Mobile Tech & Gadgets

The afternoon began as something more or less spontaneous. Today there are already companies that are “franchising” it to make money.

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The late afternoon has taken hold in Spain. And it has done so much that, in just a few years, it has gone from being a word that required clarification of language academics to become a kind of ‘franchise’, a brand that is incorporated into events and even business. After all, since the pandemic, Spain has shown that it is not only capable of enjoying nightlife… it also likes evening entertainment. And there are people willing to take advantage of that opportunity. What has happened? That lateness has permeated so much into our daily lives, it has become normalized to such an extent that there are those who are already dedicating themselves to ‘franchising’ it. It is not surprising if we take into account two factors. The first, that the concept took root a few years ago in Spanish society (it caught on especially during the pandemic). The second is that its link with leisure, hospitality and the entertainment industry makes it a juicy business. Especially in a country like Spain, where the population pyramid widens in the age group between 30 and 50, the public more given to advance the party hours, and lose weight among twenty-somethings, usually the most night owls. What is tardiness? In case there is still anyone with doubts in November 2025, here is a simple answer extracted from the web Fundéu official:tarardar is “spending the afternoon having drinks and tapas or with other recreational activities, so that leisure comes forward and does not extend until late at night.” That is essentially its main idea: nightlife is still leisure, but it is no longer nocturnal. Spain (country of bars) has a long tradition of evening entertainment, but the origins of the afternoon as a rising concept are not that old: they can go back a few years, to before the pandemicalthough it really gained appeal during the health crisis, when the hospitality industry (and the clients who demand its services) were forced to adjust to schedule restrictions and capacity. Was it that important? Yes. Like they explain At Bartalent Lab, it was then (during the pandemic) that the search for “alternative consumption moments during the day” took root as an alternative to traditional parties at night. The philosophy took shape to such an extent that today it is easy to find initiatives and business that put the emphasis on that concept (the “lateness”) or articles that speak of the importance it has gained among hoteliers in certain cities. In July for example The Voice of Galicia explained that, with nightlife losing steam, the evening offering was becoming a lifeline for the locals of Pontevedra. “We have been exploiting the afternoon long before it was called that,” confesses a local hotelier who organizes concerts to energize the environment, especially during autumn and spring weekends. In other cities, such as Valladolid either Saragossathere are also examples of establishments that have opted for afternoon teas. Why does it succeed? For a sum of factors. The key to being late is basically that it allows leisure to be brought forward several hours (since I said it in 2021 Fundéu), offering an offer more or less similar to the nightly one without having to pay a ‘toll’ the next day. That is, it guarantees customers an experience similar to what they have traditionally had in nightclubs at night, but without risking waking up the next morning exhausted and hungover. If you want to enjoy music, dancing and a few drinks, why have to wait until midnight? Why not bring those plans forward to six in the afternoon? The concept seems to have caught on among different generations, but there are those who point out that it has triumphed above all in the population segment of between 30 and 45 yearsa not inconsiderable market if one takes into account the drift of Spanish demographics. But that’s nothing new, right? Exact. What is novel and interesting is that this success has led to a sort of ‘franchising’ of the afternoon, with people taking advantage of the attractiveness of the concept to promote evening leisure offers or even establishments. What does that mean? What’s there premises, cultural proposals and events They are incorporating the name (and philosophy) of the Tartaro into their brands, just as if it were a business franchise. Perhaps the most obvious case is that of Afternoon Indie Cool,an initiative that emerged as an online project linked above all to an Instagram account and has grown to expand its offer throughout Spain. In fact, its first afternoon was organized in Barcelona two years ago and now similar events are held in cities such as Madrid, Malaga, Granada, Seville or Vigo, always with the afternoon as a flag. What does it consist of? The event is presented as an event that mainly combines indie music (also pop and rock), drinks and an atmosphere similar to that of festivals in well-known venues. All at a time when clubs are usually closed or warming up, between 6:00 p.m. and midnight. “They come to sing and share an atmosphere that cannot be found anywhere else,” claims David Coolfounder of Indie Cool, in an interview with The Vanguard. The formula caught on and in fact has ended up being exported beyond Barcelona. “Each city lives it in its own way, but the spirit is the same.” Its most common audience is between 30 and 45 years old, but Cool assures that the proposal has managed to attract people from different generations. “There are groups of people in their twenties, in their forties, even in their 50s. The beautiful thing is that they all share the same energy.” In their case, the Tardo philosophy is combined with a commitment to indie music, established groups and other emerging ones, a formula that works in Barcelona, ​​but also in other cities to those that have expanded. Images | Afternoon Cool (Instagram) and Jacob Bentzinger (Unsplash) In Xataka | Sex has entered a crisis in the West. If … Read more

Matt Kiatipis is the viral street basketball sensation. What no one is clear about is if it is really basketball

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If you are interested in sports content on social networks, it is very possible that your algorithmic paths have crossed at some point with Matt Kiatipisbetter known as MK, a street basketball player who is injecting an aggressiveness into his videos that many see it as the antithesis of the sporting spirit. We delve into the phenomenon and what it contributes to the abundant content of this type on social networks. Who is MK? Matt Kiatipis accumulates 3 million followers on TikTokwhere matches are recorded basketballusually one on one (although not exclusively) where extreme physical contact is the norm. This content creator, calling himself “1V1 KING”, has turned street confrontations into a viral spectacle that divide opinions: while some defend the authenticity of the streetball more aggressive, others claim that their videos they glorify conflict and they betray the fundamentals of basketball. How it works. Kiatipis follows a formula: one-on-one confrontations on street courts around the world, from Toronto to Greece, passing through Brazil, Italy or Spain, where it has been recently. In them, intense physical contact is combined with aggressive verbal disrespect towards opponents. His videos, which have amassed 120 million likes, show pushing, elbowing and body defenses that would rarely be allowed in regulated basketball games. The moneys. The Canadian has converted this format in a complete business: training program, merchandising themed by country, sponsorships from brands like YoungLA and AirVert… And the project ISOa match league with global franchise aspirations. And all embedded in an amazingly familiar business model (brother records, father edits, sister manages networks) that allows him to maintain total control over his image. Is this basketball? The division is sharp. Critics point out that Kiatipis’ videos normalize unsportsmanlike behavior: constant pushing, defensive grabbing, elbowing without penalty, and use of the body that in the NBA would constitute an immediate personal foul. According to the Spanish Basketball Federation, physical contact that disadvantages the player with the ball is punishable, but in streetball The rules vary from court to court. Street basketball has historically operated under unwritten codes where each player calls his own fouls. MK’s defenders argue precisely that: that it respects the tradition of streetball more physical, where spectacle and authenticity matter more than the regulations. The debate transcends sports and asks what “real basketball” means in the era of immediate content, where attention needs to be continually drawn. The streetball phenomenon. MK’s appeal has deep roots in American urban basketball culture. Mythical fields like Rucker Park in Harlem (where stars such as Julius Erving or Kevin Durant once played) or Venice Beach in Los Angeles established in the seventies the cult of individual spectacle, one-on-one duels and the absence of referees. But it was the phenomenon of the sports footwear and equipment brand AND1 (1998-2008) who turned violent streetball into a television business: as a sponsorship, street players like “Hot Sauce” and “The Professor” toured the United States challenging local players in matches that were broadcast on ESPN. The mixtapes with the meetings sold more than 200,000 copies in three weeks. But even then detractors emerged. Critics at the time already warned that AND1 “polluted the purity of the game.” The difference with Kiatipis lies in the platform: where AND1 needed ESPN to reach its audience, MK only requires TikTok. Now aggressiveness and testosterone are not only on the surface, but also within the reach of millions of followers. In Xataka | Michael Jordan’s mansion was so luxurious that no one could buy it. After 12 years it has found a mysterious buyer

We have found the oldest living tree in the EU. It is on Teide and almost coincided with the Roman Empire

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Spain is a tourism monster, and one of the most visited points is Teide. The territory of the volcano is imposing, and Bárbol hides on one of its slopes. As the character of ‘The Lord of the Rings‘, Treebeard, a Canary Islands cedar that was the oldest living tree in the European Union. And we say “was” because it has just been surpassed by one of its own species. One that is estimated to be 1,544 years old. Clonal or non-clonal, that is the question. Before we get into the discovery, let’s clarify an important concept when talking about the oldest living trees. There are two categories main: clonal and non-clonal. And understanding them is quite simple: A non-clonal tree is an individual, the traditional concept of a tree that grows from a seed. It is a unique individual with its root system and a main trunk. A clonal tree is one that is born from a root system. For example, some roots can give rise to a tree that grows and dies, and from those same roots, another tree is then born, being a “clone” of the original. Another Canary cedar. Found by researchers from the School of Forestry, Agronomic and Bioengineering Industry Engineering at the Duques de Soria Campus and by experts from the University Institute of Sustainable Forest Management at the University of Valladolid, the newly discovered specimen is a whopping 1,544 years old and is, like Bárbol, a Canary Islands cedar. He overcomes it by several years, since esteem that Bárbol is 1,481 years old, and fortunately for these two specimens, they are very far from tourist areas and human influence. This has allowed them to spend a millennium and a half in the same place where they were born, without worrying about the deforestation of the area caused by humans, and they have not been affected by the eruptions of the volcano. To access the new specimen, the researchers had to be assisted by local climbers to access these remote areas of the Teide National Park to be able to take the samples. This is how they found Treebeard Importance. Thus, they have been able to carry out an inventory of ancient cedars located in these areas that are difficult to access. Of the 25 specimens analyzed with the carbon 14 techniquethe existence of eight millennia has been evidenced, three of them exceeding 1,500 years. They are the witness of an ancient population of cedars that would have covered a large part of the park. The team has commented that it is one of the most important concentrations of ancient trees in the European Union and, furthermore, that “its persistence is due to the inaccessibility of the rocks in which they live.” Lucky. Its scientific value is also enormous, since it is like a historical record of the climate. Studying rings of ancient trees allows us to reconstruct the climatic history of the region, obtaining data on rainfall and drought patterns, tracing an evolution of temperatures and, in the case of Teide, identifying the frequency of volcanic events. It all depends on the “portage”. Those responsible for this discovery are the same ones who already dated to Treebeard in 2022, and it must be said that in Finland they found a juniper with a century more on its bark. Baptized as Utsjoki, in a first analysis in 2021 it was given 1,242 years, but after the discovery of Bárbol, they repeated the analysis and they found with which he was many more: 1,647 years old. But since technicalities have their importance in these things, it must be said that… everyone is right in stating that “theirs” is the longest-lived. The difference is in the arboreal habit of each subject. Both are non-clonal, but while the Finnish juniper had a bushy appearance, the canary has an arboreal appearance. And… well, it must also be said that the juniper died in 1906, so the two canaries are the longest living trees. That’s how they found Utsjoki. | Photo: UTU, Marco Carrer Legends. It is evident that there is a “competition” to find the oldest tree, but this is not a race to turn it into something touristy, as if it can happen with other finds, but rather to have new specimens that allow us to obtain a historical x-ray of the land on which they are. Apart from the specimens studied with methods such as carbon 14 belonging to this classification of non-clonal trees, we have specimens such as Old Tjikko Swedish 9,560 years old. The “trap” is that it is a clonal specimen, so the root system is almost 10,000 years old, but the trunks that appear from time to time only last a few centuries. And finally, those that belong to “folklore”, such as the yew Llangernyw in Wales which, located in the cemetery of a church, is estimated to be about 5,000 years old or the yew tree Fortingall in Scotland between 3,000 and 9,000 years old. Too wide a range. Images | Jens SteckertUVa In Xataka | Even when Spain does it well, it goes wrong: becoming the third most forested country in Europe has become a problem

Parmersan cheese is extremely serious business in Italy. To the point of having his own agent in Hollywood

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The most famous cheese in the world (with permission from Cabrales) has just hired representation in Hollywood. The Parmigiano Reggiano Consortium (which is what the Italians call what we simply call Parmesan) has signed United Talent Agency (UTA), one of the leading agencies in the film industry, to boost the presence of the Italian product in films, television series and platforms streaming on an international scale. The agreement. The strategy seeks to position this cheese with a Protected Designation of Origin in global productions in a more or less natural way, taking advantage of the fact that it is known throughout the world. According to statements by Carmine Forbuso, marketing manager of the Italian organization, the cheese represents “simplicity, quality and depth” thanks to only three ingredients, all natural, and centuries of tradition in its artisanal production. Exports of the product reached 53.2% in the first eight months of 2025. How’s the thing going? product placement. The global advertising placement market reached $33 billion in 2024 with a growth of 12.3% annually, which far exceeds the increase in traditional advertising investment. This marketing strategy has been experiencing four consecutive years of double-digit expansion, and as a marketing strategy it has doubled in size compared to 2018, so no, we are not just talking about the jar of soluble cocoa in ‘Family Doctor’. Specialized agencies as UTA ​​Entertainment Marketingwhich will represent parmesan, have doubled revenue in two years. And it seems to work: the success of this tactic lies in its naturalness, since more than 52% of US consumers They prefer these appearances over conventional advertisements. Some precedents in Hollywood. The history of product placement modern food has its founding moment in 1982when candy brand Reese’s Pieces focused all the attention on a crucial scene from Spielberg’s ‘ET.’ Mars refused to allow M&M’s to be used and it was quite a mistake, as Hershey, makers of Reese’s Pieces, tripled sales in two weeks. Currently it is a popular resource: in 2024, for exampleCoca-Cola appeared in 561 films and series. When it goes wrong. However, the forced placement It often generates rejection, and it is something that brands have to take into account. The oldest people in the place remember with a shudder the movie ‘My Friend Mac’ (curiously, a plagiarism of ‘ET’), full of covert advertising for Pepsi and MacDonald’s, and in whose restaurants even a musical number took place. When the brand interrupts the logical narrative of the film The viewer perceives it as invasive advertising, and that is what happened in this classic of eighties alien dandruff. Header | Brands&People in Unsplash In Xataka | Italy’s forbidden dish: a cheese so extreme in its preparation that the European Union had to put limits on it

the most disruptive technology for treating patients in the ICU turns out to be an MP3 file

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When we think about the advances in hospitals to improve survival or recovery of patientswe can come to think of better respirators, monitors that offer thousands of data or new drugs that are almost miraculous. However, science has given us a blow of reality by demonstrating that accompanying families during hospital stays offers great results. This is something that has been seen directly in a hospital’s ICU itself, where patients are between life and death. That is why a study decided to use something as ‘low-tech’ as It is a voice recording of a family member to see the real impact it could have on his recovery. And the truth is that we have been underestimating the usefulness of this clinical tool. The problem. One of the big problems faced by patients entering the ICU is the ‘delirium’. A state of great confusion resulting from an acute failure of the nervous system that affects up to 80% of patients that have mechanical ventilation. And this is something terrible within these units. Not because it is annoying for the patient to be in a great state of confusion, but because it has been seen that mortality, hospital stay and all this increase. leads to higher costs for the healthcare system. Something that has been calculated and that points to an expense of between 6,000 and 20,000 million dollars annually. And the worst thing: current drugs (sedatives, antipsychotics) are often part of the problem or are not entirely effective in preventing it. The solution. Once we had the problem, Cindy Munro proposed a simple but powerful hypothesis to solve it: if the brain “disconnects” from reality due to isolation and sedation, can we use a familiar voice to bring it back? The test. In order to see if this was possible or not, a study was carried out that included 178 patients from two large hospitals in Florida and which had the collaboration of five large universities. The goal was clear: treat sound almost as if it were medicine. To do this, a protocol was created to play the audio so that it was not simply connecting the radio or mobile phone and allowing the patient to listen. The standard was to use common audio players, with two-minute clips recording the families and a playback that would be done twice a day: at 9 in the morning and at 4 in the afternoon. The time was not chosen at random, but was designed to ‘hack’ the circadian rhythm. Listening to familiar voices during the day helps the brain orient itself temporally, reinforcing the difference between day and night, something that is completely lost under the artificial lights of an ICU. The result. In addition to offering a positive result to the patients’ condition, it was also seen to have a dose-dependent effect like medications. That is, the more messages patients received, the greater the reduction in delirium in the ICU. Why this matters. Today the industry does not cease its attempts to search for complex molecules to protect the brain, regenerate cells and countless other techniques. But the reality is that the solution seems to lie in our evolutionary biology (or at least a little help): reacting to the voices of our ‘tribe’. Images | Stephen Andrews In Xataka | Science wants to put ‘microrobots’ into our bodies to medicate us. They have already given good results

Olive oil is following in the footsteps of wine. And that happens through the pre-umification of the oil mills

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There are few pleasures in this life that surpass that of dipping a good bread with plenty of crumbs in a bowl with quality olive oil. It depends on the time and the point of the roller coaster that is the olive oil priceit is something that we can do more or less frequently, and to weather the situation there are oil mills that are reimagining themselves. From simple industrial warehouses and cooperatives closed to the public, they are being transformed into living museums about oil, in the purest style of the wine cellars. It is the pre-umification of the industrial warehouse. roller coaster. Talking about olive oil is talking about Spain. We are the great engine on a global scale, contributing more than 40% of world olive oil. After some disastrous harvests24/25 has recovered, with a production of 1.4 million tons, and a similar production is expected for 25/26. Despite the good feelings, It is still a complicated segment because weather conditions can easily transform the scenario. Prices at the beginning of 2024 skyrocketed because the previous harvest was hit by drought, and oil mills have begun to take measures to protect themselves against price fluctuations and, above all, to have a stable income flow throughout the year. From wine tourism to oil tourism. If you’ve ever wondered why everything is now a subscription, even when it doesn’t make sense, it’s because companies are looking for a constant flow of money. A single large payment is no longer worth it: they want more distributed, but consistent income. There is one grape harvest a year and the wineries reacted by converting themselves into wine museums. In these visits to wineries we see how the product is made, but it is also a cultural and gustatory journey, with tastings of the product itself and others that “match” well, such as cheese. The oil mills are doing exactly the same. Of these cold and industrial facilities, some are moving to design buildings that combine the production of the oil, its culture and the tasting. It is the search for oleotourism through the pre-umification of the oil mill, and it is something that has drawn on this much more consolidated wine tourism. From the industrial warehouse to the museum. The idea is to offer a complete sensory experience in which there is a story about the territory in which it is located, the production of the oil, the local culture and, obviously, the tasting. At the same time, thematic routes can be developed with cheese factories or wineries, but also with agreements with rural accommodations and restaurants. These new oil mills also behave like a museum, since historical pieces and machinery are exhibited, as well as a review of the manufacturing tradition of the place. And, of course, there are direct sales stores that not only offer the main product, but any that may be related, such as cheese, oil, local sweets or even ceramic pieces in which to store that oil. Spanish tourism websites now stand out oil mills as exponents of modern tourism. There are oil mills that are converted and others that are more ’boutique’ that were born with the visitor in mind. LA Almazara. Jaen is a land of olive trees and there are several oil mills of this style, such as ‘EVOOland‘in Baeza or the Olive Culture Museum at Hacienda la Laguna. Ciudad Real is another important oil focus –with the healthiest oil in the world in 2024-, with examples like ‘Infanta Elena Museum of Contemporary Art‘ and more “at the foot of the olive tree” experiences that teach cultivation techniques, production, landscape and, for about 20 euros per person, of course, a tasting. Interior of LA Almazara But if there is a point worldwide that right now screams the terms “pre-umified oil mill” louder, that is ‘LA Almazara LA Organic’ in Ronda. It is the same concept that we have reviewed so far: a cultural center dedicated to olive oil that combines restoration, accommodation in a farmhouse and tasting, all around what they have called “the first signature oil mill”. The prices of this pre-umification? Specifically, those at LA Almazara are in line with others, between 10-30 euros, but with options to spend… whatever you want, with an “EXCLUSIVE visit” that closes the oil mill for you and takes you there by helicopter. I go to one and dip some good bread… so happy. Images | The Almazara, Wine tourismSpain In Xataka | China is devouring all technology sectors: the surprising thing is that it is also making good wine

If the question is why we continue to be drunk on airplanes, the answer is simple: because it is a business.

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We may all be more sensitive to flying from 9/11 attacksbut so is the feeling that every time there are more altercations inside airplanes with a common denominator: the alcohol. Scenes of drunk passengers causing delays, fights, vomiting or even attempts to open doors in mid-flight they are already part of the collective imagination of air travel. The question is almost obligatory: is there really no solution? An increasingly visible phenomenon. They remembered on CNN the recent case of the man who, completely intoxicated, forced to evict a plane in Chicago after vomiting during filming is just one example among hundreds of incidents documented year after year. In the United States alone, a review of more than 1,600 reports from the federal system revealed an incontestable pattern: alcohol in almost all levels of bad behavior, from arguments and disobedience to physical and sexual attacks. And although public perception confirms the problem (more than half of passengers in the United Kingdom claims to have dealt with with drunk travelers), there is still no consensus on how to stop it. Safety in the air. Plus: cabin crews operate in a space that is, by definition, a metal tube thousands of meters above the ground. They are the ones who must manage both the emotional tension of passengers and the consequences of alcohol mixed with fear of flying, long delays or increasingly narrow cabins. Without the ability to expel anyone mid-flight and with companies that do not always support their decisions, the attendants become in the first and last containment line. Although they receive de-escalation training, they face a type of passenger that did not exist a decade ago: the traveler who mixes alcohol with medications, stimulants or recreational substances, generating episodes of aggressiveness that are difficult to predict and control. Distribution of blame. And here comes the crux, because no one wants to assume the root of the problem. Airlines blame airports for allow consumption unlimited in bars and restaurants prior to boarding, pointing that they hardly sell alcohol on board, especially on short flights. The airports, in turn, point out that their role is commercial, not disciplinary, and that responsibility falls on the air operators. And within the flights themselves, the auxiliaries They blame gate agents for not blocking access to obviously intoxicated passengers, while pilots denounce that insufficient disciplinary measures are taken against repeat offenders. The fragmentation between ground and air causes each party to offload the problem on another, creating an operational vacuum that allows the situation to repeat itself flight after flight. The economic dimension. Behind the debate lies a factor that possibly outweighs any security protocol: alcohol, whether we like it or not, is one of the most lucrative businesses of the aeronautical industry. In airports it generates large margins for shops and restaurants, while in the cabin it is used as an incentive in higher categories. Precisely for this reason, rarely clear data is provided on income derived from its sale, and any attempt to limit consumption before boarding is met with resistance from both airport operators and airlines. The result is a permanent contradiction: The industry recognizes that alcohol causes problems, but depends on it financially. In other words, alcohol (and as a consequence, drunks) “interest(s)”, but with a small mouth. Public pressure. The number of passengers support restrictive measures It grows as incidents go viral and attract media attention. Some proposals already have a favorable majority: drinking limits at airports, breathalyzer controls before boarding or even total restrictions on certain routes. Meanwhile, regulators are toughening penalties: the FAA imposed its largest fine in history (more than $80,000) to an extremely violent passenger, and the airlines are expanding their ban lists to repeat travelers. However, the approach remains reactive, not preventive, and each solution encounters resistance in the chain of interests that sustains global air tourism. Between I want and I don’t want. Thus, the problem of the drunk passenger does not arise only from alcohol, but from a fragmented system where no one wants to bear the cost of controlling it. Airports that maximize profits, airlines that fear losing revenue, overloaded crews, regulators who act after the fact and frustrated passengers who see a drink as the instant answer to discomfort. Everyone agrees that there is a problem, but no one wants to be who imposes the solution. The result is a sky increasingly tensewhere safety depends on the professionalism of the crews and a kind of unstable balance that is broken too easily. Image | Instagram, X In Xataka | “This is the last time I pay 10 euros for a gin and tonic”: the anger of British tourists at the price of alcohol in Spain In Xataka | The “tourist cages” arrive in Valencia: holiday gentrification in Spain goes up a gear

a 1cm screw

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At the dawn of the new space race, when public agencies and private companies they promise orbital tourismreusable ships and commercial stations, the most uncomfortable reality prevails again: in an environment where everything is calculated to the millimeter, where engineering reaches almost obsessive degrees of perfection, a tiny fragment is still enough to leave a crew without a return vehicle. The last ones, the chinese. The invisible fragility. Actually, enough with very littlea screw, a metal splinter, a grain of paint that advances at 28,000 km/h, to leave the astronauts stranded. The recent episode of the Shenzhou-20probably hit by a fragment so small that it could not even be traced, has once again demonstrated that, beyond the marketing of “new space”, the basic vulnerability of manned missions remains intact. Recent history, since Chinese Tiangong station to the ISS, confirms that extended stays, disabled capsules and improvised returns are not anomalies: they are the inevitable price of operating in an environment saturated with objects traveling at hypersonic speeds and where any unforeseen It triggers complex logistics chains for which no one is fully prepared. The perfect storm. The exponential increase of activities in low orbit has created an ecosystem where the number of active satellites far exceeds 9,000 and where dozens of thousands of fragments Majors follow the trail, but millions of microremains (the size of a screw or less) evolve without possible detection. The practical consequence is that any capsule, no matter how robust, faces a permanent risk of invisible impacts which can crack windows, damage heat shields or render thrusters useless without warning. In parallel, the logistical complexity grows: more private actors, more different vehicles, more dependence on the weather and more critical points in each mission. The combination of orbital saturation, increasing use of space stations and increasingly compressed operating cycles widens the margins of error and multiplies the chances of a crew being temporarily left without safe return. It is not a hypothetical scenario: it is already recurring, and affects equally to China, the United States and Russia. The Shenzhou-20 as a structural symptom. He chinese incident It synthesizes all contemporary problems. A ship ready to bring the taikonauts back it develops tiny cracks in one of its windows. There is no obvious alarm, but the possibility of this damage compromising reentry is enough to declare it useless. The outgoing crew must wait nine more days and end up returning in the newly arrived capsule. This maneuver, in turn, leaves the new crew without an escape vehicle and forces the Chinese agency to launch against the clock. an emergency capsule. The process works because the system is designed to improvisebut the sequence reveals the absolute dependence of each module and the fragility of losing a single one. The Shenzhou-20 is moored to the station to be returned without crew. Thus, the “centimeter screw” becomes in main actor of a chain of decisions that affects several crews and requires the mobilization of launchers, equipment and additional resources. In the era of megaconstellations and commercial flights, this vulnerability not only persists: is amplified. History of space “strandings”. He chinese case It is not isolated. In recent years, similar incidents have affected the United States and Russia. Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore nine months passed on the ISS because their Starliner was not safe for reentry after propulsion failures. Frank Rubio stayed a full year in orbit when his Soyuz was pierced by a micrometeoroid and his capsule became unusable. History repeats itself: a critical device is no longer reliable, a contingent improvises, another vehicle arrives and the astronauts return via an alternative route. Even external factors (weather, a previous accident, a geopolitical conflict) can leave a crew with no immediate return. Since the Soviet collapse caught Sergei Krikalev on Mir until the flight suspensions after the Columbia disasterthe notion of “staying longer” is deeply embedded in agency culture. Astronauts do not perceive it as a failure, but at an operational level it marks constant points of tension that tend to worsen as low orbit becomes more crowded and unpredictable. Space junk. The most disturbing factor of this new stage is that a growing part of the risk comes from objects that cannot be detected. Current radars track relatively large pieces, but the swarm of microfragments (these from collisions, tiny detachments from aging satellites, metal particles, loose paint, glass, microscopic screws) follow the dynamics described decades ago by the Kessler syndrome: more objects generate more collisions, which in turn multiply the fragments. These small objects cannot be dodged because they cannot be seen. And yet, they possess enough kinetic energy to puncture a ship or cause imperceptible structural failures that only reveal themselves when a mission is about to return. In such an aggressive environment, the question is no longer whether a capsule will receive a minuscule impact, but when and at what critical point it will occur. The Shenzhou-20 does not inaugurate a trend: confirm that we are already inside it. Persistent risks. Impacts are not the only cause of prolonged stays: the ships themselves, even the most modern ones, show vulnerabilities inevitable. Reentering the atmosphere involves braking from 28,000 km/h to zero in minutes, a process that requires each component to operate with absolute precision. Thrusters, heat shields, sensors, valves, life support systems and automatic sequences are constantly tested, but physical and thermal stress is not supported margin of error. The first missions for new vehicles often reveal unexpected glitches, such as It happened with Starliner. In these contexts, the safest measure is always the same: extend stay and wait for an alternative spacecraft, such as the Dragon or a Soyuz, to become available. History itself confirms that this logic works and saves livesbut it also emphasizes that the redundancy that is taken for granted on dry land is much more difficult to reproduce hundreds of kilometers away. Space tourism and “normality”. Plus: the boom of space tourism enter a disturbing contrast. While agencies accumulate cases of … Read more

In 2001, a yacht took refuge on a remote island in the Atlantic. Days later its inhabitants breaded fish with coca

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To the island of Sao Miguelthe largest and most populated of the Azores archipelago, is known as the ‘Green Island’ for its lush meadows. In 2001, however, the most appropriate thing was to refer to it as the white island. In one of those pirouettes of destiny that usually inspire Netflix scriptwriters (and in this case that’s how it was) began to arrive on the coasts of São Miguel, more specifically on those of the freguesia of Fish Taildozens and dozens of uncut bales of cocaine of extraordinary purity. The Atlantic brought them by surprise and without anyone in Rabo de Peixe being able to explain very well why or where they came from. What there is little doubt about more than 20 years later is that that episode changed history of the island. Not only because Rabo de Peixe was forever associated with surrealist images (it is counted that on the island there were families who they breaded mackerel with cocaine instead of flour), but for the mark it has left on a population of humble fishermen in which until then white powder was a luxury available to an elitist minority. Twenty-four years later, his story is back in the news thanks to streaming. Netflix has just released a new documentary about that episode, ‘White Tide: The surreal story of Rabo de Peixe’a launch that coincides with the premiere of the second season of a series inspired by the same event, the successful ‘Rabo de Peixe’. A drifting sailboat The Azores are a paradise on earth, but even the greatest of paradises can turn into hell. Antonino Quinzi saw this for himself at the beginning of June 2001, while steering a yacht of 12 meters across the Atlantic towards Spain. Although he was an experienced sailor and had recently completed the Canary Islands-Venezuela route, near the Azores he was surprised by a strong storm that damaged his ship’s rudder and threatened to set him adrift. Faced with such a panorama, Quinzi decided to postpone his original plan, which was to sail back from Venezuela to Spain, and seek refuge in some discreet cove of São Miguel. The word ‘discreet’ is not a minor nuance. To the residents of the parish of Pilar da Bretanha who saw how his yacht appeared on the horizon and sought shelter among the cliffs, Quinzi it seemed to them one more amateur sailor. One of the many sailboat owners who set out to sail the ocean without enough boards and end up finding themselves in trouble. In this case they were wrong. Quinzi was a hard-working Sicilian navigator and if he seemed to be stumbling along the coast of São Miguel it was because he was actually looking for a secluded place in which to hide the cargo he was transporting. On board his yacht, in addition to food and everything necessary for his long voyage, he hid hundreds and hundreds of kilos of cocaine from Venezuela. How many? Officially there is talk of half tonalthough there are those who remember that the ship could carry up to 3,000 kg and it would be strange for the Sicilian to embark on its ocean voyage without taking advantage of that cargo capacity. The fact is that Quinzi needed to reach a port where he could repair his yacht, but for obvious reasons he could not do so with the holds full of bales. To get out of trouble he decided to get rid of drugs. Some versions they count who used a boat to take part of the load to a cave, but had to abort the mission when he was surprised by some fishermen. Whether or not it is true, the fact is that to get rid of a large part of his cargo, Quinzi chose to another more radical solution. A wave of bundles Which? After ensuring that the bales would not be damaged by water, he placed them in fishing nets and then lowered them off the coast with the help of heavy chains and an anchor. Once he finished the task, he set sail towards the port of Rabo de Peixea humble and discreet fishing town located just over 20 kilometers from where he had hidden the shipment. The plan seemed perfect, if it weren’t for the fact that the same waves that had forced Quinzi to seek shelter ended up destroying the net that hid the coca bales. The result: dozens and dozens of packages began to emerge and the waves dragged them towards the coast. Guardian account how the first official notice was recorded on June 7, 2001, just one day after Quinzi’s yacht was seen lurking around the cliffs. While walking through a cove, a local came across a large black plastic sheet that hid what looked like dozens of packed bricks. He notified the police, who soon found that there were 270 bales that weighed nearly 300 kilos. Over the next few days, the authorities received similar notices from people who found bundles while walking along the coast. It is said that in just two weeks the agents seized more than 400 kg of drugs, which is not a bad balance if you take into account that the police estimated that the total shipment It was around 500 kg. But… And the rest? And above all, was the yacht actually transporting more drugs, as one of the Portuguese journalists who covered the event suspects? “The ship could carry up to 3,000 kg and no one would cross the Atlantic with only a small part of what it can carry,” argues Nuno Mendes, a reporter who traveled from Lisbon to cover the news. There was more or less drug, almost a hundred kilos or many more, what seems evident is that most of that unseized cocaine ended up in the hands of the inhabitants of São Miguel, where they barely live. 140,000 people. The focus is placed above all on the population of Rabo de Peixe, one … Read more

More and more people admit to using AI to summarize books

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Marcos, a 21-year-old student, acknowledges that it costs him “a lot” read a book whole because he can’t find “neither the time, nor the way, nor the desire.” That is why he uses AI when he needs to read a text or book for class. “Who hasn’t used it today?” he asks. For her part, Raquel, 24, also relies on artificial intelligence tools when she doesn’t have the time or “inclination” to read. She admits that she has sometimes felt that by using AI she was missing out on a story that she might like, but she doesn’t regret doing it—and she’s sure she will do it again. Neither Raquel nor Marcos believe that using these types of tools is dangerous or worrying, they simply consider it a change like any other in their generation. “It’s not that shocking, generations simply change, we read differently. We are a generation that reads through mobile phones and technological devices,” explains Marcos. The search for shortcuts not to read It is not something new or exclusive to current generations. Students have always found ways to avoid books and get by on assignments or exams: copying summaries already made by publishers, asking a classmate for an explanation, or resorting to platforms such as Vago’s Corner. With the advent of AI, not reading is even easier. A search on social networks is enough to find dozens of publications with recommendations of applications, websites or AI tools that “promise” those who use them not need to open the book. Under titles like “Do you find it difficult to read books due to lack of time? I share 4 IA that read for you (and improve your understanding)!”, tools are released that summarize any text or book, and that are also capable of creating mental maps, presentations, videos or even podcast (in case you don’t even have time to read the summaries). Ok boomer. (Clay Banks/Unsplash) On these same platforms, young people express the relief they feel at not needing to read when they don’t want to. A Tiktok user He suggests in his videos that he is “happier” for not having to “read 765 pages of a PDF”, since he only reads “the summary and the flashcards” that an application creates for him. “Spanish people are reading more and more” AI has become another accessory in our daily lives, a tool that we use for more and more things. We have verified its potential by solving operations or programming, but also by writing and summarizing texts. From there a question arises: if artificial intelligence can write, summarize and even tell us stories, can AI replace reading? For now, in Spain, no. The statistics of reading in our country reflect a growing interest in reading in almost all age groups: the percentage of Spaniards who read in their free time This 2025 has exceeded 65% for the first time, breaking the myth that young people no longer read —75.3% of the population between 14 and 24 years old read in their free time. This good reading health coexists with a new reality: young people incorporate artificial intelligence into their daily lives with astonishing naturalness. According to the report This is how we are. The state of adolescence in Spain, by Plan International By 2025, 62% of girls and 59% of boys between 12 and 21 years old surveyed use AI to resolve questions related to their studies. In fact, 68% of them and 61% of them fear “developing a certain dependence on this technology.” Reading, therefore, does not disappear, but it begins to share space—and time—with a tool that can replace, complement or transform the way young people relate to it. AI’s abilities to write texts are already well known to users. teachers. What, according to Patricia Sánchez, a Language and Literature teacher at an institute in Leganés, is beginning to worry them now is another, less visible effect: how it can affect to development of students to delegate tasks such as reading, understanding or interpreting a text to the AI. “At certain ages there are tasks that we should not leave in the hands of technology,” says the teacher. Don’t ask him where he gets the summary of the book, mind you. (Emiliano Vittoriosi/Unsplash) Teachers like Sánchez warn that using AI to read, summarize or write instead of doing it yourself—especially at an early age—can slow down the development of fundamental skills such as reading comprehension, writing or analytical skills. Sánchez sees it as problematic that “they do not acquire certain skills”, that “they do not make efforts, that they do not make mistakes and therefore are not able to solve them.” Organizations like the UNESCO or the World Economic Forum They point out how delegating activities – such as reading – to technology can affect memory and learning ability. According to a analysis According to researchers at the University of Chile, the “passive use” of AI tools like ChatGPT can “undermine the very foundations of literacy.” The authors recognize that AI has a great potential in the educational field, but they warn of the need to work and “practice intensely with written texts” in order to develop “good reading comprehension and writing skills.” They agree with Sánchez that with reading we not only acquire information, but it is key to strengthening vocabulary, comprehension, reasoning and critical thinking. According to researchers, “reading acts as a workout for the brain.” The CEOs who no longer read Sánchez is not worried that his students have not read Bohemian lights; He is concerned that in the future they “will not understand” a news story when they read a newspaper, or that it will be more difficult for them to “understand the world in general, have the patience to stop, think, assimilate, be able to create an opinion…”. This is why a good use of technology must have a “prior basis.” Once the basic competencies and skills surrounding reading have been acquired, for Sánchez AI can be an ally. … Read more

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