days

A mysterious Chinese structure has remained for five days in one of the most tense points in Asia

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In September 2023, a Philippine patrol cut and removed a floating barrier of about 300 meters that China had installed at the entrance to the Scarborough Shoal lagoon. The scene was so symbolic that it gave around the world: a simple cable supported by buoys had become one of the most delicate geopolitical hotspots in Asia. Five days in suspense. It all started with a series of images by satellite that showed something unexpected at the entrance to the lagoon Scarborough Shoalone of the most sensitive and disputed enclaves in Asia. For several consecutive days, different satellite captures recorded the presence of a reflective object accompanied in some cases by a type of linear barrier that seemed to partially cross the access to the atoll. No one could determine with certainty whether it was a buoy, a floating platform or a more permanent installation, but its mere appearance was enough to trigger investigations in the Philippines and attract the attention of specialized analysts. When new images taken days later showed that the object had disappearedthe questions remained the same: what the hell exactly was it, who placed it, and what was it trying to achieve. Why Scarborough Shoal is much more than a reef. The reaction is explained by the strategic importance of the place. Scarborough Shoal is situated within the exclusive economic zone claimed by the Philippines, but remains under effective Chinese control since the crisis of 2012. Since then it has become one of the main points of friction between both countries. Its waters are valuable for fishing, its lagoon serves as a natural refuge for boats and its position offers an important advantage to control sea routes and airspace in a region through which billions of dollars in commerce circulate each year. In such a sensitive environment, even a structure less than ten meters tall can acquire disproportionate geopolitical relevance. Scarborough Shoal The suspicions behind the mysterious structure. The images showed a visible object for at least five days and a possible barrier similar to those that China has previously used to restrict Filipino fishermen’s access to the lagoon. That sparked speculation about whether Beijing was taking a new step to tighten its control over the atoll. The experts they warned that, if it was a fixed installation, it could be interpreted as a disruption of the status quo in an area whose sovereignty remains disputed. Although no authority has been able to confirm the exact nature of the object, the episode reflects the extent to which satellite surveillance has become in a key tool to detect movements that just a few years ago would have gone completely unnoticed. A dispute that has never stopped escalating. The appearance of the structure also coincided with a particularly tense moment. China maintains an almost permanent presence of coast guard and vessels around scarboroughwhile the Philippines increases its patrols and strengthens military cooperation with the United States. Shortly before the object was detected, US and Philippine forces had carried out new joint maneuvers in the area. Manila also denounced the presence of dozens of Chinese vessels operating within its claimed waters. The result is something like a constant cycle of shows of force where every patrol, every maneuver and every potential construction is watched with enormous attention by all parties involved. The great transformation. What happened in Scarborough also fits into a much broader trend. As we have been countingOver the last decade, China has turned practically submerged reefs into authentic artificial islands equipped with ports, radars, military installations and even landing strips. The transformation of places like Mischief Reef, Fiery Cross Reef or Subi Reef changed completely regional balance and demonstrated that physical construction can become a tool of territorial control as effective as military presence. Each new structure detected satellite arouses concern precisely because there is a clear precedent of how small initial changes can end up becoming permanent bases. A race to consolidate positions. The response of the other claimants has been to assume that the scenario has changed. Vietnam has been expanding reefs under its control for years, building ports and new infrastructure. The Philippines reinforces its existing positions, expands landing strips and strengthens isolated detachments. The feeling that dominates the region is that the multilateral negotiations have failed and that each country is trying consolidate what you already control before circumstances worsen. In this context, the mysterious structure of Scarborough It is especially symbolic. Regardless of what it really was, it reminded all the actors involved that in the South China Sea a simple spot detected from space can become for a few days the center of a geopolitical dispute that affects a good part of Asia and in which China continues to be, by far, the most powerful player. Image | Vantor In Xataka | China has a problem: behind thousands of food delivery restaurants there is no establishment, no kitchen, no restaurant In Xataka | The US had a ship with 2,000 marines ready to invade Iran. Now he has sent it right to the place where China worries the most

“Neither jogging nor walking fast, just taking a grandpa walk five days a week will burn 78,000 calories a year”

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He has put words to it Hector Leiro in it podcast from ADH Fitness Talks, but the numbers are clear and solid. It is true that caloric expenditure is somewhat inflated and that the annual count somewhat distorts its real impact. However, the underlying message is good: in exercise, consistency is better than intensity. So we’ve asked ourselves, are we valuing walking less than we should? What do the coaches say? Leiro’s message was quite clear and sensible: “I’m not saying jogging or walking fast, but taking a grandpa walk five days a week (…) that translates into 78,000 calories a year, or what is the same, ten kilos of fat.” “The important thing is to build the habit. Not (…) a superhuman effort, it is a habit.” In the same line, insisted the fitness instructor Susane Pata in Infobae that “walking 30 minutes seven days a week generates 700–1,400 kcal per week.” And what do the figures say? To begin with, the accounts are a little inflated if we take into account that energy expenditure not only takes into account intensity and time, but also weight. The more weight, the more expense. This, translated into manageable figures, means that for a 70 kilo person, an hour of “grandfather’s walk” produces an expenditure of between 140 and 200 calories. It is far from the 300-350 that Leiro manages to reach 78,000. To achieve that we would have to go at a more intense pace or weigh more (about 120 kilos). These are estimates, of course, but it allows us to get an idea of ​​what exactly we are talking about. But let’s admit 78,000 calories, what does that mean? Not too much, really. If we look at it in perspective, we are talking about something like three pieces of fruit a day. By “annualizing” it, the expense appears larger than it really is. It is not a problem in itself, of course: as with the famous milestone of 10,000 steps a day, they are ’round’ figures that help guide goals (as long as we know that they are not ‘exactly’ true). Okay, but 78,000 calories are 78,000 calories. “We’ll lose some weight, right?” And the answer is curious. The problem is that the body is not a piggy bank. The Hadza, an indigenous people of about 1,300 people living in northern Tanzania, They do not burn more calories than any Western office worker despite walking 12 km a day. It is a good example because they are one of the last hunter-gatherer societies left in the world and they allow us to get a different idea of ​​what we are talking about. 78,000 calories a year continuously does not translate into 10 kilos of fat. It is true that in certain contexts it could happen, of course. But stating it cheerfully can generate excessive expectations. So, why walk daily? Because weight is not the only (nor the most important) thing that is gained through the practice of andurrear. And walking daily improves cardiovascular health, glycemic control, bone density, mood and reduces mortality. As I said at the beginning, consistency matters more than intensity. And that is an excellent message. Image | Juliane Liebermann In Xataka | Twenty years ago, researchers got a group of young women to walk together. And they discovered something unexpected

In two days the international blockbuster that has restored the luster to the erotic thriller genre arrives on Prime Video

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In December 2025, Lionsgate released a psychological thriller based on a self-published novel that had gone viral on TikTok. Paul Feig, known until then for comedies such as ‘My Best Friend’s Wedding’ or ‘Spies’, was in charge of directing it, and the film, starring Sydney Sweeney and Amanda Seyfried, ended up being the biggest box office success for both actresses, the director, and one of the most profitable thrillers in recent years. It is about ‘The assistant’which this Friday the 5th comes to streaming from the hand of Prime Video. In it we will meet Millie (Sydney Sweeney), on parole for involuntary manslaughter, who accepts a job as a live-in maid for a wealthy family. And little else can be said without ruining the experience, because Millie soon begins to detect strange behavior in her boss (Amanda Seyfried) and that the relationship between her employers is not what it seems, in a trotted return to the erotic thriller of the nineties that actually plays as much at being a fast-paced pocket book full of twists and humor as it is an intuitive piece of post-feminist pulp. The film works as a box of surprises where Sweeney and Seyfried shine with two interpretations that seem to have been raised differently: The first is more B-series, the other is more melodramatic. It is this clash of registers that gives a self-conscious and unpredictable touch to the film, and also what makes the genre mixer work at full capacity: serious psychological thriller at the beginning, revenge fantasy later (also changing, for the better, the final stretch of the original novel). ‘The Housemaid’ opened in third place at the US box office with $18.9 million, behind a colossus like ‘Avatar: Fire and Ash’ and the animated film ‘David’. It was not a spectacular exit, but its secret was that word of mouth worked and it did not fall: it barely fell from its privileged position for weeks, and it performed very well at the international box office. The final gross was $401.7 million worldwide, against a production budget of $35 million. It is not surprising that the sequel is already in the works. In Xataka | Among the 19 premieres on Netflix this week, the documentary about the trial that Michael Jackson experienced in his final years

The iPhone 17 finally drops in price. New historical low for very few days

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Apple mobile phones are going through a very particular situation, and that is that in addition to the lack of stock that they have had since their launch eight months ago (especially the base model), the offers have been very brief with very unattractive discounts. However, MediaMarkt is celebrating its new Apple Days right now and it is precisely the iPhone 17 who stars in the campaign with a historic minimum price. If you were thinking of buying the mobile, now you can do it for 899 euros. Of course, the offer will end along with the campaign on May 28 at 9:00 a.m. The price could vary. We earn commission from these links The iPhone 17 at an all-time low price He iPhone 17whose official and recommended price is 959 euros, has received very few offers since its launch. The stock has also been very irregular, preventing, for example, buying it in some stores for a while. However, right now there is sufficient stock in the MediaMarkt online store, allowing it to be purchased at this new price in its five different colors. This mobile phone is the one that has benefited the most from the generational leap, since it is the one that has changed the most compared to the iPhone 16. We find a very good screen both for its quality and for its 6.3-inch format, but above all because it now has the 120Hz refresh rate that until its launch we only saw in the most expensive Apple phones. Another of the great news is that Apple has finally started manufacturing its mobile phones with a 256 GB minimum configuration internal storage, a larger number to store information locally. In addition, it is also worth mentioning that the iPhone 17 incorporates the A19 chip and that it has wireless charging through MagSafeone of the most useful technologies in Apple phones. ⚡ IN SUMMARY: iPhone 17 offer today ✅ THE BEST The arrival of 120 Hz: Until its launch, we only saw this refresh rate in the most expensive Apple models. Increasing base internal storage: Apple has finally abandoned the minimum configuration of 128 GB. ❌ THE WORST It gets too hot: something that happens especially during long gaming sessions or with intensive use. Its fast charging: It improves generation after generation, but it is not up to par with the competition, which has much cheaper mobile phones with greater fast charging. 💡 BUY IT IF… You are looking for the best quality-price ratio within Apple’s current generation, if you are coming from Android phones and want an iPhone with a 120 Hz refresh rate and you are also looking for a model that is compact. ⛔ DON’T BUY IT IF… The 256 GB of storage is not enough because you usually take a lot of photos (and in good quality) or if you are looking for a cheaper iPhone, like the iPhone 17e. You may also be interested Spigen Case for iPhone 17, Ultra Hybrid MagFit Compatible with MagSafe (Dura Clear Technology) – Light White The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Apple AirPods 4 Active Noise Cancellation, Wireless Headphones, Bluetooth, Adaptive Audio, Ambient Sound Mode, Custom Spatial Audio, USB-C Charging Case and Wireless Charging The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Some of the links in this article are affiliated and may provide a benefit to Xataka. In case of non-availability, offers may vary. Images | Antonio VallejoApple In Xataka | The best mobile phones, we have tested them and here are their analyzes In Xataka | Best truly wireless (TWS) earbuds with noise cancellation. Which one to buy and seven recommended models

Lead has its days numbered in hunting. The problem is that no one really knows how to replace it.

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The practice of hunting is a ‘hobby’ that has been much discussed among different sectors of society in recent years, but beyond its ethical aspects, the European Agency for Chemical Substances and Mixtures has decided to intervene by pose the ban on lead in hunting ammunition. And this has raised a great debate between the hunting sector and environmentalists and researchers that require immediate measures, although at the moment it is in pause. The siege of Europe. This lead fence is not new, but since 2023 the European Union prohibits its use in wetlands for hunting waterfowl, a historic measure to prevent lead poisoning in ducks and other species that ate the pellets at the bottom of the lagoons. But now they want to go one step further, since ECHA has recommended to the European Commission a total veto by prohibiting the marketing and use of cartridges and fishing tackle that contain more than 1% lead. And to soften the blow, the European drafts have proposed transition periods that range between 18 months for large hunting and up to 5 years for small hunting. The role of science. For the Spanish scientific community, these grace periods are a luxury that ecosystems cannot afford. Specifically, 130 researchers from different institutions have signed a manifesto urging the Government to support the European restriction without any type of concession. That is, the ban applies immediately overnight. The arguments they offer focus mainly on the great toxicity that lead generates when it is left abandoned in the countryside, and above all they argue that there is no safe exposure threshold. That is, the only security we can have is when there is zero lead in the environment. Its impact. On the one hand, we have the environmental impact, since tons of lead end up scattered in the countryside every year due to hunting practices, poisoning fauna, especially scavenger birds that consume prey with pellets. On the other hand, we have a public health problem. In this case, there are several reports that exist warning about the nutritional risks of consuming game meat shot with this type of ammunition, recommending that children and pregnant women avoid its consumption due to the neurological data associated with lead. The hunters. Faced with the scientific urgency, they ask to hit the brakes on the application of these measures. Entities such as the Royal Spanish Hunting Federation (RFEC) and the Andalusian Hunting Federation (FAC) they argue that a sudden ban would be a death sentence for the sector and, by extension, for the economy of many rural areas. The problem that arises is that the alternatives to lead are not completely convincing, since, although there are options such as steel or bismuth, the hunting sector denounces that they are not validated at a toxicological level, they are much more expensive and, above all, that there is no large-scale production to cover the demand. Furthermore, the use of steel shot requires in many cases to adapt or change older shotguns, since they can damage the barrels due to the hardness of the material. This is why they ask for at least 10 years to adapt. A political battle. Right now the Government supports aligning itself with the hard line that comes from Europe, but the opposition parties, such as the Popular Party, ask for a fight in Brussels over get those decades of margin and funds for safe, alternative ballistics research. And right now the ball is literally in the court of Brussels and the REACH committee in charge of regulating chemical substances in the EU. Right now the only thing left is to open a space for debate that is not easy at all. Images | freepik In Xataka | Hunting has been printed on the Spanish national ID card for centuries. Now you have a problem: there is no relief

wants to eliminate the limit of eight-hour days a day

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The working day in much of Europe has been established for more than a century with a maximum limit of eight hours a day. This limit represents the maximum number of hours an employee can work per day. However, Germany is about to change that scale to make it more flexible and eliminate the daily work day as a metric in the work organization to establish the weekly schedule. As and as I advanced the german newspaper Weltthe bill will reach the Bundestag in June 2026. The idea is not that the Germans work more hours in total, but rather making the working day more flexible so that those hours can be distributed differently throughout the week. Count hours by weeks, not days. What the government proposes is seemingly simple: that the legal reference ceases to be the eight hours a day and becomes the 48 hours per week established by its legislation. With this change, it would no longer matter how many hours are worked each day, but rather that the total number of hours worked throughout the week does not exceed the legal maximum allowed. In this way, an employee could work more hours one day in exchange for working less on another, or concentrate all the load on the first days of the week and spare the rest. The government presents it as a measure to make the working day more flexible and facilitate family conciliation, especially for employees with children. Furthermore, this change would give carte blanche to companies to reinforce the hours on those days with more demand, and reduce (or close) their activity when the workload decreases. What German law says about it. In its article 3, the Arbeitszeitgesetz (Working Day Law) establishes that no employee can work more than eight hours a day as a general rule, with an exception of up to ten hours on specific days, as long as the average of the last six months does not exceed eight hours a day. The maximum limit for the weekly working day, including overtime, is 48 hours. However, the law also sets other limits that indirectly condition the daily work day. For example, you establish that between two work days, there must be at least 11 hours of rest and, if more than nine hours are worked in a row, the worker has the right to an additional minimum break of 45 minutes. These rules are not negotiable by collective agreement and apply without exception to all sectors. They are, precisely, the ones that the government wants to touch with the reform. why now. The definitive impetus for this reform came with the sentence of the Court of Justice of the EU of 2019 and is supported by the European Working Time Directive (2003/88/EC) imposed by the EU, which imposes the maximum weekly limit at 48 hours, and obliges all European employers to record the daily working hours of their employees. Germany, which until now did not require such registration in general, has to adapt to this obligation. The Minister of Labor, Bärbel Bas (SPD), has included electronic time registration in your project precisely as a safeguard. Without this control, Bas warns, flexibility can become a mechanism of exploitation in sectors with little union representation, such as last-mile delivery and parcel delivery. It is an implicit recognition that the standard, on its own, is not enough to protect those who work in more vulnerable environments. What unions and experts say. According what was published by the German media Handelsblatt, The German Trade Union Confederation (DGB) has been the first union platform to oppose the reform. Its president, Yasmin Fahimi, declared that “We are seeing attempts to question the eight-hour work day or to undermine social security systems. Don’t touch the eight-hour work day.” The unions assure that, without a daily limit, workers without a strong collective agreement are exposed to increasingly longer hours without any legal barrier to prevent it. For unions, real protection is not in the weekly total but in control of what happens each day. That is where the limitation of eight hours a day had its strength. The labor law experts of the Hans Böckler Foundation have calculated how much could be worked in the most extreme scenario allowed by European regulations: 73.5 hours per week. A theoretical figure, but possible if there is no daily limit to stop it. Several studies on occupational health document that long hours sustained over time are associated with a greater risk of errors, accumulated fatigue and decreased productivity, effects that the reform does not contemplate. In Xataka | Germany tried working four days a week: seven out of 10 companies no longer want to work five days a week Image | Unsplash (Maheshkumar Painam, Spencer Davis)

Researchers point out that the first 1,000 days in a person’s life are key to our life and memory

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Something quite popular among society in general is that the youngest children are true sponges that absorb everything that is around them, this being fundamental for their adult personality. Here are some experts who specifically point out that the first 1,000 days of life are They are practically everythingsince a temporary window opens that can largely determine the intelligence, health and social skills of the future. But… is it like that? There are questions. Scientific evidence calls for pressing the brakes, since, although the overwhelming importance of these first stages of life is not denied, researchers are beginning to warn against absolute determinism. And all this because, although the first 1,000 days are a critical window, the next 1,000 days They are just as crucial. The first days. What happens up to two years in the brain, the truth is that it is fascinating, because here some research they point specifically because early feeding influences physical development and long-term metabolic health. But in addition, the attachment bond with an adult figure traces the physical, neural, cognitive and socio-emotional trajectories, meaning that, if this attachment does not exist, many problems can arise. But also, listening to caregivers, such as parents, speaking, singing and interacting, lays the foundations for the neural networks linked to language and the communication skills that we will have in the future. The effect on memory. We often think that memory is the adult ability to remember knowledge that we have ‘put’ in our brain ‘drawer’, but in childhood memory It is a basic neural learning mechanism and identity construction. In these cases, babies record constant sensory and emotional information, such as smells, voices, affective responses, and the receiving context. And precisely, experts point out that if at this stage the child is correctly stimulated and takes in the memories well, the brain “trains” its synaptic circuits, making learning new skills much easier in the future. It is literally as if a base is being generated (which we will not remember) to generate new skills in the future by generating very strong neural networks for future memory. We don’t have to be absolutists. Saying that only those 1,000 days determine cognitive and social development is a mistake, since the literature tells us that we are not facing a “closed window”, since human brain plasticity is amazing and does not have a switch that automatically turns off when two years have passed. From here, what surrounds the little ones in the house, the education they receive and also the social interactions continue to have a profound impact beyond 24 months. That is why simplifying the concept to the extreme can lead to a biological determinism that diverts attention from other equally important stages of childhood. Everything that happens. This is where the most recent evidence comes in so we have to focus on what they can be. the “next 1,000 days” which is the period that goes from 2 to 5 years. This preschool stage is not a maintenance period, but rather it is a new golden window of opportunity, since during these years complex motor skills are triggered when starting to walk, for example. But beyond this, language also goes from isolated words to a complex grammar and the ability to narrate and reason. And even social-emotional skills such as empathy or impulse control are also experiencing rapid growth. This is why promoting an environment of safe care and healthy habits in this period is capable of significantly altering and improving development, compensating for the deficits that may have occurred in the first years of life. Images | javi_indy on Magnific In Xataka | One baby, three (biological) parents: a promising fertilization technique that, for now, we will not see in Spain

NASA has captured how an entire lake in Canada disappeared in just 15 days. Science has a disturbing explanation

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Seen and unseen. In the spring of 2025 something happened in central Quebec: an entire lake disappeared in a matter of days. Lac Rouge, a 1.4 square kilometer body of water located in the Lac-Walker region of Sept-Rivières, a popular hunting and fishing area in the Waswanipi Cree First Nationdisappeared. It did not dry out little by little as a result of a prolonged lack of rain as for example happens to Moroccoit was something abrupt and silent. What you see on these lines is the before and after photographed by the Landsat 9 satellite NASA from space with a margin of one year (June 2024 on the left and June 2025 on the right). That a lake disappears is scientifically interesting, as is the list of suspects: the shores have soft geology, the terrain has been suffering from forest fires for years, there is a lot of logging and also melting ice. Where is the trick. What happened to the lake. The first sign was a destroyed road, as reported by local people who used it to move around the area: the access road was completely destroyed by water, as NASA explains. CBC echoes the subsequent investigationwhich revealed that the land surrounding the lake had collapsed and that Lac Rouge had been emptied. The lake had water on April 29, 2025 but was completely dry on May 14. I mean, It dried in just 15 days. At that time, the local administration released a statement alerting of the event. But the water didn’t disappear, it just moved around. Instead of following its usual outlet channel, it opened a new channel to the northeast, crossing a 10-kilometer chain of lakes and wetlands until it reached Lac Doda. If you look at the after photo, you will see that it left a mark in the form of light brown sediments. The explanation. Science explains this mechanism called outburst flooda flash overflow flood: a portion of the lake shore suddenly gave way and water quickly escaped through that gap instead of overflowing into existing river channels. He NASA Earth Observatory confirmed that it was the east bank that gave way, originating that new route. This phenomenon is relatively common in lakes of glacial origin with unstable ice barriers, but rare in a lake like Lac Rouge, whose barrier is made of soft sedimentary soil. The underlying physics is common in basin hydrology: a coniferous forest absorbs between 20% and 50% of the rain it receives, according to this meta-study published in Nature. If there is no vegetation cover, the water reaches the soil directly, saturates it and weakens those banks. Hydrologist Younes Alila, from the University of British Columbia, summarizes it like this: Any ground disturbance (e.g. fire, logging or forestry) raises the water table and keeps it high for longer, increasing the risk of extreme flooding. There is no Lake Ninio left, only Masibón. POT Why is it important. Because Lac Rouge is not an isolated case: it is a warning. Climate change is making fires more frequent and melting more irregular, as the IPCC climate change expert group explains in his AR6while intensive logging continues to weaken soils. The combination of both factors in basins with soft geology favors the appearance of these poorly studied and difficult to anticipate events, as warned by a study on the boreal forest and climate change published in Springer Nature. In this case, the direct blow is suffered by the indigenous communities. More than 600 communities depend on the Canadian boreal forest for their livelihood, according to the Boreal Conservation Foundationand events like this disappearance drastically alter the territory’s ecosystems and activities, such as hunting and fishing, from one day to the next. The list of suspects. Considering these risk factors, Lac Rouge had all the cards: The fire. In 2019 and 2023, areas near the lake burned. The 2023 fire was Quebec’s worst in more than a century: it burned 4.5 million hectares, according to this study published in the Canadian Journal of Forest Research. The Guardian echoes from the Quebec Cree forestry department, which concludes that those fires eliminated much of the mature vegetation cover in the Lac Rouge basin, including that bank that gave way. Furthermore, the fires can reduce infiltration and increase runoff. Intensive logging. After the fires, logging companies obtained wood by scarifying the land to facilitate replanting, which worsened even more the hydrological degradation of the basin. The thaw of 2025. The winter of 2025 snowed more than normal and the thaw was rapid, generating a volume of water that those weak banks could not contain. Natural or provoked? The Quebec government classified it as a natural event and did not investigate further. Their argument: Their own forestry studies say that if less than half of a watershed’s forest is damaged, the risk to rivers and lakes is minimal, as Sigma Earth collects. International experts and the Cree community do not accept it: these studies do not take into account that in Lac Rouge the damage accumulated in layers or that climate change makes all this happen with more frequency and intensity, according to the IPCC in its Sixth Assessment Report. It was probably a combination of everything: soft soil and weak shoreline set the stage, rapid snowmelt was the spark, and decades of logging and fires made the system much more fragile than it otherwise would have been. As points out Sigma EarthLac Rouge can be a warning of what is to come if the way this territory is managed is not changed. In Xataka | Chronicle of an announced collapse: the NASA map that shows how quickly Mexico City is sinking In Xataka | The Earth’s seabed has always been a mystery: an amazing 3D map reveals it in unprecedented detail Cover | POT

Why more and more mobile phones last up to two days and weigh less

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Technological devices have been chained to the chemical limitations of lithium-ion batteries for almost 30 years. Until recently, if we wanted a mobile phone to have more autonomy, what we needed was a much larger battery. This, in the end, translated into much thicker and heavier phones. That has changed in recent years, since in the middle of 2026 we are witnessing a change in the x-ray of batteries. Now, there are mobile phones on the market that they do not exceed 7 mm thick (as is the case with the Honor Magic V3, which when deployed has a thickness of just 4.35 mm) and which are capable of mounting 5,500 or 6,000 mAh batteries (or even more) without the design looking crude. The secret is not magic, but the anode silicon-carbon. HONOR Magic8 Pro 5G Smartphone, 12+512 GB The price could vary. We earn commission from these links How to understand this progress? In order to understand this progress, we must look inside the battery. Traditional ones use graphite in the anode – the negative electrode –, a cheap and stable material, but with a clear capacity limit. This means that a lot of graphite is needed to be able to store an amount of energy for our mobile phone. He silicon It is a “supermaterial” that can store up to 10 times more lithium ions per gram than graphite (with a specific capacity of around 4,200 mAh/g compared to approximately 370 mAh/g for graphite). This translates into smaller batteries for the same autonomy or more autonomy in the same space. If silicon has such advantageous properties, why isn’t it used sooner? The answer is given by its defect and that is that it is a material that can reach expand by 300-400%depending on the type of silicon used. This is something that could end up fracturing the battery of our mobile phone with just a few charging cycles. This has currently been solved in mobile phone batteries, managing to encapsulate silicon nanoparticles within a carbon structure, which functions as a cage. He carbon It acts as a shock absorber, allowing the silicon to expand and contract internally without destroying the physical structure of the battery. Benefits of mobile phones that have this type of battery The fact that this technology is being implemented in mobile phone batteries basically offers us three benefits that can be translated into the following: Higher energy density: It is now possible to mount a 5,800 mAh battery in the space where a 4,500 mAh battery previously fit. Less thickness on mobile phones: Manufacturers no longer have to sacrifice design so that the mobile battery lasts until we go to sleep. This means that the thickness of today’s mobile phones (in the vast majority of cases) is decreasing. Better fast charging: This type of battery better supports high current densities. This allows us to do ultra-fast charging with less long-term battery degradation. Some mobile phones that have this type of battery A few years ago, Honor (it was one of the first brands to bring this technology to a high-profile folding device with the Honor Magic V3) and Xiaomi began to experiment with this type of batteries, although it is now that silicon-carbon has gone from being a luxury for become the new industry standard. These are some of the mobile phones with silicon-carbon batteries that you can buy currently. Xiaomi 17 (855.34 euros currently on Amazon): the latest release from the Chinese manufacturer, the Xiaomi 17 mount a battery 6,330 mAh on a phone with a thickness of 8.06 mm. This battery supports 100 W fast charging and 50 W wireless charging. Its photographic system signed by Leica is another of its assets, as is its 6.3-inch OLED screen. XIAOMI 17, Smartphone 12+256 GB The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra (1,559 euros on the Samsung website): after years with graphite, Samsung has implemented a hybrid silicon architecture in its S26 series. Of course, the 5,000 mAh remains, but the mobile is much thinner and lighter than the S24 Ultra (7.9 mm and 214 grams of weight S26 Ultra compared to the 8.6 mm and 232 g weight of the S24 Ultra). This Korean firm’s mobile is a clear example that the industry uses silicon-carbon not only to provide more battery, but to make phones more ergonomic without losing capacity. Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra, 512GB The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Honor Magic8 Pro (899 euros): As we have already said, Honor was the first brand to launch a mobile phone with this type of battery. He Honor Magic8 Pro It is its latest addition to the market. Your battery 6,270 mAh Not only is it thinner, but it also stands out for using a dedicated chip (E2; whose main function is to optimize consumption and stabilize the voltage at the minivolt level) to manage the silicon-carbon. Its autonomy is enough for a day and then some, something unthinkable recently on such a bright and fluid 120 Hz screen. HONOR Magic8 Pro 5G Smartphone, 12+512 GB The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Some of the links in this article are affiliated and may provide a benefit to Xataka. In case of non-availability, offers may vary. Images | Xiaomi, Samsung, Honor and Álex Alcolea (Xataka Móvil and Xataka) In Xataka | The best quality-price mobiles. Their analyzes and videos are here In Xataka | Fast chargers for your mobile phone or tablet. Best models to buy for their power and safety

Six phones that already have a silicon-carbon battery and promise up to three days of use without being a brick

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The silicon-carbon batteries They are no longer theoretical or a thing of the future: they are here to stay. At the moment, it is the Chinese manufacturers that are betting on this technology, but it is normal that we will soon see mobile phones of all types with these batteries. And the most striking thing is that this technology is not reserved only for the high-end: There are options for less than 400 euros. Let’s first see what this technology consists of and what differences there are with lithium-ion batteries. Oppo Find X9 5G 16GB/512GB Black The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Carbon-silicon as one more detail to look at when choosing a mobile Although many aspects come into play, as a general rule, the greater the battery capacity, the greater the autonomy of a device. The “problem” is that the batteries that cell phones (and other devices) have been using until now, lithium ion onesuse graphite anodes, which has already reached its energy density ceiling. In other words: for one of these batteries to have more capacity, it has to be bigger. And that causes the device that uses it to become a hulk. This is why silicon-carbon is so important. These batteries, which use this material in the anode instead of graphite, can store much more energy without the need to increase the size of the battery. This means that we can have telephones with a thickness less than 8 millimeters with batteries that exceed 6,000 mAh. Just a year ago it was unthinkable; Today it is beginning to be an accessible reality. Small note here to keep in mind. If you start searching on the Internet for a mobile phone with silicon-carbon, you may find versions with different capacities. Example: the Vivo X300 Pro has an international version with a 6,510 mAh battery, while in Spain it has arrived with 5,440 mAh. Because? As our colleague explains Ivan Linaresit all boils down to saving costs, but not manufacturing costs, but transportation. For safety reasons, if batteries exceed a certain nominal capacity (UN3481 regulations speaks of 20 Wh for each cell), transporting the device becomes much more expensive. Three mobile phones with silicon-carbon batteries for less than 500 euros As we mentioned above, despite being a relatively new technology, silicon-carbon is not limited to very expensive mobile phones. It is true that manufacturers like Samsung, Google or Apple still do not use these batteries, but we have several Chinese manufacturers that do. Below, we leave you three examples that cost less than 500 euros right now. Xiaomi Redmi Note 15 Pro+ The cheapest option on this list is Xiaomi’s Redmi Note 15 Pro+ 5Ga device that is currently coming out 300.29 euros with the coupon ‘ESCD18’. It has a 6,500 mAh battery with a thickness of 8.47 millimeters, with enough autonomy for more than two days. It is not the most powerful option nor the one with the best camera, but it does have good fast charging (100 W), a 6.83-inch screen compatible with Dolby Vision and a speaker system that works well. XIAOMI REDMI Note 15 Pro+ 5G – 8+256GB Smartphone, 6.83″ 1.5K AMOLED Screen, Snapdragon 7s Gen 4, 200 MP Camera, 100W Hypercharge, Charger Not Included, Mocha Coffee (ES Version) The price could vary. We earn commission from these links POCO X8 Pro Max There are batteries with a lot of capacity on this list, but not as much as the one included in the POCO X8 Pro Max. It is impressive that a mobile phone that is 8.2 millimeters and weighs 218 grams has an 8,500 mAh battery, figures more typical of a tablet than a mobile phone. As we always say, it depends on the use we give it, but it is a capacity that will easily give you between two and three days of autonomy. In addition, it performs remarkably and has a good 6.83-inch screen. Costs 412.79 euros with the coupon ‘ESCD18’. Xiaomi POCO X8 Pro Max (12+256 GB) The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Realme 16 Pro+ 7,000 mAh battery in a thickness of 8.1 millimeters. That’s what this one has Realme 16 Pro+a device that has a telephoto sensor that is not present in the two previous options. Beyond this, it also offers good performance and a 6.8-inch screen that stands out for having a sustained brightness level of 1,800 nits. Translation: we will be able to see it perfectly even on those very sunny days. comes out for 361.24 euros with the coupon ‘ESCD18’. realme 16 Pro+ 5G Smartphone 8+256GB, 6.8 Inch Screen, Master Grey, 144Hz, 80W Ultra Charge, 7000mAh Battery, 300MP Camera, Snapdragon 7 Gen 4, IP69 The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Do you have a larger budget? So there are mobile phones with greater power, better cameras and premium finishes. Three mobile phones with silicon-carbon batteries for more than 500 euros If you are looking for mid-range or high-end mobile phones with silicon-carbon, you have a choice. There are very outstanding options that have just come out, such as the Vivo X300 Ultra either the Oppo Find X9 Ultrabut we are going to give you three options that are very interesting and that, since they have been available for a little longer, we can find something cheaper. Vivo X200 FE He Vivo X200 FE It is the mobile phone on this list that has been available the longest, hence we can find it at a very attractive price (582.79 euros with the coupon ‘ESCD18’). In this case, we have a device with a 6,500 mAh battery and 90 W fast charging, which is not bad at all. This device is highly recommended if you like compact mobile phones, since it is less than 8 millimeters thick (7.99 specifically) and has a 6.31-inch screen. Mobile – vivo The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Oppo Find X9 Although he has two … Read more

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