Vietnam has tired of China’s artificial islands, so he has decided to start building his own

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China has been pulling tons of sand for more than a decade. And not only is he doing it for Build airports: They are dozens of artificial islands for expand its military power. It is about China’s strategy to claim the maritime territories that they consider their own and that are also doing in the Yellow Sea coast in front of South Korea. The problem is that one of its neighbors has been tired. Vietnam has also begun to lift artificial islands in the same territory with a clear objective: to prevent China from conquering the area. AND The tension is servedclear. Spratly Islands. It may seem more reef, but that of Spratly Islands It is tremendously important at the geopolitical level. It is a reef that is located between four countries whose relations, in some cases, are a hotbed: China, Vietnam, the Philippines and Taiwan, and they are also a set of rich islands in resources natural as fishing banks (suitable for a China to which His folders fall short), oil and natural gas. It is estimated that there are 105,000 million barrels of oil and many other millions of gas drums. There is tension, therefore, to control those resources, but also because it is a relevant point at the strategic level. They are located on one of the most busy maritime routes and are key to both international trade as for world movement. Controlling that archipelago implies having an essential influence globally. Claims. And the situation is a chicken coop. The archipelago is composed of a hundred islands and there are countries that carry decades claiming his sovereignty over it. On the one hand, China says that the fishermen of the Ming dynasty of the fifteenth century have already established themselves there, so the islands belong to them. In addition, in 1947 they made a map that showed how they all belonged to them, starting to occupy some of them in 1988. Malaysia se put In the fight in 1979, claiming part of the archipelago, the same case as Brunéi. Philippines is another player on this board, occupying some islands and occupying some of them with soldiers, but the most persistent are Taiwan and Vietnam. Both demand the entire territory as their own. Taiwan, with the same foundation as China, and Vietnam, stating that the islands were part of the kingdom of Annam – predecessor of the country – during the nineteenth century. Both China and Vietnam recovered archaeological remains to demonstrate that the islands belonged to them in the past and had to remain their property today. But since they did not convince each other, they decided to go to action. Mischief is an example. It is in Chinese power and has names in different languages ​​depending on which country you ask. For China is měijì jiāo. For Vietnam is đá Vành KhĂn. And for the Philippines is Bahura Ng Panganiban. Everyone considers that it is yours Background. Thus, and at some point in 2013, China began to move. Taking advantage of the rocky parts of the reef close to the surface and using Dredging ships to lift the bottom of the sea, they began to build islands and extend some existing ones. In just five years, they created seven artificial islands, the transformation of atolls into comparative satellite images being evident. Militarizing the archipelago. In this whole story, the military presence of the countries involved in the conflict has been key, starring even armed incidents between them. And one of China’s clear objectives is the militarization of this space with a double objective. On the one hand, the most obvious: if you create an island and the militarizas, you make sure that if someone wants it, you also have to arrive with armed troops, being able to trigger a greater conflict. Subi is one of the islands in which China has placed an airport. So it was before and after 2016 On the other, establishing and reinforcing the military presence in an area that, as we say, is key. It is something we have seen recently, with the discovery of A radar anti -furtive ships on one of the islands. And it is a radar, yes, but also a powerful message in an area where the United States also has the eye: if the US and its allies cannot operate poachers in the South China Sea, they may not be able to deal with the forces of the popular liberation army. Discovery Great Reef is held by Vietnam and down to the right we see some changes. Philippines, Taiwan and China say it’s them But well, it is not just a radar: there is also a missile launch platform, and in several of the islands occupied, created or expanded by China we can see presence of military infrastructure such as bases or airports. In this TWSJ video we can see perfectly the evolution of the islands: Vietnam is planted. In 2021, Vietnam got tired of the situation and, being together with Taiwan the country that has the most interest in the archipelago, also began to lift islands in the Spratly. Mainly, for military and port presence that reinforce maritime logistics, but putting the direct in recent months. Since June 2024, Vietnam has “grown” 641 new hectares and measurements Totals of expansion 1,343 hectares compared to 1,882 of China. And the expansion is being rapid: in 2021, Vietnam only had four advanced ports with port. Now, it has tripled that number with cases such as Barque Canada Reef in which only the atolon was intuited and now has even a landing floor. Before and after in the reef Barque Canada Complaints from each other. The objective of one and others is to operate more time and in greater numbers on those islands before a relief arrives, being able to carry out maneuvers and patrols during the area throughout the year, but curiously, although Vietnam had already shouted in the sky before with China’s movements, it is … Read more

We have been looking for the definitive cure of allergies for years and we have not yet solved the big problem: understand them

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The end of the rains and the arrival of good weather have, for many, a dark back: The allergies. Spring, and especially the months of May and June, brings us the pollen proliferationone of the most important allergens, the main cause of sneezing at this time of year. The most common way of treating this type of allergies is through antihistaminesdrugs aimed at blocking the effects of histaminea neurotransmitter that also plays an important role in immune system. Recall that allergies are nothing other than a reaction of our immune system to external substances that understands as dangerous and that are not really, allergens. Antihistamines are very useful when treating allergic symptoms. But one thing is that, and another thing is to definitively cure these disorders. Today we do not have A cure for allergiesbut at least there are some routes open to hope. So close we are to achieve it. Perhaps one of the first treatments that come to mind when talking about healing the allergy are vaccines. What we understand today as vaccines against allergy are immunotherapy -based injections, and its logic is not far from conventional vaccines: it is about administering a small amount of what causes us allergy capable of alerting the immune system without unleashing an allergic reaction. While they are a useful treatment in many cases, they do not finish solving the problem, so we will need periodic injections that will improve the response capacity of our immune system. What ways are there open? Almost ten years ago, We commented on some of the open research lines in the search for a cure for allergies. These ways included, for example, the “biological therapies.” These are therapies that focus on antibodiesthe proteins that our body produces when it detects substances that it understands as harmful. This type of treatments They are still One of our great hopes. An example of this is omalizumab, a drug in principle aimed at combating asthma and approved two decades ago in the United States. In recent years, science has been validating this therapeutua option. A recent example is in A study Posted in 2022 in the magazine Clinical and Translational Allergy. In this analysis, the team observed that the drug was effective when preventing spring allergic rhinitis. Understand the problem To understand how our knowledge has evolved in recent years, we must first understand why it is so difficult to find a definitive cure. The background problem is simple: We do not understand the allergies well enough to find a solution. We still do not understand why certain people suffer from a certain allergy while others suffer from another type of reaction, at the same time that others do not seem to have such problems. We don’t know either Why allergies are permanent despite the fact that the antibody that we generally associate with them does not usually remain in our body for long periods of time. Two studies Published last year in the magazine Translational Medicine Science They can help us understand this situation a little better, explaining at least this last point. The answer could be in an antibody that we usually do not associate with allergies, immunoglobulin G (IgG), and the cells that produce it. What the teams responsible for these studies discovered is that some cells responsible for producing IgG produce immunoglobulin E, which is associated with allergies, when they run into an allergen. The key to allergic “memory” could therefore be in these cells. Before going better, everything seems to indicate that the allergies problem will go worse. And is that every time More people suffer This type of disorders. There are several factors that could be, independently or together, behind rapid ascent in the number of allergic people in the world. One of these hypotheses is that of hygiene. Since our immune system is “trains” through exposure to external agents, the absence of these agents in early stages can imply that our system does not perceive them as normal and, exposed in later stages, ends up reacting disproportionately. s From the environmental point of view, we must also consider the presence of pollutants in the atmospherelike particular matter. These pollutants can also affect our airways, combining their effect with that of conventional allergens and aggravating the situation. In Xataka | The time of the year in Japan has arrived where everyone has a mask. The fault is World War II Image | Cottonbro Studio

The “eternal chemicals” are already everywhere. And that includes one of our favorite places: Spanish wine

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The “eternal chemicals” have become a hot issue. These chemicals are widely used in a variety of contexts but their increasingly common presence in the environment worries both environmentalists and the health sector. And for now we know little about the possible impact of these substances on the health of people and in ecosystems. “Eternal” chemicals in wine. A study by the environmental association European bread(PHASE Action Network Europe) He has warned of the presence in the European wine of one of the substances we usually refer to as “eternal chemicals”: trifluoroacetic acid. PFAS and TFA. PFAS are the acronym with which we often refer to the category of perfluoroalized and polyfluoralized substances. It is a family of synthetic molecules (there are about 4,700 compounds of this type) that stand out for resistance that imbues the union between fluorine and carbon atoms. These compounds They are useful For example, in the manufacture of non -stick objects, but they can also be found in pesticides, containers or hygiene products. This is a molecular union Extremely stabledoes not react to external agents so it is extremely difficult to make these substances decompose, either by natural processes or otherwise. That is why these substances tend to accumulate in nature and, potentially, in our body. Interestingly, one of the problems with these substances is in one of the products as a result of the decomposition of the PFAS, the trifluoroacetic acid (TFA). This is precisely the “eternal chemist” on which the new study has focused. 49 wines. The analysis It began with a dozen Austrian wines of relatively old vintages and was expanding to include more recent crops and other countries. In total, 49 wines were analyzed, including at least one produced in Spain. They observed that wines prior to 1988 They did not contain traces of TFAbut that from that year the concentrations were increasing, first little by little and, as of 2010, significantly. The average concentrations in the vines of vintages between 2021 and 2024 was 122 µg/l, although peaks of up to 300 µg/l were detected. Although the phenomenon extended throughout Europe, the team indicated that Austrian wines were the most affected. Other Detail highlighted By the association it was the correlation between the concentrations of TFA and waste of synthetic pesticides. Ecological production The study of European bread He noted that ecological production wines also did not get rid of the presence of these substances, although it is true that they showed some concentrations less than those found in other wines. To what extent are a risk? Today we do not know for sure the effects of “eternal chemicals” on our health, but there are some indications that allow us to get an idea of ​​these possible effects. TFA has been linked, for example, problems for Fertility; But other compounds of this family have also been related to immune problems and even a greater risk of cancer. In Xataka | Some scientists have proposed to solve the big question: is it more “healthy” white wine or red? Image | Hermes Rivera

carry the battle of updates to the extreme

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There is a new obsession by the main Android manufacturers: that of Offer how many years of support are possible. Until not too ago, most were conf formed with just two years of updatessomething simply unthinkable in the most current popular mobiles. In the last two years we have seen a magical number: The seven years of updates. A figure that, a priori, seems almost magical, and that raises life time (as long as the updates do not do more damage than well) exponentially. The problem? The same one we have been dragging since Android is Android. A clear obsession. Seven years of updates. Samsung was the first to open the ban, offering more support than Google itself. In response, the Google Pixel also had a seven -year supportboth system updates and security patches. It is a record for the operating system, propitiated largely due to the improvements in support that manufacturers such as Qualcomm. His latest processors allow up to eight years. The question is whether this makes sense. Birds in the air. Promise years and years of updates is fine. But there is only one manufacturer updating At a good pace: Google. Samsung has just announced the update to Android 15 for some of its high -end devices. The point here is that this version has been available since October. We have normalized that updating fast is updating half a year after Google present stable version, and another half of the next version of the operating system, Android 16. A loop that feeds the endemic evil of Android: the fragmentation. Seven percent. Only 7% of the devices worldwide are updated to Android 15. Or, in other words, 93% of Android devices are outdated. Fragmentation is inevitable in this operating system (With more than 70% global adoption), Given the vast diversity of devices in use. But 7% remain a very low fact of adoption. It doesn’t matter too much. A few years ago, updating the system version was to change design language almost in full every few years and access a remarkable number of news. From a time to this part, operating systems focus on stability and efficiency rather than offering draft news. The main change, AI, comes from the hand of models such as Gemini Nano, implementable without changing operating system version. Regarding the security of use, with being updated to the last patches and not having a too old version, it is more than enough. Manufacturers against. Android has moved away from the two years of updates and an acceptable minimum begins from four or five years. On breaking these barriers to approach the ten years of updates there are manufacturers with clear posture. Interviewing Daniel Desjarlais, product manager at Xiaomi, the response to why the brand offered no more support the response was clear: the average consumer’s life cycle is not seven years, it is three. Similar posture Share OnePluswhose posture about the mobile and the sandwich made talk. “Imagine that your phone is a sandwich. Some manufacturers are now saying that the filling of your sandwich, the software of your phone, will remain good to eat in seven years. But what they are not telling you is that the bread in the sandwich, the user’s experience, could be moldy after four years. Suddenly, a seven -year software update policy does not matter, because the rest of your experience is terrible.” Summarizing: manufacturers are at war with operating system updates. A war in which only Google is managing to fulfill deadlines, and in which it doubts how an Android will behave seven years later stalks the most skeptical manufacturers. Image | Xataka In Xataka | How to know how many Android updates you will receive your mobile with this website

There was a time when we thought the birds migrated to the moon. Until an arrow released in Africa fell in Germany

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Spring is a time that I always liked. Not for the Horrible processionarybut for the return of the swallows And, above all, of the storks. After a long winter, They return home to nest. Imagine the surprise if, one day, one of those stork appears in your locality with the neck crossed by an 8 -centimeter arrow. Stop imagining because that happened in 1822 in a German city. And far from being an anecdote, it became a key event to unravel the mystery of why birds They disappeared in winter. The doubt. Now it is no mystery and it is something that we learn at school since childhood, but not so many centuries, people did not know why, good at first, the birds were in autumn and reappeared in spring. Those Migratory processes in which even the smallest of the birds rEcorren thousands of kilometers without stopping They were not understood, which forced the thinkers of the time to launch hypotheses and theories that, in the absence of evidence, since they were accepted without further ado. One of the answers was evident. And it could be none than … Alien birds. That is what thought Charles Morton, a Harvard academic who, in the seventeenth century, suggested that the reason why some birds disappeared in winter was because they migrated … to the moon. Most likely you have raised your eyebrow thinking something like “impossible, they could not be so illusory”, but you have to put into the skin of someone who had no way to check the phenomenon and it was still an answer to a real mystery. Because what they knew was that they disappeared for months, but not the place they were going to. And as they saw the moon from Massachusetts, but not Colombia, because the answer was clear. But don’t believe it was the only crazy theory of the time. Aristotle, already in the IV AC theorized about the possibility of being transformed into other species or even shuffled over his hibernation underwater. Morton rejected this idea because it was too fantasy (not like his, of course). The arrow. Morton even calculated that the trip to the moon had a month away and another back, sleeping much of the time and surviving thanks to his body fat. The truth is that, in the absence of better theories, it was not bad (despite my jocular tone, we talked about the seventeenth century and the media they had). However, little by little the idea that these European birds were going to other places during the winter. And the definitive test was brought by a stork. A good day of 1882, north of Germany, someone shot a stork, who fell down and with a capital surprise for those present: he had an 8 -centimeter arrow through his neck. The question was no longer how I could fly with such a breakdown, but where the arrow had come from. Brava PFEILSTORCH. Thus, they took the body of the stork to the University of Rostock, where the researchers examined the projectile and concluded that it was an arrow belonging to some group in the center of Africa. As it was impossible, or tremendously unlikely, that someone launched something like that on European soil, the response became evident: that stork had traveled more than 3,000 kilometers from the point in Africa in which winter had passed and where it was killed in Germany. Baptized as PFEILSTORCHIt was dissected and preserved in perfect condition in the Zoological Collection of the University of Rostock thanks to its undeniable importance in the world of science and ornithology: it was confirmation to the suspicions that, indeed, migratory birds or became anything else, nor slept four months underwater or went to the moon: they traveled to the warmest places during the European winter. Clue. After Pfeilstorch (which means “Flechy stork” or “storks crossed by an arrow”), they found more specimens In Europe with the same characteristics: arrows stuck somewhere in your body. This is not so uncommon in large birds, which show great resilience to wounds that do not compromise flight or its basic functions. Once they are injured, if not seriously, the wound stabilizes and the bird can continue with its life. With the inclusion Of the rings on the legs of the birds by the Danish HC Mortensen in 1899, the researchers systematized the study of specimens to verify that those who flew from Europe before winter, disappeared and then returned, were the same. Thus, we can say that this arrow launched in Africa that landed in Germany was the first bird monitoring system, a coincidence that allowed obtaining the first conclusive data on the migratory practices of the birds. Images | Thula Na In Xataka | Modern cities have become authentic “headlights.” For thousands of birds it is a problem

The “computer” of 2,000 years ago fascinates us for decades. A new study points out that it might have not served at all

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125 years ago, divers who were collecting sponges in the Aegean Sea, in front of the island of Anticitera, They gave with remains of an old shipwreck. Among jewels, coins and ceramic remains, there was something that caught the attention: a copper fragment of something that seemed to be a gear. It was a compendium of gears that seemed to be part of something much bigger and was baptized as’Anticitera mechanism‘. For decades it was an ignored curiosity in the archives of the National Archaeological Museum of Athens, until the researcher Derek de Solla He recovered it, studied and determined that it was an advanced Greek “computer” built at some point between 200 and 100 AC after many theories, a group of Argentine researchers have put the anti -life mechanism to see how the first computer in history behaves .. And the conclusion is that … it was nothing more than an ingenious toy. The main piece First computer For decades, this mechanism fascinated us due not only to its antiquity, but because ignorance about its function allowed the elaboration of all kinds of hypothesis. However, it was Solla who studied more in depth at the beginning, creating physical simulations about the complete state of the mechanism. Thus, and according to the researcher, the anticitera mechanism was a piece corresponding to a more complex object, composed of at least thirty bronze gears placed strategically in a wooden box with approximate dimensions of 340 x 180 x 90 millimeters. It was activated by a crank that allowed to move the gears and perform its function. Which? Well … predict astronomical positions. According to Derek’s studies, the anticitera mechanism was a planetary computer, a very cool name to describe a “computer” that allowed predicting astronomical positions, lunar phases, eclipses and, therefore, calculating cycles of the 354 -day lunar calendar or dates for sports games, among others The pieces found Through different discs, it showed the astronomical data and, supposedly, was designed to reproduce the irregular movement of the moon in its rotation thanks to specialized gears that compensated the anomalies in its trajectory. And, after that first finding, we found more and more pieces of the mechanism, which has allowed us to get an idea of ​​how it was. It was evident that it was A very advanced machine for its timebut it is also clear that it had a number of limitations. The first: however advanced Greek astronomers were, the mechanism embodied knowledge to date, so comparing it with subsequent techniques and tools is meaningless. The position of some planets is very diverted with respect to modern measurements, for example. This is logical and It does not remove merit To the device, but there were two factors that limited their precision: the mechanics itself and the manufacture of the gears. Due to wear, copper teeth could be increasingly inaccurate and, in addition, as they were manufactured by hand and not in series in a assembly chain, any deviation in the gears would affect their accuracy in the calculations. And that is what previous studies reported, such as those of Mike Edmundsbeing one of the few who has been able to directly investigate the device and lead the equipment that is responsible for your analysis. For what supposedly served Another representation of the Anticitera mechanism Testing Now, some Argentine researchers from the National University of Mar de Plata, have simulated by computer the anti -litera mechanism and their conclusion is … that it was useless. Esteban Guillermo Szigeth and Gustavo Francisco Arenas are those researchers, and have shared their conclusions in Arxiv. For their simulation, they were based on previous studies that already took into account the influence of irregular triangular teeth and the consequences of physical inaccuracies in its construction. When performing it, they realized that the triangular teeth did not seem to have a negative impact on the functioning of the mechanism, but of traffic jams in the gears when turning the crank. That, they point out, would have made it very not very practical in scientific use, practically impracticable, reducing the mechanism to an “ingenious toy.” Now, they also claim that it is the result of a simulation about what they know about the device that It was found in 1900 And that it is possible that, taking into account the necessary skill for its construction, the irregular space between the gears could be a fruit of corrosion, and not something deliberate in its design. The researchers propose that the wheels, given the slightest mismatch, would be stuck as it is extremely pointed, when we wear out or not being well balanced by the manufacturing of the time The researchers propose a series of improvements for the gears that would avoid this defect found, but also comment that it must be “cautious to assume that the measurements perfectly reflect their original values” due to what is commented: someone took too many discomfort to build that and it is unlikely that there would be something so complex, but not functional. That is why they also point out that more must be investigatedeven developing more refined techniques, to better understand the real precision and functionality of an anti -litera mechanism that still has room to fascinate us. On the fact that it was found among the remains of a wreck, the answer is much simpler: surely It was part of the loot for some Roman emperor, probably Julio César. Therefore, the anticitera mechanism remains a source of speculation and fascination due to the tremendous merit of its construction more than 2,000 years ago, but study after study, the conclusion is that the easiest thing is that it served little. Even so, researchers point out that its construction was a technological milestone. And that is something that nobody has questioned. Images | GRB16, Zde, Tony Freeth, David Higgon, Aris Dacanalis, Lindsay Macdonald, Myrto Georgakopoulou, Adam Wojcik, Mike Peel, GTS-TG In Xataka | The myth of the creative genius or why most … Read more

Summer is approaching and with him the new obsessive trend to lose weight quickly: the patches to lose weight

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There are nine weeks left for summer and social networks have not taken to remember it. This year, the trend is a clear two -way revival that He has flooded everything: Not only outfits with y2k hats or minimal tops, but also thin body. Quite back the discourse of bodily positivity has remained, and the obsession with weight loss has returned strongly. This time, in the form of stickers. Slimming patches. These products, marketed under names as Weightless either Diet patchThey are transdermal adhesives that are placed on the skin on the wrist or belly. The Reels In social networks and manufacturers ensure that they help lose weight, reduce appetite or accelerate metabolism. The promise is simple: pégate it and lose weight, with no more effort than to remember every so often. Some even present with slogans such as “needleless version” of medicines such as Ozempicdespite having absolutely nothing in common beyond marketing. Does it really work? According to a Bloomberg articlethe theory behind these patches is that they release “natural” ingredients to the body through the skin. Some include compounds such as berberine, green tea extract, caffeine or bullfighting. However, there is no serious scientific evidence that supports these compounds that can be absorbed by the skin in significant amounts to reduce weight. As They have detailed In Medical News Today, some experts have agreed that these products are sold as supplements without strict regulation and it is practically impossible to know what they really contain. As He explained Professor Nerys Astbury of the University of Oxford in Bloomberg, although some medications are administered transdermally (such as nicotine or contraceptives), it has not been shown that appetite suppressors can do it effectively. Boom to lose weight. This whole situation occurs in a context in which obesity medications are more fashionable than ever. Products like Ozempic, Wegovy either Zepboundbased on the GLP-1 molecule, they have been revolutionaries in the treatment of overweight. Unlike viral patches, these do have clinical studies, medical approval and proven results. But of course, they require recipe, medical monitoring and, above all, a puncture. Hence the idea of ​​a “LPG-1 in patch” sounds so tempting. A background problem. What really is at stake is not only the patches, but what they represent. There are many videos about “losing weight” with increasingly crazy routines and, now, it has touched the turn of Loss to lose weight stickers. These types of rapid solutions perpetuate the mentality of thinning is a process that can be outsourced in a patch, without the need for long -term commitments, exercise or changes in the diet. A “perfect body” culture is promoted regardless of cost, whether physical or psychological. In this sense, social networks are playing a key role, presenting these patches as an “easy” and “pain” of losing weight, not to mention the associated risks or realities behind these products. While the young women immerse themselves in this wave of weight loss, we are faced with a new form of social pressure that resurrects the cult of extreme thinness. The two thousand aesthetics, which glorified thinness, sneaks back into our screens and, with it, the return to the idea of ​​aesthetic pressure to be happy. Image | Tiktok Xataka | “I never say that I have thinned thanks to Ozempic”: the taboo of the ‘Ozempicazo’, the people who hide them consume it

If the question is if the cars were “cheaper” regarding your salary in 1975 than now, we have made accounts

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It is no secret. Cars have risen in the last years. Cars, in fact, have risen a lot of price in recent years. It is an issue that we analyze in Xataka Two years ago and although the semiconductor crisis passed, the cost of getting a car has not lowered much. The problem even hit second -hand cars that too They shot their prices. It is a problem that was generalized internationally since the lack of components led companies such as Ford to have tens of thousands of vehicles due to the lack of some small component. Today the situation has been normalized. No longer is needed wait for more than a year To receive a car or there are people paying overpreds for Skip the waiting list of a Tesla. In fact, to the company It is costing to place according to what cars. But there is something that has not changed so much. The price of cars is still high. Very high. How high? Let’s compare it with a few years ago. A salary year Do we take a look at what the situation was half a century ago? Our partners L’Automobile They have echoed a study in which it was claimed that buying a Citroën 2CV in 1975 was much more complicated than getting a Citroën C3 in 2025. The French media, however, stated that the study presented them with any doubt because it was not taken into account, for example, the average cost of the house, one of the problems that, as in Spainhit France. Are we in Spain in the same situation? In our case, we are going to take official minimum salary data and vehicle prices as a departure. Thus, consulting the data reflected by the BOE of 1975, the minimum wage was at 8,400 pesetas. Monthly that, after the year, added 117,600 pesetas at the end of the year with 14 payments. That year, according to data collected in Bull skinspecialized in the Spanish classics, a Citroën 2CV-6 cost 123,088 pesetas. In January 1974, in Highway They explained The idiosyncrasy of this version in the following terms: “Without entering the discussion about whether the 2 hp must be considered as a car or simply as a distant cousin, the truth is that we find an inescapable reality: it is the cheapest vehicle on the market, and according to legend, also the cheapest consumption,” With the data in his hand, a Spaniard who charged the minimum wage needed to work 14.65 payments to pay the car. That is, just over the salary won in a whole year to acquire “the cheapest vehicle on the market.” Today, Citroën’s cheapest car is C3. Its price is 15,740 euros, According to the vehicle configurator. In 2025, the minimum interprofessional salary is 16,576 euros with the last climb of the SMI. Taking this into account, to pay a Citroën C3, a worker needs 13.29 payments. That is to say, Less days worked than 50 years ago For a vehicle of similar characteristics. And if we go to the cheapest car on the market, as collected in the search engine of Km77which have a huge database with the current prices of market cars, the most basic dacia A price of 13,940 euros It is the cheapest car on the market. In this case, a worker needs to dedicate 11.77 payments. That is, almost twelve payments, less than a year. They are data that compare prices “to the gross” since the cost of the purchase or housing car is not taken into account. Yes we know that in 1975, The best -selling car in Spain was the Seat 127. A car that at that time cost 166,290 pesetas. Or, what is the same, 19.79 payments of a Spaniard with minimum wage. The data is not less since it means that the Spanish buyer acquired A car 135% more expensive than the cheapest model on the market. In 2024, however, The most purchased car was … Dacia Sandero with 32,994 units. A car that put more than 10,000 units to Toyota Corolla, second classified. This gives us an idea of ​​the type of car to which a Spanish buyer aspires in 2025. To all of the above we must add, as we said, factors such as the price of housing. In this case, we have not found studies that aim at the cost of acquiring it in 1975 but in Xataka Yes we have studied evolution and the cost of the same over the years. For sample, housing prices are already still expensive as in the bubble years. Even if it is a fact deformed by inflation, The study which we echoed does show that an apartment is now 3.5 times more expensive than in 1980, when the study began. Another sample, in Bankinter They point out that a family needed the total income of 2.9 years to pay an apartment in 1987, while in 2023 this figure was between 7.3 and 7.5 years. Data that explain why if a car demands more or less the same amount of effort, now the most purchased car in Spain is a cheaper than 50 years ago. Photo | Citroën and Dacia In Xataka | Spain continues to prefer the cheap car, not the electric: the registration data leave a bittersweet taste for the industry

What happened so that in the long term we lost the race

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At the moment USA and China monopolize all the prominence in the field of Quantum computers. His struggle for world supremacy has many ramifications, and, precisely, Quantum technologies They embody one of them. Both countries have reached Quantum supremacyand, on paper, they are also the most developed in the still premature field of quantum telecommunications. However, this story did not start with them. He was born in Europe. And he did it at a time when quantum computers had already been outlined from a theoretical point of view, but seemed unfeasible. Everything changed in 1995. That year the Spanish physicist Ignacio Cirac and the Austrian physical veteran Peter Zoller They published the article which is unanimously considered the cornerstone that supports the birth of quantum computing as we currently contemplate it. Without their work in all likelihood, current quantum computers would not exist. Or, at least, they would have arrived later. It all started with Cirac and Zoller The roads of these two researchers crossed in the early 90s. Ignacio Cirac had finished the physics career at the Complutense University of Madrid in 1988 and decided to travel to the US to complete his doctorate with the prestigious physicist Peter Zoller. His collaboration was very fruitful From the first moment, so together they began working in such promising fields, and, at the same time, as complex, as quantum cryptography or teleport. Other researchers had proposed before them the possibility of building a quantum computer, but nobody knew how to do it. At that time no physique knew what the right strategy was to put a quantum computer. Zoller and Cirac did know In 1994 Cirac and Zoller attended a conference in which other researchers explained the enormous potential they had from a strictly theoretical point of view quantum computers. However, at that time No physique knew what the right strategy was To set up one of these machines. Zoller and Cirac surveys inspiration shortly after witnessing that conference, and realized that they had found a way to build a machine capable of carrying out calculations with quantum bits or cubits. His scientific article was published in Physical Review Letters on May 15, 1995. They titled ‘Quantum Computations with Cold Trapped Ins’ (Quantum computing with cold ions), and, despite their exoticism, many other physicists immediately realized that what Cirac and Zoller proposed had a huge potential. If we intend to set a date to identify the germ that gave rise to the birth of quantum computers it seems reasonable to accept what should be the day in which the text of these two European physicists saw the light. In any case, one of his greatest successes was his ability to gather the world of abstract theories of quantum computing in which other physicists worked before them with atomic physics, molecular physics and optics. In fact, the title of your scientific text already contains one of the types of cubits most advanced currently available: Quantum bits of ion traps. Honeywell or Ionq are two of the companies that have collected their witness and several decades later they have managed to put this type of quantum machines ready. The recognition of the scientific community soon arrived. Zoller and Cirac were consolidated as two central figures in the formation of international research groups, and, above all, both were actively involved in the constitution of European Quantum Technologies Development Programs. Zoller collaborates closely since the beginning of the 2000 with the Institute for Inns Information and Quantum Optics (Austria). And Cirac has directed since 2001 the theoretical division of the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics housed in Garching, a peaceful town located a few kilometers from Munich (Germany). Europe has failed to transfer its academic leadership to the industry The thrust of Ignacio Cirac, Peter Zoller and many other scientists with whom they have worked has not been enough to deliver industrial leadership to Europe in the field of quantum computers. Currently the old continent remains a world power in research thanks to the work that the groups of Quantum Physics of the University of Technology of Delft, in the Netherlands; the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics, in Germany; the Federal Polytechnic School of Zurich, in Switzerland; the Center for Quantum Technologies of Paris, in France; the National Center for Quantum Computing, in the United Kingdom; or the Institute of Fotonic Sciences, in Spain, among other academic institutions. Leadership in scientific research does not necessarily guarantee industrial leadership in those applications derived from these technical innovations But it is not enough. Leadership in scientific research does not necessarily guarantee industrial leadership in those applications derived from these technical innovations. This is the big problem that Europe has had. He has not managed to transfer his academic leadership to the industry. During The conversation I held In October 2019 with Juan José García Ripoll, a researcher of the Fundamental Physics Institute of the Higher Council for Scientific Research (CSIC) that develops its research activity within the Quantum Information Group and Fundamentals of Quantum Theory, this physicist explained to me why Europe does not rivate today with the USA or China, when you could do it. As we have seen, the old continent had the scientific advantage in this field, but lost it because within just five years a few international companies and laboratories invested a lot of money in strengthening a few groups and got an exponential advance in this area. This reminds us how important it is to observe that it is strategically interesting and not lose that track. This field was built by Europe. Just two and a half decades He stayed behind. “Probably the fault is of our scientific fabric, and, above all, of our business fabric, which is less innovative and costs him more to get into this type of risky lines,” Juan José García Ripoll holds. In Europe there are companies that are dedicated to quantum computers. The Austrian Alpine Quantum Technologies, the Finnish IQM, the British Oxford … Read more

Nostalgia has become the true fuel in the car market. The scamoteable headlights are the last test

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There was a day that the headlights were hidden in cars. Deportivo, sharp nose … and some headlights that completely broke the front of the vehicle with two huge bulbs to illuminate what was in front. The Ferrari F40, the Lamborghini Countachhe BMW M1 or the most earthly first Mazda MX-5. There are many examples of all kinds. Some of them extremely shocking such as the Porsche 911 Flatnose. Because yes, Porsche came to offer as extra equipment the sneakable headlights In its most iconic sports car, which some sacrilege will seem to some. And what do we say about Carlos Sainz flying along the sofari rally slopes In Kenia aboard his Toyota Celica? And although when we think of scamotable headlights we look almost automatically at the 80s and 90s, it is a much older invention. It is considered that The Cord 80 was the first car that he used this formula in the United States in 1935. Shortly after, in 1936 he would arrive in Europe with the beautiful Alfa Romeo 8C (attentive to this miniature If you are thinking of spending more than 20,000 euros on one of them). Regardless of where we place its origin, the usual as we said is to think in the decade of the 80s and the 90s when we talk about this lighting system. And how everything comes back: are the sneakable headlights back? Mg cyber x concept They come back … more or less Shanghai 2025, MG presents the Cyber ​​X Concept. The prototype is, in the words of the Chinese company, a “global urban adventure toy.” What our eyes see is an extraordinarily square SUV to generate that aspect of hard off -road. Of course, nothing similar to Joseph Kaban Bugatti Veyron, designer of both products. But, beyond this curiosity … What appears on the front? Yes, small and fine sneaky headlights. With two LED squares in each of them, the Cyber ​​X Concept look is projected through some that hide in the body “as a nod to the classics,” they mention in the brand. Mazda Ionic sp Interestingly, it is not the only prototype that has opted for this formula in recent years or months. Mazda presented the IConic SP at the 2023 Tokyo Salon. There they revealed the prototype of a sports car Halfway between Mazda MX-5 and RX-7. What had both models in common? Yes, the sneakable headlights. At least in the First generation of the mythical Miata. With its rounded and fluid forms, Mazda advanced its concept of what its Sports of the future. An extended rank electric that was projected towards the past with A rotating engine to act as a generator And, in addition, with scamotable headlights that make you drool when you see the figure of the car. The last great manufacturer that has presented his proposal of scamoteable headlights was Honda. In the past CES of January, the company presumed two electrical prototypes that advance the formula of its future models. It was what the company called Honda 0 series. Honda Series 0 The formula was striking because it recovered the flat and acute forms of wedge -shaped eighties. According to the brand, it was “applying the thin, light and wise approach to a SUV.” It was promised that an evolution will be seen in the US market in 2026 and, later, in Japan and Europe. But another thing that caught the attention were the headlights of his front. Their light groups were hidden under a small retractable tab They closed to leave a clean hood and retracted to illuminate what you have ahead. A more logical and realistic solution than those of Mazda and Mg. Because the problem of retractable headlights are safety regulations. In fact, although they disappeared for them, they were also the main reason why they became popular. They explain in Diariomotor that in the United States was forced to take the headlights at a minimum height to the ground. The solution went to use these retractable headlights that allowed the height of the headlights to be raised without compromising a front of the front. To this was added the fashion of playing with this device, popularizing in the 80s. But after this fever, that bump when the headlights were deployed was gradually disappearing. A sum of small details ended up killing them inside the industry. First of all for something very simple: the sneakable headlights are a headache. Compared to a traditional optical group, the lighthouse must have a small electric motor, which makes the frontal and more susceptible to breakdowns more complex. The second is that, although closed the car could significantly increase its aerodynamic performance, deployed were a disaster in this regard. Of course, the solution of a lighthouse wall on the front of the vehicle does not seem the best solution. Finally, in the early 2000s, special attention began to be paid to the consequences of the outrage of a pedestrian. Obviously, two huge flat, sharp and outstanding surfaces In the body they were not going to deliver the best results, so he discouraged the manufacturer to set up a component that was already beginning to go down in history. Today, in this Revival That we live in the automotive market, up to three manufacturers have recently presented prototypes with sneaking headlights in recent months. Will we see them again? I say, hopefully. As long as he was not hit by one of them. Photo | MG and MAZDA In Xataka | This lighthouse costs as much as a Porsche 911: it is no joke, it is the lighthouse of a bugatti chiron

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