Month: May 2026

This is how Spain plans to conquer the ocean renewable industry

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The race for clean energy dominance in Europe has a new battlefield: the sea. And Spain has just put on the table a million-dollar declaration of intentions so as not to be left behind. As announced by the Institute for Energy Diversification and Saving (IDAE)the Government has allocated a provisional injection of 212 million euros from European NextGenEU funds to six state ports. The objective of all this is to adapt its logistical infrastructure for the imminent deployment of offshore wind. In this cast, there is a great winner who monopolizes the spotlight. The group formed by the Galician ports of A Coruña and Ferrol-San Cibrao has taken most of the pie of the PORT-EOLMAR programwith a proposed award that is close to 100 million euros (97.4 million for the joint project and an additional 2.5 million for Ferrol). A figure that supports the strategic nature of the region and that promises to transform its coast into the industrial epicenter of ocean renewables. The historical qualitative leap. Until now, Spain’s role was mainly limited to the manufacturing of different components and their storage. However, the objective of this new aid is make a historical qualitative leap: provide ports with the real capacity to build the immense platforms on which the wind turbines sit and, later, launch them into the sea as if they were frigates. Here the great geographical challenge of our coasts comes into play: unlike what happens in the North Sea – where the bottom is shallower and allows structures to be nailed (offshore fixed)—, the great depth of the Spanish and Galician coastline forces us to opt for floating technology. And floating wind requires colossal space. Carla Chawla Fidalgo, director of the Navantia Fene shipyard, sums it up perfectly in statements to The Opinion of A Coruña: “If we want to be able to assemble several units at the same time, we need enormous surfaces.” Since it is impossible to transport platforms the size of a football field by land, shipyards and ports with deep drafts become the “natural allies” and obligatory of this industry. The five titans. The rain of millions will result in an unprecedented physical transformation. At Punta Langosteira (the outer port of A Coruña), the aid will be used to condition some 100 hectares of surface in the southern area and create a new dock that may reach 450 meters in length. This joint candidacy obtained an almost perfect score, exceeding 90 points out of 100. But the bases of the IDAE They demanded an indispensable condition: Public money had to be backed by private industrial projects of comparable investment. And Galicia has responded. As it breaks down The Voice of Galiciathe port of A Coruña already has five firm projects, bank guarantees included, from true giants of the sector: Navantia: The main Galician naval engine is already a benchmark in building foundations (jackets) in Ferrol, but desperately needs land. Its landing in Langosteira is not a move, but a vital expansion to take on the assembly of large floating structures. WindWaves: The former Nervión Naval Offshore (belonging to the Amper Group) is Navantia’s strategic partner. The firm seeks to complement the facilities it already plans in Ferrol and As Somozas with this new space in the outer port. Acciona: The seventh world operator in wind energy, allied with giants such as Orsted and SSE Renewables, requested space to manufacture, assemble and maintain offshore wind installations. Esteyco: This engineering company already knows what it is like to operate in Langosteira, from where it moved 400-ton pieces for a prototype in the Canary Islands. Saitec: The Basque group promoting floating technology SATH is looking for land to manufacture and assemble its own platforms, with a view to expanding its prototypes before the end of the decade. Beyond the docks. The impact of this deployment transcends the simple civil works of a port. If we add public funds to the commitment of these five colossi, we are talking about a formidable financial muscle: the committed private investment is estimated at 180 million euros, which would raise the total impact of the Galician polo to around 280 million euros. At a professional level, the potential is undeniable. leaning in data from the metal employers’ association (Asime)the marine mill industry already generates about 5,000 direct and indirect jobs in Galicia. A figure that could skyrocket with the consolidation of this macroport. This entire movement is, furthermore, a geopolitical race against time. These investments are the necessary ammunition so that A Coruña and Ferrol can compete head to head with neighboring countries that are stepping on the accelerator, such as France, Italy or Portugal. In fact, times are pressing: the Port will close the adaptation project before August, and the aid stipulates a period of execution of the works of 48 months. The green horizon of Spain. The roadmap is drawn. How the IDAE documentation concludesSpain not only has high civil engineering capabilities and a powerful naval sector, but also optimal weather conditions. The ultimate objective is to take advantage of this competitive advantage to turn the country into a “European and global reference center” in the marine energy supply chain. But this massive industrialization does not want to turn its back on the environment. As a finishing touch to this ambitious plan, all this infrastructure is framed under the umbrella of the strategy ‘A Coruña Green Port’. An initiative that seeks to convert the Punta Langosteira dock into the first to achieve energy self-sufficiency from 100% renewable sources. Definitive proof that Spain is not content with manufacturing the wind giants of the future, but rather aspires for the port where they are born to be as green as the energy they will generate. Image | Unsplash Xataka | Japan has realized that it cannot depend on gas, so it is going to set up a mega wind farm on the coast of Tokyo

We thought platypuses were strange animals. We just discovered that they are even rarer

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The platypus has been a box of surprises since we formally “discovered” it almost 230 years ago, when the first stuffed specimen arrived in Europe and the naturalist George Shaw thought which was a hoax sewn up by some Chinese taxidermist. And let’s see, the platypus is truly unique in its species: it is a mammal that lays eggs, detects electric fields with its beak and glows under ultraviolet light. As if the above were not enough, a research team just found a surprising explanation for the color of his coat. What’s new about the platypus. The research, led by biologist Jessica Leigh Dobson from Ghent University, has identified that the platypus has melanosomes holes in their fur. What is this exactly? The organelles responsible for giving us color in our skin, hair or eyes. Until now, science assumed that hollow melanosomes existed only in birds and that those of mammals were always solid. Curiously, in birds those melanosomes are the ones that produce iridescent colors, but the platypus is dark brown, without flashes or shine. Furthermore, their melanosomes are mostly spherical, a morphology that in other animals is associated with red or orange tones, but not brown. The reason is a mystery. Why it is important. Melamine is the standard for vertebrates to provide color and protect from the sun, but what is truly key is its packaging. For decades the shape of melanosomes has served as an evolutionary fingerprint to differentiate the branches of birds and mammals. The platypus just killed it, but of course, it is so disconcerting from the beginning that it took researchers 80 years to agree on what it was, as its scientific name summarizes. The most reasonable hypothesis What this research team proposes is that the hollow melanosomes could have been an adaptation to the aquatic lifestyle of the platypus, a kind of thermal insulation mechanism in the fur for life in cold waters. But of course, if this is the case, why doesn’t the same happen with other semi-aquatic mammals? If confirmed, it would imply that this condition of hollow melanosomes evolved independently in birds and only in this mammal. The platypus continues to go on its own. Context. The platypus deserves a separate chapter in biology books: it is one of only five species of mammals that lay eggs, the monotremes. And what can we say about its appearance: it has the beak of a duck and the tail of a beaver. Although it seems harmless, it is not: it has venom like snakes and the males also have poisonous spurs on their hind legs capable of causing intense pain in humans. The icing on the cake is that the animal is capable of detecting the electric fields generated by the muscles of its prey underwater. But the platypus is different outside and inside: He is a genetic rebel. While humans have only two sex chromosomes (XX or XY), he has ten. This complexity makes their system for determining sex totally different from that of other mammals. It is, literally, one of the few animals that forces science to consider pre-established laws. How they discovered it. The discovery was almost a coincidence: Jessica Dobson was building a database of melanosomes from different mammal species when her thesis supervisor detected this platypus anomaly. The scientist passed the samples through a high-resolution microscope to examine the melanosomes inside the hairs of 12 platypus specimens taken from different parts of the body. He then extended the comparison to echidnas, marsupials such as wombats and opossums, and a hundred more mammals. No trace of hollow melanosomes, and for example their cousins, the echidnas, also lay eggs. In Xataka | The “Spanish platypus” exists and is on the verge of extinction: the very rare animal that only lives on the peninsula In Xataka | A 24-year-old platypus challenges what we knew about the longevity of the strangest mammals Cover | Dr Philip Bethge

SpaceX tests Starship V3 with improvements that will change the lunar race

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SpaceX is about to make a very important flight to complete its path to the Moon. Next May 19 (although it will already be May 20 in Spanish peninsular time), Starship flight 12 will take place. In it will try version 3both from the Super Heavy rocket and from the Starship itself. This third version includes new improvements, which will be vital for many of the future projects of Elon Musk’s company, but above all to become the main private partner that will take the next batch of astronauts to land on the Moon. Write down the date. On May 19, at 6:30 p.m. EDT, (12:30 a.m., Spanish peninsular time), will be launched Starship version 3. This ship is one of the two candidates to dock with the Orion capsule of the Artemis mission and facilitate the landing of two astronauts on the Moon. At the moment it competes with Blue Origin, whose candidate ship is advancing at a very good paceso it is very important that this mission be completed successfully. The improvements. Starship version 3 includes many improvements. For starters, the first phase of it, the Super Heavy rocket, will be a little higher. In its last flight it measured 71 meters, while now it will reach 72.3 meters. It will also carry 250 more tons of propellant, reaching a total of 3,650 tons of methane and liquid oxygen. Continuing with the fuels, its innovative internal conduction system has been redesigned to ignite the 33 engines at the same time and maneuver better. Finally, it should be noted that it includes 3 large aerodynamic control grilles, instead of 4 smaller ones, and that it has a hot separation structure that facilitates the recovery of the rocket. More about engines. The 33 Raptor 3 engines will replace the 33 Raptor 2 engines, resulting in a thrust of 280 tons each. In version 2 it was only 230 tons. The result will be a total rocket thrust of 9,240 tons.. On the other hand, they are lighter engines, so, despite incorporating improvements in their thermal protection shield and fire suppression system, the set is less heavy. Ship improvements. In addition to the improvements on the Super Heavy, the Starship will also include major technological advances. For example, its new orbital maneuvering engines will allow the approach and docking maneuvers in orbit that will be so necessary with Artemis to be carried out. It can remain in orbit for up to 48 hours without solar panels and carry a load of 100 tons to it. Version 2 could only carry 35 tons. This time, the Raptor engines are much more powerful Journey to quasi-orbit. Like the rest of Starship’s flights, this one will take the ship to something known as quasi-orbit. It means that, although it will be a suborbital flight, energetically it will remain very close to the real orbit. In simpler terms, the ship is ready to go into orbit. However, these tests are aimed at analyzing its reliability. Until this is confirmed, SpaceX does not want to risk leaving a 135-ton object wandering in low orbit. Guardian Starlinks. One of Starship’s missions in the future will be to continue contributing to increasing the Starlink satellite fleet. Therefore, on test flight 12 will fly with 22 models of these satellites. He will not take them with the rest, but will release them on a trial basis. Although two of these will also have an important mission, since they will be in charge of analyzing the behavior of the thermal study and taking photographs. This system has a series of dark tiles, which must be kept in place for its proper functioning. Therefore, to ensure that satellites are capable of detecting errors, some tiles have been painted whiteas if they weren’t there. It is a fictitious test error. If they do not locate it, modifications will have to be made. The end of a short but intense journey. Since it is the first test of this new version, there will not be a recovery on Earthbut the two phases will land for later collection. If all goes well, a landing could be tried on the next flight. Step by step. There are many new things to try. Images | SpaceX In Xataka | The launch pads are saturated for all space companies. For all but one: SpaceX

If you’re wondering where all those shared scooters went, this study gives you the answer

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You probably remember it if you have lived in a Spanish city in the last ten years. Overnight, your city was filled with electric scooters and shared bikes. Everywhere. Everywhere. Some well parked, others that made you feel like a 3,000 meter steeplechase athlete. As the last decade nears its end, Spain joined the wave of shared micromobility. Our streets were filled with operators who put on the streets, under the pay-per-use formula, electric scooters, bicycles and cars that promised to revolutionize the way we move. The formula coincided with another movement: low emission zones. At the end of 2018, Madrid launched Madrid Central. With this project he intended to reduce the volume of cars on the street in its central almond. In 2019, Barcelona began to apply similar measures in a much larger area, in this case it extended to the entire metropolitan area of ​​the city. The general feeling is that we were facing a model that had come to stay. The message was that the volume of cars in city centers had to be reduced and that young people, increasingly less interested in their own car, would combine public transport with scooters and electric bicycles for shared use. A new, more efficient door-to-door mobility. Today, almost nothing remains of that. The new and shared mobility that disappeared To understand what happened with that movement, Andrés Camacho Donezar, Professor of Business Strategy and business models, Universidad Pontificia Comillas, and Carmen Valor Martínez, teacher and researcher at the Faculty of Economics and Business Sciences (ICADE), Department of Marketing, Universidad Pontificia Comillas, have carried out a study in which the evolution of 10 operators that were or are part of micromobility services in our country has been studied. The conclusions have presented them in The Conversation which explains the problems that these companies had to face and how what seemed like a perfect business, with clear benefits for citizens, ended up being diluted over the years. The study indicates that shared micromobility has three obvious benefits: it is affordable for the vast majority of citizens, it is good for society as a whole because it facilitates access to mobility for all types of incomes and, in addition, it is environmentally beneficial since it should reduce traffic and polluting emissions. These promises laid a rug for all types of companies put their vehicles on the street. The most paradigmatic case was that of Madrid, which had up to 18 companies fighting for users and a regulation that allowed having on the street up to 10,000 electric scooters. After various regulatory attempts and closing the concession to three companies, in 2024 it ended up banning them completely. The process was similar to that of Barcelona, Saragossa either Sevilleto give a few examples. In all these cities, the private companies They tried to do business by attracting new users, the neighbors were divided between those who enjoyed them and those who suffered from them. Until, finally, the City Councils ended up banning them. The reasons have almost always been the same. The study details the problems that operators have had to make the service profitable. From an expansive phase to cover the maximum possible territory, we have moved on to atomization, closing the circle. Vandalism, high collection costs and repairs they began to complicate the business from a purely commercial point of view. To this we must add the neighborhood complaints that led to greater pressure from the City Councils towards the companies. Already in 2018, articles began to proliferate that echoed a problem: the streets were invaded by shared electric scooters. Due to a lack of civility and clearly insufficient control by companies, pedestrians began to encounter new obstacles. After many complaints, also in European cities with Paris in the leadthe City Councils began to put their restrictions. In Madrid, for example, it happened from “door to door” to virtual stations. Users could only pick up or park an electric scooter in limited and geolocated spaces. It was a mortal wound for a service that promised to save the last mile. To this we must add that these same town councils saw another business opportunity: controlling micromobility services themselves. And in most of the large Spanish cities public bicycle sharing services have been launched. With limited spaces to collect and release bicycles and a maintenance service that is not pressured by extraordinarily narrow profit margins. The result is that these shared electric scooter companies, the few that remain, have mostly pivoted to offer themselves as a solution to tour operators that offer rides or tourist visits using this means of transport or supply vehicles to the town councils themselves, like Lime in Getafe (Madrid). With mandatory restrictions (geolocation systems, limited parking spaces…) and some citizens who have rejected the use of electric scooters, shared mobility with these vehicles It has been impossible to make profitable. And public bikes have killed the possibility of the business pivoting to this vehicle. The result is a micromobility service that seemed perfect on paper but failed in practice. Photo | Jonas Jacobsson In Xataka | Madrid bans electric scooters on public transport: the latest explosion has broken the camel’s back

two HDMI functions on your TV that should be known and activated to make the most of it

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The ports HDMI from your television are the great standard for connecting devices such as consoles, Blu-ray players or multimedia centers. However, not all connectors are the sameand some of them may hide advanced features that significantly improve your experience. Therefore, today we are going to talk to you about two types of HDMI port that incorporate a series of additional features that you should know. Thus, depending on these characteristics you can decide what you connect to each of the ports. HDMI eARC for audio Nowadays, almost every modern TV you can buy includes at least one HDMI port that supports the eARC standard. This is the improved version of HDMI ARC, whose acronym means something like “Enhanced Audio Return Channel.” What this technology does is allow you send TV audio to an external sound systemsuch as an AV player or a sound bar. Come on, you can send the audio using the HDMI cable instead of needing to use specific cables for audio. The difference between the eARC that we find in HDMI 2.1 ports onwards and the old ARC of HDMI 1.4 or 2.0 is that while the old ARC only allows transmitting basic formats such as PCM, Dolby Digital or DTS, the eARC can send high quality audio such as Dolby TrueHD, DTS-HD Master Audio, Dolby Atmos or DTS:X. Therefore, Your TV’s HDMI eARC allows you to stream high-fidelity audioand is appropriate for connecting your sound bar or speakers to the television. Always keep this in mind so as not to have it busy with other devices. HDMI-CEC The other connector that is worth knowing is the HDMI CECwhose acronym stands for “Consumer Electronic Control.” What this port does is facilitate the management of devices connected to the television. You can operate several of them with a single remote control. This will allow you to use a single remote control, like the one on a TV, to control a sound system, a Blu-ray player, a game console, or other devices you have connected. And when controlled with a single command, it allows all devices turn on or off at the same timeor that you can control everyone’s volume with that single control. The negative part of this function is that each manufacturer gives it a name commercial, so it can be a little confusing to find out if your TV has it or not. Here is a list of trade names by manufacturer, and remember that they all refer to the same technology: Samsung: Anynet+ Sony: BRAVIA Sync LG: Simplink Panasonic: VIERA Link Phillips: EasyLink Toshiba: CE-Link or Regza Link Here, one last thing you should keep in mind is that the brand of the connected devices does not mattersince regardless of the name, they are all usually compatible with each other. Other things to look out for To take advantage of these improvements, the most important thing is to make sure that Your television has HDMI 2.1 ports or higher, since it is the standard that allows you to use all these functions. In addition, not all HDMI connectors on your television will have the same standard or support the same technologies, you will have to pay close attention to each one. And in addition to the eARC and CEC functions, these ports may also have others focused on those who play on console or PC. For example, there is the VRR, which synchronizes the refresh rate of the television with that of the GPU to avoid interruptions in the image. There’s also ALLM, which automatically activates low latency mode when it detects that a game is running. In Xataka Basics | HDMI ports on your TV: how to distinguish them, differences and how to know which one to use

Meta employees have not known for weeks if they are going to be fired. Meanwhile, the company records everything they do on the computer

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Meta is one of the companies that is betting the most on AI. Zuckerberg’s company is investing massively in the development of new data centers and critical AI technologies. And in the midst of this transformation, your employees find themselves vulnerable to mass layoffs, surveillance, and pressure to embrace the technology that could replace them. What exactly is happening. Meta has told its employees in the United States that it will record what they type on their keyboard, how they move their mouse, where they click, and what appears on their screen. The tool, internally called the Model Capability Initiative (MCI), runs in the background on corporate computers and also takes periodic screenshots, according to counted Reuters, which had access to the internal memos. The company’s stated objective is to train its AI models so that they learn to perform everyday tasks on a computer in the same way that their employees do. Reaction. When the company announced the measure, hundreds of workers responded on internal channels, mainly asking how they could disable tracking. Andrew Bosworth, Chief Technology Officer at Meta, affirms That option does not exist on business laptops. However, that has not calmed the reaction of its employees. And it is that according to account In the New York Times, one employee even wrote to him directly: “Your insensitivity to the concerns of your own workers is troubling.” And all while they don’t know if they are going to be fired. Two days after announcing the tracking system, Meta confirmed which will lay off approximately 8,000 people on May 20, which represents around 10% of its global workforce. According to NYTwho spoke with several of his employees, many workers have been in a state of uncertainty for weeks. Some admit to being looking for work elsewhere. Others directly try to give signals that they want to be included in the layoffs to collect compensation. “It’s tremendously demoralizing,” wrote one of the users in an internal message to which the media had access. What Meta says. The company insists that the data collected is not used to evaluate employee performance or for any purpose other than training AI models. “If we are building agents to help people complete everyday tasks on computers, our models need real examples of how people use them,” explained a company spokesperson told the BBC. Meta also states that there are safeguards to protect sensitive content, although without specifying which ones. What employees say. The story is different from within. A worker who preferred not to be identified described the situation is described as “very dystopian”: knowing that every small action you perform on the computer is being recorded, just when the company is announcing layoffs, generates a feeling that is difficult to ignore. Another former employee said that it is “the last way they shove AI down your throat.” Legislation. In the United States there is no federal law that limits this type of workplace surveillance, as long as employees are informed of it, according to explained told Reuters Ifeoma Ajunwa, a law professor at Yale University. The situation is radically different in Europe, since Valerio De Stefano, a professor at the University of York specialized in labor law and technology, counted to the same means that this practice would probably violate the General Data Protection Regulation European. In countries like Italy, tracking productivity through electronic means is outright prohibited; In Germany, courts only allow keystroke recording in exceptional circumstances, such as suspicion of a serious crime. In Spain it would also be a very difficult measure to justify, and would directly clash with the RGPD. AI, at the center of everything. Beyond monitoring, Meta has been reorganizing its internal structure around artificial intelligence for months. It has organized mandatory training weeks for employees to learn how to use AI agents, introduced internal dashboards that measure consumption of tokens (the minimum unit of AI that measures its consumption) to foster competition between workers, and is creating a new generic professional profile called AI builder that replaces more specialized roles. And now what. May 20 is the date proposed by Meta to announce another wave of mass layoffs. Until then, thousands of the company’s employees live with the uncertainty of whether they will remain with the company, while also tracking their activity. Meta’s CFO, Susan Li, admitted during a call with investors that the company “really doesn’t know what the optimal size of the company will be in the future.” A phrase that is probably not reassuring for those who expect news on May 20. Cover image | Compagnons and Goal In Xataka | The Musk-Altman trial is giving the spectacle it promised: a soap opera of dirty laundry in which no one comes out well

60 years ago a student wanted to study the mountains of the United States. Unknowingly felled the oldest known tree

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At a glance ‘Prometheus’ It was a twisted, rugged, whimsically shaped pine tree that stood on a Nevada mountain. Nothing to do with gigantic sequoias of Redwood National Park, also in the USA, where specimens of more than 100 meters high with bases that are around 30 m in diameter. That, of course, at first glance. Although its size was not striking and it barely stood out in the grove in which it sprouted, ‘Prometheus’ was a tree of almost 5,000 yearswhich made it one of the oldest in the world. Why do we talk about him in the past tense? Very simple: because in the 60s a student who was especially diligent with his research felled it with permission from the authorities. With you, the Pinus longaeva. Its name may not be as well known as that of the redwoods, the baobabs or the Douglas firstrees that have been fascinating humanity for centuries due to their colossal dimensions, but the bristlecone pines (Pinus longaeva) are just as amazing. Not because of its size, but because of its age. Located primarily in the higher altitude mountains of California, this species has managed to survive for several millennia. As? Its growth is very slow and they usually sprout separately from each other, which allows them to adapt to harsh habitats and withstand fires better. The key to its longevity however lies in its “architecture” and adaptations. As remember from the US National Park Service (NPS), the roots of the Pinus longaeva They only nourish the part of the tree that is directly above them. If that root dies, it only affects its section of the tree. Hence, it is not unusual to see specimens with dry bark on one side and that, however, continue to grow healthily. an old acquaintance. In Wheeler PeakNevada, stood years ago a magnificent specimen of Pinus longaeva. Its height was nothing out of this world, but it was so twisted and had such an ancient appearance that mountaineers in the area They baptized him ‘Prometheus’. Seen in perspective, the nickname is still ironic. In the classical mythology Zeus imposed a horrible punishment on the titan of that name for giving humanity the gift of fire and metallurgy. At Wheeler Peak the ‘Prometheus’ that grew rooted to the mountain ended up perishing precisely because of the efforts of a university student to understand the geology of the region. To understand it you have to go back to summer of 1964when Donald R. Currey, a graduate student studying the ice age of eastern Nevada, had an idea: To better understand the formation of glaciers, he decided to extract samples from the oldest trees that grew in the region. It wasn’t anything groundbreaking. The dendrochronologythe discipline that is responsible for studying climate patterns by analyzing tree rings, dates back to the beginning of the 20th century. In fact, the idea of ​​obtaining samples from the logs sounded so reasonable that authorities raised no objections when Currey asked for permission to study them. The great unknown. In theory, what Currey proposed was to use a drill bit to remove small samples of the trunk, a kind of cylinders from the trunk. pencil size that could later be analyzed in the laboratory. It came with the different rings and their characteristics being appreciated. When it was ‘Prometheus’ turn, something went wrong. Or so it is believed, since more than six decades later it’s still not entirely clear what exactly happened at Wheeler Peak. Some accounts claim that Currey’s drill bit broke while the geologist was trying to make his way through the dense pine wood, so he requested help from the Forest Service. To solve it, the workers opted for the most radical solution: they took out the chainsaw and cut down the tree. Other versions claim that Currey did not know how to work with such a complicated specimen or that there was simply no error and from the beginning he needed a complete cross section to study the trunk. Regardless, there are two clear details. First, that was the end of ‘Prometheus’. Second, Currey did not work as foreigners. He had permission from the Forest Service. And the surprise came. It was not necessary to cut ‘Prometheus’ in two to intuit that it was a very ancient tree. If Currey looked at this pine and others in the area it was precisely because he assumed that they were old enough to give him a broad ‘snapshot’ of the climatic events that had occurred in the region. The surprise came when he took the piece of wood to his laboratory. As ancient as I suspected ‘Prometheus’ to be, one thing is clear: Currey fell short. When he started counting growth rings, he added neither more nor less than 4,862. Given the harsh conditions in which the pine grew, which could have influenced the formation of the layers, the experts ended up concluding that its age was most likely closer to 4,900 years. That is to say, the ancient tree already appeared on the Nevada mountain when the pharaohs reigned in ancient Egypt or Hammurabi ruled in Babylon. The oldest in the world? Although environmental awareness in the 1960s was not the same as it is today, the mistake was considerable. Especially since it was the Forest Service itself that made it possible. The age of ‘Prometheus’ is in fact so astonishing that the NPS itself recognize which at the time was considered “the oldest tree ever dated.” It even surpassed the famous tree ‘Methuselah’other Pinus longaeva of California that is around 4,850 years old. Today that title is in question. Especially after a theoretically even older tree was discovered in 2012, another bristlecone from more than 5,000 years. The US authorities recognize in any case that it is “very likely” that there are other, even older, undated specimens of the same species. “The bristlecone pines of the Great Basin are notable for being the oldest non-clonal species on the … Read more

the decline of Rome and the ancient world

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Sometime between the 5th and 9th centuries, the epicenter of the world shifted: the hegemony of the Mediterranean under the Roman Empire disappeared and that power, wealth and commercial networks moved to northern Europe and the Middle East. But no one is clear when, why, or how it happened, although there is a enormous record of letters that helps understand its decline. There is no consensus on whether what collapsed first was politics or the economy, but of course: there were no records of production, consumption or trade data, but instead we had to rely on archaeological finds and fragments of literature. A team of economists has responded of the pull to all these issues through ancient coins, reconstructing the economic activity of the Mediterranean immediately afterwards. In short, and reminiscent of Watergate, they have followed the money trail. More specifically, almost half a million of them distributed in thousands of treasures buried between the year 325 and 950 AD. In short, and remembering Watergate, they have followed the money trail. What ancient coins say. More specifically, they have assembled a database of 494,229 ancient coins from 5,625 treasures buried between 325 and 950 AD in Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. Each coin records the place of minting, the issuing dynasty, date of minting and place of discovery. The authors reach four conclusions that qualify more or less known information: The Mediterranean economic decline begins in the 5th century. The arrival of Islam collapses trade between the north and south of the Mediterranean, but trade between Islamic regions prospers strongly. Actual consumption peaks in the Middle East during the 8th century, under the Umayyad and Abbasid caliphates. In the 9th century, the Atlantic fringe is the richest area of ​​the ancient Western world. That is, six centuries before the great voyages of exploration. Why is it important. The last of his conclusions is especially interesting because what it says is that the Atlantic economic rise occurs 700 years before European colonial expansion. Seven centuries before Columbus and the exploration that allowed them to establish trade routes and extract resources, the Atlantic was already the richest area. Furthermore, it pokes into the wound of one of the most heated and extensive debates in medieval history: what destroyed Mediterranean trade and pushed Europe northward. The Belgian historian Henri Pirenne summarizes it in one sentence: “without Muhammad, Charlemagne would have been inconceivable” pointing to Arab expansion as the cause. And broadly speaking, this work agrees with him, but with a nuance: the timing was different, since the Roman decline began earlier. This changes causality: Islam does not cause Mediterranean decline, it ends it. Context. The period studied begins in the year 325 AD, when the Mediterranean is still Roman territory, and continues until 950 AD, when Carolingian Europe and the Islamic world have been consolidated for centuries. In that interval, milestones occur such as the division of the Roman Empire (395), the fall of Rome to Odoacer (476), wars Byzantine-Sassanids (602 – 628) and the dazzling Arab expansion. In between, a couple of natural disasters to take into account: the Plague of Justinian (the first big explosion was in 541 – 549) and the little ice age of late antiquity(536 – 660), caused by volcanic eruptions and which caused temperatures in the northern hemisphere to drop almost one degree Celsius. All these events leave their mark on the circulation of people, objects and communications. How have they done it. Coins are one of the materials most studied by archaeology, but almost always in a descriptive way. What this work does is use them as economic data: each coin records where it was minted and when, the treasure in which it appears indicates where and when it was buried. This trajectory works as a trade route proxy. The authors formalize this method with a mathematical model applied in blocks of twenty years, using tools such as ORBIS (the Stanford project on Roman mobility) and the records of the Arab geographer Al-Muqaddasī (985 AD) to reconstruct the routes. The data reveal three patterns: the further away from the minting point, the less exchange; older coins have traveled further and flows across the Mediterranean change sharply in the 7th century with the Arab conquests. That all this coincides with independent studies on Roman ceramics confirms that the method is sound. Yes, but. The great limitation of this work is its own source: the coin hoards are not a random sample of ancient trade, but are found where they are by accident (for example, the sinking of a ship) or buried in the middle. Then, archeology finds them by chance centuries later. Each step introduced is a bias that researchers have tried to mitigate with proportions of coins within each hoard and not absolute volumes, which eliminates part of the problem. Even so, the less excavated areas are probably underrepresented. On the other hand, there is a misconception: coins record monetary circulation, not the entire economy. Trade in spices, self-consumption or redistribution leave no trace in this framework. That consumption collapses in a region may simply mean that the economy was demonetized (something that in fact It happened in post-Roman Europe.), more than impoverishment. In Xataka | Someone has collected 7,049 letters from the Roman Empire: the file that explains the fall of an empire In Xataka | Someone has created the definitive interactive map of the roads of the Roman Empire: there are more than we thought Cover | PxHere and Massimo Virgilio

Without state aid, China feared that electric sales would plummet. Until the Hormuz crisis arrived

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It seemed that the market was retreating but, perhaps, what it was doing was taking a breath to come back much stronger. Never before in China have plug-in and electric hybrids, known as “new energy” cars, had so much weight. Last April, a new record was broken that only confirms where the future of its industry lies. Record. 61.4% of the cars sold in China last April they were “new energy” vehicles. This is the category used by the Chinese State to talk about plug-in and electric vehicles. Its market penetration is the highest in the country’s history. The figure is almost 10% higher than last year, despite the fact that sales have fallen. This means that gasoline-powered vehicles have collapsed and that the customer is already beginning to massively accept the plug-in vehicle as the car of the future. a collapse. It is the word they use in CarNewsChina to refer to the drop in sales of internal combustion cars. And, according to data provided by the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA), the sale of combustion cars has plummeted by 37% compared to the previous year and 33% compared to the month of March. Media like Jiemian They point to a clear cause of this trend: the price of oil. Last April, sales of cars with internal combustion engines were reduced by 530,000 units. The drop is undoubtedly influenced by a rise in the price of gasoline. The State has tried by all means to mitigate the impact on the consumer and the industry. In their market planning, the extra cost at the pump has been cushioned but, as they point out in Reutersgasoline and diesel are close to reaching all-time highs. Thank goodness. In Reuters They assure that China is the country that is best saving the oil crisis due to its diversified purchases but also due to the intensive use of electric cars. According to the Chinese media 36krIn 2024, China was already saving more than 400,000 barrels of oil per day thanks to its electric cars and represented a saving of 12% of its imports of this product. They explain that, although crude oil imports increased in 2025, this was due to an acceleration in the industry but electric cars helped mitigate the impact on purchases. Relief is key given the constant interruptions in regular supply of the countries near Hormuz. And it is that China has Russia as its main supplier but Saudi Arabia follows as second. A powerful track. So far this year, overall car sales in China have declined and especially “new energy” cars have been in the spotlight. Without the support of the State with purchase aidits sales have fallen by 17% but indications are that the oil crisis is helping the market rebound. In April, the drop in these cars was 6.8% while global sales fell 21.5%, both data compared to the same period of the previous year. In the first 10 days of Maysales of these cars have decreased by 13% compared to last year but have grown by 27% compared to the first 10 days of last April. Without state aid, car sales in China have fallen, underscoring the country’s historic problem in encourage family consumption. However, it does make it clear to us that the slowdown between plug-in hybrids and electric vehicles is being less than that of the rest of the technologies despite the fact that the State has stopped pushing. A backup. The movement towards electric vehicles is an endorsement of the policies of the Chinese state. With the economy managed with five-year plans, China has been building a base for more than two decades to be dominant with the Chinese electric car. He attracted knowledge by giving up landhas built a solid foundation in the supply chain and now Their brands already dominate the local marketthe largest in the world. But they have also given a lesson that is beginning to be seen outside their borders: the electric car is a good tool to alleviate the complications of the oil market. On a day-to-day basis, the savings by charging an electric car at low power are very high. If the price of gasoline rises, the savings skyrocket. Beyond China. Aware of this, China has put the turbo into its exports. BYD (which only sells plug-in vehicles) has broken a new shipment record. They are at the perfect time to enter the market with their low ranges but also offering electric cars at very competitive prices. Especially among plug-in hybrids. At the moment, most of the sales of Chinese cars in Europe are low-end cars with combustion engines. This already helps them penetrate the market, gain share and begin to be seen by new potential clients. But, also, its plug-in hybrids do not pay tariffs. This is allowing them to compete on price with Europeans and in countries like Spain, where it is considered the main purchasing value for a large part of the market, it is key. For example, a fact: so far this year, five of the 10 best-selling plug-in hybrid cars in Spain they are Chinese. Photo | INC and BYD In Xataka | An electric car is 54% cheaper to maintain than a combustion car. And it may not compensate because the data has a trick

The V60 has been an icon of specialty coffee for 20 years. Its first big update is coffee for coffee lovers

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When you enter a specialty cafe and they have ‘V60’ on the menu, you automatically know that things have to be very bad for them to not make good coffee. The V60 is to filter coffee what the Bialetti is to italian coffee maker: a symbol, a declaration of intentions and a ‘gadget’ with a design so perfect that it has not had to be modified in its 20 years of life. Until now. Hario launched the original V60 around 2004 in a show of how a simple and functional design could be perfect for any level. Simply put, it is a cone with a 60 degree inclination (hence the name) that can be placed on top of your jug, any jug or even a cup. In that cone we place a paper filter, add the coffee, hot water and the coffee solution flows to the container. It is simple and came to solve the problem that Hario had detected in the percolation coffee makers that dominated in the 80s: those typical ones that many of our grandmothers have at home and that are the ones that appear in any American series in which the coffee remained there passively soaking until it came out under its own gravity and the jet black liquid was deposited in the jug. The classic V60 It was not what best extracted all the nuances of the coffee and Hario implemented three design ideas: The cone at 60 degrees so that the water tends to the center, lengthening the contact time without the need to create a long-lasting ‘pond’. A single exit hole which made it easy to make coffee for non-expert users, but also gave a lot of control possibilities to the expert user. By restricting the water channel, pouring speed, exposure time or grinding, different “recipes” can be created. Spiral striations on the cone. These “ribs” have a lot of technology behind them because they serve to release air between the filter and the wall, avoiding the suction effect of the paper and causing the filter to expand as the coffee releases the product. The translation is that Hario designed a coffee maker that combined simplicity, complication capacity for experts and that rib design that was very well thought out to facilitate a relatively quick extraction while being able to extract all the nuances of the coffee. It was so perfect that, over these 20 years, it really hasn’t changed beyond different sizes for the cone or the plastics and glass that came after the original Japanese porcelain version. There were some little problems and limitations and they released an accessory, the Hario Switch, but the most important thing of all is that the V60 was a good, versatile and very, very economical coffee maker that, as we say, there was no need to touch. And, then, Hario… touched her. The V60 Neo In what seems like a clear “find the differences” exercise, Hario presented the Hario V60 Neo. If you are not very involved in the coffee world and the new one seems the same as the old one, I have to tell you that the Neo was a tsunami that stirred up coffee content creators. It was the first time that Hario redesigned the conethe core of the V60, and has done so in two ways: design and material. The new V60 The material issue is the easiest to explain. The Neo is manufactured in a resin called ‘tritan’a plastic that retains great transparency, is resistant to both heat and impacts and has properties that make it very good in an essential issue for the most enthusiasts: very good thermal retention. This allows the temperature to remain stable during extraction so that the processes are more constant and it is easier to replicate a good coffee. The second change is the one that has drawn the most attention is a new geometry. From the larger “ribs,” Hario transitions to 72 microribs at the top that converge into nine channels at the base. The explanation is that these grooves will now guide the water much more uniformly, while the nine exit grooves ensure a clearer path towards the hole, minimizing the dreaded channeling. This channeling thing is interesting. because in any coffee maker, the water passes through the coffee and what it looks for is the least resistance in its path. If it encounters little resistance in one point, it will go that way, failing to go through other areas and, therefore, not extracting the solution that it could extract from the entire coffee. With the new design, what Hario suggests is that these channels will be minimized while we will be able to achieve a more uniform extraction. It seems like a lie, but there is a lot of technique in a cone that looks the same as the one from 20 years ago, but that makes sense if we look at the narrative of a brand that, it claims, has been working on prototypes and playing with fluid dynamics for two years. Is she a motorcycle dealer? Well… I don’t know. I have the original V60 and I am clear that my skills do not reach the point of thinking that those microribs are what I was missing to finish making the perfect coffee at home. I have not the slightest interest in this V60 Neo and, although it makes sense from the point of view of the very specific needs of a tiny niche of baristas, At home I don’t think it’s something different.. In fact, what interests me most about the new V60 is that they have kept the price very similar, so it remains one of the most affordable coffee makers with which to prepare a very good specialty coffee at home and, above all, it shows that a simple design, even if it can be intricate with micro-rib technology, triumphs if from the first moment it is a product that makes sense and that is … Read more

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