feared

In 2024 we feared that the asteroid YR4 would impact the Earth. Now NASA believes the Moon is threatened

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For a few weeks at the beginning of 2025, the name 2024 YR4 became an absolute protagonist among the main institutions around the planet. It was no wonder, since this object, with an estimated size between 40 and 60 metersreached the level 3 on the Torino scalea milestone that we have not seen for a long time and that implies a probability of collision greater than 1% with the capacity to produce devastating local damage. We are saved. After this fear, science has managed to reach the conclusion that the Earth is safe now. However, the story of 2024 YR4 is not over, since the latest models suggest that, although it will avoid us, there is a non-negligible probability that it will end up crashing into the Moon. How we knew. Initially, NASA’s Center for Near-Earth Object Studies (CNEOS) held his breath in early 2025. The first observations showed a worrying scenario for the year 2032 with this possible impact, but the moment more attention began to be paid to this object it was seen that it was not going to end up on Earth. The key to being able to breathe a little calmer again lies in the ‘shoulders’ of the James Webb which began making observations in May 2025. The space telescope made it possible to refine the asteroid’s orbit with a 20% precision improvement, confirming that there is no risk of impact against our planetnor an orbital alteration of the Moon that could affect us secondarily. But by closing a door, the JWST opened a fascinating and destructive window: the probability that 2024 YR4 will impact the Moon has risen from 3.8% to 4.3%. The lunar judgment. According to studies recently published on arXiv, the key date is December 22, 2032. That day is where there is about a 1 in 23 chance that we will see a violent spectacle on the lunar surface with an impact that would release an energy of 6.5 megatons of TNT. This is something very relevant, since this great energy would generate a crater approximately one kilometer in diameter and the ejection of 100 million kilos of lunar debris with a cloud of material equivalent to the weight of about 20,000 elephants. From Earth. Logically, this impact, although it does not occur on the planet, the truth is that it will have important consequences and not exactly physical ones, but rather a visual phenomenon. The debris that will be ejected from the Moon could enter the Earth’s atmosphere some time later, generating an unprecedented meteor shower caused by a secondary impact. The use of technology. Over time, the European Space Agency has also validated this data, placing the size of the object more specifically between 53 and 67 meters and confirming the 4% probability of having an impact on the moon. Although logically we also have a 96% chance that it will completely pass from the Moon. But this asteroid has had a very positive point: it has vindicated the need to improve space detection tools. And right now these objects are hiding in the “blind spot” of the sun’s glare, although with this one we were lucky that the ATLAS system in Chile managed to detect it. A future mission. Given this limitation that we have, the ESA has seen it necessary to activate the NEOMIR missionsince if it had already been active, it would have detected the asteroid a month earlier, offering vital reaction time if the threat had been against the Earth and not against the Moon. And now what. For now, we have to wait. The asteroid has moved away in this case and will not be in an optimal position to make an observation again until 2028. It will be then that astronomers will be able to refine this 4.3% probability and tell us definitively whether we will spend Christmas 2032 looking at the Moon to see how a new crater forms live. Images | Mike Petrucci NASA Hubble Space Telescope In Xataka | Japan has lost a five-ton satellite in the most unusual way imaginable: “it fell” during launch

We have found the Achilles heel of the most feared fungus in hospitals, and that already gives us hope

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In the hospital environment there is a fungus that undoubtedly It is a real nightmare for modern healthcare systemssince it can put an entire hospital floor in check. We talk about the fungus Candida auris, which was first identified in 2009 and is undoubtedly a “superfungus” resistant to most common drugs and that it can spread quickly and be a silent epidemic that kills more and more human beings. Your weak point. Due to its aggressiveness, science has a clear objective: find your weak point to be able to develop a drug that allows us to destroy it. Now a group of researchers has published research in Communications Biology that changes the rules of the game: They have identified the exact genetic process that the fungus uses to survive inside the human body. And knowing its insides gives us options to destroy it. The iron problem. Like almost any living organism, this fungus needs iron to grow, replicate and cause damage. In the human body, iron is not “free” precisely as a defense system to prevent pathogens from using it against ourselves. Now science has seen that the fungus Candida auris It has a strategy to avoid this defense barrier that our body has. And the secret is in your genetics, specifically in some specific genes called XTCthat They literally act as ‘suction pumps’ which allows the fungus to capture iron even in the most hostile conditions. And this is the key. If iron is what feeds them, and we already know how they get the mineral from our own body… we already have the key to preventing them from consuming our own reserves. An unexpected ally. One of the biggest challenges in studying this fungus is that it has the ability to reproduce at high temperatures such as 37ºC. This makes it difficult to use traditional models to carry out studies, which until now were zebrafish, which want cold waters. To overcome this drawback, the research team used a rather innovative model: the killifish. A small fish that is capable of living in desert environments and tolerate temperatures of up to 37 °C, making it a perfect “living laboratory” to observe how the fungus behaves in real time within a vertebrate organism. Its importance. We must keep in mind that we are dealing with a pathogen that the WHO classifies as “critical priority”and that is why this research gives rise to creating drugs that attack the ‘suction’ system of fungi in order to defeat them. Plus, we already have something in our drug repository that we could use: iron chelators. An option that can ‘starve’ mushrooms, but has yet to be tried. In addition to this, the pathogens will be able to be identified much better, since there are strains of fungi that are much more aggressive because they capture a much greater amount of iron inside. The future. Although we have the focus about superbugs that can doom humanity, research must also focus on fungi that are developing resistance to specific treatments. In this way, finding a route that the fungus “cannot avoid” gives us, for the first time, a strategic advantage that we should not hesitate to use. Images | masakazu sasaki In Xataka | A viral video has “shown” all the bacteria in a drinks can. It’s more complex than it seems

Dubrovnik feared to become the new Barcelona, ​​so it has come farther than anyone to fulminate mass tourism

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There was a time that Croatia went from 0 to 100 As for visitors. If it is an almost unprecedented destination for the great masses of tourists, to become a “must” where the last Mediterranean jewel to explode. Tourism then became an economic power of the nation, and Dubrovnik became a space that It began to rival With places Like Barcelona. And then Croatia reversed. Tourist collapse preserve. As we said, the walled city of the Dalmatian coast, known as the “pearl of the Adriatic”, became the last decade in a paradigmatic example of what has been called extreme touristification. With visitors overcoming in a proportion of 27 to 1 to residents and a historical center transformed into a decoration of mass consumption after their stellar role In Game of ThronesDubrovnik faced the UNESCO WARNING of losing his condition as a World Heritage if he did not put a brake on lack of control. The diagnosis was devastating: tourism, far from enriching the city, was killing its authenticity and expelling its inhabitants. The radical turn. And then 2017 arrived, when Mayor Mato Franković He assumed the challenge To reverse the situation with measures that, unlike those applied in other European cities, do not remain in superficial patches. While Venice imposes rates on hikers or Barcelona borders hotel beds, Dubrovnik has set a maximum capacity within the walls of 11,200 people. Not only that has also drastically reduced the arrival of cruises: from the eight newspapers that docked only two in 2016, with the obligation to remain at least eight hours to foster tourism more leisurely and profitable. With the implementation of control cameras and of the Dubrovnik Passthe City Council obtains real -time data that allow it to manage flows and anticipate saturations. Urban and social reforms. Plus: The transformation is not limited to regulating the entry of tourists. The strategic plan includes the purchase of old town buildings to allocate them to affordable rent For young families, the opening of a school in a historic palace and new standards that penalize the tourist lease of housing, thus encouraging repopulation. Measures as curious as the prohibition of suitcases With wheels (replaced by an Economic Transportation of Equipos), they seek to preserve the material and immaterial heritage, preventing the streets from becoming a noisy and hostile showcase. The message is clear: Dubrovnik does not want to be a theme park, but a living city. Most controlled tourism. Plus: From next year, access to walls and museums must reserve in time stripeswith a traffic light system that will indicate the moments of greater and lesser influx. The intention is to avoid human stamps and improve the experience of those who visit the city, although some residents suspect that it is a tool to maximize income. In parallel, the Cruise limitation It has reduced the pressure on summer peaks, allowing the number of visitors not to exceed the critical threshold of 10,500 people a day in high season. Resistances and criticism. The measures have not convinced everyone. Neighbors like veteran Marc van Bloemen consider That the reforms do not go to the bottom of the problem and accuse the Consistory of treating the city as an ATM, where the inhabitants feel displaced. In his opinion, time reserves are a trick to attract more visitors and not a real limitation. Faced with this skeptical vision, others Like Marko Miloslocal guide and resident of the historic center, defend that the situation has improved with respect to the maximum saturation years and highlight that the reopening of schools and the return of families is returning life to the center. The international look. Travel agencies Like Regent Holidays recognize the value of Dubrovnicense experimentalthough they warn that the rigidity of the system could divert tourists to other less saturated Croatian regions, such as Istria or the Adriatic Islands. However, the fact that a city so dependent on tourism chooses to sacrifice immediate income volume in favor of sustainability and quality of life makes it a global reference. The mayor insists in which it is a long -term commitment: less visitors, but with a greater expense and a more balanced coexistence with residents. Necessary risk. Thus, the path taken by Dubrovnik is a RARE Avan exception in a world where most destinations continue to pursue a Unlimited tourism growth. The Croatian city dares to challenge that logic and seeks a new balance where quality does not mean quantity. Franković Recognize in the BBC That the benefits will not be immediate, but trusts that, in a few years, Dubrovnik is remembered not as a tourist decoration, but as a living community that knew how to recover his soul. If the experiment thrives, it can mark the course for other cities trapped between the profitability of mass tourism and the survival of its identity. Image | Alex Proimos, Kenny McCartney In Xataka | The eruption of a volcano was synonymous with danger 100 years ago. Today has made Iceland a theme park In Xataka | It is not that mass tourism has been installed in Madrid, Barcelona or Rome, is that it has reached the Galapagos Islands

The poison of the Cobras is one of the most feared and mortal in the world. AI is very close to neutralizing it forever

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After the mosquitoes and the man himself, snakes usually take third place in The list of more deadly animals for the human being. According to estimates of the World Health Organization (WHO), between 81,410 and 137,880 people die every year as a result of the bite of these reptiles. AI can help change this. AI to the rescue. A group of researchers has demonstrated the utility of deep learning tools (Deep Learning) In the design of proteins capable of neutralizing, at least partially, the effect of the venom of some the steps (Elapidae), The snake family that includes the cobras, coral snakes and mambas. Three fingers. The study focuses on the calls “Toxins of the three fingers”(3FTX), called by the form of tridents that have the proteins that make up this family. These compounds are potentially lethal neurotoxins, that is to say they have the ability to attack our nervous tissue and involve a risk to the lives of people who are poisoned. As the team explains, these toxins are responsible for the anti -speakers, the antidotes used to counteract the venom of snakes, are not effective. The reason is that these toxins are capable of “evading” To our immune system, reducing the effectiveness of some treatments. For now, in mice. The team responsible for the development of the new antitoxins put them to the test in mice. The team experienced with different types and doses of poison and different antitoxins, achieving survival rates of between 80% and 100%. The details of the study have been published In an article In the magazine Nature. Lowering costs. The new technique opens a new way to the creation of molecules aimed at counteracting the different toxins that affect people who receive the bite of a poisonous snake, offering new advantages. First, to reduce the time dedicated to the process of searching for new useful compounds in this field. Less time dedicated to research implies a lower cost, but it is not the only factor that would help reduce the “invoice” of antidotes. According to the equipment, the new compounds can be synthesized using microbes, which would avoid traditional production methods. “The antitoxins we have created are easy to discover using only computational methods. They are also cheap to produce and robust in laboratory tests,” stood out in a press release David Baker, study co -author. Better access.Under costs and higher production facilities imply better access to these antidotes, something key if we take into account that it is in developing countries where snake bites more problems cause. “I trust that protein design make treatments against snake bites more accessible to people in developing countries,” Susana Vazquez Torres addswho led the new job. The inheritance of a Nobel. David Baker’s name can be familiar: in 2024 He received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry “For the computational protein design”, a prize he shared with Demis Hassabis and John M. Jumper. Baker’s prize recognized his work in the construction of proteins never observed in nature, all through the combination of amino acid sequences. In Xataka | Some engineers have simulated 500 million years of evolution with an AI. Now we have a fluorescent protein Image | Anil Sharma

Cantabria feared to become “La Ibiza del Norte”. For his horror, he already has “the Magaluf del Norte”

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There are slogans that pass without penalty or glory and others that capture such an idea that end up rooting or even (in networks) viral. It happened little over a yearwhen Thousands of Cantabrians They went out to protest against the Tourist From his community to the shout of “We do not want to be the Northern Ibiza!” Now the controversy returns to the same region before another threat that has been summarized in an equally powerful phrase: there are those who warn that one of its most famous sand, the strut, runs the risk of becoming “The Magaluf del Norte”. The debate is served. A place: El Puntal Beach. Cantabria has 284 kilometers of coast, but few places in that large coastal strip are as emblematic as the beach of The Puntalin Somo (Ribomontán to the sea), in the middle of Santander Bay. The space is included in the Natura 2000 Network Within the dunes of El Puntal and the Estario of Miera, which stands out for its 49 plant formations. Twenty of them are also priority and the area of special interest is distributed in the area. A word: Megabotellón. Despite that environmental value and being a Protected spacethe sand becomes sometimes a great Botellodrome. People are in the area and the beach becomes an outdoor parties space. It is nothing new. It has happened relatively frequently during the summer months of recent years. In July 2020in full pandemic, the Civil Guard imposed dozens of complaints after evicting a bottle With hundreds of young people. And in August last year it happened Something similarwith a Macrobotellón that brought together thousands of young people who left in their path a lot of garbage. And what happened? That the story It has been repeated again. A few weeks ago the sand was filled with thousands of young people who crowded the beach and left long tails to move by boat from Santander. It is not necessary to imagine it. The local press and The networks They spread images of a strut to the flag, a massive party that the mayor of Ribamontán to the sea, Francisco Asón, watched with impotence. “We are in contact with the Civil Guard because they have already warned us that this is the hecatombe,” I recognized To the EFE agency. Party … And something else. The problem is not just saturation. Much of the controversy causes it what leaves behind: bags, cans, bottles … a large amount of garbage scattered on the sand, as a Cantabrist denunciation, which the next day visited the same beach to show in A video dirt. The recording speaks for itself. “The bottles in the strut begins to be unsustainable. We cannot look elsewhere while deteriorating one of the most beautiful and fragile environments of the bay,” Crows Daniel Fernández, socialist spokesman in Santander. Click on the image to go to Tweet. “Bottle, noise and dirt”. In recent days the controversy has been climbing with reproaches of political parties, institutions and environmentalists. At the end of July several counselors of the Government of Cantabria and the mayor of Ribamontán to the sea sent A letter To the Government delegate to claim that it ends the “mass and illegal” concentrations, parties that, “fill with bottles, noise and dirt a protected space.” The situation seemed relax Last weekend, but that has not prevented more and more voices from asking for solutions. One of the most overwhelming is that of Ecologists in Action, which warns of the situation of El Puntal, its “irreparable footprints” and the “risk” that the bottles represent. “A natural space turned into a shitwith bottles, plastics, food remains and butts dispersed by the sand “, emphasize The organization before crossing out “inadmissible” that the authorities allow the beach to become “a landfill.” “It is not a recreational space without norms, it is a public good of high environmental value whose conservation is a collective duty. It is not enough to send a cleaning team the next day. That does not repair the damage,” he remarks. The northern Magaluf? Just like a year ago Voices were heard rejecting that Cantabria becomes “the North Ibiza”, in recent days those that compare the situation of El Puntal with MagalufMallorca beach wrapped in controversy for the videos that show The excesses with drugs or sex in public spaces. “They have turned a protected area into the Magaluf del Norte”, complaint Cantabrist “Hundreds of tourists come to our natural environments to use them as their private club and turn them into landfills.” They are not the only ones that point in that direction. The PSOE He has claimed Measures to protect the coast “Ante Avalachas” such as El Puntal and speaks of “more than 4,000 people from Botón”. United Left too He has demanded that all administrations meet to “put an end to lack of control” in the Arenal, a measure that proposes to extend to other natural spaces in the region. “Cantabria is fashionable”. Not all institutions share the tone or focus the focus on the same point. The regional president, María José Sáenz de Buruaga, considers “a serious irresponsibility to alert tourism phobia” and asks not to transmit “a distorted image” of what happens in the community. “Cantabria is fashionable and lives a splendid and excellent moment. We are not the Northern Ibiza. Much less Magaluf,” the leader emphasizes in statements collected by eldiario.es. His executive claims to the Government Delegation that reinforces the controls. “It must act when there is a security problem.” Images | Cantabrist 1 and 2 and Federico Jordá (Flickr) In Xataka | The north of Spain has been complaining about mass tourism for years. Asturias has discovered the bitter consequences of losing it

Valencia feared that the housing market sink into the areas devastated by the DANA. The opposite has happened

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The Dana that He hit the province From Valencia in October it was so violent, it caused so many damage and affected so many people, that in the real estate agencies of the area they feared that the market was upside down. “It was thought that it was going to sink into the most devastated areas,” Recognize The sector. Reality has been another. The region has not only maintained The tension Between supply and demand suffered before the Dana, but has added an extra factor: Damage who suffered hundreds of households. The Association of Real Estate of the Valencian Community (ASCival) has published A report It helps to better understand how the market has responded. “We saw that the demand was strong”. Nora García Donet, president of ASCival, acknowledges that the market response after the Dana has even surprised the sector. After the rains they feared a puncture in the market, but reality has been quite different: the demand remained high while the offer (which in many cases was already subject to intense pressure before disaster) It was marked by the loss of households razed by rain and mud. “In the first moments it was thought that the market was going to sink into the areas most devastated by the Dana, but soon we saw that the demand was strong in a context in which many homes had been inoperative, and this trend is the one that has been maintained over time,” Donet points out. That equation has ended up moving to another key element: prices. A percentage: 18%. The report Ascival provides a fundamental fact to understand the drift of the market: the price of housing has increased by 18% in the municipalities hit by the DANA. More specifically 18.8% in the sale market and 18.1% in the lease. Translated to counting and sound money that means that houses for sale in the affected areas cost 171,428 euros while the rentals are around 800. The provinces has deepened Something else and calculates that a floor for sale in the towns razed by the downpours has increased, on average, about 32,000 euros. In the case of homes for rent, the price increase would be at 145 euros per month. All compared to the values ​​of seven months ago. What is the reason? The same that usually causes price increases in normal conditions: the imbalances between supply and demand. In Your study Ascival indicates a growing decoupling between both both in the sale market and in the rental. In the first case, the association calculates that the demand for houses for sale has shot 22% while the offer has fallen by 31.3%. In the second case, that of the Property Market to lease, the demand has shot 27.1% with the offering supply (38%). “Little more than six months after the devastating consequences of the DANA, the real estate situation in the affected municipalities follows the same trend of price and demand and contribution trend and contrition of the housing supply as in the rest of the Valencian territory,” Point out As a conclusion the Asicval report. That reality is verified by the region’s own agencies. More than half (54.3%) ensures that the supply of housing for sale has decreased and almost 90%(87.5%) have noticed price orange blossom. 58% also believe that there is more rental demand, while 96% consider that the supply has been maintained or dropped. The role of the Dana. The report It does not detail to what extent the increase can be related to the effect of the DANA or its influence on supply and demand, although it does slide some interesting data. The main one is that most people interested in buying or renting a house in the affected municipalities are locals. This is perceived at least by the agencies, which also ensure that customers do not seem especially interested in knowing whether or not the properties are in flood areas, but they do prefer apartments in height buildings. The tension in the market is not new, nor has it emerged after the October disaster. In 2024 Idealista published A report in which he already pointed out that the district with the greatest pressure in the demand for housing in Spain was in the Central-Horte de Trenor area, in Torrent. During the last months the house It has become more expensive Also in the whole of the province of Valencia, not only in the areas affected by the DANA. What the torrential rains did was sweep hundreds of homesdamaging them or leaving them temporarily uninhabitable. Image | Manuel Pérez García and Estefania Monerri Mínguez (Wikipedia) In Xataka | An old dream is injured in Barcelona: the idea of ​​”a house for a lifetime” without fear of move

The US feared a boycott of its tourism sector. It already has a first calculation and shows a hole of 12.5 billion dollars

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He “Make America Great Again” promises get expensive To the American tourism industry. Fulfilled the first 100 days of Trump’s mandate and after a start of the year marked by the Tariff warthe aggressive immigration policy from Washington and his distancing from historical allies, such as Canada or the EU, US tourism faces turbulence. He last report of the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC), based in London, predict that distrust From foreign travelers it will cost the country around 12.5 billion dollars. And the figure goes with a message included. “This is a US government attention call”, warns The WTTC. What happened? That the WTTC, a forum that brings together the private tourism industry, has just thrown a jug of cold water at the expectations of the sector in the US. And the reason is very simple: according to the forecasts of its technicians the travel, hotels, restaurants and other businesses that depend on tourism will enter much less dollars out of foreign pockets. To be more precise the WTTC talks about a loss of about $ 12.5 billion in foreign visitors spending, an “amazing sum”, Apostille. Where does that data come from? The organism does not clarify how it has calculated it, but it does contribute some context. According to your data In 2024 international visitors who arrived in the US spent about 181,000 million dollars. If its forecasts are fulfilled, in 2025 the figure will remain in “just under 169,000 million”. It is a forecast that could vary if the circumstances that have motivated that collapse of spending, but a priori leaves two bad readings. The first is an interannual fall of almost 7%. The second is that the US tourism industry moves away from the data it handled in 2019, before the pandemic. He WTTC calculates that during that year foreign visitors generated a revenue flow of about 217.4 billion euros that promoted job creation in the country. “Today that legacy is in danger,” warns the organism in A statement in which he sends a couple of errands to Donald Trump’s executive. Why is it important? For the weight of tourism in the American economy and the threats it faces. The US is one of the main destinations of the world. His trade department estimates that last year he received some 72.4 million of international visitors who contributed to the tourism and travel sector contributing, as a whole, 2.36 billion of dollars to the national economy and generate more than 20 million jobs. The administration itself benefits from this activity via tax revenues. The problem is that the vast majority of that tourist expense (almost 90%) It did not start with visitors from other countries but from the domestic market, of travelers who moved nationwide, within the country. For the WTTC that percentage is somewhat a challenge. “This strong dependence on local tourism masks a serious vulnerability: true growth resides in the international market, and the US is losing its leadership,” They warn. Spain leaves a good example: the flow of foreign tourists moves in record levels while falls The domestic. Is there anything else? Yes. WTTC forecasts contradict those who handled It is not so much The US National Travel and Tourism Office (NTOO), which expected the flow of international visitors to the US to increase 6.5% between 2024 and 2025 to reach 77.1 million. In 2026 he even trusted to reach 85 million, which would exceed the data prior to the pandemic. By 2027 it provided for an expense level of 279,000 million Of dollars, quite above what the WTTC now forecasts for this year. Are all forecasts? No. The study of the WTCC cites data from March of the US Department of Commerce that already reveal a contraction in the flow of international tourists. Specifically, it shows an interannual “prick” of 15% in the British market, of more than 28% in Germany, almost 15% in South Korea and between 24 and 33% in “other key markets”, such as Colombia or Spain. “As expected, the Canadian market is exhausted: reserves in early summer have dropped more than 20% compared to last year,” Add the WTTCwhich ensures that in general the country is receiving fewer visitors from both its neighbors and distant nations, “a clear indicator that the global attractiveness of the United States decreases.” The agency ensures that it is the only destination of the 184 analyzed that faces the 2025 exercise with a downward forecast. And what is the reason? The newspaper The New York Times remember That in 2024 the spending of travel in the US already remained below the values ​​prior to the health crisis, basically due to the strength of the dollar and its influence on the budgets of tourists from other countries. The situation is quite different today. Both in regard to The currency as to the geopolitical context, which explains for the WTTC what is happening to foreign tourism in the United States. “The world’s largest economy and tourism is on a bad way, not due to lack of demand, but action. While other nations extend the red welcome carpet, the US government hangs the ‘closed’ poster, closed ‘, Julia Simpson ditchExecutive Director of the WTTC. “If urgent measures are not taken to restore travelers’ confidence, the US could take several years to return to the expenditure levels of international visitors prior to the pandemic.” Is it something unforeseen? Not quite. The tariff war, Washington’s clash with Denmark, Canada or Mexico and especially arrests In the borders and the confusion with visas It has been affecting the flow of travelers to the United States for some time. In fact there is talk of A boycott that extends beyond tourism, industry and Commerce. The US International Trade Administration already registered in March that the number of European visitors who spent at least one night in the country had fallen 17% With respect to last year. The data could be explained in part for the effect of Holy Week … Read more

The reason why electricity took more than 15 hours to restore 100% in Spain: the feared “Black Start”

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The Iberian Peninsula went out at 12:33 of April 28. In just five seconds, two southwest disconnections of the peninsula They removed more than half of the instant demand from the network. The frequency collapsed and interconnection with France jumped by instability. Spain stayed at 0 MW and 0 Hz, never seen. Resting the service was the real challenge. 15 hours of surgical work. At 03:30 on Tuesday, Red Eléctrica, the Spanish electrical system operator, announced that 99.95% of the demand was covered again (100% was not reached until the afternoon in the afternoon). Spain starred in greater practical exercise of replacement of a European network From the great continental blackout of 2006, The first on this scale from a country that obtains its energy mainly from renewable sources. The dreaded Black Start. Turn on the light out of nowhere, start the zero power grid. With 50 million users, Spain has faced One of the most challenging cases of “Black Start” They are remembered. He needed 15 hours because he had to go step by step, first starting the most flexible plants: hydroelectric plants, enabled for Black Start with diesel structure to feed pumps, valves and control systems). Mainless Spain redeemed. With 10% of the Spanish mix and 25% of the Portuguese, the pumping hydraulics was the first ammunition: The hydroelectric plants of the Muela and Aldeadávila They synchronized in three minutes, moving from zero to 3 GW. Each central created its 50 Hz “island” (the frequency at which the turbines have to turn) before introducing load. Red Electric was connecting the turbines one by one and introducing load in a dosing way so as not to stop them. Gas for climbing. With the nuclear off (except for the imported of France, which provided 1.4 GW of power in the replacement), the gas plants became the backbone of the network before reincorporating renewables. Monday’s wind was almost calm and the photovoltaic disappeared at nightfall, so the weight fell on water and gas. Morocco injected several hundred MW who were critical to start plants in Andalusia. As for nuclear. The automatic cut of five of the seven reactors generated a radio traffic jam: the xenon-135 accumulated after a sudden stop absorbs neutrons and blocks the reaction for 24-48 h. 32 hours after the blackout, No nuclear had yet been synchronized. That 3-4 GW hole synchronous forced to squeeze hydraulics and gas and delayed total recovery. The fuses jumped. When the blackout occurred, more than 70% of the generation was renewable (37% solar, 32% wind). 3.4 GW of nuclear energy, 1.6 GW of cycles and 1.4 GW of cogeneration provided the synchronous inertia of the network, but were not enough to compensate for the disconnection of two stations. Neither The interconnected network was enough to sustain the frequency (only 3 GW with France and 700 MW with Morocco). The substations acted as giant fuses against imbalance and isolated the network to avoid catastrophic damage. That is why it is said that Spain and Portugal are energy islands, despite being in the same network as the rest of European countries. Some lessons. With high renewable quotas, which They do not have the inertia of other energy sources To stabilize the network, it takes a greater resilience than the European electricity grid. In other words, invest in investors at network level, batteries and renewable synchronous (biomass or more pumping hydraulics). As well as in better interconnections. All this is planned, but it was not on time to avoid the blackout and the Black Start. Image | Electric Red In Xataka | We have just lived the first great blackout of the renewable era. The debate is now how to get the last one

After the mass blackout of Spain he feared looting and security problems. Reality was very different

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Nor pillage. Nor Latrocinio. No chaos unleashed in the streets. Although most of the country stayed yesterday to two candles (literally) and Thousands of Spaniards They went to sleep yet without electricity in their homes and businesses, on April 28, 2025 will not go down in history because it is a day of chaos. Not everything was An oil raftof course, but this morning the Interior Ministry He underlined that the night has been “quiet”, “without remarkable security incidents.” Nothing that the country has not already lived during the pandemic, when Spain already demonstrated its obedience during the alarm states to stop the COVID-19. That almost a country is based black (in energy terms), as happened on Monday at 12.33 h in Spain, it obviously has multiple derivatives. It affects the industry. It affects trade. It affects mobility and education. And affects security. Yesterday the government declared The national emergency in eight communities and one of the issues that was in the public debate during the first hours was precisely The media deployment To guarantee security. “Security problems” “Madrid has 9,000 streets, 3.5 million inhabitants … If a city is these dimensions, we are all aware, we are all aware that they can give Security problems at very diverse and different points “, warned In the afternoon the mayor of Madrid, José Luis Martínez-Almeida. Without electricity, many businesses were left without a dataphone, but also without surveillance or automatic systems that allow them to close their premises. The fear of looting and robberies during the blackout even led some merchants to monitor their stores. In Ayamonte, Huelva, there were who The night passed In their businesses unable to lower the blinds and in Granada the newspaper Ideal speaks of entrepreneurs in a similar situation that resisted to leave their premises. “People take advantage of to steal and we have no system here that allows us to ensure the store,” admitted a ABC The clerk of a store in the center of Madrid while waiting for the supply to be restored. His suspicion was understandable. Click on the image to go to Tweet. After the Dana de Valencia there were those who took advantage of chaos to make looting and take home batteries, sports material, telephones or consoles, for example, sometimes even with truck help. Only the night from October 30 the National Police arrested 39 people During a surveillance campaign in commercial areas and weeks later, in mid -November, the number of detainees for looting in the areas affected by the rains over 400. It is not even necessary that an event as devastating as the DANA of Valencia occurs. In 1977 New York lived An electric cut which lasted for a day and resulted in a “night of terror”, in the words of the magazine Timewith the looting of more than 1,615 storesmore than 1,000 fires, around 4,000 detainees and hundreds of injured police. A few weeks ago Before a mass blackout also affected much of Chile, the Buric government chose to decree the state of exception and imposed a curfew between ten and six in the morning. In Spain the authorities also chose reinforce securityalthough without reaching such drastic measures. The Government Precise that between Monday and Tuesday they deployed through the country More than 30,000 agents of the National Police and Civil Guard, to which other forces of autonomic and local bodies are added. Click on the image to go to Tweet. In Catalonia Los Mossos d’esquadra They lengthened shifts and activated a night security plan with something More than 7,200 agentswhile there were cities that also increased their local endowments. In Vigo The mayor said Yesterday that the Local Police would triple their efforts and at night 13 municipal patrols would be deployed, to which almost twenty nationals would be added. What has been the balance? A relative tranquility. At least if one takes into account that, although part of the country began to recover electricity within a few hours, there have been cities that took More than 14 hours in having light and the day was marked by Communications problems and traffic lights. The total alert balance is not yet known, but inner speaks of a “quiet night and without remarkable incidents of security or public order” and both the Mayor of Madrid like that of Barcelona They have highlighted the “civism” of their neighbors. “The Madrid have shown that they give their best in the most difficult moments. In front of the blackout, a lesson of civility,” Almeida presumes. That does not mean that the last hours have been An oil raft. Eldiario speaks Of robbery attempts, activated alarms and “some” burning containers in localities of Andalusia and in the city of the emergency services had attended in the afternoon Double of calls of the usual, although Many incidents They were related to people trapped in elevators or people with mobility problems. In Other cities From the country and less inhabitants, the dripping of notices to the authorities throughout the day was also intense. The most graphic answer He has given it However, this morning, Mayor José Luis Martínez- Almeida when they have asked him about how the night had gone in the capital, in which, he says, only a reysta and a launa was recorded. “Quieter than anyone”, summarizes the councilor from Madrid. Image | Xataka In Xataka | We still do not know what caused the blackout in Spain, but experts already dispute a theory: the role of renewables

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