Mobile Tech & Gadgets

Now we know that the Iranian Air Force did to the US what Ukraine could not do to Russia with drones: an abysmal hole

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During the Vietnam War, American commanders discovered that some of their most protected bases they could be hit unexpectedly due to coordinated attacks low costforcing to reinforce defenses that until then were considered sufficient and making it clear that, in war, the feeling of security is usually more fragile than it seems. The blow that no one expected. For decades, the US military architecture in the Middle East relied on in a network of bases designed to surround and contain Iran, a direct heir to the Cold War doctrine and designed to project power quickly. However, a report that came to light this weekend on NBC News has revealed a radical inversion of that logic in the war of 2026: what was supposed to be a shield has become a set of exposed objectives, hit in a coordinated manner by Iranian attacks that hit more than a hundred targets in several countries. We are talking about critical infrastructures such as runways, radars, hangars, command centers or defense systems were damaged or destroyed, and the impact was neither marginal nor symbolic, but structuralaffecting the very functioning of the US deployment in the region. The fence that ended up surrounded. The system of bases in Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, the Emirates or Saudi Arabia was designed to suffocate Iran, but its ability to attack key logistics nodes turned the equation around. How much? It appears that critical facilities were left disabled or evacuatedincluding the headquarters of the Fifth Fleet in Bahrainwhile multiple bases in Iraq and Kuwait had to be abandoned or rendered inoperative. The pressure was such that even the resupply became problematicleaving the American forces themselves in a position close to the siege they intended to impose. The encirclement strategy, which seemed unquestionable for decades, suddenly showed its fragility in the face of an adversary with saturation capacity through missiles, drones and aviation. The hole that changes war. What is most revealing is not only the extent of the damage, but what they represent for Washington: for the first time in years, a rival has managed to systematically drill US military infrastructure at multiple points at once. Iran not only hit bases, but achieved something that until now seemed beyond the reach of other recent conflicts: opening a deep and sustained hole in the defensive framework of the United States, affecting radarsair defenses and strategic assets. That ability to simultaneously degrade multiple layers of the system is reminiscent of what other actors have tried unsuccessfully in wars like the one in Ukraine, but here it translated in real effects on the ground, altering the operational balance and forcing us to rethink the assumed superiority. From control to operational chaos. The middle counted American that the intensity of the attacks and the speed with which they occurred generated a scenario of disorganization that overwhelmed the usual command and control mechanisms. Bases evacuatedemergency relocated personnel and even improvised situations what do we countsuch as the use of civil infrastructure, reflect the extent to which operational pressure broke the planned patterns. Plus: the inability to anticipate and managing the real scope of the attacks, added to the lack of clear communication about the damage, fueled the perception of an overwhelmed response to a type of more distributed warfaster and harder to contain. A cost beyond money. Although initial estimates speak of billions dollars in repairs (not counting advanced systems or unrecoverable equipment), the true impact possibly transcends the economic. What has been affected is the military deployment model itself: the idea that a network of advanced bases guarantees regional control. In other words, the war has shown that, faced with an adversary capable of to attack in depth with means relatively accessiblethis hitherto untouchable network may become a rather critical vulnerability. The result in the pavement American is not only a balance sheet of damages, but a strategic warning that forces us to give more than one turn to its scheme of how military power is projected in a world where distance is already does not protect the same. Image | x In Xataka | If the war resumes again, the US runs a risk unprecedented in the history of war: that the only one with missiles will be Iran. In Xataka | If the question is why the US attacked an Iranian ship with a weapon unprecedented in 40 years, we already know the answer: a “gift from China”

Europe desperately needs coltan for its chips. The solution is in a town in Ourense and depends on a single procedure

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Galicia hides beneath its soil an indispensable technological treasure for the 21st century, and the machinery to unearth it has already been put into operation. We are talking about the Penouta mine, located in the Ourense town of Viana do Bolo, which is the only coltan mine on the way to being active again throughout Western Europe. This is not a new deposit, since the original operations of this mine They ceased in 1985 and the area was abandoned. Although there was a recent attempt at reactivation by the company Strategic Mineralsthe project ended in bankruptcy. Today, however, this highly strategic asset awakens from its slumber and its long-awaited reopening already depends on one last bureaucratic push that could be resolved before this summer. The penultimate notice. To understand where this mining resurgence is, you have to look at the offices. According to the Vigo Lighthousethe Council of Ministers has just given the green light to Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). This step was vital for the Australian group Energy Transition Minerals (ETM), through its Spanish subsidiary, definitively acquires the deposit. A purchase that has been forged after a public auction in which the firm presented an offer of 5.2 million euros. With the blessing of the central government and the financial muscle secured, the ball is now in the court of the Xunta de Galicia. As pointed out The Voice of Galiciathe operation depends solely on the General Directorate of Energy and Mines approving the transfer of the licenses from the former promoter to ETM. The Ministry of Economy and Industry assures that the process is “very advanced.” Regarding deadlines, the company hopes to be able to sign the deeds in the month of May, or in any case, complete the process throughout the second quarter of the year, inevitably before the month of July. A lifeline for Europe’s technological sovereignty. The Galician exploitation of Penouta is rich in tin and tantalum (popularly known as “black gold” or coltan), critical minerals for the manufacture of electronic components at a time when Europe seeks to depend less on third countries. According to statements by Daniel Mamadou, general director of ETM, collected by The Economistthe company has committed to ensuring that all production “remains available for the development of associated industries within the European Union”, and have already initiated contacts with potential local partners. Added to this is its value as a circular economy model. An EU report a few years ago dedicated an entire chapter to Penoutahighlighting it as a reference in the recovery of critical raw materials from mining waste (slag heaps) from the old exploitation of the 80s, an activity that, in addition, “can help restore the environment.” The open fronts. The reactivation plan will be progressive, where ETM plans to start first with “section B” (the waste dumps), which will allow a gradual incorporation of workers. In parallel, the company will prepare the documentation to request a new license for “section C” (the exploitation of the mine itself) with the aim of starting to extract coltan in 2027. To shorten these bureaucratic deadlines, the company plans to request the declaration of a Strategic Industrial Project (PIE). This care when requesting new licenses is not coincidental, since the judicial front has marked the recent history of Penouta. On the one hand, there is good news for the project: the Provincial Court of Ourense firmly filed a case for alleged polluting discharges in February when it found no evidence of criminality. However, the main exploitation permit of the previous owner was annulled in 2024 by the Superior Court of Xustiza of Galicia (TSXG), considering the environmental impact study on the Natura 2000 Network “insufficient”, a decision that is currently pending appeals before the Supreme Court. The firm that will change everything. The closure of the previous stage of the Penouta mine left 55 families on the streets after the bankruptcy. Today, the scenario is radically different. With Australian financing guaranteed, authorization from Madrid in the pocket and a judicial horizon that is beginning to clear, Galician “black gold” has ceased to be a frustrated project and has become the country’s great mining hope. Now, the entire sector holds its breath waiting for that single signature from the Xunta de Galicia that will put Ourense back on the map of the European energy transition. Image | Strategic Minerals Europe Xataka | Madrid has the key mineral underground so that Europe does not depend on China. The problem is that there is a gap above

AI enters the era of CPUs. To no one’s surprise, this is bad news for the consumer.

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The current state of data centers is redefining the production lines of the main technological players. What seemed like a specific crisis in the price of RAM and SSDs has ended up becoming a tsunami that is sweeping away products and the consumer market. The data centers They need the same components as consumers and the rest of the industry, and there was one component that seemed safe: the processors. It’s over. Danger! During his presentation of results In the first quarter of 2026, Intel gave a worrying piece of information: the ratio of CPUs and GPUs in data centers could soon reach 1:1. So far, we’ve talked about memory and GPUs as the primary hardware in data centers, but there needs to be a CPU running the show, and currently, there was one CPU for every eight GPUs. However, things are starting to change due to agentic AI. How to know the components of your PC (RAM, Graphics, CPU…) and the state they are in Training is still important, but now we seem to be entering the era of inference, and that’s where CPUs excel. David Zinsner, Intel’s chief financial officer, described in the call with investors that the CPU/GPU ratio had already gone from 1:8 to 1:4 (one CPU for every four GPUs), but that this agentic AI was exploding the memory of the CPUs, approaching the aforementioned 1:1. Change of course. I think you can now anticipate where the shots are going to go. As we read in Tom’s Hardwarethis action has caused a reaction: that Intel begins to move its production lines to begin to reduce its capacity in consumer products and increase the output of Xeon processors, which are indicated for servers and continuous work. All because, currently, delivery times for server CPUs are about six months away and they cannot allow AMD, which also has its products for servers, to beat them in that race. Consequences. Price increases. Without palliatives. Xeon CPU prices are estimated to have risen in March by 10% to 20% due to that shortage, but consumer CPUs have also increased in price by 5% to 10%. It is not going to stop there, as another 10% price increase is expected for the second half of the year. In fact, it is the same as with mobile phones, with Intel pointing out that the consumer PC market will decrease by double digits this year. Here it happens as in the rest of the segments: manufacturers are raising prices for everyone (hyperscalers and consumers), but they allocate their production to data centers because they are the ones that will buy the most volume from them. Intel doesn’t care if there is no CPU for users because it is not the bulk of its current market, but what it cannot afford is to have hyperscalers for more than six months expectingespecially if data centers are expected to have to mount more CPUs in the short term. The objective: the great foundry. Intel has been in the doldrums for a few years. In the consumer segment, AMD’s Ryzens have beaten them to the punch, the ARC GPUs have not finished coming together and things were not going well. A series of poor results led the United States government to invest $2 billion to ‘rescue’ the company with one goal: to make it the largest American foundry. Because, even if things did not go well, they are still one of the few companies in the world with the capacity to create chips, like TSMC or Samsung. They have some of the best machines on the market and that government bailout soon began to bear fruit with clients such as Apple and Nvidia. During the presentation of results A few days ago, Intel declared a net loss of $3.7 billion, but something happened nonetheless: the stock rose 20%. The reason is that investors are not looking at Intel’s present, but rather its future, and the changes applied in recent months seem to be going in the right direction. They are not the only ones. This change of direction and production lines is not exclusive to Intel. We have seen it in other companies, but it is true that here they directly advocate leaving out the consumer to prioritize the large customer: Big Tech. Something similar happened with Samsung a few days ago, when it was reported that the company had begun to move your LPDDR4 memory production lines to LPDDR5. This type of memory is better, but also more expensive, which will cause devices that previously mounted LPDDR4 memory (low-end miniPC or entry- and mid-range mobile phones) to have to go directly for LPDDR5 memory that is faster, but also more expensive. In the end, the translation is the same as always: as users, we are going to have to tighten our belts and hold on with the devices we have for a while longer. How long? Until 2027 if you ask some, 2028 if you ask others or if that… 2030. Images | Intel In Xataka | There is no energy for so many data centers and the consequence is clear: half of those planned for 2026 in the US are in danger

Researchers analyzed 280 samples of bottled water. Only one of the brands was free of microplastics

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Better taste and smell and health reasons. Those are the two main reasons why people drink bottled water, according to a study from the Autonomous University of Barcelona. Spain is, in fact, the third European country that consumes the most bottled water (up to 107 liters per inhabitant). That clashes with one thing: that bottled water is not only much more expensive than tap waterbut now we know that it also has micro and nanoplastics in quantities much greater than estimated. The original study. Some researchers from Columbia University analyzed three popular bottled water brands in the United States (whose names have not been revealed) in search of micro and nanoplastics. To do this, they used a new technique called Raman stimulated scattering microscopy based on probing samples with two simultaneous lasers tuned to resonate specific molecules. Analyzing seven common plastics, the researchers developed an algorithm to interpret the results. According to Wei Min, co-inventor of the technique and co-author of the study in question, “it is one thing to detect and another to know what you are detecting.” The findings. On average, this study found that one liter of bottled water contains 240,000 detectable plastic fragments, between ten and 100 times more than previous estimates. Specifically, the researchers state that they found between 110,000 and 370,000 plastic fragments in each liter, of which 90% were nanoplastics. In that sense, it is important to remember the difference between micro and nanoplastics: Microplastics: those whose size varies between 100 nanometers and five millimeters. Nanoplastics: those whose size is equal to or less than 100 nanometers. The most common plastics. To no one’s surprise, one of the most common plastics was polypropylene terephthalate, better known as PET. It is the material that many bottles are made of. “It probably enters the water by breaking off pieces when the bottle is squeezed or exposed to heat,” say the researchers, who cite another study that suggests they can also break off when repeatedly opening and closing the cap. Usual. And although the presence of PET is common, this plastic is surpassed by polyamide, a type of nylon that “probably comes from the plastic filters used to supposedly purify water before bottling it,” says Beizhan Yan, researcher of the study. Other common plastics the researchers found were polystyrene, polyvinyl chloride and polymethyl methacrylate. And the rest? The technique used includes the seven most common plastics, but there are many other plastics. According to exposes Columbia University, “the seven types of plastic the researchers looked for only represented about 10% of all the nanoparticles they found in the samples; they have no idea what the rest are. If they are all nanoplastics, it could be tens of millions per liter.” And what about those sold in Spain? That’s what he wanted to find out a study by the CSIC and the Barcelona Institute of Global Health. They have developed a technique to quantify particles between 0.7 and 20 micrometers, as well as the chemical additives released into the water and, for this study, they analyzed 280 samples of 20 commercial water brands. Only one of the brands did not contain microplastics, but all 280 samples contained plastic additives. More specifically. The result is that, on average, one liter of water contains 359 nanograms of micro- and nanoplastics, an amount comparable to that obtained in the tap water found in a previous study made by the same group. “The main difference we found is the type of polymer: in tap water we found more polyethylene and polypropylene while in bottled water we detected mostly polypropylene terephthalate (PET), although also polyethylene,” said Cristina Villanueva, ISGlobal researcher and author of the study. Lots of microplastic. Considering that we drink two liters of water a day, the authors estimate “an intake of 262 micrograms of plastic particles per year.” Regarding additives, 28 plastic additives have been detected, mostly stabilizers and plasticizers. According to the researchers, “our toxicity study showed that three types of plasticizers presented a greater risk to human health and, therefore, should be considered in risk analyzes for consumers.” In that sense, other studies have discovered the presence of microplastics in atheromatous plaques in the arteries, which increases the risk of heart attack. From the American Diabetes Association they also ensure that some components found in bottles, such as BPA and the aforementioned microplastics, increase insulin resistance, thus reducing its effectiveness. Images | Jonathan Chng in Unsplash In Xataka | The US has decided to abandon paper straws because everyone hates them. The problem is the alternative: plastic In Xataka | After the failure of the yellow container, the Government has reached a conclusion: it is time for returnable bottles *An earlier version of this article was published in February 2024

Putting on a bear suit to defraud more than $141,000 in car insurance seemed believable. Until it stopped being

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There are stories that seem written not to be believed. It all starts with a luxury car, a course bear attack in the middle of California and some images that, in theory, should prove everything. The story fits in appearance, damage to the interior of the vehicle, claw marks, an animal that would have entered and destroyed the cabin. However, from the first moment there is something that squeaks. It’s not so much what you see, but how you see it, as if the scene is too well constructed to be real. The story began to go wrong when an insurance company reviewed more carefully a claim registered on January 28, 2024 in Lake Arrowhead, an area of ​​California where the presence of bears is not unusual. The report described how the animal had accessed the interior of a 2010 Rolls-Royce Ghost and caused damage to the seats and doors. The images provided seemed to support it, but the company detected enough inconsistencies to take it a step further. That notice ended up triggering a formal investigation by the California Department of Insurance. When the bear didn’t look like a bear From that moment, the investigation began to reconstruct how the scene had been created. As detailed by the California Department of Insurancethe alleged attack did not have any wild animal behind it, but rather a person dressed in a bear suit. To simulate damage, they used utensils claw-shaped kitchen tools, designed to tear meat, with which they marked seats and interior panels. The objective was clear: to build visual evidence convincing enough to support the claim before the insurer. The case stopped seeming timely when investigators found more claims with the same pattern. It wasn’t just one vehicle or one insurer. Those involved filed similar requests with two other companies, alleging that a bear had caused damage to the interior of two Mercedes-Benzes on the same day and at the same location. The recordings associated with these cases showed practically identical scenes, with the alleged animal accessing the cars and moving around inside them. With several files on the table, the California Department of Insurance formalized the investigation under the name “Operation Bear Claw.” The objective was clear: to analyze the claims together, images and videos provided to determine whether they responded to real events or a montage. The investigators reviewed the material provided, compared the damage described and reconstructed the sequence of the alleged attacks. As they progressed, the coincidences stopped seeming coincidental and began to fit into the same scheme. The key finally came together when an outside specialist reviewed the recorded material. A biologist with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife examined the images and his conclusion was straightforward. The expert noted that the alleged animal was “clearly a human in a bear suit.” This technical assessment marked a before and after in the investigation, because it transformed a suspicion into a statement supported by professional analysis. One expert noted that the alleged animal was “clearly a human in a bear suit.” The next piece of the case came during the execution of a search warrant. In a home related to those involved, investigators found what until then only fit based on clues. The authorities They located a brown bear suit and kitchen tools used to tear meat. Both elements coincided with what was observed in the videos and with the way in which the damage had been caused, thus closing the circle between theory and material evidence. With the evidence now consolidated, the case moved to the judicial field. Those involved were arrested in November 2024 after the investigation. Three of them, residents of Los Angeles County, pleaded “no contest,” a formula by which they do not formally admit guilt but do not dispute the charges, in the face of accusations of insurance fraud, a serious crime. They were later convicted to 180 days in jail, approximately six months, and in two of the cases they were also ordered to pay more than $50,000 each in restitution. The economic figure helps to size the case. According to official information, the claims presented allowed those involved to obtain more than $141,000 in insurance payments. It was not a failed attempt from the beginning, but rather a scheme that managed to overcome the first filters and generate income. Only when an insurer flagged a claim as suspicious and the investigation moved forward did the case stop appearing to be an isolated incident. Although three of those involved have already been convicted, the investigation remains open. According to official information, a fourth defendant, Ararat Chirkinian, 39, is scheduled for a preliminary hearing in September. His case has not yet gone through the same phase as that of the others involved, so his responsibility within the scheme will be evaluated in the next judicial steps. The story, in that sense, is not completely over yet. The story ends as it began, with a scene that was intended to seem convincing and that, seen as a whole, was not so convincing. For a time, the plan worked and made it possible to obtain money from various insurers, but every detail that sought to reinforce the story ended up playing against him. The repetition of the same pattern, the analysis of the images and the appearance of material evidence ended up dismantling the initial version. Images | Valeriia Neganova | California Department of Insurance | Alexander Bendus In Xataka | In 2019, Elon Musk promised autonomous driving for all Teslas sold since then. In 2026, it has reversed

It also had a sophisticated water system in the middle of the Jordanian desert.

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There are few monuments better known on the entire face of the Earth than Petra, the capital of the Nabataean Kingdom in the south of modern-day Jordan. That majestic facade sculpted in rock It is a world heritage site. However, there is a dimension of the city that is equally impressive and that often goes unnoticed: its hydraulic engineering. In a semi-arid environment, control of water was not a mere matter of survival (as if that were not enough!) but also a symbol of power and prestige and strategic resource. The capital of the kingdom required a stable and carefully managed water supply for drinking, bathing, agriculture, temple basins or gardens. To date, archeology believed it had a reasonably clear map of how its water network worked, but a research team from the Humboldt University of Berlin has just shown that the map was incomplete and partially wrong. His research has been published in a paper in Levant. The discovery. On the slopes of Jabal al-Madhbah the team has identified a 116 meter stretch of pressurized lead pipe preserved in situ in the ‘Ain Braq aqueduct, in a prospecting area of ​​2,500 square meters. This feature is poorly documented in open-air aqueduct corridors in the eastern Mediterranean. Most importantly, it demonstrates that it was not a system built in a single phase. Because the investigation has documented nine conduits in total (including the aforementioned lead one), in addition to a large deposit sealed by a high dam, two cisterns and seven basins of different sizes and purposes. That is, two different technologies superimposed: first the pressurized lead pipe, which at some point was sealed, and on top of it a later terracotta network. Why is it important. There are two levels where the discovery is relevant: From a technical point of view, the use of lead is rare beyond building interiors. Its presence in an outdoor channel shows that the Nabataeans had access to sufficient resources and technical knowledge to use it outdoors, rivaling the achievements of Rome. It should be remembered that lead requires mining, transportation and artisans. From a political point of view, it was a symbol of power and prosperity. The system fed the Az-Zantur reservoir, located on a high ridge. From there, water could be distributed under pressure to monuments such as the Great Temple and the Garden and Pool Complex. These structures require a continuous and reliable water supply, so as lead researcher Niklas Jungmann proposes, they demonstrate the luxury of running water in the desert. If you control the water, you control the city. Context. The Siq, ‘Ain Braq and Wadi Mataha systems were the three main water supply systems of Petra and were fed by springs and reservoirs. Each of them were designed with different objectives to deal with the challenges of physics and the particular geology of the landscape, which made it possible to supply the different sectors of the city. In a desert environment, it was an essential requirement to master water and boy did it do so: they had baths, ornamental gardens, sacred water installations and monuments that continually needed water. Petra flourished as the capital of the Nabataean Kingdom before its incorporation into the Roman Empire and its subsequent decline following the earthquake of 363 AD. The chronological context places the lead phase probably at the height of the kingdom (1st century AD), under the reign of Aretas IV, when the city experienced an urban explosion. The transition to terracotta coincides with periods of economic restructuring or changes in administration after the Roman annexation in 106 AD, showing an adaptation towards materials that are easier to maintain. How have they done it. Classic research approaches on Petra approached the entire city from a macro perspective and resorted to extrapolations, but Jungmann’s study focuses on a 2,500 square meter area of ​​the Jabal al-Madhbah massif. This has allowed him to document every visible trace of hydraulic infrastructure with precision using photogrammetry and digital elevation models to understand how the terrain dictated water flow and where the use of pressure was necessary. Likewise, it did not focus on searching for objects through excavation, but rather on detailed reading of the stratigraphy and morphology of the infrastructure. Yes, but. Although the discovery is revolutionary, unknowns remain and Jungmann himself is cautious with interpretations. To begin with, the lead pipe was abandoned and sealed to be replaced by a second network of open canals and terracotta pipes, a decision that was probably explained by costs. In addition, the study focuses on a small area and a first prospecting campaign (September 2023). That is, the connection with the reign of Aretas IV is plausible but not definitive when it comes to dating. On the other hand, the use of lead raises the eternal question about toxicity. As a general context, in calcareous waters such as those in the region, calcium carbonate tends to form an internal layer that isolates the metal from drinking water, which would reduce the risk of contamination, although the paper does not address this issue. What is clear is that Nabataean water management was more advanced, experimental and adaptable than previously thought. In Xataka | 2,600 years ago four Etruscans were buried in Rome. And today archaeologists have found a treasure thanks to them In Xataka | 12,000 years ago a tribe in North America carved small dice with a single objective: to create bets. Cover | Bernard Gagnon and Diego Delso

Mexico touches the sky with a new and elegant skyscraper of 484 meters and 99 floors. It will be the highest in all of Latin America

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For decades, it seemed that “the sky is the limit” applied to architecture was a maxim that only Asia and the Middle East reached. In fact, in recent times the world has witnessed a frantic race to see who has the biggest (skyscraper) between Dubai and Saudi Arabia. But there are some notable exceptions like the one that is about to premiere in Monterrey: the Tower Risea skyscraper that will not only be the tallest in the Central American country, but will also lead the skies of all of Latin America. If we open the range to the entire continent, it is only overshadowed by the mythical One World Trade Center in New York. The project. The Rise Tower is a mixed-use skyscraper that is being built in Monterrey (Nuevo León). It will have a height of 484 meters, of which 408 make up 96 residential floors and the remaining 76 make up the architectural spire that crowns the structure. More specifically, it will house residences, offices, a hotel, commerce and leisure facilities in a single structure, as is usual in skyscrapers of these characteristics, thus turning it into a city within a building. It will be located in the Obispado neighborhood, on Constitución Avenue in front of the Santa Catarina River, in one of the densest and most representative urban corridors of the city. The project is in charge by Nest and Ancore Group, has been designed by the Ancore architecture team and Mexican architect Esteban Ramos. Pozas Design Group and Next are responsible for its luxurious interior. Rise Tower layout diagram. Rise Why is it important. The Rise Tower will surpass the Torres Obispadowhich is also in Monterrey and is still the tallest skyscraper in the country. But once completed, it will officially be the tallest building in Latin America, a title that gives Mexico symbolic and technical leadership in the urban and architectural sector. Without going any further, it also moves the Great Santiago Tower in Chile. The building also positions Mexico in the world leagues of vertical architecture, a race dominated by Asia and the Middle East. For Mexico it is also a demonstration that the region can conceive, finance and execute projects at the scale of the world’s large urban centers and at the metropolitan scale, it can function as an engine for the repopulation of the urban center that favors investments in infrastructure. Context. Monterrey has been consolidating itself as the laboratory of vertical urbanism in Mexico for two decades. Without going any further, the construction of the Obispado Towers in 2020 had already surpassed the 300-meter barrier that defines it as “supertall.” The Rise Tower itself has been evolving since its first plans, when he aimed “only” 350 meters. The project is part of the trend of mixed-use supertalls that began to emerge in Asia and the Middle East since the 2000s and is now beginning to materialize in Latin America. Monterrey is in an area with wind and seismic activitywhich adds a layer of technical complexity to any potential design. In figures. Some numerical data of this stratospheric construction: 484 meters high: 408 habitable meters and 76 meters from the spire It will be the 13th tallest skyscraper in the world 35 levels of offices, 22 floors of apartments, 10 levels of luxury hotel 4,300 square meters of green areas and 8,000 square meters of leisure spaces. In detail. The tower has a rectilinear shape with a reinforced structural core and a perimeter framing system designed to withstand lateral loadssomething essential given that Monterrey is in a region where there is seismic activity and a lot of wind. The building envelope consists of a modular aluminum and glass curtain wall system, an aesthetically striking and effective combination for thermal control and management of dynamic wind pressures at high altitude. The concept of the façade is quite reminiscent of the architecture of mid-20th century skyscrapers. Points out The Civil Engineer The initial sketches suggested a more robust metallic aesthetic inspired by the historic Torre Latinoamericana in Mexico City (the grandfather of Mexican skyscrapers, built in 1956), but with the progress of construction, a greater presence of glass has become evident. In terms of sustainability, the project already has LEED Silver, Green Globes, Building EQ and Well certifications from the International Well Building Institute. For when? Construction began in 2023 and by March of this year the Rise Tower exceeded 306 meters and reached the 52nd floor, but there are still 170 meters left. The construction pace is high and in accordance with the governor’s statements from Nuevo León, Samuel García Sepúlveda, the inauguration is projected for the summer of 2026, before the FIFA World Cup. Nevertheless, other specialized sources They suggest that it will be delayed until the end of 2026 or even 2027. In Xataka | If the question is whether a skyscraper can be erased without demolishing it, Paris has the answer: yes, in exchange for a fortune In Xataka | Cancun has a huge bottleneck in its tourist area: Mexico is going to solve it with a megabridge Cover | Chorizowithegg and Rise Tower

Sylvester Stallone and the phrase that turned a scene into the most dangerous of his career: “Hit me for real”

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For years, in action cinema there was a kind of unwritten rule: the more real a scene seemed, the better it worked on screen, even if that meant taking unusual risks. That limit was unexpectedly tested when, in the middle of filming Rocky IVa seemingly minor decision ended up forcing Sylvester Stallone to leave the set and be transferred urgently to the hospital. “Hit me for real.” Rarely has a phrase said on set had consequences that were as real as they were dangerous, but that is exactly what happened during Rocky IV. Sylvester Stallone, obsessed with making the final fight convey absolute authenticity, made a decision that would mark the filming: he asked his partner to leave the choreography aside and really hit during part of the fight. That order, which had to be translated into dramatic intensity on screen, ended up becoming a physical experiment that crossed a dangerous line between interpretation and reality. He almost doesn’t count it. The result did not take long to arrive. Dolph Lundgren, much larger, stronger and with training in martial arts, executed what was asked of him without restraint. In the middle of that unscripted combat, a direct blow to the chest hit with such force that it compressed Stallone’s heart against his ribcage, causing an injury that doctors compared “to a traffic accident“. The most disturbing thing was that the actor did not notice anything at the moment of impact, but hours later his body began to collapse, dizzy and with symptoms that showed that something was very wrong. From filming to the emergency room. That same night, the situation became critical. Stallone’s blood pressure shot up to extreme levels and his heart began to swell, forcing to transfer him urgently by plane from Canada to a hospital in California. The actor entered directly in the ICUwhere he spent several days surrounded by health personnel, in a surreal scene due to the way it occurred. Stallone himself I would admit with the time that he was very close to dying that day, in an episode that turned a simple creative decision into an extreme experience. ANDThe plane that he did not want to cut. The most surprising thing is that the blow responsible for that entire critical situation was not eliminated of the final assembly. On the contrary, Stallone, faithful to his obsession with the authenticity of the saga he had created, decided to keep in the film the exact moment that took him to the hospital, turning the moment into a key piece of the intensity conveyed by the fight. Paradoxically, a scene that seems spectacular due to its realism and brutality is precisely because, for a few seconds, it stopped being fiction. Return to the ring later. Far from abandoning, Stallone returned to filming after leaving the hospital to finish the production, thus closing a production marked by physical excess and the search for truthfulness at any price. That decision reinforced the myth of Rocky IV as one of the most extreme installments in the saga, but it also left an uncomfortable lesson about the risks of pushing realism too far. Authenticity turned into danger. If you also want, the case of Rocky IV It’s not just a filming anecdote, but a clear example to what extent the film industry has historically played with the limits of security in search of greater impact on screen. What happened that day sums up an idea that is difficult to ignore: sometimes, in the attempt to make a story seem real, there is a risk that it stops being so altogether. Image | United Artists In Xataka | In 1953 Hollywood filmed a blockbuster in front of US nuclear tests. It was the most radioactive movie in history, literally In Xataka | The day a man dared to go further than anyone else: a real fight with Bruce Lee where there were no limits

Japan has plunged into a crazy spiral of aging that is claiming an unexpected victim: the yakuza

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the yakuza it’s news in Japan. And not because of his coups, a particularly successful police raid or a change in policy by the Government of Sanae Takaichi to combat the criminal network that takes centuries filtering into Japanese society. No. The yakuza is in the news because after several years of seeing its ranks decimated, it has reached an all-time low. According to police statistics, in 2025 their criminal groups numbered about 17,600 people (among members and allies), far from the more than 80,000 just a decade and a half ago. This loss of strength is explained by the control of the police and a turn in the underworld towards new criminal networksbut also because of a trend that affects the rest of the country: the yakuza ages, just like society ages Japanese. The yakuza is shrinking. These are not good times for the yakuza. Not at least as far as follow-up is concerned. Statistics from the National Police Agency show that Japan’s quintessential criminal institution (and one of the best-known in the world) has seen its member and affiliate base fall to a minimum. In 2025 They totaled 17,6001,200 less than the previous year. If we look only at the hard core, the full members, the figure is even more devastating: it remains at 9,400, the lowest since there are records. Is the data so bad? Yes. The problem is not that 2025 has been a particularly bad year for the yakuza, but that it maintains a trend that goes back a long time. Nippon explains that the institution has been seeing its ranks thinning little by little for at least 21 years, tracing a negative curve that has no signs of improving. For reference, the newspaper recalls that until 2009 the yakuza had more than 80,000 people spread throughout the country. If we go back to the 1960s, that support base was considerably higher. The crisis also seems to be affecting (to a greater or lesser extent) the different organizations that make up the yakuza. Nippon appointment half a dozen entities that have either stagnated their social mass or have lost members. The worst stop is Sixth Yamaguchi-gumiwhich in 2025 remained at 3,100 members and 3,200 affiliates. They are 200 and 400 less respectively than a year before. Curious yes, new no. The 2025 data is revealing, but will probably surprise few people in Japan. The country takes years reading headlines that report the gradual loss of base of organized crime networks. In 2022 the Police Agency already revealed that the number of members and associates of mafia groups had fallen to 24,100, the lowest figure since at least 1958, the first year with statistics. Only a few years later the ranks of the yakuza fell below the 20,000 barrier, a new low. What is the reason? As is often the case with all social phenomena, whether related to crime or not, this trend is explained by a combination of factors. In the case of Japanese bands, however, there is one particularly interesting one: age. The Japan Times reveals that one of the theories that the authorities use to explain this decline is the aging suffered by organized groups. The yakuza is getting older, just like japan. In 2022, the Japanese police estimated that 30.8% of members They were between 50 and 59 years old, making it the largest cohort. People between 60 and 69 years old represented 12.5% ​​and septuagenarians 11.6%. More than 50% were 50 or older. In general, the average age of the members was 54.2 years, seven more than a decade before. Members between 40 and 30 years old accounted for 12.9% and those in their twenties did not exceed 5.4%. An increasingly aging country. That the ranks of the yakuza are aging can be explained for several reasons. A key one is that Japan in general is getting older. The country has been immersed in a serious demographic crisis which has plunged its birth rate and raised the average age of the population. According to the records According to Statista, in 1950 this indicator marked 21.3 years, in the mid-90s it had already risen to 39 years and in 2020 it was close to 48. Their forecasts assume that at the end of this century the average will comfortably exceed 50 years. The result of that drift? Japan presents one of the worst percentages of population over 65 years of age: represents more than 29%. Click on the image to go to the tweet. One word: tokuryū. There is, however, another factor that explains why the organizations that make up the yakuza are increasingly aging. It is not that crime is fading in Japan, rather it is transforming and it is doing so by leaning towards a new format: the tokuryūcriminal networks that flee from hierarchical and well-structured models, such as the yakuza. The tokuryū (the word is the sum of tokumeik“anonymous” and ryūdo“fluid”) often operate as groups of criminals who form for coups, without structure, codes, organizational rigidity or bonds. That nature deprives them of some of the advantages of the yakuza, but it also has its strengths. The police find it difficult to deal with such loosely knit groups. And they also seem to offer an attractive model for younger offenders. The Japan Times assures that last year 12,178 people related to tokuryū were arrested, 2,073 more than in 2024. Many of them were under 40 years old or even in their twenties, which gives another clue about the changes that the underworld world is experiencing. “The younger generations’ aversion to yakuza organizations, with strict codes of conduct and hierarchies, is a contributing factor to their decline,” precise the diary Sankei Shimbun. Fighting crime. When explaining the bleeding of the yakuza, the authorities point to another factor: the work of legislators and police. Specifically, they point to greater application of the law and ordinances that complicate the participation of companies and individuals in organized crime. To combat crime the … Read more

We attended a crash test and discovered the new (and first) Ebro full electric

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Wuhu has turned out to be quite a surprise. While Beijing has those aromas and that life of what, clearly, is a great capital, Wuhu, although it is enormous, is more reminiscent of that “neighborhood China.” The multi-hundred-story buildings that can accommodate hundreds and hundreds of families make an appearance, of course, but the atmosphere is different. There are restaurants, small shops, it feels more local, more authentic. It is here where Chery, the technological partner of the Spanish company Ebro, whom I accompany on this trip, was born and has its headquarters. And it shows. Not because the hotel we stayed in belongs to the company, that too, but on the road. A walk through Wuhu | Image: Xataka If in Beijing you didn’t see a single Chery car, here they are religion. They are everywhere, wherever you look. The taxis? All Chery. Personal vehicles? Absolute omnipresence of the Tiggo and Arizzo ranges. BYD, Geely, Toyota, Kia and Hyundai are also here, but Chery’s dominance is absolute. Caught | Image: Xataka It’s something normal. China has that component of betting on the local. It is a kind of pride, something to boast about, using a product born in your city and the government promotes it. That’s why BAIC reigns in Beijing and that’s why when they ask you about your cell phone or watch model, they smile a little when they see that, in my case, they are an honor and a Huawei. The same thing happens with Chery, but today it’s not time to talk about Chery, but about Ebro. Chery is the partner technology from the Spanish Ebro, which uses its platforms to sell its own models in Spain, Portugal and, soon, Bulgaria, Slovenia and Croatia. A Ebro s700 It is, at its core, a Chery Tiggo 7. Knowing that, it will not surprise anyone that Ebro’s new model is based on the Chery QQ3 EV. Because yes, Ebro has finally announced a completely electric car which will be produced in its factory in the Free Trade Zone of Barcelona. It still does not have a name and the specifications are not final, since the homologation is missing, but I can tell you a little something, since I have been able to see it in first person. The new electric Ebro | Image: Xataka This car has a clearly urban vocation and is focused on the younger audience. More circular and oval shapes, 2.7 meters between axles and 4.3 meters long give shape to a more compact car and very different from what Ebro has put on the road to date. It is a risky bet for 1) a brand that until now was synonymous with SUVs and 2) a market whose electrification still has a way to go. It has a 42.7 kWh lithium-ferrophosphate battery, which translates into a range of more than 300 kilometers. It has a 90 kW rear axle motor, which allows it to offer, always according to the brand, 122 HP, 111 Nm of maximum torque, 135 km/h maximum speed and acceleration from zero to 100 in less than 11 seconds. At the moment, his name is Ebro BEV | Image: Xataka The power of the charging system has not been revealed, but it will be compatible with AC and DC and will be able to go from 30% to 80% in 30 minutes. Inside the car we find two generous screens, a 15.6-inch floating central one with 2K resolution and a system powered by a Snapdragon chip, and another smaller one, 10.25 inches, in the instrument panel. In China, analog needles and lights have passed away. Interior of the Ebro BEV | Image: Xataka The price has not been revealed either. and the specifications, as we said, are provisional. When the process of industrial adaptation and approval is completed, we will clear up doubts. This is not the only novelty, although it is the most notable. Ebro has taken advantage of the presentation in Chery’s hometown to announce a new version of the Ebro s400 with 1.5 TGDI engine and DHT transmission with two electric motors. This has a power of 224 HP and consumes 5.55 L/100 km. An interesting thing is that it can move in tandem mode (so that the combustion engine generates energy so that the electric one moves the wheels) or in parallel (both engines working at the same time). In theory, this should help reduce the car’s engine noise and improve the lack of “oomph” seen in the previous model. Restyling of the Ebro S800 PHEV. The s700 and S400 maintain the same front grille design | Image: Xataka Ebro also announced a restyling from the s700 and s800with a new front grille with rectangular shapes inspired, according to the firm, in Barcelona, ​​and aesthetic adjustments designed to homogenize the design and give it a more rounded touch. This has been one of the parts of the day, but today I have also been able to witness something that, to date, I had never seen: a crash test. I don’t know, there’s something, let’s say, funny, in seeing a car going towards another knowing that both are going to break down. Under controlled conditions, needless to say. It has a certain charm and, frankly, the real shame is that it lasts so little, because it’s barely a second. New car for sale, few kilometers, one owner, always in a garage | Image: Xataka For the test, Chery placed a Tiggo 9 (remember, the base of an Omoda 9 SHS) at one end of the road. To the other, a Tiggo 7 that rushed towards him at 50 km/h. At the same time that the Tiggo 7 crashed head-on, the Tiggo 9 received a complete impact against a barrier vehicle at 40 km/h from behind. They are, from what they have explained to us, two overlapping forces whose purpose is to bring the test closer to a real environment. To the right and in the background, … Read more

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