enemy

The parish of Folgueras de Cornás has found its number one enemy: an invasion of worms

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I don’t want to imagine what it’s like to come home after a normal day and discover that I now have new tenants. The idea that thousands of worms have moved in with you, without warning, sneaking under the door. Well, now imagine Manuela Rodríguez’s face, neighbor of Folgueras de Cornásin the council of Tineo: he spent days putting up with the bad smell before packing his suitcase and leaving his own home. AND was not the only one: Several families had to abandon their homes due to a plague that has not subsided for almost two weeks. Who is the bug. Is called Mythimna unipunctaand in Spanish it accumulates half a dozen aliases: grass defoliating caterpillar, armyworm, cereal lizard. It is a moth of the Noctuidae family, native to America and today distributed throughout almost the entire planet. The larva measures between three and four centimeters, greenish or brown, with light longitudinal stripes. They come out to eat at night, in groups, and destroy the corn leaves until only the central vein is left. When the grass is exhausted, they march en masse toward the neighboring plot: hence the nickname “soldier.” And the damaged crop, that is, what they eat the most, is usually specifically ryegrass, the base grass of livestock farming in the area—very relevant in Asturias due to dairy farming. From the farm to the living room. The menu of this caterpillar is grasses: corn, oats, barley, wheat, grass. That is, no closets or clothes. The confusion with clothing is understandable—there is another moth, the textile moth (Tineola bisselliella), which does pierce wool and cotton—but it is a different insect, even with a different biological cycle. To kill them, you can use commonly used insecticides, by the way. What does happen is that, when food runs out in the countryside, thousands of larvae cross to the nearest homes, go through any crack under doors and windows, and many die right there. The result is a smell of decomposition. It is a pattern already described in other outbreaks of this pest: where the invasion is triggered, the larvae can clog exterior gutters and drains looking for moisture. In Tineo, the focus reached an old school, several farms and some homes. Why is it repeated?. And why more and more: the Ministry of Asturias maintains that the phenomenon is cyclical: it reappears every two or three years and is linked to heat. And this year’s temperatures, above 25 degrees, accelerate the reproduction of this type of caterpillars. Furthermore, the lack of rain pushes the larvae to look for moisture wherever there is it. In other words and using as a model feedback from a professional company: Climate change has not invented this pest because it has been on the peninsula for decades, but it does shorten its life cycle and adds extra generations per season, the same mechanism that triggers the fall armyworm in half the world. The more hot, dry summers, the more opportunities the armyworm has to complete an extra generation before the cold weather hits. The drama of the Cantabrian coast. Although what happened in Folgueras de Cornás is an important problem, it is not something local. In 2020, Astillero and Guarnizo, in Cantabria, lived the same script of soldier caterpillars devouring meadows and sneaking into homes in several neighborhoods. This same summer, Galicia drags another outbreak in Monterroso, Portomarín and Taboada. And they are capable of leaving corn plots completely defoliated in a matter of days. A pattern repeated almost every summer along the Cantabrian coast. The political fight, aside. In the background we have the government agencies, because the plague also generated noise from offices. The popular deputy Luis Venta Cueli accused the Barbón Government of “dereliction of functions”, and denounced that the official response to the neighbors’ request for help was that they could not act because the worm is not poisonous. It is not poisonous per se, although it can trigger an infectious chain. The technicians of the Animal and Plant Health Laboratory of Asturias They have already collected samples and are working alongside cleaning professionals. The authorized phytosanitary treatments on corn and ryegrass are complicated to apply when the crop is already growing tall. And on the street, there is no choice but to apply urban biocides on homes and public areas. The general director of Livestock and Animal Health, Rocío Huerta, asked for calm: the plague is common, cyclical, and the Principality acts with the same protocol that the PP governments apply in Galicia and Cantabria when it is their turn. A rancher from Ayones, Rosa López, interviewed about the issue, He said that the population grew from one day to the next and that it will be common for a rural environment, “but not here.” Because, although everyone agrees that the armyworm does not pose any danger to human (or animal) health, the fact that thousands of these bugs sneak into homes, no matter the cause, does not sit well with anyone. Images | Illustrative image of apartments in Navelgas / LVdT In Xataka | The boxwood moth has hatched in Pamplona en masse. The real problem is in its tracks. In Xataka | From pest in Southern Spain to “super food” for fish: we already know what to do with 60,000 tons of invasive Asian algae

PlayStation caused a tsunami killing games in physical format. If you wait for a reverse, the final enemy is mathematics

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It’s been just over a week since Sony, PlayStation, will announce the death of the physical format for its consoles. Starting in January 2028, no physical games will be released for PlayStation consoles. This is a hard blow for the video game as an art, for preservation and for the consumer, since there are few more anti-consumer measures that make us players depend on a physical format that does not belong to us. The reaction of these players has not been good and there are those who point to a possible retreat on the part of PlayStation. There is a problem: there is no nail to hold on to other than that of hope. It makes… sense. From the company’s point of view, the move to 100% digital format is perfect. If you have ever wondered these days what drives them to anger so many players and turn part of their own community against it, it is because, although it may not seem like it, commercially it makes a lot of sense. Yes, the digital market is enormous and bigger than the physical one, but when statistics are published and it is said that only 20% (approximately) of the market is physical, it is because the digital part includes digital games, games that do not have a physical version, DLC and microtransactions. The ‘FIFA’ envelopes, for example, come into play in those statistics. That is the argument, but when you seek to eliminate the physical, you seek to control all the gains. You don’t have to make records, you don’t have to transport records, you don’t have to pay stores to sell those records. That margin that you didn’t earn before, with the digital game you start to control. You also get rid of second-hand and lending games, something that companies have been pursuing for years. Math. And, facing a new generation of consoles that everything indicates will be more expensive than the current one (for example, the price increases for both PS5 as of Xbox Series Xbut also machines like Steam Deck and the more than 1,000 euros from Steam Machine), there Sony may fear that there are users who do not want, or cannot, pay 1,000 euros for a new console. If there are fewer players who buy hardware, there will also be fewer who buy software, but what they are looking for is to maximize profits per user. As? Controlling prices. An example: on PS5 I buy all the games published by Sony in physical form and for 80 euros. Of those 80 euros, remove 30 that go to those expenses associated with the physical format and the stores themselves. Sony sees 50 euros. With PS6I would buy the same games digitally for 80 euros and Sony would not have any of the expenses associated with either the physical format or payments to stores. Bloomberg journalist Jason Schreier addresses this very well in this video and I was making up the numbers in the previous example, but he points out that, for a $70 first party game, Sony sees about $45. For a $70 first party digital game, Sony sees $70. If we talk about a third party game (Electronic Arts, Ubisoft or whoever publishes for Sony) that is physical, of the 70 dollars, whoever makes the game takes about 35, the store that sells it about 20-25 and Sony takes about 10-15. If that third party game is digital, whoever makes the game gets about 49 and Sony gets about 21. It’s a win-win for both. Maximize profits. Hideaki Nishino himself, CEO of PlayStation, has made it clear that the company must prioritize performance per client compared to the gross sales volume. They want more average income per user, in short, a model less dependent on selling hardware and more focused on extracting more value from each user. This is where the games themselves come into play, but also microtransactions and subscriptions. Leave the forum. After days without publishing anything on networks like Bluesky, although they have continued to make announcements on their official blog, Sony remembered the password and announced what no one was expecting: an arcade stick for fighting games. It makes sense because they have a fighting game right around the corner, the ‘Marvel Tokon‘, but the players took that announcement even more harshly. As a follower of all the fuss, it is almost better that they announced a command in their first communication. The reason? Had they taught the game they would have taught, the amount of negative comments that game would have received would be to study it and, for example, if the first thing is a video of the game of ‘wolverine‘, all the rage these days at PlayStation’s inaction would have been poured out on the game and on a developer studio that does not deserve that treatment. ¿Kicked back? There is, as I said at the beginning, the hope of some users that so much negativity will affect the company’s decision and they will back down. Obviously, no one outside of Sony can know what will happen, but I am not so sure that the company will back down from this decision. The main reason is that something like this is not taken lightly and reports are already appearing indicating that it is something very studied and they knew perfectly well how part of the community was going to do it. What’s more, there are already reports that indicate that the company’s main Blu-Ray factory, located in Austria, is already beginning the training of some employees who will go on to dedicate themselves to another type of production. bitter hope. If there is one thing to hold on to, it is that, at the same time that PlayStation announced the death of physical games for its consoles, it also set a date for the closure of the PS3 and PS Vita digital stores (wow timinghuh?), and it wasn’t the first time. In March 2021 we already broke … Read more

80 years ago an American destroyer attacked what it believed to be an enemy submarine. We just discovered it was a sunken ship

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In June 1942, something unprecedented in modern American history happened: someone invaded them. In the middle of World War II, Japanese troops landed on Attu Island, in the extreme west of Alaska. What took place then was an icy and fleeting battle that resulted in the death of more than 3,000 people in less than three weeks. Faced with well-known operations reproduced ad nauseam in cinema on the European front or the South Pacific, the battle of Attu She was and is a great unknown. Eighty years later, the remains of that battle were still sunk on the seabed of the Aleutian Islands. Until nothing ago. The discovery. In July 2024, an archeology team funded by the US oceanographic agency NOAA and the US National Park Service carried out the first in-depth underwater exploration in the waters of Attu. There they found two shipwrecks from World War II: on the one hand, the Kotohira Maru, a Japanese military cargo ship sunk on January 5, 1943 by B-24 bombers. On the other hand, the SS Dellwood, an American cable ship that ran aground on an underwater pinnacle seven months later, on July 20, 1943. Both wrecks lie just 25 kilometers apart from each other. Why is it important. Because the Battle of Attu is probably the least studied campaign of the war and this finding is only the beginning of deeper research. Beyond recovering this military history, this discovery brings to the forefront another little-known tragedy: the one suffered by the Saskinax̂ indigenous people of Attu. After the occupation, the Saskinax̂ were deported to Japan, but when the war ended they were prohibited from returning: Attu had become a US military base. Of the 41 prisoners sent to Japan, only 25 survived and most ended up relocated to another island. Context. Despite being a brief and almost unknown battle, it was the fiercest: the ratio of American to Japanese casualties was the second highest of the war, only surpassed by the famous battle of Iwo Jima, as explained by the research team. The Kotohira Maru was bombed when it was trying to supply the troops isolated in Attu: it was carrying wood, food, fuel and construction materials, essential for the survival of the Japanese soldiers, who endured harsh climatic conditions (it is practically in the Arctic) and almost no trees. For its part, the SS Dellwood ran aground while laying communications cables between islands. In detail. To find the ships, the researchers dragged from their boat a high-resolution sonar capable of “photographing” the seabed with an accuracy of centimeters. When the sonar detected something of interest, they sent an underwater drone to investigate it closely with a video camera. In five days of work they inspected more than 1,000 targets at the bottom. But perhaps the most striking thing was not what they found, but what they solved. In May 1943, the destroyer USS Phelps attacked what it believed to be a Japanese submarine near Holtz Bay. They were wrong: this study has revealed that what the destroyer had detected as a submarine was actually the hull of the Kotohira Maru deposited on the seabed. Yes, but. The study has certain limitations. Strong underwater currents made the remote-controlled underwater robot’s work difficult, especially on the Kotohira Maru, leaving large areas of the wreck undocumented. The team recognizes that they need a more powerful robot to complete the job. There are also unanswered questions. Without going any further, the identity of the Kotohira Maru crew remains a mystery: the files only confirm that two people were rescued, a figure that the study’s own authors consider improbably low. And no one has yet addressed a thorny issue: who has legal sovereignty over these war wrecks. In Xataka | Barcelona started digging to build a parking lot. He ended up discovering a 10 m medieval ship of uncertain origin. In Xataka | The 17th century ship refloated in Cádiz held a surprise for archaeologists. One of more than 50 meters Cover | US Navy and Exploration of Alaska’s World War II Submerged Heritage: The Kotahira Maru and S.S. Dellwood Wreck Sites off Attu Island

Spain and Morocco have been dreaming of a tunnel under the Strait for 40 years. The great enemy of the project is called Umbral de Camarinal

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Linking Europe with Africa from the Strait of Gibraltar has been discussed for decades. However, in recent years we have seen how the Governments of the countries involved have been adding steps to this project. Spain and Morocco work has accelerated in recent months to make a railway tunnel a reality that would pass under the Strait and that would connect Punta Paloma (Tarifa) with Cape Malabata (near Tangier). The infrastructure (if it is built) would easily become a historic engineering work, allowing people to cross from one continent to another in just half an hour. What are we talking about?. The project contemplates a strictly railway tunnel, without a viaduct or vehicle lanes (something it originally discussed doing), with a total length of about 42 kilometers between stations, of which 27.7 are submerged. The deepest point it would reach 475 meters below sea level and would cross what is known as the Camarinal Threshold, the shallowest area of ​​the Strait and, curiously, much more complex from a geological point of view. What would it be like inside?. According to data collected by the Spanish public company SECEGSA, the design proposes two independent single-track tubes, each with an inner diameter of 7.90 metersand a 6-meter central service gallery for maintenance and emergency tasks. This gallery would connect with the main tubes through transversal passages every 340 meters. At the lowest point of the layout there would be a safe parking area with intervention areas and a smoke extraction system. High-speed trains for passengers and shuttle convoys for goods and vehicles would run through the tunnel. Who is in charge. The project is moving forward in two ways. On the Spanish side, the work is coordinated by SECEGSA, a public company created in the eighties precisely to promote this connection. On the Moroccan side, the Government has decided to concentrate all its efforts on the channel with Madridruling out other parallel paths. The most recent and relevant agreement It was signed on December 4, 2025 in La Moncloa between the Minister of Transport of Spain, Óscar Puente, and his counterpart in Morocco, Karim Zidane. It contains a memorandum between the Spanish National Geographic Institute and the National Center for Scientific and Technical Research of Morocco (CNRST) to jointly study the seismicity and geodynamics of the Strait for three years. Financing. In March of this year, the Spanish Government approved an additional transfer of 1.73 million euros to finance technical studies, according to they count from La Razón. Added to this item is a marine research campaign commissioned by the Higher Council for Scientific Research (CSIC) with a budget of 553,187 euros, published in the Official State Gazette. This campaign, lasting about 15 days and scheduled for the first half of 2026, includes high-resolution bathymetry, sampling of sediments and rocks from the seabed, and laboratory analysis. Three CSIC institutes participate (Marine, Geological and Mining Sciences, and Oceanography), the Navy Hydrographic Institute and the United States Geological Survey. Obstacles. The key is in the Camarinal Threshold. The Spanish subsidiary of the German manufacturer Herrenknecht, specialized in tunnel boring machines, carried out a feasibility study that concluded that the work is technically possible with current engineering, although he warned of enormous logistical and economic challenges. The subsoil of that area is made up of materials from the Flysch Complex, with layers of sandstone and clay of turbidite origin, covered by more recent sediments. This geological variability, added to the fact that the Strait is located on the Azores-Gibraltar-Tunisia fracture, the same one that caused the devastating Lisbon earthquake of 1755makes excavation a particularly complex challenge. On the other hand, it should be noted that the Strait is not an easy scenario. More than 100,000 ships pass through its waters a year and the study area is located within a Special Conservation Area with a protection plan for orcas. More than 1,900 species of marine flora and fauna have been recorded, which requires obtaining certain environmental permits before doing anything. How much will it cost. Although there are no concrete figures on how much the project would cost, Morocco World News situates the estimated cost alone for the Spanish part is above 8.5 billion euros, while other media such as El Diario elevate the total budget above 15,000 million, to be distributed between Spain, Morocco and the European Union. In any case, it will be one of the most expensive infrastructures ever built in the region. When will it be ready. Here it is advisable to lower expectations. And the deadlines that are managed They place the possible inauguration between 2035 and 2040always in the best of scenarios, but very possibly set more in the 2040s than before (that is, if the work is ever executed). If the seismic and geotechnical studies end up being favorable, a reconnaissance gallery could be put out to tender in 2027, requiring several years to complete to obtain detailed information on the terrain and the viability of the project. Why it matters beyond engineering. Connecting Africa with Europe by rail would encourage trade in very profitable ways, integrating the railway networks of the Maghreb with the European system and making the peninsular south take on a completely different color as a logistical node. Of course, it also raises political debates, especially regarding immigration management. Be that as it may, we will still have to wait to find out if the project finally materializes. Cover image | SECEGSA and Google Earth In Xataka | Amazon wants to save its ‘cloud’ from the mud: the plan to shield Zaragoza against large floods

Searching for extraterrestrial life has an unexpected new enemy: neighboring black holes

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At the time of search for habitable exoplanetswe usually take into account factors such as whether they are within the habitable zone of their star or whether they have a sufficient amount of water. However, there is another parameter that has not been taken into account until now and that, according to a recently published study, may be decisive: the presence of supermassive black holes in the vicinity of the planet. Even distant black holes. This study, published in The Astrophysical Journalpoints to two types of winds generated by supermassive black holes. Some driven by moment and others driven by energy. The former are lighter, but the latter can be intense enough to leave a nearby exoplanet without an atmosphere. Since the atmosphere is indeed an essential ingredient for life, we should be paying much more attention to large black holes. In fact, if these winds are sufficiently energetic, an exoplanet could be affected even by a black hole located at a great distance. Much more than a living area. Generally, to search for habitable exoplanets, it is taken into account that they are within what is known as the habitable zone. This is a region that is at the right distance from its star so that it is neither too hot nor too cold and therefore the water can remain liquid. In recent years, much more specific factors have been taken into account, such as the proximity of supernovae. These stellar phenomena release so much radiation that it can sterilize life on a planet. They also emit shock waves so large that they can destroy their atmosphere. Since supernovae may be key, the authors of the recently published study also wanted to explore the role of black holes. What they found is very relevant to the future search for habitable planets. Active galactic nuclei. This study focuses on active galactic nuclei. That is, supermassive black holes, with masses billions of times greater than that of the Sun, that are actively feeding. That is, they continue absorbing matter into themselves. But, as is well known, black holes do not only absorb matter. There is also some radiation and particles that are released abruptly, giving rise to something known as jets. The movement of these particles also forms winds that can affect what happens around them. Based on the hypothesis that these scientists had, the more massive a black hole of this type is and the more it is feeding, the more energy it must release, so that the atmosphere of possible nearby exoplanets heats up more, its molecules move faster and escape more easily into space. Therefore, the atmosphere breaks down faster and its probability of habitability is lower. Unlike supernovae, which release energy much more abruptly, in this case it would be done in a sustained manner, so there may be more consequences. The two types of wind. Through the development of simplified models, it was observed that galactic nuclei release winds that, upon impact with the interstellar medium, divide into two streams. If they cool, they cannot expand, so they will have almost no energy. These do not propagate efficiently and have a limited effect on the galaxy. On the other hand, if these winds do not cool, they expand like a bubble, releasing a large amount of energy that can sweep the galaxy and affect the atmosphere of exoplanets along the way. These are the truly problematic ones, so it would be necessary to take into account whether there are any in the vicinity when choosing exoplanets that are candidates for hosting life. Also the ozone layer. It has been seen that these black holes can also release nitrogen oxides that affect the ozone layerin case a planet has it. If this is the case, it does not mean that there is not necessarily life, but it would be limited to the oceans. It would be another factor to take into account. With all these parameters, we can get a much more precise idea of ​​which planets could truly be habitable. Searching for life in the Universe seems to be like looking for a needle in a haystack. But the more we know, the smaller that haystack will become. Images | NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Jeremy Schnittman, cmglee In Xataka | The James Webb has broken another historical record: a supermassive black hole older than expected

Chinese manufacturers of OLED panels for mobile phones face an enemy they did not expect: memory shortages

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Chinese companies whose business is based to a greater or lesser extent on the manufacture of OLED panels for mobile phones They are suffering. BOE, Visionox, Tianma or TCL CSOT are some of the companies that the shortage of memory chips has placed in a very delicate position. In fact, the market for OLED matrices for smartphones is going through its worst quarter in years, according to DigiTimes Asia. Global shipments fell 12% year-on-year and 20% compared to the previous quarter during the first quarter of 2026, according to data managed by the consulting firm. UBI Research. A priori it might surprise us that the memory market is degrading the business of Chinese manufacturers of small format OLED panels, but if we dig beyond the surface it is easy to understand precisely what is happening. And what is happening is that Android mobile phone manufacturers are buying many fewer organic matrix screens from their Chinese suppliers because they need to offset the increase in memory prices by reducing the cost of the screen. This scenario mainly affects entry- and mid-range Android smartphones, which are the ones that mostly opted for moderately priced OLED matrices manufactured in China. High-end Android terminals and iPhones usually have OLED screens from Samsung Display or LG Display, although Apple also uses BOE for some models. South Korean manufacturers are taking this blow much better The origin of this problem lies in a decision made by SK Hynix, Samsung and Micron Technology, the three companies that control more than 95% of global DRAM productiona year ago. The rise of data centers for artificial intelligence (IA) has skyrocketed the demand for HBM memories (High Bandwidth Memory) that coexist with GPUs. For the three large memory manufacturers, HBM chips leave a greater margin than conventional DRAM memories, which is why they have focused on the production of the former and have largely sacrificed the latter. The most surprising thing is that this situation has triggered an asymmetric problem This strategy has caused the price of DRAM and NAND memories to increase sharply, but the most surprising thing is that this situation has triggered an asymmetric problem. As we have seen, sales of Chinese OLED panel manufacturers have fallen, but Samsung Display and LG Display are taking the hit very well. And they are doing it because their most important customers are Apple and Samsung Electronics. These two mobile phone manufacturers work with wide margins and have agreed long-term supply contracts with Samsung Display and LG Display, which gives them greater room for maneuver. At the moment they have not been forced to cut the cost of their screens. Be that as it may, market shares during the first quarter of 2026 speak for themselves, according to Korea Herald. Samsung Display led the global market for OLED panels for smartphones with a share of 44.4%, up from 42.8% in the same period in 2025. LG Display reached 9%, rising from 7.6%. Both gained quota despite the fact that its absolute shipments also fell. Among Chinese companies the picture was mixed: BOE maintained the largest Chinese share at 16.3%, and Visionox rose to 10.7% from 9.3%. Tianma fell to 9% from 12.1%, and lastly, TCL CSOT fell to 7.8% from 9.8%. Image | Xataka More information | DigiTimes Asia | Korea Herald In Xataka | The US remains committed to stopping China. Now it has targeted the second largest Chinese chip manufacturer

Samsung joins the trillion dollar club. AI has made it possible, but it has also made it its enemy

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Samsung has reached a market capitalization of one trillion dollarswith its shares soaring more than 15% in a single day. There is only one other Asian company in that club: TSMC. And it is no coincidence that both manufacture chips. Of course, Samsung’s reality is a little more complex. Why is it important. AI is changing the hardware hierarchy. Who controls the memory that powers data centers largely controls the rate at which the world can scale its AI models. Samsung has been the largest memory manufacturer on the planet for almost a decadeand that, in 2026, is literally worth a trillion. The context. The memory chip business has long been quite cyclical, alternating periods of shortage with periods of overproduction and plummeting prices. But AI has introduced a new variable. Data centers require huge amounts of HBM memory (High Bandwidth Memory) to run their workloads, and the bottleneck is structural: building new manufacturing capacity takes two to three years. That means the shortage isn’t going to be resolved anytime soon, and prices are going to remain high. In figures. Samsung’s first quarter numbers: The operating profit has multiplied by eight that of the same period of the previous year. Revenue has reached an all-time high of 133.9 trillion Korean won. The semiconductor division has generated more than 90% of the company’s total profit. Yes, but. The paradox that makes Samsung different from TSMC or NVIDIA is that it also manufactures smartphones and televisions. And those businesses buy the same memory chips that are now scarce and expensive. He boom that enriches its semiconductor division is cutting the margins of its consumer divisions. Samsung has become, in a way, its own internal rival. Between the lines. This week’s stock market jump is not explained only by the quarterly results. An article from Bloomberg has made public that Apple has held talks with Samsung and Intel to manufacture chips for its devices on US soil, diversifying its dependence on TSMC. If Samsung manages to win that contract, the impact on the semiconductor supply chain would be more than notable. The big question. How long does this last? The bullish memory cycle has an expiration date: as soon as the construction of new factories increases the available supply, prices will fall again. The only scenario in which this does not happen is if demand for AI continues to grow faster than installed capacity. Until now, that’s how it has been. But Samsung has fully sold out production capacity for this year alone, which gives an idea of ​​the pressure on the system. In Xataka | Samsung has just achieved a milestone that has not been recorded for eight years. The problem is that it is a mirage Featured image | Max Whitehead

the true enemy has the face of a “friend”

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Tas the downing of the flight Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 In 2014, international investigators analyzed the remains of the missile involved and discovered that many of its parts came from production lines distributed in different countriessome originally designed for completely different uses. That analysis left an idea that is difficult to ignore, and in Ukraine hasn’t stopped to repeat again and again. A new missile, a “new” surprise. When Ukraine has been able analyze in detail one of the latest models of missiles used by Russia has happened to him like with dronesthe surprise has not come only because of its design or its capabilities, but because of what it had inside. The S-71Kone of Moscow’s most recent bets to sustain its offensive, has revealed an uncomfortable reality that is repeated on the front: beyond direct confrontation, part of the technology that makes it possible does not apply only from Russia. This realization introduces a different dimension to the conflict, one in which the origin of the components becomes a key clue to understanding how current weapons are being built. A weapon to mass produce. The S-71K is part of a new generation of air-to-ground missiles designed with a clear objective: reduce costs and facilitate volume production. Integrating existing elementslike a Cold War bomb adapted to a structure with discrete shapes to reduce its detection, the system combines relatively simple solutions with specific improvements in range and survivability. With a compact engine, a basic guide and an optimized design, it fits into a strategy that prioritize quantity available on the battlefield versus the extreme sophistication of previous models. The air intake of the S-71K engine Global and “friendly” technology. However, the most striking aspect is not in its architecture, but in its bowels. He ukrainian analysis indicates that the vast majority of its electronic components come from abroadincluding countries in Europe, especially Germany, but also in Asia and the United States. As we have been countingthis pattern is not isolated, but that repeats in other Russian systems, suggesting that, despite sanctions, Moscow continues accessing international technology through civil markets, intermediaries or indirect routes. The paradox is more than evident: in the middle of a war, part of the operation of these weapons depends on parts manufactured in countries that, in theory, seek to limit that same capacity. The real challenge. He findFurthermore, it focuses on the real difficulties of controlling the global flow of technology. Sanctions, although broad, do not always completely block access to critical components, especially when these They have civil uses and circulate in complex supply chains. For Ukraine and its allies, the problem is no longer just stopping Russian production at source, but identify and close those cracks that allow key pieces to continue arriving. In that sense, the battlefield extends far beyond the front, reaching factories, distributors and international markets. A war in supply chains. If you will also, the S-71K case illustrates how modern conflicts depend as much on global logistics as on direct military capability. As Russia seeks cheaper, more scalable solutions to keep up the pressure, Ukraine faces not only new weapons, but a system that continues to feed on distributed technology all over the world. The image that remains at the end is, to say the least, complex: the visible adversary launches the missile, but part of its effectiveness is built with pieces that travel much wider routes and are sometimes difficult to control. from “allied” territoriesturning the global economy into an indirect actor in the conflict. Image | GUR In Xataka | The war in Ukraine continues to make science fiction useless: we already have drones that kill like a hunter In Xataka | Russia has an unprecedented enemy in the Ukrainian war: Japan has just landed with a weapon to take down its shaheds

Google will invest up to $40 billion in Anthropic because the new normal for AI is investing in your enemy

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May the rhythm not stop. Amazon announced an investment of 25,000 million in Anthropic a week ago, and four days later Google went even further. The Mountain View Company spoke on Friday of an investment of up to $40 billion in that same company. We insist: this is non-stop. The money doesn’t stop flowing. In less than a week, two of the largest “cloud providers” in the world have committed to investing up to $65 billion in a company that, attention, is a direct competitor in the AI ​​segment. None have done it out of generosity, and here there is a lot of covering one’s back and, of course, circular financing. This is the Google agreement. Google will invest $10 billion now considering that Anthropic’s valuation is between $350 billion and $380 billion. From there, it can invest another $30 billion linked to company performance milestones that have not been detailed. What Google gains. In exchange for that investment, Google Cloud will provide an additional 5 GW of computing capacity from 2027, expanding the agreement that Anthropic had already announced with Google and Broadcom to contract 3.5 GW of computing in the form of access to their TPUs. Google already invested 300 million dollars in Anthropic in 2023, but months later he put it on the table another 2,000 million more and in 2025 another 1,000. Anthropic is already worth a fortune. It is estimated that before this agreement its participation in Anthropic was around 14%, and with this new agreement that participation will evidently increase. Anthropic’s valuation has grown dramatically in recent months, and according to Bloomberg There are offers for a new investment round that would place its value at 800,000 million dollars, already at the level of the 850,000 million valuation that OpenAI is around. Its growth is overwhelming, and it is clear that today She is the pretty girl of the industry. No one could wait. The speed with which these announcements have occurred is motivated in part by the competitive fear between Amazon and Google. Anthropic uses Trainium chips from Amazon and TPUs from Google: it needs both and they both know it. Every dollar those companies put into Anthropic is a business case for Claude’s clients to use AWS or Google Cloud, so it makes sense that both want to solidify that “preferential relationship” with the company that is conquering the enterprise market. The circular financing model as a standard. This week’s agreements consolidate what many already consider as the new normal sector: hyperscalers invest in AI startups, and AI startups spend that money on the infrastructure of those hyperscalers. For example: Google Cloud grew 36% in revenue last year to $58.7 billion and Anthropic was most likely one of its heavy clients. The money Google invests in Anthropic comes back in the form of invoices, and the same goes for Amazon and Trainium. But the investment has another reason. These investment agreements not only seek to strengthen ties with the most promising AI startup of the moment, but also have a significant stake in its shareholders. That’s even more striking, because both OpenAI and Anthropic They hope to go public before the end of the year and if so, Google and Amazon will have “bought cheap” their stake in a startup that is expected to skyrocket exceptionally once it becomes a public company. Once again, this is a bet for the future. But there is also the other big reason: the majority of investors (be they funds or companies) do not want to be left behind in this race and are betting because everyone else is doing it too. It doesn’t matter that AI companies are losing money non-stop: the promise is that there will come a time (2029 or 2030) in which the trend will change. It is not certain that this will happen, of course, but OpenAI or Anthropic play with that card and use it to their advantage. We have the last example in Mythos, an Anthropic model that it’s so good (or so they say and some others) who prefer not to make it public. It’s once again selling expectations… and it works. In Xataka | DeepSeek has just released a model that competes with Opus 4.6. It costs seven times less and runs on Chinese chips

Amazon is clear about its strategy for the AI ​​war: if you can’t beat your enemy, invest in them

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Just two months ago Amazon announced a astronomical investment of $50 billion in OpenAI. Today he made a movement very similar to the announce which will invest $5 billion in Anthropic and could invest an additional $20 billion “tied to certain commercial milestones) in the future. There are counterparts and some circular financing, of course, but also a clear pattern: Amazon has no winning horse in the AI ​​race, so it is betting on its competitors. More circular financing. Amazon now has alliances in the form of active investment with the two leading AI companies in the world. In return, both OpenAI and Anthropic commit to huge spending on their services on AWS. There is a lot of circular financing here: me I lend you the money so that you spend it on me. Those houses of cards that OpenAI and Anthropic are building have clear risks, but the industry is totally immersed in that maelstrom. In Xataka OpenAI is making the tech industry unite its destiny with yours. For the sake of the global economy, it better work Analysts warn. There are concerned analysts here and others who defend this type of agreement. M. Mohan asked in X why regulators are not on top of these types of financially dangerous agreements: the domino effect if OpenAI or Anthropic fall could be terrible. For others like the well-known Jim Cramer this is not circular financing. According to him, circular agreements are designed to inflate profits, and here no one’s profits are being inflated. Their argument is that Amazon has real computing, Anthropic needs real computing, and the value of the investment is genuine. History repeats itself. The same debate occurred in January with OpenAI, and the conclusion was the same then: the image of circular financing is there but it does not necessarily imply fraud, it implies that Amazon has found a way to monetize the AI ​​​​craze without betting on any particular model. Or for the two who seem to be winning the race. But everyone is doing it. The numbers of the agreement with Anthropic. Amazon puts up $5 billion immediately, taking advantage of the company’s current valuation of $380 billion. It is also committed to investing up to an additional $20 billion linked to “certain commercial milestones” that have not been specified. In exchange, Anthropic commits to using Amazon technology, and specifically its Trainium and Graviton chips, for the next decade. No less than 5 GW of computing capacity is secured, which is more or less the capacity consumed by New York City. This is perfect for Anthropic. He Anthropic statement about the agreement contains an interesting paragraph. In it, the company admits that the demand for AI by companies, developers and users is generating “inevitable tension” in its infrastructure. Or what is the same: they can’t do everything, so they are resorting to measures that “penalize” the excessive use of their AI models. They restrict session limits during peak hours, change the pricing model in companies to a “pay as you go”, or change the level of effort of their models and they sign up for token inflation. The agreement with Amazon makes it possible to mitigate the problem of computing shortages. The race for gigawatts. The truth is that Anthropic has been moving for months to try to avoid more and more problems with the computing capacity they can access. In a few weeks we have seen how Amazon’s 5 GW have been secured and also “multiple gigawatts” computing teams contracted with Google and Broadcom. What Amazon is actually building. Viewed as a whole, Amazon’s strategy is simple and elegant. You don’t need to win the AI ​​modeling race, which is unpredictable and extraordinarily expensive. It only needs that whoever wins it depends on it and its infrastructure. By investing at the same time in two rivals like Anthropic and OpenAI and securing massive spending contracts from both, it achieves something striking. Turn uncertainty into an asset: it doesn’t matter who wins, because she will end up getting paid. This also reinforces the relevance of its Trainium and Graviton chips, something that validates its commitment to its own chips. {“videoId”:”xa4n2g8″,”autoplay”:false,”title”:”An initiative to secure the world’s software ｜ Project Glasswing”, “tag”:””, “duration”:”349″} Win-Win. The agreement seems perfect for both parties. Amazon ensures, as we say, consumption in its infrastructure for the next ten years, and Anthropic achieves an investment that increases its market value again. The same happens with OpenAI, and in both cases these agreements and financial support only reinforce expectations about their imminent IPOs. Image | Fortune Brainstorm TECH In Xataka | OpenAI and Anthropic have proposed the impossible: lose $85 billion in one year and survive (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 Amazon is clear about its strategy for the AI ​​war: if you can’t beat your enemy, invest in them was originally published in Xataka by Javier Pastor .

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