laboratory

the IMEC chip laboratory has manufactured the first qubit with ASML’s High-NA machine

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Manufacture a qubit, the physical device that implements the minimum unit of information in the quantum computersit is not at all a piece of cake. There are several types: superconductors, ion traps, neutral atoms or ions implanted in macromolecules, among other variants. Not all of them are equally complexbut all are difficult to produce and manipulate. In fact, the ideal is to be able to manufacture them on a large scale in order to make possible the arrival of quantum machines equipped with many more qubits than the current ones. The first step in this direction was taken by Intel and QuTech, the research institute specialized in quantum computing that belongs to the Technical University of Delft, in the Netherlands. At the end of March 2024 they announced that they had managed to produce the first qubit industrially and using the same processes and technology that is currently used for manufacture semiconductors. However, it is now IMEC (Interuniversity Microelectronics Center), the most experienced laboratory in the development of new integration and nanotechnology technologies that we have in Europe, which has signed a very important milestone: has managed to manufacture a qubit using extreme ultraviolet (UVE) and high aperture (High-NA) photolithography equipment from ASML. Currently this is integrated circuit manufacturing machine most advanced that exists. Caressing the dream of industrial manufacturing of qubits for quantum machines IMEC’s ​​main laboratory resides in Leuven, Belgium and has collaborated closely with ASML for more than four decades. Thanks to this collaboration you have access to the most advanced lithography equipment of the Netherlands company. The qubit produced using ASML’s High-NA equipment is a silicon quantum dot spin type. These qubits are very interesting because they are considered the most promising candidates for industrial scaling. In fact, as IMEC assuresthey are known as “the qubits of industry.” IMEC has shown that the manufacturing of these qubits is largely compatible with the production of CMOS chips The really relevant news is that IMEC has demonstrated that the manufacturing of these qubits is largely compatible with the production of integrated circuits using CMOS technology (Complementary Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor or complementary metal oxide semiconductor). And therefore it is possible manufacture them in conventional semiconductor plants. An important note: CMOS is the transistor manufacturing technology behind virtually all modern chips. Sofie Beyne, the director of this project at IMEC, maintains that “We can leverage decades of semiconductor innovation and repurpose the entire silicon scale-up ecosystem, taking quantum devices beyond laboratory experiments into large-scale, fabricatable systems. This is where silicon-based qubits have a clear advantage.” Experts who research in the field of quantum computing they are convinced that having machines with millions of qubits will lead to the arrival of error correction technology, which is the holy grail of these computers. Broadly speaking, silicon quantum dot spin qubits confine an electron within a silicon nanostructure, so that the spin state of the trapped electron is used to store quantum information. This architecture requires that the spaces between the different doors be minimal in order to reduce environmental noise and minimize errors. Be that as it may, what is really important is that IMEC has managed to manufacture a network of qubits with spaces of just 6 nm. Thanks to the nanoscale of this component, millions of qubits could theoretically be integrated into a single chip. Image | IMEC More information | IMEC In Xataka | China has reached one of the holy grails of quantum physics. So says Peter Zoller, father of quantum computers

As far as we know, the agency that supervises AI in Spain is not supervising anything. What it does have is an Ideas Laboratory

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The Spanish Agency for the Supervision of Artificial Intelligence (AESIA) is close to completing its first year of operational life. This organization has activated several initiatives with results that are still difficult to specify, but one thing is clear: supervise, what is said to supervise, does not seem to be supervising anything. The danger, once again, is to continue the European drift: it is good to try to avoid the risks imposed by AI, but what Europe and Spain need is something else. Neither supervises nor sanctions. The great paradox of the agency with official headquarters in A Coruña is that, after months of operation, it has not yet exercised its theoretical sanctioning power nor has it audited a single critical algorithm of Big Tech. For now, its work has focused on “early access” to the regulations. The eternal criticism. Although the European AI Law already allows systems that violate fundamental rights to be banned from February 2025, the AESIA has not opened a single relevant file. Alberto Gago, its director, recently declared in El País that “We are sure that no prohibited AI operates in Spain.” The work is currently very different: it is limited to pedagogy and accompaniment, leaving the work of regulatory “bite” for a future that at the moment seems far from coming. Meanwhile, the real AI market continues to be defined by companies from the US or China, which do not stop releasing new models with practically no regulatory restrictions, while Spanish and European companies have the yoke of a regulation on their heads that threatens to block them before they can even launch projects of this type. At the moment he only writes manuals. In fact, she has now become a free legal consultant for a dozen companies from a “regulatory sandbox” recently created. This initiative, which boasts of being one year ahead of the mandatory deadlines of the European AI Law, wants to act as a controlled space where companies can test their AI systems. Of the 200 applications, 12 projects were selected, but the result of this effort consists of the writing technical guides that help companies comply with these regulations. The sandbox also raises doubts regarding things such as its duration, which is one year and may be too long for how fast this segment moves. A civic center as a temporary headquarters. AESIA should already be using the facilities of the La Terraza building, but said location continues under a concession from RTVE and this It does not theoretically end until 2034. It is difficult to project an image of international technological sovereignty when the agency’s main office operates from the Casa Veeduríaa shared space with neighborhood activities. This provisional headquarters coexists with neighborhood workshops and association meetingsfar from the massive data centers it aims to oversee. The image of a cutting-edge regulator working among this type of activities is probably not the most appropriate in terms of its operational credibility. Thirty professionals against the billion dollars of Big Tech investment. There is a worrying disproportion between the ambition of the government narrative and, for example, the actual staff currently available at AESIA. During the launch announcement, 80 highly specialized employees were promised, but the figures August 2025 indicate that there are barely 30 professionals on staff covering all areas. The work seems mammoth if an organization like this wants to supervise all the models that will come into operation in our country. Currently on their official website they appear two calls to cover permanent and temporary positions, in addition to six calls for officials. The Ideas Laboratory. Last April got started this “multidisciplinary faculty” to anticipate ethical challenges regarding gender, minors and misinformation. Although the topics are vital, the purely academic format clashes with the extreme speed at which the AI ​​industry moves. It is especially peculiar that the organism emits Christmas toy recommendations as global corporations redefine geopolitical power through massive language models that now threaten even unbalance the pillars of the economy. Good intentions are of little use. There is an evident mismatch between the philosophical mission of this laboratory and the technical reality. Although this citizen pedagogical work is interestingly necessary, it should not be the main function or the greatest achievement of a high-level technical supervision agency. The AESIA is behaving more like a citizen service department than as an organization capable of analyzing how the algorithms that grant us credit or diagnose diseases work. ALIA, a compromising example. We have a first worrying case with ALIAthe AI ​​model developed at the BSC. This model has been certified by AESIA, which indicates that it complies with the regulations. However the boot and evolution of said model continues to be erratic and worrying, although it is true that the resources available to the project are very far from those of startups in the US or China. The rigor of the certification is debatable and calls into question whether AESIA will have the capacity to oversee the most advanced AI models. In Xataka | This is not a normal update: MareNostrum 5 will spend 129 million euros to become the Spanish AI supercomputer

James Webb has bad news for the largest natural laboratory for rocky planets, but there is still some hope

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The star TRAPPIST-1 and the seven known planets that surround it are a natural laboratory in which the evolution of rocky planets can be studied. This has led many scientists to focus their attention on them, in search of a possible habitable planet. However, observations made by an international team of astronomers with the help of the James Webb Space Telescope They are not very encouraging. Planets without atmosphere. The James Webb Space Telescope has a very powerful infrared radiation analysis instrument, with which it can analyze the temperature of the planets it observes. These emit infrared radiation whose intensity is proportional to their temperature, so a thermal map can be made. That’s what these astronomers have done. They have initially focused on two of the planets that orbit TRAPPIST-1: TRAPPIST-1a and TRAPPIST-1b. The resulting heat map shows that neither planet has an atmosphere. They may have had it one day, but possibly TRAPPIST-1 itself destroyed it. It is a very uninspiring result for the search for habitable planets in this system. Lights and shadows of TRAPPIST-1. So far seven exoplanets have been discovered orbiting TRAPPIST-1. They are all very close together. In fact, its seven orbits are concentrated in the distance between Mercury and the Sun. What happens is that this red dwarf is less energetic than our Sun, so the temperature would not be as suffocating. All of these planets are rocky, like Earth, and in fact, some are very similar in size. There could be an exoplanet with conditions similar to ours. The problem is that red dwarfs They emit a lot of radiation and energetic flows of particles that could destroy their atmosphere.. And of course, without atmosphere, there is no life. Tidal lock. All planets in the TRAPPIST-1 system are tidally locked. This means that its rotation and translation period around the red dwarf they are synchronized. As a result, there is one side continuously exposed to the star and another on the opposite side. On one side it is always day and on the other it is always night. NASA/JPL-Caltech Extreme temperatures. When a planet is tidally locked, there can be two situations, depending on whether it has an atmosphere or not. When there is an atmosphere, heat flows from the light side to the dark side, so that the entire planet has a stable average temperature. On the other hand, if there is no atmosphere, the dark side can be frozen and the illuminated side can be scorched. In the two exoplanets analyzed by James Webb, it has been seen that temperatures are around 100ºC-200ºC on the illuminated side and -200ºC on the dark side. Therefore, it is confirmed that there is no atmosphere. And now what? Despite this hard blow, there is still hope. The two exoplanets that have been analyzed are not in the star’s habitable zone. This is the distance from it at which the temperature is adequate for the water, if any, to remain in a liquid state. At that exact point there are only TRAPPIST-1e, TRAPPIST-1f and TRAPPIST-1g. Furthermore, the former has a density and size very similar to those of Earth. James Webb has all his attention on this exoplanet right now, to repeat the process. If there were an atmosphere on it, it could still remain on the list of possible habitable planets. It’s still interesting. Despite the first blow, TRAPPIST-1 remains a very interesting system for understand the evolution of rocky planets. The Earth was lucky not to lose its atmosphere; but, beyond those, the evolutions can be similar. Furthermore, we have not yet ruled out that TRAPPIST-1e has an atmosphere. Let’s go step by step. Image | NASA, ESA, CSA, Joseph Olmsted (STScI) In Xataka | There is only one chance in 11,000 years to reach the planet Sedna. Some Italians want to use this nuclear engine

Science had been looking for an alternative to laboratory mice for years without success. Until he found the moths

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In the world of science, the mouse has been for decades the undisputed king of the laboratory. However, it is an expensive, slow and, above all, ethically complex reign. That is why we have been looking for alternatives for years, and the answer may not be in a silicon chipbut an insect that you have probably seen eating the wax of a beehive. The advance. This is what researchers at the University of Exeter have arrived at, who have achieved a milestone that promises to change the rules of the game in the fight against superbacteria: They have genetically “hacked” dinner moth larvae to function as real-time biological indicators. The most impressive thing is that they even have a very visual indicator: they shine when you get sick and go off when the medicine is working correctly. The biological traffic light. The study, published this week in Naturedetails how the research team has achieved what seemed impossible: applying tools of genetic editing advanced these moths with unprecedented precision. And I know this is very important, since using insects to model human diseases had limitations, but this team has combined two key techniques. The techniques. The first of them is the system PiggyBac to be able to insert genes that produce fluorescent proteins into these moths, so they have basically gone from having larvae to biological “neon lights.” In this way, if bacteria or fungi are injected, fluorescence makes it possible to monitor the infection in vivo under the microscope. In addition, the famous technique was also included CRISPR-Cas9 to deactivate specific genes in the insect’s body. This is a tremendously positive thing, as it allows scientists to manipulate the larva’s immune system to see how it reacts to different pathogens, mimicking complex human conditions. The key data. The bottom line is that the modified larvae allow us to see if an antibiotic is working in real time. The indicator we have is fluorescence, which if it decreases indicates that the bacteria is dying from the antibiotic and the larva is surviving. All this in a visual, fast and cheap way. Why the moth. It may sound strange to compare a moth with a mammal such as the mouse, which may be more like us, but the Galleria mellonella He has an ace up his sleeve: your body temperature. Unlike the fruit fly, these larvae can breed and survive comfortably at 37°C, the average human body temperature, which is crucial because many human pathogens only activate their virulence genes at that temperature. Furthermore, their innate immune system is surprisingly similar to that of mammals in terms of structure and function of phagocytes, the cells that literally ‘eat’ pathogens that enter the body. Furthermore, with this animal model the use of 10,000 mice per year in the United Kingdom alone can be avoided. Against the clock of the resistance. The context of this advance is not trivial, since we are facing a race against the resistance of bacteria to our antibiotics. We need at this moment test thousands of new compounds fastand doing it in mice is a brutal bottleneck both because of the time it takes and the ethical questions that arise. On the other hand, these transgenic larvae allow for massive screening. Instead of waiting weeks to see results in mice, scientists here can test hundreds of compounds in larvae and get immediate visual readings on toxicity and efficacy. Images | Wikipedia Kalyan Sak In Xataka | Researchers removed Instagram and TikTok from 300 young people to see if their anxiety decreased. The results speak for themselves

A Chinese laboratory has managed to generate electricity directly from rain, without occupying land or using metal

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Until now, the electricity from a storm came only from lightning. A Chinese team has just added another protagonist: a device that converts raindrops into usable energy. The invention comes from the Frontier Science Institute of the Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics (NUAA) and will open a new avenue for renewable energies. Its technical name is Water-integrated Droplet Electricity Generator, or simply W-DEG. The discovery. What differentiates this generator from the rest is not its power, but its logic. According to the published article in National Science Reviewthe device floats on water and uses that same water as part of the electrical circuit. It requires no metals or heavy structures, and yet each drop of rain can release spikes of up to 250 volts. Light, cheap and efficient: a small hydrovoltaic revolution. Rain as a source of clean energy. The physical principle behind W-DEG combines two known phenomena: contact electrification and electrostatic induction. When a droplet impacts a floating dielectric film, electrical charges are instantly redistributed between the surface of the material and the water, generating an electrical pulse. Water acts at the same time as a lower electrode and structural support, thanks to its high surface tension and incompressibility: it is firm enough to withstand the impact of drops, but fluid enough to stabilize the system. To prevent pooled water from blocking new discharges, the researchers added micro-drainage holes that allow liquid to flow downward, but not upward. This design keeps the surface clean even during heavy rain and prevents loss of efficiency. A small prototype. The Nanjing team built a 0.3 square meter prototype. Floating on water, the device was able to illuminate 50 LED diodes simultaneously and charge capacitors in a matter of minutes. Its modular design allows it to be easily expanded to power environmental sensors, water quality monitoring systems or small electrical equipment in rainy areas. Furthermore, the W-DEG is a “soilless” system: it does not occupy agricultural or urban land and can be installed on bodies of water without heavy infrastructure. This makes it an ideal candidate for regions where rain is abundant and space is scarce, or where other renewable sources – such as solar or wind – are less constant. The rise of floating energies. The new Chinese generator arrives at a time when floating energy is experiencing a global boom. Floating solar panels are being installed on ponds and reservoirs around the world, from India until the swiss alpsto produce electricity and reduce water evaporation. However, a study from Cornell University revealed an unexpected effect: in small ponds, these installations can increase methane and carbon dioxide emissions by up to 27%, by altering the balance of aquatic ecosystems. Faced with this challenge, the W-DEG emerges as a more environmentally friendly alternative. By not covering the entire surface of the water or blocking sunlight, it allows energy to be generated without altering aquatic life or natural gas exchange. Will storms generate light? The technology is still in the experimental phase. The NUAA team itself recognizes that it will have to optimize the device’s response to droplets of different sizes and speeds, something essential for real conditions. But the potential is undeniable: a lightweight, economical and durable generator, capable of obtaining energy directly from the natural water cycle, without occupying land or generating waste. Researchers imagine swarms of these devices floating in lakes or reservoirs, charging environmental sensors or powering local microgrids during rain. If every storm could turn on a light or power a system, gray days would no longer be synonymous with a blackout. With inventions like this, the border between water and energy blurs, and nature begins—literally—to generate its own electricity. Image | Unsplash Xataka | China has launched its first floating solar park in the sea: panels that rise and fall with the tide

A laboratory has recreated the first molecule after the Big Bang. The result does not fit with our history of the universe

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In the beginning, God created heavens and earth. And the earth was without order and empty. And the darkness covered the surface of the abyss, and the Spirit of God moved on the surface of the waters. Then God said: Be the light. And there was light. Go if there was light. A little context. Just after the Big Bang, the universe was an unimaginably dense and hot place. But as it expanded and cooled, the matter began to organize. First, protons and neutrons formed the nuclei of the lighter elements. Three hundred eighty thousand years later, temperatures fell enough for electrons to join these nuclei, forming the first neutral atoms: mainly hydrogen and helium. And it was then, in that cosmic childhood, when chemistry was born. The first molecule. The first chemical bond of the universe was the helium hydride ion (HEH+). A simple molecule formed by an atom of neutral helium and a hydrogen core; That is, a proton. For decades, his role in the birth of the first stars was subject to intense debates and theoretical simulations. Now, a team of researchers from the Max Planck Institute of Nuclear Physics in Germany has achieved recreate for the first time The reactions of this molecule in conditions similar to those of the primitive universe. The result has been a capital surprise that will force physicists to reconsider what they thought they knew about how the first lights lit. The first stars. After the formation of neutral atoms, the universe entered into A period known as the “dark age”. There were still no objects that emitted light, such as stars. For a star to be born, a gas cloud had to contract until enough density and temperature to start the nuclear fusion. But there is a problem: for the cloud to contract until that point due to gravity, it needed to dissipate heat. Below the 10,000 degrees Celsius, hydrogen atoms are not able to radiate that heat. This is where the molecules come into play. Helium hydride (heh+) can cool gas in a much more efficient way due to its strong dipole moment: it radiates heat emitting photons when rotating and vibrating. Something does not fit. Physicists believed that HEH+ had been a key cooling agent in the primitive universe. The problem was that HEH+ could also be destroyed by colliding with the omnipresent hydrogen atoms. Until now, the theoretical models predicted that the destruction reaction had slowed down drastically due to the very low temperatures of the primitive universe, but no one had verified it experimentally. The results of the experiment, published in the magazine Astronomy & AstrophysicsThey are completely unexpected. To the difference of all predictions, the reaction does not slow down at low temperatures. In fact, its speed remains almost constant. What physicists call a “reaction without barrier” occurs. Image | NASA, that In Xataka | The first molecule of the universe: after decades after it, we just discovered one of the key pieces of chemistry dawn

The US already has the first salmon cultivated in the laboratory. It is a relief for wipes who ask for the time

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The world is hungry for fish, but goes through areas. In Spain, Consumption is downhillso much that fishmongers want to reinvent themselves to serve our pets Before us. In other countries, such as China, That hunger is voraciousto the point that your folders They have been small And they are Going for those of Latin America. To avoid folding, there are those who investigate “alternative proteins”, And in the United States they have already developed the first salmon cultivated in the laboratory that is served in a restaurant. And with a series of advantages that does not really have salmon. Fish hunger. The forecasts They point out that the global aquatic food consumption will double by 2050 compared to the 2015 levels. That will imply that it will go from about 80 million tons annually to almost 155 million tons. The problem is that production must follow the rhythm. It is something promoted by population growth, the improvement of quality of life in certain countries and the development of aquaculture. As we say, China has a role in this story because it is not only the largest world consumer of fish, but it is also creating huge ships to raise new fish. And in Africa also An increase in demand is being seen. According to the FAOto maintain consumption until 2050, total production should increase by 22%, and is a capital challenge. That’s where the laboratory alternative becomes interesting. Cultivating salmon. Wildtype It is a company that has attracted to investors Like Jeff Bezos, Mandamás de Amazon, but also actors such as Leonardo DiCaprio or Robert Downey JR. Currently, they operate a factory in San Francisco and have just launched the ‘Saku’. This is cultivated salmon that is designed to eat when Sashimi stylewith a texture, flavor and ‘freshness’ comparable to really salmon. Here the key is to know how this salmon has been cultivated (it becomes weird to speak in those terms of a fish). The researchers extracted real salmon cells, specifically from salmon coho in their fry stage. In BIORREACTORS And using a patented “nutrient mixture”, cultivate those cells, combining the resulting cell mass with vegetable ingredients to replicate both the texture and the taste of traditional salmon. As they expose in The Washington Posta salmon can take about two years to mature, but in two weeks a 220 grams “fish” block can be created with the Wildtype method. And claim that it has a nutritional and omega-3 profile similar to that of wild salmon. One from Saku “NO OBJECTION”. And what do agencies that decide what enters, and what not, in circulation in the United States think? Well, they have no objections. ” Each country or region has a health entity that is the one that establishes a regulation that allows certain substances and products to be present in what we eat. They do not always agree, but if a product wants to enter a market, it must pass under the magnifying glass of that body. In the case of the United States, it is the FDA (Food and Medicines Administration of the United States) that, at the end of May, He gave permission to Wilkdtype so that your cultivated salmon is marketed. With that success, the cultivated salmon has already debuted in Kanna famous Haitian restaurant located in Portland, but it is expected that little by little it will arrive at more restaurants and shops in the form of ‘false’ packaging. Looking at the advantages. As with the coffee without coffeesalmon without salmon will allow maintaining the production of a very consumed food, but without continuing to measure in some wipes that agonize. But as important as sustainability, reduction of overfishing and habitat destruction which implies, is the issue of food security. This ‘Saku’ occurs in a production environment controlling, which minimizes exposure to pollutants, parasites and something that, unfortunately, is present in practically everything we eat, but above all the food from the sea: The microplastics. And another from Saku And the fishermen? When something that replaces something already established, the first question that comes to mind is what will happen to what moves to give way to the new. We have seen it from the Industrial Revolution, with AI and to Wimbledon with the Line judges being replaced by a computer. And, in this case, the question is whether something like this seeks to replace fishermen. Justin Kolceck is the co -founder of Wildtype and, in this article of the Washington Post, he comments that they do not seek to put fishermen outside the business or “eliminate the need for aquaculture. The amount of fish consumed is booming and the projections are so high that we will really need all the production we are doingin addition to the traditional and some more help in the world of plants to meet demand. For my part, I only have to add that in some Spanish supermarkets there is already salmon based on plants and oil and, although it reminds the taste of the animal, the texture does not look like. Maybe that Saku is the answer … Image | Lou Stejskal In Xataka | Until the 90s nobody in Japan ate sushi with raw salmon. Until a marketing campaign changed everything

The diamond industry promised them happy with the jewels cultivated in the laboratory. Until prices sank

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Few things better symbolize luxury than a good diamond. They shine in the shop windows of the most exclusive miles in Paris, Milan or New York, in Hands of Hollywood actresses and in The watches of the most sought -after soccer players on the planet. However, they do not run good times for precious stones. Not at least if we talk about your price. A perfect storm in which intrinsic factors are mixed and alien to the sector has shame its price until it is left, according to Some analystsin minimums that were not seen so far from the century. The big question is … What can we expect now? Prices, falling. It doesn’t matter which source is consulted. They do not run Good times For diamonds. The maximum expression of luxury, the great symbol of opulence, has been seeing how its value slides through a slope that moves it away from the dimensions that reached between 2021 and 2022, when the sector lived a “Exceptional demand” in the US market thanks to couples who had postponed their commitments or weddings for COVID-19. A few days ago Barcharta financial data platform, shared A graph which reflects the descending curve that precious stones have drawn from 2022 to place in what the signature considers “its lowest level of the century.” He Price index Paul Zimnisky for raw diamonds also show a “puncture” from the pandemic, although without even minimal record. And the panorama is similar in the graphics of Diamondse either Princescopewhich reflect the lowest values ​​from at least 2008 for natural jemas. Click on the image to go to Tweet. What show the figures? That if we talk about quotes, the diamond industry has lived better years. In February Bloomberg calculated that in a matter of two years prices had fallen almost 50% in the case of raw diamonds and 35% in polished stones. More or less for the same dates The Guardian revealed that in stores natural diamonds cost 26% less than two years ago, a considerable fall but that pales compared to the accumulated since 2020 by the created in the laboratory. Citing A Tenoris, a firm that tracks the prices of diamonds in more than 2,000 US stores, the British newspaper I pointed that at the end of last year the average price of a natural diamond of a quilate marked $ 4,997. In May 2022 it exceeded 6,800 pounds. In the case of “artificial” diamonds, $ 3.410 had passed in January from 2020 to 892 at the end of 2024. In their graphics Pricescope and Diamondse They also show falls. A perfect storm. The big question arrived at this point is … why? What motivates that price drop? The reality is that there is no single answer, but a cocktail of them, a mixture of factors that have impacted the market. Analysts point to a Change in demand After the health crisis, when prices rose thanks to the increase in postpandemic sales. Others point out the “puncture” of weddings, especially in the US, which is equivalent to less alliances and commitment rings; or even The effects of the Ukraine War in the sector. Another factor that explains the collapse is the behavior of the Chinese market, crucial for the industry. In February Bloomberg estimated that its demand had been reduced by 50% from the pandemia. And not just that. Citing experts in the sector, the agency said that, on average, the retailers of the Asian giant were returning to the wholesale market of India between 30 and 40 million dollars each month in surpluses of polished diamonds. All this in an economic context challenging For Beijing. Natural vs “artificial”. If something has really influenced the world diamond industry, beyond that we get married more or less, the covid hangover or the fall in demand in China, is the appearance of a new product in the market: the “synthetic” diamondscultivated in the laboratory and that have marked a before and after in the sector. Instead of requiring Millions of years of formation, as is the case with the mined natural jemas, a “synthetic” stone can take shape in a laboratory in a record time: a few weeks or Even hours. “Synthetic” diamonds are not exactly new. Its origins can go back to the 50s. However, in recent times they have broken into the market for several reasons. One of them is that their origins are easier to track than those of the mined jemas, which has gone “More ethical”especially in the eyes of the Millenials. Also influence its appearance and price, which becomes 70% lower to the natural stones. “They are much bigger stones,” Comment a jeweler to The Guardian. “About two or three more times. In laboratory, three carats is normal, even four or five.” Its attractiveness has caught attention Even of jewelry brands and watches specialized in luxury, in some cases with welcome in the market that exceed expectations. Of course, not everyone thinks the same. “They are synthetic, a bulk created product, without history. The price will continue to fall,” Vaticin Another jeweler. Winning weight in the market. In 2023 Five days public A graph (supporting tenoris data and the billing of 1,300 retailers of the sector) that demonstrate the growing weight of the diamonds grown in a key segment of the market: that of the US commitment rings. If at the beginning of 2021 they represented only 3.5%, in the summer of 2023 that percentage was already approaching 18%. In February The Guardian He went further and assured that synthetic diamonds already supposed 45% of the bridal jewelry market. The problem is that this growing weight has come accompanied by another word that analysts also frequently repeat: Overproduction. The analyst Paul Zimnisky was warned in March in An interview with The New York Times: “We are seeing that a small group of very large producers in China and India are increasing production with faster and better processes, and every time they do … Read more

Malaga gets fully into the chips industry. It is due to IMEC, the most important laboratory in Europe

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The Interuniversity Microelectronics Center or IMEC (Interuniversity Microelectronics Center) It is not a research center. It is the most experienced laboratory in the tuning of New integration technologies to manufacture integrated circuits and nanotechnology that we have in Europe. In fact, its engineers They work side by side with ASML techniciansTSMC, Intel or Samsung with the purpose of jointly developing new semiconductor packaging technologies or avant -garde photolithography techniques. This research center is housed in Leuven (Belgium), but in 2030 it will have a new laboratory that will be located in Malaga Techpark, an ambitious technological park installed in this Andalusian capital. José Luis Escrivá, the former Minister of Digital Transformation and Public Function, announced the arrival of Imec to Malaga In January 2024, but a year and a half later we have more important information. According to Malaga today The total cost of these facilities will amount to 615 million euros. The central government will contribute 500 million and the Junta de Andalucía the remaining 115. On the other hand, the Malaga Center of IMEC will have a total area of ​​51,300 square meters, and, more importantly, it will use 200 people of high qualification. After all, these researchers will participate in the search for alternatives to the silicon in integrated circuit production processes, as well as in the development of new photolithography technologies that will pursue make possible the manufacture of chips below 1 Nm. However, in addition to these direct jobs, this research center will attract Malaga to other important companies involved in the semiconductor industry. This is the most ambitious IMEC project: to manufacture 3 angstroms chips According to Imec In 2035 integrated circuit manufacturers will begin large -scale production of 3 angstroms chips (0.3 Nm). This milestone is very important because presumably these will be the first semiconductors made of the UVE Hyper-á lithography equipment in which ASML is already working. However, of course, these machines will not arrive that year; They will be ready much earlier. That will be the time when Chips manufacturers will start large -scale production, but possibly this machine will be prepared at the end of this decade. In 2039 chips manufacturers will go beyond the 2 angstroms Anyway, the interesting thing is that the opening of the optics of these avant -garde lithography equipment will be, again according to IMEC, of ​​0.75 in the face of the opening of 0.55 UVE UVE MACHINESor 0.33 in Conventional UVE teams. In any case, the itinerary of this laboratory anticipates that In 2037 the integrated circuits of 2 angstroms will arriveand in 2039 chips manufacturers will pass this barrier and go beyond the 2 angstroms. In the article we dedicate to Rayleight criteria We explain in a lot of detail what the ‘Na’ parameter consists (Numerical Aperture), But in this text it is enough to know that this variable identifies the opening value of the optics used by the lithographic equipment. In this context this parameter essentially reflects the same as the opening value when we talk about The optics of a photo cameraso it conditions the amount of light that the optical elements They are able to collect. As we can intuit, the more light gathens, the better. Image | Laura Ockel | Wikimedia More information | IMEC In Xataka | China needs to develop a new type of immune chips to US sanctions. And their scientists have just achieved it

Japan has been a test laboratory for years to encourage birth. And he doesn’t have good news for the world

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Neither The aid. Nor the facilities for access education. Nor the improvement of working conditions. Not even attempts for Exercise “Casélro” and create new couples. The repeated attempts of the Japanese authorities to reactivate their Merm Birth They are clicking on bone and have not prevented the country from closing 2024 with a bleak demographic panorama. Its fertility rate is minimal, births have fallen below the barrier of 700,000 per year and the number of deaths far exceeds the babies. Thus, the country faces a question that They have been Considering analysts: what can a government really do to encourage birth? Can you avoid collapse by looking for everything to the measures of Economic cut? Birth. 2024 has not been a good year for Japanese demography. His Ministry of Health, Labor and Social Welfare has just confirmed it in A balance Desorator and confirms that, despite all its efforts, the country has not yet found the appropriate key to avoid collapse. Among all their data there are two special worrying and that give an idea of ​​the descending drift that is drawing its birth: the fertility rate and births. Last year the global fertility rate (the number of children that a woman would have if she lived until the end of her fertile life) It stood at 1.15. A bad result twice. Not only is it 0.05 points less than in 2023, but it leaves that indicator in historical minimums. This is the lowest recorded data From at least 1947which further away to Japan from the one known as Replacement ratethe necessary number of children (2,1) to maintain a stable population without taking into account immigration. In Tokyo that indicator It does not arrive Even 1. A fact: 686,000 babies (and down). The other devastating fact for Japanese demography is that of the number of births. In 2024 the Japanese Ministry of Health accounted for 686,000, 5.7% less that in 2023. It is the first time in addition (at least since 1899, when the official registration began) that the number of annual lighting was below the 700,000 barrier. The Japanese authorities already had the birth would cross that psychological red line, but they expected it to do so within several years. The forecasts of the National Institute for Research of the Population contemplated that 2024 be closed with some 755,000 new babies And that the births would not fall below the barrier of 690,000 to a decade and a half, in 2039. The predictions were pessimistic, but they have fallen short: that threshold crossed 15 years earlier than expected. ASAHI remember In fact, the 2024 data has coincided with the worst projection drawn by the body. Losing population. The data of the Ministry of Health show only the photograph of the native population resident in the country, excluding both foreigners born in Japan and Japanese born outside their borders; but reveals a serious problem in the demographic engine of the nation. The reason is simple: more Japanese die than they are born. The 686,061 babies scored in 2024 remain away from the 1.6 million of deaths (1.9% more than in 2023). That translates into a negative balance of 919,237 people, around 70,000 people more than the previous year. To understand what this data supposes in practice, Nikei Slide that equivalent more or less to lose all Kagawa in a matter of 12 years. That hole also adds to those that Japan has been suffering over the last years. After all, it carries almost two decades supporting more death than births, which is reflected in Evolution of its total population. A small ray of light: marriages. Among all these negative data the balance of the Ministry of Health leaves one in positive: the number of marriages. The organism registered 486,0632.2% more than in 2023. They remain at low levels and below half a million, but leave the first increase in two years. And that is very relevant to birth. Although in Spain and other EU countries it is increasingly common That couples have babies without going through the altar, in Japanese society births outside marriage or de facto couples are still rare: Nikei remember which in 2023 represented 2.5% of the total. A matter of state. Japan is not the only nation that dealt with birth problems. Something similar happens to South and China. And like them the Japanese authorities have deployed A wide fan of measures to try to reverse the trend that include from children’s subsidies or measures that facilitate education for initiatives to Promote creation of new couples. “Focusing children related to children and parenting is something that cannot expect or postpone,” warned two years ago! Fumio KishidaJapan’s Prime Minister until last October. The problem worries enough to Tokyo for its executive It would be proposed Raise public aid by son to levels similar to those of Sweden and thus avoid that the nation lost “its ability to operate as a society.” That same year the government announced An ambitious plan to encourage birth to deploying a millmillionaire investment. Can you solve with money? That is the question that leaves the last demographic balance of Japan and that have been raising analysts for a long time, both inside and outside the nation. Are economic -economic policies enough to encourage birth? There are those who indicate that at least these strategies must be accompanied by deeper changes and even A rethinking of certain ideas and attitudes rooted in their culture. In 2023 Tomas Sobotka, deputy director of the Institute of Demography of Vienna, He pointed out some keys that feed the demographic crisis and that go beyond subsidies or married policies. The list includes the delay in the age of motherhood, cultural and social changes that lead to young people choose to remain single and without children, a change in the homes themselves, the greatest presence of women in the labor market and a philosophy of life that prioritizes professional ambitions and leaves little time available for parenting. … Read more

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