usatoday24

The offer has arrived for which I would consider buying an iPhone 16 instead of the new generation of Apple mobile phones

November 6, 2025 by usatoday24

He iPhone 17 has arrived with quite a few improvements and new features, so it was difficult to get interested in a iPhone 16 which has remained at too stable a price for quite some time. But things have changed with the new offer that it has received at Powerplanet, whose price finally breaks the barrier of approximately 800 or more euros that we see in other stores, remaining in this case for 699 euros. Of course, it is worth clarifying that it is his international version. The price could vary. We earn commission from these links An iPhone that finally drops in price He iPhone 16 It is still a good mobile phone although the new generation has certain new features or improvements thanks to the fact that it is a powerful model thanks to its A18 chipwhich also makes it compatible with Apple Intelligence. In addition, it is also ideal for those looking for a more compact format (6.1 inches) than that of the iPhone 17 (6.3 inches). It also has other interesting specifications such as its compatibility with Apple MagSafe —something that not all iPhones offer, like the iPhone 16e-, his IP68 certification with resistance to water and dust or its Camera Control button. On the other hand, it is also a good mobile phone for taking photographs, since on the front we find a 12 MP camera while on the back it incorporates a camera module that is made up of a 48 MP main sensor and a 12 MP ultra wide angle. You may also be interested Spigen Liquid Air Case Compatible with iPhone 16 – Matte Black The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Spigen Glas.tR EZ Fit Screen Protector for iPhone 16, iPhone 15, 2 Units, Easy Installation, High Definition, 9H Hardness 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 | Pedro Aznar in Applesfera, Apple In Xataka | Best iPhones. Which one to buy and recommended models based on budget, tastes and quality-price In Xataka | The best mobile phones, we have tested them and here are their analyzes

a few steps a day are enough to stop the spark that ignites the disease

November 6, 2025 by usatoday24

The 10,000 steps rule It is truly classic, and has become the default target for smartwatches and activity bracelets. And although we sense that walking is good, science continues to give us the reasons to go for a walk, and above all how much time we should invest in this. The latest finding already indicates that walking can have a surprising connection with slower cognitive decline and Alzheimer’s proteins. Why it is important. Alzheimer’s is a disease that is undoubtedly devastating due to the symptoms it generates in both the patient and the impact on family members. To this day still The origin of the disease continues to be investigatedand above all looking for therapeutic targets that allow us to create a treatment that cures the disease, since today we only have medications to alleviate some symptoms and try to slow down the disease a little. But nothing miraculous. But another point of the investigation also focuses on prevention. The problem of not perfectly understanding why the disease originates makes it necessary to look for preventive remedies, such as walkingas this study has shown, but which adds to others that have already been seen such as education. The key. The studyconducted by researchers from the Harvard Aging Brain Study (HABS), followed 296 cognitively healthy older adults over a long period, with follow-up up to 14 years in some cases. Unlike many studies that rely on participants’ memory (which are hardly objective), this one used objective trackers (pedometers) to measure the actual number of daily steps. In parallel, they scanned their brains looking for the two “villain” proteins of Alzheimer’s: beta-amyloid (Aβ) and tau. Amyloid forms plaques out of neurons, while tau forms tangles inside of them, killing them. It is literally the garbage that cannot be eliminated from the brain and that begins to accumulate in the neurons and the space between them. This causes them to literally die from the accumulation of garbage inside and begin to generate the classic symptoms. The results. The first news we found is that walking does not allow the amyloid neurons to be ‘clean’. But the important thing here is that in people who already had high levels of amyloid, physical activity was associated with a slower accumulation of tau protein in a key region of the brain: the inferior temporal cortex. And this has been fundamental to see that the cognitive decline was much less. Bottom line: amyloid may be the phosphorus, but tau is the gasoline. Physical activity does not extinguish the match, but it seems to make it harder for the gasoline to ignite inside our neuron. It is a new way to stop Alzheimer’s. A magic number. The question we can ask ourselves in this case is clear: how many do we have to go to achieve this protective effect on tau? The researchers, after dividing the participants into different groups according to their physical activity, saw a ‘curvilinear relationship’. This means that profits do not increase infinitely. The biggest jump in protection (slowing tau accumulation and cognitive decline) was seen when moving from the ‘inactive’ to the ‘low activity’ group. Regarding the data, taking between 5,000 and 7,500 steps already offers a significant benefit, making going beyond 7,500 steps not offering an added benefit or additional protection. And that is why we already have the magic number that we should do daily on our walks. A more realistic goal. This is fantastic news. For many older or sedentary people, the goal of 10,000 steps can seem daunting and unattainable. This study gives a little respite and lowers this goal (always talking about neurological protection) to 5,000-7,500 steps. Although this does not correlate with the recommended steps to have cardioprotection. The authors conclude that targeting physical inactivity is a key strategy for future interventions. And for clinical trials, they suggest that it would be most effective to preferably enroll sedentary individuals who already show elevated amyloid in their brains, since they are the group that would benefit the most. Images | Adam Cai Natasha Connell In Xataka | We have been detecting a relationship between herpes and Alzheimer’s for years. Now we are discovering that treating one helps the other

feast on roast chicken

November 6, 2025 by usatoday24

For the first time in the history of space exploration, six astronauts they have had a feast with space-roasted chicken and beef. The scene took place aboard the Chinese space station Tiangong, where the crews of the Shenzhou-20 and Shenzhou-21 missions celebrated their reunion by cooking chicken wings and steaks in an oven specially designed to operate in microgravity. An orbital culinary milestone. He video released by the Chinese National Space Agency (CNSA) shows flight commander Chen Dong grilling half a dozen wings in a small oven built into the station wall. The pieces of meat are placed on a cage-type rack to prevent them from floating, and the device, which is more like a dryer than a conventional kitchen appliance, cooks them for 28 minutes until they get a nice golden brown. After the wings, the crew also prepared hydrated beef steaks. Click on the image to go to the post A more important comfort than it seems. Kang Guohua, professor of aerospace engineering at Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, explained Chinese state media that these types of amenities are essential to keep crews psychologically “connected” during their long stays in orbit. The furnace arrived at Tiangong with the Shenzhou-21 mission, which reached the station on October 31, breaking the national speed record in docking maneuvers. Technology to stay. Unlike the Zero G prototype which NASA tested in 2019 to bake cookies on the International Space Station, a temporary experiment, this Chinese oven is permanently integrated into Tiangong’s systems. According to the China Astronaut Center, the device works without overloading the electrical network of the station, provides consistent, smoke-free baking conditions in microgravity, and is certified for up to 500 uses. This is a crucial feature, as space stations rely on tightly controlled life support systems and rigorous fire safety protocols. A full belly, a happy heart. The images went viral on social networks, with users joking and highlighting the difference between the food of Chinese space missions and the rest. The crew of Shenzhou-21 will stay in Tiangong for six months conducting experiments including, according to payload specialist Zhang Hongzhang, Chinese gardening, zero-gravity tai-chi, and space poetry. Meanwhile, the Shenzhou-20 crew, which had been on the station since April, was scheduled to return to Earth on November 5, although his return was postponed due to a possible collision with small space debris that required additional safety checks. Cover image | CNSA In Xataka | A Harvard astronomer has accused NASA of hiding 3I/ATLAS images. has an explanation

Convenience stores were an emblem of Japan. Until the demographic crisis has revealed the dark side of opening 24 hours

November 6, 2025 by usatoday24

The stores japanese convenienceknown as konbini, are not simple shops where you buy fast food or basic products, they are a deep part of the social fabric of the country. Its success is measured not only in numbers (more than 55,000 establishments spread across the 47 prefectures) but in the way in which they accompany daily life: they allow you to pay bills, send packages, print documents, buy tickets for shows, resolve unforeseen events, take refuge in case of emergency or simply take a break in them. And now that the country doesn’t stop agingthe stores are mortally wounded. The konbini. Let’s think that, in urban neighborhoods, rural towns or isolated coastal areas, these establishments have become the minimum infrastructure indispensable where there used to be post offices, banks or small family businesses that have now disappeared. The store, therefore, is not just a business: it is a safe space, open and available 24 hours a day, an emotional and logistical support point that has shaped the Japanese daily rhythm and has captivated even to millions of touristswho find in these establishments a mix of efficiency, warmth and aesthetic thoroughness that is difficult to replicate. Efficiency and expansion. I remembered the new york times in summer that the development of the Japanese konbini has been the result of an evolution of decades. Since 7-Eleven opened your first store In Japan in 1974, the combination of non-stop hours, quality fresh food (onigiri, bentō, noodles, seasonal desserts) and integrated services made the model a unique phenomenon. For many residents, these stores are literally the closest store, the most accessible ATM, the place to go when something is missing or something happens. The associated image is one of precision: perfectly organized shelves, impeccable coffee machines, attentive employees, continually renewed food and a sense of total availability. From Japan to the world. This internal success was projected outwards, so that 7-Eleven, today Japanese owned, is the largest retail chain on the planet, and global expansion plans aim mainly to North America. The konbini became an exportable image of Japan: efficient, friendly, reliable. The hidden reverse. But not everything shined the same. one piece from the Financial Times has revealed that behind that facade of functional perfection A franchise system is under increasingly intense tensions. Japan agesthe active population is decreasing and small businesses are experiencing increasing difficulties to hire staff. The model requires stores open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and the pressure not to close falls squarely on the owners. He Akiko’s case and her husband, a 7-Eleven manager who worked without a day’s rest for six months until dying by suicide, starkly revealed the human price of this silent perfection. And more. It was not an isolated case: a labor inspection recognized the relationship between death and overwork, but the root of the problem is structural. Franchisees must deliver between 40% and 70% of gross profit to the parent company, which reduces their margin and exposes them to absorbing personnel, overtime and unforeseen charges. Visible efficiency therefore has an invisible cost. The crisis of the model. Faced with the problem, the chains 7-Eleven, FamilyMart and Lawson have tried make schedules more flexibleintroduce automatic checkouts, ordering systems assisted by AI and robots cleaning to reduce the need for labor. But none of these measures solve the main equation: fewer available workers and more opening hours supported by fewer people. Domestic consumption is also not growing as before, which limits the owners’ ability to increase payrolls. As minimum wages rise, margins narrow even more. many managers they work for free for dozens of hours to keep their stores open. Some they confess that, in the current state, closing would be a more rational option than continuing to operate. The fragility of the system thus becomes visible: if there are no new franchisees willing to take over, the model can collapse. Adaptation or goodbye. The response of the companies points towards a profound transformation of the model. 7-Eleven study contracts renewed from 2027, possibly moving towards the “mega-franchise” model, where the same owner manages multiple stores and distributes human resources between them. However, this implies a concentration of the business and could further displace the small independent owners who historically defined the konbini as a community space. The central question is whether the konbini will continue to be a connected capillary network to the territory or whether it will become a centralized corporate system, more profitable but less close. The great dilemma. If you will, the konbini was born as proximity symbol and frictionless service, and became part of emotional memory from Japan: open places when everything else is closed, spaces where the daily routine has a friendly pause. But that same ideal has been held for decades by people whose efforts they have become invisible beneath the surface of efficiency. Today, the system faces a limit that is not technological, but human. The future of the konbini will depend on whether Japan manages to rebalance the contract between the community, the company and those who keep the doors open at any time, 365 days a year. If it manages to adapt without sacrificing those who support it, it will continue to be an intimate and essential institution. If not, it could become the emblem of a society that knew how to take care of every detail… except for the people who made it possible. Image | Pexels, Japanexperterna, Shankar S. In Xataka | While half the planet aspires to retire, in Japan the opposite is true: 100-year-olds who only want to work In Xataka | The aging population and a poor pension system have a new symbol in Japan: grandmothers are rented

If the question is whether you have to pay garbage tax for a parking space in Madrid, the answer is: good luck with the Cadastre

November 6, 2025 by usatoday24

April 8, 2022. The Government publishes in the BOE Law 7/2022, on waste and contaminated soils for a circular economy. Behind this name hides a small bomb that has been exploding, little by little, in each municipality. In Madrid, that detonation has come this year. Beyond the calculation, there are thousands of car parks that are now wondering: do I have to pay the new garbage fee? Where do we come from? My colleague Carlos Prego explained it a few days ago in Xataka. Madrid has recalculated its garbage rate, making reference to the famous Law mentioned above with a calculation that the OCU has come to define as “original and unfair”. The point is that controversy has arisen because Madrid City Council said “eliminate” this rate in 2015, alleging that they removed the tax burden from the citizen. The 2022 Law obliges municipalities with more than 5,000 inhabitants to begin collecting it, following European guidelines. To calculate that rate, The City Council has taken into account the cadastral value of the apartments or the tonnage of garbage that is collected in each neighborhood. That is, those who live in a neighborhood where more garbage is generated will pay more… and that directly affects neighborhoods with great tourist activity (hotels, tourist apartments…), commercial or very densely populated. a truce. The criticism has been so virulent on the part of the oppositionof the neighbors and of the associations of consumers who the City Council has partially rectified. They assure that now it will be taken into account the number of registered in each household looking ahead to next year. But what happens where no one lives? Yes, where, for example, there is a parked car because we are talking about a garage. And the garbage rate also affects the owners of a parking space… At least, apart from them. and a battle. Because although the neighbors seem to have received a truce with the new calculation in the garbage rate, which, yes, the City Council continues to defend that it will have little impact on obvious changes for neighborsthe new open front is what happens to the parking lots. And the door had been opened for a neighbor to have to pay a garbage fee for his home and another garbage fee for his parking lot. Despite the fact that, obviously, the garbage generated by a parking space is minimal or non-existent. Little more than general cleaning if we talk about a community parking lot. However, the rate taxes the provision of the service of collection, transportation and treatment of urban waste, in the words of the College of Administrators. That is, the same person (house and garage) could be charged for a single garbage collection. Who pays then? Those who will pay. Those owners of parking spaces whose parking lot is registered in the Cadastre as a “parking-industrial-use warehouse”, in the words of a circular sent by the Madrid College of Administrators to the Property Administrators of the Capital. What does this mean? They clarify it from the Cadastre which, upon consultation with one of these administrators, have confirmed that they are those independent garages that cannot be accessed from a home or from the common areas of a building. That is, those in which garbage is collected individually. Those who will not pay. Those owners of a parking space whose parking is registered in the Cadastre as “residential use”. Or, in a simplified way by this last entity, which are accessed from a home or from common areas with another building. In that case, they may be communities of different owners (garage and building) but if access is from the same common areas, the former will not pay the garbage fee. What does the City Council say? That they adhere to the type of land use specified in the Cadastre and, therefore, that it is the latter that specifies who should or should not pay the garbage rate. The only solution given in this case by the College of Property Administrators of Madrid is for the community to present a declaration of cadastral alteration to specify that the land use is residential and does not correspond to industrial use. The other alternative is to present a written due to discrepancies with the description of cadastral use. Photo | Kertis Stick and Madrid City Council In Xataka | The best horror movie of this winter has been released. And the protagonists are the owners of a home in Spain

every time I stepped on the brake it smelled like singeing

November 6, 2025 by usatoday24

Some cars at auction They seem like a bargainbut what one does not expect is that something that appears first-hand ends up holding a rather strange surprise. As and how did he count police in Ludwigsburg (north of Stuttgart) on their Facebook profile, someone bought a Mercedes-Benz GLE 400a high-end SUV that originally costs about 100,000 euros in its base model. However, on the way back home, the new owner discovered something that literally smelled like singeing every time he stepped foot. the brake pedal. “Eco-friendly” brake system Every time the new owner stepped on the brake pedal, he noticed that it began to smell like burnt wood, in addition to not braking as expected of a car worth almost 100,000 euros, so he decided to take it to the workshop. There, the mechanics made an impressive discovery: the front brake pads were actually blocks made of wood that fit perfectly into the space that the brake calipers were supposed to occupy and that, to make matters worse, even had the word “Brembo” written in marker, a popular brand of high-end brakes. This discovery led to the local Ludwigsburg police becoming involved in the investigation to discover what happened. The police themselves were surprised by the discovery “You don’t see something like this every day: wood instead of brake pads! It’s ingenious, but dangerous,” they published on your Facebook account. Tap on the image to go to the original message Obviously, the police confirm that this is not a case of counterfeiting of original parts of the brand. Something that, on the other hand, would not have been strange. According what was published by Self-easyIn 2023 alone, a team from the German brand working together with the police removed 1.6 million counterfeit parts and components from the market, and in 2024 the figure rose to 1.5 million components that are manufactured in clandestine factories. How did those wooden pills get into a luxury car? According to one of the hypotheses that the German police are considering, it seems like a strange mistake that probably occurred in a workshop. Some shops use wooden shims to hold the pistons that activate the pads in place while they are changed for new onesespecially after bleeding the brake system. It is possible that the replacement was delayed and that the workshop had to move the car within its facilities, so the “vegetable” pads covered the gap in the brake pads and allowed the car to be started to move it, since to start it it is necessary to press the brake pedal while pressing the start button. For some strange reason, no one noticed that the replacement of the brake pads had not been completed, so the car, perfectly functional thanks to the “trap” of the pads, was taken to the auction site without anyone noticing. Once the mystery of the ecological brake padsthe agents are trying to locate the workshop where this intervention was carried out to clarify if it was negligence and prevent something like this from happening again. Beyond the bizarre nature of the situation, this is a serious case of involuntary negligence on the part of the repair center. Driving with these brake pads poses a huge risk to road safety that could have caused a serious accident. Something smelled like singeing at that auction. In Xataka | I always dreamed of buying a Ferrari. What I never imagined was that I could buy it for 150 euros Image | Mercedes-Benz

Years ago Alicante opted for an artificial island with a luxurious restaurant and taxi boat. It hasn’t turned out as I expected

November 6, 2025 by usatoday24

The idea was good. AND on paper It was fable. Set up a restaurant an artificial island in the heart of the port of Alicante, a benchmark in the Valencian hospitality industry where people could eat paella or have a drink with views of the Mediterranean (directly on it, rather), surrounded by sailboats. So that clients could reach the island, it was even thought to build a taxi boat. The idea sounded so good, in fact, that the Port of Alicante decided to invest heavily in it, dedicating millions of euros to it. Now instead of an idyllic island to drink mojitos and coffees in the middle of the mouth what it has is a huge mess. An artificial island? That’s how it is. To understand it you have to go back a few years, to beginning of 2022when the Alicante Port Authority awarded Vías y Construcciones (subsidiary of the ACS Group) one of its most ambitious projects, at least as far as the interrelation between the docks and the city is concerned. What the Port entrusted to the company was the construction of a large platform at the mouth of its inner dock, a sort of artificial island of 669 m2 (34.8 x 20m) that would be supported with the help of three large 14 m concrete piles anchored to the seabed. The contest was launched with a budget of 2.7 million (taxes apart) and aroused the interest of several companies. The AC Group firm ended up imposing itself on the rest with a project of 2.1 million. And what did they want it for? The platform was just a means, not an end in itself. Its objective was to support a future restaurant located in a privileged enclave, a place that would offer food and drinks not with views of the sea (many bars in Alicante already have that) but directly over the sea. If the island measured 669 m2, the idea was that the building dedicated to hospitality uses would occupy 393 m2 on the ground floor and rise two levels (ground and first floor). The remaining 260 m2 would be dedicated to public access, with a three-meter wide promenade. So that people could reach that privileged enclave, it was also planned a taxi boat. The idea was once again ambitious: a purpose-built, sustainable boat managed directly by the restaurant. Did it stay in theory? No. The Port of Alicante took important steps to make the project a reality. The main one was the awarding of the works for the island platform, which ended up being erected, as can be verified today on the docks. The problem is that what should have been a simple work in theory ended up becoming complicated in a bad way, as recently recognized the Port itself. In 2023 one of the support pillars partially sank, requiring reinforcement work to be carried out on the seabed. From there the project entered a loop that now threatens to condemn it. In fact, the Port insists that it “has never received” the work, which is why it has not considered it good. “Once the work was completed, the contractor company refused to carry out a load test that would allow its stability to be evaluated, as provided for in the contract, and as an essential procedure for the port to sign the acceptance of the work,” remember from the organism. What’s more, he claims to have a report of CEDEX (an entity linked to the Ministry of Transportation) that “strongly advises against” carrying out the tests due to “the high risk of collapse of the structure.” And now what? After years of the open platform crisis and after the latest CEDEX report, the Port has decided to make a radical decision. Its last Board of Directors has given the green light to activate the procedures to “resolve” the construction contract for the island. That is, the organism wants break the agreementsomething that has been communicated to those responsible for Roads and Construction. Now the company has ten days to present allegations. Once that period has passed, “and after years of technical and negative incidents”, the proposal will return to the Board of Directors, something that will probably happen before 2026. “In recent years the Port has commissioned audits and expert reports that confirm the irreversible deterioration of the structure and the impossibility of meeting safety standards to locate the restaurant proposed in the original project,” the organization argueswhich in its 2024 accounts already contemplated “impairment losses” of 2.7 million euros, which it has invested in the platform. Is there anything else? Yes. The Port does not only propose to terminate the contract. He also wants the original seabed to be “restored” to “recover the navigable conditions” that existed before the platform works. If the contract finally ends up being broken, it is not unreasonable to think that the conflict will reach court, but the Port Authority assures that it has already touched all possible sticks, so it sees “all avenues to remedy the situation exhausted.” Are there more affected? The Port of Alicante not only awarded the works on the platform. In April 2022 it launched another contest which completed the project with its second fundamental piece: the building that was to rise above the artificial island to act as a restaurant. The one selected for its construction and management was a business alliance between Alicante Gastronómica SL and Restaura Gestión Forty SL, which from that moment became co-protagonists of the project. In fact, they would not only be in charge of the building, an elliptical, glass-enclosed block with a large interior garden patio, a restaurant with views of Alicante and a terrace for cocktails. Another of its functions would be to assume the “maintenance and governance” of the taxi boat that would connect the island, a ship whose investment, precise Alicante Plazatook over the Port and was commissioned for 460,000 euros (taxes included). In January the organization started to try it. Now … Read more

There are people listening to Drake on Spotify 23 hours a day. Or maybe they are not human and it is a ‘royalty’ fraud

November 6, 2025 by usatoday24

That Spotify pays artists quite poorly It’s no secret, but now they are being accused of something else: there are artists inflating their reproductions in order to reduce the payment for the rest since the distribution is proportional. The demand. They count in Ars Technica which is a class action lawsuit proposed by American rapper RBX. In it, the platform is accused of having allowed Drake to inflate his views. Currently, the rapper holds the record on the platform with 120,000 million views. Although Drake is at the center of the lawsuit, he goes further and claims that Spotify ignores “millions of fraudulent streams.” The signs. According to RBX, Spotify ignored at least 37 billion inauthentic streams of Drake’s music over the past three and a half years. To do this, they have analyzed listening patterns and have detected strange behaviors such as “months of significant increases” without the release of new music to explain those peaks. But the most suspicious of all is that certain accounts only played Drake’s music for 23 hours a day, something they consider “astonishing and irregular” and why Spotify had detected it. The payment system. Spotify does not pay artists for each play, but instead uses a proportional model. Every month a “pool” of money is created and each artist receives a proportional share based on the reproductions they have had in that period. Thus, if one month the sum amounts to 1 million euros, an artist who has achieved 1% of the total reproductions would take home 10,000 euros. It affects everyone. With the proportional system, if one artist inflates his figures, it negatively affects all the other artists competing for a piece of the pie. Although they have not given details of how they arrived at that figure, the lawsuit speaks of “hundreds of millions of dollars.” If the judge accepts the case, it could cover more than 100,000 copyright owners who use the platform. It’s not something new. Years ago we talked about the techniques to manipulate the charts on the platform. The most famous case was that of Justin Bieber, who In 2020 he asked his followers to loop his song ‘Yummy’ to take it to number one on the charts. But the normal thing is that it is done undercover, using fake accounts hidden under a VPN that hides the real location. In statements to Rolling Stonea Spotify representative has denied benefiting from fake plays and claims to invest in systems to protect artists and eliminate fake plays. Image | Wikipedia, Pexels In Xataka | The problem is no longer that Spotify has been filled with AI artists: it is that AI is “reviving” dead musicians

There are scientists deliberately causing earthquakes in the Alps and they have a good reason for it

November 5, 2025 by usatoday24

In the heart of the Swiss Alps, more than a kilometer underground, a team of scientists is doing something that sounds almost insane: cause real earthquakes. And it is not that they want to destroy a country, but just the opposite: they want to understand earthquakes better to look for ‘warnings’ before they occur. Right now There is a lot of mystery around earthquakessince it is not well known how they are produced, and this means that we do not have clear information about when they will occur in a specific area. And it is something fundamental for us, since having a ‘witness’ to warn us that an earthquake is coming will allow us to notify the population so that they can protect themselves and avoid significant human and material losses. The idea. The FEAR project (Fault Activation an Earthquiake Rupture), led by researchers at ETH Zürich, are looking for answer the big question: how to detect the signs that announce an earthquake before it happens? For this, in the Bedretto’s underground laboratorygeologists have drilled a tunnel through an active fault. Through the controlled injection of water—and, soon, hot water—they are triggering microearthquakes of magnitudes less than 1. Their goal is to observe, with a densely distributed network of sensors, how ruptures occur and what physical conditions trigger them. But… Why the Alps? In this case, the natural conditions offered by the Alps are ideal to carry out these experiments. The enormous pressure of the mountains on the faults generates tensions that, with the slightest change, can release seismic energy. In this way it is known that in these conditions an earthquake is going to occur at some point and what they do is anticipate it and control it with many measuring equipment. Ground disturbed on purpose. The microearthquakes induced by the Swiss team have a curious parallel with another practice known for less scientific reasons: seismicity induced by the fracking industry. In regions such as Oklahoma and Texas, the discharge of wastewater into deep wells has also generated thousands of small earthquakes, providing scientists with valuable models of how water alters the friction between plates. But the FEAR project differs in detail with respect to what the industry can do for its work: absolute control of the environment. While industrial operations cause unwanted earthquakes, they cannot be controlled. But in the Alps we specifically seek to know what happens in the seconds before a rupture. Throughout 2024 and 2025, their tests will escalate until they cause earthquakes of magnitude 1, a level weak enough not to be perceptible on the surface, but enough to modify the stress state of a fault. If they manage to correlate specific patterns with the energy released, they could establish predictive models applicable to active seismic zones that would be an advance in the understanding of how the Earth releases its internal energy. They are not alone. In different countries there are many similar projects that try to understand earthquakes. For example, in Japan the Nankai Trough Seismogenic Zone Experiment (NanTroSEIZE) center pierces the seabed off the coast to reach the fault where future large earthquakes are expected to occur. Something fundamental when talking about a very affected area by earthquakes. In Iceland the DEEP EGS (Enhancing Geothermal Systems) program has also registered many microseisms due to the injection of geothermal fluidsoffering direct data on how faults become unstable. A great challenge. The challenge remains enormous: no model has managed to predict an earthquake with temporal and spatial precision. But experiments like the one at the Bedretto Underground Lab offer something that didn’t exist before: a way to study the actual physics of seismic fracture initiation. Images | Çağlar Oskay Marco Meyer In Xataka | China built the Three Gorges Dam with three objectives. Got a fourth: changing the Earth’s rotation

Three Chinese astronauts have delayed their return to Earth due to an impact on the ship. The suspect: space junk

November 5, 2025 by usatoday24

The crew of the Shenzhou-20 spacecraft, which was scheduled to land this Wednesday in Inner Mongolia, has been forced to postpone its return to Earth. The cause is not bad weather, as is usual in manned flights, but the most feared enemy of modern space exploration: a probable impact of space debris. Evaluating risks. China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) broke the news this morning: The return of the three astronauts aboard Shenzhou-20 has been delayed indefinitely following suspicions that the ship may have been hit by a small piece of space debris. The ship is still docked at the Chinese Tiangong space station, where the crew are safe. The crew and engineers on the ground are analyzing the impact on the ship to try to determine the extent of the damage and assess the risks of the return journey. The problem is reentry. Three people traveled to the Chinese space station in April aboard the Shenzhou-20 spacecraft: Chen Dong, Chen Zhongrui and Wang Jie. The problem is not his immediate survival, but the viability of his ship surviving the atmospheric re-entry maneuver after the impact. In low orbit, objects travel at hypersonic speeds of up to 28,000 km/h. At that speed, even a tiny fragment of metal or paint can release devastating kinetic energy, especially if it hits critical components like the ship’s heat shield or its parachutes. What do we know for now? The CMSA has not specified where it believes the impact occurred or what data alerted them to the event. Now, engineers on the ground and the crew in orbit will perform telemetry checks, check for possible leaks, and analyze the guidance and propulsion systems. They will most likely use the Tiangong station’s 10-meter robotic arm to conduct a detailed visual inspection of Shenzhou-20. If necessary, an extravehicular activity (EVA) or spacewalk is not ruled out to assess the damage closely. A problem that China was trying to avoid. The irony of this incident is that the Shenzhou-20 crew itself is fully aware of the danger. In fact, part of its six-month mission in orbit focused on mitigating this risk. Two of the astronauts six hours passed in September by installing additional protective shields against orbital fragments outside the Tiangong station. Although they reinforced the station, the impact seems to have occurred in the way that would bring them back. Image | CMSA In Xataka | Three large pieces of space debris reenter every day: “one day our luck will run out and they will fall on someone”

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