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ChatGPT is already our first line doctor (although we don’t want to admit it)

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ChatGPT has become one of the biggest attention grabbers in historyand now ChatGPT Health is going to take that further. Not competing with the GP, but yes occupying that space that we have filled with nightly Google searcheswith visits to forums where a stranger tells you that that mole does not have to worry you, or with the brother-in-law who knows a little about those topics. We’ve been delegating our fears to slightly ridiculous spaces for years, and now OpenAI is going to offer one that’s a little less ridiculous. The interesting thing is not that AI knows medicine. The LLMs They have been passing clinical exams for years and have resolved, better or worse, several doubts. The interesting thing is that we trust it more than real institutions or people. Two hundred and thirty million people asking ChatGPT about their health every week is a fact that says a lot about our psychology. We’d rather ask a chatbot than wait three weeks for an appointment or bother a friend at eleven at night. Everything before admitting out loud that that pain scares us. ChatGPT Health presents itself as a kind of “pocket doctor”, but it functions as a confessor. Because “should I worry about this?” It is never just a medical question. It’s existential. And the app never judges you, never gets tired, never makes you feel like you’re overreacting. He responds instantly, in a reassuring tone, citing studies that you will never read but that make you feel informed. Deep down, we know he can skate and invent things, but that doesn’t matter as much to us as gaining peace of mind for a while.and that feeling does manage to convey it. Even though There have been shady cases that have ended badly. OpenAI says this is not a replacement for the doctor. Of course not. But functionally it is already doing it. Not in a serious diagnosis, which is where we still go to the hospital, but in who decides when something is worth worrying about. Who immediately interprets those blood test numbers, or who tells us if we should change our diet or exercise routine. In the daily practice of managing a body, the doctor has become the second option, ChatGPT is now the first line. It may be uncomfortable, it may displease, but it is what is already happening. That is, in fact, the awkward twist: ChatGPT’s competition is not so much with doctors as with the emotional support network we used to have. We asked our mother, our partner, our friend who studied nursing. Now directly to ChatGPT. And with Health, this will go even further. Because it’s immediate, it’s fast, it doesn’t make you feel vulnerable and you can delete the conversation if the response starts to scare you. ChatGPT Health is the consolidation of the symptom of structural loneliness that we have not even consciously chosen. It’s just that annoying someone has become emotionally costly, while asking a machine that simulates empathy (sometimes Claude calls me ‘brother’) is fluid and simple. OpenAI did not invent this dynamic, it just came naturally when people made ChatGPT a habit and now he has optimized it to better monetize it. In Xataka | ChatGPT has been a tool. If you start remembering all our conversations, it’s going to be something else: a relationship. Featured image | Xataka

the first pilot line to recycle rare earth magnets

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Europe has learned an uncomfortable lesson in recent years: the energy transition does not depend only on political will or investments in renewables, but on materials that it does not control. After achieving —not without difficulties— reduce its dependence on Russian gas, the European Union is facing now to a deeper, more structural vulnerability: China’s near-absolute dominance over critical metals and, in particular, rare earth permanent magnets. Without these magnets there are no electric cars, no wind turbines, no advanced robotics, nor much of the defense industry. However, France has taken a step that goes beyond political discourse and can turn the tables. The inauguration of a pioneering pilot line. The Orano group and the Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) inaugurated at the CEA-Liten facilities in Grenoble, a pilot line dedicated to the recycling and remanufacturing of high-performance permanent magnets from rare earths. As Orano explained, The infrastructure has a pilot capacity of up to four tons and is equipped with technologies representative of an industrial scale, operated by a joint Orano–CEA team. The technical results of the project are expected by the end of 2026, with a view to subsequent large-scale implementation by an external industrial operator. A response to a critical dependency. The importance of the project goes far beyond its technical dimension. Permanent magnets based on neodymium-iron-boron have become key pieces for the European industrial future, but today the EU matters more than 95% of those you need. and the demand it doesn’t stop growing: The market has grown from around 250,000 tonnes of magnets this year to around 350,000 in 2030, with a growing proportion of high-performance applications. The problem is not only volume, but control of the value chain. China not only concentrates a good part of the world reserves of rare earthsbut between 70% and 90% of its processing and up to 99% in the case of heavy rare earths. This gives it a capacity for geopolitical pressure that has already translated into export restrictions and real supply interruptions for European industries. In this context, the Grenoble pilot line is fully part of the Critical Raw Materials Actwhich sets the goal that at least 25% of critical raw materials are recycled in Europe by 2030. “Short circuit” recycling. This is what the technological core of the project is called. Unlike traditional recycling – the so-called “long loop” – this approach allows rare earths to be recovered directly in metallic form from magnets at the end of their useful life, without going through complex chemical steps of dissolution, reoxidation and reconstitution. “This recycling offers an optimal compromise between magnetic performance, circularity and decarbonization,” explains Benoît Richebé, project manager for Rare Earths and Magnet Recycling at Orano, in statements collected by El Periódico de la Energía. The approach allows critical metals to be directly reused and reconstructed new high-performance magnets, suitable for demanding applications such as electric vehicle traction motors or offshore wind turbines. Orano defends, however, a hybrid approach. According to Richebé, short loop and long loop recycling are complementary, and Europe must be able to have both to build a flexible and resilient industry. The mixture of secondary raw materials with new alloys ensures maximum technical performance. Beyond the pilot. Currently, the recycling rate of rare earth magnets in Europe is just 1%, according to data cited by the German Mineral Resources Agency (DERA). For years, the combination of low prices for Chinese primary products and irregular availability of waste has slowed the development of a large-scale recycling industry. However, how RawMaterials collectsthe largest magnet recycling plant in Eastern Europe, operated by Heraeusand in the south of France the company Caremag plans to establish a rare earth recycling and refining plant in the coming years. However, here comes the key point: the Orano and CEA project is also supported by two collaborative consortia financed by France and the European Union —Magellan 1 and Magnolia 2—, which develop complementary technologies for the manufacture of magnets from recycled critical metals. One of the differentiating elements of the project is the application of Orano’s nuclear know-how to the magnets industry: powder metallurgy, processes in controlled atmospheres, sintering and management of highly regulated facilities. Experiences accumulated in plants such as Orano Melox, dedicated to nuclear fuel recycling, are now transferred to a key sector for electrification. A crack in the monopoly. France is not going to compete with China in production volume of rare earths or magnets in the short term. But with this pilot line, something perhaps more important has begun to be disputed: the control of industrial knowledge and processes. As Benoît Richebé summarizes“mastering the recycling of magnets will be essential for the ecological, digital and technological transitions.” It is not just about materials, but about industrial sovereignty. If the pilot meets its objectives and the processes are successfully transferred to an industrial scale, Europe could recover part of a value chain that it lost decades ago. In a world where critical metals have become instruments of power, recycling magnets is not just an environmental solution: it is a strategic act. Image | Unsplash Xataka | Europe no longer depends on Russian gas: it depends on something more difficult to replace

Madrid wants to convert its least used Metro line into the “Gran Diagonal”. A 1,000 million project without a clear end

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A line that connects the southwest of Madrid with the northeast of the city. A project to quadruple the extension of Madrid’s least used line with the aim of turning it into one of the city’s great arteries. We are talking about the expansion of line 11 of the Madrid Metro. In 1998, Madrid inaugurated a new Metro line. It had been 20 years since new lines had been launched in the capital and the project ended up being the first of the last major investment in the Madrid Metro that the Autonomous Community has made. until the reforms we are experiencing today. The work attracted attention due to its short length (only three stops at the beginning). Then Metrosur (Line 12) and the Light Metro lines (LM1, LM2 and LM3) would arrive. Except for LM1, all the aforementioned lines were longer than the new Line 11 whose 8.5 kilometers and seven stations were dwarfed by Line 12, with its 28 stations and more than 40 kilometers long. Now, Madrid wants to transform that line and make it one of the main axes of the Madrid underground. The numbers point high. From a “forgotten” line to the Great Diagonal Currently, line 11 of the Madrid Metro is, by far, the least used in the city. According to the company’s own report, there are only three lines that are below it but two of them are branches of main lines that far exceed the flow of line 11. Beyond the numbers on lines 7B and 9B, line 11 and its 10.8 million passengers per year they are located just above the Ópera-Príncipe Pío Branch, which moves 10 million passengers despite only having one stop at origin and another at destination, with a train that is round trip. However, Madrid wants the seven stations that currently make up line 11 to be the embryo of a gigantic line that is beginning to be known as the “Gran Diagonal.” The project, of course, has several phases but some of them are still up in the air and others do not have an execution date, although they do have a budget. Map of the expansion of line 11 At the moment, what is underway is the connection of the Plaza Elíptica station in Carabanchel with the Conde de Casal interchange. This link involves excavating more than six and a half kilometers and the creation of two stations: Comillas and Madrid Río. These will join the Plaza Elíptica station to the south and continue north with stops at the already existing Palos de la Frontera and Atocha, before reaching Conde de Casal. 514 million euros will be allocated for this section and although it was expected to be ready in 2026, everything indicates that the works will not finish until a year later and that It won’t be until 2028 when finally the new link will be available. In order to speed up the works, Madrid already has Mayrit readya tunnel boring machine from Germany that can drill 15 meters a day, compared to the two meters that are excavated a day if working only with a pick and shovel. In Xataka we have already talked of this tunnel boring machine that measures 98 meters long and weighs 1,500 tons. After arriving piece by piece, it has taken almost a whole month to be able to operate with it, since assembling it was quite a puzzle. complete at 27 meters depth. This will be the first section that aims to almost double the extension of line 11 and increase the number of people who pass through its trains by up to 75,000 daily passengers. This first section should become the heart of a line that is clear your future in the south. The expansion at this end plans to link the La Fortuna station with Cuatro Vientos, with just over two kilometers of track and an awarded budget of more than 75 million euros. But, at the moment, there are no execution dates for it. Where more doubts are being generated is in the north of the capital. From Conde de Casal to Mar de Cristal, the city will add its main stops to already built stations, specifically in Vinateros, La Elipa, Pueblo Nuevo and Arturo Soria. But it is from Mar de Cristal where the project, for which 600 million euros will be invested, has been changing. As can be seen in the map above, the project contemplated taking the line to the airport and later to a final stop called Valdebebas Norte. In elDiario.es They assure that Metro de Madrid retains the possibility of building a second station to double the latter. The opening, according 20Minutes It would therefore be staggered, coinciding with the three sections already mentioned. Once completed, Madrid line 11 will become one of the main routes to transport passengers. An approximate extension of 33.5 kilometers is expected (from just over eight kilometers currently) and 20 stations from the mere seven it currently has. All this with an expense of more than 1,100 million euros. Photo | Madrid Metro and Community of Madrid In Xataka | Faced with daily collapses, the Madrid Metro could increase frequencies or put in “pushers.” He has chosen the second

The war in Ukraine has crossed a red line in Europe. They are no longer drones violating airspace, they are nuclear plants

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Ukraine has once again placed the nuclear alarm at the center of the European conflict after denouncing that Russia is deliberately attacking the electrical substations that feed the Khmelnitsky and Rivne power plants. According to Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha, drone attacks are not isolated incidents, but planned operations to endanger continental nuclear security. It happens that drones are reaching European power plants. The drone offensive. Over the past weekend, Moscow launched more than 450 drones and 45 missiles against various regions of Ukraine, causing at least seven dead and damage to critical infrastructure. In Dnipro, a drone hit a residential building, killing three people, while other attacks occurred in Kharkiv and Zaporizhzhia. kyiv accuses Russia of instrumentalizing the atomic risk as a psychological weapon and trying to cause an accident in plants that still depend on external electricity supply to avoid a collapse of the cooling system. Nuclear risk. In parallel, Moscow is advancing with its own nuclear agenda: the Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, confirmed that the Kremlin is working on proposals for a possible nuclear test on the direct order of Vladimir Putin, a response to US President Donald Trump’s recent statement that Washington could resume their own tests. The atomic stress between both powers, exacerbated by the war in Ukraine, has plunged Europe into a scenario of unprecedented vulnerability since the Cold War. The epicenter of the threat: Belgium. While Ukraine try to contain the Russian offensive on its own territory, Western Europe has begun to feel the echoes of a hybrid war that expands beyond the front. In Belgium, one of the countries with the highest density of critical infrastructure on the continent, there has been a wave of raids of drones over strategic installations. The most alarming took place at the Doel nuclear power plant, located next to the port of Antwerp, when three drones were initially detected at dusk on November 9, which were later confirmed as five different devices flying over the complex for almost an hour. The energy company Engie, which manages the plant, assured that operations were not affected, but authorities activated the National Crisis Center and reinforced security in the area. Belgium nuclear plant near Doel And more. Hours before, air traffic at Liège airport was had suspended briefly after multiple reports of drones, and in the previous days both Brussels airport and the Kleine Brogel air base (where NATO nuclear weapons are stored) had been targeted of similar sightings. Research points to a coordinated pattern affecting several northern European countries, including Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands, where unidentified aerial intrusions have also been reported. Suspicions of espionage. Belgian Defense Minister Theo Francken has linked sightings with possible foreign espionage operations and pointed to Russia as the most plausible suspect, although without conclusive evidence. The country’s intelligence services consider that drones could be part of a recognition strategy aimed at evaluating the European response capacity to combined attacks on critical infrastructure. The accumulation of incidents led the Belgian government to convene a National Security Council, after which the Minister of the Interior, Bernard Quintin, assured that the situation was “under control”although he recognized the seriousness of the incursions. The United Kingdom, France and Germany announced sending specialized personnel and equipment to assist Belgium in the detection and neutralization of hostile drones, a gesture that underlines the shared fear that the border between visible war and covert war is becoming dangerously blurred. Technological epicenter. Faced with this new dimension of the conflict, Ukraine has positioned itself as a key actor in the technological response. President Volodymyr Zelensky advertisement the upcoming opening of defense production offices in Berlin and Copenhagen before the end of the year, with the aim of strengthening industrial cooperation on drones and electronic weapons. These “export capitals”, according to his wordsthey will finance the domestic production of scarce equipment and help European allies build their own defensive systems. kyiv, which has made the use of drones one of the pillars of its military strategy, now offers your experience to countries that are beginning to suffer firsthand the effects of the Russian hybrid war. Ukraine as a test. In parallel, Ukrainian creativity in the improvised field of defense is reflected even in unusual solutions: old fishing nets French drones, made from horse hair, are being reused to create tunnels where the propellers of Russian drones become trapped. In contemporary warfare, technology intersects with craftsmanship, and ingenuity has become a form of national survival. Nuclear vulnerability. The incidents in Belgium and Ukraine reveal the same constant: the European nuclear infrastructure (plant, wiring, energy, logistics) has become a target symbolic and strategic. The attacks on Ukrainian substations that feed power plants and the drones that fly over Belgian reactors expose the fragility of a continent that depends on complex systems where any sabotage can multiply its effects. The threat no longer comes only from missiles, but from invisible swarms of drones, of disinformation, of political and technological engineering that undermines stability from within. Russia, faced with isolation and with a still powerful military industry, seems willing to use this asymmetry as an instrument of prolonged pressure. The European responsestill fragmentary, is beginning to be articulated between military cooperation, technological innovation and civil defense. Plus: the lesson left by this sequence of attacks and suspicions seems clear. In the Europe of 2025, the border between energy security and military security has fadedand the future of continental stability could depend less on the size of armies than on how quickly a drone is detected on radar before reaching a nuclear power plant. Image | Trougnouf, Wwuyts In Xataka | The latest tactic of the Russians in Ukraine breaks with the previous one: they have gone from appearing “out of nowhere” to directly disappearing In Xataka | Orion was the Russian version of the US’s most lethal drone. Ukraine can’t believe it when it opens: it’s not a version, it’s the work of the US

The world has been wondering for years whether The Line is viable or a megalomaniac fantasy. The answer is becoming clearer

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You will like it more or less, but something cannot be denied to The Linethe ambitious ‘corridor city’ that Saudi Arabia wants to build in the middle of the desert: it does not leave anyone indifferent. After all, it is not every day that a 170 km long, 500 m high and 200 m wide metropolis made up of skyscrapers is built from scratch. Since the country’s crown prince presented the project, back in 2021the world has wondered if it is feasible or an extravagance doomed to failure. The question has continued to rage ever since, despite the start of works. Now it’s starting to become clear. What has happened? That The Line goes through turbulence. Although Saudi Arabia’s flagship megaproject has advanced on the ground, something that its promoters have made clear by sharing aerial imagesin recent days they have jumped several news that suggest that dark clouds appear on the horizon. Recently the Reuters agency informed that the priority now is to complete a first section of 2.4 kilometers, far from the 170 km that the project aspires to (its idea is to accommodate nine million people) or the structure that they wanted to have ready. looking forward to 2030. Meanwhile, other media talk about challenges or change of course. What exactly do we know? This is not the first news that suggest that Saudi Arabia was optimistic when considering the magnitude and schedule of The Line, but now they seem to confirm something important: the project (actually NEOM or the entire Vision 30 plan) is not immune to economic ups and downs and challenges in financing the works. This is how he revealed it a few days ago Reuters, which assures that Saudi Arabia plans to reorient its sovereign fund (PIF) of 925,000 million, a strategic financing lever, away from real estate megaprojects. While NEOM advocates large constructions, such as The Line, a futuristic ‘corridor city’ 170 km long, 500 m high and 200 m wide with the capacity to house nine million people, the new strategy would focus the PIF on investments with more sustainable returns in the short term. This involves logistics, tourism, AI or data centers. As remember The Timesthe Vision 2030 plan was based on a scenario in which a barrel of oil was trading at $100. Now it is around 60 and has not reached triple digits since 2022. What does that mean? “We spent too much. We acted at full speed. Now we have a deficit. We need to redefine our priorities,” he acknowledged. a few days ago a Saudi official at an investment forum held in Riyadh: Other sources speak directly of “course correction” and a scenario that requires being “more conservative” in investments. Even the country’s Minister of Economy, Faisal Alibrahim, has explained that they are “reorienting priorities towards the sectors that need it most.” “And today that sector is technology, AI.” Does that mean that mega structures are shelved? Jerry Inzerillo, an American executive who advises the crown prince, warns that he can’t go that far: “Don’t forget that nothing has been cancelled. It may just take a little longer. The ambition is still intact.” For now, at the end of 2024 the sovereign fund placed its investments in Saudi megaprojects in 56 billiona notable sum, but 12.4% below the previous year. Does it only affect The Line? No. The Line is not the only one that has seen its original plans complicated. The Times keep it up that the Trojena tourist hub may not be in time for the 2029 Asian Winter Games, as expected. The project would not actually be completed until 2032, which would have led South Korea to prepare to serve as headquarters in four years. There are other large developments in the country, such as the island of Sindalah or the district New Murabba of Riyadh, whose completion is expected in 2040, although without ruling out delays. Do you know anything else? Yes. Perhaps the most detailed ‘photo’ of where and what challenges the NEOM megacity faces I gave it on Thursday Financial Timeswhich published an extensive analysis with an illuminating headline: “The end of The Line: how the Saudi dream of NEOM fell apart.” The newspaper points out that, although the promoters insist that the city remains “a strategic priority” and it is possible to see the result of the works in the desert, the authorities have chosen to drastically reduce the first phase. Furthermore, among those who participate or have directly participated in the project there would be misgivings about its viability, as specified by FT. All this between calculations that place the final budget well above what was planned and figures that (at the very least) invite you to raise your eyebrow. For example, the staff interviewed by FT speaks of an enormous need for concrete (just the first 20 modules would need more cement than France produces in a year) and millions of tons of steel. This is without taking into account the logistical, transportation and time challenges or the services that The Line would require to provide for such basic issues as water, mail delivery or waste collection. Is it a surprise? Since the Saudi prince presented the project, years agoThe Line has aroused above all two emotions. Astonishment. And skepticism. The works have started and its promoters have shown that the project will not remain on paper, but another thing is its tempo and if it will reach the ambitious scale that was initially proposed. There are experts who have already warned that, if fulfilled, the vertical megacity will be a kind of hell for its residents. a few months ago transcended In fact, the authorities commissioned several consulting firms to carry out a strategic review of the project to confirm its viability or propose possible changes, a decision that the promoters rejected. Images | NEOM In Xataka | Years ago Alicante opted for an artificial island with a luxurious restaurant and taxi boat. It hasn’t … Read more

30,000 lightning strikes, orange warnings and severe events: don’t call it ‘squall line’, call it ‘new normal’

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During the early morning and early hours of this Wednesday, November 5, the arrival of a cold front to the Peninsula has caused a very active squall line throughout the southwest. And, in this case, saying “very active” is not an exaggeration: the images that they come to us from Portugal they are incredible and at the moment, he is heading to Extremadura and Western Andalusia. The interesting thing is that we no longer talk about meteorological information, we begin to enter the field of Okay, but what is a squall line? This is an organized storm system that, often ahead of a cold front, forms in a line. Due to its structure, this phenomenon causes strong and destructive winds, torrential rains, hail and lightning. In addition, they are characterized by advancing very quickly and being able to cause significant damage. In Xataka The "tropicalization" of the atmosphere is going to change Spain and not exactly for the better And so it has been. Portugal’s Civil Protection recorded more than 150 nighttime incidents and, as the Portuguese press explainedit is not just the problems caused by the rain and wind; is that tens of thousands of electric shocks have been recorded. About 30,000 in a few hours. Given this, AEMET activated orange noticesin Galicia, Extremadura and Andalusia. In addition, 122 Extremadura is prepared for rains of 5–20 l/m² in very short periods of time. It’s not a lot of water, but in these circumstances it can cause a lot of problems. Aren’t we talking about autumn showers? No, we are not talking about loose showers: it is an organized convection capable of producing severe gusts, hail and wet blowouts. They are formations that trigger the risk on urban areas, electrical networks and mobility. It’s another episode of “This is not just an Atlantic storm” that has been with us for weeks now. It is true that November is a typical month for hallways in the southwest; but the data suggests that we are facing something more. {“videoId”:”x89b35l”,”autoplay”:false,”title”:”PROFESSIONAL STORM CHASERS_ this is their daily life”, “tag”:””, “duration”:”400″} What is really happening? In technical terms, we are talking about the arrival of an Atlantic trough and cold front with sufficient shear to organize convection and force a quasi-linear system. Ambient humidity does the rest and that is the key. As we said a few days agothat area of ​​the peninsula is prone to low convergences that, with adequate shear and sufficient humidity,They organize convectively very easily. As connections with the Gulf of Mexico (the famous ‘rivers of moisture’) become more common and, with them, the available humidity grows: these systems will become more frequent and more intense. It is the same as occurs in the Mediterranean with DANAs: It doesn’t matter if climate change causes more or not, the amount of “available fuel” makes any spark turn into a fire. Meteorologically speaking, of course. Image | Carlos Virazón (function() { window._JS_MODULES = window._JS_MODULES || {}; var headElement = document.getElementsByTagName(‘head’)(0); if (_JS_MODULES.instagram) { var instagramScript = document.createElement(‘script’); instagramScript.src=”https://platform.instagram.com/en_US/embeds.js”; instagramScript.async = true; instagramScript.defer = true; headElement.appendChild(instagramScript); – The news 30,000 lightning strikes, orange warnings and severe events: don’t call it ‘squall line’, call it ‘new normal’ was originally published in Xataka by Javier Jimenez .

171 million euros later, Metro de Madrid wants to reopen line 7B. The big question is whether the tenth time will be the charm.

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Line 7B of the Madrid Metro will fully reopen this same month of November after more than three years closed. It is the tenth attempt to normalize a service that was inaugurated in 2007 and that has accumulated more than 800 days without functioning since then. The total cost of repairs reaches 171 million eurosnot counting compensation to neighbors, which already exceeds 23 million and continues to increase. A disaster that began in 2007. When Esperanza Aguirre promoted this expansion to have it ready before the regional elections of 2007, no one could imagine the consequences. The construction of the tunnel seriously altered the subsoil by bringing salt and water into contact, which caused the progressive dissolution of the soil. The result: collapse of the tunnels, massive water leaks and structural damage to hundreds of homes in San Fernando de Henares and Coslada. According to internal documents obtained by El Paísalready in 2008 the technicians warned of the “risk of collapses in the metro tunnel and the surrounding buildings”, and in 2009 they warned that action was “extremely urgent.” The figures of the disaster. The repair bill includes 117 million invested by the Ministry of Transport in works and compensation, 49.7 million from the Canal de Isabel II in hydraulic infrastructure, 2.4 million from the Metro itself and 1.7 million from the Ministry of Education to demolish the El Pilar educational complex. In total, more than 171 million euros. But the number will continue to grow: Property compensation, which in 2022 was estimated at 12 million, has already reached 23.3 million and there are nearly 300 open files. Additionally, 73 homes had to be completely demolished, leaving families paying mortgages on homes that no longer existed. The technical solution. To stabilize the ground, the Community has injected more than 11,000 tons of mortar of concrete in the subsoil through 26,000 drillings that reach up to 45 meters deep. It has also deployed 179 mini topographic prisms inside the metro and laser sensors that send daily data on ground movements. The Polytechnic University of Madrid analyzes also satellite images to detect any anomaly. According to the Minister of Housing, Transport and Infrastructure, Jorge Rodrigo, 511 surveillance elements and five robotic stations have been installed that will constantly monitor the road, the land and nearby buildings. The neighbors don’t forget. Although the Community assures that the infrastructure now presents “stability” and meets “the necessary security conditions”, those affected they maintain their mobilizations and demand greater compensation in court. Furthermore, a study by the Polytechnic University detected “considerable movements” in distant areas “without stabilizing”, although without specifying more details. For the 120,000 inhabitants of San Fernando de Henares and Coslada, the November reopening is just the first step to move forward in almost two decades of nightmare. And now what. The Community will allocate an additional 8.2 million to surveillance and maintenance contracts to act immediately in the event of any incident without the need for emergency contracts. Line 7B will be the most monitored infrastructure of the Madrid Metro, precisely because it is the one that has caused the most problems. It remains to be seen if this time the line is truly stable or if it will close again, as has happened on nine previous occasions. Cover image | Zarateman (Wikipedia) In Xataka | Madrid and Lisbon will be linked by the AVE. It will only arrive (if it arrives) 24 years late

A 1,500-ton tunnel boring machine is already traveling to Madrid to drill the new Line 11

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“Notify when you leave and when you arrive” Mayrit has already done the first. The second will be in more or less a month when all the pieces are already on Spanish soil. Mayrit is not the youngest son of a family. Mayrit has many fathers and mothers. Many. Those necessary to give life to a 1,500 ton tunnel boring machine. That tunnel boring machine that will directly expand line 11 of the Madrid Metro. A line that, until now, has been excavated with much more traditional means and that of course will take a huge leap forward in its future projection with this gigantic and enormous artifact. What’s coming, what’s coming Connecting Cuatro Vientos, southwest of the capital, with Valedebebas, northeast of it, Line 11 wants to become in one of those star connections in Madrid. Tracing a diagonal, the intention is to convert what is currently just seven stations into one of Madrid’s great corridors. The qualitative and quantitative leap in the progress of the works will be made by Mayrit. This gigantic tunnel boring machine weighs 1,500 tons and is 98 meters long. It is expected that each day about 15 meters can be advanced on the land, key in a line that will have stations 33 meters below ground from Madrid. My colleague Javier Márquez explained a few months ago that the transfer is not easy. The machine is built by Herrenknecht AGa German company that has assembled the entire gigantic puzzle of pieces, screws and components in its country. Once assembled, the machine is cut into pieces to be sent to our country. Of course, “it won’t be quick or easy,” as my partner explained. Now we know that the powerful tunnel boring machine has already set out on its way to Spain. It comes by land and sea. And the bulk of its pieces will arrive in Santander by boat where they will board land transport to reach the capital. Another good package of these pieces will arrive at the port of Valencia, originating in Venice. Map of the new Line 11 Once the pieces arrive, they must be transported to Carabanchel. There, next to Plaza Elpítica, this monster will drill into the ground at a rate of 500 meters per month to connect with Conde de Casal, about six kilometers from the point of origin. This stage is considered one of the most problematic and complex. Until now, the connection between Parque de Comillas (which will have a new station) and Plaza Elíptica is being done by hand. However, the transfer and assembly is so delicate and complex that it will not be until March 2026 when everything is expected to be ready in the Madrid neighborhood to begin drilling the ground. The system is so complex because the tunnel boring machine is not only responsible for excavating the earth and disposing of what is found there. While working advancing into the subsoil, an auger transports the excavated material with a conveyor belt. This material can be washed if it encounters mud but it can also affect the stability of the ground with injections of bentonite, water or foam. All while sensors control the pressure the machine experiences to control how fast it can work. If everything happens according to the planned deadlines, the last piece from Mayrit should arrive in December and, as we said, it is not expected to come into operation until March 2026. For now, it’s time to pull the shovel and pneumatic hammer. Photo | Madrid Metro In Xataka | Faced with daily collapses, the Madrid Metro could increase frequencies or put in “pushers.” He has chosen the second

The DGT has created a Big Brother against belts and cell phones. Next objective: the continuous line

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Little by little, without making much noise, the DGT has been expanding its horizons. First there were speed cameras. Then came mobile controllers and the use of helicopters. And, over the years, a continuous expansion of cameras to monitor the use of seat belts or mobile phones. And, now, for the continuous lines. By land… and air. In Spain there are currently active, a total of 3,395 devices to control speed or any other type of infraction, according to data collected by Faconauto. These data not only include the DGT controllers, it must be taken into account that the Basque Country and Catalonia have transferred powers and that the municipalities can also have their own devices. According to the DGT itself, which collects this data on its website by compiling the position of all its radars, in Spain there are more than 1,300 points to be monitored between fixed and mobile radars. Furthermore, it must be taken into account that, regarding the latter, the DGT has empty boxes scattered throughout the territory national as an intimidating measure. To these systems we must add the performance of Pegasusthe DGT helicopters that chase speeding from the air. Some teams that, despite being leaders, seem to have become obsolete next to the Catalan teams in this sense. Not just radars. In this aerial surveillance, the DGT does not only live on speed radars. The public entity has more than 200 cameras that monitor the use of the seat belt and the mobile phone. We are talking about teams that can sanction us with 200 euros and four points In the first case and with 200 euros and six points of the driving license if we use the second one. But, in addition, in recent times the DGT has introduced a new type of controllers. With cameras, the agency is able to detect if a driver skips a stop sign or skips a continuous line. Infractions, both, punishable by a fine of 200 euros as they are considered serious infractions. Madrid as a laboratory. Of these last continuous line control cameras, the four registered by the DGT are located in Madrid. The region is the one highlighted by the DGT. All of them are located near the capital. According to the data shown by the DGT itself, we find them in the following locations: Camera type Road kilometer point Sense continuous line A1 15.95 Decreasing continuous line A2 11.8 Decreasing continuous line A42 16.9 Decreasing continuous line A6 20.2 Decreasing And how do they work? The system, explained by the DGTit’s simple. A camera in each lane detects at the beginning of the monitored section which cars are traveling on each side of the continuous line. Thus, they record all the license plates that pass by. At the end of the controlled section, the camera has to record the same car again. In case the second camera does not coincide with the first, the answer is clear: the driver has jumped the solid line. That is, if it appears in the right lane (let’s say camera A) in a first step and when leaving the monitored section it is recorded by the camera in the left lane (let’s say camera B), the driver has skipped the solid line. The same happens in the opposite case. In the event that the license plate is recorded by the same camera (A or B) at the two monitored points, the car will not have moved from its place: Photo | Google Maps and Xataka In Xataka | The 0 and ECO label classification of cars is broken: it is being filled with highly polluting combustion cars

Openai has just launched a missile to Amazon’s flotation line

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Until now, when you were looking to buy an online product, you did Looking for it on Google, in Amazonor directly in the store of those products. In Openai they want to radically change that shopping experience so you don’t have to do any of that. It will be enough to ask Chatgpt to look for the product … and buy it. And that can change many things. What happened. OpenAI has announced The creation of an option called “Instant Checkout” (“instant payment”) that will allow users to purchase individual products directly through electronic commerce platforms. Etsy and Shopify, the first. This feature will be initially available for purchases in ETSY stores in the US, and soon for more than one million sellers than They use the Shopify platform. They can take advantage of the users of the free plans, Plus and Pro de Chatgpt, and OpenAi hopes to expand this program to more platforms and other countries in the future. Direct attack on Amazon. The new option raises a potential change in the way we bought things. Amazon has become that “Everything Store” (“Store for everything”) to which we go to all kinds of purchases. However, here we have an existential threat, because AI promises to help us with purchases by selecting the best products and prices without having to do practically anything (except confirming the purchase). The alliance with Shopify – each time widespread— It is another clear blow to Amazon’s business model, but the threat is triple. Not only search and can do it outside Amazon … Affiliates. But also every time you buy something with Instant Checkout in Chatgpt, OpenAi takes a commission. The price does not change for the buyer, but the seller (in this case, Etsy or Shopify) pays an Openai commission for convincing the user to make that purchase in that trade. The same goes for Google, whose search engine was also nourished by commissions by recommending products in their sponsored results. Conflict of interest. But with this type of option, the chatbot becomes no longer only an assistant who wants to help you solve doubts, but will also be an interesting recommendation of products. It is not clear how chatgpt chooses the products that it recommends, but it seems logical to think that there will be a system similar to Google or Amazon in which stores and shops can position their products to favor the recommendations. At the moment those responsible for OpenAI indicate That the products that they recommend comes from an “organic and sponsorship search, classified only based on their relevance to the user”. The process, once again, could be distorted, and would win who invests more in marketing and positioning to make their products “look more.” Stock bags. The reaction in the American bags makes clear what has been the reception of this characteristic: ETSY’s actions rose 16%, while Shopify – which does not yet have this option although it will do it soon – they rose 6%. For both platforms this option represents a potential push for sales and income, and AI can become its best ally to reduce the traditional dependence of Google or Amazon users to choose which products buy and buy them … And incidentally, agricultural protocol. Openai also stressed that to offer this characteristic they have developed their Agentic Commerce Protocola component that will allow more stores and developers to create new integrations. The protocol has been developed in collaboration with Stripe, and is available with a license Open Source (Apache 2.0) with its code In Github. Can you trust chatgpt to buy? Taking into account that chatbots They continue to make mistakes and hallucinatetrusting purchases to an AI model can generate doubts. Will it succeed with the purchase process? Will you really ask for what you want to ask for? Here it is true that the answer is much more deterministic, because Chatgpt has a catalog of products defined among which to search. In addition, the AI ​​model depends totally on the decision and action of the user: it is he who must click on “buy”, confirm the order and details, and complete that purchase integrated in the chatbot session. Here Chatgpt is a purchase assistant who tries to simplify the process, but of course in something as sensitive as purchases – with our money at stake – OpenAi can have serious problems if the process ends up having failures. In Xataka | Sending this 320 dollar goal from Japan to Spain costs $ 29. Sending it to the US costs 2,000, and it is not a typographic error

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