idea

In their search to make the increasingly productive olive trees, these researchers have had an idea: to throw coal

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The jungle floor is between reddish or yellowish; He is sterile and ungrateful, blinding and distemper. It is plagued with mineral oxides or empty of calcareous materials. It is and has always been a bad ground. Therefore, when in the middle of the Amazon, the settlers met the ‘Terra Petra‘They couldn’t believe it. It was a black, tremendously fertile land, incredibly resistant to the decomposition of organic matter. For decades, nobody knew where he had been able to leave. A dark enigma for a bright future. Some said that the Andes volcanoes could have come, others suggested that they should be a product of sedimentation of the tertiary lakes. But, When analyzing they realized that they were truffled with ceramic remains, fish swords, jewelry and human objects. The miracle of the ‘Terra Preta’ was the miracle of huge agricultural communities mixing land, vegetable coal, organic material of all kinds and favoring the growth of an own ecosystem within them. Charcoal? Indeed. That same face The researchers stayed. The jungle peoples often use a burning system to create fertile soils. The problem is that they lose fertility quickly. With the ‘Terra Preta’ it does not happen and the secret is in that coal. What in jargon is known as ‘biochar’. And that is really working? That is what The European Soil O-Live project has been askedif the olive trees could treat with a mixture of biochar and compost. The result is what brings us here: what Yes it works. According to researchers at the University of Jaén, coal treatment increases oil production between 7 and 24%. That is, between 0.4 and 1.7 kilos of oil per olive tree. It is true that it is a preliminary investigation, but without a very promising place. And what do we want it for? That is, without this type of “treatments” Spain is already the place of the world where more oil occurs and not for: grows 15% per year. The problem is that the machine cannot stop because demand It grows even more. Where will this race take us, that voracity? That is one of the great questions of the century. Image | KEVIN MARTIN JOSE | Wander Fleur Image | In full climate crisis, a United States startup proposes an millenary technology of the Amazon: Capture CO2 on the ground

France receives more tourists than anyone. Now he has had an idea to limit it: put the very expensive flights

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Although there is already who says that Spain will end up snatching the crown, France is today the undisputed queen of world tourism. No other nation moves more travelers. Only last year it was expected to arrive in the country some 89.4 million of international tourists, a good handful more than Spain, the US or China. From now on, travelers who must take off from France to move around the country or return to their homes will have to scratch some more pocket. The reason: shortly It will go up he “Solidarity Tax” That applies to your flights. Of course, the decision It has generated a stir. What happened? That in a matter of a few weeks (March 1) France will update its Solidarity tax On the plane tickets, better known as TSBA or ‘Chirac tax’ in a wink to the former president who ruled the Republic when it was approved. His climb is not really a surprise. It was expected in The French budget of 2025, approved in February after a complex process that He took ahead to Prime Minister Michel Barnier; But its application will not be really effective until next month. What exactly is the TSBA? An international tax that taxes the price of plane tickets. Their amount is set by authorities. Then it is up to the airlines to decide whether they assume it or transfer it to a greater or lesser extent to the tickets that charge their passengers. As your own name (TSBA) details, the objective is finance International aid programs. In fact, the French government defends its equitable and ecological value. When at the beginning of the year, during An interview with Le Parisienthe Public Accounts Minister Amélie de Montchalin was asked what he thought of the increase in the tax, Your answer It could not be clearer: “I am in favor. It is a measure of fiscal and ecological justice. The richest 20% of the population is responsible for more than half of the air trip spending.” How much and where will it go up? To clear doubts, the French administration published a few weeks ago A brief ad with the main novelties that affect the tax. It speaks of three categories: “destinations in France and Europe”, “intermediate destinations” and “distant destinations”, which would be those in which the plane travels more than more than 5,500 kilometers. Then details the amount that the rate will have in each case, although the amount varies depending on another parameter: the category. The same is not charged to a customer who travels with a tourist ticket than to another class Business or that flies in a private jet. And how are they then? The result is that the rate for flights in economic and short -distance class, within France or Europe and with departure from France, will cost 2.63 to 7.4 euros. In intermediate journeys it will rise to 15 euros and in the case of distant destinations the tax will be located in 40. The routes to Corsica and overseas territories are left out. In class Business The rate will cost 30, 80 or 120 eurosdepending on the duration of the flight, and in the case of the Jets the TSBA will involve from March between 210 and 2,100 euros, the maximum that would pay a user of a private plane for a trip of more than 5,500 km. The Government recalls in any case that the impact of new rates on airline tickets will depend on whether they decide or not to “absorb them.” What do airlines say? They have not taken to show their discomfort. At least part of them. Air France considers that the climb, more than double, is “irresponsible” and is equivalent to demanding “a tax to access France.” In his specific case he estimates that he will cost him about 100 million euros at a particularly delicate time after the pandemic years. “France is the country of Europe where air transport is more taxed with taxes. In the last 20 years we have lost between 1 and 2% of the market every year in favor of foreign airlines. There is a risk of transferring benefits to other countries,” ditch. The update of the TSBA arrives in fact after the country has made clear Your desire to encourage taxes, the use of less polluting alternatives to the plane in short journeys. Can you take its toll? The reaction has not been good in Ryanar. Its executive director, Michael O’Leary, already He has accused To France to swim to “countercurrent” and warns: “Europe will not be more efficient or competitive excessively taxing air rates.” “France is already a country with high taxes and if they increase more likely we will reduce our capacity,” says the manager of the Low Cost. From the company go further and point out the risk that flights end up being only available to “the rich”, affecting the country’s finances at a time that stands out precisely by the Tourism boom international. Images | Eric Salard (Flickr) 1 and 2 and Service-Public.fr In Xataka | Private Jets flights are a great source of pollution. And France wants to limit them

A startup wants to build the “Tesla de los Barco”. His revolutionary idea is to put candles

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Transport electrification and the search for alternatives to traditional combustion are priorities for many countries. While Europe and China They bet on him electric car and aviation explores more sustainable fuelsmaritime transport of merchandise continues to depend almost completely on diesel. Although the most Of world trade, it is rarely mentioned in the conversation about sustainability. However, a company is already working on changing this And that solution is an millenary technology: candles. Pollution. To meet the tremendous commercial volume we need at the moment, we use huge boring ships. And, although the focus is put on other forms of transport, the maritime is a significant source of pollution. HE esteem that the sector produces 3% of global CO₂ emissions and other particles that contribute to global warming. Specifically, it is responsible for 15% of nitrogen oxides emissions -Nox- and 13% of sulfur oxides -sox- that humanity produces. He guilty It is the fuel used, with high amounts of sulfur and heavy metals, but the regulations allow ships contaminate up to 500 times more than land vehicles. At full sail. Therefore, measures are being implemented to mitigate the polluting impact Of the great ships such as speed reduction, more respectful fuels either systems carbon capture within the ships themselves. But there are also those who are exploring other ways. Show this is the Yara Birkeland boat That not only works thanks to a cover full of solar panels, but does it autonomously. Another example is a design of the British company Windship Technology that bets on technology thousands of years ago: candle. Or a kind of candle. The ‘Tesla de los Mares’. Presented A few years ago, the True Zero Issation is a ship or propulsion project that allows the CO2, NOX and SOX to eliminate, as well as any other polluting particle, of the navigation equation. The idea of ​​the company is for the ship to work with a diesel-electric energy system and, to ensure that there are no emissions, carbon captors would be installed. In addition, the helmet would be optimized to offer the lowest possible resistance to water and would have software that draws the best possible route taking into account variables such as weather forecast, distance, currents and the state of the sea. But it is clear that what attracts the most attention is the candle system. 21st century candles. Unlike traditional candles, which generate wind resistance to propel the ship in the opposite direction to that current, the Windship design consists of several masts with three wings that what they are looking for is to attract the wind to, next to the electric motor, optimize the movement of the ship. Each of these platforms can be up to 48 meters high, something that adjusts depending on the size of the ship and is mobile, oriented to take advantage of the currents. Challenges. At the moment, there is no ship designed with this base system, and it is not something that seems simple. The reason is that the boring ships have their load surface, precisely on the deck. Except for Roro shipsdesigned as large covered garages, the containers transport their load on the deck, which raises a challenge: the candles would occupy valuable space and could interfere with the port operations. From Windship already comments that the structure of the mast can be folded to facilitate maneuver and that its useful life is greater than 25 years, but it is clear that it is an added challenge for ship designers. For now, who has interested For technology is DNV, an insurance organization in segments such as oil, energy or maritime industry. Superyates. Although these large load ships are heavyweights in naval pollution, where a system like the one that Windship poses in luxury yachts can have more future. David Barrow is the Windship technology director and Comment that, although the strictest regulations have not yet affected the superyates, with the environmental objectives marked By 2050, it is possible that these vessels are also wrapped in the restrictions. Being much lighter than the large charges, a yacht of about 70 meters with three masts of 35 meters each could reach the same speed that current engines provide. That, of course, would lead a redesign in the construction plans so that they are more “dynamic and with better stability. Traditional sailboats. The Windship solution is evident that it is avant -garde, but there is another company that literally bets on candles. By sailboats to transport merchandise, specifically. It’s about Towta French company that completed a pilot trip with its ship a few months ago Anemosa sailboat with carbon fiber masts, traditional candles that are deployed by remote control and two diesel-electric motors. Anemos is the first of a projected fleet of eight vessels that, according to Towt’s calculations, would transport 200,000 tons of merchandise every year, saving with its impulse to candles about 40,000 tons in CO₂ emissions. The ‘anemos’ In the end, to candles or not, it is evident that manufacturers should look for alternatives to current fuels if they want to adjust to restrictions based on achieving the decarbonization objectives. And it would be curious to see non -competitive ships driven thanks to new generation candles. Images | Towt, Windship In Xataka | Is it feasible to protect us from climate change with a giant umbrella? Some researchers believe yes

For thousands of years, Neanderthals and Homo Sapiens tried to mate insistently. Genetics had another idea

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In 1856, while they worked in A limestone quarry Near Düsseldorf, two Italian workers found a basin full of bones. They thought they were the remains of a bear and approached a teacher of a nearby city, known for being a bone collector. They had no idea what they were about to provoke. The antecedent. When he saw the bones, Johann C. Fuhlrott He realized that they were not from a bear, he took the bones to the University of Bonn and, next to Hermann Schaaffhausethey communicated the finding to the world. No one took them very seriously. It was said that it was a Russian cosaco with rickets that persecuted Napoleon for Europe. Until almost a decade later, the Irish geologist William King He reached a revolutionary conclusion: we had not always been alone. But why are we now? With the discovery of Homo Neanderthalensis They opened many unknownsbut there is one that has been chasing us for almost 200 years: why did they disappear? How is it possible that such an old, so robust species, that had survived so many things disappeared without more? Why were we left alone? To all these years, scientists have given numerous hypotheses and theories. From Prehistoric genocides to A slow and agonized eclipse. However, Ludovic Slimak, researcher at the Center for Anthropobiology and Genomic of Touluse and one of the greatest international experts in Neanderthals, You have another idea. The forms of love (and what is not love). For Slimak, if we apply the knowledge of cultural anthropology to what Paleogenetics is telling us, the image is quite different. And, as in all traditional societies in which strong identities coexist, it looks like the different human communities exchanged women. From our perspective, mere expression is already a savage. But from the perspective of anthropology, those “family crossing” processes were basic to ensure stable alliances between different communities. And that, if we take into account that we are loads of DNA Neanderthal, it seems to be what happened. However, As Slimak points outthat “fusion” of lineages never came to occur. The question is why. A story (genetically) impossible. We know that Neanderthals and Sapiens crossed and They had offspring. But we also know that a significant part of it were sterile people unable to reproduce. That is, although the communities tried to lock these relationships and alliances based on miscegenation, the thing did not work. Searching. It’s curious, Slimak said in An interview for Livesciencethat “when you are looking for old DNA (40,000 to 45,000 years ago) all these sapiens early have recent DNA, and That is why we have (DNA Neanderthal) today. But when you arrive and try to extract DNA from the last Neanderthals, contemporaries of these first sapienslet’s say between 40,000 and 50,000 years ago there is not a single Neanderthal with DNA sapiens“ Curious and very possibly one of the keys that explain because the most numerically and genetically diverse population of Sapiens won the departure to the Neanderthals. That is, why we were alone. Image | SUCHOSCH In Xataka | If the question is “when the Neanderthals and the Sapiens were crossed,” we now have the answer: about 47,000 years ago In Xataka | The “ghost species” with which our ancestors were settled and disappeared without (almost) leave a trace *An earlier version of this article was published in February 2024

Valencia faces a serious problem with housing. So someone has had an idea: build more height

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Tecnocasa recently published A report in which the thermometer to the Spanish real estate market, a theoretical exercise that allowed him to obtain two revealing data: in just one year the demand for housing has grown up on average 39% In Spain while the offer undertook the opposite road, retreating more than 9%. The result is a tensioning market, in which the floors last a few weeks or days (even hours) announced in real estate agencies before finding tenant or buyer. In Valencia, an idea has emerged to alleviate that problem and reinforce its public housing offer: allow buildings to gain height, a formula with which they calculate that the city could win More than 70,000 floors protected What happened? That in Valencia has been on the table An idea New to reinforce your housing park. At least the protected housing. A few days ago the Socialists proposed in the City Council of the City Council to retouch the local ordination (PGOU) so that the city buildings grow to the top. Literally. His idea is that the blocks can raise one or two plants their height. The plan He advanced it The country Wednesday, before the commission; But from the PSPV they recognize that he did not obtain the necessary support, so at least for the moment he will stay in that, an idea about the table to face the housing problem. “The PP has rejected our proposal”, Explain The socialist mayor Elisa was worth. Click on the image to go to Tweet. What have they raised? “Raise buildings to gain public housing”, summarize The PSPV of Valencia. The idea is simple: modify the PGOU to upload the city blocks one or two levels. The socialist group has already made accounts and calculates that if an extra plant was added to all buildings, 86,644 homes would leave, a large residential park also distributed throughout the municipality. As part of these constructions are protected by their heritage value or are located in Valencia neighborhoods in which height cannot be gained, the PSPV has retouched that initial figure, but the result remains considerable. “If we subtract 20% for understanding that in the historical centers and protected buildings you will not be able Explain Valía to The country. That (more than 70,000 new floors) is the figure that PSPV presumed this week in networks, where he claimed that his proposal “would avoid expulsion and uprooting.” Why such a measure? The PSPV plan is focused on the creation of protected housing (both for rent and sale) in a territory that dealt with the offer shortage and the price increase. In January the Polytechnic University of Valencia (UPV) published A report that helps to understand much better The situation From the capital of Turia: in five years the prices of the new work have triggered about 80% and the offer was reduced by 83%. Things have not been better in the rental market, which became more expensive. “What we have before us is a tsunami of epic dimensions and all administrations must act in a coordinated, effective and quickly, The director explains of the Chair of the UPV Housing Observatory after remembering the forecasts at the state level. “We estimate that more than 80% of the current demand fits in the public protection house, so the determined commitment to the construction of this type of housing is strategic.” And how do you want to do it? The PSPV proposal is not entirely new and there are other cities in which they have already been activated similar solutionstaking advantage of the ‘Flight Law’. In Valencia the idea is that it is the communities of owners themselves that can promote the ‘stretch’ up the buildings with one or two extra plants. The resulting floors would be added to the Public Protection Housing Park, which among other things would allow it to extend it to “consolidated neighborhoods”, Valía points out. The PSPV plan also includes an extra advantage for neighbors communities. In a city with an aged real estate park, in which A notable percentage From the houses it has more than four decades, the communities of neighbors would obtain from the extra buildability some resources that would allow them to modernize their blocks. Are there more cases? Yes, Valencia is not the only one that has been fixed in that formula. In Barcelona, ​​licenses have been granted to lift floors that increased the buildability of existing buildings. In 2017 it was estimated that in just three years they had benefited from that possibility (the traces) about thirty buildingswith licenses for 120 floors. Madrid too It has varied Over the years the maximum height of its buildings and the Balearic Islands leave another recent example. Palma already added in September 70 requests of buildings to grow in height and add 589 floors of limited price. Images | Jonny James (UNSPLASH) In Xataka | The price of housing in Spain is already higher than in the bubble peak. But the data has a small trick

The owner of a Tesla Model and has filled his roof of solar panels to load “up to 100 km”. It is not a good idea

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He Solar car It’s like gold for the electric car. There, all wishes will be fulfilled: we will load our cars free of charge. End of the bonds of electric and oil forever. But we are so far from getting something like the gold appears in our lives. Different companies have proposed to experiment with the solar car and even sell their own models. Toyota, with the PRIusit filled the roof of it so that its plates would help the electrical components of the car. Mercedes, in his EQXX visionhe has played with the same idea. And, despite everything, from Sttutgart to Silverstone, a trip in which they toured more than 1,200 kilometersthey barely managed to extend the autonomy of the vehicle in less than 50 kilometers. But the Marketing From a solar car is very far. In the PRIus He contributed little. The Mercedes is a prototype designed to look for the limits of efficiency, both in aerodynamics and in chemistry of its batteries and consumption of its engines, so it is not too representative either. The 3.57 kWh recovered by the solar panels yielded much more in a vehicle of these characteristics than in a street car. Sono Zion, one of the most advanced projects, He ended up canceling. Those responsible for Lightyear, who said they were able to travel for free 70 kilometers daily with their solar car, have also ended by Lower the blind. In fact, since the vehicle was announced in 2019, its managers did not stop lowering expectations and, with them, the number of kilometers per year that the car could travel thanks to its solar panels. But all this has been no impediment to the owner of a Tesla Model and that ensures in Reddit having made your electric SUV a much more efficient vehicle thanks to some solar panels distributed along the ceiling. Figures that, of course, you have to take with tweezers. Putting it in quarantine As he has counted in a thread of Redditthis owner of a tesla model and ensures that he has designed a system of Foldable solar panels that allow you to load every day between 30 and 100 kilometers a day. In the presentation of his project, the user explains that the panels are folding and installed on the roof baca. He assures that in this first version, the panels stand out about 27 centimeters from the ceiling of the vehicle but that, in a new version in which he is working, he will reduce the height to about 15 centimeters, improve the flush and create a carbon fiber support To lighten the set. In total, the Tesla Model and can carry in the future, always according to the user, 4,000 W packaged On the roof, which once deployed can recover part of solar energy, transform it into electricity and recharge the car while it is parked. But many doubts arise here. First, he assures that He is working So that the solar energy is transformed into electric and goes directly to the car battery so, we understand, for now the energy is stored in a battery that subsequently recharges the vehicle. The other great doubt that arises is about the true efficiency of the whole. In 2019Toyota created a prototype of the PRIus that filled the entire roof, the rear window and the hood of the solar panel car. A surface that generated 860 W. With them, Toyota said he could travel some 45 extra kilometersbut they were based on the Japanese homologation cycle, much more lax than Europeans. In the case of Tesla Model and, the weight of the panels touches the maximum of 75 kg that in the United States can move on the ceiling, so it will irremediably affect consumption. First of all, those 75 kg of weight, which is more or less like going with one more person in the car. And, much more critical, for the impact on automobile aerodynamics, which would be very damaged. The creator says that he has not calculated the latter but believes that consumption worsens at 10%. All this has led some Work reviewers To affirm that the car can barely travel a little more than 40 kilometers under real circulation conditions. That without entering into the impact that the solar panels have on the dynamics of the vehicle and the march comfort, because it must be difficult to ignore the generated noise. In Xataka | The accounts (impossible) to get an autonomous solar car that is recharged only with sunlight In Xataka | This electric SUV moves only with solar energy. And just arrived at the Sahara after traveling 1,000 kilometers Photo | Somid3 *An earlier version of this article was published in January 2024

Trump wants to annex Greenland for the US. So in Denmark they have had an idea: stay with California

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Donald Trump’s order for control Greenland has already had an effect, one with which he probably did not count the new tenant of the White House: he has shown the world what is the sense of humor that is stipulated in Denmark. With The scathing point that characterizes the Danish comedy, the country has starred A satirical campaign For Denmark Buy California. After all, if Truemp wants to take away Greenland, why would Denmark not take a state from Trump? The initiative already accumulates more than 200,000 signatures and has achieved remarkable visibility that transcends Danish borders. Your motto, of course: “MAKE CALIFØRNIA GRAAT ÆGAIN”. A word: denarkification. Since Trump left the idea that Greenland cut out ties with the kingdom of Denmark and passes to the US protection, the proposal has generated all kinds of reactions. In Washington, In Nuuk And of course in Copenhagen, who has ruled out that possibility bluntlyhas committed a few billions of crowns to reinforce the Danish military presence in the Arctic region and even He has redesigned His real arms shield to claim his historical bond with the island. The scenario throughout the last month has been a strap, complex, anything less comical. Or at least it was until someone decided to add some humor to the controversy and create the web Denarkification.comin which it basically campaigns for Denmark to buy California to the United States. Sounds comic. And the web does not hide that this is its purpose, satire, so its argument is full of phrases loaded with irony. Capture of the Denmarkification.com website. A figure: 207,000. The web does not reveal who is behind the initiative, but that has not prevented it from having achieved more than remarkable visibility. The initiative has echoed, in addition to the Danish press, the Briton The GuardianAmerican chains CBS News and Foxthe Indian The Economic Times or the Canadian NDT World. Its impact has not been only media. Denmarkification has a section in which visitors can support the petition for Denmark to Enter California and, according to collects the website itselfhas already managed to exceed 207,000 signatures. It is not the only figure that the platform quotes, which has even calculated (of course without justifying it) how much money would need to carry out its purpose and see how the red and white flag of Denmark Hondea in Sacramento. Their drivers speak of a Crowdfunding of one billion dollars, which is equivalent to “more or less a few billions”, They clarify. “That is just 200,000 crowns for every Danish. Save a few coffees with milk and it would be.” One question: Why California? For several reasons. At least following the argumentary of Demarkification, written in an indisimulantly ironic tone. Its creators start talking about the weather on the west and take the opportunity to launch Trump some other polish Your friction With the governor of California, the Democrat Gavin Newson, who recently even He came to compromise 50 million dollars to protect immigrants and defend the state of the policies of the Republican administration. A key: irony. “Have you ever looked at a map and thought: ‘Do you know what Denmark needs? More sun, palm trees and scooters? Heard well. California could be ours and we need your help to make this happen “, The campaign starts ‘Prodanesa’, on the way to 208,000 signatures. From there its authors highlight the food, the technology industry and (again) the Californian weather. “Let’s be honest: Trump is not exactly the greatest admirer in California. He has said that it is ‘the most ruined state of the union’ and has been enemized with their leaders. We are quite sure that he would be willing to detach himself from him for the fair price “, Ironize the web. “And we also give you a supply of Danish cakes for life to sweeten the deal. What about the will of citizens? Well, let’s be realistic: when has that stopped that?” A promise: renduct Disneyland. It is not the only sarcastic wink of The campaignwhich ends with a “discharge of responsibility” in which its authors warn: “This campaign is 100% real … in our dreams.” The denarkification initiative undertakes to rename the Disneyland park to call it Hans Christian Andersenland, add a Viking helmet to Mickey Mouse, take he Hygge To Hollywood and connect Beverly Hills with bike lanes. Does it sound complicated? To those who contribute to Danish crowns to the cause, the platform promises rewards as a letter of personal thanks of the Danish royal family, life supply of Californian avocado or even a private beach in Malibu, all depending on the money they contribute. As for the purchase itself, Denmarkification assures that will sign Lego managers for negotiation and who have the support of Viggo Mortensen as Aragorn, Sven el Viking or the Battery of the Metallica Group. THE IDEA: Before the convulsive diplomacy … sense of humor. Images | Hannah Thiel (UNSPLASH), Tanya Nevidoma (UNSPLASH) and Denarkification.com In Xataka | In 1940 USA offered 100 million dollars to Denmark for Greenland. NASA has found the reason: a secret city

Siberia stays in the dark good of winter. In 1988, Russia had an idea to solve it: mirrors in space

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Towards the end of World War II, Some documents in Life magazine They revealed one of the many ideas that Hitler’s Nazi Germany had: a kind of solar projectile through A giant orbital mirror to destroy enemies or even whole cities. Obviously that never happened, but decades later it served as a slight inspiration for a Russian scientist who started from a fascinating idea: how could we extend the hours of the day? Convert the night. The truth is that the background idea is not new. Over the years, Humanity has sought to extend the day (Understood as day and light) with technological tools, from electric light to digital communications. However, in the 1990s, a group of Russian scientists tried to take this concept to the extreme: launch huge space mirrors to reflect sunlight towards the earth and prolong the day. Vladimir Syromyatnikov. The project we are talking about was directed by Vladimir Syromyatnikovone of the most influential space engineers in historyknown by Develop the ship’s coupling mechanism which is still used at the International Space Station. During the 80s, his interest focused on The design of solar candles that could use solar radiation To propel ships through space. However, in postsoviet Russia, obtaining financing for space projects required clear economic justification. Thus, Syromyatnikov reformulated his idea and presented it as One way to illuminate Siberia’s arctic regions during the dark winter monthsincreasing productivity in agriculture and industry. Yeah, I would try to turn on the sun for the polar regions of Russia After the night fell. Image of Znamya Znamya and his brief success. In 1988, Syromyatnikov founded the Space Regata Consortiumwith the support of Roscosmos and several state companies. His motto was very clear: “Diury light all night.” The idea not only promised to reduce electric lighting costs, but also Facilitate rescue in disasters, military operations and night construction projects. The first prototype, Znamya 2, He was sent to space in February 1993 aboard the progress M-15 ship and subsequently deployed from the MIR Space Station. Once in orbit, he began to turn to deploy its reflective surface. The mirror, 20 meters in diameter, achieved the feat of Reflect a beam of light equivalent to that of a full moon, illuminating an area of ​​5 km in diameter while crossing Europe and Russia 8 km per second, even Astronauts in Mir confirmed that they could follow the flash from space. The problem? The reflected light was more diffuse than expected and difficult to controland the weather was not taken into account. Plus: The cloudiness prevented the majority of observers on land to notice. Hours later, The mirror disintegrated by re -entering the atmosphere. ZNeamya 2.5. Despite its short duration, the experiment showed that the concept was viable, which promoted Znamya 2.5 planningwith a larger mirror and the ability to maintain the beam of light on a fixed point. Thus, in 1999 this second version was launched with A 25 meter diameter mirror. This time, when deploying, one of his fine sheets became entangled in an antenna from the Progress ship, tear the structure. The attempts to free her failed and the mirror had to be exorbitantburning in the atmosphere. The next step would be Znamya 3, with a 70 -meter mirror, capable of illuminating entire cities. What happened? That The failure of Znamya 2.5 and the lack of financing buried Syromyatnikov’s project and dream. In addition, the opposition of astronomers and environmentalists grew, arguing that Space mirrors could alter natural cyclesaffect astronomical observation and confuse wildlife. A man and his tireless search for light. Despite the failure, Syromyatnikov continued looking for financing to build a permanent mirro system. We talk about An estimated project of 340 million dollars. His vision was a world where cities would not need artificial light and the days had no nights. However, investors lost interest and the project was abandoned. Syromyatnikov continued his work on coupling systems until his death In 2006, dedicating his days to work without rest, in an ironic parallelism with his obsession with eliminate The night. The legacy. If you want, that was also the end of a space “exploration.” In any case, much less the background idea is over. Today, the idea of ​​taking advantage of sunlight from space has resurfaced In the investigation of orbital solar plantsthe same as They could send energy to Earth through microwave. However, Znamya is still a reminder of the limits of technology and the need to respect natural cycles. Russia’s attempt to convert the night and enlighten Siberia in winter was both a demonstration of human ingenuity and an experiment that, in the end, crashed with the laws of nature and resistance of the modern world. Image | QSI/MIR In Xataka | The Nazi plan to build a huge space mirror with which enemies and the Russian project that (almost) makes it a reality In Xataka | A secret simulator of the Cold War led to the US and Russia to a nuclear war. Since then they know what the red line is

Egypt and Jordan reject Trump’s idea of ​​moving Palestinians from Gaza to their territory

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The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Egypt rejected the US president’s proposalDonald Trump, of displacing the population of the Gaza Strip to his territory or other Arab countries and defended the creation of a Palestinian State as the legitimate right of his people. In a statement, the Ministry reaffirmed “Egypt’s adherence to the political solution to the Palestinian question”, which involves “ending the occupation and returning the usurped territory to the Palestinian people”, to guarantee their legitimate right to their land. and homeland. He also stressed its rejection “of any violation of these inalienable rights, whether through settlements or land annexationsor evacuating those lands from their owners through displacement or encouraging the removal or uprooting of Palestinians from their lands, either temporarily or permanently.” In this way, he responded to the statements that Donald Trump made yesterday, Saturday, to the journalists who were traveling with him aboard Air Force One, and to whom he said that he had spoken with the King of Jordan, Abdullah II, about the idea of ​​building housing. and transfer the million Gazans from the Gaza Strip to countries like Egypt or Jordan, according to CNN. According to the Egyptian department, displacing the Palestinian population of their land “threatens to further spread the conflict in the region” and hinders the possibilities of peace and coexistence between its peoples. In this sense, he explained that the Palestinian territory includes the unity of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, in accordance with the resolutions of international legitimacy and the lines of June 4, 1967. Jordan supports the creation of the Palestinian State On this same day, the Jordanian Foreign Minister, Ayman al Safadi, He expressed himself in similar terms and also rejected Trump’s approach while demanding the creation of the State of Palestine to fulfill the right of the Palestinian people and achieve the long-awaited peace in the Middle East. “Everyone knows that the solution to the Palestinian cause lies within Palestine. Jordan is for the Jordanians, Palestine is for the Palestinians,” he stated before highlighting that the path to regional security and stability is for “the Palestinian State of sovereignty to live in peace alongside Israel in accordance with the solution of the two states.” Keep reading:• Trump calls Gaza “a demolition site” and wants Jordan and Egypt to welcome its inhabitants “temporarily or long term”• Ceasefire agreement between Lebanon and Israel ends• Israel releases 200 Palestinian prisoners after 4 hostages released by Hamas are reunited with their families

Malaysia came up with the idea of ​​painting its roads fluorescent to illuminate them at night. The problem was the price

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In February 2024 we saw that the continuous line of a good part of the A-355, one of the roads with more accidents of Spanish territory, dawned with a thick continuous red line. It was a pilot measure by the DGT to highlight the prohibition of overtaking on that road. A few weeks earlier, a similar program was developed in Malaysia: repainting the road markings of certain roads with a photoluminescent paint. Not even a year has passed and it seems that they will not continue painting. The reason? It is too expensive, which has raised the question of… and they hadn’t thought of that before? The pilot. In mid-November 2023, the Government of Malaysia advertisement the launch of a pilot program that aimed to highlight the lines of certain roads. Using photoluminescent paint with the ability to glow at night. The authorities commented that these initiatives were suitable for dark areas that lacked public lighting. The lines shine for 10 hours and, in case of heavy rain, they also give off a certain shine that helps make them more visible, allowing drivers to stay in their lane. The images leave no room for doubt: it looks much better than the traditional white line, also better than reflective indicators. The project attracted attention. Initially, only 245 meters of road were painted at one intersection, representing about 490 meters of road markings, but other states began to carry out their own tests. Almost 20 times more expensive. The problems came practically from the beginning. The Malaysian Ministry of Works already warned that they were going to be very attentive to the results of the pilot program and the ability to paint on other roads, since the price of the new paint could be a problem. And so much so that it has ended up being an inconvenience. From the Ministry of Works reported that conventional paint costs about 40 ringgit per square meter, about 8.65 euros. Photoluminescent paint costs 749 ringgit per square meter, more than 160 euros. It costs 19 times more per square meter. Putting on the brake. Despite the enthusiasm with which the population received the measure, Malaysia’s deputy labor minister, Ahmad Maslan, commented a few weeks ago that it was not likely that they would continue painting. “The cost is too high, so we probably won’t continue with glow-in-the-dark lanes,” stated. It is curious when, months before, 31 roads had been identified that could have received this type of paint. Maslan stated that the tests did not meet the expectations of the ministry’s experts, without giving further explanations. Questions and suspicions. This is part of the eternal debate about priorities, budget and security, since we must remember that the areas that were going to receive this type of paintings are wooded and lack lighting, making it dangerous to travel through them due to interactions between humans. as by the action of animals crossing each other. And, evidently, the news has raised suspicions of corruption in local mediawith users who wondered if they didn’t know all this before starting the pilot project, what are those expectations that the painting has failed to meet… and that someone will have filled their pockets with the initial contract. Images | Alexander Nanta Linggi, Bernama (Azlim Mansor) In Xataka | The Tour de France has a team dedicated exclusively to something crucial: erasing penises painted on the roads

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