Mobile Tech & Gadgets

Europe’s secret weapon to win the electric battery war is not in the mines: it is in the garbage

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The race for European energy sovereignty is being fought far from the large open pit mines. The new battlefield is located in a much more unexpected place: the garbage heap. The companies Vianode and Cylib they have forged an alliance to convert old batteries from scrapyards into high-performance components for new vehicles, the continent’s latest attempt to achieve supply chain independence. However, this scientific advance collides head-on with a real political earthquake. As anticipated at the time Reutersthe European Commission is evaluating whether to reverse or delay its star measure for five or more years: the ban on selling combustion cars from 2035. While technology shows that stopping dependence on foreign powers is possible, economic fear makes Brussels hesitate. The “unsung hero” at the bottom of the landfill. To understand the magnitude of the project, you have to look at a specific material. How do you define it? Aqua Metals, This is the “unsung hero” of lithium-ion batteries: graphite. This material is essential to create the anode (the negative pole of the battery) that allows energy to be stored and released efficiently. Although it is light compared to metals such as cobalt, graphite represents between 10% and 20% of the total weight of a cell. The underlying problem is geopolitical. Global demand for this mineral has skyrocketed, but Europe depends almost entirely on imports of virgin material controlled by external markets. The situation became critical when China, the world’s largest producer, announced severe restrictions for export. The answer to this vulnerability lies in what the industry knows as “black mass,” the dark dust that results from crushing discarded batteries. In this mixture, graphite can account for up to 50% of the content. Recycling has ceased to be a simple green initiative and has become a matter of industrial survival. Urban water-based mining. How exactly is that scrap metal transformed into cutting-edge components? The German company Cylib has developed its own technology based on water, named OLiC. This system is capable of recovering 90% of critical metals (lithium, graphite, nickel, cobalt and manganese) from spent batteries, reducing carbon emissions by 80% compared to traditional mining extraction. This development is not an improvised promise. By mid-2025, Cylib has already marked a milestone together with the Syensqo firm by producing high purity lithium hydroxide directly from this black mass using a proprietary selective solvent (CYANEX 936P). This achievement allowed different battery chemistries to be processed in a single operational line, preparing to more than comply with EU regulation, which will require recovering 80% of lithium by 2031. With the new alliance signed, the graphite recovered by Cylib will be delivered to the Norwegian firm Vianode, which will integrate it into the formulation of its advanced synthetic anodes. Its goal for 2030 is radical: emitting just 1.0 kg of CO2 for every kilo of graphite produced. As Dr. Lilian Schwich, co-founder of Cylib, summarized: “Circular does not mean making concessions. It means a competitive advantage for Europe.” The fracture of the industry in the mirror of 2035. Although recyclers demonstrate that material autonomy is technically viable, pressure from traditional manufacturers has fractured the automotive sector. Giants like Volkswagen or Stellantis They argue that the current goals They are not viable because consumers are reluctant to pay the extra cost of the electric vehicle and the charging infrastructure remains poor. Ford CEO Jim Farley himself publicly admitted that EU demands “are not a sustainable reality in Europe today,” pushing to save combustion engines through the use of synthetic biofuels. But this position is not unanimous. Purely electrical firms see this possible political delay as a strategic error that will give the market to China. Michael Lohscheller, CEO of the electric brand Polestar, was blunt in the face of regulatory uncertainty: “The technology is ready, the charging infrastructure is ready and consumers are ready. So what are we waiting for?” The great European paradox. Europe holds the key to its energy future in its own scrapyards. This year’s pilot plants and commercial agreements demonstrate that the circular ecosystem is a mature reality. The great paradox that remains in the air is evident: What will be the point of building the most advanced battery recycling technology on the planet if, out of fear of competition from foreign markets, Brussels decides to artificially extend the life of the exhaust pipe? European automotive independence may have been born in the trash, but it risks dying in the offices. Image | Pexels Xataka | Keeping combustion engines alive in 2035 leaves us with clear winners. Some called BMW, Porsche and Ferrari

Russia thought kyiv would fall within days. Four years later, the war in Ukraine has just “passed” the First World War

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In 1914, millions of Europeans they were convinced that the war would end before Christmas. In fact, the expression “home by Christmas” became popular between soldiers and civilians who believed that the conflict would be rather brief. It ended up lasting more than four years and transforming Europe forever. More than a century later, the Ukrainian war has already grown longer. From days to historical milestone. When Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022, the Kremlin expected a swift campaign that would culminate in the fall of kyiv within days. More than four years later, the reality is exactly the opposite: the war has reached the 1,569 days duration and has already officially surpassed to the First World War. What began as an operation designed to quickly overthrow the Ukrainian government has transformed into one of the longest and most consequential conflicts in recent European history, to the point that many Ukrainians they contemplate with concern another historical threshold even more distant: the duration of the Second World War. The inevitable comparison with 1914. The historians warn that comparisons with world wars have obvious limits due to the differences in scale, number of countries involved and volume of casualties. However, they consider that the war in Ukraine shares enough features with the First World War to become its closest parallel in more than a century. Both began lightning offensives aimed at achieving a decisive victory within a few weeks. Both the German advance to Paris in 1914 like the Russian push towards kyiv in 2022 came close to achieving their initial objectives before being stopped and forced to retreat. The return of trench warfare. After the failure of the initial offensives, both conflicts drifted towards long static fronts where artillery dominated the battlefield. The images from the trenches of eastern Ukraine quickly evoked scenes from France and Belgium during the Great War. Soldiers barely separated a few hundred meterscontinuous bombardments and small infantry assaults became the daily routine. The firepower forced combatants to bury themselves underground to survive, reproducing a pattern that seemed to belong definitively to the past. Drones change the rules. The main difference between both wars came from the air. The drones profoundly transformed the battlefield and ended up making even traditional trenches vulnerable. Permanent surveillance from the sky and the ability to attack with precision forced the replacement of long defensive lines by small scattered sheltersdifficult to detect and more resistant to attacks. In many areas, any open-air movement can be located and attacked in a matter of minutes, turning large areas of the front into veritable death zones controlled by unmanned systems. Tanks, bunkers and dispersal. Technological evolution has also reduced the prominence of some weapons that for decades symbolized modern warfare. Tanks, feared during the early stages of the invasion, have become on easy targets for drones and they appear less and less near the line of contact. Meanwhile, soldiers invest enormous efforts in building shelters each time more sophisticated and profound. Some bunkers incorporate specific designs to absorb explosions and increase the chances of survival, reflecting the extent to which physical protection is once again a vital issue in an attritional conflict. Destruction reminiscent of the last century. Although the casualty figures They are very inferior Like those of the First World War, the visual devastation is eerily familiar. Destroyed forests, towns reduced to ruins and fields covered in craters constantly appear in images captured by reconnaissance drones. Various military analysts hold that the lethality of the Ukrainian front is close to that of the great battles of a century ago, not because of the absolute number of deaths but because of the constant danger faced by those fighting on the front lines. Stagnation and the search for a way out. The slow pace of progress illustrates the nature of the conflict. In some recent operations, Russian forces have progressed at a pace even slower than that recorded in some of the most stagnant battles of the First World War. With negotiations practically paralyzed, neither side has yet found a formula to break the balance. Ukraine tries to weaken Russian economic capacity through attacks against energy infrastructures and oil companies while flooding the front with thousands of attack drones, seeking to impose unsustainable costs on the adversary. The final paradox is that a war that began with the promise of quick victory increasingly looks like to the Great War: a prolonged struggle of attrition, marked by technology and with no clear end in sight. Image | Ministry of Defense of Ukraine In Xataka | The drone war has left a clear lesson for Ukraine: you can’t leave home without a 100-year-old machine gun In Xataka | In case there was not enough “gasoline” in 2026, the attack by a Russian drone has crossed a red line: that of Chernobyl

It took an engineer 17 years to build the Lamborghini Countach of his dreams from the basement of his house. The problem was getting it out.

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There are motor fans. And then there’s Ken Imhoff. And this engineer from Wisconsin was not satisfied with having a poster of the Lamborghini Countach on his wall or with saving for years to buy one. He decided to make it himselfby hand, in the basement of his house. It took him 17 years. a movie. It all started in 1990, when Imhoff saw ‘Cannonball Run‘ (1981), directed by Hal Needham and featuring a Lamborghini Countach LP 400 S. Imhoff was amazed enough to make a decision that, seen from the outside, sounds crazy: build his own Lamborghini from scratch. How to build a Lamborghini in a basement. Imhoff began the project by erecting a wooden structure that served as a mold to shape the body panels. To work the aluminum he used an English wheel, a forming tool that allows you to create complex curves in sheet metal. He had to learn the hard way that welding too much at once causes deformations in the metal, so he perfected the technique with short, controlled welding points. The chassis is made of steel tube and the body is entirely made of aluminum. The model he used as a reference was the 1982 Countach LP 5000S. Details. To make the result as faithful as possible to the original, Imhoff incorporated authentic Lamborghini parts, such as the taillights, position lights, windshield and emblems. He even had replicas of the original wheels made from scratch. Where he did have to improvise was in the engine. And without the possibility of fitting an Italian V12, he opted for a Ford 351 Cleveland block, with forged pistons, polished cylinder heads and a more aggressive camshaft. The result was 514 horsepower at 6,800 rpm, according to collect CarBuzz. The transmission is a ZF five-speed and the suspension comes from a C4 Corvette. The whole thing weighs about 1,220 kilos, significantly less than a production Countach. The finish, almost at the level of a professional workshop. The body was painted in pearlescent metallic gray, a finish that has its own because it is usually more sensitive to any imperfection. The painting process was done in a professional paint booth, piece by piece (33 in total) because there was no way to get the booth into the basement. Each panel came out of the basement, was painted and carefully brought back down. Final sanding was done with 1,500 and 2,000 grit sandpaper, followed by three passes of the polisher. Just like point YouTube channel Wonder World, the shine achieved was difficult to distinguish from that of a factory car, according to those who saw it. Getting it out was an issue.. After 17 years working in the basement, Imhoff was faced with the task of removing the completed car from there. And one may wonder… Why wasn’t the project done outside or in the garage of his house? Well, according to Wonder World, Imhoff decided to do it there because the winters in his town are extremely cold, so he preferred to spend time in the basement, which is warmer. To get it out, they dug a dirt ramp outside, removed part of the basement wall and, with the help of a backhoe and some chains, pulled the car out by pulling it up the ramp over an improvised metal structure. It was the first time in 17 years that Imhoff was able to see his work in sunlight. On sale. Years after removing it from the basement, Imhoff noticed that the car was beginning to show signs of corrosion and concluded that he was not taking the proper care of it. “I’m doing you a disservice” and “actually it probably belongs to someone who may appreciate it more than I do,” counted Imhoff in words collected by the channel. So he put it up for sale on eBay with a starting price of $75,000. The bid reached 77,600, but the reserve price was not reached, so it did not end up selling on that occasion. Imhoff had invested around $65,000 in the project over almost two decades, as he confirmed. Ultimately, the car ended up selling to a Florida buyer for approximately $89,000, according to Wonder World. Since then, the car has continued to increase in value, as the Lambocars site public in 2023 that the current owner asked for $229,000 for it. It may seem absurd to have spent so much time building something and for the outcome to have been this. However, Imhoff ended up being honest with himself and decided that the value was not in having it, but in having built it and fulfilling his dream. In Xataka | This Aston Martin DB9 was sold for $57,000, but the craziest thing is not its price: it is the two flamethrowers it hides

from a Nintendo Switch to air conditioning devices

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Summer is just around the corner and Amazon has decided to warm up ahead of time. Although the expected Prime Day 2026 has advanced its dates in an unprecedented way and will start in a couple of weeks, this online store did not want to wait to offer discounts on technology and home. If you are looking to equip yourself for the holidays without breaking your monthly budget or need immediate solutions to combat the first heat waves, we have selected the five best deals available today on Amazon. Rowenta Turbo Silence Extreme, Standing Fan 40 cm The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Philips OneBlade 360 by 28.99 euros: with an adjustable guide comb and 60 minutes of autonomy. Robot vacuum cleaner Roborock QV 35A by 329.99 euros: with 8,000 Pa and also mops. Standing fan Rowenta Turbo Silence Extreme by 79.79 euros: with carrying handle and reinforced grille. Wireless headphones Xiaomi Redmi Buds 6 Play by 9.99 euros: light and with a battery of up to 36 hours. Nintendo Switch OLED by 323.99 euros: with seven-inch, 64 GB OLED screen. Philips OneBlade 360 Having the best image in summer is the premise of many and the beard is the “makeup” of men. If you want to have yours in perfect condition always, this Philips OneBlade 360 has already established itself as a shaver reference. Its recommended price is 59.99 euros, but now you can get it with a 52% discount, for 28.99 euros. The great attraction of this pack available on Amazon is that it comes equipped with a 5-in-1 adjustable guide comb and an additional replacement blade, ensuring months of use without spending extra. In addition, its long-lasting battery offers up to 60 minutes of autonomymaking it the ideal travel gadget to pack in your suitcase this vacation. Philips OneBlade 360 ​​Hybrid Razor (model QP2734/30) The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Roborock QV 35A Robot Vacuum Cleaner This robot vacuum cleaner of Roborock stands out for its suction power of 8,000 Pa that destroys the dust. Although if there is something outstanding about it, it is its anti-tangle technology that will be the salvation of homes with pets. On Amazon, the Roborock QV 35A now has a 44% discount, and can be purchased for 329.99 euros. It is a perfect robot vacuum cleaner model to delegate cleaning tasks and enjoy more free time in summer because it not only vacuums but also also mops. roborock Robot Vacuum Cleaner QV 35A The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Rowenta Turbo Silence Extreme Standing Fan If you don’t want to use the air conditioning so much this summer, this standing fan stands out for its balance between air power and a extremely quiet operation only 45 dB in its night mode. Now it has a 43% discount and you can get it for 79.79 eurosinstead of the almost 140 euros that it has as a recommended RRP. Its robust design includes a reinforced grating for added child safety and an ergonomic carrying handle to easily move it from room to room as needed. It is, therefore, one of the smart purchases of the season to alleviate heat waves at home. Rowenta Turbo Silence Extreme, Standing Fan 40 cm The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Xiaomi Redmi Buds 6 Play wireless headphones If you plan to travel a lot (especially by transportation this summer), a few Bluetooth headphones They cannot be missing in your travel backpack. For the tightest budgets, now on Amazon you have 9.99 euros these Xiaomi Redmi Buds 6 Play. These are some headphones button type very light and ergonomically designed. Its battery offers a range of up to 36 hours and includes noise cancellation by Artificial Intelligence for calls. XIAOMI Redmi Buds 6 Play – Wireless headphones The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Nintendo Switch OLED If you don’t want to spend the money that the new one costs nintendo switch 2 but you are looking for a console model that you can easily take anywhere without breaking the bank, this NSwitch OLED Discounted is one of the Amazon bargains that is worth it. It is now available for 323.99 euros. This Nintendo Switch OLED stands out for its seven-inch OLED screenso you can enjoy pure blacks and better contrast. It comes with 64 GB of storage and will surely become your inseparable companion on train, car or plane trips this summer. Nintendo Switch (OLED version) Neon Blue/Neon Red The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Some of the links in this article are affiliated and may provide a benefit to Xataka. In case of non-availability, offers may vary. Images | Javier Penalva (Xataka), Nintendo, Xiaomi, Rowenta, Roborock and Philips In Xataka | The best mobile phones, we have tested them and here are their analyzes In Xataka | Best quality-price air conditioners 2026. Which one to buy and seven recommended models for less than 800 euros

Do not leave everything as an inheritance to your children

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Bill Gates has been one of the 10 richest people in the world for decades. However, recently the Gates fortune has fallen several places on the list of millionaires, according to Forbes. That fall in the estimation of his fortune It is not because the founder of Microsoft has made a mistake in his latest investments, but because of a plan that he has been executing for more than two decades. Donate 99% of your fortune through the foundation which he created with his ex-wife Melinda French Gates. This foundation has already donated 100 billion dollars. Your fortune will not be your legacy. That of Bill Gates is only one of the best-known cases of billionaires who have made the decision to do not leave the fortune who have amassed their children throughout their lives. He veteran investor Warren Buffett, Mark ZuckerbergMick Jagger, Lauren Powell Jobs and the singer Sting have also declared their refusal to leave his empire as an inheritance to their children. In one recent interview for the BBC on the occasion of the presentation of his latest book Source Code: My Beginningsthe millionaire recognized that he was not going to leave his fortune as an inheritance. Despite leaving them only a small percentage of his fortune, now estimated at about $103.9 billion, the millionaire assures that your children will not be poor. “They won’t be,” Gates said. “In absolute terms, they will do well, but in percentage terms it is not a gigantic number.” Indeed, 1% of something doesn’t seem like a big deal, but 1% of 103.9 billion is 1.03 billion dollars. A not inconsiderable inheritance. 100 billion dollars. According to what the millionaire told the BBC, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation was facing the 25th anniversary of its founding, reaching a round figure: 110.9 billion dollars. donated to projects philanthropists from around the world. “We have donated more than 100 billion,” Gates noted, “but I still have more to give.” Currently, the millionaire’s donations to the foundation that bears his name exceed 63.9 billion. The remaining 40,000 million have come from periodic donations from third parties, such as those of his friend Warren Buffett, who every year allocates several billion dollars to the foundation. What the Gates Foundation declares. According to the latest data made public By the Gates Foundation, as of the fourth quarter of 2025, the foundation had donated $90 billion and had a trust capital of $110.9 billion. Of those $90 billion that the Gates Foundation claimed to have donated from its creation until 20235, $63.9 billion had come from Gates’ coffers. Buffett’s contribution since he began collaborating with the Gates Foundation in 2006 has been $47.9 billion. From these figures, and in the absence of the Foundation publishing its 2026 accounts, it is clear that, in reality, Bill Gates would have barely contributed 500 million more to his foundation during the last year, while his fortune has remained stable during the last year. The responsibility of wealth. The founder of Microsoft claimed in his interview to have been greatly influenced by the philanthropy that his parents had exercised throughout his childhood. His mother often told him that “with wealth comes the responsibility of giving it away.” Bill Gates, inspired by his parents and by Philosophy of Chuck Feeneydecided to join forces with Warren Buffett to found the initiative The Giving Pledgein which several dozen millionaires have committed to donate at least 50% of his fortune to philanthropic purposes. Names like Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk, MacKenzie Scott or, the last to sign his commitment, Sam Altman, form part of this select club who believes that getting rich must be accompanied by a commitment to society that has allowed them to achieve it. A version of this article was published in February 2025. In Xataka | Lawyers and notaries agree: “When making a will it is wise to leave specific assets to each child and the home to only one” Image | Flikr (Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office)

the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs created a “primordial soup” of new life

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Approximately 66 million years ago, a huge asteroid, 10 kilometers wide, fell on the Yucatan Peninsulain Mexico, causing such a violent impact that it wiped out three quarters of the plants and animals that then populated the Earth, including all non-avian dinosaurs. This has been well known for a long time. However, now something else has just been discovered. And the impact occurred in the perfect place for the proliferation of a hydrothermal system that laid the conditions for the proliferation of underground life for 8 million years. It wiped out the dinosaurs and a large number of animals, but it left us with ideal conditions for many new microorganisms to thrive. Said in a colloquial and extremely summarized way: the chickens that come in are the ones that come out. 4 times longer than established. An international team of scientists has carried out a study that combines data from rock samples extracted from the crater left by the asteroid and computer models of the geological behavior of the impact. Thus, it has been concluded that, when this occurred, immense heat was generated, which melted the rocks that in turn met the also hot water of the Gulf of Mexico. As a result, a porous material filled with pockets of water was formed, very conducive to the proliferation of microbial life. In fact, these types of studies had been carried out previously. However, both computational and chemical analysis methods were less advanced, so the duration of the resulting hydrothermal system was underestimated. Initially it was thought that it could have lasted about 2 million years, but this study points to 4 times more. The key is in the feldspar. In 2016 took place Expedition 364, in which a team of scientists traveled to the Chicxulub crater200 kilometers in diameter, to study the trail left by that asteroid 66 million years ago. They took several rock samples, including a feldspar very rich in potassium. The formation of this type of feldspar rock is common in hydrothermal systems such as the one formed by the asteroid impact. Therefore, this rock was chosen to carry out the appropriate analyses. Over time, thanks to a technique known as argon-argon dating, it has been possible to see that this rock was forming in the crater from 66 million years ago, as expected, until 58 million years ago. Therefore, it was 8 million years of hydrothermal system. Techniques advance. These impacts are extremely rare, but it is even rarer for them to result in such long-lasting hydrothermal systems. There is no known one so extensive caused by an impact, in fact. Therefore, thanks to advances in computer modeling techniques, it has been analyzed which conditions at the impact site favored this phenomenon. Combining data from Expedition 364 drilling with geological data extracted from previous modeling, it was concluded that there were three key factors: the high permeability of the rock, the sustained heat of the impact and the natural geothermal conditions of the site. Very interesting applications. Understanding this is very useful for two reasons. On the one hand, because it gives us information about the formation of life on the early Earth. And, on the other hand, because it also helps us understand how this would originate on other planets, where these types of collisions are much more common. Searching for life in space is like looking for a needle in a haystack. We all agree that it is necessary to narrow the search area. Initially it was thought that it should mostly be searched for planets that are within their habitable zone. That is, at a suitable distance from its star so that there can be liquid water. But today we know that there are other factors, like the absence of nearby black holeswhich may be relevant. Now, we also know which craters are the perfect places to start looking. All thanks to the asteroid that so long ago wiped out the dinosaurs. Image | Magnificent In Xataka | Now you can find out which dinosaurs were your neighbors thanks to this fun interactive map

China has just ranked second in intelligent computing capacity. The important figure is not the most striking

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There’s a simple way to hype up artificial intelligence: just talk about models. And there is a more useful way to understand it: look at which countries have the capacity to train them, run them and bring them to millions of users without the system breaking along the way. In that second race, much less showy but much more revealing, China has just presented its numbers. The figure draws attention due to the ranking, yes, but the important thing is what it tells about the foundations of its deployment. The figure. The information comes from Digital China Development Report 2025the document with which the National Data Administration summarizes China’s digital development over the past year. There it is maintained that the country reached 1.59 million PFLOPS in FP16 of intelligent computing capacity and that this volume would place it in second place in the world. There is small print. The aforementioned report places China in second place in the world within a specific category: intelligent computing capacity. That is not the same as saying that the country is second in the entire AI race, where models, chips, talent, investment, adoption, regulation and many other variables come into play. What we are looking at is something more limited: the computing capacity prepared to power large-scale artificial intelligence loads. Unity matters. FP16 stands for 16-bit floating point, a way of representing numbers with less precision than FP32 or FP64. It is widely used in artificial intelligence because it allows you to perform more operations and use less memory, a useful balance when we talk about training or running models. PFLOPS, for their part, serve to express how many floating point operations an infrastructure can perform every second. It’s not just power. The report does not stop at 1.59 million PFLOPS FP16. It adds a very specific physical layer: more than 13.73 million standard racks in operation, 42 large intelligent computing clusters, described in the document as “ten thousand card” clusters, and a national testing and verification platform that already supervises 1,129 facilities. This network, according to the document, allows 110,000 PFLOPS to be coordinated for economic, scientific and government uses. The distance with the US. China is placed second and the reference for first place is the United States. That is the reading that appears in Chinese state sources when they talk about a position “only behind the United States”, and also what external analyzes of high-end AI computing draw. The American advantage is not explained only by having more chips: also by data centers, large technology companies capable of financing enormous-scale infrastructures and a highly developed network. The other half of the data is in the use. According to the report, China had 748 registered generative AI services at the end of 2025, of which 446 had been registered during that year. It also talks about 602 million users of generative AI, with a year-on-year growth of 141.7%. These are official figures and should be treated as such, but they help to understand why computing capacity matters: we are not dealing with an infrastructure designed only for laboratories, but for services that are already deployed on a large scale. Images | Xataka with Nano Banana In Xataka | Unitree is doing with robots what DJI did with drones: becoming inevitable

Spain had been using the cutter in pharmacies for half a century. Until you decided to digitize it

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Entering the pharmacy in 2026 and that the method to mark the traceability of the medicine was to cut a small tape with a cutter did not seem like the most technological method in a European country. Finally, it is something that will change forever. what has happened. The Council of Ministers yesterday approved the modification of Royal Decree 1345/2007which updates the regulation of the Spanish Medicines Verification System. Until now, upon arriving at the pharmacy the pharmacist would peel off or cut the seal from the box, paste it on a sheet of paper and this documentation would demonstrate to the administration that a prescription medication had been dispensed and that it would be reimbursed. This is about to end. The new. The Minister of Health, Mónica García, has celebrated the modernization of the new identification system. This relies on the national drug repositoryin operation since 2019 and which allows each medication to be identified using a unique code. “We’re talking about the sealed coupon. That’s what pharmacists did when you came to the pharmacy to pick up a drug and they had to cut out a piece of cardboard and paste it on a sheet of paper. Well, we’re going to eliminate all of that.” Monica Garcia. The difficulty of the process is that it is not enough to make the first identification: it is necessary to justify that this container cannot be re-introduced onto the market. To solve this problem, as advanced by the pilot test that was carried out in the Valencian Communitythe medication will be linked to the prescription, the buyer’s data and registered in the system. Nothing prevents the medication from circulating again through unofficial channels, but it is impossible for it to go through official channels again as new. Now each box will have a unique identity. The batch, expiration date and route of the medication are known. If a problem appears with a batch, you can know: which patients received it, in which pharmacy, how many containers were dispensed. not so fast. Palace things are going slowlyand more in Spain. The full transition has not been marked, and what we know to date is that the new system will coexist with the old. Once the integration of the systems in all the autonomous communities is completed, the traditional sealed coupon will disappear forever, in favor of a 100% digitalized model. In Xataka | After years of debate and 1,000 “medicines” withdrawn, Spain finally has a verdict on homeopathy: it is useless

a Chinese company has just converted its energy into prefabricated parts

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The latest Chinese development in artificial intelligence is neither in the form of a chatbot nor a chip. It is in the form of a huge prefabricated electrical base to power data centers aimed at intensive computing loads. It may sound less striking, but it explains very well one of the underlying problems of the sector: data centers need more and more electricity, and that electricity must arrive in a stable, efficient way and with reasonable construction deadlines. China is trying to solve this less visible part of AI by converting the energy base into an industrial piece designed to be replicated. A prefabricated electrical base. According to CCTVOn June 6, what the chain presents as the world’s first prefabricated base for computer centers went into operation in Qingdao. They explain that it is the energetic “heart” of the center, the piece in charge of supplying continuous and stable electricity. We are not talking about a room full of servers, but about the part that makes it possible for that room to work. Manufactured by TGOOD, it is about 53 meters long, 41 meters wide and occupies around 2,200 square meters. From the construction site to the factory. To understand the change, let’s imagine the scene in reverse: instead of erecting each part of the electrical infrastructure on the ground, an important part arrives already integrated from the factory. In parallel, Xinhua describes the solution as a station that brings together high voltage transformers, medium voltage equipment, protection, control, communications systems and other components necessary to connect the center to the grid. The company ensures that its 167 functional modules are prefabricated and calibrated before arriving at the project. Build sooner, occupy less. The interesting part is not only that the infrastructure arrives more prepared, but in what that promises to change in the schedule of a project. The prefabricated base promises to reduce the construction cycle by almost 70% compared to a traditional solution, occupy more than 30% less surface area and reduce the overall cost by around 20%. There is also talk of savings close to 80% in civil works and an execution that, in the fastest scenario, could be completed in five months. The other front. There is another part of the proposal that should be separated from the construction deadlines: how the center is powered once it is up and running. According to CCTV, this base can be connected directly to green energy and promote its 100% local use, also relying on storage to better coordinate electricity supply and computing demand. According to figures reported by TGOOD and collected by Xinhua, the electricity cost per token could be reduced by around 30% if the system works as the company proposes. A problem that is no longer marginal. The interest in this type of solutions is better understood when we look around. The International Energy Agency prevIt is expected that the global electricity consumption of data centers will double to reach around 945 TWh in 2030, and remember an important difference: a data center can be operational in two or three years, but expanding the network, generation and the rest of the energy system usually requires longer periods. It’s not magic. The most reasonable reading is this: China is testing a concrete way to respond to some of the problems brought about by the expansion of data centers. Not all, not even definitively. This prefabricated base points to very physical challenges, such as available space, construction speed, connection to the electricity supply and, according to the figures reported by its promoters, a better fit with cleaner energy. In other countries we will see different strategies, because each network, each territory and each regulation has its own limitations. Images | TGOOD In Xataka | Spain produces so much solar energy that it is the envy of Europe. And even so, 70% of what you consume matters

companies operated by AI agents

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Artificial intelligence has ceased to be a distant promise and has become a force that is already reorganizing companies, infrastructure, jobs, science and economic power. What we have seen so far is probably only part of the change, but it is enough to put governments before a difficult decision: regulating too soon can curb innovationdoing nothing can open up risks that are difficult to contain. In that middle ground, full of uncertainty, many countries are looking for their place with the tools they have. That decision, however, is not made from the same starting point throughout the planet. Cutting-edge AI requires a combination that is difficult to replicate: abundant capitalaccess to chips, data centers, specialized talent, companies capable of scaling global products and enough energy to sustain that infrastructure. The United States and China play a good part of that game from the center of the board. Argentina, on the other hand, does not have that same technological, financial and industrial scale, so its room for maneuver necessarily lies elsewhere. Argentina does not seem to be trying to build its own OpenAI from scratch, nor compete with the great powers for the most sophisticated layer of AI. What is beginning to take shape is another strategy: turning the country into a attractive place for projectsinfrastructures and new business forms linked to this technology can be installed with fewer obstacles. This includes pieces that are less spectacular than a frontier model, but very relevant for this economy: energy, land, incentives, procedures, societies and operating rules. Argentina’s formula to enter the world of AI The vision of the Argentine president was condensed in an opinion piece published in the Financial Times. Milei argued there that AI needs room to develop before becoming trapped by rules he considers premature, and linked that idea to the history of limited liability in modern capitalism. From that framework, he proposed a figure for companies operated by AI agents or robots, accompanied by a reduced corporate tax and attractive rules for shareholders. As we can see, the approach combines deregulation, corporate engineering and an open call for investment. The legal support is in a bill of the Argentine National Executive Branchdated May 29, 2026, which reforms the General Companies Law. The key is not just that you mention AI, but where you place it: within the framework that regulates how companies are born, operate and respond. The text introduces a figure called Automated Societydesigned for companies that develop their purpose through autonomous algorithmic systems or artificial intelligence agents. That is, the proposal brings AI to the societal field, not only to the technological debate. Article 14 defines this figure quite clearly. “The Company of any of the types provided for in this law that develops its corporate purpose, through autonomous algorithmic systems or artificial intelligence agents, without requiring workers in a dependency relationship or human resources for its ordinary operation, will be considered an Automated Company.” The automation declaration, however, must be expressly stated in the statute and the name must include the expression “Automated.” The project also attempts to resolve an unavoidable question: what happens if these systems cause damage. His initial response is in article 14 itself, where it is established that “the automated society responds with its assets against third parties for damages caused by their autonomous algorithmic systems or artificial intelligence agents.” The formula maintains the problem within a well-known logic of corporate law: the company is responsible, not the algorithm as if it were a person. On paper, therefore, automation does not eliminate responsibility, but rather channels it through society. The question is whether this answer is enough for all the scenarios that can be opened. The same project allows the partners to freely set the amount of share capital, so that the assets available to respond to third parties can become a decisive piece. It also remains to be seen how the decision chain would be tested when autonomous systems, third-party providers, shareholders, administrators and potential beneficial owners are involved. In a traditional company it can already be difficult to rebuild responsibilities; In a society operated by AI agents, that task can become considerably more complex. The discussion does not end with liability for damages. The project combines strong statutory autonomy, limits on the capacity of registries to condition what is provided by law, Public registry files without accounting or economic information and room for the internal relations of certain companies to be subject to foreign law, although without affecting third parties or matters excluded by the text itself. Taken separately, those elements can be explained as business agility tools. Read together, they can also make Argentina an especially attractive place for external actors seeking to operate with less friction. Milei does not mention Stargate Argentina in his opinion article, but the announcement helps to understand the type of country that the Government wants to project. OpenAI and Sur Energy presented it as a possible large AI infrastructure in Argentina, with very ambitious communication around investment, energy and computing capacity, just the pieces that any economy needs to enter this new technological phase. Even so, caution is mandatory: what we have documented is a letter of intent to explore the project. As far as we have been able to verify, there is no definitive location, date of construction, or construction started. The measure of this bet will not be in how striking the legal figure is, but in its effects. Such a reform can open up economic activity and attract projects that perhaps would not come with a more rigid framework. But it can also remain a formal advantage if most of the value is decided, financed and is exploited outside the country. The point, therefore, is not only how many companies are created or how many advertisements are accumulated, but how much real profit ends up staying in Argentina. Milei’s bet, therefore, is not only played in the text of a corporate reform. The stakes are something more difficult … Read more

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