamental, since they may be the first that come to mind when thinking about this property. And this was crucial to determining that humans have an innate ability to process geometric regularity, since the recurring inability to species like baboons After intensive training he laid these foundations. However, the researchers decided to explore these abilities in birds known for their impressive cognitive and arithmetic skills. Touch screens. To test birds’ spatial intuition, scientists from the University of Tübingen They designed an experiment based on the detection of visual anomalies. In this case, two 10- and 11-year-old male crows were trained using touch screens located inside conditioning chambers. Here the birds could observe an array that displayed six simultaneous shapes on the screen and the task was to detect an “intruder”, that is, to peck at the shape that differed in its visual parameters with respect to the other five base stimuli. The tests. For the final test, five reference quadrilaterals were used, ordered by their level of regularity: the square, the isosceles trapezoid, the rhombus, the right hinge, and a completely irregular shape. From here on, the “intrusive” figures were artificially generated moving the lower right vertex of the original figure at a fixed distance equivalent to 75% of the average distance between the vertices. Results. The most impressive thing seen was the immediacy of understanding the problem, as the crows were able to apply the concept of detecting the intruder immediately upon being exposed to the new sets of quadrilaterals. Both subjects dramatically exceeded the 16.7% chance level during their first trials, demonstrating that they understood the task without hesitating or mindlessly pecking. Furthermore, during the first 60 trials, the first crow achieved 48.3% success and the second crow 56.7%. The most impressive thing. The most revealing data from these tests was precisely that the birds showed significantly better performance with shapes that presented properties of pure Euclidean geometry, such as right angles, parallel lines or symmetry. It is crucial here to highlight that this performance advantage did not require extensive prior training, but rather the regularity effect was present from the very beginning of the testing phase. Because? Faced with the logical question of why crows achieved what other primates failed, the authors of the study recognize certain important methodological differences compared to classic experiments with baboons. In this case, they point out that the crows were subjected to a strict progress criterion during training, needing to maintain 75% correctness over five consecutive sessions. In contrast, baboons only needed to reach a criterion of 80% correct responses only once, without the need for consecutive sessions. And although this difference may make a direct and exact comparison between the species difficult, the main finding is incontestable: crows recognize geometric regularity. Images | Tyler Quiring In Xataka | Punch, the monkey clinging to a stuffed animal and a victim of bullying, has achieved the impossible: uniting the Internet under the same cause

In 2025, China installed more wind electricity capacity than the US has deployed in its history. And it’s just the beginning

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The world faces a textbook climate contradiction: the planet desperately needs cheap, clean energy, but when someone manages to produce it on a massive scale, Western powers put up barricades. We are witnessing a pattern identical to the one that has already shaken the electric car industry. China leads the most competitive green technology, the West fears it and slows it down with tariffs, and, ultimately, the climate ends up paying the bill for this blockade. The figures speak for themselves. According to the latest data published by Wood Mackenzieglobal order intake for wind turbines reached 215 gigawatts (GW) in 2025. This is the second highest figure in recorded history. And the big winners of this milestone were not going to be anyone else. Yes, we are talking about China. While total global volume saw a slight decline of 8% in 2025 – driven by a strategic pause in the Chinese domestic market – the international expansion of Chinese original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) has been relentless. The global consulting firm details that orders from these companies outside their borders skyrocketed by 66% year-on-year, tripling the volumes of 2023. The dominance is almost absolute: eight of last year’s top ten global manufacturers are Chinese, with Goldwind, Envision and Windey crowning the list. But this industrial power cannot be understood without the colossal infrastructure that supports it. China has carried out an engineering feat unprecedented: in 2025 alone, the Asian giant added 542.7 GW of capacity to its electricity grid. In less than half a decade, Beijing has built more energy infrastructure than the United States has deployed in its entire history. From imitation to innovation. The narrative that China only competes by price gouging has expired. The country has made a qualitative leap towards cutting-edge innovation. In these last months we have collected in Xataka the milestones of the Asian country in terms of the construction of large wind turbines in the middle of the sea. This certifies the end of the Western monopoly in emerging markets. While European manufacturers such as Vestas or Nordex maintain leadership in their natural territory, they are losing ground globally to Asian offers with high technical specifications and low costs. For Beijing it is not just about ecology; It is a national security strategy to guarantee the supply of intensive industries, such as Artificial Intelligence, and free ourselves from dependence on imported fossil fuels. This is how they conquer the Global South. Faced with a domestic market that is beginning to mature, the Asian giants have set their eyes on the Middle East, India and Latin America. Finlay Clark, principal analyst of Wood Mackenzie, gives the key to this expansion: Chinese manufacturers are making waves thanks to the rapid deployment of giant platforms of more than 10 MW. These megaturbines allow developers to minimize costs on gigawatt-scale projects. The result is devastating: in 2025, Chinese companies will capture the 95% of regional capacity in the Middle East and Africa. The symbol of this surprise was planted in Saudi Arabia, where the Goldwind company achieved a historic order of 3.1 GW to supply two sites. Furthermore, in its ambition to dominate deep waters—where wind potential is multiplying—China is already manufacturing fully domestic all the key components of its floating platforms. An imminent train wreck. Geopolitics has fully entered the spreadsheet of energy promoters. Wood Mackenzie warns that the policy It is making acquisitions drastically more expensive and complicated. Barriers such as the European Union’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) and the expansion of US tariffs costs are skyrocketing import of steel and heavy components. The market is facing critical tension. On the one hand, regulatory pressure pushes costs up; On the other hand, the profitability of the projects requires increasingly cheaper turbines. Despite this panorama, there are reasons for optimism in the Old Continent: although the intake of offshore wind orders fell by 17% in 2025 due to the restructuring of European tenders, analysts They predict a strong rebound by 2026, boosted by new grant schemes such as the UK’s round 7 auctions. The Western Counterattack. However, China’s apparent invulnerability has cracks. As we detail in Xataka, Beijing suffers from a silent but critical dependence on Western technology. The Chinese wind industry has the muscle to assemble like a beast, but it lacks the “brain”: it needs to import 100% of the logic modules that control the turbines in real time and 70% of the transistor modules for the electrical grid. However, the real obstacle for the West, experts warn, is no longer just capital, but “human bottleneck”: Decades of offshoring have emptied the United States and Europe of engineers and specialized industrial labor. Condemned to understand each other. The energy transition has ceased to be an environmental mission and has become a total geopolitical battlefield. China dominates scale, speed and execution, while the West still holds the keys to critical technological innovation and capital markets. The great irony is that this trade war of tariffs and blockades risks slowing down decarbonization at the most critical time for the planet. At the end of the day, the interdependence between both blocks is their greatest weakness, but also the only guarantee that, sooner or later, they are condemned to understand each other. Image | Land Rover Our Planet (CC BY-ND 2.0) Xataka | China dominates the world of renewable energy, but it has an Achilles heel: it depends on the West more than it admits

Nobody wants to take up weapons, but they are making money selling them

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Europe has accelerated your spending in defense up to levels that had not been seen since the end of the Cold War, driven by conflicts on its borders and a growing strategic uncertainty. The reflection has been a global arms market that is experiencing one of its more expansive cycles in decades, with long-term contracts and industrial chains that work at full capacity. In this context of rearmament and international repositioning, some countries face to a reality that goes beyond the numbers. For example, Spain. An industry that shoots record numbers. They counted this week in Spanish that, at the end of 2024 (last year for which official data is available), the Spanish defense industry touched 7,000 million of euros in exports, 10.6% more than the previous year, consolidating a model in which almost 70% of the sector’s sales depend on the foreign market. Three large companies (Airbus, Indra and Navantia) concentrate more than 70% of international business, and if Rheinmetall Expal and ITP Aero are added, five companies account for more than 80% of exports. According to the Ministry of Defense, the bulk comes from international programs such as the A400M or the Eurofighter, with the aeronautical subsector representing almost two-thirds of the total, while conventional weapons and missiles are growing strongly. Spain maintains ninth place in the world as an exporter, with 3% of the global marketand although it has lost positions compared to competitors such as Italy or Israel, its absolute numbers continue to increase. Ukraine as a showcase and accelerator. The war in Ukraine has been a catalyst. Since 2022, Spain has authorized more than 910 million euros in sales of defense material to kyiv, with a special weight of ammunition and projectiles, including more than 130,000 155 mm. Added to this are battle tanks, armored vehicles, missiles and direct donations that include everything from Harpoon systems to medicalized armored vehicles. Only in 2023 exports to Ukraine represented more than 150 millionand in the first half of 2024 they exceeded 130 million, increasing the relative weight of kyiv within the export group. In other words, Spain not only participates politically in the European effort, but has become a relevant supplier in a high-intensity conflict that consumes ammunition at an industrial rate. The paradox of the empty uniform. It we count this week. While the factories work at full capacity and the international contracts multiply, the interest of the Spanish population in joining the Armed Forces does not live his best moment. The social distance from the military profession, demographic aging and competition in the civilian labor market contrast with the strength of the defense industrial complex. Those 7 billion of euros summarize an uncomfortable reality in Spain: because there may be a lack of hands to take up weapons, but they are making money selling them to the rest of the planet. The country participates in fighters, produces radars, large-caliber ammunition or naval systems for third parties, while the internal debate revolves around vocations, working conditions and professional attractiveness. A model with recruitment on the other hand. The analysis of Defense in Spain indicates that the strength of the sector does not rest on the size of the national army, but rather on its integration into consortia Europeans and global supply chains. Ukraine, India, Saudi Arabia, France, the United States and Germany are among the main destinations for Spanish material, which shows a geographic diversification that cushions any internal fluctuation. The industry acts as a technological engine and generator of qualified employment, but also as an actor fully inserted in a global market that is experiencing a rebound sustained by conflicts and geopolitical tensions. Between industrial power and social debate. Spain thus finds itself facing a strategic duality. On the one hand, it consolidates its role as a relevant actor in world trade of weapons and strengthens its position in key international programs. On the other hand, face a domestic debate about the link between society and defense that is not resolved with accounting balances. The paradox is no small thing: a country that escalates million-dollar contracts abroad while dealing with the need to make more attractive the uniform at home. And in this tension between global market and national commitment is drawn one of the quietest dilemmas of Spanish defense policy. Image | Seko Photography In Xataka | Europe has asked its military experts how to become independent from the US for the next war. The answer is déjà vu: the F-35 In Xataka | Spain’s main problem is not weapons, fighters or drones: it is the number of hands it lacks to use them

the subtle change on your screen that your eyes will appreciate after eight hours of Excel

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If you work or study for many hours every day in front of the PC screen, It is very likely that you will end up with tired eyes: reading a lot of text, watching videos, going from one Excel to another (and then to another, and another), writing, editing images or videos and a very long etcetera of tasks sustained over time will almost certainly cause you to have eye fatigue and a tiredness in your eyes that is as uncomfortable as it is unhealthy. If you have no choice but to be in front of the monitor for a good handful of hours each day (something quite common in many cases, in these times), you can always do everything possible on your part to minimize it and even remedy it: Get up every now and then, don’t stare too long at a time and look at distant objects, stand at a distance that prevents you from straining your eyes too much, and more similar tricks. And added to all this, I am going to give you an idea that perhaps you had not considered and that is not going to solve your life, but it will make you gain visual comfort (and I say this from experience): using a monitor with a high refresh rate. Even if you don’t play. Because having more than 60 Hz (120 Hz, 144 Hz and even more) is an excellent idea outside of the field of video games. And (spoiler) nowadays, the price difference between some monitors and others is so small, that I can tell you that it is very worth it that little extra investment. What is refresh rate (and what does it affect) Okay, on paper, purely speaking of specs, 120Hz is better than 60Hz. And 144 Hzbetter than 120 Hz. That has become clear to us. But exactly what are we talking about? We are talking about hertz, which in short determine the number of frames per second that the screen in question is capable of displaying. In other words: the number of still images that appear, one after another, in one second of time. The greater the quantity, the more fluid the image, which can be a video game, a video or the apps we use in our daily lives. The latter, just what we are looking for. In practice, having more than 60 Hz and therefore a higher refresh rate translates into fluidity. Fluidity in everything: transitions, application effects, window and cursor movements, scroll much softer and, ultimately, everything that generates movement on the screen. Something that may seem minor, but in the long run, and after spending hours in front of the monitor, it is noticeable. A one-way road. At this point, we must take into account the ‘price factor’. Because long ago, going above that base 60 Hz from which monitors start was expensive. However now, with refresh rates that even exceed 360 Hzwe find 144 Hz (or 120 Hz, or 165 Hz and even more) options at great prices. Which means that for a fairly contained investment you can make a huge leap in quality. The good and the bad, face to face Although the theory is simple, the differences between one type of monitor and another can be confusing if you are not familiar with it. Then, This table as a summary will clarify it a lot for you.. 60Hz 144Hz THE GOOD 🟢 Cheaper (and you can allocate more budget to other specifications: resolution, size…) Great fluidity in images and a standard to play today THE BAD 🔴 They offer less fluidity and are somewhat outdated in 2026, as they can make the jump to 144 Hz or more at similar prices Slightly more expensive than 60 Hz and, in general, more striking gaming design IDEAL FOR Users who do not feel visual fatigue, who feel comfortable at 60 Hz and do not want to spend more Gamers (or non-gamers) who want to take a leap in visual comfort Which one may interest you more: we do the math As we have already mentioned, price is not a determining factor today when deciding between a 60 Hz monitor and another with 144 Hz or more. Even so, if a 60 Hz one is enough for you, you can dedicate that extra investment in other aspects of the screens, such as the resolution, the diagonal or the format. Actual use: 60 Hz is enough for you and you prefer to spend what 144 Hz would cost you on a ultrawidebecause you need more horizontal space on the screen. What experience you get: similar to what you have been obtaining with previous 60 Hz monitors, but you gain in those other characteristics that are important to you (more diagonal, different format, more resolution…). If, on the other hand, you notice that after finishing the work day your eyes are very tired and it seems that applications, transitions and other movements are not as fluid as you would like, then going from 60 Hz to 144 Hz or more is an excellent decision. Spending little more than you would with a 60 Hz monitor, you double (and even more) its refresh rate and the view thanks you. Actual use: It bothers you that the animations of the operating system, the scroll or the passing of the cursor across the screen goes in fits and starts and you decide to go above 60 Hz. What experience you get: From the first second, you see that everything runs more smoothly and is more comfortable for the eyes. Where before there were almost imperceptible but existing cuts, now everything is going smoothly. It even looks like you’ve upgraded to a better PC! In summary: 👉 Choose 60 Hz if: You don’t notice visual fatigue because you don’t spend too many hours in front of the screen, you don’t want to spend more and you also don’t play games or plan to do so in the short term. … Read more

Science has calculated the real impact of reading books on your brain. And it has a very simple recipe: 30 minutes a day

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It is well known that a sedentary lifestyle It is one of the great enemies of public healthespecially at advanced ages where muscle loss is a great danger. However, there are sedentary activities that are really beneficial and that we sometimes stop, such as reading books. Its benefit is such that science has shown that immersing yourself in the pages of a good book It not only feeds the intellect, but also lengthens life. The demonstration. One of the most important studies who wanted to focus on the benefits of reading, beyond the cognitive benefits or the richness of vocabulary for everyday life, analyzed a group of 3,635 nationally representative participants in the United States over 12 years. And as a result, they saw that the longer the time spent reading books, lower risk of mortality. The results. To understand the magnitude of the discovery, the researchers followed all the patients until 20% of them died and only 80% remained. There they put the cut and began to draw conclusions. The first is that non-readers reached this point at 85 months, while book readers reached this same threshold at 108 months. This is something that translates into a 23-month survival advantage for those who had the habit of reading books, or in other words, readers reduced the risk of mortality by 20% throughout the 12 years of follow-up. Furthermore, this protection was maintained regardless of a person’s gender, wealth, education, or health status. The format matters. Although you may think that any type of reading is appropriate, even the back of a shampoo, the reality is quite different. In this case, the study explicitly compared the impact of reading books versus reading the newspaper or a magazine. The findings here demonstrated that reading books contributes to a significantly greater survival advantage than that seen with newspapers or magazines. While magazines offer short articles that we often skim, books require a higher level of concentration. Something that is enhanced above all because the authors constantly present themes, characters and topics and that is essential to be able to follow the thread of the story that is being presented to us. Because? Here science is quite clear that the key is in the brain, since the “cognitive score” functioned as a complete mediator of this survival advantage. This means that reading books improves cognition and it is this cognitive improvement that prolongs life. Here reading books activates different specific neural processes that create this advantage. Among the most notable points, we find that active reading of books improves skills such as reasoning, concentration, critical thinking and vocabulary. But it also promotes social perception, empathy and emotional intelligence, which can lead to better health behaviors and stress reduction. Fundamental things when we talk about extending life. It’s backed up. In addition to the original study published in 2016, science has wanted to continue investigating the benefits of reading with a study published in 2024 where the complexity of reading in older adults pointed to less cognitive decline. But it has also been decided to analyze even the cultural level of the citizens, where it has been seen that low literacy increases mortalityonce again making the act of reading books stimulate our brain and protect our cognitive reserve. Although it is not necessary to be reading all day to guarantee having a better brain, studies specifically point out that with about 30 minutes a day It is enough to start reaping these advantages and obtain more years of life in which to continue reading. Images | Blaz Photo In Xataka | The problem is not that we are reading fewer books: it is that the books we read are much simpler and easier

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