fear

For years we have seen dolphins swim towards orcas without fear. Now technology has found out why

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Until very recently, marine biology had an unwritten rule about the North Pacific: the orcas are the queens and dolphins, at best, a nuisance; and at worst, food for the orcas. However, science suggests that we were really wrongsince orcas and white dolphins have been caught collaborating with each other. It’s not a casual interaction.. It is a coordinated hunting strategy to catch the elusive Chinook salmon, documented for the first time thanks to a technological arsenal that includes drones and subjective cameras attached to the animals themselves. This is something that has been demonstrated in the study Led by Sarah Fortune, it focuses on northern resident killer whales, a subspecies that feeds exclusively on fish. For five years, researchers were seeing something that didn’t add up: the dolphins weren’t running away from the orcas, but rather deliberately swimming toward them. A collaboration with meaning. And these two species, which in theory should be far apart, do not collaborate just for the sake of it, but for a common good: the food. Dolphins, faster and more agile, act as scouts, locating schools of salmon. The orcas, with their brute strength and size, are responsible for the final capture of the largest specimens, impossible for a dolphin to hunt alone. The result? A shared feast. The orcas have been observed dividing the prey and allowing the dolphins to feed on the scraps and pieces that come off, in a kind of food “non-aggression pact.” Something that escapes everything we knew until now. How they discovered it. Observing this from a boat is really complicated, since seeing what happens underwater is almost impossible. To achieve this, the Fortune team used CATS tags. Some devices adhere to the orcas using suction cups and are like biological black boxes. They have the ability to record high-definition video in the deep sea, capture the acoustics around them and also have accelerometers and magnetometers to record depth and movement. A complete technological set that allowed us to obtain 258 documented events of dolphins interacting near the heads of the orcas. A silent mode. The acoustic analysis revealed the most fascinating fact about the intelligent behavior of these cetaceans. the orcasfamous for their complex use of echolocation for huntingreduced their own clicks and whistles when dolphins were present. The researchers’ hypothesis is clear: the orcas are outsourcing the sonar. They let the dolphins do the noisy work of finding the fish and they just listen and follow their marine “hunting dogs.” It is a brutal energy optimization. The orcas are saved the metabolic cost of searching and the dolphins gain protection and access to giant salmon that their jaws couldn’t process alone. The salmon crisis. This alliance may not be entirely natural, but rather a forced adaptation to a situation of food scarcity. Something that has meant that two predators have to learn to tolerate each other and cooperate to survive. Images | Vidar Nordli-Mathisen In Xataka | Sharks are disappearing off the southwest coast of South Africa. Scientists have a theory: killer whales

OpenAI’s biggest fear is not that the bubble will burst. It’s just that I do it ahead of time

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Sam Altman has admitted in an internal memo published by The Information that Google is catching up technologically with Gemini 3. That’s a real problem for OpenAI, but OpenAI’s real concern isn’t that. It’s just that he needs the party to last long enough to give him time to build his own infrastructure. Why is it important. OpenAI plans to burn more than $100 billion in the coming years pursuing AGI. But it is completely dependent on Microsoft for servers, NVIDIA for chips, and external investors for financing. Google, on the other hand, already has its own TPUs and generates 70 billion in free cash flow per year thanks to Search, YouTube and Google Cloud. If the music stops early, one survives and the other doesn’t. The paradox of timing. OpenAI faces a very peculiar race against time: If investment in AI slows in 2026 or 2027, it will have spent tens of billions but will not have completed its own infrastructure. You will remain tied to expensive suppliers. You will not be able to compete on costs with Google. Staying halfway is the worst possible scenario. Instead, if the bubble lasts until 2030 or beyond, OpenAI will probably have reached the threshold of self-sufficiency. It will have its own chips, its own data centers, economies of scale. It will be able to survive even when the investment tap is turned off. It’s like building a bridge: it doesn’t matter how much you’ve spent a lot. If you only get halfway, it’s of no use. The absence of moat. OpenAI cannot protect itself with sustainable technological advantage. In AI there are no defensive moats (moats) real. Every time OpenAI or any other lab makes a breakthrough, the rest replicate it within months. The only sustainable advantage OpenAI has left is cost. If you control your infrastructure, you can offer prices that no one else can match. If you do not control it, you become a dispensable intermediary between the end customer and whoever does have the chips and servers. The context of the memo. The document published by The Information reveals that Altman anticipated turbulence after the launch of Gemini 3. Google’s new model stands out precisely in the areas that generate the most revenue for OpenAI: automation of web design and programming. Altman acknowledged to his team that “Google has been doing an excellent job lately” and warned that he expects “the environment to be tough for a while.” But he urged them to stay focused on “achieving superintelligence”, admitting this would mean being left “temporarily behind in the current regime”. The figures. OpenAI went from almost non-existent revenue in 2022 to projecting 13 billion this year. It is one of the fastest business growth in history. But it plans to earn 200 billion in 2030. To achieve this, it will need to multiply its current income by 13 in less than five years. Meanwhile, it plans to spend $90 billion on R&D alone through 2030. That represents 45% of its projected revenue. Large technology companies allocate between 15% and 30% of their gross profit to research, not their total income. If OpenAI falls short of its billing goal, that percentage will be even higher. Yes, but. Google has structural advantages that are difficult to overcome: Generates a huge cash flow thanks to consolidated and very profitable products. You can afford to burn money on AI for years without too much trouble. And it already has its own infrastructure after a decade developing TPUs. OpenAI, on the other hand, lives off external funding. His recent agreement with Oracle to design data center components in the United States is an attempt to build that self-sufficiency. Altman presented it as “a step to ensure that the core technologies of the AI ​​era are built here.” At stake. OpenAI’s technological advantage over rivals such as Google and Anthropic has narrowed. Investors have sunk more than $60 billion into OpenAI, recently valuing it at $500 billion, betting that it will continue to dominate the market for AI that creates content and reasons like humans. That bet falters. Anthropic, founded four years ago by former OpenAI employees, is skyrocketing its valuation and aiming to generate more revenue than its former home selling AI to developers and companies. Their models specialize in generating computer code. And ChatGPT is still far ahead of Gemini in usage and revenue, but the gap is narrowing. Between the lines. Altman concluded his memo by acknowledging the pressure: “It sucks that we have to do so many hard things at the same time: the best research lab, the best AI infrastructure company, and the best AI platform/product company. But it’s our destiny in life. And I wouldn’t trade positions with any other company.” The question is not whether OpenAI can technically compete with Google. It’s whether you can hold on financially long enough to stop depending on others. Featured image | Xataka In Xataka | There is a generation working for free as a documentarian of their own life: they are not influencers but they act as if they were.

The fear is that once again we will not be prepared

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If we were thinking that autumn was being kind to us, the State Meteorological Agency has bad news for this weekendsince this season with days of high temperatures is coming to an end. The culprit? A arctic air mass which will work as a switch for the peninsular climate, since in 48 hours we will go from autumn weather to a mid-winter scenario with usually low snow levels in the north of the peninsula. This is something that reminds us a lot of the last ‘Beast from the East’ that we saw at the beginning of the year in the European center and that affected us with a significant drop in temperatures. But in this case the truth is that the polar cold is going to be very present in our peninsula. The arctic corridor. The meteorological situation is defined by the entry of a very cold air mass coming from very high latitudes. This is something that will begin to be noticed from the afternoon this Wednesday, November 19, since the air mass will begin to be injected through the north of the peninsula, causing a widespread thermal collapse and that arrives just after the passage of the storm Claudia. Different evolution. According to AEMET itself, In a special warning that has been issued, the first ‘affected’ will be those who live in the Cantabrian Sea who will see moderate rainfall this Wednesday and that will become snow from about “900 – 1200 m, exceeding thicknesses of 5 cm in points of the Cantabrian mountain range and the northern face of the Pyrenees.” On Thursday this mass will continue to enter our country, and this will translate into snow levels that will drop to 600 meters generally in the northern third of the peninsula. Although the AEMET itself emphasizes above all the snow that expected in parts of the Basque CountryNavarra or the north of the northern plateau because they can be very copious. The worst day. Between the last hours of Thursday and Friday morning is when the snow level will be between 300 and 400 meters in the eastern Cantabrian and upper Ebro, up to 5 cm of snow may accumulate, which will affect the main transport routes in the region. Although in general, we are going to expect snow in Vitoria, Pamplona, ​​Burgos, León, Soria and potentially in Segovia. The figures of the cold. But in addition to these, up to almost 20 cm of snow in 24 hours in the Cantabrian Mountains, we must highlight the drop in temperatures that has already been experienced since this Wednesday in a large part of the country. What is expected is that maximum temperatures will be 10 degrees below zero in much of the peninsular territory, with the exception of the southwest and the coasts where they will be a little higher. It will be on Saturday when a somewhat warmer air mass enters the territory that will cause temperatures to begin to rise and the snow level will also be limited to the highest mountains. Is this snowfall normal? In the month of November it does not seem normal that we have a heavy snowfall at the doors of the country as if it were December or January, as happened with the Filomena storm in 2021. But if we look further back, we can remember one of the historic snowfalls in November that took place in Madrid between November 27 and 30, 1904considered the heaviest snowfall in more than 150 years, with snow accumulations of between 70 and 150 cm that completely paralyzed the city. A problem on the roads. The problem that this storm just arrives on the weekend is a great inconvenience for roads of our country that are subjected to a greater amount of traffic. The models are quite clear in showing that many of the main roads in the north of the peninsula will be exposed to these adverse weather conditions and that is why extreme precautions must be taken on the days of greatest risk in the country. And in the past we have seen how some cars were trapped in the middle of a highway, such as the AP-6, due to these intense snowfalls. And in the end we don’t know where the most aggressive moment of this storm could surprise us. Are we prepared? In Spain, the truth is that experience tells us that we do not give too much importance to these alerts, as we have seen with the different storms or even the DANA. Faced with this new situation, we must keep in mind that we are faced with a heavy snowfall that affects more than half of the country at really low levels. And although there is logistical preparation in the most affected territories to guarantee mobility and security, past experience, such as historic snowfall from Storm Filomena in 2021shows that the country faces great challenges in managing heavy snowfall, with significant difficulties for transportation and basic services in some cases. Some communities, such as Castilla y León, already prepares with 900 snow plows and salting plants and some 4,400 agents for everything that may be to come. Images | AEMET Marco De Gregorio In Xataka | What is a dry storm: when the sky throws lightning, but the rain never reaches the ground

The new alcohol law limits bars from placing beer chairs or umbrellas. And now millionaires fear losses

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We’ve been seeing it all our lives. Bars that fill their terraces with umbrellas, napkin rings, tables, chairs, sideboards and other furniture that promotes beer brands. For decades this advertising support was a boon for business. Now the hospitality industry fears that it will become a poisoned gift. The reason: the new law on alcohol and minors promoted by the Government and which already has the endorsement of the Council of Ministers wants to snip that kind of promotion. The locals calculate that the loss of that advertising support it will cost them millions. Blow to the hospitality industry? That’s what seems to fear the sector as a result of the law promoted by the Government to prevent alcohol consumption among young people. Although the regulation has not yet been finalized, the group is already managing a study which warns that it will seriously affect the finances of bars, restaurants, cafes, pubs and other hospitality establishments in Spain. The reason: the bill of Health seriously restricts any advertising sponsorship related to alcohol. And that is a problem for businesses that have been filling for years with awnings, tables, chairs, ashtrays, umbrellas, napkin holders, refrigerators and furniture in general on which beer brands are advertised. What exactly does the standard say? He billwhich can be consulted in the official Congress bulletin and received in march The Government’s endorsement sets some limits on advertising in the sector. Its article 26 is clear about this: “Any direct, indirect or covert form of commercial communication of alcoholic beverages is prohibited, or of products that imitate or simulate being one, or of non-alcoholic beverages that share their brand and differential features with those of alcoholic beverages, including the commercial name, corporate name, symbols or brands of the people or companies that produce said beverages, as well as their distributors when they are exclusively associated with alcoholic beverages on public roads, or places visible from them.” Does it clarify anything else? Yes. The law differentiates between two types of spaces: the ‘most sensitive’ and the rest, where the advertising restriction will be somewhat more flexible. “However, advertising limited to the trade name, corporate name and identifying brands or symbols of the producing companies may be permitted in a perimeter that is more than 150 linear meters from the access to educational centers that teach early childhood education, basic education, post-compulsory secondary education and elementary artistic education, health centers, social and socio-health services, parks and places for children’s leisure.” How will it be applied? In the statement March in which it reports the approval of the Council of Ministers to the Bill, the Ministry of Health clarifies, however, that it will allow the advertising of fermented drinks with less than 0.5% alcohol. Mónica García’s team also points out that the veto will not be immediate: it will come into force twelve months after the publication of the law in the BOE and will not affect “those situations that already existed before that moment”, which suggests that it will not affect the furniture that already exists. A different thing is when it comes time to renew it. Will it affect the sector that much? It seems so. At least that is what a Comprehensive Economic Analysis (AEI) report indicates. advance by The Economist. The analysis, prepared for the Spanish Hospitality and Brewery associations and which is having a notable impact, ensures that the loss of sponsorships from alcohol brands will be quite expensive for bars and restaurants. To be more precise, AEI estimates that it will cost the sector up to 1.7 billion euros. The estimate is based on two figures: a direct cost of around 600 million euros and a drop in sales of between 1,080 and 1,680 million. He AEI report It doesn’t stay there. It also warns that the measure will affect between 8,000 and 10,200 jobs and will be felt beyond bars and cafes, with a reduction in the contribution to the national GDP that it estimates between 900 and 1,176 million euros. The study also suggests that the money that alcohol manufacturers will stop investing in advertising furniture will probably be directed towards other channels, away from small hoteliers and their businesses. Why this suspicion? Although Health has clarified that the measure would still take time to come into effect and will not affect “existing” facilities, the AEI report points out that its wording leaves little room for doubt: “In practice it implies the removal of logos, signs, chairs, tables, umbrellas or napkin rings with beer brands from thousands of bars and restaurants in the country.” His estimate is completed with another from Hospitality of Spain that gives an idea of ​​the scope of the measure. According to their data, of a total of 130,000 bars and cafes in the country, between 70 and 80% incorporate elements sponsored by breweries. Will it affect everyone equally? “If approved, the new law will practically eliminate all this support, forcing the brand’s advertising to be withdrawn, which will have an estimated cost of 12,000 euros per store,” remark the study. The penalty that could be felt especially strongly in areas of Spain where hoteliers work in smaller markets and with less room for maneuver. The Economist slide that about 20% of the municipalities that now have only one bar (235) could see their doors close. Images | Guillaume Flament (Flickr) and Ccalm Film Festival-María del Mar López Morales (Flickr) In Xataka | From prohibiting purchases to prohibiting consumption: the changes in the recently approved draft reform of the anti-smoking law

The irrational fear of changing jobs has a name and influences your decision making: sunk cost fallacy

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Often people They cling to jobs that they no longer satisfy them – or that, directly, They do not support-, but they resist leaving it moved by the fear of losing everything they have invested to get to where they are: time, effort or training. Although it may seem strange, this behavior responds to a psychological bias called sunk cost fallacy. This bias can delay decision making to leave a job and perpetuate itself in an unfavorable work situation that can even affect mental health .. What is the sunk cost fallacy? Psychologists Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem coined for the first time In 1972 the idea of ​​cognitive bias psychologists such as Daniel KahnemanNobel Prize in 2002, were based on the work of Tversky and Kahneman To demonstrate The profound influence of this bias on business and personal decision making, being relatively easy to be trapped in that immobility situation. Richard Thaler presented for the first time The practical concept of the fallacy of the sunk cost, concluding that people have a greater tendency to use a certain good or service when they have previously invested money in them. According Research From the University of Ohio (USA), the fallacy of the sunk cost refers to the trend that people have to continue an activity or remain in a certain situation because resources have already been invested in it, although these resources are unrecoverable and the logical decision would be to abandon it. In labor decision making, falling into the fallacy of the sunk cost – or of unrecoverable cost – implies postponing indefinitely the decision to change jobs Just because we do not want to “lose” what has cost us to reach the current position. The bias in important decisions This thought error causes people to stagnate in jobs that do not motivate them and are even restricting their professional potential, even when there are evidence of other more beneficial and rational options. The bias is based on a determining psychological factor such as loss aversion. For example, the personal feeling of responsibility for the resources already invested, or the fear to seem like a “wasteful” to others, can make someone stay years in a job that no longer provides satisfaction or professional growth. In Psychological researchit has been proven that the change of work is postponed, although the alternative is clearly better. This paralysis is produced by this aversion to the psychological loss that supposes that all the effort made in the past has fallen into a broken bag. Trapped in their own trap A study carried out by the researchers at the University of Kansas with more than 1,000 participants showed that, who fall into this fallacy, have greater symptoms of anxiety and postpone the search for professional help. Recent research From the Department of Psychology and Economics of the University of California in San Diego, they reflect that “the fact that you have dedicated unrecoverable resources to a project does not mean that you have to sink with the ship,” said their authors. The scientific evidence It reveals that, to avoid making irrational decisions, it is essential to identify this cognitive bias and learn to make decisions based on objective data and future possibilities, not in what has cost you to reach the point where you are. Recognizing the fallacy of the sunk cost is the first step to overcome it In labor decisions. If this awareness does not occur, there is a risk of continuing to invest resources, even more intensely, falling into a vicious circle that will be increasingly complicated to leave. Such and as they highlight From Asana, it is important not to get carried away by immobility and make decisions based on objective data and take an external perspective, not get carried away by fears and investments of the past. In Xataka | We thought to choose among more options would make us freer. The “choice paradox” says no Image | Unspash (Marco Kaufmann)

The startup that capitalizes our fear of an invisible enemy

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The places where we can find microplastics grow as time passes. We have already detected them in Testicles, lettuce, at seathe breast milk either even in the air. Taking advantage of this growing concern for this pollutant, there is a London company that is selling an ‘innovative’ therapy: clean the blood of microplastics in exchange for a payment of 11,500 euros the session. It is not yet known if microplastics are in the blood. Today, microplastics have been found in many parts of our body, but the fact that they are circulating in the blood is something that today is not serious for our health. Although companies have seen the opportunity to create a great business around health and this pollutant. A luxury treatment in the heart of London. In the prestigious Harley Street, known for its private clinics and its wealthy clientele, between 10 and 15 people a week they sit on a comfortable armchair to undergo the treatment of the company Clarify Clinics. The procedure, which lasts about two hours, resembles a dialysis session. Although previously we have to pay 9,750 pounds, which would be around 11,500 euros. Something that the big stars pay such as Orlando Bloom. A cannula extract the patient’s blood and introduces it into a machine that separates the plasma from red blood cells. This plasma passes through a filter designed to catch microplastics and other pollutants such as perfluoroalized and polyfluoralized substances. Once the blood is ‘clean’, the plasma is recombine with blood cells and reintroduced into the body. So comfortable that you can work during therapy. In his attempt to attract more and more patients, CEO of Clarify Clinic points out that it is a “very comfortable” technique According to Wired. So comfortable is that he acknowledges that patients make calls, gather by zoom or even watch a movie while their blood is cleaned. Indicated for patients with nonspecific symptoms. According to the company itself, customers who go to their clinic share chronic fatigue or ‘mental fog’. Although the clinic also promotes its treatments for people who take medications to lose weight such as Ozempic, couples seeking to conceive or those concerned about dementia. The result is always the same: they come out as new. Science is not clear. The scientific community has shown that microplastics are literally surrounding us. But there is no evidence of its effects on the body. WHO itselfin a report published in 2019, he concluded that there is still not enough evidence to determine if they suppose a risk to human health. We do not know if they are safe, but we also do not know the risks they could raise to create specific therapies to ‘detoxify ourselves’. If we go to the website of this clinicthe truth is that available from a section called ‘Science’. But upon entering it offers many data, but few references (if not any) of research that speak of the effects on the health of microplastics. They are limited to what we know: their presence in numerous places. But, on the other hand, they point out that they eliminate all the effects of this pollutant. More research is still needed. Although some studies have found worrying correlations, causality remains very elusive. A 2022 review associated microplastics with damage to human cells in the laboratory, but did not examine health results in living people. More recently, In a study Published in the prestigious magazine New England He found that people with microplastics in the fatty plaque of their carotid arteries had a higher risk of heart attack and cardiovascular accident. However, the study was observational and could not prove that microplastics will cause That greatest risk. There could be other factors: patients with microplastics in their arteries were also more likely to be men, smokers and to have pre -existing cardiovascular diseases. A anecdotal -based therapy. Although the evidence is very small, the CEO of Clarify Clinics sells its therapy as a miraculous thanks to the effects it has on its patients. It points to the fact that higher levels of energy or better sleep are reported, and even herself monitors her dream with The oura ring And he assures that after the treatment, his sleep score has not dropped from 90, when before 70 was a good result for her. Biohacking for rich: a booming trend. Microplastic blood cleaning joins a growing list of high -coastal treatments and with doubtful scientific evidence. From the injections of stem cells in Bahamasuntil Receive a child’s plasma injection To stay young. And in many cases these treatments have a common goal: to stay young. And for this there are many people who They can invest millions of dollars in therapies. Our obsession with this objective makes even investigations are pointing to medications that reverse human agingalthough without thinking about the consequences you have. Images | Flyd Ozkan Guner In Xataka | Telling what worries the AI was just the first step: there are already bots that are passed through collegiate psychiatrists

The earthquake has revived the fear of a new Fukushima. This time, nuclear power plants are armed to teeth

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The red tsunami alert issued on the coast of Japan after a strong earthquake in Russia has served as a raw reminder of the 2011 disaster. Japanese televisions cut their usual programming to show an unequivocal order in capital letters: “Tsunami! Evacuate!“The message, shouted in unison by the presenters, resonated with those of 14 years ago. But this time, the nuclear power plants were much better prepared. Context. For millions of Japanese, The scene that was lived this Wednesday It was too familiar. The collective memory immediately returned to March 11, 2011, when an earthquake of magnitude 9 unleashed a tsunami that not only charged about 20,000 lives, but caused the worst nuclear accident of the 21st century in the Fukushima central. Yesterday, the workers of the own Fukushima plant They suspended their tasks and evacuated the nuclear power plant towards higher land, knowing that nuclear safety has suffered a radical transformation. The global nuclear industry not only learned Fukushima’s lessons: it made them concrete, steel and new protocols on an unprecedented scale. The turning point. To understand the magnitude of the changes, we must remember what exactly failed in Fukushima-Daiichi. The disaster It was not caused directly by the earthquakebut for the tsunami that followed. Waves of up to 15 meters far exceeded the containment wall of the plant, flooding the emergency diesel generators and cutting all the plant power of the plant. Without capacity to refrigerate reactors, Three of the nuclei merged. The lesson was brutal: the security margins, designed for probable events, were insufficient before an extreme event. Fukushima was a global attention call that unleashed a regulatory and technical revolution. The paradigm shift is summarized in moving from a probabilist approach (designing for what is expected) to a total resilience (being ready for the unexpected). Not only in Japan. Immediately after the accident, regulators around the world launched A thorough review of its facilities, creating international frames to ensure that the lessons learned will be applied everywhere. China and the United States They promoted strategies so that all nuclear power plants can support an indefinite loss of energy. In Europe, all plants passed Stress tests against earthquakes, floods and total loss of security systems, forcing each country to implement a national action plan in case of finding defects. Gravelines, the largest nuclear power plant in France, reinforced his dike and added new gates Mobile Concrete and steel. Japanese centrals have been working like none, investing billions of dollars. They sealed all possible water input routes with stagnant doors, installed high capacity Achique pumps and built higher walls. Onagawa, the central closest to the 2011 epicenter, survived thanks to its 14 -meter wall. After Fukushima’s accident, the Tohoku Electric Power energy company did not walk with little girls and built A new 2 meter high dikealmost like a 10 -story building. Hamooka raised his breakwater 22 meters above sea leveland relocated the emergency diesel generators in a hill at 25 meters high. Tokai-2 raised A slope 1.7 kilometers longprepared to resist a wave of 17.1 meters. The reactors of the future. These lessons have also moved to the new designs of third and fourth generation reactors, including compact modular reactors (SMR), which incorporate them as standard. The AP1000 and its Chinese CAP-1000 derivative They can keep safe for 72 hours without any human intervention or external energy thanks to passive cooling systems that work by gravity and convection. The European EPR-2 includes double containment, a filtered vent system and A “Core-Catcher” Designed to contain the molten nucleus in the hypothetical case of an accident. And the Nuscale or the BWRX-300 of Gen-Hitachi can be installed as underground reactors, which makes them intrinsically immune to tsunamis and other surface disasters. A safer world. Wednesday’s Tsunami alert is a reminder that we are still at the mercy of nature. But also an opportunity to verify that, in the 14 years that have passed since Fukushima, the defenses of nuclear power plants have become a real fortress. The 2011 disaster was not in vain. Image | IAEA In Xataka | People did not take the drills seriously, so Japan found something much more effective: video game drills

Fear of US tariffs

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Spanish farmers are usually as pending from heaven as of the offices in which the policies that will mark their crops are decided. Since Sunday, the latter weigh much more than the first or any drought threat. The agreement signed by the European Commission and the USA throws The elongated shadow Of 15% tariffs on their transatlantic exports, a panorama that the wine or oil sector observes with concern, but also others with important interests in the US, such as The industry of garlic. There is discouragement and above all caution. A percentage: 15%. THE PACT Signed in Scotland by Donald Trump and Ursula von der Leyen has unleashed a wave of reactions at the political and economic level. The reason: to avoid a commercial war of unpredictable consequences and that came to threaten with 50% tariffs To European exports in the US, Brussels has resigned to assume that most of the goods that sell on the other side of the Atlantic support a rate of 15%, which will reduce competitiveness. That is the thick line. Then there is the small print, just as important. For example, everything indicates that the tax of 15% It will not be reciprocal For the US and includes the commitment that over the next few years Europe will buy energy products ‘Made in USA’ worth 750,000 million dollars. Another key is that the pact provides certain exceptions, products that will enjoy a “Zero by zero tariffs”. The problem is that they have not yet been defined. Beyond wine and olive oil. It is known that in that sack of goods with “zero tariffs by zero” “strategic products” will be included for the US, such as chemicals, semiconductor equipment, natural resources and “certain agricultural products.” Which is it? How will the rate be applied to the rest? That is two keys. Shortly to announce the agreement two of the most powerful and higher interest branches in the US, wine and olive oil, soon raised their voice to warn of the damage that would cause them to support a 15%tariff. The Employer of Wine (CEEV) in fact calculates that such a tax would sink its sales 10% in the North American country. Olive oil producers too They have recognized That the 15% rate is “totally negative”, although they are cautious. The wineries and oil mills are not the only ones who have shown their concern. Efeagro has published A chronicle in which it includes the concerns of three other sectors that have also seen how their horizon is complicated with the agreement: the almond, the preserves fishing and especially the garlic, a crucial industry in the Spanish field. Although it may not be as popular as its wine or oil, Spain is a world power In garlic culture and the American A key market. The garlic trembles. At the beginning of the FEPEX year, the Federation of fruit producing associations and vegetables, I calculated That only during the first ten months of 2024 Spain had sent 14,604 tons of garlic to the US, which made it “the main fruit and vegetable exported” by Spain to the country, well above the onion (5,198 t) or the lemon and the lime (1.927 t). Between January and May 2025 that flow has already exceeded the 3,200 t With a value of 15 million euros. They are interesting data, but also show how well it is at the rate. Touched producers. “In the absence of knowing the details of the agreement and knowing if the exports of EU agricultural products would be taxed by this tariff, garlic producers would be one of the most affected, since it is the best -selling product within the fresh fruit and vegetables sector to the US with 3,248 t in the period from January to May, which represents about 70% of the entire Spanish export in that period,” warns The Federation of Spanish Producers. FEPEX recalls that the value of its exports represented during that same period (January-May) 75% of the total noted by the sector. At a considerable distance in volume of merchandise would be mandarin and lemon. “Pants descent”. The restless situation also to farmers dedicated to almond. The Spanish Association of Ecological and Conventional Almond Producers has recognized that the agreement leaves them in a complicated situation and even speaks of “A drop in girdle and pants” of Brussels in accepting that the European fruit that wants to be sold in the US assumes tariffs that will far exceed those who are American in Europe. In statements collected by Agroclmthe association clogs the situation of “unfair and unequal”. “It certifies the betrayal of our European authorities with the European and Spanish agricultural sector.” The US is the great almond producer of the world, with a contribution of about 85%10% light years that the EU represents. Within European production Spain has an outstanding position. I keep it, expectant. Another pending sector that the small print of the agreement signed by Trump and von der Leyen is outlined is that of the fishing retain. Roberto Alonso, from Anfaco-Cytma, Recognize Efeagro that the industry expects to know the technical details of the agreement and “how” 15% at the time of truth will be applied. “We not only export products to the US market, such as octopus, sepias, squid or mussels, we also import raw materials such as the abadejo for surimi or hake, we do not know what tariff they will have.” “The imposition of tariffs has an impact on trade. We will have to wait to know how the market behaves and also the relationships between operators after all knowing,” Alonso emphasizes. When Trump a few months ago he announced that he would impose a 20% tariff to European imports, Anfaco admitted to being “worried” for the weight of the US market for its companies. Only in 2024, he remembered, Spain exported more than 26,000 tons of sea products of different types for a value that was around 290 million euros. Images … Read more

After the earthquake of Russia, evacuations and alerts extend through the Pacific for fear of something much worse: waves

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With the still recent memory of what happened in March 2011, when a Powerful earthquake Registered in front of the Japanese coasts, it generated a tsunami and sowed the destruction, with thousands of victims and missing, in Japan and Russia they look at the ocean with tension. And they are not the only ones. The reason: Another powerful earthquakeof magnitude 8.8, has shaken the ground of the Kamchatka Kraiat the east end of Russia, and unleashed the fear for the waves it can generate in the Pacific. In just a few hours that has resulted in alert messages, evacuations and authorities asking the population to stay away from the coasts. What happened? That the ground has trembled in Russia. And with violence. In the last hours the US Geological Service registered an earthquake from Magnitude 8.8 at the east end of Russia. More specifically the tremor broke out At 23.25 h GMT (two more in peninsular Spain), with epicenter 126 kilometers southeast of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskyin the Kamchatka Krai, in the north of the Pacific, and a depth of around 19.3 km. In some areas of the region they soon registered waves between three and four meters high. Has it been serious? Sergei Lebedev, the head of the emergency department in the region, He explained That the earthquake has left some injured, although for now, as confirmed to the Russian agency Tass, there seems to be none of gravity. It is not bad balance if the power of the earthquake is taken into account, of magnitude 8.8. The governor of Kamchatka has recognized that the earthquake was “serious” and “the strongest in decades”, which explains that the tremor causes the collapse of part of the facade of a nursery. “Before July 31, a list of buildings will be developed that will undergo instrumental inspection. The general evaluation of material damage will be ready in a week,” Point out The governor of the region, Vladimir Solodov. In its telegram channel, the Unified Geophysical Service of Russia has confirmed that it is the greatest earthquake since 1952 in Kamchatka (in November of that year there was another tremor of Magnitude 9 which generated important material damage and caused waves of several meters in Hawaii) and the sixth most intense globally since 1900. What reactions has generated? Fear. And caution. Since the earthquake was produced by authorities from different countries and regions bathed by the Pacific, from Russia to Chile or the United States, passing through Japan or the Philippines, have reacted with different degrees of alert, depending on the type of waves they expect. One of the most forceful responses has probably given Japan, where alert sirens have already been heard and seen to the Hokkaido coast residents Uploaded to roofs When the initial waves of the Tsunami, 30 centimeters arrived. The authorities have ordered the evacuation of the east coast of the country, punished in 2011, and required more than 900,000 people of 133 municipalities of the Pacific coast that leave their homes. Some sources They raise the population that has received evacuation orders or alerts to about two million. Have you done anything else? Yes. On the island of Hokkaido, an evacuation order of 5 out of 5the highest level, which affects about 10,500 citizens of the town of Urakawa, and the alert has spread to prefectures such as Hokkaido, Aomori, Iwate, Mie or Miyagi, among others. In some regions waves of up to three meters are expected. With that backdrop, public transport has been altered at some points and the authorities They have evacuated to the workers of the Fukushima nuclear plant, which was already affected by the tsamot of 2011. And beyond Japan? Russia and Japan are not the only ones who have activated emergency measure. The United States Tsunamis Alert Center has warned of the risk of waves of more than three meters in the Hawaii archipelago and between one and three on the island of Guam. Before Panorama the governor of Hawaii, Josh Green, has declared The state of emergency and ordered evacuations in areas of the coast, which has even derived in traffic jams. In the islands they have also enabled shelters in schools, hotels or community centers. It is not the only American territory that looks at the Pacific. The National Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has also transferred the alert to some parts of Alaska and follows the situation on the east coast of the country, such as California. “Keep strong already except!” I exhort Donald Trump. Are there more countries on alert? Yes. In Chile President Gabriel Boric He has recognized That, “for now, we have Tsunami alert for the entire coast” on Wednesday. “The protocol is to evacuate three hours before the estimation of arrival of the wave,” he said. In China the tsunamis alert center He has warned also of the possibility of receiving waves of between 30 and 40 cm in Zhejiang and Shanghai and Peru has activated Also alert in his coast. Ecuador has even gone further to order the eviction of the Galapagos Islands, “which implies the suspension of maritime activities and eviction of beaches, docks and low areas.” The list adds and continues with organisms from different nations that ask for caution in different points of the Pacific. In Mexico the Semar has issued an alert For the country’s coast bathed by that ocean after the Kamchatka earthquake and has asked its population to remain away from the beaches and warn of strong currents. Images | USGS, NOAA and X In Xataka | Tsunami’s alert is leading people to get on the roofs of Japan. It is a good idea, but only at the beginning

China begins to build the largest dam in the world. His neighbors fear that they use it as a “water pump”

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The Pharaonic works They are not easy. Tell them The Linethe gigantic Horizontal skyscraper that he was confident years ago and that more and more and more. China, however, does not raise your foot from the accelerator and, every little time, it surprises us with some megaestructure. Now, and after a long planning, they have announced the beginning of the construction of the world’s largest hydroelectric dam. And neighboring countries have shouted in the sky for a reason: the possible use of water as a throwing weapon. A monster. China has the largest dam on the planet. The three throats is the largest energy plant in the worldit is so huge that GROUNDS EARTH ROTATION With a refueling, and it is estimated that it has a production capacity of 88.2 million MWH per year. Impressive, but will soon be in a second place because they are preparing an even bigger dam. A set of dams, rather. Located on the Yarlung Tsangpo River, Lto new biggest in the world It will have the capacity to generate 300 million MWH per year, you can cover the energy needs of 300 million people each year and “only” will cost 130,000 million euros. That impressive capacity will be possible thanks both to your turbines as to the use of the energy generated by the two -kilometer unevenness presented by the river in certain areas and a construction with five cascade dams. “The project of the century”. The area is one of the richest in hydroelectric resources in the world, and the idea is to drill between four and six tunnels of 20 kilometers in length through a mountain to divert half of the river flow to achieve 2,000 m³ per second and take advantage of all that force. It will not be a simple operation due to the conditions of the area and at the cost of the project, and that is what has led to China’s prime minister to qualify it as “the project of the century”. As we read in The GuardianLi Qiang made the statements during a ceremony in the region to commemorate the beginning of a construction that was announced in 2020 and has Aroused numerous criticisms. Out of China, yes. Risks. First, for natural reasons. Is found in the Tibet area And it is one of the most regions seismically active of the planet. It is where the Indian and Eurasian plates contact and where numerous earthquakes are given every year, some with important magnitudes. In fact, a recent earthquake already damaged five hydroelectric dams in the area, and the weight of accumulated water itself is another factor that can trigger earthquakes, As has happened. On the other hand, human reasons. Apart from the consequences that an earthquake of that magnitude can have for the local population, it is not the first time that displaces a population to build a dam. These population movements is something that fear Tibetan groups that claim to have no visibility on the plans of the Chinese government. And, when they have complained about other hydroelectric projects in Tibet, they have been repressed by the authorities. The area could not be more geologically complicated. Either at the geopolitical level And geopolitics. India and Bangladés too They look at the dam With the arched eyebrow. He Brahmaputra It is essential for agriculture and access to drinking water of millions of people along the river and fear that dams seriously alter their flow. It is something that would directly affect the agriculture and food security of these people and already They drop That the project is a strategic tool from China to exert pressure on neighboring countries, by being able to control or modify water flow at will. Neeraj Singh Manhas is the special advisor for South Asia in the Parley Policy initiative (organization that seeks to solve conflicts through diplomacy) and in statements to BBCHe commented that “China can always use water as a weapon, blocking or diverting it.” Even if they do not do it on purpose, it would not be the first time that a accidentlike him collapse In cascade of the Banqiao dam and another 61 dams in 1975, an event that caused 85,000 direct deaths and displaced 11 million people. “Water pump”. In addition, it is something that can go against the direct interests of India, which aims to build a hydroelectric dam on the Sang River (one of those feeding on the Tsangpo). Apart from the fact that the flow of the river can affect the energy interests of India, there are voices that warn about the possible use of China as a “water pump.” PEMA KHANDU, Minister of Arunachal Pradesh -a state of the Republic of India -, commented In a recent interview that the dam “can cause an existential threat to our tribes and a half visa. It is quite serious because China could use this as a ‘water pump’. Suppose that, suddenly, they release water: all our Siang belt would be destroyed, finished with tribes that would see how all its properties would be destroyed”. Nothing to worry about. From the Chinese government have always been rejected Those criticisms, ensuring that they do not seek “water hegemony” or intend to get benefits at the expense of their neighbors. On the other hand, it is alleged not only that the project will generate employment in the region, but will cover the energy needs and encourage something that China is advancing by leaps and bounds: he Renewable sector. In addition, the Prime Minister said that these concerns about ecological conservation have been taken into account when planning the project to “avoid environmental damage.” We will see what it is, but it is evident that the dam will be built and the intention is that it is operational in record time: by 2030. Images | Yogho, Guganij In Xataka | China is moving whole buildings at the same time to build underneath. Because? Because it can

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