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close its beaches due to the thermal blowout

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heat waves are changing the behavior of tourists in Spainbut we cannot forget the people who live 365 days a year in tourist cities. Those who travel there can avoid doing so during the hottest times, but when it comes to your place of residence it is not so easy. Beach baths can be quick solutions to beat the heat. However, when this is too extreme, anything out of the water can be very dangerous. For this reason, the Alicante city council will close the beaches today starting at 5 p.m. due to the red alert declared in this third heat wave of the summer. No beaches, no parks. This decision affects both to the beaches, as well as to the parks and gardens. And, in reality, it is not only due to the heat wave. In fact, if that were the only reason, perhaps the beach closure would have been set in the middle of the day, when temperatures are higher. It was done at 5 p.m., because from that time on it is expected that there will be thermal bursts, which would cause very strong gusts of wind, as well as sudden increases in temperature. Revenge what? A thermal blowout is a phenomenon that silk due to the formation of precipitation that never reaches the ground, since on the descent it encounters a layer of very warm and dry air, which evaporates it. The evaporation process requires energy, which is extracted from the surrounding air, cooling it suddenly. The cold air tends to fall downwards, so a downdraft is formed, which will increasingly have a larger column of air above it. The weight of this compresses said current, so that it heats up suddenly, giving rise to increases of about 5ºC in a very few minutes. Sometimes they can even rise 15ºC. On the other hand, when this current of hot air falls suddenly above the earth’s surface, it can no longer continue to descend, so it expands violently in all directions, like the stream of water from a tap that we suddenly turn on. The result is very intense winds, practically hurricane-force. It should be noted that layers of very hot and dry air that give rise to blowouts are more frequent during a heat wavewhich is why these phenomena are becoming more and more frequent. Also terraces and nightstands. In Spain, the decision has already been made to prohibit the opening of terraces in bars during the hottest hours of the day during heat waves. For this reason, in Alicante, terraces and nightstands cannot be opened between 5 and 9 p.m. The Santa Bárbara castle will also be closed and attention will be paid to umbrellas, flower pots and any other object that could cause urban accidents due to the wind. Be careful with the trees. Finally, the City Council has warned residents to avoid walking through wooded areas, to avoid possible accidents if a tree falls due to the wind. Images | Zarateman In Xataka | Sea temperature continues to rise and experts are clear: “It is partly favored by the start of a new El Niño phenomenon”

An entire factory will close after 57 years of activity

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After thousands of complaints, Stellantis assumed in January 2025 that something had gone wrong with its PureTech motors. Seeking maximum cost savings, the company had fallen into faulty production that could cause premature engine failure. Although the monetary cost has been high, the worst thing for the company has been the reputational cost. So much so that the company has stopped marketing this engine and the replacement forgets the word PureTech. With the productive tap closed and without a new award, the controversial engine has also taken another step forward. A factory that was part of the French automotive industry. The PureTech. For months, Stellantis customers have been demanding that the company take care of the breakdowns of their PureTech engines in 2024. The company had no choice but to accept the mistake and in January 2025 it confirmed that the warranty on these engines was extended and they would pay for the repairs of all engines that had failed between 2022 and 2024. The problem is that in the search for extreme cost savingsthe engine design could cause the oil-soaked belt to become contaminated with fuel residue to the point of premature wear that would cause it to break unexpectedly. If the timing belt breaks, engine damage can be fatal. A problem. The problem for Stellantis is that the damage caused by PureTech motors goes far beyond economic damage. The company has been setting aside tens of millions of euros to face compensation for customer breakages but the worst has been the reputational impact. To put up a dam, Stellantis has presented the Turbo 100the replacement for the failed propellants. It has done so after the revised versions of the previous engine were also called to go through the workshop for new problems last year. The solution has finally been to nip the issue in the bud. And goodbye to your factory. With the end of the production of these engines, other news has also come: Stellantis will close the Douvrin plant in France, explain our French colleagues from L’Automobile. The decision is a direct consequence of the poor results of the engines and the change in the company’s strategy. And the 1.2 Puretech engines were not being sold in Europe but they were being sold in other markets. The company, however, will completely cease production before the end of the year. Once they also stopped manufacturing the 1.5 BlueHDI diesel last year, the plant was already mortally wounded. Goodbye to decades of history. The closure of the Douvrin plant is sensitive because it is a factory with 57 years behind it. It had been in operation since 1969 and its construction was born from investments by Peugeot and Renault. However, in 2013 it was acquired in its entirety by PSA (of which Peugeot was a part) and from there it passed into the hands of Stellantis after the merger of FCA and PSA. The company, according to the French media, has relocated 340 employees to another plant to produce batteries and another very similar figure has joined different positions. The fate of 100 workers (half of them temporary) who have not been formally relocated remains to be known. Another European plant that closes. The closure of said French plant is just another example of how the European motor industry is suffering with the conversion to electric cars. Stellantis has stressed on different occasions that production costs in France are too high (and along the way we have benefited in Spain). Volkswagen assures that will have to lay off 100,000 employees of its German plants for the same reason. But it is also the certification that Europe continues to move towards the electric car. Although the French plant produced engines for countries outside our borders, we are not competitive against regions such as Morocco, Türkiye or South America…or Poland (where the PureTech that France abandons is still produced). In these countries, producing combustion engines is still the order of the day and at a more affordable price. Photo | Stellantis In Xataka | Italian workers have been angered by Stellantis’ investments. Those that Morocco has taken from them, specifically

The Phantom 3500 wants to break the mold by changing the windows for screens. And he’s close to getting it

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A year ago we told you the story of Otto Aerospace and its Phantom 3500, a windowless plane that aims to turn its walls into a panoramic view to the outside. As counterintuitive as it may sound, the company has had an idea: that on a plane without windows we can see better than ever what is around us when we fly. A year later, the project has been taking shape Otto Phantom 3500. Otto Aerospace’s Phantom 3500 is a project that should begin to come together next year. Last year we told you This curious project that aims to fill the fuselage of the plane with screens, eliminating all traces of windows. They called this concept Super Natural Vision, a system of screens that should show the outside in real time thanks to the use of cameras. This futuristic concept has, according to the company, the advantage of improving aerodynamics and thus the consumption of the device but also of simplifying the construction of the fuselage, saving costs. What’s new? To begin with, if you have entered the previous link you will have seen that the company has changed its name and is now no longer called Otto Aviation. Now, the company has adopted the name Otto Aerospacewhich gives an idea that its objective goes far beyond commercial transportation medianet private jets. But the most important thing is that the company has reached an agreement with flexjetwho operate huge fleets of private jets, to make the Phantom 3500 part of their fleet. The agreement contemplates a firm order for 300 aircraft and deliveries starting in 2030. It has not been made public how much the purchase figure is, which Yes, it is estimated in specialized media that the plane will cost about 19.5 million of dollars per unit but there is no confirmed figure for the purchase package of 300 aircraft of this type. Is it possible? According to its creators, of course. And with the purchase of 300 airplanes ahead, it had better be so, they will say at Flexjet. According to the company, the first flights of this private jet will begin in 2027 with a view to approval by US regulators. In his statement, Flexjet points that the purchase of 300 units of this device is one of the largest that has been recorded in private aviation and that it will serve to redefine what it means to fly using a service of this type. Can it be approved?. When launching this project, there is an important question that Otto Aerospace will have to answer. If you want to deliver the first planes in 2030, yes, you should have it under control. To approve an airplane, the Code of Federal Regulations of the US Government points out that “each emergency exit must have means that allow viewing the conditions outside the exit when it is closed.” That is, there must be a window or a reliable system that guarantees viewing of the outside without problems. And isn’t it very expensive? The other big question that Otto Aerospace will have faced is the issue of how much to fill the entire fuselage with screens. And to do this you will have to use high-quality flexible panels with a connection to your external cameras that is fast enough to not generate any type of dizziness as a consequence of a possible lag between the image and the movement of the vehicle. Likewise, filling the plane with screens also entails a cable management problem that will multiply compared to any other type of system and will add weight to the whole. Yet, The company claims to reduce consumption by half of fuel from other private jets that are currently in operation. Photo | Otto Aerospace In Xataka | Billionaires tried to hide their private jets. Now they have another problem: anyone can follow their superyachts

Spain turns in the opposite direction to the rest of Europe. It is part of a geological plan: close the Mediterranean

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Spain and Portugal are dancing to a different rhythm than the rest of Europe. They are moving clockwise and the consequence is clear: a long-term closure of the Mediterranean that connects the Iberian Peninsula directly to North Africa. The convergence between continents is slow, a few millimeters a year (so we will continue needing the tunnel between Spain and Morocco), but one thing is clear: another Pangea is on the way. And the Iberian Peninsula and Morocco will be a unit. In short. Continental plates move. Some separate, others collide, and that continental drift has caused the emergence the Pangea Ultima theory. In 250 million years, there will only be one continent. There is a long way to go for that, but now, researchers from the University of the Basque Country, in collaboration with the universities of Palermo and Granada, have analyzed geodetic data that allows them to affirm that the Iberian Peninsula is rotating clockwise. This east-west rotation is driven by the convergence between the Eurasian and African plates, and the conclusion is clear: both are moving between four and six millimeters closer each year. This information is not new, but the researchers’ discovery is to specify the processes that take place at the diffuse boundary of the two western Mediterranean plates. Thanks, Gibraltar. Although the boundaries of other plates are well defined, this does not occur in the Western Mediterranean. There, the processes are much grayer, and there is something called “Gibraltar Arch” which plays an interesting role in this tectonic dynamic. To the east of the strait, the crust absorbs the deformation caused by the collision between the Eurasian and African plates. This ‘Gibraltar Arc’ acts as a buffer, but it has a consequence: in the west of the strait there is a direct collision between the plates, while in the east it is absorbed by the Gibraltar Arc. This lack of buffering from the southwest is what causes the clockwise rotation. Rotational strain rate field. Positive values ​​correspond to clockwise rotation, while negative values ​​refer to counterclockwise rotation. Active and potentially active faults are marked with solid and dashed gray lines, respectively. Double analysis. The researchers combined two types of accuracy analyzes to obtain these results. On the one hand, those of satellite deformation through GNSS system (Global Navigation Satellite System). Analyzing the data, they measured surface displacements with millimeter precision, relying on both permanent and occasional GPS markers. On the other hand, they also analyzed information from recent earthquakes that allowed them to determine the tectonic “stresses” in the area. They are independent data sets, but by crossing them they were able to draw a series of ‘lines’ that have allowed them to better specify the boundary between the plates. So that? Well, to better understand which sectors are in direct collision between plates and which are still more protected by the Gibraltar Arc. And the neighbors? The problem is that, although they claim that it is a rapid tectonic movement, this is true in geological terms. For us it is invaluable, but it also comes into play that we only have satellite data since 1999 and detailed seismic data since the 1980s. Even so, if with such a short range of data we have reached that conclusion in the annual approach, it is because the phenomenon is not in a hurry, but it does not pause either. And the most interesting thing is that this only affects the Iberian Peninsula. It is not that we are going to separate from France, since we ‘drag’ the rest of the continent thanks to the effect of the Gibraltar Arc, but we are not turning in the same direction as other neighbors. Italy, for example, experiences a counterclockwise rotation that exerts pressure in the alpine zoneand in the anatolian plate (where most of Türkiye is), there is also this counterclockwise rotation. Hello, Morocco. While in Turkey the consequence may be more earthquakes or mountain formations, this current speed of between 4 and 6 millimeters will cause, at some point, the Iberian Peninsula and Morocco to unite. This continental collision would close the Mediterraneanbut there is a lot left for it. How much? About 100 million years. They estimate that for 20 million years we will continue at the same speed, but within about 50 million years, things will gain momentum, accelerating the process and turning the region into one of the most active volcanic and seismic areas on the planet. It’s… foolish to worry. present utility. Now, beyond curiosity, the most immediate implication that the researchers point out is a better identification of active faults or areas in which previously unidentified tectonic structures could exist. Asier Madarieta-Txurruka, one of those responsible for the investigation, explains This information indicates where to look for these structures and boundaries to determine what type of folds and faults there may be. Thus, we can anticipate the type of earthquake that there will be and its magnitude in areas such as the Western Pyrenees or the region of Cádiz and Seville in which we know that there are numerous places with significant deformationbut we do not have well identified the active tectonic structures that cause them. And, although there is still a long way to go before the Alps and a new mountain range are founded across the peninsula and all of North Africa to Arabia, knowing better what we have right under our feet is much more useful. In Xataka | We knew that Africa was going to split in half. What we didn’t know was that it would happen so quickly.

We believed that no Chinese AI model would soon come close to Fable 5 or GPT-5.5. Then GLM-5.2 arrived

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A few days ago, the Chinese startup Zhipu AI (Z.ai) announced the launch of its new open AI model, GLM-5.2. It did so boasting amazing features that brought it very close to the best closed models from OpenAI and Anthropic, something that seemed impossible. Well, the more analysis is carried out on the model, the better off it is. We may be at the beginning of something very important. A change of trend. GLM 5.2. The Chinese startup Z.ai has been releasing different versions of its GLM AI model for a long time, but the latest one is undoubtedly the most surprising because its performance is especially promising. It has 744,000 million parameters (744B), of which 40,000 are those that remain active. We are looking at a model with a context window of one million tokens and a new architecture called IndexShare/IndexCache. Better than GPT-5.5, very close to Opus 4.8. The startup showed how the performance of GLM-5.2 is extraordinary in programming tasks. In the FrontierSWE test, the most demanding of those currently available, GLM-5.2 outperformed GPT-5.5 and only Opus 4.8 was superior by a very small margin. The same happened with other tests such as PostTrainBench or SWE-Marathon, which, for example, evaluates the behavior of the model in very long autonomous programming sessions. Source: Z.ai. In many other tests the photo was identical: the model has made a spectacular leap since version 5.1, and is in many tests almost as good (or better) than the best from OpenAI, Anthropic or Google. But it’s not just them who say it.. Artificial Analysis, a reputable independent firm that maintains an updated ranking of the performance of the new AI models that are arriving on the market, confirms the data of Z.ai itself. In his tests he indicates how the “intelligence index” of GLM-5.2 is now 51 points. It is only surpassed by GPT-5.5 (55), Claude Opus 4.8 (56) and Claude Fable 5 (60). Source: Artificial Analysis. This Chinese open model leaves behind the new Gemini 3.5 Flash, but also Chinese competitors such as Qwen 3.7 Max, MiniMax-M3 or DeepSeek V4, among others. The jump in quality from GLM-5.1 is, we insist, outstanding, much greater than what, at least according to this index, was seen from Opus 4.8 to Fable 5. The jump in performance is spectacular, although it is true that the comparative price to solve the tasks proposed in the benchmark rises significantly. Source: Artificial Analysis. But it’s not perfect. The Artificial Analysis report, however, shows that although GLM-5.2 is very strong in areas such as programming, it is weak in others. For example, it is far from being as reliable as Fable 5, GPT-5.5, Claude 4.8 or Gemini 3.1 Pro in terms of correct answers, which is also lower in proportion to that of its competitors. However, his hallucinations have significantly reduced. And it’s much (much) cheaper. But in addition to being fantastic in many areas, it is much cheaper than its competitors. Maintains the price per million input/output tokens of its predecessor ($1.4/4.4), while that of GPT-5.5 It’s 5/30 dollars and that of Opus 4.8 10/50 dollars. It is true that it consumes many more tokens than GPT-5.5 (very efficient) or Claude Opus 4.8, but even with that its final cost is much lower. My tests with GLM-5.2 programming. I’ve been a Z.ai subscriber for months now because they offered an annual subscription at the end of 2025 at a really low price. This has allowed me to test GLM-5.2 for a few hours and although I cannot draw definitive conclusions, it does seem clear that there is a leap in quality in terms of its ability to program. I asked him to review a personal code project and he identified several security flaws and possible improvements in great detail. Chatting with GLM5-2. In conversational mode the behavior is much more difficult to evaluate: I have been interacting with the model and asking it questions, and although it is better than GLM 5.1 many times, other times it is not so much and I would say that in terms of creativity to write the frontier models of Google, OpenAI and especially Anthropic they are still quite superior. You can try it on their websiteand there you will see something else: it takes significantly longer to respond than other chatbots, because its reasoning phase is longer. Take more time to answer questions. Benchmarks are one thing, experience is another.. In the absence of testing it (much) more, of course the impression is that the model has improved significantly compared to a GLM-5.1 that had lagged behind its Chinese competitors (not to mention the current Claude Opus 4.8 or GPT-5.5). On platforms like Reddit opinions are dividedbut many consider it a fantastic option to run locally… if you have a very, very powerful machine with at least 256 GB of unified memory (Mac Studio). And one thing seems clear: when using it as an AI model for programming, comes surprisingly close to Claude Opus 4.8. In Xataka | Chinese technology companies entered the AI ​​race with cheaper models than the rest. That’s starting to end

The US has had an idea to reassure Europe. Instead of soldiers, he is going to bring his nuclear weapons very close to Russia

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In 1983, tens of thousands of women surrounded a British air base to protest the deployment of American nuclear missiles. That mobilization, known in time as Greenham Commonbecame one of the major antinuclear symbols of the Cold War and showed the extent to which the location of these weapons could alter European politics. Less soldiers, more “nuclear”. Europe has been trying to figure out what it really means for months the strategic turn of the United States. The reduction of troops, the withdrawal of some military systems and the increasing priority given to the Indo-Pacific have fueled fears that Washington is progressively moving away from the continent. However, conversations within NATO point to a very different response than expected. Instead of reinforcing the conventional presence, the United States would be willing to expand the deployment of nuclear capabilities in Europe to demonstrate that its commitment to the defense of the continent remains intact. The idea is simple but powerful: if there are fewer American uniforms on the ground, the nuclear umbrella must remain visible and credibleeven “closer.” The closer the interest is to Russia. There is no doubt, the allies most interested in this possibility are precisely those who observe Russia from the first line. Poland has been leading for years the list of candidates to host US nuclear capabilities and some Baltic countries have also shown interest in participating in future deterrence formulas. The invasion of Ukraine and Putin’s continued references to its nuclear arsenal have profoundly changed the perception of security in Eastern Europe. I remembered the financial times that, for these countries, hosting aircraft capable of using US nuclear weapons would have enormous political and military value, since it would turn any threat against them into an issue directly linked to Washington’s strategic credibility. The legacy of the Cold War. The proposal does not involve creating a new system, but rather expanding a mechanism that has existed for decades. Currently Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Türkiye and the United Kingdom participate in the program nuclear delivery of NATO, through which they store American nuclear weapons under exclusive control of Washington and train their air forces to operate within that scheme. This model was born during the Cold War to guarantee that European allies could participate in the Alliance’s nuclear strategy without having to develop their own atomic weapons. More than half a century later, the formula is once again gaining prominence in a continent that watches with concern the deterioration of the relationship with Moscow. Europe seeks to replace some capabilities, but not others. European capitals have assumed that they will have to spend more in defense and rebuild conventional capabilities that for decades were delegated to the United States. From anti-missile systems to strategic transportation to military intelligence, much of the current conversation revolves around how to fill those gaps. However, there is one area that many governments they consider it impossible to replace in the short term: the American nuclear deterrent. Although France and the United Kingdom have their own arsenals, Washington’s umbrella continues to be perceived as the central element of the European security architecture and as the ultimate guarantee against any military escalation. The signal that Washington wants to send. They told in the Times that for now there is no final decision and the conversations remain highly confidential. Still, the mere fact that the possibility is on the table reveals how Western strategy toward Russia is changing. For years the US military presence in Europe was measured in bases, brigades and deployed troops. Now the discussion increasingly revolves around another type of message. While Washington concentrates resources in Asia and requires its allies to assume a greater share of the defensive effortthe signal it seeks to convey is that nuclear protection remains intact. In a way, the new formula to reassure Europe is not to bring more soldiers closer to the Russian borders, but to bring closer what for decades has served as a last guarantee of security: American nuclear weapons. Image | Air Force, SJOERD HILCKMANN In Xataka | Spain’s great fear is not an invasion: it is a slow hybrid war with Morocco against its two most vulnerable cities In Xataka | To become technologically “independent” from the US, the European Union already has a plan: four desperate measures

the restaurant had to close in 2020

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There are bills that are paid before leaving a restaurant and there are other bills that end up being paid in the Supreme Court. This case is about one of the second. Amancio Ortega, at the time greatest fortune in Spain and owner of the building where it operates RoganoGlasgow’s oldest restaurant. This establishment has not reached an agreement with its landlord for six years about who should pay for the repair of the premises after flooding that left it unusable. According what was published According to the Scottish press, the dispute over who should pay the reparations has gone through three judicial instances and has reached the highest court in the United Kingdom. The main argument of the lawsuit is an account of 789,000 pounds sterling (about 913,000 euros at the exchange rate) in losses due to not having been able to open it during the last six years. The curious thing about the case is that, after all this time of litigation, both parties have reached an agreement just the night before the case was to be heard before the Supreme Court. A restaurant that is worth much more than its menu. To understand why an apparent discrepancy between a landlord and his tenant has reached the Supreme Court, it is necessary to know what Rogano is. In 1935, while the Queen Mary ocean liner took shape on the Clyde, the restaurant was decorated in the same art deco style as the great Cunard ship, and thus a classic of Glasgow hospitality was born. Just as they say local mediathe restaurant has been operating continuously for the last 84 years, serving a clientele ranging from neighborhood residents to celebrities such as Elizabeth Taylor, Rod Stewart, Jude Law, Mick Jagger, David Bowie and Harvey Keitel among many others. In 2020 its lights went out. In March 2020, Rogano lowered the blinds like everyone else due to the restrictions derived from the pandemic, thinking that the closure would be a matter of a few weeks. Between December 2020 and January 2021, the building suffered several serious floods that led to an electrical fire that caused serious damage to the premises, leaving it uninhabitable and forcing its owner to leave the blinds down for longer than expected. That’s where the real problem began: the works were never carried out, and the emblematic restaurant has been boarded up since then. The legal mess begins by knowing who the tenant is. According what was published for the BBCthe building where the popular restaurant is located belongs to Pontegadea UK, the British subsidiary of the Amancio Ortega’s real estate holding company. Precisely, thanks to the Pontegadea real estate investments in buildings like the one in dispute, the Spanish millionaire has just become the biggest real estate tycoon on the planet. Having a restaurant closed and boarded up in Glasgow is not exactly a drama for your bottom line, but it is a legal problem that has gotten out of hand. The parent company that operates the Rogano, Forthwell Limited, argued in its lawsuit that flooding was a risk covered by the landlord’s insurance, and that Pontegadea had an obligation to repair the property. The claim included compensation of £789,000 for lost profits due to the prolonged closure resulting from the Pontegadea’s refusal to make reforms. Pontegadea responded that Forthwell could not claim those losses because the restaurant was not operated by them but by a subsidiary, Lynnet Leisure Rogano Limited, under an occupation license for which they paid £1 a year, and that subsidiary was a third party that did not appear in the original contract. A case that was going to create a precedent. After six years of legal disputes, the case escalated through three different judicial instances. In June 2024, the High Court of Scotland ruled in favor of the Rogano, but at the end of that same year The Court of Appeal overturned part of that decision, and the dispute ended landing in the Supreme. The high court of the United Kingdom had transferred his sessions in Glasgow to review this case, something unusual since he usually resides in London, which gave the case a new dimension: the ruling of this court could set a precedent for how responsibilities are distributed between landlords and tenants in similar situations. But there was no failure. The “in extremis” pact that left the judges with the word in their mouths. At the beginning of the hearing scheduled for May 20, Forthwell’s lawyer informed the five judges that the parties had reached an agreement at 11:30 p.m. the previous night. The lawyer acknowledged that closing the agreement on the eve of the hearing was “extremely unsatisfactory,” to which the president of the court responded dryly: “Yes, that is an understatement, frustrating the lost opportunity to define the responsibilities in future disputes. The terms of the agreement remain unmade public, as does the future of the Rogano. Pontegadea’s obstinacy. Pontegadea’s business model is not the usual one among real estate companies. Pontegadea invests in the best buildings on the main streets of cities around the world. Its main objective is not to buy cheap buildings to renovate them and obtain a capital gain from their sale, they are real estate. already with solvent tenants. In this way, Amancio Ortega begins to amortize his purchase from the first minute. That is why it is surprising that Pontegadea has become embroiled in this legal dispute in which, whether to allow the Rogano to reopen or to rent it to any other tenant, the premises were going to need that the damage be repaired. Which destroys the argument of a dispute over reparations and strengthens the interest in obtaining a large compensation from one of the largest fortunes in the world. In Xataka | Amancio Ortega: the billionaire who lives like a neighbor (except for private jets and superyachts) Image | GTRES

close the Bering Strait

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We haven’t been talking about it for years without reason, the consequences of the end of the Gulf Stream would be catastrophic in much of the northern hemisphere and, above all, for Europe. For this reason, many scientists have stopped wondering if it is going to happen or not; and they have begun to wonder how we avoid it. And beyond the well-known emissions cut, the responses have sincerely been tremendous: from proposals to cool the Arctic or launch orbital sunshades into space to chartering planes to fertilize the ocean with millions and millions of tons of iron… But perhaps the last one is the one that takes the cake: some climatologists have started doing the math to see What would happen if we closed the Bering Strait. What is this about the Gulf Stream? Its technical name is ‘Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation’ and it is, in general terms, the North Atlantic branch of the thermohaline circulation. Since the sun does not heat the sea equally everywhere and freshwater flows reach the ocean at very specific points, this is the basic mechanism by which the oceans balance differences in temperature and salinity. The AMOC is a good example of this regulation. After all, as explained from AEMETit is an “Atlantic basin-scale north-south ocean flow that begins with cold sea water sinking to the bottom off Greenland, subsequently flowing south, and being replaced by warmer water flowing at the surface from the south, transferring heat from the tropics to the east coast of North America and the west coast of Europe.” And why do they want to build a dam in the Bering Strait? Well, strictly speaking, they don’t want to close the Bering Strait, they just picked up the idea of ​​a Soviet engineer from the 1950s and they have done calculations to see if this could help resolve the issue. It may seem somewhat counterintuitive, but the basic idea is that cutting off the flow of waters from the Pacific to the Arctic would favor the creation of deep waters (due to the difference in salinities). The calculations show that it makes sense. How does that make sense? Well, yes, it’s true. It makes partial sense. Here’s the interesting thing: As long as the AMOC can continue moving salt northward, the mechanism works and protects the climate of the Northern Hemisphere. On the other hand, if the AMOC is weakened, the closure of Bering would have the opposite effect. It would plunge us into an even more complex winter. Thank goodness it’s crazy, right? It is not very realistic, that is clear. But I’m not sure I’d say it’s crazy either. As the authors themselves acknowledge, there are already dams (such as the Saemangeum in Korea) that are 33 kilometers long: half of what would be required to close the strait. So is it something viable? Nobody says that. Not even the authors say so.. But it is something interesting in order to reflect on one of the great themes of the future: the increasingly imperative “need” of humanity to take the reins of control of the planet. Something that, in short, can cost us very dearly. Image | Fictional recreation In Xataka | The current that warms Europe will weaken by 51% before the end of the century. And Spain, according to experts, is already beginning to notice

The C919 was born to stand up to Boeing and Airbus. Data shows how close (or far) you are from achieving it

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If you have made a medium-haul flight in recent years, it is most likely that you have traveled on an Airbus A320 family or Boeing 737 family aircraft. It is the unwritten rule of many of these journeys: two industrial giants and a market that for decades has seemed almost closed to any applicant. China has been trying for years to gain a foothold in that segment with the C919, its single-aisle aircraft developed by COMAC. And the latest data suggests that the project is beginning to leave behind the phase in which it could only be read as a promise. This jump can be seen in the operational data collected by Flight Master and citated by China Dailand. In April, the C919 completed 3,190 flights, 117.9% more than in the same month of the previous year, and some aircraft recorded up to 10.7 flight hours per day. The accumulated figure also helps measure progress: as of April 30, 2026, the aircraft had exceeded 42,000 commercial flights since its entry into service. While the data does not make the C919 an immediate global rival to Airbus and Boeing, it does show that the program is moving forward. Let’s look back for a moment. The C919 made its first flight test on May 5, 2017, was delivered for the first time in December 2022 and officially entered commercial service in May 2023, with a route between Shanghai and Beijing. Since then, its network has gradually expanded until connecting 29 airports: 28 in mainland China and one in Hong Kong. As we can see, this is a domestic expansion, but it clearly no longer plays the experimental role. C919 flies more and more, but still depends on key parts Okay, but how many airplanes really sustain that growth? According to China Daily, at the end of April China Eastern Airlines operated 15 units of the C919, Air China had 11 and China Southern Airlines had 10. The distribution between the three large Chinese airlines reinforces the presence of the model in the local market. However, the figure forces us to put the progress in perspective: the fleet is still small compared to the usual volumes of Western competitors. That is why the key is not only in how many C919s there are, but in what performance they are giving in operation. According to Flight Master, since the beginning of 2026, 88.5% of C919 activity has corresponded to operations with at least four daily sectors. Zhu Keli maintains that the use of the plane is already close to that of comparable models more common single aisle, which translates into a sign of greater maturity in maintenance, crew scheduling and ground services. The limit appears when you look beyond the daily operation. IBA Group pointed out in August 2025 that international certification continues to advance slowly and keeps the C919 largely focused on the Chinese market. The consulting firm recalled that the European Aviation Safety Agency had confirmed in April 2025 that the validation of the plane would require at least three to six years from the technical familiarization phase. This schedule does not prevent the program from gaining volume within China, but it does help to understand why its international leap is more complicated. LEAP -1C, the Western engine used by the Chinese Comac C919 The most delicate vulnerability is in the engine. The C919 that flies today uses the engine LEAP-1C of CFM International, a joint venture of GE Aerospace and Safran, and that dependence has already proven to be more than a technical issue. Last year, let us remember, the geopolitical and commercial tensions they altered the production of the program, with a temporary suspension of the supply of that engine. IBA Group also identifies the dependence on imported engines and avionics as a relevant limitation. China is trying to close that gap with political support, planned production and more control over critical parts. According to SCMPthe national plan for 2026-2030 places among its priorities the increase in production, the stability of the supply chain and the advancement of the CJ-1000A engine, called to reduce foreign dependence on the C919. IBA Group adds that even if that engine enters service later this decade, matching the performance and reliability of Western engines will be a multi-year process. That’s the real measure of the program: the plane is already flying more regularly, but its industrial maturity is still being built. Images | Comac In Xataka | The Comac C919 symbolizes China’s aerial dream: the trade war threatens to clip its wings in mid-takeoff

In 2014 it was inaugurated as the largest solar thermal power plant in the world. 12 years later they want to close it after incinerating birds

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The huge Ivanpah solar thermal power plant, opened in 2014 in the Mojave Desert, was almost closed after just 11 years of operation. An end accelerated by its history of technical, economic and environmental problems that, however, was paralyzed in January of this year after the agreement of all those involved. Context. Concentrated solar thermal energy, once considered one of the most cutting-edge technologies for clean electricity generation, is not going through its best moment. Especially in Nevada, where the Crescent Dunes fiasco was already very public. The concentrating solar thermal system uses thousands of mirrors, or “heliostats”, that follow the path of the sun to concentrate its light on central towers. In these towers, the extreme heat is used to heat water and produce steam, which drives turbines connected to electrical generators. The Ivanpah case. The Ivanpah plant was built with an investment of $1.6 billion in loans from the U.S. Department of Energy and long-term contracts from major electric companies. It was the largest solar thermal power plant in the world until the inauguration of Port Augusta in Australia. 11 years after its inauguration, the enormous solar thermal plant began to close after failing to meet its initial expectations. The lack of profitability condemned it, at least a priori. A succession of rulings and complaints from environmental groups about its impact on wildlife accelerated its end, approved by the US Department of Energy. Continuity. However, the decision was reversed in January 2026 by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC). Ivanpah will remain open. Their argument is that uncertainty in federal renewable energy policies forces us to prioritize the reliability of the current electricity supply. In addition, the commission seeks to prevent the enormous investment in infrastructure already made from being lost, despite the high operating costs and the serious environmental impact on local fauna. The measure ignores the previous agreement between the companies to close the plant and save money for users. A priori, it will remain open until its contract expires in 2039. A complex technology. One of the main problems has been the difficulty of keeping the mirrors precisely aligned. The technology, which requires exact tracking of the sun, has proven to be unstable and unreliable in practice, says a CNN report. The maintenance of the complex mechanisms and the management of the turbines in turn generate high operating costs, which has caused concentrated solar thermal to lose competitiveness compared to other renewable technologies, especially photovoltaic solar, whose prices have plummeted. A bird cremation machine. The criticism is not limited to the technical aspects. The Ivanpah plant has been questioned for years for its environmental impact, especially on desert wildlife. Environmental groups denounce the irreparable damage to the habitat of species such as the desert tortoise. But also the death of birds that are incinerated by the intense rays concentrated by the mirrors. A second Crescent Dunes. The case of Crescent Dunes, also occurring in Nevada, reinforces this image of failure of solar thermal energy. This project, which was intended to be one of the milestones in innovation and energy storage using molten salts, ended up becoming a multimillion-dollar waste. Developed by the Spanish group ACSpromised continuous production of electricity, even during hours without light, thanks to thermal storage in salts. In practice, Crescent Dunes never managed to deliver the promised amount of energy and ended up going bankrupt due to engineering and management problems. In the shadow of photovoltaics. In short, the rapid fall in prices of photovoltaic technology and its lower impact on wildlife have made concentrated solar thermal obsolete. While solar panels have been gaining efficiency and reducing their installation and maintenance costs, solar thermal plants have lagged behind in terms of competitiveness, which has led investors and electricity companies to reconsider their bets on this type of projects. In Xataka | The first central tower solar plant to be commercially exploited is in Seville: a pioneer that has survived other more ambitious ones In Xataka | Chile has one of the most valuable skies on Earth. Renewables are putting it on the ropes In Xataka | China’s largest solar park is doing much more than generating energy: it’s greening a desert Image | Pexels

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