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This is how the city combats the scorching summer heat

June 13, 2026 by usatoday24

Every summer it gets hotter. That is a reality that The AEMET has confirmed for Spain and that also happens in France, as supported by Meteo France. The “micro” solution involves the proliferation of air conditioners in homes, businesses and offices, but that involves a considerable investment and another problem: climate change causes it to be hotter and the hotter it is, the more air conditioners are used. And the more they are used, the more heat they produce and climate change worsens. The fish that bites its tail. Already in 2018, air conditioning and fans represented almost 20% of the total electrical consumption of buildings in the world, according to IEA data. The International Energy Agency collect that global carbon dioxide emissions from air conditioning almost tripled between 1990 and 2022, exceeding one billion tons of carbon dioxide. In cities it is even worse: the urban heat island hits hard. Faced with this reality, Paris has been setting up for decades an answer in the form of infrastructure: a centralized air conditioning for the entire city. The great air conditioning of Paris. Instead of each home or each building solving the thermal problem on its own, the French capital is committed to turning it into an infrastructure such as the sewage network. The system is called Fraîcheur de Paris. The operation it’s simple: a network of buried pipes 120 kilometers long through which very cold water (between 2 and 4 °C) travels to the almost thousand connected buildings. There it absorbs its heat with an exchanger and is cooled again to the 15 production and storage plants. How does it get cold there? With the water of the Seine River as a thermal sink. Of course, the water from the river and the system never mix. This system allows the system to take advantage of the natural temperature of the river to cool without additional electrical consumption in cold seasons. To manage peak demand without installing more plants, the system stores cold at night, when electricity is cheaper and the environment is colder. At that time, the tanks accumulate the cold with ice and release it during the hottest hours of the day, which reduces costs and improves performance. The map of the Fraîcheur de Paris. Fraicheur of Paris Why is it important. Faced with a global problem of rising temperatures, addressing it communally is better than letting everyone go to war on their own in terms of efficiency and use strategy. The numbers back it up: the EU Covenant of Mayors details that the network achieves more than 100% energy efficiency, 35% less electricity, 90% less refrigerant emissions and 50% less CO₂ compared to equivalent autonomous installations. On the other hand, the operating system of standard air conditioning units (with a compressor outside) worsens the problem and adds it to a vicious circle: when there is a lot of urban heat, the air conditioners work longer hours, which increases carbon dioxide emissions and dumps more waste heat into the street, causing the ambient temperature to rise. By directing all that heat into the Seine instead of expelling it into the streets, the network interrupts that cycle. Context. The heat in Paris is not a distant problem: it is already here, as advanced by the official French meteorological agency, which estimates a warming of +2.7 °C in France by 2050, at which time heat waves, droughts and floods will be more frequent and intense. By then, infrastructure should be prepared to withstand them. A couple of examples: Zaragoza is preparing a work against floods and Valencia more of the same. Paris does the same in the face of heat. Thus, in October 2023 he organized “Paris at 50 °C” (Paris at 50 °C), an exercise in which two neighborhoods participated in a crisis simulation in the form of a heat wave. In this futuristic and probable scenario, the cold stops being a luxury typical of hotels and shopping centers and becomes something of a basic necessity. In detail. The system was born as an association of several merchants in the late 70s to air condition their premises, becoming the prelude to a planned municipal project. Back in 1991 there was public service concession to Climespace, a subsidiary of ENGIE, for 30 years. Since 2022 its management is carried out by a joint venture public – private formed by ENGIE and the Autonomous Administration of Parisian Transport. It has a 20-year exploitation contract that covers production, storage, transportation and distribution of cold for a projected value of 2.4 billion euros. This urban air conditioning system has a signed expansion plan: The current concession agreement has among its commitments to extend the network by an additional 158 kilometers, 20 new production plants. The idea is to cover all neighborhoods in Paris and reach more than 3,000 subscribers, including more small businesses, hospitals, daycares, nursing homes, such as explains Raphaëlle Nayralthe general secretary of the Fraicheur de Paris. Yes, but. The Fraicheur de Paris is designed for the French capital and works well there, based on operating numbers and growth expectations, but that does not imply that it is an exportable model for all cities. In fact, it needs three conditions that Paris does meet: a high population density that justifies the investment in buried pipes, a river with sufficient flow to function as a heat sink, and a local administration with the capacity to sign contracts of that size and duration. On the other hand, and despite its expansion, the network still covers only part of the city, so the benefit is only for a part of the population: if everything started in the 90s and a major expansion is expected for 2042, it is clear that it is not an easy project, nor a cheap one, nor one that can be done overnight. In Xataka | Paris has managed to calm its traffic. Now he needs a much more difficult thing: getting his birds back. In Xataka | AEMET … Read more

Welcome to the first floating city on the planet

June 9, 2026 by usatoday24

A few years ago, French Polynesia signed an agreement to study the creation of the first semi-autonomous floating city of the world. The project was never built, but it showed that the idea of living permanently in the ocean was no longer a simple science fiction fantasy. Now we are closer than ever. A floating city larger than many municipalities. Yes, the idea seems taken from a fantastic novel, but its promoters assure that it is still alive three decades after being conceived. He Freedom Ship has been presented as a gigantic floating city almost 1.6 kilometers long, about 240 meters wide and 30 decks high, designed to house about 80,000 people between permanent residents, visitors and crew. With an estimated cost of 12 billion poundswould be several times larger than the largest current cruise ships and would have the capacity to accommodate a population similar to that of a medium-sized city, becoming one of the most ambitious mobile structures ever imagined. Live in the sea without needing to touch land. The concept breaks with the traditional logic of cruises because it is not designed to take trips, but to become a place to live permanently. Some 50,000 residents could make their home there as the city slowly sails around the world, completing a circumnavigation of the planet approximately every two and a half years. Due to its size, the ship would not be able to dock in conventional ports, so it would remain in international waters and use ferries and auxiliary vessels to connect with the mainland. The inhabitants would have access to differentiated neighborhoodsinternal transportation systems through trams, kilometers of pedestrian walkways and large green areas distributed throughout the structure. A city on a single roof. There is much more, as the designers intend for its inhabitants to find practically everything they need without leaving the ship. He project includes homes, hotels, schools from primary education to higher education, hospitals, banks, offices, convention centers, museums, concert halls, sports facilities and a huge commercial offer. It is also they contemplate a stadium with capacity for 15,000 spectators, a water park, large restaurant spaces, aquariums for recreational activities, discos and multiple leisure areas. The intention is to reproduce the operation of a conventional city by transferring all its essential services to a floating platform capable of operating autonomously for years. Thirty years chasing the same dream. The history of the Freedom Ship It began in the nineties with the American engineer Norman Nixon. Although the project was presented publicly on several occasions, it never obtained the necessary financing to start. After years of inactivity, the initiative has regained momentum under the direction by Freedom Cruise Line Internationalwhose officials assure that there is enough interest to even justify the construction of several units. The current priority remains raising the enormous initial capital needed to begin work, a challenge that remains the main obstacle to transforming the spectacular illustrations into a tangible reality. Giant construction on the high seas. If funding is secured, the plan is to make the hull in sections in Indonesia and later assembled at sea. Those responsible believe that construction could be completed in three or four yearsalthough they maintain that the first residents could begin to settle before the work was completely finished. Unlike conventional cruise ships, maintenance would be performed continuously while the structure remains operational in the water. The economic model is also intended to resemble the of a traditional cityrenting or selling commercial spaces to companies and entrepreneurs instead of centralizing all businesses under a single management. Nuclear energy and ecological ambitions. One of the most striking aspects of the project is the possibility of using nuclear energy to boost the gigantic platform. Its promoters argue that this solution would drastically reduce emissions associated with maritime transport and keep a floating city of similar size in operation. Furthermore, they affirm that the vessel could participate in ocean cleanup initiatives during their journeys and become a laboratory for new forms of sustainable coexistence at sea. They also highlight that, by staying away from ports, it would avoid part of the tourist saturation problems that some current cruises generate in highly visited destinations. Between utopia and reality. The magnitude of the project explains why many observers continue to view it with skepticism. No floating city of such dimensions has ever been built and the investment required far exceeds that of the largest existing cruise ships. However, its promoters insist that the combination of permanent housing, commercial activity, tourism and specialized services could make the model viable. Meanwhile, the Freedom Ship continues to occupy a unique place among the great technological utopias contemporary: a vision of mobile cities navigating the planet that has been trying to abandon paper for thirty years to become a reality. Image | Harbor Rear In Xataka | If the question is what is the largest sailing superyacht in the world, the answer has a lot of history: the Orient Express In Xataka | We believed that cruises had already taken everything to the limit: with the ‘Hero of the Seas’, Royal Caribbean believes that they have not

how to use it to know what it will look like in your city or Autonomous Community

June 8, 2026 by usatoday24

We are going to tell you how to look on a map what the eclipse will look like in your town or city. Of the total solar eclipses visible in Spain In the next three years, this summer will be one of the most spectacular, especially since the last one we saw like this was in 1912. Let’s start by telling you In which autonomous communities can you see the total eclipse? of sun that will take place on August 12, 2026. Then, we will tell you how to know how and at what time it will be seen in your locationand we’ll finish with a list of the best cities to see it. Where will the total solar eclipse be seen? These are the autonomous communities in which the solar eclipse on August 12 can be seen: Aragon Asturias Balearics Cantabria Castile-La Mancha Castile and León Catalonia Community of Madrid Valencian Community Galicia Rioja Navarre The Basque Country. Here, remember that There are other factors that will influence visibility of this astronomical event. For example, there will be the weather, since if the sky is cloudy the effect will be reduced. And then there is the fact that if you are surrounded by mountains, it is possible that in some places it will not be seen well because one of them covers it. How to know what it will look like in your neighborhood or city In order to know how and how much the eclipse will be seen in your neighborhood or city, you have to go to the official website of the National Geographic Institute created for this eclipse. You have to enter visualizers.ign.es/eclipses/2026and at the top write your zip code or location name in the box that appears. You can also search for the site by putting a pin on the map. When you do, you will go to a page where On the left you have an informative column. In it you will be told things such as whether the total eclipse is going to arrive or it will only be partial, as well as the start times of the partial eclipse and the total or annular eclipse wherever you have chosen. On this website, what you have to do is move the temporary bar that appears belowwhere it says Evolution of the eclipse. So, when the sky is going to be completely covered the map will turn blackand you will be able to see from the beginning of the total eclipse to how long it will last. This tool can be very useful, because it will allow you to organize yourself to see the eclipse correctly. If you are going to travel somewhere or if it will be in your city, you will be able to know the exact times, as well as the differences between where you are and nearby areas. On the Trio of Eclipses of Spain websitewhose address is trioeclipses.es, you will also be able to see the date, the key communities and the trajectory of this eclipse. And by clicking on each of the communities you will obtain additional information about the event. Cities where you will see it better According to media such as New York Timesthese are the best cities to see the eclipse in all its splendor: Vinuesa (Soria), La Pinilla (Segovia) and the cities of Zaragoza, León, Palencia, Burgos and Palma de Mallorca. And if you don’t like it or you can’t go see it, remember that in 2027 there is also another eclipse, although it will be better seen in the southernmost areas of Spain, and that In 2028 there will also be another great solar eclipse which can also be seen from many autonomous communities. In Xataka Basics | Solar eclipses visible in Spain: these are the three astronomical events of 2026, 2027 and 2028

Every time a megaship arrives at a port, the electrical grid collapses. The alternative already exists and does not need cables to the city

June 2, 2026 by usatoday24

Ports around the world face an urgent and unavoidable mandate: decarbonize. The requirement is to turn off the huge diesel engines of commercial and cruise ships once they dock, connecting them to the local electrical grid. However, in practice, port cities have hit a concrete wall: there is not enough capacity in the land network to plug in these giants of the sea. Faced with this bottleneck, the engineering response has been to take the problem off the ground. A consortium backed by the United Kingdom and led by the firm ELIRE Maritime has been successfully validated what they define as “the world’s first floating, grid-independent hydrogen energy center.” The end of endless port works? To understand the impact of this development, you have to look at the current logistical ordeal. As emphasized Enlitinstall traditional shore power supply systems (known in the industry as shore power) is a real nightmare. The process can take between three and seven years, as it requires massive reinforcements of the network, improvements in substations, complex civil works and permitting deadlines that paralyze any progress. All this consuming land space that most ports lack. By placing the energy infrastructure directly in the water, this obstacle is overcome in one fell swoop. Furthermore, since ELIRE Maritime highlight a crucial financial advantage– The system avoids the risk of creating “stranded assets”. Unlike a concrete substation that cannot be moved if shipping routes change, this floating mega plant can be relocated as market demand dictates, giving port authorities complete independence from the network. Technological radiography. Far from being a mere concept on paper, the technology has just passed a rigorous six-month validation program. The physical design, echoed by all the media, consists of three interconnected hexagonal floating platforms that occupy about 1,200 square meters. But how does it supply power without collapsing? The system does not use huge generators to inject shock energy into the ship, but rather works on the premise of a “giant floating battery.” Through continuously operating 1.3 MW modular fuel cells (supported by up to 146 kW of onboard solar panels), the system slowly charges a massive 45 MWh battery bank throughout the week. When a ship docks, this battery releases energy quickly, delivering 5 MW of clean, continuous power without flinching. To fuel this process, the system consumes between 7,500 and 8,000 kilos of hydrogen per week. It has seven tanks on board integrated into low-pressure containers, which require refueling a couple of times a week. This allows ports to gradually adopt hydrogen without having to undertake extensive work to build pipelines or permanent storage facilities on land. The real impact. To ensure its real-world viability, the platform has undergone stability and wave testing in tanks at the University of Strathclyde, while industry giants such as Schneider Electric and Ricardo UK have successfully validated its entire complex electrical architecture. The environmental lights: According to the feasibility analyzes of the Ricardo consulting firm, the system can reduce emissions from docked ships by 77% compared to traditional diesel generation. In tangible figures, this represents a saving of about 47 tons of CO₂ per ship each week (almost 2,450 tons annually), in addition to completely eradicating emissions of toxic particles, nitrogen oxides (NOx) and sulfur (SOx) that poison the air in coastal cities. The shadow of cost: Today, this solution is more expensive than plugging into the conventional network. The estimated energy cost of this hydrogen hub is between £0.25 and £0.50 per kWh, compared to £0.15 – £0.25 for the traditional ground system. However, the consortium argues that this initial extra cost is offset by the astonishing speed of deployment and they anticipate that standardization and the future drop in the price of hydrogen will equalize the trade balance. The potential is immense. The consortium estimates a global market of 62 TWh annually for grid-independent maritime solutions, with the potential to avoid the emission of 500,000 tons of CO₂ in the next decade. Next stops. As detailed ELIRE Maritimethe consortium is already in commercial talks to start the first real deployments in first-tier ports such as London, Singapore, Hamburg, Brisbane and Riga. The future of maritime decarbonization seems to have found a shortcut. It is not about inventing exotic technologies from scratch, but about integrating what we already know works (hydrogen, batteries and electrical power systems) in a much smarter way. If the mainland does not have enough electricity to power the giants of the oceans, the solution, ironically, has always been to go back into the sea. Image | ELIRE Maritime Xataka | The great challenge of drones was to transport loads for kilometers. A Chinese company has solved it with hydrogen

In 1972 Italy wanted to put an entire city in a one kilometer building. Half a century later he is still paying the consequences

May 31, 2026 by usatoday24

The same year that construction of the Corviale complex began, US authorities began demolition by Pruitt–Igoea gigantic public housing complex that had been presented just two decades earlier as the future of the modern city. The coincidence was almost symbolic: while one country demolished one of its great urban utopias, another began to build a new one. A city within a building. During the 1970s, Italy believed it could solve several urban problems at once. Rome was growing rapidly, peripheral neighborhoods were multiplying and public housing was facing increasing demand. The answer It was the Corvialea gigantic residential structure almost a kilometer long designed to house around 8,500 people. Its architect, Mario Fiorentino, did not simply imagine a block of flats, but a authentic linear city where streets would be corridors, squares would emerge from common spaces and daily services would coexist with homes. That vision was intended to demonstrate that architecture could reorganize urban life from its foundations. A utopia that was never completed. The problem appeared before the project was even finished being built. The company in charge of the works went bankrupt in 1982 and many of the essential elements of the original design never came to fruition. The famous middle floor used for shops, offices, services and community spaces was left empty and ended up being occupied by families looking for a place to live. What was to become the social heart of the complex ended up becoming a housing labyrinth improvised. Many of the planned facilities were also never built, leaving the infrastructure that was to turn the building into a self-sufficient city incomplete. When architecture conditions everyday life. Over the years, Corviale began to demonstrate that buildings are not simple containers where people live. Its long corridors, its few entrances, the complex interior circulation and the enormous scale of the complex began to influence the way in which the residents they were related to each other. The elevators are They broke down constantlyforcing thousands of people to travel long distances to enter or leave their homes. The centralized heating system caused conflicts between residentsirregular occupants and administrations on who should bear the costs. Some researchers even described the building as a small town whose governance problems were directly linked to its physical characteristics. From the symbol of the future to the symbol of failure. As the deterioration progressed, Corviale began to accumulate a reputation increasingly negative. For many he became the perfect example of the excesses of urbanism postwar monumental. Its critics described it as a concrete monster, a residential prison or an example of how certain urban planning ideologies had ignored people’s real needs. Illegal occupations, maintenance problems, the presence of criminal activities and institutional abandonment reinforced this perception. for years proposals arose to tear it down completely and replace it with smaller-scale traditional neighborhoods, connected by streets, squares and buildings closer to human dimensions. Giuditto Miele at the groundbreaking ceremony for the Corviale complex The battle to decide your destiny. However, Corviale was never demolished. Unlike many other large post-war European housing estates, managed to survive to demolition attempts. Part of the explanation lies in its increasing symbolic value. What for some was an urban failure, for others represented an unrepeatable piece of Italian architectural history. The building ended up getting heritage protection and became part of the national debate about what to do with the great utopias of the 20th century. The discussion stopped focusing solely on whether the project had worked or not and became a more complex question: how to transform such a gigantic structure without destroying it. Half a century of reforms to correct an idea. The last decades have been marked by an almost constant succession of regeneration projects. International competitions, neighborhood associations, architects and public administrations have tried adapt the complex to current needs. Some interventions have regularized occupied spaces, others have rehabilitated common areas and several seek to recover the pedestrian scale through new public spaces and green areas. No other residential complex in Rome has received public investment so intense and prolonged. The paradox in this case is more than evident: the building that was born to simplify urban life has become one of the most complex regeneration operations in the city. Consequences of a big bet. The story del Corviale It continues to fascinate because it transcends architecture. It is the story of a time that believed that social problems could be solved through great physical solutions and a city that continues to deal with the consequences of that bet. The building, by the way, still standinginhabited by thousands of people and subjected to continuous transformations. For some it demonstrates the limits of grand urban visions, for others, the ability of a community to adapt to an unfinished project. The truth is that half a century later, Rome continues to dedicate resources, time and energy to managing a structure designed to function as a complete city. And perhaps that is the clearest proof that Corviale never stopped being exactly that: a city enclosed within a building. Image | Wikimedia, Umberto RotundoAlessandro Pace In Xataka | In 1970 Japan built homes of the future where each capsule would be replaceable. Half a century later he discovered that no one knew how to repair them In Xataka | The incredible story of the tallest building on the planet that ended up becoming the largest swimming pool in the Soviet Union

If you thought the blue zone in your city was expensive, wait until you see what it costs to moor a yacht at the Formula 1 GP in Monaco

May 29, 2026 by usatoday24

The Monaco Grand Prix is, by far, the most glamorous career of the Formula 1 World Championship. Not so much because of the fact that each of its curves keeps a memory of the most successful drivers, but because of the enormous showcase of luxury and opulence when celebrating with one of the most exclusive ports in the world. Not everyone can access the most exclusive spaces at the Monaco GP. Beyond the VIP stands, the real epicenter of luxury It is on the yachts moored in front of the circuit. The mooring of a superyacht during that weekend costs a real fortune, only affordable for the richest in the world. In fact, not even the world’s great fortunes, such as Jeff Bezos, They have a guaranteed position among the privileged few who can afford to watch the race of Formula 1 from the deck of your superyacht. Three million for a front row seat During the week of the Grand Prix, Port Hercule stops being a normal port and becomes a meeting point for the greatest fortunes on the planet and their yachts. Whether you like Formula 1 or not is secondary. The week before the Grand Prix, the parade of enormous superyachts begins, such as the Symphony by Bernard Arnault, founder of LVMH, who take positions highlighted in the Monegasque port. The specialized medium Yacht Harbor estimated that the 2017 test brought together yachts valued at more than 2,000 million euros in Port Hercule. Kismet superyacht, 122 meters long However, not having your own yacht is no excuse for not enjoying a front row seat at sea to enjoy the only Championship race that can be seen from the deck of a luxurious superyacht. Yacht rentals during the race test week skyrocket. The portal of boat rental luxury Cecil Wright offers those types of services and allows you to rent the Kismeta true floating mansion for the modest price of three million euros for one week. While on the streets of Monte Carlo the single-seater engines make the most of their performance, inside the Kismet Up to 12 guests can be accommodated in eight suites. The yacht is equipped with every detail so that guests only have to relax in its Balinese-inspired spa, which includes a hammam, sauna and cryotherapy chamber, waterfall shower and chromotherapy bathtub, gym and yoga studio. One of the covers of Kismet In addition, it allows you to experience all the excitement of the race from any of the jacuzzis on its luxurious decks, and all of this is attended by a crew of 36 people. “Parking” at a Monaco GP Once you have rented the right superyacht to blend in with billionaires and royalty, all that remains is to find a mooring for the yacht. Kismet. Port Hercule is the only port with adequate depth for mooring superyachts of that category. This port offers about 700 berths, but the most sought-after place is the so-called Trackside Zone, where the boats are located next to Quai des États-Unis, Quai Jarlan and the first two positions of Quai U. That is, in the mooring line closest to the circuitwhere the single-seaters pass just a few meters from these yachts. According to the table of Port of Monaco ratesthe price of the mooring is calculated based on how close it is to the runway and the length of the superyacht. Docking a yacht in the port of Monaco during the race ranges from 5,668 euros for a yacht of less than 19 meters in the Port of Fontvieille area, the furthest and without vision of the track, to tripling its price as we get closer to the track, with a mooring price of 16,087 euros for the same 19-meter yacht. Mooring Zone 1 is at the end of the tunnel straight, just when the cars must brake. Passing mooring zone 2, from which you can see the chicane of the Pool areato the Trackside Zone (zone 1) implies a price increase of 25.7%. During the Monaco Grand Prix, mooring a superyacht like the Kismet122 meters long, in the Trackside Zone (zone 1) It can cost around 160,000 euros only for docking during Grand Prix week. Its high price is justified because its proximity turns the Trackside Zone into a kind of floating stand. The yachts are in front of one of the most recognizable parts of the track, right where the cars leave the tunnel and launch towards the Nouvelle Chicane area, one of the classic images of the Monaco Grand Prix. It is a point where the drivers must reduce their speed to follow the curve and face the Pool section, so the millionaires see them pass at a slower speed and the single-seaters can be seen in more detail. Without a doubt, the most millionaire form of watch a formula 1 race. In Xataka | Madrid has been fighting for its F1 Grand Prix for years. Ozempic’s rich heirs also want a Grand Prix in their town Image | Flickr (CaterhamF1)

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

May 27, 2026 by usatoday24

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

In the 16th century, Spain wanted to control the Strait of Magellan by founding a city. It became a cursed settlement

May 24, 2026 by usatoday24

A coin is a coin. And a compass, a compass. What seems so obvious changes when we talk about the old (and ephemeral) city of King Don Felipea Spanish settlement founded more than four centuries ago by Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa on the northern shore of the Strait of Magellan. Its objective was to become a fortress that would reinforce the control of the Spanish Crown in a strategic maritime passage, but the mission became so complicated that the town ended up becoming a death trap for its settlers. Things went so badly that with the passage of time the citadel ended up being renamed ‘Port of Hunger’a name much more in line with what happened there in the 17th century, and its memory it faded in the mists of history. We had to wait until well into the 20th century so that the secrets of King Don Felipe would emerge from oblivion… and the earth. Now the archaeologists have found among its ruins a small piece of silver that in March 1584 Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa himself deposited there during the founding ceremony of the town. In its day it was a simple currency (a real of eight) that was used for ritual purposes. In 2026 it has become something more: a compassa guide that will help researchers better understand the structure and location of the city of Rey Don Felipe, the cursed citadel in the Strait of Magellan that should never have existed. At the ends of the world Today the world lives pending what happens in the Strait of Hormuz. Almost five centuries ago the eyes of the Spanish Crown were directed towards another maritime strait with important strategic value: that of Magellana navigable strip located south of what is now Chile and that stands out as the natural connection between the Pacific and the Atlantic. Since Ferdinand Magellan crossed it for the first time, in the autumn 1520the pass became an object of desire for the Spanish Empire, especially after other expeditions managed to cross it successfully and the English entered the race for its control through late 1570s from the hand of the corsair Francis Drake. To guarantee Spain’s geopolitical plans and its exclusive control of the transoceanic passage, the authorities had an idea: found permanent settlements in the area. The mission fell to Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboaa hardworking sailor who, among other missions, had participated in a (frustrated) mission of the Viceroyalty of Peru to hunt down Drake. Sarmiento first undertook an expedition with two ships in the autumn of 1579 to reconnoiter the coastline of the strait and explore its coasts and, once back in Spain, in 1580 he played a decisive role in getting the Council of the Indies to decide to build citadels and fortifications in the transoceanic passage to America. The expedition left Sanlúcar at the end of September 1581 with a fleet of 23 boats and around 3,000 men, including sailors and future settlers. Despite his enormous ambition, the adventure started badly. And not only because of the differences between Sarmiento and Diego Flores de Valdeswho had been appointed captain general of the Strait Navy. Before even leaving Cádiz, a storm sank half a dozen ships and killed 800 men. What followed next was a journey marked by disagreements between Sarmiento and Valdés, illnesses, the inclemency of the ocean and storms that caused the expedition to lose ships, crew and supplies. After various incidents and vicissitudes, Sarmiento and his men arrived at the strait at the beginning of 1584 and founded a city that they named ‘Purification of Our Lady’. It didn’t work. The location and climate did not help, so Sarmiento looked for a new enclave, near Cape Vírgenes, and founded a settlement which he called ‘Name of Jesus’. Determined to continue with the mission, the sailor chose part of the 340 people he kept and looked for a third location to create another citadel. On this occasion he baptized it with a nod to the Habsburg court (King Don Felipe) and celebrated the founding ceremony in March 1584. We know that Sarmiento himself participated in the ritual. On March 25, he laid the first stone of the citadel church and, with it, in the foundations, buried a real of eight silver. As they explain from the Bernardo O’Higgins University of Santiago, it was “a symbolic gesture that marked the birth of the city.” If the ritual was intended to promote the settlement’s fortunes, it only half worked. It has served archaeologists of the 21st century, who have just found the coin “in place and position” described by Sarmiento in his writings and now, thanks to that clue, they will have an easier time interpreting a map of the 16th century in which the buildings of the town are represented. The one who certainly had no use for the currency was the colonists who settled in Rey Don Felipe city. Theirs was a tragic story from the beginning. a cursed city Ciudad Rey Don Felipe may have enjoyed a privileged location from a geopolitical and strategic point of view, but the truth is that it soon became hell for its settlers. And not only because the crew of the ill-fated (and diminished) Armada del Estrecho arrived in Magallanes at the limit of their strength. In ‘Port of Hunger. Beyond the legend’a work signed by the historian Soledad González and the archaeologist Simón Urbina, a key piece of information is provided: “On board the ships or on land they saw people die or desert. nine out of ten colleaguesfriends or family. As if that were not enough, after founding the Nombre de Jesús settlement, the crew divided into groups to expand towards the Santa Ana peninsula, precisely to establish Rey Don Felipe. Once there, and despite the fact that Sarmiento de Gamboa was quick to lay the foundations of the new citadel (both in a metaphorical and literal sense), things did not improve. The scene looked so bad … Read more

There is a medieval city in Germany built in a meteorite crater. Its walls hide 72,000 tons of diamonds

May 24, 2026 by usatoday24

If you’ve seen Shingeki no Kyojin (if you haven’t, I’m envious), the comparison with Shiganshina is inevitable: the image on the left of the montage on the cover corresponds to the Nördlingen market square and the one on the right is the city seen from above, completely fortified with a wall that surrounds it. However and although it is fan pilgrimage destination of the series, there is officially no relationship between the two. At first glance, the architecture of Nördlingen makes it just another fairytale Bavarian village, but this German city in the Donau-Ries district (in Swabia) is anything but just another one. In 1215, Emperor Frederick II promoted it to an imperial city of the Holy Roman Empire and a century later they began to build the wall. The municipality is integrated within the crater that left a meteorite when it fell. However, we know this now: until the 1960s, geologists themselves thought that the depression was an inactive volcano. Nördlingen is in a crater. He Nördlinger Ries It is a depression 24 kilometers wide and up to 150 meters caused by the impact of a meteorite approximately one kilometer in diameter in the Miocene, which pierced a primary crater of 11 kilometers. As deepens the International Union of Geological Sciencesthat hole grew due to the uplift of the crater floor and marginal collapse, until it reached what it is now. The Ries asteroid impacted with a speed of at least 70,000 km/h, causing an explosion of heat and energy that lasted approximately 10 minutes: the shock wave traveled through the area, setting everything on fire up to 100 kilometers away, which ended life in that radius. Afterwards, a lake was formed where diverse flora and fauna settled. The findings in the nearby Ofnet caves They confirm that the site of today’s Nördlingen was already inhabited in the late Paleolithic. The wall outlines the diameter of the meteorite. When in 1327 Louis the Bavarian ordered build the wall of Nördlingen, no one knew that he was tracing the exact outline of the meteorite that had hit there 15 million years earlier, as notes NASA. The medieval historic center fits almost perfectly within the kilometer diameter of the primary crater: a geological coincidence that would not be discovered until the 20th century. With a perimeter of 2.7 kilometers, it is one of the three medieval walls of Germany preserved almost intact and the only one that can be visited in its entirety: five gates, twelve towers and two bastions make up this circuit that, seen from the top of the Daniel tower, reveals its perfectly circular shape: the underlying trace of the Miocene catastrophe. And a small detail: it is made with stones that house small diamonds. The wall of Nördlingen. Wolkenkratzer, via Wikimedia Walls made of diamonds. Cities usually have their stone quarry, but Nördlingen had diamonds: the meteorite impact generated an estimated 72,000 tons of them when it hit a local graphite deposit, so its stone buildings contain millions of small diamonds. The stone is not just any one either: it is the sueviteextremely rare and marbled with small greenish crystals. It is found in other locations on the planet where there were similar impacts, but the concentration of gems in Nördlingen is unique. Those who built those buildings did not know that they were working with diamonds: they discovered it after the visit of Eugene Shoemaker and Edward Chaothe two American geologists who in 1960 demonstrated the origin by impact by finding shock quartz in the walls of St. George’s Church. St. George’s Church. Tkx via Wikimedia The “luxurious” church of St. George. Normally jewelry in churches is reserved for the altarpieces, but in San Jorge they are also on the walls. In fact, it was the construction that revealed the use of suevite extracted from the Ries basin. St. George’s is one of the largest late Gothic hall churches in southern Germany and was built between 1427 and 1505, when Nördlingen was Imperial. The church tower is known as “Daniel” and is 90 meters high: after climbing 350 steps you can reach the viewpoint (70 meters away), where you can observe the perfectly circular shape of the city and the crater that surrounds it. The tower also preserves one of the most unusual traditions of modern Europe: a night watchman who has been shouting before midnight since the Middle Ages to warn that everything is fine. Nördlingen, space training ground. Since impact craters also occur on the Moon and Mars, Nördlinger Ries has been used for decades as a training ground to teach astronauts to recognize the rocks and minerals created by impacts. the astronauts from Apollo 14 and NASA’s Apollo 17 studied the geology of the crater in 1970. But It is not something exclusive of the North American space agency: it is one of the three destinations of the program PANGAEA of the European Space Agency, along with the Italian Dolomites and Lanzarote. JAXA has also carried out training there. In Xataka | That Christian Friedrich von Kahlbut died in 1702 is nothing exceptional. That his corpse has not decomposed, yes In Xataka | A treasure hunter looted a shipwreck, did not reveal where he had kept the treasure and spent 10 years in prison. Now you are free to get it back Cover | Tilman2007 and Bayerische Vermessungsverwaltung

release (many) ladybugs around the city

May 16, 2026 by usatoday24

Every spring, urban parks across half of Europe deal with the same problem: pests. The most common and traditional response continues to be chemical pesticides: they are effective and cheap to keep insects such as aphids at bay, but they have a well-documented ecological cost on other auxiliary fauna and the soil. However, some European cities have been exploring an even older alternative for years: returning the natural predators that always kept them at bay to the ecosystem. Logroño has just taken that step: This spring it will release ladybugs and other insects in several of its green spaces. Ladybugs and Anthocoris as a natural pesticide. The City Council of Logroño, through the UTE Espacios Verdes Logroño, is carrying out these days biological control actions in parks and gardens in the maple trees and rose bushes on Paseo del Espolón, in the lime trees in Plaza Primero de Mayo, Parque Gallarza and Parque del Carmen and in the Cercis specimens on San Antón Street. As? Introducing their natural predators. Ladybugs are the friendly and well-known face of this operation, but beneath that mottled red mantle hides a voracious predator capable of devouring several hundred aphids during its lifetime. He Anthocoris nemoralis (a predatory bug) is much less known to the general public, but equally essential on a biological level: it is a predatory bug that attacks psyllids, mites and other phytophages that especially affect urban trees. Why is it important. Because it is a natural measure to decimate pests without the need for conventional phytosanitary treatments that also favors biodiversity in the urban environment. Conventional pesticides eliminate the target species, but they also kill pollinators such as bees and butterflies, contaminating the soil and aquifers. In the long term, they end up having a kind of rebound effect in the form of resistance, which forces the use of increasingly higher doses or more aggressive compounds. Hence Europe has been warning for some time about its use and the need to look for alternatives. On the other hand, this measure also has its relevance in public health: these urban green spaces are places of daily traffic where applying phytosanitary products in those environments implies human exposure that biological control completely eliminates. The WHO has documented the effects of chronic exposure to organophosphate and pyrethroid pesticides on health, especially in children. Context. It’s no secret that we are running out of insects: this specific study in Germany shows a disappearance of 75% of flying insects in 27 years (the study is from 2017), a trend that is expanding throughout Europe. The reasons are several: pesticides, loss of habitat, pollution and climate change are just a few. Cities play a role in that they bring together many species of insects in a small space. What is a biodiversity sink can become a refuge: cities like Barcelona, Huesca, Zaragoza, Pamplona, Madrid and Logroño itself They have been implementing for years comprehensive pest management strategies that include biological control as a central element. Vitoria-Gasteiz deserves special mention: one of the green capitals in Europe carries out environmental policies sustainable management of urban green areas. How it works. The biological balance is simple: predator – prey. In an ecosystem in its unaltered state, aphids would be naturally regulated by their predators and would only be triggered when the balance is broken, something that in fact happens in cities, where the diversity of auxiliary fauna is low. The solution is not to eliminate the pest with a chemical product, but restore lost predatory pressure. What makes this approach so valuable is that it is a selective measure: an insecticide destroys what is in front of it, while ladybugs and Anthocoris nemoralis concentrate their activity on prey that is part of their natural diet, leaving intact populations of bees or butterflies that visit the same flora. Yes, but. The initiative from Logroño has an important blind spot: the origin of the released insects. We do not know if these ladybugs and Anthocoris nemoralis come from local populations or from foreign commercial breeding. Introducing non-native specimens can alter the genetics of wild populations in the region and even end up displacing native ones. On the other hand, we do not know the number of insects released and whether there will be subsequent monitoring: to know if the biological control has worked it is necessary to measure the density of the pest before and after, record the survival and dispersal of the released individuals and compare with control areas where there has been no release of insects. In Xataka | The European Union believes it has a solution for the decline of wine in Spain: plucking the “green” grapes in La Rioja In Xataka | The terraces of hoteliers have been taking over city streets for years. Logroño has a plan for them Cover | Afaaq Afzal and Tom Winkler

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