faster

It is 1,000 times faster than current semiconductors and does not heat up

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A research team at the University of Tokyo (Japan) has reached an impressive milestone in the field of semiconductors. And, as he has collected Nikkeihas developed a device capable of processing information 1,000 times faster than the current most advanced CPU. It seems like science fiction, it’s true, but it’s not. It’s just science. Of course, this is frontier science. And the non-volatile quantum switching device that these scientists have developed uses quantum physics to carry out its purpose. Most strikingly, this device represents bits using the magnetic properties of electrons rather than the flow of electricity itself, which is what the integrated circuits we are familiar with do. In fact, its capabilities lie precisely in this strategy. Current semiconductor technology It takes about a nanosecond to register a single bit before overheating becomes a critical issue. However, this innovative device processes one bit of information in just 40 picoseconds. In practice this means that you invest one thousandth of the time in this process that conventional methods require. Interestingly, it combines tantalum and manganin to convert electrical signals into magnetic information, so its composition is very different from that of the silicon chips that reside inside our electronic devices. Heat is no longer a problem Laboratory tests carried out by researchers at the University of Tokyo have yielded surprising results. In their ingenious device, an electrical signal passes through the tantalum layer, so that the device registers that signal in the manganin in the form of the direction of a tiny magnetic force. Precisely this address represents a single bit without depending on the continuous flow of electric current. Its performance improves as components become physically smaller During the first tests, this device has worked completely stable even after processing information more than 100,000 million times. However, these Japanese researchers have verified that their performance improves as components become physically smaller. For this reason, if this technology finally makes it out of the laboratory, it could reduce energy consumption when processing information to just one hundredth of current levels. Here’s another impressive fact: this device has processed information 100,000 million times without making a mistake. However, a current CPU or GPU would have overheated after just 10 million clock cycles if it had run at a similar speed. There is no doubt that it is a notable achievement. Be that as it may, we cannot ignore that moving this technology from the laboratory to a chip factory is a real challenge in the field of engineering. The physics works, as these Japanese scientists have shown, but large-scale manufacturing poses challenges that are not present in a single device produced in a university laboratory. Even so, Disruptive technologies are usually born this wayso although the future of this innovation is uncertain, there is a possibility that it will manage to leave the laboratory and reach the chip manufacturing plants. The prototype is planned for 2030. Fingers crossed. Image | Satoru Nakatsuji (University of Tokyo) More information | Nikkei In Xataka | China has reached one of the holy grails of quantum physics. So says Peter Zoller, father of quantum computers

I was looking for a good keyboard and I wanted one that would help me work faster (and more comfortably). I already know what I want

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Between the time I spend working and the time I spend playing on the PC, it can be said that I have my hands on the keyboard for many hours of the day. For years, peripheral that has accompanied me has been a Logitech G513 from which I have learned that I love the wrist rest. However, I think it’s time to retire and I want something different. Since I spend all day browsing almost every store and looking at all kinds of devices, I admit that I have spent more time than necessary searching for a new keyboard. And, in that search, I have found The keyboard that I would like to be part of my setup: This is Corsair Galleon 100 SD and costs 349.99 euros. It has a high price, I know, but there are several reasons why I love it. Corsair Galleon 100 SD RGB Wired Mechanical Gaming Keyboard – Spanish QWERTY, Stream Deck Integration, Pre-Lubricated and Interchangeable MLX Pulse Key Switches, SOCD FlashTap, 8000Hz The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Keyboard with wrist rest and Stream Deck. all together As I say, there are several reasons for this and the first and foremost is what stands out most about this Galleon 100 SD: it is the first keyboard to have a built-in Stream Deck. Beyond the fact that it eliminates something that I had left over from my Logitech (the numeric keypad), this part is super useful and, although it is a gadget that has gained popularity among streamers, It is the best there is to increase productivity. What can be done with it? Well, that’s the fun, since it is very customizable. The simplest thing is to assign each key to open an app, such as Slack or an email manager. This is great, but you can go much further by making A single button opens all the applications you need to work at once. What’s more, you can place specific functions from programs like Excel or Photoshop as well, which allows you to optimize (a lot) the workflow. And to place certain functions when playing it also seems wonderful to me. I have talked about the wrist rest as a point that I love, but a small nuance must be made here. Many of these accessories that can be found on Amazon or similar stores are made of plastic and, although they do not have to be bad, I find them uncomfortable. However, this Corsair has a memory foam wrist rest like the Logitech keyboard I already have, which provides great comfort even if you spend a lot of time with your wrists resting non-stop. Finally, two more details. Its switches, which are MLX Pulse, have short travel and, although they offer an audible response, They don’t sound like an old typewriter.. Furthermore, although it is not something that matters for working, it has a polling rate of 8,000 Hz, which makes its response time very top. I left out some extra things that this Galleon 100 SD has such as the LCD screen, the wheels to control the sound or the materials of its keys, but even so it is an option that seems like a real spectacle to me. It is not a keyboard for everyone nor is it an economical option, as I say above, but it is a very interesting option if, like me, youYou spend many hours with your hands on the keyboard to work and play. You may also be interested CORSAIR K70 RGB PRO Wired Mechanical Gaming Keyboard – Cherry MX Red Linear Switches, SOCD, Double-Shot PBT Keycaps, 8000Hz Hyper-Polling, NKRO, Tournament Switch, QWERTY ES – Black The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Corsair Vanguard Pro 96 Hall Effect Magnetic-Mechanical Wired Gaming Keyboard – 96% Format, MGX Hyperdrive Switches, 8000 Hz, Rapid Trigger, Virtual Stream Deck, Flashtap SOCD, QWERTY ES The price could vary. We earn commission from these links CORSAIR K70 PRO TKL RGB Magnetic-Mechanical Wired Gaming Keyboard – Pre-Lubricated MGX Hyperdrive Adjustable Switches, Simultaneous SOCD and Quick Trigger, 8,000 Hz, QWERTY – Black The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Some of the links in this article are affiliated and may provide a benefit to Xataka. In case of non-availability, offers may vary. Images | corsair In Xataka | Best keyboards for writing and working at value for money. Which one to buy based on use and seven recommended models In Xataka | Ultrawide monitor vs two monitors: productivity science says it’s not just inches that matter

Mexico’s real problem is that it is warming three times faster than a century ago

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Mexico is experiencing the first major consolidated heat episode of 2026 and there is more than 22 entities affected on the Pacific slope and the southeast. That’s highs of up to 45 degrees in a country that is warming up to three times faster than the last century. And, despite everything, no one seems too worried. Why would they be? Mexico closed 2025 with reservoirs at 72% and by April 15 only 12.3% of the territory is affected by drought. You only have to go to 2024 to find a spring with 76% of the country in a critical situation: no matter how much the heat is getting earlier, it is logical that no one takes it very seriously. Especially if we take into account that experts do not agree on the nature of the event. Once it has been ruled out that, technically, it is a ‘heat wave’; The National Weather Service says we talk about a ‘color wave’ and services like Meteored doubt whether that can even be talked about. The great Mexican mess. While the thermometers of Sinaloa, Durango, Nayarit, Guerrero, Michoacan, Chiapas and, occasionally, Jalisco will be placed above of 40 degrees; the rain will reach the eastern half of the country: It is a clear example that the asymmetry in how climate change affects Mexico means that the country begins to live in several seasons at the same time. And that is the central issue: Mexico is warming rapidly and that means innumerable problems. Heating up rapidly? According to the UNAM Climate Change Research Programbefore 2012 the warming rate per century was 1.9 degrees. Now that rate has catapulted to 3.5. This means that projections speak of 1.95 degrees only for 2026, while the average is 1.5. And El Niño is knocking on the doors. Therefore, the fact that there is water in the swamps does not solve anything: it simply makes us trust. But let’s talk about the problems. Because, although we do not usually emphasize it, heat has a direct impact on public health. Only in 2024 306 people died from heat stroke in Mexico. The fact that the heat is ahead is not good news. Above all, because as we already know, the hot Mexican season produces peak values ​​between April and May. In this way, it is reasonable to think that all this heat is nothing more than part of what is coming. Image | BenBaso | Xataka In Xataka | We are living in the hottest years on Earth and the consequences will be so severe that not even our grandchildren will see the end.

“Toxic” people are altering your DNA and making you age almost a year faster

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‘Toxic’ people can be anywhere, such as the office, school or even in one’s own homewith an effect that quickly depletes our energy when dealing with them. In psychology, these types of people are beginning to be called ‘hasslers‘ and are defined as people who complicate life, whether they are family members, work colleagues or even partners. The problem is that they can even affect physical and mental health. They make us old. That a toxic person can damage our mental health It is something that we have already internalized enough from our own experiences, but now the PNAS magazine has confirmed that chronic stress derived from these relationships has an impact on the “biological clock”, causing our cells to age much faster. How it looked. To reach this conclusion, the researchers analyzed to more than 2,000 adults from the state of Indiana in the United States for almost 20 years. But here they did not limit themselves to asking them about their stress levels in a survey, but rather they cross-referenced the data with different biological markers from their saliva. From here, scientists used epigenetic clocks as algorithms that do not measure how old we are on the DNI, but rather different key points in our DNA that indicate how aged our cells are. Among these points, for example, stands out the methylation of DNA or some very specific chemical marks. The results. This is where it was seen that indeed people who were in relationships with very conflictive people in their immediate environment had an accelerated aging rate of an extra 1.5%. This means that biological age increases by an average of nine months. Because? That something that seems purely psychological affects on a physical level seems like something that has little to do with it, but the reality is that interacting with these people constantly increases the levels of cortisol in the blood, which is the stress hormone. And having a lot of cortisol is not recommended at all, since it is related to an increase in oxidative stress that damages cells. But in addition, the study observed that this process inhibits a key enzyme in cells such as telomerase. And it is key because its function is to protect DNA to prevent it from shortening at an accelerated rate to the point where the cell has to be destroyed. Something that also favors cellular aging. Not everyone suffers the same. Here women, smokers and people with low social support show greater vulnerability to this accelerated aging by being with the wrong people. Furthermore, the study identified that family members and work colleagues have a greater weight in this wear and tear than friends, probably due to the difficulty of “escape” from those ties easily, while with a colleague you have to put up with it no matter what. It can be fixed. Until now we are quite clear that having a toxic relationship gives us more misfortunes than joys, but the question is obligatory: can we go back? Here science suggests that we are facing a partially reversible process, meaning that with psychological therapy, the establishment of clear limits in the social sphere or even physical distancing from that toxic person, the clock can be “slowed down.” Images | Italy Gariev In Xataka | The science of being single: a macro study warns that well-being plummets if you have not had a partner by 25

is dismantling ‘made in China’ faster than we expected

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One in four iPhones is already assembled in India. Apple has delivered in 2025 exactly what JPMorgan forecast in 2022but it has done so at a speed that has surprised the sector. Why is it important. This is perhaps the clearest sign to date that China has lost its status as an irreplaceable player in high-end consumer electronics manufacturing. If Apple can make this move, others can too. In figures: 55 million of iPhones made in India in 2025, up from 36 million in 2024 (a 53% increase in a single year). 25% of world production, for a total of between 220 and 230 million units. 9 billion dollars in iPhone sales in India last year, a record. 14 million of units sold in the country, with a growth of 9% year-on-year. The backdrop. Apple has been around for years trying to reduce its dependence on Chinabut the Chinese supply chain was so efficient and so dense that the movement moved slowly. Then came Trump’s tariffs, and what was a long-term strategy became an emergency. In May 2025, Trump himself called Tim Cook to ask him to stop expanding production in Indiawhich gives an idea of ​​the scale and speed of the transfer. Between the lines. Tariffs have been the perfect excuse to do what Apple has wanted to do for a long time. The company has not only transferred volume: it has also transferred its most profitable models. India now assembles the entire iPhone 17 lineincluding the Pro and Pro Max. That is not outsourcing cheap, it is entrusting India with the jewel in the crown. Yes, but. Manufacturing in India is still more expensive than in China or Vietnam. The Modi government’s incentives (the export-linked production program) have been the glue of this strategy, and they expire imminently, on March 31. Apple, like Samsung, is negotiating with the government for a new round of subsidies. If these do not arrive and the incentive agreement expires without anything to relieve it, India’s attractiveness becomes more complicated. In Xataka | Apple has only found one option to make a cheap laptop: make it a mobile Featured image | TejjXataka with Mockuuups Studio

The best AI agents that are faster and easier to use to do tasks for you without complications or long installations

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Let’s tell you the best fast and easy AI agents to use, without complicated installations and configurations. This type of AI agent They are less complete and powerful than the more complete and advanced ones, but they allow you to explore how the artificial intelligence can do tasks for you. We are going to make a small list to stick to the best alternatives. Many are quite popular, others are more unknown, and we even ended up with an open source alternative for privacy lovers. Claude Cowork Claude Cowork It is possibly the best and simplest tool to test the benefits of a medicine, but in a controlled way. It is a paid feature that you can use within the desktop application of Claude. The price to use it starts at 15 euros per month. Claude Cowork allows Claude’s AI to manage files and use applications on your computer. You tell him what you want, and Claude will find the best way to do it. Also, if you install the extension Claude in Chrome in your browser, Cowork will also be able to do things for you in the browser. Perplexity Comet Comet is the browser with artificial intelligence Perplexitya platform that started as a search engine based on artificial intelligence, and now it is much more. It is now a chatbot that allows you to use various artificial intelligence models, such as Gemini, GPT or Claude. The Comet browser has the peculiarity that can use AI to do tasks for yousuch as browsing you, interacting with websites, automating tasks, searching and filtering information, managing workflows and other tasks such as comparing prices on multiple pages. Manus on Telegram Manus is an autonomous AI agent, to which you can give a high-level objective and it works on its own to achieve it. Tasks are asynchronous, so you can ask it to do something, turn off the computer, and receive a notification when the work is completed. Manus also has the ability to used in Telegram chats like a bot With this, you will be able to use Manus directly from the messaging app and without entering its official website or application, and then you will be able to access them to see the result of AI research, web development, design, whatever you have asked. ChatGPT Agent ChatGPT also has an agent mode in your application. With it, you will be able to interact directly on web pages, ChatGPT will act on your behalf to book appointments, create presentations and perform other complex tasks. Of course, to use it you will need have a paid subscription in AI. Genspark This platform is a kind of all-in-one AI worksspace. It is not exactly a chatbot but acts in a similar way to the concept of an agent, planning taskschoosing the correct tools to do it, and chaining the steps autonomously. With this tool you will be able to create applications, documents, designs, images, music, spreadsheets and more. It has a free plan with limited access, although you will have to pay to access everything. Also has more than 80 toolsand eight language models of different sizes, each for a task. AgentGPT This was one of the first services to make AI agents accessible from the browser without having to install anything. It works similar to the previous ones, you have to write what you want with natural language, the agent divides this into subtasks, and then executes them autonomously. Kuse Cowork Kuse is an open source alternative to use an agent capable of helping you perform tasks on your computer. It can generate documents and presentations, transform d oc files, PDFs, you can also create mind maps, interact with YouTube videos and more. It is therefore an open alternative to Claude Cowork, where you can decide which AI models to use attaching them with their API, or even installing them directly on your computer. In Xataka Basics | How to create a Telegram bot that sends you a summary made by Gemini of each email you receive in Gmail and other emails

China is building submarines faster than anyone else. And that’s a problem for the United States.

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In a tense geopolitical moment on a global scale with several open fronts such as Greenland, whose melting ice is allowing us to see nuclear submarinesChina just achieved a historic milestone: it is manufacturing nuclear submarines faster than any other country in the world, according to a report by the International Institute for Strategic Studies. This is a complete surprise to the United States, the power that until now held this title, and threatens the advantage that Washington has maintained for decades. Brief notes on nuclear submarines. Without wanting to delve into their characteristics, it is worth distinguishing what types there are: He SSBN is a nuclear-powered submarine designed to launch ballistic missiles with nuclear warheads (some with intercontinental range). They are strategic second response platforms, practically undetectable and guarantee that if someone attacks first, they will receive a response. The SSN/SSGN are nuclear attack submarines (the second, guided missiles), true maritime control weapons: they can attack land or sea targets, block routes and operate for months without resupply. Context. American hegemony underwater lasts for decades, but Beijing has on its roadmap modernize its military capabilities by 2035: it already has the largest surface fleet in the world in the words of the Pentagon and now he has turned on the turbo to reach the last bastion of the United States: the depths. The data. China has surpassed the United States in the pace of launching nuclear-powered submarines (SSN/SSBN). Thus, between 2021 and 2025, the Asian giant launched 10 units compared to Washington’s seven, according to has discovered the IISS through satellite analysis of the Bohai shipyard in Huludao (northern China), as the epicenter of the industrial leap. In a decade, China has gone from being far behind to leading the race: Why is it important. This shift in underwater hegemony has three implications, one of which points directly to the US: Nuclear deterrence. The new submarines Type 094 and future Type 096 They expand China’s nuclear response capacity in the face of possible nuclear attacks. A preemptive attack is strategically unfeasible. Maritime control of commercial routes. SSGNs with high-speed missile systems add a layer of threat to foreign combat groups in the Indo-Pacific, complicating access for the US and its allies to potentially conflictive areas, such as the South China Sea or Taiwan. At a time when The United States is betting on boarding As a sign of maritime control, China has in this fleet a safeguard for its commercial routes. The United States cannot cope with that pace. John Phelan, US Secretary of the Navy, recognized in Congress that “All of our programs are a disaster, honestly. Our best-performing program is six months behind schedule and 57% over budget.” Phelan mentions the erosion of this industry, which according to the Government Accountability Office Today it faces problems such as aging infrastructure and a shortage of qualified labor. The surprise figures. The IISS Military Balance 2025 leaves other interesting figures to better diagnose the reality of both powers in nuclear submarines: Launch rate from 2021 to 2025: seven from the US to 10 from China. The difference in tonnage is notable: while those from China weigh 79,000 tons, those from the US are 55,500. Active nuclear fleet: The United States wins by a landslide, with 65 units compared to China’s 12 units (plus another 46 conventional ones). Quantity vs quality. We have already seen in the previous point that the United States continues to gain in numbers (still) and it is not the only reason for optimism for the country led by Trump. CNN echoes the IISS report where he explains that “Chinese designs are almost certainly behind American and European submarines in terms of quality.” Among other qualities, in noise: Chinese submarines are noisier, which makes them more vulnerable, they explain. But as a captain warns Retired US Navy Half USNI Officer, Biggest Fleets Win. In Xataka | In the midst of rearmament, Spain has just surprised Europe: 5,000 million for 34 warships and four submarines In Xataka | The new fear of Western fleets is not nuclear. They are conventional submarines armed with surprise and a flag: China Cover | CSR Report RL33153 China Naval Modernization: Implications for US Navy Capabilities—Background and Issues for Congress by Ronald O’Rourke dated February 28, 2014 – United States Naval Institute News Blog, Public Domain

Is it worth paying extra to spin faster?

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Life takes many turns, but not as many as a washing machine. If you start looking at a washing machine, it’s normal that your eyes will focus on the capacity or the price. But, what are those RPMs that they put on their technical sheet? It is not just another number, but it has its importance. Because a washing machine with a higher RPM has, in most cases, an even higher price. Is it worth spending more to have more RPM in your new washing machine? Since there is no simple answer, I am going to explain to you what it means for a washing machine to have more or less RPM. And if it’s worth spending that extra. Faster is not always better. The same thing happens inside your washing machine. When a washing machine finishes the wash cycle, everything in the drum is dripping with water. At that moment it is the turn of the centrifuge, that thing that makes a washing machine look like it’s going to fly away. Basically, the drum begins to rotate at a very high speed, causing the clothes, sheets or whatever we have put in the washing machine to stick to the walls of the drum. So that? So that the water comes out through the holes in the drum due to centrifugal force. Now that we know what the spin of a washing machine does, it’s time to talk about the RPM or revolutions per minute. There is not much mystery here: it is a unit of measurement that is used to know, in this case, how many revolutions does the drum make per minute. These are impressive figures, since if the cycle we use in the washing machine spins at 1,200 RPM, it means that the drum makes 20 revolutions per second. Numbers aside, what does more or less RPM mean when spinning? The higher the number of revolutions per minute of the drum, the greater the centrifugal force that is generated and, therefore, the greater the amount of water that is extracted from the clothes. So, in short, choosing a very high RPM number in our wash cycle will make the clothes come out with much less water. This is ideal if you put in a load of laundry and want it to be dry as soon as possible. Or even if you are going to use the dryer later, because if the clothes come out with less water, you will be able to use the dryer for less time. If we stop there, logic will tell us that it is better to use 1,400 or 1,600 RPM to remove dry or almost dry clothes from the washing machine. Spoiler: it is not like that. These types of spins make a lot more noise, so you don’t want to run them at night. Besides, they make clothes come out very wrinkledso it’s time to have a good time with iron in hand. It’s not that you have to worry about using it a few times, but in the long run, 1,400 or 1,600 RPM causes the fibers of the clothing to wear out much faster, so your clothes will be damaged. And what remains is what affects our pocket: Using these RPMs causes the washing machine’s consumption to increase a little. It’s not a drama, especially since then you will have to use the dryer less time (which uses a lot more) or use the clothesline less time. However, it is something to keep in mind because it adds to the higher price of the washing machine. The good and the bad of both options, face to face 1,200 RPM 1,400 or 1,600 RPM THE GOOD 🟢 It’s cheaper and will make your clothes suffer less. Your clothes will come out practically dry, so your laundry will be ready sooner. THE BAD 🔴 It will take you longer to dry your clothes (even with a dryer) They make more noise and clothes suffer more. It will also appear more wrinkled. Ideal for: Homes that air dry clothes and take great care of each garment Humid climates where air drying clothes is torture or for families who do a lot of laundry We do the math to see which one can compensate you more. As you can see, Both have advantages and disadvantages. Choosing the spin speed will almost always depend on the type of clothing or fabric that we put in the washing machinebut here the question is whether it is worth having that extra that 1,400 or 1,600 RPM gives you. Above all, because a washing machine is an appliance with a very long useful life. You are going to live with her for many years, so it is better to choose well. If at home you tend to blow dry and don’t use the dryer too much, With a 1,200 RPM washing machine you will have plenty. Because? Actual use: You don’t have the highest spin power, but you do have a balanced and sufficient one for most people. So?: You spend less on your new washing machine and you still have enough spin to remove clothes with little water. And, in the long run, you will take better care of your clothes. However, in a humid area such as northern Spain, you will know what an ordeal it is to dry your clothes outdoors. If we add to this intensive use of the dryer and you put so many loads in a week that you don’t have room to hang everything, then You may be interested in opting for a washing machine with 1,400 or 1,600 RPM. Because? Actual use: You live in an area where it is (almost) impossible to dry clothes because of the humidity and you want to use the dryer as little as possible. So?: You spend a little more, but you will take the clothes out of the washing machine practically dry. A blow of the dryer and you will … Read more

Windows 95 had a little secret that made rebooting faster. The reason was in its more chaotic architecture

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If before Windows 95 If you used other operating systems, it’s hard not to remember the feeling of being faced with something completely new. That proposal introduced elements that we take for granted today, such as the Start menu, the taskbar or Plug and Play, and it did so at a time when starting a PC was almost a small ritual. But beneath that familiar interface a complex architecture was hidden, the result of the forced coexistence between DOS inheritances, 16-bit Windows and the first 32-bit layers. That design, as inelegant as it was effective, gave rise to unexpected behaviors that still surprise today. Few users knew that Windows 95 hid an alternative route to the classic reboot. It was enough to hold down the Shift key during the process started from the graphical interface for the system to display the warning “Windows is restarting”, instead of following the path of a cold restart, as described by Raymond Chen. The difference was not spectacular, but it was noticeable at a time when every minute of starting counted. That small gesture activated an internal mechanism designed to avoid, whenever possible, starting from scratch. The shortcut that did not restart completely Behind this behavior there was a precise technical decision. Chen details that Windows 95 used a flag called EW_RESTARTWINDOWS when invoking the old ExitWindows function, still 16-bit. With that instruction, the system did not order a cold restart of the computer, but rather something more limited: close Windows and restart it. The objective was to save steps, as long as the internal situation allowed it, although this optimization depended on everything fitting correctly. Once that alternative route was taken, the process followed a very specific sequence. The 16-bit Windows kernel was shut down first. The 32-bit virtual memory manager was then turned off and the processor returned to real mode, the most basic state of the system. At that point, control returned to win.com with a special signal asking for something very specific: restart Windows in protected mode without going through a full computer boot. With control back on win.com, the most fragile part of the process began. The program had to simulate a clean boot of Windows, as if it had just been run from scratch, which involved, in Chen’s words, resetting the command line options and returning some global variables to their original values. Although the work was largely clerical, it was especially complex because win.com It was written in assembly. There were no abstractions or modern conveniences. The decisive point was in memory. When win.com was executed, like any .com file, it received all available conventional memory. However, it freed up almost all memory beyond its own code so that Windows could load a large contiguous block when entering protected mode. If during the session a program reserved memory within the space that win.com had left free, the memory was fragmented. In that scenario, win.com could no longer recreate the original map it expected, and, Chen explains, it was forced to abandon the fast reset and fall into a hard reset. When everything fell into place, the process continued without turning back. win.com jumped directly to the code responsible for booting Windows in protected mode, recreating the virtual machine manager and llifting the 32-bit layers again. From there, the graphical interface loaded as usual and the user returned to the desktop. The difference was subtle but real: Windows hadn’t had to reboot the entire system to get to that point. This type of shortcut was only viable in a system built on cross-compatibilities. Windows 95 had to coexist with DOS software, 16-bit Windows programs and Win32 applications, and that mix forced us to accept inelegant but very practical solutions. The developers took advantage of this complexity to introduce hidden optimizations that could speed up restarts, although they could sometimes end in crashes. The obsession with saving memory led to very imaginative solutions. Chen explains that in assembler it was common to recycle code that was no longer going to be used as if it were free memory. On win.com, the first bytes of the entry point were reused as a global variableunder the premise that this code was only executed once. Since the quick restart did not return to that initial point, the system could allow that shortcut without affecting the process. That shortcut also showed its seams. Chen recalls that some users detected errors after performing several consecutive quick reboots, something that he was unable to consistently reproduce. Their hypothesis is that some driver wasn’t rebooting properly, leaving the system in a weird state, and that weirdness ended up taking its toll later. It’s no surprise that this type of behavior wasn’t presented as a documented feature, but it sums up the spirit of Windows 95 well: inventive, ambitious, and full of compromises. Images | Microsoft In Xataka | Schrödinger’s Office: at this point it is impossible to know if Microsoft keeps it alive or if everything is AI and Copilot

the greenhouse gas that warms the planet faster than CO₂

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In November 1776, while traveling on horseback between Italy and Switzerland, Carlo Giuseppe Campi saw bubbles in the marshes surrounding Lake Maggiore. He approached them and decided to investigate them. Almost by accident he discovered that they were flammable and He told it to his friend Alessandro Volta. Years later, Volta discovered that this gas was methane. Since then we have not stopped having problems with him. Colorless, odorless and highly flammable, methane (CH₄) It is a gas composed of one carbon atom and four hydrogen atoms. It is the simplest hydrocarbon and, in fact, is the fundamental component of natural gas (and therefore a key fuel for boilers, power plants and part of industry). In addition to the energy context, methane also appears in biological and geological processes: it is a chemical compound that arises, naturally, in the processes of anaerobic decomposition of organic matter. That is, in wetlands, in landfills, in the digestive system of ruminants or in large bags under the ground. Otherwise, methane is used for many other things. Not in vain, it is a raw material for the chemical industry and is an essential part of the production of hydrogen, ammonia or methanol. But the global conversation is not has been talking about methane for decades for none of that. Because, curiously, the big problem with methane is that it is a much more powerful greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. After all, from what we know, its molecules capture between about 82 times hotter than CO2 (taking a period of 20 years as a reference). If we broaden the focus and use the 100-year term, its global warming potential is 29.88 times greater than that of CO₂. The only good thing, so as not to paint a picture that is too gloomy or malicious, is that it has an atmospheric half-life (11.8 years on average) compared to a much longer average. This explains why, despite collecting much more heat than the other, the long-term impact of methane is not so great. So? Well, it is an “accelerator” of short-term warming and, in that sense, it is a first-order problem for us. Not only because we are not moving forward; but because if we manage to reduce it, it can provide relatively rapid climate benefits. The problem is that it is not an easy thing to solve. On a planetary scale, annual methane emissions are around hundreds of millions of tons and 40% of them are due to natural sources that we cannot directly control. The other 60% is due, generally speaking, to human sources. According to the Global Methane Budget, there are three main causes: agriculture and rice, fossil fuels and waste. Agrolivestock Monika Kubala For years, experts have discussed the impact of livestock farming (especially ruminants such as cows and sheep). The calculation, in any case, is complex: not only is it difficult to estimate methane production from enteric fermentation (due to digestion), but things as ‘simple’ as manure management suffered from an “information blackout” that makes them very difficult to evaluate. In addition to this (and it is important), you must add the rice. Every year they consume more than 500 million metric tons of rice. That’s a lot of rice (it’s the main source of calories for 3 billion people), but it’s also a lot of methane: because, favored by floods that leave wide plains without oxygen, our gas rises to the surface. Fossil fuels Methane leaking throughout the oil, gas and coal chain is also difficult to measure, but less so. After all, leaks in wells and equipment, ventsinefficient flaring, outdated compressors, plumbing or storage are money wasted. And if we know how to measure something, it is money. The International Energy Agency esteem that the production and use of fossil fuels generated about 120 million tons of methane emissions in 2023. Waste, landfills and wastewater This case is the simplest and the one that most clearly shows that the methane problem really does not matter much to us: landfills, wastewater and other types of waste accumulation areas are areas especially conducive to the generation of methane (due to pure anaerobic activity) and since we do not capture it, it is released into the atmosphere. Thus, the atmospheric concentration of methane remains high and increasing. To give an example, NOAA estimated which, between 2023 and 2024, went from 1915.73 ppb to 1921.79 ppb on average. And, as I say, it is a shame because methane is surely one of the fastest routes: according to UNEP/CCAC, a strong reduction in human emissions (up to 45% this decade, with available measures) “could avoid almost 0.3 ºC of warming by 2045.” Biomethane (also called “renewable natural gas“) is the term that we have coined to refer to a methane of biological origin that is obtained, above all, by improving biogas: the CO₂ and other contaminants in it are eliminated until a gas rich in CH₄ is ​​achieved and comparable, in almost all aspects, to natural gas. As a result of this process, a fuel is obtained that can be injected into the gas network. That is, it is an efficient way to take advantage of (and make the capture and processing economically interesting) a whole series of waste: from manure and sewage sludge to municipal waste or agro-industrial remains. Obviously, “green methane” does not automatically mean that it has “zero environmental impact.” Only that it has a biological origin and can be used like natural gas. For its environmental impact to be low, other things are required such as control of leaks, the origin of the waste or its impact on the network as a whole. Image | Katie Rodriguez In Xataka | The importance of the colors of hydrogen and what it means if it is green, brown, blue or turquoise

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