Month: March 2026

prohibit entry for 10,000 years with terrifying architecture

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About 10,000 years ago, humans were just beginning to settle and leave the first paintings in caves. Curiously, today many of these messages remain a mystery. Even so, we have built infrastructures whose impact will last longer than the entire known history of civilization, posing an unprecedented challenge along the way: how to leave a mark that not only lasts, but is also understood within a future that is impossible to imagine. In 1980 they added a disturbing fact: And how to prevent them from entering? The origin of the problem. It all starts with an uncomfortable fact: the United States has been generating nuclear waste extremely dangerous (especially the so-called transuranic, coming from weapons and reactors) whose toxicity can last for thousands of years. To manage them, it was decided to bury them in deep geological repositories like the WIPPin New Mexico, a network of galleries excavated more than 600 meters underground in stable formations that have remained intact for millions of years. The plan is to permanently seal these facilities after decades of use and let them remain isolated for at least 10,000 years. The problem arises right after: once any human control disappears, how to prevent someone in the future from digging there without knowing that they are releasing an invisible and lethal danger? The answer. The solution could not be limited to a simple sign, because neither the current language nor the symbols are reliable in such a long term. That is why an approach was proposed even more radical: create a universal communication system capable of surviving the passage of time, aimed at both advanced societies and others that may have lost part of current scientific knowledge. WIPP The birth of “nuclear semiotics”. To address tremendous challenge, the US Department of Energy brought together experts from disciplines as disparate as linguistics, physics, anthropology or even science fiction, giving rise to a completely new field, one they called nuclear semiology. International panels analyzed not only how to convey the message, but also why A future civilization could decide to excavate that place: search for resources, scientific curiosity, archeology or simple ignorance. The conclusion was that the message it had to be redundantbe multi-layered and understandable without depending on a single cultural system. This is how one of the most disturbing texts never conceived by modern engineering, a warning that not only informs, but also try to persuade from the emotional side, something like a sign that says: “move around, there is nothing valuable here, only danger, and it is still very active thousands of years later.” Proposed pictogram to warn about the dangers of buried nuclear waste at the waste isolation pilot plant Architecture of fear. However, the real conceptual leap came later, when it was assumed that the message could not depend only on words or symbols. The solution was something tangible to humans, the architecturalor how to design a fearsome environment that instinctively conveys danger. Thus, proposals emerged such as landscapes of giant thornsoppressive black blocks or deformed terrain sought to activate a universal reaction of rejection, even without rational understanding. In its most realistic version, the project contemplated angular earth bermsgranite monuments, distributed markers and underground chambers with detailed information. In other words, architecture stopped being aesthetic or functional and became something like a primary language, almost biologicaldesigned to provoke an immediate emotional response to whoever is on the planet thousands of years from now (or whatever is left of it). Design of an information center in the waste isolation pilot plant Layered messages. The system that was devised then was not limited to a single type of warning, but rather combined multiple levels of information. From the initial visual impact (for example, a hostile landscape) to universal symbols such as sick human figures, through texts in several languages and buried technical files, all designed to offer different entry doors to the message depending on the visitor’s level of understanding. Not only that. Even if They proposed “time capsules” distributed in depth, durable materials such as granite or ceramics, and scientific references such as maps or periodic tables. The logic: that if one system fails, another can work, something like redundant communication designed to resist not only time, but also oblivion. The most extreme ideas. There is no doubt, the difficulty of the problem gave rise to proposals that were as fascinating as they were disturbing. It was suggested to create a “caste of priests of the atom” that transmitted knowledge through rituals for generations, or even genetically modified animals (the famous “radioactive cats”) so that change color in the presence of radiation, generating cultural myths that warned of danger. Other ideas of what further movies They included flowers with messages encoded in their DNA or satellite networks that issued warnings for millennia. Although many of these proposals never materialized, they reflect the extent to which the challenge forced us to think beyond traditional engineering, entering the realm of culture, narrative, and collective psychology. The big problem. A certain consensus was then reached: even if the message managed to survive, there was no guarantee that it would be obeyed. Historical examples such as tsunami stones in Japan show that warnings can last for centuries… and still be completely ignored. In fact, this precedent introduces an even more uncomfortable doubt: the problem, perhaps, is not only communicating, but convince to the one who interprets it. An imposing architectural structure may arouse curiosity rather than fear, and an ambiguous message could be interpreted as a sign of something valuable. Plus: human history is full of explorations of tombs, ruins and forbidden places, which turns any warning into a double-edged sword. A unique experiment. Be that as it may, and although there is still no definitive design that defines all our nuclear waste and is capable of deterring future civilizations, both the Sandia project and the WIPP repository represent the greatest conscious attempt of humanity to send a message to the deep (and unknown) future. … Read more

After years of absence, Aragón has reintroduced two Iberian lynxes. The question is whether it’s posturing or real help.

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Aragón has become the first autonomous community in the northwest of the peninsula to seek to recover the Iberian lynx. And yes, it is a historical milestone that will go down in the annals of conservation manuals; But the question is another: does it make any sense (on an ecological, social or economic level) to continue putting lynxes where there have not been any for decades or are we in the middle of a political marketing operation that will be expensive? The answer is more complex than it seems. What has happened? On March 17, 2026, Jorge Azcón released the first two copies of Iberian lynx on a farm in Torrecilla de Valmadrid (Zaragoza). They are one year old, the female comes from Portugal and the male from Doñana. “The step taken today is a milestone in the recovery of biodiversity in the community,” explained the acting president. And it is, in a way, the general idea in almost all communities in Spain: the Iberian lynx has become our ‘panda bear’, an animal that we are fond of, a symbol of the country and a social aspiration. Does it make sense to reintroduce the lynx? For the lynx, yes. Although we have come a long way since 2002 (when there were just 94 lynxes confined in Andalusia), we have not yet reached “favorable conservation status.” That is, 3,500 specimens (now there are 2,401) and 750 reproductive females (there are 470). Since it started in 2019, the project LIFE LynxConnect has tried to put into practice a very simple idea: Having many lynxes is of no use if those lynxes are confined to just a couple of places. We needed diverse cores and we needed to connect them together. Above all, because climate change is also affecting the entire national territory. The north of the peninsula is increasingly dry and has larger populations of rabbits: therefore, it has become viable for there to be at least two towns (in Cuenca and Palencia) which are completely outside the recent historical distribution of the lynx. And for the areas where it is released? In the short term, it is also good news. In fact, the Aragon movement cannot be understood without a basic fact: the European funds that help these types of programs (920,000 euros in this case) expired this same year. In the medium or long term, it depends on many factors: fundamentally, because everything depends on the rabbits. Rabbits? What about rabbits? Rabbits represent between 80 and 90% of the lynx’s diet. In fact, these rodents are found in the base of the food chain of more than 30 species. The good news is that, as warned A few weeks ago, the Union of Farmers and Ranchers of Castilla la Mancha “the proliferation of rabbits is a problem that has been going on for ten years, they speak of a ‘plague’ that is threatening olive groves and pistachio and almond trees, and they demand that the populations of these animals be controlled.” The bad thing is that they are not where they should be. The history of Spanish rabbits is complex. Its decline is associated with myxomatosisfirst (mid-20th century); continue with the rabbit hemorrhagic disease in the 80s; and is complicated by the arrival in 2012 of a new variant (RHDV2) that affects populations just when they were beginning to recover. To all these health problems, we must add the changes in the landscape and the disappearance of boundaries, fallow lands and traditional shelters. And the result is that the rabbits have looked for a new home. Thus slopes and roadsides have become tremendously favorable habitats (and even in motion vectors) and areas with constant food (irrigation/crops) are natural attractors of these reduced populations. Farmers fear that the arrival of the lynx will not control the pest and, on the other hand, as it will tighten conservation regulations, it may cause rabbit populations to skyrocket. Are they right? It’s hard to say. But we are going to find out. Image | Jorge Azcón – Government of Aragon In Xataka | Spain, land of (threatened) rabbits: the species has gone from “pest” to being endangered

The answer is Ockham’s razor.

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Every day more than 100,000 commercial flights and, despite the multiple active conflicts in several regions, aviation continues to be one of the means of transportation safer never created. In fact, the probability of suffering a serious accident is less than one in several millions of flights. And yet, today more than ever there arises the same question. The question and the surprising answer. The military escalation in the Middle East has generated the same immediate concern among thousands of travelers: whether it is safe to fly between Europe and Asia in a context where the sky is saturated with drones, missiles and air defenses. However, despite the spectacular nature of the scenario and the feeling of constant risk, the real answer is much simpler than it seems, almost a direct application of the Ockham’s razor: because if flights continue to operate, it is because the direct risk to commercial aircraft is extremely low and carefully managed. A more complex sky, not a more dangerous one. There is no doubt, the war has forced completely redraw flight maps, closing large corridors over the Gulf and diverting traffic to longer, more congested routes, especially over Egypt or the Caucasus. This has multiplied the load of controllers and crews, who operate under reinforced protocols and advance planning, although it does not imply uncontrolled chaos, but rather a highly regulated system that adapts in real time to maintain separation and safety between aircraft. The risk is not where you think. Although drone and missile attacks have reached infrastructure such as airports and urban areasexperts agree that planes in flight are targets extremely difficult to impact. The reasons are varied, but mainly due to its size, speed and the active routes avoid areas direct threat. Because in reality, the most relevant danger lies ashore (airport facilities or falling debris after interceptions), which explains why airport closures and massive cancellations respond more to prevention than to direct impacts on aircraft. Lessons learned. civil aviation drags precedents that have deeply marked their protocols, such as the demolition from flight MH17 in 2014 or similar incidents where anti-aircraft systems mistook civil aircraft for threats. Precisely for this reason, today the operating principle is quite clear: if there is the slightest risk of confusion or intersection with military activity, the airspace closes directly or redirects itself, avoiding repeating past mistakes. The war exists, but the planes do not fly within it. It is the principle that governs everything in commercial aviation. Airlines, far from improvising, operate with intelligence systems, risk analysis and coordination with military authorities that determine what routes are safe at every moment. This means, for example, detours, more fuel consumption and delays, but it also ensures that active flights remain within of “safety bubbles” away from direct conflict, even in high intensity scenarios. The real impact for the traveler. For passengers, the most tangible consequences are not so much safety as disruption that it represents: We’re talking about massive cancellations, longer routes, rising fuel prices and a constant feeling of uncertainty. Added to this is the psychological impact of seeing missiles intercepted or airports temporarily closed, which amplifies risk perceptionalthough the real probability of an incident in flight remains very very low. You feel more than you suffer in the air. Taken together, the current scenario combines a highly visible war with an air system that continues to function thanks to multiple prevention and control layers. The paradox in this sense is clear, because there has never been so much military activity in the skies of the region and, yet, there have never been applied so many mechanisms to keep civil aviation out of it. For this reason, and because it continues to be the safest way to travel, the answer to the great doubt of travelers is not in the intensity of the conflict, nor even in combat drones, nor ballistic missiles, but in the most basic logic: Commercial airplanes simply don’t fly where the war is. Image | PexelsArmed Forces In Xataka | Global air traffic has a problem: Ukraine and Iran have created a funnel that is driving up prices In Xataka | If the question is where Russia is in the Iran war, satellite images leave no doubt: helping to bring down the US

charges every time someone enters a Universal park

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In 1987, while Warner Bros. was trying to sign him to make films for it (something that would not come until the 2001 Amblin co-production ‘AI’), Steven Spielberg signed a deal with Universal that had nothing to do with film. Decades later, that Creative Consultant contract in theme parks brings him more money than any of his films and has gone down in history as one of the most lucrative in the history of entertainment. And the best: it has no expiration date. The origin of the contract. In 1987, Universal Studios didn’t have the money to compete with Warner. What it did have was Sid Sheinberg, the president of MCA, Universal’s parent company, who had been betting for years on a young director whom he had signed when he was barely a teenager and for whom the director had provided hits like ‘Jaws’ or ‘ET the Extraterrestrial’. When Warner launched a financial offensive to snatch up Spielberg, Sheinberg improvised a cashless solution: making his star director a creative consultant for the theme parks Universal planned to build, with a share of the gross receipts. Forever. ELON MUSK VS JEFF BEZOS: STAR WARS How was it known? For two decades, the terms of the agreement were known only to a small circle of lawyers, but came to light thanks to a footnote in the financial documents that Universal presented in 2009, in the midst of the economic crisis. It was then known that Spielberg perceived 5.25% of all gross revenue generated by the two parks built after the signing (Orlando and Japan), an amount valued at up to 70 million dollars annually (approximately 120 dollars per ticket, 2.38 dollars for each ticket sold) and that It later spread to Singapore and Beijing.. Universal Studios Hollywood was excluded because the park already existed before the initial agreement. It doesn’t stop, it doesn’t stop. The key term here is “in perpetuity”: no expiration date. The original text included a clause granting Spielberg 2% of all box office grosses and a portion of concessions, in perpetuity. These are not royalties linked to a specific film or a specific attraction. Spielberg charges for each ticket sold at the parks covered by the agreement, regardless of whether any of his films have a presence there. The financial crisis of the late 2000s put Universal in an uncomfortable position. The agreement included a clause allowing Spielberg to demand a final payment and terminate the contract, which he did. The figure was estimated to be around $200 million. But the studio was building The Wizarding World of Harry Potter and could not afford that payment. Spielberg agreed to postpone it until June 2017 in exchange for an increase in his share from 2% to 5.25% of gross receipts, just as the opening of the Harry Potter zone promised to skyrocket attendance. In 2017 he agreed to continue collecting royalties. Other cases. Spielberg’s deal with Universal has no direct equivalent in the industry. Perhaps George Lucas’ situation with the ‘Star Wars’ franchise, which sold to Disney in 2012 for $4 billionis comparable, but it is still a simple sale of rights. In other words: no matter how much the franchise films make now, Lucas receives nothing. Of course, Spielberg was very smart there: the opening of Epic Universe in Orlando in May 2025 adds a new source of gross revenue to which Spielberg is entitled under his contract. According to the latest estimatesif visitor volume reaches projections from previous expansions, the director’s annual revenue could exceed $100 million over the next few years. What I said: a great business. Image | William Warby

the 106 kilometers of jungle that no country has been able to pave

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If you like driving, throughout the planet there are some roads so legendary that they invite you to travel them at least once in your life. This is the case of the iconic Route 66 that crosses the United States from Chicago to Los Angeles, the beautiful and curvy Romanian Transfăgărășan or the dangerous Highway of Death in Bolivia. But if you have time and you are in America, there is one to explore the continent practically from start to finish: the Pan-American route. The longest road in the world. The Pan-American Highway It has a length of 17,848 kilometers, which allows it to travel across the American continent from north to south: from Prudhoe Bay in Alaska to Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego in Argentina. Of course, the figure corresponds only to the main road, but in reality it is a multitude of roads in different countries and characteristics, so that they adapt their layout to areas such as large cities, the coast or the mountains. If we add the variants and branches, it shoots up to 30,000 kilometers, although the Guinness says simply that it is more than 24,140 kilometers through the 14 countries it crosses. The origins. Although originally was glimpsed like a pan-american railroad, at the Fifth International Conference of American States 1923 when the idea took shape like a highway, given the takeoff of the automobile. However, it would take decades for it to materialize: it was at the Convention on the Pan-American Highway when the 14 countries signed the agreement and Mexico the first country to complete its partback in 1950. To choose which route was the best, the “Brazilian Pan-American Highway Expedition” was a pioneer in the task of traveling the continent choosing the most practical route. Lieutenant Leônidas Borges de Oliveira as mission leader, Francisco Lopes da Cruz as observer and Mário Fava as mechanic left Rio de Janeiro on April 16, 1928 with two Model T Fords and arrived in Washington DC ten years later. In figures. Only those 17,848 kilometers of length of its main road already make it the longest route, followed by others such as transsiberian highway (it only runs through Russia and is about 11,000 kilometers) or the Highway 1 Australian 14,500 kilometres. But there are more impressive figures: It travels through 14 countries and connects 10 state capitals. There is only an incomplete section of 106 kilometers. 23 days, 22 hours and 43 minutes is the record time to travel it by car, which is registered in the Guinness Book of World Records. If you drive 8 hours a day, it doesn’t add up Its highest point is in Costa Rica Hill of Deathat about 3,500 meters high. The exception: the Darien plug. Although the Pan-American Highway runs through America from top to bottom, technically this is not the case: there is a hole in the border between Panama and Colombia, the Darién Gap. This jump on the road is in a mountainous and rugged area in the middle of the jungle. That is, the highway ends in Turbo (Colombia) on one side and in Yaviza (Panama) on the other. Mountains, swamps and a dense jungle have been a compelling orographic reason why you cannot cross America continuously by car without leaving that road. However, there have also been environmental and political problems that have prevented the closure of the route. In 1971, the United States, Colombia and Panama they agreed cover this route and their respective economic contributions. However, after environmental protests and a correction in the cost estimate that practically doubled it, the project was stopped. Today there are no active plans to close the Pan-American Highway. A road full of challenges. This environmental wealth reveals a reality, that of the confrontation between the development of infrastructure and the conservation of the environment, as it passes through unique landscapes. Along its route, the Panamericana crosses tropical jungles, the Andes mountain range, deserts or seismic zones that mean that this was not just another highway construction. Access or weather conditions are a challenge for machinery, personnel and materials. And once built, there is the challenge of maintaining a road network across different countries, budgets and standards. In Xataka | The longest straight road in the world is a mental challenge: 240 km without curves, in the middle of the desert and with truck traffic In Xataka | Yes, the V16 beacons transmit your position in the event of an accident. No, the DGT cannot “spy” on you with them Cover | Joseph Corl, FanHabbo and Seaweege

has unleashed an invasive species that drains its rivers

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If historically there is a star tree species for reforestation and wood production, those are conifers. The pine of all life. We have seen it in the mountains of Galicia, in Euskadi and also in New Zealand. There are no shortage of reasons to choose them: they grow very quickly, they are cheap, they withstand adverse conditions well, they provide versatile wood and their seeds disperse very well. They fulfill their mission of reforestation. Maybe too well: its seeds have a kind of membranous wings that allows them to fly far with the wind, escaping from the plantations. So much so that in New Zealand the “wild conifers” or “wilding conifers” They are already a national problem. what’s happening. That conifers originally planted in managed plantations are escaping from those areas and their control, colonizing open landscapes. As details The New Zealand Ministry of Primary Industry, there are already more than 2 million hectares affected. Before they decided to launch a control program, it was even worse: they were expanding at a rate of 90,000 hectares a year. Why is it important. The fact that there is a pine forest where it shouldn’t brings serious problems: They drain the water. The conifer canopy intercepts water before it reaches the ground, so runoff is reduced, aquifers are recharged less, and there is less water in rivers and reservoirs. The estimated loss is up to 40%. And if there is less water in rivers and reservoirs, it can affect the production of electricity with hydroelectric plants. They affect biodiversity. The introduced species were not native and their rapid expansion displaces native vegetation in one of the most biodiverse countries on the planet. Fires and agricultural production. Its uncontrolled presence reduces the space for agriculture and favors the spread of fires. Why were they planted? This problem that is bringing the New Zealand government to its head began precisely with government programs of the 60s and 70s. At that time the administration massively planted Pinus radiata, Pseudotsuga menziesii and other exotic species with the aim of reforesting areas, avoiding deforestation and protect the inland highlands . In fact, The New Zealand Parliament recognized in 2023 how he had sprinkled with seeds by air. And as we have already seen, conifers are the perfect invader: productive, resistant and fast growing. What could go wrong. The difficult and expensive task of keeping the wild conifer at bay. The oceanic country has been trying to stop wild pines for more than a decade and almost 200 million dollars. In 2015 they approved the strategy against wild conifers with a vision of containment and eradication by 2030 (spoiler: it will not be like that), but the lack of financing has been its endemic evil. With specific injections like the one in 2020 100 million dollarsframed within a post-pandemic job creation project, then even the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment (PCE) of New Zealand has had to write a letter to the president to complain about the lack of means. Without sufficient and sustained funding, the program takes one step forward, another step back: controlled areas are recolonized. Who should pay? The tricky issue about the matter, which touches on elements as critical as water or electricity production, is that it requires an ambitious and continuous plan over time to be effective. The PCE points out explicitly to the state, which promoted plantations and aerial seeding, but also points to the logging industry insofar as it has also benefited from these problematic species, posing a possible tax. On the other hand, and as affected are the energy companies, who are as interested as anyone in solving the problem. In fact, the prime minister has already entered into talks. In Xataka | The Mediterranean Sea is becoming tropicalized: the Balearic Islands welcome an invasive plant that until now was impossible in its waters In Xataka | The US has such a big problem with Asian carp in its rivers that it has decided something extreme: electrocute them Cover | Kerin Gedge

we have just found the complete “alphabet” of DNA in their samples

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When the Japanese probe Hayabusa2 landed in the Australian desert a small capsule in December 2020scientists knew that the few grams of dark dust it contained were worth their weight in gold. And it is no wonder, since they were intact pieces of the asteroid Ryugua space rock that six years later has reinforced one of the many theories of the origin of life: the building blocks of life came to Earth from space. A genetic puzzle. It is not the first time that Ryugu gives us joy, since already in 2023 previous analyzes revealed the presence of uracilwhich is one of the ‘letters’ that makes up human RNA, and also vitamin B3. Now much more has been found. A new study published in Nature Astronomy has confirmed the discovery of the ‘grail’ of prebiotic chemistry. Specifically, Ryugu’s samples contained the five canonical nucleobases that form our genetic material, both DNA and RNA. We talk about adenine, guanine, cytosine, thymine and uracil. From all these letters, although it may seem too simple, both our DNA and that of other species in the ecosystem are formed. How they have done it. It has been a team led by several Japanese institutions that has managed to identify the complete collection of genetic components using chromatography and mass spectrometry techniques. And, according to the study, these five nucleobases are found in surprisingly balanced proportions, something that differentiates Ryugu from other celestial bodies studied to date. The genetic code. To understand the magnitude of the discovery, we must remember how our genetic code works and go back to high school. This is based on two types of molecules: purines (adenine and guanine) and pyrimidines (cytosine, thymine and uracil). In previously analyzed meteorites (such as the famous Murchison) or even in samples from the asteroid Bennu, The proportions used to be unbalanced, predominating one over the other. Ryugu, on the other hand, shows a balance that has led researchers to propose a new molecular indicator to understand how these nucleobases evolved non-biologically in deep space, based on the relationship between purines, pyrimidines and ammonia. Pollution? It is the idea that may come to mind, since if we analyze a meteorite that has fallen to Earth, the logical thing could be that the rock became stained upon impact and dragged away part of living matter. But this is where the magic of the Hayabusa2 mission comes in: by collecting the sample directly from the asteroid in empty space and bringing it back in a sealed capsule, the possibility of contamination is ruled out. Furthermore, the JAMSTEC scientific team has carried out extensive testing with isomers under hyper-controlled conditions, confirming that these nucleobases have an unequivocal extraterrestrial origin. Its importance. This discovery does not confirm that there is life on the asteroid, but rather indicates that the asteroid is a “time capsule” rich in carbon which shows us the chemical inventory of our early solar system. Billions of years ago, the Earth was an inhospitable place and the theory of panspermia suggests that carbonaceous asteroids like Ryugu acted as “cosmic taxis”, bombarding our young planet and depositing this molecular alphabet on it and providing it with the components from which life later emerged. But this is one of the many theories that are on the table to understand our most primitive origin. Images | NASA Hubble Space Telescope In Xataka | Life on Earth underwent a spectacular change 540 million years ago. We have a new explanation why

How to create a Claude AI chatbot that responds solely based on your own documents

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We are going to explain how to create a chatbot with AI Claude that respond solely based on your own documents. Thus, if you have reliable sources of information or you want to work or make requests around them, you will be able to have everything you ask based only on them. This is something that we have already taught you how to do with NotebookLMa much more specialized service in this. But if Claude is your artificial intelligence Mainly, you should know that you will also have the option to do so. you just need a project and the proper instructions to be able to do it. First you have to prepare the sources The first step you will have to take will also be the most tedious: choose the fonts you want to use so that the AI ​​relies on it when responding to you. These sources must be text files or PDFs, including images. They can be in documents in any language. The ideal for this is save the sources you find in a folderand then upload them all at once. You will also have an option to write texts by hand to use as a font. You can also ask Claude to help you searching for PDF files on specific topics on the Internet, although it is best that you personally choose the sources that you consider the most reliable. Keep in mind that we are going to ask the IAA not to seek information beyond the sources we give them, although there will always be the possibility of doing so. In any case, it is best to complete as complete a knowledge base as possible. You will also be able to upload new files whenever you want. Create your bot with custom fonts The first thing you have to do is enter Claude, and enter the section Projects. Projects allow you to create a separate workspace where you can organize related conversations, and upload reference documents or give personalized instructions. In here, you have to create a new project. This project is the one we are going to use to upload documents and make the AI ​​respond only with the data in them. To create it, give it a name and a description. This will not affect the operation of the project, it will only help you distinguish it from the others you have created. Now, you have to upload the documents you want to use as sources in the section of Files. You can upload documents in PDF, DOC and many more formats, you can upload them from Google Drive or other services that you have linked, or even write the text manually. Take some time to upload all the documents you need. Now, you have to edit the section Instructions to explain to Claude that in this project you just want me to use the documents for reference. For that, we have used this prompt: “All answers to questions and requests made in the chats of this project will be sought only in the content of the files. ONLY the files can be used. In the event that something is asked that does not appear in the files, Claude must say that the answer is not in the files, and ask if I want to look it up on the Internet. By default, the Internet is not used, and it can only be used with explicit consent each time you go to search.” As you can see, in this prompt we tell him several times that you only want to use the information in the documents when you ask him a question. We have also specified that if you do not find the answer in the documents, tell us, and that before you start searching for information on the Internet outside of the information we have given you, ask us for permission. Now all you have left is ask Claude any questions and requests you wantand will compose them using the information you have given him as a source. You can ask him specific questions, travel itineraries, and even ask him to ask you trivia games. Although for the latter remember that we told you how to create a test game from PDF files also with Claude. And as we have told you, if we ask him something that does not appear in the files we have uploaded, Claude will tell you. In the end, we have programmed your instructions for that. In addition, it will also ask us for permission to search for the information on the Internet. It will not do this proactively so that we can know that the information is within the documents. In Xataka Basics | What is Claude Cowork, how it works, and what things you can do with this AI assistant on your computer

Mitsubishi built a remote, car-free city in the middle of the sea with one goal: mining coal

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About 15 kilometers off the coast of Nagasaki, in the East China Sea, there is a small island that houses blocks of concrete and semi-ruined buildings, surrounded by a retaining wall that protects them from the Pacific. The island is called Hashimaalthough it is also known as “Gunkanjima”which in Japanese means “battleship island.” and its history It is fascinating and dark in equal parts.. An island that was born from coal. All infrastructure was built for one reason: coal. The mineral was detected on the seabed beneath the island around 1810, but its systematic exploitation did not begin until 1887. In 1890, the Mitsubishi Goshi Kaisha company purchased the island and took control of the underwater mines. Extracting coal from the bottom of the sea was extraordinarily complicated, as the miners worked in tunnels that went up to a kilometer below the surface, with temperatures of 30 degrees and very high humidity. Between 1891 and 1974, the island produced some 15.7 million tons of coal. A decision that changed everything. Moving workers daily from Nagasaki was expensive and inefficient, which is why Mitsubishi made the decision to build an entire city on the island. In 1916, the company erected the first concrete building armed of large dimensions in the history of Japan, and it was precisely on this same island. These types of buildings were the only way for the buildings to withstand the typhoons that hit the region every autumn. A compressed city. During the following decades, Hashima grew upwards because he could not grow sideways. The island measures just 480 meters long and 160 meters wide. And yet, at its peak, in 1959, It housed 5,259 peoplemaking it the most densely populated place on the planet at that time. On that small piece of land there were apartments, schools, a hospital, shops, a cinema, public baths, a swimming pool, rooftop gardens, a pachinko parlor and even a cemetery. Of course, there were no cars, since there was neither space for them nor did it make much sense. a hidden face. Hashima’s story has, however, a deep shadow that for decades tried to ignore. From the 1930s until the end of World War II, Mitsubishi used forced labor at its facilities on the island. There, both Korean conscript civilians and Chinese prisoners of war were forced to work in extreme conditions. According to an academic article published on Tandfonline, around 1,000 Koreans were taken to Hashima between 1939 and 1945. Estimates of the death toll vary. On the one hand, in the book “Life in Gunkanjima 1952-1970: Report of the investigation into the Hashima homes”, by academic Uzō Nishiyama, the death toll is estimated at 137; other non-Japanese sources raise that figure to more than 1,300. The workers descended into the mines during extreme hours, and any resistance was punished brutally. They were not workers, they were slaves, and escape was practically impossible, since the nearest coast was more than 18 kilometers away by open swim. Abandonment. In the 1960s, oil began to displace coal as an energy source in Japan. Mines across the country were closing one after another. Hashima’s was no exception. Mitsubishi officially closed the mine in January 1974. and the residents left the island on April 20 of that same year. The exodus was so rapid that many left behind furniture, clothing, photographs and all kinds of personal belongings. In a matter of weeks, a city of more than five thousand people was turned into a ghost scene. For the next thirty years, Hashima remained closed to the public and was slowly devoured by typhoons and sea salt. movie set. In 2002, Swedish filmmaker Thomas Nordanstad visited the island accompanied by Doutoku Sakamoto, a man who had grown up there as a child, and filmed a short documentary. Years later, Nordanstad met Daniel Craig in Stockholm, while he was filming ‘The men who didn’t love women‘. He told him the story of Hashima. According to collect world, Nordanstad thought for a time that the actor wanted to buy the rights to the documentary, but that was not the case. Two years later it was released skyfall (2012). In the film, the abandoned island serves as the lair of the villain Raoul Silva, played by Javier Bardem. The producers traveled to Hashima to consider filming there, but concluded that the buildings were too unstable and dangerous. Therefore, they ended up building a replica at Pinewood Studios in the United Kingdom. The exterior images of the island that appear in the film are the only ones shot on location. World Heritage with controversy. In 2015, the island It was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO, within the category “Sites of Japan’s Meiji Industrial Revolution”. However, this designation came accompanied by diplomatic problems. South Korea initially objected because Japan did not recognize the use of forced labor on the island. In the end they reached an agreement: Japan agreed to include that part of the story in its materials, but they didn’t do their part. In 2021, the UNESCO Committee issued a resolution in which they expressed regret that Japan had not provided sufficient information on forced laborers. In fact, the Industrial Heritage Information Center, opened in Tokyo in 2020 to lend credibility to that narrative, was criticized for including testimonies that denied the existence of slavery conditions on the island. As of today, the debate has not yet been closed. A tourist destination with scars. Since 2009, Hashima can be visited in small groups organized from the port of Nagasaki. The tour lasts approximately one hour and is strictly delimited for safety reasons. In fact, 95% of the island remains restricted to visitors. Images | Wikimedia Commons In Xataka | The most extreme symbol of the touristification of Madrid are the TukTuk. And there is already an initiative to ban them

The orchards allowed Galician households to save hundreds of euros on purchases. Now they are disappearing

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The proverb says that ‘he who has a friend, has a treasure’. In the Spain of 2026, that of house price skyrocketedthe accumulated inflation two digits and loss of power purchasing power, the reality is much more mundane: those who really have a ‘treasure’ are families with access to a garden, a corral, fruit trees or a small stable with sheep and cows, self-consumption tools that help save and lighten spending in the shopping basket. Curiously, at least in Galicia, fewer and fewer people take care of their own vegetables or livestock. And that allows you to save more than 100 euros per month. What has happened? That the garden is losing weight in Galicia. And in an accelerated and indisputable way. So revealed it on Monday Vigo Lighthousethat after styling the published data by the Galician Institute of Statistics (IGE) has concluded that in the region fewer and fewer families resort to self-cultivation, fruit trees or small farms to alleviate their economy. It’s not just that their number has decreased in the last decade, it’s that it is already at historic lows. If in 2007 45.1% of the community’s households saved thanks to the potatoes, tomatoes, lettuce, carrots… harvested in their gardens, in 2024 that percentage was already a meager 25.1%, the lowest level in the historical series. What do the figures say? If you walk through Galicia it will be increasingly difficult for you to see people working in small gardens or taking care of animals. The IGE statistics They do not talk about large agricultural holdings or farms with a business focus, but rather about family savings, which is why they focus on a very specific part of the Galician agrarian map. All in all, its reading is resounding. If in 2007 there were 452,200 families that saw their economy lightened thanks to the cultivation of their own vegetables, at the end of 2024 there were already 278,500. In between, years of almost uninterrupted decline. There are small swings, but they are largely explained by the context. For example, between 2019 and 2020, coinciding with the pandemic, the number of households with gardens grew slightly. The IGE also reflects that the trend is not equally clear throughout the region. Although the garden is losing weight in the community, it is holding up better in the interior provinces. Its decline is much more pronounced in A Coruña and Pontevedra. Does it only happen with orchards? No. The IGE also investigated how savings have evolved thanks to other forms of self-consumption, such as the use of fruit trees, the production of homemade wine or cheese, the care of livestock to obtain meat, milk or eggs, fishing… And the ‘photo’ is practically the same always. For example, in 2007 there were 372,000 homes saving thanks to their own hens, chickens and eggs. In 2020 there were already 298,300 and at the beginning of 2025 they barely exceeded 202,600. The collapse is not only due to a loss of population. Its incidence rate also fell: from 37.1% in 2007 to only 18.3% in 2024. Exercise Households that save on food thanks to the garden (no.) Households that save on food thanks to the garden (%) 2007 452,188 45.09% 2011 444,843 42.00% 2016 406,384 38.34% 2021 384,283 35.81% 2024 278,519 25.12% And other forms of self-consumption? The same. The same thing happens with the food (and savings) obtained thanks to fruit tree cultivationhe cow milkingthe elaboration of wine or spirits homemade, the cattle breeding or the ‘pig slaughter’, which despite its roots in rural Galicia has also deflated. If in 2007 it was practiced in 20.7% of homes, in 2020 it was already reduced to 7.6% and in 2024 to less than 5%. In practice, this means that the slaughter has gone from being a saving for 207,300 homes to being a saving for 55,100. And why is it important? Beyond the greater or lesser interest that weight loss in gardens may have, the phenomenon is curious because it coincides with another, also noted by Lighthouse: Taking care of orchards or farms pays off. And a lot. After years of inflation and increases that have been fueled by products like eggsself-consumption has become a way to cut spending by more than 100 euros per month. In certain cases the savings can reach 120. On average, the garden allows you to reduce the shopping basket by 30 euros, chicken farms by another 22, beef (or rabbit) farms lighten the basket by almost 40 euros and domestic fruit trees by 18. The greatest source of savings continues to be the slaughter of pigs. Those who practice it save 51 euros every month, since they avoid buying pork. So why does it decline? The million dollar question. Having a garden, a corral or even a small farm with cows and sheep may save money on purchases, but it requires other precious resources: time and space. Added to this is the expense involved in caring for vegetables and livestock. In a Galicia that is no stranger to demographic crisis and she is getting older, that is a challenge. The region is not spared from the rural exoduswhich makes it difficult for families to have space for gardens. Image | MRC Témiscamingue (Unsplash) Via | Vigo Lighthouse In Xataka | In emptied Galicia there are town councils taking charge of gas stations and stores. The objective: not to be left without services

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