Artemis II is a million-dollar mission, but its astronauts have had to wear t-shirts as blinds

Luckily, all the systems vital for the proper functioning of Orion they are going swimmingly on his trip to the Moon. However, he is having some more mundane unforeseen events, such as problems with outlook wave freezing of the urine reservoir. Added to all this is having to use t-shirts as blinds. And it was not an outburst from the astronauts, but rather direct instructions from Houston. Colder than at Pingu’s communion. The Orion capsule is not exactly the most air-conditioned place. It is very cold inside, so the Mission Control Team, from Earth, has been working to warm it up. Together with the crew, it was decided to move the ship so that it was as exposed to the Sun as possible. But there is a problem with that. The blinds that astronauts use to be able to sleep without the room becoming too bright absorb that heat and overheat. Possible damage to windows. If the blinds overheat, they could transmit that heat to the windows themselves, which would be at risk of damage. For this reason, the Control Team recommended to the crew on April 4 that they remove all the blinds. They explained to them that they understood that this would be very uncomfortable, since the interior of the capsule would be very illuminated. For this reason, they added a most strange recommendation: that they cover the windows with T-shirts. In the communication system recording, a crew member is heard complying with the order and indicating that they would follow the advice. But what advice. delicate windows. We might ask ourselves why it is necessary to protect the windows from the Sun if the ship is prepared to withstand the very high temperatures of re-entry into the atmosphere. It’s a good question, but the truth is that it is not the same type of heat. To begin with, reentry involves very great heat that spreads throughout the ship in a very short time. On the other hand, what comes from the windows is a much more focused and maintained heat. Orion’s heat shield protects it from the heat of reentry. Furthermore, the windows They have an outer layer of fused silica capable of withstanding 2,760ºC. But the inner layers are not as strong. Therefore, if they are exposed to solar radiation maintained and focused directly on them after being absorbed by the blinds, they may not withstand the heat. The future. Despite that small mishap, everything is going smoothly. In fact, Orion already has broken the record of going further than any other manned spacecraft and is close to beating another, reaching the highest speed at which any human being has traveled. If all goes well, this will happen next Friday, April 10, although in Spanish time it will already be the early morning of the 11th. In addition, they stand out for being the first lunar mission in which a woman, a black person and someone who is not American travel. It is not understood how in such an ambitious and expensive mission it has been necessary to use t-shirts as blinds, but at least it has been a failure that does not put the crew at risk. Images | NASA and Freepik In Xataka | For this alone, Artemis II has already been worth it: the impressive photos of the far side of the Moon

AI flat rates for programming are mathematically unsustainable

A Claude Max user, who pays $100 a month, generated $5,600 in actual API costs in a single billing cycle. It is just an (extreme) example of the enormous gap between the price of such a plan and its spending potential. Other analyzes place it on the range of between 1,000 and 5,000 dollars. Anthropic has just cut off access to third-party tools (such as OpenClaw) to your subscription plans. In addition to for protecting your fenced gardenis also the inevitable arithmetic consequence of selling tokens at open buffet prices when real consumption has skyrocketed between 10 and 100 times. Why is it important. The business model that has financed the explosion of AI for programmers (flat rates, unlimited access, subscription model) has been built on a statistical fiction that development agents have destroyed. What is assumed when a flat rate is sold in any area is that light users subsidize the most intensive ones and the averages are sustained. That works in the data rates of a telecom, in the gyms, in Netflix and in an all-you-can-eat buffet. But it doesn’t work when any user can become, from one day to the next, a beastly consumer of computing. And that’s exactly what happens when an agent comes into play. And since December we are in the era of the agents. Between the lines. The person who has best explained this problem is Luo Fuliresponsible for the team MiMo model on Xiaomi and ex-DeepSeek, who has published a long tweet which has moved especially in Chinese technological circles. Your diagnosis is that third party tools like OpenClaw are not optimized to reuse Claude’s context cache, so each query regenerates context windows of over 100,000 tokens from scratch. The actual number of requests per query is several times higher than what Claude Code himself would generate. “That’s not a gap. It’s a crater,” Luo said. The backdrop. In China, AI programming plans have become one of the most sought-after technology products on the market. Alibaba Cloud quotas They usually sell out in the first hours of the work dayand Tencent’s appear as “unavailable” permanently. Developers go so far as to set morning alarms and write scripts self-purchase to get monthly access. The demand is real, but the underlying economics point in the opposite direction: subscription plans, designed for a world where each interaction consumed a few hundred tokensnow absorb agent workloads that consume 10 to 100 times more per task. Yes, but. Anthropic has not closed access to third-party agents. You have moved them to another invoice: from flat rate to pay-as-you-go API. The measure includes a one-time credit equivalent to the monthly price of the plan and discounts of up to 30% for those who pre-purchase “extra use” packages. The problem is that for many independent developers, the jump in costs, potentially tenfold, makes the use of agents no longer economically viable. Some have already announced that they will migrate to other models. Someone has to pay for that party, and until a new, more efficient solution arrives, no one knows who it will be. The big question. If flat rate can’t survive actual agent usage, what pricing model can? Luo Fuli believes that economic pressure will eventually force third-party tool developers to optimize their context management and maximize cache reuse. He may be right and his approach is logical. But in the meantime, the entire industry is operating with a business model whose math doesn’t add up, and the question of who will absorb the difference (suppliers, developers or end users) remains unanswered. In Xataka | Companies have been investing in AI for years. The problem is that many projects are not producing results. Featured image | Fotis Fotopoulos

who are the names that move the country’s economy

The size of a company is, ultimately, a matter of perspective. For example, Inditex worth more in the stock market than any other Spanish company, but Repsol far surpasses it if what we look at is its income. On the other hand, Mercadona, without being listed in any index, employs more people in Spain than any large multinational based in the country. They are three different data that return three business maps that barely overlap, but together they form the business reality of Spain and about how the Spanish economy is built, revealing which sectors generate wealth for investorswhich ones move the most money and which are those companies that really move the employment needle in our country. The Top 10 companies of the IBEX35 The most common when we talk about large companies is to go to the IBEX35, the Spanish stock ranking which does not measure how much a company invoices or how many people it employs, but rather how much investors trust in your future. With that criterion, Inditex leads the list with a wide difference. At the end of March 2026, after publishing its annual resultsits stock market value was around 163,500 million euros, although in December 2025 it reached 175,155 million, its historical maximum. At that time, investment bank Jefferies revised upwards its target price for the share, which would imply a value greater than 200,000 million euros. Inditex’s capitalization advantage over the rest of the companies does not come from your sales volumebut of what the company founded by Amancio Ortega win with every euro you sell. In its fiscal year of 2025, the textile company obtained a record net profit of 6,220 million, 6% more than the previous year. This explains why large banks, such as Santander, BBVA or CaixaBank and energy companies such as Iberdrola or Endesa, with larger business figures, are left behind on the stock market. In 2025, by first time in historyfive Spanish companies exceeded 100,000 million euros on the stock market at the same time. Despite this, the index continues to be dominated by banks and electricity companies. However, sectors with a very important presence in the daily lives of Spaniards (such as the food industry, hospitality, automotive) barely have a presence in this index. Largest companies in Spain by turnover When the criterion is not investor confidence, but the total income that a company generates, the map turns upside down. The oil, gas and electricity companies They occupy the first positions because they buy and sell enormous quantities of raw materials, although what they keep as profit is a relatively small part of that figure. In this case, Repsol is the clearest example. In 2025, the fall in the price of oil, with a barrel of Brent falling 14.5% to $69.1 on average, took its toll. His operating result It fell 12.2%, to 5,312 million euros, although the final net profit rose 8.1%, to 1,899 million. That is, billing is not the same as entering. The big surprise from the list of companies with the highest turnover in Spain It’s Mercadona. Without being listed on the stock market and with hardly any presence in the financial debate, the Valencian chain founded by Juan Roig closed 2025 with 41,858 million euros in sales (8% more) and a net profit of 1,729 million (25% more). These figures have left Mercadona with 28.5% of market share in food in Spain, six tenths above 2024. Juan Roig qualified the “historical” exercise. Inditex, on the other hand, despite being the most powerful company in market capitalization, remains in a middle position in the income ranking. Largest companies in Spain by number of employees There is a tendency to think that a large company also needs a large workforce, something that large technology companies also insist on denying month and month with their large rounds of layoffs. In fact, the proof of nine for this theory is that the list of largest companies in Spain for the employment they generate subverts the order again. The company that hires the most people in Spain is neither the largest on the stock market nor the one with the most turnover: it is Santander Bank and all the personnel it employs in the operations management area. More than 198,400 employees, despite the cuts to your workforce of branches. Mercadona closed 2025 with 110,000 workers between Spain and Portugal and that year raised salaries of its entire workforce 8.5%. The most striking contrast in the ranking is the one between the extremes with Repsol, which heads the billing list, is located at the bottom of the employment list since its workforce is around 25,000 people thanks to the high level of automation of its activity. Inditex or ACS need staff five or six times larger than Repsol to function due to the nature of their activity. The difference between selling clothes or build roads and extract oil or distribute electricity, explains why the impact on employment of these companies has nothing to do with their weight on the stock market or income. The largest companies in Spain by autonomous community Reading the business map of Spain by autonomous community reveals something that economic or national lists tend to hide: the country’s economy is more decentralized than it seems, and many of the companies that lead the economy or employment in their region are not even listed on the stock market or are those that obtain the most profits. Autonomous Community Company Sector Billing approx. 2025 Madrid Repsol Energy and oil €76.3 billion the Basque Country Iberdrola Electrical energy €45,546 M Com. Valencian Mercadona Food distribution €41,858 M Galicia Inditex Textile retail €39,864 M Cantabria Santander Bank Banking €135,000 M Catalonia seat Automotive €12,000 M Aragon Stellantis Spain Automotive €4,159 M Navarre Volkswagen Navarra Automotive €12,000 M Castile and León Renault Spain Automotive €10,000 M Andalusia Airbus Spain Aeronautics and defense €73,420 M Asturias ArcelorMittal Spain Iron and steel industry €3,749 M Murcia The Well Feeding €2,000 … Read more

While specialty cafes are filled with Salomon, more and more people are walking barefoot in the mountains

It’s Saturday morning in the center of any big city. In specialty coffee shops, among flat whites and sourdough bread, an urban army parades equipped to survive a blizzard in the Alps. We talk about fever Gorpcore: waterproof technical jackets and sneakers trail running ultra-reinforced, designed to devour kilometers of rocks, but today they will only step on tiles and asphalt. However, hundreds of miles from that cafe, on the actual trails where those sneakers should be getting dirty, the exact opposite is happening. We have reached the technological peak of footwear outdoorbut a growing wave of purists, adventurers and elders have decided to take an evolutionary step back: take off their boots and feel the raw earth. Yes, there are people walking barefoot in the mountains. The image of a barefoot mountaineer ceased to be a rarity for hermits and became a global movement. According to GuardianGen Blades, an Australian researcher, says she was hiking the 147-kilometer Namsan Dulle-gil route in South Korea when the terrain changed to a stretch of wet clay (“hwangto”). Neither quick nor lazy, she took off her shoes. He described the feel of the mud oozing between his fingers as “revitalizing, like a massage.” You don’t have to go to Asia to find these devotees of the bare foot. In Australia, Dale Noppers, 37, organizes routes of up to seven hours through the Serpentine National Park stepping on mud, gravel and rocks. He confesses that the experience makes him feel “quite primitive” and assures that, despite the risk of stepping on insects or glass, the soles of his feet are so soft that “it looks like they have had a pedicure.” For Uralla Luscombe-Pedro, 32, who has walked hundreds of kilometers along Australia’s wild coast, feet are “sensory organs.” After weeks of walking like this, he claims to feel like a leaner animal and concludes that our modern concrete human habitat is “strangely boring” in comparison. This is not new, but it has gotten out of control. Europe has been flirting with this idea for decades through the Barfusspark or Barefoot Parks. The German environmental organization NABU documents about 50 of these venues in Germany, with Bad Sobernheim (opened in 1992) being one of the pioneers. An example An example of its magnitude It is the Egestorf parkwhich has almost 3 kilometers and more than 60 stations where visitors step on pine cones, fine sand, spring water and deep mud. But if in Europe it is a recreational activity, in South Korea It’s real institutional madness.. 68.7% of the country’s 243 local governments have ordinances to encourage barefoot hiking. Seongnam City invested 3.45 billion won (about $2.7 million) to build six red clay courts and budgeted another 3.5 billion won by 2024. The private sector not left behind: The Sun Yang Soju liquor company built a 14.5-kilometer runway and donates $800,000 annually for its maintenance. The obsession is such that roads are being built in greenhouses for use in winter. Unfortunately, overcrowding is already causing ecological havoc, such as the degradation of the ecosystem in wetland marshes such as Sorae in Incheon. The key question: why? Defenders of this practice divide their arguments into two large blocks: the mechanics of the body and the “magic” of the earth. On the one hand, mechanical advocates point to physical health. Without shoes, the body constantly adjusts, improving coordination and balance. Small forgotten muscles are activated and the 28 bones, 20 muscles and more than 100 tendons of the foot benefit. Furthermore, when going barefoot on uneven ground, we usually abandon landing with the heel and start stepping with the ball of the foot (metatarsus). This reduces the impact, although it requires 53% more energy, turning the walk into an intense workout. On the other hand, there is the phenomenon of “Earthing”. There are studies that suggest that this direct contact neutralizes free radicals that cause aging, reduces blood viscosity and improves heart rate variability. Attracted by these supposed benefits, patients in Korea claim that the practice has reduced their blood sugar levels, alleviated insomnia and even cured cancer. Science hits the brakes. Podiatrists applaud the freedom of the foot, but with nuances. Dr. George Murley warns in Guardian that you have to treat this transition “almost like a gym session for your feet” and do it progressively. Alejandro Martínez, expert podiatrist, explains in Men’s Health Magazine that “a healthy foot works best when barefoot.” However, when faced with miraculous cures, the medical community pulls out its claws. Dr. Steven Novella, a neurologist at Yale School of Medicine, calls “earthing” pseudoscience that lacks physical sense, denouncing that many of the studies are poorly designed and financed by companies in the sector. Oncologist Ahn Hee-kyung is blunt about the risks: Walking barefoot exposes vulnerable or immunocompromised patients to potentially lethal bacterial infections, such as staphylococcus or tetanus, through small cracks in the skin. As a result, hospitals report an increase in plantar fasciitis and cellulitis from these reckless walks, and many doctors attribute much of the supposed “cures” to a strong placebo effect enhanced by the environment. The alternative that unites worlds: “Barefoot” footwear. For those seeking tetanus-free biomechanics, the industry has perfected footwear barefoot (or respectful). These are shoes with “zero drop” (no heel), a wide last that does not compress the fingers and an extra-thin sole. Brands like Xero Shoes, leguano, Groundies or Freet dominate the niche, and even Zara has launched its own line. Its effectiveness in hostile terrain is proven: Traveler Matouš Vinš managed to climb the 5,000 meters of Mount Kenya in Africa with minimalist footwear, overcoming the challenge without problems while his heavy-booted companions suffered from blisters. Likewise, adventurer Viktorka Hlaváčková claims to be faster on demanding terrain thanks to these shoes, and emphasizes that her feet maintain great blood circulation even below zero. The cushioning paradox. It is revealing that, at a time of greatest hyper-technization in the footwear industry outdoorthe most striking phenomenon is leaving shoes at home. While … Read more

amounts, how to request them and what are the requirements

Let’s tell you how to apply for your MEC scholarship for the 2026/2027 academic yearexplaining the requirements to be able to do so and the amounts of this aid. These are scholarships from the Ministry of Education for students. We will also review both the amounts of this scholarship and the specific process to apply for them, something for which I warn you that you will need to identify yourself with DNIe either Electronic certificateas well as the Cl@ve PIN or Permanent Cl@ve. Dates to apply for the scholarship The deadline to apply for the MEC scholarships for the 2026/2027 academic year opened on April 7, 2026, and will close on May 18, 2026 at 3:00 p.m.. Therefore, you have a window of more than a month to request them, although it is advisable not to wait until the last day in case they ask for additional documents to validate your request. How to apply for the scholarship To apply for the MEC scholarships for this school year, you have to enter the website of the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training. Once you are inside, click on the tab Scholarships and aid that you have at the top of the screen to go to the corresponding section. When you enter the section, click on Apply for your scholarship. You will go to a page where you can click on the option to access the electronic office, which will take you to this web page where you will have to identify yourself. To do this you can use your digital certificateincluding the FNMT certificate and that of DNIethe PIN code or Mobile Code, or your DNI number. Once you log in, you will go to your general scholarship application screen. Here, what you have to do is click on the button Access to the procedure which you will see at the top in blue to begin the application. The first thing you will see is a page with all the information about the scholarship, the conditions and what you will need to apply for it. On this page, Go down all the way and click on Continue to start the application. And this will take you to the beginning of the scholarship application. Here, you will only have fill in all the information they ask for until completed. Then, you will have to wait to find out if it is assigned to you or not, something you can do by logging in again on this website. Requirements for MEC scholarships If you want to be able to apply for this scholarship, you will have to meet a series of requirements. These will be economic and academic, based on purchasing power and the number of failed subjects. General requirements are the following: Spanish nationality: You must have Spanish nationality or that of a member state of the European Union. Not having an equal or higher degree: If you are going to ask for it for specific studies, you cannot already have completed the same or higher ones. If there is a disability: It will have to be 25% or higher to qualify for the scholarship. university year: Depending on whether it is your first year at university or Vocational Training studies, or if you have taken previous courses, you will be asked for minimum credits ranging from 65% passed for engineering and scientific careers to 90% passed in Social Sciences or Humanities careers. Economic requirements In addition to this, Your family must be below certain family income thresholds which depend on the number of members. These are the thresholds: No. of members Threshold 1 threshold 2 threshold 3 1 8,843 euros 13,898 euros 14,818 euros 2 13,264 euros 23,724 euros 25,293 euros 3 17,685 euros 32,201 euros 34,332 euros 4 22,107 euros 38,242 euros 40,773 euros 5 25,664 euros 42,743 euros 45,572 euros 6 29,181 euros 46,142 euros 49,196 euros 7 32,718 euros 49,503 euros 52,780 euros 8 36,255 euros 52,850 euros 56,348 additional member to the 8th 3,536 euros 3,340 euros 3,561 euros If the student’s family does not exceed threshold 1: They will be able to obtain the fixed amount linked to income, the fixed amount linked to residence, the fixed amount linked to excellence in academic performance, the variable amount and the tuition scholarship (for the studies for which it can be requested). If threshold 1 is exceeded but they are below threshold 2: They will be able to obtain the fixed amount linked to residency, the basic scholarship (if applicable for the study completed), the fixed amount linked to excellence in academic performance, the variable amount and the tuition scholarship (for the studies for which it can be requested). If threshold 2 is exceeded but they are below threshold 3: They will be able to obtain the fixed amount linked to excellence in variable academic performance and the tuition scholarship (for the studies for which it can be requested). Academic requirements For Secondary, in the 1st year of high school: You must have a minimum of a 5 in the 4th year of ESO. For Secondary, in 1st year of FP middle or basic cycle: Having enrolled. For Secondary, in 1st year of higher cycle FC: You must have a minimum of a 5 in the 2nd year of Baccalaureate, in the middle cycle or in your access test. For Secondary, in second years: You must have passed all subjects except one, or a number of modules that make up 85% of the total hours in FP. For University in 1st year degree: Obtain at least a 5 grade in university admission. For University in 2nd year or later of technical and science education: Exceed 65% of the credits enrolled the previous year. For University in 2nd year or later of health sciences: Exceed 80% of the credits enrolled the previous year. For University in 2nd year or later of social and legal sciences, arts and humanities: Exceed 90% of the credits enrolled the previous year. … Read more

It is one of the best offers that MediaMarkt has launched to date

Since its launch, we have seen numerous offers on the Google Pixel 10. Some have been better and others worse, but what is undeniable is that, in general, it is almost always discounted. MediaMarkt has launched many offers so far, and although it is not the best, right now it has one of the best: you can buy it for 584.10 euros. As? Through these discounts: Direct discount: goes from 749 euros to 649 euros. Discount from the app: if you use the MediaMarkt application to buy it you get an additional discount, so it goes from 649 euros to 584.10 euros. The price could vary. We earn commission from these links It is close to its historical minimum He Google Pixel 10 It is usually on sale at MediaMarkt, so it is not surprising that from time to time we find it very cheap. Right now it costs 584.10 euros when purchasing it from the app, and It is not far from its historical minimum pricewhich so far is 561.17 euros. We are talking about a high-end mobile that has a very good construction. It is also a mobile phone considered “compact”, since it has a 6.3 inch diagonal. Its panel is OLED and also offers a brightness of 3,000 nits to see it well in broad daylight and a refresh rate of up to 120 Hz so that the screen looks very fluid. On the other hand, the Google Pixel 10 supports both fast charging and wireless charging. It will receive software updates for many years, comes with 12 GB of RAM and incorporates a exquisite camera set to take very good photographs. ⚡ IN SUMMARY: Google Pixel 10 offer today ✅ THE BEST Your screenSince it is compact, it offers a good level of brightness and a high refresh rate. The cameraswhich for this price we do not find too many alternatives in other phones. ❌ THE WORST 30W fast chargingis a very low figure for what we see in the competition, whose cheaper mobile phones are offering much higher figures (even double). 128 GB of storagea very small figure that will fall short in a short time. 💡 BUY IT IF… You want a high-end mobile phone at a very reasonable price, especially if you are also looking for a model that takes good photos, has good software and also stands out on its screen. ⛔ DON’T BUY IT IF… You usually take a lot of photos and videos or download a lot of apps, since it only has 128 GB of storage. You may also be interested Google Pixel Watch 4 (41 mm) – Android Smartwatch with Fitness Tracking and Gemini Help – Polished Silver Aluminum Case – Porcelain Sports Band – Wi-Fi The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Google Pixel Buds 2a – Wireless earbuds with Active Noise Cancellation – Light and comfortable – Water resistant – Bluetooth compatible – Moss Green 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 | Pepu RiccaGoogle In Xataka | The best mobile phones, we have tested them and here are their analyzes In Xataka | Best wireless headphones. Which one to buy and 21 models from 15 euros to 470 euros

shoot down missiles for less than a million dollars

A single advanced interceptor missile can cost more than dozens of drones of combined attack, and in Ukraine and Iran several have been launched to neutralize a single threat. This imbalance has led to situations where protecting a target becomes too much more expensive than attacking it. Therefore, in modern warfare, the key is no longer just who has the best weapons, but who can sustain their use without going bankrupt. The paradigm shift. For decades, intercepting a ballistic missile has been one of the most expensive operations in modern warfare, with systems like the patriot forcing the firing of two or three interceptors worth several million dollars each to ensure a kill. This model has worked in limited conflicts, but recent wars have shown its limits when the volume of threats grows massively. So much in Ukraine as in the Middle Eastair defense has become a cost battle where the attacker launches cheaply and the defender responds expensively. In that context, the idea of ​​shooting down missiles for less than a million dollars is not an incremental improvement, but a radical change in the rules of the game. Ukraine and logic. Since the 2022 invasion, Ukraine has developed a military industry based on economic efficiency, producing drones and missiles at a fraction of the cost of traditional Western systems. Companies like Fire Point They have transferred that philosophy to air defense, proposing a system capable of intercepting ballistic missiles at a much lower cost than the current one. The objective is quite clear: break the bottleneck of extremely expensive operators and systems, and allow a scalable defense in volume. This logic, moreover, comes directly from the battlefield, where survival depends on both effectiveness and cost per unit. The goal: below one million. The goal of intercepting a missile below the million dollar threshold It means attacking the core of the current strategic problem, where each defense costs more than the attack it tries to neutralize. Yes Ukraine achieve this milestone in 2027as indicated this week, would change the economic equation of air warfare, making it viable to respond to massive attacks without quickly depleting resources. Not only that. Even with somewhat lower success rates than systems like the Patriot, simply being able to launch more interceptors at a lower cost could make up that difference. In practice, it would mean that defense would cease to be a scarce resource and become something replicable on a large scale. The context: saturation and scarcity. Let us think that the war in Ukraine and the Iranian attacks in the Gulf have shown a common problem: the shortage of advanced systems and the impossibility of maintaining the rate of consumption. Patriot missiles They are limited, expensive and slow to produce, while threats (whether drones, missiles or swarms) can be manufactured and launched in large quantities. This imbalance has put powers with enormous military budgets in check, forcing them to prioritize objectives and accept vulnerabilities. In that scenario, a cheaper solution is not only desirable, but necessary to sustain any prolonged defense. The global implications. Here may be the real one crux of that announced advance. If Ukraine manages to develop this system, the impact would go far beyond the current front, generating a global demand between countries that cannot afford multi-billion dollar defense systems. This, a priori, would democratize access to air defense, allowing more actors to protect their space without depending exclusively on the United States or limited systems such as the European SAMP/T. Furthermore, it would alter the strategic balance, since it would reduce the effectiveness of attacks based on saturation and volume. In other words, it would make it much harder to win a war simply by launching more missiles. The new balance. Therefore, the real change is not only in the price, but in reversing the economic logic of the conflict, which indicates that defending is no longer more expensive than attacking. If that point is reach next yearmany current strategies would lose meaning, from the massive use of drones to saturation bombings. From that perspective, Ukraine would be on the verge of achieving something truly unprecedented in modern military history, redefining the relationship between cost and power in the war. And that, more than any specific weapon, aims to mark the future of conflicts. Image | Fire Point In Xataka | Ukraine is close to achieving a milestone that no one has achieved: building the largest drone industry without China’s help In Xataka | Thousands of cigarette butts are crossing into Russia without Ukraine being able to do anything. Their goal: to become missiles

Telecinco is so desperate for you to show ‘The Island of Temptations’ that it is generating brainrot-style AI promos

In its desperate search for a minimum audience that will lift its trembling numbers, Telecinco has launched an unexpected promotion on social networks: anthropomorphic fruits having fun, getting jealous and declaring their love like the contestants of ‘The Island of Temptations’. Behind it is not only a late recovery of the brainrot aesthetic, but something else: riding one of TikTok’s latest viral hits. Fake strawberries. On April 8, 2026, the official Telecinco account on X published a promotional video for the tenth edition of ‘Temptation Island’. The piece was generated with artificial intelligence and caused some perplexity among followers of the series. The reason: it is a piece that accumulates the worst vices of what has come to be known as AI Slop: rigid and not very expressive animations, inconsistencies between different versions of the same character (the strawberry with different skin and features, the banana with variations in the head) and a very poorly worked finish. Hearing problems. Why has Mediaset made this decision? The chain closed 2024 with a 9.8% screen sharethe worst annual mark in its history since it began broadcasting in 1990 and the first time it fell below the 10% threshold. From the departure of CEO Paolo Vasile in 2022when the chain averaged 12.3%, the accumulated loss is close to 20% of audience. ‘Survivors 2026’, which started in March, is not harvesting the expected data and ‘Temptation Island’ is practically the only format that works consistently. The ninth edition reached 17% on its best night and averaged 11.5% in access deliveries. As soon as that edition finished, Mediaset announced the tenth and advanced its production to January 2026, breaking the tradition of summer recordings. It will hit the screens very soon: on April 13, with a triple weekly broadcast and five new couples as protagonists. Only three months have passed since the previous edition. That is why Telecinco has launched itself into AI aesthetics: the always coveted young audience is the one that has been consuming brainrot at industrial speed on TikTok for months. The island of Frutitentaciones. In March of this year, the AI ​​Cinema TikTok account posted the first episodes of ‘Fruit Love Island‘, a reality dating show in which the contestants are anthropomorphic fruits generated by AI. In nine days The account experienced an absolutely excessive speed of growth, with episodes with an average of 15 million views, although the profile has currently disappeared and has been dispersed into parallel accounts. The format directly parodies ‘Love Island’, and by extension its adaptations such as ‘Temptation Island’. Soon imitations were born as The Island of Fruitsexplicit parody of the Telecinco program. The AI ​​slop aesthetic. This is clearly what this Mediaset piece alludes to: low-quality digital content that is consumed compulsively, and that is intuitively associated with cognitive deterioration due to overexposure to social networks. AI Slop has been defined as unconvincing, repetitive images and videos designed to generate immediate reactions, and to be produced as quickly and at the lowest possible cost. The most paradigmatic case of AI Slop is italian brainrotwhich was born in 2023, plaguing the internet with absurd characters generated by AI and accompanied by meaningless Italian phrases. Tralalero Tralala went from being a niche meme to accumulating billions of views on videos with no clear origin and that repeated the same mechanisms over and over again: visual absurdity, squeaky sound and minimal or directly abstract narrative. Children love it and Mediaset wants to lower the age of its audience, no matter how counterproductive it may seem to bring a product like ‘Temptation Island’ to them. In Xataka | The latest edition of ‘The Island of Temptations’ has not only been a viral phenomenon: it has saved the month of Telecinco

10,000 tons of almonds have disappeared in Granada in a single night. It is a warning of what is about to happen.

On the night of March 30, 2026, about 30 million euros they vanished. The figures They are from COAGbut (taking into account the precedents from the beginning of the decade and the growth of almond cultivation) they sound plausible: the region that concentrates the largest almond production in the country, lost around 10,000 tons due to a late frost. And it’s not even the most interesting thing. What the hell is up with almonds? With 70,000 hectares dedicated to almonds, the Granada Altiplano has become the national epicenter of the production of this fruit. Paradoxically, we might add. Because it is something very rare: there are not many more cases of crops that do not stop growing on the surface while their vulnerability increases to levels never seen before. A vulnerability that, of course, is not limited to March 30. Because that would be the easy thing to do: blame everything on cold air intrusion from the north that knocked down the thermometers of the Altiplano (-5 in Galera and Baza, -4 in Puebla de Don Fabrique or -3 in Castril) just at the moment of greatest sensitivity of the almond tree. However, that is only part of the story. Of course, frost during flowering and fruit setting is a problem. But in the last five years, the region has suffered 3 frosts of this type and the area of ​​almond trees does not stop growing. That is to say, the vulnerability is deeper and exceeds the climate risks: we are talking about the advance of the almond wasp, insufficient agricultural insurance, the tariff asymmetry with our main competitor (California) and, of course, the enormous pressure that international prices exert on farmers. And what happened to the harvest? According to COAGpreliminary estimates draw a very complicated scenario: between 8,000 and 12,000 tons lost, an economic impact of between 25 and 40 million euros and the complete loss of all production in the most affected areas. The assessment of the Junta de Andalucía and the Ministry is missing, but the figures serve to measure the destruction. Hunger with the desire to eat. Spanish almond production It was already affected by the drought and none of the explanations are surprising (late rains, winds that make pollination difficult, hailstorms in April and fungi derived from humidity). However, in 2025, things seemed to turn around and the campaign was positive. But it was a statistical artifact: production grew by 5%but the productive surface had increased by 10. That is to say, the situation was still complicated. And the data does not stop changing. It is enough to keep in mind that 15% of all the almond trees planted in Spain are not yet productive to understand that the crop has been experiencing a boom for years that does not end (and that may end by give us some displeasure). What does the almond tree need to avoid becoming the new lemon? That is, so that we are not forced to have to start ripping them out in a few years. And the answer is also simple: what you need is a better safety net, a better way of looking to the future, a better way of moving in the market. I have said it many times: In agriculture, Spain is a giant with feet of clay. And the almond tree is the best example that this is still the case and we have enormous difficulties to change it. Image | Marcia Cripps In Xataka | Spain is the second largest almond producer in the world. Tariffs or not, farmers are already in trouble

the day ships stop arriving from the Middle East

There is a date marked in red on logistics calendars across the continent: tomorrow, April 10. According to the projections of the analysis firm Argus Mediaaround this day the last shipments of aviation fuel (jet fuel) that managed to cross the Strait of Hormuz before its closure will dock in European ports. From that date onwards, entry volumes will plummet. The impact is no longer a theoretical threat. According to TVP Worldthe shortage is already palpable in Italy: the airports of Bologna, Milan Linate, Treviso and Venice have issued notices warning of possible restrictions on refueling due to the limited availability of fuel from their supplier, Air BP Italia. It is the first major warning of a domino effect that threatens to paralyze the European skies. The perfect storm in the Gulf. Since the start of the Third Gulf War on February 28 more than 20% has been canceled of the world’s seaborne jet fuel supply, and no less than 42% of seaborne imports from the European Union and the United Kingdom. The recent news of a “two-week truce” announced by US President Donald Trump has been received as a mirage in the industry. According to Politicalthe ceasefire will not solve the shortage in the short term. Willie Walsh, director general of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), warned that rebuild damaged refining capacity in the Middle East will take months. Among the infrastructures hit is the Al-Zour refinery in Kuwait, responsible for providing approximately 10% of Europe’s jet fuel imports, as pointed out BBC. Furthermore, maritime logistics is unforgiving. In the most idealized scenario where Hormuz is completely reopened today, ships would take 25 days to reach Europe sailing through a Red Sea where the Houthis remain a threat, or up to six weeks if they are forced to go around the Cape of Good Hope. Prices are skyrocketing. The price of aviation fuel in Europe reached last week an all-time high of $1,838 per ton, compared to 831 dollars before the start of the war. This increase translates into an immediate logistical problem on the landing strips. Anita Mendiratta, special advisor to the Secretary-General of UN Tourism, explains to Euronews a crucial technical detail: airports cannot store aviation fuel in large quantities. The entire system is designed to rely on continuous deliveries through refineries and pipelines. Any slightest interruption breaks the chain. The consequences are already visible on the exit panels. Just two weeks ago, we reported in Xataka that more than 25,000 flights canceled over the Middle East, while European airlines such as Scandinavian SAS have canceled at least 1,000 flights in April alone. For their part, giants like Delta Air Lines plan to absorb $2 billion in extra costs during the second quarter alone due to fuel, according to Reuters. How does it affect the passenger? Analysts of Barclays, in statements collected by Politicalthey end the era of “super normal” prices and cheap tickets. Airlines will also have to make drastic decisions about their fleets: Willie Walsh, in an interview with Bloomberganticipates that companies will be forced to evaluate the accelerated retirement of high-consumption aircraft, such as the gigantic A380. United States to the rescue (at the price of gold). In this survival scenario, Europe has found a lifeline on the other side of the Atlantic, although at a very high price. According to Financial TimesAmerican fuel already accounts for half of British imports (compared to the usual 7%). However, Europe is waging a fierce bidding war with Asia over shipments that, as it warns, Argus Media in the British environment, they will barely cover half of the gap left by the Middle East. Internally, the resistance goes in other directions. While countries with their own refining such as Poland are more protected, the calculations of Argus Media collected by Euronews They estimate that, without new shipments, commercial reserves will be exhausted in three months in the United Kingdom, in four in Portugal and in seven in Spain, Italy or Germany. Faced with this fragmented map, the EU is in tow: its spokesperson, Anna-Kaisa Itkonen, has acknowledged to the same medium that Brussels still lacks a “complete image” of national reserves to be able to organize a solidarity plan. The lessons of a dependent industry. Beyond the April emergency, the crisis has uncovered deep structural flaws in global aviation. According to Aviation WeekMarie Owens Thomsen, IATA’s chief economist, was astonished at the world’s complacency in living “under the domination of this monopolistic industry that is oil.” Thomsen denounced the very serious lack of investment in Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAF), pointing out that capital is overwhelmingly directed to sectors such as artificial intelligence. For his part, Willie Walsh launched a direct criticism of governments: while States maintain immense strategic reserves of crude oil to cushion global crises, “it does not seem that we have any strategic reserves of jet fuel,” collects Aviation Week. The underlying fear is not just a difficult summer, but a permanent paradigm shift. According to a European executive in the energy sector to Politicalthe “worst case scenario” is that the Strait of Hormuz is reopened, but under new rules: with Iran applying permanent restrictions or charging tolls that alter global energy dynamics forever. A summer on the wire The high summer season is just around the corner and the market is walking on the wire. A firm analyst Vortexa warns in the BBC that, if these interruptions persist, maintaining the current level of flights will be logistically unsustainable without drastic route cuts and massive fare increases. Starting tomorrow, when the last ships that managed to escape the blockade unload their precious fuel in the continent’s ports, European aviation will begin to fly with the reserve light on. The era of absolute vulnerability of the European sky has just taken off. Image | Unsplash Xataka | The canary in the mine of the new oil crisis are the airlines: they are already canceling flights due to lack of fuel

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