key

In 2019 we discovered fungi that metabolize gold. There are already those who want to turn them into the key to space mining

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The story started more than five years ago in Boddington, south of the Australian city of Perth. Over there, among killer animals and gold mines, a team of researchers from the Australian CSIRO discovered something really strange: that certain strains of the fungus Fusarium oxysporum Not only could they extract gold from their surroundings and integrate it into their structure, but by doing so they managed to spread faster than the rest. It seemed like a curiosity, but in recent years the situation has begun to change. But wait, why is this something so “weird”? Good question. After all, we know for a fact that fungi “play an essential role in the degradation and recycling of all types of organic material (like leaves or bark), but also in the cycle of certain metals such as aluminum, iron, manganese and calcium.” Why would it be different with gold? Because, as Tsing Bohu, researcher in charge of the project, explained, “gold is so inactive (chemically speaking) that these types of interactions are unusual and surprising, I had to see it to believe it.” And he saw it. In fact, it published in Nature Communications. It was the first solid evidence that fungi could play a relevant role in the gold cycle in the Earth’s crust. The “mushroom” of the golden eggs. The mining industry quickly turned its attention to the investigation. Especially right there in Australia. The island continent is the world’s third largest gold producer, but the consensus among analysts was that without new deposits production was going to fall (a lot) in a short time. The direct consequence is that this has made marginal deposits profitable. Initially, the industry thought that the CSIRO investigation could be used to locate these new deposits. As we explained years agoIn Australia it is relatively common to prospect in forests of the aucalyptus family or near termite areas because they have a close relationship with the precious metal. Why not test the soil for those strains of Fusarium oxysporum? But there is one more possibility. As Eduardo Bazo explained to Eugenio Fernández in a very interesting interviewin recent years companies have appeared that work in what we could call “metabolic mining“That is, using organisms to extract gold. “And why do they want that?”, you might ask. “Isn’t it easier to identify where the gold is and extract it with industrial methods?” Yes, here on Earth, yes. But these companies have their sights set a little further: on space mining. For years we have talked about the existence of huge mineral deposits in the Solar System and, during almost the same period, we have fantasized about being able to exploit them. The problem is that, beyond current technological limitationss, to the danger of normal mining, is added the fact that we are talking about processing metal in space. But what if we use ‘metabolic mining’? The idea of ​​sending modified strains of these fungi (or other types of microorganisms) that They will process the mineral for useverything would become simpler. I don’t know if it’s more viable, but it is simpler. It is much less rare than it seems (we use this type of approach to countless products we use regularly), however taking it to the world of mining seems a little more complex for pure efficiency. However, that is ‘now’. Because there are already experiments in this sense generating platinum in microgravity conditions and ‘metabolic’ copper is moving a lot of money. What’s more, while I write (and while the era of cheap materials is over) several research groups They are growing all kinds of microorganisms with the idea of ​​being able to grow gold sooner rather than later. They are getting it. Image | Dominic Vanyi | Jaap Straydo In Xataka | The next richest person in the world will come from space: the future millionaire of space mining

Spain has the key to the next invasion of the Pentagon

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In 1942, while preparing Operation Torch to land tens of thousands of Allied soldiers in North Africa, General Dwight D. Eisenhower arrived to a conclusion that would mark American military strategy for the following decades: a war does not depend only on soldiers or weapons, but on the ability to move them to the right place. That operation turned the Strait of Gibraltar into an essential piece. More than 80 years later, the map still says practically the same thing. The US threatens, the truth is very different. donald trump hardened again his speech against Spain to the point of proposing the breakdown of commercial relations due to discrepancies over military spending and the position of the Spanish Government within NATO. On paper, it seemed like the beginning of a rift between both countries. However, it is enough to observe the movements of the Department of Defense itself to discover an obvious contradiction: while the White House raises the political tone, the Pentagon continues allocating hundreds of millions of dollars to reinforce the two most important US military bases in southern Europe. In fact, hours later Trump himself turned back to the threats: “I must admit that I had problems with Spain, and I still do, but today Spain completely redeemed itself. Spain was very generous today. They agreed to an important payment request, and if they had not done so, we would not have even spoken to them,” he indicated. The valuable letter of Spain. The true origin of the clash was not in the tariffs, but in Iran. When Washington requested to use Rota, Morón and Spanish airspace during the operation against the Iranian regime, Madrid refusedforcing the United States to reorganize part of its deployment from Germany and France. That decision recalled something that for decades had remained almost invisible: although the United States invests billions in both facilities, they remain baces under Spanish sovereignty and its use depends, ultimatelywith the approval of the Spanish Government. Rattan The US response: more money. It we count at the time. What is striking is that the American reaction did not consist of preparing an exit from Spain. Just a few months after the veto, the US Air Force awarded a framework contract of about 400 million of dollars to maintain and modernize Morón during the next decade, guaranteeing its operation until 2036. Far from being interpreted as retaliation, the investment sent exactly the opposite message: the strategic value of the base is so high that no specific political disagreement justifies failing to reinforce it. The track was broken. A few days later a second, even more significant decision appeared. Washington announced the construction in Rota of a huge hangar designed for accommodate transport aircraft strategic as C-17 Globemaster and the gigantic C-5 Galaxydevices capable of transporting battle tanks, helicopters, air defense systems or hundreds of soldiers in a single flight. In an era in which the speed of moving troops is almost as important as weapons, expanding that capacity means preparing for future operations, not abandoning the base. Hummock The explanation is on a map. Rota occupies the entrance to the Mediterranean, one of the most important maritime corridors of the planet, while Morón connects Europe with North Africa and the Middle East in a few hours. Together they form a logistical bridge from which the United States can move ships, aircraft, fuel, ammunition and personnel to various theaters of operations almost simultaneously. Changing that combination to another location does not simply consist of moving troops to another European base: it would involve rebuilding for years a logistical infrastructure that already exists and works today. The impossibility of changing a geography. The own published analyzes The United States agrees that losing access to Rota and Morón would place an additional burden on US forces, even if they could redistribute part of their capabilities to other allied countries. The problem, therefore, does not lie only in the hangars, docks or fuel tanks, but in the place where they are built. Andalusia continues to be the natural gateway to the Mediterranean, Africa and the Middle East, exactly as it was during the Second World War. The Spanish asset: military logistics. That is why it is difficult to imagine that the business threats end up one day becoming a real rupture between both countries. Trump can use Spain as a political argument in his speeches, but the Pentagon has been sending a completely different signal for months with your budget. Every dollar invested in Morón and every new infrastructure built in Rota reminds us of an uncomfortable reality for Washington: when the next major international crisis, attempted invasion or start of a new war arrives, there is an extremely high possibility that the path towards it will begin again in southern Spain. Image | Commander, US Naval Forces Europe-Africa/US 6th Fleet In Xataka | The US threatened to take the Rota base to Morocco. Spain has buried it with an unbeatable offer: more territory In Xataka | The same day that the US threatened Spain and said it did not need the Rota base, the US invested 13 million in expanding the Rota base

I explain how to do it, how to activate your privacy key and the obstacle I found

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we may carry months talking about usernames on WhatsAppbut it is one thing to read about a feature that is coming and quite another to see it appear in our own account. This Monday, WhatsApp, from Meta, opened the reserve of identifiers before they can be used generally, and the first thing I did was try to get mine out of the way. At first I couldn’t do it, but a few hours later the option was already there. And then the interesting thing began: booking it was easy, choosing it not so much. In the earlier published article We already explained the scope of the function: usernames do not replace the phone number to create the account, but they do add a more private way to initiate certain contacts. This time the approach is more practical: what I found inside the application, what steps I followed to reserve my identifier and what detail forced me to change plans when I tried the most obvious option. How I reserved my username on WhatsApp In my case, the journey started from the main WhatsApp screen, in the bottom bar of the application. To the right of Chats the tab appears Youwhich is where WhatsApp groups access to the profile and various account settings. From there I entered Account and then in User namean option that already appeared in the menu. As seen in the screenshots, the path is not hidden, but it does require knowing where to look if we have not yet received a clear warning within the app. The next screen leaves little room for doubt about the status of the feature. WhatsApp does not say that usernames can simply be used, but rather that “they will be available soon” and that, in the meantime, we can reserve ours. It also summarizes the promise of privacy with a simple explanation: the username will serve to keep the number hidden from people who do not yet know it. This nuance is relevant so as not to confuse reservation with complete availability. What we have in front of us, for now, is a way to set aside an identifier before general deployment. By clicking on Create usernamethe first thing I did was try my own name. It is a quite natural reaction when a platform opens the pool of identifiers: before getting complicated with numbers, hyphens or combinations, we try to stay with the cleanest form possible. In my case, I wrote Javier and waited for WhatsApp validation. The response was not exactly what I expected. The message was quite specific: “This username is only available on WhatsApp Business.” That is, it did not seem like a normal case of a busy identifier, but rather an availability conditional on the type of account. In practice, this introduces an interesting nuance for those who try to reserve very simple names, especially proper names, because some, apparently, can be left out of a personal account even if they appear associated with another channel. In my case it didn’t make sense to jump to WhatsApp Business. Then I tried another logical option: my last name. It was a reasonable alternative, because it was still easy to remember and fit well with the idea of ​​sharing a personal identifier without resorting to a very long combination. This time WhatsApp did show a much more conventional notice: “Username is not available“There the problem was no longer the type of account, but pure and simple availability, something to be expected in a function that comes to a service with a huge user base. At that point it was time to decide whether to continue trying combinations or choose a reasonable option and continue with the process. I opted for the second. The name I ended up saving was not the cleanest nor the one I would have chosen in an ideal world, but it did what I needed: to clearly identify myself and serve as contact information without exposing my phone number. After accepting the identifier, WhatsApp displayed the message you expected to see: “Username reserved.” The reservation does not end entirely on that screen, because WhatsApp also allows you to adjust who will be able to contact us through the username. In the section Contact me by username I found two options, and the one that was marked by default was All. That is, if I left the configuration as is, anyone who knew my identifier could use it to initiate that first contact. For a function that is presented precisely as a privacy layer, I think that setting deserves review before closing the process. The other option available was People who know my password. When selected, WhatsApp generates a key that works as a second filter for that first contact by username. The idea is simple: it is not enough for someone to know our identifier, they would also have to know that key to be able to start the conversation that way. Here is an important detail that should not be overlooked. In my experience, it is not enough to enter People who know my password and see the password generated by WhatsApp. If we then go back or simply close the application, the setting is not applied and the configuration remains at All. For that additional filter to really work you have to click on Save key. Only then is the key registered and can be consulted later from the same section. That said, we must keep in mind that we are talking about a gradual deployment. If you enter WhatsApp, follow the same route and it still does not appear User nameit doesn’t mean that you are doing something wrong or that your account has any problem. In my case, the option was not available when I heard the news and appeared a few hours later. It is best to keep the application updated on iOS or Android and check again later, because WhatsApp will gradually activate the reservation. It is … Read more

The blue crab is a pest throughout the Mediterranean. In Italy they have found the key to resist the invasion: cultivate oysters

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It’s not no newcomer to the Italian coasts, but still the blue crab (Callinectes sapidus) represents a huge headache for the Government of Georgia Meloni. Originally from the western Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico, this crustacean with powerful pincers, a bluish color and a voracious appetite has turned Italy’s clam and mussel production upside down, causing millionaire lossesthreatening jobs and affecting the country’s culinary tradition. To combat it, in Italy they have resorted to huge networksthey have financed their capture and have even opened their restaurants to blue crab. Now, in the absence of results, they are adopting a new strategy: farming oysters. A blue and pincer threat. He Callinectes sapidus (the famous blue crab) is recognized above all for its tone and its claws, so powerful that they allow it to easily climb and break fishermen’s nets. However, there is another trait that defines it much better: the voracity. An insatiable predator, it devours clams, mussels, fish eggs, other native crabs with weaker shells… The same resources that have kept thousands of fishermen afloat for generations and nourished part of Italian gastronomy. It is assumed that the Callinectes sapidus takes in Italy since 1940but now its expansion begins to reach unsustainable levels. “A desert”. “The blue crabs are eating everything. This stretch of lagoon is turning into a desert,” regretted a few years ago from the Po Delta Gianluca Travaglia, a 52-year-old fisherman dedicated to catching clams. The situation was so drastic that, he admitted, some of his colleagues no longer used networks. “The crabs swim towards them and break them.” In 2023 Flu Fedaa sector association, estimated the economic impact of the invasive species at about 100 million euros in Italy. According to his calculations, the predator was killing about 90% of the young clams in the Po delta. Daniela Borriello, from Coldirettishared in 2024 another estimate: In the northern Adriatic, the area most affected by the invasion, production has plummeted by 80%. “The jobs of 3,000 people are in danger.” Looking for solutions. The situation is so dramatic that both the authorities and the fishermen themselves have sought ways to stop the plague. In the Venetian lagoon, for example, clam farmers have come to “fortify” your nurseries with nets that appear five feet above the water. Without success. Crabs climb and break them. Campaigns have also been launched to remove tons of crabs from the coasts and invested million of euros in the fight against the invasive species, although without great results. The warming of the oceans and the absence of predators do not make it easy for fishermen either, so some time ago in Italy they took heart and they applied an old strategy: ‘if you can’t beat them, join them’. Or eat them, if necessary. The chefs they started looking ways to include the invasive species on your plates or look for new marketslike the US or China. Is it a solution? It certainly doesn’t seem optimal. And for several reasons. To begin with, more and more scientists warn of the environmental risks of ‘invasiveness’the trend of opening local cuisines to invasive species and turning species like blue or Kamchatka crab into ingredients. In the specific case of Callinectes sapidus, Their consumption does not seem to be arousing passions in Italy either, despite the attempts of some chefs to incorporate them into their pasta dishes. The Italian economic environment Quifinance assures that only 15% of blue crabs find an outlet in the food market and their commercialization is limited by the complexity of their processing. In fact, other avenues are already being tested, such as its use in feed. Oysters to the rescue. Beyond the nets, mass captures or their incorporation into local cuisine, in Italy they have deployed another strategy to fight against blue crabs. Which? Bet on oysters. As points out Il Sole 24 Orethe idea is very simple: move from clam nurseries to the cultivation of oyster varieties that, due to their characteristics, are much more resistant to attacks by blue crabs. It’s not just theory. In the Sacca di Goro lagoon (located in the Po Delta), fishermen’s cooperatives they have already diversified its production betting on stras. “More resistant”. “A first step has been taken thanks to the financing, through the Development Fund, of a study dedicated to the enhancement of crab meat,” comments Roberto Saviniby Confcooperative Romagna-Estense. “At the same time, cooperatives have begun significant investment in the cultivation and marketing of certain oysters.” Even media like The Republic have been echoed how there are fishermen dedicated to clams who have decided to switch to oysters, “more resistant.” One of the most recent cases It is left by the Goro cooperatives, in Ferrara, which, faced with the harassment of the blue crab, have decided to give more weight to oyster cultivation. Specifically, the professionals from Gorino and Sant’Antonio have begun to invest in varieties that are a priori more resistant to the new predator (such as Mignon or Lampa) and that at the same time can have an outlet in the Italian gastronomic market. Solved then? No. The commitment to oysters is just one of the strategies deployed by the Government and Italian fishermen. And it is not without challenges either. One key is the image that oysters have. Unlike clams, a large part of the market continues to view them as a luxury item. To solve this and aware of the opportunity they represent for the fishing industry, Italy has considered reducing its VAT, passing it from 22 to 10%. “Oysters are a luxury good because they are expensive, not because nature has made them luxurious,” recognize the Minister of Agriculture. Another challenge is to expand the gap that oysters now occupy in the market. Fedagripesca estimates that Italians consume around 10,000 tons of oysters annually, the vast majority (97%) of foreign origin. “Italy, with its more than 7,000 km of coastline, could compete with France for the title of cradle of the oyster, recovering a production … Read more

NASA wanted to keep a key antenna active. A culture of “personal heroism” ended up achieving the opposite

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There are infrastructures that seem made to escape the problems of the Earth. The Deep Space Network from NASA is one of them: a network of giant antennas designed to communicate with probes and ships that travel far beyond our immediate environment. But even a system designed to talk to deep space depends on something much closer: trained people, clear procedures and decisions made under pressure. What a space agency investigation has just pointed out is not only a costly breakdown, but a weakness that is difficult to ignore in a network that we take for granted. The Goldstone Incident. The episode occurred on the DSS-14 antenna, a 70 meter facility located in the Goldstone complexin California. NASA published a version with redacted parts of the final report on the incident recorded on September 16, 2025, which left the antenna out of service since then. The damage occurred when the structure rotated beyond its limits and stressed cables and hoses, including those for the fire suppression system. The consequence was a flooding of the base with more than 750,000 liters of water containing glycol and estimated damages between 4.1 and 4.6 million dollars. The incident chain. The report does not allow each step to be reconstructed with complete clarity, because the public version hides almost all the details of the six critical events identified by NASA. The failure did not appear suddenly. First there was a hydraulic limit system that stopped working at an unspecified time, then an anomaly on September 15 during a communication with Juno and then maintenance and diagnostic tasks. In this process, the antenna was taken several times to its rotation limits, until the safety margin ended up disappearing. The weak point. If this story is surprising, it is because it takes place in a place where we tend to imagine everything measured, written and reviewed down to the last detail. But the NASA investigation describes something much more earthly: insufficient training, procedures that were not up to par, and too much reliance on undocumented routines within the facility. In a network like the DSN, designed to maintain communications with very distant missions, this changes the reading of the incident. It was not just an antenna that turned too much, but an organization that, at that particular point, had left too much room for the informal. Misunderstood heroism. The report also points out a work culture based on what he calls “personal heroism,” an expression to describe teams willing to do what is necessary to keep the antenna going. On paper it sounds like a compromise, but research presents it as part of the problem. That drive led some people to take on tasks outside their qualifications, work long hours until they accumulated fatigue, and skip tests that could delay their return to operations. The conclusion is harsh: having agreed to leave the antenna in a failed state would probably have prevented the outcome. Specific duties. The report includes 20 recommendations, with one especially clear idea: NASA needs to encourage technical rigor over “personal heroism.” From there, internal correction measures come in, such as reinforcing training and reviewing procedures. Additionally, the agency is looking for similar scenarios beyond the Deep Space Network itself. Deep Space Network. DSS-14 is not just any antenna within the Deep Space Network. It is one of the three 70-meter antennas in the network, the largest category within a system made up of 14 antennas distributed between California, Australia and Spain. In early 2026, it looked like the antenna would return to service in May, before being taken out of operation in August for a major upgrade scheduled until October 2028. NASA, however, now maintains that it will remain out of service, although the DSN will remain operational thanks to the other antennas in the network. Images | POT In Xataka | Voyager 1 will reach a light-day distance in November, but this will be its last major record

While the heat ‘Spanishizes’ Europe at full speed, Spain begins to ask itself a key question: whether it will have to ‘saharize’ itself

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During recent summers, as heat waves have spread their tentacles across the continent, we Spaniards have seen ourselves vindicated. At last, Germany discovered the napFrance would fall in love with the blinds and England would have to admit that dining late has its benefits. It was seen, let’s face it, as a cultural victory. We did not have the other side of the coin: that climate change is a treacherous animal and, while Europe flirts with our habits, customs and solutions, we are being forced to abandon them. The question was not whether we will manage to ‘Spanishize’ Europe; It was whether we are going to have to ‘saharize’ Spain. What we are doing is not enough… In the midst of a heat wave, it becomes evident that many of the things we have been doing no longer work. But the truth is that the heat is no longer “an isolated episode.” According to the State of the Climate of Spain 2025 According to AEMET, the average temperature has risen 1.75 °C since 1961. In 2025, 25 records were broken for warm days and none for cold days (when one would expect five of each) and, as far as we know, summer lengthens by about nine days per decade. The consequences have changed radically and can be seen with a single piece of information: the The need for refrigeration in Spain has multiplied by 2.6 between 1982 and 2022. In this sense, Royal Decree-Law 4/2023 has already certified the obvious: the Spanish working day has to be legally subordinated to the thermometer and to the AEMET notices. In Xataka Experts agree that opening windows at night and closing them during the day is no longer the best strategy against heat. …and, in fact, we are stopping doing many things. The nap is a good example: only 16% do it daily and the 60% of Spaniards never sleep. It is due to the social evolution of the labor market, it is true; but also because at certain temperatures, the nap is no longer restorative and we can only turn on the air conditioning. When talking about ‘Saharanization’ there is a controversial component, of course; but there is also a grain of truth. There is extremely striking thingsfor an average Spaniard (like drinking hot drinks because they help regulate body temperature more efficiently than cold drinks) that make all the sense in the world in a very hot climate. And it is reasonable to think that there are many of those things that we will tend to adopt. It has always been said that Islamic culture tended to conceive houses ‘inwards’ and gave a lot of weight to internal domestic life, but do we really believe that it is a free decision and not a cultural adaptation to a very warm environment? {“videoId”:”x8006fc”,”autoplay”:false,”title”:”How to sleep when it’s very hot and you don’t have air conditioning”, “tag”:””, “duration”:”217″} There is more, much more. Because the signs are there. Cities are reacting: Barcelona has gone from 197 climate shelters in 2021 to more than 500 this summerwith coverage of 99% of the population within less than ten minutes walk; Bilbao, for its part, has around 131 spaces. Leisure also changes and Summer bookings to Norway up 37% while the north of the peninsula gains tourists. That is, it is no longer whether we change “habits, customs and solutions” but how we do it. We should talk more about this because that is where a good part of our near future lies. Image | Sam Williams In Xataka |ENT doctors agree: “Sleeping with air conditioning forces the nose to work excessively” (function() { window._JS_MODULES = window._JS_MODULES || {}; var headElement = document.getElementsByTagName(‘head’)(0); if (_JS_MODULES.instagram) { var instagramScript = document.createElement(‘script’); instagramScript.src=”https://platform.instagram.com/en_US/embeds.js”; instagramScript.async = true; instagramScript.defer = true; headElement.appendChild(instagramScript); – The news While the heat ‘Spanishizes’ Europe at full speed, Spain begins to ask itself a key question: whether it will have to ‘saharize’ itself was originally published in Xataka by Javier Jimenez .

the key is knowing what to study

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Every year, thousands of young people finish their selectivity studies with their minds set on Medicine, Software Engineering or Law. The problem is that they are the usual ones, the ones that everyone knows and also the ones that, because of its popularityhave the highest cut-off marks. However, while these places are assigned in minutes, there are five careers with employment rates above 80% and almost no students. For some reason, companies looking for professionals with those profiles, but the students ignore them. The report U-Ranking 2025 prepared by the BBVA Foundation and the IVIE has crossed the data of two variables that almost never go together: the real employability of the courses and the number of graduates from each branch. Among the results, attention is drawn to a group of degrees with very few enrollments, but with job placement rates that popular careers are not enough, and salaries above 30,000 euros. A mismatch that comes from afar. a report Randstad Research and the San Pablo CEU Foundation estimate the mismatch rate between the studies completed and the jobs obtained in those areas after graduating at 49%. That is, almost half of graduates end up working in something not directly related to the career they have studied. Meanwhile, there are very specific technical profiles that companies they cannot cover. High cut-off marks and the reputation of being tough studies they alienate many students of those races. However, the reality is that the fewer people study a degree, the easier it is to find a job in that field when they leave. Environmental Engineering: 92 graduates and 85.5% hired. U-Ranking data indicates that there are only 92 graduates per year in Environmental Engineering in all of Spain. The Social Security affiliation rate of graduates of this degree four years after finishing it is 85.5%. That is, eight out of ten work “on their own” when they finish their degree, with an average contribution base of 32,643 euros gross per year. The degree is four years and the average cut-off grade for the 2025-2026 academic year was 7.2, with a minimum of 5 at the Polytechnic University of Valencia. With regulatory pressure on environmental impact growing in Europe, these professional profiles are increasingly in demand in consulting, energy and public administration companies. There are very few candidates to cover that demand, which gives those who choose it a fairly comfortable starting position. Geomatics and Materials Engineering: two almost invisible degrees. Geomatic and Topographic Engineering has 149 graduates. It is one of the rarest degrees in the Spanish university system. Even so, its affiliation rate reaches 86.3% and the average contribution base is around 31,845 euros per year. It can be accessed with an affordable passing grade, which starts at 5 in different universities such as the Polytechnic of Madrid, Valencia, the University of Jaén or the University of León. Its applications range from the use of drones, digital mapping and geographic information systems that are increasing their demand in sectors such as infrastructure, defense and urban planning. On the other hand, Materials Engineering has 195 graduates, with a membership rate of 82.7% and average contribution bases of 33,240 euros. The cut-off mark in the 2025-26 academic year started at 5 in universities such as Salamanca, although it varies greatly depending on the center, rising to 8.5 at the University of Barcelona or 9.1 at the University of Seville. It is a very transversal degree that connects with very different sectors: from aeronautics, automotive or energy to biomedicine. Few students know her, but those who choose her do not usually stay without work for long. Naval Engineering and Electronic Engineering: the best paid in the group. Naval and Oceanic Engineering is somewhat more in demand, but without reaching the levels of Medicine, Psychology or Nursing. It has 392 graduates and an average contribution base of 34,490 euros per year. Its affiliation rate is 82.5% and you can enter the University of A Coruña with a 5. This career is responsible for training professionals to design and build boats, marine structures and propulsion systems. Its main demand comes from shipyards, marine renewable energy and defense. The number of annual graduates does not even remotely cover available vacancies. Electronic Engineering is the largest of the five, with 474 graduates. Even so, its tuition remains affordable with universities that require an average of 7.5 such as the Politècnica de Catalunya, the University of La Rioja or La Laguna. Its affiliation rate reaches 90% and the average contribution base is 37,544 euros, one of the highest in the ranking. Of the five careers that we have discussed, this is the one that combines the best employability with the highest remuneration. In Xataka | Overqualification in Spain becomes chronic: 34% of workers perform tasks below their educational level Image | Unsplash (Christian Lendl)

To move the cutting head of the ‘Monica’ tunnel boring machine, a 152-wheel truck was needed. It’s the key to Australia’s ‘water battery’

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Transporting a gigantic tunnel boring machine to the work point is no small feat, and Madrid has a few things to say about this. However, in Cooma, a small town in the Australian state of New South Wales, they seem to have gotten the hang of it. And the colossal piece of steel crossed its streets at a snail’s pace on a 152 wheel truck. The cargo was part of Snowy 2.0one of the largest energy storage projects in the world. What is it about?. The piece was the central block of the cutting head of the tunnel boring machine named Monica. According to Snowy Hydro, the public company behind the project, this component weighs more than 137 tons and measures seven meters wide. The head is the part that really matters in a tunnel boring machine, since it is the rotating disc that faces the rock and crushes it as it moves. Media deployment. Monica’s head is too big to transport in one piece, so it had to be divided into five parts. Still, just moving the center block required months of preparation. The entire transport reached 73 meters in length, and was moved at night facing the last stretch along the Snowy Mountains Highway, heading to the Marica site, north of Kiandra, where the machine would be assembled. A colossal engineering project. This move was just one piece of a much larger puzzle. The company indicates that in the previous weeks more than 140 large loads were delivered to Marica from the port of Port Kembla, south of Sydney. The tunnel boring machines do not arrive assembled, as they are transported in sections (head, drive system, shields, support platforms) and are assembled on site. In fact, last October, the transport of Monica’s motor system (a component about 207 tons and eight meters wide) brought more than 1,500 people to Cooma, in what Snowy Hydro called one of the largest loads ever transported by road in New South Wales. What is all this for? Snowy 2.0 is, in essence, a gigantic water battery. The project will connect the Tantangara and Talbingo reservoirs through some 27 kilometers of tunnels and an underground power station. The idea is to generate electricity by turbineing water when demand is high and, in times of surplus solar and wind energy, pump it back uphill for reuse. The company assures that it will have a capacity of 2,200 megawatts and enough stored energy to supply about three million homes for a week. Start-up. Last February, Snowy Hydro announced that Monica had been commissioned and would be responsible for excavating the section of the tunnel that crosses the Long Plain fault zone, a geologically complicated area. Designed by the German firm Herrenknecht, the machine advances at one end of the tunnel while another tunnel boring machine, Florence, does so at the opposite. The idea is that both are underground before being dismantled. For those dates the project exceeded 70% execution. Snowy 2.0 has not been without controversy with news of cost overruns and delays, and completion is now scheduled for December 2028. Images | Snowy Hydro In Xataka | Canada is going to debut the residential skyscraper with the most floors in all of North America: it has 12 sides and 351 meters high

The AVE to Extremadura has taken a key step in its connection with Madrid. It’s a small step that takes us back a decade.

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They say that things in the palace go slowly. We could say the same about high speed. Not only because “high-speed” trains are taking longer than ever, but also because the construction of each new line resembles a birth that lasts decades. For example, the AVE to Extremadura. A quarter of a century has now passed since the project was approved. 25 years. And what we continue to have are connections typical of the 70s until we enter Extremadura where, coincidentally, the pace is already accelerating past Cáceres. We don’t lie. In 1970whoever took a train to Extremadura would arrive at the current Monfragüe station in 181 minutes. Today if everything goes well it will only take 20 minutes less. More than half a century after passing times collected in this guideit still takes more than three hours to get from Madrid to Plasencia. And right now it is necessary to stop at the aforementioned station and take a bus because the train no longer goes there. At least, in Extremadura they can boast since last December of having Cáceres and Badajoz connected, now, by high speed. Since the last days of the year, it is possible to cover the journey in 50 minutes. It is the result of works that, although they have taken time, have ended up being completed. A milestone that they cannot boast of in Castilla-La Mancha. And, 25 years after beginning to study where the AVE will pass on its way to Lisbon, a new step forward has been taken. One that also takes us almost ten years back. One step forward, Toledo. One step back When it was planned that an AVE would connect Madrid with Extremadura, it was decided that the work would have two large, clearly differentiated sections. One of them would be Madrid-Oropesa, the second Talayuela-Cáceres. With its obvious delaysthat second section is close to completion and its completion past Cáceres is what has allowed the arrival of high speed in that interprovincial Extremaduran section. And, as they point out in this great review of the diary Today Despite all the dates that have occurred in this quarter of a century, the end of the project could have been very advanced if the La Mancha section had been built at the same speed. However, since 2008 the various parties involved have been discussing what to do with the passage through Toledo. Or, rather, whether or not the train should pass through Toledo. That year, with the environmental impact report of the Madrid-Oropesa section already approved, the final approval was given to the informative study that contemplated a connection with the Andalusian corridor next to the Toledo town of Pantoja. The idea was to take a branch of this line towards Extremadura and thus save costs. The works, however, were not carried out. The 2008 crisis wiped out the project and it was never launched. Without machines working, the environmental report expired and that was when the Ministry of Public Works indicated that the AVE would pass through Toledo. We are already in 2017. The Government’s proposal was that, by passing through Toledo, the line would attract a greater number of travelers since the line would connect with a city that is a World Heritage Site. Of course, this meant traveling more kilometers and increasing travel time because Toledo is located further south than the first proposal. The idea was rejected by local authorities from the first moment. And the passage through Toledo It’s delicate. The Executive’s proposal has always been to take the AVE to the current station, which is just two kilometers in a straight line from the city center. But that means building a viaduct to overcome the passage of the Tagus, which has received continued rejection from local governments and the neighborhood platforms that consider that the image of the city would be damaged. Their proposal was to build a new station in a nearby industrial estate. This is how the year 2020 was reached, with an informative study in which it was proposed to subdivide the section into four parts: Toledo, Torrijos, Talavera de la Reina and Oropesa. They also showed their rejection of this project in Torrijos, which led to more bureaucracy and carrying out a complementary study in 2022. This document was presented in 2024 and had the approval of this town the following year… but in Toledo, as we have said, they still do not view the project favorably. In order to streamline the project, finally The Ministry of Transport has finally approved a new informative study that would contemplate building two branches from the Andalusian corridor. They explain in Today that if the branch goes ahead it would have its origin in Pantoja (as planned from 2008 to 2017) and that it would allow passage in both directions with trains of Iberian width and international width. However, it would be necessary to use trains capable of making this jumpsince the rest of the route to Extremadura is built on Iberian gauge. That is, right now what is being studied is the same to the conclusion that It was arrived in 2008 and that remained on the agenda until 2017. At least, as an alternative until it is decided whether or not the AVE to Extremadura passes through Toledo. And, if it happens, where is it going to do it. Photo | Gunnar Ridderström, Jaime Lillo and Falk2 In Xataka | The theory said that the entry of the AVE into Galicia would plummet aircraft prices. Practice is something else

We have been looking to replace the key ingredient in cement for years. We have found the Holy Grail: basalt

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In the midst of the era of decarbonizationthe first thing that comes to mind when we think about ways to emit less CO₂ into the atmosphere is the transition to renewable energy or electric vehicles. However, we can often overlook something that sends as many CO₂ emissions into the atmosphere each year as all the cars in the world: the cement. This material is essential and, although We have been looking for a replacement for yearsa team from the University of California believes they have found the key to creating greener cement. A cement without limestone that relies on silicates. Portland cement. It is the basic material that ‘links’ our reality. This paste resulting from the mixture of water, sand and stones is very resistant and, as we say, although we have been looking for a substitute for some time, the truth is that we have not found the key. It is still a structural part of buildings, bridges, dams or tunnels and the problem is that the cement industry is estimated to represent around 4.4% of global greenhouse gas emissions. And one of the problems with this cement is limestone. It is a simple rock to refine, but it requires a lot of energy. It is not that limestone pollutes by itself, but because of the process that must be followed to process it and make it a good ingredient in cement. This limestone must be heated to more than 1,500 degrees Celsius to produce the calcium oxide necessary for the mixture and it is estimated that half of all CO₂ emissions linked to cement production are related solely to that process with limestone. Focus shift. With that in mind, Jeff Prancevic (a geologist at the University of California, Santa Barbara) and Cody Finke (of Brimstone Energy) set out to replace the elephant in the room. If Portland cement is the most used and the limestone refining process is what pollutes the most in the process, the rock had to be removed from the equation. The key? Find other rocks rich in calcium, but that are easier to refine. Basalt to the rescue. And in the study published in Nature They detail how basalt is that rock that meets what they are looking for. After carrying out different analyses, they came to the conclusion that, in theory, manufacturing cement from these calcium-rich silicates can require less than 60% of the energy needed by limestone, reducing CO₂ emissions by 80% in the process. In numbers. It is estimated that, in the refining of limestone, 600 kg per metric ton of cement of CO₂ are sent into the atmosphere, but if we use other silicates, the authors calculate that these emissions could be around 50 kg per ton. In the least conservative calculations, the proposed solution would still cut more than 25% CO₂ compared to the standard process with limestone. Another interesting point is that the processing of these other rocks has the potential to give us valuable byproducts with high iron and aluminum content that could benefit other industries. That is, the material would be used more while contaminating less. The pasta question. The problem is… the same as always. When we talk about a new lbrick from recycled plasticsof sugar bricks or of others in the shape of a ‘staple’ that do not need cement to join together, the bottom line is that the construction industry should make a radical change in its processes. It is a huge liner that cannot be swerved overnight, no matter how many benefits these new materials have. And the same thing happens here. Although it is not about creating an alternative to cement, but rather using other rocks to extract the calcium that the mixture needs, the money comes into play in two ways. The first for the basalt deposits. If the cement industry has been organized around enormous limestone deposits to optimize processes, switching to basalt would imply relocating plants or creating new supply chains that would increase both time and costs. If something works… On the other hand, the margins of the cement industry, which has been shown to be extremely conservative throughout history. There is a product that works and changing something in the chain would involve carrying out a reorganization that they may not want to undertake. There is also the fact that yes, basalt has iron and aluminum as a byproduct, but the plants would have to be conditioned to be able to treat it properly, which would mean a huge initial investment. The authors of the study themselves indicate that it is difficult for an industry that for a century has been organized around Portland cement changed its way of acting one bit, but they also point out that, precisely for this reason, they have focused on finding materials such as basalt that are abundant, with reserves to maintain the current pace of construction for thousands of years and that emit less into the atmosphere. It is obtaining calcium from a different rock and its authors call on the industry, and other researchers, to experiment with new technologies that help accelerate the decarbonization of cement. The problem is that, as we say, there are too many drawbacks that the industry itself probably does not want to take on. Image | Cemco In Xataka | Coal is back in fashion in many countries. The problem is that it is clouding the sky from the solar panels

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