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Science has managed to turn off the extra chromosome of Down syndrome. It has also opened the great ethical debate on gene editing

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In the complex genetic map that surrounds the known down syndromethe problem is not that there is a lack of information in our cells, but that there is an excess. The presence of a third copy of chromosome 21 It unbalances the entire cellular system that ends up generating an entire clinic that today did not have any type of cure. But thanks to clinical advances and revolutionary gene therapies, we have found a way to turn off this gene that is extra in the cells of people with Down. A natural switch. To understand this advance, we must look at how nature itself resolves its own genetic imbalances. And, for those who do not know, in human beings sex is determined by two types of chromosomes: X and Y. If you are a woman, you will have XX chromosomes, and if you are a man, you will have XY. The problem, boiling it down to its most basic, is that always one of the ‘X’ genes must be silenced so that the genetic load is compensated in humans. And this is something that is done thanks to the gene XIST which encodes an RNA molecule that covers the chromosome and alters its chromatin, silencing de facto their genes. Something that has been developed by nature itself in order to maintain the species, and then the question is obligatory: why not use this natural switch to silence the chromosomes that generate diseases as important as Down syndrome? It’s not something new. The idea of ​​using this “switch” to be able to alter the gene expression of the chromosomes that we have in excess is not new, since in 2013 the researcher Jeanne Lawrence demonstrated for the first time that this RNA could induce the silencing of the extra chromosome 21 in human cells that were in culture in a laboratory. Later, in 2020, it was applied to neural stem cells, but the historical problem has always been the same: the very low efficiency when integrating this gene into the affected cells.. A new milestone. This has changed radically, as a team at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston has published a new article in PNAS with a solution to eradicate this bottleneck thanks to the tool CRISPR/Cas9. This system can be visualized as simple scissors that specifically cut into our DNA to eliminate something that was left over or altered. The problem is that it was not very efficient at integrating new genetic material, and to overcome this, scientists have developed a modified version of CRISPR/Cas9 that boosts the success rate of the integration of the XIST gene which will silence the third chromosome 21. Good results. Here we recognize how XIST has been integrated into 20-40% of cell lines that have trisomy 21. Furthermore, the method reliably affects only the extra copy of chromosome 21 without silencing other genes that can cause other diseases. There are problems. Despite the enthusiasm, the technique is far from being applied in humans, since one of the biggest challenges of CRISPR is the mutations off-target, That is, it acts on other genetic points that are its marked objectives. And this occurs when these ‘scissors’ cut a sequence of DNA that closely resembles its target, but which in reality is not. In this way, an error off-target It could trigger severe cellular problems or even cancer. Recent studies show that experimentation on embryos with these techniques often results in mosaicism with edited and unedited cells, as well as incomplete edits. This means that right now we have to work on having greater specificity in the genetic objectives of the therapy so that the consequences of using it are not much greater than the fact of curing a disease. Ethical shock. The controversy is served with genetic therapies in general, since right now one of the lines that are open is to eliminate this extra chromosome directly in a human embryo before implementing it in a woman so that she is not born with this disease. This is where bioethicists they point because experimenting with human embryos damages their physical integrity and poses irreversible risks for future generations. Furthermore, they underline the urgency of distinguishing between the use of CRISPR for purely therapeutic purposes, such as treating symptoms, and its use for “genetic improvement” or the selection of embryos that are much more advanced or genetically perfect. This is also added to the fact that genetic editing in embryos for reproductive purposes is currently prohibited in most countries. Images | Sangharsh Lohakare In Xataka | The surprising thing is not that we have sequenced the DNA of a Neanderthal from 11,000 years ago: it is what it has revealed

The Seville Fair is growing so much that it is no longer just the great macro event in Andalusia: it is the ‘Coachella castiza’

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The Seville Fair wants to grow. And it is understandable. A year ago, when he announced his plans to tug to the fairgrounds, the mayor of Seville already warned that although right now the quote adds up to around a thousand booths There are many other applications waiting. Added to this enormous demand is the tourist success of the event, its ability to attract thousands and thousands of visitors and its economic potential, which translates into a trickle of million euros. There is, however, an even greater merit than Seville can boast: its fair is emerging as the largest macro event of Andalusia, a sort of traditional Coachella that grows while other fairs in the region stagnate or even decay. A ‘pure Coachella’? Yeah. The expression may seem shocking, but saving the obvious distances between the Californian event and the one in Seville, the truth is that both events share some parallels. The first and most obvious are the dates. The second. that both one and the other have become macro events referential, capable of attracting thousands of visitorsgenerate a millionaire business and above all overshadow other quotes of a similar nature. In a way, it also confirms a trend that has been taking shape in a more or less diffuse way in recent years: the festival calendar is polarizing between massive events, such as the April Fair in Seville, capable of attracting crowds and, above all, being promoted thanks to the tourismand others micro events with a much more modest, specialized and local approach. Between both categories there is an increasingly eclipsed dating ‘middle class’. Question of fairs and magnetism. Andalusia leaves a good example of the above. Although many more fairs are held in the region, such as Our Lady of Health in Córdoba (May), the Sherry horse (May), the Corpus Christi of Granada (June), the Malaga fair (August) or Saint Luke of Jaén (October), the one in Seville is probably the one that has achieved the greatest impact. And that is something that can be measured in two ways: through social networks, where it has become an viral phenomenonand in figures of both attendance and business generated. To confirm the first comes with taking a walk through Instagram or TikTok, where the fair has been gaining weight converted into a unifying and touristic event. Beyond the party, for Sevillians it is an opportunity to show their national pride. For those who live far from their cultural code, especially for visitors, it is an exotic event. Question of figures. Regarding the second, the figures are overwhelming. Last year the Seville City Council estimated in 2 billion of euros the economic impact of the fair, a figure largely justified by the high hotel occupancy (and the average price of accommodation) that Seville reaches on those days. Some sources slide This calculation also includes Holy Week, which is celebrated shortly before, but even so the figure is more than considerable. Regarding the volume of visitors, in the last few years The influx at Real de Los Remedios, the place where the fair is held, has been estimated at three million of people. As a reference, in Malaga they calculate that the shows at their fair attracted around 966,000 visitors. The event is in fact so attractive that in Madrid they have already promoted an initiative to organize its own April Fair, a macro event which aims to attract around 800,000 visitors. Fairs that grow… and fall. Aside from the visitor balances, hotel occupancy or business estimates, there is an interesting fact to understand the thrust of the Sevillian fair. Last year the City Council confirmed his plans to give it a ‘growth spurt’, providing the Real de la Feria with new streets and 220 extra booths. The reason? “Currently there are almost a thousand booths and there are another thousand applications from people waiting,” explained the first mayor, José Luis Sanz. The Seville City Council is so determined to undertake the expansion that the project has even caused a little crisis with the Government, owner of the land. The scenario contrasts with that experienced, for example, by the Córdoba Fair, which this year will feature 82 booths. This is relevant information because, as remember theDiaryare four less than in 2025 and mark a historical minimum for the event. New proof that the calendar is increasingly divided between celebrations supported by tourism and others with a more local focus. Images | Laura Liñán Jaén (Flickr) 1 and 2 In Xataka | Recording drunk people at the April Fair has become a tradition. The fines for doing so are not so fun.

the great waste management fraud

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In the early 1980s, some North American cities began to realize that the waste generated by plastic was enormous and uncontrollable. Technicians and activists began to talk about regulations and prohibitions, but the industry found another way to solve it: recycling. The standard. For 50 years, the petrochemical industry has promoted recycling as the ‘gold standard’ for solving plastic pollution. Today, We know that only 9% of all plastic produced historically has been recycled. It was not a miscalculationnor a display of naive optimism: it was a large-scale industrial fraud. A documented fraud. In 1973, ahead of the regulatory wave, the Society of the Plastics Industry commissioned a report to see what could be done with the plastic they made themselves. The study’s conclusions were devastating: not only did it recognize the inherent degradation of resins in each reprocessing cycle, but it made clear that (even in the best of cases) there was no market for the final product. And, of course, the industry didn’t care. A report from the Center for Climate Integrity and the summary of a macro-case by the California attorney general against ExxonMobil give us the keys to understand it. Because it’s not exactly a secret. An Exxon employee recognized in 1994 before the American Plastics Council that “the company was committed to recycling activities, but not to their results.” The founder of the Vinyl Institute (one of the sector’s lobbies) admitted in 1989 that recycling could not be continued indefinitely and that, of course, it did not solve the problem of solid waste. We have proof. What’s more, for decades, we have known that there are internal documents that show patterns of investments in recycling plants that were closed or abandoned once they had fulfilled their public relations function. The tests go on and on. However, no one paid much attention. The parallelism with climate denialism ands patent: the documentation is crystal clear. The industry knew recycling wouldn’t work, but spent millions and millions actively promoting it with the idea of ​​avoiding regulations. And why is it news now? Because there are doubts that this is over. Yes, the average citizen has internalized that separating waste and depositing it in the yellow container (or the equivalent system) is an effective environmental action. In fact, the better the citizen recycles, the more effective the industry’s alibi is to continue producing plastic without restrictions. Recycling actually displaces regulatory pressure. Because the data (and recycling rates whatever the approach) is not as good as we might think. And the problem is volume. Plastic production is going at such a speed that even by significantly improving recycling rates we would not be able to reduce the amount of plastic that ends up in the environment. And what do we do? That’s the big question: what do we do. Our society has become so dependent on plastic that the most effective solutions are outside the realm of possibility. But if the situation continues like thisthey will stop being so sooner rather than later. Image | Nick Fewings In Xataka | We have known for years that our recycling system is broken. It seems that we are finally going to fix it

Ten years ago, Bnext was the great hope of fintech. They ended up crashing

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Founded in 2016 by Guillermo Vicandi, Bnext It was born as a fintech alternative to traditional banking. In fact, their visible heads assured that it was not a bank, despite offering an account and card. The growth was as fast as the fall. After the collapse of its cryptocurrency, The app announced its closure on April 13. What was Bnext. It was not a bank, that’s what its creators constantly said. It was an electronic money entity (EDE) alternative to traditional banking. In practice, it offered what a bank offers: account, card, loans, insurance, currency purchases, investment plans. The difference was the model: Bnext always acted as an intermediary, connecting the user with the best products on the market through a single app. No offices, no paper, no queues. The golden age. In 2019, Bnext was one of the most visible projects on the Spanish fintech scene. became the fintech that grew the most in Spainwith more than 156,000 registered users and more than 100,000 active clients holding a Bnext VISA. Your second round of financing It closed with 22 million eurosthe highest figure seen in Spain (in 2019) since the Valencian Hawkers raised 55 million euros. That same year, they partnered with giants like MyInvestor to offer financial products. The stumble. Bnext’s first setback comes a year later, in 2021, after its landing in Latin America. Its partner, Cacao Paycard, did not obtain authorization to operate from the National Banking and Securities Commission (CNBV), which translated into a fine of 2.6 million Mexican pesos (about 150,000 euros at the current exchange rate) to Bnext for misleading communication. There was no plan B. Bnext had to cease operations in Mexico, close all its accounts and lose more than 230,000 clients who had trusted the company prior to the sanctions. Meanwhile. In Spain, alternatives like Revolut were growing like wildfire, and Bnext was beginning to run out of oxygen. In 2021, they decided to ally with Algorand, a blockchain firm that became one of the company’s main shareholders. After the alliance they announced their own token: B3X. The play didn’t go well. On March 1, 2022, it was launched to the public with a starting price of two euro cents. Today it cannot even operate from the app, since the service has been dismantled. Its price before the debacle: 0.00006 US cents. What happens to Bnext users. Bnext accounts and cards have already been canceled and the product is no longer marketed. No payments, transfers or receipts can be uploaded. Payroll cannot be received The balance of the account may be requested during a repayment period of 20 years Cryptocurrency management is referred to Onyze… via email User data will be deleted in accordance with the GDPR You will no longer have access to the marketplace services Bnext was once the great hope of Spanish fintech. Now rest in peace. What will become of the company. The company gives the finishing touch to its app, but does not completely cease its operations. “The fintech business and market has changed considerably, and with this, we have had to pivot our value proposition. After several years offering products to the end consumer and in an increasingly competitive environment and with more complex regulation, we have decided to take a step towards the future, focusing on helping companies launch their own payment products.” Guillermo Vicandi, CEO of Bnext. Bnext closes as a neobank, but pivots towards financial infrastructure services. In Xataka | Europe had been asking for a big hit on the table for some time. Revolut just gave it a huge valuation

If the question is why men don’t wear skirts, the answer lies in the 18th century: the Great Male Renunciation

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We have it so internalized, so assimilated, that perhaps you have never thought about it, but here goes one of those questions that sound like a truism: Why do men and women dress differently? Why is it that when we go to a wedding, a gala or an elegant dinner, it is taken for granted that they will wear a more or less sober suit and discreet colors while they will wear dresses and heels? Why are ‘men’s’ clothes usually more functional than women’s clothes? And already, why don’t we wear skirts, like was wondering recently David Uclés? As is usually the case when we talk about fashion (social trends in general), none of the above is the result of chance or simple whim. Why do you dress the way you dress? Things as they are: if you are a man (at least in the Spain of 2026) and you go to a meeting in a dress and heels, it is quite likely that your colleagues will be surprised to see you cross the door. However, the same clothing on a woman would be considered very normal. Because? That same question was recently asked by the writer David Uclés. And it’s not the first. Before him, others had already slipped it, such as the designer and photographer Ana Locking, who in another recent interview on the SER network encouraged men to be much more risky when selecting their wardrobe. “If you want to feel sexy today, dress sexy. The boys’ legs are super sexy, the boys’ necklines are super sexy. Open your neckline, wear a skirt, some shorts, some ankle boots with a little heel,” encouraged Locking after lamenting that, as they mature, men “clip their wings” when they confront the closet. “What they will say comes into play a little bit, feeling vulnerable.” Is it just social pressure? It depends how you look at it. Fashion in itself is a social construct, but the tendency that leads us men to opt for sober clothing and banish skirts, heels and clothing that may be considered ‘extravagant’ from our wardrobes is explained by another reason: the story. In fact, it is not a guideline that has always been applied. Come take a walk through the Costume Museum or El Prado to prove that when it comes to men’s fashion, sobriety has not always been synonymous with good style or elegance. For example, this canvas of King Philip V with his family painted in 1743 by Louis Michel van Loo or this other work from the end of the 17th century, also preserved in El Prado, and in which Jacob-Ferdinand Voet shows us Luis Francisco de la Cerda, IX Duke of Medinaceli. Is there anything that catches your attention about them? Wigs, high heels and brilli brilli? Exact. If you look at both works you will see that the men wear wigs, heels, stockings, loose jackets that fall almost like skirts, and an abundance of bright colors, the kind of clothing that at that time (late 17th century, first half of the 18th century) denoted status. If you think about it it makes sense. What they show us Jacob-Ferdinand Voet and Louis Michel van Loo They are characters dressed in colorful outfits, although they are not what we would say ‘functional’. But… Why should they be? If anyone could afford that kind of clothing it was aristocrats who didn’t have to work. Who doesn’t like heels? William Kremer explained it well in 2013 on the BBC when reviewing The history of high heels and why men stopped wearing them. Again, it may sound like a far-fetched question, but it actually makes a lot of sense and reveals even more about our history. For centuries heels were worn in the Middle East as part of horse riding clothing. And not only for aesthetic reasons. With them Persian soldiers could stand on the styles, stabilize themselves and adopt a good posture to use the bow. When at the end of the 16th century sha Abbas I of Persia He sent a diplomatic mission to Europe to gather support. The nobles noticed the Persian-style shoe. They liked it so much that over time they began to wear high heels that highlighted their size… and their social rank. And all that with heels? That’s how it is. “One of the best ways to convey status is through the impractical,” commented in 2013 Elizabeth Semmelhack, of the Bata Footwear MuseumToronto. Perhaps heels were not very advisable for walking through the countryside and the paved and potholed streets of the 17th century cities, but did the same nobles who posed for chamber painters dressed in clothes as luxurious as they were cumbersome have to do so? “They don’t work in the fields nor do they have to walk a lot.” Why did they stop being used? Times have changed. And the way of thinking. When they review the history of fashion (especially men’s fashion) historians usually stop at the Enlightenment, between the mid-17th century and the beginning of the 19th century, a time in which intellectuals opted for a way of thinking in which what was rational and useful was prioritized. Also education about privileges. Status is no longer an inherited gift, but the result of training and work. As far as fashion is concerned, this translated into a new sensitivity that favored the use of garments comfortable and functional. In England, for example, even landowners ended up embracing a more practical style, better suited to managing their properties. At least that’s how it was among men. The rational aspect stood out among them; The emotional nature was highlighted in them. Did only the Enlightenment influence? No. The Enlightenment mentality played a crucial role, but historians usually point out an episode that (although inspired by the Enlightenment) is much more specific, both geographically and temporally: the french revolution. Against this backdrop, the way one dressed became more than a simple aesthetic choice or a mark of status. … Read more

Plastic is the great recycling nightmare. Car battery acid aspires to be the great nightmare of plastic

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Have a problem with recycling. Thus, in general and even in countries that the more they try and complicate things. But, specifically, we have a problem with plastic recycling. It is a difficult and therefore expensive process, rather than producing new plastic, which leads to a scenario in which potential waste accumulates. To complicate things further, there are many types of plasticsand some are terribly difficult to recycle. But the University of Cambridge has had an idea: a solar reactor to destroy those difficult plastics. And the secret ingredient is car battery acid. The data. Before entering the ‘invention‘ from Cambridge, let’s go with some context. Recycling is not collecting, and vice versa. An example of this is Japan, a country in which there are areas in which there are 45 different categories of garbage that citizens must separate and where only 20% is recycled. In Spain, with an infinitely less obsessive systemwe are around 39%. And what is not recycled is burned in Japan and sent to landfills in Spain. Focusing on plastic and according to Cambridge researchers, the world produces 400 million tons per year and only 18% is recycled. And, as I say, there are plastics such as nylon or polyurethane that are particularly complex to recycle because their chemical structure is very resistant, which makes breaking them down complex and very expensive. plastic fulminator. This is where the discovery of the University of Cambridge comes into play. What they have developed is a solar-powered reactor that uses a very special ingredient: car battery acid. This component breaks the structural chains of the polymers into more basic chemical blocks and, therefore, easier to assimilate, such as ethylene glycol. Once the new material is obtained, a very special photocatalyst is what allows it to be converted into hydrogen and acetic acid, putting an end to that ‘rebellious’ plastic. By fluke. The team of researchers comments that the discovery was practically an accident since they knew that battery acid could be used for the process, but it was not convenient because, just as it melts plastics, it ‘eats’ the catalysts. Theirs, however, held out, and it turns out to be cheap and scalable. It is a photocatalyst composed of carbon nitride functionalized with cyanamide and integrated with molybdenum disulfide promoted with cobalt. Lots of text to say that it is a hybrid material specifically designed to remain stable in a strongly acidic environment. According to the team, it is economical and solves two problems at once: it dissolves difficult plastics and reuses battery acid that usually ends up as waste after extracting its lead content for resale. Future. In the tests, the team points out that the system has worked for more than 260 hours without losing performance and works with the aforementioned plastics, but also with that of the plastic bottles They are also not particularly easy to deal with. They claim that their discovery offers a potential cost reduction in recycling tasks because, in addition, reusable hydrogen is produced in the process. The key here is finding a way to collect the battery acid before it is neutralized for uninterrupted use to break down plastics. The team comments that they do not promise to solve the problem, but they demonstrate how waste can become a resource. new life. This approach approaches the problem from the angle of decomposition, but there are other proposals to give these plastics a second life. Because ‘melting’ them may be expensive, but if they are put into presses they can be turned directly into bricks or paving stones for the streets. This is what Nzambi Matee proposes, a Kenyan materials engineer who has proposed convert that waste into construction material. Like the University of Cambridge experiment, it addresses two problems at the same time: recycling and creating necessary non-polluting construction elements, and this idea is catching on because the authorities have given the green light to use this 2.0 brick to pave the streets of Nairobi. Returning to battery acid, the business arm of the University of Cambridge is looking to commercialize the company, but now the most complicated thing remains: making it a standard. Images | Cambridge University (Beverly Low) In Xataka | The big problem with nuclear energy has always been its waste. Russia can now recycle them up to five times

DeepSeek promised them happiness as the great Chinese AI. I didn’t count on a small detail: Kimi

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Just a year ago, DeepSeek was one of the biggest scares that Silicon Valley had received dwarves. A Chinese model trained with a fraction of OpenAI’s budget equal to GPT-4 in benchmarks. Upon its arrival the message seemed clear: Western dominance of AI had its days numbered. Today, the story stands, but not thanks to DeepSeek. The DeepSeek case. DeepSeek carries months late for its V4 and, to date, has already lost three of the authors of R1, the model that catapulted them to success. The monthly downloads fell 72% in the second quarter of the year, seeing how Doubao (ByteDanec) snatched the lead. With missed dates, usage errors due to cyber attacksand the difficulty of split from NVIDIA To bet almost entirely on Huawei’s Ascend chips, Chinese alternatives like Kimi have been gaining ground. Meanwhile, on the other side of China. Moonshot AI was not born surrounded by noise like DeepSeek. It was founded in March 2023 by three former colleagues from Tsinghua University: Yang Zhilin—PhD from Carnegie Mellon, former Google Brain and Meta AI—, along with Zhou Xinyu and Wu Yuxin. There were no visible or media faces behind it, only product. That product is Kimi, and in early January 2026 the company launched it in its K2.5 version. In code and video benchmarks managed to surpass GPT-5 and Gemini Pro 3with the key to Chinese AI: its API costs between 4 and 17 times less than OpenAI’s. Those responsible for Moonshot explained how Kimi was almost at Claude’s level in software development testing, encouraging the race for open models. The money arrived. The commercial results are what really attract attention. In less than 20 days Following the launch of K2.5, Kimi’s cumulative revenue exceeded everything billed during 2025. API’s international revenue increased fourfold since November of the previous year. The consequence in valuation has been dizzying: 4.3 billion dollars in December 2025, 10 billion in February 2026, 18 billion in March. Three months, valuation multiplied by four. Kimi has thus become the fastest decacorn in Chinese business history. The Chinese maelstrom. DeepSeek was born a year ago as the great revolution that questioned the closed model of Silicon Valley. It only took a few months for Moonshot to steal the limelight and manage to be on par with – or even above – giants like Google and OpenAI in the most used models in the world. In favor of DeepSeek, it should be noted that its objective is different: it does not follow the typical startup pattern with pressure for immediate monetization and it is a gigantic AI laboratory that can afford not to win in the short term. In Xataka | DeepSeek API: what it is, what it is for, prices and how you can get one to use in your projects

How the TUR rate continues to be the great refuge for consumers

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In a macroeconomic context where the word “inflation” continues to make headlines and the Third Gulf War threatens energy stability, Spanish households receive an unexpected respite. Starting this Wednesday, April 1, 2026, the Last Resort Rate (TUR) for natural gas will experience a drastic reduction that will lower the bill for more than three million families. The long-awaited descent. The individual rate without taxes will decrease on average by 16.6% regarding prices set last January 1. This fall consolidates the regulated tariff not only as the most economical option on the market, but as the great protective shield against the energy crisis for domestic economies. The good news isn’t just for individual households, however. Homeowner communities and energy service companies will also notice the relief. The neighborhood TUR will register cuts in its variable term that will range between 10.8% and 16.7%, depending on the consumption segment. All this is supported by the Official State Gazette (BOE). In its resolution of March 27, 2026, the General Directorate of Energy Policy and Mines certifies the new prices. Thus, the monthly fixed term is 3.93 euros for TUR 1 (only cooking and hot water) and 8.11 euros for TUR 2 (which includes heating), with variable terms of 3.82 and 3.61 cents per kilowatt hour, respectively. So how does it affect my pocketbook? To translate it into real euros, we have the analysis of expert platforms that have analyzed the official data. According to Sergio Soto, energy expert Roamsfor an average home in Spain with gas heating (the usual TUR 2) and a consumption of about 660 kWh per month, the approximate cost will plummet to 37 euros per month. “The new revision represents a saving of about 7.16 euros per month for an average household,” explains Soto. To put it in perspective, this same receipt was around 46 euros at the end of 2025 and 44 euros in the first quarter of 2026. For their part, the simulations developed by the experts of Papernest They allow us to see the impact depending on the type of family: Households with low consumption (up to 3,000 kWh/year): They will go from paying about 18.23 euros in January to 15.11 euros in April (a saving of more than 3 euros per month). Households with average consumption (about 9,000 kWh/year): They will see their bill fall from 48.32 euros to 39.54 euros per month (almost 9 euros in savings). Households with high consumption (about 20,000 kWh/year): The drop is notable, going from 101.40 euros to 82.43 euros (almost 19 euros of monthly respite). The small print. That gas fell by 16% while the price of a barrel of Brent has risen by 4% and the euro has appreciated slightly against the dollar seems like a magic trick, but it responds to three very specific technical and political factors: The “lag effect” of the market: Sergio Soto details that the regulated rate is reviewed quarterly and is based on an average of the gas costs in the wholesale markets of the previous months. In other words, the TUR does not reflect today’s volatility, but yesterday’s calm. This system acts as a buffer, allowing consumers to now benefit from gas that was purchased at a good price before the war. The end of winter: The TUR’s own methodology has an ace up its sleeve in April since the seasonal gas component disappears. During the winter, the calculation includes a surcharge because demand skyrockets. When spring arrives, that factor is eliminated, and the price begins to depend exclusively on the “base gas.” This simple mathematical adjustment makes the raw material cheaper by 16%. The real hero. As the study of Papernesta household can save almost more due to tax decisions than by lowering the gas itself. Royal Decree-Law 7/2026 extends extraordinary conditions fundamentals: VAT at 10%: It will be valid until June 30, 2026. This means that if we had the usual VAT of 21%, the reduction for an average customer would not be 16.2%, but a discreet 7.8%. (Or as they calculate in Roamsthe average bill would not be 37 euros, but 40.50 euros). Hydrocarbon tax: It remains at the legal minimum allowed (€0.00108/kWh). The zero-cost canon: The BOE expressly collects that a storage fee of zero euros is applied for reservations that exceed 20 days of consumption. This fee at zero cost will be subsidized by the state with 45 million euros, directly impacting downwards the variable term that we all pay. A real descent, but with spring nuances. The data is resounding, the official documents support them and the analysts agree: the regulated gas rate has suffered a spectacular drop. However, you have to apply a dose of realism when looking at the mailbox at the end of the month. As they conclude from Papernestthis reduction comes into effect on April 1, just when the Spanish begin to turn off their radiators. This means that the gas drop comes when it is least consumed. In the short term, the real day-to-day savings will be less noticeable because, simply, we will use many fewer kilowatts than in January or February. However, the medium-term impact is undeniable. Understanding our rate, monitoring our consumption and being attentive to the expiration dates of tax reductions (like that June 30 for VAT) is vital for the financial health of the household. Although the international context continues to hang in the balance, the conclusion is unanimous: today, the regulated market (TUR) continues to be the safest and most profitable refuge to light the stove and heat the water in Spain. Image | Photo by Henry Kobutra on Unsplash Xataka | Until now, every bus in Spain belonged to its father and mother: the Government wants them to be more like the AVE

Iran has just crossed the great energy red line. Türkiye is the first victim of a blackout that is already looking at Europe

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We had been holding our breath for weeks, accepting the logistical tension in the Strait of Hormuz as the new normal. However, the war has crossed an irreversible red line. We have gone from a trade blockade to the physical destruction of the world’s energy engine, and the consequences are already being felt in the global economy. The impact was so immediate that the price of natural gas in Europe skyrocketed by 35%. Global interdependence has caused the first major domino to fall to be thousands of kilometers from the epicenter: Turkey has become the first country to suffer a gas supply cut, marking the beginning of a chain reaction. The blow to the energetic heart. It is not just any objective. As explained Deutsche Welle, South Pars is the largest natural gas reserve in the world – shared with Qatar, which calls its part North Dome – and contains enough gas to supply the world’s needs for 13 years. It is the basis of Iran’s energy survival. The response from Tehran was withering and expansive. As detailed in the Wall Street JournalIran did not limit itself to responding to Israel, but attacked vital infrastructure in neighboring countries, launching missiles against the gigantic Ras Laffan industrial complex in Qatar (the largest liquefied natural gas facility in the world) and refineries in Saudi Arabia. In the midst of this war chaos, Iran turned off the tap: Tehran suddenly paralyzed its natural gas exports to Türkiye. Türkiye in the eye of the hurricane. The cutoff to Türkiye is not an anecdote, it is the symptom of a systemic crisis. According to the data provided by BloombergLast year, Ankara imported around 13% or 14% of its total gas needs (about 7 billion cubic meters) from Iran. To the gallery, the Turkish government tries to project calm. How to collect ReutersTurkish Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar has categorically assured that “there are no supply problems” and that the country’s storage facilities are at 71% of their capacity. Furthermore, the minister insists that oil dependence of the Middle East is a “manageable 10%” and they are already accelerating diversification agreements with giants such as TotalEnergies, Exxon and Shell. The markets are not optimistic. The experts consulted by Middle East eye They point out that Turkey has alternatives – such as increasing the flow from Russia or Azerbaijan – but the closing of the Iranian tap will force Ankara to compete fiercely in the international market for emergency shipments of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG). Panic reaches Europe. And this is where the domino effect hits us directly. As Türkiye goes on a desperate hunt for LNG ships, the pressure on prices becomes unsustainable for the Old Continent. The day after the start of the conflict, the price of gas rose 55%. However, in the midst of this European chaos, one country is resisting the challenge much better than its neighbors: Spain. Thanks to a massive deployment of solar and wind energy, our country manages to cushion the initial blow by sinking prices during daylight hours. But the transition is painfully incomplete and we are not invulnerable. As analyst Antonio Aceituno, from Tempos Energía, warns, the Spanish balance is broken when evening falls. When the sun disappears, gas combined cycles begin to cover demand, returning tension to prices. It is empirical proof that, without massive batteries to guard the sun, at eight in the afternoon we are still at the mercy of what happens in the Strait of Hormuz. As the expert Gerard Reid reflects in Euronewsit is preferable to depend on China to import a solar panel once every 25 years, than to depend on gas from the Persian Gulf every day. Broken diplomacy. Arab governments are “furious” because they feel the US-Israeli strategy has put a target on their backs. For its part, Qatar has called the attacks on its facilities a “dangerous and irresponsible step” and a direct threat to its national security. In the midst of this powder keg, Washington’s role is erratic. President Donald Trump took to social media to deny prior knowledge of the Israeli attack on South Pars. However, Trump did not hesitate to issue a brutal ultimatum to Tehran: if it attacks Qatar again, the United States will “massively blow up the entire” Iranian oilfield. The scars of a systemic war. As my colleague Miguel Jorge analyzes well,the dynamic that has been activated is dangerously reminiscent of the 1991 Gulf War. It is no longer about destroying military capabilities or political pressure; We are facing a war against the very infrastructure that supports the states. The apparent lightness with which this conflict has developed has dragged us into a dead end. Iran has shown that it does not need to win a conventional military war; It is enough for him to set the energetic heart of the planet on fire. Even if a ceasefire were signed tomorrow, the material reality is inescapable. Charred refineries and dry pipelines to Türkiye are not rebuilt with signatures on a piece of paper. The scar on the world’s infrastructure will take years to heal, and the crisis that we had been avoiding for months has already detonated irreversibly. Image | Hamed Malekpour Xataka | The red lines are ceasing to exist: the fear of the US and Qatar in the face of Iran’s attacks on basic infrastructure

All these European alternatives are great if you want to depend less on the US

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You may or may not have realized it, but chances are that many of the apps and services you use every day are owned by a large US company. Precisely for this reason, more and more users are thinking in switching to services of European origin, thus depending less on the US. Is it possible? The reality is that there are many quality European services that are a real alternative and are very worthwhile. There is a lot of work pending if you plan to reduce your dependence on American services to a minimum, but let’s start with four basic ones: cloud storage, email, VPN and cloud office automation. European alternatives to Gmail Are you looking for a European email service? Yes, most people choose Gmail, but we have options if we don’t want to depend on Google for our email: Proton Mail: Proton has its email service, very much in line with its cloud storage. It has end-to-end and zero-knowledge encryption, so not even the company itself will be able to access our information. It starts at a very reasonable price (2.99 euros per month), but right now we have the same promo to try the service for 1 euro per month for the first month. Proton Mail (the first month) The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Tuta Mail: We have an alternative of German origin that also works with renewable energy. It also offers very good security, as well as protection against spam, phishing and tracking. It has a free option if we want to try the service, although it is a bit limited. Part of 3.60 euros per month. mailbox: Another service of German origin is Mailbox, which in addition to offering email, has an assortment of various functions (including video calls). The most basic service offered by Mailbox costs 1 euro per month. European alternatives to Google Drive or iCloud The cloud has become an oasis where we can save our photos, videos and files to free up our equipment. The most popular or used are usually Google Drive, Dropbox or iCloud, although there are quite interesting European alternatives: Internxt: Internxt, a company of Spanish origin, offers end-to-end encryption and is open source, so anyone can access it. This service is committed to an annual modality that starts from the 16 euros per year, although it also has lifelong plans. The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Proton Drive: Another quite notable alternative is with Proton, which offers a service with end-to-end encryption and with a lot of control over the files we store, as well as the links to share them that we can create. It has a fairly reasonable price, although right now there is an active promotion that allows us to get a month to try Proton Drive for 1 euro. pCloud: Of Swiss origin, pCloud is another European cloud storage alternative. It has a very intuitive interface and has a native application on practically all operating systems. This service is part of the 4.99 euros per monthalthough it also has annual and lifetime options. European alternatives to Google Docs Online office automation is very useful, especially when it comes to working collaboratively. Yes, we also have several very interesting options of European origin: OnlyOffice: a very useful service that is characterized above all by a very intuitive interface to use. It offers the possibility of hosting it in our own cloud with services such as OnwCloud or Nextcloud and, being open source, anyone can audit it. It has a free plan. Nextcloud Office: This service also offers a very good online document editing experience, both alone and collaboratively. Yes indeed: here we do not have a free plan. Proton Docs: This company also offers office automation among its services, which is doubly useful: it is easy to use and very secure. In addition, it is included in Proton Drive or even Proton Unlimited, which is this company’s package that includes both 500 GB of cloud storage and Docs, VPN, password manager and your email. This last service is on sale right now: it goes on 8.99 euros per month in its annual mode (so we will pay a total of 107.88 euros). Proton Unlimited (12 months) The price could vary. We earn commission from these links European alternatives to IPVanish More and more people use a VPN to protect your Internet traffic and your VPN. There are several of the best VPNs that are of American origin, although not all. We have European alternatives that are safe and work well: Mullvad VPN: With more than 700 servers distributed in 38 countries, Mullvad VPN is one of the best European alternatives if we are looking for a VPN. It costs only 5 euros per month, regardless of whether we want a month, a year or a decade. The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Goose VPN: It is a smaller alternative, but Goose VPN is also a very interesting European service that can come in handy if we are looking for one of these tools. It offers 24/7 support and unlimited devices and is priced at 4.99 euros per month if we choose your annual subscription. It is worth noting that it offers a lifetime subscription for 159 euros. Proton VPN: Proton also has VPN, one that is open source and allows any user to access it. One of the best things about this service is that it has a free option, which is interesting if we want to try it before subscribing. Its price right now is 2.99 euros per month if we opt for its annual subscription. NordVPN: We leave one of the most recognized VPNs for last, which is also one of the best we can currently use. Right now it is on sale with a discount of more than 70% if we choose its two-year plan, one that also comes with 3 extra months. In other words: we … Read more

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