china

China can slow down Earth’s rotation by filling the Three Gorges

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The Three Gorges Dam It is a marvel of modern engineering. Located in central China, it interrupts the passage of the Yangtze River, the longest in Asia, generating more electricity than any other hydroelectric plant on the planet. It is so large that, according to NASA, filling it can slow down the Earth’s rotation. With a minimal impact, but highlighting the human influence on planetary balances; even the most fundamental ones. The Three Gorges Dam. The Yangtze River is the third longest in the world, behind the Amazon and the Nile. Also called the Blue River, it drains a basin of almost two million square kilometers, feeding 40% of Chinese territory with water. In the middle course of the river there are three natural gorges called Qutang, Wu and Xiling: the Three Gorges. In 2012, almost two decades after the start of construction, China inaugurated the largest hydroelectric power plant in the world, built on the Yangtze River in Hubei province to take advantage of the Three Gorges waterfall. How China overshadowed Itaipu. With a power of 22,500 MW, the Three Gorges Dam is the first to generate more energy than the Itaipú hydroelectric plant, shared by Brazil and Paraguay on the Paraná River. In 2020, the Three Gorges Dam broke Itaipú’s 2016 record of 103 TWh after intense monsoon rains. That year, its 32 700 MW turbines produced almost 112 TWh of electricity, more than what entire countries, such as Finland or Chile, consume annually. The megastructure is completed by two smaller 50 MW generators, which provide power to the plant itself, and a boat lift that allows navigation on the river. And it slowed down the Earth’s rotation. With a length of 2,335 meters and a height of 185, this colossal structure is capable of retaining up to 40 cubic kilometers of water, or in other words: 40 billion liters. A gigantic mass that, as NASA warned in 2005 and was evaluated laterif filled, it could have a calculable influence on the rotation of our planet. According to geophysicist Benjamin Fong Chao of NASA’s Goddard Center, filling the Three Gorges Dam would slightly shift the Earth’s axis to slow its rotation, increasing the length of the day by 0.06 microseconds. A slightly longer day. Although it is a small change compared to the melting of the polar caps or large earthquakes, demonstrates the impact that human activities can have on our planet, even on a scale as large as the Earth’s rotation. Take the devastating Indonesian tsunami of 2004. It was caused by an earthquake which, in turn, was due to a compaction of the Earth due to the interaction between the tectonic plates of India and Myanmar. That tsunami had the opposite effect: it moved the North Pole about 2.5 cm to the east, which slightly accelerated the planet’s rotation, reducing the length of a day by 2.68 microseconds. The key: the moment of inertia. The trigger for this effect is a physical magnitude called “moment of inertia” that describes the resistance of a body to changes in its rotation. The moment of inertia is greater or less depending on the amount of mass of the object and how that mass is distributed with respect to its axis of rotation. The classic example is a figure skater who, by crossing his arms close to his body, increases his rotation speed. Similarly, the Earth’s rotation can be modified by changes in its mass distribution. In the example of Indonesia, the movement of tectonic plates caused a tsunami in the Indian Ocean that modified the distribution of masses on the Earth’s surface and, consequently, the planet’s moment of inertia. The Moon has competition. The Earth is not a perfect sphere; Its axis of rotation shifts naturally due to changes in the atmosphere, oceans, and Earth’s crust. Since 1900, this axis has moved about 10 centimeters per year. Traditionally, this displacement was attributed to the retreat of glaciers or the gravitational pull of the Moon. Now we are beginning to understand the hand of man, and the Three Gorges Dam or the melting of the poles, which increases the water level towards the equator, are not the only examples. Another example is wells. Between 1993 and 2010, human geoengineering extracted approximately 2,150 gigatons of groundwater, used for consumption, agriculture, livestock, and industry. This massive extraction raised sea levels by more than six millimeters and, surprisingly, shifted the Earth’s axis of rotation by 80 centimeters east. Question of adjusting the clock? The impact of the wells or the Three Gorges Dam on the Earth’s rotation, although minimal, raises questions about the influence of human activities on our planet. For years, some researchers have advocated introduce a negative leap second in international time if the Earth’s rotation becomes slightly faster. As we saw a few months agothis idea is becoming progressively outdated. A Nature study suggests that the melting of the poles is already offsetting the hypothetical (and tiny) acceleration of the Earth due to human causes. The leap second was going to be introduced in 2026… And for now it has been postponed to 2029. It is possible that it will never be introduced. Short record. The impressive magnitude of the Three Gorges Dam can be put into perspective in two ways. The first is by observing the works that China is undertaking in the future Medog hydroelectric power stationin Tibet, located on the Yarlung Tsangpo River. Its works began in 2025 and, once it is completed, in 2035, it will be the most powerful dam on the planet, three times more than that of the Three Gorges. The second is with a fact: despite its brutal dimensions, the Three Gorges only produce 1% of China’s annual electricity. A testament to the country’s energy voracity. In Xataka | Dujiangyan: the engineers who, more than 2,000 years ago, decided to tame the Min River and, unintentionally, ended up forging China

In China they want humanoid robots to do household chores. The problem is that a house is not a factory

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For years we have seen humanoid robots do somersaults, danceppractice martial arts or move through factories with increasingly striking capabilities. The next step seems almost natural: taking them home to do the laundry, prepare a bed or support elder care. The problem is that this transition is not as direct as it seems. A factory is designed to reduce uncertainty; A home, on the other hand, is full of small exceptions. And for a robot, those exceptions can be exactly the difference between a flashy demo and a useful product. The concept. SCMP account That GigaAI has introduced the SeeLight S1 as the country’s first general-purpose home humanoid robot model, developed in collaboration with the Hubei Humanoid Robot Innovation Center and the Hubei Humanoid Robotics Industry Alliance. In images released by the company, he appears performing very recognizable tasks: cutting vegetables, frying eggs, loading a washing machine, hanging clothes, making a bed or opening curtains. The company also plans to test it for free in homes in Wuhan in the first half of 2027. A house is not an assembly line. That is the fundamental difference. In a factory, the robot can work with known references, pieces always placed in the same way and movements that are repeated thousands of times with very few variations. In a home, on the other hand, nothing guarantees that the shirt is where it was yesterday, that the chair has not moved or that a pet does not cross in front of it just when the robot is trying to complete a task. Much movement, little understanding. Xinhua itself collects an idea that helps cool down the epic of the demonstrations and that does not only affect China, but humanoid robotics in general: humanoids have greatly improved in their “cerebellum”, the part linked to control and coordination, but they still have major problems in their “brain”. In other words, they can execute complex movements, but it is difficult for them to understand what a scene means and what function each object has within it. Home is also a data problem. Now, for these systems to work better in real homes, they need to learn from real homes, but the home is precisely one of the places where it is least easy to collect data. We are not just talking about room maps, but about objects, forces, angles, routines and physical decisions that are difficult to simulate. Advances and challenges. According to NSFCthe country expected to exceed 10,000 humanoid units sold in 2025, with a year-on-year growth of 125%, and there were already pilots in industrial manufacturing, delivery, catering and services. The important nuance is that none of this automatically turns this industrial career into a successful deployment within homes: the sector itself locates the path prudently, first industry, then logistics and commercial uses, and only later the home. A future easy to imagine, difficult to materialize. The difficult part is demonstrating that this can be done usefully, safely, and at reasonable cost outside of a prepared demonstration. There is the real border. China and other countries around the world can accelerate prototypes, pilots and production, but a home does not forgive clumsiness in the same way as a controlled stage. To get home, the robot will not have to understand human life better. Images | GigaAI In Xataka | In China there are already “schools” for robots. Its objective is the same as schools for humans: to teach them to work

There is a city that has scanned the faces of more than 3 million people on the street and it is not in China, but in Europe

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A few days ago a man was walking down the street when, without realizing it, a camera scanned his face. As he continued walking, a sophisticated system compared his face to a police database, sent the alert, and within minutes he was arrested. It happened in London. The city of cameras. London is one of the most surveilled cities in the world; according to some sourcesin its streets there are more than 600,000 cameras controlling everything that happens. For some years now, in addition, they have a real-time facial recognition system to identify dangerous criminals, and it seems that the system is being as effective as it is controversial. In numbers. London’s Metropolitan Police say that since the beginning of 2024 they have made 2,500 arrests, of which 2,100 are related to violent and sexual crimes against women and girls. The system scanned more than 3 million faces in one year and only generated ten false positives. During a pilot in the Croydon district at least 470,000 passers-by were scanned with only one false positive. According to the police, the result of this test was a 10.5% crime reduction. How it works. The facial recognition cameras they have installed are capable of scanning up to 5,000 faces per hour. What they do is send the data to a police operations room where an AI system, signed by the Japanese company NEC, is dedicated to compare them with the police databasewhere there are more than 17,000 registered suspects. When there is a match, an alert is issued to officers in the area so they can make the arrest. Opposition. Organizations like Big Brother Watch has carried out campaigns against this systemarguing that it risks normalizing mass surveillance in public spaces and calling the technology ‘Orwellian’. Furthermore, they strongly question its true operational profitability since, while the police boast of making an arrest every 35 minutes, they warn that these statistics hide the enormous number of hours of the agents and the immense logistical resources that the system requires on the streets, diverting efforts from traditional and more proportionate police work. The debate has intensified after the unprecedented use of the system in a political protest in London. Big Brother Watch took the case to the High Court, but it ruled in favor of the legality of the technology, paving the way for its expansion. In favor. Despite opposition from some organizations, according to Police Director Lindsey Chiswick, the technology is “revolutionary” and completely secure, stressing that the biometric data of those who do not match the list of suspects are immediately destroyed. There are also fears that the algorithm discriminates based on race, but the police hide behind the fact that the tests carried out concluded that the system is accurate and does not present ethnic or gender biases. According to Chiswick, citizen support is around 80% in surveys. Image | Levi Meir ClancyUnsplash In Xataka | Concern over mass video surveillance has created a new product: anti-facial recognition glasses

China has more solid-state battery patents than anyone else and still fears being left behind for one reason: Japan

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What China is leading the energy and mobility transition What we are witnessing does not take anyone by surprise at this point. However, not all fish are sold, and in energy storage we are going to witness a significant evolution with the arrival of solid state batteriesa type of battery that we have been talking about for years. Just like they count From CarNewsChina, the country dominates the volume of research and records on solid-state batteries, but be careful because that leadership on paper does not guarantee winning the commercial race. And it is that a new analysis of the Xinhua agency recognizes that the United States, Europe, Japan and South Korea are moving forward with more industrial coordination and better international deployment of patents, just when the technology enters a decisive phase for its commercialization. Why it matters. Solid-state batteries are considered the next big leap from current lithium-ion batteries. These promise more energy density, faster charges, greater security and longer lifespan. They not only affect the electric car, but also humanoid robotseVTOL (vertical take-off aircraft), consumer electronics and stationary storage. Basically, whoever controls the technology and, above all, its manufacturing at scale, will set the pace of mobility and energy in the next decade. Patent war. China accounts for around 35% of the world market for solid-state patents and 39% of those related to electrolytes, the largest global share, according to share from CarNewsChina. Scientific publications have gone from 21 articles in 2015 to 562 in 2023, with institutions such as the Chinese Academy of Sciences or Tsinghua University leading advances in the engineering of the solid-solid interface, which for years has been one of the great bottlenecks. On the other hand, Japan continues to be the leading technological source with about 37% of global requests, compared to 30% from China. Japan is ahead. The problem in China is not quantity, but the concentration and quality of your strategy. Among the 30 most relevant institutions in the world in solid state and electrolyte patents, 17 are Japanese7 Chinese, 5 South Korean and only 1 European. The top ten positions are entirely Japanese or Korean. Toyota, alone, accumulates around 40% of all intellectual property in the sector. Added to this is a structural weakness, since Chinese companies register many fewer international patents than their Japanese and South Korean rivals, who shield their technology in the United States, Europe, India and Southeast Asia. The companies that move the board. CATL, BYD and SVOLT are leading the latest phase of this technology. And only in 2023 will Chinese companies filed more than 500 patent applications. Gotion High-tech The design of a 2 GWh line for totally solid batteries has already been finalized and another 0.2 GWh pilot line is operating with tests on vehicles. Ganfeng Lithium, backed by Changan, claims to have reached 1,100 cycles in a 400 Wh/kg cell and aims for 500 Wh/kg in production. On the other hand, Chinese researchers have also shown a prototype of 451.5 Wh/kg capable of charging in three minutes. CATL, for its part, is patenting lithium compounds with fluorine and sulfur electrolytes to improve fast charging and thermal stability. Deadlines. own report Xinhua places the start of production in small series around 2027 and broader commercialization around 2030. The industry continues to work in parallel on three electrolyte routes (sulfide, oxide and polymer) without any having won yet. Furthermore, according to the media, there are still challenges to overcome, including the formation of lithium dendrites, ionic transport mechanisms, solid-solid interface engineering or cell failure modes. And now what. China is preparing to industrialize what it currently masters in the laboratory. And its first national standard on solid state batteries (“Terms and Classification”) is under public consultation and proposes to differentiate between liquid, solid-liquid hybrid and totally solid cells. For now, the country dominates in terms of volume of papers and research, but it is clear that real dominance will come from manufacturers who first resolve large-scale production, cost, durability and safety. And let’s be honest, China has an advantage, especially with CATL and BYD controlling much of the world’s battery sharebut in the field of solid-state batteries there is still play. Cover image | Michael Fousert In Xataka | The EU no longer knows what to do to stop its car manufacturers from buying parts from China. So he’s going to force them

The greatest Japanese military taboo after the Second World War has just been blown up. China and North Korea are to blame

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In 1945, Japan emerged from World War II with a new Constitution that, in practice, prevented him have again offensive aircraft carrier. Eight decades later, one of its largest ships is once again preparing to operate fighter jets from the deck alongside the US Marines. Japan leaves its historical limits behind. Japan is entering a military phase that for decades avoided describing openly. He “Kaga”officially classified as a helicopter destroyer, will operate in June F-35B stealth fighters of the US Marine Corps in joint exercises that definitively bring the country closer to a light aircraft carrier capability. The gesture is much more important than it seems because it breaks a deeply rooted political and historical barrier since World War II: the idea that Japan should strictly limit its offensive capabilities. Tokyo continues to avoid the term “aircraft carrier,” but operational reality is beginning to look more and more like classic shipborne aviation. The Kaga and a return. The transformation of the “Kaga” and its twin “Izumo” It has been underway for years, but now it is entering the truly decisive phase: operate fighter aircraft fifth generation from deck in real conditions. The planned exercises with the US F-35B will include “cross-deck” maneuvers, where Marine aircraft take off and land from a Japanese ship. all this requires modifications depth in the deck, thermal resistance to withstand vertical landings and new coordinated procedures between pilots, sailors and technical personnel. Although Japan has placed the F-35Bs under the control of its Air Force and not the Navy, the practice brings the country enormously closer to having fully functional small aircraft carriers. A US Marine Corps F-35B lands aboard Kaga during training exercises in 2024 China and North Korea behind. The great driver of this transformation is the deterioration of the strategic environment in the Indo-Pacific. China multiply your pressure naval around Taiwan and the East China Sea as North Korea maintains a constant capacity of military destabilization. In this context, Tokyo needs to disperse its air capacity and reduce dependence on vulnerable ground bases. There the F-35B enters: a fighter capable of taking off over very short distances or landing vertically from relatively small decks. For Japan, this offers enormous flexibility in an archipelago full of islands and long sea distances. Each converted ship expands the number of platforms from which the country can project air power. USA as accelerator. The direct involvement of the US Marine Corps makes clear the extent to which Washington is acting as an accelerator of Japanese military transformation. The Marines already made the first historic landings on the “Izumo” in 2021 and since then they have accompanied practically all phases of the program. The “Kaga” even traveled to the United States for specific tests with F-35B and has already operated alongside British and American aircraft linked to the aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales. More than simple maneuvers, these exercises serve to integrate allied doctrines, logistics and procedures in a possible regional crisis scenario. The Indo-Pacific is filling up. The change also reflects a broader trend: the proliferation light aircraft carrier and ships capable of operating F-35Bs throughout the US allied network. United Kingdom, Italy, South Korea and potentially Spain sfollow similar paths to maintain embarked aviation without the need for gigantic nuclear supercarriers. He F-35B It has thus become the centerpiece of a new generation of medium navies capable of projecting air power from relatively compact platforms. Japan fits that model perfectly, especially in a scenario where war in the Pacific could force aircraft, ammunition and fuel to be dispersed across multiple moving points. The real test begins now. Until now, much of the Japanese program had still been experimental or symbolic. The real test begins with regular operations, long deployments and the ability to sustain stealth fighters on deck for weeks. That is where it will be measured if the “Kaga” It definitively ceases to be a “helicopter destroyer” to become, in practice, a a light aircraft carrier fully operational. And there, too, the most profound change is perceived: Japan is gradually leaving behind the defensive military culture to adapt to an increasingly Indo-Pacific more militarizedcompetitive and unpredictable. Image | hunini In Xataka | Japan has just crossed a line unprecedented since World War II: China has responded with supersonic missiles In Xataka | Japan has made a historic decision in the face of US uncertainty: deploy missiles that reach North Korea and China

China is about to launch the most powerful cargo drone in the world. And it will move it with hydrogen

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The aeronautical industry has been researching and experimenting for quite some time. with hydrogen turboprop engines on airplanes. A Chinese company is about to break that barrier, as it has taken off an airplane with one of these megawatt-scale engines. Aero Engine Corporation of China (AECC) has completed the first test flight of the AEP100, installed on a 7.5-ton cargo drone, in an operation that took off from Zhuzhou airport, in Hunan province. what has happened. The device flew for 16 minutes, reached an altitude of 300 meters and traveled 36 kilometers at a speed of 220 km/h before landing without incident. According to AECC, the engine operated stably throughout the flight profile and responded as expected. Chinese state media present it as the world’s first flight with a hydrogen turboprop of this power. Why is it relevant?. Yes, it is a short, unmanned, low-altitude test. But this means that hydrogen aeronautical propulsion leaves the laboratory and test benches to face real flight conditions. AECC maintains that the country already has a complete technological chain for hydrogen aeronautical engines, from essential components to system integration. direct combustion. The AEP100 does not use fuel cells to power an electric motor. It burns liquid hydrogen directly in a turbine cycle, just as a conventional turboprop would burn kerosene. This is the main difference with other bets. Airbus, for example, has prioritized fuel cells on its roadmap to a hydrogen commercial aircraft in 2035, while China has opted for direct combustion. Combustion is more complicated to tame in engineering, but offers much higher power density, something key to scaling up to larger aircraft. What aircraft is it intended for?. The AEP100 is custom designed for the W5000, a twin-engine cargo drone developed by Chinese startup Air White Whale. According to the manufacturer’s data, we are talking about a device with a maximum takeoff weight of 10.8 tons, 5 tons of payload, more than 65 cubic meters of hold and a range of 2,600 kilometers. Just like share from China Daily, when it completes its first flight, it will become the most powerful transport drone in the world, surpassing the Norinco Luca. Deadlines. Yuan An, general manager of subsidiary AE General Aviation Power Tech, has explained The engine is in the final phase of the type certification process and they hope to obtain approval from the Civil Aviation Administration of China in 2027. The process is progressing faster than usual because the AEP100 shares a core with the AES100 turboshaft, which shortens procedures. Yuan has also assured that the AEP100 and its variants will “end the heavy dependence on foreign engines” in Chinese general aviation. Where will it be used first?. For now, we have to forget about getting on a hydrogen-powered passenger plane. The bet goes through what they call the “low altitude economy”that is, situations in which unmanned cargo drones, inter-island logistics or controlled transport routes to remote areas are used, being scenarios where hydrogen refueling infrastructure, certification and operational economics are more manageable than in passenger aviation. Yuan remember also that the United States has more than 275,000 general aviation aircraft, while in China there are only a few thousand. The problems that remain unresolved. Burning hydrogen in a turbine is no small feat, as you can imagine. It burns at higher temperatures than kerosene and with a much higher flame speed, which requires the design of systems that avoid autoignition, flame flashbacks and combustion oscillations. Added to this is storage, since liquid hydrogen requires cryogenic temperatures close to -253 ° C, heavily insulated tanks and, most likely, redesigning the geometry of the fuselage itself to accommodate it. Sustainability. aviation Today it is around 2% of global CO₂ emissions, a figure that could skyrocket in the coming decades if the sector maintains its dependence on fossil fuels. China aims to reduce its exposure to imported oil in an increasingly complicated geopolitical scenario, so hydrogen can fit into both narratives. And now what. China’s road map mark 2028 as horizon to validate similar technologies in small unmanned aircraft, helicopters and urban air mobility, 2035 for applications in broader regions and 2050 for large commercial turbofan aircraft. The first flight of the W5000 with the AEP100 installed is expected in the coming months and will be the next litmus test. Cover image | CCTV In Xataka | For China, DeepSeek is more than just AI: it is the key to creating an industry that makes them independent of Nvidia

China already has a GPU that competes with Nvidia’s RTX 3060. The bad thing is that it arrives five years late and worse

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The china crusade for achieving the complete independence in the field of semiconductors has taken a new step. The problem is that this step has not been as promising as we expected, and in fact it makes it clear that today the Asian giant is still far away of the semiconductor manufacturers that dominate the market. The alternative for gamers that promised. Lisuan Tech (砺算科技), a Chinese company dedicated to manufacturing semiconductors and solutions such as graphics cards for the end-user market, has launched its new GPU for the consumer market, the LX-7G100. The price and expectations. The official starting price is 3,299 yuan (about 420 euros at the exchange rate), and at that price the equivalent graphics card should be at least an RTX5060 Ti, which is usually below 400 euros. What we get in performance is far from that. Performance tests of the LX-7G100 typically fell well short of the RTX 3060.Source: NotebookCheck. Worse than the RTX 3060. The problem is that those who have had access to this graphics card and have evaluated their benefits They have realized that this manufacturer’s GPU is very far from that price/performance estimate. In fact, it usually competes more with the RTX 3060 of 2021, but even with it it loses: it offers approximately 65% of the performance from its rival NVIDIA. Good specifications. On paper, the LX-7G100 should offer more performance. It has a 7G106 GPU, 12 GB of GDDR6 memory and decent bandwidth, for example. However, it does not have truly mature support for DX12 and does not offer an alternative to Nvidia’s DSLL or AMD’s FSR. When used in modern games, performance plummets due to rendering glitches and code translation bottlenecks. Not even for AI. At Lisuan Tech they have also tried to bet on their ability to run local and private AI models. However, most of the development of AI projects is linked to Nvidia’s CUDA architecture. It is true that the Chinese company has its own compatibility layer to translate PyTorch and CUDA code to its native architecture, but the loss of efficiency is notable, which makes inference or local model training tasks become too slow compared to those allowed by Nvidia graphics. difficult to compete. Lisuan Technology announced the first milestones of this launch a year ago. The rumors they indicated that its G100 graphics processor is manufactured by SMIC with a 6nm photolithographic process that complies with US restrictions. An attempt was made to launch in 2023, but Lisuan had financial problems and a capital injection of $27.7 million managed to keep the project going. It remains to be seen if sales ultimately follow through, although certainly its price/performance ratio makes it attractive only to audiences like the Chinese, who may have more difficulties accessing models like the Nvidia RTX. In Xataka | The end of Nvidia in China seems to be very near: its current market share is 0%

China is very clear that the future of education involves AI, so it is going to require its teachers to have knowledge

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China has one objective between its eyebrows: become the first world power. It is clearly an ambitious objective, but in the latest Five-Year Plan they detail the roadmap that must be followed to achieve that goal in the period 2026-2030. That of the five year plans is a very communist tradition which was not born in China, but in the Soviet Union, but which the Asian giant began to implement in 1953. It consists of setting guidelines to achieve certain objectives in all the main areas of the country. And one of those objectives is to be sovereign in artificial intelligence. This does not happen have models either chips to train those models: goes through an industrial renewal of all the legs of the system ranging from how it is designed, how it is applied, how it is powered and, above all, how AI is taught. And, to comply with it, China is clear that this is not just a matter for students: teachers must be on the hook. Teachers, learn AI to teach AI In April of this year, China’s Ministry of Education launchedwith the support of other government agencies, the “AI+ Education Action Plan” program. This is a national plan to integrate AI throughout the educational system with the aim of building “an AI literacy system for all levels of schooling and throughout life.” The Ministry exposes We are entering a new era in which teaching and learning must be reconfigured to ensure that all students acquire basic knowledge of AI. That is, it is clear that AI is important and that it is being used in classrooms around the world, but China is aiming for a profound update of the educational program. With this, they show that They consider AI a pillar of the future of education And, if students must obtain knowledge in AI and then be able to apply it in a world in which they will coexist with these systems, someone must transmit that knowledge to them. That will be the new job of the teaching staff. All primary and secondary school students in Beijing receive at least eight class hours of AI courses per academic year – Li Yi, director of the Beijing Education Commission This revision of the educational plan specifies that the program will incorporate AI exams into teacher qualification exams. In fact, this is not something that starts now. In 2025, the Ministry of Education published two guides about the use of AI and generative artificial intelligence to primary and secondary schools. That same year, the Administration organized specific training sessions in AI for directors of primary and secondary schools in which he emphasized the need to reinforce the digital and AI skills of teachers so that they can take advantage of their functions. In the end, everything is framed in that desire to have a world-class educational system by 2035 because this extends beyond primary and secondary school. That “AI literacy” order incorporate AI also in extracurricular services, as well as in vocational training and university, becoming in these cycles a general basic course with programs and degrees aligned with the industrial transformation driven by AI. “We teach children to use LLMs to solve problems and most importantly: think critically, question whether the AI’s answers are correct, and verify information from multiple sources” – Yao Xiaoying, principal of a primary school in Shenzhen And you may be wondering what teachers should apply to comply with this “AI literacy.” Here things are a bit fuzzy because speaks to promote the use of teaching systems throughout the educational process to automate tasks (such as tutoring, questions and answers and corrections), as well as analyze teaching practices so that their workload is reduced and they can spend more time training young people. For the adult population there is also a plan: carry out learning courses so that they adapt and are not left behind. Difficulties The truth is that there has been a debate about this situation for some time. Given the commotion caused by this, the Minister of Education came out lecture to prohibit students from using AI to complete their assignments. As we said before, AI should only be a supervised support tool. Because basically there is a question of class and resources, and there are already those who warn that AI can widen the social gap. While in large cities where parents may have more resources and educational level, families and the center can do a good job in training in AI so that children know how to use it and question the answers. However, in more rural areas where there may be less education, families have lower incomes, and parents must work longer hours, students run the risk of being “locked in” in some cubicles that have begun to bloom by several locations in which there is a tablet, it proposes tests and supervises the children’s responses, but does not teach or explain the subject. There are also those who point Almost as interesting as knowing the Government’s plans for teaching AI to both teachers and students is checking the speed at which all this goes from a political document to the reality of the classroom. In Xataka | China continues to draw up five-year plans in the old communist way. Objective: tech self-sufficiency

If the question is how to deflect projectiles without skyrocketing military costs, China has found the solution: crocodiles

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In recent years, the US military has even tested fibers inspired in spider silk for future bulletproof vests. The reason was simple: some natural materials achieve absorb impacts and deform better than many modern artificial compounds. The idea of ​​using animals. The search for more effective shielding has been inspired by natural solutions for decades. Since the Second World War, different armies have studied biological structures capable of absorbing impacts, distribute energy or resist attacks better than expected. China has just joined this tradition with a peculiar proposal: armor inspired by the crocodile scales. The logic behind the project is simple. Instead of relying solely on making armor thicker, heavier and more expensive, researchers are trying to modify the way projectiles hit the surface to force them to deflect, lose stability and fragment before passing through. How it works. The Ningbo University team replaced the traditional hexagonal plates used in many armors composed of small rhomboidal ceramic pieces placed at 45 degree angles. The arrangement imitates the irregular, overlapping structure of crocodile scales. During testing, the design was able to more effectively reduce the residual velocity of hardened steel projectiles and increase fragmentation of the ammunition upon impact. The objective is not only to withstand the shot, but to alter the physical behavior of the projectile at the moment of contact so that part of its energy is lost before reaching the main armor. The obsession with reducing costs. The most relevant thing about the project is not only the additional protection, but the attempt to make it cheaper. Chinese researchers they insist in that any structural improvement that allows the same materials to be used with better results can greatly reduce the manufacturing cost. There is no doubt, this obsession makes a lot of sense in modern warfare. Shielding vehicles, helicopters or troops against increasingly powerful ammunition requires enormous amounts of advanced materials and gigantic budgets. From that perspective, if a relatively simple geometric modification achieves better results without increasing weight or industrial complexity, the economic impact can be enormous on a large scale. Logic born of recent wars. If you like, the Chinese research also reflects a broader change that is already seen in Ukraine and other recent conflicts: it is increasingly important economic efficiency of weapons and defenses. For years, military innovation was dominated by extremely sophisticated and expensive systems. Now many countries are looking for solutions that are sufficiently effective, easy to manufacture and sustainable in long wars. In this sense, Russia already demonstrated how relatively simple glider bombs could cause enormous problems at low cost. Ukraine responded with cheap drones capable of destroying much more expensive equipment. The shielding crocodile inspired fits perfectly into this new logic: trying to unbalance the relationship between cost and effectiveness without having to resort to futuristic technologies that are impossible to mass produce. Future battlefields. For now, the Chinese system remains in the experimental phase and still needs much more demanding tests, including multiple impacts and firing from different angles. Still, researchers believe it could end up being used in armored vehicles, helicopters, ships and even light aerospace structures. What is interesting is that China does not present the project as a spectacular technological revolution, but rather as a pragmatic improvement based on simple principles. geometry and materials. An idea that pretty well sums up where part of current military innovation is heading: less obsession with creating impossible weapons and more interest in find smart ways and relatively cheap to survive in an environment where each projectile and each armor cost more and more money. Image | David Shackelford, PXHere, Unsplash In Xataka | China is manufacturing missiles at an unprecedented speed. And the final objective is not Taiwan, it is another island 3,000 km away In Xataka | China has made a science fiction dream come true: an electromagnetic cannon capable of reaching 3,000 shots per minute

While China boasts of its high-speed trains, there are others that go at 40 km/h and are just as important

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We have spoken on many occasions about the enormous China’s railway infrastructurewith a very extensive network of high speed trains who serve this colossal country. But in parallel to this technological showcase, China also operates another network of trains that travel at less than 40 km/h, cost less than the price of a coffee and have not raised their prices for decades. And no, they are not a vestige of the past that no one has bothered to dismantle. They are perfectly functional and provide a very important service in the country. What exactly are they? They are officially known as public welfare trains, although many of the population refer to them as “slow trains for the poor.” The Chinese government maintains 81 active routes of this type throughout the country, all of them inherited from the era of Mao (Mao Zedong, who ruled the People’s Republic of China from 49 until his death in 76) and preserved as a social service. According to collect Marketplace, are trains painted in military green with a yellow stripe (the classic image of the Chinese railway before modernization) that stop at each station along the way, including small remote villages that no other transportation connects with the outside. Its prices are so low that the train itself has a sign painted on the side that identifies it as a “slow train in the fight against poverty.” How cheap are they? To give an example, the minimum fare for the train that travels 376 kilometers between the provinces of Sichuan and Yunnan is 2 yuan, which is equivalent to about 25 euro cents. The maximum, for the complete journey of more than 11 hours, is 25.5 yuan (less than 3.50 euros). According to People’s Dailythat price has not changed for more than 30 years. What are they really for? The point is that these trains not only transport passengers, they are economic, health and educational infrastructure for communities that would otherwise be isolated. People’s Daily account how some carriages incorporate notice boards with crop prices to facilitate trade between farmers and urban buyers. In several trains, rows of seats have been removed so that farmers can board with their goods (vegetables, chickens, construction materials, etc.) without restrictions. Just like account According to the Xinhua agency, these types of trains are like a mobile artery that takes villagers to the market, transports livestock and allows children to go to school in the nearest towns. Tsocial ermometer. Axi Aga has been working on train 5633 since 1996. He started as a flight attendant when passengers boarded carrying potatoes, corn flour and turnips, and could barely afford instant noodles during the journey. In 2020 explained to the portal of the Chinese State Council (SCIO) that currently sees passengers boarding who are concerned about how they are dressed, wearing traditional costumes on holidays and recording videos for social networks. “The train is like a mobile town in which I have witnessed the changes it has brought to people over the last 25 years,” he told the outlet. According to Aga, girls used to barely appear among the students. Today they represent two thirds of the students who use the train. Beyond transportation. In recent decades, these routes have evolved into something more akin to a service platform. According to People’s Dailysome trains in the north of the country already have shelves of books, study tables with plugs and school supplies for children who do their homework during the journey, with conductors who help them during breaks. They also carry hot water bottles, thermal bags and portable chargers. In winter, the carriages are kept at 20 degrees to protect passengers from the freezing cold. Furthermore, over time they have incorporated air conditioning and progressive improvements without giving up their public service mission. Why the government keeps them at a loss. They are more of a social policy strategy than a commercial one. These routes lose money, since their fares do not cover operating costs and the State subsidizes them directly. The decision to maintain them is simply territorial cohesion, that is, ensuring that the most remote and poorest areas of the country are not disconnected from the rest of China. The Global Times points out that these routes have been in operation for more than 60 years and that the national railway considers them a structural measure to combat poverty, not a residual service. Cover image | Wikimedia Commons and People’s Daily In Xataka | 16,000 passengers per hour, 9.5 billion trips: China is showing the world what high speed is for

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