nightmare

The United Kingdom has found lithium under its feet, but extracting it is going to be a billion-dollar logistical nightmare

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For vacationers visiting cornwallin the south-west of the United Kingdom, the landscape is a haven of peace dotted with historical remains. It is the land of the old tin and copper mines that inspired series like Poldarka region with more than 4,000 years of mining history. However, beneath this postcard scenario lies the most coveted resource of the 21st century. The then Prime Minister Boris Johnson baptized it in 2021 as the “Lithium Klondike”, in reference to the historic gold rush. Today, As detailed in an extensive report by Guardianthat “white gold” is the great hope for the British energy transition. The race for the first drop of lithium. The sector has recently reached milestones that seemed impossible a decade ago. On the one hand, as reported Financial TimesCornish Lithium company has just commissioned its first commercial demonstration plant in the region. This facility is designed to extract lithium from hard rock in former clay (kaolin) mines, a crucial step that demonstrates that large-scale domestic mining is technically feasible. Crushing stone is not the only way. In parallel, a fascinating technology has emerged that unites mining and renewable energy. It turns out that, several kilometers deep, the superheated water flowing through the fractures of the granite of cornwall It is loaded with dissolved lithium. As explained by BBCTaking advantage of this has enabled a historic milestone: the United Downs power plant, operated by Geothermal Engineering Ltd (GEL), has become the first in the country to generate electricity from the Earth’s heat, while producing the first domestic supply of lithium extracted from these underground fluids. The mechanics, as detailed Guardianis ingenious: the boiling brine is pumped (at about 200 °C), its heat is used to drive turbines that generate electricity, the lithium is chemically extracted and the cold water is returned to the subsoil. The initial figures for this project are modest—just 100 tons of lithium per year, enough for 1,400 electric cars—but the goal is to scale up to 18,000 tons per year. What does it really mean to unearth this treasure?? As emphasized Financial Timesthe primary motivation is geostrategic: the West desperately needs to reduce its dependence on China in the critical metals supply chain. Additionally, unlike wind or solar energy, geothermal brine provides renewable electricity “24 hours a day, 7 days a week”, shielding the network against the vagaries of gas. An abyss riddled with obstacles. But from the laboratory to the commercial mine there is a stretch full of barriers. First, drilling wells kilometers deep or building processing plants requires massive injections of capital. The GEL project has already cost 50 million pounds, inform BBC. Furthermore, the market is ruthless: recently, the Imerys British Lithium (IBL) side project, which promised to create the largest lithium hub in the country, has had to be halted due to “funding constraints and difficult market conditions.” The second major obstacle is the emotional shock with the population. A report from a few months ago in The Conversation perfectly illustrates this drama in the village of St Dennis. For Cornish Lithium to expand its open-pit mine at the former Trelavour quarry, it needs to demolish huge conical mountains of clay waste. The problem is that the locals have affectionately named them Flatty and Pointy. What for the mining company is debris that blocks lithium, for the people it is their heritage, their visual identity since the 19th century. It is the bitter dilemma of the green transition: sacrificing the local landscape to save the global climate. The Spanish mirror. This tension between national urgency and local rejection resonates strongly in Spain. As we have explained in Xatakathe European Union has launched a lifeline of 22,000 million euros to support 47 strategic mining projects and stop the bleeding of foreign dependence. Seven of them are on Spanish soil, with three standing out in Extremadura: the Aguablanca mine (the only nickel deposit in Europe, which reopens after a decade) and the tungsten mines of Las Navas and La Parrilla. However, the syndrome NIMBY (“Not In My Back Yard”) hits just as it does on British soil. The same publication recalls that the emblematic and controversial Cáceres lithium mine has been left out of European aid due to the fierce opposition of neighborhood and environmental platforms, a social pressure that has already managed to knock down similar projects in Ávila. The shadow of the dragon: the clock is ticking. While Europe deals with waste dumps and bureaucracy, China competes in another league. Fatih Birol, director of the International Energy Agency (IEA), warned to launch An operational mine takes an average of 17 years. The West is running against the clock, and Beijing is two decades ahead of us. And the data is suffocating. China processes 80% of the world’s lithium and 95% of graphite. For years, they sold batteries below production cost, taking losses to exterminate Western competition and establish silent dependence. Far from relaxing, the Asian giant keep devouring the subsoil: it has recently tripled its lithium reserves (going from 6% to 16.5% worldwide) thanks to new discoveries in its salt lakes. And the problem is not just “white gold.” The IEA alert that by 2035 there will be a 30% supply deficit in copper. Without copper for the cables, having batteries will be useless. The true cost of the transition. The UK’s mining awakening is the perfect microcosm of the challenge facing the West. We have discovered that we have the treasure under our feet, but geology is only the starting line. “White gold” requires colossal sacrifices. It requires risking billions in unstable markets, altering places that communities love and facing a very slow bureaucracy in the face of an implacable Asian rival. The batteries that will power the 21st century are not only going to cost us money; They will require profound social wear and tear. Lithium promises us the future, but unearthing it is going to be a real nightmare. Image | Cornish Lithium Xataka | China sold cheap batteries … Read more

The alleged PcComponentes hack affects 16 million customers. It’s another nightmare for phishing attacks

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In Hackmanac Cybersecurity alerts reporting alleged hacks and massive data thefts around the world are frequent. One of the last notices, posted yesterdayaffects a Spanish company on the rise: PcComponentes. If confirmed, the alleged data theft would have affected a huge number of users. 16 million affected. According to these data, a cyber attacker using the alias ‘daghetiaw’ claimed to have managed to infiltrate PcComponentes. By doing so, it has obtained the data of 16.3 million customers, specifically: DNI/NIF Orders and invoices Address Contact details (phone) Credit card metadata (type, expiration date) IP address A sample that seems to confirm the hack. The author of the cyberattack wanted to demonstrate that the database he managed to obtain is legitimate, and to do so he has published a free extract of 500,000 users. That is already a very bad sign and seems to confirm that this hack and massive data theft has indeed been successful. There were already problems a year ago. An This failure exposed a database with access credentials. And everything fits. In The Computer Chapuzas They have contacted 0xBogart and obtained more information about that incident. This user actually talks about the fact that a database from August 2023 was already stolen and that then “it had 11,951,125 users, it makes sense that in 2026 they will have 16 million.” This expert had access to PcComponentes’ servers for five years, and only lost it “when they abandoned their data center for Amazon Web Services,” he indicates in the El Chapuzas Informático text. Pc Componentes has not confirmed the hack. At the moment those responsible for Pc Componentes have neither confirmed nor denied the massive data theft. At Xataka we are trying to contact the company to clarify the details. Meanwhile, those responsible have 72 hours from when the hack was discovered to notify the Spanish Data Protection Agency (AEPD). Up next: phishing attacks. This new massive data theft represents a potential nightmare for PcComponentes customers. If the hack is confirmed, all that data could be used for much more convincing phishing attacks: the more information cyber attackers have about us, the more they can “convince” us with messages that appear to be authentic and that manage to confuse us. Or phishing. There is also the danger of identity theft: the stolen data allows the creation of a “user profile” with which a cybercriminal can impersonate one person to deceive another with social engineering techniques. If the database has been leaked there is little that PcComponentes clients can do because their information will already be exposed. It has not been clear if there are passwords included for access to the company website in the massive data theft, but our recommendation is to change that access password as soon as possible. In Xataka | The leak of 16 billion passwords would be the largest in history. If it weren’t for the fact that it’s a gigantic rehash

The burial of the A-5 is one step closer to ceasing to be a nightmare

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The tunnel works that aim to transform the Paseo de Extremadura into the Paseo Verde del Suroeste in Madrid continue their course, with their last objective achieved: that of connecting the two excavation sections. Little by little, progress gives us a glimpse of the end of a work that is marking the day to day of thousands of neighbors during the last year. And if not tell it to our colleague Javier Pastor, who has been suffering from constant interruptions network as a consequence. Advance. Last Friday, the gap between two tunnel excavation fronts was completed, an operation that consists of connecting two separately drilled galleries to provide continuity to the underground layout. Thanks to this technical procedure, 700 linear meters of the tunnel are linked. According to reported Madrid City Council, to date 1.9 kilometers of the 5.1 planned have been excavated in both directions and 81.7% of the covering slab has been placed. This same process will be repeated in the coming weeks in the rest of the sections until the infrastructure is completed. The deadlines. The delegate of Urban Planning, Environment and Mobility of the Madrid City Council, Borja Carabante, counted to El Mundo that “the tunnel hole will be completed in April.” According to Carabante, from that moment on, paving work, installation of extractors, emergency exits and other technical infrastructure requirements will remain pending. The opening of the subway to traffic is scheduled for the end of 2026, so the initial deadlines are maintained despite the meteorological and logistical complications of the last year. Surface improvements. Just like they count From Diario de Madrid, since last Thursday, traffic entering or leaving the M-30 tunnel along Avenida de Portugal once again circulates in a straight line along 500 meters of the A-5, between kilometer points 3+250 and 3+750. Having completed the work on the covering slabs around the Amusement Park, it has been possible to recover the original layout without the detour. In addition, according to the media, a connecting branch of about 60 meters is being built between Avenida de Portugal and the A-5 to prevent traffic from being diverted onto Calle de Dante. The dark side. A year after construction began, residents are still dealing with significant disruptions. According to collect El País, the problems range from the deafening noise of machinery to water and electricity outages, to the deterioration of air quality due to dust from drilling. The president of the Batán neighborhood association, Arturo Sáez, resume The situation is seen in the middle as a “perfect storm”: the closure of the underpasses in August forced the activation of traffic lights and circular buses, while traffic to the Amusement Park and the Zoo collapses the neighborhood on weekends. Added to this are recurring internet outages due to damage to the fiber optics, the last of which has affected Movistar and O2 customers in areas such as Aluche, Campamento and Pozuelo. The ultimate goal. The work aims to transform the Paseo de Extremadura into the Paseo Verde del Suroeste, a 3.2 kilometer pedestrian axis that will connect neighborhoods in the Latina district (Lucero, Aluche, Las Águilas) with Campamento and Casa de Campo, separated since 1968 by the A5, on which some 80,000 vehicles circulate daily. The idea is that the coverage will reduce surface traffic by 90%, promising to reduce polluting emissions. It will also incorporate a 3.5 kilometer bi-directional cycle path, 33 new pedestrian connections compared to the current 16 and wider sidewalks. The project, with an investment of 408 million euros, seeks to continue the pedestrianized boulevard from Avenida de Portugal to Avenida del Padre Piquer. What remains to be done. The most complex challenge of the summer will be to execute the connection with the Portugal Avenue tunnel, which will force new traffic cuts similar to those of the last summer period. Borja Carabante assured that “the most difficult thing has already happened,” but acknowledged that diverting services such as gas, water, telephone or electricity continues to be a complicated task due to the age of the plans. The work maintains its pace with more than 600 workers and 400 machines operating simultaneously. Cover image | Madrid Diary In Xataka | The deepest tunnel on the planet will join two points separated by 1,000 km: the margin of error is only five centimeters

Getting them out of there is an engineering nightmare.

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The geopolitics of the 21st century has found its new epicenter (again) in a white wasteland of 2.2 million square kilometers. After the recent military operation in Venezuela which culminated in the capture of Nicolás Maduro, President Donald Trump has reactivated with unprecedented aggressiveness his most persistent ambition: to convert Greenland into American territory. But while the White House sells the island as a “bullion” of strategic resources, experts warn that the reality under the ice is an engineering nightmare that could break not only Washington’s coffers, but Western security architecture itself. The myth of immediate wealth. The central argument of the Trump administration is mineral wealth. The island is estimated to be home to between 36 and 42 million tonnes of rare earth oxides. However, as Anjana Ahuja relates in his column for the Financial Timesthe fascination with these minerals is not new. Already in the 19th century, mineralogist Karl Ludwig Giesecke cataloged treasures such as cryolite, the “white gold” of the industrial era. However, the technical reality is devastating. Anthony Marchese, president of Texas Mineral Resources, explains in Fortune that “if you go to Greenland for its minerals, you’re talking about billions of dollars and an extremely long time.” The problem is not scarcity, but physical accessibility since it does not have infrastructure that connects settlements, the electrical grid cannot support large-scale mining and, in the north of the island, the climate only allows work six months a year. The rest of the time, the machinery must hibernate under extreme conditions. The battle for the underground. Control of rare earths (neodymium, terbium, scandium) is vital for defense technology and the green transition. China controls today about 90% of this market, and the Tanbreez project in southern Greenland is emerging as the great Western alternative. According to industry sourcesthe company plans to start mining in 2027, but processing costs will exceed $1 billion. However, for experts like Javier Blas, energy analyst at Bloombergthis enthusiasm is, to a large extent, a powerpoint optimistic. Blas warns that Greenland’s potential is more part of a collective imagination than an economic reality. “The market has already spoken,” he maintains: if after decades of exploration no major mining company has managed to operate successfullyit is because the concentrations are low and logistics devours any benefit. According to Blas, the island is not a Wonderland of raw materials; It is an economic challenge that has not produced a single barrel of oil despite years of attempts. The China clamp. Here the most controversial factor comes into play: uranium. The Kvanefjeld deposit, one of the largest in the world, is at the center of international arbitration. The Energy Transition Minerals (ETM) company—owned by Chinese capital— claims 11.5 billion dollars to Greenland after the ban on uranium mining for environmental reasons. This legal dispute places the island in a strategic clamp: Washington wants control to expel Beijing, but it is already underground through litigation and business actions. The navigable Arctic. Beyond the mines, the decisive factor It’s climate change. Melting ice is transforming the Arctic into a viable trade corridor. Sailing from Europe to Asia through the north reduces the distance by 40% compared to the Suez Canal. Greenland is not just a reserve of precious stones; It is an unsinkable aircraft carrier at the center of new sea routes. Controlling the island allows the US to apply what some analysts at Fortune They call the “Donroe Doctrine” (a play on words between Trump and the Monroe Doctrine): securing the hemisphere as an exclusive sphere of influence, preempting Russian icebreakers and Chinese logistics investments. The “optical illusion” factor and the human cost. Despite Trump’s promises to “make” Greenlanders rich, local sentiment is one of rejection. Recent polls cited by the New York Timesput the population that opposes being part of the United States at 85%. Although Denmark’s desire for independence is real, Greenlanders do not want to “exchange one master for another.” Additionally, the maintenance cost is astronomical. Denmark subsidizes the island with 600-700 million dollars annually. According to the Financial Times, For the US to replicate the Danish welfare state on the island, the necessary investment would amount to hundreds of billions of dollars. Alexander Gray, a former member of the National Security Council, admits that “the accounts will never add up” but insists that the strategic value is “incalculable.” ANDbetween ambition and reality. The conflict over Greenland summarizes the transition towards a world where geography once again prevails over international law. For Donald Trump, the island is the ultimate trophy: territory, resources and a coup against the established order. For geologists and energy experts, it is a reminder that political will cannot melt ice or build ports where there is nothing. The Arctic is no longer a remote edge of the map, but the new center of gravity. But while the debate continues in the offices of Washington and Copenhagen, the 57,000 inhabitants of the island watch with suspicion as their home becomes the most coveted piece in a global chess game that is just beginning. Image | Pexels and freepik Xataka | If the question is “what is the next country on the US list” the answer has been on the table for months

Getting hold of Venezuela’s immense oil reserves seems like a “bargain.” It’s actually an engineering nightmare.

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The geopolitical board has been blown up with the establishment of the “Donroe Doctrine.” According to energy analyst Javier Blasthis movement seeks to consolidate an energy empire from Alaska to Patagonia to control 40% of world production. Trump has not hesitated, making it clear that his objective is oil, recovering “stolen” assets and executing a lightning reconstruction led by American oil companies. However, Washington’s optimism clashes with technical reality. Analysts consulted by The Wall Street Journal They warn that there will not be an immediate miracle in the wells. In fact, the market has stopped fearing shortages and has begun to discount a future saturation of crude oil that is already pushing prices down. It’s not “black gold”, it’s asphalt. The narrative of easy success collides with geology. Venezuela It has 303,000 million barrels of proven reserves, but the vast majority is located in the Orinoco Belt and is extra-heavy crude oil. Unlike light oil, it is viscous, dense and does not flow naturally; It is more like tar than fuel. Added to the geological complexity is an alarming degradation of quality. A Reuters investigationbased on internal PDVSA documents, reveals that refiners in India (Reliance) and China (CNPC) have canceled orders or demanded drastic discounts because the crude oil arrives “dirty”, with excessive levels of water, salt and metals. These impurities corrode distillation towers and refining equipment, making processing an expensive and risky process. According to the researcher Luisa Palaciosthe country does not even produce the diluents (gasoline) necessary to transport this crude oil through pipelines, which forces it to depend on imports or inefficient mixtures. Low profitability. Despite the magnitude of the reserves, Venezuelan oil is far from being a profitable business. Its current low profitability is based on three critical pillars that any investor must consider. First of all, geology works against us. According to Forbesextracting this heavy crude oil requires massive and constant technical investment in steam injection and “upgrading” plants to transform the bitumen into a marketable product. Without this expensive technology, the resource is simply inaccessible. Added to this are the structural discounts in the market. As Al Jazeera explainsDue to its high density and sulfur content, this crude oil always trades below markers such as Brent or WTI. With a barrel that could fall to 50-60 dollars in 2026, the profit margin for Venezuela would be reduced to a minimum. The bottleneck: logistics. As an analysis in Bloomberg points outthe infrastructure is literally in ruins because loading a supertanker now requires five days, compared to just one day seven years ago. The collapse is such that the state oil company itself has gone so far as to dismantle oil pipelines to sell them for scrap, while key complexes such as Paraguaná are dying due to lack of maintenance. The rescue recipe. Venezuela dreams of the 4 million barrels per day that marked its rise in the 70s, but the financial reality is a bucket of cold water. Francisco Monaldi, director of energy policy at Rice University, calculates that the energy rescue demands 10 billion dollars a year for an entire decade. A goal as ambitious as it is expensive. However, money is not everything when human capital is lacking. CBCNews remember that In 2003, 23,000 skilled professionals were laid off, many of whom ended up in the Canadian tar sands. Without this talent, American cutting-edge technology has no hands to operate it. Furthermore, giants such as ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips will not move a single drill until legal certainty is guaranteed and settlements are made. billionaire debts of the expropriations of the Chávez era. But why Venezuela if Canada already exists? If crude oil is so “bad” and expensive, why Trump’s interest? The key is a necessary technical symbiosis. Gulf Coast refineries (Texas and Louisiana) They are like “stomachs” Designed for heavy food. Ironically, the oil that the US extracts through fracking is “too good” (too light). To optimize your plants and produce diesel, they need to mix its light crude oil with Venezuela’s heavy crude oil. Rory Johnston and Lino Carrillo they explain thatAlthough Canada’s crude oil is identical to Venezuelan crude, the latter has an unbeatable advantage: it is three days away by ship and has access to deep waters, while Canada suffers from “geographic confinement” due to saturated oil pipelines. Furthermore, by controlling this flow, the US cuts off the supply to “teapot” (independent refiners) of China, which until now bought Venezuelan crude at a discount, thus eliminating a competitive advantage for Beijing. There was a small pulse. Behind Trump’s mobilization, as the New York Times emphasizesChevron has positioned itself as a key player in the entire equation. This desire to go after Venezuelais also explained because it had a single major oil company that has maintained its presence in the country since 1923, surviving nationalizations and crises while competitors such as ExxonMobil left the board. There is a hidden treasure. Beyond oil, Venezuela is a “gas station” that wastes its own product. Luisa Palacios and The Kobeissi Letter The 200 billion cubic feet of natural gas stand out (the largest reserve in the region). Due to pure technical negligence, PDVSA today burns or vents an amount of gas equivalent to the consumption of all of Colombia, losing 1 billion dollars annually in smoke. Added to this is the potential of Mining Bow with critical minerals (nickel, coltan, bauxite) essential for the defense and technology industry. The paradox of the “gas station without hoses.” Trump has taken control of the largest reserve on the planet, but he has found himself with a facility that has no hoses, whose electrical grid is collapsing and whose fuel requires intensive processing so as not to destroy the engines. Although the flow of exports can be redirected quickly from China to the US in a matter of months—benefiting refineries in Texas and Louisiana—the actual reconstruction of the sector is a long-term project. The real battle has not been the capture of Maduro, but the management … Read more

Setting up a smart home is a nightmare. The solution is Huawei is to set it up for them

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The promise of the smart home where everything works automatically without a problem sounded great, but the reality is that it is still a real chaos of incompatibilities and most annoying bugs. Even if we have all the devices from the same brand, there is still the part of assembling them, hiding cables… Huawei has the solution, although it doesn’t exactly come cheap. The complete pack They count in Panda Daily that Huawei has launched an offer of smart-home solutions that come in various packages with different devices and at various prices. The packages are designed to be installed in new construction homes and also for installation in already built homes. With these options, Huawei seeks to offer a comprehensive solution under the umbrella of your HarmonyOS system. In total they offer six packs, three for new construction homes and three for existing homes. The cheapest is the ‘starter pack’ for already built houses and costs 1,200 euros in exchange and includes the control hub and some essential functions such as lighting, air conditioning and curtain control. The most expensive packages are those installed in newly built homes. The most basic costs more than 3,500 euros in exchange and has WiFi 7 connectivity throughout the house, control of lights, curtains, air conditioning, smoke sensor for the kitchen and smart lock. The premium package goes up to almost 12,000 euros and adds features such as AI cameras, ambient lighting strips, and speakers throughout the house. All packs include installation and Huawei is committed to completing it in just 24 hours in the case of existing homes. The announcement is only for China, where Huawei had already launched similar solutions in the past. The chaos of home automation In Spain there are solutions provided by installation companies, but We do not find similar proposals through brands with smart-home devices such as Samsung or Xiaomi. Typically, we are the users who buy the devices and install them at home ourselves. Mounting cameras and lights is quite simple, but if we want deeper automation, for example controlling blinds or blinds, things get complicated and many times we have to go to an installer. Then there is the issue of compatibility. In my house I have two cameras, several lights, a robot vacuum cleaner and an automatic cat feeder. It’s not much, the problem is that each thing works with a different app and, although I can bring everything together in Google Home, the reality is that there are devices that it does not recognize, others that are deconfigured if the WiFi goes down and in general it is quite cumbersome. The standards like matter They promised to unify this chaos, but to this day it still hasn’t taken off. This same year they analyzed the topic in XDA Developerswhere they criticized that there are still many devices that do not support it and those that do sometimes lose functions compared to native integrations, as happens with Philips Hue. Returning to Huawei’s proposal, I don’t think the solution should be to buy a package worth several thousand euros and tie ourselves to a brand forever. However, the fact that it sounds like a much more convenient option than its alternatives It says a lot about the state of the connected home landscape. Image | Huawei In Xataka | Home automation and leaving for a month: Ana Boria has put all her efforts to the test just before the expected trip

Baba Yaga was an old woman who devoured skulls at night. So Ukraine just turned Russia’s worst nightmare into a drone

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In Slavic folklore, Baba Yaga She is an ancient figure associated with nocturnal fear, a witch who devours skulls and flies in the dark, punishing the reckless and inhabiting a territory where normal rules no longer apply. It is not a spectacular monster or the usual one, but a persistent presencedisturbing, impossible to ignore. Ukraine remembered it… and transformed it into a drone. The nightmare in war. This symbolic load explains why the name was not born in Ukrainian propaganda, but in the Russian channels themselves: when the soldiers began to describe night attacks that fell almost silently from the sky, the collective imagination did the rest. Today, “Baba Yaga” does not designate a fairy tale creature, but a family heavy bomber drones Ukrainians who have transformed the night of the front into a permanent hostile space for Russian forces. What really is a Baba Yaga. Under that name is grouped an entire class of heavy multicopters, many of them derived of agricultural platforms and others already designed for military purposes, capable of transporting from 15 kilos in their most common versions to several dozen in larger configurations. Unlike the kamikaze FPVs, the Baba Yaga They are reusable systemsconceived as aerial bombers themselves. They can launch mortar mines, fragmentation charges, adapted munitions or even converted anti-tank mines with remarkable accuracy from several hundreds of meters high. Its distinctive feature is not only the load, but the combination of thermal and optical sensors which allows them to operate at night, in fog, rain or wind, and remain effective where light drones begin to fail. This capacity has made them go from being a tactical complement to becoming a structural piece of the Ukrainian device. A Baba Yaga captured by Russian forces The night stops being a refuge. For months, trenches, concrete shelters or fortified buildings offered Russian infantry a relative sense of security from artillery and light drones. The Baba Yaga break that logic. If a point appears marked on a thermal image or reconnaissance map, no cover guarantees survival. A single drone can perform cascade attacksreleasing ammunition successively and dismantling a position section by section. The effect is cumulative: it not only destroys material, but forces units to disperseto rotate more frequently, to invest time and resources in camouflage and fortification, and to avoid concentrations of troops or vehicles. In a war of attrition, that behavioral change is as important as direct destruction. From tactical weapon to major system. Although they were born as a short-range solution, the Baba Yaga have been integrated into operations increasingly complex. They do not act in isolation, but as part of a drone ecosystem that includes FPV, long-range UAVs and, in some cases, naval platforms unmanned. In Crimea, for example, we have seen how maritime drones are used as advanced shuttles to allow heavy multicopters to reach radars and air defense systems like the Nebo-Mattacking antennas, technical installations and command posts. This logic is revealing: first the target is blinded or disorganized by other means, and then the Baba Yaga finish the job where it was previously considered too risky or inaccessible. Thus, these drones have ceased to be “flying artillery” and have become tools that connect the immediate front with the operational rear. Technical evolution. The development of these drones has not stopped. Ukrainian volunteer engineers and teams they have been improving engines, propellers, structures and suspension systems for ammunition of different calibers, while communications are reinforced with redundant channels, separate antennas and, in some cases, satellite links that expand the radius of action at the expense of payload. Russian electronic warfare has forced experimentation with system duplication control and backup plans to prevent the loss of a link from dragging down the entire set. This adaptation race explains why, even when Russia manages to shoot down some of these drones, the problem does not disappear: The threat materializes again the following night. Psychological impact. Beyond the technique, the Baba Yaga hits morale. Its low, recognizable hum does not announce an immediate explosion, but rather a tense wait– Someone, somewhere, is peering through a thermal scope and choosing the next target. Unlike artillery, there is no clearly safe haven or predictable pattern. Combined with FPV attacks and indirect fire, these drones create a sensation continuous pressure from above, from the front and from the rear. Military analysts match in which this constant stress accelerates organizational wear and tear, makes coordination difficult and forces commanders to focus on maintaining basic cohesion instead of planning offensive maneuvers. Lessons for the future of war. For Western observers and for NATO itself, the Baba Yaga are a practical demonstration of how future conflicts will be fought with swarms of relatively cheap, reusable and rapidly adapted platforms. It is not a miracle weapon, but a component within a system that combines intelligence, communications, flexible production and accelerated training. Ukraine has managed to assemble that system under extreme conditions, relying on industry, the State and voluntary networks. For Russia, the result is clear: the “witch” of folklore has returnednot as a myth, but as a technological presence that redefines the battlefield and makes it impossible to return to a war according to the standards of the 20th century. Image | Telegram, ArmіяІнформ In Xataka | Ukraine has asked Russia if they stop for Christmas like in the First World War. The answer could not have been more Russian In Xataka | Europe wanted to expropriate Russian funds on the continent to finance Ukraine. Until Belgium took the lead

Welding in space is a physical nightmare, but the UK has a good reason to try it

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We have entered a point where great nations have one objective: spatial autonomy. And, although many factors come into play, one of the most important is the ability to manufacture and assemble in space. As? Welding directly in space, but although we have seen it in science fiction on numerous occasions, things get complicated when we want to apply it to the real world. Now, a British university believes it has found the solution. A ‘Wall-e‘ welder. Nightmare. Soldering on Earth is an extremely simple process. We only have to apply a very high temperature and both gravity and the atmosphere make it easy for us. In space, the thing changesturning something routine into a real physical nightmare. There are three elements that come into play: Microgravity: on Earth, gravity causes the drop of the binding metal (tin, for example) to fall on the elements to be joined. In space, since there is no gravity, surface tension is the dominant source: the molten metal does not stay in place, but tends to form spheres. Additionally, gas does not escape from the molten metal, causing porosities and further structural weakness. Pressure: There is no oxidation because there is no oxygen, but there is also no pressure, which lowers the boiling point of certain alloys. This can cause, at certain temperatures, some critical components of the metal to evaporate rather than melt. Again: the chemistry of the solder and the properties of the joint are altered. The politics of discard. If that were not enough, welding in space is a nightmare for astronauts who have suits that limit their movements and who would always be under the pressure of a spark or slag piercing the suit. Goodbye astronaut. That is why administrations have become accustomed to the logistics of disposal: rather than repairing something, it is better to throw it away and launch something new from Earth. Less risks, fewer headaches. ISPARK. Clearly, it clashes with the most current policy: that of recycling. A few days ago we saw that, while NASA wants to throw down the International Space Station to the trash, there are those who want to recycle it to take advantage of all the elements it has. And building platforms in space based on smaller parts is more reasonable than launching those pre-assembled structures from Earth. That’s where the discovery from the University of Leicester, in the United Kingdom. In collaboration with TWI Ltd, they have launched what they have called “ISPARK Project”, or “Intelligent SPace Arc-welding Robotic Kit”. It is not a new physical welding, but a robot to do the work. There are still issues that can compromise the integrity of the weld itself, but having a robot do the job eliminates the extreme risk for astronauts. And, precisely, the researchers point out that achieving this “will redefine how large structures are built and maintained in orbit” in the new era of the space economy. They are not the only ones, since companies like ThinkOrbital wave University of Texas they are also pushing this possibility. Roadmap. It must be clarified that it is a technology that has to be tested. The first step will be to subject the robotic system to tests in chambers that simulate the vacuum of space to verify both that the electric arc and that the behavior of the materials are stable in an environment without an atmosphere. In addition to the direct results, they will compare with a digital twin. It is a technology that virtualizes (thanks to computer calculations) the physics of welding in vacuum and microgravity. It is data with which they will train the robot, but also with which they will compare the results of the physical world. And, if everything goes well, in later phases the objective is to test it in orbital reality conditions. This is where other factors come into play such as radiation or dynamic thermal cycles (conditions of extreme cold and heat in a matter of an instant). In search of autonomy. Little joke with this. The “Smart Space Arc Welding Robotic Kit” has received funding through the UK Space Agency’s National Space Innovation Programme. Specifically, 560,000 pounds to develop this system. Everything is framed within a larger program of the Agency, which will allocate 17 million pounds to 17 space innovation projects. If we look at the global European “photo”, it is contextualized within a reality in which we also see that the European Space Agency seeks one thing: autonomy. The British agency and the ESA are tired of depending on NASA either Roscosmos for their space missions, and we are seeing how they develop technologies or inject more than 900 million euros to find a European replacement for SpaceX. And, obviously, assembling and fixing in space is much more sustainable than continuing to create technology that costs hundreds of millions of euros and is disposable. Images | University of Leicester In Xataka | We are launching more things into space than ever before. And the next problem is already on the table: how to pollute less

Shahed drones were a piece of cake for Ukraine’s helicopters. Russia has just transformed them into its biggest nightmare

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In it huge catalog of innovations improvised measures brought by the war in ukrainefew are as revealing as the decision that Russia has taken to address one of the main vulnerabilities of its drones. In essence, they have turned the Shahed-136 (symbol of its saturation strategy through cheap and disposable platforms) in a rudimentary anti-aircraft fighter. The mutation. What was born as a suicide drone with autonomy to travel hundreds of kilometers following pre-programmed routes has been transformed, in some variants, into a system piloted in real timeequipped with cameras, modems and now with the R-60 missilea veteran infrared-guided missile from the 1970s that, despite its compact size, retains the lethality of a weapon capable of cutting a helicopter in two with its load of continuous rods. The broadcast images by Ukrainian organizations and electronic warfare experts confirm the presence of the R-60 mounted on the Shahed’s noseand the interception of one of them by a Ukrainian Sting drone illustrates that Russia is experimenting with the idea of ​​​​transforming a disposable projectile in a reactive vectorcapable of confronting the devices that, until now, acted as unpunished hunters of these platforms. The new tactical ecosystem. The success of the Ukrainian helicopters in intercepting Shaheds (with devices sporting dozens of shoot-down marks and crews accredited with hundreds of downed drones) had turned these aircraft in key pieces of low-level air defense. The combination of moderate speed, predictable trajectory and total lack of situational awareness made the drone a almost static whitevulnerable to cannon blasts or volleys used at close range. But the introduction of the R-60 upsets that balance: although the platform remains clumsy, slow and limited in maneuver, the simple fact that some drones can carry missiles will force Ukrainian pilots to rethink their proximity to the target. Each interception stops being a procedure and becomes in an unknown about what version of the enemy they will encounter. Extra ball. Even if the actual kill capability of the armed Shahed is small (and the operational window for targeting with a short-range missile is narrow) the statistical nature of swarm warfare change the calculation: In thousands of launches, just getting into a good position will be enough to cause the loss of a valuable helicopter. Technical limitations. The R-60, known by NATO as Aphidwas designed for supersonic fighters, not slow drones intended as loitering munitions. Its integration into the Shahed poses obvious challenges: the operator must manually retarget the drone until it is pointed at the target, achieving an adequate angle to allow the infrared seeker to acquire the thermal signature and maintain alignment long enough to authorize the shot. He narrow field of vision of the missile, the Shahed’s low maneuverability and the possibility of helicopters using infrared flares reduce the chances of success. However, historical experience shows that even imperfect weaponry can achieve victories if the tactical environment favors it. Remains of an intercepted Shahed with the R-60 attached The precedent. If we go back we have the Predator armed american with Stingers in 2002 (failed but deterrent), which reveals that these configurations do not seek air superiority, but rather force the enemy to act with caution. Just as Ukrainian unmanned ships were armed with missiles To scare away the Russian helicopters that were harassing them, Russia adopts the same defensive-offensive logic: a single one of these armed drones, hidden among a swarm of externally identical devices, forces the adversary to increase distance, use more expensive means or modify its interception doctrine. Drones against drones. The Shahed armed with an R-60 is not, by itself, a transformative weapon. It is, however, as symptom of evolution continued unmanned combat. Russia has expanded the Shahed family into versions with real time controljet variants already produced in its own factories and possible improvements based on artificial intelligence for dynamic target identification. Ukraine, for its part, develops interceptors low-cost that allow us to shoot down Russian drones without risking manned aircraft or spending expensive missiles. Every innovation generates a countermeasure: if Ukraine popularizes cheap hunting drones, Russia studies equipping the Shaheds of tiny turrets or new sensors, and if these become reactive, Ukraine adapts its doctrines and strengthens its electronic warfare. The conflict has entered a phase where the value is not in the perfection of each platform, but in the ability to produceadapt and deploy thousands of them in an environment where the line between offensive and defensive becomes blurred. The most dangerous sky. It is the result of these advances. The introduction of Shahed-R-60 marks a turning point because it erodes one of the few stable advantages that Ukraine had maintained: the capacity of its helicopters to hunt drones with relative safety. Now each aircraft must consider the possibility, however remote, of facing a missile that was not foreseen in the original mission design. This not only complicates interceptions, but forces disperse risks and rethink routes, altitudes and speeds. The Ukrainian sky, already saturated with suicide drones, cruise missiles, loitering munitions and manned aircraft operating in densely contested airspace, add another variable to an operational equation in constant mutation. And it is likely that this is just the beginning: the integration of missiles is a first step towards drones that, in addition to attacking by saturation, can defend themselves or even escort other devices in combined waves. Image | Telegram, X In Xataka | There is tourism that flies en masse where tragedies have occurred. So the Low Costs are preparing to travel to Ukraine In Xataka | Ukraine’s problem with peace negotiations is simple: if it rejects them, Russia will get tougher in the next ones.

ChatGPT Atlas is here. It’s the biggest nightmare in the history of Google

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OpenAI has launched Atlas, your first browserand Alphabet has seen $150 billion in market capitalization evaporate in a matter of hours. Shares fell 4.8% shortly after the announcement, recovering slightly to close down 2.4%. The market reaction was no coincidence: Atlas is not (just) Chrome with a chatbot stuck on top, it is a browser designed from scratch around ChatGPT. Why is it important. For two decades, Google has controlled how we access the Internet through a lethal combination: Chrome as a gateway and Google Search as a mandatory destination. Atlas breaks that logic. If your browser has an AI assistant with memory that remembers your preferences, performs complex tasks for you, and directly answers your questions, the traditional search bar no longer makes sense. It is therefore not an incremental improvement, but rather a paradigm shift in the way we navigate. In detail. Atlas eliminates the address bar as the nerve center of the browser and replaces it with ChatGPT. Users can open a side panel in any window to summarize content, compare products, or analyze data without switching tabs. But the star functionality is the “agent mode“, currently reserved for paying subscribers: ChatGPT literally takes control of the mouse and keyboard, surf the web on your behalf, fill out forms, research travel options, add ingredients to the shopping cart. In yesterday’s demo, an OpenAI developer showed how the agent found a recipe and automatically purchased all the ingredients, a process that took several minutes but required no human intervention. “Browser memory” is another key piece. Atlas can remember what you’ve searched for before, what sites you’ve visited, and what projects you have in hand, using that data to suggest actions or automate routines it detects in your behavior. Everything is optional, but the message is clear: OpenAI wants Atlas to know you better than you know yourself. Nothing new with AI. The figures. OpenAI has 800 million weekly active ChatGPT users, double the number in February. Chrome has 3 billion and 71.9% global share. Google controls 90% of the search advertising market. Atlas sounds like a prelude to advertising coming to ChatGPT. Somehow they have to monetize the free users, who not only don’t pay OpenAI, but cost them money. And if OpenAI enters advertising, Google has the most to lose: it could be revenue that stops coming to them. Yes, but. Initial tests of ChatGPT agents have shown slow and imprecise results, where it is very effective to see the browser do tasks for us, but also much slower than if we take care of a few clicks. Plus, the hallucinations are still there. Google has a structural problem– Your business depends on people clicking on ads. If Atlas delivers direct answers without visiting web pages, Google loses. It has integrated Gemini into Chrome and added AI summaries to the results, but the basis of its model remains the same. Internet Explorer seemed invincible in 2007. Within five years, Chrome had surpassed it by offering something substantially better. The 150 billion drop in Alphabet’s capitalization is a sign that investors believe there is a chance that history could repeat itself. In Xataka | Privacy is dying since ChatGPT arrived. Now our obsession is for AI to know us as best as possible Featured image | Xataka with Mockuuups Studio

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