hope

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

NVIDIA has lost hope in China, which is why it has started manufacturing its own next-generation GPUs for AI

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NVIDIA faces this 2026 a crucial year. They have become one of the largest strategic investors in the AI ​​ecosystem with dozens of billion-dollar investments in other companies, models, infrastructure and robotics. But, in the end, they are a company that supplies chips and, so far, the H200 They set the tone. According to a report by Financial Timesthat’s over. NVIDIA just ordered TSMC to start mass manufacturing Vera Rubinits next-generation hardware for AI. The reason? They have lost all faith in China. In short. With the entire AI industry looking to the future, and NVIDIA that has its Vera Rubin on the starting grid, it was strange that the company continued to invest so much in keeping TSMC working on a chip as old as the H200. Although it has been around for a while, it has positioned itself as unbeatable in the industry due to its price/power ratio, so these are the chips on which it has been built. the AI ​​empire. However, time passes and NVIDIA needs to move. Data centers need more power, new models are more demanding and the spearhead of the software sector – such as OpenAI either Google– have demanded new solutions. According to two sources consulted by the financial media, and close to NVIDIA’s plans, the company has grown tired of “waiting in limbo” and has begun to accelerate the delivery and deployment of Vera Rubin. Yoncomparable. As it could not be otherwise, TSMC is going to be in charge. The Taiwanese foundry would have already been asked to begin diversifying the production line to begin manufacturing the new chips. And if you’re wondering why it’s not enough for Google or OpenAI to simply buy more H200, the answer is because the chips have nothing to do with it. H200 is a more classic GPU for a data center. It is the configuration that AI and computing companies on these servers have been working with for years. Vera Rubin, however, is a paradigm shift made up of new CPUs, new GPUs and designed so that everything works as a single rack-scale accelerator. It has not only more power, but also the latest software and hardware additions from NVIDIA and something very important: incredible bandwidth. The higher the bandwidth on such a system, the more simultaneous data it can handle. This implies greater efficiency when training, but also a lower cost in inference. It is not an update, it is a platform change designed for models with trillions of parameters. Qgoose faith in China. To put it more simply, if the H200 is like a “super powerful graphics card”, Vera Rubin is like a mini data center in itself. And if you’re wondering why they didn’t start production sooner, the reason is… China. Jensen Huang, CEO of NVIDIA, has been ‘fighting’ with Washington for months to open their arms in the trade and technology war maintained by the US and China. Trump ended up agreeing and Huang commented earlier this year that they had returned to “turn on” all production lines to supply the very high Chinese demand. The problem is that that demand did not arrive. At least, It was not as high as Huang expected. In the presentation of results, NVIDIA’s financial director commented a few days ago that “although small quantities of H200 for Chinese customers were approved by the US government, we have not yet generated any income. And we do not know if imports to China will be allowed.” We already told the problem: The US was leaving for NVIDIA to sell its graphics, butThe Chinese government did not seem so convinced. Your main Big Tech They were demanding NVIDIA solutionsarguing that they need them to keep up with what their American rivals are doing, but the ball was in the court of the Government and Customs. China is promoting AI that is different from that of the US, more focused on low costs and rapid acceptance by the client, and at the same time want to build your own hardware network with companies like SMIC or a Huawei that you already have your supercomputer for AI. complicated swerve. From the Financial Times they point out that the president of China, Xi Jinping, and the president of the United States will meet at the end of March to discuss export controls. The problem is that, according to their sources, even if the barrier is lifted completely and not just for certain companies and China can buy H200s en masse, turning TSMC’s ship around so that it starts producing H200s again would be complicated. It is not as simple as pressing a button and going from producing one thing to another. If this situation occurs, “NVIDIA would take up to three months to reallocate or add capacity to the supply chain to produce H200.” One of Vera Rubin’s PCBs Rebound winner. What is clear here is that NVIDIA is not going to lose from the operation. Huang already argued that the United States could not miss the opportunity to take a slice of a multi-billion dollar market (because the US let the cards be sold… with a 25% tariff), but whether it is the Chinese or the Western industry, it is from NVIDIA that they continue to buy the H200 and, ‘shortly’, the Vera Rubin. And the rebound winner in this operation is Samsung. Of the three companies that manufacture memory (and that have catapulted the RAM and SSD crisis we are in), Samsung is the one that has completed its new generation HBM4 memory. It is the one that has passed the high standards of NVIDIA and the one that is already being mass manufactured to be able to integrate into Vera Rubin systems. Everyone attentive. As we said, NVIDIA has to the entire industry at his feet. Google, xAI and Meta are working on their own chips, but together with Microsoft, Amazon Web Services, OpenAI, Mistral and Anthropic they are some of the companies that they … Read more

Stellantis has lost 22 billion euros with the electric car. Their hope to solve it is called Zaragoza

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Stellantis embarked on a path of rapid and aggressive transition to the electric car. Along the way, it merged models on the same platform, wanted to convert brands to zero emissions and lost the identity of some of them. The result is 20 billion euros of real and expected losses. Now, part of his future is at stake in Zaragoza with a Chinese car. Saragossa. The news was almost a not news because Stellantis, through the mouth of its CEO Automotive Newshad already confirmed that it would manufacture Leapmotor’s Chinese cars in Spain. By then, with a CATL factory in the middle of construction and already manufacturing Stellantis small electric cars, Zaragoza seemed the best placed city, ahead of Madrid and Vigo. Last week, Filosa himself reconfirmed what was already known but expanded the information with some nuances as stated in The Aragon Newspaper. The car will be manufactured in Zaragoza and will not be alone. And the company has awarded Spain the production of up to four completely electric Chinese models. It will, therefore, be the reconversion of Figueruelas. The Stellantis situation. Although the investments were already confirmed, the last presentation of results could have raised some doubts. Then Stellantis confirmed that the electric car would have a negative impact of 22,000 million euros in your accounts. This does not mean, exactly, that it loses that money, but it is the readjustment that amounts to the cancellation of two new factories, the compensatory payment to suppliers, the money invested in new developments and the money that will no longer enter the company’s coffers. All of this is a consequence of a project led by Carlos Tavares, former CEO of the company, which has failed. The Portuguese wanted to accompany the conversion to all-electric too quickly and with a very aggressive cost adjustment. The result has been too much product at dealerships that very few have bought and models little differentiated from each other with a total loss of identity between companies. Good news (1). Firstly, because the arrival of Leapmotor in Zaragoza represents support for the electric transition in Figueruelas. The factory will be in charge of producing one of the first purely Chinese electric cars to arrive in Europe, a key step to be able to sell them without tariffs. But this also guarantees two things. The first is the opening of a new assembly line because they cannot use exactly the same one as for the Opel Corsa, Peugeot 208 and Lancia Ypsilon electric that Figueruelas produces at the moment. The second is that it increases pressure on the production of batteries that CATL will set up nearby, giving greater support to the project. It remains to be seen if the other three Stellantis models will also roll out of their doors.. Good news (2). The second part of the announcement is interesting in that the Leapmotor B10, the first car to be assembled in Zaragoza, is different from the three mentioned above and that in itself is a reason for joy for Zaragoza. And it is that the Stellantis urban electric cars have not been working well in the market. Everything indicates that, in the future, these electric vehicles will have to receive the embrace of the European customer but at the moment it is not being like thatwhich raised questions about long-term production with a plant that could operate at half gas. The Lepmotor B10 is a car that Stellantis has hopes for because it is different. It has much more striking interiors, adjusted to the huge screens that the industry has demanded in recent years. And it has purely Chinese software and development, so Stellantis can play with the price because its investments have been minimal. The company has the power to distribute the car outside of China but the development, investments and sales within China have been left to Leapmotor itself. Strengths and weaknesses. Stellantis’ decision to produce in Spain reminds us the strength that our country has gained in Europe as a productive alternative to advance electric cars. Either because labor is cheaper than in countries like Germany or France, or because energy is also cheaper, Chery or Stellantis, with Leapmotor, have decided that they will manufacture on our soil. Spain has the advantage of a well-established industry that needs reconversion. The problem is that, for the moment, it has focused on the assembly of small cars (as also happens in Martorell) which are the ones that are having the most problems to sell them or, if necessary, for the brand to make a profit from them. It would be interesting for our country to expand its presence in the development of vehicles and not only focus its industry on their production. Therefore, it is good news that Chery also bets on our country for its new R&D&i space. Photo | In Xataka | Volkswagen’s cheap electric car is manufactured in Spain: this is the new megaconstruction that makes it possible

Japan was the king of semiconductors in the 80s. Rapidus is its only hope to compete in this market again

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In the 1980s, Japan did not compete in semiconductors and technology. It was devastating. In 1988, Japanese companies controlled more than half of the world semiconductor market, and NEC, Toshiba, Hitachi and Fujitsu were above giants of the time in the US such as Motorola, Texas Instruments or Intel. That golden era ended with the hyperspecialization that emerged both in South Korea and China and (especially) in Taiwan, but now Japan wants to make a splash again. what has happened. A year ago the technology industry was surprised by the birth of Rapidus Corporationa company born from the alliance of several Japanese giants (Sony, Toyota, SoftBank) with the aim of returning to Japan part of its relevance in the field of semiconductors. The initial plan was very ambitious: they wanted to jump directly to 2 nm by 2027. As we will see later, they have had to delay that forecast, but what has also changed (a lot) is the structure of the company. Japan like main investor. The Japanese government has decided to make Rapidus a centerpiece of national security, and is taking unprecedented control of the company. He will become the largest shareholder, although initially he will only exercise 10% of the voting rights to leave management in private hands. Of course: the State reserves the right to raise that participation above 50% if the company is experiencing difficulties. Total capital has skyrocketed to 420 billion yen ($2.7 billion), when in 2022 the investment did not exceed 50 million. The golden action. The Japanese executive has made use of a legal mechanism by acquiring the so-called “golden shares” with which he can exercise his veto in critical decisions such as changes in management or mergers. The objective is to shield Rapidus against foreign capital acquisitions and guarantee the sovereignty of the project. Which is exactly the same thing we are seeing around the world, of course: each country wants to have its own apples in its basket. Investors who are also clients. Financial support comes from the Japanese government, but also from some large Japanese business groups such as the aforementioned Sony and Toyota or Denso. In total, 32 companies have invested 167.6 billion yen (1.075 billion dollars) and will contribute to this commitment by also being customers of the silicon that Rapidus can produce. They remain just as ambitious… or more. Rapidus CEO Atsuyoshi Koike has adjusted the development plans for his chips, and has delayed the arrival of mass production to March 2028. That’s bad news, but not so much when we discover that the company has plans to go beyond 2nm and is preparing to be able to make 1.4nm chips and even 1 nm. Fast as gunpowder. One of the factors that want to differentiate Rapidus is its promise of rapid delivery of semiconductors. The project aims to automate both the manufacturing, packaging and testing of the chips. These last two are processes with great manual intervention, but at Rapidus they believe they have the key to making them much more autonomous. If they succeed, they could reduce the cycle time of semiconductors by 66% and thus beat even giants like TSMC by the way. Japan turns to chips. Japan’s aspiration is striking, and its Prime Minister, Sanae Takaichi, seems to be clear that the commitment to this segment must be notable. In fact, Japan is investing a proportion of its GDP (0.71%) in semiconductors much higher than that of the US (0.21%) or Germany (0.41%). Challenges. The strategy, of course, has its critics. Takero Doi, professor at Keio University, point “There are many cases in which public-private investment has led to systems that lacked accountability. It is important to clarify who will lead the project, the private sector or the government.” Plan B. Although the plan with Rapidus is ambitious, the country is actually playing both sides. While boosting its own business, the government has made commitments with TSMC to upgrade its manufacturing plants in Japan. This makes it have a hybrid ecosystem: it attracts the experience and knowledge of the semiconductor giant while on the other hand trying to create a national alternative. Image | Xataka with Freepik In Xataka | Panasonic was the bastion of 100% Japanese TVs after Sony’s step back. Now it has surrendered to China

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

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

Sateliot is the great Spanish hope to have its own voice in the new satellite space race

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There is a new space race and no one wants to miss it. Rivaling with Starlink seems like a utopia, but a Spanish company has managed to get ahead to the American giant on a specific point: 5G. While Elon Musk’s satellite company remains anchored in 4G, Sateliot boasts of being a pioneer in offering 5G connectivity from space, not only to IoT devices, but also to conventional mobile phones. This milestone has not gone unnoticed by the governments of Spain and Europe. Sateliot brings together all the ingredients to become an option for technological sovereignty in the satellite race. A race where Starlink dominates with more than 90% of global launches, but where any advance of its own is seen as a great victory. Now Sateliot inaugurates the Europe’s first 5G satellite development center. A pioneering center located in Barcelona that has more than 100 employees, two laboratories, a control room and a clean room of more than 100 square meters. From Xataka we have visited the center of the Catalan satellite company and learned about its ambitious plans. Triton, the new generation of satellites moves to full 5G Since 2018, Sateliot has launched six satellites, the last four in orbit since August 2024. They plan to launch five more next year. However, beyond getting ahead with 5Git will be with their second generation of satellites when they will begin to have a more competitive service. Triton, in homage to the Montseny amphibian, is the name chosen for its new satellites, about four meters long and 150 kilograms in weight. These new satellites represent a radical advance compared to those already sent by Sateliot, because in addition to having a capacity up to 16 times greater, they also change their concept. Tritón not only offers connectivity to IoT devices, but will offer 5G connectivity for data, voice and video to conventional 5G mobiles. Without the need to add any antenna or modifications to these phones and compatible with all operators (3GPP). The satellite, with a cost 10 times higher than the first generation, will allow Sateliot to offer a service that will range from critical security applications to civil protection and defense. The company explains that its satellite connection service will not focus on providing specific coverage to specific consumersbut serve for industrial, maritime, energy or location applications. Jaume Sanpera, CEO of Sateliot, together with the monitoring of its four satellites in orbit The first Triton satellite is scheduled to launch during the first quarter of 2027from Vandenberg (California), one of SpaceX’s two launch bases. The future goal is to be able to use European launchers, such as the Vega and Ariane of the European Space Agency. In this space race, the dates given are no coincidence. 2027 is the date on which it is also planned that Starlink begins upgrading its satellites to 5G. Barcelona bets on aerospace technology Jaume SanperaCEO of Sateliot, is proud that his satellites are “100% manufactured in Barcelona.” Now they have inaugurated the development center, but in the future they plan for the industrial phase to also have a factory in Barcelona. A phase that is still far away. “Next year we will exceed 200 employees. Being more than 80% engineers and having doubled the staff in the last year,” Sanpera explains to Xataka. “We have agreed to expand to the ground floor,” he points out in reference to the recently inaugurated offices. An inauguration that was also attended by multiple public authorities, including the president of the Generalitat of Catalonia, Salvador Illa. “You have to lose your shyness. Everything outside is better and seems to come from the US or China. Well no: Here we also do very powerful things that no one else has“Illa defended. Salvador Illa, president of the Generalitat of Catalonia, visits the clean room of the new 5G satellite development center | Satellite Sateliot is a startup that currently brings together much of what Europe is looking for: cutting-edge technology companies and local development. The new development center wants to become the base of a cluster of aerospace companies in Barcelona. And investors are taking note. Sanpera assures that at this time Sateliot is not looking for a new round, although defines it as a company “that requires a lot of capital”. Last March, the The Spanish government announced an investment of around 14 million euros in Sateliotfor a total of a round of about 70 million euros. In addition to the Spanish Society for Technological Transformation (SETT), Global Portfolio Investments, Indra, Cellnex and SEPIDES have also invested and 30 million euros have been loaned from the European Investment Bank (EIB). For the moment, since his birth They have invested about 50 million euros in R&D. According to Sateliot, they already have signed contracts worth 285 million euros annually and offer coverage in 58 different countries. In total 734 different contracts to connect a total of 10 million devices that cannot have good coverage and where the satellite service opens a whole field of possibilities. The new development center in Barcelona employs 110 employees (80% engineers), with plans to exceed 200 in 2026. “We have 30 different patent applications“, they explain to us. During the explanation of how satellite monitoring works, the CEO of Sateliot hints that not all of its advances have been patented, in order to “not give clues to the competition”, pointing out that there is a high level of industrial espionage in the sector. “The difficulty is in the radio, in the antenna,” says Sanpera. Sateliot cannot compete against Starlink in quantity, but unlike the American company, they are betting on satellites whose connectivity is more modern and, above all, widely compatible. The Triton satellites have a 7 year shelf lifecompared to four or five years for the first generation. The main limiting factor is the radio and software. The company points out that this information is important, because “space debris is a problem for everyone and can prevent us from launching more … Read more

They are the last hope of an ecosystem on the brink of collapse

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Under the waters of the Mar Menor, a tiny army has just deployed on a pyramid of biodegradable clay bricks. There are 55,000 flat oysters —Ostrea edulis— born in a hatchery of the Spanish Institute of Oceanography (IEO-CSIC) and today converted into hope to filter and regenerate a system on the brink of collapse. The operation, carried out by the IEO team and the Association of Southeastern Naturalists (ANSE) with the logistical support of the WWF solar boat, It is the first experimental reef native oyster from the Mar Menor. A deep project. The project is called RemediOS-2, and it doesn’t come out of nowhere. Its first phase, RemediOS-1demonstrated in 2022 that it was possible to produce oyster seed from native specimens of the Mar Menor. In just four months, the IEO hatchery in Lo Pagán produced 60 million larvae from just 36 broodstock. Now, the second phase makes the leap to the open sea. The idea is simple, but ambitious: oysters are natural biofilters. A single oyster can filter five to ten liters of water a day, removing organic matter and nutrients. The researchers estimate that a well-established culture will retain up to 20% of the nitrogen that enters the lagoon each year, and that the entire oyster population would be able to filter the entire Mar Menor in just 23 days. But how does it work? The experimental reef is located near Isla del Barón, one of the most sensitive areas of the Mar Menor. There, 175 blocks of biodegradable clay designed by the company Oyster Heaven were anchored. Larvae settled on them, which now grow feeding on excess nutrients in the water. Each block functions as a “temporary home”: the material slowly degrades while the oysters attach themselves to the bottom and form their own natural reef. In total, the system occupies about 12 square meters of seabed, but represents a key experiment in ecological restoration. Scientific monitoring is carried out by ANSE under the direction of the IEO-CSIC. Technicians analyze the survival, growth and stress level of the oysters, in addition to measuring their sexual maturation and the accumulation of contaminants such as bacteria. E.coli or marine biotoxins. An extra help. To monitor this entire process they need even more hands. So the project counts too with technological support from the Polytechnic University of Cartagena (UPCT). Its researcher Francisco López Castejón used a remote underwater vehicle (ROV) to inspect the reef and see how this technology can monitor underwater habitats where diving is difficult. With science and technology working together underwater, the next question is inevitable. Why oysters in the Mar Menor? For decades, this sea has suffered from the accumulation of nitrates and phosphates from intensive agriculture. These nutrients feed an excess of phytoplankton that clouds the water and depletes oxygen, causing massive episodes of anoxia and death of fauna. The goal of RemediOS-2, in the words of the Department of the Environment of the Region of Murciais that the flat oyster acts as a natural regeneration tool. Its filtering helps reduce eutrophication and its shells, rich in calcium carbonate, contribute to carbon storage, an added benefit in the face of climate change. Beyond restoration. The project is also a test bed for a new blue economy. According to the Pleamar Program, The project aims to involve the local fishing sector, organize marine spaces for future restoration actions and demonstrate that regenerative aquaculture can be compatible with environmental recovery. The third phase of the project will include genetic studies to check whether local oysters are better adapted to climate change, with the aim of producing resistant “seeds” that can be reintroduced both into the lagoon and the Mediterranean. Forecasts. For now, oysters continue to grow under the gaze of researchers and underwater robots. The third part of RemediOS is already in planning. Perhaps these 55,000 oysters alone cannot save the Mar Menor, but they can demonstrate that environmental restoration can start with a mollusk, a handful of biodegradable bricks and a simple idea: let nature repair itself. Image | IEO Xataka | The reservoirs in the Segura basin are at their limit. The question is whether the new rains can save them

Europe has hope placed in the electric car of 25,000 euros and Volkswagen already knows who will manufacture it: Spain

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Volkswagen ID. Polo, Raval Cupra, Skoda Epiq and Volkswagen ID. Cross. Those are all the cars that Volkwagen has commissioned Spain. The company has commissioned the bulk of its urban vehicles to our country. It will do it with four cars that will be key, for better or worse, in the medium -term company strategy. Confirmation. It will be in Martorell, Barcelona (Volkswagen ID.P Polo and Cupra Raval), and in Landaben, Navarra (Skoda Epiq and Volkswagen ID.cross) where the Volkswagen group will manufacture its smallest electric. The company has confirmed it at the IAA Mobilitythe Münich hall focused on electric vehicles. It will be its four electric cars that will fly over 25,000 euros. That is to say, The “affordable” offer The group will be manufactured in Spain, a strategy that we already sensed partially but that was about to be confirmed. 25,000 euros electric car hub. The arrival of these four models to our country is, on paper, great news for the company’s workers. Martorell has long been positioned as the central nucleus of the strategy, with A battery plant “by your side”its projection as Component supplier And, now, with the two cars awarded. Landaben takes another very important pinch. The Volkswagen ID. Cross, which is just a concept, will be one of the company’s great assets in the segment. The Volkswagen T-Cross promises to be one of the most important electric/medium term electric. The EPIQ will be the “affordable” option. In addition, in both cases the SUV body fits perfectly into the electric car since it is the body preferred by the public and facilitates to fit greater battery capacity in the car without sacrificing the space. Investment. In your event, Volkswagen has pointed out that a total of 10,000 million euros will be invested. 70% will be in charge of the company that are divided into the electrification of the Barcelona plant (3,000 million euros), Navarra (1,000 million euros) and the 3,000 million euros of the Sagunto plant. The remaining 3,000 million euros correspond, according to the company, with the investments of the auxiliary companies to mount these cars. Key models. Spain has become a key region for the future of the company. Right now, it has four of the models that aspire to generate a qualitative leap in sales within the German group and the plant that will produce the batteries for all of them. The sale of these cars is especially relevant because in 2027 manufacturers have to Place below 93.6 gr/km of CO2 in the average emissions of the cars that have sold. The figure is already hard and needs the sale of large volumes of electricity but it will be Much more in 2030 When that maximum figure is reduced in half. If the political plans are maintained, the cars that occur in Spain should despite substantially in the company’s results accounts Volkswagen is interested in prioritizing the sale of these cars that, by price, should be easier to sell. The risk. The other face of the currency is evident: that cars are not sold. Although manufacturers are obliged to press in this market (due They present obvious inconveniences when they are taken out of the city. Right now, that electric, cheap and “for everything” car or that allows “anywhere” even with space limitations does not exist. That role played by the Seat Ibizato give an example, it is in danger of extinction if the manufacturer does not opt ​​for a substantial electrification of mechanics. Spain, leader. Spain has managed to find its hole in the electric car market. Although has been threatened by brands (and in fact it is made) it will be taken to take some of the cheapest electric to countries with less expensive labor, such as Morocco, Spain has managed to offer itself as an attractive country to produce cars with the lowest profit margin. Volkswagen’s bet is not alone. Stellantis will also produce its smallest models in Spain. Vigo and Zaragoza will be key in the production of smaller cars, the mounts About the Stla Small platform. It is a battle that has earned France or Germany whose operational costs are higher and need to produce higher costs (and less volume) to justify its production. Photo | Volkswagen In Xataka | If the question is if the cars were “cheaper” regarding your salary in 1975 than now, we have made accounts

This company is China’s great hope to definitely dispense with Nvidia chips

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In China there are dozens of companies that are dedicated to the design of GPU for applications of artificial intelligence (AI). Stepfun, which belongs to Tencent Holdings; Infinigence ai; Siliconflow, from Huawei; Metax; Biren Technology; Focus me; Iluvatar Corex or Moore Threads They are some of the most important. However, currently One shines more than the others. In fact, as we have anticipated from the head of this article, this company is the best China asset when dispensing with the Nvidia chips. Although it is not as well known as Huawei or Moore Threads, Cambricon Technologies is one of the companies specialized in the design of GPU for AI with greater growth potential. In fact, he has received the approval of the Shanghai bag (China) to raise 560 million dollars. Will allocate them to the design of four chips for training and inference of AI models, and also to the development of an alternative to CUDAfrom Nvidia. To this company everything seems to be going well. And is that during the last twelve months The value of its actions has tripled. The strategic role of AI for China in its technological and commercial war with the US supports Chinese companies dedicated to the hardware design for AI and the development of large language models. However, there is more than promises to boost the business not only of Cambricon Technologies, but also that of the other Chinese companies that design integrated circuits for AI: the Chinese government has decided to force the data centers that belong to the State throughout the country To use at least 50% of Chinese integrated circuits on their servers. Cambricon Technologies is not an emerging company like the others China needs talent to compete with the US on equal terms and knows where you should look for it: in its population. In fact, the Administration has encouraged the implementation of elite educational centers that receive the best students in the country with open arms. The Chen brothers were two of them. Today are the founders and maximums responsible for Cambricon Technologies. The first, Chen Tianshi, exercises as president and general director of this company specialized in chip design for AI applications. And the second, Chen Yunji, is an expert in the development of processors for neural networks that, as far as we know, exercises as an advisor and responsible for technology in Cambricon. Both formed in An elite program for young talents In the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and currently the two are researchers and professors in this educational institution. Your best asset is its complementarity. Tianshi is an expert in chips design, and Yunji in AI. Chen Tianshi and Chen Yunji obtained their doctorates in computer science at age 24 Together they created a project at the Chinese Academy of Sciences that pursued a processor specialized in deep learning. Their plan went well and that chip allowed them to found their company. Their curriculum supports them, and there is no doubt that their effort has helped them reach the position in which they are. In fact, both obtained their doctorates in computer science at age 24. However, Cambricon is not a traditional emerging company. The growth of which we have spoken a few lines above and the expectations it has raised have been led by the support of the Chinese government, which sees in this company the opportunity to achieve the technological self -sufficiency it needs. During the last three years Huawei has established himself as one of the main Chinese GPU designers for AI, but Cambricon has something that this giant does not count at the moment: he combines a very ambitious hardware and A constant software platform improves. Huawei Ascend family chips are very competitive, and also has Cann (Compute Architecture for Neural Networks), what is Your alternative to Cudabut Cambricon is demonstrating that he has the ability to adapt its Neuware software very quickly to the needs of its customers. And in a market in which CUDA governs with iron fist It is a very important asset. Currently the flagship products that have changed to compete with Nvidia and Huawei in the Chinese market are the MLU series (Machine Learning Unit) and yes. In fact, the expectations of the Chinese semiconductor industry defend that the GPU Siyuan 690 will have comparable performance to the chip NVIDIA H100. In addition, Cambricon guarantees that their products are compatible with the models of the leaders in China, such as Deepseek, Qwen de Alibaba or Hunyuan de Tencent, among others, which has allowed it Gain the confidence of the Chinese industry. If we add that, According to Financial Timesfor developers it is easier to use neuware that Cann is reasonable to anticipate that during the next months Cambricon will monopolize the attention of the technology industry. Image | Cambricon Technologies In Xataka | Nvidia has to deal with the absolute distrust of several US legislators. His plan in China is in danger In Xataka | The US wants to end the chips for the Chinese that are sold abroad. And China knows how to defend oneself

The iPhone of the lipsticks is from Louis Vuitton and hope to sell them as churros: “Customers are excited”

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The luxury market is going through one of its worst Financial crisis due to Strong sales adjustment behind him boom of sales that luxury brands experienced after the pandemic. Bernard Arnault has devised a master play to try redirect the bassist situation of LVMH and attract the interest of the wealthiest clients: a new luxury makeup range in which a scented lipstick will cost about 160 dollars. They hope to sell it as churros. Landing in luxury cosmetics. Louis Vuitton gets fully into the world of high -end makeup with the launch of Beautéa range that includes 55 tones of lipstick, in addition to balms, eye shadow palettes and a series of skin accessories to wrap them with monogram design seal. It is no accident that Louis Vuitton has chosen that they are 55 tones: 55 in Roman numbers is LV. Beyond the tonal ranges and glamor of the packagingFrom the first range of makeup of Louis Vuitton, the most attracts attention are its prices. A single lipstick will cost $ 160, $ 250 for a palette of eye shadows. The most faithful to the brand, in addition, can Complete your accessories With a mini trunk to save the lipsticks, stamped with the monogram design for 2,500 euros or a bag to carry the lipstick for $ 390. A high price as a strategy. Not everyone can pay 160 dollars for a lipstick so LVMH’s strategy is hitting the table to, such and As I recognized Pauline Brown, president of LVMH for North America to Yahoo Finance, strengthening her leadership. “There is practically no market for a 160 -dollar lipstick. Therefore, I think this was a strategic play to try to strengthen its position and leadership in the luxury market.” If we compare it with the products offered by its main rivals. A Dior lipstick, for example, costs about 47 dollars, Hermès lipsticks about $ 80, while one of Peau Beauté Clé It is sold for $ 113. This approach seeks to strengthen exclusivity for the Ultralujo buyer, not for the aspirational client. It is the same strategy that the brand has used in its leather and fashion products, which they have achieved endure the generalized downward trendin the face of the results that presented luxury brands, Like Burberrythat they had opened their catalog to more affordable products. Debate about the unattainable strategy. The luxury products They are not based on a rational criterion, but on feelings and perceptions. So it is difficult to advance whether the new range of luxury products will be a success or not. According to The report “The State of Fashion: Beauty V.2 ” Prepared by The Business of Fashion and McKinsey, 63 % of consumers do not consider that premium brands have higher quality than the most affordable brands, and 24 % of those customers have opted for cheaper products in the last 12 months. However, such and as they highlight in The Business of Fashionin the face of this practical vision, there is the purchase decision based on brand perception. Marigay McKee, co -founder of the Incubator of Violet Lab Beauty brands and former sales of Harrods and Saks Fifth Avenue assured that: “Vuitton has waited so long to offer cosmetics that customers are excited … the legacy is there. But the quality has to be present, not just the aesthetics.” Louis Vuitton and Apple. Cécile Cabanis, Financial Director of LVMH, assuredIn one of his latest presentations that “Vuitton’s strategy focuses on always offering the most sophisticated and higher quality product to retain the most important customers and get some others in the upper segment. So the goal is to continue recruiting the youngest generationand that is not about selling at low prices or making cheap products, but also using the vuitton’s DNA, DNA and attractiveness and replicating it in more accessible categories. “ In that context, Louis Vuitton’s strategy with this new product line is very close to what historically He has offered Apple In technology: a product with high quality perception, at a high price that reinforces the concept of “products value” above its price. Quality must be demonstrated. The presence of Pat McGrathone of the most influential makeup artists in the world at the head of the cosmetics of Louis Vuitton, guarantees that the collection is relevant for both the industry and for the most demanding consumers. Marigay McKee rememberthat the success of the new line is conditioned to its quality. “Louis Vuitton faces the experience of the best makeup artists in the world. There are those who pay for the brand image, but it cannot only be exaggerated advertising. The product has to live up to expectations, or will only have good sales in the launch”, but will not be able to maintain those sales for a long time. The cosmetics sector is very lucrative. While it is true that LVMH already has cosmetics specialized marks as Sephora, the global makeup market is so lucrative that it is tempting not to enter it with a high -end proposal. According to data published by Fashionunitedthe cosmetics market reached 43.6 billion dollars in 2024 and could touch the 46,000 million at the end of 2025. The projections by 2034 are even better. That is why, in his search for new folders for the luxury sector, Louis Vuitton will not miss the opportunity to open a hole in This expanding market. Maybe it starts like a 160 -dollar lip bar and then present more competitive ranges. It is the same as Apple with its most top iPhone, and then present The iPhone se or the Recent iPhone 16E. In Xataka | The new whim for Millionaires of Louis Vuitton recovers a concept of the nineteenth century: carry a bed in a trunk Image | Louis Vuitton

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