In Nepal they have begun to fill their streets with tons of plastic waste. Their goal: to be more sustainable

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In Nepal they have begun to fill their streets with garbage. Kilos and more kilos of discarded plastic, old open noodle packages, cookie containers and other synthetic waste that (due to their characteristics) it’s not always easy recycle. The prospect of walking or driving on trash-strewn asphalt may not seem too appealing, but it makes perfect sense and is something that has been done before (or at least tried out) in other parts of the world. Asia, Europe, Africa either America. Of course, usually in a timid way. The key is that plastic waste is not dispersed directly on the pavement. No. They are part of it, of its structure. Even there are those who maintain that improves it. Pavement with garbage? Exact. If every year we produce more than 400 million tons of plastic, much of it destined for single-use packaging and which is then difficult to recycle, and we also build (and repave) kilometers and kilometers of roads every year… Why not connect both things? What if we used the most difficult to recycle synthetic waste to make pavement? What if this material was also better than conventional asphalt? The idea It’s not entirely new and there are those who question whether it is really as sustainable and good as it seems, but the truth is that over the last few years it has attracted the interest of entrepreneurs and institutions from different countries. Usually (not always) in a timid, almost experimental way, with pilot projects and in more or less short periods, but it has managed to stay in the limelight. Click on the image to go to the tweet. Where has it been tested? A quick search on Google shows that over the last five years, “plastic paving” has convinced a few entrepreneurs and institutions from around the world. We see examples in Philippines, Thailand, South Africa, Netherlands, USA, Singapore either Indiaone of the countries that has opted most decisively for this solution. In 2024 Business Standard informed that in the Asian country they had built almost 40,000 kilometers of rural tracks that included plastic waste, 13,000 of them completed in recent years. In Singapore the idea too seems to have curdled and has received the endorsement of the Public Works area. And Nepal arrived. Nepal is one of the latest to join the list. In 2025 the AFP agency published an extensive report in which he explained how the idea has reached the Asian republic, where it has already been used on at least one highway in Pokharaa city of 600,000 inhabitants that serves as the capital of Gandaki province. There the plastic flooring formula has the support of Green Road Waste Managementan organization that is trying to expand it in Nepal. Step by step. In 2025, the founder of the entity, Bimal Bastola, he assured AFP who had completed around a dozen projects totaling just over a mile. It’s not much, but the organization maintains that each kilometer of pavement uses about two metric tons of shredded plastic to build. Bastola advocates going further and carrying out projects at the government level. “We try to collaborate with the highway office.” A priori it seems that the Government does not take a dim view of the measure. Arjun Nepal, an engineer at the capital’s highway department recognize that the country “is interested in testing the technology in pilot projects,” but warns that to move forward it is necessary to first guarantee a series of quality standards. Hence the authorities wanted to carry out a test in Kathmandu. “We saw possibilities”. Bastola defends the virtues of paving with synthetic waste and remembers that it even allows lower value waste to be reused. “We saw possibilities in using these plastics as raw materials, partially replacing tar in road construction,” argues to AFP. The new system does not dispense with this material, but first covers the pavement components with crushed plastic. In addition to providing an outlet for part of the tons of plastic that are generated every day in Nepalese urban areas, Bastola assures that the system saves certain materials, reduces costs and has extra advantages for the pavement itself. “It prevents water infiltration and increases the useful life of the track,” claims. There are studies that endorse These surfaces can last longer than normal ones. Perfect, right? Depends. Although the system has sparked interest in several countries, including Nepal and its neighbors Bhutan and Bangladesh, not everyone is sure it is such a good option. Or at least it has proven to be so. From the World Bank have admitted that there are “promising” pilot studies, but they lack more research: What and how many emissions are produced during the production of the pavement? How does it actually behave in practice? Does it release microplastics? What is their impact once the plastic tracks are removed? “Garbage in for garbage out”, they warned in 2020 at GAIA on solutions such as asphalt and cement with crushed plastic remains. Images | Laurentiu Morariu (Unsplash) In Xataka | We have been thinking for decades that plastic recycling was worth something. Maybe we were wrong

Oviedo has already broken its heat record for May and AEMET warns that this has only just begun

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Let’s stay with a figure: 34.3. It is, almost certainly, the most important data of the week. On Thursday, May 21, 2026, the thermometers of the city of Oviedo They recorded a temperature of 34.3 degrees. 1.8 ºC more than the highest temperature ever recorded in May in the capital of the Principality. AEMET is convinced that between today and the weekend will be reached again (or even exceeded) this temperature. And yet, this is only a tiny part of the story. Because the real story is that, in a region structurally protected by its oceanic climate, records are being broken in ways we would not have been able to imagine. And that’s without the country being in a ‘heat wave’. What is happening? Although There is some controversy with the namewhat is happening is called ‘heat dome‘. That is, a subtropical anticyclonic ridge, anomalously powerful for this time of year, which is trapping very warm air above our heads. Europe is bearing the brunt, it is true. Countries such as France, Germany, the Netherlands and the British Isles they are seeing temperatures between 10 and 15 degrees above normal. If everything goes as predicted by the models, the May records of half of Europe are going to explode on the 25th of this month. And, of course, we are noticing that. As the haze falls on the Canary Islands (right at the eastern vertex of the dome), a good part of the country will suffer considerable heat. We talk about more than 34 degrees in Asturias and the Basque Country and 38 in the Guadiana valleys. The Guadalquivir valley is already above 35. And, as I say, all this without heat waves. Despite the magnitude of the episode, AEMET does not rate it like a heat wave in peninsular Spain. It is not. We already know that the operational definition requires exceeding the 95th percentile of daily maximum temperatures for the July-August quarter for at least three days and, of course, we are not going to go to that extreme. What does all this heat tell us? Let’s be honest. For Andújar or Badajoz to reach 38 degrees on May 21 is rare, but not exceptional. But for Oviedo to reach 34.3 is a very different thing. It shows, above all, that the Cantabrian coast is beginning to stop being a “climate refuge.” Why is all this important? In addition to an underlying climate issue, this warm episode is important because it is dangerous. The first extreme heat of the year is the deadliest because the population has not gone through the period of physiological acclimatization produced by progressive exposure to summer heat. That is, because it is May and the Iberian summer has truly begun. Image | Tropical TidBits In Xataka | The Gulf Stream is dying. Someone’s idea to solve it dates back to the 1950s: closing the Bering Strait

Antena 3 has been broadcasting the Rosco from ‘Pasapalabra’ for 26 years as if it were theirs. And justice has just put an end to it

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Is the most watched program on Spanish television. And he faces a considerable problem. It is a topic that affects not its mechanics, but its most iconic and recognizable moment: those final minutes in which two contestants review the alphabet against the clock. The Supreme Court has ratified that this circle of letters was never owned by Antena 3, and in fact, its true owners have been waiting for decades for the courts to agree with them. The time has come. The sentence. The Civil Chamber of the Supreme Court issued its resolution on April 30 and made it public on May 21, 2026. The ruling confirms the ruling of the Provincial Court of Barcelona and dismisses the appeals of Atresmedia and ITV Studios, producer of the program, concluding that El Rosco is a work protected by intellectual property whose ownership corresponds to the Dutch company MC&F Broadcasting Production and Distribution CV The sentence requires the cessation of broadcast of Rosco and a compensation of 50,000 euros for moral damages. Delete ‘Pasapalabra’. In fact, there are a detail in the sentence which is more impressive on practical levels for the average viewer than the fine itself: the sentence imposes the destruction of all recordings of programs that include El Rosco. Although this “destruction” comes from article 139 of the Spanish Intellectual Property Law, whose purpose is to remove copies from commercial exploitation (DVDs, platform licenses, sales to third parties), it does not necessarily refer to the chain’s internal archive, that is, ‘Pasapalabra’ is not going to become lost media. In practice, however, you cannot license, sell or distribute the program in streaming. If Antena 3 had, for example, episodes available on Atresplayer, they would have to be removed. The defense of Atresmedia. According to Atresmedia, El Rosco was a generic idea (questions ordered by the letters of the alphabet), and the ideas are not protectable by law. However, the Supreme Court, in reaching its decision, emphasizes that the test enjoys “sufficient originality” because it reflects free creative decisions of its authors, a “own uniqueness” that distinguishes it from other games based on the alphabet, and above all, it alludes to its visual configuration: the circular donut, the dynamic of passing and returning to unanswered questions and the final stopwatch. This idea was born in the Italian version of ‘Pasapalabra’, in 1999. As arrive El Rosco to Spain without rights. It is to that point in history that we must go back to understand the dispute. The game was created by two Italians, Reto Luigi Pianta and René Mauricio Loeb, as part of a program called ‘End Game 21×100’, which was later merged with the Italian version of ‘The Alphabet Game’, called ‘Passaparola’, at the end of that decade. The creators assigned their rights to the Dutch production company MC&F. Until then, no conflict. The problem came when ITV began licensing Pasapalabra to other European networks, including El Rosco in the package, as if it were part of the original format, something that MC&F has been calling illegal for decades. That is to say, Antena 3 has broadcast for 26 years a format that included a piece that was not its own, nor the person who sold it to it. When Telecinco also lost ‘Pasapalabra’. It is not the first time that the Supreme Court has reorganized the Spanish television map on account of this program. In 2019, the Supreme Court forced Telecinco to stop broadcasting ‘Pasapalabra’ following the lawsuit brought by ITV in 2010 over the rights to the full format. Following its victory in court, ITV assigned the rights to Atresmedia, and Antena 3 resumed broadcasting on May 13, 2020. Since then the program has not stopped growing. The importance of ‘Pasapalabra’. The contest is the cornerstone on which all of Antena 3’s late-night programming is based, currently the most viewed chain of Spanish television. In the 2024/2025 season, ‘Pasapalabra’ reached an average share of 18.3% of sharewith a maximum of 21.1% in June 2025, consolidating itself for the sixth consecutive year as the most watched daily program on Spanish television. And from there people do not turn away from television: El Rosco is the anchor that drags viewers towards the nightly news and towards the prime time of ‘The Anthill‘. What is the future of ‘Pasapalabra’. The ruling does not eliminate ‘Pasapalabra’ from Antena 3. ITV’s contract with Atresmedia remains in force and the program can continue on the air. What it cannot do is include El Rosco. Program sources have confirmed that Atresmedia will maintain the broadcast “normally” until receiving official notification of the ruling and knowing the deadlines for the process. From there, the possible paths are to negotiate directly with MC&F to obtain a use license, design a new final test to replace the Rosco or wait for ITV to reach an agreement with MC&F. Problem: None of the three options are quick and all involve altering a program that, as it stands right now, is working like a charm. Mediaset’s trick. And here comes the twist: apparently Approximately a year ago, Mediaset closed an agreement with MC&F to acquire the rights to Rosco, conditional on the Supreme Court resolving the dispute in the terms that have finally become known. With the sentence now final, Mediaset can create a program around Rosco. But that program cannot be called ‘Pasapalabra’ nor have the mechanics of the Antena 3 program. In other words, if it is confirmed that Mediaset can use Rosco, the most famous program on television is now divided: its name and structure is from one network, its best-known test from another. In any case, we are going to see changes in the future, predictably in Access that Antena 3 now dominates. And whoever controls Access… controls the audiences. In Xataka | Four years of historic audience lows: Telecinco is looking for oxygen this summer and its idea is to recycle presenters and formats

Uber has spent its annual AI budget in four months because AI is making us addicted to it

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Uber CTO Praveen Neppalli Naga recently explained how his company decided to deploy Claude Code to its 5,000 engineers. Adoption of the tool skyrocketed from 32% to 84% in one month, and everyone started using it so much that Uber ran into a problem: the real cost went from $500 to $2,000 per month per programmer, which destroyed the company’s spending forecasts: In four months the entire annual budget was spent to implement AI in the company. Welcome to the end of AI grants. Microsoft will also control spending. The Uber case is not an isolated event. Microsoft has virtually unlimited computing resources with Azure. However, has made the decision to withdraw Claude Code’s internal licenses from its developers in the Experiences + Devices division. The reason is twofold: first, they want to curb operating spending before the end of their fiscal year. Secondly, they want to force the use of their own tools with GitHub Copilot as the clear protagonist. GitHub ends its flat rate. This company, owned by Microsoft, also wants to prepare for the future, and from June 1, 2026 all GitHub Copilot plans abandon their “flat rate” option to move to a usage-based billing model. The base subscription price remains the same, but is converted into “AI credits” that will be consumed as the model is used. If developers use GitHub Copilot intensively, the credits will run out quickly and the system will stop unless we pay extra to continue working. On GitHub they pointed out that “charging a flat rate for autonomous agents is no longer sustainable.” Source: Hedgie (X). The graphic that explains it all. An X user named Hedgie warned that this is just the beginning and added a useful image to understand what is happening. The traditional SaaS (Software as a Service) software model works in a straight line. You pay a monthly fee and the server costs barely vary whether you use that app or service for ten minutes or ten hours: the profit margin is predictable, and the load is manageable. This is what happens with “flat rates” for streaming services, for example. Whether you watch more or fewer hours of Netflix doesn’t make a big difference to Netflix’s infrastructure. But agentic AI operates under an exponential curve. As seen in the image, when a programming AI agent like Claude Code starts working, it can use thousands or even millions of calls to the provider’s API (in this case, Anthropic) to receive, process and redeem millions of tokens. The flat rates offered by ChatGPT Plus or Claude Pro are adequate for conversational use of AI, but AI agents devour tokens and consumption skyrockets. That’s why Anthropic, OpenAI, and others put limits on their flat rates and even prohibit their use for agentic tasks (such as those provided by OpenClaw or scheduling agents). There they ask you to pay per use with the API, and that increases the costs. Crossroads. This situation puts companies like OpenAI, Anthropic and Google in a dilemma. If their clients (like Uber) begin to cut back on the use of AI to protect their budgets, these companies’ revenues may be dampened and that will affect their valuations. The other potential solution is to artificially lower prices to keep those customers happy, but that means absorbing significant operating losses that would harm your profitability. AI dependence and addiction. These companies are realizing that using AI can be really beneficial, but also expensive. Anthropic or OpenAI’s business model is not new, and we have seen that pattern in the past. A company launches a product or service, often free or very cheap, but after gaining a sufficient volume of users it ends up changing its conditions to charge you more and more for that product or service. It’s already happened. We have a good example in Google Photos or streaming services, which trapped us and then squeezed us with increasingly higher monthly fees. With AI the scenario is the same: catch us now with reduced costs and then cover the free service and make us pay if we really want to take advantage of it. There will always be alternatives such as using local models or opting for cheaper platforms, of course, but for those who offer the most advanced models and features the strategy is clear. In Xataka | Nvidia’s financial results are simply dizzying. And it still hasn’t sold a single chip in China

why high blood pressure is triggering before 30

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Irene is 32 years old and she repeats a phrase almost like a daily mantra: “It doesn’t give me life”. Between work demands, the bombardment of notifications and the constant feeling of being left behind when compared to other people’s achievements —the dreaded FOMO—, their routine is a race without a finish line. Lately he has been sleeping little, living with overwhelming stress and experiencing a persistent helmet-shaped headache, accompanied by fatigue and insomnia, symptoms that experts in Efe Health associate with a silent evil. What she justified as the typical exhaustion of our generation, in the medical consultation, translated into an unexpected diagnosis: high blood pressure. A disease, a priori almost invisible and associated with the elderly, which is gaining more ground every day in the lives of the youngest. We are witnessing the collapse of an entire generation trapped in an epidemic of chronic stress and burnout. From an evolutionary point of view, stress is a mechanism designed to save our lives. in the face of imminent dangers. The problem arises when the threat is not a predator, but precariousness and toxic perfectionism. This continuous “allostatic load” triggers cortisol, suppresses the immune system and silently damages the cardiovascular system. Faced with this emotional discomfort, the body demands a neurochemical rescue. Stress pushes us to the refrigerator looking for a binge on sugars and fats, foods that activate the brain’s reward system and temporarily act as a buffer from anguish. This sedentary lifestyle, added to poor emotional management and high consumption of ultra-processed foods and sodium, has created the perfect vicious circle in the last 20 years. Furthermore, recent research published in Frontiers in Cardiovascular Medicine have identified using artificial intelligence that sleep disorders (such as waking up short of breath) and energy drink consumption emerge as key modifiable risk factors for early-onset hypertension. All this is critically reflected in the university stage: a cross-sectional investigation in students showed that 68% smoke, 54% sleep less than six hours, 42% are sedentary and 46% report high stress. An underdiagnosed epidemic At a global level, the World Health Organization (WHO) alert that 1.4 billion people suffer from high blood pressure, and only one in five has it under control. In Spain, the data published by the portal iHealth They place some 9.8 million adults affected (32% of the population between 30 and 79 years old), achieving control in only 37% of cases. However, the figures in the young and middle-aged population are alarming. According to the national study Di@bet.esthe global prevalence of hypertension in Spanish adults is 42.6%. However, the most worrying thing is the underdiagnosis of young people: more than 15% of men under 30 years of age, and 27.3% of those between 31 and 45 years of age, have high blood pressure. In fact, young men (18-30 years old) They are the demographic group with the highest percentage of undiagnosed hypertension. The basic problem is that almost no one suspects a blood pressure problem at age 30. As Dr. José Antonio García Donaire points outpresident of SEHLELHA, the body’s warnings are so diffuse—a headache in the back of the neck, fatigue or some isolated palpitation—that neither the patient nor his doctor thinks of hypertension as the first option. In fact, there is a huge disconnection with reality: the vast majority of university students have heard about the disease, but only 20% really understand the risk to which they are exposed. As if that were not enough, young people who already have a family history come up against an invisible wall: the anxiety and chronic stress they suffer daily dynamite any attempt to keep their heart rate at bay. The paradox of anxiety and false cures on TikTok Despite this gloomy outlook, science surprises us with the “paradox of anxiety.” From a biological and evolutionary prism, high levels of neuroticism in its “worried-vulnerable” facet can reduce mortality. These hypervigilant people become less seriously ill because they go to the doctor at the slightest symptom, achieving early diagnoses. Surprisingly, a longitudinal analysis of young and middle-aged adults found that a prior diagnosis of anxiety is significantly associated with a lower risk of developing incident hypertension, underscoring this potential protective effect derived from closer monitoring of one’s health. Precisely because of this anxiety and constant overstimulation, young people look for desperate remedies on the internet. Some are dangerous, like the radical “dopamine fast” which promotes extreme social isolation and can lead to anxiety and malnutrition. Other trends are purely commercial, like him cozymaxxing, that commodifies our need for mental peace by inciting us to buy very expensive blankets and lamps on TikTok so that our rest is aesthetic. Neuroscience clarifies that the real solution is “slow dopamine”: re-educating the brain with sustained pleasures over time, such as cooking or reading, and not through radical deprivation or impulsive purchases. To prevent in time, specialists warn of the critical importance that the young population adopts the habit of taking their blood pressure at home, especially if they have genetic factors. The protocol is clear: use a validated arm device, rest thirty minutes beforehand and take several shots on the dominant arm to deliver the stocking to the doctor. In short, the cardiovascular crisis of young people will not be cured with pills alone. Burnout is systemic. In the face of a paradigm that rewards toxic self-demand, rest, learn to disconnect and allow yourself to “do nothing” have become in the most radical and political preventive acts of our time. Image | Magnificent Xataka | When you are anxious or sad you turn to foods with a very specific flavor and texture. And science knows why

Without gas stations in space we will not reach Mars. NASA knows this and is finally doing something about it

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Much of a spacecraft’s fuel is consumed in maneuvers to leave Earth’s orbit. For this reason, as manned missions move further away from our planet, we must begin to think about use space gas stations. These are not fuel pumps floating in space, but satellites, or even ships, capable of transferring fuel to a ship that needs it to travel further. At the moment, this is one of the weak points of many missions, so it is important to start working on technologies that allow it. At NASA they are very aware of this problem, hence this year they are going to launch LOXSATa mission that will test 11 different technologies to guarantee the transfer of propellants. 9 months ahead. LOXSAT is a NASA mission in collaboration with the company Eta Space. The objective of this mission is to test different cryogenic fluid management technologies so that in the future propellant tanks can be created in space. The mission will remain in low Earth orbit for 9 months. Meanwhile, 11 technologies will be tested focused on achieving four objectives: reducing boiling, improving propellant transfer, maintaining stable pressure and measuring propellant levels. The big problem. Cryogenic propellants, such as liquid oxygen at extremely low temperatures, are very efficient, but they have a major disadvantage. And in microgravity conditions, when the transfer between ships is carried out, the temperature cannot be kept low enough, so the fuel boils and suddenly transforms into gas. This causes a huge increase in pressure, which can endanger the ships involved. It seems to be that precisely this problem is the one that is giving SpaceX the most headaches. Like Blue Origin, this company must demonstrate its ability to refuel in space to be part of the Artemis missions, but it is not being easy. This is the reason why with LOXSAT methods will be tested to maintain stable pressure and reduce boiling. Space gas stations. The objective of this mission is to perfect the technology so that in the future there can be fixed propellant tanks in space. In other words, they hope that as we colonize space terrain we have gas stations so as not to run out of fuel. China on the heels. Ideally, in the future, large ships could exchange propellant. No space agency has achieved anything like this. However, China has indeed achieved it with satellites, in their Shijian missions. Plus, they did it in a higher orbit, so they are ahead of NASA in the particular race that has been uniting them for so long. Of course, at the moment, China has not tested cryogenic propellants, but tried hydrazine replenishment. There is still room for improvement. Write down the date. The mission will depart aboard an Electron rocket from Rocket Lab. The launch will be in the summer, no earlier than July 17, from New Zealand. Images | POT In Xataka | Jeff Bezos’ space company has overtaken SpaceX in a key milestone to go to the Moon and Mars: zero evaporation

“Slaughterbots” are no longer science fiction in Ukraine. Russians wear masks to avoid the drone that aims at their heads

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A few years before the start of the war in Ukraine, a Berkeley computer science professor presented at the UN a short called “Slaughterbots”a piece where small drones with facial recognition chased people autonomously. Many saw it then as another technological exaggeration in the style of the Black Mirror series. A few years later the short… has fallen short. Drones that search for tanks, search for people. For much of the Ukrainian war, drones were seen as a support weapon intended to destroy armor, correct artillery fire or monitor enemy movements. That phase has gone disappearing quickly. What is now emerging is something much more disturbing: cheap drones, produced by the millions, designed specifically to hunt down and kill soldiers. individually. They counted in Forbes that the Russian military channels themselves they are warning of Ukrainian FPVs equipped with thermal vision, reconnaissance systems and munitions capable of firing explosive projectiles at a distance directly against a human body. The detail that is generating the most fear is not the weapon itself, but the possibility that these drones are already learning to identify Where to hit to maximize lethality. The idea of ​​small autonomous devices “hunting” specific people no longer belongs to technological dystopias or viral YouTube videos: it is beginning to form part of the front line’s routine. A gigantic aerial hunting area. The most profound consequence of this revolution is that huge parts of the front have been transformed in “kill zones”those corridors where any human movement can be detected and destroyed from the air in a matter of minutes. Ukraine has especially perfected this model around cities like Kostyantynivka or Chasiv Yarwhere small Russian groups are identified long before approaching the defensive lines. The result has been devastating for classical Russian doctrines: large armored columns and mechanized assaults have become too visible and vulnerable. In response, Moscow is trying to create their own “drone racers”infiltrating small teams of operators hiding in basements, destroyed buildings or tree lines to build temporary bubbles of local air dominance. In other words, war is no longer just about controlling the terrain, it is about controlling the sky just a few meters above each soldier’s head. The true technological leap. The most important thing about these new systems is not the size of the explosive charge, but intelligence that begins to guide them. Many Ukrainian FPVs already integrate autonomy modules capable of continuing the attack even when the operator loses signal due to electronic interference. Western companies and civilian developers have created relatively inexpensive kits that turn commercial drones into smart munitions capable of automatically locking on and pursuing targets. Until recently, that autonomy was mainly used against vehicles; now the focus shifts to the infantry. Some models use EFP loadsformed explosive projectiles that do not need to hit directly to penetrate protection and kill the target from a distance. That eliminates many of the defenses improvised measures that had proliferated on the front, from metal nets even the famous Russian “turtle tanks”. The problem for soldiers is that hiding no longer guarantees survival: the drone can continue observing, wait for the exact moment and attack when it detects vulnerability. “Slaughterbots” stopped seeming over the top. We said it at the beginning, in 2017 Professor Stuart Russell launched the short film “Slaughterbots” as a warning about autonomous drones with facial recognition capable of murdering specific people. At the time it seemed like a futuristic hype designed to open ethical debates about military artificial intelligence. Nine years later, the parallels are beginning to be uncomfortable even for those fighting on the ground. Russian soldiers develop countermeasures that seem straight out of a science fiction movie: using masks to confuse recognition systems, throwing helmets as decoys, hiding their heads behind obstacles or remaining completely still to avoid thermal tracking. Obsession reflects a huge psychological change. For centuries, a soldier could attempt to protect himself from enemy fire using cover, armor, or distance. Many fighters now feel that there is a camera constantly watching them from above, capable of deciding when to attack and possibly where to do it to ensure death. The industrial and algorithmic battle. The great Russian fear is that Ukraine will manage to combine mass production, autonomy and precision on an unprecedented scale. kyiv aims to manufacture millions of FPVs a year, and that completely changes the mathematics of combat. Whether a relatively cheap drone can chase soldiers with hit rates close to 80%human wear and tear begins to take on industrial dimensions. That is why Russia is desperately trying to build its own drone racersdeploy interceptors and saturate local airspace before moving larger troops. However, Ukraine maintains an advantage in both quantity and technological sophistication, especially in optics, autonomous navigation and aerial interception. What is being seen in the Donbas is not simply a tactical evolution of drone warfare: it is rather the birth of a new form of combat where thousands of semi-autonomous machines continually compete to detect, pursue and eliminate individual human beings. And the most disturbing thing is that this transformation is just beginning. Image | Defense Ukraine In Xataka | Satellite images reveal how much Russia fears Ukraine’s drones. 7,000 km away they are covering their nuclear missiles In Xataka | Ukraine has resurrected one of the oldest tactics of warfare. And he is isolating Russian cities without the need for soldiers

Google mobile phones drop in price, Sony’s (almost) top headphones on sale, discounts on consoles and more. Hunting Bargains

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If you had been waiting for Friday like May water, today in Xataka we return with a new Hunting Bargains Loaded with offers, especially because El Corte Inglés is currently celebrating its Save the VAT. Do you want to buy a mobile phone or a console? Well, stay, there are very good prices. Google Pixel 9a by 348 eurosa small mobile phone with a good photography section. Sony WH-1000XM5 by 198.99 eurosexcellent headphones from Sony with one of the best noise cancellations we have tested. Google Pixel 10 Pro XL by 928 eurosGoogle’s top mobile phone with one of its best prices to date. nintendo switch 2 by 489 eurosa pack with the console, a video game and a keychain. Panasonic SC-HTB250EGK by 82.63 eurosa compact sound bar with wireless subwoofer. The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Google Pixel 9a It is not one of the most recent mobile phones that the brand has launched, but the Google Pixel 9a It is still available in many stores and… what prices. El Corte Inglés has it right now for 348 euros during its Save the VAT campaign, a fairly reasonable price for a smartphone of its size. It is quite small as it has a 6.3-inch screen, its refresh rate reaches 120 Hz, the software will be updated until 2032 and Its photographic section offers very good results. The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Sony WH-1000XM5 The same happens with the Sony WH-1000XM5. It will not be the most recent generation, but it is the one that usually has the best discounts in campaigns like the one at El Corte Inglés, since the store has them right now for 198.99 euros. These headphones stand out mainly because they have one of the best noise cancellations we’ve testedthey are quite comfortable even if we use them for hours and their autonomy is quite good. The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Google Pixel 10 Pro XL If the previous mobile phone falls short and you are looking for a much more complete and current model, The Google Pixel 10 Pro XL It has also dropped in price to 928 euros. It is Google’s most complete and largest mobile with a screen 6.8 inches and LTPO panel from 1 to 120 Hz. It incorporates the Google Tensor G5 processor along with 16 GB of RAM and its photographic section offers very good results both due to its sensors and the software. Google Pixel 10 Pro XL (256GB) The price could vary. We earn commission from these links nintendo switch 2 One more week we return with a new pack of the nintendo switch 2. MediaMarkt usually releases unofficial packs every week or two weeks and this time it has brought together the Nintendo console along with the video game ‘Pokémon Pokopia‘and a keychain’Mario Kart World‘. All this for 489 euros. That is, taking into account that the console costs 469 euros, the video game and the keychain would cost us 20 euros. It is a good pack, especially considering that the console will soon increase in price. Nintendo Switch 2 + Pokémon Pokopia + keychain The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Panasonic SC-HTB250EGK Having a sound bar at home as a companion for your TV doesn’t have to cost a fortune. El Corte Inglés, for example, right now has the Panasonic SC-HTB250EGK for a price of 82.63 euros. It includes its own wireless subwoofer, offers a total power of 120W at 2.1 channels and is compatible with Dolby Digital. In addition, it allows you to connect external devices via Bluetooth or HDMI. 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 | Google, Sony, Nintendo, Panasonic In Xataka | Best sound bars in quality price (2026). Which one to buy and seven recommended models from 99 euros In Xataka | The best mobile phones (2026), we have tested them and here are their analyzes

We have been growing rice for 9,000 years under the same thermal rule. We’re about to break it forever

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The rice It is not just another cerealbut it is the fundamental pillar that supports the diet of more than half of the world’s population. For millennia, humanity has relied on its ability to thrive in different latitudes and feed entire civilizations, but now we are about to bring this ancient crop to to unknown territory due to the increase in temperatures we are experiencing. They are documenting it. Rice has a limit to the conditions it can withstand in order to thrive, and science has sounded the alarm by pointing out that the thermal tolerance of rice has remained practically constant for the last 9,000 years, but now, in a matter of decades, we are about to break this barrier. A thermal limit. The research work has focused mainly on cross-referencing archaeological data from millennia ago with contemporary records of cultivation and future climate projections. In this way, after tracing the evolution of rice cultivation over the millennia, researchers discovered that its historical limits have barely changed. This means that ancient civilizations planted rice under temperature conditions surprisingly similar to the maximum temperatures supported by the current varieties we use. This is why the bug, evolutionarily speaking, has not adapted to extreme heat that it had never experienced before. The increase in temperature. The study estimates that, towards the end of the century, the geographical area that will exceed thermal thresholds could multiply between 10 and 30 times in the main rice-growing countries of Asia. This means that the regions that are now the world’s rice granaries could become biologically hostile to the plant, not allowing it to grow. The first cracks. It is not necessary to go to the year 2100 to see the effects of this crisis, but thermal stress is already affecting rice fields. This is evidenced by a recent study that analyzed the practical cultivation of rice in China and showed that global warming is already altering the rules of the game. According to this workthe increase in temperatures is causing alterations in the life cycles and flowering of the plant, in addition to a worse use of the thermal resource in several of the most important rice-growing areas of the Asian giant. In other words: extreme heat is desynchronizing the rice’s biological clock, making the plant less efficient at growing and producing grain. Its consequences They do not focus only on withered plants, but also translate into a drastic drop in production globally. Already in 2017, published research warned of plausible rice yield losses under future climate warming, and now we are seeing that the hotter the heat, the less grain per ear. The social problem. Something to keep in mind is that, although the increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide can increase plant growth, the reality is that its effects are distributed tremendously unevenly. Here science warns that these climate alterations are increasing the achievement gap between low-income and middle- and high-income countries. This also means that, while the richest nations will be able to invest in new infrastructure, cooling systems for crops or genetically modified varieties to be more resistant, the nations most dependent on rice will suffer the onslaught of production losses without being able to do almost anything. Race against the clock. A priori, we cannot trust that the natural evolution of rice will save us, because if we look back, we will see that if the thermal limit of the crop has not changed in 9,000 years, it will not do so magically in the next five decades. This means that alternatives must now be considered to save the most basic food or even prepare for a restructuring of agricultural areas in Asia. In Xataka | Spanish rice is discovering that there is something worse than droughts and pests: rice from Myanmar and Cambodia

The number of tourists to Antarctica has skyrocketed 1,000% in 30 years. There are those who believe that the real boom has not yet arrived

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The hantavirus crisis has served so that, at least for a few days, much of the planet remembered COVID-19 and what was exposed that there is a hyperconnected world and a changing climate to the expansion of pandemics. Also (even if only glancingly) to remember a phenomenon that has been gaining strength for years in a silent, discreet, but forceful way: the tourist exploitation from Antarctica. The MV Hondius was promoted like a cruise to remote destinations departing from Ushuaiastarting point also of the vast majority of ships traveling to the southern pole. He interest in Antarctica by the MV Hondius shipping company (Oceanwide Expeditions) is no coincidence. There are more and more signs that suggest that polo is becoming an important tourist asset… and (above all) on the rise. A percentage: 1,120%. Antarctica may be one of the most remote places on the planet, but that has not left it off the radar of the tourism. On the contrary. For some time the data of IAATOthe International Association of Antarctic Tour Operators, show that the region has never been busier. The annual balances may register slight fluctuations, but the curve they draw when the focus is opened and the last three decades are analyzed shows the growing popularity of the destination. The latest evidence has been provided The Vanguard in an article in which he leaves out a key fact: during the 2024 season, more than 122,000 people visited the continent, which represents an increase of 1,120% compared to 30 years ago, when the statistics did not exceed 10,00 visits. Is there more data? Yes. To be more precise, the last balance from IAATO shows that if in the 1993-94 season the number of disembarked passengers barely reached 8,000, in 2013-14 it already exceeded 27,700 and in 2023-24 it was close to 78,900. In parallel, the number of those who only travel on cruise ships, without setting foot on land, has also been increasing. If in 2013-14 there were 9,700 people, last season they exceeded 43,200. Looking ahead to the 2024-2025 season the body calculates a slight decrease in the number of travelers who do not get off the boat and an increase in those who do. The first would remain at 36,769, the second at 80,434. Added to these are 938 “deep field” visitors, as those who fly to the interior of the region or board a ship to explore the Antarctic Peninsula or the islands are called. USA, the big market. IAATO statistics allow us to go further and analyze, for example, the nationalities of travelers who stop in Antarctica. The Americans are in the lead, with 44.6% in 2023-24, followed far by the Australians and Chinese, who each take almost 8% of the pie. The British, Canadians, Germans, Argentines and Brazilians also stand out, although IAATO has identified visitors of more than 200 nationalities. As for what they do there, the vast majority (98%) of tourist trips focus on the Antarctic Peninsula during the southern summer season and They depart from Ushuaiasouth of Argentina. Activities offered upon arrival include zodiac trips, landings and (more rarely) kayaking, climbing or overnight stays. IAATO graph with the flow of visitors between 1993 and 2002. IAATO graph with the flow of visitors between 2011 and 2024. Looking to the future. The flow of tourists may have skyrocketed in recent decades, but could fall short in the coming years. At least that’s what the researchers who have just published believe. a study on “Antarctic tourism management” in Journal of Sustainable Tourism. In it, the team led by Dr. Valeria Senigaglia slips two pieces of information. First, verify the boom of visitors in the last 30 years: from less than 8,000 in 93/34 to more than 120,000 in the 2023/24 season. Second, he warns that if the model is not rethought, the number of tourists could quadruple in the next decade until reaching almost half a million people annually. “If the number of visitors grows at the average annual growth rate recorded between the 1992-1993 season and the 2023-2024 season (a constant annual growth rate of 14.0%), the total number of visitors is expected to almost quadruple in 10 years, reaching approximately 452,000 in the 2033-2034 season,” specify the paperwhich also recalls that approximately 65% ​​of the more than 120,000 tourists who currently take cruises to Antarctica travel on ships that allow disembarkation, operations that tend to concentrate at the same points. An invisible footprint. That Antarctica arouses curiosity and there are people who want to know it or even visit it is, a priori, nothing bad. The problem, like warn the authors of the report, is the impact that this growing flow of tourists can have on a particularly fragile ecosystem. Although all the details are taken care of during the landings and IAATO demand tourists not to touch or feed local wildlife or damage plants, their presence poses certain environmental risks. For example, Elie Poulin, from the University of Chile, warns in The Vanguard that tourism can unintentionally spread exotic species. It comes with someone transporting them without knowing it. “Widespread degradation”. “The risks are real. An invasive species of grass has established itself on one of Antarctica’s South Shetland Islands, while bird flu has reached the Subantarctic Islands, where it has had a devastating effect on the seal population,” warned Dana Bergstrom has long been an expert in Antarctic ecology. This is without taking into account the environmental footprint left by cruise ship traffic or frequent disembarkation in certain areas. “A major concern is that the cumulative impacts of tourism will interact with alterations in weather patterns, snowmelt, ocean currents and nutrient cycling caused by climate change, leading to widespread habitat degradation and declines in wildlife populations and diversity,” insist Senigaglia. Review the guidelines? The reality is that visiting Antarctica is still not the same as traveling to any other tourist destination on the planet. Since 1991 there has been a protocol of environmental protection of Antarctica that … Read more

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