chile

Neighbors in Chile tried to stop an Amazon data center. Justice has left a clear message with its decision

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Artificial intelligence has been part of our lives for a long time, often almost without us stopping to think about what is behind it. We use it as if everything were happening in an invisible layer: models, algorithms and, perhaps, servers in some remote location. But we can also look at it from another perspective. The infrastructure that supports that world is very real: it has a location, consumes resources, requires permits, involves enormous investments, and can also alter the environment of those who live nearby. That is one of the great debates that is beginning to accompany the rise of AI: the cloud also has neighbors. They lost the case. A specific case leads us to Huechurabanorth of Santiago de Chile, where Amazon plans to build a data center. The initiative had received a favorable Environmental Qualification Resolution in July 2024, but not everyone was convinced that the project had been evaluated accordingly. That concern reached the judicial route through a claim presented by Patricio Hernández Valenzuelaa resident of the area, and the Second Environmental Court resolved on April 9, 2026 to reject ita decision that leaves the data center in a position to move forward. A very specific concern. Hernández questioned whether the environmental evaluation of the project had not adequately taken into account a possible high voltage line that, according to his approach, would be necessary to power the data center. The criticism was not minor: if both infrastructures were linked, they had to be analyzed together. For residents, not doing so meant leaving relevant impacts on the environment out of the analysis. The key to the failure. The court’s reasoning involves clearly separating both pieces. The ruling concludes that the data center and the eventual high-voltage line cannot be considered to form a single initiative, among other things because the Amazon project does not include that infrastructure as part of its design. Furthermore, the planned electricity supply does not depend on its own installation, but on the network managed by third parties, which reinforces the idea that these are different projects. Without joint evaluation. Once the existence of a project unit has been ruled out, the court concludes that an integrated environmental assessment is not appropriate. The sentence explicitly states it: “it has been proven that between both initiatives there is no relationship of functional interdependence that conditions their execution.” This nuance is key, because it implies that the data center can operate using the available electrical infrastructure, without the need to subject its viability to a future high voltage line which, in any case, would have to be evaluated separately if it were to be considered. Beyond the legal debate. The Amazon project has very specific dimensions on paper. The data storage center in Huechuraba is designed to operate for 30 years, with an estimated investment of 205 million dollars. It would be built on an area of ​​10.9 hectares, with a construction of 21,350.07 square meters, in the street of Américo Vespucio 1055. From the company, collects Reutershave pointed out that the design of the infrastructure focuses on minimizing energy and water consumption, and maintains that the plan met environmental requirements. Chile as a hub. The Huechuraba project is not an isolated initiative within Amazon’s strategy. Amazon Web Services has proposed an investment of more than 4,000 million dollars in Chile over 15 years to build, operate and maintain its infrastructure in the country. The idea is to turn Santiago into its third major center in Latin America, after São Paulo and the central region of Mexico. Factors such as connectivity through fiber optic cables are added to this context. The concern of those who live nearby. Beyond the investment and digital infrastructure they promise, data centers are often accompanied by very specific concerns: high electricity consumption, use of water for cooling, heat or noise generation, and their fit into environments that, in many cases, have environmental or community value. Google did not have the same path. The case of Amazon is not the only one that has gone through this type of debate in Chile. Google had obtained initial approval in 2020 to build a $200 million data center in Cerrillos, southwest of Santiago. However, the project’s journey was different. In February 2024, the Second Environmental Court decided to partially reverse that permissionand months later the company announced that it would not continue with the initiative as it had originally been proposed, opting to start a new process from scratch for a project in the same location, but with a redesign based on air cooling. Electricity enters the scene. If we broaden the focus, the debate is not limited to a specific project, but to the system’s capacity to absorb this type of infrastructure. A Systep reportpublished on September 23, 2025 with data from the National Electrical Coordinator, indicated that, taking 2025 as a starting point, the electrical demand of data centers in Chile could increase by 270% in five years. The same projection places this consumption at around 1,207 MW in 2030. These figures help to understand why the energy issue has become one of the central axes when talking about the expansion of the cloud and AI. Images | Xataka with Nano Banana In Xataka | In 2024, Big Tech spent absurd amounts of money on AI. In 2025, they managed to spend 77% more

Chile has one of the most valuable skies on Earth. Renewables are putting it on the ropes

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Chile has a diamond of 105,000 km². The Atacama Desert is one of the most important in the world due to its extreme aridity. That is why it is key to study the adaptability of fauna and flora to very harsh conditions of drought and salinity, but it is also a gem for space observation and renewable energies. But there are mixtures that do not work, and Atacama is the example of how one of the best natural laboratories for the energy transition and one of the best places to look at the universe They don’t combine well. Spoiler: the astronomers have won. For now. The Atacama battery. It is not the first time that two disciplines collide in the Atacama Desert. Due to its conditions, this desert has become in the country’s renewable battery. Not only solar energy projects are triumphing, but also wind turbine parks. And as important as this: one of its salt flats hides one of the most important lithium reserves in the world. This is vital to build batteries for the energy transition of cars, for example, but the price is being too high: we are destroying biodiversity. In parallel to this battle, another has been fought: that of a huge renewable energy project to create green hydrogen that came into conflict with one of the most important observatories in the world: the Paranal Observatory of the European Astral Observatory. The threat of INNA. The American AES Corporation, together with the Chilean subsidiary AES Andes, was preparing the construction of a photovoltaic park of more than 3,000 hectares, wind turbines and refining facilities to produce green hydrogen and ammonia. He green hydrogen It is one of the pending energy accounts and it is positive, but there was a problem: it would be only 10 kilometers from the observatory. Astronomers shouted in the sky pointing that the microvibrations of the installation, the dust and, above all, the light pollution would disturb the daily work in facilities that are located in a privileged location, precisely because they are in the middle of nowhere. This facility is of global importance because it houses the Very Large Telescope (one of the most powerful in the world) and will have both the Extremely Large Telescope such as the Cherenkov Telescope Array Observatory. The thing about telescope names is one thing. Scientists working at the observatory They agreed to sign an open letter in which they pointed out that the construction of the facilities would seriously endanger the missions that were carried out there, describing the program as “an imminent threat” to humanity’s ability to investigate the cosmos. Victory. After months of fighting, the astronomers won. It was at the beginning of this year when AES Andes advertisement that he would abandon the project, noting that he would focus on other facilities, but mentioning that INNA was “fully compatible with the activities of the region.” It was no longer a fight just for the Paranal Observatory due because there are about 30 astronomical sites in the area, many of them internationaland its importance is what it is because, apart from zero light pollution, it is estimated that there are more than 300 nights each year without rain or clouds that interfere with scientific work. Yes, but. The problem is that one thing is the interests of astronomers and researchers of the universe and another is the priority of energy companies… and even of the country itself. Researchers point out that there is increasing pressure to convert the Atacama Desert into that aforementioned ‘stack’ of Chile, and INNA has not been the only threat that the observatories have experienced. In 1955, a major solar station operated by the Smithsonian Institution of the United States was forced to close due to mining expansion in the area. Unda-Sanzana, director of the Astronomy Center at the University of Antofagasta, points out that “we have had 70 years to learn from history and avoid repeating those same mistakes,” lamenting how close they have come to reliving the situation. And the problem is that things they haven’t changed too much. This victory has been suffered, but astronomers point out that Chilean sky preservation laws remain lax and outdated, so this should be remedied instead of fighting each battle individually. Image | G. Hüdepohl/ESO In Xataka | The Atacama Desert is one of the driest places on the planet. And right there a bunch of “crazies” are trying to get water out of the fog.

In 2023, an exclusive Rolex was stolen from Keanu Reeves’ house in LA. A year later they found him in the most unexpected place: Chile

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In September, Rolex, the luxury when it comes to watches, filed a patent application that gave an idea of ​​the house’s problems with thefts and counterfeits of its most legendary models: they sought use NFT chips and certificates of authenticity based on blockchain to identify the models. The story (with a happy ending) of Keanu Reeve’s watches has surely only reinforced that idea. John Wick’s watch. The story begins several years ago, during the filming of the film ‘John Wick 4’ that the actor played. At the end of filming, Reeves pays tribute to himself with an exclusive Rolex Submariner valued at $9,000one with the engraved words “2021, JW4, thank you, The John Wick Five” next to the actor’s name. In December 2023, someone entered the artist’s house in Hollywood Hills (Los Angeles) taking several high-value jewelry, including the exclusive model from the Swiss luxury house. Enter Keanu’s house. Curiously, It wasn’t the first time it happened.. In fact, in 2014 the home was broken into. up to two times in three days. The first time, Reeves confronted an intruder in his library, the second, the cleaning staff found an intruder in his pool. But there is more. Early last year, Reeves requested a temporary restraining order against a man who allegedly trespassed on the actor’s property at least six times between November 2022 and January 2023. In one case, the alleged stalker left a backpack containing a DNA testing kit, one he intended to use on Reeves to prove they were related in some way, according to the order request. An unexpected find in Santiago. The news broke in December 2024 in the city of Santiago, where Chilean police recovered three watches belonging to the actorincluding the Rolex Submariner from the action movie and two other models described by authorities as “valuable.” Apparently, during a series of raids on four homes, Chilean authorities seized high-value jewelry and watches, including those three models that belonged to Reeves. According to CNN reportslocal authorities collaborated with US officials to establish the link between the watches and the robbery at the actor’s residence. As a result, a 21-year-old man is under arrest. Cinematic irony. The media has not stopped repeating a curiosity these days: the parallelism with the plot of the saga itself ‘John Wick‘, where Reeves’ character begins his story of revenge after a robbery (and the death of his dog) at his home. Outside of this trivial detail, the famous actor does not seem clear about returning to the role in future installments of the saga. The reason? Mainly age. Although his heart says he wants to do it, Keanu Reeves he joked shortly after in an interview that his knees might not be ready for another film due to the physical demands of the character. The symbolism of John Wick’s Rolex. As for the recovered watch and beyond its economic value, the Submariner represents Reeves’ appreciation for his team, known in the industry for giving away personalized watches as gestures of gratitude after finishing filming. In this case, the actor had kept one model and had given the rest to the doubles who played him in the film. Submariner, luxury on the wrist. The Rolex model is an icon of watchmaking and the first diving watch reference Truly functional. Launched in 1953 and designed specifically for divers, it became a symbol of innovation for its water resistance up to 100 meters (later extended to 300 meters) and its durability in extreme conditions. Its timeless design, with a unidirectional rotating bezel to measure immersion time and its legibility underwater, has established it as a standard in both the professional and fashion fields. In fact, before Keanu Reeves, the model He has been associated with many other historical and cultural figuresfrom ‘James Bond’ to marine explorers and other celebrities, a symbol of technical excellence and style that maintain it as one of the most recognized and desired watches in the world. In some cases and as we see, excessively. Image | Dr.K. In Xataka | He forgot some AirPods in his Ferrari: the unexpected trick that helped recover a stolen supercar In Xataka | New York has a problem with car theft. The police’s solution: give away some AirTags A version of this article was published in December 2024

Chile has the lithium necessary to save the world from fossil fuels. The problem is that you are extracting it blindly

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The world desperately needs to move away from fossil fuels. To achieve this, electric vehicles and large renewable energy plants require a vital component for their batteries: lithium. This global emergency has set its eyes on one of the most inhospitable and fragile places on the planet, the Atacama Desert in Chile, which is home to about 25% of the world’s reserves of this mineral. But this “salvation” has a dark side. As deep research reveals published by MongabayChile is accelerating the blind exploitation of its salt flats. Under the institutional promise that this mineral will be the “new salary of Chile”—as It was defined by former president Gabriel Boric by promising wealth with strict environmental respect—the reality in the territory is diametrically opposite. The productive desire is crushing the socio-environmental knowledge that is required to avoid destroying the same nature that, ironically, the world is trying to save. The pact that seals the future. To capitalize on this demand, the Chilean State launched the National Lithium Strategy (ENL)seeking to consolidate the country as the undisputed leader of this market. In this context, an unprecedented mining agreement was forged. According to The Confusionthe state mining company Codelco and the private giant SQM sealed a historic pact to extract lithium in the Salar de Atacama until 2060 under a new joint venture: NovaAndino Lithium. With the aim of avoiding the local resistance that usually paralyzes these megaprojects, the agreement included an unprecedented governance model. This scheme promises the Atacama indigenous communities (the Lickanantay people) million dollars annually in profitsseats at dialogue tables and power of environmental oversight. A model that the industry celebrates as the standard for future “green mining”, but which in the territory has lit a fuse with unsuspected consequences. The disproportion of 33 to 1. Promises of environmental balance crumble when looking at the fiscal wallet. The figures are devastating: for every peso that the Chilean State invests to protect the fragile ecosystems of the salt flats, it allocates 33 to promoting productivity and mining technology. Through the Production Promotion Corporation (CORFO), the State has injected more than 166 million dollars in technological development for the industry. In dramatic contrast, the scientific investment to understand the impact of lithium on water, microorganisms and threatened species – such as Andean flamingos – is barely close to 5 million dollars. Yovisibility territorial. Added to this institutional blindness is territorial invisibility. As the media explains South Slope when documenting the scientific project LiOness Ringthe public eye has become obsessed with evaporation pools, ignoring the off-sites: the areas outside the salt flats. Transportation routes, port terminals and transit communities silently absorb equal or worse impacts under “the excuse of green development,” researchers warn. For the National History Prize winner, Lautaro Núñez, cited by the same media, the key is being lost in the debate: “The salt flats are Chile’s heritage.” Thirst in the desert. As millions flow into technology, the ecosystem depletes. Extracting lithium requires pumping and evaporating enormous amounts of ancient water. As detailed The Confusioncurrent operations consume up to 12,500 liters of industrial water for every ton of lithium, causing the salt flat to sink up to two centimeters per year. Faced with this threat, the injection of money has caused the greatest historical fracture of the Lickanantay people. The communities went from blocking routes in January 2024 to fighting each other for the millionaire loot, which could reach up to 150 million dollars annually for the region, according to data from the Chilean government. Social fracture. Rudecindo Espíndola, local farmer cited by The Confusionassures that participating in this agreement is a form of “participation justice” because, after 12,000 years of inhabiting the territory, they will finally have physical access to the plants to supervise the mining companies. However, others see the destruction of their social fabric. Sergio Cubillos, president of the Peine community, recognize the same publication that “the fact that today communities receive money is what has led to this division.” Sonia Ramos, a respected 83-year-old healer, is even more blunt. in his interview with Climate Home News: “We are land and water (…) but today there is fragmentation. Everything has become unbalanced.” For her, the mining megapact does not bring progress, but “death, the total destruction of the Salar.” So what’s going to happen? Seeking to justify its expansion until 2060, NovaAndino has promised to stop using fresh water and reinject at least 30% of the brine into the subsoil through new extraction technologies. However, this promise is being viewed with great skepticism. As microbiologist Cristina Dorador warnsthese reinjection technologies are not proven on a large scale and could alter the chemical composition of the desert. Continuing pumping until 2060, he says, could be the “coup de grace” for this vital ecosystem. The State as a facilitator, not as a protector. Politically, the course seems unchanged. The recently inaugurated far-right president, José Antonio Kast, has already promised to respect the contracts signed by the previous administration. The machinery will continue to operate. In statements to MongabayHernán Cáceres, director of the National Institute of Lithium and Salt Flats (INLiSa), justified the low state budget in environmental areas by arguing that this money is actually an “enabling expense.” That is, the State finances ecological studies and dialogue tables not necessarily to stop the impact, but to “pave the way” for mining companies, reducing the risks of social conflict and guaranteeing that companies can operate without resistance from indigenous peoples. Blindfold. While technological investments advance at record speed, legal protection, such as the recent creation of the Network of Protected Salt Flats, moves at a slow pace, trapped in bureaucracy and lack of funds. The history of lithium in Chile encapsulates the great contradiction of our time. In the quest to clean the air in the metropolises of the northern hemisphere, one of the oldest and most biodiverse corners of the global south is being squeezed and fractured. As the research concludes, the country today faces a monumental challenge: … Read more

We have found a time capsule in the form of salt in Chile. And now finding life on Mars is closer

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As we continue to explore how to get to Mars with Artemis II As a critical engineering and logistics bridge in the form of a long-term trial of interplanetary travel, science continues to search for traces of life on the red planet. And it is not easy: although 3.37 billion years ago an ocean covered half the planetMars is today a dry planet devastated by radiation. The question is where to look for that life. The answer, as incredible as it may seem, may be more than 3,500 meters high in the north of Chile, in the Salar de Pajonales, a landscape that is also desolate where there is a range of extreme temperatures ranging between -23 °C and 26 °C, one of the highest solar radiation recorded on Earth, there is hardly any precipitation and winds that exceed 100 km/h. And yet, there is life. There a research team has discovered that plaster constitutes the perfect refuge for life. Spoiler: Gypsum is a common mineral both on Earth like on mars. The discovery. According to this research, gypsum is not only a sedimentary rock, but also a biological repository. Thus, this mineral is capable of harboring both current life in the form of microorganisms that live within the crystals and preserving molecular fossils and microscopic structures. A kind of time capsule that protects organic material from degradation for millions of years. Why is it important. The consequence of this finding in space research is direct: if gypsum is a “magnet” for biological preservation in hyperaridity conditions, the scientific community knows that the abundant sulfate deposits on Mars (such as Gale crater) are a magnificent place to continue searching for traces of extraterrestrial life. If there was life on Mars, gypsum is a likely place to house its traces. Context. The Salar de Pajonales seems like a place from another planet: it is in high mountains where ultraviolet radiation is high, there is extreme aridity and thermal fluctuations reminiscent of the conditions on Mars from billions of years ago, when the red planet began to dry out. In this scenario, life has learned to hide from the unfriendly surface in a lifestyle endolithic to survive. Thus, the mineral functions as a solar shield and moisture reserve. How have they done it. To read what the rocks contain, the Tebes-Cayo team has applied a kind of high-precision molecular and mineral archaeology: With habitability and climate analysis with a meteorological station that recorded data every 20 minutes for 40 years monitoring water activity. Using x-rays, petrography and microfluorescence to create thin sections to distinguish minerals and their distribution without destroying the sample. With microscope, isotopes and DNA sequencing to identify the microorganisms, the trapped corpses and to confirm that the carbon found has a biological and not a geological origin. Yesyes, but. We already know that gypsum is the ideal candidate to search for life on Mars, but that is based on a hypothetical premise: that it ever existed. On the other hand, and although the Salar de Pajonales is reminiscent of the Red Planet, the conditions on Mars are even more extreme than in Chile (there is almost no atmosphere and it is even colder), which may have affected the preservation in a different way. And then there is the practical application: it is one thing to detect these biosignatures in the high mountains of Chile and another to use a robot thousands of kilometers away for the same purpose. In Xataka | Europe has thought of throwing three robots into a volcanic lava tube and now colonizing the Moon or Mars is closer In Xataka | If the question is “how are we going to build houses on Mars” the answer today is “with bricks made of urine” Cover | Luiza Braun and BoliviaIntelligent

China wants to lay a cable from Chile to Hong Kong. And in the process, it has put Chile in a storm against the US

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Next March 11, Chile will have a new president. Gabriel Boric will no longer be in charge of the country and José Antonio Kast will land in the presidential chair. And he arrives just to take care of a morrocotudo mess: the submarine cable that China is deploying from Valparaíso to Hong Kong. And, evidently, the United States does not like this situation one bit. To the point that he considers it dangerous for his safety. In short. On February 20, the United States revoked the visas of three Chilean officials. The reason? Concern about an underwater cable that will connect Chile and Hong Kong. It’s not so much the cable, but who is ‘pulling’ it: China. As they point out in Mercopressit was the outgoing president who managed the agreement to deploy this cable through a concession decree signed on January 27, which allowed the company China Mobile to install, operate and exploit the cable. 48 hours later, that act was annulled citing “technical errors” and the Boric Administration commented that the project was in the evaluation process. The United States, however, wasted no time and banned the visas of the Minister of Transportation and Telecommunications, the Undersecretary of Telecommunications, and the Chief of Staff of Subtel (Chile’s Undersecretary of Telecommunications). The storm it had just started. political war. Marco Rubio is the Secretary of State of the United States and accused Chilean officials for having “knowingly directed, authorized, financed and supported activities that compromise critical telecommunications infrastructure.” You may be wondering what the United States cares about what Chile does, but Rubio continued by pointing out that this decision “undermines regional security in our hemisphere.” “Which hemisphere” is not the question, but what is happening now. Because Chile has responded that the accusation is “absolutely false” and describes the United States measure as “unilateral,” also pointing out that it is something that goes against Chile’s sovereignty. China has not stood by and, through its embassy in Santiago de Chile, accused the United States of acting in a hegemonic manner, ignoring Chile’s sovereignty to carry out these projects in its territory. If you look closely, the cables from the American continent pass through the US except for Google’s Halaihai, at least directly Cross-fire. Brandon Judd is the US ambassador to Chile and has sided with his government… going a little further in the accusations. Affirms which had already warned the Chilean authorities of what would happen, describing the agreement with China as an intrusion into Chilean telecommunications systems carried out by “malicious foreign actors.” And, as we said, it will be next March 11 when the new president will take office with a pending task: solving a monumental ballot. From the Foreign Relations Department of the incoming president, it has already been saying that “everything possible will be done to ensure that foreign policy allows for the best possible relations with all countries.” A 0º, neither cold nor hot. Influence. Leaving domestic and foreign politics aside, the cable is known as Chile-China Express and is estimated to measure almost 20,000 kilometers. It will link the Chilean city of Concón and reach Hong Kong. The budget is about 500 million dollars and its importance seems key because it would represent the first transpacific data route that would completely avoid routing through North America. From China Mobile it is pointed out that this cable will allow establish Chile as “the central node of the computing power network between China and Latin America.” Now we begin to understand what it is that “undermines regional security in our hemisphere” to which Marco Rubio referred. If completed, it will be a cable deployed by China and in which the United States will have no say, but which reaches the American continent. And we say that it is an important ballot for the new president because the United States injects a lot of money into Chile, being its main foreign investor, but China is the main trading partner of the country. A cable is going to put Kast between a rock and a hard place. Not only in telecommunications. In the background, we have a United States that is looking at the wolf’s ears. In recent months, and at an accelerated pace, China has been moving its chips. It has done this in developing countries on the African continent through energy deals, infrastructure construction, agreements to mine strategic elements and expand its automobile market. But he is also doing it in America. When the United States turned its back on Mexico with tariffs, China was there to offer to open factories. He is carrying out energy projects on American soil, he has interest in some of the strategic ports of the continent and is rolling out infrastructure, such as a railway line that, if completed, will link South America from east to west. The cable between Hong Kong and Chile is just one more piece of a puzzle that Beijing is weaving, which has already torn off with the works. And Washington only sees one thing: the wolf at the doors. In Xataka | The first great Atlantic submarine cable that connected us to the internet says goodbye for a simple reason: it was too expensive to repair it

On August 1, 1828, an English captain shot himself in Chile. And thanks to that Darwin devised the theory of evolution

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On August 1, 1828, in Puerto del Hambre, Chile, an English captain shot himself in the head. He died twelve days later, in his cabin, moaning and screaming in pain. His grave is still there, decorated with nautical charts. His ship took two years, HMS Beagleto arrive back at Plymouth and when he did he had a 26-year-old aristocrat named Robert FitzRoy as captain. Along with the Titanic, the Santa María and the Nautilus, the Beagle is one of the best-known ships in the world. For five years it was the home of a very young English naturalist named Charles Darwin who, over the years, would come to state one of the most dangerous ideas ever thought of: the theory of evolution. But the story could have been different (and very different!) because of a simple nose. A captain who did not want to be alone Despite his youth, Captain FitzRoy had several things in his favor: he had commanded a ship for two years, he had completed the expedition successfully and, above all, he was the nephew of George FitzRoy, 4th Duke of Granfton. Therefore, it was not surprising that he was entrusted with another of the large number of missions that attempted to carry out hydrographic surveys of the coasts of South America. With the independence of the Latin American republics, this cartographic information was of vital importance for the British army. The only problem was that it was a terribly boring task. Without going any further, Pringle Stokesthe captain I was talking about at the beginning, fell into a very deep depression before committing suicide. That’s why FitzRoy asked for a geologist for the mission. No one disputes that, as they had already verified on the previous mission, bringing someone capable of “knowing the nature of the rocks and soils” of the regions they were visiting could be very useful. But that was only the official reason. FitzRoy didn’t want to be alone. I should have written that ‘only’ in quotes. Evidently a brig of the class Cherokee Like that one, it carried an average of 120 people in its belly. But the aristocracy has always been exquisite for its companies. The captain was looking for a gentleman with scientific interests and a university education who could be excellent company to talk to during the months of the trip. The problem was how to select that gentleman. Luckily, FitzRoy knew how to do it. The mirror of the soul Although physiognomy is as old as human beingsthe idea that people’s personalities could be known through the shape of their faces became popular thanks to Lavater, a Swiss shepherd who lived in the second half of the 18th century. And when I say popular, I say very popular. The great intellectuals of the time accepted the pseudoscientific theses of physiognomy as a proven fact. It didn’t matter who we were talking about: doctors like Charles Bellphilosophers like Herbert Spencer or writers like Balzac; Everyone looked at the drawing of eyebrows, the prominence of a chin or the shape of a nose looking for clues to understand those around them. FriztRoy too. When it became clear that none of his friends wanted to accompany him on the trip, the captain wrote to the Admiralty to find someone who, meeting the requirements, would like to accompany them. They were able to contact the University of Cambridge. After a few unsuccessful attempts, a 22-year-old young man appeared at FitzRoy’s door who, on paper, seemed perfect. But on the paper, understand me, the silhouette of his nose was not there. Oh my goodness, the nose! He was convinced that that nose was not that of a man with the energy and determination necessary for such a trip. FitzRoy did the impossible so that that guy wouldn’t step on the Beagle at any time. But eventually it became clear that he either accepted that nose or he would have to make the journey alone. And thank goodness. That nose collected dozens of samples and collections, took thousands of geological, biological and anthropological notes and, many years later, enunciated the theory of evolution. A nose named Charles Darwin. Physiognomy could change the history of contemporary biology (even if it was call evolutionary thought ‘wallacism’). So that they then say that pseudosciences are not dangerous. Send noses.

Chile had a desert full of used clothes. Now you have something to brag about

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Just a few years ago, images of the Atacama Desert, covered by mountains of discarded clothing, they went around the world. From space, satellites they captured a multicolored mosaic in the middle of the arid land of northern Chile: thousands of tons of T-shirts, jeans and coats that had ended up there after crossing oceans and continents. Today, Chile is in the news again, but for a diametrically opposite reason. The country achieved the Guinness Record of the largest clothing exchange in the world, with more than 2,300 garments in perfect condition exchanged for eight hours at the La Moneda Cultural Center, in Santiago. A turning point. The event was organized by The Ropantic Showa pioneering start-up in circular fashion founded by María José Gómez Gracia. The initiative not only sought to break a record, but also to denounce the global overproduction of clothing and the environmental consequences of excessive consumption. “We have normalized that clothing is a completely disposable item, that shopping is a form of therapy,” Gómez Gracia explained. In Chile, each person consumes 32 kilos of textiles per year, generating more than 572,000 tons of waste, according to the Ministry of the Environment. This context makes the record not a simple cultural event, but a collective response to an environmental emergency. From desert catwalks to ‘re-commerce’. The change began with activism and creativity. In 2024, the NGO Desierto Vestido, together with Fashion Revolution Brasil and the Brazilian agency Artplan, organized the Atacama Fashion Week: a parade in the middle of the desert with models wearing clothes rescued from landfills. According to The Guardianthe pieces—designed by Brazilian artist Maya Ramos—were made with clothing found among the waste, symbolizing the four elements: earth, fire, air and water. A year later, that alliance gave rise to a revolutionary idea: “Atacama Re-commerce”an online store that gives away clothing rescued from the desert, charging only the cost of shipping. The project—promoted by VTEX, Fashion Revolution Brasil, Artplan and Desierto Vestido— seeks to convert the act of shopping online in a form of environmental activism. In just five hours, the first collection sold out and more than 200,000 people signed up for future releases. “It’s a simple and powerful way to transform commerce into consciousness,” summarized the creative Pedro Maneschy. A problem with fast fashion. This phenomenon has generated an environmental and social emergency. The United Nations warns that the textile and footwear industry is responsible for 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions and 20% of the planet’s wastewater. Global clothing production doubled between 2000 and 2014, and consumers they buy 60% more today of garments than two decades ago, keeping them half the time. For years, Chile was the final destination for discards from Europe and the United States. It is estimated that about 39,000 tons of clothing ended up in the illegal landfills of the Atacama each year. “We live five minutes from the garbage dumps and we breathe the smoke from the burned clothes,” denounced Ángela Astudillo, co-founder of Desierto Vestido, to The Guardian. Now, the country has become a circular economy laboratory. Projects like EcoFiberwhich makes insulating panels from used textiles, or Atacama Re-commercewhich rescues garments to reuse them, show that sustainability can also be an economic opportunity. From a court ruling to a circular country model. Last September, Chile’s First Environmental Court issued a historic ruling that forces the State to repair the Atacama “clothing desert.” The ruling orders a comprehensive plan to be presented in six months that includes the removal of waste, its safe final disposal and the restoration of the landscape. “The environmental damage is proven and the State must materially repair it,” said Minister Marcelo Hernández Rojas. The ruling, celebrated by organizations such as Desierto Vestido and Greenpeace Chile, sets a regional precedent in terms of environmental responsibility. In parallel, the Extended Producer Responsibility Law (REP)—which forces companies to take responsibility for the waste they generate— has incorporated textiles as priority products. And universities like Chile are already working on models that professionalize the restoration of garments and generate local employment, according to DW. Furthermore, the shift is also cultural. More and more young Chileans are opting for responsible consumption. “Massive consumption of clothing is normalized. I made the decision to buy almost everything second-hand or barter,” Antonia Jerez told21 year old student. “Buying new clothes is no longer fashionable, there are too many going around the world,” added Catalina Navarro, 23. This generational change reflects a new relationship with fashion: more conscious, local and circular. From symbol of excess to emblem of change. For years, the Atacama Desert was the mirror of global consumerism: a landscape where the labels of Zara, H&M or Nike mixed with sand and dust. Today, that same place is transformed into a symbol of environmental and social resilience. “We went around the world for the mountains of clothes in the desert; I hope they recognize us today for the solution,” pointed out María José Gómez Graciafounder of The Ropantic Show. The challenge is not over. There are still thousands of tons to remove and a global culture to transform. But Chile has shown that fashion can also be a tool of change. Image | skyfi and The Ropantic Show Xataka | There are so many “low cost” clothes accumulated in the Atacama landfill that can already be seen from space

Chile asked Chatgpt about their culture. The answer was so loose that Latin America has joined to create LATAM-GPT

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Observe the development of Generative It is most curious. In the United States they are large technological, and startups such as OpenAIthose who have marked the rhythm. In China, companies are also developing their modelsbut the government has a particular interest in Push this technology For technological purposes, of course, but also social and doctors. And now Latin America has joined to create its own Chatgpt. It will be called LATAM-GPT And the motivation to create this model is curious: a Chilean center did not convince a chatgpt response on Latin American culture. The question. “Describe Latin American culture in 500 characters.” That was, how we read in BBCthe request of some researchers from the National Artificial Intelligence Center -Cenia- from Chile to Chatgpt. His answer It was the following: “Latin American culture is a vibrant amalgam of indigenous roots, African influences and European heritage. It is characterized by its rich diversity in music, dance and gastronomy, reflected in festivals such as carnival and the Flower Fair. Its art, from muralism to literature, shows a deep connection with the history and local identity. The warmth, the sense of community and the celebration of community. pillars that enrich this dynamic and diverse culture. ” I have to say that I just asked for it and the answer is different, but pivot over the same points, such as the fusion of indigenous, African and European inheritances, the taste for music and dance, colorful gastronomy and traditions such as carnival to give rise to a colorful cultural mosaic. LATAM-GPT. This response did not satisfy CENIA researchers, who considered that, although it is a Llm Of great quality, “his understanding of the Latin American context could be enriched and perfected.” Come on, they are convinced that the answer, although correct in broad strokes, needs to qualify a lot to better reflect the peculiarities of the culture of each Latin American country because Chatgpt gave an answer too … Generalist. And that response for the region user will be LATAM-GPT. The intention is to be a Language model of and for Latin America and the Caribbean. The desire is that it addresses the common problems that language models have when interpreting idioms, cultural references and typical expressions of the Latin American context. Álvaro Soto, director of Cenia, states that US models hallucinate because Latin American data with which they have been trained are very scarce. “We do not seek to compete with Openai or one of the giants. We want an own model of Latin America and the Caribbean, with the cultural requirements and challenges that implies” – Cenia Goals. It is triple. On the one hand, what we have just mentioned: that it has a greater context when addressing issues related to the culture of each of the Latin American countries. On the other, that is open and public, allowing each developer to adapt applications to local needs in areas such as education, politics, economy or the environment. Finally, perhaps the most important for something that countries in the region are looking for: stop depending on foreign models and technologies. Mexico, for example, has put on the table the intention of carrying out different projects within a great umbrella called Plan Mexico which seeks to enhance the sovereignty of the nation in several matters, being the technological one -with its own semiconductor industry or of electric vehicles– One of its legs. Financing. With Latam-GPT, it also seeks to promote technological innovation of the region thanks to a tool that can help others seek to develop their potential. But of course, carrying out something like that requires money, and it is something that is not going to be left only in the Cenia. Chile has postulated as the leader of the project, but countries such as Mexico, Argentina, Colombia, Peru, Uruguay, Costa Rica or Ecuador have not taken long to join. There are also Spanish and American institutions on this ship. It has financial support from associations and academic institutions of these countries, but there is also government support to develop this artificial intelligence. Several countries are immersed in Latam-GPT Resources. For training, researchers will use the infrastructure of the University of Tarapacá, in Chile. It will use a super -tank to train the model with more than 8 TB of data collected from public and private libraries. That training will take about 40 days and it is expected that, for summer of this 2025, LATAM-GPT can be accessed. Investment in infrastructure will be about 10 million dollars. Now, one of the problems can be the consumption of the training center. We have already seen in Spain that Not everyone looks good the installation of Data centers To train AI due to high consumption of both water and energy, but from CENIA they expose that consumption in the first of the two stages will be 135 kWh. The University of Tarapacá is in Aricato northern Chile, where there are A great energy matrix composed of renewables and the idea is to ‘throw’ of them to supply electricity. In addition, from the agency they comment that “the cooling system – of the servers – will not generate water consumption due to the availability of cheap and abundant energy in Arica. CO₂ emissions associated with training will be 0.96 tons.” Necessary? This would be, if the accounts are correct, that the training of this LLM will be more ecological than that of Google or OpenAi models, but there are some challenges ahead. One has to do with the protection of data they use to train the model. The researchers affirm that the main policy for the shelter of intellectual property will be transparency, with open sources that comply with the copyright laws And, at the same time, make automatisms of Anonymization of personal data. On the other hand, there are those who ask that all this … for what. Ulysses Mejías, of Mexican origin, is a professor at the State University of New York and has … Read more

If you have ever wondered what would happen if 99% of a country will run out of electricity, Chile has lived it in their flesh

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99% of the population of Chile remained in the dark. A failure in an electric transmission line caused the biggest blackout from the country in 14 years from 3:15 p.m. until after 23:00 hours. Short. Chile has seen the electricity supply interrupted in 14 of the 16 regions, from the Arica northern to the southern of the lakes in an extension of more than 3,000 kilometers that the nation travels, According to the National Disaster Response Service (Senapred). For eight hours the Chilean country was without light or connection and until midnight did not return, so the government authorities They had to decree The state of emergency and a curfew (between 22.00 and 6.00 in the morning on Wednesday) and convene the disaster risk management committee (Cogrid). The chaos. The blackout that surprised at noon generated a huge circulatory chaos, prevented banking, financial, mining and commercial activity. In addition, it put hospitals and other essential services at risk, and has already been reported at the time of writing this note The death of three electrodependent people. On the other hand, the images of the Metropolitan Region Metro Without light and People returning on footthey are already viral in different social networks. To this media have confirmed people from the Bío Bío region, Valparaíso and the city of Santiago de Chile who had to send SMS messages to communicate, the information came through the radio and the little internet (it was intermittent) reached them to use to use The X app (old Twitter), since it was the only one that worked. Regarding the coercive measures of the government, it mobilized thousands of security agents of the Military Police of Carabineros and the Investigation Police (PDI), According to the Undersecretariat of Defense. For the moment There is no record of acts vandalism or serious accidents, but the national air traffic with delays and agglomerations has been affected. The blackout. The president of Chile, Gabriel Boric, He went to the country at 10:00 p.m. from the Palacio de la Moneda by contingency before the power of electricity supply. In this speech to the population, Boric explained that the blackout was the product of A fault of the Isa Interchile company and there was a massive cut in almost the whole country. From the National Electric Coordination (CEN) they reported that the interruption of the electricity supply was produced by a disconnection of the 500 kV transmission system in the North Chico. Through this situation, the service recovery plan was activated to reestablish electricity, but it did not begin to reach up to 10 p.m. and after four attempts, they had not succeeded. The president of the Board of Directors of the CEN, Juan Carlos Olmedo, confirmed that disconnection It was due to “an unwanted operation in the protection and control systems of the line (which the Isa Interchile company manages).” And he explained: “The electronic systems did not operate the way it should have operated.” The vulnerability of the system. Isa Interchile, a subsidiary of the Colombian company Isa, plays an important role in electric transmission in Chile, being responsible of infrastructure such as the New Maitencillo Line – New Pan of Sugar. The electrical system in Chile is composed of different private companies that generate and distribute, but a failure in these infrastructure can affect the electricity supply nationwide. The recent blackout has shown The vulnerability of the electrical system Chilean, no It is obsolete. However, when concentrating into a few hands and an interruption in a key infrastructure can generate chaos nationwide, highlighting the need to reinforce Resilience and diversification in the country’s electrical system. Affected a pillar of the economy. The world’s largest copper mine, hidden from BHP, ran out of electricity, confirmed to Reuters. Also the state copper mining company Codelco confirmed in a statement to media That all their mines were affected, leaving the largest, the Lieutenant and Chuquicamata, without electricity, while the smallest mines could partially operate using support generators. Similarly, the Antofagasta Minera was able to continue working. A day after the blackout. Recently, Interior Minister Carolina Tohá, has announced at a press conference that the government has raised the state of exception by catastrophe, together with the curfew. However, the minister explained that the uprising of the measure “does not affect the regions of the country in which we have a state of emergency exception, particularly the Araucanía region and much of the biobío, which are with an emergency state by security reasons, this does not affect the deployment of military personnels that we have on the border (north). ” Image | Pablo carved Xataka | There are so many Australians with solar panels in their roofs that the electricity grid has been one step away from the abyss

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