forest

Ávila is proof that the large forest fires are here to stay

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If we talk about forest fires, 2025 was a tragic year. The flames burned tens of thousands of hectaresthey punished natural places as The Marrows or the surroundings of Lake Sanabria and left one of the worst episodes in the history of Spain: the fire of Larouco, Quiroga and Oencia, in the northwest of the peninsula, which stained with ash 37,675 hours. They were missing 19 days to break it. That figure marked a milestone and turned it into the worst episode of its kind in the recent history of Spain, a nightmare that seemed difficult to overcome. It didn’t take us even a year to destroy that brand. What has happened? That the summer of 2026 is being bloody in terms of forest fires. a few weeks ago a fire in Los Gallardos, Almería, claimed the lives of more than a dozen people and in recent days the flames have forced firefighters to be mobilized in several regions of Spain, including the two points that are currently generating greater expectation: he peninsular center(Madrid, Ávila and Toledo) and Vall d´Uixóin the province of Castellón. 🟠 VP Sara Aagesen announces, from the Navalcarnero advanced command post, that the Ávila fire is already the largest in the recent history of Spain → More than 77,000 hectares affected between Ávila, Madrid and Toledo → Ávila: ~50,000 | Madrid: +25,000 | Toledo: +2,000 pic.twitter.com/zblpsSLUyG — Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge (@mitecogob) July 26, 2026 Is it that worrying? Yeah. I recognized it Just yesterday the Minister of the Environment, Sara Aagesen: “We are experiencing an extraordinarily complicated season. As complicated as we have had 153,000 hectares affected throughout the national territory, which is six times more than the year 2025, if we compare with the same period. 2025 was extremely complex and complicated and we are seeing how this year it is multiplied by six.” Are they all the same? No. The situation is particularly worrying in the territory between the Community of Madrid and the provinces of Ávila and Toledo. At least that is what the data that the Government has been advancing suggests. According to InteriorBetween the three fires, 89,763 people have been affected: 59,896 have been evacuated and 29,867 confined. Regarding charred surface, yesterday Aagesen pointed to more than 77,000 hectares between the three territories: just over 2,000 in Toledo, 25,000 in Madrid and nearly 50,000 in Ávila. 🟧 Balance of forest fires as of July 25. They are provisional from January 1 → 131,113 forest hectares affected in 2026 → 32 major forest fires In the same period of the previous year there were 24,133 hectares and seven large fires pic.twitter.com/PMHIutPo0Z — Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge (@mitecogob) July 25, 2026 🚨 UPDATE | DATA #IFBurgohondo ➡️ Graph with number of evacuated and confined people: pic.twitter.com/vIvONai0oY — Ministry of the Interior (@interiorgob) July 26, 2026 50,000 hectares? Correct. That last fact is the most striking (disheartening) of all, as recognize the minister: “In the case of Ávila we are talking about the largest forest fire in recent history in our country.” The truth is that today it exceeds the extent of other critical episodes, such as the one suffered in 2025 in Zamora or that of Cabrera Llamasin Bierzo. The Burgohondo (Ávila) episode also surpasses the Losacio fire, in Zamora, which became one of the most devastating in the recent chronicle of Spain, with more than 35,000 hoursor the one that last August punished the provinces of Ourense, Lugo and León, which until not long ago some experts considered the largest in the history of Spain, with a balance of 37,765 hours calcined 📢🔥⚫️We ask you to avoid traveling on roads in the western mountains of Madrid, in the fire zone of Ávila, Toledo and Castellón and to stay informed through official channels. ➡️43 secondary roads are still closed. pic.twitter.com/J0TE8VLu6X — General Traffic Director (@DGTes) July 27, 2026 How is it possible? The big question. Factors such as weather conditions (especially the strength of the wind gusts) and the characteristics of the fires themselves, which advance on several fronts, come into play. The equation is, however, much more complex and other factors are added, including the imprudencehe abandonment of the mountains favored by the depopulation of rural areas or even a change in the characteristics of the fires, which, encouraged precisely by the accumulation of weeds and climate change, lead to the so-called sixth generation fires. Image | Ministry of Defense (X) In Xataka | Spain has more and more forests and fewer resources to prevent fires. Their solution: fire donkeys

We have found a fossilized excrement and now we know that in the driest desert in Asia 4,000 years ago there was a forest

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China has a few deserts, but there is one that stands out for its aridity: in the Tarim basinin northwest China, rain round 20 millimeters a year. Seeing a landscape of dunes and rocks so barren that it seems lunar, it is difficult to think that there were rivers, wetlands and poplar forests there 4,000 years ago. And yet, as a study just showedthere was. The key to everything was in the people who lived there in the Bronze Age. More specifically, in the fossilized excrement of their animals and the remains of charcoal from their bonfires. The discovery. The research team analyzed coprolites of multiple species of animals from Xiaohe culture sites and also charcoal left over from their bonfires. From here they obtained two pieces of information directly: what trees they used as fuel and what their animals ate. Or what is the same: what plants and trees were in the area. What is clear is that of all desert in the Bronze Age, nothing. Why is it important. The research team proposes that this prehistoric community already practiced a sedentary way of life from the early phases of occupation of that area, which includes livestock farming. The resources offered by that wetland (fishing, aquatic plants, grasses) were sufficient to maintain that town in that territory, without the need for agriculture. From an environmental point of view, the study provides first-hand information on what the Tarim landscape was like four thousand years ago, before aridification transformed the region. The Tarim has been characterized due to an extremely dry climate since the beginning of the Pliocene, although during the Holocene it experienced frequent fluctuations between dry and humid periods. This information is essential to model past climate change and thus better predict possible changes in Central Asia. Context. The Xiaohe culture occupied the Tarim Basin between 2050 and 1350 BC. C. and we know her above all for their mummiesfound in the desert during the 20th century with peculiar wool and leather outfits. However, we knew more about how they buried their dead than about their organization, relationship with the environment and their economy. In detail. The analysis revealed that 54% of the identifiable charcoals corresponded to poplars and willows and 18% to tamarisks, all of them flora typical of riverbank forests. These species are fast growing and regenerate easily, suggesting that the community exploited the forest in a more or less sustained manner for centuries. Considering the few remaining poplar trees, the team proposes that the landscape was organized into three zones: the riverine forest, riverside scrub, and beyond, the desert. The remains of feces preserved pollen grains and phytoliths that allowed us to reconstruct both the diet of the livestock and the nature of the landscape: 83% of all that pollen came from the cattail, an aquatic plant that has historically been used as food, fiber, and even as construction material. In the case of sheep poop, the percentage rose to 99%, a figure so high that the team explains that it is probably because the animals ingested the pollen by drinking water laden with it or by breathing the air during flowering. Yes, but. The first limitation to consider is that it is not always possible to know with certainty which animal each excrement comes from and that is not a trivial matter: not knowing how to differentiate between a sheep, a goat or a camel can be a great condition on its use. On the other hand, the large presence of cattail pollen may be misleading: this plant produces large quantities and resists degradation well, so the real landscape could have had more diversity than the data suggests. The question that remains unresolved is whether the Xiaohe people grew food from the beginning or not. Current evidence suggests not, but not finding them doesn’t mean they didn’t exist. In Xataka | Homo sapiens arrived in China 5,000 years earlier than we thought. And that changes what we believed about their culture. In Xataka | We have found tools from 300,000 years ago in China. And they turn what we believed about the paleo diet upside down Cover | Adaptations in ancient oasis woodlands of the hyper-arid Tarim Basin, Northwestern China: charcoal and coprolite analyzes

the great Spanish paradox of forest risk

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It seems like a contradiction, but that’s how paradoxes work. And this one in particular is so problematic for Spain that in nine out of ten configurations the result is always the same: whatever happens is bad for fires. But why? I mean, how is it possible that whether it rains or not, this country always has a problem with flames? The world on two scales. If it doesn’t rain, if we endure weeks or months of drought, the humidity of the material accumulated in the mountains (grass, bushes, leaf litter) drops. In addition, the soil temperature rises and living vegetation begins to become stressed. Just one spark is missing and boom, we have a fire source that is very difficult to stop. That is, drought worsens the risk today. The rain makes it worse, but it will do so tomorrow. Because if it rains, the vegetation grows (especially what we call fine fuel) and the continuity of the scrub increases. It’s biomass, biomass and more biomass. If it rains there is no risk, if it doesn’t rain: it is material that sooner rather than later will become fodder for the flames. The hell of the summer of 2025, started in spring… Sometimes we don’t focus much on this: wet springs are wonderful, but in our case it is also a potential danger. Not only because of what I explained above, but because (also) no one manages it. And that means that, if the trend continues in the direction it is going, we have to start seeing rainy winters as more than just a way to save the season. We must begin to see them as a clear reminder that we must invest in prevention, plan devices, firewalls, fuel management and all types of extensive farms that help contain the problem. Because climate change is not just “warmer.” A few days ago, AEMET itself reflected on How rainfall records are changing. Changes in the landscape and rural abandonment are a permanent source of problems and the so-called “bullwhip effect” only increases them: growth phases and drying phases that never stop coming and going. So yes, the great Spanish paradox with rains and fires is this: no matter what happens, in the coming years, we will always have problems with fires. Image | Karsten Winegeart In Xataka | In China they are deploying metal firefighters. Maybe they are more useful than robo-waiters

After the Fukushima nuclear accident, the pigs on the farms fled into the forest. Years later they were something different

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March 11, 2011 was one of the darkest days in Japan’s recent history. And probably the worst so far in the 21st century. An intense earthquake recorded off Honshu unleashed a tsunami with waves of more than ten meters that ended up precipitating an accident at the Fukushima plant. You have to go back to 1986, to Chernobyl, to find a similar incident. Today we know that that chain of misfortunes had an unexpected consequence: it gave rise to an involuntary experiment with pigs and wild boars. Pigs on the run. After the Fukushima Daiichi accident in March 2011, authorities rushed to evacuate all the people living in a radius of 20 kilometers of the nuclear power plant. Even those residing 20 to 30 km away were advised not to leave their homes. Today, a decade and a half later, we know that the Fukushima incident had another consequence: the pigs that until then were raised in domestic farms fled and took refuge in the forests, places that until then had served as home to wild boars. An XXL laboratory. The escape of the Fukushima pigs (and their clash with the wild boar populations) could have remained a minor anecdote if it were not for the fact that it gave rise to a curious improvised experiment. An involuntary one, which no one had planned, but which, due to the chances of history, ended up turning the forests of the exclusion zone into a gigantic zoological laboratory. The reason? Escaped pigs and wild boars ended up mating. “Without repeated introductions and minimal human activity, the region became a rare natural hybridization experiment,” explains Fukushima University. The experience was certainly interesting enough to attract the attention of Shingo Kaneko and Donovan Anderson, from Hirosaki, who decided to carry out a genetic study to better understand the results of crossing pigs and wild boars. Their conclusions have just been expressed in a published article a few days ago in the magazine Journal of Forest Research. What did they find out? Perhaps the most surprising has to do with the renewal of populations. Domestic pigs and wild boars differ not only in their appearance. They also show different patterns. For example, while the latter reproduce once a year, the former, the pigs we raise on farms, show a much faster cycle throughout the year. Kaneko’s study shows that this peculiarity of domesticated animals was maintained after their escape and was transmitted during hybridization through the mother. five generations. There is one piece of information that helps to better understand how accelerated its reproduction rate has been. For their study, the researchers analyzed the mitochondrial DNA and genetic markers of more than 200 animals captured over three years, between 2015 and 2018. One of the first questions they tried to clarify was: How related were these specimens to the pigs that escaped in 2011? How many came from that domestic lineage? Their conclusion was surprising: many hybrids were already more than five generations away from the original cross, suggesting “unusually rapid genetic renewal.” they add from Fukushima University. “Although it has previously been suggested that hybridization between pigs reintroduced into the wild and wild boar could contribute to population growth, this study shows, by analyzing a large-scale hybridization event following the Fukushima nuclear accident, that the rapid reproductive cycle of domestic pigs is inherited through the maternal lineage.” A diluted inheritance. It was not the only conclusion that the experts reached. Another, just as curious, is how hybrid creatures evolved. That domestic females favored a higher rate of reproduction does not mean that their inheritance was more pronounced. Quite the opposite. Farm sows energized generational renewal, but the initial strength of their genes was diluted little by little. “Rather than prolonging the genetic influence of domestic pigs, maternal pig lineages actually accelerated genetic turnover in wild boar populations,” apostille from Fukushima. Why is it important? The research is not interesting only for what it reveals to us about the Fukushima exclusion zone. Their conclusions go further and have practical implications for the rest of the world. Experts have long been concerned about hybridization between domestic and wild animals (especially between pigs and wild boars) due to its ecological repercussions. Curiously, the accident that occurred in Japan in 2011 has offered researchers a huge laboratory to better understand the phenomenon and how to address it. “The findings can be applied to wildlife management and invasive species damage control strategies,” Kaneko celebrates. “By understanding that the pig’s maternal lineage accelerates generational turnover, authorities can better predict the risks of population explosion.” Images | Max Saeiling (Unsplash), Wikipedia and Fukushima University In Xataka | An unprecedented experiment is happening in Ukraine: bombs have turned dogs into other animals

In Oregon there is a forest with a tattoo that appears every fall: a giant emoji

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Imagine that you are walking down a road and, out of nowhere, the mountain begins to smile at you. Stop imagining it because that is precisely what happens on Highway 18 in Oregon. Between two towns, those who drive along that road in the autumn season, find a gigantic emoji made up of hundreds of trees. And more than a nod to drivers, it is a demonstration that, when we want, we can reforest sustainably. A tattoo in the forest. The pattern has been repeating itself for a few years. When the temperatures drop and the days get shorter, a huge smiling emoji appears on the side of Mt. This is neither a curiosity nor a coincidence: it is something premeditated and measured to the millimeter by David Hampton and Dennis Creel. David is co-owner of a logging company called Hampton Lumber and Dennis, its forestry manager. In 2011when the company was preparing to reforest an area of ​​the forestthey wondered if they could have a little fun and create something that would bring joy to anyone passing by on the highway. After a meticulous planningthey started planting conifers, but not just any conifers. The science behind reforestation. The process was complex. The team that was going to carry out the plantation drew a circle of about 90 meters in diameter using a rope and, starting from the center, triangulated the positions of the eyes and mouth. They spent a week taking measurements and, when they finished, they began to plant. The chosen trees They are two species of conifers: the Pseudotsuga menziesii and the Larix occidentaliyes. Conifers are evergreen, which means they do not lose their leaves in autumn, but Larix occidentalis It has a peculiarity: they lose all their needles during the fall. When the weather changes, the chlorophyll responsible for giving that green color breaks down, so the leaves retract and golden pigments are revealed. There is a reason behind this pattern: by losing its needles, this species reduces the weight load on its branches, which allows them to withstand winter snowfall better and, in addition, they are also more aerodynamic. In short, they are more resistant to structural damage and, in spring, when it absorbs nutrients, the leaves turn green and the emoji disappears until the following fall. Message. Reforestation is not planting trees without rhyme or reason. Although in some areas fields are being replanted with suitable trees, in many others non-endemic or non-endemic species are being planted. They will not withstand extreme conditions like those caused by climate change. Beyond the positive message to drivers, Hampton Lumber created this as reminder that forest areas that are “harvested” can grow back strong and regenerate in a healthy and sustainable way. During the growth of conifers, the forest is free access for visitors who engage in outdoor activities, and their intention is for the emoji to be an example of sustainable growth and… artistic expression? Emoji for a while. Currently, the company plant a million trees a year, but no area is as iconic as that segment between Willamina and Grand Ronde on Highway 18. The estimate of the company is that the smiling face will be visible for another 30 or 50 years. It will be the point at which the trees in that area reach maturity and are processed. Now, they also comment that, as time goes by, the emoji will lose “definition.” The leaves of conifers can lose some of their vitality over the years and strange things can happen to that friendly smiling face in the bush. Image | Tedder In Xataaka | China is carrying out the most ambitious reforestation project in the world: a “wall” of 4,500 kilometers of trees

The maps that explain why Castilla y León have become the “zero zone” of forest fires

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The fires are a pressing problem every summer, but in the midst of the heat wave that shakes peninsular Spain, the problems derived from fire grow Without giving us breath. One of the areas most affected by fires is the northwest quadrant of the peninsula. Something that we can verify in a series of maps that show us the present and future risk of fire. Fire risk, from satellites. The Risk Management Service of Copernicus, the land observation system of the European Union, shows us on a map the Areas with greater risk of forest fires In the continent. The map shows the FWI fire meteorological risk index (Fire Weather Index), distinguishing areas with low, moderate, high, very high and very extreme risk. The map allows us to visualize the risk we face: a good part of the Northern Plateau, in addition to areas of the Cantabrian, Pyrenees, Galicia and other areas present in index greater than 2.5, which implies very extreme risk. Southern Europe, and beyond. The map covers not only peninsular and Balearic Islands, but also the rest of Europe and surrounding areas. In fact we can see in it that the very extreme risk situation extends not only to northern Portugal, also to most of the center and south of France. Other areas in this situation can be found in the Balkans, Greece, Romania, Bulgaria, Slovenia, Austria and Hungary. Important anomalies are also indicated in Nordic countries, such as Sweden, Norway and Finland. A problem that will go worse. The Copernicus map covers this week together, from day 11 to 17. However we can resort to other maps that allow us to see the evolution of risk during the next few days, Fire risk maps of the State Meteorology Agency (Aemet). What these maps show us is not an invitation to optimism. Aemet fire risk forecast evolution on August 14, 15 and 16. State Meteorology Agency. The stain extends. The extreme risk today focuses on Andalusia, Extremadura, the west of Castilla y León, and the Pyrenees, as well as areas located in Galicia, Basque Country, Murcia and other communities. However, tomorrow this area under extreme risk will expand both in the peninsular northwest and in Extremadura, the Basque Country and Murcia. On Friday and Saturday the “red spot” will continue to grow. On Saturday, only specific areas on the coast and in mountainous areas will be fought from the very high or extreme risk. The devastation of a fire. In addition to risk maps, Copernicus also allows us to visualize the ravages that active fires have already caused. Example of this It is the fire of El Arenal, in Ávila, which has already affected almost 1,800 hectares of surface. In Xataka | In the middle of the fire, there is something that Spanish firefighters are very aware: the 30-30 rule Image | Copernicus / Aemet

In Spain there is no summer without forest fires. Nor in which you do not talk about the fearsome rule of 30-30-30

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In Spain there is no summer without beaches. Nor without fire. Fire is hitting areas of Galicia, Castilla y León, Catalonia either Andalusia, sweeping hectaresforcing to evacuate hundreds of people and affecting even to icons like the place of Las Médulasin the Bierzo. With that backdrop, firefighters remain attentive to a key factor in forest fires. Which? The ‘rule of 30-30-30’. What is the ‘Rule of 30-30-30’? A formula that helps us understand when the elements play against firefighters and favor of forest fires. It is not new And it has above all a didactic dimension, but if something cannot be denied to the ‘Rule 30-30-30’ (o ‘rule of 30’) is that it is intuitive. Basically, what identifies are those scenarios in which the temperature exceeds 30ºC, the wind gusts exceed 30 km/Hy the relative humidity is below 30%, conditions that facilitate the expansion of the flames. Why is it interesting? Because as remember The University of Chile (Uchile) offers “an alert signal”, an indicator that recalls that there have been a cluster of “very favorable conditions” to spread the fire. “The origin of the term is not scientifically demonstrated, but approaches the conditions of extreme care that the manager should take knowledge to take measures,” Miguel Castillo explainsCenter researcher. The ‘Rule of 30-30-30’ stands out for its practical nature, especially when planning fire prevention strategies and informing the population. “It’s useful”, summarize The academic. “For example, if the meteorology indicates that in 72 hours a burst of permanent and dry wind will arrive and the conditions will not fall from the 30ºC or 32ºC, the communities should establish certain mechanisms.” Do more factors influence? Yes. Perhaps heat, intense winds and low humidity are “the ingredients of a perfect storm” for the spread of forest fires, but castle itself remember that there is another crucial factor: the human. Their own data The Ministry of Environment shows that a good part of the great fires that are declared in Spain cause them accidents, negligence or even intentionally. WWF in fact calculates that 95% of fires respond to human causes and 53% are deliberately caused. Man also influences the state of the fields and mountains. “The strong depopulation and rural aging, the cessation of traditional agricultural activities, the absence of forest exploitation and serious policies that manage the territory has transformed the territory,” Remember wwf. “This increase in forest surface does not translate into the increase in healthy, stable and diverse forests. The cultivated and grazing areas in the past are today covered by thickets, young pioneer or monoespecific rods that, without adequate management, are condemned to burn sooner or later. “ Is the ’30’ rule fulfilled? As Castillo recalls, the ‘Rule 30-30-30’ is useful when preventing disasters and alerting the population. Reality however is something more complex. A few years ago Civio analyzed The large forest fires registered between 2007 and 2016 and proved how many of them were adjusted to the ’30 rule’, that is, they had given the mercury above 30ºC, wind gusts of more than 30 km/hyo a humidity of less than 30%. What did you find out? That were adjusted to those parameters 72 of a total of 196 fires, about 37%. The key is again the one that slides the Chilean expert: at stake more factors enter the strictly climatic. “In the devastating expansion of a great fire you have to take into account other variables such as the type of vegetation and topography,” Comment Miguel Ángel Soto, from Greenpeace. Going down to detail. If we analyze the different factors of the ‘rule of 30’ separately, we verify, however, they do influence forest fires. Of the 196 registered fires between 2007 and 2016, in 153 the windfall exceeded 30 km/h. In 80 the temperatures reached or exceeded 30ºC. “The great fires occur by a cocktail effect: the more elements introduce in the shaker, the more possibilities you have to face an ungovernable fire,” agrees Soto “If the ‘rule of 30’ is fulfilled we will be facing the worst possible scenario, but if there are two variables it is also serious.” The last fires that have hit in recent days Galicia, Castilla y León, Andalusia either Cataloniasweeping thousands of hectares, have coincided with a heat wave. In the Bierzo, which has seen the medulla, the thermometer passes from 30ºC with relative humidity levels that have been below 30%. Image | Civil Guard (X) In Xataka | In 1993, an author predicted devastating fires in Los Angeles of 2025 and the “Make America Great Again”

He had almost five millennia hidden under the Romanian forest

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Lidar has become a central tool in archaeological work. One that has allowed us to find entire cities Lost centuries ago Inside dense forest areas in remote places. But we must not go too far to run into findings promoted by this technology. Bronze age strength. An example is in the remains of a fortress recently found In the Neamt district, in Romania. The remains have been dated in the early bronze age, and their finding was made through measurements by lidar Lidar. Lidar is acronym (Light detection and rangingeither Laser imaging detection and ranging) with which we refer to an analogous technology to the radar but that makes use of the laser instead of the radio waves used by the veteran detection system. This technique has become a very useful tool for archeology since Allows you to explore precisely The relief hidden under vegetation, even when it is dense. This implies that the equipment does not have to perform extensive cleaning of the land, with the consequent impact on local biodiversity. What is more, allows to obtain valuable information before setting a foot on the ground: thanks to the use of drones, the preliminary work can be done at a distance. As a counterpoint, this technology requires additional expert knowledge. The hidden fortress. The site It would correspond to a settlement with various fortified areas and has been dated in the early bronze age, between the fourth and the third millennium before our era. That is, between 4,000 and 5,000 years ago. As explained by the Equio responsible for the study, the spatial disposition of the fortifications allows us to conclude that they had the function of protecting or controlling a “clearly defined” geographical territory. A territory rich in resources such as salt. The study has not yet been the filter of the review by peer and subsequent publication in a magazine, but was presented at the Landscape Archaeology Conference held last year at the University of Alcalá. He abstract or summary can be consulted through the repository Researchgate. The complexity of the environment. Lidar gives archeology a different perspective, an aerial vision of greater precision than that would allow more conventional “bird’s bird” prospects, based on simple optical instruments. This does not imply that all work is done: the land still hidden important information about who built this fortified environment and what their motives were. “Even if some details related to the presence of defensive structures cannot be observed at the ground level, the detailed topographic image is absolutely necessary to understand the complexity of these fortifications in relation to the landscape that surrounds them,” explains the equipment in the abstractof the conference. In Xataka | The use of Lidar has helped discover that in the ancient Teotihuacán it was built so beastly that it affected later buildings, according to a study Image | Image by Lidar del Castillo Racochi, in Ukraine (without relation to the study). Panchuk Valentyn / Neamth district. Pixabay

Venice is an inverted forest that is sinking. There is a radical plan to save it: raise it 30 centimeters

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Venice is, in essence, a prodigy of Inverted engineering: It stands on millions of stuck piles On the contrary in the Lagunar mud, creating what has been described as a submerged forest down. These trunks, made with trees, have supported for centuries the burden of stone palaces and imposing bells without resorting to steel or concrete. The physical principle that supports this system is not based on the brute force of the materials, but on the friction of compressed humid soil that, together with wood and water, constitutes a resistant tripartite structure. However, that skeleton It has a serious problem. The abyss. The mythical city lives a cruel paradox: it is not only a city that floats, but one that It sinks. In the last century, the Venetian floor has descended about 25 centimeterswhile the sea level has risen about 30. In other words: it is a lethal combination that has triggered increasingly frequent and severe floods. While its decay adds some tourist magnetism (visiting it before it disappears), for Venetians it is a persistent threat that compromises your future. The city sinks two millimeters a year due to natural subsidence, while the waters increase some Five millimeters annually due to climate change. An unpublished plan. Before this existential threat, the engineer Pietro TeatiniAssociate Professor of Hydrology and Hydraulic Engineering at the University of Padua, proposes a solution as bold as controversial: physically raise the city Injecting water into aquifers deep between 600 and 1,000 meters under the lagoon. The idea is born from the observation of gas reservoirs in the Valle del Powhere when filling during the summer, the terrain rises, and goes down when they are emptied in winter. According to Teatini, through this technique, Venice It could rise 30 centimeters In a stable and homogeneous way, enough to grant a break of about five decades, in which the authorities could plan a definitive solution. Drill and drill. The project would consist of pour a dozen wells Distributed in a circle of 10 kilometers around the city, all located inside the lagoon. Water to be injected would be saline, taking advantage of the abundant local resource and without risk of contaminating fresh water aquifers. To ensure stability, it would be injected at low pressure and slowlyavoiding fractures in the underground rock. The choice of a wide circumference guarantees a uniform elevation that would not damage historical structures. Chioggiaat the southern end of the lagoon, it would be outside the radius of action. The system that was not enough. The search for solutions also exposes a failure. Currently, Venice’s main defense against high tides is The Mose system (Sperimentale Electromeccanico Module), a series of mobile gates that rise from the seabed to isolate the Adriatic Sea lagoon. Although it began to plan in the 80s and was tested for the first time in 2020, its cost has exceeded seven billion of euros and is not yet officially operational. Originally conceived to activate five times a year, since 2020 it has already been used about 100 timesreflex of the problem. Every time it is activated, interrupts maritime traffiche harms the port (the second most active in Italy) and alters the ecological balance of the lagoon by preventing the natural flow of water. Mosetherefore, it does not solve the problem, and Teatini proposes its project as a temporary complement by extending the combined functionality of both systems during those 50 yearsmargin that could be used to develop a definitive structural solution. Venice towards the end of the seventeenth century Underground technology Theatini’s plan It is not frackingnor is it based on extreme pressures. It is rather a controlled process that has been used in oil engineering to stabilize platforms. The idea is that water gradually penetrates the deep sandy substrate, expanding and pushing the ground up without causing fissures. A maximum elevation of 30 centimeters is the technical limit that can be achieved without compromise stability. The pumping rhythm would gradually reduce to avoid overloading aquifers, and the incorporation of additives that maintain the expansion achieved even if the pumping is interrupted is studied. To prove the viability, a pilot project is proposed in another part of the lagoon, less critical, with an estimated cost of Between 30 and 40 million euros. The complete implementation would be three times cheaper than the Mose. Plus: The approach is more realistic than other ideas raised in the past, such as shallow cement injections that were used limited to islands such as Poveglia in the 70s. Race against time. No doubt, some experts are skeptical. David Dobson, professor of materials at University College London, acknowledges that the idea generates “skeptical optimism”. It warns that the aquifers already collapsed (as happened in Marghera when water was extracted in the 60s) may not recover its original volume. In addition, injecting water is more difficult than gas, as it flows more slowly and requires greater pressure. However, he argues that, if a successful essay is carried out and the process control is demonstrated, the proposal It could be truthful. In any case, he points out that the root of the problem remains Global warmingand as long as it is not addressed, any solution will necessarily be temporary. Symbol and priority. Teatini has been studying the phenomenon of the Subsidy in Venice. His Thesis with doctorate He already addressed this problem, and was his former professor, Giuseppe Gambolati, who first proposed those deep injections as a solution. Today, in the face of institutional inertia, he insists that his proposal is the only technically developed that can begin to be tested immediately. In addition, with the creation in March 2025 of the New authority per the lagoona state entity that will be in charge of evaluating interventions in the lagoon and planning the future, a window of opportunity opens. Although every plan will have high costs, Teatini argues that it is a Reasonable investment and even possible with citizen financing. The big doubt. In addition, there is the … Read more

In the 60s Spain wanted to experiment with gamma radiation. The result was an “atomic forest” in Alcalá

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Before rowing us and getting into work I propose a game. One fast, simple and above all curious. Open Google Maps, activates the satellite vision (with that of the street the effect will not be the same), write “Alcalá Atomic Garden” And then let the web transfer you to a point located near Meco and the Northeast HighwayA-2. There, Google’s red claw. Approximate. What do you see? Exact. A Huge circumference green Symmetric. Perfect As if they had drawn it with an XXL size compass. If you dedicate a couple of seconds you will appreciate that it is formed by concentric circles, a succession Tree rings Almost and leafy enough to stand out in bird view and that someone planted in their day around a clear center. It is not a mistake. It is history. More specifically the footprint of “El Encín Gamma Radiation Field”an installation that in its day, back in the last decades of Franco, stood out on the country’s scientific map. His chronicle is fascinating. Almost as much as the large 15 -hectare wooded square left in Alcalá and that, In words From the anthropologist Ambrosio Sánchez de Ribera, it is “a singularity” at European level. New times, new science The 50s and 60s were times of change. For the world, which gradually entered into The cold war. And of course for Spain, where Franco seemed to enter a new phase marked by developmentalism and a certain cracking of its international isolation, with milestones such as The signing of the concordat with the Holy See In 1953, the Pacts of Madrid or the entrance to the UN, In 1955. The 50 were also time for something else: nuclear energy. With still the recent memory of Hiroshima and Nagasaki And in full arms race with Moscow, the US wanted international opinion not to focus only on the threat of atomic war and also value its civil and scientific uses. Probably the best proof of that effort is speech “Peace atoms”pronounced in 1953 by Eisenhower before the UN. “Instead of focusing exclusively on the dangers of atomic war, Eisenhower praised the Civil nuclear applications In agriculture, medicine and energy generation. He proposed to create an ‘international atomic energy organism’ that promoted the peaceful use of nuclear energy ‘for the benefit of humanity’ “, Remember Elisabeth Röhrlichhistorian of the University of Vienna. The result soon materialized: just Four years laterIn 1957, the International Atomic Energy Agency (OIEA) was created. Spain, who had started his own (and shy) history with nuclear energy to late 40did not remain impermeable to those changes. In the 50 Patria Press (Node included) already talked about the US plants either United Kingdom and experiments with radioactive sources applied to medicine and agriculture. In 57 Madrid even hosted a European FAO summit on the subject. Thus, with that backdrop, around 1959, Spain decided to take another step and, with the key mediation of César Gómez Campoan engineer with experience in the USA, planned to create his own “Gamma Radiation Field”a focused specifically designed to perform “crop and seed irradiation experiments”. The chosen place: El Encín, a plot away from Alcalá where Gómez Campo himself had been conducting studies for Agronomic Research Institute. The project advanced relatively fast, as Ambrosio Sánchez de Ribera recalls in a broad (and very complete) essay About the Encín published in 2018 in Complutenses Annals. In 1961, what time was lifted would be an active scientific installation whose footprint still shows today from Google bird: a field of study of 440 square meters of diameter, an area of ​​15 hectares and 18,000 trees, although in 2018 there were only 5,000 left. A huge outdoor laboratory The Encín was a huge outdoor laboratory. One with a design as peculiar as its purpose. The field was circular and was formed by a series of concentric rings arranged around an axis. In the center there was a circle of 25 m radius with a removable hexagonal greenhouse. Inside it contained a lead sarcophagus that housed the source of radiation with which scientists operated, Cesio137 from used bars of American nuclear reactors. Around that central almond of 50 m in diameter, protected with a concrete wall and a stepped soil slope of several meters high to avoid the radiation output, the nearly 18,000 trees that completed the circumference of 15 hectares were distributed. Its purpose was to serve as extra screen against radiation. By way of auction, the center had a garden of large trees and several constructions where the staff had its offices and laboratories. Clarified what the Encín was the other great question: What did they do in it in the 60s? Basically experiment with radiation to find mutations that in last terms allow to achieve varieties of interesting vegetables, fruits or seeds for their characteristics. What is called induced mutagenesis. Gómez Campo himself explained In 1964, which centers such as El Encín were dedicated: “Essentially it consists of a gamma ray emitting source that is installed in an open field, so that the irradiation of growth or relatively bulky animals is possible.” Certain hours a day and for several months a year, at the Alcalá base the technicians opened the lead sarcophagus so that the gamma ray emitting source could act in the center of the field, the 50 m area of ​​diameter protected with a wall and slope in which plants, seeds, insects or some animals were exposed. “The dose received depended on the distance from Cesio137”, Sánchez de Ribera clarifies. When the years of irradiation ended the lead sarcophagus fell again, the caesium was locked and the researchers could access to work. The El Encín field worked 12 years, Between 1961 and 1973when his activity was complicated by the construction of a cement factory in the surroundings. The dust hindered research, so that in 73 it was decided to remove the radioactive source and transfer it to the Polytechnic University of Madrid. There he was only three years before embarking on … Read more

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