usatoday24

Inject your partner poison

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Make up is a risk sport. That they tell the male of the religious mantis who has to feel how His head is devoured by the female While his body, automatically, continues to copulate. This practice is less common than what is thought, since it occurs in just a handful of Mantis speciesbut it is not the only stage of the animal kingdom in which The male is killed for the good of the offspring. And there is A hops They have the same customs. Of course, there is an octopus of a concrete species that has a strategy to fertilize the female and survive the process: poison it. Dimorphism. Something important before entering the case of octopus is that there are many animal species with cases of sexual dimorphism extremely accentuated. This implies a difference in size between the sexes, being the case of the mantis one of them. In mammals, males are usually larger than females, since they are the ones that fight for territories and mating, but it occurs backwards in case of raptors, arthropods, amphibians and reptiles. In the octopus, there are extreme cases in which there are females that are up to ten times larger than males. One of those cases is that of the blue line octopus –Hapalochlaena fasciata-. They are small, but tremendously lethal octopus because they are able to inoculate a very powerful neurotoxin that they share males and females. Contrast with its small size: just bigger than a golf ball. Sex and snack. However, the female is twice as large as the male and mating dynamics is not very healthy to say (for the male, of course): due to that imbalance, the female usually ends the life of her sexual partner during the process. However, in a study published in Science Directa group of researchers from the University of Queensland in Australia has discovered that the male has developed a toxic way of surviving mating, literally. Due to that huge difference in size, males cannot develop tactics that they use in other species of octopus, such as a more elongated reproductive arm to inseminate at a safe distance or even arms – character – with the reproductive load that emerges so that the animal can flee. The only thing left to this species is to bite the female to inject neurotoxin, directly. Here we have a complete half -hour sequence: Poison. As we read in Sciencealertresearchers comment that, probably, this evolution has been “an answer both to the need for reproduction and protection”, and what they do is ‘bite’ the female before trying to copulate. They do it near the aorta, injecting the fair amount of tetrodotoxin to paralyze their partner during the process. To check, the researchers placed six couples in different aquariums and observed this practice in all cases. “The females succumb quickly,” they comment, and it is something they observed because they lost reflexes to light stimuli, paid and the pupils contracted due to the loss of nervous system control. Wait, what happened? They also made more precise observations: while the males went from 20 or 25 contractions per minute at rest at 35 or 45 during the intercourse, the females not only suffered an abrupt fall in their heart rate, but stopped breathing completely after about eight minutes of the bite. They point out that none died, so the amount of neurotoxin they inject is very precise or, evolutionarily, the female has developed countermeasures, but the bite on the back of the head was evident. “Once immobilized, males proceed to intercourse and mating ends when the female regains control of her arms and separates the male,” the researchers point out. In this video we can see how the male approaches while the female remains motionless: Sexual Armament Carrera. The researchers comment that they did not directly measure the levels of neurotoxin, but it is a practice that “suggests an evolutionary armament career among the sexes, in which the cannibalism of large females is counteracted by males through the use of venom.” Fruit of this evolution is that the posterior salivary glands of the males, which is where the symbiotic bacteria that produce toxin accumulate, are three times larger than those of the females. They also comment that they are not the only animals that accumulate that toxin in their bodies and that there are fish, mollusks or amphibians that produce it, so they will continue to investigate to identify whether other animals use it in order to reproduce and leave alive from the process. Ah, and something curious of the experiment: in one of the cases, one of the males bit at a point somewhat away from the aorta and the female took less time than the others to wake up: 35 minutes. Speaking, people understand each other, but when hunger enters during intercourse, it is clear that there are species that fail to suppress those cannibal instincts. By the way, Wen-Sung Chung, one of the main researchers, has shared 15 GB of videos of the octopus copulating using these peculiar strategies. Images and videos | Queensland University In Xataka | A whale toured 13,000 km and three oceans to reproduce. It is a record, and also a bad news

The compact mobile is dead

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In 2011 we talked about Samsung Galaxy Note as if it were the son of a mobile and a tablet. In fact, the most veterans surely remember the term Phablet. He has barely rained, huh. The Galaxy Note was a huge mobile, enormism for the time. His screen had “unusual 5.3 inches” (Xataka textual words), a much greater figure than that of 2010 Galaxy Swhose panel was four inches. Back in 2011 I was 17 years old and had a Htc desire s that I still keep and replaced me Nokia X6-00. I remember that, when I bought it, people saw it and said “you have to see, at this rhythm the mobiles will be like a television.” I’ve been listening to that “mobiles are getting bigger.” Today I can confirm with the data in the hand that this is not only so, but that the compact mobile has died. Mobile less than six inches launched in 2025: zero For this analysis we have resorted to the data of GSMARENA and traced until 2010, so that we have collected all the mobiles launched in the last 15 years to see what happened. In 2010 Justin Bieber launched ‘Baby’, Enrique Iglesias piad him with ‘I Like it’, Christopher Nolan scored somewhat with ‘origin’ and the industry put 125 mobiles into circulation worldwide. They were all less than six inches. I say more: except the Dell Streakeveryone had less than five inches. This was the usual tonic during the following years. More and more mobile threw themselves, but in 2014 something began to change. This was the year of Nexus 6he OnePlus One and the Samsung Galaxy Edge (The curve screen). Also of the Ascend Mate 7 from Huawei and the Xperia t2 ultra from Sony. They began to draw increasingly large mobiles with FullHD screens and 16: 9 format, such as televisions and monitors. Samsung Galaxy Edge | Image: Xataka The screens became larger, but the format was always the same, 16: 9. That meant that if we wanted to increase the size of the screen, the mobile width had to be increased a lot. So much so that the Ascend Mate 7 of 2014, with its six inches of screen, had a high of 157 millimeters and a width of 81 millimeters. To put it in context, the Galaxy S25 Ultraone of the largest mobiles of 2025, has 162 millimeters high and 77.6 wide. The mobiles were getting huge, in every way, but growing that way was not sustainable. The reason that the screens become larger and larger is evident: mobile phones were no longer mobile. They had become entertainment platforms In which playing, watching movies, listening to music, sailing, chatting, etc. More screen, more options, you don’t have more. Then the manufacturers fell into the account: why continue inspired by televisions and monitors? What if instead of making 16: 9 panels we stretch them up and make them more panoramic? It was then that the six inches began to become the standard for the high range. Already in 2017 we had terminals such as Galaxy Note8 with 6.3 inches and 18.5: 9 format and the LG V30 (DEP), with six inches in 18: 9 format. Lg v30 | Image: Xataka That number tells us the proportion between the width and high of a rectangle. To date, for every 16 high pixels we had nine pixels wide, and vice versa. If we wanted to increase the size of the screen, something that made sense to understand the mobile as the main device of every user, the only option that was not to end bricks in the pocket was to keep the width and increase the height. And that was what happened: format 16: 9 was condemned to extinction. Change the appearance ratio to a more elongated allowed manufacturers to continue increasing the size of the panels without having much larger mobiles As of 2017, mobile phones began to grow, and to grow, already grow up. In 2018, large mobiles with 18: 9 format represented just over half of all the launched. In 2019, the market took a 180 degree turn and the strange thing was that a mobile does not exceed six inches. The market had been completely invested. In later years, the try to launch compact phones were left in little more than that, try (see the iPhone Mini) And, today, there is not a single mobile below six inches. A small format requires sacrifices in terms of battery, power and photography, things for which the user, according to the disappearance of compact mobiles, does not seem willing to happen. iPhone 13 Mini | Image: Xataka So far this year only three mobiles have been launched with less than 6.5 inches and are the Google Pixel 9ahe Samsung Galaxy S25 and a total unknown: the rugerized Sonim XP400. All others, removing mobile phones with physical or older keyboard, have larger diagonal panels. There is not one, not one, six inches or less. All this has not been achieved only based on adding inches to a screen, but companies have done an exceptional job miniaturizing components, moving them in place and improving technology, in general. One of the most obvious changes has been get rid of the upper and lower frames and pass the buttons, and even the fingerprint reader, to the screen. That has allowed an iPhone 16 to have a 6.1 -inch screen in a body of 147.6 x 71.6 millimeters. To put it in context, the Samsung Galaxy S4 2013 measured 136.6 x 69.8, but had a “only” five -inch screen. The next step: bigger Huawei Mate XT | Image: Xataka Formats 18.5, 19 and 19.5: 9 have the advantage that it allows you to add inches at the expense of stretching the terminal up, but everything has a limit. A point comes where such an elongated screen It becomes uncomfortableas we have been able to verify in some terminals that carried the appearance to the … Read more

All solar panel technologies that exist and which are more efficient, in a graph that goes 1975 until today

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The fastest energy transition in history is not the industrial revolution, as many think, but the one that is happening now With renewable energies. Renewables are being installed at a rate five times greater than all other combined energy sources. And although the great habilitator is the worldwide commitment to zero net emissions, it is the brutal evolution of solar panels that has allowed to reach this point. Photovoltaic panels have been so much that solar energy Start leaving wind energytraditionally more efficient. Throughout the last decades, solar cells have experienced a radical transformation, driven both by advances in material engineering and in innovations in manufacturing techniques; mainly from the Chinese industry, although Japan is trying to lead The next generation. The National Renewable Energies Laboratory (NREL) has Published a graph that illustrates at a glance How each photovoltaic technology has advanced since the 70s and which cells are more efficient today. Traditional cells: crystalline silicon Crystalline silicon cells The crystalline solar cells of silicon (blue in the graph) have dominating the market for several decades. The polyristaline silicon (the one used in solar panels with bluish crystals) is cheaper, but monochronic silicon (with black crystals) is the current standard of the industry thanks to continuous improvements in purification and production processes, which have approached their efficiency to an ability to convert 27.6% of sunlight into energy. Thin film technologies (green in the graph) emerged as an alternative to the crystalline silicon for facilities that require greater flexibility, lower weight or a large -scale manufacturing. The most efficient thin film cells are currently those of copper, Indian, Gallic and Selenium (CIGS) with an efficiency of 23.6%, closely followed by those of cadmium teluro (CDTE). The emerging: organic and perovskitas Emerging technologies cells Red in the graph, they are the photovoltaic cells that have tried to remove the throne from the silicon. Organic cells and coloring sensitized cells (DSSC) use organic compounds to absorb light. Its efficiency is modest (around 19%), but they have the advantage of their low cost and the possibility of integrating them into flexible devices and buildings with varied colors. One of the most revolutionary innovations in recent years has been the development of Perovskita cells (red with yellow filling in the graph). Thanks to its crystalline structure inspired by the mineral of the same name, these cells have been achieving exponential increases in efficiency in a short time, even if they were invented in Japan in the 80s. Perovskita cells are already as efficient as silicon, with an efficiency of 27%, but they have the problem of degrading much earlier. The tandem, the best of both worlds Tandem two materials cells The photovoltaic cells that make up silicon and perovskita in tandem are the most promising for generalized use today. The secret of combining both materials is that the upper perovskita layer absorbs high -energy wavelengths and the lower silicon layer captures the rest of the spectrum. With an efficiency of 36.1%, Tandem cells (brown in the graph) have left behind the theoretical limit of traditional silicon cells (33.7%). Although in the laboratories we still try to look for alternatives to the silicon, which is a more expensive material and with a supply chain controlled by China. All photovoltaic cells and their evolution By the latter, triple or more layers (multijunction) unions are the cells that have reached the greatest efficiencies in laboratory conditions: up to 47.6%. Its cost is high and its production is complex, but these cells are useful in solar concentrators, where maximum performance is sought. Images | NREL

an increasing problem for the wine industry

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In early February, The Civil Guard dismantled An international network dedicated to illegal wine from La Rioja. That is, a network dedicated to falsifying wine bottles and selling them in Vietnam and China. The funny thing is that they have operated for years and only the alarm has jumped because a Spanish tourist saw a suspicious bottle in a gourmet store in Vietnam and bought it to bring it to the country and analyze it. A problem that does not stop growing. For years, illicit trade and fraud in the wine sector and spirits keep growing. In 2023, Spanish customs and police authorities seized Almost 15 million liters of illegal drinks. Globally, although there are those who estimate that up to fifth of the wine that is sold could be false, more conservative estimates They say that annual losses in drinks of this type amount to 1,300 million euros. Of course, it is something that worries (and much) the most important wineries who see not only how they lose income, but how the low quality of falsifications affects their brand image. In fact, there are lawsuits specialized in intellectual property that They offer service to the wineries throughout Europe to monitor the market (ON and Offline) and detect this type of falsification. What exactly is that is falsified? To start the same wine. There is Fine fakes that combine lower quality wines To try to pass them through higher bottles, but normally it is about replacing. But there is much beyond the “dilution” and “replacement of ingredients”, there is a lot explained in the Spanish A few years ago Fabián Torres, Director of Business Development of SICPA Spain. Complex. Be that as it may, counterfeiters play with one thing: the world of tastings is a complicated world. Although it seems that it is true that There are supercatters capable of overcoming the most difficult teststhe truth is that for most human beings there are no major differences between wines. Not enough, at least, to detect a falsification achieved. And this has more crumb than it seems. Because many people have begun to ask that why pay a disproportionate amount of money for a flavor profile that, in short, can be achieved “falsified” at a much lower price. The best example is the case of Rudy Kurniawan, perhaps the most famous counterfeit in recent years. After leaving prison in 2021 he has set up a business in which FALSIFY VINES ‘ON DEMAND’. In your case, organize tastings to buy exclusive broths with your own falsifications. Normally, they win their wines. Of “falsified wine” to “duplicate wine”. It is a phenomenon very similar to the calls’duplicated perfumes‘(legal fragrances designed to smell like other design perfumes): we have seen it in supermarkets with Cheap versions of the most popular wines of the moment, like Verdejo frizzante. However, The potential of this type of products It is much greater. After all, we live in a world in which LOS DUPLAS WITHOUT ALCOHOL No They stop growing. We have gone from an industry in which the flavor was inseparable to the historical manufacturing process to a flavor profiles laboratory. And, in Spain, one of the world’s world leaders, this revolution will make the foundations vibrate of the industry. Image | Kelsey Knight | Klara Kulikova In Xataka | If the question is what is the future of wine, more and more Bordeaux wineries are clear: the without alcohol

There are young Spaniards earning $ 10,000 a month in the Australian coal mines. But everything that shines is not gold

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“I’m going to show you how $ 5,000 every two weeks in Australia.” This is how a young Spanish named ‘Tonylopezz13’ opens a Video on Tiktok which was published a few days ago and that went viral. The premise is attractive, especially when we have the 13,81.33 euros of minimum salary in Spainbut it turns out that ‘Tony’ is not such an isolated case. There are more young Spaniards, but also from other countries that move to Australia with a goal: work in a mine. Of course, it has a small print. The Australian dream. Foreign immigrants in Australia represent a low percentage compared to other nationalities, but since 2015, when visa ‘was created’Working Holiday‘, fate became something more attractive. Australia has a high cost of life, but also one of the Base salaries higher in the world ($ 24.10 per hour, depending on the sector, becoming much higher in technological, health or mining jobs) and this visa allows a young man between 18 and 30 years to spend 12 months in the country. There are another series of visas, such as students who allow you to work certain hours per week or those who are issued to qualified workers who are hired by an Australian company. Since then, it is estimated that some 5,000 young Spaniards access the Australian labor market, many in this way and, as we see on social networks, some to work in Mines. Coal. Australia is one of the most muscle countries in the production and export of coal. Mainly, their mines are located in the state of Queensland, where there are giant mines such as BHP Mitsubishi Alliance or the mine of Carmichaelone of the largest in the world with a production of 60 million tons per year. In recent years, the Australian mining industry has faced criticism due to underground water pollution, the possible contamination of the coral barrier and, in general, due to the environmental impact that these mines have, but the activity remains one of the most important, at the economic and foreign trade level, of Australia. FIFO. And you also pay well. In a mine there are many types of positions and we can say that, depending on the role, the salary It moves between 70,000 and 150,000 Australian dollars a year. If it is a qualified position, that range is limited to between $ 90,000 and $ 150,000. These works for which a lower qualification is required usually follow a model called Fly-in Fly-out Or FIFO, which is nothing more than an attractive name for conditions that involve working about two weeks in a row with 12 -hour day day and then go home to rest … to wait for you to call you again. Temporary or casual, go. Influencers miners. The works that are usually done consist of cleaning of rooms and rooms, in the dining room or in the kitchen of the mining installation. It works, but you also earn a lot of money and it is something that young people from all over the world are making known in networks such as the aforementioned Tiktok, but also on Instagram or on YouTube Shorts. There are many publications under hashtags like #Miningalia either #FIFOAUSTRALIA in which they show their day to day and where money for only a few days of work almost always has a leading role. And they are true Influencersnot so much because of the virality of one two concrete videos, but because of the effect they have on people who want these conditions. Sienna Mallon. It is an example. This young Australian gained popularity, precisely, for giving visibility to her day to day as an employee of a mine. He studied agronomy and has played several roles in coal and gold mines, speaking in his networks about the challenges and benefits of the FIFO model and accumulating in the process about 450,000 followers among Tiktok and Instagram. Effect called. There are hundreds of comments in Mallon’s videos in which you ask how it can be applied to these jobs, something that we can also see easily in ‘Tony’, with Spanish people, but also Latin American asking for information on how to access these jobs. “When I met these videos on Tiktok, I told myself that I had to take the opportunity,” says a 25 -year -old in Lemond. All paid. And those salaries are really attractive. The first thing is that they are so high for both qualified personnel and without training because the mines are They locate in remote places. That is, they have to offer an incentive for people to want to go to those places very, far away from the cities and where you will have to make life during the working hours. But it is also attractive because there are practically no expenses. In the videos of these influencers you can see how they have private rooms with everything you need, free food, entertainment rooms, gym and, obviously, field to walk around, so you can save everything possible or invest in trips to meet the country during the rest week. Asterisk. But before you start looking at how much a ticket to Australia costs, there are other details to know. “The pay is good, but the day is exhausting,” says another young man in Lemonda, and it is something that goes in the line of people like ‘Tony’ who do not hesitate to affirm that they do not want to sell “the motorcycle to anyone: life during those 14 days is shit” focusing on ‘Tony’, on the video of 5,000 dollars every two weeks clarifies that the salary is high because it is a temporary worker. That is, you work two weeks for ten hours a day for 4,898 Australian dollars – about 3,000 euros – and then … it’s over. If you like you, they may call you again, but they may not do it. In another video sample How he was sleeping more than a week … Read more

There is a person who knows more than anyone in the world about password robberies. And they just steal his

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Troy hunt It has been for years warning us of the dangers of the passwords. It happened so often that it ended up turning those warnings In a project that has become a reference: Have I Been Pwned. And despite everything he knows, he has just fallen into a theft of credentials with the most common method of all: A Phishing email. Can happen to anyone. Hunt had in his blog how it fell into a very well elaborate trap: a phishing email that pretended to come from Mailchimpthe platform you use to distribute your newsletter. In the notice he was informed that he had received a spam complaint and that his shipping privileges in the service would be restricted. To solve it, yes, I could click on a button with a link. Why did that phishing work? As this expert explained, “I have received a ton of similar messages that I have always identified quickly”, but there was a critical factor that played against him: the moment in which he received it and read it. Hunt had Jet Lag and was very tired when he received the message, and did not think enough that something was not right. Difficult indications to identify. After clicking on the link, Hunt also noticed how his password manager did not autocomplete the details of his account (user and passwords, usually). This could have been an indication that the domain from which those credentials were requested was suspicious, but he himself indicated that many platforms record you in a domain (which the password manager keeps) and then authenticate you in another. Theft of their subscribers. Phishing’s attack caused the attackers to steal 16,000 records that belong to people who subscribed but also that he had already discharged from his Newsletter. Mailchimp keeps those registers for some reason. In these data, email, IPS and latitude and length addresses are included, however they do not point to the subscriber location. He has also been “Pwned”. The creator of the Have Ien Pwned site ended up adding the theft of his data to the database he uses on this platform, as was of rigor. As he pointed out in his blog, not to do it “it would have been a hypocrisy.” He also had the success of telling what had happened to him right away. If a message is super urgent, suspect. Phishing attacks usually always take advantage of being written with an urgency tone or message. If you don’t act, they try to tell you, something bad can happen to you. That is precisely why in these messages it is to try to keep the head cold and clear and not act instinctively or immediately. It is probably the great lesson that can be taken from this event. Passkeys help. Traditional passwords remain a potential threat to phishing attacks, but there is a method that helps us avoid that threat in particular: Passkeys or Paso Keyswhich make use of safe biometry. Its implementation, yes, is quite fragmentedbut we deposit confidence in a passkeys provider (such as Google either Applefor example) are undoubtedly An important element To add a remarkable safety layer, as well as the authentications in two steps (2FA) have been so far. Image | Saksham Choudhary In Xataka | There are users who pass from passwords. And they go to “I forgot my password” to generate them again and again

Thus was born Changan, the company that manufactured the first Chinese car in history

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Münich, March 2025. The departure pistol for the arrival of Changan to Europe. This Chinese automobile group confirmed the arrival of Deepal, one of its brands with a clear premium approach to Europe. He did it with him Deepal S07an electric Berlina that bets on a great technological load. 15.6 -inch central touch screen, adaptive cruise control with lane centered (which is equivalent to a level 2 of autonomy) and good performance with an electric motor of 216 hp and a 79.97 kWh capacity battery. The presentation demonstrates how far Changan has arrived. The company is the Chinese manufacturer by sales volume and its journey in Europe will begin in the main markets (Norway, Netherlands or Germany, among others) before their arrival in Spain, which is expected for 2026. But Changan Not only one more company in the Chinese car market. Changan’s story goes back, even, until the nineteenth century and this is one of the reasons that led him to produce the Changjiang Type 46, the first Chinese car in history. It all starts in the nineteenth century To understand what Changan is for China you have to go back. Far back. Between 1636 and 1912 the Qing dynasty ruled the country. Obviously, in almost three centuries of history of a country can happen. But what happened in the second half of the nineteenth century in China is that the region was immersed in all types of war conflicts. Finished in 1842 the First opium war In which the Chinese Empire had tried to snatch the drug trafficking of this powerful opioid, various revolts were happening until, in 1956, the Second Opium War began. A contest that united to the United Kingdom and France against China and that ended with the Imperial Palace burned and China capitulating. In that context, a little later from the end of this Second War, Changan would be born. The technology company was in charge of 1962 to supply military material to the Chinese Empire while it remained in front of the country. The company began working under the name of Shanghai Foreign Gun Bureau (Arsenal of Foreign Weapons of Shanghai) and in 1865 it was already the main arsenal of the country when it moved to Nanjing. The continuous instability of the zone caused the growth of the company. Between 1894 and 1895 there was the First Sin-Japanese War. With her the military media were reinforced and although Japan defeated China, in 1899 it was estimated that 1,700 people worked for the arsenal that was ultimately the origin of Changan. The company ended up surviving the fall of the Qing dynasty and with the Second Sino-Japanese war, Arsenal was transferred from Nanjing to Chongqing for fear that after the fall of Shanghai the weapons could fall into the hands of the Japanese. That company, which had changed its name again to adopt that of The 21st Arsenal, also remained standing with the Foundation of the People’s Republic of China by Mao Zedong. In fact, this was renamed The State-Owned Factory 456. That is, it was reflected in the name that the company was owned by the Chinese state. That is when the company expands its production and a subsidiary called Chongqing Changan Automobile Company. That subsidiary is responsible for carrying out the Changjiang Type 46. Considered the first Chinese production car, it leaves the doors of the factory on April 5, 1958 and remained unalterable until 1959. The car was evidently a military vehicle. It was, in fact, a copy of the Jeep Willysthe classic American military vehicle that has remained in the collective imaginary after World War II. The original model was devised by Willys-Overland and quickly demonstrated its qualities in the field with its permanent 4×4 traction and because its hardness and agility. Taking only the essentials, the car weighed just over a ton and passed over any land. In the Chinese case, production was poor At first (only 36 units in the first year) as a result of a country that dragged an important technological development. But the production remained stable until 1963 and, little by little, more than 1.1000 units came out of the assembly lines. He Changjiang Type 46 He had the capacity to transfer six people, with a 2.2 -liter four -cylinder engine. Its weight was 1,150 kg and its consumption was not very high for the time, with about 13.7 l/100 km. Its maximum speed was 115 km/h. Although the production started hesitantly, little by little the car was making a hole to the point that in 1963 the Chongqing facilities are transferred to Peking by order of the Chinese state. The transfer forced the production to stop as it was decided to disassemble the installation completely and take it to the new city, instead of building a directly there. We talk about transferring a factory over almost 1800 kilometers that separate both cities. Already in Beijing, Changan continued manufacturing military vehicles until In the 80s signs an agreement with Suzuki And it enters the Personal vehicles and the commercial transfer of goods or people with minibuses. The turn would later deepen Companies like Ford and Mazda when both companies shared developments. This last collaboration has remained until today and is the architect that today we can see the Mazda 6ea car that was born to the Chinese public initially fruit of collaboration between Japanese and Changan and that we will finally see on European soil very soon. Photo | CHANGAN and Mazda In Xataka | Family and friends keep asking me if “it is worth buying a Chinese car.” This is my answer

Solar panels have been determined to conquer every building span

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Self -consumption It has been growing As renewable energies have been integrated into the home. The fact of power Save on the Light Invoice has made more users decided to put solar panels on roof either balconies. However, it seems that converting a house into an energy generator does not know limits. Short. Canadian company Miterx has launched Solarrail, a system of solar railings with system BIPV (Building Integrated Photovoltaics) Designed, as the name implies, to integrate into architecture and generate energy. The integration of solar energy. This system is designed to integrate photovoltaic into the urban architecture and design, such as The company itself has detailed. In addition, its main advantage is that it takes advantage of the space of the boats of the balconies, transforming them into solar energy generators. Integrated panels. Miterx has launched Two versions of the Solarrail: a transparent version (60%) and an opaque. The panels are made up of bifacial solar cells, which allows to capture sunlight both in the front and in the rear. On the one hand, the transparent model has a power of 105 w, on the other hand, the opaque model reaches 390 W. In addition, the system includes support bars, and hidden wiring Solar rail | Miterx Heat is not concentrated. The installation of solar panels in urban areas, although it promotes energy self -consumption, can contribute to the increase in temperatures in cities. A study has demonstrated That these panels absorb up to 90% of solar energy, turning only 20% into electricity and releasing the rest as heat. However, this is when we talk about a solar panel on the railing, while we will have to wait as these integrated railings can avoid the phenomenon “Urban Heat Island”. So is it better than a solar balcony? BIPV systems avoid phenomena as mentioned above. In addition, in this case, as they are bifacial panels, they capture light from both sides, increased efficiency. However, integrated solar panels can affect the risk of fire, As a Norwegian study explains. The distance between the module and the solar balcony can reduce riskwhich does not happen with an integrated system. Forecasts. Solar energy is evolving beyond traditional roofs or balconies, with innovations such as solar railings. These solutions take advantage of the architecture space to continue growing. For its part, European regulations will require that from 2030 All new construction buildings are zero emissions. In this way, we will have to see how technological innovations in the energy sector will grow to comply with the guidelines. Image | Solarrailing Xataka | It is raining so much in March that it has caused something surprising: that solar energy stops growing in Spain

China wants to revolutionize the hypersonic flight of airplanes and missiles with an explosive ingredient: magnesium

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China and the United States are immersed in a race that is not fought on the mainland, but in the air with a common goal: to achieve speeds of more than 7,000 km/h. Both have several hypersonic airplanes projects With potential both military and civil And, although the US seems more reserved, China from time to time goes out to the arena to talk about Your technological achievements. The latest is an engine capable of going to Mach 6 thanks to a fuel formula with a special ingredient: magnesium. Mach 6. When we talk about hypersonic speeds, what we use to measure it is the Mach 1. is the one that represents the speed of sound, established in 1,235 km/h. Thus, a Mach 2 speed would be twice the speed of sound. Well, what are testing At Beihang University in Beijing it is a technique that allows to double the thrust of current hypersonic engines to reach Mach 6 and higher speeds. It is difficult to get an idea of ​​the amounts we talk about, since we are talking about speeds of more than 2,000 meters per second or around 7,000 kilometers per hour. It would be like going from Madrid to New Delhi in an hour. That journey, currently, has between eight and ten hours. EITHER cross the Atlantic in three. Scramjets. The objective of the researchers is to redefine hypersonic aviation thanks to a combustion technique that, as we read in South China Morning Postpractically doubles the thrust of a scramjet engine. It is the abbreviation of “Supersonic Combustion Ramjets”, these Ramjets being reaction engines created to reach Mach 3 speeds. To function, the air enters the engine at high speed. They are motors without turbines that compress that air at supersonic speed (do not slowly subsuite like Ramjets) and then the fuel is injected. It can be hydrogen, but also kerosene, which is mixed with compressed air and, as a result, a supersonic jet of hot gases that propels the vehicle is generated. When it occurs for the first time, it is when the sound barrier is broken and something similar to an explosion is heard. “Secret” ingredient. The problem of Scramjet engines is that, at extreme speeds, the energy generated by fuel is stabilized, but adding magnesium to the fuel formula, the thing changes. The Chinese team chose magnesium being a metal with a violent reactivity. When the kerosene burns it generates residual, but when they inject magnesium dust, that CO₂ acts as an oxidant lighting the magnesium particles. Yang Qingchun is the project director and comments that “magnesium does not need atmospheric oxygen”, so those magnesium dust particles react in explosive shapes with the residual gases that were previously wasted, now releasing an additional energy. China hypersonic test vehicle Evidence. And they have tested. Under conditions that simulate a Mach 6 to 30 kilometers altitude flight and using commercial aircraft fuel, magnesium injection increased the thrust by 86.6% with a combustion efficiency of 65.1%. This allows to increase the 613 Newtons-second motor thrust per kilogram at 1,126 Newtons-Second per kilogram. At that speed, the kerosene burns practically completely, the magnesium dust turns to the contact and releases the heat between two and three times faster than only the kerosene. But speed is not the only advantage. Something crucial is not to overheat the turboreactor, so researchers have studied how to optimize the process to increase performance without a temperature increase. Thus, it is the kerosene that acts as a refrigerant of the motor walls through regenerative cooling. The magnesium, which is added later, burns in a “storm of supersonic fire”, according to the researchers, which is stabilized thanks to an optimized flow route that, in turn, helps to achieve that more powerful thrust. Challenges. But of course, the higher the speed, the greater the challenges. We have already commented that the temperature is something that plays against supersonic ships Because they must resist friction that makes the temperature rise above 1,500 degrees Celsius. In addition, at more speed, more turbulence. The team states that this supersonic turbulence entails the risk of an unequal dispersion of magnesium dust inside the postquemor. If there is a bad penetration of the particles, or an irregular injection, the thrust gain falls to almost 20%. It is something that causes the engine to be very unstable. In addition, those magnesium particles that “exploit” are a double -edged sword. On the one hand, the explosion generates that violent reaction that increases the thrust, but at the same time the particles become microcuchillas that can damage the engine. Therefore, you have to investigate engines with the capacity to resist impacts inside. On the other hand, you have to stabilize magnesium injection because it is postulated as something ideal to quickly reach hypersonic speeds and maintain them, but a ship fluctuates in speed, it is an unstable fuel. They have added nitrogen gas to stabilize the entrance of the particles, but the team confesses that it is “as difficult as threading a needle in the middle of a hurricane.” Projects. It is something that China will continue working because it is the team itself that states that it is not something only for airplanes: Yang comments that its design can reduce the launch weight or extend the range of missiles. They will try to inject magnesium on a nanometric scale to see if it is more efficient, but it is clear that it is a project that interests the country. And, yes, China has already tested higher speedsbut what they are looking for is more stability and the way to change between speeds at pleasure, not in such a linear way. And he does it because the United States is also working on it. Not only in aircraft like Blackbirdbut also in systems such as Dark Eagle, a missile with a range of more than 3,000 kilometers and capable of reaching speeds greater than Mach 17 (about 20,000 km/h) with systems to … Read more

Volkswagen lost 6.7 million with each one who sold

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On the Paseo de la Fame of the luxury supercoches, there is a star reserved for a car that, although their wealthy buyers had to put on the table 1.7 million dollars to remove it from the dealership, every time a unit was sold, its manufacturer lost 6.7 million dollars: The Bugatti Veyron. Bugatti Veyron: A luxury and speed icon The Bugatti Veyron He was born in 2005 of one Ambitious idea: Create the faster, powerful and luxurious car in the world. And what if they got it. Ferdinand Piëch, the visionary architect of the current Volkswagen group and grandson of Ferdinand Porsche himself. The passion for speed and luxury was carried in the DNA. This supercar mounted one of the engines that has given the most joys to Bugatti. It’s about Your brutal W16 of 8.0 liters and four turbos, with which it was able to accelerate as a rocket and break cut speed records above 406 km/h. This figure became almost a demand for The desire for “revenge” of the brand for a speed record in Le Mans. The name of the Veyron also closely linked to Le Mans’s career, since he honors Bugatti’s pilot and engineer Pierre Veyronwhich in 1939 won the 24 hours of Le Mans with one of the brands of the brand. The brand took Six years to develop from the Veyron for the challenge of implementing an engine capable of developing 1,001 hp of power and 1,400 nm of touch. To keep the temperature of such a beast at bay, engineers had to integrate 10 radiators. The exclusivity of the Bugatti Veyron was not only noticed when paying the 1.7 million dollars that cost Each unit. Each game of tires, especially Designed for the Veyron For Michelin, it cost the whopping $ 38,000 and had to replace every 4,000 km. On the track and maximum speed, the life of the tires was limited to about 15 minutes before disintegrating. Something that would rarely do, since the 106 liters of their deposit gave for 12 minutes. Without a doubt, a car with maintenance Far from the reach of many pockets. The Veyron was not just speed. It was also extreme luxury. Every detail, from materials to labor, was of the highest quality. Having a Veyron was like having a work of art on wheels, a demonstration that you could afford the best of the best. Aspire to One of the special editions Del Veyron was already another level, and supposed to pay more than 2.7 million for some of them. A ruinous business for Volkswagen But here comes the surprising part: despite its millionaire sales price, Volkswagen lost money with every Veyron who sold. And not little, precisely. Such and as they counted in Technology.orgthe financial research firm of Wall Street Bernstein Research published a report in which they assured that the Volkswagen group lost about 6.24 million dollars for each Bugatti Veyron that was sold. However, later the authors of that report admitted that this figure should be taken cautiously because it was based on approximate estimates. Paradoxically, the explanation of this financial fiasco is given by its engineering and design success. Volkswagen did not spare on expenses to create the perfect car and for it They invested 1,620 million of dollars in their development. Last prototype of the Bugatti Veyron The negative part is that Bugatti only sold 450 units of his Veyron in the 10 years he was on sale, so the investment in R&D was higher than the brand recovered selling cars, which was a financial fiasco. However, although in absolute terms, the development effort of the Veyron was greater than the income of its sale, the technology that was developed for that jewel of engineering then served as the basis for all A supercoches lineage. Its legacy has served to knock down all the speed records until it reaches 490.48 km/h that reached the Bugatti Chiron Super Sport 300+ In 2019, such and as he collected Car and Driver. Volkswagen was willing to assume those losses because he wanted to demonstrate his ability to create the Best Support Support in the World. Although, the Veyron was not a financial success in itself, it managed to position Bugatti as a reference brand on the map of luxury supercoches. A “failure” that, in the end, turned out to be a great triumph, although very expensive. In Xataka | Bugatti has found a new reef: his clients are spent on average 500,000 euros on extras to customize his car In Xataka | They are founders and ultra -ups, but they have not always driven luxury supercoches: a review of the cars of the Tech millionaires Image | Bugatti

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