Europe

This map distributes the “heart” of Europe over the Iberian Peninsula. And reveals the key to the success of the region

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Maps are useful, fascinating and sometimes almost almost An art form. However, they do not always allow us to understand real dimensions and distances well. Especially when we talk about broad territories. A map published in Urbanity.one (and shared by Madrid projects) With a peculiar approach: its author has taken some of the main cities of Central Europe, the metropolis of the one known as “Blue Banana”and has distributed them on a plane of the Iberian Peninsula respecting The real distances. The result reminds us of two things. The first, the considerable size That has Spain. The second, how close the cities of Central Europe, a crucial factor to understand the history and economic development of the region. As a picture is worth more than a thousand words, at the end of the 1980s the Geographer Roger Brunet decided to invent A visual metaphor to refer to the most populous and urbanized region in Europe. He called her The “Blue Banana”. Maybe it sounds strange, but it makes enough sense when a map is taken. If the cities of the European industrial axis are connected, covering from England to the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and northern Italy, that is: the drawing of A huge banana Located more or less between Manchester, Munich, Zurich and Rome. How big is that “Banana” imaginary? The first response to mind is obvious: very much, right? In Madrid it projects They have shared However, a map that helps to understand that this abstract axis is actually much smaller than what intuition suggests. At least if we compare it with Spain. The reason is very simple. Its author has selected the metropolis that are distributed by that theoretical axis that structures Europe Central and has arranged them on a map of the Iberian Peninsula respecting the real distances between them. The result It shows that Cambridge would be more or less where Vigo is, Rotterdam would stay up to Valladolid, Bremen in Pamplona, ​​Stuttgart almost where Alicante is and Paris would more or less occupy the place of Badajoz. In the center of the Peninsula, in Madrid, it would be located (kilometer up, kilometer down) Düsseldorf and the Barcelona space would occupy by Linz, an Austrian city. The cast may be striking, but it arrives with pulling Google Maps and its measurement tool for Check the distances. Between London and Paris there are about 340 km in a straight line, just under those that separate Madrid and Granada. If we pull a straight line from Rome to Munich would measure approximately 700 kilometers, a little less than Barcelona to Córdoba. Comparisons are interesting for several reasons. The main one is that they remind us The great size of Spain. The Iberian Peninsula measures just over 583,000 km2 and Spain occupies approximately 505,000taking into account the 12,500 km2 of island surface. That makes our country one of the most extensive of the community club, together with France and Sweden and Germany. A wide disposition of land is both an opportunity and a challenge in aspects as a distribution of the population or provision of services. The other great conclusion left by the map Shared by Madrid projects It is the close thing that are actually the Central European metropolis and their main industrial poles, population centers and strategic axes of political decision -making, a proximity that has influenced the development and integration of Europe. Images | Urbanity.one and Madrid projects (x) In Xataka | The demographic debacle in Europe, exposed on this map with a misleading guest: Monaco

Malaga gets fully into the chips industry. It is due to IMEC, the most important laboratory in Europe

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The Interuniversity Microelectronics Center or IMEC (Interuniversity Microelectronics Center) It is not a research center. It is the most experienced laboratory in the tuning of New integration technologies to manufacture integrated circuits and nanotechnology that we have in Europe. In fact, its engineers They work side by side with ASML techniciansTSMC, Intel or Samsung with the purpose of jointly developing new semiconductor packaging technologies or avant -garde photolithography techniques. This research center is housed in Leuven (Belgium), but in 2030 it will have a new laboratory that will be located in Malaga Techpark, an ambitious technological park installed in this Andalusian capital. José Luis Escrivá, the former Minister of Digital Transformation and Public Function, announced the arrival of Imec to Malaga In January 2024, but a year and a half later we have more important information. According to Malaga today The total cost of these facilities will amount to 615 million euros. The central government will contribute 500 million and the Junta de Andalucía the remaining 115. On the other hand, the Malaga Center of IMEC will have a total area of ​​51,300 square meters, and, more importantly, it will use 200 people of high qualification. After all, these researchers will participate in the search for alternatives to the silicon in integrated circuit production processes, as well as in the development of new photolithography technologies that will pursue make possible the manufacture of chips below 1 Nm. However, in addition to these direct jobs, this research center will attract Malaga to other important companies involved in the semiconductor industry. This is the most ambitious IMEC project: to manufacture 3 angstroms chips According to Imec In 2035 integrated circuit manufacturers will begin large -scale production of 3 angstroms chips (0.3 Nm). This milestone is very important because presumably these will be the first semiconductors made of the UVE Hyper-á lithography equipment in which ASML is already working. However, of course, these machines will not arrive that year; They will be ready much earlier. That will be the time when Chips manufacturers will start large -scale production, but possibly this machine will be prepared at the end of this decade. In 2039 chips manufacturers will go beyond the 2 angstroms Anyway, the interesting thing is that the opening of the optics of these avant -garde lithography equipment will be, again according to IMEC, of ​​0.75 in the face of the opening of 0.55 UVE UVE MACHINESor 0.33 in Conventional UVE teams. In any case, the itinerary of this laboratory anticipates that In 2037 the integrated circuits of 2 angstroms will arriveand in 2039 chips manufacturers will pass this barrier and go beyond the 2 angstroms. In the article we dedicate to Rayleight criteria We explain in a lot of detail what the ‘Na’ parameter consists (Numerical Aperture), But in this text it is enough to know that this variable identifies the opening value of the optics used by the lithographic equipment. In this context this parameter essentially reflects the same as the opening value when we talk about The optics of a photo cameraso it conditions the amount of light that the optical elements They are able to collect. As we can intuit, the more light gathens, the better. Image | Laura Ockel | Wikimedia More information | IMEC In Xataka | China needs to develop a new type of immune chips to US sanctions. And their scientists have just achieved it

Europe fails to find the perfect solution for cross -border payments. Bizum and Banco Santander have just put it on a tray

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Santander has become the first Spanish bank that allows its customers Send Bizum to other European countries. It is something that is achieved thanks to the interoperability between Bizum, Bancomat and MB Waya connection that according to the bank will connect 50 million users and 186 financial entities. It is a first step waiting for a unique pawous solution for which no agreement is reached. The first in Spain. Banco Santander has formalized the possibility of sending money through Bizum in a cross -border way. The agreement has been necessary between different payment solutions such as Bizum (Spain), Bancomat (Italy) and Mbway (Portugal), being limited instant payments to these two countries, for the moment. After performing the corresponding successful pilot tests, the clients of this bank will be the first to be able to pay outside Spain. The method will be the usual: we will only have to write the mobile number of the user to which we want to send the payment, and this will be carried out immediately and without commissions. It will not be alone. Santander has been the first to move token, but the possibility of sending Bizum out of Spain will be a standard before summer. Abanca, OpenBank, Caixabank, BBVA and Banco Sabadell are advancing in the implementation of this service, planned for the second quarter of 2025. It has not been thanks to Europe. While Europe Follow in search of a unique solutionthe private company moves record. Cross -border payments are possible thanks to the European Initiative (European Payments Alliance), a joint project initiated by Bizum and followed by both Bancomat and MB Way, with the aim of adopting instant transfers paneuropeas using existing infrastructure. In other words, it has been necessary for those responsible for the platforms to agree, in the absence of a European alternative that encompasses. The European Bizum. The European Central Bank has been trying to advance in a system of instant payments to interconnect the different member countries. But he doesn’t get it. During the last two years we have seen progress as Free transfers in Europe, Tests with digital purseand brushstrokes on a “European Payment Initiative” which has barely advanced since 2022. Countries like Spain They make 95% of immediate payments with Bizumbut this is not the only name that sounds as a candidate for possible means for European payments. There are those who try strongly. Solutions such as Bizum, Bancomat, BM Way or Swish were born as responses to the national need to be able to pay freely and free. The problem for the EU? None have been thought from scratch as a single payment solution. This is where solutions such as Weroa proposal towards “a unique payment solution, all in one, instantaneous and paneuropea, capable of covering over time all cases of payment that consumers and professionals require.” Banks such as German and French They are already promoting this servicenot yet compatible with solutions like Bizum. Nothing clear. The ECB points out that “instead of combining strength and sharing resources to develop paneuropeas solutions, national communities have often preferred to preserve the legacy of the investments made in the past”, an attack on models such as Bizum and a clear look at proposals such as Wero. With many delays and few proposals on the table, the road to a “European bizum” continues to draw distant. But, meanwhile, in Spain we will not take to pay with virtually any bank outside our borders. In Xataka | Bizum and Finance: What changes in transfers control after eliminating the threshold of 3,000 euros

Spain and Portugal demand connection to a Europe that still isolates them

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From the blackout of April 28 that affected the entire Iberian Peninsulatechnical and political meetings have occurred to analyze what happened and seek solutions. Until now, the facts are still not clarified and there is no firm commitment, but the latter seems to change. An Iberian call. Spain and Portugal have sent a petition to France to commit to concrete deadlines and binding actions to advance electrical interconnection corridors. In the letter signed by ministers Sara Aagesen and Maria Da Graça Carvalho, seeks to end a situation that qualify as a systemic vulnerability for European energy security, according to has had EuropePress access. A very concrete problem. Although progress has been made in renewable energies, the Iberian Peninsula remains An “Energy Island”with a level of interconnection of just 3%. The problem that has a Iberian Peninsula is the impossibility of sharing energy with Europe when it is left over or when it is missing. This weakens the resilience of the system, makes prices more expensive for reinforcement systems, and forces more polluting sources in moments of shortage. A political gap. While one day after the incident, France claimed to be “better protected than Spain” against generalized blackouts, evidenced the clear distance in terms of shared responsibility According to EFE. At this point a structural problem of the European Union was evidenced, that is, attempts are made to boost projects with European framework for joint network, but national decisions are allowed that slow down or block strategic projects. The clearest example is that France has excluded from its 2025-2035 Electrical Development Plan Two key projects For the Iberian Peninsula, the Aragon -Pyrineos Interconnections and Navarra – Los Landas, as both ministers and has collected Montelnews. It is deeper. Spain has shown that it can reach 100% renewable generation peaks. In some moments, supply exceeds domestic demand. But when he can’t export that surplus neither Storing it efficiently, becomes a problem. The most recent example: The negative prices of lightwhich reflect a saturated system that cannot take advantage of all the clean energy it produces. This phenomenon not only represents a market distortion, but also a wasted opportunity. If there were sufficient interconnections, Spain could become a European energy hub, exporting clean energy to countries more dependent on gas or coal. I could also boost your rEindustrialization, attracting electrointensive industries thanks to cheaper and sustainable electricity. But without a truly integrated European network, the peninsula is trapped in a paradox: it produces a lot of clean energy that cannot use well. The investigation is still ongoing. Not only in Spain and Portugal They are investigating the reasonsthe European Network of Electricity Transmission Systems Operators (ENTSO-E) continues to investigate the blackout. His experts are analyzing what failed in the cross -border coordination and why the defense mechanisms did not avoid the cascade of the system. The conclusions of this report will be key to understanding what happened and strengthening the pressure on France and the EU to accelerate the interconnections. Time is a valuable resource. Spain and Portugal not only demand energy justice, but European coherence. Interconnections cannot continue to be postponed promises. The blackout of April 28 was a warning, and the answer cannot be immobility. If the European Union wants a true union of energy, it must begin by ensuring that no Member State remains an energy island in 2025. Image | Pxhere Xataka | A month after the blackout in Spain, we continue to drag the same problem that led us to him: electric networks

is that Europe has had nothing to do with

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If everything goes as planned, a Falcon 9 of Spacex will take off Wednesday from Florida to the International Space Station. On board the Crew Dragon ship there will be a very particular nationalities cocktail. Hungary goes free. In the Ax-4 missionoperated by the American company axiom spacean astronaut of Poland and another from Hungary, two member countries of the European Space Agency will travel. The logical thing would be to think that both fly under the flag of ESA, but one of them will not. While the Polish astronaut follows the “official” European path, Hungary has decided to go for free, hiring your own seat directly with Axiom Space And demonstrating that the rules of the game to go to space are changing at a vertigo speed, even in Europe. Two roads to space. AX-4 will have four crew members on board. NASA’s legendary astronaut Peggy Whitson, now Axiom Space employee, will command the mission. Indian astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla, just selected for the rear program of ISROwill serve as a pilot. The two mission specialists represent the curious European duality: The Polish Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski will travel two weeks to the International Space Station as a project astronaut of the European Space Agency. Its mission, baptized as “Ignis”, follows the traditional model: a national agency, the Polish Polyse, collaborates with ESA to take an astronaut to space. Poland did not do it since 1978, under the Soviet Interkosmos program Hungarian Tibor Kapu represents the Hungarian space office. His mission is called “Hunor” (Hungary to Orbit) and has been developed completely independent of ESA, although Hungary is a Member State. The Hungarian government signed an agreement directly with Axiom Space in 2023, managing its own program with a budget close to 100 million dollars. Hungary did not send anyone to space since 1980, also under the Soviet program A new era. Hungary’s decision is symptomatic that it is no longer essential to go through the hoop of large space agencies such as NASA, Roscosmos or ESA itself to have a manned space program. The emergence of private actors such as Spacex, which manages transport, and axiom, which makes “travel agency”allows countries with budget, but without their own rocket, establish their national programs. Interestingly, ESA has not been left with crossed ones. He has signed a framework agreement with Hungary to support Tibor Kapu in his training and in the integration of Hunor mission experiments. It is the first time that ESE is associated with a Member State that implements its own National Astronaut program, a unique agreement that defines a new type of collaboration. The details. The launch of the axiom-4 is scheduled For Wednesday, June 11 at 2:00 p.m.Spanish peninsular time. The crew will roast at the International Space Station the next day for a 14 -day stay. For both India and Poland and Hungary, this will be his second astronaut in history and his first time aboard the International Space Station. Despite the short duration of the trip, its agenda is loaded: They will carry out more than 60 scientific experiments for 31 countriesincluding a study of how microgravity affects cognitive abilities using virtual reality and a new drug administration system for neuro-ocular syndrome associated with space flights. Image | Axiom Space In Xataka | Axiom launches its third private flight to the International Space Station. This is what your customers have paid

His strategy in Europe and Spain speaks directly to governments

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As artificial intelligence (AI) transforms the digital world, so do those who seek to take advantage of it for malicious purposes. Europe, According to MicrosoftIt is low Increasing pressure of attacks Orchestrated by state actors and criminal gangs that no longer operate alone: ​​they rely on AI tools to improve their tactics. Given this new reality, the company has launched a cybersecurity program without cost to European governments, with a clear objective: reinforce the defenses of the continent. The radiography offered by the Redmond giant about the situation in the old continent is clear: the number of attacks does not cease to increase and its complexity as well. The most frequent threats come from groups linked to governments such as those of Russia, China, Iran and North Korea, with objectives ranging from the theft of credentials and infiltration in corporate networks to the manipulation of public opinion through digital disinformation. Click to see the message in x According to the company, many of these actors have incorporated AI techniques to refine their campaigns: from automated vulnerabilities recognition to the creation of false content with Deepfakes. In parallel, criminal gangs also evolve. The appearance of platforms of ‘Ransomware as a service‘And forums with instructions to operate complex attacks has democratized access to dangerous tools, amplifying the risk throughout the continent. Microsoft’s proposal: a European cybersecurity program, free and based on AI In response, Microsoft has launched the European Security Programan initiative that offers without cost to all European governments, including the 27 EU member states, the countries in the process of adhesion, the United Kingdom, Monaco, the Vatican and the members of the EFTA. It is not clear how many countries have decided to join at the time of publishing this article, but the company states that the objective is to strengthen cyber -defense from three fronts: Share intelligence on threats based on AI with governments, adjusted to each country and, when possible, in real time. Increase investment in capacity and resilience, including training, technological development and support for NGOs. Expand alliances with police and operators to interrupt criminal networks and cyber attacks before they climb. According to official information, the initiative implies the delivery of personalized intelligence to each country, the expansion of access to the Cybercrime Threat Intelligence Program and frequent updates on foreign influence operations. Priority communication is also included on Vulnerabilities detected and technical orientation to mitigate them. Each participating government will have a direct interlocutor in Microsoft to expedite coordination. In addition, the company details that collaborates with Europol in its European Cybercrime Center in The Hague. Also, in the technological level, there are also concrete actions. Microsoft has launched a fund to protect strategic Open Source projects (such as Log4j) and develop advanced security tools with the British laboratory Lasr. The rise of agents of ia also worries outside Microsoft The use of artificial intelligence in the field of cybersecurity not only worries Microsoft. Several researchers and signatures in the sector, such as Trend Micro or Malwarebytes, warn of an emerging stage in which Autonomous ia agents They could become especially effective attack tools. Although today a wave of cyber attacks fully executed by agents have been detected, some laboratories have already begun to identify their first real incursions. Palisade Research team, for example, has built a honeypot specifically designed to detect AI agents activity. And they have achieved it: they have registered millions of access attempts and have confirmed the presence of at least two agents. Image: Microsoft It is not just attacks aimed at governments or infrastructure. According to a study published in Harvard Business Review By researchers from Harvard, MIT and the World Economic Forum, the generative AI is also transforming mass attacks like him Phishing. And it does it by reducing its cost more than 95 % and maintaining its success rate. Experts point out that language models such as GPT-4 They allow completely automating the phishing cycle, from the choice of objectives to the writing of convincing emails. In their experiments, 60 % of users fell into traps generated by AI, a percentage comparable to that of messages created by human experts. This perspective fits with the reading made by Microsoft about the role of AI in current threats, but also reveals that concern is shared by researchers, academics and actors in the sector who are developing specific detection systems to prevent these agents from going unnoticed. Europe is already taking action The launch of this program does not happen in a vacuum. The European Union has been strengthening its response from digital threats, with initiatives that seek to raise the level of protection both in public administrations and in the private sector. In turn, many countries are implementing their own plans to shield themselves. Spain, for example, has become one of the great objectives of cybercrime: it is the second most attacked country in the world, According to Secure & It. In this context, the government is promoting a millionaire investment To create a “digital shield” that reinforces the country’s defenses. We need to see what role the European Security Program of Microsoft will play within this panorama. At the moment, it is a voluntary, but ambitious initiative. Cover image | Lukas s + Freepik With Photoshop In Xataka | Goal has been spying on everything we did when navigating android mobiles. Neither the incognite mode nor erase cookies avoided it

There was a day when Benidorm had one of the largest Russian mountains in Europe. Today is a closed fiasco and still standing

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Magnus Colossus has been closed since 2016. Considered an icon of mythical terra, its practically definitive closure is a good symbol of everything that has ended up destroying the park: bad organization, embezzlement and a series of murky plots that ended in very serious judgments and convictions. Today, Magnus Colossus is dead, but his journey full of curves leaves a few lessons on the park. Mythical Colossus. Magnus Colossus was one of the most important Russian mountains in Europe (and the largest: length of 1,149.7 meters and maximum speed of 92 km/h) and One of the absolute icons of the ambitious amusement park. However, a series of stumbling blocks in construction, added to the economic and organizational decline of the park, have led to its greatness to end limited to that of mere aesthetic claim. A closed colossus. Almost a decade has closed this spectacular roller wooden mountain that took advantage of the natural terrain of a limestone quarry, 180 meters above sea level. The culprit of its uselessness is the heat that has inflamed the wood, which entails too expensive maintenance. However, his presence under the gigantic poster that presides over the views of the park, on the mountain, has given him a unique personality. The negligence of the owners of the facilities, who have not dedicated the necessary resources for the care of Magnus Colossus, has ended the giant. “Irregularities in maintenance”. In 2016 it was decided to close Magnus Colossus, in principle temporarily to undertake the renovations that would solve problems that existed then, such as the excessive trachetening of the wagons. However, They never got to undertakesince the park had more serious problems to deal with: controversy, suspicions of corruption and various negligence in maintenance, which culminated when an investigation detected that had used creating to treat wood, substance prohibited at an industrial level for being carcinogenic. Photo: Jeremy Thompson Dramas before starting. The controversies and suspicions that have always surrounded the park started even before its inauguration: in August 1992, with Spain submerged in the maelstrom of the expo and the Olympicsa forest fire razed the area known as “the largest Pinada in the Mediterranean”, in the area where Terra Mítica would be built. 450 hectares of non -urbanizable land of special forest protection They were razedand although it was not proven judicially, associations like Greenpeace suspected That the fire could have been intentional, seeking recalification. After the fire, in fact, the land was expropriated and re -qualified, which allowed the construction of a mythical terra, a hotel zone and two golf courses. The current law prohibits the change in forest land use for 30 years after a fire, but this case occurred before the entry into force of the regulations. 1990s in its purest form. Terra mythical is a paradigmatic case of the bubble and the speculation that occurred so much in Spain by those dates. About the park they hit Judicial suspicions and research for embezzlement, fraud, money laundering and influence peddling. The trial began in 2015 and dozens of entrepreneurs and managers were charged. Among other things, there was a plot of false invoices for almost 4.5 million euros to companies for non -existent services in the years 2000 and 2001, in addition to 150 million euros to ghost companies. Photo: Jeremy Thompson The verdict came to light in 2016: Two former director, including the exemptedness of the then president of the Generalitat, Eduardo Zaplana and 20 entrepreneurs were convicted of corruption, scam, documentary falsehood and crimes against the Public Treasury with sentences between 4 and 47 years in prison. Terra mythical is sold. In 2004, only four years after its inauguration, Terra Mítica entered into suspension of payments: like so many projects of the time, business forecasts had been well above their results. The Generalitat Valenciana sold their participation to the company Aqualandia in 2011 for 65 million euros, well below the initial investment of 400 million euros. In the background, the roller coaster. With these accounts, it is not surprising that Terra mythical is very far from their best times (if they came to exist at some point). With very scarce visits, almost exclusively from devotees from the parks, in 2021 Terra mythical He reported 6 million euros in losses and 4.3 of income (let’s compare, for example, with port adventure, with 163 million in revenue). Magnus Colossus has few chances of raising head at some point in the future, and remains for posterity such as the wooden skeleton that reminds us of the great bubble of embezzlement in the construction of the Spain of the nineties. Header | Jeremy Thompson In Xataka | We have known how to eliminate the tails of the attraction parks. Disney keeps them for something

be the Japan of Europe

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2024 has not been a good year for the Italians. Not at least if we talk about demography. Although the flow of immigrants has allowed him to soften the blow, the country has seen how its fertility rate fell to historical minimumsthe families continued to shrink, the average age of the population kept their escalation until approaching the psychological barrier of the 50 years and the exodus of citizens who decide to seek their future abroad increased 36%depriving the nation especially of qualified young people, something that It is already worried to its central bank. Italy It is not the only country that supports the icy winds of the Demographic winterbut his drift already threatens to turn it into the Japan of the old continent. Birth, downstairs. A few weeks ago the National Statistics Institute of Italy (Istat) public A global balance on the demography of 2024 that leaves a few joys and the occasional disappointment. The country closed the year with 370,000 births, bad news twice. First because it represents a decrease of 2.6% with respect to 2023 and aggravates the fall of its birth rate. Second, because it leaves its fertility index in historical minimums: 1.18 children per woman. The previous record, of 1.19, had been reached in 1995. A structural problem. For Istat that loss of babies is worrisome because it relieves more than a simple fall in the fertility index. In his opinion Boils with the loss of men and women of age of having children. “The relevance of the structural aspect is evident,” he warns. “If the female population of productive age (15-49 years) is considered, it has gone from 14.3 million EM January 1994 to 11.4 in January 2024”. In the case of men, the group in the same age strip has dropped from 14.5 million to just 11.9. Hence, the current fertility rate of 1.18 is much more problematic than that of 1995. 50 -year way. Another of the problems that Italy Lidia is the aging of its population, a phenomenon on which He has warned Also Eurostat. According to the Italian agency, at the beginning of 2025 the average age of the population that resides in Italy already was already 46.8 years, two tenths more than a year ago. The data that Eurostat draws an even more unfortunate panorama: they place the median age in 48.7 yearsthe second largest fact of the entire EU. It only exceeds Monaco, where it marks 50.5 years. The European mean It is 44.7. In Italy children (under 14 years old) represent 11.9% of the total and the population of working age 63.4%. Both stripes experienced setbacks in 2024, unlike what happened with the group of citizens who exceed 65 years: they suppose 24.7% of the total, four tenths more than a year ago. Among them also grow the octogenarians and nonagenarians. If nothing changes, There are those who calculate That in 2040 there will be five million people less in working age. THE OTHER CHALLENGE: The Exodus. Italy is facing another problem that has made the alarms of experts and authorities: Emigration. Last year 191,000 people left the country, 20.5% more than in 2023. Most of them, about 156,000, were also Italians who chose to look for life abroad, which represents a remarkable increase with respect to 2023. The rest (around 35,000) are Expats of other nationalities, such as the Romanian, who had been residing in Italy for some time and for one reason or another they decided to make their bags. Looking for life out. “They are forceful figures, although they could fall short according to some analysts, such as Federico Fubini, who recently published A column in Corriere in which he remembered that there are Italians who have abandoned the country without processing the change of residence, so the phenomenon could be greater. “More and more Italians opt for the path of self -determination and leave the country for situations that consider better,” Point out. In his opinion, the current migratory phenomenon is not comparable to that of the last decade, when the loss of population was basically motivated by the lack of employment in Italy. “Today there is and, instead, people, mostly young, will look for it in other places.” “Create opportunities”. That last nuance, that of young people who decide to leave, is fundamental. So much, in fact, that he has led the governor of the Bank of Italy, Fabio Panetta, to ask that measures be taken to retain talent and human capital. “It is necessary to create attractive employment opportunities for the many Italians who leave the country in search of better perspectives,” warned a few days ago in statements collected by Financial Times. The newspaper remember That between 2014 and 2023 they left the country more than one million Italians and more than a third of them were young people between 25 and 35 years old, many of them with university degrees. During that period they made the reverse journey (natives who choose to return) many less young. Of them only 50,000 had higher training. Istat himself calculates that the migratory balance of graduates has been negative, with a net loss of 97,000. A balance in red numbers. With 370,000 births and 651,000 deaths, Italy closed 2024 with a negative natural balance of 281,000 people. That loss managed to soften it in part thanks to the arrival of people from abroad. Although his flow fell with respect to the previous year, he remained at 435,000 (including about 53,000 repatriated), enough to compensate for the escape of Italians to other countries and leave a positive general migratory balance. The country fired the year with a census of some 58.9 million of residents. Japan’s example. Italy is not the only country that crosses demographic turbulence. In fact, Spain has reached a population record (49.1 million) It is thanks to the increase in the foreign population, which compensates for the decrease in the native. The puncture of birth and gradual aging are … Read more

Without the rare earths of China, lasers will end in Europe. Germany has found a way to do without them

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The applications of Rare earths They are potentially unlimited. To this peculiar group of chemical elements belong some metals as elusive and with names as suggestive as neodymium, promised, gadolinium, ititrium or scandio, among others. Some of them They are relatively scarceand, in addition, they are not usually found purely in nature, but what makes them so special are their physicochemical properties. Its characteristics are beyond the reach of the other elements of the periodic table, which has caused that during the last decades they are consolidated as A very valuable resource In numerous industries, especially in electronics and renewable energies. They are involved, for example, in the manufacture of hybrid and electric cars engines, batteries, semiconductors, catalysts, optical fiber, LCD panels, and even in wind turbines. Europe wants to stop being in the hands of China once and for all China dominates the rare earth industry with an indisputable forcefulness. According to him US Geological Service For many years it has produced more than 90% of this valuable resource. In 2022 its market share was reduced to 70%, but did not do so because of a decrease in production; This fall had its origin in the increase in rare earth production quota experienced Australia, Vietnam and Myanmar, among other countries. In addition, the country led by Xi Jinping also dominates the processing industry to which it is necessary to submit rare earth so that they can be used. So much so that according to Xincaifu Its quota if we expressly stick to the global processing industry ascends 90%. And with a 70% production of the global market and a 90% control of the Chinese rare earth processing industry has this absolutely controlled market. The Chinese government is using its control of rare earths to defend their strategic interests in full confrontation with the US The government of this Asian country is using its control of these chemical elements to defend their strategic interests In full confrontation with the US, Europe and its allies. In this context, the old continent needs to bet on its independence and the consolidation of its own supply chain. And it is in it. In fact, Germany has just made a very important contribution in a scenario of fundamental use of rare earths: the manufacture of lasers. These devices are used to produce medical equipment, in scientific research, in the manufacture of consumer electronics, and even in the tuning of Quantum computersamong many other industries. Rare earths are used to dopar the crystals That, very broadly, they are responsible for amplifying the light before emitting it with a fixed wavelength. The problem is that if these chemical elements are not available the production of high quality lasers is not viable. Well, it really wasn’t until now. And it is that the Fraunhofer Institute of Optronics, which is located in Karlsruhe (Germany), has found a way to manufacture the crystals involved in the production of lasers without using rare earths. In fact, we can see some of these crystals in the cover photography of this article. During its manufacturing process it is essential to minimize impurities and preserve the polarization properties of the crystals, but, apparently, the researchers of the Fraunhofer Institute have given in the Diana. Your plan now goes through developing production processes that guarantee the supply of these crystals that Europe requires. Image | FRANHOFER INSTITUTE OF OPTRONICS More information | Interesting Engineering In Xataka | We already know what is the best natural factory of the precious rare earths: a cosmic kilonova

Between 1946 and 1990, Europe sank 200,000 radioactive barrels in the Atlantic Ocean. France prepares to recover them

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France will undertake this month of June a mission to map and study the state of the more than 200,000 drums with radioactive material that several European countries sank at the bottom of the sea. The objective: evaluate their environmental impact and study if it is viable to recover them. A practice today unthinkable. For more than four decades, between 1946 and 1990, the norm for several European countries was to pour radioactive waste of very low activity in the oceanic depths. More than 200,000 barrels loaded with gloves, laboratory materials and nuclear samples were sunk in the northeast Atlantic abyssal plains, more than 4,000 meters under the surface of the oceanan internationally prohibited custom by the 1993 London Convention. Better late than never. Although a good part of the radioactivity has disappeared thanks to the short half-life of the CESIO-134 or iron-55 isotopes, so far there has been no state-level effort to recover them. The National Center for Scientific Research in France (CNRS) will be launched at the middle of June With the nodssum missionwhich does not have as its immediate objective the recovery of the 200,000 barrels (a task of titanic proportions), but an exhaustive analysis of the containers, the behavior of the radionuces in the deep ocean and their interaction with the marine ecosystems to make a decision on which one to recover and how to recover them. A robot submarine and fishing networks. The Nodssum project will take place in two major campaigns. The first phase will be a recognition mission that will sail on June 15 and will run until July 11. The protagonist will be the ULYX Submarine Autonomous Robot of the French oceanographic fleet, capable of descending up to 6,000 meters. In its first scientific dives, Ulyx will navigate about 70 meters above the seabed to map with a high resolution Sónar the main discharge zone and identify the location of barrels. Then, it will approach up to 10 meters to photograph them. This phase also includes the initial shot of water samples, sediments and fauna, but without approaching the drums. Scientists will use nasas to capture fish and crustaceans with which to determine the effect of waste on marine life. The barrels will not move until 2026. Taking advantage of the data collected in the first phase, the second mission will use a robot with remotely operated arms, Victor or Nautile, to directly observe the barrels and take samples around it for a more detailed analysis. These data will be those used to determine if necessary, and feasible, selective recovery operations in the future. Security will be the axis of the entire project, which includes a robust radioprotection protocol supervised by the France Nuclear Safety Agency. In addition to amending past errors, the mission will be a unique opportunity to measure the long -term consequences of storing at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean hundreds of thousands of radioactive waste. Image | CNRS, Greenpeace (1978) In Xataka | Thus, radioactive waste is “buried”: how are nuclear cemeteries inside

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