Dangerous

There’s a reason China doesn’t fire nuclear missiles from its most dangerous submarine. You just broke that rule

by

The greatest strength of a nuclear submarine is not its firepower, but that no one knows where it is. This ability to remain hidden for months has made these ships the most important pillar of nuclear deterrence since the Cold War and explains why each movement related to them is analyzed with a magnifying glass. It wasn’t just any test. China has insisted that the launch was part of its annual training and that it had previously notified the countries of the region. However, few maneuvers generate as much attention as the ballistic missile shot from a strategic nuclear submarine into the Pacific Ocean. Not only that, since it was an action practically unpublished in decades. Beijing had been avoiding a public demonstration of this type for years and, precisely for this reason, the test has been interpreted as a message directed far beyond the military exercise itself. The letter that is never shown. Missile submarines are the most discreet and valuable component of any nuclear power. Its main advantage is in remaining hidden for weeks or months, guaranteeing a retaliatory capacity even if the country suffers a first attack. This need to maintain secrecy explains why China has barely made public launches from this type of platform and that each demonstration has enormous strategic weight. The signal was directed to the United States. Although the Chinese authorities they emphasized that the missile carried a training warhead and was not directed against any country, the context tell another story. Western analysts believe that the test was intended to demonstrate that Chinese submarines can now launch very long-range missiles. from nearby areas on its own coasts and continue hitting targets thousands of kilometers away. In other words, Beijing wanted to remind that its maritime deterrence capacity is entering a new phase of maturity. Type 094 Submarine A doctrine designed to reduce risks. Everything indicates that the launch took place from protected waters close to China, a strategy known as “bastion.” Instead of sending its submarines to the center of the Pacific, the idea is to keep them under the cover of national aviation, fleet and anti-missile systems while retaining the ability to attack very distant targets. If the new JL-2 or JL-3 missiles They fulfill the benefits attributed to them by analysts, these submarines no longer need to travel too far from home to reach US territory. Nuclear expansion continues. Because the test comes in full modernization process of Chinese strategic forces. Beijing is building new silos for intercontinental missiles, deploying more advanced generations of land-based missiles and increasing the number of ballistically capable nuclear submarines. Pentagon estimates suggest that the Chinese arsenal could exceed a thousand nuclear warheads before 2030a transformation that is changing the military balance in the Indo-Pacific. The Pacific responds worried. Australia, Japan, New Zealand and Taiwan reacted criticizing a pitch which they consider destabilizing for the region, despite having received prior notification. The criticism was not directed solely at the missile, but in the context of a rapid increase in Chinese military capabilities and an increasingly visible naval presence in the Pacific. For many governments, the test represents a new step in a show of force strategy that had already included tests of intercontinental missiles and naval maneuvers increasingly distant from Chinese coasts. The real novelty was not the missile. It is known that China has had ballistic missiles capable of carrying nuclear weapons for years. What is really new is that he has decided show publicly how one of its strategic submarines can use them, something it had almost completely avoided until now. In fact, the demonstration increases the credibility of your ability of retaliation, forces its rivals to assume that these submarines are fully operational and confirms that Beijing is willing to use its military tests as another tool of political and strategic deterrence. Image | PLA In Xataka | Satellite images leave no doubt: China has launched an underwater creature into the sea that defies naval engineering In Xataka | From cultivating the field to sailing underwater: the Chinese farmer who makes homemade submarines in his free time

‘Backrooms’ is going to return to theaters with a 15-minute longer version. If successful, we will have a dangerous precedent

by

‘Backrooms‘ has raised a surprising 330 million in theaters with its first version in theaters. Wait: first? Are there different versions of ‘Backrooms’? Now it is: five weeks after the premiere, its production company A24 is bringing it to theaters again, this time with 15 minutes of exclusive material. Obviously it is not the first time that the industry has made moves of this type, but it is the first in which there is so little time between versions. And it sets a precedent that could give us more than one disappointment in the future if it is successful. The return A24 to relaunch ‘Backrooms’ on July 3 under the title Backrooms: Everything Must Go Edition, just five weeks after its original premiere on May 29. They are 15 minutes of “unreleased content in theaters”, and with special features: they will be included in block after the final credits, they have been directed by the film’s director Kane Parsons and it will be exclusive to this re-release and will not be seen in home editions or streaming. Less and less. The director’s cut or director’s cuts (something that this ‘Everything Must Go Edition’ is not exactly, since the new footage will not modify the existing one, but is extra material after the credits, like a “deleted scenes” extra on a DVD) are not new in the industry. They have existed since 1942, when Chaplin’s ‘The Gold Rush’, from 1925, was re-released with new material. The modern concept was born in the seventies with Peckimpah’s ‘The Wild Bunch’, when a restored version was released in cinemas. The most popular was the Director’s Cut of ‘Blade Runner’, ten years after the release of the original, with changes that modified the meaning of the first film. In all of them and others equally popular (and often released in cinemas), such as ‘Close Encounters of the Third Kind’ or ‘The Gates of Heaven’, there is a coincidental pattern, and that is that the rerun comes years after the original premiere. And often, accompanied by a discussion about the emasculating power of the industry, which prevents the full expression of the creator’s version. He director’s cut It is an advertising tool, yes, but it is also a vindication of the films without interference from the studios. This time, the studio itself releases an extended version when no one has complained that the first cut is mutilated. The danger. It’s clear what’s at stake here. If the move is successful, the next step is to release intentionally “incomplete” versions to generate two box office cycles. First the base audience is reached, and then, weeks later and when the hypethe film is re-released with “exclusive” material. Here specifically, the move is clear: that the production remains profitable in the juicy weekend of July 4, very important at the US box office. The difference with very popular extended versions such as those of Peter Jackson’s ‘The Lord of the Rings’ seen on DVD, is obvious. A24, in question. Although for a time A24 has been the pretty girl of the Holywood production companies for his ease in taking risks, for cultivating undervalued genres and for supporting directors with clear auteur visions (and still get blockbusters and sweep the Oscars), for a few months now his image has been questioned. To the open adoption of one totally pro-AI policy Now this very tricky marketing move is added. In a couple of years we will see if what today sounds like an extravagant maneuver becomes a standard tactic: launch “version 1.0”, wait for it to hit the box office, re-release a “complete vision” after a month and a half. Before the director’s cut It took months to arrive, now even those small islands of creative integrity have been subject to the extremely accelerated calendar set by social networks and the streaming. In Xataka | The most terrifying photo on the internet has no monster, no story and no one knows who took it: Backrooms comes to the cinema

Experts already claim that the Chinese GLM-5.2 model is as “dangerous” as Anthropic’s

by

The technological gap between the US and China continues to narrow. At least, if we pay attention to what they say the latest analyzes on the GLM-5.2 model. Two independent cybersecurity companies have made their own assessment and their data reveals that in terms of cybersecurity, GLM-5.2 is as good as Claude Opus 4.8. That has notable implications, especially considering how the US government is now restricting access to Anthropic and OpenAI’s frontier models. AI in the face of the threat of cybersecurity. Since Claude Mythos Preview appeared, the discourse on AI has changed significantly. Suddenly the world realized that these models could become weapons with which to find vulnerabilities in all types of systems to exploit them. Anthropic has already warned that Mythos was too dangerous to be publicly available, and it did not matter that it released hidden versions like Fable 5 shortly after: the US Government has temporarily vetoed them and the same has happened with GPT-5.6. The situation is unusual. Beware of Tulongfeng (or not). Last Wednesday, a Chinese cybersecurity company called 360 Security Technology (Qihoo 360) launched a new vulnerability detection tool called Tulongfeng. According to its creatorsTulongfeng is comparable Mythos in this task. The company this on the US “Entity List” since May 2020 and its CEO, Zhou Hongyi, stated that Mythos is equivalent to a “cybernuclear weapon.” The Sputnik moment with GLM-5.2. But the real recent protagonist of the Chinese AI industry is the GLM-5.2 model from the startup Zhipu.ai (Z.ai), which is becoming very popular by demonstrating performance comparable to the best models from US companies. Its fundamental advantage is that it is an open weights model: any person or company can download it, modify it and run it on their own hardware (although it requires a huge amount of video/unified memory to be able to use it, it is a model with 744B of parameters). But he is not only good at programming or at agentic tasks. Better than Claude in cybersecurity? The cybersecurity firm Semgrep stated in a recent analysis that GLM-5.2 was superior to Claude Opus 4.8 regarding cybersecurity and pointed out that “we have a Mythos at home.” Another independent study from Graphistry stated basically the same thing when comparing it with Opus 4.8 and GPT-5.5. Not only that, it achieved excellent results at a fraction of the price: one-sixth of what it cost to run tests with Claude Opus 4.8, for example. Axios revealed little cited a cybersecurity researcher who explained that GLM-5.2 is capable of chaining exploits “in the same way that an elite human attacker would.” Chinese mythos before 2027. Jie Tang, CEO of Z.ai, responded to a Twitter thread in which it was pointed out that at this rate, China would have an AI model at the level of Mythos or Fable by the end of 2026. Elon Musk himself intervened saying that in his opinion this Chinese model with such performance would arrive in the first quarter of 2027. Jie Tang was forceful and replied to Musk saying “it won’t take that long.” And we also have Sakana Fugu. These days we also learned the news that Sakana AI, a Japanese AI startup, had launched Fuguan AI model that is actually not so much an AI model as it is a router or orchestrator of other models. What it promises It is to perform at the level of the best models in the US, taking advantage of different models, both open and closed. The internal benchmarks are promising, but some independent analysts they explained Although the idea is not bad, its performance and cost are not as striking as the company claims. While the US blocks its models, China advances. The situation is paradoxical, because what China is doing is precisely taking advantage of a unique moment. The US is restricting the deployment of the most advanced AI models from Anthropic and OpenAI to avoid cybersecurity risks. And while that happens, Chinese companies are apparently closing the gap with truly remarkable open models. In Xataka | The prompt engineering fashion is over. Now what is important is loop engineering

If you take these drugs, heat may be more dangerous than you think

by

We all know that, when it is very hot, we should drink a lot of water, avoid going outside during the hours of the sun and cool rooms properly. We also know that the copious meals They are not a good idea and may not be the best occasions to eat spicy food. But what we are not always warned about is that there are drugs that increase the risk of getting sick due to heat, so we must take extreme precautions if we take them. It is not about leaving them, but about being aware of the risks that increase to take the necessary measures. A very long list. The list of drugs that increase the risk of heat-related illnesses it’s very long. Some examples are certain hypertensives, beta-blockers, antiarrhythmics or non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). It can also occur with opioids, benzodiazepines, antidepressants, antiepileptics, antidiabetics, laxatives, anticoagulants or antihistamines. Does this mean that all these groups of drugs quickly increase the risk of heat stroke? Not necessarily. To begin with, they are not all medications in each group and, furthermore, they do not always affect health for the same reasons. The mechanisms. The main mechanism by which these risks increase is dehydration. For example, some antihypertensive drugs are diuretics. This means that they increase urination, making it easier for dehydration to occur; which, in itself, is more common in a heat wave situation. Symptoms related to impaired kidney function may also occur. When we become dehydrated, the amount of water in our blood decreases, so kidney function can be affected. Therefore, care should be taken with drugs that already affect hydration, as they can increase the risk of kidney failure. On the other hand, there are drugs that affect thermoregulation. If the body is not able to regulate temperature, it is easier to suffer heat stroke. Others affect alertness, so those who consume them may not notice the symptoms of heat stroke. Happens with some benzodiazepines. And something similar happens with drugs that alter the perception of thirst. Finally, there are medications that cause hyperthermia, so that the body temperature rises too high. Sometimes it is bidirectional. Some of these mechanisms can cause the medications themselves to cause more side effects. For example, some NSAID drugs are eliminated through urine, with prior intervention of the kidney, but if it does not function properly due to dehydration, they accumulate, potentially causing toxicity. Furthermore, their way of reducing pain is by inhibiting the synthesis of prostaglandins, which are necessary for renal perfusion, so, with a kidney that does not already function very well, they can be harmful. It is precisely for this reason that, in situations of heat waves extreme, Doctors are advised not to prescribe certain NSAIDs. More cases of increased toxicity. In general, heat can increase the toxicity of some drugs in several ways. For example, dehydration can alter the concentrations of certain drugs in the blood. The difference is usually minimal. However, there are medications, such as lithium, in which the difference in concentration between the therapeutic effect and toxicity is minimal. That is why care must be taken. You should also be careful with cutaneous medications, such as patches, or subcutaneous medications, such as insulin, since if it is very hot they may be absorbed more quickly. People at higher risk. All of this does not affect all people equally. Generally, the risk is greater for older people, patients who live in isolation or with poorly air-conditioned housing and, especially, people who take several medications at the same time. Hydration is essential if you are taking certain medications What should we do? As patients, we must mainly ensure that drugs are stored at the temperature indicated on the package insert. Beyond that, it is usually the doctor who has to pay attention to each patient’s history and determine whether, in a given climatic situation, there may be risks with the drugs taken. In any case, if we have doubts, we can always read the leaflet and/or consult our family doctor about the medications we take. It is important to emphasize that these types of situations are usually extreme. It must be very hot and the person must be vulnerable for some reason. Furthermore, many times these are situations that can be prevented. If the problem is due to the risk of dehydration, the patient is instructed to drink much more water. The same if the problem is that the perception of thirst decreases. Each case is different, so it is important to study them individually, taking into account that they are extreme situations, but that they must be considered if necessary. Image | Magnificent In Xataka | Air conditioning in summer has a double standard of measurement: it cools us but gives us torticollis

A cement company stopped sending its personnel to inspect dangerous areas. Your new inspector is a robot dog

by

Even though the conversation revolves around humanoid robotics Lately, this sector has had much more traction in the industry for decades, driving a good part of the current processes and assembly lines. In this regard, a Swiss cement plant has wanted to take advantage of robotics in a somewhat peculiar way: it has been using a quadruped robot to monitor your facilities every night. Below these lines we tell you all the details. The problem that had to be solved. Vigier Ciment has been producing cement in the hills of the Swiss Jura, south of Biel, for a century and a half, generating approximately a fifth of all cement in the country. Its plant houses more than 1,000 machines spread across several buildings and floors, connected by metal stairs of up to 16 sections, areas with temperatures that reach 50 degrees, constant dust and the occasional presence of ammonia near the unloading docks. The maintenance of all this fell to operators who toured the facilities on foot filling out paper records. Over time, continued exposure to these conditions generates what the plant workers themselves call “operational blindness.” You stop seeing what is in front of you because you have already seen it too many times, according to collect Techeblog. The guard dog. Just like account The medium, in November 2024 the Swiss robotics company ANYbotics began talks with Vigier Ciment to deploy its ANYmal quadruped robot at the plant. The robot arrived on January 6, 2025 and before the end of the first month it was already carrying out night patrols completely autonomously. ANYmal is similar in size to a large dog and weighs more than 50 kilos. It does not need human supervision, and its managers say it climbs stairs, avoids obstacles, navigates narrow hallways and accesses areas that previously required considerable effort on the part of staff. What exactly does it do in every round. Every night, even on weekends, ANYmal goes through more than 450 inspection points predefined elements distributed in three mills and six levels. To do this, it has several detection systems, including a visual camera that identifies cracks, oil leaks or corrosion; a thermal camera that measures the temperature of critical components such as bearings, motors and gears; a gas sensor that monitors ammonia levels; and an acoustic camera capable of locating compressed air leaks or filter failures at distances of up to 50 meters. According to point In the middle, all that information is automatically dumped into a software platform called Data Navigator, which analyzes the data collected overnight, compares it to the facility’s history, and generates a daily report for the maintenance team. What he has found along the way. In sixteen months of operation, ANYmal has already completed more than 33,000 inspections without recording any technical failures. According to ANYbotics, the most relevant findings have had a direct impact on plant operations. The middle share In addition, the robot detected a crack in the base of a shredder the size of a large kitchen table. The oil had been leaking for some time and no one had reported it on the usual rounds. The repair was completed the next day. Had it collapsed, the plant would have lost more than a week of production, with estimated losses of more than $630,000, according to the company’s own figures. In another case, thermal monitoring detected a bearing reaching 140 degrees Celsius, allowing a $30,000 eight-hour repair to be scheduled rather than facing a much more costly emergency failure. The robot also detected levels of ammonia exposure at unloading docks that had not been measured until then, and located air leaks in filtration systems installed 50 meters high. Industrial maintenance. The plant’s traditional fixed sensors only covered about 200 elements, mainly on the clinker side (the main component of cement). The robot expands that coverage substantially and accesses areas that static sensors cannot reach. At the same time, it removes operators from the most dangerous environments without reducing the frequency or quality of inspections. Images | ANYbotics In Xataka | One of the big problems with AI is that it always proves you right: this is the most effective way to avoid it

“If you block an AI because you think it is dangerous, you are in medieval obscurantism”

by

The phrase “this AI model is so dangerous that it would be a mistake to make it public” is something more old than the first public versions of ChatGPT. This narrative of “dangerous” AI is more marketing than reality, but it is still the discourse that companies like Anthropic and OpenAI push every time they launch a new model. Because it is still a tool (that is drinking up the world’s resources, but a tool) and Yann LeCun has a message for those companies. If they really believe it is dangerous, they live in medieval obscurantism. Fear narrative = nonsense On April 10, Anthropic released Claude Mythos Preview. The company claimed that it was the best AI model ever created and it was something only they could say because few, very few had access to said model. Analysis and tests from companies like Mozilla indicated that yes, it was really amazing in environments like cybersecurity. Not revolutionary, but a very capable tool. And of course, if it fell into the wrong hands, that tool could be used to exploit systems and find vulnerabilities (something that those companies that had access exploited). It was “too powerful,” according to Anthropic, a narrative of fear that the United States Government itself was responsible for enhancing by prohibiting non-U.S. citizens, including Anthropic workers, from they could use the commercial model: Fable 5. According to the godfather of AI, all of this is nonsense. Yann LeCun He is one of the most famous names on the artificial intelligence scene. It was in 2013 when the former Facebook put this academic from deep learning and machine learning at the head of the company’s AI ship. In the 1980s, LeCun developed an algorithm to train artificial neural networks, and since then he has built a career in both the educational and private sectors. At Vivatech, LeCun participated in a discussion with Steven Levy, a Wired journalist, and they discussed several issues related to the present and future of AI. On stage, LeCun made it clear what his position is on the current language models (the LLMs) and what he thinks about this narrative of fear. Levy and Yann were talking about the Chinese model more focused on open source when the ‘guru’ commented that “many people, particularly those close to the United States government, believe that AI cannot be open source because that scenario is already occupied by Chinese companies. They are good and cheap models, some free to use, and in the middle of that we have companies like Anthropic.” LeCun Hasn’t had any problems in the past when referring to rivals in this field and, in this case, argued that “Anthropic, and a few others, are a lobby that, essentially, wants AI not to be open source because they believe it is an inherently dangerous technology.” Then, Yann began to list changes that have really had a weight in the history of humanity, such as the advances that gave way to new ages. But… AI? “So, What is AI today? At the very least, it is a way to disseminate knowledge. At the moment, it is not a way to generate new knowledge and the only way they work is through repositories of human knowledge and they allow people to have easy access to those repositories. So, it’s basically that, one more way to make people smarter because they can access human knowledge.” “Anthropic, and a few others, are a lobby that essentially wants AI not to be open source because they believe it is an inherently dangerous technology” For LeCun, these LLMs are a vitaminized Wikipedia, but if he has not been shy in the past talking about rivals and players in the field of AI, he did not do so at the Paris fair either. “If you are going to block a tool thinking that it is very dangerous, you are in medieval obscurantism,” said the academic. Levy added, pointing out that basically “that thing of discovering a tool and then taking it out of our hands It is more typical behavior of the Catholic Church calling Galileo a “heretic” for his theories“ Because, for LeCun, it all comes down to a different word than “danger”: “control.” “This is how they control the message and what people can and can’t do with their tools. If you buy a pen, you don’t want the company that sells it to you telling you what you can write with it. There’s a limit to what companies can tell you about using their tools.” In the end, LeCun here is not taking into account that these companies with proprietary models (anyone with a proprietary service, really) can dictate what you do with the tools you license and when they can turn off the tap. We are seeing it even with video games that companies remove your SSD when they consider that you should no longer have it, but that is another topic. “If you buy a pen, you don’t want the company that sells it to you to tell you what you can write with it” Yann finished his argument by pointing out that sharing knowledge is culture, that this is good and that, although there is a negative counterpart (sharing culture can also lead to radicalization), what we should not do is control what people can do with AI tools. “There is a great arrogance and superiority complex in the idea that only a few are able to control AI and rub it on the masses who do not have access.” If LLMs are not the answer, what is? In his speech, LeCun made it clear that, for him, LLMs are not the grail (as several of the CEOs of AI companies who passed through the Vivatech panels did sell). These language models are a Wikipedia on steroids and a vitaminized predictive “keyboard.” There are two things that Yann acknowledges that LLMs do very well: mathematics and code, but the revolution will come with real … Read more

We sensed that Russia’s “flying Chernobyl” was a dangerous nuclear missile. MIT just confirmed that it is much worse

by

In 1964, the United States canceled the Project Pluto after proving that it worked for a very simple reason: the missile left a radioactive trail in its wake and there was no a “safe” place where to try it. Half a century later, Russia has decided to return to that idea that even Washington considered too extreme. The nickname takes shape. It we count a few months ago. For years the Burevestnik It was almost a technological legend, one of those “super missiles” that Putin presented in 2018 shrouded in mystery and propaganda. It was sensed that it was dangerous for a simple reason: a nuclear reactor inside a missile could never be clean or easy to control. But now the new analysis by MIT scientists puts numbers and logic to that fear, and the conclusion is more disturbing than expected. We are not just talking about a nuclear missile in the classical sense (one that carries a warhead), but rather a missile that converts all your own flight in a form of radioactive contamination. If the popular idea was that of a “flying Chernobyl” (the nickname is used by experts of arms control remembering the physical cost of the concept), the real problem is that it could be something worse: a moving reactor releasing waste throughout its trajectory. The obsession of the Cold War. The concept is not new. In the 1950s, both the United States and the Soviet Union played with reactors on board strategic aircraft such as the Convair B-36 Peacemaker and the Tupolev Tu-95although they never really powered their engines. The big leap was Project Plutoa US program to create a supersonic missile of almost unlimited range that would fly at low altitudes, wreaking nuclear destruction. The project was technically viable, but so brutal and polluting that ended up abandoned. That is the historical key: the West left this idea behind not because it was impossible, but because it understood its implications too well. How the monster really works. The great advance of MIT study is to explain how it really moves the Burevestnik. It doesn’t use Pluto’s old ramjet concept, but something even more compact: a direct cycle turbojet. The system is almost wild in its simplicity. Air enters from the atmosphere, passes directly through the reactor core, is heated by fission, and is expelled to generate thrust. This allows weight and size to be reduced, making it possible to put the entire reactor inside a missile. just 9.5 meters. But this efficiency has a terrible counterpart: the air that comes in clean comes out contaminated. Every second of flight converts the missile in a nuclear chimney that spreads radioactive isotopes over the ground and the atmosphere. The toxic trail that changes everything. Here’s the big twist. A conventional nuclear missile is lethal when it hits. The Burevestnik begins to be dangerous long before it reaches its objective. According to the researchersits exhaust would be loaded with argon, krypton and radioactive carbon, in addition to particles generated by the progressive erosion of the reactor under extreme heat and constant pressure. The longer it stays in the air, more material released. It is a complete inversion of the classic concept of a strategic weapon: it is no longer just the final explosion, but the entire journey. In practice, each mission could leave a contamination corridor behind it, turning the simple transit of the missile into a radiological event. Accidents that already pointed to this. The signs had been there for years. They remembered the TWZ analysts that after the public disclosure of the program, the environmental organization Bellona Foundation detected radiation spikes in the Arctic linked to possible tests. Then came the loss of a prototype at sea and, in 2019, the explosion in the White Sea that killed five Rosatom scientists. The MIT hypothesis It’s devastating: That reactor recovered from the bottom could be reactivated when it was hoisted, causing the explosion. What then seemed like an isolated accident today fits into a logical chain of problems associated with handling a miniaturized and exposed nuclear reactor. Strategic advantage and its limits. The reason for the existence of the Burevestnik is clear: almost unlimited range. It can be launched from the Arctic, remain in flight for hours or even days and attack from impossible vectors, avoiding radars and traditional warning networks. This unpredictability forces rethink air defenseespecially in spatial layers capable of tracking low-level targets. However, this advantage comes with obvious weaknesses. It is subsonic, not very stealthy and, paradoxically, easy to track by its own signature or radioactive signal. Plus: the reactor degrades while it operates, which calls into question the very promise of “infinite range.” More laboratory than weapon for now. All of this leads to an admittedly uncomfortable conclusion: perhaps the Burevestnik matters less as a weapon than as an experiment. Russia may be using this program to validate technologies which would later be applied to nuclear surveillance drones or much more militarily useful space platforms. It is also possible that it is a personal obsession of Putin, fascinated by the idea of ​​a machine that can fly almost without limit. Whatever the reason, the result is the same: Russia has achieved something that no one else had achieved, the first sustained flight of a device truly powered by nuclear energy. The problem is that the price of that achievement may be having resurrected a technology that the Cold War buried precisely because it was too dangerous even for its own creators. Image | x In Xataka | There is something more disturbing than “a Chernobyl”: it is a flying Chernobyl, it is in the hands of Russia and it is already testing it In Xataka | Russia has a missile so powerful and destructive that NATO calls it “Satan II.” And it is already unfolding

the traditional solution of a town in Navarra to the most dangerous problem of seeing an eclipse

by

Who has not been guided by the rooms on New Year’s Eve so as not to screw up with the beginning of the 12 grapes? Without a doubt, those sounds that precede the chimes of 12 midnight are an ideal resource to fully enjoy the last night of the year. This summer, in the Navarrese town of Lerín they will have something similar to follow the solar eclipse of August 12. It is a ringing that has been designed for the occasion by the Navarra Bell Ringers Association and that, without a doubt, will make the observation of this phenomenon much more special. And also safe. A new touch for a unique phenomenon. The town of Lerín celebrates each year some days of astrotourism and scientific tourism, known as Lerín Earth Star. This year, as it could not be otherwise, they have been planned to coincide with the eclipse. For this reason, the astrophysicist and scientific disseminator Javier Armentia contacted the Association of Bell Ringers of Navarra to find out if they have a specific ringing to announce this type of events. The objective, according to explained At the press conference in which this curious invention was announced, it was “to unite tradition and astronomy in a way never seen before.” Since they did not have such a ring, they did not hesitate to look among their members for someone willing to design it. The person in charge, finally, was Rosarina Caballín. A simple touch with several interventions. The touch designed by Caballín is simple, with a ringing that becomes more intense as the climax approaches. It is designed to indicate the beginning and end of the partial and total phase of the eclipse. Bells for security. The decision to notify the start of the partial and total phase is not only symbolic, it also seeks the safety of those attending. While the eclipse is partial, if you look at the Sun it is absolutely essential to use approved protective glasses. Even if there is only 1% of light it can be enough to damage the eyes. On the other hand, during totality, when the Sun is completely covered, you can look at it without glasses. But the ending can be difficult to discern. As soon as the first rays appear again, the glasses should already be on. Therefore, warning through chimes is a genius. Ringing bells. This ringing will be carried out through two bells that have been acquired by the Association for this special moment. They do not belong to any building, but will be installed on a scaffolding approved for the occasion. The use of bells in history. We are used to associating bells with religious issues. In the Catholic religion, for example, it is quite common for them to be used to notify the start of masses, both those that take place regularly and those that are extraordinary for any reason. However, historically bells have been used for many other purposes. They have been used to warn of fires, neighborhood assemblies or even the passage of livestock. Some of these touches have their own tradition. It is the case of touch try cloudwhich was used to warn of the arrival of a storm and which in some places in Spain was even accompanied by a verse: “Hold on, hold on, God can do more than you.” It is not strange that Navarra has wanted to recover this type of traditions and unite them with the astronomical phenomenon of the year. An event that in the north of Spainperhaps it could also be considered the most important of the decade. Image | Unsplash/NASA In Xataka | The trio of eclipses that await Spain on the horizon: an unprecedented and historic chain between 2026 and 2028

The most advanced ship China has ever built doesn’t know if it’s an aircraft carrier or an assault ship. And that’s exactly what makes it dangerous

by

Some time ago we knew the existence of the Type 076a warship very suitable to take the recognition of the most advanced that China has ever built. After completing his training maneuvers, he recently was seen crossing the South China Seaquite turbulent waters from a geopolitical and military point of view. And of course, having a 40,000-ton giant there does not go unnoticed. Your own category. The Sichuan is technically an amphibious assault ship, designed to transport troops, armored vehicles and all types of vessels. But to call it just that would be an understatement. With a full-length flight deck, a double-island superstructure and, above all, an electromagnetic catapult Capable of launching conventional fixed-wing aircraft, this ship also functions as a light aircraft carrier. In this way, you could say that the Type 076 is in a category of its own. It is a category of its own, a hybrid between an assault ship and an aircraft carrier that can operate fighters like the J-35the latest generation Chinese stealth, as well as drones and helicopters. Its length is around 260 meters and can house up to 1,000 navy soldiers. Your catapult. Most of the amphibious ships that exist in the world can carry aircraft, yes, but only those with the ability to take off vertically or over very short distances, such as the American F-35B. The Sichuan does not have this limitation, since its electromagnetic catapult, between 100 and 130 meters in length, is of the same generation as that of the aircraft carrier. Fujian and equivalent to the technology that the United States has developed for its latest superaircraft carriers. This gives it unparalleled versatility for a ship of its type and a much greater operating margin in terms of load, range and armament of its aircraft. Electrified. The Sichuan propulsion system it’s electric. Of course, to power it, two 21 MW gas turbines need to be combined with six 6 MW diesel generators, which gives a total power of about 78 MW. This design is used both to power the propulsion motors and also to manage the energy peaks demanded by the electromagnetic catapult. This type of engine has several advantages over conventional diesel, including faster starting, greater operational flexibility, less vibrations and a smaller underwater acoustic footprint, making it more difficult to detect. Testing in the most tense place in the world. The Chinese Navy confirmed At the end of April, the Sichuan had set sail for the South China Sea to carry out its first tests in waters other than those of its base. Zhang Junshe, military expert, counted to the Global Times that it is “rapid and efficient progress” that brings the Sichuan closer to its official commissioning. The previous tests that we reported on last year were carried out in waters near Shanghai, where they evaluated the stability of the propulsion system and electrical systems. Now, in the South China Sea, it is time for something more demanding: complex climatic and maritime conditions, high humidity and variable waves, an environment that will help them validate flight operations, amphibious maneuvers and test the performance of their combat systems in real conditions. A whole birthday has come together. The Sichuan reached the South China Sea at the same time that the United States, the Philippines, Japan, Australia, Canada, France and New Zealand began the Balikatan maneuvers, a set of military exercises that are carried out annually and involve nearly 19,000 soldiers, according to Admiral Samuel Paparo, head of the US Indo-Pacific Command, before the Senate Armed Services Committee. In addition, the Chinese aircraft carrier Liaoning He also headed towards the same sea those days. And of course, in the face of such deployment, there are many who think that China is carrying out a calculated show of force in waters that it claims for the most part as its own, and where precisely it has open territorial disputes with the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and other countries in the region. What comes next. Once these tests in the South China Sea are completed, the tests should include integrated operations with embarked fighters, helicopters and amphibious forces. When all test cycles are complete, the Sichuan will be ready to enter service with operational combat capability. Junshe counted told the Global Times that the ship’s construction speed is “considered fast” and reflects China’s increasing maturity in building large warships. Cover image | Xinhua In Xataka | China is manufacturing missiles at an unprecedented speed. And the final objective is not Taiwan, it is another island 3,000 km away

Sylvester Stallone and the phrase that turned a scene into the most dangerous of his career: “Hit me for real”

by

For years, in action cinema there was a kind of unwritten rule: the more real a scene seemed, the better it worked on screen, even if that meant taking unusual risks. That limit was unexpectedly tested when, in the middle of filming Rocky IVa seemingly minor decision ended up forcing Sylvester Stallone to leave the set and be transferred urgently to the hospital. “Hit me for real.” Rarely has a phrase said on set had consequences that were as real as they were dangerous, but that is exactly what happened during Rocky IV. Sylvester Stallone, obsessed with making the final fight convey absolute authenticity, made a decision that would mark the filming: he asked his partner to leave the choreography aside and really hit during part of the fight. That order, which had to be translated into dramatic intensity on screen, ended up becoming a physical experiment that crossed a dangerous line between interpretation and reality. He almost doesn’t count it. The result did not take long to arrive. Dolph Lundgren, much larger, stronger and with training in martial arts, executed what was asked of him without restraint. In the middle of that unscripted combat, a direct blow to the chest hit with such force that it compressed Stallone’s heart against his ribcage, causing an injury that doctors compared “to a traffic accident“. The most disturbing thing was that the actor did not notice anything at the moment of impact, but hours later his body began to collapse, dizzy and with symptoms that showed that something was very wrong. From filming to the emergency room. That same night, the situation became critical. Stallone’s blood pressure shot up to extreme levels and his heart began to swell, forcing to transfer him urgently by plane from Canada to a hospital in California. The actor entered directly in the ICUwhere he spent several days surrounded by health personnel, in a surreal scene due to the way it occurred. Stallone himself I would admit with the time that he was very close to dying that day, in an episode that turned a simple creative decision into an extreme experience. ANDThe plane that he did not want to cut. The most surprising thing is that the blow responsible for that entire critical situation was not eliminated of the final assembly. On the contrary, Stallone, faithful to his obsession with the authenticity of the saga he had created, decided to keep in the film the exact moment that took him to the hospital, turning the moment into a key piece of the intensity conveyed by the fight. Paradoxically, a scene that seems spectacular due to its realism and brutality is precisely because, for a few seconds, it stopped being fiction. Return to the ring later. Far from abandoning, Stallone returned to filming after leaving the hospital to finish the production, thus closing a production marked by physical excess and the search for truthfulness at any price. That decision reinforced the myth of Rocky IV as one of the most extreme installments in the saga, but it also left an uncomfortable lesson about the risks of pushing realism too far. Authenticity turned into danger. If you also want, the case of Rocky IV It’s not just a filming anecdote, but a clear example to what extent the film industry has historically played with the limits of security in search of greater impact on screen. What happened that day sums up an idea that is difficult to ignore: sometimes, in the attempt to make a story seem real, there is a risk that it stops being so altogether. Image | United Artists In Xataka | In 1953 Hollywood filmed a blockbuster in front of US nuclear tests. It was the most radioactive movie in history, literally In Xataka | The day a man dared to go further than anyone else: a real fight with Bruce Lee where there were no limits

Log In

Forgot password?

Forgot password?

Enter your account data and we will send you a link to reset your password.

Your password reset link appears to be invalid or expired.

Log in

Privacy Policy

Add to Collection

No Collections

Here you'll find all collections you've created before.