cold

a signature of the cold war

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Sometimes, decisions in international politics are not made in offices, but in documents signed decades ago. In fact, a clause drafted in the middle of the Cold War can become the decisive factor in a 21st century crisis. A document from the past that has been transformed into a strategic tool. Escalation and division. The offensive of the United States and Israel against Iran has opened a political rift on the European continent. France, Germany and the United Kingdom have coordinated a joint position that leaves no room for doubt, one in which they even contemplate proportionate actions to neutralize Iranian attacks at source and protect their interests in the Gulf. Faced with this bloc, Spain has opted for a explicit uncheck linedefending de-escalation and strict respect for international law. The fracture with the great forces of Europe is not just rhetoric, because it has now materialized in operational decisions that directly affect strategic infrastructures on Spanish soil. All “yes”, except one. Thus, while the great European powers they have made it clear that will allow the use of its capabilities and bases to support Washington, Spain has activated a legal mechanism signed almost 40 years ago during the Cold War, in 1988, which conditions any use of the Rota and Morón bases to objectives framed in collective defense or in a recognized multilateral framework. The key “paragraph.” He article 2 of the Convention It is clear in this sense, since it grants the United States the use of certain support facilities and authorizations in Spanish territory “for objectives within the bilateral or multilateral scope of the agreement.” However, it also points out that any use that goes beyond those objectives will require authorization prior to the Spanish Government. Hence, the Executive has maintained that a unilateral operation against Iran doesn’t fit in that case. That clauseborn in the context of the NATO referendum and the reaffirmation of sovereignty over the bases, has now become the “ace in the hole” that has allowed Madrid deny replenishment of American tankers and block direct support for the offensive. Rota and Morón: sovereignty, not automatic transfer. The bilateral agreement makes it clear that the bases They are of Spanish sovereignty and that the United States operates support facilities under national command. This implies that transit or resupply flights are for the purposes of the treaty and have express authorization. Thus, yesterday and after the Spanish refusal, Washington retired for a fortnight of tanker aircraft deployed in Morón and Rota, moving them to other European bases. The message is twofold: Spain does not authorize offensive use outside the agreed framework and the United States reorganizes its device accordingly. The European contrast. As we said, Paris, Berlin and London have shown willingness to coordinate responses even of an offensive nature if they consider that their interests or those of their allies are threatened by Iranian missiles. The difference, therefore, is not ideological, but strategic: the big three have chosen to align with Washington in active defense against Tehran. Spain, on the other hand, has insisted in that any action must be protected by the United Nations Charter or by a multilateral organization such as NATO or the EU. There is no doubt, the result is a unique and historic position within the Western bloc. Consequences and international perception. Plus: the decision has generated conflicting readings. For the Government it is clear that it is a reaffirmation of legality and sovereignty. For critics and defense experts, it means a distancing of the common allied position, one that may have medium-term implications in the strategic relationship with the United States, whose link with Spain is articulated to a large extent via Rota. If you like, also in security policy, each gesture is interpreted as a signal. And on this occasion, the signal sent by Spain has been unequivocal: without international legal coverage, its bases will not be a platform to attack Iran. Image | Navy, US Defense In Xataka | Iran has just attacked a base in Europe: the paradox of Spain is that it condemns the war, but the US does not need to ask to use its bases In Xataka | The great paradox of Spain is 7,000 million euros: nobody wants to take up weapons, but they are making money by selling them

the reality of extra autonomy is a bucket of cold water

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One of those novelties that were seen in the past CES 2026 was the technology of solar panels integrated into the body of the vehicle by the hand of Solarstica startup emerged from Hyundai Motor Group. The idea of ​​using solar energy to charge batteries is not new, but its technology is innovative and above all, His promises are most promising. (pardon the redundancy). It is in the testing phase on real models such as the IONIQ 5 and the ST1, because it is not a mere concept: they are serious. In addition, he won the prize of Vehicle Tech & Advanced Mobility. Up to 80 extra kilometers per day. Solarstic affirms that integrates solar panels on the hood and roof so that, combined, they can generate up to 500 watts of power, which can extend the range of an electric vehicle up to 50 miles per day (80 km), a more than respectable figure to cover daily trips. They also explain that for long-distance trips you can “recharge around 30% of the battery while driving.” It’s not glass. Not even a sticker. The idea goes from forgetting the classic and heavy glass of traditional panels, which takes its toll on the vehicle’s center of gravity and its aerodynamics, in favor of lightweight polymers in encapsulated form. To integrate them into structural elements (they are not mere adhesives) such as the hood or roof, injection molding is used, which allows for more complex and curved shapes. It also has its advantages in passive safety: in the event of a collision or run over, a polymer hood would absorb energy compared to a glass one, which is rigid and at risk of breaking. It hasn’t been easy. To the technical challenge of manufacturing in the form of polymer encapsulation with high pressure and the risk of solar cells breaking (which have solved with a protective layer and lowering the injection pressure) durability and aesthetics come together. Polymers exposed to the sun tend to degrade, losing transparency in favor of a yellowish tone that reduces efficiency. In addition, a simple wash could also deteriorate them and not only aesthetically: if the polymer is scratched, the light is scattered and does not reach the cell. So they are testing with anti-scratch and anti-degradation coatings. Finally, they have opted for a more discreet black finish that hides the solar cells in plain sight. Your face sounds familiar to me. The concept of using solar energy: Lightyear One and its promise of 70 km of autonomy per day. The fine print: a prohibitive cost that ended up accelerating its end to focus on the Lightyear 2 and finally, bankruptcy of the Dutch company. Sono Motors also tried it with its Sono Sionbut financing was difficult for them and they ended up canceling the car to focus on selling their panel technology to buses and trucks. Aptera seems to be able to bring the adventure to a successful conclusion: have confirmed that 2026 is the year for the first deliveries of its ultra-efficient three-wheeled solar vehicle. It’s a niche model, not an SUV. However, more established brands such as Mercedes Benz (with its Vision EQXX with sunroof or with solar paint) either Toyota and its Prius They have also tried it. It’s time to talk about numbers. Theory and practice. We are going to take a car that we know well because we have tested: the Hyundai Ioniq 5which consumes about 17 kWh per 100 km. To achieve 80 kilometers of autonomy, it would therefore be necessary to generate about 13.6 kWh. With a 500 W system (note, peak power), it would take just under 28 hours of perfect sun per day. This figure seems more plausible in a week parked in full sun than for a single day, or in an extremely efficient model like the Aptera and not in a two-ton car. Or a calculation based on the savings of auxiliary systems. This point is very interesting. In fact, never charging it could happen in a specific scenario: living in a sunny place like Cartagena (the sunniest city in Spain according to the vacation rental website Holidu with data from ‘World Weather Online’) and do about 10 kilometers a day. In Pamplona for example, taking a summer day and assuming about 5 hours of peak sun, it would be 2.5 kWh, which is enough for just under 15 kilometers. The figures fit with what we have seen before and show a reality: the car will not be able to be powered only by solar charging as we know it. Where that extra comes in handy. When we try the Vision EQXX In a couple of journeys we are talking about an increase in autonomy of 13 and 43 kilometers respectively. The second took place on a sunny day in June. And when our colleagues from Motorpasion They tested the Toyota Prius Plug In In 2021 we are talking about an extension, in the best of cases and with its capacity at 100%, of 6.1 kilometers. Its theoretical charging power was 180 W (practical, 140W). There they came to a conclusion: the solar panels will never be able to recharge the main battery up to 100%. Although boosting autonomy sounds great, we have already seen that for most people who do not live in paradise and drive more kilometers, this can be a little push that can be used to power the air conditioning or maintain the battery when parked. Of course, Hyundai has the scaling capacity that Sonos or Lightyear lacked and if they manage to make that solar module last a decade, it will be a magnificent ace in the hole. Not so much to charge the car for free, but because that extra can be used to cool the cabin without using up the main battery. In Xataka | The electric car promises that maintenance will be zero. Now it also promises affordable battery changes In Xataka | Toyota’s weapon to … Read more

with a large amount of water but no trace of polar cold

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January is going to say goodbye with great weather instability that we are already experiencing in our flesh throughout the entire Spanish territory. If we look at the weather maps for this week that begins today, the conclusion is quite unanimous. both in the AEMET as in the European ECMWF prediction model: stability has been broken. Starting today we enter a regime of humid winds accompanied by rainfall well above average on the Atlantic slopewith special impact on Galicia and the central system. Rain, a lot of rain. If we look at the forecasts on a national scale, we are facing very marked rainfall this week. And we are not talking about normal rains, but rather accumulated ones that in the northeast could exceed the usual average for these dates by 60%. Something that responds to saying goodbye to the storm Ingrid to give way to the storm Joseph that will affect Galicia above all. Galicia is one of the points where accumulations are expected to reach 90 liters per extra square meter of anomaly with peaks of up to 150 liters per square meter in orographic points. But mountain systems such as the Sierra de Gredos, the Pyrenees and the high areas of Andalusia will also receive significant amounts of water and snow due to the orographic enhancement of the southwest winds. The AEMET. In a post on his blog, The public agency points out that this week will be marked by the passage of “fronts associated with Atlantic storms, which would leave rain in most of the Peninsula and the Balearic Islands.” Likewise, it points to the great intensity that they will have in Galicia, which will undoubtedly bear the brunt throughout this week. The thermal paradox. One of the key points that highlight the predictions is in the thermometer. Anyone could imagine very low temperatures accompanying this amount of precipitation that is expected, but the reality is very different, since we are not facing a polar cold wave. The models indicate in this case that since the winds come from the Atlantic, the air arrives warm and loaded with humidity. This will keep temperatures above the climatic measurement as the maximum temperatures will be between 10 and 16ºC, while the minimum temperatures will remain between 8ºC and 12ºC, avoiding severe frosts in low areas. The snow. In this sense we can rest assured, since according to the AEMET, the snow will be limited mainly to the mountain systems of the peninsula. However, we must be attentive to Wednesday, January 28 and Thursday, January 29, since a specific drop in elevation after the passage of a cold front could leave snowfall in areas of the northern plateau and medium-low elevations, although it will be a transitory episode within a generally mild environment. Why does this happen? To understand this carousel of storms you have to look at the index of the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO). Currently, it is in a negative phase, which means that the Azores anticyclone weakens or shifts, allowing storms to circulate at lower latitudes (i.e. over Spain) instead of deviating towards northern Europe. Images | AEMET In Xataka | We have always believed that London is very rainy and that Barcelona is not. The only problem is that it’s a lie

The price of electricity, the cold and the fear of a blackout have brought a 19th century job back to London: chimney sweeps

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When you hear about chimney sweeps, the image that comes to mind is that of men (or boys) from the late 19th century with smudged faces, shirts full of soot and a large broom on their shoulders. That’s the topic. The photographs that Google shows when we search for the word and the one it illustrates your entry on Wikipedia. Today the reality is very different. In the middle of 2026, not only are there still professionals dedicated to the trade, but they use cutting-edge technology and in cities like London they are experimenting a resurgence thanks to the price of energy. His appearance is nothing like that of the famous Bert de ‘Mary Poppins’but they continue to play a key role… and above all they are in demand. Chimney sweeps in 2026? Exact. And at least in London they are not an extemporaneous and decadent group, the memory of a bygone era. On the contrary. As I counted a few days ago The New York Times The profession is still very much alive there, it has been able to adapt to the needs (and resources) of the 21st century and above all it is experiencing a resurgence thanks to the cost of energy. The clearest proof is left by National Chimney Sweeps Association (NACS, for its acronym in English): in 2021 it had 590 members, today its membership base is already around 750. The union includes dozens of women and some businesses claim that in winter they receive between 70 and 80 calls a day. What do they do? Essentially the same as its predecessors from the 19th and 20th centuries, although in a very different context and with very different resources. To remove soot from chimneys they still use brushes that Bert from ‘Mary Popins’ would perfectly recognize, but that is only part of an arsenal that also includes digital cameras, industrial vacuum cleaners and smoke detection equipment. “Almost like chimney technicians,” points out Martin Glynnfrom NACS. Companies are even using drones to scan rooftops. Nothing to do with the habits that once made the profession infamous, such as employing orphans to climb chimneys and clean ducts. It sounds like terrifying science fiction, but this practice was common in the 18th and 19th centuries. In fact in 1875 the death of a child that got stuck in Fulbourn generated such a stir that the Government approved a law that banned “climbing children.” Are there still chimneys? Yes. British chimney sweeps were not immune to key changes, such as the popularization of central heating in the second half of the 20th century or the Clean Air Act (‘Clean Air Act‘) of 1956, but the union has been able to endure and today lives in a much kinder time, even one of vindication. I told it just a year ago in The Telegraph Steven Pearce, descendant of a long line of chimney sweeps who started in the trade decades ago, convinced that the profession’s days were numbered. “At first I only accepted it as a weekend job because we thought the trade would disappear with the 1956 law, when the Government gave local authorities the power to control the burning of coal and boiler fumes,” Pearce relates. “But that didn’t happen, in fact the last five years have been better than ever in business. It’s the busiest time I’ve seen in 45 years.” He is not the only one which confirms the rebirth of the profession. What is the reason? In 2026 English homes may not rely on coal and wood for heat, but they will still light their fireplaces. And not only because of the popularization of stoves. NACS itself admits that demand for its services has been driven by two factors: the increase in energy prices of recent years and a turbulent international context, in which the electricity supply seems a vulnerable flank to enemy attacks. The group also remembers that people simply “like to sit in front of a fireplace” to read, have a glass of wine, watch a movie and unwind. As if that were not enough, a good fire also helps reduce dependence and expense on central heating. What does the regulations say? Of course there are restrictions on the domestic use of coal, but The New York Times remember that even in areas like London the burning of authorized fuels They emit very little visible smoke. What they do generate is soot, which explains why the Government advises that chimneys be cleaned every year with professional help. “People think: ‘We’re going to have a plan B, a fireplace, a stove in case the power goes out,’” Glynn adds.president of NACS. “If you have the option of burning wood or smokeless fuel you can still cook and have some heating. There is a big increase in demand, people are lighting fireplaces again.” How does the future look? Steven Pearce assures that his clients continue buying stoves and admits that it is difficult for him to believe that people are going to do without the installations, even if they are prohibited. “I can’t imagine those who have spent £3,000 to £5,000 installing them not using them.” In fact, he maintains that in recent years he has seen “a great resurgence in the purchase of multi-fuel fireplaces and stoves, which burn wood, charcoal and smokeless materials.” It’s not all advantages: your ‘bill’ is PM2.5 emissionparticles invisible to the naked eye but which do represent a harmful “air pollutant”. Images | Wikipedia, Jorbasa Fotografie (Flickr) and NACS In Xataka | While the whole world looks at oil, Venezuela’s true treasure is hidden in the basements of London: its gold

AEMET warns that, after the cold, something much more problematic comes

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The Mediterranean asks to speak and the polar jet seems ready to give it all the prominence: if everything goes as planned, after a very cold weekend, What is happening? That the polar jet is contorting again and, this time, it is going to turn so far south that a good part of Spain is going to be in the cold zone. We will change the warm and humid air masses of the Gulf for cold masses that, since they are not arctic, will also have a lot of humidity. For practical purposes, that does not stop the “train of storms” that was affecting us; but its temperature. Therefore, the “storms, fronts, wind and rough seas“will be accompanied, once again, by a drop in temperatures: snow is, in fact, expected in the north of the Sahara. That and a strong storm in the middle of the Mediterranean. But let’s start with the cold. During the weekend (accompanied by that contortion of the jet) orA mass of cold air will invade Spain: Not only will the minimum temperatures drop and frost will return to a large part of the country, but the maximum temperatures will suddenly collapse. The great Mediterranean storm. Although on Saturday the 17th there will be movement in the Gulf of Valencia and the Balearic Sea, the strong will begin on Monday the 19th. That day, the undulation of the polar jet has a good chance of setting up a very powerful cyclogenesis. A cyclogenesis is an intensification of a low and, the Mediterranean knows a lot about that: the arrival of cold air at altitude over a fairly warm sea only needs a good shot of humidity to transform into a very intense storm. These days we will have all the elements on the table. And what can we expect? The models are beginning to converge in a full-fledged winter storm in the Balearic Islands and the Mediterranean coast. Although, as Martín León explains“it could leave abundant rain and snow in medium-high areas in the eastern part of the Peninsula”; The truth is that the position and intensity of the storm is still unclear. And those uncertainties will make the difference between a cold calm or a real winter storm. Image | ECMWF In Xataka | The soils of Spain are already saturated with water. And now a new train of storms threatens something worse

A remote town in Soria attracted neighbors by offering them a house and bar. Two months later they left due to the cold

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Beratón is a small municipality in Moncayo, province of Soria, which stands out for its high altitude (the largest in the province) and reduced census (38 inhabitants, according to the INE). However, in recent weeks it has left one of the clearest examples of how difficult it is to keep pace with the depopulation of the ’emptied Spain’. A few months ago, its City Council tried to attract residents by offering a “business + housing” combo that managed to awaken the interest of a young couple from Cuenca. They didn’t even last three months. The cold and the drop in activity have led them to pack their bags again. It could be just an anecdote, but it illustrates how complicated it is to reactivate rural Spain. Even when there is good disposition and ideas. What has happened? That Beratón (Soria) has left one of those stories that, although a priori may seem simple and anecdotal, reflect much more complex trends. In May, the municipality made the news because its City Council launched an unusual announcement: whoever agreed to manage the town’s tavern would have at their disposal a newly renovated house. Business and housing guaranteed. “All kinds of facilities will be provided,” the mayor insistedCarmen Lapeña, on the SER Soria network, who also recalled that Beratón was a popular point for hikers and groups who came to Moncayo to spend the day. And it worked? Yes. The offer attracted a familya young couple from Cuenca. His arrival was doubly good news: not only did he swell Beratón’s meager census, but in theory it would serve to reactivate the town’s main point of socialization. The joy, however, was short-lived. A few days ago our colleagues from Straight to the Palate revealedciting SER, that the new residents have not lasted even two months there. They packed their bags at the end of December, which does not prevent the mayor from continuing to think about attracting new blood for the town. Of course, starting in March, when temperatures begin to rise and the town regains activity little by little. Why are they gone? The couple’s decision is actually little surprising. To start Beratón it becomes a cold place in winter, with temperatures that often fall below zero. “The winter months are very hard,” acknowledges the councilor, who for that reason rules out trying to bring in new families during January and February, “bad times.” However, the weather is only part of the problem. After all, there are other icy locations (even more than Berathon) who have no difficulties in attracting hoteliers. Its other big problem is depopulation and especially the ups and downs of the census. Although the INE has registered there 38 inhabitantsactually that’s just a reference. Although during the summer months the town welcomes more than 300 residentsin the harshest months of winter it is left with a handful of inhabitants stable, just half a dozen. The figure is so low that it is difficult to maintain the profitability of a business, even if it is a bar. “The days are very short, very cold… sad. People come, but punctually.” Is it a unique case? The story of Beratón includes some of its own ingredients, but its underlying problem is not very different from that faced by other parts of ’emptied Spain’ that find it difficult to stop the population drain. If at the beginning of this century there were in Spain 934 municipalities With less than 100 inhabitants, in 2021 that figure had risen to 1,379. Of the slow emptying of ’emptied Spain’ echoed before the pandemic the Spanish Rural Development Network (REDR) and the problem does not seem to be subsiding. The latest data from the INE show that the club of localities with less than a hundred registered residents has added thirty municipalities in the last five years, remaining at over 1,400 as of 2025. Is it that complicated? It seems so. In Galicia we found other cases which, although again they may seem anecdotal, help to better understand the general trend. There are rural town councils there that are taking over businesses such as gas stations and stores to prevent them from closing, which would be equivalent to running out of services and further accelerating their decline. It may seem excessive, but a recent report from the Consello de Contas warns that in Galicia there are almost a hundred of towns in ‘danger of extinction’, many of them located in A Coruña and Lugo. In Spain, in fact, there are already ‘ghost towns’ for sale. Why’s that? Due to a combination of factors: rural exodus, poor communications, difficulties in finding employment or establishing a long-term life project… For a time the pandemic, reconnection with nature and teleworking seemed to clear the future of some towns, but that ‘renaissance’ it didn’t always stick. In the background there is another problem, much more complex: housing. It is one thing that when we visit rural areas of Spain we see empty houses and quite another that those same properties are available for people interested in taking advantage of them or are habitable. How to solve it? The big question. In rural areas there are also second residencetourism-oriented housing, constructions whose ownership has become blurred over the decades and others that do not directly meet the necessary conditions to welcome new tenants. “The legislation gives city councils weapons to act in case of ruin, but we are so small and with so few resources that we cannot execute the laws,” he lamented in 2024 Enrique Collada, mayor of Alcarria, a town of 71 inhabitants in Guadalajara. Similar message launches the Tierras Sorianas del Cid Association: “There is a lot of empty housing or housing with residual use that we should try to put on the market.” The objective: escape the effects of demographic winter. Another thing (as has happened in Beratón) is the rigors of the climatic winter. Images | Beratón Town Hall and Miguel Á. Garcia (Flickr) In Xataka … Read more

AEMET says ‘goodbye’ to the polar cold during the remainder of January

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After the cold and the passing of the Goretti stormSpain changes screen. And he does it for the rest of the month and who knows if for the rest of the year. The polar cold is over, although we are not very clear what is coming next. What is going to happen? As we explained a few days agothey spoke of a deep trough that was coming in the direction of the Peninsula. This south-southwest advection is bringing “tropical maritime air”: that is, air that is warmer and more humid than normal. For this reason, the morning frost has receded this morning throughout the country and, therefore, there are thermal anomalies approaching 8ºC above average in areas of the interior and the northeastern half. Bottom line, the cold is melting and a time is coming”more pleasant“. Although it’s not ‘spring’ all that glitters. At least, when it comes to risks. Let’s think about it for a moment: Galicia can receive up to 150 liters per square meter these days and, indeed, it is not something disproportionate. But the soil is already saturated with water and that amount can very easily produce floods, landslides or local flooding. To that, furthermore, you have to add the thaw. What has changed? Last week we said that the specific consequences of this atmospheric movement were still not clear; but the uncertainties are already dissipating: as Sergio Escama explainedwhat the models indicate is that the polar jet that had been very wavy in recent days is straightening and that, right now, facilitates the entry of air masses from the Atlantic (and limits strong thermal inversions that collapse night temperatures). For this reason, the map of Spain is little by little recovering its color. What does all this translate into? What will it do? less cold than usual for this time of year and, above all, less than what we have spent in recent weeks. However, we should not overreact: we are not talking about spring. There is still a lot of winter left. After all, although this year it may be surprising, this type of “Atlantic mode” is a classic of the peninsular winter. AND it’s not bad news: These settings are synonymous with water. For the rest: the classics return in 2026, which is still unknown. Image | Tropical Tidbits n Xataka | While the snow devours half of Europe, there is a place where it is 27ºC and on the beach in the middle of January: Greece

It’s so cold in Europe that KLM has had to cancel more than 2,300 flights for one simple reason: antifreeze

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This 2026 has started off cold. In the Spanish state, the Temporary Francis It has made us spend the Three Kings’ night in snow, rain and cold and in the rest of Europe things have not been better. The mass of arctic air has spread across the continent and has been joined by the storm Gorettiwhich has caused the temperature in the Sierra Nevada to plummet to -17 degrees, part of France is on orange alert with power outages and mobility problems and in several countries in central Europe, heavy snowfall and the storm have caused chaos in transport, with flights and trains cancelled. One of the airlines affected is the Dutch KLM, which has seen cHow their planes are freezing at the airport from Amsterdam. Literally, because there is not enough antifreeze fluid to prevent it while the supplier that supplies that additive has run out of stock. Because just like cars that sleep on the street in the middle of winter, planes also freeze. Only with a vehicle it is enough to scratch the windows a little, start the engine with the heating on and in less than five minutes, it will be running. Too many days too cold Taking off with a frozen plane is not an option: ice affects the aerodynamic conditions of the aircraft, making takeoff and landing maneuvers especially dangerous. Furthermore, solving it is not so simple or immediate: there is a strict protocol which, although it may vary with each airline, is intended to ensure that the fuselage is free of contamination and there is no degradation of the aerodynamic or mechanical conditions. Within that protocol There is deicing on the ground: the plane must be sprayed with deicing liquid to remove ice or snow. Anti-icing is then used, another ice that prevents the plane from freezing again before takeoff and the ice or snow from falling off at that time. This operation is carried out every day in hundreds of airports around the world on thousands of planes. The problem is when for too many days it is too coldwhich results in having to use more defrosting fluid than usual. If there is no stock, that polar cold wave becomes dramatic in terms of cancellations. This is what has happened to KLM, which on January 2 announced that its operations at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport were going to suffer alterations. Almost a week later, they remained the same. Without going any further, Simple Flying with Flight Radar data echoes of the cancellation of 2,374 flights until January 7. To keep aircraft operational in this harsh winter, the Dutch airline is using 25 de-icing trucks continuously in Amsterdam, consuming approximately 85,000 liters per day of freezing point depressant fluids. Faced with the shortage, Reuters explains that KLM has already sent employees to its main supplier in Germany in search of more antifreeze stocks. KLM has warned that “Due to a combination of extreme weather conditions and delays in supply by the supplier, stocks are running out. This problem is currently spreading throughout Europe“. On January 8, logistics gave KLM a break in the form of the first supply of antifreeze of those more than 100,000 liters that are on their way to Schiphol. If this has happened in Amsterdam, how can it not happen in other cities further north like Helsinki? Well, paradoxically, it happens less: they are better prepared when it comes to considering needs and available stock. In Xataka | Vigo airport has enjoyed international flights for years. Until Ryanair declared war on Spain In Xataka | The triangles on the plane window are not for decoration: they are a quick way to check that the flight is going well Cover | David Syphers

How to see the warnings for extreme cold and snow anywhere in Spain

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We are going to tell you how to see the AEMET weather warnings, with which you will be able to know every day when and where extreme cold or snow is expected to fall. This way, you can get this information directly from the main source. On this website you will be able to see a map with the weather warnings indicated with colors, depending on whether they are yellow, orange or red alerts. You will also know if the alerts are due to wind, waves, extreme temperatures or snow. Check weather warnings To check the weather warnings throughout the Spanish territory you have to enter the website aemet.es/es/eltiempo/forecast/notices. On this web page, at the top you will see a map where weather alerts are indicated. On the left you can choose to see only a specific type of alerts or on specific days. Below the map you will have a timeline, so you can review the status of the alerts hour by hour by clicking on the one you want. And below, you will first have a list with all the notices in a color code, indicating towns and showing you icons so that you know the main notices that are in each of them. Furthermore, below you will have the details of the notices. In them you will be given specific information about each of the notices, such as their level, expected values ​​or probability, as well as comments and start and end times. In Xataka Basics | Personal weather forecast in Gemini: how to use it to ask the weather today and how to schedule forecasts to appear for you

Science has discovered that the original “home” of primates was the cold of the north

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The mental image is almost universal: an ape-like ancestor jumping among vines in a hot, humid jungle. For almost a century, paleoanthropology has assumed that primates are children of the tropics, however, an ambitious study published in PNAS by researcher Jorge Avaria-Llautureo and his team has blown up this paradigm, since they have seen that the primates were not looking for the sun. The ‘Tropical Dogma’. Until now, the predominant theory regarding evolution pointed out that primates evolved in warm, stable climateswhere food, such as fruits, were available all year round. In this way, it would only be millions of years later when some species had ventured into more hostile climates such as extreme cold. A great twist of script. Science has changed this paradigm by analyzing data from none other than 66 million years of history. To do this they have crossed the fossil record with climatic reconstructions that were made with great precision to see that the ancestors of all current primates originated in environments that had significantly low temperatures. Nothing to do with the tropical and arid landscapes that we may have had in mind until now. Survival training. How is it possible that a species that we associate with the jungle was born in areas that today would be equivalent to temperate or even boreal forests? The answer is in the adaptability. Science points in this case to the fact that early primates lived at high latitudes in the northern hemisphere, as is Eurasia and North America. And at that time, they were not constant paradises, since the animals had to deal with months of cold where the plants did not bear fruit. Your adaptation. This forced primates to stop being “fruit specialists” and become generalists capable of eating insects, shoots or bark, when the weather got bad enough. And this was crucial for their biology, since their metabolism was forced to adapt to these extreme conditions, which resulted in a brutal competitive advantage when they finally expanded. The researchers point out that this metabolic adaptation to tolerate adverse climates was the basis on which their evolutionary success was based. The paradox of the Tropics. If they were born in the cold, why do almost everyone live on the equator today? The study reveals a fascinating phenomenon: southward migration. And as the global climate changed, primates moved towards tropical bands. There they found an environment where their ‘survival kit’, which was developed in very harsh conditions, allowed them to thrive with great ease. That is why the Tropics were not where primates were made, but rather it is where they diversified explosively because, compared to the north, life there was much easier and they had a large amount of food. In short, the tropics were a refuge for biodiversity, but the spark that makes us primates was lit in the cold. Change the rules of the game. In addition to seeing the past differently with this new study, it also forces us to look at the future differently. Specifically, understanding how species moved between thermal niches over millions of years is vital to predicting how today’s primates will respond to climate change. global warming accelerated. But it also lets us see that if primates have an important history of resistance to cold and seasonal scarcity, it opens the door to our own ability as humans to colonize all corners of the planet as a form of evolution. Images | Anthony In Xataka | Human evolution has not stopped: in fact, there are reasons to think that it is more accelerated than ever

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