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Five years ago, Airbus promised a zero-emission aircraft. Now it’s not so clear

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The transport sector has been fighting for some years against a great enemy: its own CO₂ emissions. According to the European Environment Agency, this sector was the responsible of approximately 30% of emissions. And, of the total of these emissions, civil aviation represented 13.4%. The answer? The electrification in the case of land transportsomething that has been evolving at a good pace. In the case of commercial aviation, electricity was not opted for, but for hydrogen. The European Airbus was one of the companies that first jumped into the pool with a commitment to achieve the decarbonization goals with which the European Union seems to be very committed. Your proposal: hydrogen-powered zero-emission aircraft. That was the proposal in 2020 with a view to being achieved by 2035, and the prototypes of some companies they seemed hopeful. However, hydrogen has not done as well as many expected and the consequences are there: where it said “I say”, it says “Diego”, and now Airbus is not so clear that your zero-emission plane arrives on schedule. Airbus, its “green” plane and the turnaround of the industry Airbus’s proposal was extremely ambitious, since its hydrogen-powered aircraft would mark the greatest aeronautical revolution since the appearance of the jet engine. The idea was have hydrogen planes in the air by 2035for which presented three concepts: A turbofan for 200 passengers and 3,704 kilometers of range. A turbofan mixed wing model also for 200 passengers and 3,704 autonomy. A turboprop for 100 passengers and 1,852 kilometers of range. Its roadmap included the design of gas turbines with fuel injectors for hydrogen combustion to occur, but also models with completely electric systems powered by hydrogen fuel cells. They invested 1.7 billion dollars in the projectbut things began to go wrong both for Airbus and for the hydrogen industry as a vehicle “engine.” Germany is a good example of the difficulties of hydrogen as a fuel, at least for private vehicles. By the end of 2024, the main hydrogen station operator began to close facilities because there was no demand. The German Association of Energy and Water Industries itself revealed in a report that planned storage projects were significantly behind projected demand. For the private car, it seems that electrification has won the game, but in other types of vehicles such as trucks, buses or airplanes themselves, this fuel seemed to continue to be a valid option. At the beginning of this year, however, Reuters reported that Airbus was having problems obtaining green hydrogen. There is many types of hydrogen and their colors indicate how they have been obtained. What the sector needs is the so-called green hydrogen, which is produced thanks to renewable energies such as solar or wind. It is a process that needs a lot of investment and the company’s CEO doubted that enough could be produced to make commercial flights with hydrogen aircraft profitable. They did not shelve the project and, in fact, at the Airbus 2025 Summit reaffirmed their engagement, but soon after it seems they thought better of it. As we read in The Wall Street Journalthe company cut the budget allocated to green hydrogen airplane research by a quarter. Citing “technical challenges,” the company has reassigned staff other departments and the engineers responsible for the project appear to have gone back to the planning table. It is not a “never will arrive”, but it does seem to represent a slowdown in the plans that would imply that they would not arrive with that plane by 2035. In fact, in TWSJ they comment that Airbus defends that the money has not been thrown away and that delaying the project will allow the technology to be perfected. “Our destiny has not changed, but we need to adjust to reality to get there,” commented Bruno Fichefeux, head of future aeronautics programs. But it is not only Airbus that has taken a turn in its green policy. At the beginning of this year we saw that large oil companies began to stop or cut investment in their renewable energy programs to refocus on fossil fuel production. In this case it is not because the technology is green, but because there is an entity that has appeared on the board that requires large amounts of energy immediately: the data centers for AI training. Returning to hydrogen aircraft, although Airbus has put the brakes on its strategy, assuming a delay of five yearsthere are other companies that had a similar roadmap. For example, ZeroAviawhat’s next committed with hydrogen-powered flight and that has several models programmed in its roadmap, with 200-seat aircraft by 2040. Images | ZeroAviaAirbus In Xataka | The plan to clean the air by capturing CO₂ has just received a blow of reality: the Earth does not have as much space as we thought

which cars can circulate and which rest on November 8

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The second Saturday of the month of November arrives. Once again we face the restrictive measures of Hoy No Circula on Saturday. As happens periodically, the obligations to keep certain vehicles parked remain in force to avoid financial penalties if yours is affected by these provisions. What is the reason behind this system? This is the Hoy No Circula program, an initiative promoted by the CDMX Environment Secretariat. (SEDEMA) aimed at improving the quality of the air that the capital’s residents breathe. How exactly does it operate? What points are essential for any vehicle owner? The fundamental principle is that by reducing the number of vehicles traveling on the roads, air pollution levels in the region are inevitably reduced. Although these measures may be uncomfortable for drivers, the objective is clear: parking the car as a measure of collective environmental protection. Naturally, this restriction applies only in specific areas. In which places does this regulation apply? In all of the 16 municipalities that make up Mexico City, added to the peripheral municipalities of the State of Mexico that appear in this list: • Atizapan of Zaragoza • Coacalco de Berriozábal • Cuautitlan • Cuautitlán Izcalli • Chalco • Chicoloapan • Chimalhuacan • Ecatepec de Morelos • Huixquilucan • Ixtapaluca • Peace • Naucalpan de Juárez • Nezahualcoyotl • Nicolas Romero • Tecámac • Tlalnepantla de Baz • Tultitlan • Chalco Valley What cars and license plates does Hoy No Circula Saturday affect? Considering the above, what are the specific limitations? Why do Saturdays involve specific additional considerations? Indeed, different restrictions are implemented on weekend days. To determine the restrictive measures and their application mechanism, these are based on the hologram assigned to each vehicle, an element that determines its travel capacity. There are cars that must remain idle every Saturday, while others rotate their restriction. In conclusion, these restriction modalities are presented: • Cars that enjoy free circulation every Saturday • Cars forced to rest on all Saturdays • Cars that alternate restrictions, resting alternate weeks It should be noted that these limitations do not apply 24 hours a day. Its validity is limited between 5:00 a.m. and 10:00 p.m.. That is, after dusk it is possible to circulate without any restrictions. What happens if your car is in this restricted category? So the alternative is to stay at home if you want to avoid economic consequences. To do this, it is essential to clearly identify which vehicles can move and which remain immobile. In this way, the owners of Hologram 2 are forced to leave their units at rest every Saturday, without the possibility of movement. The situation is different for those with hologram 0 and 00, who enjoy total freedom of movement during any Saturday, without restriction. On the contrary, those who have hologram 1 must carefully evaluate whether they can travel. The answer depends entirely on the phase of the month we are in. Since we are on the fourth Saturday of the month of November, in the Saturday November 8, 2025 Drivers of cars with hologram 1 whose license plates have an even number ending are prevented from driving. In the next week, corresponding to the first day of May, owners of vehicles with hologram 1 whose license plate ends in an odd number will be forced to keep their vehicles parked. However, there are certain categories of vehicles that are completely exempt from these restrictions: • Those that operate using electric propulsion, gaseous fuel or hybrid technology • Those who carry accreditation for people with reduced mobility • All those linked to the provision of urban passenger transport services (including the funeral branch) • Those intended for the transport of minors of school age or passengers in general • Those assigned to public safety and emergency management duties In case of violation of these regulations, a penalty equivalent to 20 and 30 times the Measurement and Update Unit (UMA) is imposed, a figure that ranges between 1,924.40 pesos and 2,886.60 pesos. Photo | Sebastian Olivos In Xataka | Pollution is not only making you live less and worse. It’s also making you dumber

There was a time when HTC sold more phones than Apple and Samsung. The question is what happened next: Crossover 1×28

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In 2002 we still didn’t have smartphones, but I was lucky enough to see a preview of that future. I traveled to London with Microsoft and at that event the company presented the Orange SPVa big-headed and different mobile because it was based on Windows Mobile 2002. In it you could surf the Internet, write emails or listen to music, although in a limited way because neither the software nor the hardware were very competitive at that time. And yet, the vision was clear: everything was going toward those devices. What was surprising was not only that, but who manufactured that device was HTC. The Taiwanese firm was already beginning to be known for manufacturing devices for others, but it would soon end up launching into the smartphone market taking advantage of the push of Android. In 2011 its market share in the US became superior to Apple’s or Samsung, but after that achievement, the firm started making bad decisionsand other manufacturers joined in – especially from China – who began to make competition much more difficult. HTC never recovered from that and although it experimented with other segments like virtual realityfaded to a paper totally secondary in the technological field. We talk about all this in a new episode of Crossover in which we remember the great milestones of the company and that singular fall almost into oblivion. In Xataka | “It is a brutal economic effort, but we have to act now”: parents who are taking their children to schools without screens

50,000 people paid 120,000 euros to live on a paradisiacal crypto island. Now it is about to disappear under the Pacific

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A group of cryptocurrency investors imagined living in a cryptostate in which everything was based on blockchain technology and, of course, 100% tax free. The project it was so serious that they even found a private island in the middle of the Pacific and named the place Satoshi Island in honor of the bitcoin creator. In it, crypto investors could move in and acquire their citizenship in exchange for a modest 120,000 euros. Eight years later, the Satoshi Islandnot only has it not become the tropical crypto paradise promised of bitcoin and NFT, but is at risk of disappearing under the waters of the Pacific. The origin of the initiative. As and how I collected FortuneIn 2017 and with the support of more than 50,000 investors, the “Satoshi Island” project was launched with the development of a new crypto nation on the private island in the South Pacific previously known as Lataro Islandin the Vanuatu archipelago, east of Australia and halfway between the Solomon Islands and New Caledonia. The small 32 km2 island was leased to the local government of Vanuatu for 75 years by British real estate entrepreneur Anthony Welch who, according to France 24had been living there for more than a decade. In 2021, the transformation to “Satoshi Island”, named in honor of Satoshi Nakamoto, was presented. with the promise to become a crypto city-state, without taxes and based exclusively on blockchain and NFT. The vision included digital citizenship, “crypto-friendly” modular housing, and an economy untethered from traditional fiat. Real estate promises and realities. The plan was articulated under several axes: issuing citizenship and ownership NFTs, building modular homes on 21,000 available plots, adopting renewable energy, decentralized governance and attracting a global community of crypto investors. It sounds like a complicated formula to attract new neighbors to the island and, in the process, “rent” them part of the 90% of the island that was uninhabited. “We are trying to build a community. We are not looking to develop for profit,” assured Welch to Guardian in a satellite interview with the island, given that the island does not have electricity or internet. Bad omen for an economy based on digital transactions. The wall of territorial sovereignty. According what was published through the specialized portal Decryptin 2022 the Vanuatu government, with then Prime Minister Bob Loughman, supported the initiative after ensuring that they had received thousands of applications, which gave more visibility to the project. Obviously, for all the NFTs of Satoshi Island citizenship, the reality is that investors who wanted to live on the island had to obtain Vanuatu citizenship, which “Golden Visa” mode It was awarded in exchange for a generous donation of 120,000 euros. According to data of the International Monetary Fund, around 40% of its income comes from the “Golden Visa”, so the Satoshi Island project was an excellent attraction to attract new residents and obtain large income. The blow of reality. Shortly after, the first alarm signals began to emerge: absence of infrastructure, significant delays in the implementation of the habitability project and the legal complexity of transforming NFTs into property titles. recognized by the state (the real one, that of Vanuatu). Little by little the project has been deflating until, in July 2025, a publication in the project X profile It marked the end of the cryptotropical dream. Furthermore, the project’s demise is not just figurative, as the Vanuatu archipelago is highly vulnerable to sea level rise, coastal erosion and extreme weather events resulting from climate change, a forecast that already is coming true in its neighboring archipelago of Tuvalu, which has already begun its migration for climatic reasons. In Xataka | A Venezuelan invented a lawless city in the middle of an island. Now the millionaires who followed him don’t know how to escape Image | Vladi

Europe is eager for cheap electric cars. Europe’s solution: copy Japan

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The European Union needs electric cars to be purchased. At least if you want your emissions plans to be met. So ambitious that they have forced ban combustion engines from 2035 in a decision that countries like Germany and Italy want to reverse because, in their opinion, their industries are at stake. The truth is that more electric cars are bought every day and the number of followers goes growing. Especially in countries with greater purchasing power, with a better charging network or that are simply doing things better like Portugal where aid is given at the time of purchase and frictions have been eliminated when loading the car. There are a multitude of factors but the truth is that manufacturers feel that, despite growing, the embrace of the customer is not enough to get the industry off the ground. There are fewer and fewer brands that maintain their marketing plans. jump to “all electric” before 2035 because they feel that the sales of this technology is not driving amortizations that they have to do when designing new vehicles, readapting their assembly lines or creating a new network of suppliers around them. The big promise is that “cheap” electric cars will drive these sales. But as we have talked about on other occasions, these vehicles have a fundamental problem: their autonomy. The average European citizen, according to ACEAtravels 34 kilometers by car every day and only once or twice a year he faces long trips (he makes just over 12,000 kilometers annually) where a car with a battery less than 60 kWh of capacity would have to stop on more than one occasion, extending the trip beyond what was desired. However, at the same price, it is logical that you opt for the combustion version because you will have a car that does not cause headaches on those trips (for just a few days a year) and you will also be able to face an unforeseen event with solvency if necessary. The maintenance cost takes a backseat. Right now, the European industry is at a difficult inflection point. It is difficult to make electric cars cheaper because the battery remains the main obstacle when it comes to saving costs. The new Renault Twingo promises to sell for less than 20,000 euros but its 27.8 kWh battery barely anticipates just over 150 kilometers off-road, which makes it practically useless outside the city. Nor does what is to come offer much better guarantees and 25,000 euro cars face combustion options that, as we said, do not cause headaches on weekend excursions or long trips despite the fact that they later lose out in the general maintenance of the vehicle. And small cars have become much more expensive in recent years. As a solution, the European Union is trying to carry out a new regulation for small carswith a contained size and price in line with that of a purely urban vehicle. For this they want to base themselves on the kei car Japanese, a type of car located below the passenger car that offers certain tax advantages… but whose success can only be explained by Japanese particularities. A new category with everything to prove In search of solutions to lower the prices of electric cars and make these urban mobility options more attractive, we know that the European Union is working to create a new category of cars. The idea is to frame it between current passenger cars and light quadricycles. A new category with a contained size and whose main incentives were lower maintenance costs with tax advantages and facilities for manufacturers to reduce car prices. Taking into account these premises, François Provost, CEO of Renault, has confirmed that if the European regulations go ahead they could convert their Renault 5, 4 and Twingo into this type of new vehicles. In statements collected by Coachhas dropped that they could be cars that were below 4.1 meters, with entirely European production and whose emissions in the production process were less than 15 tons of CO2. The words are relevant because the Renault Group has been pushing in this regard for some time. Luca de Meo, its previous CEO and former president of the ACEA employers’ association, He was also in favor of this new category. The French have recently presented the Dacia Hipster, which aims directly at this market. Stellantis has also been betting for some time and has launched up to three heavy electric quadricycles, which is the closest thing to the category at the moment. and in Xataka We learned two years ago that the European Union is working on specifying such a category. Inspiration is kei car japanese. These miniaturized cars develop a maximum of 660 cc and have some very strict length and width measurements. Curiously, they do not have them high up so most of them, to maximize space, have very square shapes in the minivan style. All in all, it is a category with a very particular development that even has sports versions such as the legendary Daihatsu Copen. In Europe, legislators seem willing to copy the philosophy of these cars. As? It is what remains to be defined. In The Coches.net podcast They gave some alternatives to lower prices and one of them is very clear: eliminate obligations regarding safety and driving aids. The mandatory systems that the European Union has introduced such as the lane departure or fatigue warning seat have special relevance outside the city but very little inside it, just where these cars should stay. These are systems that have made urban vehicles more expensive and would be a push to lower their costs again. Furthermore, having a contained size is an incentive for some cities where there is less and less space available. The biggest problem for Europe is that the formula of kei car Japanese triumphs because it is an extraordinarily particular market. In fact, except BYD that has shown its first car For Japan with these premises in … Read more

Mining waste is changing life in the depths of the Pacific

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More than a thousand meters below the Pacific, a turbid cloud slowly disperses. It is not pollution visible from the surface, but it could transform the ocean from its foundations. That cloud—a mix of sediment, metals, and mining waste—is the byproduct of a new global fever: the race for minerals from the seabed. A recent study published in Nature warns of a little-known risk. By extracting metals from the seabed, underwater mining releases a cloud of waste as fine as dust. This material can replace the food that millions of small organisms need to survive. They are tiny, almost invisible creatures, but without them there would be no fish, whales or marine life as we know it. A deep problem. A team from the University of Hawaii at Mānoa analyzed for the first time the effects of a test spill made during a mining operation in the Pacific. Researchers discovered that the waste generated by extracting polymetallic nodules – potato-sized rocks packed with valuable metals such as nickel, cobalt or manganese – can drown the so-called “twilight ocean”, an area that extends between 200 and 1,500 meters deep. The results are overwhelming: the particles from the mining process are between 10 and 100 times less nutritious than natural particles. “It’s like replacing food with air,” explains Michael Dowdlead author of the study. Their work shows that this waste can displace organic particles that feed zooplankton and other species that, in turn, support fish, whales and tuna. The study, carried out in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone – a vast region of the Pacific of 1.5 million square kilometers under license from the International Seabed Authority (ISA) – calculated that 65% of the species analyzed depend on particles larger than six microns, exactly those that would be replaced by mining waste. More than half of the zooplankton and 60% of the micronekton feed on them. The journey of waste. During the process, underwater mining generates a flow of water, sediment and metals that is pumped to a ship on the surface. There the valuable minerals are separated and the rest of the material – a mixture of mud and inorganic fragments – is returned to the sea. The problem is where it is returned. Some companies, such as The Metals Company (TMC), have proposed release the residue in the so-called “mesopelagic zone”, an area rich in microscopic life. According to scientists, this could cause a “cascade effect”: organisms that filter particles to feed would run out of nutrients, and the predators that depend on them—from fish to cetaceans—could migrate or starve. That is why the authors recommend that, if companies insist on mining, they at least return the sediments to the seabed, where they were extracted, even if that is more expensive and technically complex. However, from the company, which financed the study but did not intervene in its conclusions, he assured The Verge which plans to release the waste at a depth of about 2,000 meters, below the area analyzed by the researchers. According to its environmental director, Michael Clarke, the particles dissipate quickly and there is less planktonic life at those depths. The rules of the fund: the battle in the ISA. The rules of the seabed are still being written in slow motion. Regulation falls to the International Seabed Authority (ISA), the UN body in charge of managing mineral resources in international waters. Since 2014, the ISA has been working on a Mining Code that has not yet been approved. For now, it has only granted exploration licenses, but none for commercial exploitation. Meanwhile, some countries are pushing to move forward without waiting for the final code. In fact, Donald Trump has tried to bypass the international process signing an executive order that allowed US companies to be granted permits to mine the seabed. The measure has been seen by ISA Secretary General Leticia Carvalho as a “dangerous precedent that could destabilize ocean governance.” A geopolitical board in dispute. American interest is framed in the technological and trade war with China. The Asian giant controls about 70% of the global rare earth market and has multiple exploration contracts in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone. Faced with this dependence, the White House seeks to guarantee its own supply of strategic metals by promoting deep-sea mining and creating national reserves, but the country has not ratified the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). In other words, the United States not part of the ISA. Meanwhile, countries such as Norway, Japan, Papua New Guinea and China are moving forward with their projects. At the last ISA meeting, 32 nations—including Spain—requested a global moratorium to curb underwater mining until its impacts are better understood. Between two waters. The fate of the seabed is written at the same time in the laboratories and in the negotiation rooms, far from the blue silence thatwe still don’t fully understand. The little we know is that beneath that darkness await the metals of the future and perhaps also the price of extracting them. Image | Unsplash Xataka | When it seemed that the controversy over underwater mining was calming down, the discovery of black oxygen threatens to reactivate it

They cannot force you to work on weekends even if your contract says “Monday to Sunday”

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The Supreme Court has brought order to an area where many companies moved with ambiguity: the possibility of changing the working day at their convenience, by far that indicates it in the employment contract. In a recent ruling, the Supreme Court has unified its criteria and it is no longer enough for the contract to say that you can work “from Monday to Sunday” as a justification for change the work dayyou must negotiate it with employees before applying the change. What exactly has the Supreme Court defined?. The judgment responds to the request for unification of criteria requested by the CGT union in the face of previous contradictory rulings. The origin is a collective conflict raised by the unions after a company decided extend your day Monday through Sunday to serve the needs of its business clients. For more than five years, the staff of that company had worked only from Monday to Friday, so the unions understood that the change in hours represented a substantial modification of working conditions and, therefore, should be subject to negotiation, as established in the Article 41 of the Workers’ Statute. The Supreme Court agrees with the unions and annuls that decision, indicating that, although the contract allowed working “Monday to Sunday”, the change required a formal procedure. In the words of the ruling, “if workers have been providing services from Monday to Friday since 2017 and in 2022 the company informs them that they have to start doing so from Monday to Sunday, this represents a substantial modification of working conditions.” Why is it important. The Supreme Court makes it clear that the regular consolidated working day It cannot be altered unilaterally by the company. The court admits that the contract included the possibility of working from Monday to Sunday, but emphasizes that the practice sustained for years has more legal weight than the generic clause. That is to say, if from the beginning the day was configured from Monday to Sunday, that practice is consolidated, and any substantial change that is applied must be negotiated. According to the ruling, “the company could not decide unilaterally, and without following the procedure of article 41 ET, to start providing services from Monday to Sunday when since 2017 it had been providing services from Monday to Friday.” What it means for workers. The Supreme Court ruling strengthens the position of employees and gives them more tools against non-negotiated shift changes. If a staff has been working a specific schedule for years, that practice becomes part of their contract, even if it is not explicitly written. In practical terms, this means that workers can challenge any substantial alteration to their working hours or schedules if they have not been previously negotiated. This new ruling restores the staff to their previous schedule and declares the business decision void, urging them to negotiate the change in accordance with the provisions of article 41 of the Workers’ Statute. What changes for companies. With its unification of criteria, the Supreme Court places limits on the unilateral modification of the conditions and organization of work by companies, forcing them to reach agreements with employees as long as these changes are substantial and have a justification. The court points out that the company could have easily started the negotiation “claiming that the client company required the services to be provided from Monday to Sunday”, which in the court’s opinion is a more than justified reason, and not directly impose it. In Xataka | It seemed obvious, but the Supreme Court had to remind them: Ryanair cannot elect a union, the employees choose it Image | Flickr (Chris Arnold), Unsplash (Eduardo Alexandre)

If you don’t want to delete photos, videos or files, these cloud storage services can give you extra space

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Horror: you go to take a photo and discover that your mobile phone already has the storage full. There is always the option of deleting applications or files from it, but we don’t always want to get rid of information from our phone. The best solution is to opt for a cloud storage service: They are safe and there are some with very interesting extras. For this reason, we are going to talk to you about some options that may fit you if you are looking for one of these storages. pCloud The first option we bring you is pCloudone that may not be as popular as others on this list, but that works very well. It is a service that we can use on both MacOS, Windows and Linux as well as on mobile phones. In fact, its app allows you to automatically synchronize images or videos to upload them without doing anything else. It also allows you to make backup copies with pCloud and it even has a new photo editor included in all its plans. Another very interesting point about pCloud is the enormous variety of plans and modalities that we have available. The most economical way to get this service is its Premium subscription, which gives 500 GB storage for alone 4.99 euros per month. We can opt, if we prefer, for annual modalities or even for ones that are for life, more economical in the long run. pCloud monthly subscription The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Google Drive Almost all of us, for one reason or another, have a Google account. That is already an argument in favor of us using Google Drivethis company’s cloud storage service. It is a service that is characterized by being secure and very convenient to use, regardless of whether we want to store photos or videos. In addition, it is also perfect if we are looking to have collaborative documents. For free, we have 15 GB that we can use however we want. It is a small figure if we are photography lovers or we usually record video in 4K resolution, so we can get one of their payment plans. In that case, we can have 100 GB storage by 0.49 euros per month (for three months, then it costs 1.99 euros per month). The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Dropbox When looking for cloud storage, it’s impossible not to consider Dropbox. Depending on the plan we choose from all the ones it has, it allows you to restore deleted files (up to 1 year for its Advanced plan). Furthermore, its interface is very fast and easy to use, also allowing you to transfer files up to 100 GB. This service also allows you to choose whether you want annual or monthly billing. Focusing on its prices, the cheapest thing we can hire Dropbox is for 11.99 euros per month. In exchange, we will have 2 TB of storagea figure that is not bad at all. There are also modalities that allow you to share the subscription with other users. The price could vary. We earn commission from these links OneDrive If, in addition to sending photos or videos with your mobile phone, you plan to use the cloud with a Windows PC, OneDrive may interest you. One of its best features is being able to access your files from the same Explorer of this operating system. Besides, integrates with Microsoft 365 to be able to collaboratively edit Word, Excel or PowerPoint documents in real time. This service has a free option, one that only offers 5 GB of cloud storage. If we want more, we have your Microsoft 365 Basic plan available for 20 euros a year, thanks to which we will have 100 GB storage. It is a good option that is also available for iOS and Android. The price could vary. We earn commission from these links iCloud If we have one or more Apple devices at home, then we may be interested in having iCloud with us (although we can also use it with other operating systems). It is a very interesting platform that stands out for offering a simple, minimalist and very intuitive user experience. In addition, it allows you to store backup copies of Apple devices. For free, we only have 5 GB of storage. If we want more, then we should upgrade to one of the iCloud+ plans. The cheapest version that this platform has comes out for 0.99 euros per month and offers in exchange 50GB storage. If we want more, we have two others that offer 200 GB and 2 TB, respectively. The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Some of the links in this article are affiliated and may provide a benefit to Xataka. In case of non-availability, offers may vary. Images | Etienne Girardet on UnsplashpCloud, Dropbox, iCloud, Google Drive, OneDrive In Xataka | How I organize my life in the “cloud”: the platforms and organization methods used by Xataka editors In Xataka | Google One, Dropbox, OneDrive, iCloud and all the options, face to face

from uranium to the plug, step by step

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Do you remember Homer Simpson asleep in front of the control panel? For years, that has been the most popular image of a nuclear power plant: glowing bars, red buttons and donuts. Others, however, may think of sirens, black smoke, protective suits and names that continue to weigh: Chernobyl or Fukushima. Between fiction and collective fear, there is a much more normal story—and at the same time more amazing—that usually goes unnoticed: that of giant factories that produce electricity from the power of atoms. If you approach one, you will see towers that seem to breathe water vapor. And inside, hidden behind a heart of steel, millions of atoms splitting in two, releasing energy so enormous that a handful of uranium is enough to power a city for days. Although the debate is served with this type of fontthe truth is that it continues to be one more piece of the energetic present. So, leaving prejudices aside, let’s take a look inside a nuclear power plant: to discover how it works, how it differs from a thermal one, how many are still active in Spain and why it remains at the center of the energy debate. What is a nuclear power plant? A nuclear power plant is an industrial facility designed to produce electricity. At its core—literally—is the nuclear reactor, the place where the magic happens: the fission of atoms. Inside each atom there are protons and neutrons that remain united. When that nucleus breaks—when hit by a neutron—an enormous amount of energy is released in the form of heat. That’s where nuclear energy comes in: the same energy that holds those tiny particles together. Nuclear power plants take advantage of this nuclear fission process to obtain heat, heat water, produce steam and move turbines that generate electricity. It’s that simple. Or, if you look closely, that impressive. Difference between a nuclear power plant and a thermal power plant Confusion is common: “Aren’t a nuclear power plant and a thermal power plant the same thing?” In part, yes. Both use heat to drive a turbine and produce electricity. But the big difference is in the origin of that heat. In a thermal power plantthe heat comes from burning fossil fuels (coal, gas or fuel oil). This releases carbon dioxide (CO₂) and other polluting gases. While, in a nuclear power plant, heat is obtained from the fission of uranium atoms, without combustion or CO₂ emissions during electricity generation. Therefore, nuclear They are considered clean energy in emissionsalthough they leave a different challenge: what to do with radioactive waste? We could say that it is a smokeless energy, but not without questions and I will stop here because we will talk about it at the end. How it works: the process to generate electricity It may sound complicated, but the operation of a nuclear power plant can be explained in a simple way: Imagine a big kettle, like a teapot, only inside there are atoms splitting and releasing energy. Uranium fission. It all starts inside the reactor. Uranium-235 atoms break apart when hit by neutrons. Each fission releases heat and more neutrons, which continue colliding with other atoms, creating a controlled chain reaction. Water heating. The heat produced is used to heat water. This water circulates through pipes under enormous pressure or is transformed directly into steam, depending on the type of reactor. The steam drives the turbine. The force of the steam rotates the blades of a turbine connected to an electrical generator. That movement is what is finally converted into electricity. The electricity is sent to the grid. The generator converts the mechanical energy of rotation into electrical energy, which is transported to homes and industries. Cooling and recirculation. The steam condenses, cools, transforms back into water and returns to the circuit, repeating the cycle. It seems simple, and it is in concept. But behind it there are decades of engineering, thousands of security measures and constant surveillance so that this invisible and powerful energy is always kept under control. In Spain There are two types in operation: the pressurized water reactors (PWR)where water is heated inside the reactor and converted to steam outside, and the boiling water reactors (BWR)where steam is generated directly inside the reactor. How many nuclear power plants are there in Spain? According to the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge (MITECO)Spain has seven nuclear reactors spread over five sites: Almaraz I and II (Cáceres). In operation since 1981 and 1983, with a combined power of about 2,000 MW. It is one of the first that is on the list for closure: Almaraz I in 2027 and Almaraz II in 2028. Ascó I and II (Tarragona). Connected to the grid in 1983 and 1985, they total about 2,000 MW. Its closure is scheduled for 2030 Ascó I and 2032 Ascó II. Chests (Valencia). In operation since 1984; It is the only one with a boiling water reactor (BWR), with 1,092 MW of power. Its closure is scheduled for 2030. threshing (Guadalajara). In operation since 1988, with a power of 1,066 MW. It is scheduled to close in 2035. Vandellós II (Tarragona). In service since 1988, with a power of 1,087 MW. It is scheduled to close in 2035. In addition, there were three others that are already closed: Jose Cabrera (Guadalajara), the first Spanish nuclear power plant. Santa María de Garona (Burgos). Vandellós I (Tarragona), closed after a fire in 1989. In total, Spanish operational reactors generate around 20% of the country’s electricity, according to data from Nuclear Forum. And they do it constantly, 24 hours a day, without depending on the sun or the wind. What is the largest nuclear power plant in the world? If nuclear power plants had their own world ranking, Japan would be in first place. The central Kashiwazaki-Kariwa It has seven reactors and a power that exceeds 8,000 megawatts. Today it is stopped for revisions, but it is still the largest on the planet. The center follows … Read more

In Galicia some parents educated their young son at home. Now they are condemned for “irresponsible unschooling”

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He homeschooling It’s news. And it is on account of a sentence issued by a court in Vigo that has decided to impose a fine of just over 2,000 euros (with severe reproach included) on parents who decided to educate their nine-year-old son at home, removing the little one from the school in which he was enrolled for the 2024-2025 academic year. The ruling is interesting not so much for its consequences (the penalty is not high: 1,080 euros per parent) as for its arguments and because it differs from other rulings on the same topic that yes they were acquittal. One moment,homeschooling? The term may seem strange, but it is not new. In fact, it connects with a movement that started in the US in the 70s. He homeschooling It is neither more nor less than an educational option that advocates educating children at home, far from conventional classrooms and schools. Often focusing educational responsibility on parents and those who practice it stand out above all its ability to adapt to the needs of each child, its personalization and flexibility of schedules, content and spaces. How many people practice it? Hard to know. In Spain it is estimated that there are between 2,000 and 4,000 families unschoolers. If we talk about the United States, there are calculations that indicate that 3% of students between five and 17 years old receive training at home. The variety of data is explained by the lack of censuses (case of Spain) and above all because the practice does not have the same lace in all countries. To better understand the regulatory differences, it is good to take a look at the web of Homeschooling. There are nations that clearly prohibit it, others that protect it and then there are cases like Spain, where there are those who consider that home education moves in “a legal ‘gray area’”. Swampy terrain. That is why sentences like the one just handed down by a judge in Galicia arouse so much interest, especially because not all cases end in the same way. What have they judged in Vigo? What the Criminal Court number 1 of Vigo has ruled on is a very specific case: some parents from Gondomar (in Pontevedra) who decided to take their nine-year-old son out of the public school in which he was enrolled last year to educate him at home. The ruling recalls that, despite the Educational Inspection’s resolution denying deschooling and the warning from the Juvenile Prosecutor’s Office, the parents continued with their plans, betting on homeschooling and a personal itinerary. The boy attended an academy for two hours a week, but the bulk of his education depended on the program decided by his parents. And what does the sentence say? The fundamental and key of the sentence, as precise Vigo Lighthouseis the educational bet chosen by parents. The ruling speaks of “flagrant deficiencies”, an educational project that “does not meet the minimum requirements” and “irresponsible unschooling” that compromises the child’s “academic progress” and, ultimately, will condition his life. “In this case, the education provided directly and almost exclusively by the parents, basically based on their own personal criteria and ideas, without an alternative educational method to the minimally solvent official one and without some evaluative objectivity, represents irresponsible unschooling,” the judge warns in his sentence, disclosed by Lighthouse and with a resounding tone. “There is negligence in education and failures in basic care duties.” Why is it important? Where you put the focus. The sentence focuses mainly on these shortcomings and the “irresponsibility” of the child’s family. In fact the ruling insists in which the parents did not even resort to an “alternative external educational system to the official one” and selected the subjects based on “their own criteria”, without any other reference. In practice this translated into training that, in the judge’s opinion“does not meet the minimum requirements established in the regulatory framework of compulsory education.” The minor participated in activities such as bicycle outings, excursions to the forest, sailing with a jet ski, collecting chestnuts or cooking, but he received “basic” skills in fields such as mathematics or language. For example, his parents did not teach him geometry. The expert who was in charge of examining the case in fact noted a “confusion” between the family routine and the school routine and also pointed out the “privatization of socialization” of the child. Does it explain anything else? Yes. The ruling conveys an interesting message. He explains that “home education may not be criminally reprehensible,” but it must meet a series of requirements, guaranteeing that the child will receive “sufficient” training thanks to an educational system that must be “responsible and competent.” In fact, this is not the first ruling issued by the Vigo court on the subject: at the beginning of 2024 spoke about another case involving parents who educated their son at home throughout the 2021-22 academic year. The Prosecutor’s Office found a crime of “family abandonment” (the same one that has been tried now) and requested five months in prison for the parents and six months of disqualification for parental authority. What was the result? On that occasion the judge acquitted them. Although he homeschooling was underlying in both cases, the judge noted clear differences in both cases. In the 2021-2022 report, it concluded that the parents did not show “carelessness” or “carelessness” and carried out “responsible unschooling.” The little boy continued to be educated with official books, he attended various extracurricular activities and the homeschooling It only really lasted one course. In fact, a year later the minor was already attending another center again, where he continued training “with absolute regularity” and obtained good grades. Is it legal or not legal? Europa Press assures that the ruling of the Court of Vigo warns that the homeschooling It is not a legal option in our country and it is “unquestionable” that parents who do not send their children to school violate an obligation contained in the … Read more

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