They have asked 1,600 experts how the Universe works. They don’t agree on almost anything

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We continually read news about new findings that they defy the known physics of the Universe. This may lead us to ask ourselves something: do we know so little about the Universe that absolutely everything challenges it? To answer this question it is important to give a little context. Yes, a lot is known about astrophysics, but when we talk about something as immense as the Universe, even that “a lot” can fall short. Furthermore, much of this information is based on hypotheses that have been accepted as consensus, but not on absolute truths. Therefore, it is not strange that in the largest survey ever conducted It has been proven to astrophysicists and astrophysics fans that there is a lot of disagreement on almost everything related to the cosmos. The largest survey. In 2024, during an astrophysics conference in Copenhagen, a survey was carried out in which 85 experts participated. All of them had to answer a series of questions about some of the best-known theories in astrophysics. With this survey it was seen that there is a lot of disagreement, even in those theories in which there is supposed to be a great consensus. In order to check whether these disagreements were a result of the sample size, a new survey was carried out in 2025, this time with 1,600 people who had to answer 11 questions. Some participants were experts from the American Astrophysical Society. Others were amateur readers of Physics Magazine. With a larger sample, the results were very similar. There is very little consensus. From hypotheses to certainties. Science in general, and astrophysics in particular, is built on hypotheses that evolve as scientific advances are made. For this reason, it is often more full of probabilities than certainties. It is important to differentiate different branches of science. In health sciences, there are certainties. For example, we know that antibiotics attack bacteria and are not useful against viruses, no matter how many people insist on taking them for the flu. We also know that their abuse can be very harmful, since it contributes to the development of resistance in bacteria. Those are certainties, although logically there is also information that evolves over time. In astrophysics, hypotheses accepted by consensus often outnumber certainties. There are very clear certainties, such as that the Earth is not flat or that it revolves around the Sun. But also some hypotheses with which not even experts agree. Cosmic inflation wins. The issue on which there was the greatest consensus in the 2025 survey, the results of which were recently published, was cosmic inflation. That is, the hypothesis that points to an exponential expansion of the Universe which began in its first moments, after the Big Bang. 51% of respondents agreed that this theory explains many problems in cosmology at once and therefore has a high probability of being true. Talking about the Big Bang. The existence of the Big Bang was another of the theories with the greatest consensus in the survey, although the truth is that the figure is nothing to write home about either. 25% of the participants agreed that this event gave rise to the Universe 13.8 billion years ago. On the other hand, there were 68% of people who indicated that the Universe was born at a time when there was a large increase in temperature and density, but they did not indicate when that occurred. Disagreements with dark matter. Gravitational behaviors that do not respond to the observed mass have been observed in the Universe. That is, it seems as if there are massive objects exerting a gravitational attraction on others, but these objects are not detected, not even large accumulations of atoms. There is nothing. 27% of those surveyed consider that this can be explained by the existence of dark matter. However, there are 12% who believe that all this may be due to changes in the behavior of gravity on cosmic scales. That is to say, when we talk about the immensity of the Universe, the gravity exerted by objects is not the same. On the other hand, there are 5% of people who consider that the key is in primordial black holes. Although here we must emphasize that one of the hypotheses about the origin of dark matter is that it is formed in part by primordial black holes, so they would not be denying its existence. String theory to solve incompatibilities. The theory of general relativity was proposed on large, cosmic scales. On the other hand, quantum mechanics talks about the behavior of matter on a subatomic scale. Both questions seem incompatible, but to understand the Universe we need to work at both scales. Therefore, for a long time there has been thought about a theory that helps unify both issues. This, for 19% of those surveyed, is string theory. In it, subatomic particles, instead of being treated as points, are considered vibrational states of a more basic extended object, called a string. Normally, when we try to calculate the energy of a particle by considering it a mathematical point, without extension, we get closer to it eternally. We can do a kind of infinite zoom. On the other hand, when the points are replaced by strings with a minimum length, a result must necessarily be obtained. It does not tend to infinity. On the other hand, in string theory gravity, which not normally considered on a quantum scalearises naturally. Another hypothesis. The point is that, in the survey we are talking about, there are 12% of people who consider that string theory does not solve the problem, but that another theory does: that of loop quantum gravity. This, basically, acts in a completely opposite way. String theory emerges with quantum mechanics as a starting point and tries to find ways to make gravity make sense. On the other hand, the theory of loop quantum gravity starts from the General Theory of Relativity and attempts to quantize it in a way that … Read more

“They are hiring more engineers”

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Are you a software engineer and afraid of getting fired because of AI? Well don’t have it. At least, that is the position of a very interested party in the conversation around artificial intelligence. At this point, the name of Jensen Huang It will not be foreign to you. This is the CEO of Nvidia, a company that has gone from leading the GPU segment for playing video games for two decades to leave that market for focus on AI platforms. We cannot say that they are doing badly, of course, and within the strategy we have a Jensen who has become one of the most important ‘evangelists’ in the segment of the artificial intelligence. Within the framework of the Computex 2026 fair held in Taipei and in which PC manufacturers show their new products, Jensen commented that it is foolish to be afraid that an AI will replace us at work. The logic is that this AI will generate more jobsbut there is a question hanging over that argument: what kind of jobs. Because, if the optimism of all companies focused on the development and popularization of AI is one side of the coin, the other is that of lYoung people who cannot access jobs. And that of the companies themselves firing employees to replace them with… an AI. Jensen Huang is on a mission At Computex, Huang feels at home. Taiwan is home to some of the world’s most important technology companies not so much for their products. There we have giants like Asus, BenQ, Foxconn or Acer (among many others known to gamers). But, above all, we have TSMC. TSMC is the engine of the chip industry and Nvidia its current best client after overtaking Appleand Huang, furthermore, is a rockstar in Taiwan. During his time at the fair, Huang presented his new platform RTX Spark Superchip and a new chip to compete against Intel and AMD in the field of CPUs, but it has also taken advantage of the speaker to demonstrate again your opinion on the future of AI and work. The CEO consider that AI is something positive for both GDP and everyone’s profits, but also pointed out that it is “nonsense” to think that artificial intelligence is leading to people being fired from companies in the profile of software engineers. “The number of software engineers is actually increasing. People talk about AI reducing jobs, but it’s complete nonsense: it’s leading to more software engineers being hired” – Jensen Huang Huang is very vocal on this topic and has spent 2026 taking advantage of any interview, podcast or visit to universities and events to preach about the benefits of AI and the positive relationship between technology and employment. He has gone so far as to say that “AI creates jobs” and that it is the United States’ best opportunity to reindustrialize, pointing out that blaming AI for the very numerous layoffs in industries such as technology and video games is a “too lazy” practice. Now, as in every story, there is part that is true and part that is not so true. On the one hand, Huang is very interested the narrative that AI is a job creator. As we say, it is one of the parties most interested in technology continuing to advance because we are already seeing that it is a sector that moves a lot (a lot) of money and Nvidia is one of those that is taking advantage thanks to both its products and its commercial vision. On the other hand, the reindustrialization discourse is correct. The United States is seeking that reindustrializationthis flowering of the business fabric based on technology and, to this end, it is looking not only for part of its companies to move the industry from Asia to the US, but also to attract giants like the South Korean companies. Samsung and SK Hynix…and the coveted TSMC. Does data kill story? Huang’s argument makes sense. AI creates jobs. What it doesn’t say out loud is what type of job. Because engineers or those who have careers related to the development of AI Yes, it is “easy” to get into jobs related to AI, but the rest, and profiles without much experience, find it increasingly difficult. Technology companies are getting rid of juniorswhich are replaced by AI while those jobs are taken over by developers. AND jobs are opening in record numbers of more than 67,000 offers in engineering and 7,300 in product, but the fine print is that it is almost impossible for young recent graduates to apply for one of these positions due to the high degree of specialization that companies demand. And they are not only the requirements, but the technologies themselves who are citing AI efficiency as a driver for laying off their human workforce. Amazon with 16,000 employees and Microsoft with 15,000 are two examples. Heavyweights like Dario Amodei (CEO of Anthropic) point out that AI could eliminate approximately half of entry-level jobs and there are studies that link AI with almost 55,000 layoffs in the US in 2025 alone. For Huang, all of this is “ridiculous“because it won’t be AI that will make us lose our jobs: it will be because there will be someone who uses AI better than you. Furthermore, according to himAI has created 500,000 jobs in the last two years. And, in the background, we have two currents. On the one hand, the AI ​​optimists. On the other hand, a generation Z that is actively resisting adopting artificial intelligence in their daily lives and, especially at work. Because, compared to those who think that AI is a positive network for humanity because it gives opportunities that favor young people, there are some young people who they can’t find work once they graduate, they are thrown into a disconcerting work scenario and they are starring in a curious soundtrack in recent weeks. That of the boos to the AI ​​evangelists in universities. In Xataka | Companies are … Read more

To move the cutting head of the ‘Monica’ tunnel boring machine, a 152-wheel truck was needed. It’s the key to Australia’s ‘water battery’

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Transporting a gigantic tunnel boring machine to the work point is no small feat, and Madrid has a few things to say about this. However, in Cooma, a small town in the Australian state of New South Wales, they seem to have gotten the hang of it. And the colossal piece of steel crossed its streets at a snail’s pace on a 152 wheel truck. The cargo was part of Snowy 2.0one of the largest energy storage projects in the world. What is it about?. The piece was the central block of the cutting head of the tunnel boring machine named Monica. According to Snowy Hydro, the public company behind the project, this component weighs more than 137 tons and measures seven meters wide. The head is the part that really matters in a tunnel boring machine, since it is the rotating disc that faces the rock and crushes it as it moves. Media deployment. Monica’s head is too big to transport in one piece, so it had to be divided into five parts. Still, just moving the center block required months of preparation. The entire transport reached 73 meters in length, and was moved at night facing the last stretch along the Snowy Mountains Highway, heading to the Marica site, north of Kiandra, where the machine would be assembled. A colossal engineering project. This move was just one piece of a much larger puzzle. The company indicates that in the previous weeks more than 140 large loads were delivered to Marica from the port of Port Kembla, south of Sydney. The tunnel boring machines do not arrive assembled, as they are transported in sections (head, drive system, shields, support platforms) and are assembled on site. In fact, last October, the transport of Monica’s motor system (a component about 207 tons and eight meters wide) brought more than 1,500 people to Cooma, in what Snowy Hydro called one of the largest loads ever transported by road in New South Wales. What is all this for? Snowy 2.0 is, in essence, a gigantic water battery. The project will connect the Tantangara and Talbingo reservoirs through some 27 kilometers of tunnels and an underground power station. The idea is to generate electricity by turbineing water when demand is high and, in times of surplus solar and wind energy, pump it back uphill for reuse. The company assures that it will have a capacity of 2,200 megawatts and enough stored energy to supply about three million homes for a week. Start-up. Last February, Snowy Hydro announced that Monica had been commissioned and would be responsible for excavating the section of the tunnel that crosses the Long Plain fault zone, a geologically complicated area. Designed by the German firm Herrenknecht, the machine advances at one end of the tunnel while another tunnel boring machine, Florence, does so at the opposite. The idea is that both are underground before being dismantled. For those dates the project exceeded 70% execution. Snowy 2.0 has not been without controversy with news of cost overruns and delays, and completion is now scheduled for December 2028. Images | Snowy Hydro In Xataka | Canada is going to debut the residential skyscraper with the most floors in all of North America: it has 12 sides and 351 meters high

The prices of RAM and SSDs are skyrocketing everywhere, but there are alternatives to avoid spending a fortune

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It’s no longer just that the price of RAM memory is through the roof (which also): that of SSDs has followed the same path. Upgrading a PC right now is complicated if you don’t want to spend a fortune trying, but there are alternatives to spend less. The AliExpress Summer Promo has very powerful offers (on mobile phones especially), but also in PC components: you have this 1 TB Netac SSD for 114.80 euros if you use the coupon ‘XATAKAES20‘and pay with PayPal. The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Speaking of coupons, AliExpress has right now lots of assets to save on your purchases. We leave them here so that you have them on hand in case you want to make any additional purchases (remember that the coupons cannot be combined). Discount minimum purchase coupon 1 coupon 3 coupon 4 COUPON 3 euros 15 euros XATAKAES03 WEBEDES03 ESSS03 SSES03 6 euros 39 euros XATAKAES06 WEBEDES06 ESSS06 SSES6 10 euros 69 euros XATAKAES10 WEBEDES10 ESSS10 SSES10 20 euros 139 euros XATAKAES20 WEBEDES20 ESSS20 SSES20 30 euros 209 euros XATAKAES30 WEBEDES30 ESSS30 SSES30 45 euros 319 euros XATAKAES45 WEBEDES45 ESSS45 SSES45 65 euros 459 euros XATAKAES65 WEBEDES65 ESSS65 SSES65 110 euros 650 euros XATAKAES110 WEBEDES110 ESSS110 – Upgrading a PC without spending a fortune is still possible Is it a good price? Let’s analyze how the price of SSDs is currently with this one from the Forgeon brand as an example, similar in features. The lowest price for it, also with 1 TB capacity, was 61.95 euros last September. Since then it has done nothing but rise and right now it costs 189.95 euros (reduced from 234.99 euros). In that sense, it is clear that we are looking at a good price with this one from the Netac brand. It is about a NVMe PCIe 4.0 SSD able to reach speeds of up to almost 7,400 MB/s read. Of course, a small note: it is necessary that your motherboard is compatible with it. If your board only has PCIe 3.0 connectors, you can also use it, although it will not take full advantage of all its speed. The SSD is sold by the brand itself through AliExpress and shipping is free (delivery is estimated between June 7 and 15). It should also be noted that it is an SSD also compatible with PlayStation 5. DDR4 RAM can still be an interesting solution What if what you need is RAM memory? DDR5 RAM has very inflated prices, but we can find DDR4 RAM at good prices, which remains an interesting option for many usersespecially if your processor and motherboard are a few years old and you don’t want to change them. This Netac RAM memory can do you very well there: two modules of 8 GB of RAM each come out 75.45 euros with the coupon ‘XATAKAES10‘. DDR4 Netac RAM memory at 3,200 MHz (2 modules of 8 GB) The price could vary. We earn commission from these links As we say, they are two separate modules, so we will have a total of 16 GB of RAM in total. If we take a look at PcComponentes and look for something similar, it is difficult to find the same amount of memory with similar characteristics below 120 euros. 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 | Andrey MatveevAliExpress In Xataka | DDR4 or DDR5? What RAM to choose so as not to pay even more than necessary in the middle of the price crisis In Xataka | Faster (and more expensive) is not always better: the big difference between buying an SSD and an HDD for backups

Wallapop believed it had conquered the second-hand market in Spain. Until Vinted appeared

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Wallapop, formerly known as Fleapster. Wallapop It was founded on May 23, 2013 in Barcelona with that name that referred to the famous “flea markets”. Its promoters, Agustín Gómez, Gerard Olivé and Miguel Vicente, started with the support of the Antai Venture Builder accelerator and an initial catalog that they had obtained by shopping at flea markets. The app was designed to meet someone nearby and do the exchange in person, so geolocation was essential for this first version. The team understood a couple of ideas that gave the app a definitive boost: sending a sofa from Seville to Vigo is a pain, and trust between buyers and sellers grows when the seller is three streets away. To make themselves known, they gave part of the company to Atresmedia in exchange for television advertising space. The result was a campaign that turned “Walla!” into a recognizable catchphrase before anyone knew quite what it meant. Vinted, the power of moving. Vinted has five more years of history. Milda Mitkute ​​founded it in 2008 in Vilnius, Lithuaniawhen I was 22 years old and needed to get rid of more than a hundred clothes before moving. At a party he met Justas Janauskas, a computer engineer who built the first version of the site in ten days. The original name was manodrabuziai.l (“second-hand clothes” in Lithuanian) and in the first version they forgot to include a buy button. The platform expanded to Germany the following year, under the name Kleiderkreiseland did not arrive in Spain until many years laterwhen Wallapop already dominated the local market. Differences in use. The most visible difference between both platforms, and the one that most influences the behavior of their users, is who assumes the costs of the transaction. At Vinted the seller does not pay commission. Publish, sell and receive the full price in your wallet. The buyer assumes a protection fee of 0.70 fixed euros plus 5% of the price of the item, which covers incident management and payment retention until confirmation of receipt. Vinted eliminated seller fees in 2023. At Wallapop, in-person sales have no commission, which for bulky or high-priced items is more profitable for the seller. When Wallapop Envoys is used (the logistics service integrated into the app, which generated 74 million euros in 2024) the platform applies a management fee of around 10% of the sales price. There is also a second way of monetization for the platform, which has grown strongly: visibility services that give more relevance to an ad. generated 22 million euros in 2024, 27.6% more than in 2023. An important income for Wallapop, since it represents money for the platform regardless of whether the sale closes. The figures. Let’s look at some figures from 2024 and 2025 that allow us to trace the real state of each company. Vinted closed 2024 with 813 million euros in revenue36% more than the previous year, and a net profit of 76.7 million, which represents an increase of 330% compared to 2023, its first positive year. In 2025, Revenues rose to 1.1 billion (+38%). Net profit, however, fell 19% that year to 62 million due to spending on the expansion of Vinted Go to Spain and Portugal and the launch of Vinted Pay. Wallapop, for its part, closed 2024 with 101 million in revenue (+13%)consolidated losses of 25 million and the first break-even operating in the Spanish market since its foundation. In an average year, platform users generate sales of between 2,000 and 2,500 million euros, according to the company itself. Since 2013 it has accumulated more than 120 million euros in lossesalthough the trend is for a sustained reduction in those red numbers. Enter Korea. This same year, Naver, South Korea’s largest technology company, completed in January 2026 the acquisition of 100% of the company in an operation valued at 600 million euros. The transaction makes Wallapop the European spearhead of Naver in the recommercejoining Poshmark, which already performs these functions in the US and which the Korean group bought in 2023. The CEO of Naver Europe, Seokjoo Han, declared in Barcelona that the group intends to use the city as a base to expand into more European cities, relying on the parent company’s capabilities in artificial intelligence and search. Southern Europe: here we are. What is happening right now in Spain is the clearest reflection of the evolution of the sector. The trade in reused items in Spain reached a volume of 13.8 billion euros annually by 2025equivalent to 0.86% of the national GDP. It is a market that has been growing at a faster rate than general consumption for years, driven by inflation since 2021. Vinted has responded to this situation with the launch of Vinted Go in 2025. The company already operates this network in five markets (Belgium, France, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain), following the leap that Wallapop made some time ago from being a second-hand app to having a delivery infrastructure (although Vinted has its own logistics operator and Wallapop works with InPost). Wallapop, meanwhile, has been expanding its catalog beyond household objects for years. The engine is one of the categories where it maintains leadership in Spain. And the entry of Naver introduces the possibility of technological improvements in search and personalization that until now were out of reach. Both are getting closer to their rival as time goes by: Vinted is becoming less specialized in clothing, Wallapop is becoming more technological. A final and personal appreciation. Without this implying tipping the balance towards one of the two apps (which is not the purpose of this article), I would like to express my personal experience, linked to my long career selling items especially related to leisure (books, comics, movies, video games). For some time I have noticed how Vinted, which just a couple of years ago did not allow you to buy much beyond clothing, has made a very notable leap towards collecting: its presence in … Read more

The engineers who worked at FSD do not trust their own creation

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Elon Musk has been ensuring for a decade that full autonomous driving is just around the corner. Although the company has advanced in its driving assistance systems, a Reuters investigation reveals something worrying. Several people who worked on this project have denounced that the technology continues to suffer from basic and dangerous errors, and they confess that they would not get into a Tesla autonomous car for the world. what has happened. In this investigation, Reuters had the testimonies of nine “data taggers”—the people who train that Tesl AI system—as well as a software engineer who worked on the project. According to them, vehicles with these systems collide with animals, ignore the presence of school buses or accelerate in construction zones. One of the team’s veterans summed up everything in one sentence: “we have all seen the FSD fail.” Beware of public demos. Tesla has already launched robotaxi pilot programs in cities like Austin (Texas). Musk claims that his software is a generalized system that can be adapted to any city without high-precision maps, but these interviewees indicate that the operational reality is different. The trick. Tesla staff spent months recording videos and mapping the area of ​​Austin where the tests were to take place, and they spent hundreds of hours labeling curbs or road markings just to avoid problems during the demonstrations. According to these former employees, this level of intervention is unaffordable on a global scale. Comparing pears with apples. To maintain that the FSD system is up to ten times safer than human driving, Tesla uses a methodology criticized by experts. For example, he compares his cars (4.1 years old on average, modern safety systems) with the average American car, which is almost 13 years old. Phil Koopman, a professor at Carnegie Mellon University, explained that “It’s like saying my jet plane is faster than a World War II bomber.” The data reveals that if only accidents with airbag deployment are compared, Tesla’s advantage would not be 10 to 1, but 3 to 1, and even that figure is questionable. The controversial “Mad Max” mode. Internal videos have shown Tesla cars driving at speeds much higher than those allowed after the introduction of certain aggressive driving modes like the so-called “Mad Max”. Some of the employees who participated in the investigation reported cars traveling at almost 100 km/h in zones limited to 40 km/h. This aggressive driving is often treated as a low priority problem by its engineers, despite the risk it poses to road safety in these urban environments. Investigations in progress. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) currently has four open investigations into FSD and Autopilot. These cases include situations in which Tesla vehicles ignored red traffic lights or they turned directly into oncoming traffic. Fatal accidents that occurred are also being investigated in low visibility conditions —fog, sun glare—, and where the Tesla sensors, which are focused entirely on the use of cameras, have turned out to be insufficient. Where are the robotaxis? Almost a year after its launch in Austin, Tesla’s fleet of robotaxis it’s still tinyand consists of about 50 vehicles. It is also limited to very specific areas, and in cities like Dallas or Houston, users have complained that the cars do not drop them off at their exact destination. Besides, many of these vehicles They still have human drivers in the passenger seat who are there to avoid problems. It’s a reasonable practice, but it destroys the promise of full unattended autonomy that these vehicles offer. In Xataka | Elon Musk has come up with two names for Tesla’s self-driving taxi. And legally you can’t put any on it

Predicting Alzheimer’s 10 years in advance is now a scientific reality. The challenge now is to prevent healthcare from collapsing

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Alzheimer’s is a devastating disease that is undoubtedly a true ghost, since it only It becomes visible when the damage is already irreparable and that, despite trying to stop it, it is becoming difficult to control it. And historically, the medical diagnosis comes when memory begins to fail, but by then the brain has been suffering in silence for years, even decades. Now science focuses on the need for early diagnosis so that treatments can work. A new analysis. One of the ways to detect this disease before it begins to show the classic symptoms such as memory loss is through a blood test. This is the milestone that has been collected in The Lancet magazine recently thanks to research from the University of California, and that could generate a large population screening that is not free of controversy. What they did. The researchers followed 1,350 people aged between 56 and 69, without any type of dementia, for more than 35 years. And here the key was to look for specific proteins circulating in the blood that increased in the earliest phases of Alzheimer’s, as occurs with others marked in other diseases such as PSA in prostate cancer. And they found two biomarkers. The first of them is Aβ42/40, which is an early indicator that warns of the accumulation of hateful beta-amyloid plaques in the brain. But they also found the protein p-tau217, which is considered today the most precise marker for the pathology. The results. The 6% of participants who tested positive for these biomarkers showed a four-fold increased risk of developing verbal memory problems and a decline in their cognitive speed a decade later. But science has been trying to refine this tool for years, looking for markers such as GFAP, which rises about ten years before symptoms appear. See the invisible. The blood test does not walk alone in this diagnostic revolution, since on the same day, The Lancet published a second study based on nearly 800 participants from the US and Canada that tests a new and sophisticated neuroimaging technology: the MK6240 PET plotter. Until now, visualizing the tau protein, which is one of those responsible for Alzheimer’s by accumulating in neurons, was a great challenge. But this new tracer promises to be much more sensitive, detecting twice as many positive cases in healthy people with amyloid accumulation compared to the standard used today. You have to wait. Before throwing the bells in the air, it should be noted that experts point out that this test not ready to be used as general population screening. The reason lies in mathematics, since the prevalence of asymptomatic Alzheimer’s in healthy middle-aged people remains low in absolute terms, so applying this test to everyone would generate a very high volume of false positives. That is, an increase in this protein that is not actually related to early Alzheimer’s. But logically, the fear, anxiety and the resulting cascade of confirmatory tests would collapse the health services that are already stressed, and furthermore, the drugs we have, despite the fact that they stop the effects of the disease in its earliest phases, are not yet definitive. That is why we must remain on the right path, but there is still a long way to go to get this disease under control. Images | Robina Weermeijer Testalize.me In Xataka | Alzheimer’s no longer seems irreversible: science allows brains with advanced damage to recover for the first time in animals

The bizarre case of the Drizzle, the yacht that is attributed to Amancio Ortega but in which no one has ever seen him on board

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Follow the trail of the yachts and private jets of millionaires It is not simple because as a general rule they appear listed under the ownership of companies that are lost in the business network of their holdings. When that millionaire is someone so jealous of his private life like Amancio Ortegathe challenge is even greater. One of the simplest ways to establish a relationship between a millionaire and his yacht is to “hunt” him on board while enjoying his vacation or, by coincidence in time. For example, if the superyacht launchpad appears suddenly in Mallorcaand coincides with the fact that Mark Zuckerberg is seen in luxury establishments or restaurants on the island, it is one more indication to relate the yacht to its owner. The founder of Zara has always cultivated an extremely discreet profile and that has ended up causing a peculiar situation: there is a superyacht valued at about 300 million dollars that much of the sector specialist attributes to Amancio Ortega, although No one has been able to document that he was even on board.. The key to everything revolves around a name: Drizzle. The first Drizzle was linked to Amancio Ortega The story starts in 2012when the Dutch shipyard Feadship handed over to Amancio Ortega the superyacht Drizzlea 67.27 meter long boat with capacity for 14 people in five cabins and built for a client who, as the shipyard itself explained on the yacht’s page, had already owned another Feadship previously. Indeed, the Dutch manufacturer was in charge of building he Value Bthe yacht that both Amancio Ortega and his family have been using for more than fifteen years as family summer yacht. Furthermore, the millionaire has been seen on many occasions aboard the Drizzle of 2012, so its ownership or the millionaire’s connection with this yacht is beyond any doubt. He Drizzle It became one of the most recognizable boats in the private fleet of the founder of Inditex and for more than a decade it coexisted with the Valoria B, which became the most used by his daughter Marta Ortegacurrent non-executive president of Inditex. The Drizzle by Amancio Ortega The sale of the yacht and rumors about a replacement The situation began to change in 2023, when the millionaire put up for sale his Drizzle for an estimated price of 76 million. The operation coincided with rumors that Amancio Ortega had ordered a new yacht at the Feadship shipyards, a project known internally as Project 1012 and was valued at more than 300 million. Peccadillo for someone with an estimated fortune at about 139.2 billion dollars. The project remained surrounded by secrecy during much of its construction, something common in the superyacht market, where the identity of the owners is usually kept hidden by very restrictive confidentiality contracts. Project 1012 at the Feadship shipyards The problem came when it was officially presented Project 1012 and the shipyard confirmed the final name of the vessel: Drizzle. Suddenly, there were two different yachts with exactly the same name. In this case, it was a gigantic 91.8 meter long superyacht that became the first boat from the Dutch builder to obtain Hybrid Electric Class certification. On one hand there was the Drizzle 67-meter original associated for years with Ortega and, on the other hand, a new Drizzle of 2024 of almost 92 meters, built more than a decade later and handed over to an owner whose identity was never officially announced by Feadship. The coincidence in name caused numerous observers to automatically assume that the new ship It was the replacement of the previous one and which, therefore, also belonged to the founder of Zara. Current Drizzle, 92 meters long and worth 300 million dollars There is a detail that doesn’t quite fit The problem is that the known public evidence does not clearly support this theory and, in reality, Nothing indicates that Amancio Ortega is the owner of that yacht. Unlike what happened with other vessels linked to the Galician businessman, there are no known photographs of Amancio Ortega using the new Drizzle delivered in 2024. Nor have regular stops of the superyacht been documented in tourist destinations that have historically been linked to the family vacation of the founder of Inditexwhich is characterized by having a great attachment to following habitual habits and routines, as demonstrated by its annual presence in the Galician estuaries as soon as summer begins. Meanwhile, the businessman’s most recent public appearances continue to be linked to the Value B. This summer, for example, Ortega has been seen beginning his holidays in the Aldán estuary aboard that vessel. The navigation logs place the new Drizzle operating mainly in the Mediterranean under the Maltese flag, and quite a few movements between different Mediterranean ports which indicates that the yacht is, indeed, being used. Moving a superyacht of these dimensions it is even more expensive to keep it in portso if it were not used, changing ports would be a waste. In addition, the portals specialized in yacht charter (rental) indicate that he Drizzle (the one from 2024) is not on the rental market, so these movements and Port changes have no commercial justification. In fact, while Amancio Ortega was enjoying his first summer days in the Aldán estuary aboard the Valoria B, the supposed new yacht that many attribute to him was preparing to arrive at the port of Monaco in what seems like an approach to take positions in busy Port Hercule ahead of the Monaco Grand Prix. The lack of photographs of the millionaire on board his new yacht, the absence of official confirmations of his ownership and movements that do not coincide with the known habits of the businessman have ended up turning the new Drizzle in one of the most curious mysteries in the world of superyachts, in which Amancio Ortega continues to be the X of the equation to be solved. In Xataka | Amancio Ortega reaches an agreement for a million-dollar debt with a … Read more

China has found a giant “tunnel” to introduce its cars into Europe without Europe. And it is facing Spain

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In 2007, when Morocco inaugurated the port from Tangier Med off the Spanish coast, many saw it as an ambitious logistical gamble. Less than two decades later, that port has not only become the largest of the Mediterranean and Africabut has begun to surpass historic European giants like Algeciras in traffic. What seemed like a regional infrastructure ended up becoming one of the main commercial gateways to Europe. A half-open door to Europe. Europe has been trying for years reduce your dependency China’s industrial sector and, more recently, protect its manufacturers against the avalanche of electric vehicles from the Asian giant. The tariffs imposed by Brussels, in fact, respond precisely to that objective. However, I remembered the weekend the financial times that, while attention was focused on Chinese ports and factories in the country’s interior, Beijing began to build a much closer alternative: an industrial network located on the other side of the Strait of Gibraltar. The growing concern in Brussels does not arise because China is exporting more cars from its territory, but because it is transferring part of its production capacity to a country that enjoys privileged access to the European market. Map of the surroundings of Tangier, with Tanger Tech City (to the south), Tanger Automotive City and the port of Tangier Med Morocco as an industrial platform. It explained the means that the transformation is visible around Tangier and Kenitrawhere Chinese investments in tires, brakes, electronic components, battery materials and future gigafactories are multiplying. What is emerging are not simple isolated plants, but a supply chain increasingly complete capable of feeding the European electric car industry. Morocco offers practically everything you are looking for manufacturers: geographical proximity to Europe, competitive labor costs, renewable energy, tax advantages and an extensive network of trade agreements. For many Chinese companies, producing there is more attractive to continue manufacturing in China and then face the growing European trade barriers. The fear of Brussels. European concern does not lie solely in foreign investment. What is worrying is the possibility that Morocco will become in an indirect way so that products backed by Chinese capital, technology and subsidies enter Europe with much more favorable conditions. The European Commission already has detected cases in which components manufactured with Chinese financial support end up benefiting from preferential agreements. The challenge is to distinguish where it ends an authentic Moroccan industrialization and where a strategy designed to circumvent tariffs begins. Put another way, the more complex supply chains become, the more difficult it becomes to answer that question. Beijing’s geographical advantage. If you like, China too. has understood that geography can be as important as technology. Off the Spanish coast is a country connected by trade agreements with Europe and the United States, equipped of modern ports and increasingly integrated into global production chains. From the Chinese perspective, installing factories in Morocco does not mean abandoning Europe, but rather get even closer to her. Instead of shipping finished products from thousands of miles away, companies can manufacture components and vehicles a few hours of the main European markets. The strategy reduces costs, limits commercial risks and makes the application of protectionist measures difficult. A battle for European industry. What happens in Morocco reflects much broader economic competition. Europe tries to protect an industrial base that consider strategicas China looks for new ways to keep its huge manufacturing capacity running despite increasing Western restrictions. The result is that North Africa is becoming a space increasingly disputedwhere the interests of Brussels, Rabat and Beijing intersect. For Morocco, investments mean jobs, infrastructure and growth. For China, they represent a privileged platform next to the gateway to the European market. And for the European Union they constitute a uncomfortable question: If Chinese production can be installed just on the other side of the Mediterranean, to what extent are tariffs really capable of slowing its advance? Image | Adam Cle, The Spanish Monkey In Xataka | China and Europe do not trust each other when it comes to electric cars. And someone is taking advantage of it: Türkiye In Xataka | The Chinese auto industry is moving to colonize Africa and Latin America. Also to be your springboard

Computer companies didn’t make money on computers. What they are doing is making money thanks to AI servers

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On Friday, May 29, Dell shares they grew 39% suddenly. Since becoming a publicly traded company seven years ago, Dell has never had a rise like that. At first glance, this growth would seem strange, but the company has discovered that with stagnant PCs, the focus had to change. Nothing has gone wrong with that turn of the helm, but other traditional PC manufacturers have also taken advantage of the opportunity. The PC is dead, long live the server. In recent years the PC segment has been struggling with low margins and sales that have slowly been slowing down. Manufacturers were totally tied to that situation, but some have taken advantage of the opportunity that AI offered them. Dell and Lenovo rub their hands. Dell published its financial results and they were spectacular: 88% year-on-year growth thanks to the fact that its revenue in the server segment has risen 757%. Not only that, its guidance for this year has improved as well, further boosting confidence in the company’s near-term future. Lenovo also had a fantastic quarter: May was its best month on the stock market since 1999, doubling the value of your shares thanks again to that fever for hardware dedicated to AI. AI as a shield against inflation. The entire sector is experiencing a paradoxical situation: the cost of components such as DRAM memories or SSD units is absolutely shotbut companies are earning more than ever. Dell has tripled its net profit to $3.44 billion, allowing it to offset those costs through almost daily price increases. Lenovo has managed to maintain its margins because once again the market is willing to pay whatever it takes for servers and AI infrastructure. Beyond hyperscalers. One might think that to have resources in the age of AI it would be necessary to turn to hyperscalers (Amazon, Microsoft, Google), but Dell and Lenovo have shown that their experience in servers has managed to offer an alternative for all types of clients. Jeff Clarke, chief operating officer at Dell, explained that the need for AI hardware is so enormous that this segment continues to break sales records. The PC is no longer the protagonist. Although Dell’s Client Solutions division—which includes its revenue from PC and laptop sales—grew a more than decent 17%, that figure pales in comparison to the 181% growth of its infrastructure division. Lenovo follows a similar line: its shares rose 22% last Friday after confirming that its AI revenues manage to offset the weakness of the traditional PC business. The focus changes. Something similar happens with HPE, the company that spun off from HP to focus on the business segment. Its server business hasn’t grown as much, but they already have contracted orders worth $5 billion and that guarantees a promising second quarter. Other consumer products makers are also migrating to AI infrastructure: Foxconn has absolute trust in which the demand for these components will continue to be exceptional in the coming months, and the same happens with Quanta Computer, which continues to see how its servers do not stop growing in importance in revenue for the company: They were already 80% of the total in the first quarter of 2026. Image | Dell In Xataka | For some people there is something much better than having a PC at home: having a server rack

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