build

Two architects fled the chaos of New Delhi to build a mud house in the Himalayas. Now it’s an Airbnb

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“Book only if you are comfortable hiking for 1.5 km in a forest with a backpack and want to experience raw nature and slow life with beautiful views.” This is one of the most striking Airbnb properties in Rishikesh, India. The house is the work of two brother architects who fled the savage capitalism of the city to end up creating the most coveted refuge on the mountain and a symbol of the gentrification of spirituality. Two brothers in search of peace. In Business Insider They tell the story of Raghav and Ansh Kumar, two architect brothers from New Delhi who worked for a German architecture firm. The brothers felt trapped in a relentless routine, with endless days, and a work culture that glorified burnout. During the pandemic, they made a radical turn and decided to leave the city and go to the mountains, specifically to Rishikesh, the city known as “the gate of the Himalayas” since from it come the pilgrims starting the Char Dam route. Build with your hands. One of the reasons for this change in life had to do with the disconnection caused by being locked in an office, away from the construction process, so it occurred to them to return to the most analog process possible. They drew the plans for the house intuitively using sticks directly on the ground and to build it they used the traditional technique with coba mixture of mud, straw and water, all materials extracted from the same area. For the construction they had four full-time workers, but they also had the help of more than 100 volunteers who signed up through the Workaway exchange platform. The walls are 45 centimeters thick and were increasing about 15-30 centimeters a day. In total, it took 18 months to build it. The irony. The brothers wanted to escape the “architecture of money, efficiency and productivity” and capitalist corporate exhaustion, but they ended up building a spiritual refuge to monetize on Airbnb for $140 a night, a fairly high price for the average in the area (we have found entire houses for 50 euros a night). Added to this is the paradox of materials: local communities and the government itself usually reject these mud houses as they are considered a symbol of poverty, preferring cement as a sign of progress and prosperity. That the brothers are charging tourists a premium price to sleep between the same mud walls that locals are trying to escape heightens the irony to the maximum. Essentially, they have fled the corporate hamster wheel to package and sell their “disconnection” to the same stressed workers they intended to distance themselves from. Spiritual gentrification. The adventure of these brothers does not occur in a vacuum, but is part of a wave of gentrification that is transforming the region. As we said, Rishikesh is historically known as a pilgrimage destination and the yoga capital of the world, but today it has become a objective for real estate investors and expatriates seeking to acquire second homes or open lucrative businesses that exploit precisely that aura of spirituality. The government is aggressively urbanizing the mountainous area to sustain this new wave of tourism and digital nomads. Recently, they have promoted and modernized infrastructure including widening roads, building multi-storey car parks to combat traffic congestion, and setting up commercial operating bases for sports such as rafting. Image | Airbnb In Xataka | The “tourist cages” arrive in Valencia: holiday gentrification in Spain goes up a gear

Star Catcher has raised $88 million to build the first space power grid. Their plan is to recharge satellites with lasers

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As the pace of space launches increases and missions beyond Earth become more abundant and varied, it is important to look for new ways to obtain energy so that these ships can travel to their destinations. Fuel is not infinite, so there comes a point where it runs out. Therefore, there are three main proposals. One is to resupply the ships directly in orbit. Another option is to resort to nuclear energy. In fact, There are already several agencies working on it. Finally, there is the option of solar energy. Unfortunately, this has some limitations, but the American company Star Catcher wants to solve them through the world’s first energy network located in space. A good economic injection. Star Catcher just announced which has received 65 million dollars in a series A financing round. With what they already had in their coffers, the company has 88 million dollars. Enough to date its first release to the end of this year. Different ways to “squeeze” the Sun. The solar energy we are used to is obtained through plates with photovoltaic cells installed directly on the Earth. However, there are already companies that want to bring it directly from the Sun, even at night. Its goal is to use mirrors that reflect sunlight at will anywhere on Earth, whatever the time and whether the weather is good or not. The problem is that these companies They are being criticized a lot for posing risks such as great light pollution. On the other hand, what Star Catcher wants to do is slightly different. They will also take solar energy directly into space, but they will not direct it to Earth, but to the spacecraft that need it. It will be like a kind of space solar power plant. Optical beaming. Star Catcher will be based on a phenomenon known as optical beaming. This consists of extracting solar energy and using it to power a multispectral optical laser, with which it will be redirected to satellites from which it can be distributed at will to the ships that need it. To do this, they hope to be able to put a constellation of 200 satellites into low Earth orbit. Previous records. Last year, this company broke the world record for wireless electricity transmission by delivering 1.1 kW of power to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. Now, they want to transmit directly to space. It also has limitations. Although this company does not have the same limitations as those that want to redirect sunlight to Earth, it involves placing an immense number of satellites in orbit, with the risk that this entails. Many experts warn that, in the same way that could happen with Elon Musk’s Starlink constellation, this type of infrastructure increases the risk of Kessler syndrome. That is, it could happen that one or more fragments of space debris collide with them, deteriorating and launching pieces into space that would become more space debris, which in turn would collide with more satellites or more debris. Thus, a very dangerous domino effect would be generated for satellites, ships and space stations that are in space at that time. Even more risks. On the other hand, the launches of the ships that will place the satellites into orbit are also a great source of pollution. In fact, recently has been published a study that warns of the large amount of polluting substances that these types of launches leave in the upper layers of the atmosphere, where, otherwise, the pollution would be residual. In short, this company will bring us great advances, but it will have to maneuver carefully so as not to bring even more problems. Image | Star Catcher In Xataka | Starlink’s dominance in space begins to move: another company already has permission for a constellation of 4,000 satellites

build it himself at home

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Getting a yacht is usually a common whim among billionaires. Entrepreneurs like Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg have not hesitated to spend part of their fortune to navigate different parts of the world with comforts, style and, above all, luxury. The first commissioned the construction of ‘koru‘ to the Dutch firm Oceanco, the second decided to skip this step and bought ‘Launchpad’ from a Russian oligarch. An American named Clyde Stires followed a completely different path to get the yacht he wanted, a catamaran 27.86 meters in length and 12.41 meters in width, equipped to receive a dozen guests. Stires tells in a video published on YouTube who was not a millionaire, but who decided to channel all the resources at his disposal, combined with great determination, to build the yacht of his dreams. From building custom vehicles to building your own yacht Stires was born in Missouri, although at the age of 12 he moved with his family to California. Since he was little, he spent a lot of time with his father, who taught him to use different cutting tools. With this knowledge as a basis, he began to learn on his own how to fix and build everyday objects such as toys. Much later, in the 1970s, he found inspiration in the vehicle manufacturer Ed “Big Daddy” Roth. After that, he began building motorcycle tricycles whose designs won over stars like Elvis Presley and Johnny Graham. His passion for what he did only increased. Years later he found himself transforming a double-decker bus into a caravan. He had previously bought his first boat in Taiwan, and decided that “he wanted to get back on the water,” so he got rid of almost everything he owned to start the project of his life, building a yacht. The vehicles that Clyde Stires manufactured Stires realize that analyzed every part of the project before starting. Since he did not have sufficient financial resources, he could not afford to build the ship in a shipyard. The costs of doing so would simply be unaffordable. Nor could I do it anywhere in the United States, since the climatic conditions could accelerate the deterioration of the ship under construction. So he decided to move to an ideal place to start the project. The caravan project He was in California, so he looked for a house in Perris, an old railroad town characterized by its dry, sunny climate. After making several sketches, calculations and reduced-scale versions, he got to work in 1987. In the video we can see how the boat is gaining size over time. This undoubtedly caught the attention of the locals, as someone points out in the YouTube comment below. The “skeleton” of the yacht “I lived in Canyon Lake and I drove past this every day on my way to work, it was very close to Highway 74. Suddenly, this huge ship started appearing, getting bigger every day. It was amazing to see. I had to stop and ask what was going on with that boat. He was always alone working in construction. He was very kind and told me that he was building a boat to sail around the world. So what you were wondering was: how is this ship going to get to the ocean?” The construction of the ship forced Stires to perfect all his techniques. This included everything from welding for the rolling process to installing the wiring, hydraulics and motors. It took Stires years to complete the deck lining, install all the equipment and paint the boat. Once it was finished, he was faced with the difficult task of taking it to the sea, and the only alternative was to cut it up and move it in pieces. The ship, called Kaleidoscope, was reassembled and launched in 1994. That milestone for the project was just the beginning of a series of surprising episodes that would come years later. The American says that his ship was “stolen by a cartel” when he was in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. Although after much effort, the authorities managed to recover the ship, the process of returning it to the United States was so complex that he decided to sell it. The years have passed and the yacht that once belonged to Stires is sailing again. Since its sale, it has been part of the fleet of a boat rental company. Kaleidoscope is presented as a yacht with “all the comforts for the most luxurious sailing experience.” Its new owners also call it a “limousine of the sea” and use it for private excursions or event celebrations. Images | Clyde Stires In Xataka | Yachts are now a product for the rich: a Chinese millionaire wants you to be able to buy them for $14,000 In Xataka | Roman Abramovich’s superyacht is a ruin even moored in port: 1,000 liters of diesel a day just for the air conditioning

A US company claims it can build a cutting-edge lithography machine. ASML says not even remotely

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Substrate is not just another startup. It was founded in 2022 by brothers James and Oliver Proud, and is backed by Peter Thiel (he co-founded PayPal and is one of the largest investors in Silicon Valley). Despite having existed for only four years, it has raised more than 100 million dollars and has been valued at more than 1 billion. This very successful start-up is based on a promise: the Proud brothers claim that they can build photolithography equipment as advanced as the most sophisticated they have. the Dutch company ASML. Currently this firm from the Netherlands is the only one capable of manufacturing the machines extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUV) that are used to produce cutting-edge semiconductors, which has placed it in an effective monopoly position in the global semiconductor industry. In the current scenario of confrontation with China, the US is interested in having a national company capable of manufacturing cutting-edge lithography equipment. This is Substrate’s trump card. However, we have reasonable grounds for reluctantly taking up the promise of the Proud brothers. “No one is coming for us” Christophe Fouquet, the general director of ASML, assures that no company on the planet is in a position to compete with them. During a conversation with Connie Loizos, an editor at TechCrunch, Fouquet has argued that “the challenges of lithography are many. Being able to make an image is a starting point, but that image must be produced in large quantities, at very low cost, at high speed and with nanometric precision.” It makes sense. “We had to solve only one problem: obtaining extreme ultraviolet light. And that alone took us 20 years” “I always say that the only reason ASML was able to build an EUV machine is because 80% of it already existed from prior knowledge and products developed over time. We had to solve just one problem: getting the extreme ultraviolet light. And that alone took us 20 years. When starting from scratch, the challenge is enormous. I have heard many statements. And I have seen some images. But we got our first image with EUV technology 30 years ago, and even then we need 20 more years of hard work to turn it into a manufacturing system,” points out the head of ASML. It is clear that Christophe Fouquet trusts his technology. And in your product. However, the starting point of Substrate is different from that of ASML. This American startup uses a particle accelerator as a light source for an X-ray lithography tool instead of using extreme ultraviolet light like ASML. According to the Proud brothers Their technology allows them to manufacture a silicon wafer at an order of magnitude lower cost than with ASML’s EUV approach. Be that as it may, there is another fundamental difference between the ASML and Substrate strategies. And instead of supplying machines to chip manufacturers, as ASML does, Substrate wants to establish its own network of semiconductor production plants equipped with its photolithography machines. Furthermore, its plan is very ambitious: it aims to produce cutting-edge integrated circuits on a large scale in 2028. It sounds daring, no doubt, but time, as always, will put everything in its place. Image | ASML More information | TechCrunch In Xataka | TSMC has made the chip industry’s most intriguing decision: not to use ASML’s most advanced machines

They did not need kings or nobles to build them

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Four thousand years ago, on the central plains of China, a community of about five hundred people built something that has taken us millennia to discover: a network of ceramic pipes. Longshan period buried under its streets. They are not the oldest pipes in human history (that honor corresponds to the Temple of Bel in Nippur and in Eshnunna in Mesopotamia), but those of China. Finding such an ancient and complete drainage network is a milestone from an architectural point of view, but the discovery goes one step further: demonstrates that preparedness for natural disasters is truly a lifelong experience. Because the pipelines at the Pingliangtai oilfield were built monsoon-proof. The discovery. The paper published in Nature Water describes the results of excavation and a geoarchaeological study of water management infrastructure, which reveal the operation and maintenance of a well-planned and regulated two-level rainwater drainage system. On the first level there were individual domestic ditches that collected water from each home and on the second a network of ceramic pipes buried under the roads and next to the walls, responsible for channeling the water outside the urban center. The operation is surprisingly modern: each segment of pipe measured between 20 and 30 centimeters in diameter and between 30 and 40 centimeters in length and were assembled together thanks to a recess at one end, so that once joined they allowed water to be transported over long distances. Why is it important. The relevance of the finding has two dimensions, the technical and the social: The Pingliangtai pipe network is the oldest and most complete urban drainage discovered to date in China, making it a reference for understanding Neolithic water engineering in East Asia. Calls into question “hydraulic despotism” theorized by Karl Wittfogel: Historically this type of infrastructure has been associated with centralized states with ruling elites capable of undertaking it, but in Pingliangtai there is no evidence of noble palaces or great social inequalities, which suggests that this sewage network was created through community cooperation. Context. The Longshan period spanned approximately 2600 to 2000 BC About 4,000 years ago, the central plains region of China suffered from an extremely variable monsoon climate: the summer monsoons could download 45 centimeters of rain per month in the region, as evidenced by geological evidence of episodes of catastrophic rains. These seasonal floods constituted a threat to permanent settlements, so in that transition period between the late Neolithic and the early Bronze Age, towns began to build defensive walls, not only against enemies, but against water. Pingliangtai was a perfectly square walled city that housed about 500 people and had protective walls and a moat around it. It is located on the plain of the Upper Huai River, in the vast plain of Huanghuaihai, precisely in that region of China. The drainage system was the technical solution to an existential problem: how to inhabit a flood-prone area without the adobe homes dissolving with each storm. With “up to date” maintenance. The dating of the pipes indicates that they are between 3,900 and 4,100 years old and the ditches showed signs of various repairs and even reconstructions, which shows that there was maintenance. The quality of the ceramic indicates advanced knowledge in clay firing, essential to guarantee the durability and impermeability of the system. And be careful, because the research team found the pipe segments in situ, assembled and structurally intact after 4,000 years, quite an achievement. Given that the slope exists, the design is coherent and the tubes still fit, the hydraulic logic is still intact. Bottom line: if water was introduced into those fragments, it would work. What the discovery reveals about the city and society. What most attracts the attention of the research team from Peking University and the Institute of Archeology at University College London is that the Pingliangtai settlement point to a horizontal and highly organized society. All the houses were uniformly small and not even the cemetery left any clues of social hierarchy, something different regarding the excavations in other nearby cities. Unlike Mesopotamia or Egypt, where these constructions were commissioned by kings, the design of the houses and the distribution of pipes suggest that decisions were made communally. Thus, water management in Pingliangtai gravitated toward shared collective interest in response to frequent environmental contingencies. Additionally, it displays a long-term prevention and maintenance mindset, as the system required constant cleaning to prevent sediment blockages. In Xataka | What we see in Petra is a city “carved in stone”: what it really hides is an amazing water system In Xataka | China has been selling its largest waterfall to tourists for years as a wonder of nature. It is actually fed with a tube Cover | Yanpeng Cao

In 2004 Madrid decided to build its own Guggenheim. Now it has a monster that not even Richard Gere wants as a Buddhist center

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Many cities have pursued the idea that a single building could change everything, attract tourism and redefine their identity almost overnight. The obsession has a very specific origin: the impact it had the Guggenheim Museum in the economy and image of Bilbao, converted into a global case study. In 1997, its inauguration marked a before and after and fueled an urban fever that led to replicate that model in places where the context did not always accompany. A Guggenheim in the suburbs. At the beginning of the 2000s, in the midst of a real estate boom and with the Bilbao effect still resonating, Alcorcón decided to aspire to his own cultural icona complex that was to place the city on the international art map. The idea was ambitious to the point of excess: a macrocenter cwith nine interconnected buildings which included an auditorium, conservatory, conference center and even a permanent circus, all conceived as a kind of Madrid Guggenheim. The problem here was not a lack of imagination, of course, but the scale of a project designed for an economic reality that was about to disappear. A half giant. The works They started in 2007 with budgets that were already high, but soon they began to chain modifications, cost overruns and difficult decisions to justify, such as the demolition of a practically new library or the incorporation of such peculiar facilities as, attention, stables for animals. When the 2008 crisis hit squarely, the project was stopped with around 70% executed and more than 100 million of euros invested, leaving behind a huge structure, partially completed and without a clear function. What should have been a cultural emblem became an empty mass, one too big to abandon completely and too expensive to finish. The hidden cost of an impossible project. Beyond the initial investment, CREAA had profound economic consequences for the municipality. The reason? It had been financed through a public company that ended up accumulating a gigantic debt. The estimates spoke of tens of millions additional costs to complete it and several million annually just to keep it running, which turned it into a structural problem rather than an opportunity. In fact, even its design played against: a complex so integrated that turning on a single zone meant activating practically the entire system, skyrocketing costs and making any reasonable partial use unfeasible. Nobody wants the “Guggenheim” of Alcorcón. Over the years, the building became a kind of failed promise that was passed from hand to hand without finding real lace. Projects of all types and colors were considered, from an NBA campus to a sports university, passing through a large Buddhist center promoted by Richard Gerebut none came to fruition and most of those interested declined the opportunity. Even more recent initiatives, such as the creation of a great audiovisual hubhave ended up running aground when faced with the real costs of adapting facilities designed for a completely different context. The idea that that complex could become an international benchmark has been diluted with each failed attempt. From cultural icon to symbol of excess. Over time, CREAA has gone from being an emblematic project to becoming another example of that appellant excessive planning in Spain, a construction that aspired to change the identity of a city, but ended up conditioning its public narrative. The image of that large iron and concrete structure, partially finished and unused for years, has weighed more than any original intention, fueling the debate about the limits of public spending on large-scale cultural projects. A partial ending to an unfinished story. However, in recent years, some spaces have begun to find usefulnesssuch as the installation of a state victim care center or the partial reopening of certain areas, but the whole is still far from fulfilling the vision with which it was conceived. More than a decade later, the complex begins to reactivate in a fragmented way, adapting to much more pragmatic needs than those from which it was born. The result, as in other phantom “moles” of the Peninsula, is a persistent reminder of a time when it was thought that it was enough to build big to transform a city, without foreseeing that the real challenge would really come later. Image | Juan Lupión, Zarateman In Xataka | The biggest disaster in sports history dates back to the Roman Empire: the tragedy of the Fidenae “VIP boxes” In Xataka | In 1995, South Korea suffered one of the great architectural disasters of the century. The culprit: the air conditioning

The latest whim of millionaires is to build a luxury superyacht around a living tree

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I will not deny that they die on me even plastic plants, but there are people who have a gift with plants. Others, however, are capable of buying a 73-meter superyacht built around a treely keep him alive as he crosses the seven seas with every luxury imaginable. He Virtuosity It is the second ship of the 74 Steel series from the Italian shipyard Sanlorenzo. Its construction and design took more than four years to materialize. For the first 18 months, the owner and the Sanlorenzo team held weekly calls before design even began. It’s not that there was any doubt: it’s that when someone decides that their new ship will revolve around a living tree, details matter and a lot. The tree that wanted to be a sailor The vegetal protagonist of Virtuosity It is a Ficus Nitida, also known as Indian laurel, planted on the main deck of a luxury superyacht with a modern and elegant design. It is worth noting that the tree in question was not added when the yacht was already built, but was selected before the first structural block of the ship was assembled, and the entire yacht was built around it. So that the plant receives sunlight in its lower parts, two side skylights were installed at ground level and its trunk rises across two decks to let its leaves breathe while looking out over the sea from one of its exterior decks. The tree occupies about 16 square meters in the center of the yacht’s main salon. The tree passes through two covers “With this yacht we decided to rethink the onboard architecture from its very foundations,” explained Tommaso Vincenzi, CEO of Sanlorenzo, to Superyatchtimes. “From the integration of living nature to the transformation of technical volumes into experiential environments, each decision is based on a clear architectural vision,” he added. Details that go beyond luxury As if having a five-meter-high tree on the deck might not be enough, the Virtuosity It also hides one more peculiarity below the waterline: an aquarium so big like the sea On the lower decks we find a 35 m2 wellness area. This room is located right on the waterline of the yacht, allowing guests to observe marine life directly from their seats through a large glass surface of the hull. Without a doubt a quite sophisticated way to see fish without even having to get wet. This wellness area also includes a hammam, sauna and massage room. The master suite of Virtuosity It occupies its own deck with 40 m2 and has a bed facing forward with a dressing room and bathroom while on the main deck there is a second VIP suite and two more cabins for guests. At the owner’s request, a reflecting pool was installed in front of that suite, designed so that the water reflects the sky and sunlight, far from the concept of a conventional pool. A cinema lounge aft and a sensory shower forward complete what the manufacturer describes as a private apartment within the ship itself. By day, the stern of the Virtuosity It functions as a relaxation area with direct access to the water and water toys. At night, and also at the express request of the owner, the beach club is transformed into a nightclub with a permanently installed DJ booth. That someone included a fixed nightclub on their list of requirements for a superyacht says a lot about how this owner understands the vacation at sea. This beach club has been redesigned and is 40% larger than that of the first 74 Steel delivered in 2025. In addition, a glass-bottom pool was installed on this deck that acts as a 28-square-meter skylight to illuminate the lower deck. The triple-height main deck features an exposed wine cellar and a spiral staircase in dark lacquered aluminum, as well as an elevator. A helipad and sports deck are located at the bow of the ship. With 73 meters in length and 13.1 meters in beam (width), the Virtuosity It can accommodate up to 12 guests in 6 cabins and a crew of up to 24 people. Its propulsion system is diesel-electric, with six 700 HP Volvo D13-700 engines and 425 ekW alternators, the same technical package as the first 74 Steel, the Silver Fox. With 180,000 liters of fuel on board, it reaches a range of 6,000 nautical miles at 11 knots and a maximum speed of 15 knots. Power and luxury for the only superyacht where you can boast of having taken a nap under the shade of a tree in the middle of the ocean. In Xataka | The Emir of Dubai bought a 500 million superyacht but discovered that it had a serious problem: there was no mobile coverage inside Image | Sanlorenzo

build bunkers before it’s too late

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During the Cold War, some air bases in Europe were protected by shelters capable of withstanding nearby nuclear explosions, with hangars buried under meters of concrete and steel. Decades later, many of these infrastructures have disappeared or become obsolete just as more modern threats once again target the same weak point. The awakening underground. Now that the United States has once again put end date of the war, everything indicates that uranium, oil or Tehran’s nuclear bombs have taken a backseat, because Iran has forced the United States to rediscover something much more basic: survival starts underground. After weeks of attacks with missiles and drones who have killed soldiers, destroyed aircraft and forced to disperse troops even to hotels and offices, the Pentagon has assumed that its immediate priority is not offensive, but defensive. The image of an army fighting “remotely” while their bases are hit summarizes the strategic turn: before projecting power, now it is time to resist. Exposed bases. The conflict has revealed a weakness that had been brewing for years: the lack of infrastructure hardened in US bases. Key aircraft parked outdoors, fixed radars and large clearly identifiable facilities have been easy targets for increasingly precise Iranian attacks. The system destruction such as an AWACS and the damage to multiple aircraft have shown that concepts such as dispersion or mobility are not enough when the enemy can hit repeatedly with cheap drones and ballistic missiles. The late turn. They remembered the TWZ analysts which is now when the Pentagon is rushing to do what it has not done for years: build bunkers. From prefabricated shelters that should arrive in a matter of days to underground command and operations complexes that won’t be ready for a decade, the priority is clear. Not only that. Commands on the ground they insist in which the reinforcement of positions and the expansion of refuges is already an urgent need, not a complement. However, this effort comes late for the current conflict and raises an uncomfortable question from the side of whoever started the war: why wasn’t it done sooner, when the threat was known? Warnings ignored. I explained this morning in a piece the wall street journal What is most revealing is that the problem is not new. For years, American commanders they alerted of the vulnerability of the bases in the Gulf and proposed alternatives such as deploying forces further from Iran or create new networks of airfields in safer areas. Those recommendations never materialized. Strategic priorities such as the turn towards the Pacific, diplomatic tensions and the lack of political urgency left a threat in the background that has now materialized in all its intensity. From supremacy to survival. If you will, the conflict has also changed the logic of war for the United States in the region. It is no longer just about dominating the air with fighters, bombers or anti-missile systems, but about ensuring that these assets survive on the ground (or under it). The combination of satellite intelligence, low-cost drones and precision strikes has dramatically reduced the margin of error. Every fixed base becomes a target, every repeated pattern a vulnerability, and every unprotected aircraft a potential loss. A lesson. Beyond the Middle East theater, the lesson for the United States is even more profound. If Iran has been able to impose this pressure levelthe scenario in a major conflict (especially in the Pacific) would be exponentially more complex. The United States is not only late in reinforcing its bases in the Gulf, but also faces a global structural problem: the need to redesign your infrastructure military for an era where hiding, hardening and dispersing can be more decisive than attacking. In other words, the war in Iran has not changed what weapons the United States uses, but it has revealed what its real priority is: build shelters before it’s too late. Image | USAF In Xataka | If the question is why the US has sent dozens of A-10s to Iran, the answer already has a video: to pull the trigger for 9 seconds In Xataka | The US did not make ends meet in Iran by launching thousands of missiles a month. So let’s move on to plan B: humans.

We haven’t colonized Mars yet and we already know how to build bricks to live there: with urine and bacteria

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Humanity has between an eyebrow and an eyebrow to reach Mars and eventually plant a colony there. Missions like NASA’s Curiosity rover have been scanning its surface for years for signs of past habitability (with promising findings that leave big unknowns) and the program Artemis II It is the technological springboard towards the first manned mission to Mars. Sooner or later there will come a day when humanity sets foot on Mars and the conditions to inhabit it are met (or manufactured). So the next question will be: how do we make a house there? It’s not so much a question of design, but of survival. A research team is already working on it and believes they have the solution, which they have published in the journal Frontiers in Microbiology. The concept. The research work from Politecnico di Milano, the University of Central Florida and Jiangsu University consists of using two bacteria that work together: one is capable of surviving in extreme conditions and produces oxygen and the other that turns human urine into stone. This promising duo is capable of manufacturing bricks directly from the Martian soil, without the need for kilns, factories or bringing materials from Earth. Why it is important. Because from an engineering point of view, moving materials and machinery over long distances (as long as going to Mars) makes the cost skyrocket and becomes technically unfeasible. Furthermore, building them with the materials available on Mars is not (yet) an option. So this concept solves those two problems and some others, such as energy consumption. According to the paperbiocementation consumes up to 7 times less energy than melting soil with microwaves and almost 50 times less than thermal sintering. Finally, because it is convenient: it converts human metabolic waste into construction material, thus solving the logistical problem of what to do with that waste. Context. Because the different space agencies have the arrival to Mars in the 2030-2040 decade on their roadmap. Biocementation (microbiologically induced calcium carbonate precipitation) has been under study for two decades for uses such as stabilize soils, stop desertification either build with less carbon dioxide. This research transfers this knowledge to space and has its applications on Earth in the form of more sustainable construction, soil repair or self-healing concrete. chow they did it. This point is essential because the research team has neither built anything on Mars nor in the laboratory, using real regolith. This is a perspective paper, reviewing the known knowledge about this technique to provide a concept analyzing the Martian regolith from data from robotic missions. From that point and after identifying the deficiency of calcium oxide with respect to terrestrial cement, they have studied what biological routes can compensate for it. That’s where your proposal comes from, with the combination of Chroococcidiopsis + Sporosarcina pasteurii as the most promising, which is accompanied by a conceptual design of a bioreactor and 3D printing nozzle integrated with autonomous robotics. Yes, but. The previous point makes the first handicap clear: this combination of batteries has never been tested, neither on Mars nor in the laboratory. And on Mars the scenario is tricky: the reduced gravity weakens the microstructure of the resulting material (at least, conventional cement) and the perchlorates in the Martian soil are toxic to organisms. As if that were not enough, the temperature range in which bacteria can operate is narrow. Additionally, the water required may not be suitable. There is also no long-term stability data for this crop. If we talk about technological maturity, this project is in a primitive phase: a concept on paper financed with a long road ahead. In Xataka | China has found a “vital” element to colonize Mars: it resists in lethal conditions for other forms of life In Xataka | We have a serious problem in our plans to colonize Mars: the astronauts’ blood is mutating Cover | Rain Morales and Planet Volumes

Saudi Arabia had billions to build the future in the desert. He has decided to sacrifice them to destroy Iran

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The cranes have stopped roaring in the Tabuk desert. There where it should rise a colossal artificial lake at 2,600 meters high and a science fiction metropolis valued in billionsToday the priority is to look at the sky looking for the trail of ballistic missiles and kamikaze drones. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) had promised the world a glass and petrodollar utopia called NEOM, a monument to his own ego designed to whitewash the regime’s image. However, the harsh reality of the Middle East has ended up imposing itself on the renders in 3D. A crossroads in the gulf. We are looking at what is now, for all intents and purposes, a Third Gulf War, and Saudi Arabia has reached a historic crossroads. Caught in the war waged by the United States and Israel against Iran, the Saudi monarchy faces an existential dilemma: save its economy and its megalomaniac pharaonic project, or take advantage of the chaos to dismantle, once and for all, the regime in Tehran. And judging by the shadow movements of its leaders, Riyadh seems willing to let its economic utopia bleed if it means it can win this war. Facing the gallery. Behind closed doors, Saudi Arabia’s message is one of absolute containment. In recent communicationsthe Saudi government has insisted that it has “always supported a peaceful resolution” and that its only priority is defending its population and infrastructure from daily attacks. This is what an analysis by Dr. Turki Faisal Al-Rasheed has defined as “strategic patience”: a tactic in which Riyadh avoids direct confrontation to protect its investments, while subtly encouraging the weakening of its regional rival. The reality is more complex. However, the leaks tell a very different story. As revealed The New York TimesBased on sources informed by US officials, MBS has been privately pressuring US President Donald Trump not to stop the war. The crown prince sees the current US-Israeli military campaign as a “historic opportunity” to destroy Iran’s hardline government. The talks have reached the point where MBS would have advocated for ground operations and even the military takeover of Kharg Island, the Iranian oil heart. The diplomatic board is abuzz. Mohamed bin Salmán’s phone does not stop ringing, as he urgently needs to shield his vital infrastructure from attacks and, to do so, he relies on the Western umbrella. As detailed ReutersBritish Prime Minister Keir Starmer personally telephoned MBS to condemn the Iranian offensive and confirm the deployment of more British defensive military equipment. London’s goal is to protect the kingdom and try to ensure that the sea trade route does not completely collapse. But while MBS is piling up shields and secretly pressuring Trump not to relax the blow against Iran, other regional allies are desperately trying to put out the fire before it devastates the entire Gulf. As revealed by the agency AnadoluPakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif contacted the crown prince to underline the “urgent need” for a de-escalation. Islamabad’s move is not a toast to the sun: Pakistan has emerged as the great shadow mediator, to the point of offering to host direct talks between the United States and Iran based on a 15-point American peace plan. The sacrifice of Vision 2030. “It’s the last thing he wanted. He wants stability and order, he doesn’t want missiles or drones flying.” This is how forceful an expert seemed consulted by him Financial Times. The diplomatic “detente” that Saudi Arabia had signed with Iran in 2023 has been shattered. Iranian retaliatory attacks have hit the giant Ras Tanura refinery, the Shaybah field and the Prince Sultan air base. The cost of this war for MBS’s dreams is already incalculable. Formula 1 had to cancel its April races. In the entertainment sector, the CEO of Savvy Games Group recognized that the war escalation It will “cool the perception” of Saudi Arabia as a safe destination for investment of 38 billion in eSports. The biggest collateral victim: NEOM. The artificial lake project Trojenaawarded for $4.7 billion to an Italian construction company, is already facing leaks about delays of between three and four years. The 2029 Winter Games have been postponed indefinitely and the extra costs suffocate an already deficient budget. The war and instability in the Red Sea discourage foreign investment, vital for these science fiction cities to go from render to reality. The reality of the Saudi coffers is critical. As revealed The New York TimesEven before the conflict broke out, the crown prince was already facing serious financial challenges. The 2030 deadline is approaching and the government assumes budget deficit forecasts for the coming years, suffocated by excessive spending on megaprojects and vast investments in artificial intelligence that are straining the country’s resources to the limit. And a prolonged war threatens to blow everything up, since MBS’s success depends on a single factor that is currently non-existent: a safe environment for investors and tourists. Holding the pulse. To withstand the challenge, Saudi Arabia has had to resort to an engineering work born of fear in the 80s. With the Strait of Hormuz strangled by the Iranian threat, Riyadh has activated its logistical “antidote.” State oil company Aramco is pumping against the clock through the East-West Pipeline, a 1,200 kilometer pipeline that crosses the desert to the Red Sea port of Yanbu. The objective is to move up to 7 million barrels a day by land, avoiding Tehran’s missiles. The landscape in Yanbu is like something out of a movie: an “army” of at least 25 supertankers (VLCC) crowds on the coast to evacuate some 50 million barrels. However, there are no magic solutions. The port has a physical funnel (it can only load between 4 and 4.5 million barrels per day) and, in addition, ships must cross the Bab al-Mandab Strait, exposing themselves to the Houthi rebels. Added to this is that the pipeline only moves crude oil, leaving markets such as Europe without their vital supplies of refined products such as diesel, exacerbating the global energy … Read more

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