which companies are winning in the great rearmament of Spanish industry

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Europe has entered a new era of rearmament. The Russian invasion of Ukraine reopened a arms race that seemed surpassed, and the governments of the continent have returned to look at their defense industry with urgency. In that map of reactivated factories, million-dollar contracts and multinational programsSpain occupies an important place. From Navantia to Indra, from ITP Aero to Escribano, the country has a network of companies that design frigates, radars, engines or intelligence systems for the most ambitious projects in Europe. This is the portrait of who is who in the Spanish defense, how much they really weigh and what role they play in the rearmament of the continent. Opportunities and challenges in European rearmament A study prepared by PwC For the employers’ association, TEDAE offers a precise overview of the industrial weight that defense has today in Spain. According to this report, published in 2024, the Defense, Security, Aeronautics and Space industries generated 21,919 million euros of GDP (1.4% of national GDP) and 260,049 direct, indirect and induced jobs. The document does not establish a ranking, but it does make it clear that the Spanish defense ecosystem is one of the most diversified in Europe. Reading it helps to dimension the magnitude of an industrial fabric that supports a good part of European rearmament. The momentum of the sector does not advance without friction. In an interview with El Paísthe president of Indra, Scribe Angelrecognized that Spain still lacks a giant comparable to Rheinmetall, Thales either Leonard. “We need a greater dimension,” he noted, adding that the objective is not to create a “national champion,” but to consolidate a fabric where companies cooperate and share capabilities. A vision that reflects both the ambitions and the internal tensions of the integration process in Spanish defense. Industrial reactivation is not enough on its own to guarantee sustainable defense. The Elcano Royal Institute warns that the rearmament effort It cannot be measured only in investment figures or signed contracts. In one of his recent analyses, he points out that “the revitalization of Spanish defense will only be sustainable if it is based on strategic and national security criteria.” To do this, it proposes reinforcing the so-called “strategic culture”, a long-term vision that transcends industrial logic and that makes it possible to clearly define what role Spain wants to play in the European security framework. “The revitalization of Spanish defense will only be sustainable if it is based on strategic and national security criteria” With this warning on the table, European rearmament is also understood as an exercise of concrete capabilities. Behind every contract, every European program, there are factories, engineering and shipyards that support the modernization effort. Spain is not starting from scratch: it has a network of companies that have grown in the heat of the great projects of NATO and the European Union. Some of them are public, others private, but they are all part of the same ecosystem that is once again gaining prominence today. The names that are defining the new defense industry in Spain Navantia It is the main reference of the Spanish naval industry and an essential piece in European rearmament. From its shipyards in Ferrol, Cartagena and Cádiz Ships have left for the Spanish Navy and for navies around the world, like the F-100 frigates or the Avante corvettes. Currently, it concentrates efforts on two strategic programs: the F-110 frigates, with a contract of 4,325 million euros, and the S-80 submarines. The F-111 “Bonifaz”, the first unit of the F-110 series, was launched on September 11, 2025 and the delivery of the first ship is scheduled for 2028. In submarines, the S-82, the second unit of the S-80 classes, He was sponsored on October 3, 2025. One of the frigates that bears the Navantia seal But there is more. With revenues of 1,528 million euros in 2024 and more than 5,600 employeesthe public company is committed to the model “shipyard 4.0” to modernize and thus respond to the growing demand for maritime capabilities of its clients. Indra acts as the technological backbone of Spanish defense: integrates C4ISR systems, radars, electronic warfare and simulation, and is the national coordinator in the FCAS program for the sensor and combat cloud pillars. His legacy in Eurofighter —with avionics, defensive aids and modernizations— is complemented by sustained defense contracting. Indra closed 2024 with 4,843 million in income and a portfolio of 7,245 million. To this he adds “combat cloud” demonstrators with the Air and Space Army. The PW800 engine is behind the first transatlantic flight powered by 100% sustainable aviation fuel ITP Aero is the literal and figurative engine of Spanish defense. Specialized in design, manufacture and maintenance of turbines, is part of Europe’s most advanced programs, from the Eurofighter to the future FCAS system, where it leads in Spain the development of the new generation engine. In 2024 he allocated 102 million euros to R&D—55% more than the previous year—and closed the year with 1,612 million in revenue. Its industrial expansion includes the Ajalvir plantwith a million-dollar investment for maintenance of GTF engines, and the reinforcement of its Zamudio center. These investments consolidate its role as a strategic propulsion supplier in NATO and the EU. SAPA is the great Spanish specialist in armored vehicle mobility and one of the few European companies with their own capacity to develop new generation transmissions. Its technology equips to the vehicle 8×8 Dragon of the Army. Besides, has been selected by General Dynamics Land Systems to supply transmissions to US Army programs linked to the replacement of the Bradley (XM30), a long-term industrial agreement valued by the press at up to 5,000 million euros. Based in Guipúzcoa, the company works on hybrid and electric systems for military platforms, in line with trends. Escribano Mechanical & Engineering represents the most dynamic face of the new Spanish industrial fabric. Specialized in remotely controlled weapon stations (RWS), optronics and smart ammunition, the company has managed to position itself as a key supplier of … Read more

Spain still has dozens of reservoirs that cannot be used because literally no one has laid pipes

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It was inaugurated in 2015, cost 57 million euros and has a capacity for 30 hm3 of water, but the Siles dam in Jaén hasn’t been used for a decade because no one has made the necessary pipelines to irrigate the Sierra del Segura. It is not an isolated case. An example. The Rules dam was inaugurated a little earlier: in 2004. Today, while the province of Granada is at 29% of its capacity, the Vélez de Benaudalla reservoir is close to 70%. The secret is the same: going 20 years without pipes that allow us to use water. These flagrant cases, but there are many more: Alcolea in Huelva, Mularroya in Zaragoza, Castrovido in Burgos… Is there anything more Spanish than making reservoirs and taking years—or decades—to build the pipelines that make them useful? The house on the roof. In a country like Spain, each useless cubic hectometer is not only de facto lost water, it is also a tremendous ecological damage inflicted on river channels for no reason. And, if that were not enough, it is economic nonsense. It makes no sense to mobilize all the resources necessary to launch a reservoir and then leave it forgotten. Above all, because (whether we like it or not) we live in an agricultural giant that needs water security that we cannot guarantee. The opportunity cost of delaying the pipelines necessary to launch these reservoirs impacts the economic and employment development of entire regions. A Spanish problem? To tell the truth, we cannot say that it is a purely Spanish problem either. Portugal, France or Italy have had similar problems. What happens in Spain is that there is an enormous fragmentation of powers that means that, when any problem appears, everything comes to a standstill. In our case, the central State designs and finances the main dams and key sections. However, it is the autonomous communities, the hydrographic confederations or the municipalities that they must run the secondary networks. And in determining what is the main or secondary tranche (and who should pay the bill) most problems arise. But not the only ones. And it is that, as the processes become eternallicenses expire, works are not awarded, litigation drags on, environmental requirements become stricter and solving the problem becomes impossible. In the end, the dams are what is striking (what is politically profitable). The “last mile” (that whole set of pumping stations, pipelines and treatment plants) is much less striking, as crucial as it is. When problems become entrenched, there are no good solutions and administrations prefer to put the issue aside rather than make decisions. The country of a thousand preys. Because yes, it is true: Spain has many damsbut dozens of them remain vats of water without any use. And as much as the causes are clear, it is still striking that not even water crises like those of recent years manage to solve this. Image | Red Zeppelin In Xataka | “In the next ten years, Spain and Latin America are going to suffer (a lot) with water,” Robert Glennon (University of Arizona)

A Chinese artist is turning the least artistic thing into art

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It hasn’t rained this much since that video of Will Smith eating spaghetti appeared online. However, within a few years technology has evolved tremendously. Taking other people’s content as inspiration, you can now create videos with absurd fidelity. The funniest thing is that, If AI “steals”there is an artist “stealing” which makes the AI-generated videos appear to be AI-generated videos. And it’s delirious. Tianran Mu is a Chinese actor and content creator who, at the age of 29, asked himself how he could create content inspired by what AI does. take a look to the video which we leave below in which you can see Tianran Mu -the one with the noodles- and another person. Exactly, there are clumsy movements, misplaced facial expressions and inconsistencies galore that we associate with failures and hallucinations of artificial intelligence generative, and it is where the 29-year-old creator has seen an opportunity to create a series of videos taking advantage of these gaps in technology. 40 years of forgiveness Recently, Wired He was able to chat with Tianran Mu. At 29 years old, he spent some time looking for work in the film industry, specifically at the huge Hengdian World Studios, but there was no luck. In 2019, he started creating ‘sketches’ on Chinese social networks and things went well for him. After experimenting with content creation using AI, began to detect those patterns in which technology fails. For example, unnatural body gestures, erratic glances, plots that turn somersaults or elements that overlap and, in 2024, it began to release short videos imitating this which means that, luckily, we can still know if a video is AI or not. And it’s… fun. In some videos, he uses different actors to play the same role, emulating the continuity problems that AI often has. The characters are also not looking anywhere and feel like robots. The impact is there. In Chinese networksit seems that the young man has hit hard, but it was a few weeks ago when part of his content began to be shared on Western networks such as X or Instagram, accumulating more than 10 million views and thousands of reactions on platforms where he is not present. The phenomenon has viralized in a very organic way at a time when there is an intense debate around these AI creations. That debate has intensified with the Sora 2 releasethe OpenAI model that has evolved tremendously compared to the tools we had until now and that makes really difficult to guess if certain videos are AI or not. It is something that has already had its share of controversy, of course. content theft to train the modelbut Mu saw an opportunity in Sora 2. He identified that the human characters generated by Sora laugh in unpleasant ways and have hair with strange “physics.” So, he imitated it in a video he released a few days ago: It’s curious because being 100% artisanal and human, Mu’s video is more uncanny valley than some videos made with AI. I think this speaks very well of his work, but also of the dark side of Sora 2. In fact, the actor himself confessed to Wired that It has been much more difficult for him to parody Sora 2 because the quality has gone up several notches. In fact, he comments that it is almost impossible to create parodies and states that in a few months “there will be nothing left to imitate. If I try to act as the AI ​​will, I would only be acting like a human.” And this is really sad. Yes, it is having enormous virality, but that does not pay the mortgage and Mu says that, in two years, many directors and actors will use AI to replace not only the special effects departments, but the actors themselves. And, as an actor, he confesses that if it is already difficult to compete against other actors, it will be more difficult to do so against those who do not even exist, but who can potentially act like a human, bending to whatever the studios want. You don’t have to go in two years. It is true that thanks to this virality, in China he has had some contracts with companies that want him to use AI for campaigns, but he affirms that, in his own content, everything he does is human because his goal is… well, to be hired for his acting skills. Images | Tianran Mu In Xataka | YouTube is becoming much more important to Google than its video platform: in its search engine

How Spain has achieved that one in every four series reproduced is its own

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The impact of Spanish series on the streaming market it is indisputable. a few years ago’The Money Heist‘ was on everyone’s lips, but in the same way that Korean fictions are much more than ‘The squid game‘, the Spanish are beginning to go much further than ‘Bella Ciao’. The latest data supports this: it may be that the streaming is hitting where it hurts the most to Spanish cinema, but in other aspects it is doing very well for the Spanish fiction industry. 25%. One in four of the most watched series on streaming is Spanish, according to a study by Parrot Analytics. It is a fact that reflects the international boom and consolidation of audiovisual content produced in Spain. ‘La casa de papel’ not only revolutionized the public’s perception of fiction in Spanish, but also paved the way for new Spanish productions. will conquer global audiences. Titles such as “Elite” or “Manual para senoritas” reach prominent positions in global rankings, confirming that Spanish content not only competes for local attention, but is capable of influencing and attracting viewers from multiple countries. Increase in demand. There is more notable data in this study: Spanish content has experienced notable growth in availability and global demand on streaming platforms between 2021 and 2023, with a 22% increase in the number of titles available. More than 200 Spanish productions are among the 10% most in demand on the main platforms, showing that interest transcends beyond the Spanish-speaking markets. And that is the genuinely relevant leap. In money. The economic value of this growth is significant: in the last four years, Spanish productions have generated 5.1 billion dollars in global revenue for the main streaming platforms. streamingwhich represents almost 9% of the total income generated by non-English titles. If we compile a ranking, Spain is in fourth place in the world in terms of income generated by non-English content, ranking only behind Japan, South Korea and India, all Asian countries. The importance of Netflix. Netflix has been leader in the global expansion of Spanish content: The role played by ‘La casa de papel’ and ‘Elite’ is indisputable, to which are added Spanish films such as ‘Nowhere’, among those that have acquired and retained the most subscribers on the platform in recent years. But Netflix is ​​not the only one: Prime Video and Apple TV+ are also joining this trend with Spanish titles such as ‘Red Queen’ or ‘Land of Women’ respectively. In fact, we are turning 10 years of the arrival of Netflix in Spain, and the figures make it clear to what extent it was key in turning around the situation of Spanish series: already in 2017 it premiered its first Spanish series, ‘The cable girls’, and that year the production of series in Spain doubled (from 11 to 22, not counting new seasons). Since the pandemic, the number has been growing consistently: in 2020 52 series, in 2022 53, in 2023 55, and there was a record in 2024 with 68 series, which has not been equaled. Netflix has partly led this trend: in 2022 it launched 15 Spanish series, the platform’s most productive year, and in 2025 it has already released 10 titles, the second best record. Spanish fictions are going further. It is almost a decade that has served to leave behind a stigma that had partly marked Spanish television fiction: despite the popularity of titles such as ‘Pharmacy on duty’, ‘Family doctor’, ‘Los Serrano’, ‘Cuéntame’, ‘No one here lives’ or ‘Águila Roja’, to list a few, they were considered series of lower quality than those coming from abroad. In recent years that perspective has changed: Spanish series, and the audience makes it clear, can be measured in technical and artistic quality with productions from abroad. The importance of Latin America. The Hispanic market has become a fundamental pillar for the expansion and success of the streaming in Spanish. In the United States, Spanish-speaking consumers dedicate more than 55% of their television time to streaminga figure in which, for obvious reasons, the content in Spanish is of great importance. This trend also moves to the south of the American continent, where the increase in subscribers and the expansion of streaming are transforming audiovisual consumption habits. In Xataka | The golden age of Spanish series: more and more is produced thanks to platforms and pay TV

Two students have the same university degree. One will go further than another: whoever comes

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Where you come from matters a lot if we talk about “social elevators.” Without going too far, the problem nuclear of housing for young people is not such depending on the family that has touched. But these inequalities begin to be noticed much earlier. In fact, it has been found that even the university degree itself does not depend so much on the grade, but on your origins. Gap after the title. a study from the National Bureau of Economic Research with massive data on graduates from public universities in the United States show that, even when students have the same major, the same grades and leave the same institutions, those who come from low-income families finish five years later earning substantially less than their peers from families with more resources. In other words, this means that graduating (which for years was the central objective of equity policies) does not close the gap, it simply transfer to the labor marketwhere he reappears strongly despite having followed the same academic itinerary. The first job. When the researchers adjusted the data by including characteristics of the first job (starting salary, company size, average employer salary level and sector) the gap between poor and rich graduates fell by a third of its original size. This result indicates that a large part of the inequality does not occur years later, but in the instant of jump to the market: the first salary alone explains almost half of the income difference in year five, and other attributes of the first job destination added another substantial part. In other words, that first match between graduate and employer weighs more for future economic trajectory than most previous academic factors. The differences. There’s more, as research indicates that graduates from lower-income households tend to reach the end of their degree less likely to have a secure jobaccept offers with lower starting salaries and enter companies that, on average, pay less and offer fewer promotion and training options. Every extra thousand dollars in starting salary is associated with seven hundred dollars plus five years afterwards, and those who remain in first place for at least two years register several thousand more income in the medium term. This suggests that, even without differences in talent or record, the social origin determines the type of first job that is accessed, and that starting point chain conditions what happens later. Implications. In a political key, the picture that emerges the work forces us to shift the focus of intervention: it is not enough to guarantee access and graduation if inequality re-establishes itself just as we cross the door of the labor market. The researchers say that if the first job explains a good part of the gap, then the policy that aspires to real mobility must act explicitly about that transition (early information, networks, search preparation, paid internships, matching with better quality employers) because that is where today the nuclear difference is formed between equals on paper, but different in origin. Without that final layer, the title stops functioning as a ladder of equality and becomes a filter that validates inequalities that are already written before the first contract. The weight of origin. In short, the evidence suggests that inequality reappears in the transition to work because the resources that mattered before university (social networks, early information, financial cushion and room to wait for a better offer) continue to operate when the time comes to choose the first job. Those who can finance a few months without salary can reject bad offers and wait for a better one, and those who cannot, accept the first one. Those who have relatives or contacts in large companies obtain recommendations that reduce entry friction, and those who do not compete blindly. Even the most sensitive information about how, when and where to apply is unevenly distributed. From that perspective, the “first step” is neither chance nor pure merit: it is a translation in labor terms of the previous advantages that are not seen in the academic record, but that determine the quality of the first contract, and of a “bright” future or simply a future. Image | Pexels In Xataka | The paradox of the “American dream”: the place where it is least likely to be achieved is the United States In Xataka | The dream of young Spaniards is no longer buying a house: it is waiting for their parents to donate it to them

The Internet has become such a hostile place that there are people making drastic decisions: go back to MySpace

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In a thread on Reddit’s r/Millenials subreddit, a user named Blue_Bi0hazard counted that had signed up for SpaceHeya curious MySpace clone, and I was happy about two things. The first, due to the personalization that this new social network offered. “I can’t stand today’s social media,” he explained. “There is hardly any personalization, everything is gray and simplified. Remember how MySpace or Tumblr was: there you really felt that your profile represented you.” Second, because of how the algorithm has taken over everything: at SpaceHey, he explains, “your feed is chronological, rather than what Facebook or Twitter think you should see, plus the damn ads.” These criticisms are not new, and for some time they have caused a unique Internet revolution. Small communities are returning to using clones of myspace as SpaceHeyor of GeoCitiesas NeoCitiesand although their scope is limited, they are the symptom of something very worrying. Beyond nostalgia Behind these seemingly nostalgic gestures, something deeper is drawn. Not only the desire to return to a retro design, but to raise a kind of digital demand. A “I want to have my corner again” in a sea of ​​feeds that no longer belong to us and over which we have no control. The return to MySpace, or rather, to something that evokes it—like SpaceHey—is actually a critical and rebellious act. It is a gesture that says “I am tired of the current Internet turning me into a consumer rather than a user, that everything I do is subject to the algorithm, the subscription and the ads.” And that’s when that return to those rehashes of the past takes on that other meaning. That of a more or less silent protest. Twenty-five years ago, opening the browser was like doing digital zapping and extremely garish. Amateur blogs were interspersed with local forums, profiles with flashing GIFs, view counters (view counters!), and pages that didn’t open on their own, but also had music on autoplay. It was the internet of the 2000s. GeoCities, LiveJournal, ICQ, Friendster, Blogger and MySpace conquered users and they did so with hardly any algorithms. Was a more hippie internetmessy and unpredictable but full of personality. The profiles were their own spaces, not showcases optimized for clicking. Now we remember that time fondly and smile when we realize that the Internet was full of defects. Loading times were much longer, handling HTML was almost a craft, and mixtures of fonts and designs often resulted in strident and garish web pages. However, they also had virtues. They let you make mistakes without charging you for it. They let you be weird without having to ask permission. Nobody (or almost nobody) had to sell anything, and nobody yet knew that they would end up selling you (or your data). It was the internet as a workshop, not as a gallery or showcase. but then standardization arrived. With Facebook, YouTube, Google or later Instagram and TikTok, we were promised order, efficiency and global connection. The Internet went from being its own territory to a service platform in which profiles became uniform, timelines identical, and rules impersonal. The “enshittification” of the internet This is how we have reached the digital fatigue that many experience today. 20 tabs are opened and the same ads, the same formats and the same giants appear. The Internet is no longer so much a “site” as a “medium” in which we only consume, and what we do more than explore and navigate is end up being victims of doomscrolling. This is where the concept comes into play. “enshittification” (“shitification”, in a loose translation) coined by writer Cory Doctorow. This neologism, as recently explained in an interview with Voxdescribes the drift of many online platforms, although it is applicable to all types of companies: “At first they are great for the end users. Then they find ways to retain those users (switching costs, network effects, contracts, DRM) and once the users are trapped, the company makes the product worse to get more value. They then use that surplus to attract business customers (advertisers, sellers, creators), they trap them and start making the product worse for the business side as well. In the end, everyone gets trapped and the platform becomes a pile of garbage. You can see this in places so like Google, Facebook, Uber and Amazon. In other words: what started out promising becomes mediocre, predictable and profit-oriented, not user-oriented. Shitification clearly manifests itself on today’s internet in various ways. It does this with mandatory subscriptions, with algorithms that decide what you see, with constant advertisements and with data that no longer seems to be yours, but rather turns you into simple merchandise. Before, you opened a blog to publish what you wanted. Now the objective seems to be to gain clicks or provoke engagement. All of this has caused users to become target audiences, consumers and even simple data. It seems that there is no more time to browseand we only have it to consume what the algorithms offer us. On Reddit someone asked if others were nostalgic for the internet of the 2000s and the comments were conclusive. The first of them, in fact, made it clear: “nothing seems genuine anymore.” Reviving MySpace That’s where platforms like SpaceHey, which appeared in 2020 and it is totally inspired by MySpace. Its creator, a young German named Anton Röhm and nicknamed “An” on the platform, is in fact the contact that by default is added to your “friends” on the platform, as on MySpace you added that of its creator, Tom Anderson. Long live the wild and original internet. Like a good clone, the similarities between SpaceHey and MySpace go much further. In SpaceHey, personalization shines, and that aesthetic of early 2000 It is evident in strident and shocking designs. The social network — which has around two million users — does not intend to compete with Facebook or Instagram, but it allows its users to recover part of that feeling of freedom and control … Read more

These are just two examples of how China is buying Europe

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For more than a decade, Chinese capital has been buying hundreds of European companies, one after another. Centenary brands, technological leaders, industrial jewels. A map of acquisitions that has changed the ownership of some historic companies. This is the x-ray of the main European companies that are in Chinese hands, sector by sector. Automotive The Swedish and Italian assault. The automobile sector has been one of the main objectives from the beginning. Technology and robotics The German jewel. China has targeted strategic technology companies, especially in robotics and engineering. Agribusiness The Swiss giant. One of the largest Chinese acquisitions in Europe, and in the world. Energy and infrastructure Ports and nuclear. China has invested in strategic energy and port infrastructure assets. In some cases it remained an attempt that did not bear fruit. Tourism and hospitality The European tourism and hospitality sector has also attracted Chinese capital: Luxury goods and fashion European luxury brands have been another strategic target. Lanvin (France): Fosun acquired the French fashion house, one of the oldest haute couture brands in the world, in 2018 for an undisclosed amount. Time after adapted the name of its fashion division. Telecommunications A sensitive sector where operations have encountered more resistance. Also in Spain. Missing? Sectors such as banking, where Chinese acquisitions have been more limited by regulation, and defense, practically shielded. Also the pharmaceutical sector, where they have barely achieved important operations. The context. This shopping list is a good reflection of the Chinese strategy of the last 15 years: Access to technology. Global brands. And strategic positions in Europe. But the panorama has changed. Large acquisitions have given way to ground-up investment, especially in electric vehicles, concentrated in countries like Hungary that offer tax advantages and somewhat more regulatory laxity. BYD is a great example. Just like CATL. turning point. Europe is tightening its surveillance now that China changes tactics. Spectacular purchases have been reducing. Now is the time for new factories, electric cars and a subtler battle for the continent’s industrial future. In Xataka | Alibaba’s strategy with AI is very simple: achieve the same thing that Google achieved with Android Featured image | Luca Massimilian

Spanish scientists have created a material that swallows 99.5% of light. And it is great news for renewables

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At first glance they look like invisible needles, thin to the extreme and tiny like a thousandth of a human hair. A group of Spanish researchers has created ultra-black nanoneedles that absorb up to 99.5% of the solar radiation they receive, a record figure that not only sets an optical record, but will increase the efficiency of solar thermal plants. Made in Euskadi. The discovery comes from the Thermophysical Properties of Materials group at the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU). There, the researchers have designed a surface composed of copper cobaltate nanoneedles—a mixed oxide of copper and cobalt—with exceptional optical properties. Its ultra-black tone and its resistance to humidity and high temperatures make it ideal for solar tower receivers. According to tests, the material achieves an absorption of 99.5% of sunlight, surpassing black silicon (95%) and carbon nanotubes (99%). “We are looking for ultra-black materials for more efficient solar towers,” noted researcher Íñigo González de Arrieta. A change for solar energy. In concentrating solar thermal power plants (CSP), hundreds of mirrors reflect and concentrate sunlight towards a central tower. There, heat is used to melt salts that retain thermal energy and allow electricity to be generated even when the sun has already set.The key is to take advantage of each photon: if the receiver material reflects part of the light, that energy is lost. And this is where the new nanoneedles come into play. Until now, the most used material was black silicon, with an absorption level of 95%. The new nanoneedles, on the other hand, could raise that figure significantly and, with it, make solar thermal energy, one of the most promising clean sources in countries like Spain, more competitive and profitable. Beyond the blackest black. Carbon nanotubes seemed unbeatable: dark as a vacuum, capable of trapping almost all light. But they had an invisible enemy: the heat and humidity deteriorated them quickly. The copper cobaltate nanoneedles, developed by the Basque team, endure what their predecessors could not. They withstand temperatures above 700 degrees without losing effectiveness and, in addition, they are more stable. In solar towers, that difference can translate into more energy and less maintenance. A real impact. Dr. Renkun Chen, from the University of California, San Diego, is collaborating with the Basque team and the United States Department of Energy to study the feasibility of applying nanoneedles to industrial solar plants. “We observed that these nanoneedles performed better than the carbon nanotubes used until now, and that their performance increased when coated with zinc oxide,” Chen explained.. However, González de Arrieta himself clarifies that there is still some way to go: the next pilot-scale tests will determine if the process is economically viable and if the material can be produced industrially without losing its optical properties. Darker, brighter. Ultrablack nanoneedles are an example of how nanotechnology applied to energy can have a direct impact on global sustainability. The UPV/EHU team plans to continue developing new compounds with better thermal and optical conductivity, designed to withstand the challenges of future solar towers. Promoting this renewable energy offers many advantages: it is totally clean and can also be used when the sun does not shine,” recalled González de Arrieta. And if everything goes as expected, the future of solar energy could be, paradoxically, darker than ever. Image | Flickr Xataka | In the midst of a trade war, there is a battle that China has already won: that the world depends on its new energy

A Harvard astronomer has accused NASA of hiding 3I/ATLAS images. has an explanation

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Avi Loeb, the controversial cosmologist of Harvard University, has accused NASA of withholding important data on the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS, and is mobilizing the US Congress to demand its release. But this alleged concealment of evidence is not what it seems. Weeks without seeing the photos. In one post on your blogLoeb denounces that NASA has not made public images of the object taken with the HiRISE camera of the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter probe from Mars orbit for weeks. These images, captured between October 2 and 3, when 3I/ATLAS passed within 30 million kilometers of the red planet, are, according to Loeb, “extremely valuable” scientific data. The reason is that they would have a resolution of 30 kilometers per pixel, three times greater than the best available image of the interstellar object, taken by the Hubble Space Telescope. This “side perspective” could be important for understanding the object’s geometry and its brightness, so Loeb asked US Congresswoman Paulina Luna to demand that NASA’s acting administrator, Sean Duffy, release it. The explanation. NASA has justified the lack of images with a very earthly argument: the delays caused by the closure of the United States government since October 1. NASA is officially on “shutdown” and with 83% of its staff on unpaid leave due to the lack of agreement in Congress on the 2026 federal budgets. Only the International Space Station control room and the operators in charge of ship and satellite security, as well as a handful of critical jobs, continue to function. The rest (a large part of science, dissemination, aid processing, etc.) is on pause. Why so much interest in 3I/ATLAS. Comet 3I/ATLAS is the third interstellar object detected in our solar system. Since its discovery, it has shown behavior somewhat disconcerting which has led Avi Loeb to defend the hypothesis that it could be an artificial extraterrestrial object. The latest anomaly occurred near its perihelion (the closest point in its orbit to the Sun) on October 29, when 3I/ATLAS shone brightly in blue and experienced an acceleration which cannot be explained by the gravity of the Sun. Most likely? That the comet was degassing as it warmed up, and the sublimated ice acted as propellants. If you don’t pay attention to it you get bored. Loeb has calculated the possibility that 3I/ATLAS is a natural object: “less than one part in ten quadrillion”. The astronomer highlights the trajectory almost perfectly aligned with the plane of the planets, an unusually large mass, a very low proportion of water (only 4%) and a surprising abundance of nickel as evidence. But this is not the first time that Loeb has proposed that an interstellar object is a technological and “possibly hostile” object. In fact, it’s the second time he’s done it (the first with ‘Oumuamua), and we only know of three interstellar objects that have visited our solar system. The scientific community does not play along. Compared to Loeb’s hypotheses, the vast majority of astronomers offer much more mundane explanations. The blue glow is consistent with emissions of ionized gas from other active comets. Other physical characteristics could be explained if 3I/ATLAS were the ejection of a piece of exoplanet by a natural collision far from Earth. As for the news that “NASA” activated its defense protocol against 3I/ATLAS, it also has a simple explanation: the International Asteroid Warning Network has chosen measure the position of the interstellar comet for an observation campaign that had been planned since 2024, not with the aim of defending ourselves from. an alien attack, but to improve astrometry systems. Image | Q. Zhang and K. Dattams In Xataka | The theory that says our Universe was created in a laboratory: when science merges with science fiction

a temporary robot with AI, drones and without labor rights

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The “robots eat us” is far away for some jobs. In others, that science fiction scenario became a reality a long time ago. Every time it is more common to see that department stores are operated by robots and that automated or remote-controlled machines they have made a space in a framework in which there is a lack of labor. The countryside does not escape from that reality and in a country as dependent on agriculture as Spain, there are already those who are testing self-employed seasonal workers with artificial intelligence who They work tirelessly. And the controversy is served. Temporary with AI. A few days ago there was XXX IRTA Fruit Daysa meeting in which agricultural companies present technical innovations for the sector. One of the participants was Moreno Intec del Pla, a distributor and manufacturer of agricultural machinery specialized in fruit harvesting that has to its credit the Tecnofruit: a picking platform with conveyor belts on which human workers manually place the fruit. At this year’s event, the company presented a robot that has been in development for four years. It is a kind of huge container that has the fruit tanks, diesel tank, engine and wheels, but that has eight drones hooked to its upper part. Each of them is armed with an arm that they use to pick up the fruit (apples, in this case) and place it in the containers. The main advantage? They don’t get tired and each unit has integrated lighting to continue working, whatever the time of day. How it works. Each drone has cameras that allow the specimens to be identified, and a artificial intelligence It is responsible for analyzing whether the piece fits the parameters predefined by the farmer. This system can be configured to harvest all units or to discriminate based on size or color, and although it has remote control so that a single person can control up to five harvesters with the tablet, operation is autonomous. Apart from harvesting, it can also perform other functions such as the selective elimination of small fruits and, although the system currently uses a diesel engine with the aim of guaranteeing long autonomy, there are plans to create electrified versions. Costs and labor. Lluís Asín is responsible for the IRTA Fruit Growing program and, as we read in Segrecomments that systems like this represent “an important leap in the competitiveness of the sector.” He states that between 30% and 40% of the production cost of a plantation corresponds to the harvest and that platforms like this can help improve the profitability of the fields. And, of course, the debate is on the table because the robot arrives to directly replace human labor. Sergi Moreno is the technical director of Tallers Moreno, promoters of this robot, and assures that “it replaces the human part of the process. Each drone acts as if it were a person, but with the ability to operate day and night without rest.” He continues by pointing out that “the main problem of the sector is the lack of labor at the time of harvest”, but it is not perfect and can be seen in the demonstration video: “the same productivity as in manual work has not yet been achieved.” Japanese impulse. Now, Moreno is clear that “the future of the field depends on this automation,” and although Tallers Moreno have been the promoters, the robot has the impulse from Kubota Corporation. This is a Japanese agricultural machinery manufacturer that is developing and marketing autonomous drones for fruit and vegetable harvesting. plantation care. It is not unusual for proposals like this come from Japansince the country is going through a deep birth crisis that is affecting all sectors of society, and work in the field is not left out of this. This automation, in addition to reducing labor costs by 30% (a figure that coincides with IRTA’s estimate), allows increase the height of trees so that they produce more and they claim that the return on investment occurs in just three weeks. World. The development of this machinery is not isolated and Kubota is working hand in hand with the Israeli company Tevel Aerobotics Technologies. Like many other countries, Israel has a problem with agricultural labor, which is why it is looking to accelerate the development of these autonomous drones. It is one of the epicenters of both development and testing, but there are other countries involved. In the United States, states such as California or Washington are already integrating drones in fruit and vegetable harvesting. lettuce. In Europe, Italy and Spain have pilot collection programs underway and are also creating development and collaboration platforms, such as Tallers Moreno. Chile is evaluating the implementation for apple and grape farms. Debate. There are other countries in which putting drones to work is being well developed or valued, and the debate is served for the reason you can imagine: it is something that directly replaces the human worker. There are already voices that warn of a future in which the majority of these seasonal jobs will be absorbed by local automation, threatening livelihood of thousands of workers around the world. Furthermore, there are those who point to a unequal access because it will be the large producers that, with more means, will access this machinery, further strangling the small plantations. There is also the opposite argument, the one that defends robotic labor, pointing that there is no one who wants to work in the field and that new jobs will be created, with people who will have to train to control and maintain these robots. We continually talk about robots in facilities like car megafactoriesdepartment stores of companies such as Amazon and even in the kitchenbut now the field can be that place where robots perform another silent surprise. Although it will be necessary to see if the collection speed improves, because currently it is far from optimal. Images | Tevel In Xataka | You cannot get on the … Read more

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