closest

Neptune’s closest neighbor is Mercury

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There is information that we have stored in our heads since we learned it, such as prepositions or the planets that make up the Solar System. And that has its handicaps: having to enumerate the list to get to what interests you or if you are already a few years old, finishing the string of planets with Pluto. Old spoiler: Pluto was demoted in 2006, despite the fact that there are scientists who they question the definition of a planet and therefore, its appearance or not on that list. What is the closest planet to Earth? Faced with that question and with the temptation to recite the burned-in list, many people will probably say Venus and just as many will say Mars. Reality has its substance and although the situation changes frequently, it is generally considered that the correct answer is Venus. In fact, taking a look at the distances between each pair of planets We would reach that same conclusion. Well, yes, but no. Mercury is the winning horse. To NASA It refers to Venus as “our closest planetary neighbor” and although this is true if we stick to which planet is closest to Earth, it is not true if we are interested in knowing which planet is closest on average. Here things change and have a new winner: Mercury. Mercury is the innermost planet in the solar system, but on average it spends more time near Earth than Venus. What’s more, Mercury is on average the closest planet to all the other planets in the Solar System. How is the proximity between planets considered?. The usual method is limited to subtracting the mean radius of the inner orbit from that of the outer orbit. Thus, the average distance between Earth (1 AU) and Venus (0.72 AU) would be 0.28 AU. When they are furthest away, Venus is 1.72 AU from Earth. Although it is intuitive to consider the average distance between each point of two concentric ellipses as the difference of their radii, in reality that difference only determines the average distance of the closest points of the ellipses. A more precise mathematical method that considers time. The average of both scenarios above improves the calculation, but is still imprecise, they explain scientists Tom Stockman, Gabriel Monroe and Samuel Cordner. So the American Institute of Physics devised a more precise mathematical method that averages the distance over time of the planets and in this scenario everything changes and not only for the Earth, but also for all the planets. The method in question is called point-circle (PCM) and models orbits as concentric and coplanar circles. Since the planets spend the same time at each point in their orbit, the average distance can be calculated by integrating all possible positions. Using this method, Venus is an average of 1.14 AU from Earth and Mercury is only 1.04 AU. As they explain: “We observe that the distance between two orbiting bodies is minimum when the inner orbit is the smallest. That observation gives rise to what we call the whirly-dirly corollary (a reference to an episode of the series Rick and Morty): for two bodies with approximately coplanar, concentric and circular orbits, the average distance between them decreases as the radius of the inner orbit decreases.” The checks. This research team ran a simulation that calculated the position of the eight planets over 10,000 years and recorded their distance. The results differed by 300% compared to the traditional method, but less than 1% compared to the point-circle method. Mercury is the closest to all. This discovery not only affects Earth. In fact, it can be generalized to any pair of bodies with approximately circular, concentric and coplanar orbits. With this method, the average distance between two bodies depends on the radius of the inner orbit and the smaller the inner orbit, the smaller the average distance. In short: Mercury is the closest planet to Earth, but also to Neptune and even the degraded Pluto. This finding, beyond changing the paradigm of how to consider distances between planets, may also be useful for estimating communications with satellites. In Xataka | Poland and Spain are the European countries that have increased their contribution to space the most. For very different reasons In Xataka | A planet has just disappeared: NASA’s Hubble telescope has captured a violent cosmic event that changes everything Cover | NASA Hubble Space Telescope

We already know when the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS will be closest to Earth and so you can try to see it

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One of the great protagonists that we have in the sky right now is the comet 3I/ATLAS that has received attention both from science and from fans of everything that surrounds us beyond the atmosphere. And what makes this comet be very interesting It is precisely its origin that does not belong to our environment and also that after its passage it will never return. This makes seeing it from Earth be something unique and that no one will ever be able to repeat again. Getting closer. Right now we are on the verge of its peak moment with us: its closest approach to Earth will occur next week, and this makes many people want to have an idea of ​​how to witness its passage. The appointment will be next December 19. An impossible trajectory. To understand what we are seeing, we have to look back a couple of months. Orbital calculations placed this comet at its closest point to the Sun at the end of last October, passing slightly inside the orbit of Mars. And this was where we had the first big meeting. On October 2, the HiRISE camera aboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) managed to photograph to the comet from a distance of about 30 million kilometers. It is not common for us to have “eyes” on another planet watching for comets, but the geometry was perfect to capture and visualize it. And all these images have been fundamental to know exactly how and when it will reach our environment. How and when. The date to mark on the calendar is December 19, 2025. A Friday that will be historic since it will be the moment in which 3I/ATLAS makes its closest approach to Earth, being at a distance of 270 million kilometers. Something that removes any type of risk of impacting the planet. The eyes are useless. Looking up and seeing the comet will not be possible, but you will need to be minimally equipped since it does not have colored tails or anything similar. That is why you will need to have a medium or large caliber telescope that is capable of capturing a lot of light. All this accompanied by dark skies, since light pollution in cities makes its detection impossible due to its low brightness. In addition, it is important to have tools such as mobile applications that can guide us where to aim in order to know where we will see it. Although it is also important to have the NASA information about its location. The best sites. In the northern hemisphere, which is where we are, the comet will be visible before dawn. But to do this it will be necessary to also find the best places with dark skies and no light pollution. Traditionally in Spain we can have different characteristic sites such as the Teide observatory or mountain ranges that are very high like in the Pyrenees to be in optimal conditions to see it. Likewise, online monitoring through large observation centers can also be an option in the event of not having the appropriate equipment or location. Images | THAT In Xataka | It went from a supposed alien ship to definitely a comet. Now 3I/ATLAS surprises again with another possibility

Less than 150 kilometers from Taiwan, the US does not stop accumulating missiles. It’s the closest thing to preparing for war.

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For some time now, the Taiwan position in it strategic balance global has become one of the main axes on which power competition is articulated between the United States and China. The island not only represents a point political identity for Beijing or a symbol of democratic commitment for Washington, but also a decisive geographical node in the military architecture of the Pacific. and then there is a narrow between both. The distances. Maritime access to the island, the air routes that surround it and the narrow strip of water that separates it from the Philippines and Japan define a good part of the board in which it is decided how far project Chinese strength and to what extent it can be contained from the outside. Thus, the crisis that is emerging is not made solely of declarations or doctrines: It is made up of specific islands, narrow maritime corridors, and political decisions made in small communities that suddenly become geopolitical borders. The war strait. It counted on a extensive Reuters report that the chain of continuous military exercises and the missile deployment anti-shipping in the northernmost islands of the Philippines reveal a US strategy that assumes that control of the Western Pacific straits is decisive in preventing the Chinese navy from operating freely in the open sea. And at that point, the province of Batanesuntil a few years ago a quiet territory dedicated to fishing and subsistence agriculture, has become a point of critical importance, due to its position in the extreme south from Bashi Channelthe narrow sea lane that connects the South China Sea to the western Pacific. Bashi is located between Mavulis Island and Orchid Island The arrival of an arsenal. The establishment of a rotating military presencebut practically permanent, with deployments of mobile missile systems capable of blocking the passage of surface ships, has transformed this territory into an essential component of the so-called First Island Chainthe containment line that the United States, Japan and the Philippines intend to maintain to limit China’s ability to influence beyond its coastal waters. Local populations, aware of the historical precedent from 1941live in fear of seeing how their daily lives can be suddenly interrupted by the logic of deterrence or escalation. Liaoning exercises in the Pacific The uncertainty of the Philippines. The Manila government operates in the paradox of a country that does not want to be dragged into a war, but that recognizes that geography makes inevitable any implications in the event of a conflict in the Taiwan Strait. The administration of Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has unambiguously reopened military cooperation with the United States, granting expanded access to bases in Luzon and reinforcing the number and duration of joint exercises. Given the possibility of an attack or a blockade on Taiwanthe Philippines is preparing not only for defense operations, but for the forced return of tens of thousands of Filipino workers from the island. The prospect of a sudden influx of refugees, disruptions to supply routes and the need to operate under conditions of scarcity have led provincial authorities to raise contingency plans agricultural and logistical processes that return daily life to a state of cautious alert. China and reunification. For Beijing, the Taiwan question is presented as an internal matter which does not allow external negotiation. The Chinese leadership maintains that reunification is a historic address that sooner or later it will come to fruition, and that any foreign intervention constitutes an unacceptable violation of its sovereignty. Hence, the US military presence in the Philippines, the deployment of missiles and the intensification of exercises are interpreted by China not as defensive measures, but as deliberate attempts to restrict their margin of action and condition their ability to respond. The increase in Chinese naval operations through from Bashi Channelthe presence of aircraft carrier groups in the western Pacific and low-intensity pressure tactics against Philippine patrols are part of a carefully calibrated game of signals. Washington’s ambiguity. This week, Donald Trump has reiterated that Xi Jinping knows the consequences of an attack on Taiwan, while refusing to specify whether the United States would intervene militarily. This gesture of opacity, faithful to the doctrine of strategic ambiguity, seeks to simultaneously maintain deterrence against Beijing and the control over decisions of Taipei, preventing the island from declaring formal independence that could accelerate the clash. The difference with respect to the previous government’s approach is one of tone rather than substance: if Biden tended to explicitly verbalize the defense of Taiwan, Trump shifts the emphasis toward risk perception by Chinese leaders. Ambiguity not only preserves diplomatic margin; It also avoids automatically locking the United States into open war if an unexpected escalation occurs. Key islands. As it is, preparation for a possible conflict over Taiwan is not happening in abstract power centers, but in island territories where daily life depends on supply ships and where every Pacific wind brings with it the memory of past conflicts. The expansion of presence US military in the Philippines, Chinese pressure to break the limits imposed by the island chain, and Washington’s calculated ambiguity form an unstable balance that is already changing life in those communities. The future of the region will not be decided only in great summits diplomatic, but in the capacity of a few narrow territories to become a barrier, access or trigger for a greater change in the global order. Image | PiCryl, BORN, rhk111, Army Map Service In Xataka | China has asked Russia for an airborne battalion and training. That can only mean one thing: they are preparing a landing In Xataka | The US studied what would happen if it went to war with China: now it has begun a desperate race to duplicate missiles

Ukraine has updated the nation’s bloodiest game. Eliminating Russians is now the closest thing to “ordering an Uber”

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In the month of May, a unprecedented merger between military technology and video game logic. Ukraine had launched a reward system which awarded its soldiers points for killing Russian troops or destroying their vehicles, as long as these acts were verified by drone video recordings. That system, a kind from “Amazon military”has been updated with drones as protagonists. A real shooter. The now called “Army of Drones Bonus System” that has emerged in Ukraine presents itself on the surface as a incentive platform which includes the aesthetics and mechanics of video games (scores, ‘leaderboards’, online stores and rewards) but at its core is an operational transformation: an institutionalized scheme that quantifies casualties, observation successes and logistical achievements to translate them into real resources (drones, autonomous vehicles, electronic warfare systems) through the internal store call Brave1. Born a little over a year ago and accelerated in recent months until passing from 95 to 400 units participants, the system already exhibits strong effects on combat (according to official figures, 18,000 Russian casualties attributable to actions linked to the system in a single month) and has expanded its radius of action beyond the air attack to reconnaissance, artillery and logistics missions, incorporating into military practice notions of competition, internal market and performance metrics that were previously foreign to the art of war. Mechanics and logic. The program architecture works with clear and convertible rules– Each credited action (from eliminating an enemy combatant to capturing a prisoner to destroying a drone operator) awards points that can be exchanged for materiel in Brave1which creates a feedback loop where operational success is transformed into material capacity to continue fighting. The update of the score table (for example, doubling points for killing infantry or setting 120 points for capturing a prisoner) reveals the system’s ability to reorient incentives based on strategic priorities and political needs, and at the same time evidences a commodification of efficiency: life and death pass through a technical-economic threshold that converts lethal decisions into a cost-benefit function. This internal economy alters the microdecision of the combatant and resituates logistics and acquisition within the tactical space itself, with the Brave1 store acting as a war market that prioritizes allocation by competitive merit. Screenshot of the rewards system Automation and AI. The system is not limited to accounting, integrate tools technologies that change the very nature of target selection and engagement. Drones partially controlled by algorithms that suggest targets and correct the terminal phase of the trajectory represent a step towards lethal automation, while practices such as “Uber targeting” They demonstrate how consumerist and geospatial interfaces have been converted for war uses. Thus, marking a point on a map and triggering a remote impact is the operational translation of the everyday gesture. to request a transport. The video proof requirement To obtain points, it also generates a vast operational database that feeds institutional learning: what objectives were achieved, with what platform, from what distance and how the enemy defense behaved. That visual and metric file facilitates dissemination of techniques between units and accelerates innovation from below, with real effects on tactics and doctrine. Psychological effects. The Guardian said that, beyond the material and the technical, the system produces a kind of emotional breakdown: Senior officials recognize that the process of assigning a numerical value to human life has ended up turning violence into technical, “practical” and “emotionless” work. At the same time, gamification produces camaraderie effects and competition that, according to the commanders, are healthy and encourages discipline and learning between peers. However, this same dynamic can generate operational biases (prioritizing high-scoring objectives over tactically relevant objectives, or the temptation of operations with low effectiveness but high cumulative performance) that distort strategic coherence. Implications and extension. The Ukrainian experience shows that incentive principles can be transferred to other areas: artillery that receives points for valid hits, reconnaissance that earns rewards for identifying targets, and logistics that scores the use of autonomous vehicles instead of human convoys. This extension transforms the war ecosystem into a set of internal markets where tactical-technological innovation is quickly monetized and scaled, forcing planners a double urgency: exploit the immediate advantages of the system without losing strategic coherence and design ethical and operational countermeasures that prevent internal competition from fragmenting the priorities of the military effort. And ethics? It’s the big question. Ethically, the commodification of violence raises profound questions about responsibility, proportionality and war crimes: Who responds when a score induces an action that violates humanitarian law? The appropriation of AI for target selection also introduces the question of attribution of responsibility between human operators, algorithms and the chain of command. Strategically, converting equipment gain into the primary source of replenishment aims to create dependency loops that, in logistical wear and tear scenarios, discourage long-term wear and tear operations that are necessary in the short term for larger objectives. Score the violence. The “Army of Drones Bonus System” represents a mutation relevant to the way motivation, acquisition and innovation are organized in contemporary warfare: it incorporates market logicpoint economies and automation technologies that increase lethality and efficiency, while eroding moral frameworks and opening new vectors of risk. Its contribution is undeniable in terms of capacity and adaptation, but its expansion urgently claim a framework that does not yet exist at national or international level. In the background, a long doubt in this species Amazon military: that what is celebrated today as tactical innovation can tomorrow become a structural source of insecurity and lack of moral control on the battlefield. Image | Ministry of Defense Ukraine, Ministry of Defense of Ukraine In Xataka | An imperceptible hum is wreaking havoc in Ukraine. When it arrives there is no turning back: the Russians are already everywhere In Xataka | The Ukrainian army has been asked what it urgently needs. The answer was clear: no missiles or drones, just cars

Hidden for 43 years, this Mercedes-Benz 500 SL is the closest thing to a toy preserved in its packaging: it still smells new

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Who They collect toys and dolls They know that preserving a piece in its original case for decades is a precious achievement, a symbol of care and respect for the history of the object that also increases substantially its value. Now, imagine that same experience, but with a car. It is something much more difficult to achieve because, if only to give yourself the pleasure of drive it from time to timeand compensate the money that has been paid for it, it is easy and understandable for the vehicle owner to fall into temptation. However, that is precisely what SL Shop, a workshop specialized in repair and restoration of Mercedes-Benz and They tell it on their blog. The most surprising thing – and what makes this find so unusual – is that the owner’s intention was never to drive it, but rather to preserve it intact as it left the factory and without the slightest wear. If cars were sold in a blister pack like toys, this would be the equivalent. The dream piece for any collector It is common for a legendary car stored in a barn to appear from time to time. under decades of dust and rust. However, this Mercedes-Benz 500 SL R107 from 1982 has been discovered after 43 years carefully stored in a private garage in the United Kingdom, with just 68 kilometers on the odometer and in an absolutely pristine state of conservation. It has only traveled the 42 miles that were done on it at the factory and at the dealership before delivery. It is a true time capsule on wheels, which seems to have just rolled off the assembly line a few days ago. Sam Bailey, founder of The SL Shop, a classic Mercedes specialist who took delivery of the vehicle, said: “This 500 SL is the truest reflection of the original R107 plans.” In fact, as he himself acknowledges in a video they have uploaded to his YouTube channel, the car It even keeps the smell of new. “You could almost bottle it. It’s just heaven,” Bailey said. This example was purchased with all the original extras available on November 30, 1982 by a local watchmaker, who decided never to register this Mercedes-Benz 500 SL. In fact, even the delivery of the vehicle it was done in a truckso it didn’t even travel the distance between the dealership and the owner’s home. Since then, the 500 SL has been in storage under controlled temperature and humidity conditionsavoiding any deterioration. The Blue Green Metallic paint remains intact and rust-free, and the original dealer stickers are still attached, something very rare to find on collector cars. The car shows amazing conservation details: Waxoyl protective wax still covers the engine and exhaust, while the Michelin XWX tires remain. without having traveled even a kilometer. The interior preserves the leather, the original woods and even the authentic smell of the 80s. Among the factory options it has air conditioning, heated seats, ABS and metallic paint, valued in 1982 at more than 2,746 euros. The car has all its original elements and is in an impeccable state of conservation except for one detail. The Mercedes-Benz badge on the hood is not the original: it is a faithful reproduction that was made by the owner in solid silver. It was put up for sale: it will never be sold As Bailey tells it, he learned of the existence of this gem more than fifteen years ago, when during an exhibition, its owner approached them to tell them the story of his little automobile treasure. When Bailey asked if he would be willing to sell it, the owner responded with a firm no. But life takes many turns. In August 2025, Bailey received a call from the owner of the 500 SL offering it for sale. Knowing its history, the businessman has decided to buy it and He has promised to never sell it. To maintain the legacy of its first owner, the 500 SL will remain in an exhibition space open to the public and air-conditioned for conservation, where it will serve as a reference for future restorations. After all, there is no other car like this outside the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart. That makes it a collector’s piece with incalculable value. The Mercedes-Benz 500 SL R107 was at the time the pinnacle of luxury and power German, with a 5.0-liter V8 engine that delivered 240 horsepower and a four-speed automatic transmission. Its design, technology and comfort rivaled sports cars from brands such as Ferrari and Maserati, but with an outstanding reputation. for its reliability. This model is recognized as a symbol of German engineering from the early 80s, capable of combining performance, elegance and durability, values ​​that are evident in this unique example, practically new after more than four decades hidden so that four decades later, whoever has the privilege of being able to sit inside, can smell the new smell of the first day. In Xataka | One of the largest collections of cars in the world has an unlikely origin: the shift system of fishmongers Image | SL Shop

Google has just announced the closest to the holographic science fiction: Project Beam

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Videollamar have been useful for years. A solution that works, although with obvious limitations. See and hear the other person is fine, but the Sensation of real closeness It is still far away. Google has been trying to solve that problem for some time, and now has decided to take a more determined step to get it. That step is called Beam. It is the new name of a technology that we already knew as Project Starline, an experimental proposal that sought to recreate the experience of a three -dimensional face -to -face conversation, and that we had the opportunity to try last year. Now, that idea evolves in the form of a platform. Beam was born as a communications system designed to integrate into real environments, supported by the infrastructure of Google Cloud and enhanced with advanced artificial intelligence models. A conversation with volume, not only with image. Google Beam’s key is in its volumetric video model. A IA -based system that transforms a 2D video signal into a realistic three -dimensional representation, visible from any angle. When combined with a type screen Light Fielda sense of depth is achieved that allows to maintain visual contact, interpret expressions and generate more natural communication. According to Google, this helps generate trust and understanding as if the conversation were face -to -face. The objective declared by the company is to create more significant connections between people, wherever they are. To achieve this, Beam relies on two fundamental pillars: the reliability and scalability of Google Cloud, and his experience accumulated in artificial intelligence (AI). Everything designed to integrate without friction in existing workflows. Real -time translation without giving up naturalness. Beam not only focuses on the image. It also wants to facilitate understanding. One of the most striking functions is real -time voice translation, now available today in Google Meet. It allows to maintain a fluid conversation between people who speak different languages, retaining the tone, cadence and expressions of each interlocutor. The result is a more natural conversation, where technology is perceived less and connection between people, more. For Google, this functionality is just the beginning. His long -term vision is clear: to ensure that anyone, anywhere in the world, can be seen and understood with total clarity. Beam arrives at work. At the moment, Beam points to the professional environment. Google has announced an agreement with HP to launch the first compatible devices, which will reach selected customers this year. It should be noted that it does not work with any configuration. These devices will have several cameras to capture the subject from different angles. In addition, the company is collaborating with companies such as Zoom, Diversified and AVI-SPL to integrate this technology into different corporate environments. Great organizations have already shown interest, including Deloitte, Salesforce, Citadel, Nec, Hackensack Meridian Health, Duolingo and Recruit. From Deloitte, for example, they emphasize that Beam is not only a technological advance, but a way of rethinking how we connect in the digital age. A clear promise. Be there without being. This is Beam’s central idea. It is not just a technical improvement, but an evolution in the way of communicating. Beam wants to talk to someone at a distance does not feel like a video call, but as a face -to -face conversation. Images | GOOLGE In Xataka | Google has put a price on the future of AI: $ 250 per month

The precedent closest to the great blackout of Spain was lived in 2003. And it also began in the interconnected network

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Few events show our electricity dependence as a mass blackout. And few blackouts have been as extensive as the one that has affected all of Spain today. But there is a precedent of similar characteristics that still remember in neighboring Italy: the great blackout of 2003. The day Italy was dark. On September 28, 2003, practically all the Italians (57 million people) were left without light. The ruling began in the Swiss Alps, demonstrating, as has happened today, the fragility of interconnected networks. It all started at 3:01 in the morning in a high voltage line that crosses the passage of Lukmanier, between Switzerland and Italy. A storm whipped the area. According to subsequent investigations, the branch of a tree hit the wiring, causing a short circuit and its automatic disconnection. It all started with a tree. The fall of a tree should not have been catastrophic. Electrical networks are designed with redundancies to avoid it. However, the demand for energy in Italy at that time was high, and the country depended significantly on the imports of electricity in Switzerland and France. The loss of the Lukmanier line increased the load on the other interconnections. In less than half an hour, a second crucial line, that of the Paso de San Bernardino, also failed. The exact reasons were subject to dispute (Switzerland said there were overloads not communicated by Italy, Italy blamed Swiss management), but the result was overwhelming: Italy lost suddenly a huge capacity to import energy and went out. The domino effect. At 3:27 am, the country remained dark. The almost simultaneous loss of these two great energy arteries had been too much for the Italian network. The frequency of the network began to fall dangerously below 50 Hz, and automatic protection systems, designed to avoid higher damage to generators and equipment, began acting in cascade. Electric centrals throughout Italy began to automatically disconnect from the network to protect themselves. This self -defense mechanism, however, aggravated the problem: the more centrals they disconnected, the greater the imbalance between the remaining little generation and demand, accelerating the collapse. In a matter of minutes, the Italian electricity grid was completely fragmented and collapsed. The blackout affected the entire Italian Peninsula, from the Alps to Sicily. The exception? The Island of Sardinia, which has an independent power grid and not connected to the continental system (as the Canary Islands here), as well as some small border areas that received a direct supply of neighboring countries. The biggest blackout in the history of Italy. The blackout surprised Italy in the early morning of Sunday. Although this mitigated the initial chaos compared to the blackout of Spain (fewer people in public transport, in factories, locked in elevators), the impact was deep and durable throughout the day. Thousands of passengers were also trapped in trains in the middle of nowhere. Hospitals and emergency services activated their diesel generators, but the situation tested their abilities. The meters of cities like Rome and Milan stopped working. The traffic lights went out, complicating traffic. Although many mobile phone antennas had batteries, overload affected communications in some areas. In Rome, the blackout coincided with the “Notte Bianca”, the annual night in which museums open, there are concerts and night activities. Everything was interrupted, plunging thousands of citizens in unexpected darkness. The lack of electricity lasted for hours. A delicate recovery. Restore the electricity supply after a total collapse (the now famous start From energy zero) It is not as simple as pressing a switch. Italy showed that it is a slow, complex and gradual process. Many of the large thermal plants needed external energy to start their own auxiliary systems. As the centrals generate energy again, they have to synchronize perfectly in frequency and voltage with the incipient network. An error can cause new disconnections. Demand must gradually reintroduce as the generation increases. Connect too fast load can overload the newly restored network and cause another collapse. It is a delicate dance between supply and demand. Between four and 18 hours. For these reasons, the recovery was unequal. The regions of northern Italy, closer to European interconnections and with greater capacity for their own generation, began to recover electricity in about 3-4 hours. However, the center and south, especially Sicily, took much more. Some areas remained without electricity for 18 hours or more. Finally, electricity was restored block to block, city to city, in a process that extended during almost all of Sunday. The Italian blackout of 2003 remains a case study on the complexity and fragility of our energy infrastructure. A reminder that small events like a fallen tree can turn off a whole country. Image | Victor Romero (Flickr, CC BY-C-SA 2.0) In Xataka | What is the “energy zero” and why the supply can go suddenly but it takes hours to recover

Nintendo Switch 2 is no longer a toy, it is the closest to the final hybrid console

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Nintendo has presented the Switch 2a console that respects the original concept, but that is far from what it offered us The first generation. Nintendo has never cared that switch was a toy that moved games in 720p resolution: I knew I was going to sell the same. But 2025 is not a year to launch a poor power console, and photography has changed completely. Switch 2 is no longer a console whose specifications can be ridiculed. It is a laptop with desktop soul. But a real desktop. A heart of Nvidia. The original Nintendo Switch had a processor Tegra of Nvidiathe same as Nvidia Shield. This generation repeat processor manufacturer and, although they have not transcended technical details about it, it once again has a tegra. One capable of moving graphics of up to 1080 120 fps in the console, and 4k 60 fps in desktop mode. In other words, the switch finally has a decent resolution to compete with the best. First level consoles such as X and PS5 series support 120 fps but, being realistic, the catalog that supports this refreshment rate is minimal. 4k 60p is the standard, and switch finally meets it. A level catalog. ‘Star Wars: Outlaws’, ‘Cyberpunk’ or ‘The Duskblood’ are just some examples of a new era for switch. One in which the console that once was a toy can move triple. PS5 and Xbox One X. (It will be especially interesting to compare it with One S), but there is undoubtedly a key here: it is finally time to compare the switch with a desktop console. To this we must add both the retrocompatibility with Switch 1 games and the emulation capabilities to which Gamecube is now added. Triple A price, for games and console. 90 euros. It is the price that Mario Kart World ‘will have for Nintendo Switch 2. The rest of the games can wait for the 80 euros, 20 euros more than the classics 59.99 euros that we could buy games for the first generation. With a price of 469.99 euros without games, Switch competes directly in the league of the most top of the market. The key? Nintendo does not go directly for that market, he has his own, and now he has more arguments than ever to convince. For almost all. Buying Switch 1 was to launch a clear message: Import Nintendo, not the graphic quality. Nintendo Switch 2 ends completely with this, now becoming the hybrid par excellence to play some triple A deliveries (the initial catalog is and aims to remain reduced), but also to what Nintendo does remain Nintendo: its own titles. To play this type of deliveries in portable console the price is high: rivals as The Rog Ally X are going to 799 euros. More powerful, yes. Without switch versatility, too. Only time will determine the success of this new switch. What is clear is that Nintendo has understood that hardware and performance matter and, finally, we have that switch we deserved. Image | Nintendo In Xataka | Or a new success or the greatest collapse of its history, everything that is played by Nintendo with the Switch 2

The plan to empty in six days its islands closest to Taiwan

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Two news in recent months have ended up becoming a revealing announcement. The first occurred at the end of January, when many of the Sakishima Islands (the closest to Taiwan) began a series of a series of any weekend Evacuation drills. Shortly after, Japan made a historical decision: deploy long -range missiles In some of these islands. How much? Enough to get to China. Now, in the face of doubts to a war conflict, it has officialized a plan. Evacuate mission. Japan has presented for the first time A formal plan To evacuate more than 100,000 civilians, including residents and tourists, of the remote islands near Taiwan, specifically Sakishima archipelagolocated at the southwest end of the country. The plan occurs in a context of growing military tension In the Taiwan Strait, where the threat of a possible Chinese invasion has generated concern in Tokyo and the international community. To be exact, the measure includes the evacuation of Approximately 110,000 residents and 10,000 tourists through the mobilization of ships and airplanes to eight prefectures of Western and Southwestern Japan, with the goal of completing the operation in a Maximum period of six days. The evacuees would be initially transferred to the island of Kyushu and from there distributed to different destinations that are already being prepared with temporary accommodations. Military and drill preparations. As we said at the beginning, the drills have been carried out In the last datesbut without great explanations about the main reason. Now, and as part of the reinforcement of security and logistics preparation, the Japanese government has announced that as of April next year it will carry out Evacuation exercises In the Sakishima Islands, which are part of the Okinawa Prefecture, a key region that houses almost 50,000 American soldiers and that has historically been considered strategic for the defense of Japan. In addition, and as we count a few days ago, the installation of units of Surface-Aire missiles on the island of Yonagunilocated only 100 km from Taiwan, and the construction of provisional underground shelters, equipped with food and supplies for at least two weeks. These measures seek to improve defense capacity in the event of an eventual attack and ensure the protection of local populations. Increasing tensions. Although the evacuation plan does not explicitly mention Taiwan, it is evident that the growing possibility that the self -governor island (claimed by China as part of its territory) becomes the epicenter of a military conflict has been the trigger for the initiative. China ha Increased military pressure About Taiwan in recent years and has not ruled out the use of force to Force “reunification”. The precedent of the Russian invasion to Ukraine and the hardening positions Geopolitics, especially after Donald Trump’s return to the presidency of the United States, has increased the fear that the Taiwan Strait becomes the next great focus of conflict in Asia. United States and the weakness of the alliance. Possibly, the key reason that has led to Japan to missile implantation long range and to formalize an evacuation plan is uncertainty with the United States. In fact, the evacuation plan has been widely Extended in Taiwanwhere it has generated worrying interpretations about the reliability of regional alliances. Many Taiwanese and local analysts see the Japanese initiative as a sign that Tokyo does not trust In which Washington, under the policy of “America First” of Trump, maintains your commitment to defense against a conflict in the Strait. To this we must add the Recent statements from Trumpquestioning the reciprocity of the United States-Japan Security Treaty and highlighting that Tokyo It is not obliged To defend the United States in case of aggression, which has accentuated these concerns. A culture broth that has led to the perception that Japan is preparing “discreetly” to ensure its withdrawal of vulnerable areas without depending on US intervention. Reinforce regional defense. As we also said, Japan, in addition to the evacuation and militarization of the Sakishima Islands, has intensified its defensive strategy through the planned deployment of long -range missiles In Kyushu, expanding its ability to respond to threats from the Asian continent. Simultaneously, the Senkaku Islandsdisputed with China and administered by Japan, continue to be a friction point that could further complicate security in the region. The Japanese government has made it clear that all these measures are part of a comprehensive strategy Based on the forecast of “imminent armed attacks”, as Yoshimasa Hayashi, chief secretary of the Cabinet said. Vulnerability in the islands. The population of the most exposed islands shares government concern. In this regard, The Guardian told That Gen Nakatani, Minister of Defense, recently recognized the “strong sense of crisis” that is perceived among the inhabitants of these islands, who have historically witnessed the territorial disputes and military maneuvers in the region. The proximity of Yonaguni and other islands of the archipelago to the Strait of Taiwan, as well as the growing presence of China in the surrounding waters, make the feeling of threat constant. Therefore, the combination of planned evacuationstrengthening shelters, Armament deployment And cooperation with Washington, despite tensions, has a fairly clear objective: reinforce Japan’s resilience to a possible military escalation. Image | US Pacific Fleet In Xataka | Japan has made a historical decision in the face of the uncertainty of the US: to display missiles that reach North Korea and China In Xataka | The Japan islands closest to Taiwan have begun to evacuate the area. They have been preparing for the worst for two years

We have tried Sesame’s conversational. It is the experience closest to a “human voice” that we have seen

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Theodore Twombly, the main character of the movie ‘Her‘, fell in love with a machine called Samantha. He didn’t even need to see her or touch her. It was enough to listen to his voice, which was actually that of actress Scarlett Johansson. That was science fiction, but little by little we are approaching a point where to fall in love with a machine is no longer. We have been seeing some time with replikathe AI ​​service that allows virtual avatars to become our friends or something else. That service achieves it with an AI model that generates text, such as chatgpt. Until now we chatted with the machines, but little by little we are beginning to talk to them. Chatgpt’s voice modes precisely give that optionand in fact the company He had to withdraw one of his voices for being too similar to the Scarlett Johansson. But now an artificial intelligence startup called Skew me has gone one step further. At the end of February the company He published a demonstration of its voice conversational generation model (CSM, by conversation Speech Model), and its impact has been remarkable. Some users have informed of feeling an emotional connection with the male and female voices of the model (“Maya” and “thousands”). One of them, who published his impressions in Hacker News, explained How “I am even a little worried about whether I start feeling emotionally linked to a voice assistant with this level of so human sound.” Anyone can try to speak with Maya or thousands Thanks to that demo on the Sesame website. The only obstacle is that conversations must be in English: these models do not speak other languages ​​at the moment. I just did it for a few minutes, and the operation of this conversational chatbot is really surprising. The voice is warm and close, but above all I perfectly imitate the way a person would speak. With pauses, doubts or intonation changes. The voice generation is instantaneous, there is no latency, and certainly the sensation is to be having a conversation with another human being. It’s strange, exciting and disturbing at the same time. As they explain In his blog Those responsible, “in Sesame our goal is to achieve a” presence of the voice “, that magical quality that makes oral interactions look real, are understood and valued.” They are pointing to something similar to what Replika pointed out: to create “conversational companions” that offer a genuine dialogue with which to build some confidence over time. These models are not perfect. Maya, for example, has demonstrated do strange things From time to time, but comments on Some forums of discussion like this Reddit They make it clear that the quality of these models is spectacular. If you want to check the quality of this model, attentive to this. Source: Reddit. And if you do not believe it, take a look at this conversation that Gavin Purcell, one of those responsible for the podcast Ai for Humanshe posted on Reddit arguing unsuccessfully with the machine to try to find its limits. It does not seem to achieve it, and in fact it is impossible to detect that one of the interlocutors is a machine. His speed of answer, his changes in tones, his choice of phrases and words … is amazing. Sesame’s conversational chatbot It also allows you to interpret different roles (“Roleplaying”), something that for example Openai usually limits. Openai has been working on their voice modes for chatgpt, and Grok 3 has also implemented different synthesized voices and also adjust to diverse personalities. There is even a “deranged” and another “sexy” voice, for example, which demonstrates once again that Musk and Xai do not mind experimenting As they comment In Ars Technicain Sesame they have achieved this advance thanks to two models (one trunk and another decoder) that work together. Both are based on architecture calls, and Sesame has raised three different sizes. The largest of all combines a trunk model of 8,000 million parameters with a decoder of 300 million, which results in a joint 8.3b model. To train it they have used a million hours of audio files in English. The comments In a debate In Hacker News they made it clear that the quality of Sesame’s voices is almost human, but even users continued to notice that something failed. One of Sesame’s co -founders, Brendan Iribe, I participated In the debate thanking those comments and confirming that they still have a lot of work ahead. Is “still too anxious Often inappropriate in his tone, prosody and rhythm “, He explained, and has problems with the interruptions, times and fluidity of the conversation. “Today we are firmly In the valley (disturbing)“, he said,” but we are optimistic and we can get out of it. “ The possibilities seem almost unlimited for these types of models, but they are both for good and for worse. Its use to supplant identities, for example, has already given some serious scares. Here is the Creation of a “family password” It can be very useful to avoid part of those problems, although at the moment you are not allowed to clone voices. We will see how AI companies react to these types of problems, but everything indicates that this future in which We will talk constantly (and we will even fall in love) with the machines It is getting closer. In Xataka | Be careful with falling in love with your chatbot: in Openai they warn that GPT-4O can reduce the need to socialize with human beings

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