ability

“Regarding reading ability, there is no safe age for children to start using mobile phones”

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Most millennials we don’t understand that children today have mobile phones since primary school. In my case, for example, I had my first cell phone in high school. A brick inherited from my sister. The point is that times change and it is logical that children begin to interact much earlier with technological devices. However, there is a lot of controversy regarding the ideal age for them to start doing it. Some experts believe that it is good for them to start early, while many others point out that it can be harmful. For example, there is a lot of talk about the effects it can have on the reading ability of the little ones. And they don’t just talk about reading without syllables. The main handicap seems to be in reading comprehension. They read, but they don’t understand the content. Neither age nor mobile phone use at school matters. In a recent studycarried out by UCLA psychologists, analyzed the effect of having a mobile phone on the reading ability of primary school children. 106 third and sixth grade children participated in the study. This, in the United States, is exactly equivalent to the third and sixth grades of primary school in Spain. All children had to take a reading comprehension test and answer a survey about mobile phone ownership. That is, they not only had to say if they have one, but also talk a little about their habits with him. It is important to emphasize that there were not only children of different ages. Culturally and linguistically different participants were also included. With all this, it was seen that children who have a mobile phone obtained worse results in reading tests. This effect was maintained in both third and sixth grade students and it did not matter whether they carried their phone with them at school or if they had left it at home. The language in which they normally spoke with their family did not matter either. From all this it is concluded that the problem is the possession of a mobile phone. Not the distractions that may be caused by school or the child’s age. There is no ideal age to start using a mobile phone, at least when it comes to reading. That is precisely what one of the authors of the study, Patricia Greenfield, said. in statements collected by Phys. The only exception. In the study there was one exception, referring to children from non-English-speaking families. In those cases, for those who had a cell phone, their reading skills were better when they used games on the phone and they had been texting with other children for a long time. It is an exception that, in reality, fits with other studiesin which it is pointed out that the problem is not in using the mobile phone, but in the use made of it. Using it to watch TikTok challenge videos is not the same as using it to use educational games. The same thing happens with television or tablets, for example. More than the ability to read as such, reading comprehension is affected. Beyond reading. In reality, reading is not the only quality that is affected by premature use of mobile phones. For example, there are studies that suggest that it can affect mental and physical health, increasing the risk of phenomena such as insomnia or obesity. In these cases, reference is made to age. In fact, in a study published in 2025negative effects inversely proportional to age were pointed out. And we’re not talking about very young children. In 12-year-old students with a mobile phone, a 60% increase in the risk of poor sleep and a 40% increase in the risk of obesity was seen compared to those who did not have this device. Observational studies. It is important to highlight that a good part of these studies are observational. For example, in the case of reading tests, a statistically significant correlation was found between having a mobile phone and obtaining worse results in reading tests. However, it cannot be proven that the problem is actually with the phone. As they say, Correlation does not imply causation. It could be more of a coincidence. In any case, there are many studies that indicate that screens are not the best allies in those stages in which the mind begins to develop. Of course we are more influenced by technology than we were 20 years ago. Perhaps it is not necessary to wait for a brick inherited in high school, but it is not the best idea in the world to give a mobile phone to a 6-year-old child. Images | Magnificent In Xataka | In 2007, Spain forced men to take longer sick leave to care for their children. Fertility then fell.

“In the rental market the price has reached the limit of the tenants’ ability to pay”

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The month doesn’t matter, almost not even the year. If you take a look at the latest CIS studies on the main concerns of Spaniards, there is a topic that repeats over and over in the main positions: housing. Or rather, how difficult it has become to find a home in Spain. In spring the 41.3% of respondents I recognized that this was the issue the more it kept them from sleepingabove the progress of the economy or problems related to employment. One of the agents that has analyzed the phenomenon the most in Spain is Fotocasa, a platform that advances important changes in buying, selling and renting. Record increases… Until when? The Spanish real estate market is going through a peculiar situation: the price of housing continues to rise (second-hand housing at a 17.2% year-on-year and the new at 9.7%), but the purchase and sale operations take several months downjust like the signing of new mortgages. The big question is… With that backdrop, how long will prices continue to rise? Can we expect a fall in the short or medium term or, at least, some relaxation in its rise? For Maria Matosspokesperson for Fotocasa and director of its study area, the answer is clear: the increase in prices accumulated in recent years and the increase in credit After the rate increase in June, they will end up being felt sooner rather than later in the market, softening the rise in m2. “We are going through a turning point in which prices have reached their historical maximum, surpassing the records we had for 20 years. Citizens are facing prices that we have never seen before,” he comments. “However, with the rise in interest rates we foresee an increase in the cost of mortgages. “What is expected is that the pace of growth will moderate.” Matos sees several interesting signs. The first, a clear difficulty for citizens to continue assuming the rise in housing prices. The second, a “change in the mortgage cycle” after the type review from the ECB a few weeks ago. “We are seeing how the access capacity of an important part of the demand, around 75%, is stretched to the limit, and also how in many areas the effort is at the highest levels in history.” Does that mean we will see a price decline? No. What is expected, Matos clarifies, is a certain downshift, but not negative percentages. “We will see how this rate of increase in prices of 20%, 18%, 16%… begins to moderate, that the rate of growth will tend towards normalization; but we will not see decreases because we still have a great imbalance between supply and demand that continues to push prices upwards.” That is one of the great keys to the market. For some time in Spain, homes have been created much higher speed from which buildings are built that can accommodate them, which adds more pressure to the market. For reference, in 2025 they were added to the registry of the Ministry of Housing 95,000 new houseswell below the 240,000 homes created, according to the INE. The Bank of Spain (BE) itself estimates the accumulated deficit between 2021 and 2025 in 750,000 houseswhich gives an indication of the huge ‘hole’ that would have to be covered to satisfy population growth. These are compelling figures, but they fall short for the Fotocasa analysts. Matos specifies that if both the needs of the rental market and the purchase and sale market are taken into account, this estimate would rise to up to touch two million of properties. “Our data tells us that more than 1.8 million homes would be necessary to be able to make up for the deficit we have in Spain,” he clarifies before detailing that between Madrid and Catalonia alone they would need 200,000 properties to balance supply and demand and stabilize prices. “The problem is that many more homes are created every year than we are capable of building.” Matos admits that there are hopeful signs, such as visa increase of new construction, but dark clouds are looming on the horizon. “We continue to encounter very important obstacles: the lack of finalized land, excessive urban bureaucracy and a increase in costs construction rate of 25%,” he comments. “Developers and builders have many difficulties developing these buildings. “There are cities in Spain where it takes longer to give you a license than to build the building itself.” However, the expert points out an equally or even more worrying factor: lack of personnel. “We were reaching a production of about 100,000 homes per year with all the problems of finding land, financing it, buying it and developing it. Now a new obstacle is added, which is that Spain would need to incorporate 700,000 new workers to construction to respond to the housing and infrastructure needs expected for the coming years. “Without bricklayers, formworkers, ironworkers, electricians, without construction managers it is impossible to increase the rate of production. Now that it has been diagnosed, we know why housing is not produced… If we do not resolve this labor deficit it is impossible to increase supply and alleviate the tension on prices.” The truth is that the Fotocasa spokesperson not only anticipates changes in the buying and selling market. It also does so in residential rentals, which in recent months has already has given samples of moderation in price rise. For example, there are real estate platforms that estimate that the year-on-year increase in rents in June was 4.2%In June 2025 it was 8.9% and the previous year it was 13.5%. Although the changes must be analyzed in the long term, Matos advances that his data invites us to think about a decrease in income of 1.6% at the national level. “We have a turning point in the market. We see how the price has reached the limit of the tenants’ ability to pay. It is something we expected because we were seeing in the last six months how it went … Read more

“A green area without sufficient trees loses much of its ability to act”

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Extreme heat waves are an increasingly intense and long-lasting structural challenge and, faced with some cities turned into asphalt traps With a distinct lack of trees, the “urban climate shelter” concept has gained traction as emergency infrastructure. However, not just any green space acts as a heat shield, since recent research led by the University of Granada evidence that the design, morphology and, above all, the type of trees are critical factors, since a green area without dense coverage loses almost all of its effectiveness in reducing temperature. Size is not everything. The first results of the ACTERCA project, led by researcher David Hidalgo from the UGR, show the thermal behavior of green areas in the eight Andalusian capitals. To carry it out, they used a combination of satellites, climate modeling, artificial intelligence and thermal cameras, and the research concludes that the cooling capacity depends critically on large trees with dense canopies. These specific trees are the ones that really manage to reduce the environmental temperature between 3 and 5 ºC compared to areas dominated by impermeable pavements or the classic albero. That is why the key is not to create “green-looking” climate shelters, but to specifically design them to offer good shade and evapotranspiration with the most suitable trees. It is explained as follows by the UGR: These processes reduce the ambient temperature and significantly improve the thermal comfort of those who use these spaces. On the contrary, green areas with little tree cover lose much of their capacity to buffer heat, which shows that increasing the green area, by itself, does not guarantee effective protection against heat waves. It’s personalized. The study also highlights that urban design does not admit universal recipes, since in cities like Seville and Malaga, the main problem lies in the albedo and in Córdoba, the threat is building density and soil waterproofing. But if we go to Granada, the geometry of the historic neighborhoods, with narrow streets, offers greater thermal resilience than that of the new urban developments. Beyond temperature. Although lowering the thermometer is the most visible objective, science warns that the concept of “urban climate refuge” is still in its infancy and its definition lacks consensus. According to a systematic reviewcurrent urban planning is focusing almost exclusively on thermal comfort, leaving the potential of these spaces to promote urban biodiversity or long-term climate mitigation unexplored. In fact, it is pointed out that climate shelters must be conceived as multi-scalar solutions, since an isolated square is not enough, but an interconnected network is necessary. Along these lines, science proposes specific methodologies (tested in Seville and Malaga) to design shelter networks that classify spaces according to their use: places of temporary relief, areas for daily activity or areas of critical assistance during disasters. The real challenge. The biggest obstacle facing climate refuges is not thermodynamic, but social. And I know that an excellently air-conditioned park is of no use if those who suffer the most from the heat cannot access it or do not feel integrated. For example, an analysis at the IERMB on the Barcelona shelter network showed that there are deep intersectional vulnerabilitiessince factors such as economic income, gender and cultural origin determine who actually uses these spaces. This geographical and income inequality is also denounced by Greenpeace Spain, whose reporte warns of a serious lack of protection against heat waves in the most vulnerable sectors of the population, addressing access to thermal comfort as a fundamental right. We are behind. We know what works and how to implement it, but management is still one step behind. A review at European level which analyzed 97 initiatives in 88 cities revealed a notable institutional disconnection, since national climate adaptation strategies are rarely vertically integrated with local practices. Plans written on paper take too long to become trees planted on the asphalt. And the message we have on the table is that, to combat the extreme heat of the coming decades, cities do not simply need more square meters painted green on a map, but rather densely treed, intelligently distributed and, above all, socially fair urban ecosystems. Images | Andy Lee In Xataka | Climate change has a lethal side effect that we are only just discovering: it locks us in the house and prevents us from moving

“Solving problems will not be limited by our ability, but by our imagination.”

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Jeff Bezos has set out to be everywhere both physically and metaphorically. Apart from being behind Amazon (leaving it aside to focus on other projects) or Blue Originhas a “new” company called Prometheus. Its goal is to develop AI systems capable of creating artificial engineersand his latest statements They have heated up the conversation about AI and the future of work. The reason? Qwho boos the AI because he thinks it will take away his job is “very far from reality”, but then he claims that AI will lead to job reductions. Regarding physical presence, Bezos is in Europe these days. Specifically, in Paris, where the Vivatech fair is being held, which we were able to attend and where he gave a talk about the obsession of large companies with exploring space, reach the Moon, explore it and create “clouds” of satellites orbiting the Earth. The talk was about that, but we had to ask about the controversy, about Prometheus and about that future of work. And he wondered. And if you thought he was going to cast himself on the argument that AI will create jobs…you thought well and, in fact, he has gone further: he has compared it to the Industrial Revolution. Prometheus and the AI ​​that will be good at doing things, not just knowing things Prometheus is neither a model nor a technology: it is a company. Bezos founded it in 2024 and already has 150 employees spread across three countries. It has a valuation of $41 billion and is currently in deals to raise a $100 billion fund. It seems outrageous because it is, but on repeated occasions, these businessmen have declared that we are in a new golden ageand at Vivatech 2026, Bezos has said precisely that. “We live in the most incredible time in history. There has not been a better time to found a company” and Prometheus is an example. Your product will be an AI that does things, not just knows things. This is where the ‘gravy’ is, since what they are doing is developing AI systems capable of assisting in the entire engineering process, from start to finish. It will cover everything from the initial design, simulation, prototypes, manufacturing and launch, and an example that Bezos has put on the table on several occasions, and that he has repeated, is that of the engine for a new generation airplane. Because the idea of ​​this new AI is that it is capable of assisting an engineer, “empowering” him, according to Bezosso that they can make tools much easier and much faster. If developing a jet engine takes a decade of work, the idea is that these artificial engineers will be able to create it in five years first, then in three, then in two… “If we can accelerate that process, everything will change,” comments Bezos in his talk. For him, the key is how Prometheus is focusing on developing this AI. “We have great language models, but not one focused on building things. If I read 100 books on how to be a great athlete, I will know a lot, but I will still be a bad athlete. That’s why we have to change the way we train these models,” he says. “You can’t have a model that only reads. You have to have a model that is good at doing things” One of the legs that Bezos focuses on is that speed when developing something. He comments that industries embark on very long development cycles, of five or ten years, before having products, and something is necessary to change that dynamic. Something similar happens with semiconductors and chips. In fact, in the United States there are a center called Epic which has Applied Materials, Samsung or SK Hynix behind it and is focusing not only on developing machines to create chips, but also on tools for reduce development cycles for these cutting-edge chips. That is, it is not an approach that only Bezos is working on. The problem is another: how he is defending it. AI, the future of work and the new Industrial Revolution “If you take a step back, 6,000 years ago someone invented the plow and everything changed. Then someone invented the steam engine and everything changed again. We want to be in that cycle to make a leap in productivity and prosperity,” Bezos declared at the Paris fair. This argument of comparing artificial intelligence with the Industrial Revolution is not new. In recent months, the tone of university graduations in the US has been the presence of AI gurus telling how this technology is the future. The response has been young people worried about their current job booing the statements. “Solving problems will not be limited by our ability to execute something, but by our imagination” Because there is a fear that AI will end up replacing them and Bezos is not hiding too much. Returning to the engine example, a few days ago he commented that now it takes 100 people to make a next-generation jet engine, but with Prometheus AI it will take 10. He also stated that “despite the fact that the number of people who will be needed is being reduced by 10technology will create opportunities to multiply those jobs by 10.” The problem is what kind of job it will be, since software engineers will be needed (for the moment, at least), but Other jobs can be completely replaced. “I understand that there is a lot of concern about how AI will make humans redundant, but, AI will actually create jobs because people will focus on creating and finding other problems to solve,” he points out. “Solving problems will not be limited by our ability to execute something, but by our imagination,” he points out. And, I guess, the imagination is infinite… In Xataka | Laying off employees and saving for AI seemed like a seamless plan to make more profits. The data show that not

There is a weapon of mass destruction against our ability to remember things: stress

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One Monday you see your coworker, Laura, leave the office with a striking bright yellow umbrella. The next day, you walk into a coffee shop and see that same unmistakable umbrella resting on a chair. Without thinking twice, your brain does a quick calculation and you deduce that Laura is in there having coffee. This mental agility, which neuroscientists call “memory integration,” is the invisible tool that allows us to weave together loose ends and construct deductions from experiences separated in time. However, when pressure kicks in, this internal compass goes out of calibration. People who suffer an episode of acute stress not only experience emotional distress; your brain loses the ability to connect past memories with new information. Put bluntly: stress not only erases data from your mind, it also shuts down your ability to deduce. To demonstrate this cognitive “short circuit”, a team of specialists from the University of Hamburg, led by cognitive psychologist Lars Schwabe, designed a thorough experiment combining psychological testing and functional MRI to observe the real-time brain activity of 121 adults. The trial was developed in consecutive and carefully structured stages to compare how a relaxed brain reacts to one under extreme pressure. On the first day, participants memorized pairs of images, such as, for example, an animal next to a landscape. The next day, half of the group was subjected to a high-stress situation through a simulated job interview and complex calculations, while the rest performed relaxed tasks. Right after, everyone had to assimilate new information: they had to connect the same animals from the previous day with 3D figures. The final challenge was pure mental agility, as they were asked to deduce the indirect connection between the landscapes of the first day and the 3D figures of the second. The verdict was clear: the stressed group saw their ability to make these deductions drastically reduced compared to the participants who remained relaxed. Why does stress sabotage the ability to deduce? The epicenter of this problem lies in the hippocampus, a brain region essential for integrating information but which, at the same time, contains a very high density of receptors that are extremely vulnerable to stress hormones. According to the research of Science Advancesbrain imaging revealed that acute stress directly interferes with the reactivation of previous memories. In other words, while the stressed participants tried to learn the new information, their brains retrieved the memories stored the previous day much less intensely. Representational similarity analysis shed even more light on the process: instead of integrating memories into a connected network, the stressed brain encourages the separation of memory patterns. Under stress, our mind prioritizes representing each episode as an isolated and distinctive event, sacrificing the formation of connected and flexible knowledge structures. The research has captured the attention of leading scientific communicators due to its serious implications. In statements to the magazine NatureUniversity of Oregon neuroscientist Brice Kuhl (who was not involved in the research), emphasizes the immense value of being able to visually see what’s wrong in the brain thanks to technology. Kuhl points out that, usually, when something new is assimilated, a “small flash” of past experience rises to the mind, and it is precisely that flash that facilitates the integration of information. In people under pressure, the expert points out, that flash is practically absent. For his part, Kai Schüren, first author of the study explained in Wiredwho insists that the effects of acute stress transcend the emotional: they mechanically alter a vital cognitive mechanism, which prevents the construction of knowledge in an agile way. The current epidemic of mental exhaustion The consequences of this cognitive block are not limited to a laboratory environment, but have a profound impact on various critical areas of our society: In legal contexts, a failure to integrate overlapping events can lead to false inferences by witnesses and, consequently, erroneous accusations. In education, this difficulty in weaving together information hinders the creation of solid memory structures, an essential pillar for academic performance. In clinical health, problems integrating related memories are a distinctive feature of severe disorders such as psychosis and anxiety. To this we must add the current climate of tension in which we live immersed, which turns this finding into a major public health problem. According to the Ipsos Mind Health Reportsociety lives in a state of almost constant alert and pressure. The data in the document reflects the daily wear and tear of the population: 77% of people report suffering from multiple factors that negatively impact their mental health. Uncertainty about the future in a changing world affects and worries 57% of those surveyed. Financial instability and job insecurity are positioned as a source of constant stress for 56% of the sample. Continuous exposure to negative news in the media harms 49%. This chronic pressure means that an alarming 56% of people rate their level of stress experienced in the last twelve months with a score higher than 5 out of 10, while 31% admit to currently suffering from a mental health condition. We often consider stress as simply an emotional backpack that exhausts the body and clouds the mood. However, scientific evidence shows us that its impact is much deeper: stress redesigns the way we archive and use our own lives. By blocking neural connections in our hippocampus, the pressure not only makes us forgetful, it robs us of our innate ability to connect the dots. The next step for scientists, who are already preparing tests with rodents, will be to unravel the exact mechanisms to find ways to reverse this effect on memory. Meanwhile, understanding that stress isolates us in a fragmented present is the first strategic move to protect our mind. Image | Unsplash Xataka | Something disturbing is happening with young Spaniards: cases of colon cancer are multiplying

One study compares what AI does to your ability to think to boiled frog syndrome. The frog does not come out well

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There are two things that the technology industry is pushing hard. On the one hand, short videos. The TikTok format ‘broke’ it a few years ago to the point that platforms like Instagram or YouTube jumped headlong into copying them. On the other hand, AI. Everything must have AI, and now a chatbot He must be our assistant at all times. In parallel, every time more studies appear that point to something disturbing. That, perhaps, our brain is eroding. In short. Months ago, a study pointed out that chatbots cause cognitive surrender, another that makes us lazy and there is even one from Microsoft itself pointing in the same direction. One of the last is the elaborated by researchers from MIT, the University of California, Oxford, and Carnegie Mellon titled “AI Assistance Reduces Persistence and Harms Independent Performance.” To test the hypothesis, they conducted three experiments in which they let part of the participants access a bot based on GPT-5 and, after ten minutes, they cut off that access. Before the results, the tests: Equation Test – 350 people had to solve those problems. Qlogic test – 670 people had to take a mathematical test, but of logical reasoning in this case. Reading comprehension test – 200 participants who had to analyze a text and complete a brief reading comprehension series. We are so-so. As we say, part of the sample had access to that bot that was deactivated in the middle of the ‘exam’, and the result was the same in all three tests. As the researchers point out, when access to AI is interrupted, not only does the participants’ performance drop, but also their perseverance. In statements to the magazine Futurismone of the researchers points out that “once we take away the AI, it is not just that they make mistakes when giving the answer, it is that they are not willing to try either.” There was a distinction between AI users: Those who wanted the easy answer were the quickest to lose interest in attempting the task when they no longer had access to the tool. Those who asked for explanations or not to “cheat” directly had better results because some did try to continue with the task. The boiled frog. That’s where the analogy of the boiled frog that applies so well to this situation. The premise is that if we put a frog in a saucepan of boiling water, the frog will jump as soon as it senses danger. However, if we put the frog in the saucepan with warm water and heat it little by little, the animal will cook. This is not the case because the frog is obviously not stupid and, as long as it cannot be thermoregulateit will jump, but the analogy serves to explain what is happening with AI and those who delegate all tasks to a chatbot so as not to have to think. Are they making us dumber? Fools, fools… wouldn’t be the word. Rather, we become lazy. We don’t think because, after all, we have AI to do it for us. Without going into the danger that it poses (because now AIs are free, but tomorrow they may take them away from us at a stroke and turn them into a paid product even for the most basic tasks), the researchers they point out that, if someone uses AI in their daily life for all types of tasks, that person runs the risk of seeing their capabilities erode to the point of creating a dependency on the system because they do not know how to do anything without it. with head. This study, like many others, is not a criticism of artificial intelligence. As we have once said, it is just another tool, but you have to have criteria when using it. As the researchers point out, performance and interest are not the same in the case of someone who uses AI as a quick response as in the case of someone who just wants a concept explained to them. What they are clear about is that their observations, apart from those of other studies, should serve as a basis when designing how to integrate chatbots into educational programs. Because we are already seeing that there are countries and institutions that are integrating AI into classrooms and the conclusion of the study is that the analytical and creative thinking that we develop during youth is vital in adulthood. “Practice makes you better, and that is precisely what AI will take away from you. We will have a generation of students and people who will not know what they are capable of, and then that will hurt both innovation and human creativity” – Rachit Dubey, computational cognitive scientist at the University of California fast food. I commented at the beginning that short videos were also affecting us and it was not a toast to the Sun. It has a lot to do with the use of AI to obtain easy answers because the bottom line is the same: not having to think. It is something related to the concept of “brain rot” and the trap of dopamine, creating that dependency. In the case of short videos with slop and empty content, another implication is that little by little they break our attention span. That is why videos on YouTube The aim is to hook you from the beginningthe songs are getting shorter and have choruses that fit into the 15 seconds of an Instagram story, microdramas are the order of the day and when you start watching a movie that is not releasing dopamine, not even five minutes pass until you pick up your phone. It’s up to us to let the frog stew until it’s cooked… or if it jumps out of the pot. Images | J. Ronald LeeChatGPT (edited) In Xataka | The big names in AI are fighting over neuroscientists like they were soccer stars

China has the ability to stop the construction of new AI data centers. It is a nightmare for the US

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During the last two years The Chinese government has fought The US sanctions and its allies resorting to a strategy that has proven to be very effective. China controls the production and processing of several critical minerals For semiconductor industries, renewable energies or electric car, among other sectors, which has led to the administration led by Xi Jinping to regulate its export in a very strict way. In early December 2024 He chose to prohibit The export of some critical minerals to the US, among which were three essential metals for the chips industry: Gallium, Germanio and Antimony. Shortly after the Chinese government added two more critical metals to its list of export restrictions: Scandio and Disposio. However, there is a much less exotic chemical element than those I just mentioned the one that is barely talking. China also controls it and is using it to put the US against the strings. Bismuth is a fundamental metal for the global technology industry Although it is not monopolizing as many headlines in international media as rare earths, bismuth (BI) is an essential chemical element not only for the integrated circuit industry, but for the entire global technology sector. It is a whitish, crystalline and relatively fragile metal that acquires a pinkaceous tone when coming into contact with the air. It shares some physicochemical properties with lead and tin, but it has a distinctive characteristic that has helped it be erected as the essential metal that is: it is much less toxic than other heavy metals, such as lead. However, this is not at all its only quality. In addition, it is the most diamagnetic metal, so when introducing it into a magnetic field it is repelled very weakly. On the other hand, its electrical resistance is high and its thermal conductivity is very low. Interestingly, the only metal that has even smaller thermal conductivity is mercury. And its melting point is relatively low (about 271.3 ° C), while Its boiling point touches the 2,000 ° C. Finally, the bismuth has another very unusual property among the metals that are worth not overlooking: when it solidifies it expands. The bismuth is an essential metal thanks to its intervention in welds and the tuning of thermoelectric materials If we had to stay with only two characteristics of all that we just reviewed the chosen ones would be their low toxicity index and their ability to expand when solidified. In fact, these properties largely justify their use in industries that have a strategic role for many countries, such as chips, consumer electronics, renewable energy or electric car. Although it participates in a wide range of applications, the bismuth is an essential metal thanks to its intervention in the welds and the tuning of thermoelectric materials. For many decades the metal usually used in welds was lead, but it has an important problem: it is very toxic. Gradually this metal has been displaced by the alloys of bismuth and tin, which are much less toxic, and, in addition, They have a very low melting point. In fact, these alloys have a leading role in the manufacture of flexible substrates, printed circuit plates and all kinds of electronic components. On the other hand, thermoelectric materials allow generating electricity taking advantage of temperature and vice versa differences, so they are very important in the development of efficient cooling systems. China is currently the largest world producer in bismuth. In fact, control between 80 and 84% of the supply of this metal, so the global distribution chain is in your hands. Only in 2024 this Asian country produced 13,000 metric tons of this chemical element, while outside the borders of China, only 3,000 more tons were refined. This essentially absolute control has led to the Chinese government to drastically restrict Bismuth export with the purpose of responding to the sanctions of their rivals. In the US, some technology companies are already against the ropes because their bismuth reserves are running out. And it is not precisely unimportant companies. Google, Amazon and Nvidia are three of the US companies that Chinese bismuth urgently need In order to sustain the construction of your new data centers for applications of artificial intelligence (AI), so They have asked the US government that he reaches an agreement with his Chinese counterpart. Otherwise the development of AI in the country led by Donald Trump will be compromised. In this area, as we have just seen, China has the pan well grabbed by the handle. More information | China / Business Inside In Xataka | The two most important chip companies in China have a problem: the 5 Nm have been choked

China is about to have the ability to make 5 Nm chips, although it faces a difficult solution problem

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SMIC (Semiconductor manufacturing international corp), the largest Chinese semiconductor manufacturer has been working on the development of Your own 5 nm photolithography. In early February 2024 the newspaper Financial Times He said he had access to two experts in the integrated circuit industry who defended that this company was finalizing the refinement of their semiconductor manufacturing processes in their machines deep ultraviolet lithography (UVP). Its purpose was to have the necessary technology to make 5 Nm chips massively before the end of 2024, although it did not succeed. If its 5 Nm chips had already been successful in this project, the first Huawei devices or any other SMIC client equipped with this type of integrated circuits would have even seen the market. Be that as it seems, now, this technology is ready. The challenge facing SMIC is the performance by wafer According to Dr. Kiman expert in the manufacture of integrated circuits who has worked in Samsung and who currently investigates for TSMC in the US, SMIC is about to start the production of 5 Nm chips. It is perfectly credible because, as we have just seen, we know with certainty that this company has been working on this technology for several years. And, in addition, Dr. Kim is a reliable source. However, this expert has pointed out something crucial that we should not overlook: the performance per wafer that SMIC has currently achieved in its 5 Nm nodes is less than 30%. An incipient integration technology usually moves in the orbit of 50% performance per wafer When semiconductor manufacturers produce a chip wafer, some of those nuclei do not work properly. It is normal. When they launch a new lithographic node, their performance by wafer usually has a margin of broad improvement, but little by little, as engineers refine their integration processes, This parameter improves. A mature lithography can deliver to integrated circuit manufacturers a very high performance, but an incipient technology usually moves in the orbit of 50% performance, so only half of the chips produced work correctly. The problem is that for an integration technology to be profitable from an economic point of view, its performance by wafer has to be At least 70%. And, as we have just seen, Dr. Kim argues that the SMIC 5 NM node is below 30%. It is objectively a very poor performance, but we know what this low figure explains: the technique used by this manufacturer to produce these semiconductors. It is known as Multiple patterningand SMIC has used it for more than a year and a half to make 7 NM chips for Huawei and other customers. This strategy consists in transferring the pattern to the wafer in several passes with the purpose of increasing the resolution of the lithographic process. It works, but is responsible for wafer performance is clearly improvable. SMIC engineers have been forced to resort to Multiple patterning because The US and Netherlands sanctions They prevent Asml from selling their extreme ultraviolet lithography equipment to their Chinese customers, which are the ideal to make chips of 7 nm or less. With the UVP machines that SMIC has, it will be very difficult for wafer performance to be optimal, so in all 5 Nm integrated circuits they will be scarce and expensive. The definitive solution to this problem for SMIC, Huawei and the other Chinese companies that are dedicated to semiconductors inevitably goes through developing their own UVE lithography teams. They are in it. Image | SMIC More information | Dr. Kim In Xataka | The US has declared the total war on Huawei: he does not want him to sell his chips for the most advanced outside of China

The Castor project was the great idea of ​​Spain to self -ability. Now you are selling it by pieces

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Spain always has pursued concern around natural gas. More than 15 years ago its main sources were Algeria and Russia, but not to be energy dependent, the State promoted the Castor project. This initiative It arose as a possible response to face these challenges and reduce the vulnerability of the Spanish nation in the face of possible energy crises. However, a study confirmed That the gas injection of the year 2012 caused the earthquakes of Castellón, so a year later the Minister of Industry at that time ordered its closure. Now the current government has decided to sell it in parts. A little context. THE CASTOR PROJECT It was promoted by the Zapatero government and continued under the Rajoy Executive, being the ACS construction company, controlled by Florentino Pérez, responsible for the execution. The infrastructure was managed by the Concessionaire Escal Ugs, an ACS subsidiary. All this, He explains it Chronologically a citizen association that has denounced the case. How was it going to be? The Castor project consisted of an underwater natural gas warehouse located off the coast of Castellón, designed to store gas in an underwater deposit about 1,700 meters deep. It had the capacity to store approximately 1.9 BCM (billions of cubic meters) of gas and consisted of a marine platform, a gas pipeline of 30.3 kilometers in length, and a land plant in Vinaròs. And the problems came … Just for the earthquakes, was it closed? No, like Eldiario.es explained The initiative had a few challenges from the beginning. The reasons were different, such as their profitability, their environmental impact and the fact that it did not turn out to be as necessary as it had initially raised, given The great capacity of the regasifying of gas in Spain. Given this situation, the project was tried to sell in search of some type of economic solution. However, they did not find a solution to the problem, so finally the ACS company He abandoned it and the dismantling process began. A decade of the castor’s fiasco. Ten years later, the Castor project remains a clear example of billionaire failure. The submarine gas warehouse that ACS built In front of the coast of Castellón and Tarragona, it only operated in tests and never reached its full functionality. The result is known: an unusable infrastructure and a billionaire hole that has ended up paying the taxpayer, accompanied by a waterfall of judicial litigation without those responsible for being identified. Definitive closure. As They have advanced Different media, the third vice president and minister for ecological transition and demographic challenge, Sara Aagesen, has confirmed that the dismantling of the underwater warehouse will begin in May after the sealing of the thirteen underwater wells. In addition, what can be recovered from the project will be sold to reduce losses, which are encrypted by about 260 million euros. Why that figure? It all starts during the Rajoy government in 2014, which It was approved Express compensation of 1,350 million euros for the construction company ACS through a Royal Decree-Law. However, this compensation, which should be paid for 30 years through the gas bill, was declared unconstitutional in 2017, which paralyzed payments to financial entities. Finally, the State had to borrow to compensate the bank. The litigation began. During those years, the facilities have cost more than 100 million euros for more than 11 years, when the Concessionaire Escal Ugs resigned from the project. However, the National Court has forced ESPS, the company controlled by ACS, to return 209.7 million euros in “financial compensation” that charged between 2014 and 2017, after the judgment of the Constitutional Court that annulled the payments. However, it remains to be seen if the company will comply with this obligation, since Escal Ugs entered into a creditors’ contest In 2019. As for the criminal derivative, in 2021 the Castellón audience acquitted on step Already its directors of a crime against the environment and natural resources, a fact that underlines the lack of responsible for the Fiasco. A classic example of loss socialization. The Castor project is an example of “socialization of losses”, where the consequences of failure fell on the taxpayer, while financial entities, which had advanced money in exchange for charging it with interest for 30 years, were compensated by the State. Despite the controversies, the ACS company benefited from this compensation, despite the fact that its president, Florentino Pérez, declared that the project was a “misfortune” For his company, which represented only 1% of the ACS billing. A great legislative error. So it was indicated by the Independent Fiscal Responsibility Authority (Airef)as one of the most expensive in the energy sector, concentrating more than half of the compensation paid by the State in recent years. This case has evidenced the need to carry out more rigorous studies on the technical, economic and environmental viability of the projects, especially when they involve geological risks or impacts in local communities. In addition, it has evidenced the importance of greater transparency in decision -making and public fund management. Image | Zarateman and Albertodv Xataka | 2025 is the beginning of the end for gas boilers in Spain. European regulations have started its long withdrawal

My concentration ability takes a long time. Working in a laptop almost 15 years ago has saved me

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Our care economy is broken. Completely. We are continuously bombarded by stimuli that come by many ways and the consequence is clear: We distracted ourselves with the flight of a fly. It is curious how this is causing a change not only in us, that we look for methods not to distract us, but in elements such as an entertainment industry that has changed its way of capturing our attention. There are two very clear examples of this. Music is one more or less obvious, with increasingly short songs (just a couple of minutes) and, some, with the chorus as the beginning of the theme. In addition, these choruses are also short to fit in the 15 seconds that you can share in an Instagram story. Another example is that of films, with trailers of a couple of minutes that begin with a trailer trailer itself. Here are an example of ‘TOP GUN MAVERICK‘, whose trailer starts with a five -second teaser with images that we will see below: Many more films make this, being a marketing resource that begs us to Let’s pay attention For two minutes. They seem to beg a “Please, pay attention to me, cool things come”. Due to that constant information bombardment, We seek to be productive when we are hyperstimulated And we read books, we learn from successful people, we put into practice supposedly infallible methods, we download applications and, sometimes, we spend more time looking for how to be productive That, really, being. I have to say that I have found a secret to Improve my productivity: Working on a computer that prevents me from opening more than three tabs at the same time. And – at least to me – it works. A hardware barrier If you are reading this it is because you have looked for ways to be more productive and not distract you. I have done it and I have installed everything on my computer, I have configured Ways not to bother the phone And even issues that restrict apps during work hours, but the meat is weak and the finger always tends to go open Bluesky or worse Instagram and Tiktok. One day it occurred to me that, if the software did not limit me, perhaps the hardware would. I went to the closet and took out of the box (I am one of those who keep the boxes of what he buys) My university laptop: a 2011 MacBook Pro. 16 GB of RAM A double -core i5 at a few 2.4 GHz and 13 inches of screen. Years ago I replaced his hard drive with a SSD and I was surprised to light after so many years. What did not work was the charger (nothing that does not solve Amazon and some 20 euros), so I configured it and came across the first problem: I was very outdated. Not only could he not update to a new operating system, but browsers such as Edge, Chrome or your own Safari They were insuffically slow. Nor could I install some applications that I use on a day -to -day basis, such as Notion, because they require a more recent version of the system, so I did with a Firefox Legacy and configured it so that Notion Be the default opening page. You will be wondering why I tell you this, and there I go: when I changed this laptop for a more recent one in 2017, something was already slow and having more than 4-5 tabs in a browser was unfeasible. Despite the 16 GB of RAM, the processor could not with so much without making the fan a turbine, without heating the chassis and without making the system on pull. Precisely, the reason that forced me to make the leap to Infame Macbook Pro with butterfly keyboardIt is the one that made me come back because I wanted, precisely, that. I explain: when I work on a website like Xataka, I do it with a lot of open eyelashes to search for sources. I have Telegram installed, YouTube Music, an image editor and Many times I open, almost by inertia, some social network Or youtube if I don’t feel inspired. With issues such as news or reports, having that overestimulation does not bother me because I know it is something that will take me for a while and then I will happen to something else, but the thing changes when I have an analysis or an opinion article. Does the screen divided there? Neither joke For this type of texts, the concentration is key. You have to turn your thoughts and structure them in a certain way. You cannot afford to get distracted because you lose your thread, and those distractions do not exist with a laptop from almost 15 years ago. If I have more than three tabs open at the same time, the Mac goes to the idle, so I only have notion, Perplexity (precisely to look for something and have many options in a single tab instead of many sources in many tabs) and YouTube Music. Web Telegram It is not an option, for example, and as soon as I have four tabs, the processor is already asking for rest. That with four Firefox tabs That technological barrier, almost physicalnot only does it exist because of how the Mac would go if I open more eyelashes: the screen also plays a paper. 13 inches are not bad and many current laptops have that diagonal, but here the resolution is 1280 x 800 pixels. Translation: scarce, much, so much that putting a game is not an option. Not having a high resolution, putting a split screen is unfeasible, which forces me to have a single screen I am writing, preventing you from having an eye in my text and another in a YouTube video, for example. As I said, it works for me and it is something that I have incorporated into my work routine. … Read more

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