desert

As towns dry out and the desert advances, women in Morocco climb the mountains to capture the fog and turn it into drinking water

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A chance experiment took place in the 1980s. Some researchers working in the Atacama Desert accidentally left a simple metal mesh exposed to wind at night. The next morning they discovered that it was covered in water droplets in one of the driest places on the planet. That seemingly trivial scene ended up inspiring an idea that decades later would change the lives of entire towns. Capture the fog before it disappears. As the desert slowly advances over southwestern Morocco and traditional wells begin to dry up, several villages in the Aït Baâmrane region have found a solution which seems closer to a science fiction image than to conventional hydraulic infrastructure: capture the fog from the mountains and convert it into drinking water. For generations, the women of these communities spent up to four hours a day walking to remote wells and returning carrying barrels weighing almost 25 kilos on their heads. That routine organized the entire life of the villages, kept many girls out of school and reflected the extent to which the lack of water conditioned any daily activity on the edge of the Sahara. Giant nets convert air into water. The change began when huge polymer networks They appeared on the slopes of Mount Boutmezguida, at more than 1,200 meters above sea level. The idea is surprisingly simple: take advantage of the moisture from the Atlantic fog that regularly passes through the Anti-Atlas mountain range. The tiny droplets become trapped in the mesh, condense and end up descending towards deposits connected to kilometers of pipelines by gravity. Without complex pumps or large industrial infrastructure, the system manages to carry water directly to homes using only wind, altitude and ambient humidity. Thanks to the advances in materials engineeringthese modern networks are much more efficient than the experiments carried out decades ago in countries like Chile, Yemen or Eritrea. And the fog reached the tap. When the system went live, neighbors gathered to see something they had never seen before: water coming directly from a faucet inside a home. That “fog water”as they began to call it, quickly transformed the daily life of the villages. Women stopped spending part-time carrying water and many girls were able to attend school regularly again. The project, promoted by the NGO Dar Si Hmadnot only modified water management, but also the social balance of communities where transporting water had been an exclusively female responsibility for centuries. The cultural challenge of drinking water that did not touch the ground. The technology worked from the beginning, but convincing everyone was much more difficult. Some inhabitants they distrusted of a water that had never passed through the earth and that, as they believed, lacked minerals and “life”. The fog represented something ambiguous, almost unreal, too far from traditional sources. Over time, the rejection disappeared as the families verified that the water was safe and constant. The transition also forced us to work unexpected social issues: Some women felt that they were losing part of their central role in the home by no longer being in charge of fetching water. That is why the project ended up incorporating literacy, technical training and community management along with hydraulic infrastructure. Finding water is impossible. The UN has recognized this May 2026 that the Moroccan system is one of the more interesting examples of climate adaptation against desertification. The project shows that some extremely dry regions can still take advantage of invisible resources which until now were hardly used. However, it also makes clear that does not exist a universal solution: capturing fog only works where mountains, ocean humidity and very specific atmospheric conditions coincide. Still, the image is powerful for a planet increasingly affected by water scarcity: as wells empty and temperatures rise, there are entire communities in Morocco that have literally begun to harvest clouds to survive. Image | Aqualonis In Xataka | Satellite images leave no room for doubt: it has rained so much that Morocco has not looked so green for a decade In Xataka | France and Morocco have teamed up to flood Europe with green ammonia. And they compete directly with Spain

The Strait of Hormuz has become a death trap. The Arab Emirates’ solution is a pharaonic oil “bypass” through the desert

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The new energy order is not debated in suit and tie summits, but is rising against the clock under the scorching sun of the Arabian Peninsula. Suffocated by the Third Gulf War, the United Arab Emirates has hit the table: it refuses to leave the survival of its trade routes in the hands of chance, war or its neighbors. The strategy is clear: if the strait is a minefield, they will build a rear exit. The news that has shaken the foundations of oil logistics came to light through official channels. According to a statement from the company itself ADNOC (the Emirati state oil company), His Highness Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed has chaired a key meeting in which he has ordered an urgent directive: to accelerate the construction of the new “West-East Pipeline” project. But what infrastructure are we talking about exactly? As energy analyst Javier Blas points outthe key to this movement is that the Emirates is laying out a second oil pipeline expressly designed to turn its back on the Strait of Hormuz. The date marked on the calendar is 2027. When they open the tap, this new infrastructure will double the volume of crude oil that the country takes out to the world through the port of Fujairah (in the Gulf of Oman). In practical figures, this represents a gigantic leap: they will go from the 1.5 million barrels a day that they move right now, to injecting between 3 and 3.5 million. It is not a project improvised in the last week. As analyst Bachar El-Halabi points outwork on this project began quietly in early 2024, long before the war in Iran paralyzed the region. However, the conflict has acted as the definitive “catalyst.” The war did not inspire the pipeline, but it has injected it with urgency. The logistical “antidote” As was discussed in the middle Amwaj Mediathe Iran war has starkly exhibited the tremendous vulnerability of maritime bottlenecks (chokepoints). The near-total shutdown of Hormuz has caused the worst supply disruption in history, removing 12% of the world’s oil from the market. In this context, the West-East pipeline stands as a lifeline. This Emirati infrastructure, added to the gigantic oil pipeline East-West (or Petroline) of 1,200 kilometers that Saudi Arabia has reactivated towards the Red Sea, form a true logistical “antidote.” They are escape routes that neutralize Tehran’s blackmail, allowing crude oil to go out into the world without entering the range of missiles and blockades in the Persian Gulf. They are, in the words of experts, “buying invaluable time” for the West. To understand the privilege of having this infrastructure, just look at the neighboring country: the situation in Iraq exposes the other side of the coin. Lacking alternative outlets to the sea and completely dependent on Hormuz, Iraq has been left without physical space to store its own oil. As a result, Baghdad has been forced to shut down 70% of production in its prolific southern fields and beg the Kurdistan region to let them use an old, patched-up pipeline to Turkey that barely manages to export 250,000 barrels a day. Iraq is a hostage to its own geography; The Emirates, on the other hand, are buying their freedom with steel and engineering. A free (and flooded) market by 2027 All this new logistical muscle takes on its true meaning when it intersects with another historic decision: the Emirates’ slamming of the door on OPEC+. Emirates has formally left the organizationarguing the defense of their “national interest.” After almost six decades, the country has decided that its national interests no longer fit into the cartel’s quotas. The UAE had been accumulating commercial frustration for years because OPEC forced them to limit their pumping to 3.2 million barrels per day, despite the fact that the country has invested aggressively to reach a production capacity of 5 million barrels by 2027, the same year in which its new megagas pipeline to Fujairah will be ready. But as various international media explain, this divorce is not just about money. Abu Dhabi feels betrayed. The Emirates have had to absorb much of the impact of Iranian missiles and drones alone, feeling that their Arab “brothers” and the Gulf Cooperation Council were turning their backs on them. Therefore, the consequences of this schism will be tectonic. The cartel has seen its global market share plummet to 26%. When the Strait of Hormuz reopens and the West-East pipeline operates at full capacity, the Emirates will flood the market under its own rules, leaving a lone Saudi Arabia to bear the brutal cost of trying to stabilize prices in a world of extreme volatility. The cold war for the future The Emirati order, in fact, is directly addressed to Riyadh. In the silent cold war it is waging with Saudi Arabia for regional hegemony, the Emirates refuses to be a supporting actor in the face of Prince Mohamed bin Salman’s monolithic “Vision 2030.” As explained Middle East Economythe UAE can afford to leave OPEC and endure a downward pulse in prices because its break-even Fiscal is around a comfortable $45 per barrel, compared to the much greater needs of its neighbors. Thanks to diversification, the Emirates today generates 25% of its electricity with the Barakah nuclear power plant and has immense solar parks, allowing itself to use today’s petrodollars to finance hydrogen and the technology of tomorrow. However, this apparent invulnerability has a terrifying blind spot. Military analysts warn that, in the era of hybrid warfare, a steel pipe is of little use if a $500 drone can paralyze the region. The Third Gulf War already demonstrated this fragility when a drone reached the gigantic Emirati Ruwais refinery. Added to this is the panic unleashed when pro-Iranian militias explicitly threatened vital infrastructure such as the Barakah nuclear power plant. The Emirates is building its financial and logistical freedom, yes, but it is doing so through a minefield. The new West-East pipeline is ultimately much more than a … Read more

There is a secret outpost in a desert in Iraq to bomb Tehran

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During the Gulf Warseveral Bedouins in western Iraq began to see helicopters and military convoys appear and disappear in remote areas of the desert where there was apparently nothing. Years later it was learned that many of those areas had been used as secret outposts and makeshift runways for Western special operations far from any official map. An outpost in the middle of nowhere. He told it in an exclusive the wall street journal. The war between Israel and Iran has left images of missiles, bombers and attacks thousands of kilometers away, but one of the most surprising stories of the conflict has occurred far from the cameras, in the middle of the Iraqi desert. According to several sources cited by the mediaIsrael secretly set up a forward base inside Iraq to support part of its air campaign against Tehran. Apparently, the place served as a logistics center, a support point for special forces and a rescue platform for downed pilots, all just a few steps away. hundreds of kilometers from Iran and hidden in one of the emptiest and most difficult to control areas of the Middle East. The idea seems straight out of a military espionage movie: a clandestine enclave installed silently inside another country, protected from the air and prepared to intervene in a regional war without official recognition. The strategic importance of Iraq. The detail reveals to what extent the distance was one of the big problems Israeli operatives during the campaign against Iran. Bombing Iranian targets from Israeli territory involves traveling enormous distances, maintaining long flight routes and assuming constant risks for pilots and aircraft. Having an outpost in Iraq changed part of that equation. It allowed rescue teams to be brought closer, special forces to be deployed and an intermediate point from which to react quickly in emergencies. The presence of Israeli air force commandos trained to operate in enemy territory further suggests that the enclave was not simply a makeshift base, but an infrastructure designed to sustain complex operations behind the lines of conflict. The pastor who almost discovered it all. The story took on an even more surreal tone when the base was nearly exposed by something as simple as a local shepherd. According to the published informationa local man alerted Iraqi authorities after observing strange movements and helicopter flights in the desert. The Iraqi Army sent several units to investigate and there began one of the most delicate episodes of the entire operation. The soldiers advanced in Humvees towards the area at dawn and ended up under intense fire supported from the air. In fact, a Iraqi soldier died and others were injured. The extraordinary thing is that for weeks no one understood exactly what had happened there: Iraq denounced an unauthorized foreign operation, some media initially pointed the finger at Washington, and rumors began to circulate about special forces operating clandestinely in the desert. Only later did the possibility begin to emerge that Israel was defending a secret facility directly linked to the war against Iran. Invisible war within another war. Plus: the episode shows the extent to which modern conflicts are full of invisible layers that rarely appear in official statements. While the world’s attention was focused in ballistic missilesdrones and attacks on Iranian facilities, in parallel clandestine operations were carried out in third countries to sustain all this military machinery. I remembered the Journal that the western Iraqi desert had been used for decades these types of activities by American forces, from the wars against Saddam Hussein to operations against the Islamic State. The reason is simple: the region is huge, isolated, and sparsely populated, making it a perfect place to deploy hard-to-detect temporary outposts. The difference is that now the scenario was not a US invasion or an anti-terrorist campaign, but a regional air war in which Israel needed to operate at an enormous distance from its territory. The long shadow of the United States. Although sources assure that Washington knew of the existence of the Israeli base, the United States I would have avoided participating directly in the clashes that occurred around the enclave. Even so, the whole story once again shows the extent to which the US military infrastructure in the Middle East continues to condition any regional conflict. The bases, air corridors, intelligence and experience networks accumulated over decades of operations in Iraq have created an ecosystem that allows for this type of rapid and discreet deployments. In fact, his own rescue of an F-15 American aircraft shot down near Isfahan during the war demonstrates that both countries were operating simultaneously in an extremely complex theater, one where commandos, helicopters and rescue teams could move across several countries while officially many of those operations They didn’t even exist. Image | NARA In Xataka | While everyone was looking at Hormuz, Russia has found a much more important route to supply drones to Iran In Xataka | We sensed that Iran’s attacks on the US had been important. In reality, they were devastating

China’s largest solar park is doing much more than generating energy: it’s greening a desert

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more than a year ago we had in Xataka how a huge solar park in the Chinese province of Qinghai, in the heart of the Tibetan plateau, served as an ecological experiment: under the panels, the shade retained moisture and made vegetation sprout in the middle of the desert. Now, that same place – the Talatan Solar Park – has become something much bigger. It is the largest clean energy facility on the planet, a “blue sea” of silicon that already covers more than 600 square kilometers at three thousand meters above sea level. Where before there was nothing, China is lifting an energy ecosystem without comparison in the rest of the world. The scale has multiplied. Where last year there was talk of a 1 gigawatt solar park, today a complex extends that reaches 15,600 and 16,900 megawatts and continues to expand. Its area – between 420 and 610 square kilometers – is seven times that of Manhattan. Furthermore, it is not alone since 4,700 megawatts of wind energy and 7,380 megawatts of hydroelectric dams are deployed around it, completing an unprecedented hybrid system. The result: enough renewable energy to supply almost all of the plateau’s needs, including the data centers that power China’s artificial intelligence. According to CleanTechnicaevery three weeks China installs as many solar panels as the entire capacity of the Three Gorges Dam, the largest hydroelectric project in its history. A global clean energy laboratory. The Tibetan plateau, with its pure, cold air, has become the most ambitious energy laboratory in the world. There, China is experimenting with an electricity production model based exclusively on renewables. Electricity generated in Qinghai—40% cheaper than coal, according to the NYT— powers high-speed trains, factories, electric cars and data centers. In fact, the region is home to new computing centers dedicated to artificial intelligence, which consume less energy thanks to the altitude and low temperatures. “Hot air from servers is used to heat other buildings, replacing coal-fired boilers,” explained Zhang Jingang, vice provincial governor. In the words of Professor Ningrong Liu, in his column for the South China Morning Post: “China is not only leading the transition to green energy; it is building the 21st century energy scaffolding that sustains its industrial leadership in electric vehicles, batteries and solar technology.” Three sources that beat in unison. The magnitude of the project is only possible thanks to centralized planning that combines three main sources: solar, wind and hydroelectric energy. During the day, Talatan panels capture more intense solar radiation than at sea level; At night, thousands of wind turbines collect the cold breezes that sweep across the plains. When both systems fluctuate, hydroelectric dams balance the grid. Also, from the New York Times They described a system reversible pumping: excess solar energy during the day is used to raise water to reservoirs located in nearby mountains, which release that water at night to generate electricity. And under the panels, life returns. The shade of the plates reduces evaporation and soil erosion. According to China Dailythis year the vegetation has recovered up to 80% and 173 villages have benefited from the associated livestock farming. A local shepherd, Zhao Guofu, said: “My flock has grown to 800 sheep and my income has doubled since I grazed between the panels.” The perfect geography for the sun. No other country has taken solar generation to similar altitudes. The altitude plays in favor of physics, at 3,000 meters the air contains fewer particles that block light and the low temperatures reduce the thermal loss of the panels. This efficiency is multiplied in Qinghai, one of the few areas of the Tibetan plateau with large plains, where it is possible to build without the limits of the mountainous relief. The Talatan Desert, once an arid and worthless land, has become an energetic jewel. local authorities offer symbolic leases and have developed roads and high-voltage lines connecting the plateau with the industrial centers to the east. That energy travels more than 1,600 kilometers to factories and cities. According to CleanTechnicaChina already operates 41 ultra-high voltage transmission lines, some longer than 2,000 miles and up to 1.1 million volts. The global scale: no one comes close. Other countries have tried to generate clean energy at altitude, but with modest results. Switzerland, for example, inaugurated a small solar park in the Alps, at 1,800 meters, with barely 0.5 MW. For its part, in the Chilean Atacama Desert, a 480 MW project operates at 1,200 meters. By way of comparison, the Talatan complex multiplies the capacity of the Bhadla Solar Park in India, and for more than seven that of the Al Dhafra Solar Park in the United Arab Emirates, which until recently held records. The superpower of clean energy. China produces and consumes more renewable energy than any other country on the planet. In 2024, was responsible of 61% of new solar installations and 70% of global wind power. That same year, it achieved the capacity targets it had set for 2030. In the first six months of 2025added 212 GW solar and 51 GW wind, and the country’s carbon emissions fell for the first time. In this context, Talatan Park is both a symbol and an infrastructure. China is exporting its renewable technology around the world, from Asia to Africa, following the logic of Belt and Road Initiative. For the academic Ningrong Liu: “China wants to stop being the world’s factory to become the engine of the world’s factory.” It is not just about manufacturing panels, but about selling the complete model: engineering, financing and know-how to build green networks in other countries. The less visible side of the miracle. It’s not all clean energy and pastoral harmony. In its report, The New York Times recalled that access to Tibet remains strictly controlled by the Communist Party, and that Western media were only allowed to visit Qinghai on a government-organized tour. There are also human and environmental costs. CleanTechnica documents how the giant power lines that transport energy … Read more

It also had a sophisticated water system in the middle of the Jordanian desert.

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There are few monuments better known on the entire face of the Earth than Petra, the capital of the Nabataean Kingdom in the south of modern-day Jordan. That majestic facade sculpted in rock It is a world heritage site. However, there is a dimension of the city that is equally impressive and that often goes unnoticed: its hydraulic engineering. In a semi-arid environment, control of water was not a mere matter of survival (as if that were not enough!) but also a symbol of power and prestige and strategic resource. The capital of the kingdom required a stable and carefully managed water supply for drinking, bathing, agriculture, temple basins or gardens. To date, archeology believed it had a reasonably clear map of how its water network worked, but a research team from the Humboldt University of Berlin has just shown that the map was incomplete and partially wrong. His research has been published in a paper in Levant. The discovery. On the slopes of Jabal al-Madhbah the team has identified a 116 meter stretch of pressurized lead pipe preserved in situ in the ‘Ain Braq aqueduct, in a prospecting area of ​​2,500 square meters. This feature is poorly documented in open-air aqueduct corridors in the eastern Mediterranean. Most importantly, it demonstrates that it was not a system built in a single phase. Because the investigation has documented nine conduits in total (including the aforementioned lead one), in addition to a large deposit sealed by a high dam, two cisterns and seven basins of different sizes and purposes. That is, two different technologies superimposed: first the pressurized lead pipe, which at some point was sealed, and on top of it a later terracotta network. Why is it important. There are two levels where the discovery is relevant: From a technical point of view, the use of lead is rare beyond building interiors. Its presence in an outdoor channel shows that the Nabataeans had access to sufficient resources and technical knowledge to use it outdoors, rivaling the achievements of Rome. It should be remembered that lead requires mining, transportation and artisans. From a political point of view, it was a symbol of power and prosperity. The system fed the Az-Zantur reservoir, located on a high ridge. From there, water could be distributed under pressure to monuments such as the Great Temple and the Garden and Pool Complex. These structures require a continuous and reliable water supply, so as lead researcher Niklas Jungmann proposes, they demonstrate the luxury of running water in the desert. If you control the water, you control the city. Context. The Siq, ‘Ain Braq and Wadi Mataha systems were the three main water supply systems of Petra and were fed by springs and reservoirs. Each of them were designed with different objectives to deal with the challenges of physics and the particular geology of the landscape, which made it possible to supply the different sectors of the city. In a desert environment, it was an essential requirement to master water and boy did it do so: they had baths, ornamental gardens, sacred water installations and monuments that continually needed water. Petra flourished as the capital of the Nabataean Kingdom before its incorporation into the Roman Empire and its subsequent decline following the earthquake of 363 AD. The chronological context places the lead phase probably at the height of the kingdom (1st century AD), under the reign of Aretas IV, when the city experienced an urban explosion. The transition to terracotta coincides with periods of economic restructuring or changes in administration after the Roman annexation in 106 AD, showing an adaptation towards materials that are easier to maintain. How have they done it. Classic research approaches on Petra approached the entire city from a macro perspective and resorted to extrapolations, but Jungmann’s study focuses on a 2,500 square meter area of ​​the Jabal al-Madhbah massif. This has allowed him to document every visible trace of hydraulic infrastructure with precision using photogrammetry and digital elevation models to understand how the terrain dictated water flow and where the use of pressure was necessary. Likewise, it did not focus on searching for objects through excavation, but rather on detailed reading of the stratigraphy and morphology of the infrastructure. Yes, but. Although the discovery is revolutionary, unknowns remain and Jungmann himself is cautious with interpretations. To begin with, the lead pipe was abandoned and sealed to be replaced by a second network of open canals and terracotta pipes, a decision that was probably explained by costs. In addition, the study focuses on a small area and a first prospecting campaign (September 2023). That is, the connection with the reign of Aretas IV is plausible but not definitive when it comes to dating. On the other hand, the use of lead raises the eternal question about toxicity. As a general context, in calcareous waters such as those in the region, calcium carbonate tends to form an internal layer that isolates the metal from drinking water, which would reduce the risk of contamination, although the paper does not address this issue. What is clear is that Nabataean water management was more advanced, experimental and adaptable than previously thought. In Xataka | 2,600 years ago four Etruscans were buried in Rome. And today archaeologists have found a treasure thanks to them In Xataka | 12,000 years ago a tribe in North America carved small dice with a single objective: to create bets. Cover | Bernard Gagnon and Diego Delso

240 km without curves, in the middle of the desert and with truck traffic

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Imagine driving for more than two hours without turning the steering wheel even a single degree. No curves, no noticeable slopes, no changes on the horizon. That is the reality of Highway 10 (Highway 10) of Saudi Arabia, which holds the Guinness record as the longest straight road on the planet with a completely linear section of 240 kilometers. A highway born for a king. Highway 10 stretches 1,480 kilometers from Ad Darb to the border with the United Arab Emirates, but it is its segment between Haradh and Al Batha that has received all the attention. The road was originally built as a private road for King Fahd of Saudi Arabia, although today it has become a fundamental artery for the transport of goods between the center and west of the country with the Emirates. The Empty Quarter desert as a setting. The road crosses the Rub’ al Khaliknown as the Empty Quarter, the largest sand desert in the world. The area itself explains why it is possible to build such a straight line: there are no mountains to surround, valleys to cross or geographical features to avoid. Just sand and more sand as far as the eye can see. The infrastructure is completely paved and has mainly two lanes in each direction, supporting intense truck traffic that crosses the desert. Speed ​​limits adjusted for heavy traffic. The maximum speed allowed on this highway varies depending on the type of vehicle: passenger cars can travel up to 120 km/h on fast sections, buses 100 km/h and trucks 80 km/h. Although in 2018 were announced Upper limits of up to 140 km/h for light vehicles in certain sections, the constant presence of heavy transport makes maintaining these speeds complicated in practice. A mental challenge more than a physical one. Believe it or not, driving on the straightest road in the world is not as easy as it seems, especially due to fatigue. The monotony of the desert landscape and the total absence of visual stimuli can cause drowsiness and even a dangerous disconnection while driving. Added to this is the occasional threat of camels wandering across the road. So, although the route is ‘easy’ to handle, mentally it can become a nightmare. Not for nothing is it found in Dangerous Roads website. Reinforced security measures. Aware of the risks involved in driving on such a monotonous road, the Saudi Ministry of Transport and Logistics has implemented various improvements safety features, including paved shoulders, reflective pavement markings (known as “cat’s eyes”), protective barriers, kilometer signs, and directional and warning signs. Here the driver’s attention must be vital, especially on a road with so few changes. Other legendary straights. Before Highway 10 snatched the title, the Australia’s Eyre Highway boasted the record with a 146 kilometer straight stretch through the Nullarbor Desert. Although almost 100 kilometers shorter, this Australian road remains one of the most unique driving experiences on the continent. Also noteworthy are roads such as ND-46 in North Dakotathe United States, or some sections of the Argentine Route 40which although they do not compete in length of absolute straightness and offer a great variety of landscape that softens the eye, also encompasses endless kilometers of monotonous movement. Cover image | City Vibes In Xataka | Yes, the V16 beacons transmit your position in the event of an accident. No, the DGT cannot “spy” on you with them A version of this article was published in 2025

We’ve found the secret ingredient for using desert sand in construction: sawdust and a giant sandwich maker

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At a time when humans do not stop building and erecting large buildings, there is a problem that should concern us more and more: there is a lack of sand to make concrete. But here anyone can laugh, since we have great deserts on the planet where there is a huge amount of sand that we could use without any problem. But it’s not that easy. The problem. Today, traditional concrete is quite exquisite, since river sand is necessary to achieve a good result. And it has to be that way, because the desert sand is too round and fine to be able to “stick” well. But the truth is that we were running out of this sand so necessary to continue building. In Xataka The rain has transformed the driest desert on the planet into a sea of ​​flowers. It’s a sight to behold and a problem for experts We have a solution. The University of Tokyo and the University of Norway they have hit the key to turn the tables, and the solution is not only to use the desert sand that a priori we have left over, but rather it is to mix it with plant waste to create a material that has received the name Botanical Sandcrete. The recipe. The recently published study details a process that deviates from traditional cement setting, using a hot-pressing technique instead. And for this you only need two ingredients: Fine desert sand which, as we have said before, is useless for conventional concrete due to its morphology. Wood particles and plant additives that act as organic “glue.” All this, together with a temperature of 180 ºC and high pressure, means that the wood components help create a solid matrix that traps the grains of sand and transforms them into a handful of powder in a block that has great mechanical properties. {“videoId”:”x7znesx”,”autoplay”:false,”title”:”Self-consumption building THIS IS HOW THEY WORK – Solar panels in apartment blocks”, “tag”:”solar”, “duration”:”564″} What is it for? Here we should not be happy to find an alternative to a problem that we already had on our heads, since we are not going to be able to build skyscrapers with these tomorrow. Here the researchers point out that the material, as it is right now, is a non-structural alternative.  In this way, its use is mainly focused on pavements, urban tiles and enclosure blocks or outdoor furniture. Things that are ultimately not pillars for large buildings, but do allow us to save river sand. Your advantage. Having an alternative, although it cannot be used in everything, allows us to drastically reduce dependence on quarries and the transportation of river sand. An action that results in the destruction of river ecosystems around the world by removing a fundamental element. In addition to all this, using wood waste and plant additives means that it has a much smaller potential carbon footprint than concrete based on classic cement. In Xataka 30 years ago the US was the country that dominated rare earths. This graph shows how China devastated at dizzying speed Its importance. To date, most attempts to use desert sand involved expensive chemical treatments or mixing them in very low percentages with conventional sand. But the focus of these researchers involves the use of biomass, making us a perfect example of a circular economy. And if we see the full context of the situation, we are taking advantage of a resource that is very abundant but a priori useless like desert sand, along with a byproduct of the logging industry. But logically it still remains to be seen how it behaves over time and how well it endures adverse conditions. Although a priori we are facing great news. Images | Keith Hardy rawpixel.com In Xataka | A 29-year-old young man has invented a cement that makes magnetic walls: a solution to hang things without a drill or screws (function() { window._JS_MODULES = window._JS_MODULES || {}; var headElement = document.getElementsByTagName(‘head’)(0); if (_JS_MODULES.instagram) { var instagramScript = document.createElement(‘script’); instagramScript.src=”https://platform.instagram.com/en_US/embeds.js”; instagramScript.async = true; instagramScript.defer = true; headElement.appendChild(instagramScript); – The news We’ve found the secret ingredient for using desert sand in construction: sawdust and a giant sandwich maker was originally published in Xataka by José A. Lizana .

transforming desert sand into the cheapest and most durable road material in Africa

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Honda is experiencing one of its most complicated moments. On the one hand, it has canceled several launches of its electric cars in North America, has paralyzed the development of Afeela which it developed in collaboration with Sony and has announced losses of around $15.7 billion. Now they are in a moment of restructuring to get out of the slump, but they have not left aside some of their most experimental projects. One of them is PathAhead, a startup that emerged from its internal incubator that has presented a construction material made of desert sand with which it intends to pave roads in Africa. The problem they want to solve. Only about 20% of African roads are paved, according to data from Honda itself. This figure has a direct impact on the region’s economy, since in the end a place where transportation access is difficult makes logistics more expensive, limits access to markets and slows down development. Furthermore, according to the firm, conventional materials for road construction (natural sand and crushed stone) present variations in resistance depending on their geological origin, which makes it difficult to guarantee uniform quality. The solution: desert sand turned into arid. As we have mentioned before, the company behind this project is called PathAhead, and it has developed a material that it calls Rising Sand. The company describes it as the world’s first artificial aggregate made from desert sand. The process consists of agglomerating fine grains of sand (about 100 micrometers in diameter) into larger, more uniform particles using heat and pressure, increasing their resistance. Image: Nikkei Asia The result, according to the company, is roads with a useful life of more than 20 years, double that of those built with conventional materials, and a life cycle cost that is 60% lower, according to its estimates. The deployment plan. PathAhead plans to begin demonstration trials in Kenya in 2027, followed by Tanzania and South Africa. If the results are positive, mass production will begin in 2028 in its own factory in that country. The startup’s financial goal is to reach revenue of $270 million by 2034. The company has so far raised about 136 million yen (approximately $850,000), with Honda as one of its investors. Where PathAhead comes from. The startup was born within the Ignition program, which Honda launched in 2017 to encourage the creation of new businesses among its employees. Masayuki Iga, its founder and CEO, worked for years at Honda’s research center developing automotive materials. “I created PathAhead with the desire to apply the technologies and knowledge accumulated in that experience to directly address the challenges of our society,” declared Iga during the presentation in Tokyo. Why it draws attention now. Sling has increased its spending on R&D by 55% in the last five years, to exceed one trillion yen in the recently closed fiscal year. That the company maintains and even expands its commitment to internal innovation while undergoing a profound restructuring of its core business is, at the very least, a sign that it does not want to reduce its long-term bets. If PathAhead can prove that its material works on an industrial scale, it could become more than just an experimental project. We’ll see if it ends up having a place in the industry. Cover image | Sling In Xataka | The car industry has condemned the manual gear shift to extinction. A company wants to avoid it: BMW

Iceland has solved it in the middle of the desert

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Trapping carbon dioxide emissions and literally turning them into stone seems like an invention straight out of the blue. Futuramawhere in the future everything is recycled. The problem is that this trick of underground alchemy hid a terrifying small print: his exorbitant thirst. To get carbon to mineralize underground, the system needs to swallow absurd amounts of liquid, specifically between 20 and 50 times more water than the mass of CO₂ we are trying to store. However, a new industrial-scale study published in the magazine Nature just rewritten the rules of the game. An international team, with researchers from Iceland, Saudi Arabia and Italy, has shown in the western Saudi desert that it is possible to petrify CO₂ without wasting a single drop of external fresh water. Salvation under the sands of Saudi Arabia. As the authors of the research detail, this area is a real challenge: it is full of large facilities that emit a lot of CO₂, such as refineries and desalination plants, but it lacks the underground saline aquifers or sedimentary traps that are traditionally used to inject carbon. Salvation was under his feet. About 24 kilometers from the Jizan Economic Complex and Refinery, geologists took advantage of an immense bed of highly fractured volcanic rocks (basalts) that have been there for between 21 and 30 million years. There they tested an ingenious system for recirculating subsoil fluids. The gigantic “soda” trick. To carry out the experiment, the engineers used two main wells, separated by just 130 meters: one functions as a “production” well (extracts water) and the other as an “injection” well. The process is a closed circuit and isolated from the atmosphere so that oxygen does not enter or gas escape. They extract the water that already lives in the depths, circulate it through pipes and, 150 meters underground, inject pure CO₂ into it in the form of bubbles until it completely dissolves. According to the project scientists, dissolving the gas in water has two brutal chemical and mechanical advantages: It gets heavy: CO₂-laden water is denser than regular still water, so it creates a non-buoyant fluid, greatly limiting the risk of the gas migrating to the surface and back into the atmosphere. It becomes acidic: This liquid is acidic and greatly accelerates the dissolution of the silicate minerals present in the basaltic rock. As the rock dissolves, it releases metals that provide the cations needed to form stable minerals, such as calcite. A question of geopolitical survival. The data from this pilot is a resounding success. The team injected 131 tons of CO₂ into the subsoil. After monitoring the area with trackers, they discovered that approximately 70% of all that injected carbon had been mineralized within ten months. Measurements showed that the concentration of dissolved inorganic carbon in the returning water had been reduced by 90% compared to what was initially injected. Reusing water from the reservoir itself offers substantial advantages. Not only do you forget about bringing external water, but you also reduce the risk of the pressure of fluids underground increasing dangerously. Furthermore, by injecting water that has the same composition as the original underground reserve, the risk of compatibility problems, such as losses of permeability in the reservoir, is reduced. The current dimension. As we recently analyzed in Xataka In the wake of military escalation in the region, the real Achilles heel of the Arabian Peninsula is not oil, but thirst. Countries like Saudi Arabia depend 70% on their desalination plants to survive. In a scenario where the supply of fresh water is a strategic vulnerability and a matter of biological survival, allocating massive volumes of water to bury emissions was simply unfeasible. Therefore, this advance opens the door for the Middle East – where a large part of global oil production is also concentrated – to be able to use its basalt rocks to store carbon without sacrificing a vital resource. A providential accident. Sometimes setbacks are the best of tests. In September 2023, the submersible pump in the extraction well broke down. When the technicians brought it to the surface, they found its interior full of rock grains cemented by up to 14% calcite, as well as other minerals such as siderite and ankerite. The isotope analyzes made it clear: these solid cements were formed from the CO₂ injected during the pilot project. The gas had literally petrified in the very bowels of the machine. An “energy bargain”. As if that were not enough, we must add energy savings. As the research details, injecting CO₂ with this method requires a surface pressure of only 12 to 14 bars. That’s 8 to 16 times less pressure than conventional carbon capture plants require. Basically, CO₂-laden water is drawn into the system driven by gravity. Regarding its future potential, engineers calculate that the underground pores of this particular area (estimated between 24,000 and 43,000 m³) would have enough space to house between 22,000 and 40,000 tons of mineralized CO₂. Geology dictates: the limit of the stone. Every geological technology has its own physical limits. As experts explain Natureas water, CO₂ and basalt interact, the total volume of solid minerals increases. This means that the pore space is reduced and can end up blocking water flow paths in the long term. To get around this problem, the researchers propose that we may have to resort to fracturing the rock (fracking), an option still little explored in basaltic systems. What is clear is that this technological innovation is proposed as a great complement to conventional capture systems, not as an exclusive alternative, since in the end it is the geological conditions that rule. But thanks to this pioneering experiment, there is something we can take for granted: the lack of rivers or fresh aquifers is no longer an excuse for not returning our emissions to the subsoil and turning them into stone. Image | Eric Gaba and Nature Xataka | Neither oil nor gas: if a total war breaks out between the US … Read more

Saudi Arabia had billions to build the future in the desert. He has decided to sacrifice them to destroy Iran

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The cranes have stopped roaring in the Tabuk desert. There where it should rise a colossal artificial lake at 2,600 meters high and a science fiction metropolis valued in billionsToday the priority is to look at the sky looking for the trail of ballistic missiles and kamikaze drones. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) had promised the world a glass and petrodollar utopia called NEOM, a monument to his own ego designed to whitewash the regime’s image. However, the harsh reality of the Middle East has ended up imposing itself on the renders in 3D. A crossroads in the gulf. We are looking at what is now, for all intents and purposes, a Third Gulf War, and Saudi Arabia has reached a historic crossroads. Caught in the war waged by the United States and Israel against Iran, the Saudi monarchy faces an existential dilemma: save its economy and its megalomaniac pharaonic project, or take advantage of the chaos to dismantle, once and for all, the regime in Tehran. And judging by the shadow movements of its leaders, Riyadh seems willing to let its economic utopia bleed if it means it can win this war. Facing the gallery. Behind closed doors, Saudi Arabia’s message is one of absolute containment. In recent communicationsthe Saudi government has insisted that it has “always supported a peaceful resolution” and that its only priority is defending its population and infrastructure from daily attacks. This is what an analysis by Dr. Turki Faisal Al-Rasheed has defined as “strategic patience”: a tactic in which Riyadh avoids direct confrontation to protect its investments, while subtly encouraging the weakening of its regional rival. The reality is more complex. However, the leaks tell a very different story. As revealed The New York TimesBased on sources informed by US officials, MBS has been privately pressuring US President Donald Trump not to stop the war. The crown prince sees the current US-Israeli military campaign as a “historic opportunity” to destroy Iran’s hardline government. The talks have reached the point where MBS would have advocated for ground operations and even the military takeover of Kharg Island, the Iranian oil heart. The diplomatic board is abuzz. Mohamed bin Salmán’s phone does not stop ringing, as he urgently needs to shield his vital infrastructure from attacks and, to do so, he relies on the Western umbrella. As detailed ReutersBritish Prime Minister Keir Starmer personally telephoned MBS to condemn the Iranian offensive and confirm the deployment of more British defensive military equipment. London’s goal is to protect the kingdom and try to ensure that the sea trade route does not completely collapse. But while MBS is piling up shields and secretly pressuring Trump not to relax the blow against Iran, other regional allies are desperately trying to put out the fire before it devastates the entire Gulf. As revealed by the agency AnadoluPakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif contacted the crown prince to underline the “urgent need” for a de-escalation. Islamabad’s move is not a toast to the sun: Pakistan has emerged as the great shadow mediator, to the point of offering to host direct talks between the United States and Iran based on a 15-point American peace plan. The sacrifice of Vision 2030. “It’s the last thing he wanted. He wants stability and order, he doesn’t want missiles or drones flying.” This is how forceful an expert seemed consulted by him Financial Times. The diplomatic “detente” that Saudi Arabia had signed with Iran in 2023 has been shattered. Iranian retaliatory attacks have hit the giant Ras Tanura refinery, the Shaybah field and the Prince Sultan air base. The cost of this war for MBS’s dreams is already incalculable. Formula 1 had to cancel its April races. In the entertainment sector, the CEO of Savvy Games Group recognized that the war escalation It will “cool the perception” of Saudi Arabia as a safe destination for investment of 38 billion in eSports. The biggest collateral victim: NEOM. The artificial lake project Trojenaawarded for $4.7 billion to an Italian construction company, is already facing leaks about delays of between three and four years. The 2029 Winter Games have been postponed indefinitely and the extra costs suffocate an already deficient budget. The war and instability in the Red Sea discourage foreign investment, vital for these science fiction cities to go from render to reality. The reality of the Saudi coffers is critical. As revealed The New York TimesEven before the conflict broke out, the crown prince was already facing serious financial challenges. The 2030 deadline is approaching and the government assumes budget deficit forecasts for the coming years, suffocated by excessive spending on megaprojects and vast investments in artificial intelligence that are straining the country’s resources to the limit. And a prolonged war threatens to blow everything up, since MBS’s success depends on a single factor that is currently non-existent: a safe environment for investors and tourists. Holding the pulse. To withstand the challenge, Saudi Arabia has had to resort to an engineering work born of fear in the 80s. With the Strait of Hormuz strangled by the Iranian threat, Riyadh has activated its logistical “antidote.” State oil company Aramco is pumping against the clock through the East-West Pipeline, a 1,200 kilometer pipeline that crosses the desert to the Red Sea port of Yanbu. The objective is to move up to 7 million barrels a day by land, avoiding Tehran’s missiles. The landscape in Yanbu is like something out of a movie: an “army” of at least 25 supertankers (VLCC) crowds on the coast to evacuate some 50 million barrels. However, there are no magic solutions. The port has a physical funnel (it can only load between 4 and 4.5 million barrels per day) and, in addition, ships must cross the Bab al-Mandab Strait, exposing themselves to the Houthi rebels. Added to this is that the pipeline only moves crude oil, leaving markets such as Europe without their vital supplies of refined products such as diesel, exacerbating the global energy … Read more

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