Month: April 2026

from spending a decade sowing ports and trains to reaping with their electric cars

by

For more than a decade, Beijing has been building the infrastructure, alliances and agreements that allow it to gain an advantage in a continent that has just opened its doors wide. And after having conquered Europe, and in the process of doing the same in Canada With its new energy and industrial vehicles, Latin America has for years been a pending strategic point for China in which to transfer a good part of its technology in exchange for raw materials. A fertilized land. Although China has had an eye on Latin America for many years, its strategy is now entering a different phase. For years, his play has focused on ports, railways, loans and commodities. Today, to this is added an automobile industry that urgently need to exportand that finds in Latin America a terrain that has already been fertilized with patience. Infrastructure. The most visible example is the Chancay megaporton the central coast of Peru, operated by the Chinese state shipping company Cosco Shipping. With the capacity to receive the largest container ships in the world, its objective is to reduce transit times between South America and Asia from the current 40 days to just 28. Robert Evan Ellis of the US Army Institute for Strategic Studies. he described it to the BBC some time ago as the transition from a route that “previously made all the stops” to another that “goes directly to the destination.” Peru, with China as its main trading partner for more than a decade, is not the only country: 22 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean are already part of the Belt and Road Initiative, Beijing’s great global connection project. Added to that are the railways. It is estimated that Latin America has more than 150 railway projects on the table with an estimated investment of 384 billion dollars until 2050, according to the Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean. China plays a central role in its financing, from the 16 billion dollars in road modernization in Argentina to the Bioceánica Railway, the 3,700 kilometer corridor that It will connect the Atlantic with the Pacific, crossing Brazil, Bolivia and Peru.. A work that not only connects countries, but shortens China’s route to the continent’s raw materials. lthe cars chinese. While the country is building all this logistics operations, China has been facing a serious problem for some time: a chronically overproduced automobile industrymargins under pressure and a cooling domestic market. BYD, its best-known manufacturer, saw the state withdraw subsidies for plug-in vehicles, making it its sales suffered. The answer to preventing its economy from sinking has been foreign expansion. Europe knows this perfectly, and Latin America has also been at the center of the plan for some time. To continue with the example of BYD, despite being a privately held company, already produces in Brazilwhere it sold 113,000 cars last year, more than in any other market outside of China, with a plant with the capacity to reach 600,000 vehicles annually. As Bloomberg tells it, from there, it will export 50,000 units to Mexico and another 50,000 to Argentina, taking advantage of trade agreements that eliminate tariffs between these countries. The factory in Brazil will be the one that supplies vehicles to the rest of Latin America. It is not the only front. Manufacturers like Changan have been perfecting for years in Mexico a model reuse strategy (the same vehicle with different brands and prices over time) that allows them to maintain a constant presence with a minimum investment in development. On the other hand, Yutong, one of the largest bus manufacturers in the world, has just delivered the first 180 of the 600 buses planned for modernize public transportation in Nicaragua within the framework of an agreement with the country’s Government. Concern in Washington. Donald Trump’s administration has classified the case of the port of Chancay as an example of how “cheap Chinese money” can erode national control over critical infrastructure. His warning also points to something more serious: that China uses displaced labor from its country instead of local ones, something that does not catch us by surprise in Europe, and that ends up generating economic dependencies that are difficult to reverse. Ellis counted to the BBC that “with Chancay, Peru will become more dependent on China,” and recalled that in other relations between Latin America and Asia “China used predatory techniques and ended up taking natural resources.” Peru illustrates the tension well: it has China as its main trading partner and the United States as a strategic ally and military partner. Washington negotiates the construction of a naval base a few kilometers from the port that Beijing operates. The same enclave, two powers, and an uncomfortable decision. A paradise for Chinese technology. Latin America is not a homogeneous market, but it has several common features that make it attractive to China: aging transportation infrastructures, growing middle classes, low penetration of electric vehicles and tariffs that, in many cases, have not yet adjusted to the pace of China’s entry. Brazil, Mexico and Argentina concentrate the bulk of attention by market size, but the agreements with Nicaragua or the projects in Chile, Colombia and Peru show that the strategy is much broader. In Xataka | In 2022 it seemed impossible for China to close the US “gap” in AI in four years. In 2026 it is a fact

the success of Starship V3 accelerates the race to the Moon

by

SpaceX, Elon Musk’s space companyis almost ready to launch its next-generation Starship in the month of May. But before carrying out this launch it is necessary to carry out some static tests, such as starting the engines. The first test of this type was carried out just a month ago, with a small incident at the end, but the second one went perfectly, so the launch plans are moving forward. A complete ignition test. On April 14, SpaceX performed the static ignition of the engines of its upper stage. Although the ignition test of the first stage had to end early due to a failure in the ground equipment, in this case all the engines have been able to ignite, demonstrating that this enhanced version of Starship is ready for its first flight. Why is it necessary? Logically, rocket engines are key and very sensitive parts for their proper functioning. They are one of the factors that most often fail in launches, along with fuel filling systems. Therefore, it is important to test prior to launches. In the static ignition tests, all engines start to check that there is no anomaly. In the case of version 3 of Starship none have been detected. Everything is on the right track. A battered version of the previous one. The Starship version 3 measures 124.4 meters, 1.2 meters longer than the previous version. It is much more powerful, thanks to its V3 Raptor engines. For this reason, SpaceX has already announced that it will be capable of carrying loads weighing more than 100 tons to low Earth orbit. Version 2 could only travel with 35 tons on board. Ready for the Moon? After the success of Artemis II, NASA already has its sights set on Artemis III, which will become the final test for the landing of a new batch of humans on the moon. To do this, the American company needs a rocket to match. Never better said. For now, there are two private companies working on it: Blue Origin, with Blue Moon, and SpaceX, with Starship. Although at first everything was betting that it would be SpaceX that would take the next humans to the Moon, some delays have led to thinking that Blue Moon could overtake them on the right. Therefore, the fact that version 3 of Starship has advanced in this way is good news for Elon Musk’s company. In May we will know if it really lives up to expectations. Images | SpaceX In Xataka | In 2018, Elon Musk put his own car into orbit. Eight years later it is still circling the Earth

For decades we have been told that seafood does not feel pain when boiled. We were seriously wrong

by

An action that can be quite common in the world of gastronomy and cooking in general is that of literally boil the lobsters and the crabs while they are alive. Something that was quite accepted, since it was thought that these animals were not aware that they were being boiled and did not even feel pain. But this is changing radically, although it does not transfer to kitchens. What we knew. This idea that the animals did not suffer any type of pain is something that could be doubted (a lot), since when you put them in a pot of boiling water they begin to have great shakes. But this is something that was pointed out as a mere reflex, but that did not have any type of awareness of the pain. A new study. A team from the University of Gothenburg has pointed out that this is not the caseand they have done so by focusing on Norwegian crayfish or lobsters. And to demonstrate that this is so, they have simply given him analgesics that humans take, such as aspirin (although it is no longer as prevalent due to its analgesia) and even local anesthetics such as lidocaine that is used in humans, for example, when they are going to give stitches to a wound. In this way, once the lobsters were anesthetized, they were placed in boiling water again and their movements, which were supposedly a reflex, were seen to be drastically reduced. What does it mean? Here logic tells us that if the animal’s behavior were a simple reaction due to the stimulation of a nerve, an analgesic should not affect it and would have to be generated in the same way. But the fact that drugs that block our own pain also work in crayfish suggests that there is more than a simple reflection when it comes to putting them in the boiling water, but they are really suffering. The ethical problem. The fact that it was thought that a crustacean with these characteristics could not be aware of pain was based on the fact that they have a very simple nervous system, so boiling them alive had no influence on animal well-being. But now researchers call for reflection and reopen the debate about whether we really should continue recommending this type of practices within the culinary world. This is not the first time this has been seen, since other studies analyzed the crabs through electric shocks given to them when they passed through a specific area. In this way, the crabs learned that they should not go through the area that gave them an electric shock, demonstrating that they did have awareness of this unpleasant experience and also memory. Now, with evidence of response to painkillers, the lobster’s “insensitivity” argument appears to have its days numbered. The legislation. Today, in many countries it is not considered that these practices are prohibited, as it is punishable, for example, to physically harm a dog or a cat. But the truth is that in some countries they are trying to adapt to the new reality, such as the United Kingdom, which recognizes lobsters, crabs and octopuses as sentient beings. Besides, in New Zealand This includes a requirement that animals going through the pot be declared desensitized through techniques such as extreme cooling or electrical stunning, to prevent them from being alive and conscious before being cooked. But the problem is that in much of the world it is still completely legal to cook them alive. Images | Monika Borys In Xataka | Batch cooking is taking off for a very simple reason: if you want to eat well, you can’t trust yourself.

the largest battery company in the world is no longer just about batteries

by

The Chinese company specialized in the development of batteries has published results for the first quarter of 2026 that have left analysts speechless. Not because they are good, but because no one saw them coming. And the income has exceeded the forecasts of several analysis firms by 40%. The margin of error is so large that it only shows the obvious: that CATL It has long ceased to be just a battery company. What the numbers say. In the first quarter of 2026, CATL had a turnover of 129.1 billion yuan (about $18.9 billion), 52.5% more than in the same period of the previous year, according to they count from Reuters. Net profit grew 48.5% to 20.7 billion yuan. Analysts expected revenue growth of 35.7% and profit growth of 20.9%. The reality is that the numbers almost double the estimates. If the context of the successful year they had in 2025 is added, the image is just as groundbreaking, since according to the annual report The company’s own revenue that year reached 423.7 billion yuan, with a growth of 17%, and net profit rose 42%. Why analysts They have failed so much. Market consensus continued to treat CATL as a supplier of cells for electric cars. The problem is that this approach ignores two movements that are redefining the company. The first: energy storage, a business with higher margins than vehicle batteries, already represented around a quarter of the product the company shipped in the first quarter. According to data Production data collected by Hello China Tech, in April storage had climbed to 41.3% of total cell production, up from less than 20% a year earlier. The second movement: internationalization. Approximately a third of CATL’s revenue already comes from outside China. A Bet that explains everything. Energy storage is not a segment that CATL has joined by inertia. It is the logical consequence of a thesis: the world needs to store renewable energy on a massive scale. The war in Iran has skyrocketed global energy costs and accelerated demand for renewables, making storage systems critical infrastructure. CATL, which already led that market with a global share of 30.4% in 2025, according to SNE Research (for the fifth consecutive year), has arrived at the exact moment with the necessary capacity. And its shipments of batteries for storage have grown by 80% year-on-year in 2025. Europe as a lever for internationalization. The Debrecen plant, in Hungary, went into mass production during the first quarter of 2026. An investment of 7.3 billion euros to supply Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Stellantis and Volkswagen, with a planned capacity of 100 gigawatt-hours annually and a planned workforce of 9,000 people. This factory is proof that CATL is not content with being a supplier that exports cells, but rather a manufacturer with an industrial presence in the markets it serves. At home, dominating like never before. At the same time, CATL has reached a milestone in China that it had not achieved for five years. According to data from the Chinese Passenger Car Association collected According to CarNewsChina, its production share of electric vehicle batteries in the domestic market exceeded 50% in the first quarter of 2026. In the NMC (nickel-manganese-cobalt) type battery segment, that share reaches 81.6%. And in the LFP (lithium-iron-phosphate) segment, where there is more competition, it reaches 41%, the highest level in four years. The world’s second largest manufacturer, BYD, fell to 13.4% global share, from 16% a year earlier. What CATL is today, beyond batteries. The company itself has been trying to change the story for some time. In your 2025 annual reportstates its ambition to become “a leading global zero-carbon technology company.” It may sound like corporate rhetoric, but it is worth noting that CATL has storage systems deployed in nearly 2,300 projects around the world. Its batteries power artificial intelligence data centers, including SenseTime’s in Shanghai, which the company says reduces electricity consumption by more than 10 million kilowatt-hours annually. It also has subsidiaries in the electric aviation sector and solutions for maritime transport zero emissions. It operates more than 1,000 battery exchange stations for passenger cars and more than 300 for heavy trucks. And it is building what it describes as the world’s first zero-carbon off-grid industrial park, in Shandong. ANDThe market has not yet it has finished processing. It’s not all good news. Morningstar analyst Vincent Sun warns that the automakers’ strategy of diversifying suppliers and cutting costs could “dilute CATL’s pricing power and put pressure on its unit profit.” When you are the dominant supplier, customers have incentives to reduce their dependence. Here it would be necessary to see if CATL’s diversification towards storage, energy services and internationalization builds a sufficient barrier. Cover image | CATL In Xataka | China and the US are dancing the AI ​​dance. And more and more they dance ‘agarraos’

One study compares what AI does to your ability to think to boiled frog syndrome. The frog does not come out well

by

There are two things that the technology industry is pushing hard. On the one hand, short videos. The TikTok format ‘broke’ it a few years ago to the point that platforms like Instagram or YouTube jumped headlong into copying them. On the other hand, AI. Everything must have AI, and now a chatbot He must be our assistant at all times. In parallel, every time more studies appear that point to something disturbing. That, perhaps, our brain is eroding. In short. Months ago, a study pointed out that chatbots cause cognitive surrender, another that makes us lazy and there is even one from Microsoft itself pointing in the same direction. One of the last is the elaborated by researchers from MIT, the University of California, Oxford, and Carnegie Mellon titled “AI Assistance Reduces Persistence and Harms Independent Performance.” To test the hypothesis, they conducted three experiments in which they let part of the participants access a bot based on GPT-5 and, after ten minutes, they cut off that access. Before the results, the tests: Equation Test – 350 people had to solve those problems. Qlogic test – 670 people had to take a mathematical test, but of logical reasoning in this case. Reading comprehension test – 200 participants who had to analyze a text and complete a brief reading comprehension series. We are so-so. As we say, part of the sample had access to that bot that was deactivated in the middle of the ‘exam’, and the result was the same in all three tests. As the researchers point out, when access to AI is interrupted, not only does the participants’ performance drop, but also their perseverance. In statements to the magazine Futurismone of the researchers points out that “once we take away the AI, it is not just that they make mistakes when giving the answer, it is that they are not willing to try either.” There was a distinction between AI users: Those who wanted the easy answer were the quickest to lose interest in attempting the task when they no longer had access to the tool. Those who asked for explanations or not to “cheat” directly had better results because some did try to continue with the task. The boiled frog. That’s where the analogy of the boiled frog that applies so well to this situation. The premise is that if we put a frog in a saucepan of boiling water, the frog will jump as soon as it senses danger. However, if we put the frog in the saucepan with warm water and heat it little by little, the animal will cook. This is not the case because the frog is obviously not stupid and, as long as it cannot be thermoregulateit will jump, but the analogy serves to explain what is happening with AI and those who delegate all tasks to a chatbot so as not to have to think. Are they making us dumber? Fools, fools… wouldn’t be the word. Rather, we become lazy. We don’t think because, after all, we have AI to do it for us. Without going into the danger that it poses (because now AIs are free, but tomorrow they may take them away from us at a stroke and turn them into a paid product even for the most basic tasks), the researchers they point out that, if someone uses AI in their daily life for all types of tasks, that person runs the risk of seeing their capabilities erode to the point of creating a dependency on the system because they do not know how to do anything without it. with head. This study, like many others, is not a criticism of artificial intelligence. As we have once said, it is just another tool, but you have to have criteria when using it. As the researchers point out, performance and interest are not the same in the case of someone who uses AI as a quick response as in the case of someone who just wants a concept explained to them. What they are clear about is that their observations, apart from those of other studies, should serve as a basis when designing how to integrate chatbots into educational programs. Because we are already seeing that there are countries and institutions that are integrating AI into classrooms and the conclusion of the study is that the analytical and creative thinking that we develop during youth is vital in adulthood. “Practice makes you better, and that is precisely what AI will take away from you. We will have a generation of students and people who will not know what they are capable of, and then that will hurt both innovation and human creativity” – Rachit Dubey, computational cognitive scientist at the University of California fast food. I commented at the beginning that short videos were also affecting us and it was not a toast to the Sun. It has a lot to do with the use of AI to obtain easy answers because the bottom line is the same: not having to think. It is something related to the concept of “brain rot” and the trap of dopamine, creating that dependency. In the case of short videos with slop and empty content, another implication is that little by little they break our attention span. That is why videos on YouTube The aim is to hook you from the beginningthe songs are getting shorter and have choruses that fit into the 15 seconds of an Instagram story, microdramas are the order of the day and when you start watching a movie that is not releasing dopamine, not even five minutes pass until you pick up your phone. It’s up to us to let the frog stew until it’s cooked… or if it jumps out of the pot. Images | J. Ronald LeeChatGPT (edited) In Xataka | The big names in AI are fighting over neuroscientists like they were soccer stars

all configurations have a good discount

by

The Galaxy S26 They arrived in stores a little over a month ago. Are you interested in any of the three? Right now you have a very good opportunity to get them at MediaMarkt: they all come at a very good price. And when we say all, it is all, both in terms of their colors as in your memory settings. Let’s see what price each one stays at below. Galaxy S26 Ultra We start with the Galaxy S26 Ultrathe top of the range of the Korean manufacturer’s new mobile phones. The phone starts at 1,449 euros, but we can lower its price significantly right now in two ways. The first of them is using the code ‘TradeIn100GalaxyS26U‘, which will give us a direct discount of 100 euros. Both this code and those on the Galaxy S26 and Galaxy S26+ will only be available until April 28. Yes, in addition, if we make the purchase by registering in myMediaMarktsomething that is free and will take us 1 minute, we will receive an additional 5% discount. We can use both things on the MediaMarkt website and in its mobile app. These are the prices of the three versions of the device: As for the device, it is a mobile phone whose main novelty is your new privacy screen. Beyond that, we are faced with a mobile phone with outstanding power, a very complete camera system and a 5,000 mAh battery that raises fast charging up to 60 W for the first time. Plus, it has seven years of updates and lots of AI. Galaxy S26+ Now it’s the middle of the S26 family. The Galaxy S26+ also has exactly two discounts to apply and reduce its price, which starts at 1,249 euros. The first, as with its older brother, involves using the code ‘TradeIn70GalaxyS26‘, which will give us a discount of 70 euros. If we register with miMediaMarkt, we will also receive a 5% discount. These are their prices: This device is ideal if you’re looking for the high-end experience from Samsung, but don’t want to go for the Ultra. Several points should be highlighted: its 6.7-inch screen with QHD+ resolutionits camera system and its operating system, which is one of the best. It also has a 4,900 mAh battery with 45W fast charging and seven years of guaranteed updates. Galaxy S26 And we close with the little one of the family, the Galaxy S26. This is the cheapest of the three, although even more so if we use this MediaMarkt promo. It starts at 999 euros and again there are two discounts that we can use: code ‘TradeIn50Galaxy2‘ for 50 euros discount and 5% of miMediaMarkt. These are the prices you would stay at: In addition to being the cheapest of the three, it is also the most compact, so it is ideal for you if you don’t like hulking cell phones: It barely weighs 167 grams. Good performance thanks to the Exynos 2600 tandem and 12 GB of RAM and its 6.3-inch screen also stands out, which looks outstanding. Some of the links in this article are affiliated and may provide a benefit to Xataka. In case of non-availability, offers may vary. Images | Álvaro García M., Alejandro Alcolea,Samsung In Xataka | Best Samsung phones in quality price. Which one to buy based on use and five recommended models In Xataka | The best mobile phones, we have tested them and here are their analyzes

Alcohol needs to win over a generation that is becoming less interested in alcohol. Your strategy: offer something else

by

The alcohol industry has come to an interesting conclusion. Maybe Generation Z is less interested for the drink that millennialsbut that does not make it immune to an age-proof claim: curiosity. Starting from this premise, the companies dedicated to producing distillates and wines have decided to refocus their strategy and bet on new products that appeal to the youngest. And that happens so much for him came no/low as for him tequifresa either Dubai chocolate. The goal is clear: connect with a demographic cohort that seems to be losing interest for alcohol and will decide the future of the industry. What has happened? Basically, Madrid has just said goodbye to the Gourmet Salonone of the largest European fairs for the high-end food and beverage industry. Until then, nothing out of this world or that may be of interest beyond the specialized industry. The curious thing, how has revealed the EFE Agro agency, is that on this occasion at IFEMA not only bottles of traditional wines, craft beers and traditional spirits have been seen. Companies in the sector have wanted to bet on new unorthodox products and flavors to awaken the curiosity of customers. And that (although at first it may seem anecdotal) is of interest beyond the industry. Why’s that? Because the sector is transforming. Just take a look at the newspaper library to check it out. Although Spain chains record tourism figuresin 2024 the sales recorded by the brewery association fell by second year in a rowsomething that had not happened for more than a decade. The figures Advanced by Circana suggest that the outlook was more promising in 2025, although also with surprise: sales of ‘without’ beer increased almost three times as much as those of alcoholic beverages. Its turnover is still much lower than that of ‘con’ beer, but there is a trend change. And the rest of the drinks? The panorama is similar in the case of wine. The Spanish Oenology Federation estimates that in 2025, 9.35 million of hectoliters, 5.2% less than the previous year. As with beer, its demand is very established and has experienced fluctuations in recent years, but that does not mean that wineries are looking for new business niches. For example, the development of ‘without’ wines or the use of new formatslike packaged broth bag-in-box or served directly from the tap. With respect to spirits, the employers’ association estimates that in 2024 their consumption contracted 3.7%which aggravates the fall that had already suffered in 2023. What is the strategy? From what has been seen these days at IFEMA, the industry wants to go one step further. Bottles of tequila flavored with strawberry, melon, peach or even with even more unorthodox flavors have been promoted on the stands. Orujos Panizo, which has been dedicated to the production of spirits for almost 90 years, has launched, for example, a cream liqueur Dubai chocolate. The objective is clear: to take advantage of the wave of popularity of the sweet and reach out to the young public at a time that, the head of the company recognizes, is not exactly good for the industry. The strategy does not seem misdirected. EFE Agro assures that the demand for some fruit creams with tequila is growing by double digits. Of course, the product starts from “very low” figures. Are there more ideas? Yes. To bet on him tequifresa either meloncello the one known as came no/lowpartially dealcoholized or alcohol-free broths. From being practically unknown in the sector, ‘without’ bottles have begun to sneak into professional tastingscontribute millionaire income to some companies and (above all) generate promising business expectations in the medium term. The specialized medium Italian Food News assures that the ‘without’ wine market expects to expand with a compound annual growth rate of 10% until 2033, expanding its market from 2,000 million to around 5,200. Does consumption change that much? It seems so. And the change is especially interesting among Generation Z, the population cohort born between the mid-1990s and the first decade of this century. Although 76% of young people between 14 and 18 years old admit having tried alcohol at least once in their life and 21% have gotten drunk in the last month, their relationship with drinking is changing. At least when compared to previous generations. “Generation Z drinks less than millennials and these, in turn, less than the boomers“, explains to The Country Andera Mellado, promoter of a ‘sin’ beverage distributor. “They’ve seen how their elders drank and they don’t want to get into that.” Is it just supply and demand? No. It’s something cultural. Habits change, the way of find a partner and to enjoy the leisure. They even change events that until not so long ago were inextricably linked to the “open bar”, like weddings. The vocabulary is also transformed. Terms become popular straight edge and Dry January and Anglo-Saxon expressions like superb curious, mindful living either zebra stripingwhich identify new ways of approaching drinking. That of course doesn’t mean that alcohol has disappeared from Generation Z’s radar or there are no more bottles. 28% of young people recognize that in the last month they have binged on alcohol, the so-called bringe drinking. What do the studies say? That in general there is a decrease in alcohol intake. Although Spain has one of the higher levels of consumption, WHO data show that the average per capita has decreased in recent decades. If in 1975 it reached 18.5 l (pure alcohol), in 2022 it was already around 11.7. The study on consumption among younger youth (14-18 years old) from the Ministry of Health also shows a gradual loss of interest in drinking over recent years, especially since the middle of the last decade, although in both cases it is a trend with fluctuations. Images | Panizo Distilleries, Vitaly Gariev (Unsplash), Vitaly Gariev (Unsplash) and Ministry of Health In Xataka | Having a beer or a wine at 65 seems like a harmless indulgence. We have more and more evidence to … Read more

This is how the Rocketroll project works

by

Artemis II has been an example of how far space travel can go. So far that there will come a time when the technologies currently used to propel ships will be insufficient. There is no point in using solar energy if we move too far from the Sun or travel to the Moon, with 14-day nights. Nor is it useful to use the best fuel if the trip is going to be so long, so far and with so much load that refueling needs would be unfeasible. For this reason, nuclear propulsion has been considered for some time to take ships where they cannot go today. The European Space Agency (ESA) has also jumped on that bandwagon and has already carried out its first studies. An order for three consortia. The ESA just announced the first results of the Rocketroll project, which has asked three independent consortia to design an approach to use nuclear electric propulsion in European space missions. This is something that other space agencies, such as NASA, have already begun to study, but in European territory work had not yet been done on this specific issue. Thermonuclear propulsion vs nuclear-electric propulsion. In fact, nuclear propulsion for spacecraft had already been studied in Europe. That is the key to the Alumni project, presented by ESA last year. The difference is that in that case a thermonuclear propulsion system was designed. That is, a reactor in which nuclear fission generates heat that is used to heat a fluid that serves as a propellant. What has been studied in Rocketroll is different, since nuclear fission generates electricity, which is supplied to a series of electric motors. Each one has its advantages. In absolute terms, thermonuclear propulsion is more powerful. However, it is accompanied by technical problems, such as storing a sufficient amount of propellant. Plus, it’s very expensive. The other option is cheaper and, accompanied by some chemical propulsion, is just as powerful. That is why ESA is so interested in having its ships work with this mechanism. Three consortia, three proposals. Three multidisciplinary consortia have participated in this project: Tractebel, CNRS and OHB Czech Space. Each has made a proposal that would be incorporated into the entire system. For example, the first consortium has proposed using enriched uranium as a generator of nuclear power. Uranium-238 is the most abundant in nature, but it is not fissile. This means that a nuclear fission chain reaction cannot be maintained from it. Nuclear fission is the process by which energy is obtained in nuclear reactors, so it is of no use to us. On the other hand, Uranium-235 is fissile. Enriched uranium is richer in this isotope, so it can be used in a nuclear reactor. Compared to other options, such as Plutonium-239, Tractebel considers that this is better. For its part, CNRS proposes using a molten salt reactor. That is, a reactor in which this type of salts are used as coolant and/or fuel to trigger nuclear fission. Finally, the third consortium proposes that the ships be larger to optimize the results. Scheme of the alumni nuclear thermal propulsion system (Image rotated) A safe option. All consortia conclude that nuclear-electric propulsion can open new paths for space exploration. This is great news, but we may have doubts about its safety. Before them, they remember that it is a risk-free process. The uranium that would be activated remains inert and is only activated, to trigger nuclear fission, once it is in orbit. There would be no risks while handling the ships on Earth. In addition, shields are used so that astronauts and spacecraft cargo are not at risk when the reaction is triggered. We must not forget that space is also a large source of radiationso ships must be properly protected. Next steps. This first step by Rocketroll has been little more than a brainstorm. There is still quite a way to go. For example, each system will have to be studied separately, from the nuclear reactor to the radiation shield, including the energy conversion system, the thermal heating and cooling system and the electric thrusters. For all this, ESA has already formed a nuclear propulsion working group that will oversee the design and construction of subscale hardware. There will also be laboratory tests to confirm that everything is working properly before even thinking about testing the system in space. This technology may be the future, but it must be tested slowly. Image | THAT In Xataka | The West stopped building nuclear power plants because they were too expensive: China is teaching it a lesson

Europe thinks that it is the one who wants to become independent from US technology companies. It’s actually the other way around.

by

We are going to have to make a dictionary when we talk about artificial intelligence. Yes generative artificial intelligence, general artificial intelligence, AI agents and Google has its Personal Intelligence. This service has been available for a few months in the United States and is now expanding to the rest of the world for users of the company’s suite. To all? Well no, not everyone, and Google leaves out the entire European economic area, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. What does this do. First of all, Gemini Personal Intelligence is like an ‘entity’ that has an eye on all the Google applications that we use with our account. It is a connection between the entire ecosystem which has access to all the information from YouTube, Maps, Calendar, Drive, Gmail, Docs or Photos. The idea is that they know everything about you to help you with day-to-day requests. Google itself gives an example: Since I connected my apps through Personal Intelligence, my daily life has become easier. For example, two weeks ago we needed new tires for our 2019 Honda minivan. While waiting at the store, I realized I didn’t know the size of the tires, so I asked Gemini. Nowadays, any chatbot can find these tire specifications, but Gemini went further. He suggested two options: one for daily driving and one for all-weather conditions, with references to our family road trips to Oklahoma that I found on Google Photos. Then, he neatly extracted the ratings and prices of each one. When I got to the counter, they asked me for my license plate. Instead of looking for it or losing my spot in line to get back to the parking lot, I asked Gemini. It extracted the seven-digit number from an image in Photos and also helped me identify the specific model of the truck by searching Gmail. Just like that, we had everything ready. Everyone can appreciate how useful this is, of course. Because, furthermore, it is not free: you need to be on an AI Pro or Ultra payment plan. Europe, you are excluded, beautiful. But if you think that life can be solved for you like the person in the example and you live in Europe, you should know that you cannot access it. Google has made it very clear that the feature is not available in the European Union, the United Kingdom and Switzerland due to the strict privacy regulations that are found within the General Data Protection Regulation. It is one more service that does not reach European users due to these stricter privacy conditions and, in addition, they have not detailed any deadline so that we Europeans know more or less when it will be available in the region. If you read us from a Latin American country and you are interested in this software, good news, is available. Privacy. Regarding privacy, being something that we should take very seriously, it is curious how in the age of AI that privacy is eroded because the models have more and more data. We give a lot to this software and we don’t really know who’s watchingand Google wanted comment What is the privacy approach of your Personal Intelligence. According to the company, we can link and unlink applications from the ecosystem according to our preferences, but once we connect Photos, for example, you will have access to everything. They say that the photos in the gallery will not be used to train the model (here it is extremely sensitive because we each have personal photos on our mobile) and they take “measures to filter or hide personal data from the conversation.” They point out that “we do not train our systems to learn your license plate number, but to understand that, when you ask for it, we can find it.” Regarding health, a sensitive topic that is topical due to what El Salvador has done, they assure that “Gemini tries to avoid making proactive assumptions about sensitive data such as your health, although it will analyze that data if you ask it.” ¿Pressure? In any case, and what Google’s Personal Intelligence has to offer draws more or less attention, it is evident that carrying out a global launch of this magnitude without waiting to ‘sort the papers’ to launch it in Europe is also a declaration of intent. Europe is at a time when it is seeking its military sovereignty, aerospace and technologicalareas in which depends largely on the United States. We are building our infrastructure and systems, and not launching something like this in Europe is one more way of putting pressure on the organizations that, very actively, sand have positioned about the treatment of our data by these large companies. Image | Google (edited) In Xataka | Sometimes erotic AIs are AIs. And sometimes, they are a man from Kenya who charges two dollars an hour

urine is helping solve the fertilizer crisis

by

I never imagined that one day I would find myself in the position of calculating how much human urine Spain produces each year, but here we are: adding permanent residents and international tourists, the country produces 23,948 million liters of urine per year. 23,000 million that we are literally flushing down the toilet and that, in short, could help us solve the enormous problem that is approaching us with the fertilizer crisis. Use urine as fertilizer? It’s not a new idea. In fact, it has been around for more than fifteen years and there are already commercial fertilizers on the market (the Swiss Aurin, for example) and others that are under development (one in Spain by the ICTA-UAB). In places as diverse as the United States, France or the International Space Station, the use of urine is the order of the day. For years the Rich Earth Institute Vermont (USA) has a program dedicated to examining the safety and efficiency of using urine for this purpose. As they themselves explained on the BBCthe idea of ​​recycling urine responds to two basic reasons: the first is “the fertilizers it produces, which are valuable for agriculture”, the second is “the pollution it avoids”. Resolved. As if that were not enough, as our DAP colleagues explainthe University of Surrey has just solved one of the key processing problems: clouding of membranes in the concentration process. And then? If we have been working for 15 years, why do we still depend on the Gulf? Because the barrier is not scientific, the barrier is infrastructure and regulation. Let’s think about it for a moment: yes, Spain produces almost 24,000 million liters of urine, but how the hell are we going to collect it? We would need an entire circuit of toilets with urine separation, a channeling, collection and processing system on a national scale. Plus, if we had all that, there would still be a ton of regulatory issues and associated risks (like pharmaceutical waste). The thing is moving. That is true: the rising price of Gulf urea makes all these alternatives more attractive. And it does it automatically. In that sense, the 473 liters of urine produced by each adult can be a small ‘gold mine’. The issue, as I say, is that it is not simple: studies indicate that in the sewer urine is diluted up to 100 timesso it must be separated at source and collected with separate circuit toilets (something that, well, right now is anecdotal in urban environments). But it starts somewhere. Because, as said Siddharth Gadkari, lead author of the study published in the Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering, human urine hides a kind of paradox: “although it contains the essential nutrients we need for agriculture, we currently treat it as waste.” With a little luck, these connection tests will move legislation and in a few years we will begin to see how that begins to change. Image | Philippe Murray Pietsch In Xataka | Going to the bathroom is a waste: urine is the real liquid gold and is full of valuable things

Log In

Forgot password?

Forgot password?

Enter your account data and we will send you a link to reset your password.

Your password reset link appears to be invalid or expired.

Log in

Privacy Policy

Add to Collection

No Collections

Here you'll find all collections you've created before.