News

China has just launched three giant carbon fiber lines: bad news for the US and Japan

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China has taken a new step in its race to dominate the advanced materials sector. And the state giant CNBM (China National Building Material Group) has launched three new high-performance carbon fiber production lines at its Lianyungang plant in Jiangsu province, operated by its subsidiary Zhongfu Shenying Carbon Fiber. The new facilities cover the three main categories of the material (general use, high resistance and high modulus) and add to the advances that the country has been announcing in recent months in this field. Why is it important. High-performance carbon fiber has been around for decades being a strategic material controlled by very few actors. Japan and the United States have historically dominated its production, and for years China has had restricted access to the most advanced variants through international export control agreements. With these three lines, Beijing reinforces its capacity to produce at home a material that is key for sectors such as aeronautics, energy, robotics or consumer electronics. In detail. The three lines put into operation are, according to has reported the Chinese state agency Xinhua, the largest in the world in their respective categories. The first is a high-capacity line for 5,000 tons per year, which uses the subsidiary’s own spinning technology and whose material is mainly used for wind energy and electric vehicles. The second, with a capacity for 1,000 tons per year, produces T1100 grade fiber, designed for aerospace applications that require very light structures with high load capacity. And the third, of 600 tons per year, manufactures SYM40 grade high modulus fiber, aimed at precision applications in the seabed, deep mining, space or competitive sports equipment, according to they collect from Global Times. A relevant fact about this announcement is that, depending on the mediumthe new lines have achieved a localization rate of more than 95% in their main equipment. That is, almost all of the machinery used to manufacture the fiber is domestically manufactured, which confirms that China not only produces the material, but also much of the technology necessary to do so on a large scale. The context. This announcement comes in the midst of a technological pulse with the United States and Japan. According to South China Morning PostWashington and Tokyo have recently tightened controls on the export of equipment and technology to manufacture high-strength carbon fiber, precisely to make it difficult for Chinese companies to produce it. Ma Jie, an analyst at Guoyuan Securities, explained in a report that these restrictions have pushed the Chinese industry to pursue technological self-sufficiency and control its entire supply chain, and recalled that the sector has gone from basic T300 fiber to today reaching standards that are among the most advanced in the world. Furthermore, just as we counted A few months ago, CNBM had presented at the JEC World fair in Paris the world’s first mass production of T1200 fiber, the strongest variant of the scale, with more than 8 gigapascals of tensile strength. Added to this news, at the beginning of June, was the announcement by Shanghai Petrochemical, a subsidiary of Sinopec, about the large-scale production of T1000 fiber using its own process. Supply. Zhou Yuxian, president of CNBM, pointed out Xinhua that these new lines help solve two structural problems in the sector: the shortage of high-end carbon fiber products and the lack of a complete offer that covers all categories of the material. The manager added that the production “will reinforce the security and resilience of the Chinese supply of strategic materials.” It is worth remembering that, until now, the world market has been dominated by a handful of manufacturers. Three Japanese companies (Toray Industries, Teijin and Mitsubishi Chemical) together controlled just over half of the global market in 2025, according to a report from Nikkei Asia. The American Hexcel is another of the major players in the sector, especially in the aerospace and military fields. morenda. China’s push for carbon fiber responds to a demand that continues to grow. And according tothe report According to Guoyuan Securities, global demand for carbon fiber exceeded 220,000 tons in 2025, with a growth of 43.8% compared to the previous year, while in China this growth was even higher, 57%, driven by the manufacturing of the C919 commercial aircraft, humanoid robots and low-altitude vehicles. Cover image | CGTN In Xataka | “It’s not cheating, it’s engineering”: this is how China avoids 2,000 ASML patents with a laser trick

The differences between Qualcomm and MediaTek in 2026 are getting smaller. This is very good news for Android phones.

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A while ago, buying a mobile phone with a MediaTek processor was synonymous with settling. If you wanted raw power, fast updates and good efficiencyyou had to look for the Qualcomm Snapdragon seal on the mobile box. But it is true that this is something that has completely changed in 2026. Today, the gap between the two processor firms is narrower. And, although purists continue to debate figures in the benchmarksthe reality is that the great similarity (today) between these chips is the best news that could have happened to the Android ecosystem in the last decade. Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra 5g 6.9″ 256gb Black The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Mediocre low-end mobile phones are dead The main victory in 2026 is not only in mobile phones of 1,200 euros, but in those of 300 euros or less. MediaTekwith its series Dimensionshas achieved something that seemed impossible: offering good power, 5G connectivity ultra-low latency and 3-nanometer manufacturing processes in devices that do not require a large investment or financing of the purchase. Qualcomm, for its part, has had to react. It is no longer enough to master the high range; Pressure from MediaTek has forced those from San Diego to vitaminize your series 6 and 7making a current mid-range mobile perform like a flagship from just two years ago. Of course, it is true that both brands of processors have been putting in the work. pressure from China with Xiaomi or Huawei pushing their own processors. So, despite being competition between them, they are not two firms oblivious to everything that is happening in the sector at the moment. The new battlefield is Artificial Intelligence If there is one thing that defines the processors of 2026, it is their ability to process generative AI locally. Both brands have NPUs dedicated for several generations. MediaTek integrates its own APU (AI Processing Unit) with capabilities comparable to Qualcomm’s Hexagon. On a day-to-day basis, the difference for the user is practically negligible. Whether it’s editing in 8K video or asking your assistant to summarize a document, both manufacturers offer a fluidity that has eliminated the famous Android jerks of yesteryear. How does this rapprochement between MediaTek and Qualcomm benefit us as consumers? When there is no clear dominator, the winner is the consumer. This technical parity (due to the clear technical rapprochement between MediaTek and Qualcomm) has caused three immediate effects on the market: Price war: To compete with Qualcomm’s raw performance, MediaTek offers its chips at more aggressive prices, allowing manufacturers like Xiaomi, Realme or Samsung itself to adjust their margins. Best updates: MediaTek driver support has improved dramatically, forcing Qualcomm to not sleep and promise increasingly longer Android update periods. Accelerated innovation: Today, competition for energy efficiency is fierce. In 2026, we have more powerful mobile phones than ever; However, they will stretch the battery beyond the intensive day thanks to this rivalry. The end of prejudices In 2026, choosing a smartphone based solely on the brand of the processor is a mistake. We have reached a technological maturity point where MediaTek is no longer the cheap alternative, but a first-class option and Qualcomm has had to get off the pedestal to fight in the field of quality-price. This is an ideal scenario. It no longer matters what engine (that is, processor) your Android has under the hood; What matters is that, for the first time, both types of chips they run at the same speed. Some mobile phones with these processors that may interest you High range Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra (Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 5): is a benchmark in raw power and image processing. Qualcomm maintains a slight advantage here in professional video processing and advanced 5G connectivity. Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra 5g 6.9″ 256gb Black The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Oppo Find X9 Pro (MediaTek Dimensity 9500): a great rival for the Samsung model that has a MediaTek chip is Oppo. On a day-to-day basis, the difference is almost non-existent between both models, although Oppo is achieving higher thermal efficiency rates. OPPO Find X9 Pro 5G 16+512GB The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Mid range Nothing Phone (3) (Snapdragon 8s Gen 4): Qualcomm has had to lower the power of its high ranges to this chip so as not to lose the throne of the premium mid-range, offering an electric and fluid experience in this Nothing Phone (3). Nothing Phone (3) – 12GB + 256GB The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Poco X8 Pro (MediaTek Dimensity 8500 Ultra): It is one of the kings in value for money. MediaTek allows this Xiaomi Poco X8 Pro perform like a top-of-the-range phone from just a year ago, but maintaining a moderate price. XIAOMI POCO X8 Pro – 8+256GB Smartphone 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 | Javier Lacort (Xataka), Iván Linares (Xataka), Álex Alcolea (Xataka) and Xataka Móvil In Xataka | The best mobile phones, we have tested them and here are their analyzes In Xataka | Best wireless headphones. Which one to buy and 21 models from 15 euros to 470 euros

China is researching how to have babies in space. And he has bad news

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China has been putting its batteries into the new space race. Apart from test your rockets back and forth as a key element to reduce the cost of missions and to fill the low orbit of satellites of all types (both military as data centers), are taking advantage of the Tiangong. In one of the last shipments sent to its space station via Tianzhou-10, there was a very special package: a cell with embryos of zebrafish, mice and artificial humans. The idea is to experiment with them to try answer the question of whether it is possible to have babies in spacealthough it is by no means the first time that China has experimented with something like this. The problem is that the results of some previous tests have begun to arrive and the outlook does not seem very positive for spatial reproduction. China has been exploring this line of research for a long time. At the beginning of the year we already said that the Asian giant had sent a mouse to have babies on the space station with the aim of analyzing whether radiation and microgravity caused any problems or alterations in the babies. Of the nine that were born, six survived, so the study was considered a success and the decision was made to continue researching, but now with artificial humans. Having babies in space is complicated Don’t think about science fiction yet, those artificial humans are something much easier to understand. As they pointed According to Chinese authorities, these were not complete organisms that could become babies, but rather structures made from stem cells that mimic the very early phases of human development. What was sent to Tiangong corresponded to embryos approximately 14 to 21 days after fertilization. Although early, this phase is crucial because it is where all the organs begin to form and where anomalies could be observed due to the aforementioned space radiation. These samples must be studied, but within the same line of research there are previous works whose results have just been published. And the prospects are not very good despite leaving room for optimism. As they point From the South China Morning Post, researchers from the Shanghai Institute of Technical Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Tsinghua University in Beijing note that cells sent on the Tianzhou-6 mission and that were at an early stage did not grow and develop as well as they would have on Earth. In the experiment, the success rate of generating germ cells dropped by about half, while sperm precursor cells multiplied more than 25% more slowly. Guilty? Microgravity and cosmic radiationexactly the main suspects if something went wrong in these tests. That is, it is not only that the cells already formed did not develop at the normal rate, but if you try to conceive in space, the sperm does not work either. As we say, it is not the first time that China has investigated this and, in 2023, a set of automated cell cultures was already studied in the experiment module of the station. When they returned to Earth, they discovered that the success rate of growth of those special stem cells (primordial germ cells derived from pluripotent stem cells induced by humans) was reduced by half. That is, a success of 2% to 6% in the tests compared to the 6% to 15% measured in the terrestrial group. The bottom line is that the more hostile environment in outer space made it much more difficult for primordial cells to become eggs or sperm. However, there is a glimmer of hope, as human-induced ovarian follicle count and activity did not show a notable decrease, so it appears that space radiation has a limited short-term impact on germ cells. Researchers have already indicated that, despite the “slump” in the latest results, they will continue experimenting, since with potential long-duration missions in space, the prospect of pregnancies in space is something worth exploring further and it remains to be seen what happens with the Tianzhou-10 artificial humans. In Xataka | Putting solar panels in space and generating unlimited energy seemed like a pipe dream. China is already chasing her

Volkswagen delays plans to manufacture batteries in Sagunto. It is very bad news for your cheap electric cars

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Volkswagen battery production in Sagunto (Valencia) is delayed. He does it because the works are not progressing in the stipulated times but the problem is greater. And the company proposed this factory as essential to have its plans for electric cars manufactured in Spain at full capacity. a delay. This is what they assure in The Confidential who, exclusively, assure that the plans to produce battery cells at Volkswagen’s Valencian factory in Sagunto are delayed, at least, “a few months.” In Xataka We have tried to contact Volkswagen but, as of this writing, we have not received a response to our questions. According to the media, the information has been provided by “sources close” to the company and “unofficial sources linked to the universe of contractors do not rule out that the delay hides more serious changes in the project.” What is the delay? Volkswagen had a calendar which was to have the manufacturing of the first pre-series units of battery cells ready in September 2026. The objective is that, with these tests, mass manufacturing would arrive during the first quarter of 2027. However, they point out in The Confidentialit will not be until December when the tests will begin, so the final production of the cells could be postponed until almost half of next year. The delay, of course, would be due to problems during the construction of the factory but not to cuts in the project. Despite everything, it comes at a bad time. A (small) breath. What they assure from the media is that the project is not in danger, neither due to investments nor due to size. And Volkswagen is in the midst of a restructuring process, with up to 100,000 layoffs hanging over European plants and the possibility of closure of some of them. The Spanish project, however, is one of the most important that the company has in the short term. The investment, adding all the phases, is expected to reach 3,000 million euros and right now 1,500 people are working there in the construction phase. For the production of pre-series cells It is expected to employ 500 people. The Spanish hub. The biggest problem for Volkswagen with the delay of these plans is that the final production to feed the Barcelona and Navarra plants is irremediably delayed. In them, the company will produce the smallest models with up to four cars that will cost 25,000 euros. In Spain alone, Volkswagen will invest 10,000 million euros. Of them, 3,000 million will go to the Sagunto plant, as we have mentioned, and the same amount is dedicated to the renovation of Martorell. The Navarra plant will be renovated with an investment of 1,000 million euros and the remaining 3,000 million will be invested in auxiliary component companies. At a very bad time. Although no work is free of delays, delaying the production of batteries is a real problem for the company. And the German company has enormous hopes placed on these cars to continue gaining share in the electric car market and, finally, to take advantage of this technology as they expected. Besides, the delivery of Perte VEC aid It is also conditioned to comply with the planned schedule. But above all because each car sold is a break in its emissions quota. In 2027 average emissions will be reviewed that the company has put on the street with each car sold. Going over 93.6 gr/km of CO2 will be an automatic fine and now In 2025 the company expected billion-dollar sanctions. Selling as many affordable cars as possible next year is essential to reduce the expected penalty. Photo | Volkswagen In Xataka | Europe has its hope in the 25,000 euro electric car and Volkswagen already knows who will manufacture it: Spain

news and everything that changes in ChatGPT with the new version of its artificial intelligence model

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Let’s tell you what are the news GPT-5.6the new version of the model artificial intelligence of ChatGPT. We are going to do it in a simple way, synthesizing in a list what the improvements are so that you can understand what will change when the model starts to arrive. The first thing you should know is that GPT 5.6 comes with three variants different, each with its own characteristics. But we are going to try to explain all this to you in the simplest way possible. What’s new in GPT-5.6 Next, we are going to give you a list with the main news that brings this new version of the OpenAI artificial intelligence model. We are going to do it in list format with a brief explanation of each news so that it is easier to understand. A family of 3 models: GPT 5.6 has three variants called Sol, Terra and Luna. Sol is the most advanced model, Luna is designed for greater speed and a lower price in tokens, and Terra is the intermediate model that seeks a balance between performance and cost. GPT-5.6 Sun: It is the new OpenAI flagship model, designed to improve especially in programming, scientific research, knowledge-based professional work, computer use and cybersecurity. GPT-5.6 Terra: Terra costs half as much as GPT-5.5, but maintaining competitive performance against that model. It is the most balanced option, the standard for doing general tasks. GPT-5.6 Moon: It becomes the fastest and cheapest OpenAI model. This makes it especially good for use in applications where speed and cost take top priority over more robust and advanced capabilities. Sol has Max and Ultra modes: The Sol model also has different modalities. The Max gives you more time to reason, check and revise your approach. Meanwhile, Ultra coordinates four agents in parallel by default, giving you better results in less time, but spending more tokens. Software Engineering Improvements: OpenAI ensures that GPT-5.6 especially improves in software engineering, where it increases its capabilities to solve more advanced programming tasks, as well as complex development flows. Improvements when using your computer: AI is lately focused on agents, so it is not surprising that its capabilities have also expanded to work with interfaces and execute tasks within computing environments. A big leap in design: With only general indications, this new model can create functional and careful interfaces. Additionally, the aforementioned computer capabilities allow you to inspect and refine the rendered output for visual glitches before submitting the work. Best scientific research: This area has also been improved, with improvements aimed at scientific reasoning and specialized work. Best knowledge-based jobs: OpenAI highlights advances in knowledge-based professional work, with the goal of delivering better results in complex tasks performed by professionals. You can create editable presentations from scratch, and improve results when you follow templates and reference documents to apply to new content. What’s new for developers in the API: In the Responses API, the Programmatic Tool Calling function allows GPT-5.6 to write and execute in-memory programs that coordinate tools and process intermediate results. And the multi-agent feature, initially in beta, allows you to run simultaneous subagents and synthesize their work into a single request. Cybersecurity news: They also improve cybersecurity capabilities, allowing more complex tasks to be solved within this area. More security for AI: OpenAI strengthens protections against high-risk activities, sensitive cybersecurity-related requests, and potential repeat misuse. It also incorporates the most robust security system in the history of GPT, with several layers of protection to reduce risks during the use of the model. Automated network teaming tests: OpenAI claims to have spent several weeks doing automated red teaming, searching for vulnerabilities and stress testing the system. With this, the model has been strengthened against real attacks before its launch. Availability according to your plan: In ChatGPT, Plus, Pro, Business and Enterprise users can access GPT-5.6 Sol, and Pro and Enterprise users can also choose GPT-5.6 Sol Pro. In ChatGPT Work and Codex, Free and Go users use Terra, while paid plans can choose between the three models and adjust the effort level of each. The deployment began on July 9 and will be gradually completed within 24 hours.

Millions of men wake up every morning with an erection. This is excellent news for them.

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There is a deep-rooted popular belief that associates the presence of morning erections exclusively to testosterone levels and the “virility” that man has. But recently it is being seen that this is something that can be an indicator of having good cardiovascular health, although logically not having them does not categorically mean that there is a disease in the heart or arteries. Its foundation. Here the scientific literature has a very important position, since, although there is a real basis to point out that the absence of these erections is an important symptom, it does not function as a ‘yes or no’, but is a continuous and complex marker. In this way, if we analyze the evidence from the most powerful population studies of recent decades, we discover that morning erections speak much less about our hormones and much more about our arteries. A thermometer of cardiovascular health. To understand why an erection matters at a systemic level, we must remember that we are dealing with a fundamentally vascular phenomenon. The arteries of the penis in this case are much narrower than the coronary arteries, and that is why, if we have a process of atherosclerosis or endothelial dysfunction that is beginning in the body, the smaller arteries will be the first to fail. This is why erectile dysfunction is a very important predictor for cardiologists and urologists to know what the inside of the arteries may be like without having to do any extra tests. Risk in escalation. A landmark study published in PLOS Medicine in 2013 continued to more than 95,000 men and showed that cardiovascular risk is increasing. In this way, it was seen that men with severe erectile dysfunction had almost double the risk of general mortality compared to those who did not suffer from it. This adds to a second study published in Circulation with almost 93,000 men which confirmed that erectile dysfunction increases the risk of total cardiovascular events by 44% and the risk of acute myocardial infarction by 62%. Testosterone. This is where popular culture collides with the data provided by scientific evidence. It is true that testosterone reaches its maximum peak in the morning and it is logical to think that this enhances the morning erections that men have, but a 2019 observational study carried out on 761 men showed that those who maintained their nocturnal erections had, on average, slightly higher total testosterone and lower libido. But testosterone does not explain the risk of suffering from serious disease in our arteries. Here the European Male Aging Study followed about 1,660 men for more than 12 years and analyzed different specific symptoms: erectile dysfunction, low libido and loss of morning erections. And here they saw that having poor erections in the morning increased the risk of mortality by 28%. It’s not testosterone. The key to this study is that, when adjusting the results based on the patients’ testosterone levels, the risk of mortality remained exactly the same. This means that it does not matter whether you have more or less testosterone, because what is truly important here is to have ‘clean’ arteries that allow blood to be carried to the penis without any type of obstacle. There is no need to obsess. We must not fall into the trap of stating that the absence of morning erections is the same as having a major underlying disease. What we must keep in mind is that we are faced with one more risk factor or symptom that is added to many others in a complex puzzle that must occur for a specific disease to occur, and that is why this is something that is left in the hands of medical specialists to determine what may be happening inside the arteries. Images | Tania Mousinho In Xataka | The strange syndrome of painful erections: there are only 66 cases in the world and science is just beginning to understand it

We are at 44 degrees and AEMET says that the worst is yet to come. The good news is that we already know when thermal relief arrives.

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We’re sweating, let’s face it. And it’s Monday and you don’t even want to look at the car thermometer. Above all, because AEMET has already been warning that the worst is coming on Tuesday: even 44 degrees in the interior valleys, hellish nights in the southeast and anomalies of more than 20 degrees in the north. And yet, at the bottom of weather prediction models (where hours almost become weeks) cold scenarios begin to appear. “Anomalies of -12 degrees to start July“, you hear them say. And yes, the map is correct, the data says that. The problem is everything else. Although first of all, good news: thermal relief is close. “It will arrive in the middle of the week”a breath of fresher air” from the northwest. This will help cool the heat that “has settled in much of the Iberian Peninsula during the end of spring and the beginning of summer.” It doesn’t mean, of course, that it won’t be hot. Even if (as some maps point out) temperatures stay a couple of degrees below normal, it will still be hot. However, the decline will be clear. For reference, Bilbao will go from 42 to 29 in 48 hours. And now let’s continue with July. Indeed, some outputs of AIFS v2the European Center’s artificial intelligence model, are showing very curious anomalies for the first days of July. There are, in fact, three traps: the first is the deadline. Ten days, whether we like it or not, is still a long time to close a forecast. The second is that we are talking about anomalies: -12 degrees of anomaly is a lot, yes. But above July levels it is not ‘as much’ as ​​it might seem. At most we will have spring weather left. Something that will be well received, but that can become a problem if we do not manage expectations correctly. The last trap is to understand that ‘a week’ is not ‘a weather’. It is true that we have already had two very rare high temperature events (which, it seems, are caused by variations in the jet stream). It is also true that the idea of ​​a cold first of July conveys a certain idea of ​​a thermal ‘roller coaster’. But neither an early heat wave nor a thermal bump changes the reality: that summer is getting harsher. That is to say, we run the risk of the idea that “the weather is crazy” take hold when it is a lie. We do not live in a world where cold and heat are distributed as if the days were distributed in a lottery: we live in a world that is warming. Which heats up much hotter and faster than we would like. What can we expect? In the short term, a little more heat and a little thermal relief. There will be some showers in the west, first; and in the east, later. Then, if everything ends up being confirmed, a few days that are a little cooler (and wetter than normal). In the medium term, everything indicates that more of the same: hot, very hot. Image | BenBaso In Xataka | This map reveals the exact ‘climate clone’ of your city (and the result is surprising)

The most touristic enclave in Italy has two news programs left. It is quite a warning for the half of the Spanish coast

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The advance of climate change is leaving more or less obvious signs that range from the maturation of fruit trees earlier to intense heat waves even before summer arrives like the one we are livingbut the future is bleak: more torrential rains and floods, more droughts, places that will be uninhabitable due to climatic conditions… or directly because they have been swallowed by the sea. Without going any further, the image you see above these lines is a classic in tourist destinations: the famous and colorful Italian Cinque Terre towns. A research team has elaborated the first map of what awaits them in 2150 and the scenario borders on the apocalyptic. Cinque Terre in serious danger of disappearing. This study analyzes two of the most exposed Cinque Terre towns, Monterosso and Vernazza, projecting how their coast will evolve until the year 2150 under different levels of greenhouse gas emissions according to the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report (AR6). In the worst emissions scenario, the sea level in that area could rise up to 1.17 meters, which means permanently saying goodbye to more than 22,000 square meters of coastline. To make it clear during the World Cup: about three football fields. In the best case scenario, the figure would be “only” 9,931 square meters. The figure may seem low, but in coastal areas with a morphology as narrow and steep as that of the Cinque Terre, they imply the loss of entire beaches, docks and access to transport such as the train that connects them. Thinking more than 100 years ahead may seem far away, but the reality is that the global rate of sea rise has gone from 2.13 mm to almost 5 mm since the 90s, according to the World Meteorological Organization. In short: the process has already started and you have stepped on the accelerator. Why is it important. Because Cinque Terre is the canary in the mine of many other municipalities, touristy or not, that are going to sink in the coming decades in a tragic process that involves demographic, climatic and economic changes. In fact, the decline of beaches and the loss of functionality of ports and infrastructure are already being noticed, which will have a direct impact on the local economy, which depends almost entirely on tourism. But Cinque Terre are more than postcard towns: their cliffs converted into agricultural terraces and their territorial planning have been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1997. Losing them totally or partially is not like a resort collapsing: it is a tragedy. And it won’t be the only one: this study has calculated that of the 49 World Heritage sites on low-lying Mediterranean coasts, 37 are already at risk of serious flooding today and that this risk could increase by 50% before 2100. Context. In the analysis of climate change on the coasts, the Mediterranean has turned on the turbo: it is rising faster than the global average. Between 2000 and 2018, the Mediterranean Sea rose about seven centimeters, a rate much higher than that of the 20th century as a whole. according to research from the British National Oceanography Center. Liguria, the region where Cinque Terre is located, takes the cake: it combines the rise of the sea with a gradual sinking of the land itself. But the reality is global and even darker: in a generalized way we are losing rocky coast and probably faster than we think: science has records of cliff retreats of just 150 years and projections until 2100. In short: we are underestimating the rise in sea level. In detail. This study stands out for how exhaustive it is and the quality and quantity of sources with which it works: it uses topography obtained with high-resolution drones, high-precision seafloor maps, geodetic data of land subsidence with GPS networks and applied the three main IPCC climate scenarios to calculate the projected flooding in 2030, 2050, 2100 and 2150. The usual thing is to stay at 2100, but the team has expanded that horizon with half a century more to see processes that the shorter models overlook: especially the slow sinking of the own land due to geological causes. In fact, there are already studies that evidence that the IPCC forecasts fall short precisely because they ignore that factor. Yes, but. Although the study is rigorous and solid, as the research team itself clarifies, Cinque Terre will not disappear overnight and this apocalyptic scenario will only happen if adaptation and mitigation measures are not adopted. On the other hand, the most unfavorable scenarios take into account global emissions that current climate agreements seek to avoid. In Xataka | There is a corner of Spain where global warming is wreaking havoc: the Pyrenees are becoming “Mediterraneanized” In Xataka | It turns out that there are invasive land snakes that take to the sea from Ibiza. And they are annihilating a unique lizard Cover | Rahul Chakraborty and The First Relative Sea Level Rise and Storm Surges Scenarios up to 2150 CE for the Coasts of Monterosso and Vernazza, Cinque Terre National Park (Liguria, Italy)

The world is preparing to harvest 36% fewer pistachios. This is great news for Spanish farmers

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2025 is not being an easy year for the pistachio. TO the effects of the Iran war, the closure of Hormuz and the swings The price of the fruit now adds a more than likely puncture in the global harvest. This is what at least the main producer organization, the INC, expects, which foresees a drop of 36% in the amount of fruit harvested worldwide. Although it’s not strange that crops rise and fall, conditioned by the climate or the cycles of the trees, the sector’s estimate is interesting for another reason: it confirms that Spain is reinforcing assumption. And everything indicates that it will gain ground this campaign. What has happened? That the International Nuts and Dehydrated Fruits Council (INC) has recognized that the 2026/2027 campaign does not look particularly good for pistachio. At least if we talk about production. Although the sector expects an increase in the cultivation of walnuts, hazelnuts or raisins, in the case of pistachios it anticipates a ‘puncture’ of 36% on a global scale. Translated into tons, that means that production would go from 1.1 million harvested during the 2025/2026 campaign to 701,050 t in the 2026/2027 campaign. Country Campaign 2025/2026 (tons) Campaign 2026/2027 (tons) USA 722,670 350,000 Türkiye 114,600 156,400 Iran 225,000 130,000 Syria 13,350 35,000 Spain 9,500 11,500 Greece 6,500 8,500 Australia 3,000 5,500 Afghanistan 2,600 2,700 Italy 4,700 1,000 China 320 450 World production 1,101,740 701,050 What is the reason? Although a drop of 36% may seem alarming, the data should be handled with caution. Pistachio cultivation is conditioned by the vecería, which means that there are campaigns in which the trees are loaded with fruit and others in which the harvests are much scarcer. It is one of the handicaps with which the sector plays. Hence there are voices, like that of Juan Gallegofrom Ibero Pistacho, who ensure that a drop of 36% “is within the norm.” Nor is it strange that part of the harvests are saved from one year to the next precisely to compensate for the ‘puncture’ of the years highly marked by the harvest. Does only that factor influence? No. The INC data, advanced by the EFE agency, allow us to focus more and observe the great differences that exist between producing countries, each conditioned by its own challenges. For example, in California, the world capital For pistachio, a 52% drop in the harvest is expected due to flowering problems. The ‘photo’ is not good in Iran either, which is suffering the consequences of the high temperatures of the previous campaign and expects its production to be reduced by another 42%. And what happens in Spain? Here the panorama is somewhat different. Although our production is light years away Compared to the US or Türkiye, the INC estimates that in Spain the 2026/2027 campaign will close with 21% more fruit harvested. In practice, this would mean going from 9,500 tons in the 2025/2026 financial year to 11,500 in the 2026/2027 campaign. The data is interesting because it not only consolidates Spain as the fifth world producer, it also allows it to dream of closing the gap on the podium. The forecast of the INC shows a decline in crops in the US and Iran, the first and third producers on a global scale. And although a priori Türkiye (the second supplier) will see its harvest increase by 36%, it remains to be seen if the strong storm that suffered in May has damaged the trees and will reduce the harvest. How is that possible? That the Spanish crop grows while it declines in other countries with large pistachio plantations, such as the US, Türkiye or Iran, is actually little surprising. Spanish farmers They have been increasing for years the number of hectares dedicated to this crop, especially in Castile-La Manchawhich concentrates a large part of the national production and 77% of the surface. The growth of the harvest in Spain during the next campaign (2026/2027) is only a reflection of that bet. The data from the Ministry of Agriculture show that the planted area in Spain has skyrocketed in recent years to exceed 85,800 hectares in the 2024/2025 campaign and that production has grown by more than 70% in just a few years. Looking ahead to the 2026/2027 season, the INC expects a harvest of 11,500 tons. Not all sources agree on this information (in the sector there are those raises it to 16,000 t), but in any case the background photo is always the same: Spanish production is increasing. What to expect now? The million dollar question. For now, and beyond the short-term fall in harvests due to the rainy season, both the US and Iran they hope to increase its production thanks to the increase in plantations. Specifically, California hopes to boost its average capacity by 40% in the coming campaigns and Iran and Türkiye are already considering approaching 300,000 tons in the medium term. Regarding the price of the fruit and whether or not prices will be altered by the 36% drop in production, there are different opinions in the sector. The Italian analysis company Areté warns of a market with “strong tensions on supply and prices” given that the demand for pistachios has been growing for years. Others, like Gallego, acknowledge that “there may be a small increase in cents,” but clarifies: “All of us who are in this sector are interested in the product remaining stable and being consumed.” Not only the generosity of the crops comes into play. The price is also affected by other factorssuch as instability in Iran, the closure of Hormuz or the influence of war on the cost of inputs such as fuel. Images | Brenan Greene (Unsplash), Brad Spry (Flickr) and USDA In Xataka | Fruit seems like the perfect summer dinner. The problem is that it is not as good an idea as it seems.

The world’s leading expert on the Gulf Stream has bad news about the heart of the Atlantic

by

To the south of Greenland, for years, there have been an area that suffers, against all odds, a persistent cooling. In the middle of a world that is increasingly warming, that blue spot (that ‘cold bubble’) has posed a challenge for models, experts and administrations: after all, it is the only region of the global ocean that is cooling. What the hell is going on there? Now Stefan Rahmstorfthe world’s leading expert on the collapse of the Gulf Stream, has had an idea. A mystery in the heart of the North Atlantic? Yes and no. Indeed, to the extent that we do not know why it is there, or what mechanisms govern it, the ‘cold bubble’ is one of the great mysteries of current climate science. However, that does not mean that we have not studied it. On the contrary, we have done it to the point of satiety. This oceanic anomaly is, almost certainly, one of the most studied in the last decade. The novelty is not in the phenomenon itself: we have known about it since the mid-90s. The novelty is in the explanation. Do we already know why it happens? We now have a new explanation that makes sense and is plausible; but it is still controversial. Rahmstorf’s team has carried out an analysis of the heat balance in that region of the Atlantic. And their conclusions are that the decrease in heat of the entire water column is not explained by surface flows. In fact, the area that loses the most heat does not coincide with the area that loses the most surface heat. With this in mind, they begin to raise hypotheses and discard them. This is how they arrive at the idea that the cooling comes from a reduction in oceanic heat transport to the region. That is, of a weakening of the AMOC. We have been talking about the death of the AMOC for years, has no one thought of this? Yes, indeed, this was one of the main working hypotheses. But until now everything was worked with indirect models. It is now that Rahmstorf’s team has been able to draw the complete scheme and detect a link that, it seems, is due to the multidecadal evolution of the Current with the Ocean. Why do I say it is controversial? To begin with, because like any scientific study it is subject to reanalysis, discussions and counterarguments. But, above all, because Rahmstorf and his team are specialists in exactly what they have found. For many climatologists there is a certain risk that this work falls short of the popular saying that “for those who have hammers, everything is nails.” Rahmstorf has linked his intellectual figure to the collapse of the AMOC and that, inevitably, raises suspicions. However, today (and with the data we have) it may be one of the best explanations we have. not the only onebut in these topics we almost never have a single (almost) satisfactory explanation. So, is the AMOC going to collapse? Let us remember that the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) is the North Atlantic branch of the thermohaline circulation. Since the sun does not heat the sea equally everywhere and freshwater flows reach the ocean at very specific points, this is the basic mechanism by which the oceans balance differences in temperature and salinity. The AMOC is a fundamental mechanism for Europe’s climate and economy. “Without it, Western Europe and eastern North America would cool significantly, with a host of potential adverse effects,” said Sánchez Laulhé. However, scientists cannot agree on what will happen. In 2021, the IPCC said the AMOC was “unlikely” to collapse. In 2023, the Ditlevsens not only said that it was a probable scenario, but that they set the first date for the collapse. In 2024, 44 signatories They asked to take the problem seriously. But in January 2025 Terhaar, Vogt and Foukal said which, in short, had not weakened since 1063. The reasonable thing to say is that yes, climate drift seems to suggest that at some point the AMOC will collapse. It has already happened other times. The impossible is to say when, how and why. Image | In Xataka |

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