Mobile Tech & Gadgets Archives - Page 14 of 1524

build submarines. The last one weighs five tons and works

June 21, 2026 by usatoday24

Zhang Shengwu is 60 years old, he is a farmer and has not studied naval engineering, although throughout his long life he has had other jobs that can be assumed to be a handyman, such as a carpenter, welder or in the shipping industry. Back in 2014, Shengwu saw a person on TV building his own submarine and, just like you and I ventured to make a cod pil-pil after seeing Argiñano do it effortlessly (spoiler: it goes wrong), the farmer made the determination to build it for himself. As China Daily tellsnot even his family’s warnings about the risks or the cost stopped him. Just over a decade later, in early July 2025, Zhang Shengwu showed the world his creation with a successful test dive of his “Big Black Fish”, a homemade submarine weighing five tons capable of submerging eight meters, the latest of his creations. It is neither the first submarine he has made nor is it almost certainly the last. Some play petanque, I make submarines. The idea of building a submarine from scratch caught his attention, so he invested 5,000 yuan (approximately 642 euros at the exchange rate) to buy sheet steel, a motor and a battery. In about six months he had built his first prototype, a submarine six meters long, 1.2 meters high, weighing two tons, how Sixth Tone collects. The bad news is that there was a leak. The good news is that the design of its prototype obtained a patent, a formal recognition by the Chinese state of the technical validity of the project. Obviously it didn’t stop there. He then built a surface ship that also got a patent. As Shengwu himself acknowledges, his head is never idle, so he already had the following project in mind: invested 40,000 yuan (just over 5,000 euros) to create the second generation of his submarine, which would later become the Big Black Fish. First submarine built by Zhang Shengwu. CCTV News His masterpiece: he Big Black Fish. He improved and lengthened the hull to seven meters and 1.8 meters high, so that its cabin now seats two people. For more stability, Zhang poured approximately two tons of concrete into the hull as a counterweight and mounted two ballast tanks in the bow and stern: “The tanks collect water to submerge and empty it to float,” explains for Sixth Tone. He didn’t want any more leaks like his previous project, so he welded every joint and installed circular hatches. This boat is capable of reaching speeds of up to four knots and Zhang is especially proud of its performance. So, details that “a small battery and a motor can propel this huge structure underwater. And it can submerge for half an hour without a single drop of water entering, it can even recoil.” Context. For someone to assemble something as complex and unintuitive as a submarine at home sounds exotic, but the reality is that in China it happens relatively often: in 2009 another inventor named Li Yuming Up to five homemade submarines were manufactured. In 2014 a former prison officer named Zhang Junlin He also developed a tourist submarine that he tested in the South China Sea. In 2015, a Shaanxi villager He borrowed 200,000 yuan to make a 9.2-meter one. Why is it important. It is no coincidence: the Chinese government has been betting on rural talent for years. Thus, in 2020 was fixed The goal is to have one million “innovation leaders” and 15 million entrepreneurs in rural areas by 2025. In fact, in Anhui, the province where Zhang Shengwu and the prison officer – inventor come from, these profiles can qualify for a one-time initial subsidy of 5,000 yuan if their activity remains stable for more than six months. Shengwu fits that profile: without a college degree but with a lot of time and persistence, he has successfully executed complex technology. Obviously not at the level of the Chinese army and its submarinesbut in a functional way: it submerges, navigates and rises. AND already have His next submarine in mind, the third: it will be larger and with more autonomy. In Xataka | A Chinese farmer wanted to take his pigs down the mountain by drone. What followed was a ten-hour blackout. In Xataka | Satellite images leave no doubt: China has launched an underwater creature into the sea that defies naval engineering Cover | CCTV and Gemini

Luxury homes in the US are selling like hotcakes and experts think they know why: AI

June 21, 2026 by usatoday24

If you have tried to buy a home in recent months, you will surely have already noticed something: prices are through the roof. Although the joy goes by neighborhood because the real estate market is experiencing a historic split, at least in the United States, as Redfin documents. Thus, while luxury housing is reviving thanks to the gains generated by the AI boom, everything else is paralyzed in a scenario of uncertainty, high mortgage rates, inflation and fear of unemployment. It is the economics in K at its peak, a term coined by economists during the pandemic to refer to a recovery in which the wealthiest segments of society prosper while the rest stagnate or regress. what’s happening. According to the Redfin report Last month, the average sales price of a luxury home in the United States rose 3.6%, to $1.39 million. This figure is more than double the increase recorded in “non-luxury” homes, which increased by 1.4 to stand at $377,734. One fact: Redfin defines “luxury” as homes in the top 5% of the price range in each metropolitan area. At the epicenter of the luxury market, San Francisco: recorded a 48% year-over-year increase in pending sales of luxury homes in April, the highest peak since June 2021. We are talking about a median sales price of $6.7 million, almost 10% more than the previous year. They are followed by other cities such as Tampa (+36%), West Palm Beach (+16%) or Miami (+15%). Why is it important. Because what is happening is not something limited to the real estate market: it is a snapshot of economic inequality in real time. The stock market and the rise of artificial intelligence are accelerating this dynamic. Thus, those who have their assets invested in technology stocks are becoming exponentially richer and then spending part of their profits on the purchase of luxury homes regardless of interest rates, something that does affect and worry the middle classes. The housing has historically been the main repository for wealth accumulation, but its access is being restricted to the richest people. The result is a real estate market that operates at two speeds, which has consequences for social stability and long-term access to housing. Context. This 2026, the energy shock derived from the US and Israeli attack on Iran has raised rates again, but as pick up Axiosthis pattern has been repeated several times in recent years: the luxury market recorded a peak in demand in 2021 with the uncertainty generated by the pandemic and also in 2023, when again mortgage rates, inflation and fear of recession stopped the average buyer. The dynamic repeats itself: in times of uncertainty, the most resilient thing is luxury. It doesn’t just happen in the United States. The luxury real estate boom is not just American. Dubai closed 2025 with 500 sales above 10 million dollars (+194% in five years) and prime prices rose 3.2% on a global average, according to the Knight Frank Wealth Report 2026. London is the exception that proves the rule: He raised taxes on large wealth groups and prime prices fell by 4.8% in 2025, so that capital looked for alternative destinations with two clear winners: Madrid and Milan. In fact, the Spanish capital boasts the highest growth in Europe: prime prices rose 6.4% in 2025 with 55% of international buyers, according to Knight Frank. In Milan, Italy’s flat-rate tax regime for new residents has skyrocketed interest: British buyers grew by 260% between 2023 and 2025, according to Il Sole 24 Ore. There is a gap between luxury and affordable housing and the only thing that can accelerate or slow it down is the fiscal framework. In detail. San Francisco real estate companies are clear about what is causing this phenomenon in 2026: “AI money”, people who have shares in those technology companies that are skyrocketing and also profiles that artificial intelligence companies hire with generous bonuses. Daryl Fairweather, chief economist at Redfin, explains that these wealthy buyers have more confidence in the economy and simply move forward despite the uncertainty. The high-end home builder Toll Brothers, details that their buyers are less sensitive to price pressures because they have a good cushion. In fact, cash purchases without the need for a mortgage are reaching historic highs with one neighborhood as a star destination: Manhattan. Yes, but. Other real estate agents have another explanation for the rise in prices: a correction after years of slow sales, as reported by the San Francisco Standard. That is, we do not know how much of this boom is new demand that AI brings under its arm and how much is repressed demand. On the other hand, this phenomenon is geographically concentrated, which limits the possibility of generalizing its conclusions. If we leave the premium market, one thing is clear: global economic uncertainty is an anchor that holds back potential first-home buyers. In Xataka | Second-hand homes were one of the last refuges on the market. Now they are becoming a luxury In Xataka | The world has been searching for the formula against the housing crisis for decades. There are those who believe that the answer is in Vancouver Cover | Photo of Daniel Barnes in Unsplash

China is strangling critical materials that the US needs for its technology industry. It’s a two speed war

June 21, 2026 by usatoday24

In early May, Trump went to China on an official trip and took an entourage of CEOs on Air Force One. They were all from the technology (Cristiano Amon, Tim Cook, Elon Musk or Jensen Huang, for example), but also others energy, the space industry or semiconductors. One of them was Jim Anderson of Coherent, who was very interested in something very specific: why China is taking more than necessary in issue export licenses of indium phosphide. Anderson is blown away by indium phosphide for a very specific reason: It’s an essential material for high-speed optical chips. And, although it may seem very specific, it turns out that it is the key piece that the data centers new generation of the United States. And China, as with other strategic materials and metals, is in control. Optical chips. Data centers house miles and miles of visible cables that connect servers to the network and power, but they are not the only ones. Within each device, the chips are linked by cable and it is a functional technology, but with a limit that is beginning to be reached. If you want to improve latency and bandwidth (and, therefore, the performance of artificial intelligence platforms), you must rethink the internal connection to communicate the chips. That’s where optics come into play. By connecting chips by laser, the performance of the equipment is multiplied and Nvidia is so convinced of this that, a few months ago, invested 4 billion dollars in two companies: Lumentum and Coherent. They estimate that, with copper that is at its limit, connecting clusters of thousands of processors by laser is the solution to the physical problem that they are beginning to encounter. They are components with a very high degree of specialization and a series of materials from the rare earth which, as we have said on numerous occasions, are under the control of China. Indium phosphide is not a rare earth derivative, but it is a strategic material. Strangling the market . And therein lies the problem. The United States wants to promote its technological independence (because they have Big Tech, but practically everything is manufactured outside the United States) and, to achieve this, they need a series of materials that are not in their possession. China has that dominancebut with each restriction and veto that is applied to them from the US, they respond with the same currency, but vetoing what American technology companies need so much: rare earth metals. That is why they are classified as minerals, metals and strategic components, and indium phosphide is among them. China produces approximately 70% of the world’s indium and started to apply restrictions to the supply chain in February 2025. This has caused not only prices to skyrocket by 250%, but also American technology companies to pressure to reverse the situation. The main complaint is that, instead of directly blocking the finished products, it slows down the entire process because They are capable of conditioning the export of the materials used to create those products. Therefore, the optical module ecosystem cannot scale as quickly as hyperscalers need. Domino. Taking this situation into account, what is happening with these security systems advanced photonics It is exactly the same as with NAND chips: all the fish are sold for the next few years. In this sense, as consumers we absolutely don’t care because it is something that only affects AI companies, but it is estimated that Lumentum will have everything sold out in 2026, 2027 and… 2028, despite having quadrupled its production. It not only affects American companies, since the Taiwanese VPEC and LandMark Optoelectronics are also suffering interruptions in the supply of the material. And it doesn’t matter if Lumentum or Coherent are multiplying their capacity by opening new plants because the raw materials continue to leave China and, if those export controls are in place, It is an insurmountable funnel. The other side of the coin. On the other hand we have the Chinese industry. In recent years, its technologies have taken a giant leap, expanding its capacity and beginning to make waves in the international conversation with both user level components (RAM memory and computers) and in the high technological spheres (photonics and semiconductors). Because China has detailed the plan to become the world’s leading technological power by 2030 and it is clear that they have both a very defined roadmap and, above all, the materials necessary to achieve that goal and which companies are the ones that will define that future. Huawei or SMIC are two proper namesbut there are others like Yuanjie that have skyrocketed in the stock market. The reason? They are the ones who are creating photonics components for data centers. In Xataka | Huawei no longer competes: it is building its own parallel reality

One would expect that finding a meteorite crater in Spain would be easy, but it has taken more than 20 years to confirm the first one. And it is in Almería

June 21, 2026 by usatoday24

It is estimated that on Earth About 17,000 meteorites fall a year. However, some break down into unrecoverable fragments and others are mistaken for ordinary rocks. Many may be abandoned at the back of some closet. In fact, to date, only 80,000 meteorites have been located worldwide. But if finding meteorites is complicated, finding their impact craters is much more difficult. The figures speak for themselves. Today, only 196 of these structures have been documented. In Spain, for example, none had been found until very recently. There were two footprints suspected of having been left by a meteorite, one in Azuaranear Zaragoza, and another in the Tabernas basin, between the Almeria towns of Alhama de Almería and Alhabia. The first has been deflating as it has been investigated, but the second has finally been recognized as such by the international scientific community. It’s now official: the first meteorite impact crater has been found in Spain. It wasn’t an earthquake, it was a meteorite. The discovery and description of this crater is the result of research carried out by the University of Almería, the Astrobiology Center and the National Institute of Aerospace Technology (INTA). It all started in 2005, when two scientists from the University of Almería, Juan Antonio Sánchez Garrido and Sebastián Sánchez, set out to study Fat Megabeda much studied rock, which for many years was considered to have seismic origin. However, they found some characteristics that did not fit with what is known as an earthquake. There was an anomaly with platinum group elements, such as iridium, which has been located in many impact craters of meteorites detected in other parts of the Earth and even on other planets. They also tried to search shocked quartz. That is, a form of quartz that, when observed under a microscope, shows a structure displaced along crystallographic planes. It is something that can only happen at exorbitantly high pressures, such as those generated by the impact of a meteorite. Suspicions were becoming clearer. The Gordo Megabed was formed by a seismic movement, it is true, but said movement was caused by a meteorite impacting our planet. The tests continue. Since that discovery was made, the area has been and continues to be excavated and this possible impact crater analyzed. Thus, they have also been found shatter conesknown in Spanish as splintered cones. These are striated and conical fracture surfaces found in rocks that have undergone very high pressure. This pressure is only related to the impact of a meteorite or a nuclear explosion. Since the calculations carried out indicate that this structure is 8 million years old, a nuclear explosion is ruled out. Rock cores extracted in the excavation But that’s not all. Magnetic evidence has also been detected. When a rock is subjected to very high temperatures, it acquires something known as a negative magnetic anomaly. With the impact of a large meteorite, great pressure is generated, which in turn gives rise to an enormous increase in temperature. They can reach more than 2,000ºC. Therefore, it is more than normal for these anomalies to be detected, the monitoring of which has allowed the crater to be delimited in the case of Almería. Or, at least, it allowed us to define where the crater was suspected to be. The Swedes enter the scene. The fact that an impact crater has never been detected in Spain means that Spanish scientists are logically not familiar with this type of anomaly in the rock. For this reason, these scientists from the University of Almería partnered with the rest of the aforementioned institutions, but they also consulted Swedish researchers. In Nordic countries, such as Sweden, Norway and Finland, there are older geological materials, in which several impact craters have been detected. When these scientists joined the investigation, they confirmed the suspicions that had gradually taken over Spanish scientists. They had found the impact crater of a meteorite. The first in Spain. The characteristics of the crater. When we think of a crater we imagine it as a hole clearly drilled into the Earth. Like the typical craters of the Moon. However, we must keep in mind that on Earth there are winds and geological movements, absent on our satellite, that do not leave the craters visible over the years. What these scientists have found is close to the surface in some points, but in others it is buried with a sediment pressure of 800, 900 and even 1,000 meters. Even so, with all of the above, we know that it is a crater with a radius of 5 kilometers, along with a fragmented area that reaches a radius of 24 kilometers. That is, in a way we have the “hole” left by the meteorite and, around it, all the ground that is fractured as a result of the impact. The very edges of the crater are what we see today as mountains. In the video below it can be seen perfectly. And what about the meteorite? There are very well-studied impact craters that have made it possible to calculate the relationship between the size of a meteorite and the radius of the crater it leaves. Taking this and some other factors into account, it is estimated that the meteorite must have measured around 800 meters. All this is what is known so far. The excavations are not over yet. Rock cores are being extracted with them. That is, cylinders of material excavated for subsequent analysis. With this they hope to find even more crushed quartz and new evidence that will allow them to describe more concisely what happened in that area of the Tabernas desert, then submerged under the sea, when a huge meteorite hit it 8 million years ago. Images | SEA In Xataka | In 1724 a meteorite fell in Germany: we have just discovered that it contained a material ‘impossible’ for physics

Tim Ferriss has been selling productivity tips for years that ChatGPT now gives away for free

June 21, 2026 by usatoday24

sell books it was already difficult before AI. Now it is starting to get almost impossible. This is exactly what Tim Ferriss, productivity guru and author of historical bestsellers such as ‘The 4-Hour Work Week’ or ‘The Perfect Body in 4 Hours’, is confessing. This writer has made a analysis of sales evolution of his catalog and his conclusions are shocking. 80% drop in sales. Relying on official data from BookScan and Publishers Weekly By the start of 2026, Ferris has confirmed that sales of self-help and personal development books have taken a nosedive: Sales are 80% lower than before the explosion of generative AI. The reason is simple. I already have ChatGPT. For millions of people, the best format to learn how to optimize their time is no longer a 400-page book. Instead, they talk with a free chatbot that is in fact capable of condensing all that wisdom in just 20 seconds and that never stops encouraging us and adapting that knowledge to each of us. The data. According to Ferriss’ study, the first quarter of 2026 already points to worrying data, because it has detected a global decline of 9% in the adult non-fiction category. Things are even more serious for the self-help books and instruction books segment, which plummeted 26.3%. This writer’s conclusion is disturbing: in his opinion, the most powerful literary franchises on the market could be suffering a contraction of between 40 and 60% so far this year. Ferriss’ bestsellers aren’t such bestsellers anymore. Your own catalog It is a clear example of what is happening. Following the launch of ChatGPT in late 2022, its sales saw a slight decline of 5% in 2023 and 13% in 2024. The real problem came in 2025: sales of its books plummeted 46%, and the projected decline for 2026 is even greater and Ferriss estimates it will be 57%. If the current trend continues, this author’s books will sell 80% fewer physical copies this year than four years ago. Books 0 – ChatGPT 1. Ferriss pragmatically analyzes what is happening: works such as ‘The Perfect Body in 4 Hours’ or ‘Weapons of the Titans’ essentially function as decision trees. Until a few years ago, books of this type were a perfect way to package knowledge and advice, but in 2024, 2025 and 2026 users prefer a conversational, often free, interface that AI chatbots such as ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini provide transparently. Not only that: they adjust to our needs instantly, we can ask questions and the advice is more personalized than ever, something that a self-help book cannot achieve. YouTube videos, the next to fall. Literature dedicated to self-help therefore seems condemned according to Ferriss, who assures that there will also be an imminent collapse for YouTube video tutorials: there the AI will filter the 40 useful seconds of a 20-minute video. In his opinion, something similar will happen with podcasts based on practical advice, online courses, newsletters and productivity and self-help blogs. Original content will not disappear, he says, but it will become increasingly difficult for the average user to access it directly. The trap of paywalls. Ferriss does not foresee a very encouraging future for the media either. “What happens when 99% of the fact-checking media is behind a paywall? The short answer: people bypass them and ask the AI.” Pew Research Statistics reveal that 83% of users have not paid for information in the last year, and only 1% end up paying when they hit a paywall. Readers who want to be informed are turning massively to social networks and increasingly to AI chatbots to bypass restrictions and offer them a summary of the protected article. Nuances are lost, immediacy and freeness are gained. The 1,000 real fans. For Ferriss, the situation has some salvation. In his opinion, the publishing sector will return to its origins and will be an increasingly smaller space in which the authors will search its “1,000 true fans” who seek the personal voice and tone of certain authors. The connection with those fans will theoretically sustain these businesses. Image | Shiromani Kant In Xataka | In Oslo there is a library where books are being written with one condition: that they not be read for 90 years.

Echo, Fire TV stick, Kindle and more on sale before Prime Day

June 21, 2026 by usatoday24

Prime Day 2026 is just around the corner, and as usual Amazon has launched a small preview with offers on its own devices. There is plenty to choose from, so we are going to review the best deals on Kindle, Fire TV Stick, Echo and more. Fire TV Stick HD by 21.99 eurosa very economical dongle to turn almost any TV into a smart one. Echo Dot by 29.99 eurosa smart speaker that serves as a base for home automation. Kindle Colorsoft Signature Edition (pack) by 256.97 eurosa pack that includes both the eReader and a case and a charging base. Ring Indoor Camera Plus by 29.99 eurosan indoor surveillance camera. Echo Show 11 by 154.99 eurosa smart speaker that integrates an 11-inch screen. Kindle Colorsoft Signature Edition (pack) The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Fire TV Stick HD Amazon has decided to lower the price of the Fire TV Stick and the cheapest model is once again the Fire TV Stick HDwhich for 21.99 euros (previously 44.99 euros) is ideal for those who want to convert a “dumb” TV into a smart one. Obviously, its resolution is Full HD, so if you have a 4K TV, the best option is the Fire TV Stick 4K Selectwhich is also on sale for a similar price of 23.99 euros (before 54.99 euros). The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Echo Dot We can also find on offer the Echo Dotthe model that has a spherical design. Its price has dropped to 29.99 euros (previously 64.99 euros), making it the best smart speaker to have as a base for home automation. It has the Alexa assistant and is also compatible with Alexa+. You can use it as a Bluetooth speaker for your mobile and even consoles like Nintendo Switch. The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Kindle Colorsoft Signature Edition (pack) With Kindle things are very different. There are no offers on Amazon eReaders, except for one exception: the Kindle Colorsoft Signature Edition has dropped in price in a pack that includes a case (there are several colors to choose from) along with a wireless charging base. All this for 256.97 euros (before 341.08 euros). Models on their own, without add-ons, there is no offer, so This pack is cheaper than if you buy the same reader right now without anything else. Kindle Colorsoft Signature Edition (pack) The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Ring Indoor Camera Plus Of course, Ring devices cannot be missing. There is a lot to choose from, but we find the price of the Ring Indoor Camera Pluswhich remains for 29.99 euros (before 59.99 euros). It is an indoor security camera that offers 2K resolution, is compatible with Alexa and has two-way communication. Ring Indoor Camera Plus The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Echo Show 11 Lastly, the Echo Show 11 has also dropped in price, in this case to 154.99 euros (before 239.99 euros). It is a device similar to the Echo Dot because we are talking about a smart speaker, but it has the particularity of having a screen. This screen shows information that we can configure, such as the temperature, but it also allows you to play content from platforms such as Netflix or Prime Video. 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 | amazon In Xataka | Which Kindle to buy: buying guide with recommendations to get it right with Amazon e-book readers In Xataka | Best Amazon Fire TV. Which one to buy and recommended models to convert your TV into a smart TV depending on use

a colossal work of engineering that has been waiting for 150 years

June 21, 2026 by usatoday24

The project has lurched back and forth for decades, but Norway has finally kicked off one of its most amazing engineering feats: the Stad Ship Tunnel. It is the first tunnel in the world designed for ships to navigate inside. After many years of debatea budget that did not stop growing and a failed attempt to cancel it by the Government, the project is resurrected with approved financing and works planned to start in early 2027. We will tell you all the details. What you are looking to solve. The Stad Peninsula, on the west coast of Norway, is one of the most dangerous areas for navigation in the entire country. With no nearby islands to act as a natural barrier, the Stadhavet Sea has very rough waters, as for about 100 days a year it has waves that can exceed 30 meters arriving from several directions at the same time. That’s a problem for ships, as both fishing boats and cargo ships are forced to wait days (and sometimes weeks) until the weather eases enough to safely navigate the peninsula. Being late when transporting fish has serious consequences, since perishable products spoil, the railway network collapses as an alternative and companies in the sector lose money. “If we are going to export salmon from Trøndelag to the mainland, we cannot risk it getting stuck in Stad due to bad weather. Because it would arrive on the mainland as rakfisk (Norwegian fermented fish) and not as sushi,” counted Tore O. Sandvik, regional mayor of Trøndelag. The boat tunnel. The answer that has been gaining weight for years has been drilling the mountain. The Stad Ship Tunnel will cross the narrowest point of the peninsula (just 1.7 kilometers) between Moldefjord and Kjødepollen, in the Vanylvsfjord. With its 36 meters wide and 50 meters total height (33 meters free from sea level to the roof), the tunnel will be able to accommodate everything from small fishing boats to ferries and cruise ships, including ships on the Hurtigruten coastal route. The ships would pass through the tunnel in about 10 minutes, at a speed of 8 knots. Century and a half of history. The first sketches of crossing the Stad peninsula They date from 1874although the technology of the time condemned it to be considered a utopia. In the eighties the Norwegian government took up the idea, and in 2013 the tunnel finally managed to enter the National Transportation Plan. In 2021, Parliament gave the project the formal green light and talk began about the imminent start of works. But there was a problem: money. Lots of fights. The tunnel budget has been its biggest enemy. From the initial 267 million dollars it went to estimates of 325 million, then to 690 million in 2023 and finally to about 780 million dollars (around 8.6 billion Norwegian crowns) according to the most recent data. In October 2025 Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre announced the cancellation of the project within the framework of the presentation of the 2026 state budgets. “The cost will be so high that we consider it not responsible to continue with the project,” he declared then. The argument was that the country preferred to prioritize other areas, such as health, defense, or municipal investment, rather than assuming that expense. green light. The Støre Government did not have a majority in Parliament to impose the cancellation, and the pressure between the parliamentary opposition and that of more than 500 companies in the fishing, maritime, tourism and industrial sectors ended up tipping the balance. The center-left parties reached a budget agreement which includes financing to start construction. “We are ready to initiate the necessary processes to facilitate the start of works in early 2027,” counted Einar Vik Arset, director general of the Norwegian Coastal Administration (Kystverket). About 15 million dollars will be allocated for the initial phase, within a total budget estimated at around 888 million dollars (about 8.6 billion Norwegian crowns). How it will be built. “The selected contractor will then be able to begin preparations with the aim of starting works in early 2027,” assured Harald Inge Johnsen, project director. The Norwegian Coastal Administration has already evaluated the offers of three finalist consortiums: AF Gruppen, Eiffage Génie Civil and the consortium formed by Skanska and Vassbakk & Stol. If the schedule is met, the tunnel could be inaugurated around 2032. Of course, the excavation will require removing nearly three million cubic meters of rock and earth. Why it is unique in the world. Just like they point out Since El Confidencial, boat tunnels have existed since 1679, when the Malpas tunnel was opened on the French Canal du Midi. But all of them serve inland waterways (canals and ports) and have never been designed for ocean shipping traffic. The Stad Ship Tunnel will be the first in its category. According to estimates from the Norwegian Government itself, the infrastructure also promises to reduce fuel consumption and emissions by up to 60%, by eliminating long waits and forced detours around the peninsula. In Xataka | Building tunnels is very good, but in China there are regions that are doing other things: cutting mountains in half

Tell me where you live and I will tell you which city is a climate sister to yours

June 21, 2026 by usatoday24

Heat waves last longer and appear more frequently and there are also more floods and torrential rains: the weather has changed and the reason is climate change. Since a picture is worth a thousand words, you can see for yourself with this map with data since 1940 or, even more devastating, this other weather map in 2080. Or better yet, discover that, for example, in Seville the weather is the same as in some areas of Zambia or northern India. How do I know? Well, it’s not because I’ve been to any of those locations too much (three times in Seville), but because I’ve used the interactive map Climate Visualizedwhich is used to explore the weather patterns of any place on the planet using the classification of Köppen-Geiger. and find climate “brothers” throughout the world. This project is the work of Atlas Guo, a cartographer at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and for its development he used the D3.js visualization tool and as a source, data from a scientific study (Beck et al. (2018)) who produced the most detailed global climate map that exists. Specifically, Guo uses the lowest resolution version (1 degree latitude per longitude), covering the period 1990-2020. From there, he turned it into an interactive and visual tool for anyone to explore. The Köppen-Geiger classification is the most used system in geography, ecology and climatology worldwide since it was formulated back in 1884 and the data from Beck and his collaborators made an enormous leap in precision. Having them at hand in an interactive and free graphical interface is a before and after, since reading and understanding a paper is something within the reach of few people, while with this project it is opened to the general public, curious people and students. The poster version of the project. Cartoguography At the end of the 19th century, climatologist Wladimir Köppen had a simple but powerful idea: classify all the climates in the world according to how much it rains and how hot it is every month. The result was five large climatic zones (tropical, arid, temperate, continental and polar) with up to 30 variants. Based on this, in 2018 Beck and his team updated that system with much more precise satellite and climate data (data from ERA5 and CHELSEA), producing the most detailed global climate map available. The study also estimates how those climate zones could change by the end of the century if emissions continue their current trend (RCP8.5 scenario), although that predictive part is not included in Guo’s web visualization. Other limitations to take into account are that it uses the lowest resolution of the study, which reduces the 30 Köppen climate types to 29 and blurs heterogeneities in coastal or mountain areas, which can be critical in more localized analyses. On the other hand, it remains in 2020, so it lacks the latest representations of climate drift. How it works The locations twinned with the time of Pamplona in the world. Cartoguophy Simply hover over a location or write in the search box to find out what type of climate you have and access monthly climate graphs, which are displayed in a side menu on the left: overview, temperature and precipitation. The months appear arranged in a circle, like a clock, starting with January. Each point on the circle shows both the temperature and rainfall for that month, all in a single drawing. In addition, that little dot is colored with a tone that you can find the same in other parts of the Earth. For example, Pamplona shares a climate with a good part of France, Belgium and Holland, but also with Melbourne, on the other side of the planet. In Xataka | The easiest way to understand global warming, in this climate map with data from 1940 In Xataka | The temperature your city will have in 2080, simulated on this disturbing interactive map Cover | Cartoguophy

They are the tree of golden eggs

June 21, 2026 by usatoday24

A question: What unites Venus, Steve Jobs’ 78-meter-long superyacht, and a remote forestry farm in León? There were many ways to start this article, but I couldn’t resist doing it because of the most unexpected fact: what unites those two things is the poplar. The story is known: before he died, Jobs designed a spectacular boat that he couldn’t have ready before he died. Well, the wood for the kitchen of that luxurious floating mansion came from León. And this, although it does not explain why Spain is being filled with poplars, does give an idea of why. The poplar boom. In Europe the hectares of poplar have grown at 2% annually during the last few years. But Spain is not Europe as far as poplar fields are concerned. With its epicenter in the province of León, the country has some 81,000 hectares of poplar dedicated to production. And it has been that way for a long time. That is, there have been no substantial changes in the cultivated land. However, genetic improvement and more efficient cultivation practices have done that production does not stop growing. In fact, France and Italy have publicly recognized that “they are being left behind” In that sense, the poplar seemed a calm, safe and powerful sector. But things have changed… for the better. The high industrial demand for its wood (and the environmental benefits associated with its cultivation) have revived interest in this tree. Like Flor Álvarez Taboada, the greatest Spanish expert in the sector, explained in the Voice of Galicia“poplar is paid twice as much as pine and three times more than eucalyptus.” That sums it up. And what is the problem? It is not the profitability of the farms (which, as we see, is skyrocketing), but the capacity of the Spanish forest to produce wood on the scale that the industry needs. Alvarez made it clear that “a plantation where there are only about fifty poplar trees is not viable for companies that work with this wood”, that plantations of “at least two or three hectares in area” are needed. The country needs to “create homeowner associations that coordinate and plant poplar trees simultaneously on their land.” That is to say, it is not just a job for ‘lone wolves’; If we want Spain to take advantage of the populculture boom, a structured effort is needed that integrates the industry, administrations and farmers. Some areas, such as the Granada plain, there are european projects coordinated by the University to recover the traditional poplar groves and convert them into a source of quality structural lumber. It is a key step for an industry (construction) that is rediscovering wood at a forced pace. Against the eucalyptus. This is perhaps its greatest asset. We have been listening for years speak ill of eucalyptus. It is usually unjustified fame, but it opens up a whole world of possibilities. And the poplar is one of them. Because due to its rapid growth, the high profitability of its quality wood, its adaptability to riverine terrain and its important environmental (and social) value, it is an excellent forestry alternative. So the question is twofold: will Spain manage to enter the table of the majors in the timber industry? Are we prepared to see the landscape change — again –? Image | Garnica In Xataka | Converting Portugal to eucalyptus monoculture was a disaster. And the latest fires only remind us of this.

hides a curse in ancient Greek

June 21, 2026 by usatoday24

In the cities of ancient Greece and Rome and outside the official laws of the state, there existed a dark world of secrets and superstitions. Thus, when someone felt that justice was not on their side or had a pending dispute, they would wait until the dark night to hide small sheets of metal in cemeteries or sacred wells, imploring the help of the gods of the underworld to resolve their earthly disputes. It is precisely in that framework of dark beliefs where one finds the latest discovery deciphered by a research team at the University of Heidelberg: a lead tablet written in Greek that treasures the hatred and fear of someone specific. The discovery. The tablet in question is made of lead, has writings in ancient Greek and was found in Heerlen (Netherlands), in what was formerly an ancient Roman military settlement in the province of Germania Inferior called Coriovallum. The device was in a pit under the town hall square. When the Institute of Papyrology at the University of Heidelberg analyzed its inscription, it found something exceptional: the tablet dated to the 2nd century AD does not have Latin texts, as would be expected given the time and location, but rather an ancient Greek text in the Egyptian style. The lead tablet measures 9.3 by 4.8 centimeters and contains a group of three magical symbols, known as “characters.” According to Dr. Rodney Astdirector of the Institute of Papyrology, were used to transmit the message to supernatural powers. Then, the names of four people appear: two men with Latin names and two women with Greek names, who have been identified as slaves. According to Ast, the tablet served either as a curse against those four slaves or as a curse issued in the name of the quartet against an unidentified person. Why is it important. The most striking thing about the device is that most of the curse tablets found in northern Europe are written in Latin, so this is rare. As explains Professor Dr. Joachim Quackdirector of the Institute of Egyptology at the University of Heidelberg, “in the first centuries of our era, Near Eastern, Egyptian, Jewish and even, at times, Christian traditions merged and spread increasingly throughout the Roman Empire of the time”, that it was in Greek further broadens the spectrum in a kind of ancient cultural globalization. Context. The curse tablets they knew each other as defixiones in Latin or katadesmoi in Greek and were made of lead for a reason: it is a heavy metal, cold to the touch and easy to work with. Once completed, they were buried to “bind” or influence the person targeted by the spell. These types of artifacts existed for about a thousand years, from 500 BC to 500 AD, and have been found in Athens, Rome, Syria and even in England. In detail. Registration also suggests that the author of the tablet could have been one of two women with a Greek name, possibly originally from Roman Egypt, who would have brought with her the knowledge of this form of communication with divine powers. If true, it is direct evidence of mobility of enslaved people with knowledge of rituals throughout the Empire. Yes, but. At the moment all we have are the statements of the archeology team that discovered it and their first analyses, but a more exhaustive analysis is still needed. In short, it’s just a start. On the other hand, there are questions that will hardly be answered, such as who exactly cursed whom or if the author is truly of Egyptian origin. In Xataka | DNA from 64 bones under an underground chamber clarifies who the Mayans sacrificed: children and adolescents In Xataka | Brains boiling until their skulls explode: the deadly horror caused by Vesuvius Cover | Heidelberg University and Gemini

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