Month: May 2026

what to do with reckless tourists who need rescues

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Mount Fuji is one of the big icons of Japan (perhaps the largest and certainly one of the most emblematic), but for quite a few hikers it ends up becoming something very different: a trap. Although every year they travel their four paths more than 200,000 people, from time to time when the mountain bends the pulse of hikers less accustomed to dealing with altitude sickness, changes in temperatures, long walks over deposits of volcanic ash or simply those who go for their 3,776 meters without proper training or technical equipment. When that happens and things get serious on the mountain, the rescue teams have no choice but to come to the aid of the hikers, sometimes risking their lives. An icon with small print. That Mount Fuji has a unique magnetism and attracts tens of thousands of tourists from all over the world every year is undeniable. Japan estimates that more than 200,000 peoplea figure that some sources raise above 300,000. That’s not to say that ascending the mountain is exactly a walk in the countryside. Especially for those impatient who decide to delve into one of its four paths (Fujinomiya, Gotemba, Subashiri and Yoshida) out of season authorized, which usually runs from July to September. “It is considered dangerous”. Those who want to complete the ascent between the middle of the mountain and the summit of Fuji calmly, safely and without breaking the rules must respect this schedule and plan their excursions in advance. Before July or last September, things get complicated. And not just because the authorities say so. Many of the shelters close, the weather worsens and the route can become dangerous in certain sections. Hence, for example, the United States embassy in Japan insist its citizens about the risks of climbing the mountain out of season. “It is considered dangerous. Every year several climbers, including Americans, lose their lives trying to ascend Mount Fuji.” Is it that problematic? A quick Google search shows that (unfortunately) emergency services must mobilize with some frequency to rescue reckless or ill-prepared hikers. One of the last cases occurred on May 3when a Chinese hiker slipped and fell off a cliff, so he had to be evacuated to a hospital. If we go back further, we find news similar to beginning of marchwhen authorities had to move a team to the southeast face of Fuji to save a 23-year-old Swedish woman and a 41-year-old New Zealander. Both suffered serious injuries. Two rescues in one week. The most flagrant and media case was recorded, however, in 2025, when it had to be rescued twice in a week to a Chinese climber. In general, it is estimated that throughout 2024 around 70 operations search and rescue in the mountains with a death toll of ten, some of them out of season. It is not an alarming figure if you take into account that hundreds of thousands of people visit the mountain every year, but it is not exactly good either. Especially since the high season lasts a few months. “It’s outrageous”. The frequency of rescues (especially during the months when the trails are closed to the public) is high enough that the mayor of one of the towns located at the foot of the mountain, Fujinomiya, has put the scream in the sky. A few days ago Hidetada Sudo called the press to insist on the seriousness of the issue. “Personal responsibility is not being assumed. It is outrageous to think that, if you suffer an accident, you will simply receive help,” laments the councilor before insisting on another idea: often the recklessness of hikers ends up endangering the technicians who must go to Fuji to help them. “It’s not a joke”. “If a second accident occurred, the families and superiors of the team members would not be able to bear it. It would turn into anger. This is no joke,” emphasize I sweat. Their complaints come after the operation on May 3 and after it circulated a video which shows the harsh conditions in which rescuers work. The truth is that this is not the first time that local authorities have raised the issue. Last year the mayor of Fujiyoshida also opened the debate about what to do about rescue operations on Fuji during the off-season, when hikers act recklessly. What is the solution? The million dollar question. Japan now has started to charge to the hikers who climb Fuji to fight dirt that generates its massification. Shizuoka and Yamanashi prefectures even they were talking last year to force visitors to reserve a place in advance to avoid collapses. There are those who propose to go further, especially when things get complicated in the mountains because the hikers do not act responsibly. In 2025 the mayor of Fujishoida proposed that the rescued people must assume the cost of their evacuations. A similar idea has also been raised by Fujinomiya, whose mayor regrets that “the idea that you do not have to assume any cost when being rescued is simplistic and unfair”, or even from the government from Shizuoka Prefecture. Like someone ordering a taxi. “Rescuers risk their lives in mountain rescues. There have been cases where people have requested rescues through their cell phones as if they were ordering a taxi,” I regretted last year the Fujiyoshida councilor before remembering that the use of a rescue helicopter can cost between 400,000 and 500,000 yen per hour, from 2,000 to 2,700 euros. It is not the only solution on the table. That same region has an app in which it already accepts pre-registrations to access the mountain, a tool that informs about climbing rules and pays an access fee. The objective is to also allow users to consult the location and indicate how long it will take to reach the shelters. Images | Baris Sari (Unsplash) and Ryan Latta (Flickr) In Xataka | So many Australian tourists are arriving in Japan that the nation has made an unprecedented decision: asking them … Read more

We thought that buying a yacht was a luxury. The real luxury that they don’t tell you is another: maintaining it

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Owning a yacht is synonymous with luxury and opulence. It is not for less. Superyachts like the koru by Jeff Bezos or the Leviathan by Gabe Newell, they had a purchase price of 500 million dollars; he launchpad by Mark Zuckerberg about 300 million dollars. However, although buying a yacht seems the most difficultwho has been in the sector for some time knows that this initial disbursement will not be the only one, it is only the first. The true luxury (and what is really expensive) is what comes after and is repeated every year: the maintenance of that yacht. There is an unwritten rule that has been circulating around moorings and ports for decades to prepare future buyers for what awaits them. It is called the “10% rule“, and refers to the annual maintenance cost that a yacht requires: 10% of its price, each year. The inhabitants of the Caribbean island of Antigua they learned it the hard way. The price of a yacht does not come on the label When someone is going to buy a boat, it is usual to take into account whether they can afford its purchase price. That’s the easy part. You look at the price and compare it to your checking account. If it fits the budget, honey on flakes. However, there is a cost that not always taken into account in which the owner of a yacht (or any boat in general) should reserve approximately the 10% of the purchase price to cover all expenses annual operation and maintenance. Yes, 10% of the price each year. A 500,000 euro yacht will generate annual costs of around 50,000 euros; If the value amounts to one million euros, the figure rises to 100,000 euros per year. That 10% includes practically everything necessary to keep the boat sailing and in perfect condition: routine maintenance, regular repairs, average fuelannual insurance, mooring fees and, in the case of larger superyachts, crew salaries. Boat insurance alone already represents between 1.5% and 2% of the value of the yacht per year, which in a 500,000 euro boat translates into between 7,500 and 10,000 euros per year in premiums alone. At this point, it should be noted that these premiums are also calculated based on the location of the mooring. A yacht moored in the Mediterranean does not pay the same insurance as in areas like Florida where hurricane warnings and tropical storms are the order of the day. As the ship ages, the numbers change The 10% rule is stated as a reference guide for the entire life of the yacht. That is, it is an average in which some years the maintenance cost will be well below that 10%, while in other years it will far exceed it. However, above or below, the cost always remains close to that 10%: As and as they point out from WS Yatch Brokersone of the decisive factors, for example, is that this 10% varies as the age of the boat advances. When the yacht is new, the manufacturer’s warranties are in force, the mechanical systems are working well and maintenance costs can remain around 2% of the purchase price for the first few years. That 2% corresponds to fixed expenses such as insurance, mooring, or basic deck maintenance. As the years go by, parts wear out, warranties expire, and breakdowns become more and more frequent. For boats between 5 and 15 years old, the recommended percentage rises to 10%, with bad years that can reach (and exceed) 15% of the purchase value. The reason is that, as the market value of the boat goes down, its maintenance costs go up, so any calculation based on a fixed percentage loses reliability. That is to say, a 15-year-old yacht that has cost 100,000 euros second-hand will not (or at least not always) have expenses of 10% since its engine and hull begin to need major repairs due to years of use. That is, what the buyer has saved on the purchase price must then be invested in repairs anyway. Hence the 10% rule is a reference average applied to the entire life of the yacht (with its ups and downs), not a rule written in stone. The size, the crew and the place where you moor Size also determines the maintenance budget proportionally. From 25 meters in length, the yacht can now require professional crewand that 10% falls short to cover the cost of maintenance. A captain’s salary alone starts at around $50,000 per year, and a full crew for a large yacht easily exceeds $200,000 per year. On megayachts, managers usually plan 10% for operating expenses (which are included in the 10% rule), plus an additional 10% for onboard personnel, their maintenance, etc., which places the real maintenance cost closer to 20% of the acquisition price. This percentage does not apply to those yachts that, due to size, only require the services of a captain during the high season, thus reducing their annual cost. He port where it is moored It also has a decisive influence on the calculation of annual fixed expenses. It does not cost the same to moor in a small fishing town on the Catalan coast as in Puerto Banús or in the port of Monaco. In Spain, the monthly mooring fee for a boat between 12 and 14 meters ranges between 450 and 575 euros per month (about 6,900 euros per year), but it skyrockets in large tourist ports. to put a practical examplemooring in Marina Ibiza, the main recreational port on the island, for a yacht of about 15 meters in length costs between 25,000 and 30,000 euros per year, while if you opt for other secondary ports on the island, the price is reduced by half to between 10,000 and 15,000 euros per year. According to estimates of Ocean Independencea company specializing in superyacht management, the annual routine maintenance of a superyacht, which includes hull cleaning, fuel, engine inspection and electronic systems, ranges between … Read more

Satellite images reveal how much Russia fears Ukraine’s drones. 7,000 km away they are covering their nuclear missiles

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The British Navy discovered something truly absurd during naval tests in 1945: a single flock of birds could appear on the radar with a signature similar to that of enemy aircraft. Eight decades later, some of the most sophisticated military systems on the planet clash again to the same problem: Tiny, cheap threats that are difficult to distinguish before it is too late. The drone war against the Russian nuclear arsenal. They counted this week in Naval News that satellite images taken over the Russian submarine base of Rybachiy, on the Kamchatka Peninsula, reveal the extent to which drone warfare in Ukraine is altering Russian military logic even thousands of kilometers from the front. to some 7,400 kilometers of Ukrainetwo strategic nuclear submarines of the Borei class They have appeared completely covered with anti-drone nets while they remain docked in port. The scene is shocking because these submarines are part of the core of Russian nuclear deterrent: each one carries 16 Bulava ballistic missiles capable of launching intercontinental nuclear attacks. However, even that geographical distance no longer seems sufficient for Moscow to feel completely safe from possible surprise Ukrainian operations. From the Black Sea to the Pacific nuclear fleet. The evolution reflects how drones have ceased to be an exclusively tactical problem and have become a strategic threat. Russia had been installing for some time cages, nets and metal structures improvised on ships and patrol boats in the Black Sea to try to stop Ukrainian FPV attacks. Now that same logic has reached some of the most sensitive platforms in its entire military arsenal. The fear does not seem to focus so much on drones launched directly from Ukraine, something practically impossible at such a distance, but on covert operations similar to those that have already hit Russian targets very far from the front. The idea of ​​small cheap drones reaching multi-million dollar strategic assets It has even begun to modify the protection of nuclear submarines. A small threat capable of altering the strategic balance. The nets observed on the Borei do not hide the submarines from satellites nor do they serve as conventional camouflage. Its function It’s purely defensive.: prevent light drones from approaching, landing on the deck or launching explosive charges at vulnerable points, especially on hatches and exposed systems while the submarines are on the surface. Russia had already installed similar protections on some Baltic and Arctic submarines, but on Rybachiy the coverage is much more extensive and envelops practically the entire vessel. There is no doubt, the image conveys a certainly powerful conclusion: the Kremlin already considers it plausible that cheap, improvised and difficult to detect attacks could threaten even part of its nuclear triad. The great psychological change of the war in Ukraine. Beyond the real effectiveness of these networks, the important detail is rather psychological and strategic. Ukraine has managed to get Russia to dedicate resources, time and defensive concern to bases located on the other end of the continent Eurasian. For decades, the logic of nuclear deterrence assumed that submarines hidden in remote bases were virtually untouchable except in an all-out war between great powers. And this is where drones have begun to erode that sense of immunity. The war in Ukraine is showing that a country with limited resources can force a nuclear superpower to cover with mesh improvised some of their most important systems for fear of unexpected attacks. When “nuclear” fears the cheapest. In short, the image of nuclear submarines protected with networks recalls the extent to which the Ukrainian conflict is transforming modern military rules. Platforms designed to survive atomic wars, operate under the ocean for months, and launch intercontinental missiles now also have to worry about cheap quadcopters, commercial explosives, and improvised attacks. Of course, Russia still maintains a huge nuclear and naval advantagebut the proliferation of drones is altering something much more difficult to measure than weapons: the feeling of (in)security. And when even the most remote nuclear bases begin to be armored against small drones, it means that the war in Ukraine has already changed the global perception of military vulnerability. Image | Vantor In Xataka | Once again, Ukraine has opened a missile launched by Russia. Once again, surprising manufacturers have been found In Xataka | Russia has been advancing at a snail’s pace in Ukraine for months. That’s about to change because of one season: summer.

It is called Galileo, and it is the backbone of the EU’s technological independence

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when you open Google Maps or use any application that requires location services, your phone is connecting at that very moment to a handful of positioning satellites that are orbiting our planet. We commonly refer to this type of technology as GPS, but chances are that of all the satellite constellations your phone connects to, some of them are European, and It is not technically “GPS”. In Spain, many of the times we access the phone’s location we do so through the Galileo satellite constellation, which has been operational for almost a decade. The European Union is strengthening this technology and shielding it from interference for a reason: technological sovereigntysomething that is beginning to appear more and more on the EU political agenda. What is Galileo, and why it is not the same as GPS. Galileo is the European Union’s global navigation satellite system (GNSS), funded by the European Commission and developed together with the European Space Agency (ESA) and the EU Agency for the Space Program (EUSPA). There are four operational global GNSS: GPS (United States), GLONASS (Russia), BeiDou (China) and Galileo, the only one under fully civilian control. According to the European Commission itself, its open service offers an accuracy of one meter, up to four times better than traditional GPS. What the user calls “GPS” on their mobile phone is, in reality, GNSS, that is, a cocktail of signals from several constellations that the chip in your phone combines to fix the position. Your mobile phone already navigates with Galileo, and for years. Galileo began initial services in 2016 and opened to the public shortly after. From 2022, according to EUSPA, all smartphones sold in the European single market are required to be compatible with Galileo. Today there are more than five billion users around the world that connect to this constellation, according to ESA dataand the main chip manufacturers (Qualcomm, Broadcom and MediaTek) integrate Galileo as standard. If you want to know which satellites your phone is currently using, there are applications that allow you to find out, such as GPSTest. Importance for the EU. Galileo does not replace GPSis like a complementary layer that provides a certain strategic autonomy that until recently did not exist in Europe. If we think about it, satellite positioning is today a critical service in sectors such as civil aviation, road transport, agriculture, telecommunications, the E-Call emergency system of cars, financial transactions, etc. The European Commission esteem that approximately 10% of the EU’s annual GDP already depends on satellite navigation, which explains why it has spent more than two decades building its own constellation. Service improvements. Galileo is being strengthened and modernized over time. In December last year, ESA and Arianespace Two Galileo satellites were launched for the first time on board the European rocket Ariane 6This is curious because several previous launches had been carried out with SpaceX’s Falcon 9. There are still four first-generation satellites pending launch, and this year they will begin to be deployed the Second Generation (G2)developed by Airbus Defense and Space and Thales Alenia Space, with fully digital payload, electric propulsion, better atomic clocks and inter-satellite links. In parallel, in July 2025 it entered into operation the OSNMA service (Open Service Navigation Message Authentication), which adds a digital signature to Galileo signals to detect attempts to spoofing (the sending of false signals) in a context in which there is increasing signal interference in conflict zones. In fact, Rodrigo da Costa, executive director of EUSPA, counted that Galileo has become the first GNSS in the world to offer global authentication of its open signals. And now what. What is coming are more satellites, more services and better precision. Galileo’s High Precision Service (HAS), free and available globally, now enables precision of the order of 20 centimeters with compatible receivers (not directly from our mobile). The Second Generation will reinforce robustness against interference and open the door to more demanding applications such as autonomous driving. Cover image | Xataka and ESA In Xataka | Who can do more, Google or seven small Dutch companies together? Europe is on the verge of discovering it

Nobody has yet been able to with Revolut in Spain. Monzo’s response: “yet”

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Spain has been a country of neobanks for some time. Its market share exceeds 25%and they are fully achieving their goal of stealing customers from traditional banking. With Revolut Leading the surprise and capturing more new accounts than banks like BBVA or Santander, there is a new actor with enough muscle to stand up to it. monzo. It may not sound familiar to you, but monzo It is the most used bank in the United Kingdom, with 13 million customers. In other words, more than 25% of English people have an account open at Monzo, and the entity has been working silently for months to obtain the green light from the Bank of Spain. The “OK”. The neobank has been registered with the Bank of Spain as a bank branchhaving formally authorized registration in the BOE. The first key regulatory step for Monzo to set foot in our country, although at the moment there is no set date for its landing. Why is it important. Monzo is not just another niche neobank looking to survive. It is an entity with millions of customers, profitable since 2023, and with a product proposal that has managed to take the UK by storm. If it plays its cards right, Monzo can become one of Revolut’s main players, and a major threat to other propositions such as N26 either Trade Republic. why now. Experts like Jose Luis Antúnez told us back in 2019 why Monzo did not seem to have any special interest in leaving the United Kingdom. The answer was clear: customer service. Regarding traditional banking, neobanks are failing in this aspect, while Monzo has been wanting to be more responsible in terms of experience and service for years. A conservative strategy. Monzo’s differential is not currently in its offer of financial products, it is that it is a simple Neobank. Allows you to use “Pots”, a tool to divide into subaccounts and save by objectives with automatic transfer. It allows you to automate the payroll so that a certain part goes to the savings pot, a certain part to the invoices (direct debits) and the rest is available for spending. Bill Splitting with Friends Remuneration higher than 3% in the United Kingdom. The numbers. Revolut closed 2025 with 6.3 million customers in Spain, its third global market by user volume, after gaining two million in the last year alone. Trade Republic, for its part, went from 1.2 to 2.4 million users between June 2025 and April 2026. Revolut is already the fifth bank in Spain, ahead of ING, Unicaja, Cajamar and Ibercaja. Only 200,000 clients from Sabadell, which has been building a network of offices throughout the country for decades. Traditional banking continues to dominate in volume—CaixaBank has almost 19 million customers—but the ranking is no longer just a matter of entities with branches on every corner. Three of the ten largest banks in Spain are neobanks, and Monzo wants to add a fourth. In Xataka | Revolut wants more than your savings: it’s going after Spanish millionaires

If the question is whether AI data centers end up increasing temperatures in a region, the answer is: 2.2ºC

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A group of researchers from Arizona State University have published a study striking. They wanted to estimate the impact of AI data centers on the average temperatures of the region in which they are installed. Their conclusion is disturbing, because this increase can be up to 2.2 ºC. The massive use of AI raises another problem. There is already a clear debate about the water and energy consumption of AI data centers, but this study has focused on an equally important problem: thermal pollution. It’s hot. The researchers focused on the Phoenix metropolitan area, the hottest in the entire US. There, their analyzes indicated that data centers expel air from their cooling systems at temperatures that are between 14 and 25 degrees Fahrenheit above ambient temperature, creating thermals that can affect nearby neighborhoods. The air says it all. This is the first known research to use high-precision vehicle-mounted sensors to compare air temperature before and after passing through the facility. The data was clear: Downwind areas of a data center had average temperatures 1.6ºF higher, with peaks of 4ºF (2.2ºC) compared to the reference areas. Heat island effect. The impact of this increase in temperature is also notable in terms of the distance affected: these increases were detected even 500 meters away from the source, which is equivalent to about five “blocks” of homes in the city of Phoenix. Vicious circle. The very design of data centers causes this problem to feed into itself. A single data center can generate as much waste heat as a small city of 40,000 homes, and the vicious cycle is clear: The data center blows very hot air to cool its servers The air warms the surrounding neighborhood Neighbors use their air conditioners more Air conditioners expel even more waste heat Location is the key. David Sailor, who led the study, indicated that what they seek with their conclusions is not to prohibit data centers, but to rethink their integration with urban centers. To avoid or mitigate problems, solutions are proposed such as reorienting air outlets or creating parks that cushion these increases in temperature. The key, these researchers say, is urban planning: these facilities must be treated as sources of industrial thermal emissions, because that is what they are. Prevent before cure. The projected computing capacity for data centers to be built in the US will double in 2030, which according to this study makes it necessary to take action. The challenge, they say, is to apply these solutions before the waste heat generated by data centers becomes a public health problem. Spain may also have that problem. Projects that affect our country should also take this circumstance into account. In recent months we have seen how the Autonomous Community of Aragón has focused part of the protagonism of agreements with large technology companies, and both Amazon and Microsoft have data centers planned in the metropolitan area of ​​the city of Zaragoza. The towns of Villamayor de Gállego and Villanueva de Gállego are less than 20 km from Zaragoza, and both already have data centers planned. These initiatives promise to boost the region’s economy, but they also bring doubts. Not everyone is in favor of such centers, of course, and there are even judicial processes trying to stop its construction. Image | David Vives and AWS In Xataka | The great paradox of Madrid: the region with the largest energy deficit in Spain is losing the data centers

China was supposed to be behind in chip-making equipment. Now its engraving technology is the standard and even TSMC uses it

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Gerald Yin Zhiyao is the president and CEO of AMEC (Advanced Micro-Fabrication Equipment China), one of the largest chinese companies specialized in the design and production of the equipment involved in manufacturing integrated circuits. During a roundtable held at the end of July 2024 this veteran executive maintained that Chinese chip manufacturing equipment was at that time between 5 and 10 years behind its most advanced competitors in terms of quality and reliability. Yin Zhiyao is one of China’s leading experts in semiconductor production equipment manufacturing. He has not hesitated on several occasions to publicly adopt a critical stance when assessing the degree of development of the Chinese chip manufacturing machine industry, which is why his statements tend to be interesting to say the least. And the one he did last Sunday on Chinese state television, and which has been picked up by SCMPit was. According to Yin ZhiyaoAMEC’s ​​plasma etching technology has established itself as a standard in the integrated circuit industry and has been adopted by its major international rivals. In fact, according to the founder of AMEC, TSMC, the Taiwanese company that leads the chip manufacturing marketuses some of its machines in its production chain. It may seem like bravado, but it doesn’t have to be. It makes sense for TSMC to use semiconductor processing machines designed and manufactured by AMEC. What China has and what it doesn’t have Much of the sanctions deployed by the US Government seeks to put out of reach of Chinese companies the most advanced chip manufacturing equipment available on the market. In this scenario Yin Zhiyao holds something very reasonable: the US bans have accelerated the development of China’s semiconductor industry. In fact, at the end of 2023 the Xi Jinping Administration handed over to its main companies that are dedicated to the manufacture of semiconductor production equipment no less than 41 billion dollars. Photolithography and etching are two different stages that are repeated dozens of times during chip manufacturing Despite this effort, China still does not have extreme ultraviolet photolithography (UVE), which are suitable for manufacturing cutting-edge chips. At least not in large scale production. What it does have, as the head of AMEC states, are the engraving machines (etching) involved in the production of advanced integrated circuits. These devices are responsible for removing material from the exposed areas in order to physically sculpt the circuits on the silicon wafer. In this context, it is important that we keep in mind that photolithography and etching are two different and consecutive stages that are repeated dozens of times during chip manufacturing. Photolithography aims to transfer the geometric pattern that describes the circuit from a mask or template to the surface of the silicon wafer using extreme ultraviolet light. This is the stage that ASML machines on the edge nodes solve. Immediately after, the engraving process takes place, which can be wet or plasma. This last variant bombards the surface of the silicon wafer with an ionized gas that produces a plasma. This is precisely the process carried out by AMEC machines. Image | TSMC More information | SCMP In Xataka | China has responded to the US with a milestone: it already has an AI model capable of running on GPUs with different architectures

The Earth has had a traveling companion for millions of years and we don’t know where it came from, but there is a ship ready to give us answers

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The Earth does not travel alone around the sun. And not only because of the Moon, which logically always accompanies it, orbiting around it. It also has several traveling companions: objects, called co-orbitals, that take exactly the same time as our planet to make a complete revolution around the star. These objects are well known, but their origin is quite mysterious. There are astronomers who bet that they escaped from the asteroid belt. However, their silicate content suggests that they could be fragments of the Moon that jumped from its surface after the impact of a meteorite. Now, a team of scientists has assigned probabilities to each option, although for definitive proof of its origin we will have to wait a little longer. (469219) Kamo’oalewa. This is the name of one of the best-known coorbitals on Earth. It measures between 24 and 107 meters in diameter and the spectral analyzes that have been able to be carried out Telescopes such as the Large Binocular Telescope (LBT) and the Lowell Discovery Telescope (LDT) indicate that it is very rich in silicates, so it is likely that it comes from the Moon. In fact, the most accepted hypothesis so far indicates that it could have been formed during the impact that gave rise to the Giordano Bruno crater on our satellite. However, this new study, published in the journal Icarus, suggests that it is more likely that it is an asteroid escaped of the belt between Mars and Jupiter. Very unlikely. For an asteroid or a piece of the Moon to become co-orbital, they must not only escape from their place. Also They must have enough energy to be located in what is known as a quasi-satellite orbit. This, for a body the size of Kamo’oalewa, is highly unlikely. Quasi-what? A quasi-satellite has certain similarities with a satellite, but it is not the same. When we look at one of them from the planet it accompanies, in the direction of the Sun, it appears that it is in orbit around the planet, but in reality it rotates around the Sun itself. This, among other reasons, is due to the fact that is outside the Hill sphere of the planet. That is, the environment dominated by its gravity. Being outside of said orbit, it is influenced by the planet’s gravity, but above all, in this case, it is influenced by that of the Sun. Be that as it may, falling and staying in that orbit is complicated, as we have already seen and, above all, as these scientists have demonstrated. Win the asteroid option. These scientists have created models that simulate the trajectory of 12,000 synthetic particles launched from the lunar surface at different speeds and angles, following their orbits for millions of years. The goal was to see how many stabilized at co-orbital points with the Earth. In total they found 70 objects with a diameter greater than 10 meters capable of doing so. 70 out of 12,000! Now, when they repeated the procedure by swapping lunar particles for objects from the asteroid belt, they found more candidates. 1,600 in total. Tianwen-2 will return samples to answer the mystery in 2027 Tianwen-2 will have the key. The origin of coorbitals is so intriguing that China already has sent a ship to analyze the surface of one of them. Specifically from Kamo’oalewa himself. The Tianwen-2 mission left in May 2025 towards this object, with the aim of collecting at least 100 grams of samples and return them to Earth for analysis. It is already known that there are silicates, or at least it is suspected, but a deeper idea of ​​the composition is needed to understand the origin of this object. Orbit insertion is expected to occur next June if all goes well. Then he will spend a few months collecting samples to put them in a capsule, which will land back on Earth. already in 2027. Two options. If the analyzes of Tianwen-2 conclude that Kamo’oalewa came from the Moon, the lunar impact mechanics would have to be rethought, since it would be very rare for one of these fragments to have been able to reach its final location with what we know so far. On the other hand, if it is proven that it comes from an asteroid, it would be necessary to study where these silicates come from, since they are very unconventional for an object of these characteristics. Whatever is concluded, there will be a lot of fabric to cut, that is clear. ç Image | NASA |China News Service In Xataka | The Earth has moons that we don’t know about: exploring them is key to revealing the secrets of our solar system

The closure of the Strait of Hormuz chokes the Chinese economy. Its only energy solution is a historic pact with Putin

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“一日不见，如隔三秋” (A day without seeing you is like three autumns). Using the Russian translation of this ancient Chinese proverb, President Vladimir Putin wanted to begin his meeting with Xi Jinping. The gesture of extreme closeness was not accidental. Tiananmen Square was dressed up with a 21-gun salute, a military band and dozens of children waving flags to welcome the Russian president. On the face of it, Beijing displayed the same diplomatic theatrics and pageantry it had offered to US President Donald Trump just days earlier, as detailed Bloomberg. However, the background was diametrically opposite: if with Trump the red carpet sought to appease and choreograph stability with a volatile rival, with Putin the authority and support for a cornered partner was staged. The Chinese leader addressed his counterpart as an “old friend,” a term unusually reserved in the Party bureaucracy for highly regarded foreigners. The visit, which marks the 25th anniversary of the signing of the friendship treaty between both countries and represents Putin’s 25th trip to China, represents a vital alliance at the most critical moment of the decade. Behind the walks through the imperial gardens and the closed-door meetings, there is a suffocating urgency. The global board is burning due to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz derived from the war between the United States and Iran, a blockade that has cut off Asia’s energy arteries and has turned this summit into a geopolitical lifeline. The Siberian lifeguard. The response to the crisis has a clear name on the agenda of both leaders: the Power of Siberia 2 gas pipeline. According to the estimatesOnce completed, this colossal 2,600-kilometer-long infrastructure will transport up to 50 billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas per year from the Russian Arctic fields of Yamal to northern China, passing through Mongolia. Moscow and Beijing have already reached a “general understanding” on the project, encompassing consensus on the layout and construction methods, as stated Kremlin adviser Yuri Ushakov told journalists and spokesman Dmitri Peskov confirmed. Additionally, both governments have signed a legally binding supply memorandum to boost construction. But all that glitters is not gold. As newspapers such as he Financial Times and CNBCthe agreement has been stumbling over the same rock for years: the price, financing and delivery schedule. China, aware of its position of strength, demands that the rate for the new gas pipeline be equal to the price of the heavily subsidized Russian domestic market (between $120 and $130 per 1,000 cubic meters), conditions that would drastically reduce the profit margins for the Russian state giant Gazprom. Furthermore, secrecy and caution reign in Beijing: as pointed out Reuterswhen Gazprom announced the memorandum last September, China did not issue any official statement on the matter. And even if the agreement is closed now, Russian salvation will not be immediate; from the research unit of China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC) has already has warned that gas projects of this magnitude require at least eight to ten years for their construction. The Hormuz factor: a geopolitical accelerator. If the gas pipeline had been on the drawing board for years, the Third Gulf War has stepped on the accelerator. The de facto closure of the Strait of Hormuz has caused a real cataclysm in the Indo-Pacific region. This maritime blockade has suddenly interrupted the arrival of half of China’s oil imports and almost a third of its liquefied natural gas (LNG) supply. The consequences they have been immediate: The Asian giant has already reported a rebound in inflation and an abrupt weakening of its domestic economic activity during the month of April. Faced with maritime vulnerability, securing a land supply route is vital for Beijing’s survival. As experts in German Welleinstability in the Gulf has triggered China’s desire for a pipelined energy flow that is immune to Western sanctions or American naval blockades. Still, China faces this crisis with homework done. Far from improvising, Beijing took advantage of the previous years to buy heavily sanctioned crude oil from countries such as Russia, Venezuela and Iran. Thanks to this, China today has colossal strategic reserves, also supported by a fleet of Iranian oil tankers that function as a floating warehouse off its coasts. A deeply strained and asymmetrical relationship. Although official statements speak of “mutual respect” and a “limitless” partnership, economic reality depicts a deeply unequal relationship. President Putin himself has declared that Russia and China want to be equal partners, but the gap is evident: the Chinese economy is almost eight times larger and much more technologically advanced. Without China’s money and technology, the very survival of the Russian regime would be in question. The data is devastating. According to him Financial TimesRussia has suffered a 38% year-on-year drop in its energy export revenues. To survive Western isolation, Moscow has turned China into its lifeline. At the end of last year, more than 99% of bilateral trade was settled in rubles and yuan to circumvent the SWIFT system, and Beijing currently supplies 90% of imports of sanctioned Russian technology, including semiconductors, microelectronics and dual-use goods, essential for its war machine. For his part, Xi Jinping carries out a delicate diplomatic balancing act. His meeting with Putin comes just days after his summit with Donald Trump. This synchronicity allows Russia a key tactical move: as reported EuronewsPutin’s trip serves to receive direct information and exchange views with Beijing on recent negotiations with Washington. Simultaneously, China does not hesitate to invoke its “Blocking Rules” to order its domestic refiners to ignore US sanctions and continue buying Iranian crude. But at the same time, as the newspaper highlights Asahi Shimbunthe Chinese Ministry of Commerce confirmed the purchase of 200 Boeing aircraft just after Trump’s visit, in a clear gesture to stabilize its economic ties with the West. A new world epicenter. The current crisis and the negotiations in Beijing certify an irreversible paradigm shift. The entry into operation of “Power of Siberia 2” is not just a commercial agreement, it is the chronicle of an announced breakup. … Read more

115,000 years ago, Neanderthals were already obsessed with ‘seasonal cuisine’. The evidence is in a cave in Murcia

by

For a long time, the evolutionary narrative has told us a story of superiority in which the Homo sapiens He survived because he was smarter, more adaptable and above all because he was capable of long-term planning. At his side were the neanderthalswho were seen as a group of opportunistic hunters who lived from day to day without planning anything. But science has been committed to rewriting this history for years. The Spanish case. 115,000 years ago, long before our species set foot on the Iberian Peninsula, Neanderthals already inhabited the Cave of the Planes in Cartagena and even collected shellfish to feed themselves. But they did not do it in any way or at any time, but rather they had a perfectly designed collection calendar. This is the conclusion to which a team has arrived where the University of Burgos and the International Prehistoric Research Center of Cantabria participated, without the need for a time machine, but ‘only’ needed an analysis of oxygen isotopes. How they have done it. Here the researchers analyzed the remains of shells of two very specific species, such as the Phorcus turbinatus popularly known as caracolillo, and the Patella ferruginea. The interesting thing about these is that, as the mollusks grow, the carbonate in their shells traps oxygen isotopes whose proportion varies depending on the temperature of the sea water at that exact moment. By analyzing these layers, scientists found an authentic “prehistoric thermometer”, achieving unprecedented resolution, as they discovered the exact time of year in which the mollusk was collected and consumed. The results. What was seen is that 78% of the consumption of these mollusks occurred in the coldest months, between November and April. On the contrary, during the summer, consumption plummeted to a mere 5%. And here the question is practically obligatory: Why did Neanderthals prefer to go into the coast in the middle of winter to search for shellfish? The answer suggests that during winter and autumn, due to their reproductive cycle, these mollusks have more meat, a better texture and, therefore, a better flavor. But also, by avoiding summer, Neanderthals avoided the rapid decomposition of food due to heat and, much more importantly, they avoided the feared “red tides” that were a proliferation of toxic microalgae that make shellfish poisonous during the warm months. The inferiority complex. The truly important thing about this study is not the discovery that Neanderthals ate shellfish, but rather the irrefutable demonstration that they carried out planned seasonal harvesting. Until now, it was thought that the ability to understand annual cycles and diet planning was a consequence of a cognitive advantage of our species, but now we see that Neanderthals were more advanced than we thought. Images | Marc Tremblay wirestock at Magnific In Xataka | A mixture of 4,000 kilometers: we have the first detailed map of the coexistence between Neanderthals and Sapiens

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