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In 1973 a German dreamed of exploiting Lanzarote. 50 years later no one has been able to move the ruins of his monster

November 29, 2025 by usatoday24

Of all the ghost architectures and abandoned to their fate in Spain, few like the shadow that rises in a unique place in the Canary Islands. Its history begins in the early seventies, at a time when Lanzarote was opening up to international tourism in the heat of expansive urban planning, laws favorable to foreign investment and a climate of economic optimism that seemed to have no limits. And then a “visionary” arrived. A hyperbolic dream. In that context, the German businessman Erick Becker imagined a gigantic tourist complexmade up of five hotels, an aparthotel, more than twelve hundred bungalows and a capacity for four thousand people. The emblematic piece, the Náutico hotel (renamed over the years as Atlante del Sol), was to be the gateway to an urbanization in German capital that saw Lanzarote as an ideal territory to attract European visitors. The legislation of the time, headed by the Strauss Law of 1968encouraged German investment in developing countries and helped direct a flood of capital towards the Canary Islands that found an apparently perfect opportunity on the island. However, the choice of location would prove to be a major mistake. Tourism against the landscape. The Rubicon coast It had virulent waves, constant winds and rugged geography without a beach or adequate access. In those decades, Lanzarote’s infrastructure was fragile, and the area even lacked a road that connected the place with the inhabited centers. Despite this, the project moved forward in fits and startsraising the main structure of the hotel before the oil crisis of 1973 paralyzed the European economy and brought with it a promotion that would never open its doors. Since then, the unfinished mass was abandonedconverted into an unused concrete skeleton that began to hint at the ghostly silhouette that would mark its future. Abandonment, illegality and law. After the abandonment of the project, the Atlante del Sol was suspended in a legal limbo that the subsequent evolution of Canarian urban planning ended up resolving against it. The Island Management Plan of Lanzarote from 1991a pioneer in the protection of the island territory, reclassified the area as rustic land for natural ecological protection, nullifying the urban character it may have had under the regulations of the 1950s and 1960s. With the passage of time, the area was also incorporated into the Natura 2000 Network as a Special Bird Protection Area, reinforcing its ecological value and further shielding its non-urbanizable nature. In parallel, Spanish and regional legislation chained new land laws in 1976, 1990, 1998 and 2007, which consolidated environmental regulations. much more demanding than existed when the original license was granted in 1972. Final blow. The Superior Court of Justice of the Canary Islands made it clear in 2016 that this old license was invalid operational, because an unfinished work loses any right protected by obsolete regulations when subsequent laws come into force. In essence, what may have been legal in the 1970s ceased to be legal decades ago. Added to this was a determining fact: the property it was never finished nor to be used, and its current state (absolute ruin, no services, no access and no technical possibility of becoming operational equipment) prevented it from being considered a heritage work. The court concluded that reviving a license from 1972 was as inappropriate as pretending that the island had not changed in fifty years. That ruling legally sealed the fate of the hotel: either remain abandoned or be demolished. The ghost and watchman hotel. With the passage of time, the Atlantean of the Sun It went from being a frustrated project to becoming a strange element embedded in one of the natural spaces most beautiful and unique of Lanzarote: the natural pools from Los Charcones. There, between the wind, the volcanic rock and the crystalline puddles, the abandoned hotel took on a disturbing, almost sculptural presence. For tourists who discover the area, the semi-ruined structure has become part of the landscapean example of beauty in decay that contrasts with the serenity of natural pools. For others, it is an open wound, a reminder of the speculation of the seventies and the urbanism that was promoted without paying attention to the physical reality of the territory. Chaos tourism. His inaccessibility (the absence of roads continues to be one of the main limitations today) has kept it outside the conventional tourist circuit and has contributed to its degradation. The wind, saltpeter and abandonment have turned the building into a dangerous shell, used occasionally as an improvised shelter by campers since the seventies, especially at Easter, when entire families came to occupy the windowless rooms applying minimum standards of coexistence. The picture is as unusual as it is revealing: a hotel that never opened turned into a sporadic camp for those seeking a unique experience in an isolated place. Between memory, business and protection. Over the decades, different owners tried to recover the building’s destiny, either by giving it tourist use or transforming it into healthcare facilities. Among them, the company Hipercan Don Jersey SL tried to reclassify the land to convert the hotel into a social and health center, claiming that the 1972 license was still valid and that the reform would allow the municipality to be provided with a new public service. But the administrations maintained a firm position: Yaiza already had sufficient equipment, the property was in ruins and the land belonged to a protected natural space whose ecological value should prevail about any intervention. The courts confirmed this position repeatedly. Neither the heritage argument, nor the intention to reconvert the building, nor the appeal to old investments managed to reverse a situation that had been legally closed for decades. Even if there was a will to rebuild, the cost of rehabilitation would be exorbitant. And if demolition were chosen, the operation (valued at more than one million euros) would require facing considerable technical and environmental obstacles. Uncertain future. In recent years, the discussion about the future of the Atlantean Sun has regained … Read more

There are exactly five things that you 100% haven’t dreamed of. And science already knows why

November 22, 2025 by usatoday24

He dream world It has its own rules. It is a place where the impossible seems to be the routine, but, paradoxically, some of the most mundane tasks in our lives become impossible to appear in our dreams. And this is something that can cause us many questions about why we have not dreamed of some specific things. The examples. We warn you that this is something that can break your head, because the question is obligatory: have you ever tried to read a text in a dream? (if you remember) o Have you taken out your phone to discover an incomprehensible interface? All this is not a coincidence, because in reality there are some things that we can never dream like we all expected (even if they are very real dreams). It has an explanation. science has several reasons in his lap to convince us why elements of modern life such as the smartphone or computer interfaces have little place in our dreams. Everything focuses on the fact that during the REM sleep phase the activity in the prefrontal networks of the brain are greatly reduced. And it is precisely here where executive control and language are ‘stored’. In this way, if during sleep these neurons are ‘asleep’, then we will not be able to read a text correctly or even hold a smartphone in our hands. When we sleep, it seems that we don’t want to work or be using our cell phone. This is because in this time range the activity of the limbic area, related to the emotional and visual part, is triggered. This results in the content of dreams leaning towards the associative, visual and emotional, rather than tasks that require a great analytical focus such as operating a complex interface. In this way, the material of our waking life is not literally copied from dreams, but rather is integrated in a selective and transformed way, prioritizing emotional charge over functional fidelity. The nightmare of reading. The same neurocognitive principle that we have seen is the one that explains another of the best-known phenomena: the inability to read texts stably. What is basically caused is that the characters literally ‘move’ or distort because the language networks are not being stimulated as much. This applies equally to numbers, mathematical calculations, or the simple task of looking at the time on a digital clock. Stimuli that require fine symbolic precision tend to become illegible or change constantly. Although some studies with lucid dreamers have shown that basic operations can be performed under experimental conditions, outside the laboratory, the stability of the symbols is almost non-existent. No smell or taste. While sight and hearing dominate the dreamscape, other sensory modalities are virtually absent. Systematic studies based on sleep diaries are consistent in showing that olfactory and gustatory experiences are extremely rare. Figures put its occurrence at approximately 1% of all dream reports. Even in laboratory experiments where the olfactory environment is manipulated during the night, most participants do not report smelling anything in their dreams, reinforcing the idea that chemical senses are a rarity in this state. The mirror. It is another quite common phenomenon in dreams: seeing yourself reflected in the mirror is something almost impossible to achieve. In dreams, this is generated predominantly “top-down”, that is, from the brain networks themselves and with very little or no sensory information from the outside. Because of this, high-resolution details, such as a reflected face, text, or an interface, tend to morph or distort as soon as we try to examine them closely. Visual stability is not the norm. The ancestral content. In stark contrast to the absence of cell phones or books, there is one type of content that seems to be overrepresented: threats. Dreaming about being chased, falling, facing dangers or even elements such as storms or snakes is extremely common. And on many occasions we remember it perfectly because we have precisely woken up at the moment sweating or with our heart pounding. This supports the known “Threat Simulation Hypothesis” (TST), proposed by philosopher Antti Revonsuo. This theory suggests that dreams could have an evolutionary function: serving as virtual “training” to rehearse how to respond to danger in real life. However, the scientific literature itself indicates that this hypothesis, although plausible and supported, is also the subject of debate and presents mixed results when compared between different cultures and environments. Images | Shane In Xataka | Years ago we discovered that our ancestors’ dreams were not like ours. There are now thousands of people trying to introduce biphasic sleep into their lives.

Years ago someone dreamed of a floating megacity. The result is a 550-meter “terayate” for 60,000 people

November 5, 2025 by usatoday24

The ocean is full of infrastructures that once sounded crazy. With his almost 400 meters in length the ship Ever Given would surely sound like science fiction to any 19th century engineer, as would the ability of the Blue Marlin to transport infrastructure the size of an aircraft carrier or the gigantic dimensions of the ship’s engine Emma Maerskwhich at 13.5 meters high and 27 meters long looks more like a mansion than a machine. In naval engineering the limit is your imagination. Or, if the technique still does not allow you to translate the idea into reality, wait long enough. The Italian designer must have thought something similar Pierpaolo Lazzarinifrom the Lazzarini studio, who in 2009 began to think about a crazy idea: building a floating megacitya gigantic structure capable of hosting tens of thousands of people, hotels, commercial spaces, parks and even facilities for aircraft and other smaller vessels in the middle of the ocean. Breaking the mold Not only that. Already starting to dream – Lazzarini must have thought – why not give it the appearance of a terayate, a boat format so large that it surpasses the super, mega or even “gigayacht” categories. And curling the curl a little more: Why not design that mass to look like a sea turtle? It seems crazy, but that’s what came out of the workbench of Lazzarini, a studio that has already made headlines for its designs. dream vehicles, luxury boats, flying devices either architectural proposals floating. Of course, without the caliber of his latest idea. His proposal is called Pangeos and was presented as nothing more nor less than an immense “itinerant floating city”a chelonian-shaped vessel of 550 meters in length and a beam of 610 m at its widest point, measurements that would make it a true titan of the seas, much larger than the Ever Giventhe transatlantic Wonder of the Seas or even the Seawise Giant. “At the moment it’s just a concept, but it’s starting to become more than just computer animation,” Lazzarini recognizedwhich launched an online dossier with images and videos. In an attempt to go further, in 2023 its promoters promoted an NFT crowdfunding to sell “virtual spaces”. All in all, it does not seem that Pangeos will become a reality in the short term. The studio estimates that shaping its project would cost around 8 billion dollars and the work that would last about eight years. Once finished it would become “the largest floating structure ever built”, with 60,000 accommodations. Its hull will be divided into 30,000 floating cells. Its wings are designed to get energy of the resistance and the waves that break against the hull and along its roof there would be solar panels that would supply it with energy. The vessel, with a draft of approximately 30 meters, would be capable of moving at a speed of five knots. Building a record structure requires record resources. Not only because of the enormous amount of funds and work that Pangeos would need. Giving it shape will require a huge shipyard—”tera shipyard,” he points out—in which they have also thought. The idea is to have a facility with a dock that can be flooded to allow it to float once the yacht is finished. The structure designed by the studio would 650 meters wide by 600 long and would have its own access to the sea. As for where, those responsible have opted for Saudi Arabia, a location located about two kilometers from the King Abdullah Harbor. Although Pangeos is fascinating and its structure seems straight out of a science fiction movie, it is not the first floating community project. Long before Lazzari, other studios embarked on the adventure of designing their own traveling cities. One of the most recent is the MV Narrativean exclusive residential ship of 229 meters in length and 547 “residences-cabins”. The crown of the projects, however, goes to another structure worthy of the most fertile imaginations: the enormous Freedom Shipa boat designed for 100,000 passengers. Norman Nixon launched the proposal in the 90s, but so far he has not managed to put his impressive infographics into practice. They all share the same basic ingredient: ambition and imagination. Images | Lazzarini Design Studio In Xataka | This is Freedom Ship, the megaship designed to become a floating city with 100,000 passengers *An earlier version of this article was published in November 2022

China has always dreamed of a “Polar Silk Road” so that its ships reach Europe sooner. It is already a reality

October 17, 2025 by usatoday24

Monday was an important day in Felixstoweone of the largest container ports in the United Kingdom. Towards the end of the afternoon, their workers saw the silhouette of the Istanbul Bridgea container ship loaded with lithium batteries and parts for the photovoltaic industry. In itself, the appearance of the Istambul did not represent anything new, the curious thing was where it came from or (more precisely) where it arrived: with its arrival at the docks of Felixstowe the ship completed a historic voyage of 20 days through the Arctic Ocean. Its journey to the British coast has allowed China to take a key step in achieving one of his big dreams: a ‘Polar Silk Road’ with Europe. What has happened? That China has achieved a milestone in maritime trade. Perhaps more symbolic than decisive, but still important. Late on Monday the container ship Istanbul Bridge arrived in the United Kingdom after a trip that had started 20 days before in Ningbo-Zhoushana very important port hub on the coast of the East China Sea. So far nothing strange. The key is that the Istanbul Bridge did not reach Felixtowe in the usual way, after detouring south to cross the Suez Canal and advance through the Mediterranean and the Atlantic towards Europe. No. He did it on the voyage that took the ship through northern waters, through the icy Arctic Ocean and the North Sea. AND that is relevant. Why is it important? The Istanbul, a ship with capacity for 4900 containers standard (TEU), 299 meters in length and flag of liberia (although in reality it has operated bound to the Chinese Sea Legend and Haijie Shipping) it is not the first ship that sails along what is known as the Northern Sea Route, but its voyage has had a special meaning. As remember CNNthe first ships loaded with containers began sailing through the Arctic more than a decade ago, but it is normal for them to do so on special and specific trips. The Istanbul Bridge has another approach. Since his departure from Ningbo-Zhoushan has been presented as proof that the northern route can be used as “a traditional line service”, with commercial stops. “It’s something we haven’t seen in the Arctic until now,” recognize Malte Humper, from the Arctic Institute. The ship took 20 days to complete its journey between China and the United Kingdom loaded with about 4,000 containers and its objective, beyond Felixstowe, is to unload merchandise in other ports in Germany, Poland and the Netherlands. As required According to the Chinese agency Xinhua, the ship was mainly transporting lithium-ion batteries and parts for the photovoltaic industry, goods that are sensitive to heat and in which delivery times are a strategic factor. And why this interest? Because the ultimate objective is not to stop at the feat of the Istanbul Bridge, but to promote the trade route known as “China-Europe Arctic Express”, an itinerary that connects first-class ports such as Ningbo, Shanghai, Qingdao, Dalian, Felixtowe, Rotterdam, Hamburg and Ganks. In fact even Ningbo Customs has referred to the expedition as “the official opening of the first China-Europe Arctic Express container route.” State broadcaster CCTV it is very clear in fact when referring to the voyage of the ship. In his opinion, “it represents the maiden voyage of the first Arctic express container route between China and Europe and demonstrates the commercial viability of the Northwest Passage.” High North News precise that at least for now the route will be seasonal and the shipping company Haijie Shipping plans a single sailing in 2025 (the navigation window is still limited and lasts a few months), but the company seems to have noted the interest of manufacturers and shipping platforms. e-commerce. Is it that interesting? Yes. And it is because its main advantage is speed. The container ship has taken only 20 days to complete its journey, two more than those initially planned. The reason for the delay was a storm passing through the Norwegian Sea that forced him to slow down. Despite this, it represents a notable time saving on China-Europe trips when compared to other much more established alternatives in the sector. As remember Xinhuathe China-Europe Express Railway requires 25 days of travel, transporting goods through the Suez Canal route requires 40 and doing so through the Cape of Good Hope 50. “Trade between China and the European Union has remained strong despite the volatility of the global trade landscape and having a third route, in addition to the traditional shipping corridors and the China-Europe rail service, will bring stability and inject new vitality into bilateral trade,” highlights Cui Hongjianfrom the China Institute of International Studies in Global Times. The Asian newspaper (linked to the Government) does not leave much room for doubt in its report on the Istanbul Bridge: “It represents an emerging international shipping artery of great value to optimize the global supply chain.” Why right now? For several reasons. The main one, because the Arctic of 2025 is not the same as the one of three, four or five decades ago. And it probably won’t be the same in the future either. As climate change progresses and ice fractures and melts, the Arctic is gaining interest as a navigable space. Nikkei assures that its loss has caused the number of ships accessing Arctic waters to have increased by nearly 37% while the total distance traveled has doubled. All in the last 10 years, according to the data managed by WWF. More factors come into play, the reinforced interest that the European market has gained for China in the midst of a tariff war with the United States or the challenges that maritime traffic has encountered in other latitudes, such as the Suez Canala key logistics point that has demonstrated its vulnerability. The northern route also offers extra advantages, such as considerable time savings for shipments destined for Christmas shopping in Europe and low temperatures. Are they all advantages? At all. Perhaps the Arctic has changed, … Read more

If you had always dreamed of having your own tunnelador or an industrial crane, good news: they are in Aliexpress

June 2, 2025 by usatoday24

If there is an absolutely reference country in the field of tunneladoras, that is China. The funny thing is that these industrial machines can be found and buy very easily: it is enough to take a walk through Aliexpress or Alibaba to see them already prepared the sale along with other machines in the field of construction such as Cranes for containers. Second -hand tunneladoras. As Point out The specialized medium JR Urbane Network in X, it is possible to find second -hand tunneladoras in Alibaba or Aliexpress. It is enough to search for its conventional name (Tunnel Boring Machines, TBM) so that among the results a good number of them appear. As this media explained, China Recycle these tunneladoras and reuse them in different underground projects. Prices. The image machine, the CTE6250, is a medium -sized TBM with a weight of 500 tons and a six meter shield diameter. This model is Available in Alibaba for $ 688,000. A “micro machine” of “underground elevation” without excavation and with a six -meter shield diameter is $ 288,000. If we want it bigger, 9.1 meters in diameter, we will have to pay $ 748,000although taking it home will not be easy: it weighs 1,150 tons. Its manufacturer, the company Gansu Technology Equipment CO, has various models available in Alibaba. How TBM operates. These machines go beyond being a gigantic and powerful drill: in addition to the rotating cutting device, the tunnelador is equipped with a equipment that allows it to collect the rubble that is generated as the galleries open and stabilizes its structure. In addition, models that excavate underwater tunnel Hermetic mixture special and prefabricated and intertwined concrete blocks. Giant tunneladoras. In July 2023 we already talked about the Tunnel Mixshield S-880 “Qin Liangyu”. It was designed for the underwater tunnel project Tuen Mun-Chek Lap Kok in Hong Kong, and served to dig a stretch of about 5 km under the sea. It measures 120 meters long, weighs 4,850 tons and most importantly: the diameter of its shield is 17.63 meters. She is the largest tunnelador in the world. Although the tunnelador was manufactured in Germany by the company Herrenknecht Agthe assembly and operation was carried out in one of the factories of this company in China. Excavates about 30 meters of tunnel a day and is officially The largest TBM in the world According to the Guinness book of records. China winning Germany. We already have a candidate to overcome it: The Jianghaideveloped by China Railway Construction Heavy Industry (CRCHI) and the so -called China Railway 14th Bureau Group. This machine weighs about 5,000 tons, measures 145 meters long and has a shield diameter of 16.64 meters. The goal is to use it to build a tunnel that cross the Yangtsé River in the Chinese province of Jiangsu, between Nantong and Suzhou. And many industrial machines. A TBMS search in Aliexpress Not only offers offers for this type of machines, but for many other of this segment – perforas, industrial milling machines – and even cranes for maritime transport containers. In Amazon it is possible to find excavators/milling machines of “small” dimensions (1.8 m in diameter) for about $ 25,000, but the Chinese machines are at another level. Musk’s are small. It is not the only one in its class. Much more recently We met the Shanhe tunnelador163 meters long, 5,200 tons of weight and 17.5 meters in shield diameter. This machine is used to build the world’s largest diameter submarine tunnel. The company The Boring Company created by Elon Musk uses much smaller, almost “portable” tunneladoras: the PRUFROCKfor example, it has a shield diameter of 3.6 meters, although that allows it to dig much faster: approximately 1.6 kilometers per month. China, referent. In China Daily They point How 7 out of 10 tunneladoras sold in the world are Chinese, and within the country 95% of these machines are also of national manufacture. As in other industries, there is a strong commitment to self -sufficiency and technological domain in key areas like this. Although the largest are Herrenknecht, companies such as China Railway Engineering Equipment Group (CREG) have been one of the market leaders in manufacturing and sale of tunneladoras for years. In Xataka | England and Ireland wanted to create the longest tunnel in the world. A “stupid” and “advanced in your time”

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