Change

China only wants Chinese appliances. So Samsung has had to change its strategy

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Samsung entered China in 1994 with a television factory in Tianjin. In 2006 led the Chinese TV market selling three million units of its Bordeaux model annually. Twenty years later, its share in televisions is 3.62%. The story of Samsung in China is the story of how a market can build its own champions and expel outsiders without having to close the doors. Strategic change in Samsung’s commercial policy in China. Rumors about an exit in its home appliance division were on the table since April, and at the beginning of May the company itself has confirmed it. Samsung is withdrawing from the home appliance market in China to focus on mobile phones and semiconductors. what has happened. Samsung leaves the Chinese market for home appliances and home products. Televisions, AC systems, refrigerators, washing machines, audio equipment and all home-related products will no longer be sold in China. The company will maintain after-sales and warranty services and will continue to “continue to comply with relevant laws and regulations” of consumer protection. “The company will do everything possible to minimize any impact on customers arising from this decision and is reviewing various support measures for its business partners.” The reasons. Samsung has communicated that the decision comes after a “prudent study”, without going into excessive detail about the reasons why it is abandoning the Chinese market in this product category. Despite this, it is clear that the numbers have had something to do with it. Samsung barely had a 3.62% market share in televisions, and did not reach 1% in categories such as refrigerators or washing machines. China is a country in which the local market has greater weight than in any other territory, and the rise of manufacturers such as Hisense, TCL or Xiaomi in these product categories has been noticeable. The Chinese market. The Chinese home appliance market is dominated by domestic manufacturers. In refrigeration, Haier has a 45% share, followed by places like Midea and Hisense. Chinese brands control more than 90% of the television market in Chinawith an important boost in the form of state subsidies. This 2026 is being a year of important renewal cyclewith subsidized exchange programs in order to boost sales of local products. And now what. Samsung’s plan is not to completely close itself to China. It will continue to sell smartphones, tablets and accessories, although for years it has not risen to a top 5 in which only Apple manages to sneak among the national giants. The question that remains in the air is not whether Samsung has lost China. It is whether what has happened in household appliances is a dress rehearsal for what can happen to the rest of the Western manufacturers with a presence in China. In Xataka | The last thing I expected in 2025 was to have a party and for the refrigerator to become a karaoke

After the hottest April since there are records, AEMET already foresees the following change: days of “winter atmosphere”

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After an unprecedented April in Spain (with temperatures more than three degrees above the average of the last 40 years), the Atlantic has decided to complicate our lives. In the coming days, a deep storm will move from the area around Iceland towards our coordinates, causing a sharp thermal drop between Saturday, May 9 and Monday, May 11. Are we facing a “cold wave” in May? No, nothing like that. We are not even facing something exceptional. Maritime polar air advections are a common pattern in Spanish springs. The strange thing is not the arrival of cold, the strange thing is how warm the air we have right now is. That is to say, we are going to notice the thermal dropYeah; but more because the temperatures are abnormally high (and we have become accustomed to them) than because the storm is colder than usual. It’s not her, it’s us. And here is the problem. As far as we know, climate change does not increase the frequency of polar irruptions in May, but it does increase their potential damage by advancing flowering, budding and fruit set. The paradox arises that exactly the same cold as any previous year can generate enormous destruction. What can we expect? Wednesday 6: The DANA that has been giving us problems so far this week is on its way to reintegrating into general circulation and is moving towards France. Thursday 7 – Friday 8: Here a new cold storm comes into action that will hit the west of Portugal, causing some days that are “very warm for the season”, according to AEMET. Friday the 8th: An associated Atlantic front will advance towards the Peninsula and we will begin to see its effects in the form of storms throughout the north. The accumulated ones will not be very large, but they will not be anecdotal either. Saturday 9 – Sunday 10: The party starts here. The storm will fully reach the Peninsula and, after a warm Thursday and Friday, the temperature drop will be abrupt. Tiempo.com talks about a thermal drop between 8 and 10 degrees. Starting Monday the 11th: With the available data, it seems reasonable to expect the cold environment to last a few more days. However, it is early to say. What AEMET says. The Agency It doesn’t say ‘polar’ at any point.but its characterization is very clear: speaks of the episode as a change from “high temperatures for the season” to “winter atmosphere” in a matter of 24-48 hours. It is very difficult to overcome the very strange month of January that we are experiencing, but 2026 is willing to try. Image | BenBaso In Xataka | The current that warms Europe will weaken by 51% before the end of the century. And Spain, according to experts, is already beginning to notice

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

China has discovered a new mineral on the Moon. It’s so fluorescent it could change the way we make LED light bulbs

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So far, 11 unique minerals have been discovered on the Moon. The last of them has just been revealed by a team of Chinese scientists after analyzing a lunar meteorite. It is an interesting finding, because it gives us useful information about the geology of our satellite. But also because it could have very interesting applications here on Earth. From the Moon to your light bulbs. The material just described It is cerium-magnesium changesite. It is characterized by its glassy, ​​transparent and brittle appearance. The thickness of its granules ranges from 3 to 25 micrometers, less than that of a human hair. Still, it is extremely useful due to its pronounced fluorescence, which could be very useful in improving terrestrial LED technology. A necessary color change. Unlike traditional incandescent bulbs, LED bulbs do not use heat to produce light. They make the most of electricity thanks to a semiconductor material, which allows the flow of electrons from a layer with an excess charge to another with a lack of it. That second layer has what are known as voids. That is, atoms that have lost electrons, leaving something like a free hole. The moment an electron encounters one of these holes, falls inside, in a process in which energy is released in the form of light. The light obtained in this process is blue, but we have all seen that, in general, the light from LEDs is white. The color change is achieved thanks to the coating the bluish chip in which the process occurs with a fluorescent material. This absorbs some of the blue light and, in turn, emits yellow light. Both are what are known as complementary colors of light. Therefore, when you mix them you obtain white light. The more fluorescence, the better. The fluorescence of this lunar mineral is so powerful that it would be a wonderful complement to LED bulbs. White light would be obtained in a much more efficient way, resulting in even greater energy savings. More achievements for China. The Asian country has become an expert in lunar geology, thanks to the Chang’e missions. In fact, the Changesite-(Y) phosphate was already discovered on Chang’e-5, directly related to this other mineral that a meteorite brought to Earth. For now, we can only dream. Logically, going to the Moon to excavate minerals is not very viable. And if it were, it would be good to think twice before jumping in headfirst. We also don’t know if there would be enough on the Moon. It would be necessary to explore it further to know. Therefore, the applications of lunar minerals in terrestrial technology are nothing more than hypotheses. It is interesting, but it does not have a close application in time. What these minerals do teach us. Analysis of lunar geology It can teach us many things. If we find mostly minerals that also exist here on Earth, we can understand that, at some point, similar conditions existed on Earth and the Moon. On the other hand, if many unknown minerals are found on Earth, as is already happening, it is understood that there were conditions on our satellite that have not occurred on our planet. All this serves to understand very well where we are and where we come from. Let’s stay with that instead of thinking about mining our satellite and leaving it without resources as we are already beginning to do on Earth. Image | freepik In Xataka | We have not yet colonized the Moon and we have already filled it with garbage: there are even abandoned golf balls

It’s about whether a company can change its mission

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Elon Musk and Sam Altman They have stood before a court in Oakland to settle the future of OpenAIwith a lawsuit claiming more than $130 billion and calling for the removal of Sam Altman as CEO. The hearing started this Tuesday with opening statements that have revealed the real dimension of the case: it is not just a fight between two billionaires, but a very basic question that still does not have a clear answer. Why is it important. The underlying question is not whether Musk, as it is colloquially said, ‘was messed up’. It is whether an organization founded as an NGO can pivot towards profit after having attracted donations, talent and credibility under another model. If the answer is ‘no’ (or if it can at least be judicially challenged), there are a few technology companies in a similar situation: Mozilla, Anthropic or Wikipedia / Wikimedia Foundation live in similar realities. The precedent that this trial sets may be a blow to other groups. The context: OpenAI was born in 2015 with a mission: to develop AI for the benefit of humanity, as a wise man said“non-profit”. Musk contributed about $38 million in his first years. In 2019, the company launched a for-profit subsidiary to raise capital at scale. In 2023, it signed a 10 billion agreement with Microsoft that, according to the accusation, was the point of no return: from then on, OpenAI no longer operated for humanity but for its shareholders. Today, the lucrative subsidiary is valued at $852 billion and could go public before the end of 2026, although There are some cracks in that plan.. Between the lines. Musk’s legal thesis depends on proving that there was fraud at the time of the donation, not simply that he doesn’t like where the company has gone. According to Sam Brunson, professor of nonprofit law at Loyola University in Chicago, cited by Fortunethe general principle of law is that whoever donates to an organization has given that money and has no recourse if they later do not like its decisions. The only way out is to prove that there was fraud, that they lied to you at the time of donating. And that proof is very difficult to obtain. What comes closest to that proof are the private notes of Greg Brockman, co-founder of OpenAI. In September 2017, Brockman wrote that this was “the only opportunity to get out from under Elon” and that accepting his conditions would destroy his decision-making capacity and his economic side. After a meeting in November of that year in which Musk was assured that OpenAI would remain an NGO, Brockman noted that if they converted the company to a for-profit entity three months later, “it would have been a lie.” The judge who sent the case to trial cited these notes directly in his January ruling. Yes, but. The fact that there are compromising notes does not mean that Musk’s legal theory is solid. The original NGO still exists. Its technology was licensed to the for-profit subsidiary, but the nonprofit foundation maintains nominal control of the company and retains the economic appreciation of that subsidiary. NGOs can generate profits, they simply cannot distribute them among shareholders. If OpenAI did not make an explicit and documented promise to never create a for-profit subsidiary, the fraud argument has very little meaning. Most of the experts consulted by the Anglo-Saxon press these days believe that Musk has little chance of winning in the responsibility phase. Marking agenda. On Sunday, less than 48 hours before the trial began, OpenAI published its new framework of five principles for AGI: democratization, empowerment, universal prosperity, resilience and adaptability. The 2018 document mentioned AGI twelve times. The new one, only two. He timing It is no coincidence: Altman publishes a manifesto that portrays him as the guardian responsible for the development of AI just when a court is going to judge whether he betrayed the company’s original mission or not. The big question. The trial will last, in principle, about three weeks. But the question it raises goes beyond the verdict: can a company that started as a non-profit organization (attracting donations, talent and legitimacy under that banner) freely pivot towards profit without anyone having the right to complain? If the answer ends up being ‘yes’, without much nuance, there will be something wrong. Not because Musk is right about everything, but because the underlying argument makes sense: if you benefit from tax favors and an altruistic reputation to boot, then you can’t pivot just like that without distorting competition. The question does not have an easy answer. That a jury in Oakland is answering it says a lot about how much the law lacks to keep up with the speed with which the technology industry moves. In Xataka | OpenAI is already worth $852 billion: never has a company been so valuable while burning so much money Featured image | Xataka

Freepik is now called Magnific. And the name change is the least of it

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Freepik has rebranded itself as Magnific. The Malaga company, founded in 2010 as a search engine for graphic resources, has decided to adopt the name of the Murcian startup that it acquired in May 2024 and reorganize its entire generative AI offering for creatives under that brand. The move comes accompanied by figures that explain why it is worth taking the step: $200 million in annual recurring revenue, more than one million paying subscribers and 250 business teams using the platform, including those from BBC, DeliveryHero, Huel, R/GA, Damm and Job&Talent. Why is it important. Few European companies can stand up to the wave of American creative platforms (such as Midjourney, Runway or Leonardo) without having raised a single round of venture capital in the United States. Freepik, now Magnific, is one of them. And it is doing it from Malaga, with a different model from the rest: instead of competing for the best image or video model, it aggregates the leading models on the market and integrates them into a single professional production environment. It is a commitment to being the layer that unites, not the one that generates. The context. It is worth remembering where this story comes from. Freepik had been there for years stealthily becoming one of the most relevant players in the global graphics sector: in 2020 EQT bought the business in one of the largest Spanish technological operations, and since then the company has chained acquisitions (Iconfinder, Videvo, EyeEm…) and a turn towards generative AI. The purchase of Magnific in May 2024 It was the turning point. Magnific was then a five-month-old startup founded by Javi López and Emilio Nicolás that had popularized the concept of reimagined upscaling: enlarge images generating new details in the process. The operation was carried out without the two brands merging. Until today. Magnific Spaces interface. Image provided. Between the lines. That the resulting company adopts the name of the acquired company and not that of the parent company says something: Freepik clearly carried a perception of a bank of images of stocksa business perceived as conservative and little linked to AI, to novelty. Magnific, on the other hand, had less of a brand, but was synonymous with cutting-edge AI and a tool admired by the international creative community, even commented by Elon Musk a few weeks after its launch. Adopting the Magnific name is, above all, a positioning move: the company does not want to continue to be associated with vectors and templates, but with AI-assisted audiovisual production. It’s a rebranding to where the future money is, not where your legacy is. In figures. The data that the company has shared outlines an unusual trajectory in European AI: $200 million ARR (annual recurring sales). 1 million paying subscribers. 100 million monthly visits. 175 million images and videos generated per month. 250 business teams in production. 2,000 subscriptions to the Business plan in its first six weeks, with a current rate of 150 new devices per week. Andreessen Horowitz ranks it as the largest European generative AI web company by number of users. In detail. What is offered under the Magnific umbrella covers the complete visual production cycle: 4K image and video generation with audio, upscaling own, collaborative space in real time (Spaces), 3D environments, multilingual lip sync (Speak), speech synthesis, sound effects, and a legacy library of 250 million assets. The business promise is not to have the best model in a category, but rather that a creative team can do all the work without jumping between five different tools. He’s not doing bad at all with that proposal. And now, with the unified brand and the financial muscle to accelerate, it is time to convince the market that this promise also applies to the giants that come after it. In Xataka | Freepik, winner of the special Xataka Award for the best Spanish technology company of 2025: from image bank to Adobe rival Featured image | Magnificent

Universal quantum computers promise to change the world. Now they are closer thanks to giant super atoms

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The prototypes of quantum computers currently manufactured by IBM, Honeywell or Google, among other companies, are engineering prodigies. However, they have defectswhich currently greatly limits the range of applications in which it is possible to use them. The most important of all of them is that they make mistakes and they are still not able to correct them effectively. Scientists are working on developing advanced error correction systems, and if they achieve their goal, universal quantum computers capable of dealing with a wide range of problems will arrive. The Achilles heel of current quantum machines is the extreme fragility of their qubits. And they are very sensitive to disturbances from the environment. Their interaction with the space around them can cause quantum information to be lost or altered, preventing them from delivering a correct result. This phenomenon is known as quantum decoherence and it has the ability to degrade the quantum states that need to be protected in order to carry out operations with qubits. Currently, researchers are making an enormous effort to design effective strategies for isolating qubits from the environment. However, efforts are also being made to develop less fragile qubits, and therefore less sensitive to noise. This is the plan that several scientists at Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden are working on. And they have developed a completely new quantum system designed to protect quantum information and minimize interference from the environment. Its purpose is, neither more nor less, to pave the way for universal quantum computers or large scale. Less decoherence leads to more robust and higher quality quantum computers Quantum computing experts maintain that quantum computers that will have the ability to correct their own errors can be used to design exotic materials, and probably also to develop new drugs and in industrial optimization problems, among other tasks. These are some of the applications that the qubits implemented with giant superatoms proposed by the Chalmers University of Technology team led by applied quantum physics professor Anton Frisk Kockum could put in our hands. Giant Superatoms explore two ideas long known to quantum physicists: giant atoms and superatoms. Giant Super Atoms explores two ideas long known to quantum physicists: giant atoms and superatoms. Unlike isolated atoms, a giant atom in this context is an artificial qubit designed to interact with its environment using light or sound waves at multiple physically separated points. This peculiarity allows them to protect quantum states more effectively than conventional systems, reduce decoherence and remember past interactions. The problem with using giant atoms in quantum computers is that they have significant limitations when trying to entangle them. Entanglement is essential in quantum computing because it allows multiple qubits to share a single quantum state and act as a coordinated system. To solve this limitation, the Chalmers researchers have combined giant atoms and superatoms. A superatom is made up of several natural atoms that share the same quantum state and behave collectively as a single larger atom. Lei Du, one of Chalmers’ researchers, explains to us what is a giant super atom: “We can observe it as multiple giant atoms working together as a single entity, allowing them to exhibit a non-local interaction between light and matter. This allows quantum information from multiple qubits stored and controlled as a unit and without the need for increasingly complex surrounding circuits.” For the moment, giant superatoms are a theoretical proposal, but Professor Anton Frisk Kockum and his team are going to try to build a quantum system using them. If they succeed, they could have found a new type of qubit that is much more robust, and, therefore, suitable for use in the development of universal quantum computers. Image | Generated by Xataka with Gemini More information | ScienceDaily In Xataka | We already know what the chips that will arrive until 2039 will be like. The machine that will allow them to be manufactured is close

The Earth was going to force us to “erase” a second from our clocks in 2026. Climate change has changed everything

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For decades, the world’s metrologists have had to occasionally add a “leap second” to our clocks on Earth, since traditionally the tendency was for our planet to begin to slow down due to tidal friction caused by the Moon, making our days last a breath longer than the theoretical 86,400 seconds that science has always told us. but this trend has changedand now the Earth has started spinning faster. The consequence. Yes, when our planet was starting to slow down, I had to add one more second to our daily lives; When the opposite effect occurs, what should be done is to delete a second so that Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) does not become desynchronized from astronomical time. Something that will not be noticed, logically, but that has great importance in the causes that have led to this situation. Because? The answer to this temporal enigma was published in Nature where science calculated that the massive melting of ice in Greenland and Antarctica has postponed the need for a second negative from 2026 to 2029, due to what is known as the ‘skater effect’ since an ice skater who turns on himself and wants to brake, extends his arms; If you want to speed up, you shrink them against your body. Now, if we take this concept to our own planet, we can see that when the ice at the poles melts, the entire mass of water flows and is redistributed around the equator as if it were ‘opening its arms’, moving mass away from its central axis of rotation. In this way, the law of conservation of angular momentum tells us that this phenomenon causes a slowdown in movement. Then we can affirm that the thaw has counteracted and surpassed the acceleration of the Earth’s core that we had previously detected. Your confirmation. What in 2024 was protection, today is backed by real-time mediations, and this means that if we go to the official data From the IERS, its most recent bulletins show us that the length of the day shows new positive values, so the acceleration has stopped and the Earth slows down slightly again. If we look at the literature, this fits perfectly with research published in recent years, where it is seen that between 2000 and 2020 the days have lengthened at a rate of 1.33 milliseconds per century due to melting ice. And among the reasons they give, the authors are categorical in stating that the redistribution of masses due to climate change currently dominates the Earth’s rotation, even surpassing the historical effect of lunar friction. It’s a race. Adding or subtracting seconds from our watches is not forever, since the International Bureau of Weights and Measures has already made the decision to definitively eliminate this practice starting in 2025. The reason? Current digital infrastructure, such as telecommunications networks, is at risk of collapsing every time time is manipulated. Images | POT In Xataka | A third of Spain will be completely dark for a minute or two: the astronomical event of the century is approaching

Fish has been in a deep crisis in Spain for years. Mercadona believes it has the formula for that to change

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He video It is from October 2024, but it could have easily been recorded yesterday, today or even tomorrow. In a piece lasting just under a minute, Jana Quiles, tiktokerrecounts his disastrous time at a fishmonger: “I just wanted a piece of fish for dinner and, because I didn’t know what to order, I ended up buying 25 euros worth of hake.” Your case is interesting because it connects with a phenomenon shared by many other young people on networks and that is reflected in the statistics from the Government: Spanish households buy less and less fish. Mercadona has taken note and has decided to step on the accelerator in a bet that it’s been a while implementing: the move from the fishmonger to the trays. What has happened? That Mercadona wants a “new fish sales model” in its stores. The chain itself announced it in a statement posted on its website, a note that, beyond its corporate tone, stands out for two things. The first, the message. The company advances its intention to complete the transformation of its sections, betting 100% on the packaged product. “We transfer all products to trays, guaranteeing quality and freshness.” The second thing that draws attention is the images. Mercadona’s statement only shows photos of fish already packaged, labeled and arranged in open refrigerators. Not a counter. Not even a stand with fresh goods and fishmongers to consult about the goods or a special cut. Nothing, in short, that can lead to experiences like the one that Jana Quiles lived in her day. @janaquiles This happens to me as a beginner 😂🐟 ♬ original sound – Jana Quiles Is it something new? In a way. Although Mercadona seems determined to complete its “reengineering” of fish, in reality the change comes from behind. Does more than a year There was already talk of the chain’s desire to find a more efficient model for the section, betting on the consumption of clean merchandise arranged on trays. The idea, how it progressed TOB.C. in January 2025: greater offer in packaging, with items ready for consumption, and much less assisted sales, moving away from the model that prevails in traditional markets. From the traditional image of customers browsing the hake, turbot and mussels displayed on ice, with the fishmonger on the other side of the counter, we move to a more functional one in which there is only the customer and the tray. Why this change? Mercadona argues who wants to “adapt” to how we consume in our homes and defends the benefits of the new model: “The key is to reduce as much as possible the time that passes from when the fish comes out of the water until you consume it.” To older claims that the trays allow it to reduce waiting times in stores, offer an “assortment adapted to real consumption” and work with merchandise “clean and ready for consumption.” In short, selling merchandise made almost to measure for a clientele that has lost the habit of buying fish and no longer has the vocabulary and the keys to ordering fresh goods. Again the case by Jana Quiles is paradigmatic. His experience with hake is not something isolated, it connects with an entire generation that has not acquired the habit of going to traditional fishmongers. That’s all? No. To these advantages are added others that Mercadona does not cite and directly affect its production costs, logistics and even the management of spaces in the store. In January the company already made it clear In any case, the change in model would not imply dispensing with employees, they would simply be assigned new roles. “The entire fishmonger’s team continues to be part of Mercadona. Their work adapts to other needs in the store.” Does it only affect fish? No. The focus may now be on fish, but it is only part of a much larger Mercadona strategy that connects with two of its main bets. One is food ready for consumption. For years, the chain has aspired to be more than just the place where you buy products to fill your refrigerator and pantry; It seeks to be directly the space in which you feed yourself. The clearest reflection of this slogan is the section “Ready to eat”but the commitment to trays of fish that are clean, cut, filleted and practically ready to put in the oven goes in that same direction. And the other bet? The ‘Store 9’the new local format that the Valencian chain wants to bet on. Your goal is optimize processes and improve efficiency, but in practice that translates into moving even further away from traditional counters and moving towards already packaged merchandise. Interaction with staff during purchases is reduced to a minimum. No chats with butchers, fishmongers or fruit sellers, like in traditional supermarkets. Speed, efficiency, and functionality prevail, which in turn leads to handling and packaging tasks being removed from public areas. Is this just about Mercadona? Not at all. Roig’s chain has managed to gain a considerable market share in Spain, close to 30% in terms of value, so their decisions affect thousands and thousands of families. However, the changes in fish consumption go further and partly connect with the Quiles video that we mentioned at the beginning of the article. We Spaniards buy less and less fish. The official data of the Government show that per capita consumption of fish (both fresh and frozen) in homes has been plummeting for years. And it doesn’t get better. He latest reportfrom November, shows interannual falls of between 4 and 5.5%. With its latest movements, Mercadona seeks to position itself in the part of the business that performs best. While Fedepesca talks about the closure of thousands of fishmongers Since 2007, there are businesses in the sector more focused on the sale of ready-to-buy merchandise, online orders and home delivery that they keep growing. Fish consumption itself is leaving homes to focus at leisure. Now Mercadona aspires to carve out … Read more

We have a surprising new “secret weapon” against climate change: beavers

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When we think about ways to capture carbon from the atmosphere, we often imagine huge, expensive technology installations; However, nature has its own systems to be able to clean the environment. One of these systems, as a new study has shown, is that beavers are true carbon sequestration machines thanks to the dams and canal systems that these rodents build. A Swiss experiment. Until now, we knew that humid ecosystems were important, but precise data was lacking to understand why. Now we know that the key was precisely in these animals, as a study has shown published in Nature. Here the researchers analyzed in detail an 800-meter stretch of a stream in northern Switzerland that had been modified by a beaver colony. What they saw was that the river corridor, after transforming it, acted as a net sink that could retain around 100 tons of carbon per year. In perspective. These figures are equivalent to trapping 26% of all the carbon inputs that enter that system, so over 13 years the wetland created by the beavers has reached store a whopping 1,194 tons of carbon. In short, this means that the area stores up to 10 times more carbon than similar river stretches where these rodents do not live, with a sequestration rate of approximately 10.1 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent per hectare per year. How they do it. One might think that carbon is stored in accumulated wood or swamp plants, but the reality is much more complex. The study attributes that more than half of the carbon that has been removed from the environment is trapped below the surface, in the subsoil of the wetland. Added to this is the burial of organic carbon in the form of particles in the sediments. By flooding the area and slowing the flow, the beavers created the perfect conditions for carbon to settle and be locked underground for the long term. The methane problem. When we talk about creating new wetlands, any climate expert might raise an eyebrow, since these areas of stagnant water are known to be large emitters of methane, which is one of the gases involved in the greenhouse effect. On top of that, much more powerful than CO₂. However, the authors of the study also measured this factor and were pleasantly surprised: methane emissions in this system were surprisingly low, representing less than 1% of the total balance. But in addition, the carbon dioxide emissions that came from the sediments were also much lower than the carbon that the system managed to sequester. In this way, it can be concluded that the beaver wetland is a sink, not a source of emissions. Meeting objectives. The data collected in this Swiss stream opens an exciting door for climate migration policies, as encouraging the return of beavers can dramatically increase the resilience of our riverbanks. In fact, calculations suggest that the recolonization of floodplains by beavers could offset between 1.2% and 1.8% of Switzerland’s annual carbon emissions. Images | Francesco Ungaro In Xataka | Franco introduced an exotic sheep to Teide to please the hunters. Now it is destroying its ecosystem

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