missing

AI already knew how to create images. OpenAI says it has found the missing piece with the new ChatGPT Images 2.0

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Over the last few years we have seen image generators become increasingly more spectacular, faster and also more popular. The problem is that a striking image is not always useful to work with. It is one thing to ask for an astronaut cat and quite another to obtain a usable marketing poster, a coherent vignette or a graphic that respects what we have asked for. That’s where OpenAI now wants to move the conversation with its new model: not so much towards the pretty image, but towards the useful image. The answer. What OpenAI proposes goes in that direction. The company led by Sam Altman He maintains that his new model is not only created to generate attractive images, but to solve visual assignments with more intention and less trial and error. In the presentation he went so far as to state that “images are a language, not decoration”, a fairly clear way of summarizing where he wants to take the product in a present with quite a bit of competition. The thesis is that: that asking for an image in ChatGPT It’s less like launching a creative prompt and more like commissioning a piece that we can actually use. The missing piece. If the firm wants us to talk about something more than showy images, it had to improve exactly the points where these models usually fail. Here they promise important changes on three very specific fronts: following complex instructions more precisely, better organizing elements within the image and reproducing dense text with greater reliability. In other words, we are not only looking for more beautiful results, but also less ambiguous and more controllable ones. Think before you draw. One of the novelties that OpenAI tries to highlight most strongly is that this is its first image model with reasoning capabilities. Translated into practical terms, the company maintains that, when a model with “thinking” is chosen within ChatGPT, the system can take more time, structure the task better, rely on the web to search for updated information and review its own results before delivering the image. And we have tried it, asking for the image of two people walking along Gran Vía, in Madrid, near Cines Callao, and some notes on activities to do in Spain during May. These are the images that we can see in the cover image. The keys. OpenAI talks about game prototyping, storyboards, marketing creatives, comics, social graphics and other materials where both content and form matter. To sustain that ambition, the company says it has improved on two delicate fronts: the handling of non-Latin text, with advances especially in Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Hindi and Bengali, and the more faithful reproduction of very marked visual styles. It also expands the possible formats, with proportions of up to 3:1 and 1:3, resolution of up to 2K and, in certain modes, the possibility of generating up to ten images within the same request with continuity between characters and objects. The competitive context. This announcement also cannot be read as if OpenAI had suddenly discovered a new market. Midjourney has already become a clear reference for works with a strong artistic charge, Nano Banana has attracted attention for its conversational editing capabilities and FLUX 2 has become strong in photorealism. With that board in front, the company seems to be looking for another angle. Rather than contesting each terrain separately, it tries to present ChatGPT as an environment where the image is not generated in isolation, but as part of a broader flow, something that on paper can be attractive if it really delivers what it promises. It’s already starting to unfold: One of the keys to the announcement is that OpenAI ensures that the model does not remain in the showcase phase, but is beginning to reach a product. The company places its deployment in ChatGPT for all users, including Free and Go, and associates the most advanced results with Plus and Pro, as also reported by Engadget. Additionally, it takes you to the API and Codex, a sign that they don’t want to limit it to casual use within the chat. If your strategy involves turning the image into another work tool, it made sense for the deployment to start precisely there. Images | Xataka with ChatGPT Images 2.0 | OpenAI In Xataka | Amazon wants to win the AI ​​race at any price. That is why it has invested both in Anthropic and OpenAI

The rarest and rarest feline on the planet has found the nail in the coffin that was missing: the war in Iran

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He asian cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus venaticus) is one of the rarest and most endangered subspecies of big cats on the planet. There are only 27 individuals left at large, all of them are identified one by one and all of them live in Iran, as explains Bagher Nezaminational director of Asiatic Cheetah Conservation Project. There is no other known population anywhere else on the planet. In serious danger of extinction, what was already a critical situation has become an emergency since the attacks by the United States and Israel in Iran began in February 2026: the war has paralyzed the only monitoring system that kept this subspecies under control. What is happening with the Asian cheetah. As account the environmental science and conservation news platform Mongabay, just nine days after forest guards filmed a female with five cubs in the province of North Khorasan, the armed conflict began. Since then, access to the reserves where these animals live has been drastically restricted. The risk is not so much that a bomb falls on a reserve, but rather the lack of vigilance. The field vehicles used by field scientists and park rangers to guard the small population of Asiatic cheetahs can be mistaken for military targets in their scattered habitat (especially in the desert), so many of Iran’s environmental NGOs have stopped their activity. The country also suffers an internet blackout. This means that monitoring, field studies and field use are no longer operational. The species. The Asian cheetah diverged from African populations between 32,000 and 67,000 years ago. It is not an African cheetah implanted in Asia, but rather it has its own evolutionary lineage: it is smaller and has lighter fur than the African one and is adapted to arid areas and mountainous terrain. In fact, its monitoring is more complex not only because there are few of them, but because it lives in inhospitable areas. In any case, both are true Ferraris: they can exceed speeds of 100 km/h in short races. The IUCN has it classified on the Critically Endangered conservation scale since 1996, the highest alert before extinction in the wild. From an ecological perspective, it serves as a specialized predator on medium-sized ungulates—mainly gazelles—in the desert ecosystems of central Iran. Their disappearance could not be compensated by introducing African cheetahs: the genetic, physiological and behavioral divergence between both groups is too great and hybridization proposals do not have scientific support as a viable short-term solution. Why is it important. Because it is not a rare subspecies of a known felid, but rather it has a genetically differentiated lineage and is native to Asia. It has more than 30,000 years of history independent of African populations and its disappearance is not compensated by introducing African cheetahs. Furthermore, it fulfills its function there: it is a specialized predator on medium-sized ungulates in the arid ecosystems of central Iran, thus maintaining the balance of gazelle populations. In short: it has its place in the food chain of the desert ecosystem in the interior of the country. The situation of the Asian cheetah is also a direct indicator of the state of biodiversity conservation at war, as pointed out this article in People and Nature: its consequences are suffered decades after the conflict and sometimes, they are simply irreversible. Iran is home to exceptional biological diversity: Persian leopard, brown bear (Ursus arctos), Eurasian lynx (Lynx lynx), gray wolf (Canis lupus), among others. The collapse of the cheetah conservation system irremediably affects the rest. Context. Since 1959, the Asiatic cheetah has had legal protection in Iran. In the following decades its population was stabilized, but the Revolution of 1979 and the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s they were wasted years: Lax law enforcement wreaked havoc in the form of zero patrolling, destruction and fragmentation of their habitat, uncontrolled hunting, and decline in prey. In January 2022, Hassan Akbari, deputy minister of natural environment and biodiversity at Iran’s Department of Environment, declared that the Asiatic cheetah population had plummeted to just 12, down from an estimated 100 in 2010. In August 2025, the Tehran Times reported that only 20 copies remained. Monitoring them is very complicated per sebut there are also circumstances that work against it. For example, the controversial use of camera traps: in 2018 several people from Persian Wildlife Heritage Foundation accused of using camera traps for espionage. One person died in prison and the rest were pardoned in 2024. This case paralyzed international collaboration for years. In addition, Western sanctions have also systematically prevented the arrival of financing, essential for adequate monitoring. Asiatic cheetah dies. The main cause of death for Asian cheetahs is not poaching or predators, but the road. More than 52% of documented deaths They are due to accidents on roads that cross or border key habitats and cheetahs cross them without fear and repeatedly following their prey, such as Abbasabad-Mashhad and Mehriz-Anar. There are a couple of especially notorious cases of females run over, pregnant or with their young, in recent years: Meyami and Helia. Since the beginning of the conflict, these roads now also transport military material and people for evacuation, which increases traffic. With 27 individuals registered, there is no longer room for errors or unsupervised times: genetic analysis published in Conservation Genetics details that genetic diversity is critically low and inbreeding poses an additional risk to the viability of the subspecies. What can be done. Wild Tomorrow analyzes this problem in detail, advising to ignore social media campaigns that call for “emergency evacuations” without rigor: moving big wild cats across militarized borders is medically risky and informal channels can prove to be a route for illegal trafficking. Furthermore, we have already seen that proposing clandestine communications can expose those who protect the cheetah to accusations of espionage. What does have a real effect is supporting the Iranian Cheetah Society, the organization with the greatest field knowledge of this population. Likewise, at the international level there are organizations with real capacity … Read more

It is called CY8, and it is the missing piece to transport tons

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In some of the most extreme environments on the planet, such as plateaus above 4,000 metersair density can reduce the takeoff ability of an aircraft by more than 30%forcing a complete redesign of how any cargo is transported. For a long time, that has limited what can be moved… and, importantly, where. The “air truck” of Beijing. Yes, China has just successfully tested a pilotless “air truck” in the form of a drone. It’s called CY-8 and its first flight in Zhengzhou was not only a technical test, but the confirmation of a concept: an unmanned aircraft capable of combining large load capacity with operational flexibility that until now was reserved for much more complex or infrastructure-dependent platforms. Designed to charge. The CY-8 stands out for a very clear logic: moving weight efficiently. With a maximum weight of 7 tons and a 3.5 ton loading capacitypractically equals its own useful weight, something key in logistics operations. Your closed cellar 18 cubic meterswith front and rear access, allows you to accelerate loading and unloading processes, reducing time on the ground and increasing the pace of operation in environments where every minute counts. Operate where others cannot. The local media reported that the true advantage of the system is not only in how much it transports, but in where can you do it. The CY-8 can take off in less than 500 meters and operate on basic tracks, allowing you to access high mountain areas, isolated regions or island environments. It is optimized for extreme altitudes such as those in Tibet and for territories with limited infrastructurewhich greatly expands its radius of action beyond conventional airports. Autonomy, range and versatility. With more than 3,000 km rangethe drone not only connects remote points, but does so without the need for pilots and with the ability to adapt to multiple missions. Plus: can be set up quickly for logistics transportdisaster relief, emergency communications or reconnaissance tasks, making it a hybrid platform between civil and military, designed to respond to changing scenarios. Pilotless logistics. The development of the CY-8 is part of a growing competition to dominate heavy unmanned aerial transport. China is already working in even bigger modelswhile the United States explores alternatives with vertical takeoff that completely eliminate the need for runways. In this context, the CY-8 represents a more or less intermediate bet: it does not eliminate the infrastructure, but it does reduce it to the essential minimum. More than a drone, a strategic piece. Beyond its numbers, this “monstrous” drone redefines a key idea: in conflicts or crises, it is not enough to arrive, we must be able to sustain. This type of platform makes it possible to maintain supply chains in places where it was previously complex or impossible to do so. Therefore, more than an isolated technological advance, this kind of Chinese “air truck” points to a paradigm shift: logistics, silent and constant, as the true engine of any modern operation. Image | x In Xataka | China just showed the world what comes after the combat drone: 96 drones with a science fiction launch In Xataka | For years we have associated drones with propellers: in China they explore an alternative inspired by nature

is that we are missing 20 million physical barrels a day and there is nowhere to get them

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The entire planet has been paralyzed in a funnel of salt water just 33 kilometers wide. With the escalation of war in the Middle East, headlines from around the world warn that the price of crude oil has surpassed the psychological barrier of $100registering record increases of 36% in a single week. However, the price is only the fever; the real illness is much more serious. To understand the magnitude of this crisis, we must stop looking at the stock price and start looking at the physical barrels that are missing. Today’s fundamental and structural problem is scarcity: the market is drying up. Overnight, we face the disappearance of some 20 million barrels a day. It is a logistical catastrophe five times greater than the one we experienced in the historic crisis of 1973. The 20 million barrel hole. According to data collected by The Kobeissi Letter and confirmed by Goldman Sachsthis blockade takes about 20 million barrels a day off the board (approximately 20% of world consumption). To put it in perspective, this supply shock is the largest in history and is equivalent to adding, at once, the losses caused by the Iranian Revolution (5.5 million), the Yom Kippur War (4.5 million), the invasion of Kuwait (4.3 million), the Iran-Iraq War (4 million) and the invasion of Ukraine (2 million). We are not facing a reserve crisis, but rather an absolute logistical collapse. As we have explained in Xataka, just open the platform Marine Traffic to see a swarm of some 240 immobilized vessels, including at least 40 supertankers (VLCCs) loaded with two million barrels each. The chaos is not only physical, it is also electronic as there is severe interference in the tracking systems (AIS), showing ghost ships located inland due to signal hacking. The fear of sailing is justified, tanker traffic in Hormuz has fallen by 90% and freight rates for supertankers have skyrocketed by 600%. The domino effect. Unable to take ships out to sea, onshore storage tanks have been filled to the brim. Iraq has been the first major physical victim of this plug. The data of Bloomberg They give the actual measurement of the cap. Iraq has had to plummet its production by 70%, falling from 4.3 to just 1.3 million barrels per day. The shock wave has already reached the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait, which have begun to close wells for a very basic reason advance by Financial Times. They have simply run out of physical space to store the crude oil. Given this scenario, OPEC+ promised to inject an additional 206,000 barrels per day. However, analyst John Kemp explains in Financial Times that this is a mirage: almost all of the cartel’s surplus capacity is inside of the Persian Gulf. If the ships cannot leave, that crude oil does not exist for the rest of the world. Nor are alternative pipelines a panacea. Javier Blas, columnist of Bloombergexplains that Saudi Arabia and the Emirates have pipelines to bypass Hormuz to the Red Sea, but a report from Goldman Sachs warns that the actual diversion capacity It is only 0.9 million barrels per day compared to the theoretical 6.5 million. The shortage is already hitting critical sectors. As my colleague Alberto de la Torre warned about an unprecedented crisis in aviation fuel (jet fuel), whose price in Asia reached an anomalous record of $225.44 per barrel. It is estimated that 40% of the jet fuel arriving in Europe passes through Hormuz. Since airports have very small storage tanks, the supply chain is stretched. Airlines such as WizzAir already foresee losses of 50 million euros due to this extra cost alone. Panic has reached governments. According to reports Financial Timesthe finance ministers of the G7 and the International Energy Agency (IEA) are preparing an emergency meeting to release between 300 and 400 million barrels of their joint strategic reserves. It is a desperate measure to stop the global inflationary impact. President Donald Trump, facing US gas stations at $3.45 a gallon, downplayed the blow on his social media, stating that short-term prices are “a very small price to pay for peace and security.” China’s master plan against the US “Donroe Doctrine”. While the West panics, in Beijing there is the calm of someone who has done his homework. The US strategy was to suffocate the cheap crude oil (Iran and Venezuela) that the Chinese industry feeds on, in what some analysts call the “Donroe Doctrine” (the US attempt to control up to 30% of the world’s reserves together with Guyana and Venezuela). But China was anticipated. Last year it spent $10 billion absorbing excess global crude oil, building up strategic reserves for 96 days. Today it has 166 million barrels floating safely off its coasts. In addition, it has triggered the purchase of Russian and Saudi crude oil, and has accelerated its true national shield: the electrical transition. With a 50% market share in electric vehicles and 430 renewable gigawatts installed in one year, Beijing demonstrates that, unlike a ship in Hormuz, sunlight cannot be blocked by the US Fifth Fleet. ANDThe ghost of 1973. Comparisons with the 1973 Arab oil embargo are inevitable but misleading. In ’73, the cut was 4.5 million barrels; Today the hole is 20 million. The economic damage suffered by the world was seven times greater than the value of the missing oil, all because of the collective panic that paralyzed investment and consumption. Today, however, the physical scenario is so extreme that the structural blow is guaranteedWhether there is panic or not. The only current advantage is that the United States is today the largest producer in the world and its economy depends much less on crude oil than it did 50 years ago, which gives it a certain shield. The tyranny of geography. If the ships do not sail, signatures like S&P Global Energy They predict a brutal “demand destruction”: unaffordable prices that will force the world to forcibly stop consuming crude oil. In the … Read more

Xiaomi smart glasses arrive in Spain at a very low price. They are just missing a small detail

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Xiaomi, for a long time, has not been a smartphone brand. It is an ecosystem brand. And to close the product circle it presented its Xiaomi AI Glasses. While these end up landing (or not) in Spain, the company has just quietly brought its Mijia Smart Audio Glasses. A quite different alternative in design to the formats we are used to for a simple reason: they are glasses purely focused on audio. You see it, you hear it. This is the slogan of Mijia, Xiaomi’s ecosystem sub-brand, for its Smart Audio Glasses. These are not the smart glasses we are used to. They are a device designed for audio functions. They have compatibility with both Siri as with him Google Voice Assistant. They have a voice recorder, included for calls. Real-time noise cancellation. Real-time notifications A design of… glasses. One of the main problems with alternatives with double chambers is the thickness of the temple. Being simpler glasses, these Audio Glasses have an appearance that could easily pass them off as normal glasses. In fact, the thickness of the rods is only 5mm. The chassis weighs only 27.6 grams. The hinge promises more than 15,000 bends and is detachable in case we need to replace it. They have polarized lenses that not only filter 99.9% of ultraviolet light, they also filter reflections and 25% of blue light. The design is finished in titanium. The controls. To interact with these Xiaomi glasses we will have two solutions. The first is to use its temples, with touch controls. These allow you to enable calls, alerts, start recordings… Of course, while we are recording a small indicator light will turn on, so that there is evidence that we are recording. The second method is to use its app, through which we can manage recordings, connected devices, gesture control and even find the glasses by emitting a sound if we can’t find them. The autonomy. If you are wondering how long the battery of a product like this lasts, the answer is: little if you use them a lot, enough with logical use. They promise up to 13 hours of continuous playback, 9 hours in calls and an average of a day and a half of use. Why is it important. The Mijia Smart Audio Glasses are not just glasses focused on audio, they are proof that Xiaomi wants to bring to Spain a product ecosystem that, sooner or later, will end up competing with giants like Go with your RayBans. The integration of the Xiaomi ecosystem as a Trojan horse in Spain It is something we have been talking about for a long time, bringing its ‘Human x Car x Home’ philosophy to all aspects: smartphones, appliances, smart accessories, cars… and even robots. Styles and price. The Mijia Smart Audio Glasses are now on sale in the Xiaomi Spain website in three different mounts: Pilot Style: 179.99 euros Browline: 179.99 euros Titanium: 199.99 euros Image | Xiaomi In Xataka | Meta is so serious about smart glasses that its catalog is already a mess: this is how the new models differentiate themselves

Meta has been bragging about LLaMa for years while missing the AI ​​party. And she’s already tired of being the Android of AI

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Close your eyes and think about AI. It’s easy for the names that come to mind to be ChatGPT either Geminiand it makes perfect sense: OpenAI and Google have focused on pushing solutions for real users. The one that may sound familiar to you, but you don’t even remember, is LLaMa. Meta has focused for years on AI for the sector, forgetting the consumer. And that’s about to change with Mango and Avocado. Because the “new” Meta no longer wants to be the Android of AI: it wants to embrace the Apple model. The ‘meh’ of LLaMa 4. Meta’s approach to artificial intelligence has been, and is being, curious. LLaMa 4 It was a frustrating release, one that hasn’t lived up to expectations. It competed with GPT-4 (let’s go for 5, whose launch also brought controversy), but while OpenAI and Google have struggled to position their AI models as options open to the user thanks to the chatbot, Meta has gone in other directions. They have their Meta AIbut LLaMa was the star product. They have ‘gone’ from the user and have focused on professional options. Meta opted for Open Source (in quotes) seeking to turn LLaMa into the foundation on which everything that has to do with AI is built. To make a simile, Meta wanted LLaMa to be the “Android of AI.” It hasn’t worked out, and now it wants to pivot to an Apple-style model: closed and consumer-oriented. 14.3 billion dollars. That’s the money that Zuckerberg, in full ‘founders mode’ like Florentino Pérez has been left in Scale AI. The startup has established itself in a very short time as the great promise of general AIone of the short-term objectives of the majors in the sector. And, now, it is owned by Meta. It is the Madrid of the galactics. Because even if Scale AI did not develop ChatGPT, Gemini or Claudehas built the infrastructure for proposals of this style. And with the purchase comes Alexandr Wang, who was CEO of Scale AI and now director of AI at Meta. It seems that the relationship is already bearing fruit. Mango and Avocado. As we read in WSJWang has mentioned two new AI models that will go live in early 2026. And the proposal is radical considering where the company came from: Avocado – This will be the brain and successor of Calls. It is scheduled for the first half of next year and is expected to be the one that begins the new era of privatization of the model: it would mark the transition to a closed system. Mango – If Avocado aims to be invisible to the user, Mango will be the complete opposite. It will be an image and video generation model to compete directly against sora, I see either Nano Banana from OpenAI and Google, respectively. Less papers, more chats. Thus, Zuckerberg and Wang will be able to have a model that people associate as synonymous with “artificial intelligence.” Google and OpenAI have come a long way, but if AI has taught us anything, it is that new tools can become popular in a heartbeat if they hit the right button. Midjourney was the grail of generative AIFor example… But of course, neither Google nor OpenAI are going to sit idly by. Both are burning money to continue developing their models and the problem is that, although what they get Meta works like magicthey will arrive years late consumer AI competition. They have dispersed their AI in WhatsApp, Instagram and professionals instead of having a single chatbot; have published studies on how capable your artificial intelligence is. In the middle of all that, they are late to the party. And, precisely, in that They look a lot like Apple. Images | Mark Zuckerberg, Dima Solomin In Xataka | “AI is unstoppable”: the CEO of Freepik talks to us about AI, entrepreneurship and the mistakes of an EU that only focuses on the dangers of AI

The United States has turned Trinidad and Tobago into the war container it was missing. Venezuela has responded like Russia: an invisible fleet

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The conflict between the United States and Venezuela has entered a phase in which the silent accumulation media outweighs official statements. If you will, the Caribbean once again functions as a strategic belt from which Washington projects pressure without the need to declare an open war. Under the formal argument of the fight against drug trafficking, the White House has been weaving a support network logistics, radars, airstrips, ports and resupply spaces in an arc at a time bigger of “allies”. The Venezuela’s response We already saw it in Russia. The map of countries. That “arc” of allies Washington runs from the Dominican Republic to Trinidad and Tobago, passing through Aruba, Curaçao, Bonaire, Grenada, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. The deployment includes destroyers, nuclear submarines, amphibious ships, aircraft carriers, state-of-the-art fighters, drones and thousands of troops, not enough for a land invasion, but enough to control air and maritime space, monitor critical routes and sustain missile attacks if it is decided to escalate. It is a prepositioning strategy classic: being everywhere without publicly assuming that something else is in the works. Trinidad and Tobago, the most sensitive link. Within that architecture, Trinidad and Tobago emerges as the most delicate piece of the board. Its extreme proximity to the Venezuelan coast turns any gesture into a political and military message. The new government has authorized the use of its airports by US military aircraft, has received warships and marine units, has allowed joint exercises and has accepted the installation of an AN/TPS-80 G/ATOR radar capable of detecting aircraft, drones and missiles. Everything is presented as logistical and defensive cooperationbut it fits almost literally with the US National Security Strategy of 2025, which calls for a toughened version of the Monroe Doctrine to reaffirm the preeminence of the United States in the Western Hemisphere and prevent external actors from controlling strategic assets. Trinidad and Tobago insist in that it will not be a platform for offensive attacks except direct aggression, but its role as node of surveillance, resupply and intelligence places it at the center of any scenario of sustained pressure on Caracas. A blockage that is not. The announced threat by Trump of a “total and complete” interdiction of sanctioned oil tankers entering or leaving Venezuela fits into that model of gradual pressure. It is not about closing ports with a formal declaration of war, but about taking advantage of naval and air superiority, supported by friendly infrastructure, to intercept, seize or deter the ships that support the main source of income for the Nicolás Maduro regime. The recent seizure of an oil tanker loaded with nearly two million barrels and the warning that further action could follow shows the extent to which Washington is willing to take pressure beyond the symbolic, taking the risk of controlled incidents in international waters. The Venezuelan response. Faced with this siege, Caracas has reacted by raising the profile of its challenge. The order to escort ships that transport oil products and derivatives to Asia is a calculated move: it seeks to demonstrate that the Venezuelan State does not renounce its right to free navigation and that it is willing to involve to his Navy to keep exports open. It is also a response that increases the risk of confrontationbut that sends an internal and external message of resistance. Oil continues to be the financial pillar of the regime, and losing it would be equivalent to accepting total economic asphyxiation. The ghost fleets. Beyond the visible escort, the true backbone of the Venezuelan strategy is the ghost fleeta tactic practically copied from the used by Russia after Western sanctions. Old oil tankers, many with more than twenty or thirty years of service, change name and flagsteal the identities of already dismantled ships, sail under flags of convenience, turn off or manipulate their identification systems and carry out crude oil transfers on the high seas to hide the origin of the cargo. The result is an opaque trade that allows you to sell oil with large discounts to buyers willing to take risks, while the traceability required by sanctions is diluted. It is not a marginal phenomenon: a significant part of the world’s oil tanker fleet already operates in this gray ecosystem, transporting Venezuelan, Russian or Iranian crude. Sanctions that do not suffocate, they deform. The BBC reported that the data show that, although far from the historical levels of the end of the 20th century, Venezuelan exports have recovered notably compared to the collapse of 2019. This indicates that the sanctions have not paralyzed the flow, but rather have displaced it towards more opaque and risky circuits. As in the Russian caseeconomic punishment does not eliminate trade, it makes it more expensive, makes it less transparent and reinforces dependence on informal networks and actors willing to move illegally. The Caribbean as a conflict. With US aircraft carriers patrolling the Caribbean, radars deployed in islands near Venezuela and escorted or invisible tankers sailing to Asiathe conflict is located in a dangerous intermediate zone between economic pressure and military confrontation. The United States bets on the ccontrol of space and logistics regional via of discreet allieswhile Venezuela responds with the same manual that has allowed other sanctioned countries to survive: ghost fleets, aggressive discounts and specific shows of force. The Caribbean, for decades associated with tourism and trade, is thus once again a scene of high geopolitical tension where each radar installed and each oil tanker intercepted brings the risk of a clash that no one admits they want, but for which both sides seem to prepare, a little closer. Image: US Navy In Xataka | The situation between the US and Venezuela only needs one incident to escalate into something more: that incident is already here In Xataka | In full tension with the US, Venezuela has presented its drone simulator: it is equal to a three-euro Steam game

We already have the missing ingredient to explain the origin of life

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What the mission OSIRIS-REx brought back to Earth in his capsule after being perched on the asteroid Bennu It could be very enriching, but the truth is that it has exceeded all our expectations. And in the past we have already been surprised to find water or carbon in space, but now NASA has confirmed than what has been seen on this asteroid: Bennu contains sugars essential for life as we know it. But not only that, among the grains of dust and rock, researchers have come across something they did not expect: a mysterious substance that they have already dubbed ‘space gum’. The discovery. After a long time analyzing the materials extracted by this probe, the results have finally been released to a published study in Nature Geoscience led by Yoshihiro Furukawa from Tohoku University (Japan) and which undoubtedly marks a milestone in astrobiology. From a sample of just 603 milligrams of Bennu dust, the team was able to detect a variety of sugars that are biologically significant, such as glucose. This marks something historic since it is the first time that this sugar that we know so well has been identified in a pristine extraterrestrial sample. But this has not only been the important thing, but also samples of ribose which is an essential component of RNA, which is responsible for transporting genetic information in human organisms and which undoubtedly It became popular during the COVID pandemic. Its importance. Until now we had seen signs of these samples in meteorites, but there was always the shadow of land pollution upon impact. Now this doubt disappears since the samples arrived sealed. What is undoubtedly important is that the joint presence of these sugars suggests that they were synthesized by abiotic processes (without life) inside the asteroid, probably through chemical reactions in the presence of water at the dawn of the solar system. Something that would be essential to be able to generate life. Space gum. If sugars are the “hard” science news, what has captured most of our attention is what Danny Glavin, a mission co-investigator at the Goddard Space Flight Center, describes as “space gum.” The analyzes revealed a unique polymeric material, a kind of complex, sticky substance that doesn’t fit the standard minerals we’re used to. That is why its composition is now under study and its presence indicates that Bennu is not only a pile of rubble, but a chemical laboratory that is capable of create organic macromolecules that we have living beings inside us. In addition to this “gum” and sugars, the samples contained star dust that is older than our own Sun, survivors of ancient supernovae that were trapped in the asteroid’s matrix. A ‘complete kit’. With this announcement, the Bennu puzzle seems to be complete since amino acids have been found that are essential for proteins, bases to form DNA, carboxylic acids and now sugars to give energy and structure to RNA. This strongly supports the hypothesis that carbon-rich asteroids, like Bennu, acted as “cosmic delivery boys” during the late intense bombardment, seeding the early Earth with all the ingredients necessary for the life we ​​are now enjoying to emerge. It is literally an asteroid that carries all the ingredients for life as we know it. A look at the past. The stability of compounds like glucose and xylose in these samples, along with the surprising presence of ribose (which is typically very unstable), tells us that Bennu’s parent body had very specific water activity and chemical conditions shortly after the solar system formed. As confirms NASA itselfwe are facing the strongest evidence that the building blocks of biology are not a miracle exclusive to Earth, but rather common products of the chemistry of the universe. Images | NASA Hubble Space Telescope In Xataka | We have left Moss out for nine months in space at the mercy of vacuum and radiation. He’s back alive and breaking records

just announced its most capable robot. Now the only thing missing is that there is demand

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The Chinese company Unitree Robotics just presented the H2its most advanced humanoid robot to date. At 180 centimeters tall and weighing 70 kilograms, this model is getting closer and closer to that preconceived idea we have about robots that we have seen so much in fiction. Perhaps the most striking thing about his announcement is his presentation video, where we see him dancing, dressed and even with a humanized face. A robot that dances and does kung-fu. Demo images show the H2 performing complex dance and martial arts sequences with surprising fluidity. The robot maintains balance naturally, makes smooth transitions between movements and demonstrates remarkably organic limb articulation. Although Unitree has not revealed all the technical specifications, previous leaks They pointed out that the H2 would have 31 degrees of freedom, compared to the 23 of its predecessor. The legacy of the H1. Unitree’s previous model, the H1, achieved widespread fame after appearing at the 2024 Spring Festival Gala in China, where its Yangko dancing performance went viral both inside and outside the country. With that robot, China had achieved its first full-size model capable of running, setting a world record reaching 3.3 meters per second, even with peaks with the potential to exceed 5 m/s. Equipped with 3D LiDAR and depth cameras that provided 360° spatial perception, the H1 weighed just 47 kilograms and was powered by a swappable 864 Wh battery. From the workshop to the living room. The H2 represents a new level with respect to industrial robotics that China already dominates. The Asian country installed nearly 300,000 industrial robots in 2024more than the rest of the world combined, according to the International Federation of Robotics. However, humanoid robots like the H2 remain a bet for the future with sales still marginal. The Chinese startup ecosystem focused on humanoid robotsdriven largely by state policy, seeks to continue evolving in this field so that the country also scores the same in this sector. A two-speed strategy. Unitree is committed to covering the entire spectrum of the market. While the H2 represents its high-end offering aimed at advanced industrial and commercial applications, the company also recently launched the R1, a 1.2-meter robot designed for developers and researchers at a somewhat more accessible price. In fact, the R1 was recognized by Time magazine as one of the best inventions of 2025. They are two models that reflect Unitree’s efforts to become known in the world of robotics, at the level of large American manufacturers such as Boston Dynamics. And now what. The real challenge is not only technical, but commercial. China has demonstrated its ability to develop increasingly sophisticated humanoid robots, but the real test will come when practical large-scale applications have to be found that justify the investment. Unitree CEO Wang Xingxing confirmed at the beginning of the year at the Hangzhou World Digital Commerce Exhibition that this model was planned for the second half of 2025. The schedule has been met. Now it’s time to see how the market reacts. Cover image | Unitree In Xataka | With AI, Microsoft has once again insisted that we talk to our computer: experience says that we don’t feel like it

More than 800 vehicles are still missing after the Dana. And without a car, there is no help

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Soon a year of the devastating Dana that swept Valencia and there are still many affected who have not found their car. More than 800, as reported Levante-EMV. As the vehicle cannot unsubscribe, many of them either They can collect aid To get a new one. We have talked to one of those affected who lost his vehicle in the Dana. 125,000. It is the number of cars affected by the Dana: The greatest scratch in the history of Spain. The owners of the sinister vehicles have received aid of up to 10,000 euros to get a new vehicle. The problem is that many of them have not yet found their vehicle after floods and is necessary to start the process. Videos and photos. Given the impossibility of peritating so many vehicles in situ, insurers requested videos or photos to be able to certify the damage of the vehicle. Only in this way could they leave it to subsequently be able to opt for the help of the Insurance Compensation Consortium. Jessica Rojas, photographer Resident in Catarroja, he tells us that he was trying to find his vehicle for a long time to be able to make the video-pursue that they asked: “I never found my car. I threw months and months looking for it, I went to all the carees of cars in the area and nothing,” he recalls. Dead end. The impossibility of certifying the damage of the car has left many owners with their hands tied. As they point out in Levante-EMV, in the section of frequent questions of the Insurance Compensation Consortium, This problem appears: The insurance compensation consortium, under the insurance contract that covers the damage of your vehicle, cannot compensate the damage as long as it has no verification of the damage to it. Once the fields currently enabled by the different municipalities have been emptied, the consortium will analyze, case by case, the actions to be carried out. Find the car. Jessica was not the only one who lost the car in her area: “Many neighbors made as a network with the videos we had done in the streets to search for cars.” He believes that he was stolen because he managed to find a couple of cars that the water took next to his, but did not appear. Tools were created to locate lost cars such as the Generalitat or of the affected municipalitiesbut there are still vehicles that nobody knows where they have ended. There are not many options and some of those affected have organized in This Facebook group. In the end yes. Jessica’s case is curious because, although she didn’t have the video they asked for, she did have a video she recorded from her window in which his car was seen before sinking underwater. After many months fighting, he managed to grant him the aid. The amount was much lower than the value of the car, but it could be worse. “I know many people who have not paid anything because they have not found them,” he confesses. Image | Amparo Babyloni, Xataka In Xataka | The deadly trap before a flood like Dana in Valencia: cars. What can we learn from other catastrophes

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