china

“This is the first time China has proposed a new principle for the chip industry.” Not everyone is convinced

by

Huawei’s path in recent years has been most curious. After being ostracized by the West and being the target of the trade war between the US of Trump’s first term and China, has become the company that thank the United States because of how vetoes have boosted Chinese technology. Because Huawei has become one of the pillars of all the technology companies in the country and they are not satisfied with making chips: they want to lead a new paradigm with a Tau Law that challenges the Moore’s Law. But behind the promises, there are those who can only see one thing: marketing. The Tau Law. My partner Laura exemplified it perfectly. If the chip is a city, the transistors are the buildings, and the cables are the roads, Moore’s Law says: “make buildings smaller to fit more into the same space.” What Huawei proposes, however, goes in another direction: “buildings can no longer be much smaller, so instead let’s make cars travel faster on the roads, and redesign the urban layout so that they travel less distance.” Huawei’s bet is that cars take much less time to go from one building to another, reducing times tremendously so that the chip, without the need to work on smaller lithographs, is much faster. Inside that Tau LawHuawei proposes the LogicFolding architecture, focused on shortening the wiring of the critical paths to increase the density of the transistors. Qionists. And the company is tremendously proud of this to the point that He Tingbo, Huawei’s chip director, affirms that “it is the first time that China proposes a new principle for the global chip industry.” Because, until now, Moore’s Law was the one that prevailed in lithography leaps, but if instead of concentrating on achieving the very complicated objective of making everything smaller, companies focus on shortening the “routes”, the density objective can be achieved in other ways. In fact, Huawei maintains that, before LogicFound, it took three years to go from 126 to 155 million transistors per mm2. In 2026, and with the new architecture, they jumped directly to 238 per mm2. Equivalence, not parity. And if the question is why Huawei is pushing this when there was already another viable way, the answer is that that proven way was not as viable for Chinese companies. Due to the technological veto, they cannot access the most sophisticated machines in Europe ASMLso they can’t “print” chips in advanced lithography as easily as TSMC can, for example. Thus, they have looked for another way to achieve that density, but something important is the terms. Because there is talk that Huawei would reach a transistor density “equivalent” to that of 1.4 nm processes, by 2031, and that is the key. They would be “equivalent” in density and there would be no lithographic parity. With raised eyebrow. In any case, Tingbo is proud of the logo and believes that it can benefit the entire Chinese technology ecosystem, but it makes an appeal. The directive states that “there remain many open questions that no organization can address alone. The tool chain, standards and economic models require contributions from more than one company.” For its part, and as we see in The Registerthere are those who do not see that revolution in the Tau Law. Although they see what the Chinese company is proposing as interesting, they affirm that it is more of a hybrid movement between reality and marketing because “Huawei had to get creative” to overcome the limitations and “they are going in the right direction, but this density is created through packaging and not by making smaller transistors“Indeed, this is what we already had, but they point out that the result will not be equivalent to a true 1.4 nm node from TSMC or Intel in issues such as energy efficiency and temperature. Future. In fact, as our colleagues point out Xataka Mobileit is in thermal management where Huawei is encountering some major problems. But well, the company’s intention is that the results of this Tau Law allow massive AI clusters that they behave as a single chip by 2035 and that the upcoming Kirin chips for consumption also benefit from it. Image | IBM (edited) In Xataka | While the industry obsesses over power, TSMC is clear about where the future of chips lies: in efficiency

Scientists threw a cow into the depths of the China Sea. They discovered eight unexpected guests at the feast

by

The ocean is full of surprises. Sometimes, as happened several years ago in Canada, enigmas appear floating in a of human feet adrift. However, in others, the majority, you have to go down to the depths to try to solve the mysteries. That was precisely what a group of researchers proposed. It all started by throwing the carcass of a cow. A cow at 1,600 meters. In one of the most unusual marine experiments in recent years, a group of scientists threw a dead cow 1,629 meters deep on a continental slope of the South China Sea, off the Chinese island of Hainan, with the aim of simulating the sinking of a whale and studying the scavenger behavior of deep waters. What they found surprised even the most experienced researchers: eight sleeper sharks of the Pacific (Somniosus pacificus) appeared at the site, marking the first documented observation of this species in the region. The discovery not only unexpectedly expands the distribution map of this elusive shark, but also provides valuable information about its behavioral patterns, feeding hierarchies, physiological adaptations and its possible geographical expansion. An unexpected visitor. Although the Pacific sleeper shark is a species with a wide distribution in the northern Pacific Ocean (from Japan to Alaska and south to Baja California), its detection in waters off southern China was not only unexpected, but raises questions about the actual extent of its habitatits possible displacement due to the effect of climate change or even the existence of a stable and not yet registered population in that region. Food label. The recorded images The underwater cameras not only confirmed its presence, but also revealed unusual behavior for large predators: a kind of shift systemin which the sharks lined up to feed on the corpse, giving way to other individuals that approached from behind. This type of “food label”rarely observed in predatory species, suggests that feeding order could be determined by the competitive intensity of each individual, rather than a chaotic struggle for resources, which would indicate a more complex level of social organization than previously suspected in these animals. New clues. He study also documented variations in behavior depending on body size. The specimens that exceeded 2.7 meters in length were very more aggressive and direct in attacking the carrion, while the smaller sharks opted for cautious movements, circling the carcass before approaching. The pattern suggests that even in an environment where food is scarce and opportunities are random, sleeper sharks could have developed a coexistence strategy with hierarchical ranks that minimize direct conflict. One more thing. Another notable finding was a behavior of eye retraction observed during feeding. Since this species lacks nictitating membrane (the protective “third eyelash” that other vertebrates such as cats or certain reptiles have), researchers believe that this retraction reflects a evolutionary adaptation to protect the eyes during bites or struggles, which provides new information about the defensive physiology of these sharks in their natural environment. The unknown. And more, since the recordings also showed other revealing aspects. To wit: several sharks carried visible parasites in his eyes, identified like copepodsalthough it was not possible to accurately classify the species. This detail reinforces the biological parallel between Pacific sleeper sharks and their better-known relatives, the Greenland sharkswhich also tend to harbor parasites in their visual organs. Aside from sharks, the experiment attracted a surprising variety of deep-sea fauna, such as snail fish and numerous amphipodsall attracted to the source of decaying organic matter. These records confirm that the deep areas of the South China Sea not only host a biodiversity that is still poorly documented, but could be more productive than previously believed, contrary to the idea that the tropical depths are biologically poorer than their polar counterparts. The great unknown. Ultimately, the presence of these sharks raises a crucial question: is this a recent expansion of their range due to global warming, or has it always been part of their habitat and simply never been observed? The species is known to have occasionally appeared in such remote regions like Palau or the Solomon Islandssuggesting that there could be more southern populations than the scientific literature indicates. However, the “frequent occurrence” in the southwest China Sea, according to the team itself researcher led by Han Tian, ​​suggests rather a structural lack of data in an underexplored region rather than a recent change in the distribution pattern. In that sense, the experiment with the cow corpse has not only provided a specific observation, but has also opened a way to review key concepts about the marine biogeography of abyssal species. The new discovery. In February 2026, it was documented, for first time in historya shark (of the sleeper family, possibly a southern sleeper shark, a very close relative of the Pacific sleeper shark) off the South Shetland Islands, in Antarctic waters, 490 meters deep. This is the first time that an elasmobranch has been filmed in the Southern Ocean, and several experts suggest that warming waters could be facilitating the movement of this family of sharks to areas where they were not previously expected, although they also warn that they could have been there for a long time without having been detected. Know the depths. All these findings They highlight the usefulness of simple but carefully designed experiments to obtain data about remote, inaccessible and often poorly understood environments. The idea of ​​simulating a whale sinking with a cow not only proved effective, it proved to be a powerful ecological magnet capable of revealing complex biological interactions. In a context where the climate change and human activity are altering ecosystems even at great depth, this type of research is crucial to understanding the invisible functioning of the deep ocean. The appearance of eight sleeper sharks where no one expected them, behaving with order, measured aggression and sophisticated adaptive mechanisms, is further proof that the deep sea they keep secrets that we are only beginning to understand. A version of this article was published in July … Read more

China has erected two mysterious “rectangles” in the middle of the desert that point to Taiwan

by

Aerial photographs played a decisive role during the Cuban Missile Crisis. It was the images taken by American spy planes that revealed the installation of launch ramps Soviet forces on the island and unleashed one of the most dangerous moments of the Cold War. Since then, many of the great military advances have begun as a handful of strange shapes detected from the air long before there was official confirmation. Two rectangles that don’t fit. The latest images from the Chinese base of Jilantai, in Inner Mongolia, have focused on two mysterious structures Hardened rectangular with retractable roofs. The facility is not just any base: since the late 2010s it has been one of the main centers testing and expansion of China’s new ICBM silos. Precisely for this reason, the appearance of two constructions that do not resemble the known silos has aroused enormous interest among military analysts. The dimensions point to another very different mission. He prepared report by analyst Eli Tirk argues that these structures are too small and shallow to house intercontinental ballistic missiles like the DF-31 either DF-41. “These structures appear to be shallower than the silos intended for intercontinental ballistic missiles,” explains. Its dimensions, therefore, fit better with smaller weapons, such as short and medium range ballistic missiles, cruise missiles or even hypersonic systems. like the DF-17. Although there is still no official confirmation about their function, the measurements, the design of the roofs and their configuration clearly differentiate them from the nuclear silos that China has built during the last few years. Satellite image of the site in question The great hypothesis looks at Taiwan. They remembered the TWZ analysts that the explanation that is gaining the most weight is that Beijing is developing a new rapid conventional attack capability. Instead of serving as a nuclear deterrent, these facilities would allow launching large quantities of missiles during the early stages of a crisis to saturate enemy defenses. According to the tirk reporta massive deployment of this type of launchers could facilitate a rapid escalation from a naval blockade to a campaign of attacks against targets in Taiwan, US bases located in the first island chain or even naval groups deployed in the region. Close-up of one of the new reinforced structures with a retractable roof, as seen on January 28, 2026 An infrastructure designed to survive. Regardless of the type of missile they can house, the design reflects a trend that is spreading through the Chinese armed forces. The retractable roofs They allow launch systems to be kept hidden until the last moment and protected against precision attacks or drones. Researchers believe they could be part of a vertical launch system capable of using different types of ammunition from the same platform, increasing flexibility and reducing the time needed to execute consecutive attacks. A satellite image shows what appears to have been a new air defense emplacement pattern, with reinforced structures and retractable roofs It is not an isolated case. These new structures add to a much broader process of hardening of the chinese military facilities that we have been counting. During the last years have appeared hundreds of new silos for nuclear missiles, reinforced shelters for aircraft, completely closed hangars and protected facilities both inside the country and in strategic areas near the border with India or the South China Sea. The war in Ukraine and the growing prominence of drones have reinforced the need to protect any fixed infrastructure against increasingly cheaper and more precise attacks. A mystery far from being solved. The own authors of the report They recognize that there are still many unknowns. It is possible that these structures have a different function, that they are related to testing of new systems or even that they hide underground facilities deeper than the available images show. However, satellite photographs have been enough to put on the table an idea that is difficult to ignore: China appears to be building a new generation of military facilities that do not seek only to increase its arsenal, but to accelerate the speed with which it could use it in a hypothetical conflict. As Tirk ditch at work“if built in sufficient numbers, these systems would allow the Chinese military to quickly move from a quarantine or blockade of Taiwan to a massive campaign of preparatory strikes against targets on the island, US bases in the first island chain, or US naval groups.” Image | Google, China Aerospace Studies Institute In Xataka | Satellite images leave no doubt: China has launched an underwater creature into the sea that defies naval engineering In Xataka | The US Navy warns Congress: China is erecting the largest nuclear barrier in its history under the sea

The US taught that access to advanced AI can be cut off. China is studying the same thing, according to Reuters, and Europe is watching from the outside

by

When the United States activated export controls which ended up leading Anthropic to deactivate Fables 5 and Mythos 5 For all its users, a reality that was difficult to ignore was exposed: access to advanced AI may be cut off. Not because the model disappears, nor because it stops working technically, but because a national security decision can convert an available tool into a conditioned capability. Things have changed slightly since then: controls on Fable lifted after new safeguards and Mythos was limited to a few trusted American organizations, but the precedent is still there. Now that question returns from the other side of the board. Reuters reports that Chinese authorities have held meetings over the last month with the country’s major technology companies to study possible restrictions on foreign access to their most advanced AI models, including some that have not yet been launched. Alibaba, ByteDance and Z.ai participated in those meetings, according to three people familiar with the conversations. At the moment there is no approved measure, no fixed calendar, nor definitive scope. Perhaps more revealing, Beijing is discussing how far it wants to open up its most advanced AI products. What was discussed in those meetings goes beyond closing an API or limiting access to a specific product. According to the agency, participants talked about putting limits on the most advanced models, both closed and more open versions, and also about toughening the consequences for what they call leaks or thefts of proprietary AI technology. One of the sources consulted indicated that these leaks could be treated as crimes linked to China’s strict national security law. New restrictions were also raised on who can fund domestic AI startups. Advanced AI enters the logic of strategic control There are several reasons why what was mentioned does not remain solely within Chinese borders. Since the emergence of DeepSeek R1, remember, AI developed in China has gained ground outside the country thanks to a very attractive combination for many companies: low costs and increasing capabilities. Alibaba has Qwen, ByteDance features Doubao and Z.ai has attracted attention in Silicon Valley with GLM-5.2a model that comes close to leading American offerings at a fraction of the cost. If Beijing limits that access, many businesses and users could find themselves with fewer options and, presumably, higher bills. The Chinese AI sector also seems interested in developing cybersecurity-oriented systems equivalent or superior to those in the United States. Zhou Hongyi, founder of 360, a cybersecurity company with weight among government and enterprise clients, has said that China needs to develop its own Mythos. The company came to present Tulongfeng as a Chinese response to that type of system, stating that it is capable of detecting a large number of vulnerabilities. This is where the most delicate part of the debate appears when viewed from Europe. When the Anthropic case brought to the table the possibility that access to American models would be conditioned by Washington, some raised the Chinese models as a possible alternative: cheaper, increasingly capable and, in certain cases, available through API or with open weights. The new information from Reuters introduces an important nuance in that reading. Changing suppliers can reduce costs or open up new technical options, but does not eliminate the dependency if the critical capacity continues to live under a foreign jurisdiction. Europe, moreover, had already been thinking about this kind of risk before Anthropic and China occupied the center of the discussion. The Commission has defended the need to reduce dependencies on cloud, artificial intelligence and semiconductors, and has linked that agenda with the autonomy and digital resilience of the continent. In that discussion, Brussels has come to warn of the risk of “kill switches”: the possibility that a foreign supplier or a government with the ability to pressure can interrupt essential technological services. That is why Europe looks from the outside. The United States preserves some of the most advanced models in the world and has already made it clear that access to them may be conditioned by a political or national security decision. China, for its part, has gained ground with cheaper and increasingly capable modelsand now I would be studying my own restrictions. The Old Continent is in another place: it has regulation, sovereign ambition and promising companies, but it does not yet seem to have an equivalent in commercial weight, global adoption and strategic capacity to the products that today set the technological bar. Images | Xataka with Nano Banana | Arthur Wang In Xataka | Alibaba’s Qwen AI model is the new crown jewel. The only problem is that they don’t make money from it.

This is how China dominates car shipping

by

Guangzhou Shipyard International, one of the largest Chinese shipyards, has just delivered its third ship of the same series with capacity for 10,800 vehicles. These are figures that do not clash much with the current panorama, where China exports its new energy vehicles at full speed. But this data also hides one of the most interesting transformations in automotive logistics in recent years. And it explains how China has gone from depending on South Korean and Japanese shipping companies to building itself the ships that today transport its cars around the planet. What has happened? The shipyard we mentioned, a subsidiary of the state-owned China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC), has delivered its third ship in a series of “megaships” designed to transport 10,800 vehicles on each trip. The first, named Glovis Leader, was delivered last April and was the first in the world to overcome the barrier of 10,000 cars in a single journey, according to they counted in The Maritime Executive. This third ship in the series, whose name we still do not know, was delivered at the end of June and will follow the same fate as its siblings, operating under the umbrella of the South Korean shipping company Hyundai Glovis. In detail. These vessels belong to a very specific category within maritime transport: PCTC (Pure Car and Truck Carrier), that is, ships designed exclusively to load vehicles and not other types of merchandise. They do not carry cranes or containers, since cars They are stored through a rear ramp and they park inside as if it were a parking lot of various heights. In this case, the ship measures 230 meters in length (length) and 40 meters in width (width), and distributes its load over 14 decks, five of which can be elevated to also be able to transport buses, trailers or larger heavy machinery, depending on technical data shared by Baird Maritime. This megaship can be powered by both liquefied natural gas (LNG) and conventional fuel. Why it is important. Until relatively recently, much of the maritime transport of Chinese cars depended on foreign shipping companies, mainly South Korean, Japanese and Norwegian. The problem is that demand has skyrocketed, as China has become in the world’s largest exporter of carsespecially electric vehicles, and there were not enough ships available to take them out of the country. This shortage ended up skyrocketing freight prices, so China decided to correct that dependence by building its own fleet. In just a decade, the average capacity of these ships has grown strongly. If in 2014 a typical ship was around 6,000 or 7,000 vehicles, today Chinese shipyards routinely deliver ships capable of exceeding 10,000. Ships with record numbers. Chinese shipyards have engaged in a race that they have been waging among themselves for years. Before the Glovis Leader and its siblings, the record was held by the Anji Soundness and the Anji Ansheng, two sister ships of 9,500 vehicles operated by Anji Logistics, the logistics subsidiary of automobile giant SAIC Motor. BYD, the largest Chinese manufacturer of electric cars, already has its own fleet of eight ships that allows it to export more than a million vehicles a year, according to data collected by CnEVPost. GSI, the shipyard responsible for this third vessel, has already accumulated more than 40 orders and has completed 26 deliveries, more than 95% of them for foreign customers, which gives an idea of ​​the extent to which the Chinese naval industry has become a supplier to the rest of the world. Between the lines. The Glovis Leader and its sister ships will operate on sea routes connecting South Korea with Southeast Asia, North America and Europe, serving mainly Hyundai and Kia, according to they counted from Baird Maritime. That is to say, although the ships are built in China, they will not transport Chinese cars, but rather South Korean cars. And China not only exports its own vehicles on its own ships, but has also become the reference shipyard to which other automotive powers turn to solve their own capacity problem. And now what. GSI has another eleven more under construction, with deliveries scheduled until 2028, according to they claim from Shippax. And the record for the highest capacity will not last long either, since the Norwegian shipping company Wallenius Wilhelmsen has already announced that it will expand four of its Shaper series ships to 11,700 vehicles. Cover image | ShanghaiEye (X) In Xataka | “Incredibly cruel”: this is how Shenzhen taxi drivers define the new law that gives the green light to more robotaxis in the city

There’s a reason China doesn’t fire nuclear missiles from its most dangerous submarine. You just broke that rule

by

The greatest strength of a nuclear submarine is not its firepower, but that no one knows where it is. This ability to remain hidden for months has made these ships the most important pillar of nuclear deterrence since the Cold War and explains why each movement related to them is analyzed with a magnifying glass. It wasn’t just any test. China has insisted that the launch was part of its annual training and that it had previously notified the countries of the region. However, few maneuvers generate as much attention as the ballistic missile shot from a strategic nuclear submarine into the Pacific Ocean. Not only that, since it was an action practically unpublished in decades. Beijing had been avoiding a public demonstration of this type for years and, precisely for this reason, the test has been interpreted as a message directed far beyond the military exercise itself. The letter that is never shown. Missile submarines are the most discreet and valuable component of any nuclear power. Its main advantage is in remaining hidden for weeks or months, guaranteeing a retaliatory capacity even if the country suffers a first attack. This need to maintain secrecy explains why China has barely made public launches from this type of platform and that each demonstration has enormous strategic weight. The signal was directed to the United States. Although the Chinese authorities they emphasized that the missile carried a training warhead and was not directed against any country, the context tell another story. Western analysts believe that the test was intended to demonstrate that Chinese submarines can now launch very long-range missiles. from nearby areas on its own coasts and continue hitting targets thousands of kilometers away. In other words, Beijing wanted to remind that its maritime deterrence capacity is entering a new phase of maturity. Type 094 Submarine A doctrine designed to reduce risks. Everything indicates that the launch took place from protected waters close to China, a strategy known as “bastion.” Instead of sending its submarines to the center of the Pacific, the idea is to keep them under the cover of national aviation, fleet and anti-missile systems while retaining the ability to attack very distant targets. If the new JL-2 or JL-3 missiles They fulfill the benefits attributed to them by analysts, these submarines no longer need to travel too far from home to reach US territory. Nuclear expansion continues. Because the test comes in full modernization process of Chinese strategic forces. Beijing is building new silos for intercontinental missiles, deploying more advanced generations of land-based missiles and increasing the number of ballistically capable nuclear submarines. Pentagon estimates suggest that the Chinese arsenal could exceed a thousand nuclear warheads before 2030a transformation that is changing the military balance in the Indo-Pacific. The Pacific responds worried. Australia, Japan, New Zealand and Taiwan reacted criticizing a pitch which they consider destabilizing for the region, despite having received prior notification. The criticism was not directed solely at the missile, but in the context of a rapid increase in Chinese military capabilities and an increasingly visible naval presence in the Pacific. For many governments, the test represents a new step in a show of force strategy that had already included tests of intercontinental missiles and naval maneuvers increasingly distant from Chinese coasts. The real novelty was not the missile. It is known that China has had ballistic missiles capable of carrying nuclear weapons for years. What is really new is that he has decided show publicly how one of its strategic submarines can use them, something it had almost completely avoided until now. In fact, the demonstration increases the credibility of your ability of retaliation, forces its rivals to assume that these submarines are fully operational and confirms that Beijing is willing to use its military tests as another tool of political and strategic deterrence. Image | PLA In Xataka | Satellite images leave no doubt: China has launched an underwater creature into the sea that defies naval engineering In Xataka | From cultivating the field to sailing underwater: the Chinese farmer who makes homemade submarines in his free time

China has just regulated something that really matters: whether AI ends up being our friend or our girlfriend

by

China has decided to put limits on a very specific type of AI: that designed to look like a person. Doubao (ByteDance) and Qwen (Alibaba) have announced that they will disable their custom AI agents before the regulations come into force imminently. Tencent had already done it with its Yuanbao model, but behind all these closures there is a much deeper idea. The blackout of anthropomorphic AI already has a date. Doubao has already warned its users that its personalized AI agents will stop working on July 15 due to “product adjustments” and that three months later they will not be able to access the stored conversations with said chatbots. With Qwen things will be even faster: the agents will disappear on July 10, and the rest of the functions will do so five days later. These measures are taken before the entry into force of the new Provisional Measures for the Administration of Anthropomorphic Interaction Services with AI, recently published by the Chinese government. In Xataka Millions of teenagers have turned AI into their go-to psychologist. It is an unprecedented challenge for medicine Conversational chatbots, yes… The interesting thing about the regulations is that they do not regulate generative AI in general. Leave assistants out to work, study, research or serve customers. What it regulates are the systems that “simulate personality traits, thought patterns and human communication styles to provide a sustained emotional interaction.” The problem therefore is not that AI can be more or less powerful, but that it comes to simulate the behavior of a person. …company chatbots no. The functions that disappear from these platforms are those that allowed a generalist chatbot to be turned into a fictional character, a friend or even a romantic partner. This personalization gave these AI agents a fixed personality, a memory and a characteristic conversational style that reinforced interaction with it. They were therefore not tools to replace the current search engine, but rather systems designed to trap the user in an increasingly personal and intimate relationship and conversation. Beware of emotional dependence. Here the Chinese regulation does not try to identify dangerous risks such as those traditionally discussed, for example, with the European Union regulation. Instead what it monitors are interactions in which there is an emotional dependencea potential addiction and even manipulation by these systems. In fact, these systems are prohibited from fostering emotional bonds that could lead to irrational decisions. All of this is stopped by regulations to avoid the potential deterioration of personal relationships. AI must analyze itself. According to the regulation, AI must intervene when it detects these types of situations. If a user shows too extreme emotions towards these chatbots or if it is perceived that there may be risks to their integrity, the AI ​​should encourage them to seek help or even activate certain emergency protocols. You should also warn if you see excessive usage and remind the user to rest after two hours of continuous talk. In a certain sense, these regulations are reminiscent of the “digital welfare” mechanisms that have been imposed on mobile apps that try to limit the use of social networks. In Xataka "As pathetic as it sounds, ChatGPT is my only friend": more and more people confess to having an AI as a friend Protection for vulnerable people. The measures pay special attention to underage users and also to older people. For example, these types of chatbots are prohibited from offering intimate virtual relationships, such as couples or artificial relatives, and they require parental consent. There is also an obligation to take precautions when the users are elderly, since this group is especially exposed to loneliness and a possible emotional dependence. AI should stay just that: be an AI. Although there have been advances in the psychological impact of these models in their relationship with people, this is probably the first major regulation that does not attempt to control how powerful AI models are, but rather how capable they are. to establish personal relationships with users. This discussion will probably end up reaching Europe and the US, and is a touchstone for a technology that has certainly been infiltrating the personal sphere for some time. Image | Andy Kelly In Xataka |Telling the AI ​​what worries you was only the first step: there are already bots that pose as registered psychiatrists (function() { window._JS_MODULES = window._JS_MODULES || {}; var headElement = document.getElementsByTagName(‘head’)(0); if (_JS_MODULES.instagram) { var instagramScript = document.createElement(‘script’); instagramScript.src=”https://platform.instagram.com/en_US/embeds.js”; instagramScript.async = true; instagramScript.defer = true; headElement.appendChild(instagramScript); – The news China has just regulated something that really matters: whether AI ends up being our friend or our girlfriend was originally published in Xataka by Javier Pastor .

How China is reinventing building air conditioning without using more electricity

by

When the heat hits is when those of us who live in historically cool latitudes seriously consider installing large-scale air conditioners and if not, ask France, in whose capital its underground system It seems not to be enough for what is coming our way. But there are entire cities and countries that are ahead of us in that “historically cool Europe” in terms of air conditioning. This is the case of China: there the air conditioning of their buildings goes beyond the simple air conditioner or passive architecture: there are communities that are already cooling their shared outdoor spaces by spraying mist water from the roofs. The rain in Seville Shanxi it’s a wonder. As explains Mao Ning, spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in Yuncheng, a city in central China’s Shanxi province, there is a residential area where roofs rain: a water spray cooling system capable of reducing surface temperatures by 5 to 8 ° C in a matter of minutes. This other similar spray system called HY-WSWD report drops of up to 10°C in roof temperature and savings of 20-30% in air conditioning consumption. Although it is a political official who shares the system, it does not seem that it is a state air conditioning policy (for the moment), but rather a solution adopted individually by several sprinkler irrigation communities, as they explain in Sina. The principle of operation is essentially the same as a evaporative air conditioner XXL, so it is neither technically revolutionary nor new. In fact, that HY-WSWD is a product that has been on sale since at least 2025. Why is it important. To begin with, because China is the largest consumer of electricity for air conditioning on the planet and its peaks in electricity demand in summer are directly related to the use of air conditioning, as documented by the International Energy Agencywhich also warns that it will get worse: in Asia the demand for refrigeration in Asia will triple before 2050. Any technology that reduces the temperature of the building before using the air conditioning is good news for the grid. As quantifies scienceevaporative cooling systems reduce energy consumption by 30-40% compared to conventional air conditioning systems. Tap to go to the post and watch the video. x Context. We said that the system is not new, it is actually very old (for this type of technology). In the United States there are a patent from the 70s designed for industrial warehouses and discarded for residential use for aesthetic and another from the late 80’s more discreet that contemplates its application in residential, commercial and industrial buildings. Furthermore, this evaporative misting in urban areas already applied in hot and dry cities like Phoenix or Tempe (Arizona). Although we are mentioning several American initiatives, the paradoxical reality is that China has its own architectural precedent and it is much older: more than a thousand years ago, the Hanliang Hall of Daming Palace from the Tang dynasty used a circulating cooling system: hydraulic wheels propelled cold water to the roof, letting it fall from the four eaves in the form of a curtain of water that cooled the outer perimeter of the room. In detail. What is striking about the case is not so much the technology, but the scale: covering complete roofs of entire residential blocks to cool the building as a whole and the surrounding areas instead of concentrating the misting in specific points of outdoor comfort, as happens in so many bar terraces in the West or does the Madrid City Council itself, which has installed nebulizers in squares and streets of the city. In this sense, it represents a paradigm shift compared to traditional split when it comes to understanding air conditioning: conventional air conditioning units do not eliminate heat, they move it from the inside to the outside through the compressor, and that residual heat is expelled by thousands of individual units. contributes to intensifying the nocturnal urban heat island. This system that is becoming fashionable in China, on the other hand, intervenes in the building’s own thermal environment (the roof exposed to the sun) before that heat generates a load that the compressor has to expel outwards again. Thus, the thermal difference between inside and outside is reduced at the source: the microdroplets expose a lot of surface area to the air, accelerating evaporation, which extracts latent heat from the roof and the surrounding air without the need for refrigerants. Yes, but. The kryptonite of evaporative air conditioners is the humidityor in other words, this system is only effective in locations with dry climates such as Shanxi, which has a semi-arid continental climate. Of course, in cities in humid southern China like Shenzhen it would be much less effective. In humid and hot environments, high temperatures become a real nightmare and evaporative air conditioners do not work: they raise the relative humidity, worsening thermal comfort. On the other hand, this is a system that continuously consumes water, a precious commodity that is scarce in some places, which poses a dilemma between energy savings and water stress. In Xataka | Best quality-price air conditioners 2026. Which one to buy and seven recommended models for less than 800 euros In Xataka | Air conditioning is the new great political weapon in France: why environmentalists and the extreme right are fighting over it Cover | Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China via Twitter

In the midst of a heat wave, Europe has started buying air conditioners in droves. And China can’t cope

by

I don’t know anyone who likes air conditioning, especially for sleeping. However, when the heat hits, it is impossible to spend the days indoors. if we don’t have the device on. The problem is that I am speaking from the position of a Spaniard who lives in La Mancha, where air conditioners practically come with houses. Further north or in the rest of Europe, directly, the air conditioning with 20% penetration in houses, it is a mythological animal. It was, rather. With the current heat wavecountries like France, Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom have started buying air conditioning units like crazy only to find themselves with a problem: China is the main supplier and the manufacturers cannot cope. And I’m not going to say that air conditioners now are geopolitics, but a little… yes. Let’s see it. It’s hot and there is no solution. Two weeks ago I was at Vivatech, in Paris, and this past weekend in London and Liverpool. At 29º, the Apple Watch showed me that in Paris They were on orange alert by heat. 29º in my land is a slightly hot spring day (unfortunately). In the United Kingdom, however, things changed and it wasn’t just incredibly hot: when you entered an establishment it was even worse. Not only do they not have air conditioners because they have not needed them, but have built so that the houses retain heat. A taxi driver told me that the best time of day is when he is working because his house is a sauna, and it makes perfect sense. Spain and France are two of the most affected countriesbut northern Italy, Belgium, Poland, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Germany and the aforementioned United Kingdom are also suffering the consequences. And the problem is no longer that it is hot, but that mortality due to heat has skyrocketed in recent weeks. The solution? The north of Spain and European countries have started buying air conditioning units like crazy, but there is a problem. Exhausted. The middle SCMP He has a representative in Paris and tells how, a few days ago, he approached several businesses to try to get an air conditioner. The answer that he found in several of them, and that some friends reported to him, is that everything was sold. The scene is like something out of an apocalyptic movie, with stores with shelves full of everything except the air conditioning section, which is empty. He started looking at online stores, such as a German website designed so that people can find specific models of these devices and, after searching 1,176 stores, the model he wanted was only in one of them. In these countries where air conditioning is not normal, people go out to cool off in fountains and rivers, and even French President Emmanuel Macron has addressed the population pointing out that it is impossible for them to adapt “to a peak that has no equivalent anywhere in Europe today and that has never had an equivalent in our history.” Perhaps he has become a little heated with that statement, but it reflects that the situation is becoming unsustainable. And you would think that the solution is to start importing more, right? The problem is that it is not that simple. Bottleneck in production. China, as with other everyday devices, is the main manufacturer of air conditioners. Brands such as Haier, Gree, Hisense or Midea are some of those that lead the market, even creating models adapted to European regulations in certain countries (such as the Midea PortaSplit for windows, which makes little noise and has a very low refrigerant charge, ideal for Germany). There are others like Xiaomi (whose model we analyzed last year and a year later I confirm that it is still going great), Dreo with its fans or Dreame that are starting to bring their models to Europe because they have seen that they definitely have a pull. Only in May, esteem that China exported air conditioners worth $3.33 million to France, $2.82 million to Germany and a whopping $7.69 million to the Netherlands. It implies an increase of 186.2%, 69.6% and 139.1% respectively compared to the previous year. This percentage in France is explained if we take into account that, according to French data, only between 18% and 26% of homes had air conditioning until then. Also in logistics. Another problem is that these brands mentioned do not manufacture only for themselves, but for other manufacturers that sell OEM equipment, which implies that the factories are full. It is estimated that China accounts for 40% of global air conditioning exports and, to meet that demand, some manufacturers have begun to work day and night to satisfy European demand. “China cannot ship air conditioners fast enough to meet European demand” They are prioritizing more portable models and split for Europe because they have seen a huge market, but they cannot multiply production indefinitely without incurring overcapacity the rest of the year. Giants like Cainiao, AliExpress or Joybuy they are meeting with a brutal bottleneck because, although they have had units in advance trying to tackle this summer’s situation, they have simply… flown out of European warehouses. And in the installation. Faced with this situation, and seeing that heat waves are increasingly common, Europe estimated in 2024 that expected 70 million AC devices to be installed by 2030. This would mean covering 35% of European homes, but if all these factors were not already a salad of problems full of ingredients, two more are added. The first, the regulation of each city. In Spain we are used to seeing the typical indoor split unit with a compressor hanging from the façade, but there are important heritage restrictions in historic centers that allow drilling into walls or altering the aesthetics of buildings. In neighborhood communities you must ask for permission, there are fines for installation on facades without authorization (in Italy, for example) and the price of electricity doesn’t help … Read more

China launches the first factory for personalized vaccines with artificial intelligence

by

Cancer treatment is on the verge of a historic revolution driven by the hyperpersonalization of medicine. Until now we were working with the idea of ​​manufacturing general medicines to treat cancer, but the idea of ​​manufacturing a unique and exclusive medicine for the genetics of each patient’s tumor has been around for years in laboratories, but the great bottleneck has always been the manufacturing time and, logically, the immense costs. A new step. China just gave the green light to the world’s first production line for cancer vaccines powered entirely by artificial intelligence. Located in Beijing, this facility is owned by Likang Life Sciences, a firm that has invested approximately $16.1 million in setting up a factory designed to operate at unprecedented speed. Its most advanced product is the LK101 neoantigen vaccine and it delegates the complex task of sequencing tumor DNApromising to synthesize customized doses in just one day. The definitive objective of this technological deployment is for patients to receive their personalized injection a few days after undergoing the biopsy. Why an AI? The key here is in the “neoantigens”, small mutated proteins that are exclusively in tumor cells and in each patient we find specific antigens. Here AI intervenes as an ultra-fast analytical engine by scrutinizing the tumor’s genetic information and predicting which parts of the antigen will be most effective in awakening and directing immune system cells to kill the tumor. Because here the only thing we seek is to activate the natural defenses we have, as we already do with immunotherapy, so that it is able to find tumor cells and destroy them, just as it does, for example, when we have an infection. But this is a process that requires great personalization and, above all, great speed to act as soon as possible on patients. And this is something an AI can do. for a long time Science has been paving this path, as we saw with an article published in 2024 which demonstrated that the integration of AI in the design of mRNA and DNA oncological vaccines is essential to know with maximum accuracy the composition of a tumor and its weak points. And to avoid failures, the algorithms are trained with large databases that we already have, where all the possible variants that a tumor may have are found. Another good news is that pioneering publications in Nature had already demonstrated the feasibility of RNA vaccines to induce specific and memory immune responses in patients with melanoma or even in such lethal and complex tumors. like pancreatic cancer. The nuance. It must be made very clear, first of all, that the promising results obtained in animals do not directly guarantee success in all patients, with clinical efficacy in humans still being very limited. And currently the vast majority of studies focused on this new personalized treatment are in very early stages. On the other hand, although China has built the first large algorithmic factory, its clinical research ecosystem remains very closed, and the data indicates that between 2014 and 2024 89 clinical trials of oncological vaccines were registered in this country. Something that greatly clashes with the 757 tests that have been carried out in the United States in this same period. And more limited. Added to this is that Chinese trials have an almost exclusively domestic vocation, with barely 2.2% global reach compared to 47.6% in the United States. But they also address less oncological diversity, focusing on about 5 types of cancer compared to the more than 20 studied by North American competitors. Images | Testalize In Xataka | Cancer in people under 50 years of age has been growing for decades. A macro study finally points to the big culprit: biological aging

Log In

Forgot password?

Forgot password?

Enter your account data and we will send you a link to reset your password.

Your password reset link appears to be invalid or expired.

Log in

Privacy Policy

Add to Collection

No Collections

Here you'll find all collections you've created before.