light

This cool 3D map of light pollution turns cities into mountains of light

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This 2026 is the year that opens a fantastic period to enjoy astronomical milestones, since the first of the three eclipses planned between 2026 and 2028: it will be next August 12, it will be a historic event in these latitudes (it has been more than a century since the Iberian Peninsula has witnessed a total solar eclipse) and not everyone will be able to see it: It will only be total in a strip. Being in the right place at the right time is only the first step: the next thing to be able to enjoy both the solar eclipse and any astronomical event, or simply to be able to see the stars well and distinguish constellations is total darkness. Or at least, try to be in a place free of light pollution. Getting away from the big cities is the first step as they tend to be the main sources of light, but not the only one: there are many infrastructures that can spoil the experience. Our recommendation if you plan to see the solar eclipse is that you do not leave it to improvisation and be clear about where to go to enjoy it better and here in addition to the map of the National Geological Institute To follow it, it is worth having on hand a good light pollution map. Where the solar eclipse will be seen: areas where it will be total and areas where it will be partial. IGN But does a light bulb next to you bother you so much to see the sky?? Yes, essentially because it is never usually just a light bulb. In fact, it’s not even just too much light. An example: when you approach a city with your car and it is getting dark or it is night, you can see a glow of the sky (skyglow) fruit of the rebound of light against dust particles, humidity and aerosols in the atmosphere, returning as a luminous veil that destroys astronomical observation. The underlying problem is the increase in the brightness of the sky: a star or a nebula does not compete against darkness, but against that background. If the background is brighter, the contrast drops (excepting the distances, it is like cheap TVs with bad backlighting scheme). The heavens are measured by the Bortle scalewhich goes from 1 to 9 where a class 1 sky is the darkest possible, practically a miracle in continental Europe (most medium-sized cities are around 7 – 9). With a class 9 sky you can barely see the brightest stars and the moon. Where not to see the solar eclipse of August 2026 And it does not only affect large cities (in Madrid it can be seen from quite a few kilometers away), but also industrial areas and ports. In these cases, it is also usually permanent lighting without any control. Also the road networks. A picture is worth a thousand words: the map by cartographer and geospatial developer Jacob Wasilkowski and Petrichor Studio called Earth at Night. Earth at night. JWasilGeo & Petrichor Studio This map combines several sources: night light data comes from NASA (Suomi-NPP satellite, VIIRS sensor) and background satellite mapping is provided by Earthstar Geographics along with other commercial providers integrated into Esri’s World Imagery service. The technological infrastructure to render it in 3D is also from Esri, a Californian company specialized in GIS software. Wasilkowski is the one who has put it all together to convert luminosity into topography. Simply put: It has converted the luminosity of NASA’s nighttime images into elevation, so that cities are mountains. The bigger the city, generally the bigger and higher the mountain will be. Note that there are areas, such as northern Italy or the German border with Belgium, that are real garlands. In the Iberian Peninsula, the Mediterranean coast, the Portuguese coast and a point in the middle of everything stand out: Madrid. These are the areas to escape from if we want to see the sky well. Earth at night. JWasilGeo & Petrichor Studio And just the opposite, the valleys are the most interesting areas to observe the eclipse or any other astronomical milestone: they are the dark areas. Although its controls are intuitive, you have options to switch to the satellite layer, you can zoom, pan and rotate. The map is a few years old now, but for those of us who like to observe the sky it is a good idea to always have it at hand. Furthermore, when this map was launched a decade ago it had a great impact on the cartographic community, winning the award GOLD from the KANTAR Information is Beautiful Awards 2019 in the category “Maps, Places and Spaces”, under the name “Earth at Night, Mountains of Light”. And why not say it: it is evocative. After all, it uses real light captured from space to re-sculpt the Earth, letting it be human activity that defines its topography. In Xataka | Solar eclipses visible in Spain: these are the three astronomical events of 2026, 2027 and 2028 In Xataka | Half of Spain waits expectantly for the historic eclipse of August 2026. The authorities are already thinking about the problems Cover | JWasilGeo & Petrichor Studio

Light and gas have become luxury items. Europe’s plan is to intervene in prices no matter what the cost

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Turning on the heating, running a washing machine or keeping a factory blind up has become, overnight, a luxury. Faced with the economic asphyxiation that threatens citizens and companies, the European Union has crossed the Rubicon: the free energy market, as we knew it, cannot sustain this crisis, and Brussels is preparing a drastic intervention to lower the bill at any cost. ORn global market on fire. The epicenter of this new financial earthquake is in the Middle East, as we have been counting these days in Xataka. The price of oil in international markets continues to suffer shocks; as the firm points out Sparta Commodities to EUobserverit is the “largest daily movement since 1988.” Investors assume that the blockage in the region will cause real cuts in the global supply of crude oil, leaving behind the idea of ​​​​a simple logistical delay in ships. Gas has not been left behind. As detailed BloombergEuropean natural gas futures—the Dutch benchmark—soared 30% in a single day, reaching €64/MWh. Europe emerges from the winter with its reserves depleted and is now facing an all-out war with Asia to obtain the scarce shipments of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) available for the summer. The daily roller coaster of the bill. To understand why this crisis punishes the consumer so much, we must look at how the price of electricity is formed hour by hour. An analysis of Finance Times shows how prices in Europe now suffer wild volatility. The example of last March 4 is devastating: at the height of the solar peak (2:00 p.m.), a megawatt hour in Denmark cost just 26 euros; Just three hours later, after the sun set and the gas plants came into play, the price catapulted to 430 euros. This “roller coaster”, with jumps of up to 1,700% in one afternoon, has been replicated with the same harshness in the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium. Gas thus imposes a “law of luxury” every time the sun disappears, preventing the industry from planning its production. Intervene “whatever the cost.” With a heavy industry (steel, chemicals, aluminum) on the brink of the abyss – it is worth remembering that, according to a document from the European Commission cited by Euronewsindustrial electricity in the EU was already twice as expensive as in the US and China before this crisis—Europe has decided to act. According to the documents discussed by the European leaders to whom has had access Euronewsthe emergency plan seeks quick relief by putting the scissors directly into the bill in three ways: National tax cuts: Which currently vary enormously and can amount to up to 22% of the electricity bill. Cap on tolls and network charges: Which represent 18% of the bill for large industrial consumers. Review of carbon emission costs: Which add 11% to the cost of electricity generation. The intervention beyond of tax cuts. The Prime Minister of Italy, Giorgia Meloni, has toughened her tone towards companies. In statements cited by Euronewswarned: “We will do everything possible to stop speculation. I am ready to react, if necessary, including by increasing taxes on companies that speculate on prices through energy bills.” Furthermore, the panic button for strategic reserves has been activated. As explained Reutersthe finance ministers of the G7 and the EU are negotiating to release part of the 1.4 billion barrels of strategic reserves that Europe keeps to flood the market and artificially sink prices. The impact of not intervening in time. Bloomberg details the case of Domo Chemicalsa plant in the German industrial city of Leuna, which has had to declare insolvency consumed by energy costs. This erosion of the industrial fabric also coincides with a delicate political moment in Germany, where the conservative party (CDU) of Chancellor Friedrich Merz has just suffered an electoral setback against the Greens in the regional elections in Baden-Wuerttemberg. The Spanish shield. Despite the urgency, the overall European response is being fragmented. EUobserver points out that Ursula von der Leyen has proposed as a patch to expand the Caspian Sea oil and gas corridor. Ironically, the only royal coat of arms right now is Spain. As highlighted by this same medium, the Spanish market has registered the lowest and most stable prices this week thanks to its gigantic previous investment in renewable energies, partly isolating its system from fossil volatility. Finally, the markets have experienced a slight respite thanks to geopolitics. According to the latest update of BloombergEuropean bonds rebounded and gas fell 17% on Tuesday after US President Donald Trump predicted the conflict with Iran would be resolved “very soon.” However, investors assume that if the war drags on, prices will remain high for a long time. Waking up to reality. With 67% of its consumption still tied to imported fossil fuels, the bloc is aware that depending on Middle Eastern trade routes is a huge risk for its economy. Until now, the European Union trusted that the free market would solve consumer problems and guarantee the best prices. This energy crisis has shown that this is not always the case. The authorities now assume that, in extreme situations, intervening in bills, capping profits and emptying state reserves is the only viable solution. Whatever the cost, Europe has decided to take control to ensure that turning on the lights is not a privilege reserved for times of peace. Image | freepik and Haydn on Unsplash Xataka | Neither oil nor gas: if a total war breaks out between the US and Iran, the definitive weapon will be desalination plants

In 1832 Britain realized that it didn’t have much sun. Since then, a law requires that houses have good light

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If there is something that the United Kingdom could blame for its geography and climate, it is the gray days. Rare is the moment when the sun is not covered by clouds in Mary Poppins’ country, where natural light has become a scarce commodity to fight for. So much so, that there is a “right to light” by which homeowners can legally prevent new construction that obstructs natural light rays into their homes. This law is actually an easement established in 1832 by which the owner of a building with windows that have received natural light for more than 20 years has the right to prohibit adjacent constructions that limit it. That is, historically, a person was entitled to this if natural light and air had passed freely through their windows during that time and been enjoyed without disturbance. And these homes protected by the ordinance were marked with the “Ancient Lights” sign. Therefore, if a neighbor tried to violate this by building a structure or planting trees, the owner had the power to sue him for the “nuisance”. Of course, it is important to note that these do not only affect direct sunlight. But it gives the right to a minimum level of natural lighting, not direct rays of the sun. Although this urban planning law has undergone quite a few changes since its inception, the power of property owners to demand natural light continues to be debated in British cities. Nowadays, These “Ancient Lights” signs are still found on buildings around London and other counties such as Dorset and Kent. And the law, more than 100 years later, continues to be the protagonist of all types of litigation, becoming a headache for judges, lawyers and construction companies. The idea of ​​”having the right to light” Let’s go into more detail. A question that arises from this concept is: how much natural light does a person have the right to? And that is precisely where this law has several legal loopholes. Because a building owner’s windows don’t even have to be completely blocked by a neighboring obstruction for that right to be invoked. You simply have to maintain the same level of lighting that the owner has experienced for twenty years, something that is quite diffuse. In the 1920s, Percy Waldram, an expert in this law, proposed a system to standardize the sufficient amount of light that people could claim. He suggested that “common people” required at least one foot-candle (a measure of light intensity) for reading and other work. If the builder, including a homeowner planning an extension, identifies a risk affecting light rights, they must notify the affected homeowner and engage with them to reach an amicable agreement. This could be as compensation or a redesign to rectify or mitigate the problem. However, if there is a dispute, There are two ways to take legal action: damages and/or a court order. The first consists of granting a sum of money to compensate for the loss. The second may require demolition of part or all of the new building unless some other structural change can remedy the problem. The latter is usually too expensive. The idea for many years was that if a property owner did not take immediate steps to obtain a court order, the only remedy available to them was damages. However, a 2010 case left builders stunnedas the court held that it was possible to obtain an injunction even after the completion of the new building. In another more recent case from 2020the court granted an injunction to a property owner two years after the completion of the infringing work. The court found that the builder had proceeded with full knowledge of the risk he was taking. Is there a similar law in Spain? The easements They also exist in Spain. It is the right that the owner of a property has over the adjoining property that limits the proprietary powers of the owner thereof. In fact, it is not so uncommon to find cases in our country (especially in individual homes), in which Your neighbor has one or more windows that face directly onto your property. Is it legal? As regulated by the Civil Code in article 580no party wall can, without the consent of the other, open any window or opening in a party wall. Otherwise, the owner of a wall that is not a party wall and that is adjacent to the back of another owner may open windows or openings in the same wall. to receive lightsas long as it complies with the premises established in article 581 of the Civil Code. Furthermore, as stipulated in the article 582 of the Civil Code: “You cannot open windows with straight views, nor balconies or other similar overhangs, over the neighbor’s property, if there is not two meters of distance between the wall on which they are built and said property. Nor can you have side or oblique views over the same property, if there is not 60 cm of distance.” In Xataka | If your renovation is a pain, think about the house that cost 120 times more than its original cost: a masterpiece In Xataka | If the question is whether they forgot the elevator shaft in the tallest residential skyscraper in Spain, the answer is simple: it was much worse Image | Chris Flexen

“The wound is the place where the light enters”

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Can suffering transform us? Is it true, as Rumi, the great Persian poet of the 13th century, said, that “a wound is a place where light enters”? From the pre-Hislamic myth of Siyavash to the Sufi mysticism of the annihilation of the self or the Shiite obsession with martyrdom, Persian and Iranian thinkers have been thinking about suffering as a transformative force for thousands of years. It is a rich, lyrical, wild and sometimes very dangerous tradition. Therefore, it is curious that thousands of years of such a rich relationship with pain comes to us filtered and converted into Instagram stories. What Rumi didn’t say. Let’s start at the beginning: most likely, Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi never wrote those words. And, in this case, it should not surprise us either. In 1995, the recently deceased Coleman Bryan Barks published a book titled ‘The Essential Rumi‘ and, without anyone yet being able to explain it, it sold more than half a million copies. The only real problem with this is that Barks didn’t know Persian. He wasn’t even a really specialized translator. He took previous translations, he cleaned them of references to Islam and He adapted the verses to Western taste. It was a huge success that advanced something we are used to today: the probability that a date we see on the internet be false it is getting higher and higher. And yet, the quote has some truth. Because, in effect, today’s Iran is the repository of an ancient tradition that sacralizes transformative suffering. When Yazid I’s army ambushed and murdered Husain ibn Ali and his 72 companions near KarbalaThey had no idea what they were about to do. They thought they were resolving once and for all the thorny issue of Muhammad’s succession, but the martyrdom of the third imam of the Shiites would germinate in a strange cultural substrate: the idea that suffering is not an accident, it is a battlefield. Thus spoke Zarathustra. That’s where you can best see the ‘Zoroastrian substrate‘: in this religion, Ahura Mazda creates the world as a battle in which humans have to take sides. For old Persian philosophy, evil is not something inherent to the world: it is an army that must be defeated. Therefore, suffering, sacrifice and pain are part of the process that, if we are successful, will lead us to good. It is not the absence of love (as it might seem in the Judeo-Christian mentality), it is a definitive ethical filter. That is the archetype, then came its incarnations. When Islam takes hold in Persia, that substrate is there and takes many forms. While for the Shiites, martyrdom is redemptive and intercedes for us before Allah; For Sufi mysticism, suffering becomes a vehicle towards God, towards the annihilation of the ego and its arrival at divinity. To us, today, all these details don’t matter a little to us, honestly. What is relevant is how hundreds of philosophers resolved the “problem of evil“in a completely different way than what we are used to. Evil is not an error that must be explained by appealing to the unfathomability of God, Evil is the path by which the universe is renewed. No self-help. And in this context, Rumi’s dubious quote (“a wound is a place where light enters”) would be much more radical than any self-help manual would be willing to go. Suffering does not make us wiser, stronger, or smarter. It is simply the price to pay: there is no point in trying to justify it. Today, even knowing how dangerous this line of thought is, it is impossible not to look at those thinkers thinking how much of them really remains in our way of living. Image | If you’ve ever thought about “leaving everything and going to the mountains,” these thinkers have a lot to tell you

We have been blaming mobile phones for myopia for years. Now we have a much more subtle suspect: lack of light

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It is quite a grandmother’s and mother’s phrase to hear that spending a long time in front of a screen or being very close to a book can cause us to develop a disease in the eyes like the myopia. However, science has long suspected that “close work” alone does not explain why myopia has become a global pandemic. The new. Now a revealing study has proposed a physiological mechanism that fits all the pieces of the puzzle together, placing the blame not only on what we look at, but on the amount of light that reaches the back of our eye while we do so. And the investigation is quite justified, since the data is scary. In Spain, 19% of children between 5 and 7 years old are already myopicand projections estimate that by 2050 half of the world’s population will need glasses. To stop this, we need to understand exactly the mechanism that produces myopia, and a team from New York has found the key. The famine of light. The work, recently published in the prestigious magazine Cell Reports by researchers, points to a fascinating concept in this case: the light deprivation hypothesis. Until now we knew that focusing on nearby objects is closely linked to the development of myopia. But what this study has measured with empirical precision is how the myopic eye reacts to the healthy eye during this process. What they have seen. The main finding is that myopes suffer from excessive accommodative pupillary constrictionthat is, when you look closely, the pupil becomes much smaller than normal. If we add to this that close-up work is usually done indoors where lighting rarely exceeds 500 lux, compared to 10,000 lux outdoors, the result is a lethal cocktail for the eye: the combination of dim light and a maximally contracted pupil causes the retina to “starve” due to lack of light. The short circuit. Here the question that logically must be asked is: Why does this lack of light cause the eye to grow abnormally, causing myopia? This is where the purest neuroscience comes in, since our retina processes the image through two main channels: the ON path that is activated with increases in light, and the OFF path, which reacts to shadows. In previous work from 2024, this same team had already shown that in myopic patients the ON pathways have serious deficits, since they are less sensitive and slower. Now the new hypothesis postulates a vicious circle in which, when reading or looking at a cell phone indoors, the pupil closes too much. And this is a problem, since chronic lack of light further weakens the retinal ON pathway, and this imbalance sends erroneous signals that ultimately promote elongation of the eyeball. The treatments. This proposal not only stands out for explaining the biological mechanism of myopia, but also unifies at once why the treatments that ophthalmologists They have been applying it empirically for years. One of the examples is spending time outdoors, but not because it cures, but because the sunlight is so intense that it more than compensates for having a small pupil, keeping the ON pathway stimulated and slowing the progression of myopia. Another example is the use of atropine drops in children to stop myopia thanks to the dilation of the pupil so that more light enters the retina. The same goes for multifocal lenses that are used to reduce accommodation effort, since the pupil does not need to constrict as excessively. It is not definitive. As is almost always the case in science, this work does not demonstrate a direct coincidence yet, but rather offers us an incredibly solid and plausible physiological mechanism supported by very robust data on the behavior of our pupil and neural pathways. But there is still a way to go with new long-term studies to confirm the hypothesis 100%. While we wait for those results, the practical conclusion seems clearer than ever: the problem is not just the tablet or the book. The problem is doing it in the dark, so if you are going to strain your eyes up close, make sure you turn on a good lamp and, above all, don’t forget to go out into the sun. Images | Akshit Dhasmana In Xataka | Denialism has reached one of the last corners of science still free of it: seeing glasses

China has given the green light to buy NVIDIA chips. The problem for your companies is that you will closely monitor each operation

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NVIDIA has hundreds of thousands of H200 chips trapped in limbo. It is one of the company’s most powerful chips and the standard of the companies that are training AI. It is preferred for train the modelsand also the weapon with which The United States sought to leave China out of the game. After movements by the two countries, The US finally approved (25% commission through) that NVIDIA could sell the H200 to Chinese companies. China has taken some time, but finally it seems that it will accept the offer reluctantly and with an ace up its sleeve: DeepSeek. The mess. The H200 issue is a soap opera. In the context of the trade and technology warthe United States played one of the best cards they had: preventing one of their most powerful products from reaching Chinese hands. They also hindered European companies like ASML from selling their most advanced machinery for making semiconductors to companies like Huawei or SMIC. China responded, of course. He attacked with rare earth -that control almost exclusively– and has been showing little by little that they can not only create advanced semiconductors on your own (and pushing old technology to the limit), but they are alive and well in the battle for artificial intelligence. Furthermore, they have developed a robotics industry and other aerospace practically out of nowhere, making a vacuum to Western chips, and that has caught the United States on the wrong foot. China makes a move. Seeing that China was advancing and the US was not getting a cent, they moved tab: They opened the door for NVIDIA to sell its H200s to certain Chinese customers. For each sale, the US took 25%, but it seems that it was something that the Chinese Big-Tech wanted to take on because they need, at least currently, that NVIDIA technology. And the GPU company itself increased production expecting two million orders above normal. The problem is that everything moved very quickly. without China, really, having said anything. Because here it is not just a question of whether the United States lets it sell, but whether China wants its companies to buy. In a tense calm that left requests halted and thousands of H200 in limbo, China has finally made a move. According to Reuters, and as we told a few days agothere are companies that will be able to place orders for the H200. There is a “but”. It is not carte blanche for anyone to place an order. According to WSJ, Chinese authorities have indicated that each purchase must be for a use considered “necessary.” That includes advanced research or development in AI. Because two factors come into play here: On the one hand, it seems that there are Chinese companies that are pressuring the Government to let them access the technology. NVIDIA was allowed to sell the H20 to Chinese customers, but if these customers can now buy the H200 – six times more capable – they want to take advantage of it. But China does not want everyone to throw themselves into the arms of NVIDIA because, precisely, they have been building their own semiconductor industry for five years with SMIC and Huawei in the lead. China’s goal is to stop depending on the US, and if everyone starts buying US chips like crazy, they will not advance on the technological roadmap that the country marked a long time ago. That is to say, it seems that Chinese regulators are going to evaluate which companies can or cannot buy the H200 depending on the use they want to give it. It has been reported that, for example, ByteDance, Alibaba and Tencent will be able to import 400,000 H200 chips. But there is a twist to all this. deepseek. China’s quintessential artificial intelligence model is one that has turned both NVIDIA and the United States upside down. The question was how it was possible that, without access to the latest technology, DeepSeek could optimize its AI so much. On the one hand, ingenuity to circumvent the CUDA standard. On the other hand, there are those who are clear that DeepSeek has been trained with NVIDIA cards… smuggled. Accusations of smuggling are nothing new in this commercial and technological war, but precisely, and according to Reutersthe company that joins NVIDIA’s massive H200 order along with ByteDance, Alibaba and Tencent is… DeepSeek. Officially, and without restrictions, they will be able to access the H200. “We have given China the argument to launch its own industry and, at the same time, we are giving them access to ours again” – Samuel Bresnick Whiplash. I really liked this concept that Wired uses to define American policy in this regard. They are the ones who started the conflict and their position has been pivoting about tariffsbut with more or less lax measures depending on the moment. It seems clear that, now, they are at a point where they have had to think “if China is going to somehow reach the technology, at least we sell it and earn something along the way.” Samuel Bresnick is a researcher at the Georgetown Center for Security and Technology and comments in Wired that the worst thing you can do is “come and go,” noting that “we have given China the argument to launch its own industry and, at the same time, we once again give them access to ours.” Get your batteries. And meanwhile, there’s Jensen Huang. The CEO of NVIDIA has taken a mass bath in recent days in both China and Taiwan, where he has met with some of the companies that move the semiconductor sector. NVIDIA sat at the same table, TSMCFoxconn or Asus, and Huang came out, half joking, half seriouswith one request: you need wafers and RAM. Regarding the purchase of the H200, China is walking on eggshells, and it makes perfect sense. It is at a point where it does not want to be left behind, and to do so it needs its … Read more

Testing the first light bulb in 1879, Edison came across a material that would be discovered 125 years later: the prodigious graphene.

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Edison has been one of the most prolific inventors of history. In fact, while he was looking for a way to make the light bulb, he carried out an exhaustive materials science experiment: tried more than 6,000 organic materials before decant by the carbonized bamboo filament. eye to the old patent no. 223,898 because it has all the necessary ingredients for the recipe. Tremendous Edison spoiler. He had, without knowing it, set up a primitive nanotechnological reactor to obtain graphene. That same graphene on which Philip Russell Wallace would theorize 20 years after the inventor’s death and 125 years before Konstantin Novoselov and Andre Geim won the 2010 Nobel Prize in Physics for isolating it with the duct tape method. Or so he has discovered a recent study from Rice University. The prodigious graphene. Graphene is an allotrope of carbon that has a two-dimensional structure of atoms woven into a hexagonal network. Beyond this curiosity, graphene is an amazing material: it is 200 times stronger than steel but much lighter (airbrush, even lighter than air). It conducts electricity and heat better than any known metal. If we also take into account that it is almost transparent and very flexible, we have a prodigious material for technology. Without going any further, for semiconductors. It could also be used to improve roads or for responsive robotic tissues. And there’s a trick: when its layers are somewhat disordered and not stuck together like a block, they are much easier to separate. This is what Edison achieved unintentionally. Edison’s recipe. He turbostratic graphene can be produced by applying a voltage to a carbon-based material until it reaches a temperature of 2,000 to 3,000 °C, known as Joule heating instant. But what Edison had in his power was to light one of his newly patented light bulbs. Unlike the current ones, theirs had carbon-based filaments, more specifically bamboo. When you flipped the switch, the filament heated up and produced… light and maybe graphene. Account Lucas Eddy, the paper’s lead author, was looking for ways to mass-produce graphene with accessible, affordable materials and tried everything from arc welders to trees that had been struck by lightning. Then he remembered the light bulb. Edison’s patent It was a magnificent scheme to reproduce the experiment. Of course, it was difficult for him to find Edison-style light bulbs with carbon filaments and not tugsten. Then he only had to apply power to 110 volts and turn on the switch for 20 seconds. If you go too far, graphite can form instead of graphene. Why is it important. To begin with, because until now we thought that to obtain this prodigious material we had to resort to 21st century technology, but no: there were conditions to do so in the 19th century. On the other hand, it validates Joule heating as an efficient and scalable way to generate high-quality graphene from cheap carbon sources. And why not, because it opens the doors to reviewing other scientific experiments in history: who knows if other nanomaterials have not been synthesized by chance? under the microscope. Using the lens of an optical microscope, the research team was able to see that the carbon filament had gone from dark gray to a shiny silver. A visual change that predicted the suspicions that I ended up certifying with the Raman spectroscopywhich uses lasers to identify substances through their atoms with high precision: it was turbostratic graphene. While Edison experimented to create a light bulb for everyday use he was able to produce the wonderful material of the future (of today’s future). Obviously there is no way to know for sure what happened in their Menlo Park laboratories because even if the original light bulb were available for analysis, any graphene produced would probably have converted to graphite within a few hours. In Xataka | Electrocute elephants to win a war or how anything went in the fight between Tesla and Edison In Xataka | Don’t call it graphene, call it “goldeno”: this is the new material that is achieved using a peculiar Japanese forging technique Cover | Image of Thomas Edison, ca. 1918–1919. Source: National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), United States and HY ART

100% robotic plants where not even the light turns on

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The automobile industry is going through a moment of evolution that we are all very aware of, especially in the face of the energy transition which we are witnessing. China is shown as a reference country in this technological revolution and its manufacturers are demonstrating it with a multitude of models that lay the foundation for the present and future of the automobile. Not only is there a technological revolution in many of the vehicles we see on the streets, but also in the manufacturing process of them. And before the end of the decade, at least one manufacturer will achieve a fully automated assembly line. This is the conclusion to which they have arrived analysts at Gartner and Warburg Research. China leads the race to inaugurate the first “dark factory“, factories where robots work without the need for lighting or human presence, which could forever change how cars are manufactured. Below these lines we tell you all the details. Why it is important. It is not just about robots replacing people in specific tasks, but about the total elimination of workers on assembly lines. China already has a wide range of “dark factories”factories with assembly lines where there is hardly any lighting and are operated by autonomous robots. However, car assembly has not yet been 100% automated, since the process still requires human hands. This would mark a turning point where artificial intelligence, humanoid robotics and digital manufacturing converge to redefine automotive production. Pedro Pacheco, research vice president at Gartner, account to Automotive News Europe that a U.S. or Chinese manufacturer will “likely be the first to create a line with 100% automation by the end of this decade,” and that several players in those markets “are already implementing disruptive manufacturing processes and showing more focus on humanoid robots.” Robotics and redesign. Until now, the installation of wiring and cockpit components have been the only elements of the assembly line that are not normally fully automated, explains Pacheco. From the media they say that manufacturers that make the leap towards total automation will do so through two routes: adding advanced robotics and redesigning vehicles to facilitate automated assembly. Automotive News Europe mentions splitting the wire harness into sections or integrating it directly into the body panels as an example. Another strategy is to not completely assemble the “body in white” before assembling the passenger compartment, thus facilitating access to the passenger compartment. The protagonists of change. Hyundai Motor Group plans to deploy humanoid robots from Boston Dynamics at its Georgia manufacturing complex starting in 2028, according to advertisement at CES in Las Vegas. The South Korean company aims to produce 30,000 robots per year and achieve production-scale deployment. Mercedes-Benz, for its part, has launched a pilot project with humanoid robots that could start working alongside assembly line employees before 2030. And Tesla is already manufacturing their optimus robots on a limited scale in California, with Elon Musk’s vision of creating an army of robots that help in his factories and take on other tasks that involve repetition of processes. Figures. According to Accenture, the integration of generative, agentic and physical artificial intelligence with robotics and digital twin technology it helps to significantly improve factory efficiency, with “enormous potential” to reduce costs and time to market by up to 50% or even more. McKinsey duck that $150 billion annually in potential economic value could be unlocked by accelerating R&D at large auto companies. Additionally, 12 of the top 25 manufacturers are already running pilots with advanced robotics in their facilities, according to they shared from the analysis firm Gartner. The debate on employment. Full automation does not necessarily have to translate into massive job lossesalthough it is certainly an issue that causes concern in unions. Workers could be reassigned to support functions such as maintenance, engineering, logistics, inspection or materials management, according to Pacheco. With proper training, employees could also engage in AI supervision, robotics maintenance, and software development. The International Labor Organization anticipates that, although some routine and manual tasks will be reduced, many positions will change their content and new jobs will emerge. And now what. China is the favorite to inaugurate the first completely robotic factory, but everything indicates that the United States is not going to be left behind either. Warburg Research analyst Fabio Hölscher consider that it is “not unrealistic” to expect to see the first automotive “dark factory” in China by 2030. Cover image | ChinaDaily In Xataka | That cars in Germany travel at 300 km/h is due to one reason only: their roads are prepared for it.

From today Aldi has this lowered V16 beacon and it is compact, light and very resistant

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Although, since January 1, 2026, it is mandatory to carry a V16 beacon connected to notify of any emergency in the vehicleeitherthere are many users who still do not have it. If this is your case, in the Aldi flyerwe have discovered that, from today, this Trophy beacon arrives in your supermarkets and on top of that, at a discount, for 34.99 euros. This Aldi beacon It is fully approved and stands out for being compact and light. Offers 360º visibility in all types of weather and is easily fixed using its magnetic base. It works on batteries and offers a range of use of up to two hours and up to three years of standby. TROPHY V16 Approved DGT Geolocated NB-IoT Resistant Beacon Yellow The price could vary. We earn commission from these links The Amazon alternative that succeeds If you don’t have an Aldi supermarket nearby and don’t sell online, it may not be worth traveling to buy this one. emergency light. But don’t worry, on Amazon there is a very interesting alternative that is among the best sellers. It is about the Help Flash IoT+ and its price is 31.99 euros. help flash IoT+, V16 Approved Emergency Light with Geolocation, The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Fully approved to comply with the new DGT regulationsthis beacon has advanced geolocation and, through anonymous eSIMoffers full connectivity with DGT 3.0 systems. One of its main hallmarks is that it is made in Spain. Its LED light is 250 candela (much higher than most models sold on the market) and is visible at 360º and up to a kilometer. Is compatible with myIncidencewhich allows you to link the beacon to this app using QR, to register the data of your vehicle and insurance policy. This will allow you to contact emergency services or your insurance company directly in the event of an accident. Other V16 beacons that may interest you ISSE SAFETY Approved Beacon v16 The price could vary. We earn commission from these links LEDONE – DGT Approved v16 Beacon with Geolocator The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Some of the links in this article are affiliated and may provide a benefit to Xataka. In case of non-availability, offers may vary. Images | Aldi and Netum Solutions In Xataka | Don’t wait until January 1: if you have to buy your V16 beacon, Leroy Merlin has them for less than 40 euros In Xataka | Safety, organization and entertainment gadgets and accessories for cars on long trips

The future of energy lies in fusion, and China aims to light the first light bulb with the power of the Sun in 2030

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When we think of the future energyit is easy for us to think about renewables. Much of Europe has a while running with renewables, China is an expanding power and even some states in the United States They are seeing its benefits. However, the future lies in nuclear power. But not because of fission, but for the fusion. And China has just taken a giant step in the forecasts of its BEST program with a single objective. Replicate the process that powers the Sun. China and the ultimate energy. Fusion and fission are nuclear reactions that release energy from the nucleus of the atom, and That’s where their similarities end.. Briefly, fission consists of breaking the nuclei of heavy atoms such as uranium to release energy. It is the process that we use in current nuclear power plantsand decades ago we managed to make it something stable. Fusion is the reverse process: it joins light atoms to generate energy. It is tremendously unstable and the heat generated is enormous, but the process generates a much higher amount of energy. Imitate that star power It is extremely complex, but we have been trying to replicate it for years for a very simple reason: it is estimated that it will offer almost unlimited energy and long-lasting waste-freesomething against which nuclear fission can’t compete. China is one of the countries that is pushing the development of nuclear fusion plants the most, so much so that it intends to put the first plant into operation a decade before its competitors. EAST. It stands for ‘Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak’, an experimental program that China has been developing since 2006 to test the viability of commercial fusion energy. After setting some records for temperature and operating time, in 2021 achieved continuous plasma operation for 17 minutes in which the core operated at 70 million degrees Celsius. They are five times the sun temperature and, although temperatures of up to 160 million degrees were previously achieved for 20 seconds, the ideal is to maintain a very high temperature for as long as possible. Steps have continued to be taken and researchers recently discovered that the reactor could work at 165% of its maximum theoretical capacity without suffering disruptions. To contextualize, it is as if we have an engine designed to go at 200 km/h, but we discover that we can drive at 330 km/h constantly without it overheating. In short: China is taking steps to control the enormous challenge represented by the magnetic confinement of plasma. BEST. The ‘Burning Plasma Experimental Superconducting Tokamak’, for its part, is the spearhead of its nuclear fusion program. If EAST is the proof of concept, BEST is the demonstration of feasibility. The EAST steps are those that will be replicated in BEST, a reactor built on a larger scale that will operate for a shorter period of time in a sustained manner, but under conditions of greater energy gain. Goal: 2030. China began construction of the BEST in 2023 and hopes to complete it by 2027 to begin testing with plasma. If it goes well, the CFETR reactor will be the one that pours fusion energy into the grid. In a statement published by the state media Xinhuawe see that the intention is to generate electricity by 2030 and start do it commercially by 2035. If the goal is reached, China will be the first country that will be able to commercially emulate the power of the Sun to light the “first nuclear fusion light bulb” in history. Although, of course, the United States and Massachusetts They also say that they will be the first. They are not the only ones. If they reach the goal, it will be a fundamental step in achieving new generation energy, and they want to reach that future a decade before the rest of the countries, or so China suggests. In this race for nuclear fusion, the BEST is expected to begin operating commercially between 2030 and 2035. Meanwhile, in France there is the ITER. With 24,000 million euros in budgetis the most expensive international program in history, only surpassed by the Apollo Programthe International Space Stationhe Manhattan Project or the GPS system. It aims to be very powerful, but has constant delaysa budget that has overflowed and an operational date that has not been fulfilled. In the United States, a private startup is building SPARCmuch smaller than ITER, but more profitable. United Kingdom has the STEPJapan JT-60SA and Russia the T-15MD Hybrid. Talking about dates is complicated, since there were tests that were expected to be obtained in 2025 and were not achieved… and there is talk of between 2040 and 2060 for the commercial viability of this energy “from the stars”, although the calendars have been readjusted. China has turned new generation energy in a matter of stateand we will see if they meet their goal of starting production in 2030. And, although it seems that we have to put the artificial intelligence even in the soup, the enormous energy needs of this technology are encouraging advances in nuclear fusion. The joke that nuclear fusion energy always has 30 years to go may have come to an end. Images | Oak Ridge National LaboratoryNASA In Xataka | Europe is looking for where to put its first nuclear fusion reactor. And Spain is one of the best candidates

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