giant

VivaGym buys Synergym and creates the first Iberian fitness giant

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VivaGym, the gym chain low cost controlled by the American fund Providence Equity Partners, has closed the purchase of Synergym in what will be, when regulators give the go-ahead, the largest business operation in the history of the fitness Spanish. The resulting group will exceed 450 clubs between Spain and Portugal, will have a turnover of more than 270 million euros and will have close to one million members. according to account The Confidential. It is the biggest move by Cristina Burzako, former director of Movistar+, since she took over in November 2025, and Providence’s fourth purchase in the Iberian market since she landed in VivaGym two years ago. Why is it important. Spain has 1.4 million more gym subscribers than two years ago. The exercise craze is as real as it is recent (on this scale), and has reached the point where the social trend becomes an investment thesis. In figures. The sector’s jump explains why Providence is hitting the accelerator right now: 6.2 million subscribers in Spain at the end of 2024, compared to 4.8 million in 2022. 29% more in two years. The sector invoiced 1,650 million euros in 2025. More than double that before the pandemic, a clear turning point. 3.3% of the Spanish GDP is already represented by sport and fitnesscompared to 1.5%-2% of the European average. The backdrop. The gym fever in Spain is not an intuition, it is a statistical series that we have verified with the five-year CSD surveys on sporting habits. And depending on how you measure it, it tells two stories that point in the same direction. The Ministry’s official survey shows how many Spaniards say they subscribe to a gym, including municipal sports centers and sports clubs. The EuropeActive series, on the other hand, measures only subscriptions to private chains, which are the ones that VivaGym and Synergym dispute. The former has gone from 3% to 30.7% in a quarter of a century. The second has added 1.3 million net members since 2015. The two curves accelerate from 2022. Between the lines. The key phrase was said by Juan del Río, former CEO of VivaGym, a few months ago: “A regional champion should not have less than 500 gyms on the peninsula if he wants to defend himself well.” how to collect Play2book. That figure marks the threshold that VivaGym has just touched. It is the same logic that Mercadona, Dia and Lidl applied two decades ago, or Ryanair and Vueling shortly after: When a business depends on tight margins and volume, size stops being an option and becomes a condition of survival. A chain of 100 gyms does not negotiate the same rents as one of 500. It does not buy equipment at the same prices. You can’t afford the same investment in branding. He low cost It only works if you are big, and you are only big if you buy from someone who is not yet big. Providence does not buy gyms to manage them, it buys them to build a platform large enough to squeeze the landlords, squeeze purchasing centers and, when the time comes, sell to another fund or take it public. It is the same manual with which the oligopolies of the retail food and European aviation low cost. The contrast. The mirror is Basic-Fit, the listed Dutch operator that has more than 1,500 clubs in Europe and has shown that the model scales. It went from 90 to 139 centers in Spain in a single year. They are known for being “the ones with the backpacks”. VivaGym aspires to something similar, backpacks aside, but without leaving the Iberian Peninsula. But there is an important difference: Basic-Fit is a listed company. VivaGym, on the other hand, remains owned by a fund that, sooner or later, will want to exit. Yes, but. The sector has a common flaw: profitability is elusive. Between 2020 and 2023, the fifteen main chains accumulated more than 420 million euros in losses. In 2023, only five companies turned a profit. Billing is growing, but rents, debt and investment in openings eat into the margins. He low cost It works if you have scale. Without it, it’s a race against debt. The big question. Who is next? Synergym is not Providence’s first purchase in Spain, but the third: in the summer of 2024 absorbed ten Smartfit clubs and in November of the same year acquired Altafit for around 200 million euros. The operation with Synergym is the fourth coup in less than two years. There remain mid-sized players who fit into a second round: McFit, Fitness Park, Anytime Fitness, BeOne and a handful of regional chains. But the margin is getting smaller: the top ten chains already concentrate 54% of the market, according to DBK. The first five, 37%. The pattern is the same as always: when a sector begins to appeal to international capital, it stops being an open market and becomes an accelerated oligopoly. It happened with supermarkets, telecoms and airlines low cost. Gym fever is real. What is not yet clear is who will keep the account. In Xataka | The big lie of “cuqui fitness”: sport has been disguised as therapy to charge you more money Featured image | VivaGym

giant trains with 1,900 seats that are already being tested

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Madrid is immersed in the renewal of its Cercanías. The Autonomous Community has been demanding greater investments for years to modernize infrastructure and expand its capacity, suffering from overcrowded trains and recurring breakdowns. Part of these renovations will come with 79 new trains that significantly expand the capacity of the lines. And some have already arrived for their tests. The Cercanías in Madrid. It has become a political battle between the central and regional governments. One more. But the truth is that Cercanías Madrid has been suffering continuous delays and overcrowded trains on many of its lines for years. For testing, In 2018, Fomento already had reports that the regional network was saturated and needed urgent modernization. That same year, it was announced Comprehensive Improvement Plan for the Madrid Cercanías Nucleus 2018-2025 with a planned investment of more than 5,000 million euros. It includes various improvement actions such as the actions in Atocha or Chamartín (which remain ongoing) but as far as is palpable for the average user, the improvement has barely stopped at the improvement of the Recoletos tunnel between Atocha and Chamartín. On the horizon there are various expansion actions, both in the north and south of the region. This lastIn fact, it is associated with the comprehensive renovation of line C-5the one that moves the most passengers in Spain and which will be improved to accommodate new 200-meter-long Stadler trains that, right now, do not have enough space for their journeys. New trains. Taking into account the saturation of the lines in large urban centers, In 2019 Renfe puts out to tender the purchase of 211 new trains. The text already states that there is the possibility of purchasing another 120 additional trains. The value of the contract is 2,270 million euros. This contract anticipates the arrival of 176 100-meter trains and 35 200-meter trains. Among the 100-meter-long trains, 79 of them correspond to high-capacity models. Stadler, who won the contract together with Alstomis responsible for supplying its T100 and T200 models. In both cases they are trains that have already arrived in Madrid but, at the moment, they are in the testing phase in Aranjuez. The objective is that “at the end of summer” they are already in operation the first units in Madrid. five trains. It is, for the moment, the forecast proposed for that first landing on Madrid’s roads. The fleet renewal project involves the incorporation of three Stadler T100 trains and two T200 units, which are currently in the testing phase for homologation. Once they join, The capacity will grow by 20% compared to the current Civia. In the case of the T100, the increase in passengers is limited because both models (the existing ones and the new ones) have around 900 seats but the T200 increases the capacity to 1,884 passengers. The T100 model has a mixed height since two of the four cars are double-deckers. In addition, a fifth car can be added and provide the same service as the T120. For their part, the T200 are larger volume trains with two floors in all their cars, but their size can be reduced to 160 meters, which facilitates their versatility and can be used on lines where larger trains do not enter the stations. The new trains will be able to move from eight to 16 bicycles inside What improvements will we see? Both train models have Greater interior space for travelers with a more open layout and specific spaces to transport bicycles (eight in the T100 and 16 in the T200) and strollers. Improvements in Wi-Fi and an increase in available sockets for charging your phone are also promised, as well as improvements in car air conditioning. In addition, of the 10 doors of the T100, six of them will not have steps (12 of 20 in the T200) so the Ministry of Transport promises safer and faster ascents and descents. A new passenger information system has been added, they will have a new interior surveillance system and can reach up to 140 km/h maximum speed. When and where? As we say, at the moment the project involves the incorporation of three T100 trains and two T200 units late summer 2026. Renfe assures that these trains can operate on all Madrid routes except for line C-9, which is the one destined for Cotos and due to its high mountain characteristics, they cannot accommodate trains of this size. What is not confirmed is which lines will be the first to receive the new Cercanías trains nor on what date the fleet of 79 trains that must arrive to the Madrid service will be fully available. For now, the Ministry of Transport promises that before the end of the year we will see 17 new trains on Madrid’s tracks (nine Stadler T100 and eight T200). The remaining deliveries should arrive gradually but there is no definitive date for their arrival. Photo | Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility In Xataka | Renfe, Iryo and Ouigo were wondering how much money we would pay for the AVE. They found out the hard way

12 light years away, in a giant that humiliates Jupiter

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Although we have all complained at some point about the clouds when they have ruined us a sunny daywithout them the Earth would be much more inhospitable. Therefore, the discovery that the James Webb Space Telescope has just made on an exoplanet located 12 light years from us is really interesting. It’s not ammonia, it’s water. Epsilon Indi Ab is a gas giant even larger than Jupiter, located in a star system made up of two brown dwarfs and a K-type star. This planet is known to have clouds in its atmosphere, just like Jupiter. Given their similarity, one could expect that the clouds of both would have the same composition. Jupiter’s clouds are basically made up of ammonia. However, when some scientists have analyzed the composition of the clouds of Epsilon Indi Ab with the help of James Webb, they have discovered that there is hardly any ammonia in them. In reality they are composed mostly of frozen water, like what we have here on Earth. Hotter than expected. The exoplanet Epsilon Indi Ab is located at a distance from its star similar to that which separates Uranus from our Sun. Uranus is a very very cold planet for obvious reasons. However, Epsilon Indi Ab is much larger and younger, so it still retains much of the heat that came with its formation. Although there is no clear figure, it is believed that it may have an average temperature of 0ºC. That may seem cold to us if it catches us on Earth without shelter, but for a planet so far from its planet it is quite hot. That heat is emitted in the form of infrared radiation and this is where the good stuff begins. James Webb comes into play. The James Webb Space Telescope It has a great ability to detect and measure infrared light. Therefore, it has been with it that these clouds have been analyzed. To do this, the first step was to block the star’s light. If this were not done, it would interfere with the infrared radiation emitted by the planet and could not be analyzed properly. Once this was done, filters that capture 10.6 and 11.3 μm of light were used. Thus, the observation would focus on the planet’s radiation, right in the ranges of interest. Ammonia crystals are known to block 10.6 μm light when it passes through them. If the clouds of our exoplanet were like those of Jupiter, a large blockage would have been observed in this range. But it wasn’t like that. There must have been another substance in them. By studying the 11.3 μm filters and also observing a slight emission of light at 3 and 5 μm, it was concluded that this other substance must be water. The cloud crystals of Epsilon Indi Ab are frozen water, like on Earth. A companion in the rear. Since water clouds are very important for the habitability of a planet, this finding demonstrates James Webb’s ability to analyze one more factor when searching for terrestrial analogues beyond our solar system. The best thing is that, as NASA announced this weekthe Roman Space Telescope, which will be launched in September if all goes well, can join forces with those of the James Webb, providing even more precise results. Perhaps we are facing the perfect team to find that planet we have been searching for for so long. Image | EC Matthews, MPIA / T. Müller, HdA In Xataka | James Webb has been detecting red dots in the universe for years: the only problem is that we don’t know what they are

We’ve found the secret ingredient for using desert sand in construction: sawdust and a giant sandwich maker

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At a time when humans do not stop building and erecting large buildings, there is a problem that should concern us more and more: there is a lack of sand to make concrete. But here anyone can laugh, since we have great deserts on the planet where there is a huge amount of sand that we could use without any problem. But it’s not that easy. The problem. Today, traditional concrete is quite exquisite, since river sand is necessary to achieve a good result. And it has to be that way, because the desert sand is too round and fine to be able to “stick” well. But the truth is that we were running out of this sand so necessary to continue building. In Xataka The rain has transformed the driest desert on the planet into a sea of ​​flowers. It’s a sight to behold and a problem for experts We have a solution. The University of Tokyo and the University of Norway they have hit the key to turn the tables, and the solution is not only to use the desert sand that a priori we have left over, but rather it is to mix it with plant waste to create a material that has received the name Botanical Sandcrete. The recipe. The recently published study details a process that deviates from traditional cement setting, using a hot-pressing technique instead. And for this you only need two ingredients: Fine desert sand which, as we have said before, is useless for conventional concrete due to its morphology. Wood particles and plant additives that act as organic “glue.” All this, together with a temperature of 180 ºC and high pressure, means that the wood components help create a solid matrix that traps the grains of sand and transforms them into a handful of powder in a block that has great mechanical properties. {“videoId”:”x7znesx”,”autoplay”:false,”title”:”Self-consumption building THIS IS HOW THEY WORK – Solar panels in apartment blocks”, “tag”:”solar”, “duration”:”564″} What is it for? Here we should not be happy to find an alternative to a problem that we already had on our heads, since we are not going to be able to build skyscrapers with these tomorrow. Here the researchers point out that the material, as it is right now, is a non-structural alternative.  In this way, its use is mainly focused on pavements, urban tiles and enclosure blocks or outdoor furniture. Things that are ultimately not pillars for large buildings, but do allow us to save river sand. Your advantage. Having an alternative, although it cannot be used in everything, allows us to drastically reduce dependence on quarries and the transportation of river sand. An action that results in the destruction of river ecosystems around the world by removing a fundamental element. In addition to all this, using wood waste and plant additives means that it has a much smaller potential carbon footprint than concrete based on classic cement. In Xataka 30 years ago the US was the country that dominated rare earths. This graph shows how China devastated at dizzying speed Its importance. To date, most attempts to use desert sand involved expensive chemical treatments or mixing them in very low percentages with conventional sand. But the focus of these researchers involves the use of biomass, making us a perfect example of a circular economy. And if we see the full context of the situation, we are taking advantage of a resource that is very abundant but a priori useless like desert sand, along with a byproduct of the logging industry. But logically it still remains to be seen how it behaves over time and how well it endures adverse conditions. Although a priori we are facing great news. Images | Keith Hardy rawpixel.com In Xataka | A 29-year-old young man has invented a cement that makes magnetic walls: a solution to hang things without a drill or screws (function() { window._JS_MODULES = window._JS_MODULES || {}; var headElement = document.getElementsByTagName(‘head’)(0); if (_JS_MODULES.instagram) { var instagramScript = document.createElement(‘script’); instagramScript.src=”https://platform.instagram.com/en_US/embeds.js”; instagramScript.async = true; instagramScript.defer = true; headElement.appendChild(instagramScript); – The news We’ve found the secret ingredient for using desert sand in construction: sawdust and a giant sandwich maker was originally published in Xataka by José A. Lizana .

Now a Chinese giant wants to turn it into the storage capital

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Navarra is a consolidated world leader in renewable energy, especially a leader in wind energy: back in 1994, it built its first park and since then it has not only dressed some of its most iconic mountains with wind turbines, but has also created a powerful business ecosystem around them that has earned it the nickname of being the Silicon Valley of wind turbines. The starting point. This industrial and technological tradition has laid the necessary foundations to be a pioneer in the next step of the energy transition. After almost three years of contacts and visits, Navarra has closed the agreement to install a Hithium Energy Storage battery gigafactory. As summarized the president of the Foral Community: “We know that China has decided to go out and invest in Europe and these are opportunities that Navarra cannot miss.” The project. The Government of Navarra together with Hithium Energy Storage will form a joint venture through the public company SODENA for the construction of a plant that will manufacture lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO4) cells and assemble complete stationary storage system batteries (BESS batteries). The agreement signed in China contemplates an investment of 450 million euros, according to Qui Tangdirector of Strategy at Hithium, and the creation of around 700 jobs, with the possibility of a second phase that would add about 300 more, as collects News from Navarra. Still with some to be closed, the start of production has been set for 2027 and the location with the most votes for its installation is the old BSH plant in Esquíroz/Ezkirotz, just five kilometers south of the Navarrese capital. Why is it important. The great pending issue for the European energy transition involves stationary batteries: without the capacity to store electricity generated by the sun and wind, the electrical system cannot absorb more renewables without compromising the stability of the network. Europe has a lot of installed generation and little of its own storage industry and that gap is precisely what Hithium comes to solve. On the other hand, manufacturing within the EU allows it to avoid tariffs and other bureaucracy that Brussels applies to Chinese energy products. For Navarra the impact has several levels. Beyond the obvious economic investment and employment, it represents a logical evolution: from becoming a benchmark in clean energy generation to becoming the manufacturing hub for the storage systems that will allow it to be managed. But Hithium will also be the second battery factory in Navarra: Hyundai Mobis already has its own in Noainalthough oriented towards electric vehicles. With this arrival, Navarra consolidates an industrial ecosystem around energy storage at the level of few European regions. Context. The movement comes at a time of reconfiguration of European industrial sovereignty against third parties through the Net-Zero Industry Act (NZIA). That Hithium chooses Navarra makes it possible for its production to carry the “Made in EU” label, thus complying with the sustainability and regulatory standards of the old continent. Navarra already had installed power and leading engineering companies, but it lacked the capacity to store energy. In the midst of the global energy crisis, demand for large-scale storage solutions has skyrocketed and Hithium was looking for a strategic port to supply the European market. The Foral Community has forged this agreement slowly, as the counselor explains of Industry, Ecological and Business Digital Transition of the Government of Navarra Mikel Irujo, after three years of negotiations and seven visits. In fact, Navarra has carried out a strategic project that was initially aimed at Euskadi, as ElDiario.es points out. Who is Hithium?. It may not be as well-known as CATL, BYD or Huawei, but Hithium Energy Storage Technology is a giant in its segment and is also a real teenager. Founded in 2019 in Xiamen (Fujian Province) by Wu Zuyu, engineer specialized in batteries and ex-CATLthe world’s largest manufacturer in the sector. Of course, unlike CATL, whose main business is batteries for electric vehicles, Hithium focuses exclusively in stationary storage for the electrical grid. Less media coverage than electric cars but essential for the energy transition. In record time she has gone from being unknown to becoming one of the leading manufacturers global stationary storage battery companies with a presence in more than 20 countries and more than 1,200 engineering professionals in a workforce of 8,000 people. The one in Navarra will be Hithium’s second factory outside of China (the other is in Dallas, Texas) and will be the company’s reference base for all of Europe. Yes, but. Although the agreement has been signed, Chivite itself has warned that there are still administrative steps pending and the location is still unclear. On the other hand, the joint venture with the participation of SODENA implies that the risk does not fall solely on Hithium: if the project is delayed or does not reach the objectives, the Navarrese citizens assume part of the consequences. The commitment to local employment is explicit and the Provincial government has promised to monitor itbut there are already precedents that invite caution. Leaving aside this specific case, there is a technological question that remains unanswered: Europe has foreign dependence on rare earths or semiconductors and this risk also affects batteries. It is true that a Chinese gigafactory on European soil generates local employment and produces within the EU, but the technology, intellectual property and strategic decisions continue to be made in China. In Xataka | The solar miracle that went wrong: Spain produces more electricity than it can manage In Xataka | We have a problem with heat in buildings. A Navarrese investigation knows how to cool them without air conditioning Cover | Hornsdale Power Reserve and Pamplona City Council

Universal quantum computers promise to change the world. Now they are closer thanks to giant super atoms

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The prototypes of quantum computers currently manufactured by IBM, Honeywell or Google, among other companies, are engineering prodigies. However, they have defectswhich currently greatly limits the range of applications in which it is possible to use them. The most important of all of them is that they make mistakes and they are still not able to correct them effectively. Scientists are working on developing advanced error correction systems, and if they achieve their goal, universal quantum computers capable of dealing with a wide range of problems will arrive. The Achilles heel of current quantum machines is the extreme fragility of their qubits. And they are very sensitive to disturbances from the environment. Their interaction with the space around them can cause quantum information to be lost or altered, preventing them from delivering a correct result. This phenomenon is known as quantum decoherence and it has the ability to degrade the quantum states that need to be protected in order to carry out operations with qubits. Currently, researchers are making an enormous effort to design effective strategies for isolating qubits from the environment. However, efforts are also being made to develop less fragile qubits, and therefore less sensitive to noise. This is the plan that several scientists at Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden are working on. And they have developed a completely new quantum system designed to protect quantum information and minimize interference from the environment. Its purpose is, neither more nor less, to pave the way for universal quantum computers or large scale. Less decoherence leads to more robust and higher quality quantum computers Quantum computing experts maintain that quantum computers that will have the ability to correct their own errors can be used to design exotic materials, and probably also to develop new drugs and in industrial optimization problems, among other tasks. These are some of the applications that the qubits implemented with giant superatoms proposed by the Chalmers University of Technology team led by applied quantum physics professor Anton Frisk Kockum could put in our hands. Giant Superatoms explore two ideas long known to quantum physicists: giant atoms and superatoms. Giant Super Atoms explores two ideas long known to quantum physicists: giant atoms and superatoms. Unlike isolated atoms, a giant atom in this context is an artificial qubit designed to interact with its environment using light or sound waves at multiple physically separated points. This peculiarity allows them to protect quantum states more effectively than conventional systems, reduce decoherence and remember past interactions. The problem with using giant atoms in quantum computers is that they have significant limitations when trying to entangle them. Entanglement is essential in quantum computing because it allows multiple qubits to share a single quantum state and act as a coordinated system. To solve this limitation, the Chalmers researchers have combined giant atoms and superatoms. A superatom is made up of several natural atoms that share the same quantum state and behave collectively as a single larger atom. Lei Du, one of Chalmers’ researchers, explains to us what is a giant super atom: “We can observe it as multiple giant atoms working together as a single entity, allowing them to exhibit a non-local interaction between light and matter. This allows quantum information from multiple qubits stored and controlled as a unit and without the need for increasingly complex surrounding circuits.” For the moment, giant superatoms are a theoretical proposal, but Professor Anton Frisk Kockum and his team are going to try to build a quantum system using them. If they succeed, they could have found a new type of qubit that is much more robust, and, therefore, suitable for use in the development of universal quantum computers. Image | Generated by Xataka with Gemini More information | ScienceDaily In Xataka | We already know what the chips that will arrive until 2039 will be like. The machine that will allow them to be manufactured is close

Carlos Li, CEO of TCL Europe, on the commitment to giant TVs to conquer the high-end

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TCL is in an enviable moment in the television market. In 2025 managed to sell 20% more TVs while other of its competitors such as Hisense fell. Even Samsung, world leader in sales, fell slightly and the separation with TCL, its most direct rival, is already barely 1% share. The striking thing about this growth of TCL is in which segment it has occurred: the high-end. Nobody dispatches more MiniLED TVs than them right now and giant screens (85 inches or more) take up more than 22% of the global market. ​ The coup de effect was the recent announcement of alliance with Sony. The agreement, which is expected to come into operation in April 2027 at the earliest, is the most eloquent sign of how far a company has come that, until not long ago, was seen as good value for money and that’s it. With all this context, we were able to chat with Carlos Li, CEO of TCL Europe, who explained to us the company’s next steps to continue growing in televisions, but also in other segments such as household appliances. TCL has conquered the market thanks to a very good quality-price ratio and now I suppose the challenge is the high-end segment. What is your strategy to convince the European consumer to invest three or four thousand euros in a TCL X955For example? “We are focused on technology and also on giant screens. We believe that bigger, especially if we want to motivate consumers to return to the living room to watch television more often as a family. It takes a good experience to watch games or movies and differentiate itself from other devices, such as phones or tablets. We simply offer bigger screens and better image and sound quality. For more premium products, we are working on improving the experience, both in audio and video, to create an immersive cinema or gaming environment. That’s it which motivates consumers to pay premium prices to get a better product for their daily use.” Do you see this being a trend across Europe or just in some countries? Is it also happening here in Spain? “Yes, it has been proven and has been very successful in many markets. First years ago in China, and now in the United States, Europe, emerging markets, Latin America and also in the Middle East. We see this trend because, thanks to better products and larger screens, people are buying more televisions than before, especially high-end products with higher prices. We think we are very competitive in that area.” The recent news about the manufacturing deal with Sony has generated a lot of buzz. Beyond the volume of business, do you feel that the fact that a brand as demanding as Sony trusts its subsidiary CSOT serves as a definitive validation of TCL’s engineering and all its experience in this field? “First of all, the possible cooperation between TCL and Sony is still in the phase of a memorandum of understanding (MOU). We are still in the process of migrating from the MOU to a contract, so there are many things under discussion. But the good thing is that both Sony and TCL see the synergy that we can create together due to our capabilities in the industry, especially in the supply chain, R&D, resources in terms of CSOT panels, and our continuous investment in new technological innovations. This creates the synergy. perfect between the two companies for a new joint venture. Everything is still in process, but I think it is good proof that both parties see good added value in the other for the business portfolio.” I know everything is under discussion right now and it may take time to talk things out, but is there a tentative date to operate together? “It is a long-term bet, we are at an early stage and the two companies really need to get involved in the new strategy. There will be contracts later, so we do not expect to have an immediate impact on the market in 2026. It is more of a medium-term impact, like five or ten years.” There is a lot of talk about mini RGB or RGB mini LED as the technology that will surpass OLED and even traditional mini LED. What is TCL’s vision regarding this technology? “We have been developing Mini RGB technology for years, although we did not announce it before. We believe that SQD is a better display technology with better quality in terms of brightness and contrast. In the end, RGB is a type of mini LED TV with red, green and blue, but it has a higher cost because instead of a single LED light, you need to have three. This technology is not new for us, we have been developing it for eight years, which is why we are also launching our RGB mini LED TV. However, along with that, we will strongly push our “SQD because it is a unique technology in the industry, very robust and linked to our CSOT panel technology. For the moment, we reserve the SQD technology exclusively for our TCL brand, which creates a much better image quality compared to a Mini RGB. So the Mini RGB will be just one of the products in our portfolio.” Will they prioritize SQD then? “We believe that SQD will be the main trend for the future. We think it is a better solution as a display technology, which can really surprise the end user while maintaining the original price, and that is why we propose this.” Appliances, glasses and other areas where TCL also wants its piece of cake Carlos Li during the inauguration of the new TCL office in Madrid Many people know TCL for their televisions, but they also have appliances and we are seeing a lot of movement from other manufacturers in this segment. What is TCL’s next move in Europe regarding home appliances? “In home appliances, and together with air conditioners, we are … Read more

It is a giant incubator for resistant bacteria

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The west of Almería is world famous for a colossal structure that can be seen from space itselfas is the ‘sea of ​​plastic’. Thousands of hectares of greenhouses that act as a true agricultural engine for all of Europe, which has a microenvironmental B side that science has just seen when analyzing everything that is on top of this amount of plastics. And the problem is not only visual pollution or the amount of microplastics that can end up in the sea, but the microscopic stowaways that travel in them. The microbiological world. As two recent investigations led by scientists from the Autonomous University of Madrid have pointed out, it has been seen that abandoned plastics They are not simple inert garbage; They are perfect vehicles for the development and spread of pathogens. And we are not talking about just any pathogens, but about bacteria that have inside them resistance genes very powerful against antibiotics. A topic that we have talked about on numerous occasions due to the problem it poses for public health and the challenge of searching for new medications to eliminate the bacteria that threaten our health. The first study. Published in 2025 and with a very clear objective ahead: to analyze the plastic samples that were collected in three key points of El Ejido. These points specifically were the interior of a greenhouse, a waste dumping area and the Punta Entinas-Sabinar nature reserve. When investigating the collected plastics, what they could see was a complex biological community, what science calls the “plastisphere“By analyzing biofilms, which are the layers of microorganisms attached to plastic, the researchers identified no less than 295 genes of antibiotic resistance commonly used, such as tetracyclines, macrolides and beta-lactams. The most alarming fact. Having a bacteria resistant to our main pharmacological weapons is honestly worrying, but the real fear comes when the team detects 52 mobile genetic elements. This means that bacteria use plastic as a meeting point where resistance mechanisms are shared among them, making a bacteria that can be destroyed with amoxicillin become resistant when in this contact. It’s literally like trading cards are being exchanged. How they arrive. These bacteria end up on top of the plastics, forming a biofilm precisely due to hazardous water and fertilizers that sometimes contain traces of antibiotics and microorganisms that end up colonizing these canvases. And the reality is that when a microorganism does not stop being in contact with an antibiotic, it eventually develops the mechanisms to block its effect. The second study. If these plastics were left locked in a room, the truth is that they would not cause any problems, but science has put figures on the worrying mobility of this waste. Here science documents how agricultural polymers escape from intensive exploitation and disperse through the soil, water, air and even the fauna of the area. On the nearby coast, the team collected 1,397 plastic fragments, analytically confirming that their composition exactly matches the materials used in local agriculture. And the worst of all is that in all these fragments that ended up elsewhere, associated pathogenic microorganisms were detected. Global health. The WHO itself points out that antibiotic resistance is one of the biggest threats for global public health. Until now, the focus was on hospitals and drug abuse in intensive livestock farming, but now these Spanish researchers have detected a new front on which action should be taken. And it is no wonder, since plastics are acting as reservoirs of resistant bacteria, which not only incubate superbacteria, but can also be transported by wind and water, which are responsible for spreading them throughout protected natural areas, aquatic ecosystems and food chains. Images | Roger Casas-Alatriste CDC In Xataka | Faced with the need to look for weapons against superbacteria, science has opted to send viruses into space

The world needs to get oil out of the Middle East by any means possible. Their only hope is 30 giant ships queuing in Yanbu

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The landscape off the coast of Yanbu on the Red Sea has completely changed in a matter of days. The area is now taken over by VLCCs (Very Large Crude Carriers), colossal supertankers capable of swallowing two million barrels of crude oil. They are not there just passing through; Its massive concentration responds to a single objective: to carry out the largest and most urgent evacuation of oil in recent times. A fleet to the rescue of the market. To understand the magnitude of this rescue operation, just look at the figures that provides Financial Times: What is happening is a real “flotilla of supertankers” sailing against the clock. About 30 of these giants head to Yanbu, when the usual thing is that only two arrive a month. The reason is that traffic in the Persian Gulf has come to a “stalemate” following the Iranian attacks. The maritime tracking data it handles Bloomberg give an idea of ​​the urgency: In just 48 hours, at least 25 of these giants have headed to the Saudi port. We are talking about a fleet with room to load some 50 million barrels that, otherwise, would have no outlet. It is an essential escape valve right now. The blockade has already caused world production to fall by 6% and the plug is so big that neighbors like Iraq and Kuwait they have had to start closing wells because, simply, they have run out of room in their tanks to store the oil. The “sea bridge” to avoid Iran. How do these ships load oil if they do not enter the Gulf? The answer is in the desert, but the result is seen in the port. Saudi Arabia is using your pipeline East-West like a turnstile. The crude oil travels overland 1,200 kilometers to Yanbu, where the “army” of ships awaits it to distribute it to the world, especially China and India. According to Wall Street Journal, This infrastructure has become “one of the most critical pieces of the world economy” overnight. The CEO of Saudi Aramco, Amin Nasser, confirmed in this medium that they are reaching their maximum capacity: 7 million barrels per day flowing westward. Of them, 5 million are destined directly to be loaded on these supertankers for global markets. The risk does not disappear, it just changes coordinates. But sailing to Yanbu is not a safe ride. As he warns Financial Times, The ships must now “challenge the notorious hotspot of Houthi attacks.” To leave for Asia, these supertankers have to cross the Bab al-Mandab Strait. Although the Yemeni group had signaled a pause in its attacks, experts from EOS Risk They assure that the tankers continue to assume an “enormous risk”, since the area is within reach of Iranian missiles. Even the port of Fujairah in the Emirates, which is also trying to act as an escape route, is already has suffered damage from drone attacks last week. The message is clear: the alternative is less dangerous than Hormuz, but it is not immune to war. The limits of the plan. The big question for markets is whether this armada of ships and desert pipelines can prevent economic collapse. The closure of Hormuz has taken 20 million barrels per day off the board and physical reality imposes its limits on the alternative route. On the one hand, there is a critical funnel in the port itself. According to data from the Argus Media agencyalthough the Saudi pipeline manages to transport up to 7 million barrels, the Yanbu terminals only have real capacity to load between 4 and 4.5 million a day on ships. Inevitably, supertankers will have to queue. On the other hand, the distillate crisis looms. As experts cited by Middle East Eyethe East-West pipeline transports crude oil, not refined products. No matter how many ships fill up in Yanbu, markets like Europe are left without their vital supply of diesel and aviation fuel, which is usually processed in the unreachable refineries of the Middle East. According to Sparta Commodities in statements for WSJwith this route only half of the problem has been “solved.” There are another 10 million barrels that are still trapped with no possible way out. Therefore, it is no longer “crazy” for a barrel to reach $200. The demand for oil is “inelastic”; the economy cannot stop consuming it from one day to the next, which generates brutal upward pressure. The geopolitics of “the worse the better” While ships maneuver in the Red Sea, in Washington the focus is purely strategic. Donald Trump has made it clear that stopping Iran is the priority, even above the price of gasoline. “We make a lot of money when prices rise,” the president even published on his social networks, emphasizing that the US, as a large producer, can afford a resistance that other countries do not have. For its part, the historic opening of the IEA’s strategic reserves (400 million barrels) attempts to “buy time,” but as analyst Javier Blas says, nothing replaces to the actual opening of the Strait of Hormuz. Image | Photo by Khristina Sergeychik on Unsplash Xataka | China has just found a hole in the US’s quietest weapon: an algorithm has hacked its B-2s in Iran

the Chinese battery giant is becoming more and more giant

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CATL, the world’s largest manufacturer of batteries for electric vehicles, closed 2025 with a net profit of 10.4 billion euros at the exchange rate, 42% more than the previous year. It controls almost 40% of the global market and there is no rival in sight that can overshadow it. It is also a consequence of the transition we are experiencing. We tell you all the details. Why does it matter? When talking about the transition to electric vehicles, the focus usually falls on car manufacturers, but there is a company that makes money from practically all of them, regardless of who sells the most cars. And CATL It’s something like NVIDIA of the automotive sector. If an electric car has a battery, there is almost a 40% chance that it is yours. And the percentage is increasing. The numbers. The company recently published its annual results. The report showed total revenues of 423.7 billion yuan (about 58 billion euros), 17% more than in 2024. Net profit reached 72.2 billion yuan, nearly 10.4 billion euros, which represents a jump of 42% and the highest annual growth in three years. In the fourth quarter alone, profit increased 57% year-on-year, beating forecasts by a wide margin. The electric car battery business represents 75% of revenue. On the other hand, energy storage, another of its businesses, contributes another 15%. As a consequence, its cash flow grows by 37%, to 133.2 billion yuan. Market share. According to data According to South Korean analysis firm SNE Research, CATL closed 2025 with a 39.2% share of the global electric vehicle battery market, up from 38% the previous year. It is the ninth consecutive year in which it leads the global ranking. In fact, it is the only company in the world with a share greater than 30%. Its sales of lithium ion batteries have reached 661 GWh, 39% more. Power batteries (those in cars) totaled 541 GWh, and stationary storage batteries, 121 GWh. Korea loses ground. The three large South Korean battery manufacturers, LG Energy Solution, SK On and Samsung SDI, have seen their accumulated share fall by 10.4% last January, according to collect Automotive World analysis. There are several reasons for this, but the most notable have to do above all with changes in US trade policy, which have weakened supply chains in its local market, and increasing dependency of global automakers on Chinese suppliers for offering lower-cost products. CATL gains share abroad and on top of that its direct competitors lose it. Your most profitable business is outside China. Precisely, income from abroad represents more than 30% of CATL’s total, and its gross margin in those markets reaches 31.4%, compared to the 24% it obtains in China. In other words, the more you sell abroad, the more you earn for each battery. And that turns its international expansion not only into a volume growth strategy, but also into an engine that offers increasingly greater profitability. Beyond the electric car. “The new energy industry is at a new historic turning point,” counted the company’s president, Zeng Yuqun, at the meeting with investors. Here he points to electric aviation, ships, data centers and large-scale energy storage as new fronts for the company’s expansion. CATL already leads the global market for batteries for stationary storage for the fifth consecutive year. At the end of 2025, it had six large R&D centers and 24 factories around the world, with an installed capacity of 772 GWh and another 321 GWh under construction. Two shadows in the painting. Although it is all good news for the company, there are also nuances. And the gross margins in car batteries and storage were slightly reduced in 2025 due to pressure on raw material costs and the price war in the sector. The company has also recorded asset impairment losses of around 9 billion yuan, linked in part to the suspension of its activity at the Jianxiawo lithium mine, paralyzed since August due to a licensing conflict. Production is expected to resume in June this year. On the other hand, we must not lose sight of its direct competitor in the domestic market: BYD and its new Blade battery second generation, which according to the company, is capable of charging from 10% to 97% in nine minutes, which could put CATL in a bind in the ultra-fast charging segment. Although for now BYD too has its own problems in China, since its share in batteries has fallen slightly and has accumulated six consecutive months of decline in domestic sales. Cover image | CHUTTERSNAP and CATL In Xataka | Finding the cheapest gas station in your area is very simple thanks to this very powerful tool

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