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Delaying the closure of a single plant forces us to redesign the entire energy map of Spain

March 4, 2026 by usatoday24

Right in the middle of a relentless political and business battle to extend the life of the Spanish atomic park, the harsh reality of the market has imposed itself. While top executives discuss the long-term future, the present has hit the table: the owner of the Almaraz II nuclear power plant notified the Nuclear Safety Council (CSN) of an unscheduled shutdown of its reactor and its decoupling from the electrical grid. The alarms did not go off due to a security problem. In fact, the incident was classified as level 0 (no significance for security) on the international INES scale, to which we have had access. The real reason was purely economic and motivated by causes related to the electricity market. As explained The Extremadura Newspaper, The recent succession of storms triggered renewable production —sinking electricity prices— which, added to an “unaffordable tax burden” that represents more than 75% of its variable costs, made it completely unfeasible to keep the reactor on. The recent pulse: from disconnection to extension This disconnection collides head-on with the intense corporate movements of recent weeks. At the end of October, Iberdrola, Endesa and Naturgy presented to the Executive a formal request to postpone until June 2030 the closure of Almaraz, whose two reactors were scheduled to be disconnected for 2027 and 2028. But the ambition of the sector does not stop in Cáceres. According to Five Daysthe president of Iberdrola, Ignacio Sánchez Galán, has confirmed that they will request the expansion of other plants in the future, ensuring that “most of them can reach 60 and even 80 years.” This position is supported by technical and logistical arguments from the industry. As detailed in The Economistthe CEO of Endesa, José Bogas, aspires to prolong “in round numbers about 10 more years” the entire Spanish nuclear park. Bogas argues that it does not make logistical sense to proceed with the complex dismantling of two groups of the same plant on different dates (2027 and 2028). Meanwhile, the CSN is already analyzing the documentation to issue its mandatory report, foreseeably in summer, as reported in a press release from the regulator itself. The possible extension of Almaraz has opened a huge gap between two irreconcilable visions of the energy transition. In the block of those who defend extending atomic life, economic and labor arguments set the pace. According to the statements of Ignacio Sánchez Galán collected by Vozpópulinuclear power plants are a key element in reducing the price of electricity. In fact, the president of Iberdrola recalls that European countries that lack this type of energy, such as Italy and Germany, pay “about 20 euros more” per megawatt hour for electricity compared to Spain and France. Added to this defense of competitiveness is the warning about the direct impact on the final consumer’s pocket. A recent report from the OBS Business School alert that if Almaraz closesthe inevitable dependence on gas would increase the electricity bill by around 23% for households – between 150 and 250 euros more per year – and up to 35% for industry. Beyond the receipt, there is the territorial factor. The College of Industrial Engineers, in statements to The Energy Newspaperremember that this plant not only generates 7% of the electricity in all of Spain, complying with the highest international safety standards (WANO 1), but is also a vital economic engine to sustain 4,000 direct and indirect jobs that stop depopulation in the region. However, against this position stands a solid wall of detractors who see the extension as an imminent danger for the green transition. A joint investigation by the Rey Juan Carlos University (URJC) and the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC), prepared on behalf of Greenpeaceconcludes that extending Almaraz for just three years would mean “momentary relief, structural damage.” Researchers calculate that this decision would cost consumers a cumulative extra cost of 3,831 million euros between now and 2033 and would stop up to 26,129 million euros in investments destined for new clean energies. From Greenpeace they also point to the so-called “plug effect”: since nuclear is an inflexible technology that produces fixed gear regardless of demand, it often forces us to disconnect or waste renewable energy—free and clean—in times of high sun or wind. This situation generates a climate of enormous concern in the green sector. In an interview with InfoLibrePedro Fresco, general director of the Valencian renewable employer association Avaesen, warns that granting a “mini-extension” of three years would be the worst possible scenario. In his opinion, this movement would send a message of total uncertainty to investors, threatening to stop the development of future renewable projects in its tracks. The “Domino Effect”: rewriting the energy map The true background of this battle is that Almaraz is not an isolated piece. As several experts warn he Vigo Lighthouse and andl Newspaper of Extremaduradelaying the closure of the Cáceres plant would unleash an unstoppable “domino effect” throughout the national territory. If Almaraz is delayed to 2030, its closure would coincide in time with that of Ascó I (Tarragona) and Cofrentes (Valencia). The electricity companies assume that the Government would also have to postpone these closures to avoid overlapping the gigantic and complex work of dismantling four reactors simultaneously. This would also force the closures of Ascó II, Vandellós II and Trillo to be pushed well beyond 2035, blowing up the current National Integrated Energy and Climate Plan (PNIEC). The final decision is in the hands of the Executive, which for the moment maintains its position. The Government has marked three non-negotiable red lines to accept any change: that it guarantees radiological safety, security of supply and, above all, that it does not cost consumers an extra euro or imply tax reductions for electricity companies. And this is where the circle closes. As Galán insists on Vozpópulithe plants bear an enormous tax burden of “30-35 euros per megawatt hour.” Without a tax reduction, electricity companies threaten economic viability; but without profitability, it is the market itself that, as … Read more

the discovery that forces us to rewrite the history of engineering

February 24, 2026 by usatoday24

The old one city of petrasculpted in the majestic reddish rocks of modern-day Jordan, has always captivated the world for its architectural monumentality. But the truth is that there was still much to discover here, and a recent team of archaeologists has focused on the bowels of its urban engineering and the ssystem they used to transport water in a desert environment. The discovery. Archaeologists have unearthed astonishing evidence pointing to a water system of unprecedented sophistication in this region, and which has transformed the understanding of how the Nabataean civilization managed to thrive, and not just survive, in a very arid desert environment. Where was it seen? This discovery has been published in the magazine Raise by the team led by archaeologist Niklas Jungmann where he has documented the findings in the ‘Ain Braq aqueduct after surveys that began in 2023. Now the researchers have been able to reveal a complex network of aquifer infrastructures that challenge previous conceptions about the hydraulic technology of antiquity in the Near East. What has been seen? The epicenter of this astonishing discovery is the identification of a secondary conduit made up of lead pipes that extends approximately 116 meters. The point is that the presence of these lead pipes It is an extraordinarily rare phenomenon, especially outside the context of complex buildings or large Roman baths. In Petra, this conduit was not a mere fortuitous pipe, but a highly precise piece of technology integrated into a system that combined open channels carved directly into the natural rock with these advanced metal conduits. Its function. The function of this hydraulic system was to exhaustively regulate the pressure and flow of water. The researchers here point out that the lead section functioned mechanically as an inverted siphon, which is a great technical feat that allowed the water to overcome the pronounced unevenness in the terrain. And with these levels it could be very easy for the pipes to collapse, but with the mechanism that they devised at the time, it made it possible to give pressure to the water and maintain the momentum wherever it passed. More complex. Although this type of inverted siphon has attracted a lot of attention, nine conduits, a large reservoir, two cisterns and seven smaller tanks must also be added to the system. All this aimed at capturing scarce water, minimizing its evaporation and supplying the desert city. Its evolution. The study goes further by pointing out that the aqueduct system experienced at least two major phases of development. The first was characterized by the use of lead, an expensive and demanding material. Here experts link this majestic work with the era of the Nabataean king Aretas IVindicating that this system would have been vital in supporting key monuments of the city, such as the Great Temple. The second phase focused on the installation of a terracotta conduit next to the original. This transition to a much cheaper and easier to replace material demonstrates the flexibility and long-term technical efficiency of Nabataean engineering. Its importance. Having found this evidence of a complex hydrological system forces historians and archaeologists to rethink the level of technological development in Petra. Beyond their famous rock-cut architecture, the Nabataeans were true masters of water. And it is no wonder, because it was necessary to have a good infrastructure capable of challenge an unforgiving desert that could condemn those cities that did not know how to evolve and adapt to the conditions where they were developing. Images | Brian Kairuz In Xataka | Archaeologists have been searching for Hannibal’s war elephants for centuries. They only had to dig in Córdoba

Two Spanish space giants have joined forces to take 5G defense satellites into space: PLD Space and Sateliot

February 23, 2026 by usatoday24

Two Spanish companies they have sealed an agreement to launch new generation satellites without depending on any other foreign company. In Europe we have been with the run run of technological sovereignty. This agreement is a perfect example of this, and also a milestone for Spain if the project ends up materializing. The agreement. PLD Space, manufacturer of the Miura 5 rocket based in Elche, and Sateliot, a telecommunications satellite operator based in Barcelona, have signed a contract to launch two satellites from Sateliot’s Tritó constellation aboard the Miura 5. The launch is scheduled for the last quarter of 2027, expectedly on the fourth commercial flight of the Elche rocket, and will do so from the Kourou Space Port, in French Guiana. Each satellite weighs about 160 kilos and will be launched on a dedicated mission, without sharing space with other operators. Why is it important? This agreement is presented as the first entirely Spanish private space mission, with satellites designed, manufactured and operated in the country, launched using a rocket also of Spanish origin. And the interesting thing about the project is that it would cover the entire value chain of the sector (manufacturing, launch, operations and commercial exploitation) without foreign intermediaries. Although the European Union has been trying for years reduce your dependence on operators like SpaceXthis alliance fits directly into this context. What are Tritó satellites? The Tritó constellation is a significant evolution of the current satellites that Sateliot has, weighing 15 kg and dedicated exclusively to the Internet of Things (IoT). In this case, the new Tritó have greater capacity and will combine IoT connectivity with direct device-satellite communication (D2D), including data, voice and video through 5G. Marco Guadalupi, CTO of Sateliot, counted to El Español that one of its key points is that they will be able to “establish the connection when the device is in the pocket”, being key for emergencies, natural disasters and defense applications. The risk they assume. Guadalupi does not hide that it is “a risky mission.” The Miura 5 is a new rocket, whose first launch test is scheduled for the end of this year, and its reliability has yet to be demonstrated in real flight. “We are crazy and we know what we want,” I was joking Guadalupi himself in the interview with the media. The Sateliot team claims to have visited the PLD Space integration and testing facilities on three occasions before signing. In exchange for the risk, they get something that few options on the market offer: a dedicated mission, without competing for space, and the flexibility to adapt flight conditions to their specific needs. Review. Last November, PLD Space closed financing of 169 million euros through ESA’s European Launcher Challenge, backed almost entirely by Spain, for launch contracts and improvements to the Miura 5. Sateliot, for its part, has plans to deploy up to 100 satellites in 2028 and aims to reach revenues of 1 billion euros in 2030, according to they count from Reuters. Among its shareholders is Indra, with 4% of the capital. The agreement with PLD Space also occurs while Sateliot is opening market in India. Jaume Sanpera, CEO of the company, traveled to the Asian country coinciding with the announcement, where the company already has headquarters and sees potential for a future business in which they offer connectivity in remote areas. What’s coming Before the satellites board the Miura 5, Sateliot plans to launch a prototype of the Tritó platform in mid-2027 to validate the payload. The more capable commercial satellites would be integrated into the rocket in the final stretch of that same year. Regarding the total number of satellites they hope to put into orbit, Guadalupi counted that “there will be hundreds.” Sateliot’s intention is to centralize launches to simplify logistics, and although they do not rule out other suppliers, they aim to continue working with PLD Space. Cover image | Satellite In Xataka | A new “solar system” has just been discovered. There’s just one problem: it shouldn’t exist.

Spain has been dealing with the weather in the United Kingdom for a month and a half. And that forces us to rethink how we build our roads

February 17, 2026 by usatoday24

Roads closed, prohibited overtaking and new speed restrictions, landslides that are swept away by a moving car or potholes that become sinkholes with the continued passage of vehicles. The roads in Spain have suffered greatly with a month and a half in which a succession of storms has barely given any respite. But is the fault of the investments or is it that we are not prepared for this climate? Potholes, sinkholes and closed roads. We have experienced a beginning of 2026 where news of intense snowfalls and continued rains have accumulated. And that has had an impact on the way we move. In some cases, airports have been forced to stop their activitythe trains have stopped due to the wind and, on the road, we have had all kinds of problems. Videos have become popular on social networks where a string of cars suffers the consequences of a sinkhole. Or the statements of those who affirm that in the same service area they have had to rescue a good handful of cars due to blowouts as a result of the poor condition of the roads. There is information that points to all types of roads: those managed by the Statethose that are from autonomous ownership and those that are from municipal ownership. We have had complaints for everyone. An unexpected event. Beyond the money dedicated to our roads, what seems clear is that a perfect storm has occurred: roads that should be better maintained and a succession of storms for which our roads are not prepared. If we look back, in the first 40 days of the year it rained in Spain triple the average recorded between 1991 and 2020. The recorded figure not only confirms that the swamps have filledalso calls into question to what extent Spain is becoming in a rainy country. And, above all, how we can prepare for climate change with more extreme weather events, repeated more frequently and further away from the typical climate of our country. Are we prepared? The truth is that our roads are prepared for something else. In Spain, roads are based on the PG3 regulations that draws on the European guidelines. Most of them respond to the premises aimed at building roads in hot climates. In fact, the next category is for a “medium” thermal zone and the next is considered “temperate.” This is important because as I said Francisco José Lucas Ochoatechnical and business development director at Repsol in his Twitter account, some time ago, on these roads A bitumen is used that is harder and withstands high temperatures better.. In the wetter climates A softer bitumen is used, as in the United Kingdom, but this can soften and melt if it is very hot. Our disadvantage? Asphalt resists high temperatures better but is more fragile and breaks more easily. This structure on our road leaves us, in most of the country (because high mountain roads are slightly different), roads that are less permeable to the passage of water. And the main objective has never been to resist humidity, it has been to resist extreme heat and fatigue due to the passage of numerous vehicles, since Spain is the second country in Europe with the highest heavy vehicle traffic. What consequences does it have? Asphalts designed for dry climates that have to suffer constant punishment from rain and humidity are more likely to accumulate water and encourage aquaplaning. But when the absorption of water is continuousthe problems are bigger. If the soil receives a constant amount of water, there comes a point where the layers beneath the asphalt remain constantly moist. This alters its ability to distribute loads, which is essential when you have a more rigid or less elastic asphalt like ours. This limited distribution of loads favors the fracture of the upper layer, generating potholes that end up becoming sinkholes both due to the action of the vehicles themselves and the punishment inflicted by the constant fall of water, further delving into the depth of the hole that is exposed. In addition, the useful life of asphalt is limited. Where it doesn’t rain and where it does rain. The added problem is that this train of storms has left a lot of rain where the roads are directly designed to withstand intense vehicle traffic circulating in a dry and hot climate. Andalusia and Extremadura have faced rains typical of Cantabria but, curiously, in Cantabria it has barely rained. In United Kingdomwhere the problem of water on the road is a constant, the construction of roads plays with the porosity of the asphalt, with the aim of making the soil capable of absorbing as much water as possible. A technique that is applied to the surface itself but in which the ditches are also taken into account so that the accumulated water does not infiltrate and, as we said, change the ideal load distribution. This type of asphalt is limited in Spain to very specific areaswith limited traffic and low risk of snow and smelt. In cold and humid climatesFor example, they have to deal with asphalt that is also more rigid but without losing sight of the accumulation of water. There the problem is not so much the latter as it is the formation of ice and the passage of vehicles equipped with studded tires on depending on which roads. If the road were as porous as in the United Kingdom, water would accumulate in the small gaps in the road surface and freeze, turning the road into a skating rink. Is there a solution? Yes and it seems to be underway. From 2021the Center for Studies and Experimentation of Public Works (CEDEX) coordinates the Transversal Working Group on Climate Change and Resilience in Roads. This group is analyzing the current situation of Spanish roads and infrastructure such as bridges, tunnels or aqueducts and what investments must be made to adapt them to the new meteorological reality of our country. Furthermore, in collaboration with CEDEX … Read more

OpenClaw is the most viral, fascinating and dangerous AI of the moment. For this last reason, it has joined forces with VirusTotal from Malaga

February 9, 2026 by usatoday24

In 2025 we had a ‘DeepSeek moment’ and in 2026 we are having an ‘OpenClaw moment’. This AI agent is super powerful, but also super insecure. There is, however, good news, because the Malaga company VirusTotal has partnered with the OpenClaw project to try to mitigate one of the most important cybersecurity risks of this AI agent: its skills. what has happened. OpenClaw (formerly Moltbot, and before Clawdbot) has announced that it has begun a collaboration with the Malaga cybersecurity company VirusTotal, owned by Google. The agreement will see VirusTotal be in charge of “scanning” and analyzing the so-called “skills”, which work like OpenClaw plugins and add all kinds of functions. They do it, of course, but many take the opportunity to introduce malicious instructions that allow them to steal data and remotely operate other people’s AI agents. More security for disturbing AI. Peter Steinberger, creator of the project, has joined Jamieson O’Reilly, cybersecurity expert and founder of the company Dvulnand Bernardo Quintero, founder of VirusTotal, to offer that “additional layer of security for the OpenClaw community.” In it official announcement explain that “all the skills published in ClawdHub (the project’s official skills “store”) are now scanned through Virus Total’s Threat Intelligence system, including its new capability Code Insight (code inspection)”. Bernardo Quintero indicated on Twitter how the effort has already allowed 1,700 skillls to be identified as malicious. If the skill is malicious, it is blocked. This analysis carried out with the VirusTotal tools allows us to identify skills as malicious and block them immediately so that they cannot be downloaded. Not only that: those skills that have been classified as benign are analyzed again every day to detect scenarios in which for some reason they could end up becoming malicious. Still, be careful. Those responsible for OpenClaw warn: the VirusTotal scan helps a lot, but it is not a total guarantee that any skill can perform malicious actions on the machine on which we have our AI agent installed. The attacks of prompt injection Sophisticated skills can manage to cross that barrier, but of course this collaboration means that OpenClaw users can be much calmer regarding the skills available in the ClawdHub repository. OpenClaw wants to be much more secure. This first effort joins OpenClaw’s ambition to have a complete cybersecurity model which includes things like a public roadmap for your new developments in this area, a formal communication process, and details about full audits of your code. Plugging a problem that could kill OpenClaw. The OpenClaw project soon went viral due to its eye-catching options, but shortly after doing so a security audit initial 2,851 skills detected 341 malicious skills. Companies like BitDefender also joined these efforts to avoid problems with tools like AI Skills Checker to check whether a skill was dangerous or not. These malicious skills were, for example, capable of executing shell commands on the victim machine, which gave the attacker complete control of those resources. Attacking the machine is confusing it with natural language. Normally cybersecurity attacks are complex, but the problem with AI agents is that they work with natural language. This implies that to infiltrate these systems you do not have to use code, but simply “convince” and “trick” the AI with natural language. That is where prompt injection attacks come in, which consist of giving instructions to those AI agents that can confuse them to obtain something that theoretically they should not allow them to obtain. Personal data, API keys of the models we use at OpenClaw, email accounts and passwords for all types of services… the possibilities are endless, and OpenClaw, which has access to all of this to operate autonomously, can end up being “tricked” into transferring said data. Beware of OpenClaw. These problems now seem a little less feasible thanks to the collaboration with VirusTotal, but those who are trying OpenClaw on their machines or any other platform should be very alert from the beginning. There are guides that help you install it with some barriers important security issues, and the project itself has a command (‘openclaw security audit –deep –fix’ to audit the most important problems and address them. In Xataka | OpenAI has a problem: Anthropic is succeeding right where the most money is at stake

Critical dress rehearsal leak forces NASA to delay Artemis II

February 3, 2026 by usatoday24

If we learned something with Artemis I in 2022 is that liquid hydrogen is possibly the biggest enemy of NASA’s patience in its missions. And in the last few hours the US space agency has confirmed what many of us feared after a difficult weekend: the launch of Artemis IIthe mission that must take astronauts around the Moon, officially delayed until March. An accumulation of errors. These days NASA had on its agenda to do a ‘general rehearsal’ for the launch of this new mission that aims to test its equipment to take the final leap: put man on Mars in the future. And everything seemed to be ready, with the astronauts in strict quarantine since January 23. But in the end, Florida’s weather reminded us again that it reigns supreme with freezing temperatures and strong winds that forced these plans to stop. Some specific limits. A priori, these adverse conditions should not be a problem for cutting-edge operation, but the reality is that the SLS rocket has very strict operating limits: it cannot safely load fuel if the temperature drops below 4.4ºC for more than 30 minutes. Something that eliminated the launch window that It was scheduled between February 6 and 7moving hope to February 8. The coup de grace. But if the weather was already a big problem, in the last few hours the last major inconvenience has arrived while retrying to refuel under more favorable conditions. It was none other than a leak of liquid hydrogen that was detected at the umbilical interface of the rear service mast while the test was being carried out. Something that has forced everything that was being done to stop, and logically to make decisions that are very hard. Safety first. Although the agency managed to complete many of the test objectives, the hydrogen concentration exceeded safety limits, forcing the rocket to be drained. Administrator Jared Isaacman has been blunt– Crew and vehicle safety is the top priority, so no launch window will be forced. A ‘dejà vu’. For fans of the Artemis show, this sounds painfully familiar. The situation is almost a carbon copy of what was experienced with Artemis I in 2022and although at that time it was not the weather, there were recurring technical failures such as propellant leaks and problems with the pressure fans that caused multiple cancellations of the general rehearsal. Because of those technical problems, they were forced to return the rocket to the Vehicle Assembly Building for much more thorough checks, pushing the April launch to the end of August. Now the similarity lies in the complexity of liquid hydrogen, an ultracold and extremely difficult to contain fuel that remains the Achilles heel of these missions. What will happen now? For now, with all these problems behind us, the launch window that lasted until February 11 has been completely ruled out. This forces us to look for a new date that NASA aims for sometime in March 2026although without specifying a specific day. To do this, they must still analyze data and above all have a successful general rehearsal to validate the safety of the operation. As far as the astronauts are concerned, it no longer makes sense for them to remain quarantined at the Kennedy Space Center, so they will return to Houston until there is a new firm launch date. Images | POT In Xataka | Claude begins to seem unstoppable: NASA has already used him to plan routes for the Perseverance rover on Mars

Apple forces its users to go to ESIM

September 10, 2025 by usatoday24

Apple is about to make the definitive leap towards technology esim also in the rest of the countries. Cupertino’s company has announced that will eliminate the physical sim of your new iPhone Air Recently presented, including the devices that are marketed in Spain. The decision is not far from what he was doing in the United States, because in that country it has been like this From the iPhone 14. Goodbye to physical sim. While in the United States they have been living with iPhones without SIM groove for about three years, the rest of the countries had remained out of this transition. Runrún sounded a few weeks ago when sources close to Apple confirmed That the employees of their European stores had received specific training on iPhone compatible only with ESIM. According to these sources, the training should be completed before September 5, days prior to the official presentation of the terminals. What models will be affected. Here in Spain, only the iPhone Air arrives with ESIM exclusively. However, for the rest of the family, Apple has developed versions only with Esim for Bahrain, Canada, Guam, Japan, Kuwait, Mexico, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, the United States and the Virgin Islands of the United States. This means that models of iPhone 17 and iPhone 17 Pro They will exclusively adopt ESIM technology in the aforementioned countries. It seems that Europe is saved at the moment. In the case of the Air, which replaces the iPhone Plus in the range, it has a thickness of just 5.5 millimeters at its thinner point, so the space is significantly lower to place a sim card tray. The rest of the models will follow the same strategy for the countries mentioned by the company’s commercial decision. It only remains to know when this decision will affect us for the rest of the terminals. What Apple defends. The company argues that ESIM offers greater security than the natural, since they cannot be extracted from a lost or stolen iPhone. In addition, a single device can manage up to eight esim different simultaneously, eliminating the need to carry, exchange or mislead physical cards during trips. For Apple, it is a logical step towards the complete digitalization of its devices, a small more step towards An iPhone without physical ports. The challenge of the operators In Spain. Although the main Spanish operators such as Movistar, Vodafone and Orange They already support Esimadoption is not yet total. Some OMV operators and prepaid rates have not yet fully implemented this technology. Therefore, if you end up opting for an iPhone Air, you will have to verify in advance if your current operator is compatible with Esim. However, everything indicates that there will not be much left so that the rest of the operators who have not already done it, end up being compatible with technology. And now what. As we reviewed, users who depend on natural cards will have to plan their transition during the next months if they are going to opt for an iPhone Air. Those who change their operators frequently travel with local SIMs or use company devices with specific cards will have to take an eye to get an ESIM and continue using the device normally. The good thing is that the iPhone allows you to manage up to a maximum of eight ESIM, something very comfortable for when we travel. Cover image | Apple More information | Apple In Xataka | The United States does not accept a “no” by response for the 100% American iPhone. And Apple is starting to give in

An unpleasant fault in the ISS bath forces astronauts to extreme precautions

July 25, 2025 by usatoday24

Living in space is full of challenges. One of the most earthly is the frequency with which the toilets of the International Space Station are spoiled. A ghost threat. Japanese astronaut Takuya Onishi told on social networks that his weekend had been crowded by “a strange damage in the bathroom just before Saturday lunch.” In a somewhat cryptic way, Onishi reported That, after the incident, he had been “living with fear of the ghost threat, an invisible threat” that his followers soon interpreted as an unpleasant olfactory experience. Extreme precautions. Finally, Saturday’s breakdown in one of the toilets of the International Space Station has persisted this week, forcing astronauts to take drastic measures, such as giving up coffee. “The bathroom worked badly before yesterday,” explains Onishi in his X profile. “I had to spend yesterday without even taking a cup of coffee,” he laments. For a “coffee lover”, like He describes himselfthe measure reflects the seriousness with which the crew of expedition 73 are living the breakdown. The nth fault of the WC. On Wednesday, NASA astronaut Nicole Aunapu Mann “did an emergency maintenance in the afternoon, so I could enjoy a quiet morning again,” Onishi account. But the ghost threat persists. The bathrooms of the American segment of the Space Station have been for weeks, if not months, giving war. Without going any further, on July 15, Onishi himself He spent two hours replacing the “toilet pump separator”, a key piece that centrifuges urine and air. A Russian eschatological roulette. In May, the problems were even more evident. After change a defective pump Together with his NASA partner Jonny Kim, Takuya Onishi compared the use of the bathroom with “playing Russian roulette.” On another occasion, the breakdowns light was turned on at dawn. “Not to wake up others, I secretly contacted Houston and took care of the situation,” The Japanese astronaut commented. With humor, he added that the six times that the fault light had lit, he had been present in five. From the mission control they replied: “You are the chosen one.” A complicated engineering. The International Space Station has four toilets: two in the Russian segment (in the Zvezdá and Nauka modules) and two in the US segment (the WHC and The modern UWMSboth in the Tranquility module). These systems are engineering wonders that use air suction instead of water. While Urine is recycled through a processor complex To turn it into drinking water, solid waste is collected in bags inside hermetic containers. The containers are stored and, finally, are discarded in load ships designed to burn in the atmospheresuch as American Cygnus or Russian progress. Why do they fail so much. He New UWMS toilet He has given many problems since his installation, but he is not the only one who fails. In recent years there has been From water leaks In the urine pretreatment system until Simultaneous breakdowns in all toilets. Each failure requires that astronauts, who are also the plumbers of the station, dedicate time and effort to complex repairs in small spaces. Onishi’s story, a veteran astronaut in his second long -term stay, is a reminder that life in orbit mixes scientific experiments in microgravity with much more mundane challenges. For now, thanks to an emergency repair, normality and coffee have returned to the International Space Station. Images | NASA, JAXA In Xataka | In the 90s they experienced with living outside the earth and, indeed, we would all be dead except cockroaches

The US pressure forces China to independent its chip industry. These two projects are their best cards

July 21, 2025 by usatoday24

China has no choice. Or develops its own manufacturing technology of avant -garde semiconductors or will lose its struggle for world supremacy With the US. No 100% Chinese advanced chips their military capacity, the development of their models of artificial intelligence (AI) and the competitiveness of their technology companies will resent in the medium term. Huawei and SMIC are manufacturing advanced integrated circuits, but use machines from the Dutch company ASML and a technology known as Multiple patterning that compromises its competitiveness. This scenario has caused the Chinese government support with very juicy subsidies to companies that have the ability to develop avant -garde photolithography equipment, such as SicarrierShanghai YuliangSheng, Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment (Smee), Huawei or SMIC. Time plays against this Asian country. How much later in having their own machines of extreme ultraviolet lithography (UVE), which are those used to make very high integration chips, more delayed will be in front of the US and its allies. 2026 will be a crucial year for China in the field of chips The Chinese Academy of Sciences is finishing what is undoubtedly The most ambitious project How many are developing the Chinese semiconductor industry. Thanks to this plan the nation led by Xi Jinping is about to reach a “Deepseek” in the field of integrated circuit industry. This simply means that it is preparing to reach a disruption that has the potential to place this Asian country at the same height as the US, Taiwan or South Korea. However, China’s strategy to produce avant -garde chips is very different from what their rivals have used until now. Each of ASML UVE machines incorporates its own ultraviolet light source, but the Chinese Academy of Sciences seeks to generate this important radiation to produce advanced chips using a syncrotronwhich is nothing other than a circular particle accelerator that is used to analyze atomic level the properties of matter, such as various types of materials, or even proteins. It’s called heps (High Energy Photon Source or high -energy photons source), it is in Beijing and we can see it in the cover photography of this article. Heps syncrotron has the ability to produce high power UVE light An important note before moving forward: the ultraviolet light (UV) is responsible for transferring the geometric pattern that contains the design of the chips to the Silicon wafer. This means, in broad strokes, that the UVE light has the ability to make possible the manufacture of integrated circuits with a greater resolution than the deep ultraviolet light (UVP) that use the previous generation lithography machines that China has in their hands. And a greater resolution in practice implies that it is possible to produce semiconductors with more transistors, and, therefore, more sophisticated and powerful. A priori we can think that a particle accelerator has nothing to do with the manufacture of integrated circuits, but we would be overlooking something very important: the Heps syncrotron has the ability to produce high power UVE light. In fact, it is a source designed to generate a large amount of radiation. China’s plan is to place around the particle accelerator Several semiconductor manufacturing plants to which the syncotron will deliver the UVE light in the same way that a power plant delivers electricity to its customers. That simple. The date on which China plans to start this megaphabrum of avant -garde semiconductors has not yet leaked, but it is already very advanced. However, China’s plans do not end here. In the middle of last March several Asian media collected a photograph taken at the Huawei Research Center in Dongguan, in the province of Canton, in which it appeared The prototype of a UVE lithography team Designed and manufactured entirely in China. Presumably this machine is similar to those produced by ASML, which invites us to anticipate that for 2026 the country led by Xi Jinping will have the ability to produce advanced chips on a large scale. This Chinese lithography equipment uses an LDP type ultraviolet source and not LPP class The leaks They assure That unlike the UVE machines produced by the Dutch company ASML, this Chinese lithography equipment uses an LDP ultraviolet light source (laser induced discharge), and not LPP class (plasma generated by laser). Presumably The development of this ultraviolet radiation emission source It is the milestone that has allowed Chinese engineers to develop a machine that Many experts did not see possible before five years in the best case. At the moment the most prudent is that we take this information with caution, but it seems solid enough to echo it. An interesting note is that on paper the LDP source is able to generate UVE light with a wavelength of 13.5 nm, so this Chinese prototype should be able to compete from you to you with ASML UVE photolithography machines. In addition, the leaks argue that China will begin the production of more test machines during the third quarter of this year with the purpose of launching the large -scale manufacture of these equipment during 2026. Image | Dr. Kim More information | Dr. Kim In Xataka | TSMC acknowledges that it has been considered taking its factories out of Taiwan. It is impossible for a good reason

A sentence forces the Principality of Asturias to pay the glasses to a public employee. It is only the first of many

June 18, 2025 by usatoday24

The Occupational Risk Prevention Regulations establishes a series of mandatory measures and recommendations to maintain the Safety of work environmentsand forcing companies to adopt measures of protection for your employees. Adequate clothing, helmets, gloves, protective footwear, etc. However, what happens when what causes physical damage is the continued use of screens in the workplace? That is the situation that a public employee In 2021. The Social 1 Court of Mieres, in Asturias, has responded to the lawsuit forcing the Asturian administration to take care of the Cost of graduated glassesopening the door to future demands of other employees in the same situation. What happened? As extracted from the sentence to which Xataka has had access, the affected person is a work worker of the Principality who performed maintenance assistant at the Sports Center of El Cristo in Oviedo. In 2021, the center digitized the access control system, so the employee increased the use of screens in his job. As a result of the use of screens, the employee began to present visual discomfort that before the change did not suffer affecting his visual acuity in the use of the screens. In 2024, the employee asked the Principality of Asturias for an ophthalmological review and the provision of new glasses adequate if the recognition recommended it. The autonomous administration ignored both “leaving it without answer,” says the sentence. In January 2025, on behalf of the employee, the legal service of the USIPA-SAIF union He filed a lawsuit against the Principality claiming the application of European directives and The sentences of the Court of Justice of the European Union. The protagonist: Directive 90/270. In his sentence, the Mieres Court forces the Principality of Asturias to provide or cover the cost of glasses to a public employee to need them to work with screens, in compliance with article 9 sections 1, 2 and 3 of the European Directive 90/270on minimal safety and health provisions for work. This European directive complements community regulations through a series of minimum provisions common to all EU countries. In the aforementioned article 9, the eye protection measures and the view of the workers are established. Specifically, “if you experience visual difficulties that may be due to work with the screen.” Under this article the right to ophthalmological reviews is collected, and forces employers to provide employees with “special corrective apparatus appropriate to the work in question”. A pioneer sentence. The sentence recognizes the employee the relevance of the application of that 90/270 directive and the European jurisprudence with a Judgment issued in Italy where this right is also recognized that employers must provide special corrective devices (such as glasses) if medical recognitions justify them. The sentence distinguishes between “normal corrective devices” (general use, out of work) and “special corrective devices” (specifically necessary For tasks with screens), putting the focus in the latter, since the employee only reported “visual acuity disorders that had been diagnosed, however, it is incumbent at the aforementioned jurisdictional body to verify whether the graduated glasses in question effectively serve to correct view disorders related to their work and not general view problems.” Thus, the sentence fails in favor of the employee forcing the administration of the Principality of Asturias “to be carried out an ophthalmological medical examination, (…) as well as that they are given with graduated glasses if they were prescribed by said option as necessary to perform their daily work in front of the computer screen or reimburse them The expenses of its acquisition“, is specified in the sentence. Why is the sentence important? The application of these regulations by the Mieres Social Court feels a precedent in the prevention of occupational hazards, normalizing the ocular protection of those employees who are exposed to long days in front of screens without the equivalent of protection to a helmet in the case of workers or gloves for a carpenter. Maria Guadalupe Lorenzo, lawyer of the Legal Service of the Usipa-Saif Union of Asturias that has led this case, says that “from our union we are already formulating claims of the future extensions of effects to this sentence for the labor personnel who are in a similar situation, as well as claims for the official personnel and other affiliated workers. There will be multiple claims and surely more sentences in this regard.” The sentence is firm because the Principality has not appealed, so its application is immediate. In Xataka | Going to the bathroom is not work: a Swiss court allows a company to force its employees to sign when they go to the bathroom Image | Unspash (Nonsap Visuals)

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