challenge

China has just gathered 100,000 national accelerators into a supercluster. The challenge now is for them to work together efficiently.

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China has launched in Zhengzhou the Dawning 8000, an artificial intelligence supercluster that, according to Sugon, can integrate 100,000 calculation cards developed in the country. The company presents it as the first Chinese system of this size built around a national infrastructure, from chips and network to storage and cooling. Sugon assures that the project is already connected to the national supercomputing network, although it has not yet published its complete technical specifications. The scale is not enough. The size of the installation does not in itself imply an equivalent leap in computing capacity. In loads that intend to take advantage of thousands of processors, the work must be dividedsynchronize and recompose without communication between nodes ending up consuming a disproportionate part of the time. As the stack grows, so do the points of failure, software complexity, and demands on network and storage. The real challenge begins when those cards have to behave as a single machine. The pending jump. Sugon maintains that the central node has already been optimized for more than 300 applications in about twenty fields, including large models, robotics, automotive, pharmaceutical industry and weather forecasting. The company adds that more than 70 applications have completed deployments at scale of 10,000 cards. These are relevant data to evaluate the maturity of the platform, although the information released does not detail a public load executed with the 100,000 units simultaneously. Autonomy under pressure. Zhengzhou’s bet cannot be separated from the pressure facing the Chinese technology industry. The United States included Sugon in its Entity List in 2019 and has since expanded restrictions on advanced semiconductors and equipment related to high-performance computing. In this scenario, building an infrastructure based on national technology has a value that goes beyond the power achieved. The project fits into China’s effort to expand its own capacity and reduce supply chain dependencies. The figure is not enough. One hundred thousand Chinese accelerators do not automatically equal one hundred thousand comparable Nvidia GPUs. The deployment also does not allow us to affirm that China has left behind its dependence on Western hardware to sustain its artificial intelligence infrastructure. It does demonstrate, according to Sugon, that the country can now build its own systems on an increasingly larger scale. It is not complete autonomy, but it is another step on the path to depending less on foreign suppliers. Images | Sugon In Xataka | Claude has a space in which he manipulates concepts before his final response. And it has surprised Anthropic itself

Raquel González, director of Airbus Space in Spain, on the challenge of Spain as a space power: “We lack people”

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It is not usual to cross the doors of Airbus Space in Getafe and tour a facility where the space industry stops being a succession of proper names and becomes something physical. During the visit organized by the 60 years of Airbus Espacio in Spainthe tour revealed production areas, clean areas, parts linked to launchers and satellite technologies and components that will end up operating outside of Earth. The first impression was not of a corporate celebration, but of an industrial chain much broader than its separate programs suggest. Rachel Gonzalezdirector of Airbus Space in Spain, summed it up with a very direct phrase during the presentation: “Spain is a space power.” He did not present it as a pending aspiration, but as a reality that, in his opinion, is explained by the accumulation of capabilities developed in the country. Satellites appeared on the table like PEACE, PEACE-2, Wit, CHEOPS either LSTMsecure communications programs such as Spainsat NGparticipation in European launchers such as Ariane 6 and even antennas made in Spain to communicate with the rovers Curiosity and Perseverance on Mars. The statement had weight because it did not rest on a single project, but on a sustained presence in various layers of the space sector. The Spanish space muscle and its challenges With that statement on the table, the next question was almost obligatory: if Spain has reached that position, How do you maintain yourself in an industry as competitive as the space industry?. The pressure does not come only from access to space, although launching more frequently and at a lower cost has become one of the great battles in the sector. Also important is the ability to design, manufacture and prepare increasingly complex systems, to respond to strategic needs and to do so on a board where pace has accelerated. SpaceX is the most visible symbol of this change, but not the only one: the US maintains a very active commercial ecosystem, China accelerates its commercial and state capabilities, India opens more space for private participationand Europe tries to strengthen its autonomy. Structure manufacturing area for Ariane 6 at Airbus Espacio España, within the Getafe facilities That was the question I asked González: what challenges now appear to remain in that position and what the next step should be. The director of Airbus Space in Spain opened the focus to the entire European space industry, but the response immediately landed on the terrain she knows first-hand. “There’s a talent challenge now. Budgets are increasing, programs keep coming up. There’s a lot of ambition.” “Now there is a talent challenge. Budgets are increasing, programs continue to emerge. There is a lot of ambition” The idea became even clearer when he condensed it into two words: “people are missing” González then turned the diagnosis into a call to those who are still deciding their educational path. His message was aimed at university students, but also at younger students who are beginning to choose where to direct their studies: space needs scientific, technological and engineering profiles, but not only that. Professional training trajectories and profiles linked to production are also needed, because an industry like this is not sustained solely by design on paper. Between an approved mission and a technology ready to leave Earth there are years of specialized work, and that quarry does not appear from one day to the next. Raquel González, director of Airbus Space in Spain, during the meeting with the press at the Getafe facilities The dimension of the problem is better understood by looking at the figures that Airbus put on the table. According to the company, Airbus Espacio in Spain closed 2025 with 295 million euros in turnover and 530 direct employees, but its impact does not end with its own workforce. Around 30% of this turnover goes to subcontractors, a fact that helps measure the extent to which space activity is distributed across a broader ecosystem. That is why the lack of talent does not only affect a specific company: when programs grow, pressure also increases on suppliers, specialized technicians and teams capable of supporting high-value-added work. This activity is better understood when you go down from the figure to the type of work behind it. Airbus maintains that its space division in Spain is the only company in the country capable of designing, building, integrating and delivering complex satellites into orbit, a statement that places the focus on high-level industrial responsibilities. González took it to the field of accumulated capacity during the presentation: “Everything that is satellite construction, that is where we are as a leader in Espacio España.” PAZ appears as one of the examples already in service within that trajectory, while PAZ-2 and LSTM show where that capability is now moving. Another part of the journey led to a less visible, but equally important layer: the technology that allows a mission to observe, measure or transmit useful information from space. Airbus spoke of radars, microwave radiometers and active antennas as areas in which its Spanish division has been accumulating knowledge. They are not elements designed to attract attention outside the sector, but they can make the difference between a space platform and a mission with real service capacity. Airbus Espacio España personnel work in the Getafe clean room, where the company assembles highly complex space systems The map was completed with another sensitive piece for Europe: access to space. Airbus recalled during the presentation that its activity in Spain has been linked to the family for decades. Ariane already Vegawith structures and subsystems that are part of the European launchers. In the case of Ariane 6, the company also noted that it is increasing production to supply 27 complete setsknown as shipsetsincluding large lightweight carbon fiber structures for Ariane 6 in the coming years. It is not necessary to go into the detail of each component to understand the relevance of this line of work: without reliable launchers and with sufficient cadence, a good part of European … Read more

After marathons and combats, humanoid robots already have their next challenge: climbing Everest

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we have seen robots doing kickboxing, skiing, dancing with astonishing precision and have even participated in their own robotic olympics. The new feat starring a humanoid robot has been to become a mountaineer. He has already climbed to the top of the Chimborazo volcano in Chile, 6,263 meters high, and already has his next goal: Everest. The climbing robot. The robot in question is a Unitree G1 and is part of the ‘Pemba’ initiativeled by a French engineer named Pablo Berlanga. The robot reached the top of the Chimborazo volcano on June 5 and already has its next climbs scheduled; In June he will climb Mauna Kea in Hawaii and in October he will summit Everest, the highest mountain in the world. Yes, but. Equipped with special boots and a jacket that protects it from extreme conditions, the Unitree G1 managed to complete a journey of about 16 hours and reach the summit at more than 6,200 meters of altitude. However, as they say in Futurismhe didn’t do it all by himself. The robot is not capable of climbing slopes of more than 30% inclination, so it had to be transported on those sections. A noble goal. Most shows with robots are just that, shows. However, in this case there is a reason beyond that. This engineer says that the idea of ​​taking a humanoid robot to the highest mountains on the planet came from his experience in conservation projects in remote jungles such as the Amazon or the Congo. In these natural parks, being able to record and broadcast live is not only important to investigate and protect the environment, it also represents an important source of income. A camera with legs. Berlanga built cameras that connected to Starlink and were capable of live streaming. The problem is that since they are fixed, their field of vision is limited and the fauna is constantly moving, so I had to place many cameras. From here the idea of ​​”putting legs on them” was born. Obviously, the robot does not need to be able to climb Everest to do this work, but it is the way to publicize this initiative and obtain support to make it a reality. He has created a “tokenization” project in order to finance the project. Image | Pablo Berlanga in X, edited In Xataka | Soon we will all have humanoid robots at home, or at least that is what these companies want

Millions of teenagers have turned AI into their go-to psychologist. It is an unprecedented challenge for medicine

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In society there is a fairly well-established debate about how affect social networks to the mental health of the youngest and there is even debate about the possible consequences they have, going so far as to propose very clear limits to access them. However, while the focus was on the recommendation algorithms of TikTok or Instagram, a new trend has been quietly growing on the screens of millions of teenagers: the use of generative AI as a therapist. New therapies. Here, research led by the RAND Corporation has put on the table the magnitude of this phenomenon when analyzing a sample of 1,058 young people between 12 and 21 years old. And the figures paint a quite revealing picture by pointing out that 13.1% of adolescents and young adults use generative artificial intelligence to obtain advice about their mental health. But the most worrying thing is that this percentage shoots up to 22.2% if we look exclusively at the oldest age group, that is, those between 18 and 21 years old. And although it can be defended as something specific, the reality is that 65.5 of these users turn to AI on a monthly or even greater frequency. Works? The most striking thing we have learned from this study is not only that young people consider AI as a psychologist, but that those who attend leave quite happy, since 92.7% of users stated that they found the advice provided by the AI ​​useful. And among the reasons they give for their satisfaction, what stands out above all is the possibility of resorting to their ‘services’ at any time, the absence of economic barriers and, above all, the feeling of privacy and lack of human judgment. All of this together is turning large AI models into the first line of emotional support for Generation Z. The other side of the coin. Just because a tool is perceived as useful by the user does not mean that it is clinically safe, because the intersection between generative technology and psychiatry is a minefield, and major medical institutions are already raising their hands. In summer 2025, the American Psychological Association issued an official warning about the risks of relying on AI for the diagnosis or treatment of mental disorders. Among the reasons they give, it stands out that language models are designed to predict the most likely next word and sound empathetic and convincing, but they lack real understanding, clinical context and the ability to manage severe crises. The security. Added to this warning is the devastating context contributed by researchers from Stanford University, who also in 2025 evaluated the responses of several chatbots to mental health queries. Their conclusion was worrying as they saw that in 1 in 5 cases, the artificial intelligence provided advice that was unsafe or inappropriate for the user’s situation. A real challenge. Right now we are at an inflection point where AI is filling a huge gap in a mental health system that, globally, is collapsed and inaccessible for a large part of the young population. And furthermore, prohibiting or blocking access to these tools does not seem like a realistic solution in the face of millions of users who have already integrated them into their emotional well-being routine. That is why the real challenge for technology companies and health agencies is twofold: on the one hand, improving the security barriers of the models so that they refer users to human emergency services when necessary. Images | Daria Nepriakhina 🇺🇦 In Xataka | There is a weapon of mass destruction against our ability to remember things: stress

Predicting Alzheimer’s 10 years in advance is now a scientific reality. The challenge now is to prevent healthcare from collapsing

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Alzheimer’s is a devastating disease that is undoubtedly a true ghost, since it only It becomes visible when the damage is already irreparable and that, despite trying to stop it, it is becoming difficult to control it. And historically, the medical diagnosis comes when memory begins to fail, but by then the brain has been suffering in silence for years, even decades. Now science focuses on the need for early diagnosis so that treatments can work. A new analysis. One of the ways to detect this disease before it begins to show the classic symptoms such as memory loss is through a blood test. This is the milestone that has been collected in The Lancet magazine recently thanks to research from the University of California, and that could generate a large population screening that is not free of controversy. What they did. The researchers followed 1,350 people aged between 56 and 69, without any type of dementia, for more than 35 years. And here the key was to look for specific proteins circulating in the blood that increased in the earliest phases of Alzheimer’s, as occurs with others marked in other diseases such as PSA in prostate cancer. And they found two biomarkers. The first of them is Aβ42/40, which is an early indicator that warns of the accumulation of hateful beta-amyloid plaques in the brain. But they also found the protein p-tau217, which is considered today the most precise marker for the pathology. The results. The 6% of participants who tested positive for these biomarkers showed a four-fold increased risk of developing verbal memory problems and a decline in their cognitive speed a decade later. But science has been trying to refine this tool for years, looking for markers such as GFAP, which rises about ten years before symptoms appear. See the invisible. The blood test does not walk alone in this diagnostic revolution, since on the same day, The Lancet published a second study based on nearly 800 participants from the US and Canada that tests a new and sophisticated neuroimaging technology: the MK6240 PET plotter. Until now, visualizing the tau protein, which is one of those responsible for Alzheimer’s by accumulating in neurons, was a great challenge. But this new tracer promises to be much more sensitive, detecting twice as many positive cases in healthy people with amyloid accumulation compared to the standard used today. You have to wait. Before throwing the bells in the air, it should be noted that experts point out that this test not ready to be used as general population screening. The reason lies in mathematics, since the prevalence of asymptomatic Alzheimer’s in healthy middle-aged people remains low in absolute terms, so applying this test to everyone would generate a very high volume of false positives. That is, an increase in this protein that is not actually related to early Alzheimer’s. But logically, the fear, anxiety and the resulting cascade of confirmatory tests would collapse the health services that are already stressed, and furthermore, the drugs we have, despite the fact that they stop the effects of the disease in its earliest phases, are not yet definitive. That is why we must remain on the right path, but there is still a long way to go to get this disease under control. Images | Robina Weermeijer Testalize.me In Xataka | Alzheimer’s no longer seems irreversible: science allows brains with advanced damage to recover for the first time in animals

Francisco Valencia, CEO of Secure&IT, on the challenge of AI attacks

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Yesterday morning I went to a new edition of the cybersecurity conferences of Secure&IT in Madrid with a fairly clear idea: to listen to how companies are using the artificial intelligence to better defend yourself and make life difficult for cybercriminals. It was a reasonable expectation. AI has become one of the great promises of the sector and it seemed logical to think that a good part of the conversation would revolve around its new defensive capabilities. But the day left a much deeper reading. What is moving is not just another technological layer on top of the usual systems. It is the mental framework of cybersecurity itself. The speed of change, the sophistication of attacks, and the entry of new algorithm-based tools are forcing companies to rethink everything from how they patch software to how they anticipate threats. The feeling there, listening to the speakers, was clear: we are not facing a simple update of tools, but rather a change of era. Francisco ValenciaCEO of Secure&IT, who I was able to interview a while agoput that idea on the table as soon as it began with a particularly graphic phrase: “We have always said that in cybersecurity we are one step behind cybercrime and we are now 10 steps behind cybercrime“The statement was surprising for its crudeness, but it also helped to organize the conversation. Looking at this disadvantage head-on, without selling false certainties, may be the first step to understanding what is coming. Cybersecurity was waiting for an ally, but cybercrime has also found one The key is that AI has not only changed the available tools, but also the balance of the game. Valencia put it crudely because, from his point of view, cybercriminals have taken off while many companies are still trying to decide how to use AI in a safe, useful and governed way. This difference in rhythm explains a good part of the diagnosis. Attackers don’t need to resolve every internal debate in an organization, justify every deployment, or wait for a perfect corporate policy. They just need to test, automate and exploit what works. The speaker began by addressing one of the most disturbing pieces of this new scenario: the Dark LLM. LLMs, or large language models, are the technical layer that powers applications such as ChatGPT, Copilot or Gemini: systems capable of interpreting instructions, helping to program or solve complex tasks. The companies that develop them introduce limits, filters and guardrails to prevent harmful uses, both for safety and for the ethical criteria with which they design these systems. The Dark LLM, such as FraudGPT and WormGPTstart from a much more dangerous logic: offer similar capabilities, but without those barriers. The interesting thing is that this logic does not always depend on creating a new model from scratch. Valencia also spoke of jailbreaka way of trying to avoid the limits of conventional AI through carefully constructed instructions. It’s not simply asking a system to do something forbidden, but wrapping that request in a context that pushes it to respond where it should stop. In practice, the result can be similar: capabilities of a powerful model put at the service of uses that large companies try to block. This leap is very well understood when we move from the tool to deception. For years we have associated many fraud campaigns with clumsy, massive and easy-to-detect messages, but AI allows us to change the scale without giving up personalization. The CEO of Secure&IT summed it up with a very clear phrase: “I don’t need to send the Nigerian’s spam to 20 million people saying that I have fallen in love with 20 million people to see who will bite. I send the same email to 20 million, but I tell each one what they want to hear“That’s the difference: the attack can still be massive, but it no longer has to seem generic. The attack may still be massive, but it no longer has to feel generic. During the presentation a term also appeared that caught my attention: malware polymorphic. It may sound very technical, even more typical of a conversation between analysts than an article to understand what is happening, but it helps to land something important. We are no longer just talking about a malicious program that enters a computer and tries to repeat itself on other computers with the same behavior. It is something much more sophisticated: a threat capable of reaching a machine, reading the environment, identifying what defenses are in front of it and generating a version adapted to that specific scenario. The consequence for security teams is obvious: if each machine receives a different variant, detecting patterns, relating signals and reconstructing the attack becomes much more difficult. It is no longer just a matter of finding a malicious file and following its trail across the network. In a scenario where “the virus on each computer is different“, the campaign can have the same objective, but leave different traces on each team. And when the traces change, the analysis is no longer linear. Secure&IT dedicated its cybersecurity days this year to analyzing how AI is changing the sector Valencia’s message about automation was one of the clearest of the day: AI is taking time away from defense. For years, companies have had some margin between detecting a vulnerability, creating an exploit, and actually exploiting it. That margin could be imperfect, but it existed. It allowed you to organize analysis, prioritize patches and update systems every certain number of months. The phrase that best condenses the change is direct: “Until now time was a weapon to defend ourselves and now time is no longer a weapon to defend ourselves.” The consequence is very practical. If before an organization could carry out vulnerability analyzes every several months and plan updates with some calm, that scheme is beginning to fall short. According to experts, an AI tool can search for a vulnerability, identify it, prepare the attack path, and run it … Read more

Zeekr comes with the very complicated challenge of breaking prejudices. You have reason to believe it

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When someone asks me, I am very clear about where I think Chinese brands can hurt Europe: the “cheap” car. I put the latter in quotation marks because it’s not just about cars under 20,000 euros, I also think they have a chance in that type of product that gives a lot for less money than its rivals. Although, in that case, we are already talking about figures close to 50,000 euros. but there are some nuances here. It is clear to me that the bulk of sales of Chinese manufacturers in these first years They will arrive with models with a combustion engine. Either because they can make volume in markets like Spain, with a high rate of sales of low-end vehicles or because, due to the particularities of the tariffs imposed by the European Union, they offer very competitive cars in the triangle formed by price, equipment and electric range. Yes, I have more doubts in the electricity market. First, because these cars are subject to tariffs, which makes it difficult for them to compete on price. Secondly, because European manufacturers are starting to get their act together -heh- and the offer in all types of sizes, range and price is already more than interesting. Third, because the more the price of the car rises, I have the feeling that the customer takes less risk and the more he values ​​staying with the “old-fashioned” brands. Zeekr will play in a very complicated league. And yet, he has reason to think that he can gradually gain ground. We shouldn’t wait an emergence like that of BYD (four of the 10 best-selling electric cars last year in Spain were theirs) or Omoda/Jaecoo, which are building its sales around cars with combustion engines. I think they themselves are aware of them. But they have the muscle and the product to allow themselves a slow landing but with a view to prospering in the future. “We make exclusivity accessible,” said Lothar Schupet, CEO in Europe, in his presentation. A good starting range Zeekr arrives in Spain in the middle of a new expansive wave across Europe. If we have said that our country has been the perfect gateway for manufacturers who fight over price, the case of Zeekr is completely different. The company has been selling its cars for some time in the Nordic countries or the Netherlands, where electric sales are more advanced. Now it is time to make the leap to less consolidated markets, such as Spain. This has an advantage. The company is already rolling in Europe and has waited until sales have started to pick up more strongly. But they also have other incentives. The range already consists of four cars, of which only one of them will arrive in the coming months. The other three can now be purchased. This range also touches several styles. Zeekr He Zeekr It is a very interesting electric compact. During our contact with the company we had the opportunity to briefly ride it. It is a 4.43 meter car that has three versions. The basic one costs 37,137 euros and has a 49 kWh battery with 272 HP of power. Above there is an intermediate version with 340 HP of power and a 61 kWh battery. The most ambitious reaches 496 HP of power that is combined with a 69 kWh battery. The latter already stretches to 46,242 euros. The first two batteries are LFP and the largest is NCM. The last two steps move between 405 and 415 kilometers of autonomy, which allows you to travel with some peace of mind. The access version is limited to the city with its theoretical 330 kilometers of autonomy It is an agile car that does not feel as soft or as artificial as many other Chinese cars. It is complemented by an interior feel in the materials that is pleasant in general lines but above all with rear seats and a trunk that make it a very attractive proposal for families who move in an urban environment and who take one or two long getaways throughout the year. Despite its 400 volt architecture, it can go from 10 to 80% in just 18 minutes. Furthermore, there is something that I really liked about this car and that is its aesthetics. Its design differs from other Chinese cars that may be more similar to each other and this Zeekr X does seem to me to have a clear and defining image by itself. Above, the Zeekr 7 It is the family model. It is an SUV that is committed to interior spaciousness, especially in the rear seats, and that raises the level in terms of the interior appearance of the materials. It is a car that we were not able to test but it comes with 75 kWh LFP and 100 kWh NCM batteries. ITS 800 volt architecture allows it to go from 10 to 80% charge in 13 minutes and promises 615 kilometers of autonomy in its largest version. Inside, the Zeekr 7X is also committed to offering the best image in terms of quality perception. It is a car that will arrive loaded with technology with the latest active infotainment system, similar in format to what we see in Tesla. It is a car that starts at 52,500 euros with its single-engine (421 HP) rear-wheel drive version. Above, it combines this motor with the large battery, which would be the most balanced option or the longest autonomy (615 approved kilometers), costing 54,425 euros. The jump to all-wheel drive (two engines totaling 646 HP) means increasing the price to 62,250 euros. He Zeekr 7GT It is the car that will arrive in a few months. It is a sportier version with a family or style body. shooting brake. However, it will be a car that is slightly lower in price, starting at 45,675 euros in its cheapest option, with a 75 kWh battery and 421 HP of power and reaching 59,235 … Read more

Ozempic’s great challenge is the rebound effect. Science already has two promising solutions to avoid it

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The rise of medications such as Ozempic, wegovy o Mounjaru has completely transformed the clinical and social landscape of the weight lossmaking many people do not hesitate to ask their family doctor to prescribe it in order to lose weight and also regulate blood sugar. The results during treatment are undeniable, but the big question it raises about medical consultations is what exactly happens when the medication is stopped. What we know. One of the most feared points of this type of treatment is the ‘rebound effect’ which causes that, at the time of stopping the treatment and if eating habits have not been adjusted, a large weight gain will be seen. This is something that causes many people to see that this treatment only gives a few months of ‘thinness’, but science is now trying to avoid this effect. The rebound. An exhaustive analysis published in The BMJ finally put exact figures on this phenomenon so that you can speak appropriately to patients. And what has been seen after analyzing 9,300 participants is that patients recover an average of 0.4 kilos per month after stopping treatment. At this rate, the return to the initial weight before starting therapy occurs in just 1.7 years. But this is also accompanied by a loss of cardiovascular shield at 1.4 years. The solution. one of them it involves taking a pill daily known as orforglipronwhich is nothing more than a non-peptide GLP-1 receptor agonistwhich means that it can be taken orally and not through subcutaneous injections. The idea here is to use the injectable treatment, which is more powerful, for the first few weeks and then transition to this daily pill to consolidate the results without the rebound effect. This not only greatly improves patient comfort, but facilitates mass production by not relying on problematic ‘pens’ containing semaglutide, and helps maintain satiety signaling at the brain level without the invasive impact of the needle. A bacteria. The second line of research points to the intestinal microbiome, by analyzing supplementation with the bacteria Akkermansia muciniphila MucT pasteurized as a tool to avoid the rebound effect after a low-calorie diet. A bacteria that is long known in the field of nutrition for its role in the integrity of the intestinal barrier. After doing the analysisit was seen that the group of patients who received the bacterial supplement recorded a weight recovery of only 13.6%, compared to 32.9% in the control group. But beyond the scale, it has been seen that this bacteria shows a notable preservation of insulin sensitivity, a crucial factor to avoid the development of type 2 diabetes and keep lipid metabolism under control. The future. We are undoubtedly at the beginning of a paradigm shift, since the medical narrative is moving from the short-term “war against kilos” to chronic and sustainable management. But logically, for this to reach the market, we must wait (and not a little) for better results and above all for it to be tested in humans. Images | stefamerpik in Magnific In Xataka | We thought Ozempic was only for weight loss. Science is seeing that it can end alcoholism

Your real challenge is to make us change our habits.

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On May 18, Bizum will activate payment in physical stores via NFC: you bring your mobile phone close to the dataphone and that’s it, just like with Apple Pay or Google Pay. No PIN, no card and no cash. A platform with 31 million users in Spain takes the leap that makes it a direct competitor of Visa and Mastercard at the physical point of sale. The problem is that banks and businesses want to make that leap. The consumer, at the moment, has no compelling reason to move. Why it is important. For ten years, Bizum has only generated costs for banks, which have invested a lot of money in creating and maintaining it. The jump to physical commerce changes that equation: businesses will pay a commission for each transaction, as they already do with cards, but predictably lower as international intermediaries disappear. There is the business that Spanish banks have been waiting for for a decade. And businesses also win: they get paid instantly, compared to 24-48 hours for traditional card settlement. The user, on the other hand, pays exactly the same as before. Just with another environment. In detail. The gesture will be identical to today’s contactless card: you bring your mobile phone close to the dataphone and in seconds it is done. The user can do so from their bank’s app (which will incorporate the functionality) or from Bizum Paya new digital wallet available on Android and iOS that works similarly to Apple Pay or Google Pay. The difference compared to paying with a virtual card in the wallet is that money travels as an instant transfer from account to account. Some details: Businesses will not have to change their dataphone: it will be enough to update the terminal software. Bizum Pay will allow you to add a bank card as a backup method: if the payment fails, the system automatically changes without you having to swipe your mobile again. The big question. Why would someone who already pays without any hassle with their card, or with Apple Pay, or with Google Pay, change their habit? Inertia is the silent enemy of any new payment method. And in this case it is huge. The most logical answer is incentives: cashbackdiscounts in specific establishments, or any mechanism that makes the user feel that the change is worth it. The data of the ecommerce point in that direction: when Bizum eliminated the friction of entering card information in online stores, users quickly adopted it and today it is the second favorite payment method for buying online, with a share of 20-30% (which is not bad, but it is not something to write home about either). The equivalent in the physical world is yet to come. Yes, but. May 18 won’t be the big launch the date suggests. CaixaBank, Sabadell and Bankinter will go in the first wave, Santander will delay its incorporation to the fall. The massive deployment, including a campaign, is expected in September or October. And that Mercadona is already negotiating advantageous commissions before the service starts says a lot about where this battle is really going to be fought. Go deeper. What is at stake goes beyond Spain. Bizum is negotiating with equivalent platforms in Italy, Portugal and the Nordic countries to build a European payments system that could reach more than 130 million citizens. The business model established in Spanish stores this year will be the template on which this continental project is built. In Xataka | The Treasury has its eye on Bizum, Wallapop and Revolut. Don’t panic: it’s your update in the new digital economy Featured image | Xataka with Mockuuups Studio

The US is using an exascale power supercomputer to solve the biggest challenge of nuclear fusion

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The Frontier supercomputer at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) linked to the US Department of Energy is one of the most powerful on the planet. In fact, it is currently the second most capable exascale supercomputer after El Capitan according to TOP500 ranking. These machines are very valuable tools that are already being used by researchers to try to solve some of the most complex scientific problems that humanity faces. And one of them is the behavior of plasma when it is under the influence of a magnetic field. A group of ORNL researchers is using two of the most powerful tools currently available to humans, the Frontier supercomputer and the artificial intelligence (AI), to understand with the greatest possible precision the chaotic behavior of the plasma of stars. An important note before moving forward: plasma is an extremely hot gas made up of particles endowed with an electrical charge, which is why it can be confined inside a magnetic field. This knowledge can presumably help scientists very accurately simulate the supernovaswhich are nothing more than the explosions that occur when a massive star loses hydrostatic balance by burning most of its fuel. When a supernova is triggered, a good part of the chemical elements that the star has produced through chemical reactions nuclear fusion It shoots towards the stellar medium with a lot of energy. From supernovae to experimental nuclear fusion reactors Dr. Eliu Huerta, a computational scientist at the Argonne National Laboratory (USA) who has had the opportunity to supervise the work of the ORNL researchers, express clearly why this scientific initiative is so important: “This type of capability has long been the dream of astrophysicists and many other scientists. This is the first time that this level of understanding has been achieved through AI for systems of this complexity (…) The more chaotic the system, the more difficult it is to simulate it.” Understanding very precisely how the plasma of stars behaves is important not only to have more information about supernovae; It is also crucial for predict solar flaresor even to simulate the interaction of the Earth’s magnetic field and the high-energy ionized atomic nuclei that constitute the cosmic radiation. Frontier’s role in this research is critical: it provides the computational power required to train the models needed to generate thousands of detailed plasma simulations. Inside nuclear fusion reactors it is still a challenge to keep turbulence under control However, there is another application in which this technology has the ability to make a difference: the development of nuclear fusion reactors. We can intuitively imagine a nuclear fusion reactor as a pressure cooker in which two essential ingredients are cooked: deuterium and tritium. In order for the nuclei of these two hydrogen isotopes to fuse and release the neutron that will ultimately allow us to obtain a large amount of energy, it is necessary to confine them in an extremely hot plasma. In fact, for this process to take place it must reach a temperature of at least 150 million degrees Celsius. Scientists know how to do it, so subjecting deuterium and tritium nuclei to the pressure and temperature necessary to make them fuse is no longer a problem. What still represents a challenge is to achieve keep turbulence under control. Otherwise the plasma will be destabilized, its density in critical regions will be affected and sustaining the fusion reaction over time will not be possible. The mechanisms that govern this process are very complex, but little by little physicists and engineers working on fusion energy are managing to understand them better. The research of ORNL scientists seeks to better understand the behavior of plasma confined inside the vacuum chamber of experimental nuclear fusion reactors with one purpose: to minimize turbulence so that energy loss is minimal. And they are on the right track. In fact, they already have a system ready that is capable of delivering very detailed turbulence predictions in just a few seconds, thus reducing errors by more than half compared to previous methods. Image | Fusion For Energy More information | ORNL | Interesting Engineering In Xataka | ITER has faced one of the great challenges of nuclear fusion: preventing plasma at 150 million ºC from destroying the reactor

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